Very little in the area of astrology has been as clear as the January 2011 Solar Eclipse at 13 Capricorn showing how solar eclipses mark the “setting off” of events around the world. Capricorn being a sign about governments and the general “structure” of life, to have had this eclipse “eclipsing” fixed star Vega (at 14 Capricorn) signaled a rise of emotionalism inside governments and about them, while at the same time “eclipsing” (wiping out) much of the “charm” or charisma so associated with Vega.
As a result we saw rulers who had held sway being dismissed as full of “hot air” (and worse!), and we saw a marked rise and tidal fall of politesse in governing bodies, with some even wholly dropping all pretext that they were doing anything other than trying to foist their personal agendas on people at large.
Remembering that eclipses unfold over a full 3-year cycle and that the full portent and “blessing” that they bring isn’t felt until the very, very end, we can’t expect this year’s January eclipse to reveal the fullness of its message until late (late) 2013 or onset of 2014. That Pluto will be rolling through 13 and 14 Capricorn at that point…? Pluto most often seems to bring a reversal of whatever is the current status quo, which should give us all hope. Pluto denies that which is, and transforms it, yes. But it also creates where there is nothing, or where there are severe lacks. So there may be light at the end of this tunnel…we just have to get there!
Meanwhile, we still have five eclipses to go this year—three solar and two lunar—of which, three are now pretty much on our calendar doorstep.
The first occurs on June 1 at 2:02pm (UT/+0). Because it’s at 11 Gemini, right away we know this eclipse will manifest in and around matters mental, intellectual, spoken, written, and—in a more general sense, choices, transportation and priorities. There are also not one, but two fixed stars involved in this event—Aldebaran is positioned at 9 Gemini, and Antares stands at 9 Sagittarius.
Now the good news here is that these stars are fixed and thus the dynamic they define between them—integrity versus obsession—are something which is pretty much a standard “given.” Integrity as a concept requires us to act with a consciousness of others and of the need to be fully informed before deciding what is correct.
Without question, this eclipse is going to wipe out borders and boundaries on these concepts as they have been previously described. If we consider what happened after January’s eclipse, that may mean people will forget all about universal functionality and the need to have all the facts. Then again, this may herald a moment when people turn against the many examples of bending truths, fudging facts and various forms of “do as I say, not as I do” inconsistencies.
It’s also to remember here that Antares is a royal Persian star. That means that those who do obsess or who cling to their obsessions will in time end up self-defeated. Royal Persian stars have that effect—they’re about tests of our human nature in which success comes only when we avoid a certain type of human (negative) attribute. In this case, the negative is obsession.
What’s interesting here are the modifying statements given by the eclipse chart. With Panacea (peace), Sphinx (waiting) and Hidalgo (noble efforts) clustered around the Antares (confronting) aspect of this eclipse evidently it’s foolish to “obsess” on niceties. And on the other end of this teeter-totter—the eclipse business-end? There we have Kallisto exactly conjunct Aldebaran, which is a complicated image. Kallisto was accused of being beastly. And she paid a heavy price because she was so mistrusted, even though she had really done nothing wrong. In the end, she becomes a “guiding star”—but there’s a lot of suffering which happens in the meantime.
Kallisto/Aldebaran eclipsed seems to conjugate as those who mean well but whose integrity is taken as betrayal. Like as not, the three-year eclipse cycle will be the “being turned into a beast” phase from which emerges a star. But since with this pair at 9 Gemini we also have Edisonia (new ideas) at 11 Gemini being exactly eclipsed: one assumes new ideas put forth in this moment will have a long time to wait. Considering that Dionysus (sacred/ritual celebration) is at 12 Gemini, TNO Chaos (endless fertility) is at 13 Gemini, Sabine is at 14 Sabine and—yes, another fixed star!—Rigel stands at 16 Gemini, there is also a rather marked quality of “holding people back” which is here incited even as it’s “blown” out of proportion. This lineup seems to have a “religious” quality to it, suggesting that faith-based issues will be coming more to the fore—but we should not limit ourselves to this interpretation. Especially with Rigel (the teacher) involved here, information—all the way from the Internet as the “information superhighway” to education and the right/desire to be educated seems implied.
And that this eclipse happens at a degree which manages to link Aldebaran/Antares to Rigel, a quality which otherwise isn’t in effect…that seems very telling. Especially with Ixion (selfish entitlement) currently in opposition to Rigel, this seems to offer a very complicated picture about everything from the idea that people are entitled to have the right to learn, to people who don’t want to learn but feel entitled, and those who don’t know feeling entitled to berate those who know better but who are being vilified for whatever reason.
You were planning on a calm Cancer quarter? Ummm….maybe not.
Next in line we have the Lunar Eclipse of June 15 at 8:15pm (UT/+0). Positioned with the Sun at 24 Gemini and Moon at 24 Sagittarius this is a Full Moon configuration and as such, denotes a highly emotional time. Unlike solar eclipses which seem to arise among us like some earthquake or groundswell, lunar eclipses “feel” more eventful—especially when they aspect your chart. In this case anyone with natal chart positions between 19 and 29 Sagittarius, Gemini, Pisces and Virgo—along with those with positions between 20 and 26 Taurus and/or Cancer will do well to take heed. Have a chart placement between 21 and 27 Aquarius or Libra? This time’s an opportunity which may not last.
Lunar Eclipses “feel” more intense than solar eclipses (duh—they’re about the Moon, symbol of our feelings!) but they are seldom life-changing, through they may indicate a time when you choose to do this instead of that. When a solar eclipse hits your chart, your life and your basis for operating in life changes. Lunar eclipses are more situational. They also peak at the time of the eclipse and sort of peter out over the next three months.
As for modifying commentaries, on the Moon’s side we have Chaldaea—the old and traditional or “the tradition,” which in Sagittarius tends to be defended with feistiness. On the Sun’s (can we be rational?) side we have Mercury conjunct the Sun—a pretty sure sign that we’re too close to whatever situation to have proper perspective. With Mercury cuddled up to fixed star Betelgeuse and asteroid Industria, there’s a distinct thread of “wanting this to be easy” (oh, how human!) in this mix which…considering fixed star Bellatrix (difficulty in getting the point across) and fixed star Phact (being pro or anti “things new”) are also involved? This would seem to be a very “in our face” time when life brings challenges to us—the “to us” part being all about this eclipse happening in the last ten degrees (aka the 3rd decan) of Sagittarius/Gemini. All 3rd decan degrees are always (always!) about things in life we respond to instead of control.
The final eclipse in this trio will take place on July 1 at 8:55am (UT/+0). It’s another solar eclipse, which, yes, means that by July we will be awash in emotional times. Cancer is a water sign—it’s always emotional. Being the sign of the home, hearth, nation, heritage and family, solar eclipses in Cancer feel particular vital, making this one of those true “signal moments” about life evolving and changing whether we want it to or not.
Occurring at 9 Cancer this—like all solar eclipses—is in essence a very special form of a New Moon. So there is an implication that something new is coming into being. But with eclipses, the old has to be “wiped out” before the new can arise. Therein lies the difficulty; we humans are not comfy with change.
In this case the eclipse is positioned at 9 Cancer—a degree about plainly basic things we do and ways of being. And here’s the lineup of modifiers: fixed stars Mirzam at 7 Cancer and Alhena at 9 Cancer (exactly conjunct the eclipse), asteroid Agamemnon (stubborn determination) and Hebe (service) at 11 Cancer and uber-brilliant fixed star Sirius at 14 Cancer.
Considering this is a global indicator anyway (the “solar eclipse factor” we might call it) and to have three fixed stars involved speaks to a lot of “status quo” qualities getting challenged or altered. There are also three fixed stars involved in the lunar eclipse just discussed, yes. But lunar eclipses are “events of the moment” where solar eclipses time out evolutionary forces changing the very life we live—this difference cannot be over-underscored! (Like that word?)
Okay…Mirzam is “having a job to do” or a purpose or function in one’s individual life OR in life as a whole. When we speak about our “purpose” we are often referring to the idea Mirzam so well represents, sitting as it does in an early degree of Cancer. We just intuit…we have this feeling there’s something we’re “meant” to do.
Not quite next door but close enough, Alhena represents being the “messenger,” whether you do or don’t then carry out the word or deed. Combined these two make sense to us…if often not to everybody—even anybody—else!
Alhena being exactly conjunct the eclipse does emphasize and denote the idea of being “told” anything. Or reacting well to what we’re told. And with fixed star Facies (the victim/aggressor), Pluto (emotional transformations) and Child in Capricorn opposition here, issues regarding children (having them, being one, caring about them, abusing them) would seem to fit on an “eclipse list” here.
But on a whole other level, this is also a sign that it’s time for many of us (especially those in Capricorn charge, perhaps?) to stop acting like spoiled, selfish children.
Maybe. But to whatever extent that’s true, don’t expect spoiled children who have seized the reins of power to be all that happy to hear anyone say “get down off your high horse!” And yet…and yet…for those saying “so what else is new?” to this eclipse descriptor, let us remember: this is a solar eclipse. Those who don’t heed the call are likely to have it enforced upon them. And to be noted here: no comment made in this discussion which refers to “government” is merely about a political body. Anywhere that there’s a “governing” principle or body—be that in a company or a social group or a religion—these are all up for debate now, along with all the Gemini conceptualizations, the Gemini/Sagittarian rights and functional necessities and/or governing laws or structural bypasses which have supported the status quo.
Remember? Solar eclipses…they represent the dismantling of status quos.
To finish up here…Agamemnon/Hebe in a degree which, while cheerful, can also be determinedly “un-serious” and insistent on a distinctly “everything’s rosy” outlook suggests a lot of internal and operational struggling when it comes to how we might like thing to be against what will work for us long-term. Agamemnon being a somewhat brutal indicator against Hebe as symbolic compliance, this suggest threats being levied and/or people feeling threatened. With Sirius around, there will prices to be paid for playing victim or aggressor—which goes with Pluto’s having already stirred up fixed star Facies at its station. Three years from now…? Count on a lot of people looking back and say “boy, I wish I had listened…” But now?
Yet given that idea, maybe this eclipse helps give us a better picture of the year as a whole. Whether we are building or tearing down, trying to make things fit our personal concept of right instead of a universal (moral, ethical, lasting) functionality is tempting but should be resisted. We’re likely to want to resist or not listen when anything doesn’t fit with our personal concept of right or wrong, good or bad, and we refuse to gather all the information before making decisions. Pluto isn’t done with Facies yet; after going direct in September it will again cross Facies as it comes into opposition with June’s eclipse point in early 2012.
And then…? Well, let’s just say that those who have forced themselves to see outside their own blinders will then begin reaping benefits while those who ramrod through now without caring what anyone else thinks, wants or needs (not to mention while ignoring or evading facts)…they can count on 2012 delivering the “bill” for their obsessive (Antares) ways so obviously lacking in greater, global (Aldebaran) integrity. And that, friends, would be what we call astrological karma. And you know what they say about karma, right? That “Karma is a b—h”?
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.
FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
XO