Eclipse 2017: The Beginning of the Pathway

As noted in the last post in mundane astrology there are always loads and loads of charts to consider. This is reasonable as one is not dealing with a single question as in a horary chart but with a collective. The more charts, the more detail and the more possiblity of observing a development. We will look here at a limited set of three charts for the first state that is in the eclipse path. These are the Grand Conjunction chart, the spring equinox 2017 chart and the eclipse chart for the capital of Oregon (Salem).

Traditionally an eclipse is an ominous event. What we want to look at here is what will the event leave as potential in its trail?

Salem, Oregon:

Salem, Oregon: Grand Conjunction, 28 May 2000, 16:05 GMT

Salem, Oregon: Spring Equinox, 20 March 2017, 10:29 GMT

Salem Oregon: Solar Eclipse 2017, 21 August 2017, 18:26 GMT

Where do we begin?

We will keep it simple at the moment and only look at the climatic condition. That means we will focus on the 1st house. It might be helpful to envision a best case and worst case scenario before you look at the charts. If for example we look at the climatic/geological situation; the best case is beautiful weather, the worst case is seismic activity, storm, floods or some other form of upheaval. For the latter to happen there must be strongly debilitated planets and these are triggered in most of the charts you look at. Generally you will find that nothing is triggered. The status quo is maintained. Nothing happens – or at least nothing noticeable.

No matter where you are the planetary alignments for each of the three charts is the same for any location on earth.The difference is in the angles and the house rulerships.That is where we will start. The chart for Salem, Oregon will look different from that of Columbia, South Carolina the state at the end of the eclipse path because the angles will be different.

Let us look at the angles (Note: only close aspects within 1 degree are considered here as significant). In the GC (Grand Conjunction) chart 25 deg 21 Cancer is on the Asc and 5 deg 08 Aries on the MC. Also on the angles are the nodes of the Moon (SN on Asc) and the Moon is 2 degrees from the MC. On the Spring Equinox (SEq) 06 deg 21 Capricorn is on the Asc and 04 deg 37 Scorpio on the MC. There are no planets on the angles. In the eclipse 2017 chart 25 deg 34 Libra is on the Asc and 01 deg 29 Leo is on the MC. There are no planets directly on the angles.

The GC Jupiter/Saturn at 22 deg 43 Taurus is not activated in the SEq or the eclipse chart.

There is only one trigger point and that is Venus at 24 deg 44 Cancer during the solar eclipse. The Asc of the GC chart is within one degree of conjunction. Venus is the highest elevated planet in the eclipse chart and is not debilitated (she is in her triplicity). She is also Lady of the Asc in the eclipse chart.

We might also want to note that the Moon the Lady of the Asc in the GC chart is in a similar position to that of Venus in the eclipse chart. She too is the most highly elevated planet and close to the MC.

What does all of this tell us about the condition of the land and its inhabitants – the 1st house? From what we can see the Asc of the GC is activated in the eclipse chart by Venus who is also Lady of the Ascendant in the eclipse chart. Venus is benevolent and not debilitated. She has accidental dignity by being the highest elevated planet and close to the MC. The land and its inhabitants are quiet and content – from the point of view of the climate. Nothing even close to the worst case scenario mentioned above is expected.

Prologue: The 2017 Solar Eclipse

I hope to look more closely at the 2017 solar eclipse before the event itself takes place! As you may have noticed posts have been few and far between since May 2014. Not without reason. But dear reader I haven’t forgotten you.

Here a few thoughts.

First. Mundane astrology is a convoluted affair. All of those charts.

Let me see.

For starters there is the last grand conjunction (Saturn/Jupiter), the last Jupiter/Mars conjunction, the vernal equinox for 2017, the previous solstice, the previous full moon and the eclipse chart itself  for the capital of the country ‘hosting’ the eclipse. In this case Washington D.C. Then there are the players that the ‘host’ country is involved with (Moscow, Beijing, Brussels, Riyadh, Teheran, Tokyo, Canberra, Brasilia, Damascus, the capital of your own country …).

Second. The reading of the charts commands maintaining a neutrality that is very difficult to achieve. Who isn’t tempted to write the sensational prediction of the decade and become the William Lilly of the 21st century? Who can look at the charts as if dealing with an historical event that took place ten years ago particulary in light, or in dark (?) of the path of the eclipse  (from the west coast of the United States to the east coast) and the current climate (political and otherwise)? Whose vision isn’t coloured by his or her background and expectations. An American will treat the eclipse differently than a Swede or someone from Vietnam.

Third. Where should the focus be and from whose standpoint. The people of the country, the leaders, the economy, the climate? If you consider these four you already have 12 different flavours of interpretation.

Let’s take the climate for example. Let’s call her Gaia. What is the expected interaction with the people of the country? Do they treat her well? How will she respond to their treatment? What about the economy? Will she wreak havoc with the countries trade in futures? What about the leaders? How do they view her? Is she respected? Does she respect them?

I wonder if I am up to it 🙂 Are you?

The 2009 Mars/Saturn Opposition and Koror

We have recently been looking at earthquake charts with respect to the Mars/Saturn conjunction, known traditionally as the Small Conjunction. The Great Conjunction is that between Jupiter and Saturn. I would like to continue the series on predicting critical periods and critical areas. Next year, on the 5th of April 2009, the opposition between Mars and Saturn takes place. This is an important astrological event particularly when we view seismic and meteorological phenomenon.

The question is to find where the foci of this particular configuration are. I will choose one region as there are a concentration of testimonies beginning with the January solar eclipse, continuing with the Aries Ingress of the Sun, the nearest lunation, the New Moon on March 26th, leading finally to the opposition itself on April 5th.

One region that in my estimation has a high probability of being a focus of tremendous natural forces is the island of Koror, east of the Philippines. Koror and the major city of the same name belong to the little heard of and mostly ignored Republic of Palau.

Dear reader, we will be analysing the above charts, with respect to the potential they show. Generally describing a thunderstorm and being in the midst of it are almost incomparable. The charts we look at, and our attempts to understand them can only be dry approximations of upcoming events, and we must always beware of habitually seeing only the worst scenario in them. We are allowed to worry though. And we are allowed to look at what happened and be relieved when the worst did not occur! Unfortunately if we hear anything of such remote regions, it is usually bad news, and without much differentiated description. Ideally someone who lives in this region should observe and record what really happens, to put flesh on the bones of the charts and to also give the right degree of perspective. Now to the charts:

Solar Eclipse, Jan. 26, 2009 Koror, Pacific 134e29 / 7n20, 7:54 GMT

The solar eclipse on January 26th is at 6 Aquarius 29. The IC for Koror during the eclipse is at 20 Libra 24. Mars at 22 Capricorn is close to the Descendant and is in square to the IC. He will form a conjunction with retrograde Mercury a few days later. Saturn forms a separating trine to Mars which ‘gentles’ things a little.

Aries Ingress, March 20, 2009 Koror, Pacific 134e29 / 7n20, 11:43 GMT

The IC at 6 Aquarius 01 of the Aries Ingress chart for Koror, picks up the solar eclipse position of Sun and Moon (also 6 Aquarius). The North Node is tucked inside the IC cusp (8 Aquarius), by April 5th, it will have moved to 6 Aquarius, in a sense reactivating the potential of the eclipse.

New Moon, March 26, 2009 Koror, Pacific 134e29 / 7n20, 16:05 GMT

The New Moon of March 26th seems to contain no threat. In fact the New Moon is in exact sextile to the solar eclipse position. No ‘heavy’ aspects seem to oppress the IC.

Let us go on to the Mars/Saturn opposition chart. Here the potentials of the last three charts seem to gather. First the chart itself. The IC is at 9 Virgo 22, with Saturn in the 4th house about 7 degrees away. The antiscion of Mercury exactly conjuncts the IC. Mercury itself is at 20 Aries 37, the domicile of Mars and is also parallel to both Saturn and Venus. The Mars/Saturn opposition, along with the Mercury antiscion conjunction on the IC, is enough to show turbulent weather with strong and destructive winds. The earth/water combination of the opposition could also increase the possibility of earthquake/tsunami activity. Now what really worries me are how the chart picks up on the previous New Moon, with the New Moon Mars conjunct the MC at 9 Pisces, in opposition to the Mercury antiscion on the IC. The New Moon IC conjuncts Mercury of the Opposition chart (20 Aries) as does the antiscion of New Moon Mars. And not only that. The MC of the solar eclipse is also here. And there is the IC (Aries Ingress) – Sun/Moon (solar eclipse) conjunction to the North Node. There is a lot of activity between Mercury, Mars, Saturn along with several IC interactions of eclipse, ingress and lunation. This means that we must keep an eye out for Koror and hope that some of the positive testimonies mentioned above will help to keep the elements more temperate.

Annus Tenebrosus: A Peek Behind the Scenes

A few weeks ago I asked myself how William Lilly came to his description of the effects of the eclipses for each of the decanates. I decided to try formulating these without looking and then using his text as a control text. I chose the first decanate of Gemini and of Sagittarius for my experiment. The background is of course to try to understand the effects of the Nodes in each of the signs, with a more detailed breaking down to the terms, which I hope sometime (not anytime too soon!) to present.

I went about it in the following way: consider the sign, the ruler, the decan ruler and any debilities.

Here is what I came up with:

Gemini: 1st Decan – Mercury sign ruler, Jupiter decanate ruler, Jupiter in detriment
Storms with much wind and rain. Difficulties for those of both mercantile and learned professions, such as writers, lawyers, doctors, but also bankers and merchants. Damage through increased criminal activity. Why? Gemini is a human sign. Both Mercury and Jupiter rule learning and learned professions. Mercury also rules mercantile activities. Jupiter in detriment, breaking of laws, together with Mercury, crime and theft.

Sagittarius: 1st Decan – Jupiter sign ruler, Mercury decanate ruler, Mercury in fall and detriment
Criminal activity under legal cover. Cheating and fear of cheating. Deceit in legal matters, either through legislature or in treaties with other nations. Hoaxes, confidence schemes, corporate fraud. The first part of Sagittarius is the more human or rational part, so this still points to activity in the human sphere. Here it is not so much the breaking of laws, but the twisting of law, its use to cover up crime. You could say a rotten core is presented with a clean facade.

What does Lilly say?

“Eclipses in the ten first degrees of Gemini, stir up dissentions, strifes, seditions amongst those we call priests, and all manner of merchants and mechanicks of every order, or any quality that is amongst them; deadly hatred, contempt of lawes, neglect of piety and holy duties doth also follow, so also breach of covenant.”

“An eclipse in the first ten degrees…of Sagittarius, doth manifest most dangerous sedition amongst men, and renders men’s minds averse to all manner of accommodations, or treaties: each man fearing deceit in the man he deals with, or one Prince fearing another will delude him.”

I think that this is the right track in understanding how Lilly or some other author, if Lilly is using an unspecified source, came to these particular conclusions.

Try it out yourself! Anybody want to try the first decanate of Pisces? or Virgo? or continue with the second decanate of Gemini or Pisces? (keeping to the mutable cross)

Solar Eclipse and New Moon (2)

A solar eclipse is a New Moon with an extra twist. A third actor enters into this cosmic drama, one of the nodes, and everything seems to reverse itself. It is not the Moon that disappears, it is the Sun. It is not night, it is day. If the Moon where a coin with a dark side and a light side, it seems as if she has been flipped over. The dark side becomes light, the light side dark. What is hidden is revealed. The potential of the New Moon is potentized, it is raised a power, so to speak.

There is an often used metaphor that if a planet in a natal chart is conjuncted by one of the planets of the pre-natal eclipse it can be considered to be “plugged into” the cosmic condition of that time. This “plugging in” is between the two potential states of growth and decay that the regular New Moon brings and the potential given by choice. Choice here is between the dark side or the light side of the “coin” mentioned above. An eclipse is not fortunate in the general sense of the word. So dear reader, if you find one of the planets or sensitive points in your chart activated by an eclipse planet, this does not mean that you will be more fortunate than others. It is more likely that you will in the course of your life be confronted more often with serious choices. Life is not any easier than it is for anybody else but it may have more intensity. This is one reason why the study of eclipses in the charts of notable people is so important. Activated planets are easily located and help us to understand how the serious choices in their lives came to realization.

Nina Gryphon in her weblog (see my Blogroll) made an interesting point in a recent post (19 Sept. 2006): “The problem is that Eclipses are like a raw infusion of power into a chart, and not many people are prepared to deal with them appropriately, so usually the person is the unwitting victim of something unpleasant. The solar energy will make itself known one way or another. ”

This “raw infusion of power” is in a sense the battle on one side between the New Moon which is fructified by the Sun and the Dark Moon which greedily tries to absorb the light of the Sun. Older cultures speak of a battle between the Sun, the Moon and the Dragon. It is said that the Dragon can only be defeated by the Sun and the Moon together. We will look closer at this in the series on the “Eclipse and its Dragon”.