Cheer up: solar eclipses aren’t all doom and gloom…

Total solar eclipses really get people going: the internet is currently awash with opinion and prediction as well as stunning images from the recent eclipse. This ranges from the pragmatism of pointing out that (as with all astro-events), the potential for shadow and light co-exists, to outright doom-mongering. This 19 Aries solar eclipse – which was exact at 18.21 GMT on 8th April 2024 – is no exception. Given its line up with the North Node, Chiron and Eris all in Aries at a time in the world which no-one could describe as peaceful and harmonious, one can understand why.

However, we have been here before with fear-inducing eclipses. I can clearly remember the last total solar eclipse of the millennium, falling on 11 August 1999. As I said in a piece I wrote then for Kindred Spirit magazine: 

“…Predictions abounded, from the end of the world as we knew it, to Paris going up in flames. One year on, we are still here, along with the world as we know it, and Paris. But what happened as the big eclipse approached was very, very interesting. It showed that human beings at a deep level are still very much woven into the rhythms of Nature, and responsive to them, despite our increasing dependence on technology…” (i)

To read that piece, which discusses the Sun/Moon cycles as well as eclipses, and how to work with them, click on image below.

sunmoon-cycles-ksautumn-2000-2Download

Going back even further in time, I wrote a piece describing a remarkable experience I had when a solar eclipse at  8 degrees 18 Aries ( yes, an Aries eclipse, folks!!) opposed my 8 degrees 53 Libra natal Second House Neptune, which is closely sextile natal Mercury at 9 degrees 03 Leo in the Twelfth. Can you guess from this astro-shorthand what the nature of this experience was?

Click the link below to find out:

 Cheer up: solar eclipses aren’t all doom and gloom…

Speaking for myself, there have certainly been some challenging things going on in recent days. But the Aries eclipse plus North Node and Chiron trining all my 12th House planets has seen me in dynamic mode, beginning a new book as well as clearing out lots of stuff from my home. It has indeed been painful seeing yet more of the long shared history with my late husband go: but we must face and go through endings in order to clear space for new energy to shape the next phase of our lives with all its promise of new possibilities.

Start where you are, do what you can, use what you have – and just get on with it. May you have a productive Spring!

450 words © Anne Whitaker 2024