by Robert Wilkinson
We have a Total Lunar Eclipse coming on May 26!
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."
Of major importance is this Eclipse coincides with the “Third High Moon” of the Northern Hemispheric Spring, where the “Buddha Wisdom” which came forth at the Wesak Festival Full Moon of Taurus/Scorpio begins to spread as a global wisdom teaching for the next year. We also had a Lunar Eclipse at 16 Sag/Gemini in 2020, so it would seem the World Teacher Festival at this time in history involves some things being taken away so other material may come in! I’ll explain more in the near future.
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 Full Moon Lunar Eclipse happens on 4:14 am PDT, 12:14 pm BST on May 26. The magnitude is strong and the duration is long. The penumbral phase of the eclipse lasts 5 hours and 2 minutes, while the umbral phase of the eclipse lasts 3h 07m, showing a general Eclipse effect for just over 5 months, with a very strong effect beginning a month from now lasting for 3+ months. Interestingly, this year we have strong Solar and Lunar Eclipses of relatively short duration, indicating powerful areas of Solar and Lunar shutdowns for an abbreviated period of time.
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 Total Lunar Eclipse at 6 Sagittarius/Gemini.
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, 2019, and 2020 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, What Is A Solar Eclipse and Whas Should We Expect? 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 penumbral magnitude is 1.009 and the umbral magnitude is1.0095, which is fairly bright, and because of its duration, it will last just over 5 months, with the middle 3 the most intense. The penumbral phase of the Total Eclipse begins at 8:48 UT, and ends at 13:50 UT on May 26. It will be visible in India, China, southeast Asia, Japan, Manchuria, the Philippines, Indonesia and west Oz at moonrise, and all of North, Central, and South America (except far northeastern Canada), as well as the Caribbean at moonset. It will be fully visible in the eastern 2/3 of Oz, all of NeZ, French Polynesia and across the Pacific, including Hawaii. Besides these regions of the world, it will also strongly impact all who have 3-9 Gemini, Virgo, Sag, and Pisces on the angles, or any planet in that part of the zodiac.
What Can We Expect From This Lunar Eclipse?
This Total Lunar Eclipse in Gemini-Sagittarius over the next few months will lead us to a new quest for knowledge we can express with skill as we master “the game of life.” This is about a new social or emotional Light expressing itself by skill and good will. This Eclipse will remove old ideas, truths, philosophies, and life trajectories helping us “see the light” of the future so we can reshape our mind and ideas to greet the “newly opened lands” we will confront these next several months. Many futures will be sacrificed as we “prune and shape” our expression in the coming Mercury retrograde.
This will remove many things very quickly, and while at times it will seem like “a liberating ordeal,” just consider it a rehearsal of a larger set of life closures opening us to our inner powers and “invisible help when human efforts seem to fail.” The outstanding feature of this Eclipse is the special evolutionary configuration involving the Eclipse Sun quintile Neptune with the Moon exactly tredecile Neptune, generating an extraordinarily fortuitous and serendipitous “gifting” to and from collective consciousness. Those who have trained their ego may find themselves performing “spectacularly” as they put on the show to educate others in some social or emotional discipline. There are other powerful configurations and aspects also happening, showing a time when what we’re eliminating will be integrative, harmonizing, and a real gift. I’ll get more into the aspects in future articles.
Whatever is taken away by this Eclipse makes space for many rewards and blessings promised before now. This one helps us shut down an old rule or obligation we took on in 2015, and whatever is removed makes space for whatever was promised by the December 2018 transit of this part of Sagittarius. As with all Eclipses involving Gemini and Sagittarius, this one offers us opportunities to grow in our ability to see a greater truth, law, or ethical standard, or a different way to see the many ways these can be interpreted or expressed. This Eclipse both shuts and opens doors. I’ll give you more specifics in the next articles in this series.
Though there are always endings associated with any Eclipse, these open up 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.
As this Lunar Eclipse is the “World Teacher Full Moon” of this year, it implies that this Eclipse will a) remove blocks to our ability to know a new global wisdom from many angles of understanding, and b) will shut down many rationalizations and abstractions in our past which would distort the wisdom to be embraced. This one will bring the Light to our search for knowledge since June 2020, expressed as a host of new possibilities and future expressions.
For some, this Lunar Eclipse will shut down a time of teaching and learning, and usher in a period of “doing” more than “being.” This will be a period which turns out much differently than we suspect, with new understanding of the past so we may re-shape our expression and how we show the world what we care about. Be alert, since from time to time we’ll be given the chance to “grab the brass ring” on our merry-go-round ride, and those who have skill will win the symbolic prize.
Over the next few months, find the knowledge you need to ensure “wealth and power in the future.” Find new ways of self-expression, keep the momentum in your own hands, see ways to integrate your sensitivity with your breadth of interests, and get a plan you’re willing to stick to. This is the time to embrace a “social-emotional education,” and assimilate various kinds of knowledge as you let go of abstract fears about the future. This will be an extraordinarily “fateful” Eclipse, quickening much, shutting down much, and freeing us from old illusions and procrastinating attitudes from the collective unconscious.
This Eclipse and the coming Solar Eclipse at 20 Gemini will send us on a quest for knowledge which we can share and compare with others as we get clear about our roles to play in our world. With the Sun in Gemini and the Moon in Sag, look at it as a quest for “enlightened ideas” or “enlightened speech,” and then give voice to a greater truth or ideal. Shed your fears, since there are huge rewards for courage and a short cut shows the way to fulfillment!
The 2019 Lunar Eclipses, as well as January 2020’s, were all in the Cancer/Capricorn axis. We have received great blessings for turning apparent defeats into forms of spiritual victory, and cultivated the ability to use the inconveniences of life for developing social values. This Lunar Eclipse is the third Eclipse in Gemini/Sagittarius, continuing to expand 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 2021 Gemini-Sagittarius World Teacher Total 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.)
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.
This is active through mid-2021
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.)
The next two are active through mid-2022
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).
This one has brought America to its knees! This Eclipse penumbral phase was 5 hours and 18 minutes, showing those effects are in play for 5 years and 3.5 months. The umbral phase, which is the most intense part, lasted 3 hours and 14 minutes, showing that would be in play for 3 years and 3 months. As the Eclipse fell on August 21, the most intense part of the Eclipse would last from then through (surprise!) November 2020! It’s safe to say America has been “eclipsed” between August 2017 and November 2020. The after effects will last through November 2022, the next national election.
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).
This is active through December 2021
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).
This was active through December 2020
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).
This is active through February 2022
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).
For more about the December 2019 Annular Solar Eclipse at 5 Capricorn, here’s The Annular Solar Eclipse of December 2019 at 5 Capricorn Pt. 2 - What’s Happening in January (and through mid-2025!) (Parts 1 and 3 have Sabian Symbols, aspects, Jones pattern, and all the other details about its qualities).
For more about the July 2020 Annular Solar Eclipse at 1 Cancer, here’s The Solstice New Moon Solar Eclipse of June 2020 at 1 Cancer Pt. 2 - What’s Happening in June-July (and through 2025!) (Parts 1 and 3 have Sabian Symbols, aspects, Jones pattern, and all the other details about its qualities).
For more about the December 2020 Total Solar Eclipse at 24 Sagittarius, here's The December 2020 New Moon Total Solar Eclipse at 24 Sagittarius Pt. 3 - Signs, Sabian Symbols, and What It All Means (Links to other articles in the series at the bottom of this one)
I’ll begin writing about the coming June 2021 Annular Solar Eclipse at 20 Gemini in about 2 weeks, so stay tuned.
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 Total Lunar Eclipse Full Moon!
© Copyright 2021 Robert Wilkinson
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