November 2012’s Solar Eclipse

 

I have given it some thought and I have determined that it might be useful to say a few words about the current Solar Eclipse at (close to) 22 Scorpio. Of course you can read plenty of commentary on this from various astrologers who will all tell you that this eclipse will signify a time of deepening responses, the beginning of new cycles of difficult but ultimately rewarding emotional change and a feeling that it is time to get serious or real about life, most especially about the affairs of the house with Scorpio on its cusp, the house where the eclipse falls, and to some extent, as a kind of moderating influence, the houses containing and ruled by the Sun and Moon.

As an example, the eclipse falls for me in the 6th house, and with Sun in the 6th too, ruling the 3rd, and Moon on the Descendant, I am starting my new astrology school. That will change the way that I work (6th) in a profound way (Scorpio) through teaching my skills (3rd) to others (Dsc). It is very simple when you look at it that way. Of course, you will have to look at these factors as they apply to your own nativity and transpose that onto your subjective reality to have it make sense.

What most astrologers fail to mention about this eclipse , or any other lunation for that matter, is that understanding the effect for you and your life depends – and hugely – on where you are in the world when the eclipse (or any lunar phase) occurs.

For example, in the UK this eclipse has been a very curious phenomenon. The Sun and Moon are perfectly balanced, as are Venus and Mars, and too Jupiter and Saturn. These pairs of planets form polarised partnerships in astrology and therefore the fact that each pair is equally potent in the UK eclipse chart is quite fascinating. This suggests to me that there is a getting back to balance imperative arising from the event.

But despite this, in the UK at least, the strongest planet, by some considerable degree, is Neptune. This means that Neptune sets the tone for the eclipse, so the new emotional changes that are called for are to do with getting back to a place of reality, of rebalancing one’s spiritual energy and either fixing, or killing off difficult relationships.

Because that is the other foundation stone of the lunation cycle: every phase is concerned with relating. So if the eclipse falls in your 10th house, it’s the way in which your relationships make you appear to the world at large which needs rebalancing. Have you held onto people in your life because they make you look good, in spite of the fact that perhaps they don’t really nurture you in any meaningful way? Or conversely, have you shut somebody out of your life because of shame, or because they don’t really suit your image and lifestyle somehow? Now is the time to examine how appearances and relationships go together in your life.

As another example, what if this eclipse falls in your 7th house? An eclipse in the 7th is always especially powerful because not only is it an angular position, it’s also a relating house even without the confluence of solar and lunar energies. Here you are being asked to examine the ways in which you relate to partners, especially marital partners (past and present!) Have you let any ‘bad habits’ creep into your primary relationship over the last few months or years? Now is the time to set things straight again, to get some balance back into the relationship. Maybe that means that rather than opting for an easy life, you finally just say what’s been on your mind and get it out into the open, or alternatively, maybe it’s time you were honest with your partner about that situation that you’ve been brooding on for all this time. You know. That situation.

This advice always comes with a caveat though. Neptune is extremely strong and Mercury is weak through this eclipse, so the danger is that you struggle to speak authentically. With strong Scorpio energy the natural predilection is to speak to the heart of any matter, but where Mercury is weak one’s reasoning powers are unlikely to be terribly incisive, and as Mercury squares a very strong Neptune it is extremely tempting to put things in such a way that it glamorises your own part in the proceedings. Indeed, it’s almost impossible not to do this under this influence.

There is a solution to the problem of Mercury – Neptune though, and it goes like this:

  1. Hold in your mind an image of the person that you love (or loved, if they are gone) most in the world and really experience your feelings as you “look” at them.
  2. As you picture that beloved soul in front of you, become aware of your eyes and how they feel soft and caring.
  3. Now, as you relate to others at this time, look at them through these same eyes.

It is such a simple trick, and it is powerfully effective. This completely catharsises negative Neptune energy right at the source and you will find that you can relate to anyone in this way and speak the truth without evasion or unconscious malice.

 

Of course the situation is going to be different wherever you might be in the world. In New York for instance, Neptune is still strong, but so is Mars. This means that the tone of the eclipse for those living in New York is going to be subtly, but experientially quite different from anyone in London. There’s more sexual energy at work, so it’s useful to go with the current lessons of Saturn in Scorpio and ask yourself where you’ve been avoiding intimacy in your life. As an aside, if you’re looking for more insight about this, try Mandi Lockley’s in-depth but highly accessible Saturn in Scorpio. The other side of the New York eclipse lies in the use and abuse of energy in your relationships, here are a few questions that might get you thinking along useful and self-edifying lines at this time:

  • Is it fair for me to be angry at someone who’s sick, helpless or a victim?
  • Is it fair for that person to be angry with me when it’s not my fault?
  • How does passive and covert aggression block me from relating to others meaningfully?
  • Does being tired prevent me from getting the most out of my relationships?
  • What dreams, desires and fantasies am I keeping hidden from my significant other?

As a final observation for New York, Orcus energy is quite ferocious for this eclipse in your part of the world, so loneliness is part of this picture! If you’re not intimate then you are likely lonesome, right? Time to put your energy into a relationship that can work, and get shot of what’s too broken to be worth rescuing! Yes, plenty of Neptune here. For some instant therapy try reading The Shipping News.

As a final illustration, if you are in Sydney Australia, then the eclipse is going to be even more powerful and profound because it’s visible. But here Saturn is the heavyweight in the eclipse chart, in more ways than one! Mars is also flexing his muscles so the energy here is about a real blockage. What is it you’re not doing out of fear or because of a lack of confidence? Your relationships with friends are highlighted, but this eclipse also focuses inner resources on the way in which your primary relationship fits into your social life. How does your primary relationship stop you being free with your friends? How do your friends stop you from being intimate with your loved ones?

So you see, the tone of an eclipse has a basic quality, but you cannot gauge its specific quality independently of your location. When you apply the locality of this eclipse to your nativity you can begin to formulate some very clear observations about how it will affect you.

If you want to learn how to understand these matters for yourself, then sign up for my 2013 Astrology School. I can show you how it’s done, and much more besides.

And do let me know how the eclipse applies to you: all war stories are gratefully received!

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7 thoughts on “November 2012’s Solar Eclipse

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  1. At work, things have been extremely hard to communicate lately. I work in the communications department so it is even my JOB to communicate clearly. Yet I find it hard to do so lately, it is frustrating. Can relate to the glamorizing part, not that I feel like I do this (un)consciously, more like I feel like I am being misunderstood in that way… But it could also be that I am just overreacting, sometimes I have that too.
    I am also waiting to get back the results of some exams I did a week ago (next to my parttime job I am also still in uni). I really need to pass them. Eclipse is in my 1st house, Sun rules my 10th and Moon my 9th (Moon is in natal 8th, Sun in natal 10th). It is all a bit stressful these days.

  2. What about the west coast of the United States? Neptune is in my second house, while my sun and moon are in the 9th. The solar eclipse squares my natal Saturn in the 5th. Could I read this as me needing to strengthen my values and self-worth (2nd house) via structure/finding my mission (Saturn in 5th) via my 9th house of writing/publishing/foreign people?

  3. can u pls explain something ? when i checked astrodienst the solar eclipse was in my second house but it was invisible ?? how can that be ? the moon was there too. thank you.

  4. i am so glad your thoughts led you to think it was useful because this is the best overview i have seen and helped me tremendously. the eclipse occured on the 14th here in cyprus and i cant find a chart for this country. neptune stationed direct at 22 and my natal is 21′ in the 1st so i feel ploughed, confused, unsteady in my mind. i feel rudderless.

    using your super-handy example above, it seems my ‘i am’ will manifest via 10th as relates to the 11th (sun) with effects sought by 2nd house moon. cancer doesnt ‘rule’ but occupies within my 9th and contains jup at 28. MC at 1 leo. as this is all about *relating*, i am not sure if i should go with the ‘hopes and dreams’ or the ‘we create/community’ meaning for the 11th – i guess it is always an overlap here.
    do wish i knew the location energies to help me clarify. if you see i have gone off track, please correct if you have a moment. i’d be grateful. with all of its gifting, i can be awfully hard, too, having neptune in your ‘i am’!!

    will definitely report back on any impending war stories
    all the best in your wonderful new project of establishing a school.

  5. Thanks for the mention, it’s very much appreciated. The eclipse fell exactly conjunct my 6th house Neptune. The day before the eclipse I came down with a fever. Often bed is where I retreat to when it comes to Neptune, although that’s possibly not the most evolved response, although in this case I think the brief illness was a direct result of my recent workaholic behaviours. The brief break was just as much about getting my head together as it was about resting my body.

    All the best for the school.

  6. I went ahead I got both books in Kindle Edition–thanks for mentioning them. I have natal Saturn in Scorpio, square Pluto/Jupiter in the 10th. And current transit is Saturn into my first house. I am a firm believer in working with Energy–energy is just energy, it depends on what you do with it and how you view it.

    Good take on planetary influences depending on location!

  7. Did not know it was an eclipse, much less a Scorpio one, and plum in the centre of Neptune, Mars and Venus in my second house. Made complete sense when I analysed it afterwards though. My brother and I (with whom I have a healthily competitive/intimate relationship and who has a fairly full eighth house) had just arrived on the south coast of Sri Lanka, having had some interesting Mercury Retrograde and Neptune/Saturn travel synchronicities (including his dream foreseeing the New York tsumani the night before it happened) in the few weeks prior. Fleetingly logged onto FB and discovered it was the 50th birthday of a long-lost friend who i had recently connected with on an unexpectedly deep level. So happened that night my brother and I sat up the whole night talking, mostly about relationships. To cut a long story short, much subconscious stuff surfaced; at some point, I was consciously aware of light/dark energies in my psychic/spiritual self and seeds which needed to be incubated before showing themselves fully (for want of a better description)…when, behold, a HUGE scorpion arrived as if from nowhere at our feet. Not that I’ve seen many, but this was certainly hugest ever seen; our shrieks brought a few locals to the ‘rescue’, who, in their terror and despite our protestations to the contrary, killed it there and then. Profound mixed feelings, but a sense of phoenixisation the next day as we met an environmental activist who took us out to sea the whales he is trying to save. This whole period has, for me, been extremely Scorpion/Neptunian in tone, to put it mildly! Letting flow…!!!

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