October features two Eclipses: a Lunar Eclipse on the 8th in Aries and Libra, and another on the 23rd at the beginning of Scorpio. Astrologers and students of astrology often get worked up into a panic about Eclipses, but that sort of thing usually proves to be unwarranted. If you want to learn about Eclipses in general click HERE for my comments on them. As for the specifics of how they work, and what this October’s Eclipses might mean to you, read on.
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The longer one practices astrology, the more one tends to realize two things:
1) There are a lot of obscure old rules that really work.
2) Some of the old obscure rules work better than others.
In that light, let me explain to you what I think I’ve discovered about how Eclipse Points work. For those of you who don’t groove out to obscure technical details, feels free to skip to the part below the video.
Vedic Astrology refers to the Moon’s Nodes as “upagraha” or “shadow planets.” They are things that have a real effect and a real meaning, but nonetheless are not physically “real.” Hold your thumb out to the side of your face. The end of your thumb is a real thing, and your nose is a real thing, but the halfway point between the two is not “a real thing”… but it is “real.” Eclipse Points are sort of “shadow planets,” like midpoints and progressions in astrology. They leave a real effect in your birth chart where they happen. They are sensitive to transits. However, like the way I handle transits to the Nodes, you don’t treat them like regular planets. For one thing: unless it’s a conjunction, opposition, or square, I don’t count it. Sorry trines, sextiles, and quincunxes: you just don’t seem to make enough of a difference to worry about.
Furthermore, when students of astrology see the word “square” there is a tendency to automatically panic a little. This needn’t necessarily be so. One client of mine in the last year had an Eclipse land on his Midheaven ruler, and even transits squaring that point have been pretty good to him. Besides, people are already spooked enough about Eclipses that we don’t need to make it worse by worrying about squares.
Also: about that urge people seem to have to get panicky over these things? Don’t. Yes they often bring unexpected results, and not all unexpected results are bad… some can be very good. Like for example, the unexpected delight of encountering a singing dog.
There, that wasn’t too painful, was it? As your reward, here is a singing dog:
Now, here’s how we figure out what kind of effects (if any) October’s Eclipses will have on you:
The October 8th lunar Eclipse happens at 15° Aries and Libra. The October 23rd Solar Eclipse happens at 0° Scorpio. Find the Houses in your birth chart which these fall into, and that is most likely where you are going to see their effects. Also, if any of the planets in your birth chart are conjunct, opposed, or square to those points within a maximum of 2°, take those (and the Houses they rule) into consideration too.
One of the ancient rules for handling Eclipses that I find works is this: Eclipse points leave much more of an effect if they are “above the horizon” rather than “below the horizon.” In other words, you’re much more likely to feel it if the Eclipse Point falls between your 7th and 12 Houses, as opposed to Houses One through Six.
Eclipses don’t usually set off anything on the actual day they happen. They lurk in the background until the next pair of Eclipses happen, and it is sometimes months before they are triggered. To me, this could be one of the reasons why astrologers get so excited about Eclipses: it’s hard enough keeping track of where the planets are now without also having to remember something that happened three months ago. But I digress.
Eclipses won’t trigger events entirely by themselves. There are always other transits in the birth chart affecting things, but they are more likely to be triggered when a transiting planet is aspecting that Eclipse Point, at the same time that other major transits are happening.
The next set of Eclipses are a Solar Eclipse on March 20, 2015 and a Lunar Eclipse is on April 4, 2015. Until then, it’s this October’s Eclipse Points that remain in play.
The Sun, Moon, and Mercury will make loads of aspects to the Eclipse Points between now and next March – April, and those can certainly contribute to the effects of other transits. But a list of all those transits would be big and unwieldy. So here’s the rundown on the transits from the other planets to those Eclipse Points between now and the next set of Eclipses. In each case, I am giving the exact date of the aspect, but add a day or two on either side to allow for some orb (except where noted). And as always: if things get out of hand for you, contact an astrologer.
OCTOBER 8 LUNAR ECLIPSE (15° Aries/Libra):
October 15: Mars square
December 23: Venus square
March 5: Venus conjunct
March 12: Mars conjunct
March 22: (plus or minus a couple of weeks) Uranus conjunct
April 3: (plus or minus a couple of weeks) Pluto Square.
The next lunar Eclipse will be on April 4, 2015. It will be at a very close to the same degree as this October’s Solar Eclipse, only this time Pluto will be closely square it. That ought to be interesting…
OCTOBER 23 SOLAR ECLIPSE (0° SCORPIO):
December 6: Mars square
January 4: Venus square
March 18: Venus opposite
See? Not so bad after all. But like I said: contact me if you have any concerns.
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