THE APRIL ECLIPSE!
There has been a lot of talk about the upcoming eclipse on Monday April 8th 2024 at 19.17 (UK). Eclipses happen a couple of times a year, every year. But this one has gained a lot of attention due to the fact that there a lot of planets in this area of the sky at the same time. This area of the sky in Tropical Astrology is Aries, (this is the 30 degrees of sky always linked to the start of Spring, the 30 degrees after the Spring Equinox, that is how Tropical Astrology rolls- it is completely anchored to the equinoxes and the solstices, the 4 cardinal points in the sky). In Vedic astrology the sky is still divided up into equal portions but the portions move 1 degree every 72 years because they account for the wobble of the Earth also known as the precessional equinox.
There has been a lot of bickering on social media about whether the eclipse is really in Aries or not. I wonder how many of these people could explain why they think it is or isn’t? I have had someone I know, someone who has no interest in Astrology send me links to websites and telling me the eclipse said to be occurring on April 8th is ‘impossible’. It is worth observing how it is easy to destroy and much harder to create. I am not actually upset with this person as they are a good friend, but it is a reminder for all of us that we can easily crush something, someone or ourselves, yet trying to create something or creating a relationship with someone or create a relationship with our inner self is far more of a challenge. Destruction is easier than Creating, but Creation is far more rewarding long term.
Eclipses are linked with challenging times, with beginnings and endings, the energy of the eclipse lasts up to 6 months and sometimes even a lifetime! They push things in a direction that they are already going in, so the best use of an eclipse is to check in with where you are in your life (and check your birth chart if you have any planets near to the eclipse or making aspects with the eclipse), and then gently focus on this area of your life. This north node eclipse is linked with the head of the dragon or ‘Rahu’ in Vedic astrology. The story of the dragon is about its head being disconnected with its body, which is linked with eating things up without realising that you’re already full. It is not only linked with food, this applies to anything you might be ‘eating up’, work projects, parties, friendship groups, gossip, so beware. Make sure you are directing your energy to where you want it to go. It is also wise to actually fast on the eclipse day- you could wait until the day after for feasting.
On Monday 8th April the Moon and Sun are both in Aries, along with the north node, Venus, Mercury and Chiron. Chiron was initially called an asteroid and is now classed as a minor planet and a comet. In Greek mythology Chiron was called the “wisest and justest of all the centaurs”. In astrology Chiron is known as the wounded healer and is linked to the time when we reach our 51st or 52nd birthday when we have hopefully healed a lot of our wounds and are then able to heal others, knowing that we will never heal all of our own wounds. Knowing that that is ok, it is part of this journey of life, maybe it is one of the keys? The Chiron glyph looks like a key when we see it on a birth-chart.
Soooo, this upcoming eclipse in Aries is a chance to move forward to a stronger self identity (North node in Aries); when this is done authentically and with a fiery passion, we are then available for helping others with their wounds (Chiron in Aries). The planet Mercury is also in retrograde at the moment, this happens 3 or 4 times every year and indicates a time for repairing things but not good for starting things. It would be good to look back to the last 6 months or year of your own life and continue to work on things that have been a bit of a struggle but that you know will ultimately be good for your own self development. It could be something that you have to do in order to be independent, or something that your heart is longing to do so that you are being your authentic self.
The eclipse will not be visible from the UK but will be from a lot of America, so I will be interested to see the difference between effects of the eclipse when it is visible and not, but whether we can see it or not the internal effects are real.
There is a great episode on The Astrology Podcast which deep dives into Eclipses:
This is a clip from the transcript of The Astrology Podcast number 423:
“Some indigenous cultures advise against looking at the eclipse, but of course some cultures have studied them meticulously and eclipses were one of the first major celestial events thousands of years ago where people realised the effects on Earthly matters were real because they noticed Kings dying and being born on Eclipses.
I want to talk about the Mesopotamian tradition here to set up some of the backdrop for the oldest recorded understanding of eclipses that goes back to the very beginning of the astrological tradition 4,000 years ago, to about 2000 BC. So eclipses may have been some of the earliest celestial omens that were recorded in Mesopotamia, which is where modern-day Iraq is roughly, where the Western astrological tradition started for all intents and purposes, or at least the foundation of the Western astrological tradition. So most of the early omens that were written down on cuneiform tablets—the earliest astrological omens that survive in written form—actually relate to eclipses, and very early on eclipses became associated with the deaths of kings and leaders. So one of the reasons for this is that there may have been these three different reigns of certain kings that ended, coinciding with an eclipse.
So there may have been three specific kings very early on in the Mesopotamian tradition who died at the same time that an eclipse took place. And one of the researchers I was reading, Huber, said if that was true and this was noticed over the course of a century, then of course the Mesopotamians are gonna start paying attention to this. And this could have been the thing… that acted as the core foundation of the astrological tradition, seeing this really momentous event of the end of a king’s dynasty and then having that coincide with a very visible solar or lunar eclipse in the sky at the same time. That would have then created the foundation for understanding the basic astrological principle, which is that there’s a correlation between celestial movements and earthly events. And from that point forward the Mesopotamians started to study and record those observations
between celestial movements and earthly events very intensely for many centuries, which is what eventually developed into the astrological tradition.”
Talking of celestial movements, the Moon and Jupiter will be visible together in the sky on Wednesday 10th April, the moon will be in its waxing crescent phase and being conjunct Jupiter this is a great time to use the Jupitarian, exuberant, expansive energy to enjoy something earth bound and comforting, maybe a lovely meal out with friends would be a good use of this energy to celebrate surviving the powerful eclipse earlier in the week !
And then on the 22nd April there will be a treat in the sky with the Lyrics meteor shower being active, with about 18 meteors per hour. The moon will be full again by then, so it may cause some glare. Good luck with spotting them, I would love to know if you do see any. My dad used to drag us out to see shooting stars when I was a kid- before I realised I was slightly short sighted, so I never managed to see them!