And when justice is gone, there's always force.
—Laurie Anderson
We're now in the final weeks before the total solar eclipse of August 21, 2017. For those who are uncertain of whether astrology has any validity, this is a good time to pay attention. Eclipses are one of the very best laboratory-of-life ways to observe astrology. You would just need to associate what you notice with the eclipses.
A solar eclipse is an exact alignment of the Moon and the Sun, at the New Moon. Usually at the New Moon, the Moon will pass a little above or below the Sun, from our viewpoint on Earth. There is a shadow cast, but it extends into space, and we don't see it. When a solar eclipse happens, the Moon's shadow is cast on the Earth.
It may sound like superstition to "believe" that this might "mean" something, though I suggest going beyond both belief and meaning, and observing what's actually happening. See if you notice the acceleration effect of an eclipse, even set amidst our light-speed world. Notice the sense of unusual pressure that people are not readily admitting to. Feel the sensation that change is imminent. Notice the strange events that are not easily explained.
One distinction of this eclipse is that the shadow is cast not just on Earth but also directly over the United States, touching both coasts and peaking over Missouri. This has never happened in American history; neither have many other things we're seeing happen, or have witnessed the past two years. The path of totality extends from south of Portland, Oregon, to Charleston, South Carolina. The rest of the country on either side of the path of totality will experience a partial solar eclipse.
Another factor making this eclipse a distinctly American event is that it comes within one degree of the ascendant of Donald Trump's natal chart. This is extremely unlikely, but it's happening. Any eclipse in Leo (the sign of royalty) would raise concerns about the president or the king of a nation. Align an eclipse directly with the well-timed chart of the president-who-would-be-king, and you know something is up. Neither he nor his presidency will be the same on the other side of this event, yet it is we who must deal with the results of that.
Incidentally, for those astrologers who did not predict that Donald Trump would be president, this eclipse would have been a clue that he would, and that it would turn out exceedingly strange. What we are not really doing, though, is seeing Trump as a product of his environment. When Mick Jagger said that "after all, it was you and me" who killed the Kennedys, this is the effect he was talking about.
If this eclipse draws a straight line between the entire United States and the personal chart of the president, we are being asked to make the connection. We will make it, one way or another. The president/king, in this context, is a symbol of the country he leads. I know that this is difficult to accept, Russian infiltration and all.
The Phenomenon of Eclipses
To start, it's worth mentioning that traditional astrology does not take a happy view of eclipses. They represent breaks or shifts in continuity, which is not often seen as a positive thing. Many people tend to prefer the devil they know, and still think that solving a problem is in itself a problem.
Since psychology has become the main substance of astrology, we see eclipses differently: as necessary pressure relief points, or points of transition.
The full effect of eclipses lasts for years. They stand as before-and-after moments that define watersheds in history, or at least tell us where to find them. Eclipses in Leo are particularly significant, given that the Sun, which is eclipsed, is darkened for a moment in its own sign.
We get a clue from William Lilly, who wrote back in 1647 (I am paraphrasing) that if it's been a while since there was a solar eclipse in Leo, and it hasn't rained for a while, expect a lot of rain. If it's been raining a lot, it's likely to dry up. He's saying there's a shift in not just the weather but the weather pattern; which is literal as well as a metaphor.
Let's move on to a general description of eclipses, which I wrote in 1999 (and which was very likely published in Chronogram). This was anticipating another historic eclipse in Leo, which you may remember: the grand cross and total solar eclipse of August 11, 1999. That was the one coinciding with the Cassini Space Probe flying past the Earth on its way to Saturn, loaded with 72 pounds of weapons-grade plutonium. We survived; now NASA plans to plunge the probe and all its radiation into Saturn.
