3.20.25 The Intro

We are now fully ensconced in the in-between space. The neither here nor there. The crevice hooked carefully between the winds of change. That is to say, we’re in the middle of eclipses.

Eclipse season happens twice a year and tends to bring the following contrarian qualities: amplification, dampening, augmentation and quick depletions. In eclipse season two doors in specific houses in our charts are swung open. Things saunter in. People slink out. Shadows wander through the entrance. Endings make their exit.

Hilma af Klint, The Swan, The SUW/UW Series, Group IX/SUW, No. 13, 1915, Oil on canvas, 148.5 x 151 cm
Courtesy The Hilma af Klint Foundation, Stockholm, HaK 161

Eclipses conceal the Sun and the Moon.

The lights give form and contour to all we see and experience on earth. That is to say, without the Sun and the Moon, the dawn ceases to dominate the night. Murkiness permeates and the clear shapes of our lives recede into shade. During eclipse season, we get to experience this gloaming as a rare juncture in time.

And when the lights (the Sun and the Moon) return to their normal rhythm, form gives way to function again. Except the form is now different. Because when the portal was open for this extended wink of eyes, the pieces of the image rearranged themselves. Walked out. Welcomed new parts. The clay was pinched and squeezed, separated and smushed back together, and recast anew as a vessel we’ll just be learning how to hold come early April.

In laymen’s terms, eclipse season brings change, new and yet often strange synchronicities and especially a sense of urgency for something to shift. This eclipse season is accompanied by not one, but two planetary retrogrades. I will give you a quick overview of important dates and degrees...

The Technical

Eclipses happen when there is a New or Full Moon within about 18° and 12° respectively of the Lunar Nodes; the points at which the perceived path of the Sun and the path of the Moon around the earth intersect.

The North and South Nodes during this eclipse season are hovering around 27° Pisces and 27° Virgo respectively.

The nodes will always be opposite one another in the zodiac, sort of like the North and South Pole of the earth, except the poles are constantly moving (albeit slowly). Other astrological factors aside, generally speaking, the closer an eclipse is to the Nodes, the more potent it will be.

Eclipses

Lunar Eclipse* March 13th @ 11:54pm PST at 23°Virgo
*Lunar Eclipses are Full Moons
Solar Eclipse** March 29th @ 3:57am PST at 9°Aries
**Solar Eclipses are New Moons

Venus

Stationed Retrograde March 1st @ 4:36pm PST at 9°Aries
Cazimi (conjoins the Sun/midpoint of the retrograde) March 22nd @ 6:07pm PST at 2°Aries
Stations Direct April 12th @ 6:02pm PST at 24°Pisces

Mercury

Stationed Retrograde March 14th @ 11:46pm PST at 10°Aries
Cazimi (conjoins the Sun/midpoint of the retrograde) March 24th @ 12:48pm PST at 4°Aries
Stations Direct April 7th @ 4:07am PST at 26°Pisces

The synchronous motion and meaning

You’ll notice if you examine the degrees listed above that Venus and Mercury are tracing almost the exact same path, stationing retrograde around 9-10° of Aries and stationing direct around 24-26° of Pisces. You’ll also notice that the first eclipse was at 23°Virgo, almost exactly opposite the point where Venus and Mercury will station direct. Additionally, we have the North Node hovering around 27°Pisces, amplifying and enhancing tenor of Venus and Mercury’s movements.

Translation: The area of your chart that was lit up by the first eclipse on March 13th will likely not begin to experience resolve and clear forward motion until mid-April when both Mercury and Venus station direct. We might also say that these retrogrades are very much tied into the eclipse story. The houses (or areas of life) that Mercury and Venus rule in your chart will play a part in the larger weaving of the Pisces/Virgo eclipses.

While eclipses often lend a large dose of novelty (or at least desire for it), retrogrades can usher in a tendency for nostalgia.

That said, currently there is quite a bit of attention towards what has happened, what didn’t happen, what could happen, or could have happened, all the while things are happening. It remains difficult during this moment to secure time for clear reflection without getting tangled up in our wistful projections. We might like to know what all the change means, grappling for a sense of certainty which feels always just beyond the limit of what we can reach.

Mercury has us desperately wanting to know.

Venus has us desperately wanting.

And so we drift…

The not-so-secret fourth thing

Amidst the stifling nostalgia and clamoring novelty is one long, sobering, and yet still grounding note: Saturn. The god of time has been lingering reservedly in Pisces since March 7th 2023. Finally in the last ten degrees of the fishes domain, Saturn anchors this eclipse season in a few ways.

Hilma af Klint, *The SUW/UW Series, Group IX/UW, The Dove, No. 3* (*Serie SUW/UW, Grupp IX/UW, Duvan, nr 3*), 1915. Oil on canvas, 155.5 x 115.5 cm. The Hilma af Klint Foundation, Stockholm

First, Saturn can feel like a drag. And not necessarily in a queenly way. Saturn makes the terrain tougher and the hurdles a bit higher. Whatever you are lifting - emotionally, mentally, or even physically - might feel like the heaviest thing. Remember, when you go to the gym, if you feel like you’re out of shape, you’re usually doing something right. Muscles don’t get stronger unless you work them. So don't necessarily give yourself a break but definitely ladle on the affirmation.

Second, Saturn slows us down. Stretches out the moment. Gives us the sensation that this overdoing effort is never going to end. But Saturn is also literally the god of endings. Saturn brings things to completion. Sends us over the finish line. If there is something you’ve been moving towards for a minute, see what happens when you tell yourself you’re almost there. Maybe the mental jumping jacks of knowing you’re in the last leg of this journey will get you to the top.

Finally, Saturn is serious. Saturn brings gravity to situations. This can mean that whatever you’re wandering through feels even more consequential than usual. This is a good thing. This impresses upon us the care we must muster towards a desirable outcome. This pushes us to be both courteous and committed, fair, yet also firm, and to be profuse in our ministry of each profound detail.

Saturn’s presence in the degrees where Venus and Mercury station direct indicates that the final word will be an enduring one.

This time is like a long round of oms leading to a profoundly meditative state. The note persists but your experience of it settles.

Whatever change you are making is a foundation built to remain. Amidst a moment where novelty and nostalgia are competing for the top prize, it is really lasting fortitude, patience and permanence that wins out.

So do your best to enjoy the fresh revelations and wistful reminiscence without becoming attached to a fragile sense of time. When you confront the fact that the fabric is fine as lace and easily torn, you are more inclined to savor the way it dances upon your skin.

Moreover, there is also an opportunity for alchemy. What of your impressions in this moment do you want to sustain? What ways of perceiving life would you really rather release? Saturn can be negative but Saturn’s presence also assists us in focusing our lens on the styles and situations we wish would survive while also heeding the reality that not everything unfolds according to our whims.

Saturn turns this capricious month into one with real roots.

Venus retrograde especially forces us to revisit the question “What do I want?” over and over again. Mercury retrograde introduces new information and reintroduces old news, changing the tone of the question and amending the urgency of the answer. But Saturn delivers us devotion. Saturn persists above precariousness. Saturn reassures us that we have a say in what survives and what we offer to sustain it.

So, if you are struggling to focus, if you are finding yourself constantly afflicted by new information, troubled by random impulse, or plagued by distraction, remember that it’s all fodder for a future you get to co-create. Do not neglect the rewards wrought by your stamina. Focus on the feelings which you would like to last and the components you can actually control. Let go of the rest. Let yourself be changed while you retain the best lessons and the most elegant parts.

The Outro

Throughout this extended between space, respect your tolerance but do not exploit it. Have dignity in your endurance but know there are some things you are not meant to endure. Look for longevity without abandoning the divinity of the current. If it’s meant to end, it wasn’t meant to last and you can’t stop the conclusion. If it’s meant to live on, nothing you do will kill it. So you might as well be in right relation as best you can.

NOVEL / NOSTALGIA : ON ECLIPSES