by Robert Wilkinson
We have a Penumbral Lunar Eclipse coming on January 10!
As I've offered you before, no eclipse of itself is "bad," nor do we have anything to fear. There is a lot of superstition about Eclipses, mostly focusing on "dreadful" or difficult elements that often seem to accompany them. However, while all eclipses take something away and/or shut something down, an Eclipse can have beneficial effects if we just know "when to hold 'em, when to fold 'em, when to walk away, and when to run."
Eclipses are both dreaded and misunderstood recurring phenomena. Solar Eclipse effects usually last for several years, while Lunar Eclipse effects usually last for a few months.
This Penumbral Lunar Eclipse happens on 11:21 am PST, 7:21 pm GMT on January 10. The magnitude is weak and the duration is long. The entire eclipse lasts 4h 4.5m, showing a weak effect for the next 4+ months. Interestingly, this year we have strong Solar Eclipses and weak Lunar Eclipses, indicating powerful areas of Solar shutdowns for the next few years, with extended but not powerful areas of Lunar shutdowns.
Today we'll discuss a lot about eclipses in general and a little about this one, as well as who is most affected and where. In following articles I'll elaborate on symbols, aspects, patterns, and what we can expect from this Penumbral Lunar Eclipse at 20 Capricorn-Cancer.
Eclipses Are Not Bad – They Recycle What We No Longer Need In Our Lives
While Lunar eclipses shut down parts of our lives for a few months, Solar eclipses shut down parts of our lives for years after they occur. There are many articles on past eclipses in the archives that bear re-visiting, since the Solar Eclipses of 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 are still manifesting results, if traditional Eclipse lore is to be believed. Core material about the timeline of Eclipse effects can be found in the article, The Solar Eclipse - What It Means and Its Effect On Our Life, as well as many other elements of what we can expect from these recurring celestial events. Links to recent eclipses are at the bottom of this article.
As I offered in that article, eclipses are “Cosmic Recyclers,” removing what is over and done in our lives. While eclipses shut down some elements in the area of life (house) in which they fall, this is needed for growth, since we must bring some things to an end if we are to embrace newer, better ways of doing our Being.
No Astrological event need be "bad," or have "evil" effects, regardless of whether we're using Vedic, Chinese, Western, or any other approach to figuring out cycles within "All-That-Is." Though a circumstance may seem to have "bad" omens for the future, we can always transcend any negativity and turn the future to beneficent possibilities if we find the right point of view. No matter where an Eclipse falls, we can turn it to good.
Favorable ways to use Eclipse energies can be seen by the aspects in eclipse charts as they impact our natal and progressed planets. And because time is an unbroken continuum, we can anticipate what is ending and let it go with grace and a sense of surrendering to a greater life in the becoming.
The choices we make at crucial astrological junctures bring pleasurable or painful circumstances, depending on what we need to learn. These choices are directly related to how evolved our planetary responses are. As I explain in my book Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend, each planet has a duality of function. It is up to us to determine whether our Moon, Sun, Mercury or any other natal planet involved in eclipses, "bad" aspects, and configurations manifests productively or non-productively.
Where and When Is This Lunar Eclipse Visible?
From the NASA site, we see the magnitude is -.11, which is extraordinarily dim, even though it lasts for several months. The Penumbral Eclipse begins at 17:08 UT, and ends at 21:12 UT on January 10. It will be visible in northeast Canada and west Africa at moonrise, and central and east Oz, south Alaska, and Papua New Guinea at moonset. It will be fully visible in Europe, central and north Africa and the Middle East, all of Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and western Oz. Besides these regions of the world, it will also impact all who have late Cancer and Capricorn on the angles, or any planet in that part of the zodiac.
What Can We Expect From This Lunar Eclipse?
This Penumbral Lunar Eclipse in Cancer-Capricorn over the next few months will lead us to new group activities which are a type of “dress rehearsal” for tasks to be done and adventures to be embraced later this year, expressed in festive natural ways where everything plays its appointed role and a good time is had by all! This Eclipse will remove old sentimentalities and unnecessary personality traits from our lives, and with the Sun coming off its Superior Conjunction with Mercury and both conjunct Saturn and Pluto, the next few months will be radically transformational, purifying for some, devastating to others.
This will remove many things very quickly, with new opportunities, truths, and openings to come when Jupiter transits 20 Capricorn at the end of February and early March. We can expect dramatic eclipse effects, whether recycling or a leap into something new, in mid-March when Mars transits the Solar degree of this Eclipse. Again, with Jupiter transiting the Eclipse Solar degree all year, the cleanout will be big in many ways, but structured and necessary for us to take full advantage of the massive restructuring promised by the multiple conjunctions to Saturn and Pluto in January and March!
Whatever is taken away by this Eclipse makes space for many rewards promised before now. This one helps us adapt the skills we’ve been practicing since last April, and/or brings us news based in how we’ve been training for group work to come. As with all Eclipses with a planet in Cancer, this one offers us opportunities to grow in our ability to care for something or someone as part of our quest for basic understanding of life, using festive means to enjoy everything playing its proper part in some sort of integration using that which generates happiness. I’ll give you more specifics in the next articles in this series.
Though there are always endings associated with any Eclipse, these open the space we need to align with Spirit in natural and productive ways. Take a new look to see what really matters and what you do and do not want to bring with you into the new world opening before your very eyes.
The Light you’ve glimpsed or expressed these past 2 weeks since the Solar Eclipse has been leading you to a new honesty, mobilizing in some way to finish the old while getting ready to enter new forms of public activity. There will be great opportunities to bring Light into dark situations, and hope where there is none. This is a time to sound a “counter tone” to any sense of pessimism or despair, since we can always choose to generate goodwill within us and radiate it to our world, regardless of outer circumstances.
This Lunar Eclipse will shut down our time of rehearsal, and bring us opportunities for added commitments to serve a greater ideal. Cut loose from old rules, roles, and limitations. Shed your fears, since there are huge rewards for courage! We will have many chances to express the wisdom, dispassion, and poise we’ve cultivated since late November, so give thanks you made it through your training and now can express yourself naturally.
The Summer Lunar Eclipse gave great blessings to those who understood that old defeats have become forms of spiritual victory, and cultivated the ability to use the inconveniences of life for developing social values. This Lunar Eclipse continues the general Capricorn/Cancer themes, compressing the focus of our activities as we stand on the intersection of Fate Street and Free Will Street at a corner on Eternity Boulevard. Whatever is taken away over the next few months will be replaced with a greater life enjoyment perfect for where we’re at now.
See you soon with more on this 2020 Capricorn-Cancer Penumbral Lunar Eclipse!
Past Solar Eclipses
These were all active for 2 to 5 years.
For more about the November 2011 Sagittarius Solar Eclipse with links to the 2011 Gemini Solar Eclipse, please check out The Solar Eclipse at 3 Sagittarius November 24-25, 2011 Pt. 3 - Signs, Sabian Symbols, and What It All Means. (You can follow the internal links in this article to the previous articles about this specific Eclipse.)
For more about the May 2012 Gemini Annular Solar Eclipse, here’s The Solar Eclipse at 1 Gemini May 20-21 2012 Pt. 3 (You can follow the internal links in this article to the previous articles about this specific Eclipse.)
For more about the 2012 Scorpio Total Solar Eclipse, here’s The Total Solar Eclipse at 22 Scorpio Nov 13-14, 2012 Pt. 3 - Signs, Sabian Symbols, and What It All Means. (You can follow the internal links in this article to the previous articles about this specific Eclipse.)
For more about the 2013 Taurus Solar Eclipse, here’s The May 2013 Solar Eclipse in Taurus Pt. 3 – How Will This Lunation Affect Us? (As with the previous links, follow the internal links in this one to the previous articles about this Eclipse)
For more about the 2013 Scorpio Solar Eclipse, here’s A Hybrid Solar Eclipse New Moon in Scorpio Pt. 2 – What’s Happening in November 2013 as well as 2014-2015-2016. (link to pt. 1 at the bottom of that article. Pt. 3 has the Sabian Symbols.)
For more about the 2014 Taurus Solar Eclipse, here's The New Moon Solar Eclipse in Taurus Pt. 2 - What’s Happening in May 2014 (Part 3 elaborates on the Sabian Symbols and other factors.)
For more about the 2014 Scorpio Solar Eclipse, here's The October 2014 Solar Eclipse in Scorpio Pt. 3 – Signs, Sabian Symbols, and What It all Means (Links to other articles on the Eclipse at the bottom of this post.).
For more about the March 2015 Total Solar Eclipse at 30 Pisces, here’s The Total Solar Eclipse at 30 Pisces Pt. 3 (You can follow the internal links in this article to the previous articles about this specific Eclipse.)
This is active through February 2020.
For more about the September 2015 Partial Solar Eclipse at 21 Virgo, here’s The Partial Solar Eclipse at 21 Virgo Pt. 3 (though there are no links to previous articles in that Eclipse series, you can find them in the articles posted in the week before this link).
These are still active at this time.
For more about the March 2016 Total Solar Eclipse at 19 Pisces, here’s The Total Solar Eclipse at 19 Pisces Pt. 2 (though there are no links to any other articles in that series, you can find them just before and just after this one.)
For more about the September 2016 Annular Solar Eclipse at 10 Virgo, here’s The Annular Solar Eclipse at 10 Virgo Pt. 2 (though there are links to previous articles in that series, you will have to go to part 3 to find the Sabian symbols, Jones pattern, aspects and more.)
For more about the February 2017 Annular Solar Eclipse at 9 Pisces, here’s The Annular Solar Eclipse on February 26, 2017 at 9 Pisces Pt. 2 - What’s Happening in February-March 2017 (and through 2022!) (You’ll have to go to parts 1 and 3 to find out the Sabian Symbols, aspects, Jones pattern, and all the other details about its qualities).
For more about the August 2017 Total Solar Eclipse at 29 Leo, here’s The Total Solar Eclipse of August 2017 at 29 Leo Pt. 2 - What’s Happening in August-September 2017 (and through 2022!) (You’ll have to go to parts 1 and 3 to find out the Sabian Symbols, aspects, Jones pattern, and all the other details about its qualities).
For more about the February 2018 Partial Solar Eclipse at 28 Aquarius, here’s The Partial Solar Eclipse of February 2018 at 28 Aquarius Pt. 2 - What’s Happening in February-March 2018 (and through 2022!) (You’ll have to go to parts 1 and 3 to find out the Sabian Symbols, aspects, Jones pattern, and all the other details about its qualities).
For more about the July 2018 Partial Solar Eclipse at 21 Cancer, here’s The Partial Solar Eclipse of July 2018 at 21 Cancer Pt. 2 - What’s Happening in July-August 2018 (and through 2020!) (Again, go to parts 1 and 3 to find out the Sabian Symbols, aspects, Jones pattern, and all the other details about its qualities).
For more about the August 2018 Partial Solar Eclipse at 19 Leo, here’s The Partial Solar Eclipse of August 2018 at 19 Leo Pt. 2 - What’s Happening in August-September 2018 (and through February 2022!) (Parts 1 and 3 have Sabian Symbols, aspects, Jones pattern, and all the other details about its qualities).
For more about the January 2019 Partial Solar Eclipse at 16 Capricorn, here’s The Partial Solar Eclipse of January 2019 at 16 Capricorn Pt. 2 - What’s Happening in January 2019 (and into 2023!) (Parts 1 and 3 have Sabian Symbols, aspects, Jones pattern, and all the other details about its qualities).
For more about the July 2019 Total Solar Eclipse at 11 Cancer, here’s The July 2019 Total Solar Eclipse at 11 Cancer Pt. 2 - What’s Happening in July 2019 (and through Spring 2024!) (Parts 1 and 3 have Sabian Symbols, aspects, Jones pattern, and all the other details about its qualities).
You can find more about the recent December 2019 Annular Solar Eclipse at 5 Capricorn by going to the archives two weeks before this article.
In answer to questions about why I don’t include the Lunar Eclipses from years past in this section, it’s because their effects are usually only for a few months, and so they’ve completed their work long before many long lasting Solar Eclipses. If you’re interested, you will always find what I wrote a couple of weeks before or after the Solar Eclipses, depending on when the Lunar Eclipses fell in those years. They’re all in the archives.
See you soon with part 1 of the 3 part series on this Penumbral Lunar Eclipse Full Moon!
© Copyright 2020 Robert Wilkinson
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