Eclipses in Astrology

What do eclipses mean in astrology?

Eclipses in astrology function as karmic activators or suppressants.Not used much in modem astrology as in ancient astrology, where they were used constantly. A whole book could be written on the subject of eclipses. Here I will cover some of their more pronounced influences.

Lunar eclipses occur when the shadow of the Earth blocks out the light of the Full Moon. An eclipse of this kind happened on the night before the Battle of Missionary Ridge in the American Civil War. The soldiers on both sides of the battlefield watched it that night, and they made predictions as to what

would happen. They called it a bloody Moon, as lunar eclipses like the one that occurred that night are often red. It took place in conjunction with America’s third Saturn return. The battle the next day (Nov. 24, 1863) was pivotal in the American Civil War: General Grant routed the Confederates, opening the way to the South, Sherman’s March, and the surrender at Appomattox Courthouse.

Solar eclipses occur when the Moon blots out the light of the Sun. The actual round moving shadow that travels across terrain at about a thousand miles an hour is called an eclipse path. This track comes from the diameter of the shadow cone of the eclipse as it travels across the surface of the Earth.

A solar eclipse passed over the U.S. on July 17th, 1814. It moved from 24° to 28° Cancer. A chart cast for the founding of Washington D.C., when George Washington laid the cornerstone (March 15, 1791, roughly between 4:00 and 4:30 P.M. LMT), places the Moon of this chart at 28° Cancer. In a chart of state (and Washington was a city designed expressly as the seat of government) the Moon is often indicative of its housing, of where the various ruling agencies and bureaucracies will be physically placed. On August 24, 1814:

Washington D.C. was captured by British troops under General Ross. The White House, the Capitol and other buildings were set afire in retaliation for earlier burnings of Canadian government buildings…by the U.S.

It could be argued that this eclipse marked the burning of the capitol.

An eclipse can effect the magnetosphere, the magnetic field that surrounds the Earth. Its influence often works like sunburn: At first one is not aware of it, but if it is severe, soon, the skin will demonstrate a violent reaction. With the eclipse influence, the reaction, affecting the land and those who live on it, can appear some several months later. Sometimes the influence of an eclipse can last for years.

As a rule of thumb, solar eclipses begin something new. Lunar eclipses function to dissolve the past.

When the Moon, or a planet, eclipses a star or another planet, this phenomenon is called an occultation. An occultation is a minor but powerful influence. The ancients treated an occultation with more weight than we do today. Again, a whole book could be written on these alone.

Astronomical Transits

On an average of thirteen times per century the planet Mercury, as seen from the Earth, will actually pass across the face of the Sun. That occurs during the middle of its retrograde cycle, at the inferior conjunction. In astronomy, this passage is called a transit. This is not a transit like we discuss in astrology. This is the rare passage of a planetary body across the solar disk (as seen from our planet). The Earth and Mercury and the Sun line up in a straight line. They can exert a profound effect, especially if in close aspect to something in the chart of a historical personage or nation.

Astronomical transits of Venus are rarer. One occurred in 1888, and one occurred on June 8, 2004 and another happened on June 6, 2012. As with Mercury, in matters like communication and writing, these transits can exert a profound influence.