by Robert Wilkinson
In part 1 we discussed how no Eclipse should be regarded as “bad,” since they are Cosmic Recyclers who remove what we no longer need in our lives. While there are always endings and losses in areas influenced by an Eclipse, it creates a void that is sure to be filled by Life itself. These Eclipses in Cancer, Leo, and Aquarius will help us clear out things in our lives related to these signs we no longer need or want.
We ALL have at least 4 Eclipses falling somewhere in our charts each year, and since Solar Eclipse effects often last between 3 to 5 years, you can see how these Cosmic Recyclers operate continuously to remove old parts of our lives so newer potentials can present themselves. As a result of Eclipses since 2013, we are still dealing with endings in houses where we have Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Pisces, Aries, and Taurus.
The coming Total Lunar Eclipse at 5 Leo and Aquarius will affect houses where we have those signs for many months to come, just as the recent Solar Eclipse at 21 Cancer and the coming Solar Eclipse 19 Leo will affect houses where we have those signs for a few years to come. The coming Total Lunar Eclipse’s Penumbral phase will last 6h 14m and the Umbral phase 3h 55m, showing a very strong effect for the next 3 months and 29 days, with a larger general influence for the next 6 months and 7 days. The coming Partial Solar Eclipse at 19 Leo is fairly weak, and lasts for 3h 28m, showing a weak influence for about 3 ½ years.
In the past, we’ve had some VERY strong Solar Eclipses whose effects we’ve seen in history. The very heavy Solar Eclipse in Leo last August picked up where the major Solar Eclipse in Leo in 1999 left off, but with better aspects! The 1999 Eclipse had a very difficult Grand Fixed Cross involving the Lights, Mars, Saturn, and Uranus, and was associated with the stolen election in 2000 and that administration plunging a world region into perpetual war and the subsequent humanitarian crises that continue to this day. (To clarify, as I explained in part 1, these were not “destined,” but the result of human free will applied to evil ends. I’m sure some turned that Eclipse to good ends.)
Anyway, as I promised you in part 1, today we’re going to discuss how some past Eclipses affected me. I had an eclipse fall on my Ascendant in 1989. As with all eclipses, it did bring many things in my life to an end. However, it also opened an 18 year period of working in California and eventually moving there around the end of the Eclipse effects time line. Did my old life in Austin begin to end? Yes. Was it "bad?" No.
(Note: this powerful Lunar Eclipse also falls near my Ascendant/Descendant axis. So I’m sure some things will end these next few months, most likely things from my past (Moon) I no longer need to hold on to.)
Necessary endings lead to powerful beginnings and manifestations of destiny if we ride the wave rather than resist it. When the 1989 Eclipse conjuncted my Ascendant, I had been in a period of deep grief, frustration, and feeling a profound lack of fulfillment in my life since I had "been there, done that" for longer than anyone else I knew. I felt I had fulfilled my potential in Texas, and having just completed my first trip to California, I couldn't figure out what my past, present, or future held for me.
The 1989 Leo eclipse ended that phase and opened me to an entirely new healing process and work that resulted in my sponsoring a national media event that opened the door for thousands of men to express their feelings. The men’s gatherings and groups I helped create moved my grief work into a much more effective process, and gave me a sense of my life being in motion again after a long period of being dead in the water in several areas of my life. I have written about this across the years every January 9.
That eclipse trined my Sun, opposed my Moon, and made other aspects that definitely showed the energies that fortold how they would manifest. It kicked off a very harmonious beginning of a long chapter in my life. While I've had other challenges (remember all challenges are our eternally human "grist for the mill of Soul") it's easy to see that my life before the 1989 Eclipse was radically different than what I've been experiencing since then.
I have no doubt that some endings are very much a blessing. After the 1989 eclipse on my Ascendant, my intense grief resolved itself within 2 years of that event and I no longer suffered the roller coaster of feeling like I was shipwrecked in hell. I ended old heart constrictions (Leo) and understood clearly my need for more creativity and connectedness with life in ways that made me feel good.
In the time after that eclipse, I started making money and having fun in sunny SoCal hitting the beach on a regular basis, and opened a much wider circle of friends. I was more appreciated for my skills than I had been in years, and so yes, it DID "shut down" an old self-image and matters of the heart while opening me to more love and appreciation of my life, friends, and clients than I had known for years. All in all, that eclipse on my Ascendant began a very enjoyable long wave period of my life that opened many doors and changed my life and the way I saw myself and others forever.
You can apply this in other ways, For example, the one conjunct my Sun in 1997 ended a frustrating life struggle and coincided with my book A New Look at Mercury Retrograde breaking to international acclaim. That was also the time that I said goodbye to Austin, sold my home there, filed divorce papers and ended a very one-sided marriage, and by the end of that year, had met a living Saint (Ammachi) and gotten together with my best friend and sweetheart I’m still married to after 21 years.
As noted, we’ve had many Solar Eclipses in other signs these past few years, and have an entire set every 19 years, mas o menos. Since the Summer of 2012 we’ve had NN in Scorpio, Libra, Virgo, and Leo, with SN in Taurus, Aries, Pisces, and Aquarius. Each of these had at least two Solar and two Lunar eclipses, with each marking a point of leaving something behind and embracing a line of new growth, even if these were difficult at the time.
The Scorpio Eclipses of 2012-2013 fell in my 4th. I certainly left behind many old 4th house feelings, memories, and childhood patterns during and after that time, and followed through on my 10th house Taurus responsibilities. The Libra Eclipses fell in my 3rd, and 2014-2015 was the period when I began writing and rewriting books again, preparing them for publication (9th house).
The Virgo NN Eclipses fell in my 2nd, conjunct my Saturn, and it’s safe to say that those 2016 Eclipses propelled my Saturn book to the forefront! That also meant the Pisces SN facilitated my follow through in letting go of an old life, old possessions, and releasing old values I shared with my world, as well as living in a location that was literally destroying my health and killing me. (8th house).
The February 2017 Solar Eclipse in Pisces fell on the cusp of my 7/8 houses, and certainly, my entire life has been quickened since then, and I’ve let go of more than I could have imagined, including old ways of seeing others. It coincided with my past of 2007-2017 being uprooted, with my life transported 500 miles at breathtaking speed to a place that is far healthier and happier for me. Last August’s Leo Solar Eclipse fell in my first, and yes, elements of my old self-image and way of looking at the world have already ended or begun to end.
Still, remember how the aspects in an eclipse configure in your chart! That Leo Eclipse trined my Mercury, Mars, and MC, and Venus made a powerful trine to my Jupiter and sextile to my Saturn. The Grand Fire Trine configured well in my chart, as did Mercury retrograde at 9 Virgo. A look back leads to a look forward, and reworking plans has led to inspiration.
There are usually some very favorable ways any Eclipse affects a natal chart, so please take a look at the actual aspects being made to your planets. Last Summer’s Total Solar Eclipse is going to be VERY beneficial for many, despite the losses accompanying this event. The coming Total Lunar Eclipse also has some great aspects which I’ll go into next week.
Regardless of where any of these Eclipses fall in your chart, it’s just the next step in you letting go of something you no longer need and which does not feed your evolution. There are countless ways an eclipse can manifest, depending entirely on what we're doing in our world.
So take heart, and stop worrying about possible negatives to come after this or any eclipse. It is better to apply yourself wholeheartedly to letting go of what you no longer need physically, emotionally, and mentally, and embrace the adventure of breathing out the old life substance so you can breathe in some newer, more fulfilling future tendencies. Any eclipse shows us it's time to empty our cup of old substance, and welcome the ambrosia of a new Life that could be ours.
© Copyright 2018 Robert Wilkinson
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