CHECK OUT THE NEW PAGES ON THE 2024 ECLIPSES!

Lunar eclipses happen twice a year, each followed by a solar eclipse. They arrive in timing called Saros cycles, based on periods of 223 synodic (meeting of the Sun & Moon) months (based on moon cycles of about 29 Earth days) and are approximately 18 years in length. (38 eclipse seasons or 19 years). After 223 synodic months, another nearly exact eclipse will occur. This Libra lunar eclipse, March 23, 2024, is number 113 in the current Saros cycle. The next lunar eclipse in Saros cycle 113 will occur April 5, 2042. To relate this to past lunar eclipses in this cycle--and then to your life, think about the following dates, and determine if there are any correlations: mid-March 2006, early March 1988, late February 1970, mid-February 1952, late January 1934. When I look at my own life, these were preliminary periods to great changes in my life. In the year that followed each of these eclipses in my past, I completed a phase of my life and moved. Eek! (I don’t want to move! Noooooooo!!!)

Let’s talk about what lunar eclipses are in a different way—emotionally and how our internal feelings and thinking create internal transformation that leads to the great physical and logistical changes that often come with eclipses. Eclipses in and of themselves aren’t rare. We typically have 4 a year—two lunar, followed by two solar. For example, our next eclipses will appear in September and October of this year, in Pisces and Libra respectively. Our current eclipse pair involves Libra and Aries. People who will be most affected by this lunar eclipse will be those with early degree planets of Libra, Aries, Cancer, and Capricorn. Why is that? Because the geometric oppositions (180 degrees) and squares (90 degrees) usually cause more challenges and create more change than the trines (120 degrees) do. (unless the trine has a volatile planet like Mars or Uranus involved) 

Also, as you may have noticed, there is about a 6-month difference between one set of eclipses and another, so the current eclipses will set the scene for what to expect in September and October, as well as right now. Keep that in mind.

Now I am going to discuss strictly lunar eclipse issues. For one thing, lunar eclipses are about our emotions and our mothers. In these current eclipses, we are dealing with a LIBRA lunar eclipse, so this will relate to our RELATIONSHIPS, JUSTICE, BALANCE, HARMONY, and even PUBLISHING. In other words, think of all the Libra things—what does Libra involve? Libra is also a CARDINAL sign, the sign of the LEADER, and an AIR sign, the element of MIND. So, we can expect our EMOTIONS about all those things to be transformed during this period. This eclipse exists in a more unusual geometric pattern on the astrological chart, because, as you can see, most of the planets are in Pisces, Aries, and Taurus. In other words, there is NO BALANCE here; yet, Libra is about balance. We must find harmony and balance within. We must transform our thoughts and emotions to accept—if not our leadership abilities (Aries)—but to shift our emotions (lunar eclipse) within our relationships (Libra) to accept our autonomy, our authority, and our authenticity as individuals. This means—you are in control. Mama is no longer in control. 

Let’s talk about Mama. The Moon represents our mother. This does not mean everybody has a Libra mother. Look at where your Moon is in your chart and in what zodiac sign it resides. For example, your Moon may be in Aquarius in the 10thhouse. You may have experienced your mom as detached, because she worked and was never home. Perhaps you were a latch-key child. Or perhaps she simply was not a warm or nurturing mother to you, even if she was to others, or even if she is a Cancer or Leo. Think about what your experience of her was. 

Our mothers are important as to how we express emotion. Why? Because we were PART OF HER for 9 months, more or less. We lived by the ebb and flow of her life. Your mother may have been a Scorpio but may not have passed Scorpionic tendencies on to you, depending on your relationship together and what was going on in the world—hers and yours—and in your charts. So, look at YOUR MOON.

Our mothers are also important in how we relate to others in relationships. Our mother typically offers our FIRST relationship, unless she gave you up for adoption or to a nanny, or you were brought up in an all-male family. Still, we shared her fluids and her emotions for at least nine months, whether she stayed with us or not. Our secondary relationships may be Dad, or siblings, depending on your line-up in the family. We learn how to behave in relationships, typically through our moms and later through the extended family, especially our siblings. Thus, our relationship with Mom comes into our personal and intimate relationships as adults. Our relationship with her created a pattern of action and feeling and reaction to all our relationships. If you had a controlling mother, you may pick partners who are controlling. If you had a detached mother, you may pick partners who act as she did. Why? This is what you learned, how you learned to cope, and so you may find yourself falling into a pattern with your love relationships, or even friends, that follow that same pattern. Often, if difficult or toxic, those patterns need to be broken. That’s what this eclipse is about. 

Now, let’s go back to the eclipse: eclipses are about shadows. We need to look at where we need to shine our light. But first we have to FEEL what’s in the shadows. Eclipses can throw a shadow or a cloud or hide certain things—in this case—emotional stuff—what are we not seeing? What have we not considered? What are we not accepting as truth? And once we see and accept and feel what the truth is, do you need to change something? Mainly, do you need to LET GO of something?

Lunar stuff is not only about the mother and emotions; lunar stuff is about the PAST and WHERE WE COME FROM. Ask yourself that. What does my past say about me? Where do I come from? What was my relationship with my mother? How do I carry that into my current relationships? In a lunar eclipse, our emotions are what is in the shadow, as the shadow of the earth blocks the Moon’s light. As the Moon’s light is revealed again, we can have a true revelation of new feelings and, thus, epiphanies. In a solar eclipse, the Moon BLOCKS the light (the Sun), and then the eclipsed Sunmust then be revealed. As the Sun represents you and your ego, YOU then can be revealed as a NEW YOU. 

This season’s eclipses are important and intense, as I said, because of the lump of conjunctions in Pisces, Aries, and Taurus. With this lunar eclipse, we can investigate how we are in relationships and determine how to create balance in any of those that have been OUT OF BALANCE. The goal, then? To emerge in all your Aries glory to be the sole authority in your life. If you are not an Aries, this does not mean you will become an Aries. Let’s say you are a Virgo; you can claim the most positive Virgo archetype to become, and in addition to that, recreate your relationships so that you are no longer bound to the challenging patterns you learned about relationships as a baby and child. 

Eclipses ARE about stepping into the dark for a minute, observing and assessing what that darkness says about you, and then releasing and letting go of anything that is going to keep you from being your true, unique, and most elevated self. You are here to follow your destiny, and you cannot escape that. But you do have a choice of whether to lead a proactive, fulfilling life, OR life as a SLUG. Yeah, I said that. In the case of this LUNAR ECLIPSE—this may be about letting go of certain PEOPLE—whether friends, lovers, or business contracts—that are keeping you from moving forward in your own hero/heroine journey. The key in this eclipse is to examine your EMOTIONS, your relationship with your mother and how you have translated that into your relationships, and then to LET GO of the emotions and relationship patterns—and sometimes people—that are no longer serving you.

Then, onward to the SOLAR ECLIPSE and the new self-reveal! With love!

As a last comment, this eclipse is mainly cardinal and mutable in essence, so this is about seeking your own authority, as I said before, and being flexible in so doing. This is also mainly fire and air—so this may feel like a wildfire as it occurs, emotionally. There’s not a lot of practicality in this eclipse. The practical stuff will kick in around April 18/19th, when Jupiter meets Uranus in a Taurus Spring surprise!

The Fixed Stars connected to this eclipse are Achernar, meaning “the star at the end of the river,” conjunct Venus in Pisces at 16 degrees—and Altair, exploration and boldness, conjunct Aquarius in Pluto at 2 degrees, so check those points in your chart to see if they affect you. Achernar offers the possibility of a rapid ending to something, but if one has high-minded morals and ethics, can bring success, and especially if connected with your personal Jupiter, can bring an honored high position, sometimes in the church. It is Jupiterian/Uranuian in influence, and what do you know? We have a Jupiter/Uranus conjunction coming in mid-April! 

Altair is supposed to be related to a Chinese myth in which a princess falls in love with a cowherd. Unfortunately, the princess’s father separates them in the heavens as punishment. Wah! But, this is about reaching beyond what others expect of you and choosing for yourself what and whom you want for yourself. Sorry, Pops! You aren’t the boss of me! Happy endings promised!