January 2010 Solar Eclipse: Evolutionary Choices

A Solar Eclipse at 25 Capricorn will occur on January 15 except for those in the western Americas or Pacific Basin, where it occurs late on the 14^th.

When it occurs, Earth’s position in opposition at (25 Cancer) is thrown into a “darkness” which may represent “unknowing.” It can also represent being “excluded” from the light of the Sun, meaning things get taken away. Where that happens, something will (in time) arise in its place—nature does abhor a vacuum! On a little more temporal level this “vacuum” is often what we humans think of as “letting go of something so you have room for something new.”

Either way, the letting go comes first—and that can be particularly trying as such cosmic packages don’t come with neatly folded instructions. So we don’t know what will arise in the place of what has been lost or let got. At least not yet. Nor are we likely to know until the eclipse transit has very nearly come to the end of its 36-month course. And that uncertainty…? That’s something people don’t like a whole bunch.

25 Capricorn falls in a sign all about structure and structuring. It understands the necessity to build for the long term, and yet to know when rebuilding even that which is time-honored is necessary. Known for its tenacity, endurance and occasional bouts with fear, depression and all the many feels which go into rejection, whether one is on the receiving or delivering end, Capricorn is emblematic of justice fair and justice terrible. It’s the hallmark of determination, leadership, and a willingness to do without (ostensibly for the good of all). This is a sign plagued and blessed by perspective—specifically the need to balance one’s own perspective against the possible. Even the probable. Capricorn energies are brilliantly able to pick a careful way through dangers if often ill-equipped to handle the natural turbulence of emotional tidal flows. This is a sign which likes and strives for durable security even as it fears the very process of vulnerability which must be met, passed through and accepted if one is ever to have true security.

In other words, though Capricorn looks to all things in the “Other,” the real issue with Capricorn considerations always lie with the Self. Sign of government, self-discipline, career, social status and justice as meted out through regulation and/or punishment, Capricorn is responsibility in action. Positioned at the top of the natural zodiac wheel, it is naturally “public” in nature and has an intrinsic interactive quality. In the fourth quarter and on the east (proactive) side of the zodiac wheel, Capricorn also is about the “greater stage” and Big Picture.

As a sign, Capricorn poses all sorts of broad-ranging questions, many of which ask us where we are coming from and where we’re going—and why we think anything is worthwhile, worthy or worth our time and effort. Because of that, Capricorn tends to be the sign of “striving” and accomplishment—the building of things which support us, protect us, provide for us, and challenge us to consider and consider carefully…all of which implies building/growing, tearing down/losing processes.

It is in opposition to Cancer, sign of the home, family, culture—the people of whatever segment you care to name (members of a family, citizens of a country, members of a sect, club, etc.). Thus Capricorn temporally becomes the government, the career, and laws as regulatory forces which shape our environment, giving us structure to work within, and the various efforts to structure protection for our lives—rather from the ground up, one might say.

To go with the three-year time span during which the eclipse unfolds and its effects evolve,  eclipse lore suggests that those who will ultimately be most affected by any given eclipse will begin feeling its effects about six weeks prior in the area(s) of life symbolized by the point being “eclipsed.”

Obviously everyone has 25 Capricorn somewhere in their chart, but those who will really feel this eclipse most dynamically are those with a point, planet, axis, node (etc.) within 5 degrees of the conjunction (between 20 Capricorn and 0 Aquarius), the opposition (20 Cancer to 0 Leo), either of the two squares (20 Libra to 0 Scorpio/20 Aries to 0 Taurus) … OR who have a point, planet, axis or node within one-and-a-half degrees of either 150 degree inconjunct (aka quincunx) point: between 23°30′ Gemini and 26°30′ Gemini, or between 23°30′ Leo and 26°30′ Leo.

The conjunction implies that some part of life is being changed, probably by external circumstances or issues beyond your control. You’re likely to feel very much in the dark as to where you’re going or what will ultimately happen to you in the given area of life denoted by where and what the eclipse is conjuncting. Wanting to cling to some cherished notion of how things “are” (or should be) is common with the conjuncting eclipse, but evolution—yea verily personal maturation—is the key and now probably really-truly at stake.

The oppositional eclipse is all about you being challenge by someone or something. Whether that’s stopping you from achieving something or totally disrupting what you have been relying on as your status quo, this is a “derailing” force which makes you stop and deal with it, as opposed to the conjunction, which may cause you to stop but more often is a signal that you’re not on the right track when it comes to getting what you want out of life. The dynamic here is about being an individual or interacting more productively (without needing to rebel), without knowing which will work before it either does or doesn’t work

An eclipse occurring in square to some point, planet or axis challenges you to make something of yourself in some particular area. By taking away whatever you have been using to fill the gap or otherwise “make do” (or substitute for you doing it yourself), the eclipse in square forces you to take on some (often highly focused) form of self-development. This time around the focus is very much on who you are, and thus on the quality of person you present to others. The volition is yours. The worst thing you can do is not accept responsibility for who you are and your own life.

Inconjuncts being all around funny creatures which don’t feel funny at all, this eclipse formation is all about an unsettling “adjustment” you now make or endure, replete with some sort of feeling like you’re “in the dark” because you don’t know “how” or whether you really “want” to have to face these issues, many of which are about yourself and which have roots in the depths of your past.

Last general notion here: eclipses always take time to play out. This one, being positioned at 25 Capricorn and thus in the third decan (last 10 degrees) of a sign, tells us that it is ultimately how things work in reality which rules the day. This is thus not about what you do, but whether what you do works. It’s not about what you feel or want to work, it’s whether it works in the reality of your life. Or a world which truly operates by somewhat (if not greatly) impersonal standards.

This is important, and not only on a personal basis, but as we look at horoscopes having to do with important players on the world stage or institutions which govern the Big Picture which ultimately determines what our choices are in our personal lives. Or whether we even have choices.

With economic matters still of vast concern, one such highly important chart is that of the US Federal Reserve (December 13, 1913). Pulled for the stated “start of business” (9 am) time, 24 Capricorn appears on the “action point”—the Ascendant. Many astrologers preferring to time all institutional (government, corporate) charts for 12 noon, this would still have the highly positioned Jupiter at 23 Capricorn being smacked by the eclipse pretty much dead on. Either way, this implies that the Fed is going to change what it is doing and how it does it, suggesting that things will soon not be as they are today. A “tightening” of regulations seems implied; while the Fed is charged with keeping monetary matters flowing through the pipelines, the regulatory means by which this “flowing” is governed appears to be in the midst of a behind-the-scenes drama.

This is a highly secretive institution, granted. But the January 2009 Solar Eclipse at 6 Aquarius, striking the Fed’s Uranus/Byblis, occurred in the wake of an economic collapse which was kicked off when the August 2008 Solar Eclipse opposed the Fed’s Medusa from 9 Leo. The January 2009 eclipse signaled a break from what may well be seen as a premier signature of United States capitalism and operational attitudes as a “behind-the-scenes power” on the international stage.

As positioned in the first house of the start-of-business chart (or 10^th and most worldly house of the noon chart), this Byblis/Uranus conjunction in early Aquarius speaks directly to what the Fed does as an institution and with regards to institutions, as well as to the systemic functionality of money as an institutionalized symbolism. Given this combination, the polarities would be anarchy in the name of doctrine (whatever that “Byblis” doctrine may be, whether or not truly “biblical”) or the Fed functioning as an agency free of doctrine—that being a primal echo of the constitutional United States, a nation which was formulated on a foundation which separates church and state.

Since information on the Fed is painfully scarce, we can only note that the January 2009 eclipse took place mere days after President Obama was sworn in, and still has two years in which to unfold. With the January 2010 eclipse hitting the Fed’s regulatory (Saturn-ruled) Jupiter, with the Saturn of this chart in an exact opposition to Sagittarius and with Mercury on station at the time of the eclipse, a lot of information is about to surface. Much of it is likely to center on sweetheart deals, lack of oversight and such matters as lobbying, with everyone from the media to legislators to special interest groups pointing fingers and frothing loudly.

With Mars retrograde in the chart of this January eclipse, the struggle not to blame and just to get on with what needs doing will be hard no matter who you are in private or public life. And Mars is here pictured conjunct Atropos, which indicates things which are either about to be cut off or which need to be stopped. But which is which? That’s the issue—one which is unlikely to be clearly defined for some time to come.

As for President Obama, this January eclipse hits his personal Saturn exactly. Positioned in the 12^th house, conjunct Scylla and Scheherazade rather closely, and widely conjunct Jupiter at 0 Aquarius, this eclipse challenges Obama to use his orator’s charisma not for placating or charming, but for doing what must be done. The choice for Obama whether in his role as President or personal life is to balance what he believes in against what “bad tasting medicine” he is willing to accept as part of the process. The bonding of people in their commonalties is an obvious great strength in this man, while his reticence in matters structural and disciplinary are challenges. One does not have to be a tyrant to lead with effectiveness; every ship needs its captain and great captains motivate their crews both by appealing to them and requiring of them not to humor  individual motives when serving a greater cause they have applied to be part of and sworn to uphold.

With the eclipse also hitting the 26 Capricorn Midheaven of the (US People’s) Inauguration chart of January 20, 2009, with Icarus (flying too far too fast) conjunct Sabine (forceful enslavement) on one side and Persephone (required division of loyalties)-Medea (bias creating loss) on the other,  all ruled by a Saturn/Logos in the results-oriented third Virgo decan, health care issues will continue to be a big discussion for some time to come in the United States.

But apart from that, there is likely to be some questioning about the “health” of the government and the various causes for bias on the part of lawmakers. Without belaboring the astrology here, it would appear one challenge we have not yet heard the end of yet is the Obama Administration dealing with the system itself: the government as functional, social machinery. The idea that the government is here to serve its people has quite obviously gone astray in recent times. Can this administration turn the tide? Can it return the United States government to a state where the people-versus-profit struggle is cleansed of the often arrogant political grandeur which ends up economically raping a rich land and its generous if self-indulgent people?

For that answer, we all have to wait as the January 2010 eclipse unfolds in a panorama of highly provocative and evocative dramas both on the world and personal stages.

Occurring in “families” known as Saros Cycles, Solar Eclipses “recall” life lessons every 19 years. That this echoes the synodic Saturn/Jupiter “personal building” cycle says a lot. So if you’re old enough, think back to 1991. And before that, to January 1972. Think in terms of “themes,” not specifics. Were you beginning things at all such times? Was your life under some microscope or were you in crisis? Understanding the nature of eclipse cycles from how we’ve experienced them in the past can be incredibly helpful as the venue may change but the dynamic doesn’t. As in all things, the universe (or life, if you prefer) teaches us lessons then tests us to see if we’ve really “gotten” the message.

And that it takes three years to see the light? This tells us something about the human process as a reflection of nature itself. Acceptance is but the start, not a solution. With choice comes the beginning of a lesson which is about our ability to choose and evolve through our cumulative choices.

Boots Hart, CAP

Boots Hart is an ISAR-certified astrologer of 30 years’ experience, with some 20 years as a magazine and online columnist.

Writer by habit and philosopher by bent (some say very bent…), Boots is a metaphysical science geek spiritualist—a person as inspired by the workings of time/space as touched by the often painful adventures of mankind. Through writings public and private, her aim is to use astrology as cipher, helping us understand. Can we learn how to live a happier life? What does that take? Why are the times as they are? These are the questions. And that answers can be gleaned from cosmic cycles and the reflections of those in our lives? That would seem to be part of our journey—the one path we all take and walk together.

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