The 2024 eclipse season culminates in a massive release of energy that will initiate remarkable, if unpredictable, change over the next six months. To begin with we have an annular or partial eclipse in Libra, with the Sun and Moon tightly conjunct Makemake, Black Moon Lilith and Mercury in the USA 10th House, and opposite the dwarf planet Salacia in the 4th.
Furthermore, the nodal axis forms a Great Cardinal Cross with Pholus, Quaoar and Ceres in our 1st House, opposite our natal Jupiter/Venus conjunction in the 7th. In addition Venus, Mars and Saturn form a Grand Trine in water signs.
So why do I say unpredictable? Because there are synchronistic cosmic events that don’t fit into the astrological picture, but definitely add energy and intensity to the eclipse event. So let’s begin with the eclipse.
Annular Solar Eclipse
On Wednesday October 2nd at 11:49 a.m. Pacific time, the Sun and Moon align with Earth to form a partial solar eclipse. Unfortunately it will not be visible in the USA because the eclipse path crosses the Pacific Ocean in a southbound arc, over Easter Island, and through the southern tip of South America. Seen or unseen, it will have an impact throughout the world.
This is a South Node Eclipse which brings an opportunity for endings, completions and the release of old patterns, outgrown relationships, unresolved issues. Unsettling themes, both personal and collective, will demand attention. The New Moon Stellium is within 4 degrees of our natal Saturn indicating the need for responsibility and maturity. Libra gives us some more clues about the context of this eclipse. The most obvious theme is imbalanced relationships.
Libra is the mature domicile of Venus. The themes become humanistic – the arts, the legal system, the desire for peace, all of which depend upon bringing our personal and collective relationships into balance. The imbalances in our society are the source of dissent and separation, like the impossible gap between wealth and poverty; between genders, races and faiths. We have a low tolerance for difference in the US and this is the number one issue we must resolve as we enter the Aquarian Age. We must learn to appreciate diversity and embrace its wonders.
The Saros Series gives us a broader picture. According to Bernadette Brady, this eclipse fits into a series which began on April 1, 1718 and will end on April 30, 2962, 1244 years. In another 79 years we will be half-way through the cycle. South Node eclipses begin at the South Pole and spiral around the Earth toward the North Pole, where they die out.
The last year we had an eclipse in this series was in 2006. Brady suggests that the theme of this series is “Separation and loss. To be parted. To finish something, and to feel sad at its completion.” She also warns that this is not the time to undertake strenuous physical activities. If we trace the disintegration of our social unity from 2006 to the present, we have come a long way from the Oneness we felt after 9/11 to the cavernous political divide of this election year.
Our population has come to a crossroad and we are fighting for the right to live in a more loving world. To put it in Ilya Prigogine’s words, we’re about to burst into spirals.
For those of you who haven’t read my references to this chemist, he came up with the Theory of Dissipative Structures. In essence he learned through his microscope that when energy enters a system it acts like helium for a balloon. It blows things up until they are straining at their boundaries and pop, so to speak. While that may prove heartbreaking to a four-year old, we adults revel in this moment of transformation.
In plain language, when the system cannot accommodate more energy, it breaks down. If we don’t interfere, it will find a new center and form a new structure, one that can accommodate the energy and reflect the shift in our collective consciousness. Energy has been building up for years and 2024 brings it to a climax. The heavens are pouring energy into our “system” at increasing rates of intensity and frequency. This New Moon has the energy to put us over the top, so to speak.
That’s why it is so important for us to find a way to manage it responsibly in our own lives. We can learn to channel this energy into a dream, a work of art, an act of love, a solution to a problem, a greater understanding of the Self, a vision of our collective future, the landing spot we fix our eyes upon.
The Wildcards
Beside the intensity of alignment between Earth, Moon and Sun – body, soul and spirit consulting together – we have a couple of stray visitors to our neighborhood. The first is a comet creatively named A3. It was at perihelion on September 27th and will be closest to the Earth on October 12th while Pluto is making its last station in Capricorn, bringing this phase of our metamorphosis to a close.
We know about Pluto and its power to clear the way, to bring up our fears and phobias, to shake up our world. As it stations at 29+ degrees of Capricorn, we face the final exam of this course in self-mastery that began in 2008. Have we pierced the veils of our illusions? Have we seen our shadows? Have we allowed ourselves to awaken, grow, perceive more truth?
A3 is a wild card, perhaps a joker. We have no idea what message it brings but we do know it will add to our psychic energy. Maybe it brings extra support, putting us in touch with new and perhaps deeper feelings. Or help us discover inner strength and resilience, or reveal a previously hidden part of self, a more-true self?
Another whimsical astronomical body has come to visit in the form of an errant asteroid that won’t hit the Earth, but instead will orbit as a sort of Second Moon around the Earth from September 29th to October 25th. This Moon came from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, between the personal and the social planets. Maybe it will help us shift from “me” consciousness to “we.”
Finally a nova is gestating in the constellation Corona Borealis. Through a telescope it looks like a black spot where a white dwarf and a red giant are cooking up a big explosion. Astronomers believe it will happen this Fall. Wouldn’t that be something to see a Nova to herald the dawn of a New Age?
The Sabian Symbol
We can glean more meaning from the Sabian Symbol for 11 degrees of Libra: “Kindly old professor is teaching a class of youngsters. Cooperation of genuinely superior agencies with beings less evolved. Glad willingness to assist and protect. Kindliness.”
We obviously are the less evolved half of this equation. This suggests to me that all these heavenly bodies have kind intentions. They’re here to help, to guide, to protect us and to support this evolutionary process.
The Aspects
Of course the main carriers of meaning are the planets along with the relationships they are forming at the moment. There is a large presence of feminine planets. Venus is the Queen of Libra and of this eclipse. Her grace, beauty, love and powers of attraction are great allies at this time.
Venus is at 11+ Scorpio in our nation’s 11th House of the Collective Consciousness, and forms a Grand Water Trine with Mars in Cancer and Saturn in Pisces. A word about Mars. At 15+ Cancer it is within 2 degrees of the USA natal Sun, our collective identity, and within 1 degree of the Fixed Star Sirius which is the Spiritual Sun of our Sun. This reflects a very sacred opportunity to restore harmony and balance.
Whenever Mars and Venus form an aspect they bring up the theme of balanced energy. Add Saturn to the mix and we get the message that it’s time to mature the relationship between the sexes. This theme is reinforced throughout the chart.
With the Sun, Moon, Makemake, Black Moon Lilith and Mercury in a tight eclipse stellium, within 4 degrees of the South Node, this clearly is a karmic issue whose time has come. We complain about the polarization in our society. What is it but a reflection of the polarization within our own psyches?
Black Moon Lilith indicates an area where the Divine Feminine has been neglected, oppressed, devalued, even demonized. In our charts, it’s a sensitive point that can trigger inner conflict, especially for women. On the one hand, we have bought into the patriarchal paradigm, valuing industry, productivity, achievement. On the other, we resent being devalued, controlled or abused by men. Our damaged psyches wrestle with this inner dichotomy and we abuse ourselves with negative thoughts and beliefs.
With Mars’ power tamed in the nourishing waters of Cancer, perhaps we can all find our way back into balance. It is our inner conflict that becomes manifest in our society. Heal the inner rift and our world will begin to reflect more balance.
More about Mars: at the moment of the eclipse, Jupiter is conjunct our natal Mars in Gemini, bringing in themes of faith, devotion, growth, opportunity and good fortune. The authentic masculine energy is beautiful and functions in service to the divine feminine. How generous can we be? How kind and benevolent? How committed to love in our relationships?
Transiting Mars enters its retrograde shadow on October 4th, marking the territory it will cover during its retrograde that begins on December 6th. Jupiter makes its retrograde station right on our natal Mars, on October 9th. Together these two planets will energize relationship issues. We will be considering this theme through the first quarter of 2025. Some relationships will fade away, others move in to take their place, but the emphasis will be on balance and harmony. It’s important to do no harm. Women’s equality, including the right to physical autonomy, is one of the key factors in our election. I can’t fathom the intent of women who would vote against themselves.
Mercury recently made its Superior Conjunction with the Sun, the midpoint in its synodic cycle, and leaps ahead racing toward its next retrograde beginning at the end of November. We will have a lot to review and digest before the New Year.
Venus and Black Moon Lilith are only two of the expressions of the Divine Feminine. The Eclipse is exactly opposite the dwarf planet Salacia. This version of the goddess is associated with mermaids, which Salacia became when she married Neptune. This goddess is a guide in our lives, especially in our search for love. She blesses us with timing and facilitates our finding true love. While there is definitely an alluring quality to Salacia, she carries compassion as well.
Great Cardinal Cross
There’s a fourth goddess involved, another dwarf planet called Eris which is situated in our natal 1st House, the house of our identity and self-image. Eris is being activated by the Great Cardinal Cross that involves the Nodes of the Moon squaring Pholus and Quaoar which are conjunct our natal Eris, and opposite our natal Venus/Jupiter conjunction in the 7th House.
There’s a lot of energy in this Cross. When the Nodes are involved, the Cross signals issues that are blocking our evolution and must be resolved if we hope to move in a positive direction.
Positive Eris is an equalizer. She is the essence of the independent Spirit that embraces diversity. She is the perfect warrior to guide us into the new context of Aquarius seeing the value in everyone, respecting it, giving everyone a place at the table and the right to be heard. Eris wants a real democracy where literally everyone is equal and has value.
Negative Eris gets sucked into old habits of resentment, plots revenge, wallows in self-pity and shrivels up in grievance and causes great collateral damage. We have witnessed the damaged Eris expressed in hostility, xenophobia, the war on women, threats of vengeance and the rise of fascist ideology threatening our self-rule.
Conjunct Eris are Pholus and Quaoar, the former a centaur of perception, the latter an enormous source of spiritual energy that needs to flow through us, be embodied and expressed. So the big question for us to consider is which Eris are we embodying? If we’re caught up in resentment, Pholus can help us see our way to clarity and Quaoar provides the energy to rise above it.
Doesn’t Eris express the original spirit of America? No more domination and serving at the pleasure of a king. All of us equal and working together to reform our democratic nation.
On the other end of the axis are Venus and Jupiter within the orb of our natal Sun reminding us of our true identity. The Soul of America is nurturing loving-kindness as reflected in the sign of Cancer. We have gone far astray exercising our Martian passion for competition and conflict – war after war cloaked in the flag of patriotism. In reality we are protectors of the democratic spirit, holding the torch of freedom and opportunity. Kamala Harris has hit the nail on the head with her insistence on giving people a leg up, rather than a knock down.
Waking up
Another featured theme during this eclipse is perception. I mentioned it in regard to Pholus who helps us see things through new eyes. Even more significant is Makemake at the same degree as the eclipse. Makemake is the higher octave of Uranus which is lending its explosive energy by opposition to our natal Makemake in the 12th House. This dwarf enables us to see the bigger picture, to grasp more truth and become visionary. While Mercury gathers information, and Uranus delivers insights, Makemake downloads gestalts that shift our paradigm, and this is exactly what is happening now. Our old paradigm of entitled masculine domination, based on fear and scarcity, competition and force, has brought us to the brink of extinction. A new paradigm is gathering momentum, with life-enhancing values of cooperation, compassion, unity and diversity devoted to the welfare of all.
The veils of illusion have been less opaque with Saturn transiting Pisces, but many of us are still bedazzled. This eclipse should shake more foundations of faith in Fox News, for example. Or the insurance system. Or chemical and pharmaceutical companies. Definitely in some of the candidates asking for our votes. Character matters. Politicians vow to represent our interests in Congress. They are servants, not masters. Far too many are more loyal to party and power than to service. Discernment is essential, even if we don’t like what we see. Rather than bury our heads in ignorance, we need to actively pursue the truth and ask ourselves, does this candidate embody my values?
Things will continue to heat up over this lunar cycle. Don’t get pulled off-center. Don’t surrender to fear. Know in your heart that the heavens are supporting us all, teaching us with gentle kindness and preparing us for the birth of a new world.
At the Full Moon on October 17th, the Sun will be conjunct Juno, the Queen of Olympus, the loyal and committed wife of Jupiter, which will sextile transiting Chiron at 21+ Aries. The Moon will be conjunct transiting Eris and Chiron in our 4th House, focusing on the area of our collective psyche that needs healing. In the 4th House it involves our ancestors, our social conditioning, our Homeland which has been ravaged during Pluto’s passage. And speaking of Pluto, Venus will be sextile the Lord of the Underworld. Once again we will be guided by the Divine Feminine.
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