Today's Solar Eclipse

  

WHAT’S HAPPENING

Today (Sunday, May 20) at 11:48 p.m. GMT, a solar eclipse occurs. Solar eclipses happen at approximately the same time as New Moons, though only some New Moon periods feature solar eclipses.

(Solar eclipses occur when a New Moon falls within about 13 degrees of the Moon's Nodes.)

At a New Moon, the Sun and the Moon meet up in the same part of the zodiac. During this month’s New Moon, they meet up at 0 degrees 20 minutes Gemini. Because it’s also a solar eclipse, the Moon blocks the Sun's light.

MY APPROACH TO WHO’S AFFECTED AND WHEN

As I discuss this month's solar eclipse, I will take a somewhat conservative, middle-of-the-road approach compared to other astrologers.

(For more about a few other astrologers' individual approaches to eclipses, see the Appendix at the end of this blog entry.)

If you were born between roughly May 17 and May 23, or between roughly December 18 and December 24, then this month's eclipse is particularly significant for you. You can expect issues to arise that impact your sense of who you are and the way that you express your general vitality.

To determine more about whether your birth chart is especially triggered by this event, pull out your birth chart.

(If you don’t have a copy, then you can enter birth information and get a free chart at http://www.astro.com).

Check your birth chart to see if your Sun, Moon, Ascendant, Mercury, Venus or Mars lies between roughly 27 degrees and 30 degrees of Taurus / Scorpio.

Also check to see if any of those same points lies between roughly 0 degrees and 3 degrees of Gemini / Sagittarius.

If so, then the affairs of the triggered planet and how you choose to respond to that planet are emphasized during this eclipse.

For example, if your Venus is triggered, then how you approach your social or aesthetic or recreational activities, and what happens in connection with them, may be emphasized during the eclipse period.

Which of your houses have Venus-ruled Taurus or Libra on their cusps (i.e., at the beginnings of them)?

Their affairs may also be emphasized now.

(On the other hand, if your Sun, Moon, Ascendant, Mercury, Venus and Mars are NOT in very late Taurus or Scorpio or in very early Gemini or Sagittarius, then you’ll mainly experience this eclipse in terms of whichever house in your chart it emphasizes.)

How long is an eclipse in effect?

I recommend that you start by considering the period from about a month before until about a month after the eclipse (from roughly April 20 till July 20), and then you see what patterns you notice in your own experiences.

SOME GENERAL THOUGHTS, APPLICABLE FOR EVERYONE

During a solar eclipse, the Moon blocks the Sun's light. Sensitivity (the Moon) takes precedence over conscious strivings (the Sun).

Between late April and late June, instinctive forces and past events (such as your memories and feelings) may take precedence over how you express your will, your personality, your ego-oriented strivings. Since the Moon is in an air sign (Gemini), you may experience challenges involving your intellectual or social life.

According to astrologer Jeff Jawer, the fact that the Moon blocks the Sun’s light during a solar eclipse suggests that lunar forces (feeling, memory, returning to the past and inner instinct) take precedence over will (the Sun) during the eclipse period. He suggests looking inward and backward are ways to learn and grow from the eclipse.

Astrologer Tracy Marks says that we tend to feel either more or less energy in relation to the sign or house activated by the eclipse. She says that we may have difficulty making wise decisions due to limited awareness or objectivity.

Consider this eclipse a reminder to tune into your subjective reactions, your motivations and fears, your dreams and fantasies. You may find it difficult to make sound decisions, due to a narrow perspective or limited objectivity. Reflect on what you can learn from your past, and how you might use it as a springboard to grow in the future. Concentrate on responding to unexpected circumstances by focusing on your future, not your past. If your attitudes or behaviors keep you tied to the past at the expense of your future, then aim to let go of them now.

Marks says that unexpected events often occur during eclipses, whether in the form of confrontation with out “internal demons and angels” (our emotional and psychic facets that we have ignored) or through confrontations with circumstances or other people. Marks says that people often experience an ending of circumstances related to the house in which the eclipse occurs, an ending which, although it may be painful, it also frees us from the past to claim the future.

Jawer says that, because of the tendency to fall into unconscious habit patterns when meeting the South Node, eclipses that conjoin this point may be more challenging than those that conjoin the North Node. Those that conjoin the North Node are less conditioned by the past (whether solar or lunar) and may offer more opportunities for rapid change.

Marks says that we usually experience challenges according to the element of the sign in which an eclipse occurs: to our emotional or physical energy during eclipses if fire; to our material existence if earth; to our intellectual or social lives if air; and to our sources of emotional security and feelings if water.

Marks says that the nature of an eclipse is colored by its sign and planets that aspect it, especially if they conjoin, square or oppose it within five degrees. Jawer says that conjunctions, squares and oppositions to natal points make an eclipse more intense, while trines and sextiles make for gentler changes.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Marks suggests making room in your life to expect the unexpected and deal with it flexibly; plan to wrap up your activities or let go of outdated, limiting attitudes in whatever part of your life is affected; and maybe emphasizing spending more time on activities that help you feel grounded a la Saturn, rather than more focused on internal expansion a la Neptune.

IN ANY EVENT

As always during a New Moon, one particular house in your chart are also emphasized between roughly during a few days before and after the New Moon. Between May 17 and May 23, this month’s New Moon eclipse highlights whichever house in your chart contains 0 degrees 20 minutes Gemini.

For example, let’s suppose that your 10th house of public pursuits contains this point. If that’s the case, then acting in public in a way that reflects who you really are and what you are really about is an important issue now. This marks a great time of year for you to target 10th house affairs for improvement. It’s a particularly favorable time to change habits and conditions in that department of your life. Think about how you want to improve the fit between a role that you play in public and who you are in private.

If you start taking action to make that improvement between May 21 and May June 4, the waxing Moon will encourage the results of your effort to multiply.

Aim to start, say, at least 12 hours after the New Moon, but no later than the Full Moon.

Specifically, the New Moon happens at 11:48 p.m. GMT  today (May 20), so start no earlier that roughly 11:48 a.m. GMT tomorrow (May 21). The Full Moon happens at 11:12 a.m. GMT on June 4. The sooner you start between these two times, the better. 

2012 ECLIPSES

Solar and lunar eclipses occur when a New or Full Moon falls within about 13 degrees of the Moon's Nodes. During most years, two sets of solar and lunar eclipses occur; each set includes a solar eclipse at the New Moon and a lunar eclipse at the Full Moon 14 days later.

Here’s a list of 2012 eclipses:

On May 20, there’s a solar eclipse at the New Moon. The Sun and Moon are both at 0 degrees 20 minutes Gemini.

On June 4, there’s a lunar eclipse at the Full Moon. The Sun is at 14 degrees 8 minutes Gemini, and the Moon is at 14 degrees 8 minutes Sagittarius.

On November 13, there’s a solar eclipse at the New Moon. The Sun and Moon are both at 21 degrees 57 minutes Scorpio.

On November 28, there’s a lunar eclipse at the Full Moon. The Sun is at 6 degrees 40 minutes Gemini, and the Moon is at 6 degrees 40 minutes Sagittarius. 

LET’S DISCUSS IT

Would you like to discuss this topic with others? Then post a message here / on The Proud Phoenix page on Facebook. 

APPENDIX: TIME PERIOD AND WHO’S AFFECTED: APPROACHES VARY

Astrologers vary in which people they consider to be affected significant by eclipses. They vary in the orbs they use when looking at aspects between an eclipse and a person’s natal chart.

Jeff Jawer says that the impact for an individual is greatest when the eclipse is within about five degrees of conjoining or opposes a significant point in the natal chart.

Jodie Forrest says that if an eclipse occurs within about three degrees of conjoining or opposing one of your personal natal planets, it emphasizes the affairs of that planet, and how you choose to respond to that planet.

Tracy Marks say that an eclipse is most significant when it conjoins natal planets within two degrees. She says that we may experience crises in relation to ourselves or someone else when the eclipse squares or opposes a natal planet within two degrees.

Marks adds that when an eclipse sextiles or trines a natal planet within two degrees, we usually experience people helping us or new dimensions of our “higher subconscious or super conscious” opening up.

Astrologers also vary in how long they consider an eclipse to be in effect astrologically.

For example, in The Astrology of Self Discovery (c 1985, CRCS Publications, ISBN 0-916360-20-2) Marks says that an eclipse is mainly felt during the month before it occurs. She adds that if the eclipse conjoins, squares or opposes a natal planet within two degrees, it is felt until the next eclipse cycle.

Forrest considers it to be in effect for about a month before and after it occurs.

In an article at StarIQ.com, Jawer considers it to be in effect for about six months afterwards, or until the next eclipse of the same type (solar or lunar) occurs.

Marks says that the effect of an eclipse is reactivated whenever a transiting planet (especially Mars, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune or Pluto) conjoins the eclipse degree.