Rose's Astro Academy | An Astrology Podcast

E10 Lunar Eclipse in Pisces: A Saturn-Neptune Story

September 16, 2024 • Rose Potts • Episode 10

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In this episode, we dive into the Pisces lunar eclipse happening on September 17th. I point out how this is marking both an end of a chapter and initiating a new beginning as it's the first of a series of Pisces eclipses happening in the next two years. I then reflect on my own experiences with previous Pisces eclipses to offer insights into how these cycles tend to unfold over time. By looking back at the past, we can get a clearer sense of the broader themes that might emerge during this eclipse. We’ll also explore the interplay between Saturn and Neptune that is key for understanding the nuance of this eclipse. 

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Speaker 1:

Hello and welcome to episode 10 of Rose's Astro Academy, where we demystify the system of astrology piece by piece For our transit talk. This week we're taking a look at the Pisces lunar eclipse that's happening tomorrow. On my last episode we talked about understanding eclipses more generally and in this episode we'll be talking about this specific eclipse. I promised you all in my last episode that I would do my best to get into the nuance of this eclipse and to steer clear of the exaggerated discourse around eclipses out there that makes every eclipse seem like a really big deal. Eclipses can be significant, of course, but there's a lot of variation in how they play out. In the last episode we got into some factors to look at when determining if this eclipse will be a big deal for you, based on how it's landing in your birth chart. So if you missed that, I recommend you giving that episode a listen after this. So let's get into it. This is a lunar eclipse happening at 25 degrees of Pisces and it goes exact on September 17th at 1034 pm EDT. This is a partial lunar eclipse, but it's also the first eclipse happening in the sign of Pisces in about nine years, so that in itself does make this eclipse more of a big deal. Other interesting things to note this eclipse is happening with the moon conjunct Neptune, so we'll get into that and the moon also just separated from Saturn in Pisces, so that's an important factor that we will address as well. I also just wanted to mention that you may hear a little creak in the background from time to time. I'm recording in a different place than usual and the chair that I'm using is very, very creaky, so I'm trying my best to stay still, but it's pretty much impossible to not let it creak at all. So if you're wondering, that's what that's about, I apologize.

Speaker 1:

Lunar eclipses happen at a full moon and typically signal full moon-like themes, but those themes are very heightened compared to a normal full moon. So full moon type themes. We have the end of a cycle being signaled here the closing of a door and the reaping of karmic fruits and because the nodes of the eclipses visit the same signs in 9 and 18 year increments, the end of a cycle that we're talking about here is like the end of a big 9 or 18 year chapter. So, as I said, this is the first time in about nine years that we're getting a Pisces eclipse and this is kicking off a round of eclipses that will happen across the Pisces-Virgo axis for about the next two years. So this eclipse simultaneously represents the closing of a door, because it's a lunar eclipse, and the opening of a new chapter, because it's the first of the Pisces eclipses. So it represents an ending that is, initiating a new chapter that will take prominence over the next two years, and this new chapter will really be getting going when the nodes of the moon enter into Pisces and Virgo, because this is an eclipse that's happening across the sign boundaries. We still have the nodes in Aries and Libra, but the sun and moon are across Pisces and Virgo, so we have one foot in one place and one foot in the other. So when the nodes actually move into Pisces and Virgo at the end of January next year, this is when we'll really be seeing the initiating of that new nine-year chapter. So what we're getting with this eclipse is like a prelude for what's coming in the new year. Okay, so we have an ending that is sparking a new beginning and that is going to be starting around the end of January, but that's a very approximate date, so do not go and mark that in your calendar. It's going to be different for everyone, but we can say that around then you will see some of the themes crystallizing of what this new chapter, this new nine-year cycle, is going to be about.

Speaker 1:

But really the eclipses are very process-oriented. The nodes of the moon mark where in the chart the eclipses are going to occur and they end up changing signs about once every year and a half. So when the nodes enter Pisces and Virgo at the end of January, it'll be the first time in nine years that they've visited in the sign and they will remain in the sign for about a year and a half and while they're in these signs they're going to bring big upheavals and changes and really accentuate the themes of those signs for the year and a half that they remain in those signs. So let's ground this into a more tangible space. So let's ground this into a more tangible space.

Speaker 1:

When we're trying to understand how an eclipse will be important for us on an individual level, then it's really important to pay attention to the whole sign house that it's happening in. The whole sign house is based on your rising sign. So, for example, if you're an Aquarius rising, then Pisces occupies your whole sign. Second house this is the house of finances. So for you, this eclipse would be bringing endings that mark new beginnings. Financially, I see it like a process of handing over. Maybe one way that you've been making money in your life, if you're in Aquarius rising is closing and a new one is opening, and during this eclipse we can see the seeds of that new financial cycle being planted and then that cycle is really going to start getting going once we get into it at the end of January, when the nodes actually change signs, and then those themes are going to be really prominent for the next year and a half. But really this is initiating a new nine-year cycle in that realm. So for Aquarius Risings, the realm of finances, resources, etc. And that's going to be initiating a new nine-year cycle. Just to give you an example.

Speaker 1:

I'll give you a second example from my own life. I'm a Sagittarius rising, which means that Pisces occupies my fourth house. This represents my home life, where I live, and so on. In the past week I've actually realized that come the new year, I will be needing to find a new place to live. So there we go An ending has been initiated in regards to my living situation and a new beginning will be kicking off in the new year around my home and living situation, but because the eclipses will now be activating this area of my chart for about the next two years, I can see that home and living situation are going to be big themes for me for that time, so this won't be a run-of-the-mill move. Something bigger is taking place here regarding the themes of home and where I live. So to get a clearer idea of this and this is something that you can do as well we can look back in time to nine years ago and 18 years ago, when we last had eclipses in Pisces, to see what big themes were occurring. So nine years ago, in 2016, we had the nodes in Pisces and Virgo and the south node was in Pisces. The south node represents decrease and letting go. This was the year that I moved from Ontario to Vancouver by myself, at the age of 21. I let go of everything I had known in terms of home and roots and where I was from, and took the plunge to move 4,000 kilometers away. Yes, I was still in the same country, but 4,000 kilometers away from home is nonetheless a very big move. It's very south node themes of letting go in the fourth house of home, with an eclipse marking a big turning point type event and a big initiation into a new nine-year cycle.

Speaker 1:

Okay, going back in my life, 18 years 2007,. This was the last time the north node was in Pisces. This was when I was a kid. My family moved from the countryside in rural Ontario to a city in the greater Toronto area. This was also a huge move in my life. The North Node represents gain and increase, and moving from the quiet countryside to a bustling city was definitely an experience of increase. There was a lot more hustle and bustle regarding my living situation. For the first time in my life, I could walk to my friends' houses. I wasn't isolated in the countryside, depending on my parents to drive me to my friends' houses, for example, me to my friend's houses, for example. Besides that, it was also a really big adjustment moving from the countryside to the city as a 13-year-old. So anyways, just by looking at the whole sign house of Pisces in my chart and then doing a bit of biographical work going back 9 and 18 years, I can get a pretty clear sense of what's being initiated in my life with this eclipse.

Speaker 1:

This lunar eclipse marks the closing of a door which is initiating a new cycle for me regarding my living situation. I can expect a big new chapter representing some sort of gain or increase around where I live. So, knowing that, yes, I already see those themes surfacing, I'm already coming to realize that come the new year, I will have to find a new place to live. But because of what's going on with the nodes, I can expect a bigger sort of move to take place. The last time I had eclipses in this house, I moved from the countryside to the city and then I moved across the country. So both represents a big change in the way in which I was living, not just a run-of-the-mill move from one place to another. So I can expect the same sort of big change this time. I don't know exactly how that's going to look, but it's in some way going to be a big change in the way in which I'm living. Not necessarily a big change in the way in which I'm living, not necessarily a big change in the geographical location, but, for example, countryside to city life, things like that.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so that's how we can create a framework of understanding this eclipse individually, based on the whole sign house it's happening in To go over whole sign houses quickly. Your rising sign occupies the entirety of the first house in your chart and then you go around the zodiac from there. So, coming back to our Aquarius rising example, aquarius becomes your first house, which makes Pisces the next sign in the zodiac, your second house and so on around the wheel, and then you can look up house topics for each house to get more understanding. That's a very, very brief description of whole sign houses. I will go into them more detail in a future episode, but for now that's all we have time for.

Speaker 1:

Now let's switch gears and get into more nuance with this eclipse. So we have a lunar eclipse marking an ending, the closing of a door, and typically the ending that comes with a lunar eclipse is more outside of our control. This is an ending that is initiating a new beginning and this eclipse will be bringing up some themes that will be prominent for about the next few years and initiating a new nine-year chapter in the area of our life represented by the whole sign house of Pisces in our chart. But to get more nuanced about this eclipse, what I find really interesting is that on the day of the eclipse, the moon moves from Saturn to Neptune, finally coming to conjoin Neptune around about the exact eclipse. So I think there is some loud symbolism here to do with the interplay of Saturn and Neptune that can really help us understand what this eclipse is about. Both Saturn and Neptune are in the sign of Pisces, so we'll start off with looking at what Saturn in Pisces may represent here.

Speaker 1:

Pisces, to me, is about the realm of imagination, of what could be possible. It's a very idealistic place. It's the place of dreaming and of looking towards the future with hope and optimism. If we think of the season of the year that Pisces falls into, it's on the cusp of spring. Springtime is right around the corner and if you live in the northern climate, like I do, the harshness of winter has finally passed, the snow is melting, the grass is starting to grow. It's a very optimistic time of anticipating the goodness of spring. What's interesting is that Saturn represents the reality principle. Saturn is about structure, discipline and responsibility. So archetypally, saturn can be quite at odds with the nature of Pisces, because Pisces can be very daydreamy but not very concerned with grounding their daydreams into reality. They kind of just hope that it's going to pan out for them. But therein lies the magic of this archetypal combination, in my opinion, saturn in Pisces is all about taking that realm of what's possible and making it concrete and realistic. We take all of that Piscean optimism about the future and we build a plan around it and work on executing the plan. So it's about reconciling what could be possible with what is possible and about pursuing our dreams with discipline, perseverance and patience.

Speaker 1:

Now moving to Neptune in Pisces, this is like Pisces on steroids. In modern astrology, neptune is said to rule Pisces and while I do keep the traditional rulership scheme, I do agree that archetypally, neptune and Pisces are very similar. Neptune also represents the imaginal realms, the boundless realm of creativity. It has a lot of those same dreamy and ethereal qualities as Pisces and blurs the lines between fantasy and reality. With Neptune we can get a little too caught up in fantasy and in the realm of illusions and lose track of what is really real, or at least what is realistic. So on the day of the eclipse, we have the moon who is the lead character of this eclipse, the star of the show, moving away from Saturn, the reality principle, and towards Neptune, the dreaming principle, in the sign of Pisces, which is also very Neptune in nature. So we could say that perhaps during this eclipse it is probably going to be very easy for us to get caught up in the realm of, to get caught up in that imaginal place where the possibilities seem endless and where our highest fantasies for our life seem entirely possible.

Speaker 1:

But what I find really interesting here is a secret encoded message in the sky that we get by looking at the bounds. The bounds are a concept from ancient astrology and this is where each sign of the zodiac is divided into five segments and the divisions aren't equal. But each segment has a bound lord, which is one of the traditional planets, and the bound lord of that segment of the sign holds some sway over that domain of the sign. It's kind of like the bound lord is the mayor of that part of the sign. Neptune, at 28 degrees of Pisces, is currently in the bound of Saturn, so Saturn holds some dominance over Neptune here. Saturn makes the rules for this segment of Pisces where Neptune is abiding.

Speaker 1:

And so because the moon is moving away from Saturn and coming to join Neptune during this eclipse, it can be really easy for us to get caught up in the realm of what if and kind of running away with our fantasies and throwing the reality principle out the window, but Saturn is sneakily coming back in here and telling us that we cannot get caught up in our illusions, that it's very important that we remain grounded here and learn how to pursue our desires in a realistic way. So, anyways, there's a bit about my take on this Pisces lunar eclipse. I hope you enjoyed it. Let yourself dream about what's possible, but remember to bring the reality principle back in once you're done and come up with a realistic plan to bring your vision to life. If you had any questions come up for you while listening, you can email those to rosesastroacademy at gmailcom. In about two weeks, we'll be having another transit talk on the upcoming solar eclipse in Libra, so stay tuned for that.

Speaker 1:

In the meantime, I release episodes every Monday and Wednesday. Each Monday is a transit talk where we explore some of what's happening currently in the sky, and each Wednesday is a topic episode where we do a bit of a deep dive into a different facet of astrology to help us build a framework of understanding the system. If you want to book a reading with me, you can do that on my website, rosesastroacademycom, and you can follow along on my Instagram at rosesastroacademy. 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 the podcast with some people who you think might like it. The podcast and sharing the podcast with some people who you think might like it. Well, that's all I have for you. See you on Wednesday, where we will be answering a listener question. What's the deal with retrogrades? We'll be talking about all things retrogrades and really getting into the nature of them, and we'll be busting some Mercury retrograde myths. So stay tuned for that on Wednesday.