The March 2016 Penumbral Lunar Eclipse Full Moon of Libra-Aries Pt. 1 – Knowledge and Skill Put to the Test of Self-Transcendence

by Robert Wilkinson

The Full Moon of Sun in Libra and Moon in Aries, being conjunct the Lunar Nodes, is a Lunar Eclipse. What does this mean?

Since all Eclipses shut something down, this Penumbral Lunar Eclipse begins a several month "shut down" in the houses it occupies in our charts. Given that it happens with some very powerful frictional, spiritual, and irrational aspects, this one ushers in over 4 months of adjustments, turning points, and intense spiritual focus.

This one will help us achieve momentum despite headwinds, with tremendous integration potential via the T-Square between Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn. We will see the end of old ideas and perceptions and ways of communicating that no longer suit the need of our lives and times. There will be endings of old mental tendencies and the emergence of an ability to transmute physical vitality into the power to build mental constructs.

This is the Light of new initiative that will take shape as a balanced way of interacting with others who share our heart fire. This will bring forth new ways of community or team building, where we are free to be ourselves, others are free to be themselves, and all are individuals seeking the same sort of fellowship. This one will bring echoes of the Total Lunar Eclipse from this time last year, since that was very close to this axis.

This Eclipse will be visible in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan east through Asia, the Pacific Ocean, all of North America, and all of South America except Brazil. In fact the only place it won’t be visible is Brazil, Africa, Europe and west Asia. The penumbral phase lasts over 4 hours, making this one long. All of you lucky enough to be able to view this Eclipse remember that when it’s happening, you’re being shown a new way to experience life, growth, the future, as well as new connections and newer and deeper ways to relate to your Spiritual Brothers and Sisters

Due to the strong Libra-Aries and other Fire energies active in this Lunar Eclipse, over the next few months we’ll find a new balance or perspective on past events that will help us reclaim some things that we will need in the future once the endings shown by this Eclipse have come to pass. This will help us feel what we need to in order to liberate ourselves in some way.

As Pisces is very prominent in this Eclipse, be compassionate toward yourself and others and find a balanced understanding when moving through events that at times will be jarring and extreme. This Eclipse gives us new ways of seeing how we’ve grown since late 2009 and will continue our training to embrace a venerable set of standards that began to take shape in Summer 2010. This experience will show us how we’ve been living a new archetype in our world since then.

It’s important to remember that most worldly events follow celestial events. Whether an event happens simultaneously with or later than an Eclipse, or some aspect configuration, is conditioned by many things. Sometimes a decision is made that will affect many things in the future, but we don’t know about that until the result manifests.

The time of an Eclipse is when the future effects are set into motion. Regard it as beginning a process of elimination to come to an understanding in the future about why those things had to be shut down for a while, or leave the life altogether. We have to close out parts of our past to create space for future ways to do our Being. Eclipses create excellent time periods to do that.

For example, the Eclipses in Gemini and Sagittarius in 2011-2012, both Solar and Lunar, served to shut down old ways of life, thinking, and understanding wherever we have Gemini and Sagittarius in our charts. There's a lot about them in the archives if you want to know more about their ongoing influence. The Eclipses in 2013 shut down old ways of life, feeling, and valuing wherever we have Taurus and Scorpio in our charts, and the Wesak Full Moon Lunar Eclipse opened us to a form of “Buddha Wisdom,” as much by what it took away as by what it introduced.

Last September’s Total Lunar Eclipse was the last for many years where the Nodes were in Libra and Aries, showing we had been in an era when those signs have been most affected in our charts. And in an interesting note, both Lunar Eclipses in 2014 occurred in Aries/Libra, but the Solar Eclipses fell in Taurus and Scorpio. In 2015, both Lunar Eclipses occurred in Aries/Libra, but the Solar Eclipses fell in Pisces and Virgo. So the long wave Solar eclipses were working on different areas of our charts than the short term Lunar eclipses those years.

In 2016, the Lunar North Node is in Virgo, and the South Node is in Pisces. This will continue for the rest of the year. Like last year, the Solar Eclipse of 2 weeks ago fell in Pisces, a different sign axis than this Lunar Eclipse in Aries/Libra.

However, this year features two more Lunar Eclipses! The first is in August at 26 Aquarius/Leo, and the second is the Harvest Full Moon in September at 25 Virgo/Pisces. The Solar Eclipse is in September at 10 Virgo. That is a break from the usual 4 Eclipses per year, and the August Lunar Eclipse ushers in the future focus on the Leo/Aquarius axis.

So like most Lunar Eclipses, this one ushers in a transitional period of several months (this one will be in effect for 4+ months) that will clear things out of our lives, and especially our past (the Moon). The space created can attract circumstances and people with whom we can develop skills helping us deal with the extreme changes promised by the various Mutable T-squares involving Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, and various inner planet transits through Gemini creating Grand Mutable Crosses which will lead to a “Great Fracturing” this June.

You can find out all the astrophysical technical information about this eclipse from NASA Lunar Eclipse Page:

Here’s the timing on this event:

P1 Penumbral Eclipse Begins: 9:39:29 UT
P4 Penumbral Eclipse Ends: 13:54:50 UT

In the next parts, we'll explore the qualities of the Eclipse, the Sabian Symbols, the aspects, configurations, and other specifics of this powerful Penumbral Lunar Eclipse Full Moon in Libra-Aries. Check back in tomorrow!

For more about Eclipses in general, how they are timed for effects, and other seldom considered considerations (con = "to be with" + sider = "the stars"), please check out the previous article in this series Astrology in March 2016 - On The Threshold of a Penumbral Lunar Eclipse at 4 Libra-Aries

© Copyright 2016 Robert Wilkinson

Comments

[Nic]

Loved the "considerations (con=to be with + sider=stars). Fantastic!
Ready for the next post.
Blessings be to all.

[crimson]

All the friction and adjusting is exhausting, Robert. I wish I could crawl under a rock... wake me up when it's over...