Rose's Astro Academy | An Astrology Podcast

E09 Understanding Eclipses

September 11, 2024 • Rose Potts • Episode 9

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In this episode of Rose's Astro Academy, we’re breaking down eclipses from multiple angles. We’ll start by explaining what an eclipse is from an astronomical standpoint, then dive into how ancient astrologers interpreted these celestial events. We'll also explore how modern astrology has overhyped and misunderstood eclipses, often amplifying their importance without enough nuance.

Next, we’ll cover how you can tell if an eclipse is likely to be a significant event for you, based on your birth chart. Finally, we’ll discuss the key differences between solar and lunar eclipses—what each type represents and how they can manifest in your life. This episode is designed to provide a clear, balanced understanding of eclipses without exaggeration, so you can approach them with insight and awareness.

Eclipse Date and Time:

https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/

Calculate Your Birth Chart:

https://horoscopes.astro-seek.com/birth-chart-horoscope-online

Website: rosesastroacademy.com

Book a reading: rosesastroacademy.com/readings

Podcast Transcripts: rosesastroacademy.buzzsprout.com

Contact: rosesastroacademy@gmail.com

Instagram: @rosesastroacademy (just changed from @astro.hooper)


Speaker 1:

Hello and welcome to episode 9 of Rose's Astro Academy, where we demystify the system of astrology piece by piece. This week for our topic episode, we are talking about eclipses. As we're approaching the Pisces lunar eclipse next week on September 17th and 18th I thought it was perfect timing to do a topic episode breaking down eclipses generally, and our next episode will specifically look at this Pisces eclipse. We're going to talk about what an eclipse is from an astronomical standpoint, how ancient astrologers saw eclipses, how eclipses have been overhyped and misunderstood in the modern day, how to tell if an eclipse is going to be a big deal for you based on your birth chart, and finally, how we can understand the difference between a solar and lunar eclipse. So, to start off, what is an eclipse?

Speaker 1:

Eclipses occur about four times per year, always in duos spaced about two weeks apart. So we're getting another eclipse on October 2nd. So we're getting another eclipse on October 2nd, for example, after our eclipse on September 17th. And they happen at the new and full moon, when the moon's orbit intersects with the path of the sun. So in astrology we have something called the lunar nodes. These are the south node and north node. Their symbol looks like a horseshoe, if you've ever looked at your birth chart, I'm sure you've seen them. They mark these intersection points between the moon's orbit and the path of the sun, which is called the ecliptic. So an easy way to tell when an eclipse is about to happen is when we see a new or full moon that's going to occur within close range of these nodes on the zodiacal wheel. What happens when the moon's orbit crosses the ecliptic the path of the sun on a new or full moon is that we get a partial or full blockage of either the sun or the moon. A solar eclipse happens on a new moon and here the moon passes between the earth and the sun. With a total solar eclipse, the moon will fully block out the sun and it will get dark for a couple of minutes if this happens during the daytime. If you live in Canada or the States, we just had a total solar eclipse in April and it was the first time in my life that I got to see it in person and it was an extraordinary experience. We're going to get into this more in a bit when we talk about how ancient astrologers viewed eclipses, but if you've ever seen a total solar eclipse and had that incredible experience of how it felt to watch the sky go dark in the middle of the day, then that's a really good caliber to help put yourself in the shoes of ancient astrologers and how they thought about eclipses when they were developing this system and giving meaning to this astrological event.

Speaker 1:

Now a lunar eclipse happens at a full moon, when the earth passes between the sun and moon and casts earth's shadow onto the moon. This will make the moon look blood red in the sky. So with solar eclipses, we have total eclipses, where the sky will actually go dark because the sun is completely obscured, and then we have annular eclipses, where a ring of sun is poking out from behind the moon, and then partial eclipses, where the moon partially blocks the sun, and this would also be true for lunar eclipses, where we have total, partial, etc. Now, knowing that there are these different types of eclipses is a very important distinction that I feel we've really lost in our current discourse around eclipses. A total eclipse was said to be much more powerful in the changes that it signified compared to a partial eclipse, and in my opinion, that is something that we seem to have lost in modern discourse around eclipses. It seems like every single eclipse is very overhyped and said to be a really big deal, and it's simply not the case. When we think about the fact that there are usually four eclipses every year, it's just not the case that every single eclipse is a big deal. And eclipses can be a big moment collectively for a nation and they can be a big moment on an individual level, and part of what I'm going to do in this episode today is help you understand how to interpret those nuances.

Speaker 1:

There's a website that I love. I'll link it in the show notes. It's called Eclipse Date and Time and it tells you the upcoming eclipses, what type of eclipse it's going to be, whether it's going to be partial, total, etc. And where in the world it will be visible. The geographic visibility of an eclipse is really important when determining how significant an eclipse is going to be. If it's a partial eclipse that's not even visible over your geographic region, then that eclipse is much more likely to be a little blip coming through like a little energetic wave. But if it's a total eclipse and it's visible over your region, like the one a lot of us in North America had in April, then that is a very significant eclipse.

Speaker 1:

Now, originally, eclipses were read as foretelling omens on behalf of kings and nations. This was way back thousands of years ago, before astrology was even used on an individual level. The king would have astrologers on his council who used astrological events to foretell omens for the fate of the kingdom, and eclipses were really close to the top of the list for the significant omens that these astrologers would use. It's no surprise. Imagine you're in this ancient kingdom and you're at war and you're going into battle the next day. Now imagine that the night before that battle there was a blood red full moon, a lunar eclipse. Would that bode well for your upcoming battle, or could that be seen as a sign that things could go wrong? Similarly, imagine you're in the middle of a battle and all of a sudden the sky goes dark in the middle of the day. These ecliptic events really make us stop in our tracks and behold the sky with wonder. So ancient astrologers gave meaning to the eclipses that they marked big faded turning points in our lives and in the unfolding of nations. And when I say they gave meaning to, it was more, that they noticed the connection between these ecliptic events and then big, significant faded turning points happening.

Speaker 1:

In ancient times, eclipses were said to mark big collective upheaval events like the rise and fall of kings, especially when we have that big, significant total solar ecliptic event that occurs over a nation, that can be seen from that nation. Solar eclipses in particular were associated with the downfall of a ruler, and this is because the sun in ancient astrology, amongst other things, symbolized the king, the ruler, the person and authority. And with a solar eclipse, the sun is being temporarily blocked or blotted out by the moon and the moon is seen as the ruler of fate. So there's a very clear, cut and dry symbolism that showed them wow, okay, the ruler is being blotted out by fate, so it represents the downfall of a ruler. And what I find really interesting is that we had that significant total eclipse over the states in April.

Speaker 1:

And total solar eclipses are actually quite rare. They don't happen often and when they do happen, they happen over a specific region of the world, so most of the world doesn't see them, only like usually, one to three countries or whatever. Like it travels over a narrow band. In fact, the eclipse that we just had in April was only the second total solar eclipse that's been visible from the states in the 21st century. The first one was back in 2017. So this eclipse was obviously a big deal from an ancient astrological perspective. It really speaks to the fate of the nation over which it is going over. It can symbol big events and upheavals in the nation and it was said to mark the downfall of a ruler. And what I find really interesting is that this year President Biden steps down from the election, so we have the current president of the United States stepping down from re-election.

Speaker 1:

We really have that cut and dry signification from the ancient astrologers manifesting here. It didn't happen right after the eclipse in April, but this is an important point with eclipses that they usually will mark something that occurs within three to six months after the eclipse for the solar eclipse. So that's going back to ancient, ancient astrology pre-natal astrology that eclipses were marking significant turning points in the fate of kings and their kingdoms. Then, going back to 2,000 years ago in the western world, we had the introduction of natal astrology, which is the casting of a birth chart for the time someone was born and using that chart to talk about their fortune or misfortune, their life, their karmic patterns, their personality, etc. And when we saw the introduction of natal astrology, then we had eclipses starting to be used to speak to big fated turning points on an individual level, but there are about four eclipses a year and we don't have big fated turning points in our lives four times a year At least. I really hope that's not happening for you because that would be way too intense.

Speaker 1:

But in the modern astrological discourse at least in the social media clickbait version of astrology every eclipse season we have innumerable people calling themselves astrologers going on their pages and spouting off about how this next eclipse is just changing the game. Everything's gonna be different, the world is gonna change and I get it because people really pay attention to eclipses. When I was starting my Instagram astrology page two years ago, I would make these reels with stock videos of flowers and things and I would put text on them talking about the astrology transits. And I did one about the eclipse and it just blew up Like I'm talking like unprecedented viral for my page. And it's because people love hearing about the eclipses and we've been trained that each eclipse marks this really significant change in our lives and it's really easy for content creators to fall into that trap of oh. If I just dial up the importance of this, then people are really going to pay attention to my page. I'm going to attract a lot of traffic. Going to pay attention to my page, I'm going to attract a lot of traffic. Anyways, that's my little rant on the discourse around eclipses and the social media clickbaity, world of astrology and not at all how we should be thinking of them.

Speaker 1:

But I'm not here to downplay the importance of eclipses. Eclipses can mark super important turning points and events in our lives. In my own life, I've witnessed marriages end on the day of an eclipse. I've witnessed relationships begin on the day of an eclipse. I've witnessed people getting their first big breakout role that skyrockets them to new levels of fame. I'm not trying to downplay the importance of eclipses, but I am trying to teach you that there's nuance to eclipses, that they're not all going to be super significant and there's ways that we can find out on an individual level if that eclipse is going to be significant for us. And so, going back to 2,000 years ago, when ancient astrologers started to use eclipses on an individual level, they developed many ways of reading in the birth chart if that eclipse was going to be significant or not. So we're going to learn a few of those ways today. So if you're new to learning about astrology, this might be a little over your head, but that's okay. Let it wash over you and you will get introduced to a lot of amazing new concepts and ways to think about astrology. If you're familiar with your birth chart and you have a copy of it on your phone, I encourage you to pull it up as we go through this. I'll also link a free birth chart calculator in the show notes for you as well, so you can pull up your birth chart as you listen.

Speaker 1:

So this upcoming eclipse is happening in the sign of Pisces, with the exact full moon at 25 degrees of Pisces and the sun opposite at 25 degrees of Virgo. So if you have planets within three degrees on either side of 25 Pisces or Virgo so between 22 and 28 degrees or you have important points in these degrees, like the midheaven, the ascendant, descendant, I see then this eclipse is likely to be very significant for you and there's likely going to be some big faded turning points as a result. Now we have a pecking order of importance, so that's the top of the list for the biggest sign that this is going to mark some significant faded turning points in your life and going down the list still significant, but maybe a little less significant. The nodes of this eclipse are at seven degrees of Libra and Aries. So if you have planets within three degrees on either side of that, then this can also be significant. And, going down our pecking order of importance further, we would include squares to these points. So planets or those important points, midheaven, ascendant, descendant, I see between 22 and 28 degrees of Sagittarius or Gemini, degrees of Sagittarius or Gemini, or 4 to 10 degrees of Capricorn or Cancer. So that's kind of like some hot spots. If you have them in that hot spot, then pay more attention to this eclipse.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so say you have planets or points in these places. What does that all mean? That's the big question, right? You can get a lot of insight by looking at the whole sign house of Pisces for this upcoming eclipse and for the planets or points that this eclipse might be impacting. Each planet will put its own spin on it and each point and it's very based on what houses that planet rules in your chart.

Speaker 1:

So unless you've taken a professional astrology course or have been learning astrology on your own for a long time, it does get really hard to try to predict what an eclipse is going to do in your life. This is really work that you can do in session with an astrologer, but nonetheless it is a fun kind of practice and meditation for people who are starting to learn astrology to start to look at their chart in these ways and try to come up with some things on their own. When I'm preparing a reading for a client, I will often look at the upcoming eclipses happening in the next two or three years and there will usually be one or two that really jump out at me as like, okay, there's going to be some significant events happening here, and I will usually make sure to speak to the client about those upcoming eclipses in session and break down for the client what they might be based on their chart. But to try to ground this into a more tangible space for all of you, I'll give you a concrete example from my own life of what happened during an eclipse. I had a lunar eclipse on my midheaven, which is an important point in the chart that speaks to one's career, and this was a lunar eclipse within one or two degrees. And this was a lunar eclipse within one or two degrees. And the lunar eclipse marks a significant ending or closing of a chapter, and I actually ended up leaving my job on the night of the eclipse. I just hit this point where I could no longer work in this environment, where it was very toxic and it was actually making me physically ill to work there, and at that point I wasn't paying attention to the exact degrees of the eclipse and where it would land in my chart. It was only in retrospect that I saw this astrologically, and so sometimes it can be very cut and dry where you may be able to come up with these predictions on your own. Lunar eclipse marking a significant ending happening on my career line looks like I'm going to be leaving a job at that point and that is exactly what ended up happening. And so when we have eclipses happening within that three degree range of personal planets or those important points the ascendant, descendant, etc. Then it can mark significant events that happen pretty much immediately, like on the day of the eclipse, within a week of the eclipse, but not always. But in my own life alone and in the lives of people close to me, I've seen it so many times that it really is like this immediate big event. But eclipses also really often mark events that are happening over the next three to six months, with a solar eclipse and with a lunar eclipse. They tend to mark the culmination of events that have been brewing beneath the surface for the last three to six months. This longer time frame with ecliptic events tends to happen when you have planets or points nearby but out of that exact three degree range.

Speaker 1:

One last factor I'm going to talk about for helping us determine if an eclipse is going to be significant for us is by looking at the placement of the nodes in your birth chart. The nodes are the two horseshoe shaped symbols in your chart and they will always be opposite one another. If the nodes of the eclipse are occurring in the same signs that the nodes were when you were born, this is called a nodal return and these eclipses are very significant. The nodes take about 18 years to travel around the zodiac, so every nine years we get a nodal return. The flipped nodal return, where the south node returns to the place where the north node is in your chart, is quite significant, but less significant than the exact nodal return which happens every 18 years. But nonetheless there will still be big karmic shake-up events that occur during our-flipped returns. It is definitely a lot more than like your average eclipse season. But the full nodal returns are the really big ones to pay attention to. The nodes take about a year and a half to transit through each sign. So when we get our nodal returns, that's going to last for the eclipses playing out over a year and a half. So during these times, expect the tectonic plates to really shift in your life during that year and a half and for the climactic shifts to occur when the eclipses hit planets in those signs in your chart, or when the eclipses fall on the exact nodes in your chart, and then the whole sign houses that the eclipses are happening in are going to really ground that into topics or areas of our life such as career relationships, personal identity, finances and so on. So do not underestimate the nodal returns. They are massive deals astrologically.

Speaker 1:

The last thing I'm going to talk about is breaking down the difference between the solar and lunar eclipses. They mean significantly different things, so it's important to have that awareness when we're understanding eclipses. Solar eclipses happen at a new moon and they kind of signify a new moon on steroids. This is the simplest level we can understand them. Solar eclipses tend to spark big changes in life direction and identity. Solar eclipses are sun-natured, whereas lunar eclipses are moon-natured. The sun represents our plotline, our ambitions, our conscious path in life that we carve by our own volition. So solar eclipses can mark big new chapters regarding our path and of course, this is very depending on the whole sign house the eclipse is landing in and depending on any planets or important points the eclipse is touching, so it can end up speaking to much more than just our past. But a big differentiation with solar eclipses is that the events tend to have a feeling more or less of being within our realm of control or due to steps that we've consciously taken. Solar eclipses also mark the opening of doors and sudden changes of direction where new chapters are beginning. They have the energy to do with things that are starting.

Speaker 1:

Lunar eclipses occur at a full moon and, like a full moon, they signify the culmination point of a cycle. But these culminations are larger and more impactful. They signify the closing of doors and the reaping of the karmic fruit that has been growing for a while. So they're like a karmic harvesting moment for us. They aren't inherently good or bad, but there is more of the feeling, with lunar eclipses, of the hands of fate coming in and taking over and events happening that are outside of our control, whereas solar eclipses, being the energy of the sun, are more about events happening because of our own volition. With lunar eclipses we can see more things coming up around the body, like sudden health events, accidents and even losses, things like that and of course, this isn't always the case. With lunar eclipses, things can come as a surprise, like the hands of fate coming in and taking over and slamming a door closed in our lives. But often upon reflection, we can see how that ending has been brewing for months leading up to the eclipse. That's because it's like this karmic harvesting moment and it doesn't just come out of nowhere. Karmic fruit has been growing on that tree for a while, even if we've had our blinders on towards it. So that's all I have for you on my talk about eclipses.

Speaker 1:

This has been a bit of a deep dive episode. If you only understood half of it, that is totally okay. When I was first learning astrology, I really only understood about a third of it at first. That's kind of how it goes. Repetition is key. In our next episode we will be breaking down this upcoming eclipse and I will be doing my best to focus on the nuance of it and not overhype it.

Speaker 1:

For you all, I hope you enjoyed this episode. If you got something out of it, send me an email with your thoughts. I love to hear how my talks land for people. Also, if this episode raised further questions for you, feel free to send me an email with your questions to rosesastroacademy at gmailcom. New episodes air every Monday and Wednesday. If you want to book a reading with me, you can find out how to do that in the description or on my website, rosesastroacademycom, and you can follow along on my Instagram at rosesastroacademy.

Speaker 1:

Finally, if you enjoyed this episode and want to see this little seedling grow, you can help out by leaving a review of the podcast and sharing it with someone in your life. They don't have to love astrology. In fact, this podcast could be really good for some skeptics in your life, especially my episode on sun-centric astrology, where I went over where sun-centric astrology came from and how to go beyond that. That is really meant to be an episode to maybe change the viewpoints of some skeptics out there. So send it to a skeptic in your life and see how they react. Well, that's all I have for you. See you next week for a breakdown of the Pisces lunar eclipse.