by Robert Wilkinson
This Solar Eclipse will put many people at a fork in the road of their destiny across several areas of life. This one has major quincunxes and triseptiles to both Neptune and Pluto, showing major adjustments and sacrifices globally, as well as crucial turning points for our world.
As you know from other articles, all eclipses shut something down, taking away elements of our lives no longer true for us. Over the next 3+ years we will go through endings while finding more appropriate ways to do our Being in the Leo arena of life. This Eclipse will show us our freedom and capacity to experience joy. Expect major transformations with this Eclipse, and remember to keep it balanced.
Leo is the sign of the Lion and our ability to rule our realm in a noble, loving way. It is the archetype of the King, or Queen, since all Leos are where “the buck stops.” They rule, for better or worse, and must act the best they’re able to be the representative of some Divine Order in their world. A Solar Eclipse in Leo takes away old forms of expression, leaving space for new ones; an old sense of order gives way to a new order, and old feelings and loyalties give way to new ones.
A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the Sun and Earth. The Moon blocks the light from the Sun and casts a shadow on Earth. In eclipse lore, where the Eclipse is visible will be where the greatest effects can be expected, lasting the number of years that the eclipse is long in hours.
Because this Eclipse lasts 3 hours and 29 minutes from start to finish of the penumbral phase, it’s of fairly short duration, so will have an impact of about 3 years and 6 months. As its magnitude is not that strong, it won’t be as dramatic as last year’s Eclipse in late Leo, but it will still work with that Eclipse to continue to shut down old parts of our Leo life so new forms can emerge.
Because an Eclipse conjuncts the Moon’s Nodal axis, the nodes are very important guides showing the line of greatest development and showing what we know. The NN shows the line of development, so because it is still in Leo, the challenge is to grow into a greater heart expression. Whether playful, creative, dramatic, or “sporting,” whether easy or difficult, grow in that direction.
Embrace children, or your inner child. You could even remember times when you “put on the show,” and grew in strength and courage. You could also be called on to “put on a show” in the future in ways that bring a greater social harmony or even “beatitude.”
SN in Aquarius helps eliminate old ideals and any obsolete ways of viewing group work or a greater good. It can also provide opportunities to express the heart energy of the NN in a group situation. Whatever is cleared out via the Aquarius SN will over time attract new forms of Leo expression and activities.
Look to the house where this Lunation falls to see what area of your life will be impacted, just as the houses where past Solar Eclipses fell have already been shutting down obsolete patterns since then. I gave you the link in yesterday’s article that will take you to links to past eclipses. And remember that whatever is taken away will create an attraction for something more appropriate to who you are now, and who you are becoming.
So What’s Happening Where?
This Partial Solar Eclipse happens 2:58 am PDT, 10:58 am BST on August 11. It will be visible only in far NE Canada, Greenland, Scandinavia, Russia, and all of NE Asia, including Mongolia, Japan, and eastern China. I’ve been using information from the NASA Solar Eclipse site for many years. In the past, they included a bunch of information about each eclipse, but now they’ve changed their site and it has relatively little scientific data about this eclipse.
More On the Influence of Eclipses
Besides the factor of where the shadow falls, in Astrology Eclipses are said to be most powerful when they conjunct the Sun, Moon, Ascendant, or Midheaven of a birth chart. When this happens it always brings endings related to the planets and sectors involved, but these can be of great benefit in clearing away old life factors which have no place in our future. As I have found this life, I believe that "something's lost and something's gained in living every day..."
Of course, besides these past echoes and the usual general effects, the Eclipse will also bring losses and endings where it falls in our individual birth charts. In an example I offered in the article explaining Solar Eclipses in general of how a loss can work to great benefit, if it conjuncts the Saturn in a birth chart, it can indicate the ending of old, lesser responsibilities, limitations, or fears, and open the being to a greater sense of purpose. If it conjuncts Jupiter, then it could show the ending of an old philosophy or belief system and open the gates to something far greater.
Given a Solar Eclipse is a New Moon, then like all Lunations that work their influence over time, it triggers events related to previous celestial events, and is triggered by subsequent transits to those points. For example, because of where the North Node is, we can assume this Eclipse at 19 Leo will have similar evolutionary energies as were present in Nov-Dec 1999, the last time the NN was in this part of Leo.
Summing Up
Given the mixed bag of aspects in this Eclipse which I’ll cover in greater detail in future article, we can expect some dramatic adjustments related to the friction of the octile series aspects coupled with the sacrifices indicated by the quincunxes. There’s not a lot of harmony promised by this Eclipse, but we will confront a lot of “forks in the road of destiny” wherever we have early Libra, early Taurus, and late Capricorn. Over the next 3 years, major transformations are promised by this Eclipse. Find joy when and how you can, see things from a balanced, elegant perspective, and look at your life from a higher perspective.
That’s why it’s good that Saturn continues to be a stabilizing and grounding force in this Eclipse, and has so many important aspects that if your inner Saturn function is healthy, you’re going to find yourself moving with the friction into a greater freedom to move in unfamiliar realms and enjoy yourself as you do. Whatever is taken away prepares us for future contributions in a larger life realm, so pay attention to who you’re attracted to, who’s working with you, who’s volunteering to work with you, and who possesses the skills needed for that larger group work.
While the North Node remains in Leo, these eclipses are productive for shutting down old Leo/Aquarius things and attitudes we no longer need, with the void opening new heart connections, new forms of natural living, new ideals to be realized, and new ways of being genuinely happy in our social milieu. We demonstrate these through the house where we have early Aquarius.
Remember that some endings are more a blessing than a problem. With this, we’ll take a look back, or remember times when we were freer and happier to be ourselves with others. This can eliminate any “social rigidity” we don’t need, and make our lives a lot easier to release creative potential. Whether saying goodbye or hello, remember that each ending creates a void that will be filled naturally in ways that are perfect for our evolved self.
We left the series of Virgo and Pisces Solar Eclipses behind in 2017 (except for dealing with the effects for some time to come). Since then we’ve been in our series of Leo and Aquarius Solar Eclipses, and the last one was the first involving Cancer. In 2016-2017 what was shut down opened the way to bless, forgive, forget, generate compassion, and get in training to use the Aquarian and Leo energies we’ve been dealing with since then in wise ways.
In the next part of the series, we'll explore how this Eclipse will manifest and its astrological components, including Sabian Symbols, which signs will be most affected, and more on the mixed energies at work in this Partial Solar Eclipse. This one will ultimately require some hard choices, and as we demonstrate our spiritual truths to our world, we will find forms of balanced, elegant mastery over the world of the 5 senses and the mind.
See you soon with the next article on this Solar Eclipse!
© Copyright 2018 Robert Wilkinson
Thank you. These eclipses have been the hardest of all.You said something would go down in June when you did my reading last December - well my entire life was uprooted.
Like an old tree pulled from the ground and left lying on the side of the road- roots exposed. The south node and mars have been conjuncting the fourth house cusp opposing the midheaven. It's an eery feeling of a ghost like nature. I feel I must have been stuck for a long time...and something this painful must be a very good thing...
and so i appreciate the greater understanding given in your recent articles.
Thanks again sharada devi
Posted by: Sharada Devi | August 09, 2018 at 06:33 AM