This week’s question comes from a comment posted by Mem to the Weekly Forecast for July 6:

What happens if an eclipse falls in a house in which you don’t have planets? And what if the particular aspect of life that house rules doesn’t apply to you at the moment? For instance, this eclipse falls in my seventh house. I don’t have a relationship and I don’t have a business partner. Now what?

Pat’s response:

Neith is out for the rest of the week, so I’m doing this week’s column solo.

Mem, this is a great question, which is why we saved it for the Q&A instead of posting a response to your comment.

Eclipses affect you whether or not you have planets in the houses in which they fall. In my work with clients, I have noticed a near 100-percent correlation between significant events in an individual’s life and the eclipse cycle, and these events nearly always match up to the houses involved. Eclipses stay in the same sign pair for about 18 months, and that’s typically how long the related events take to play out.

Because eclipses fall in sign pairs, there are two houses influenced and not just one. In your case, this new series of eclipses in Capricorn and Cancer will affect the seventh and the first houses. The first house is the most personal area of your chart, ruling your physical body and the persona you have taken on in this lifetime.

So, one way to answer your question would be that this series of eclipses may not be about partnership for you, but could have something to do with your person. With first-house eclipses, you might end up looking completely different 18 months from now. Or, you could get a new job that completely overhauls your life.

The outgoing series of eclipses is in my first house. I suffered a serious injury that has had a domino effect and brought several other changes in my life. Don’t worry, though, that the same may happen to you. Jupiter, Chiron, and Neptune were transiting my first house at the same time. Also, as of the last eclipse in this series, a lunar eclipse on August 5, I’ll be completing a rehabilitation program that should put me on the road to complete recovery. So hopefully there will be a happy ending, and I’ve learned an awful lot in the process.

Now, since this series of eclipses also fell in my seventh house, I had several interesting relationship developments as well, the first of which began just one week after the first eclipse in the series in February 2008. It looks like there will be some resolution or conclusion to these situations in the next few weeks — right on cue!

I do have planets in both my first and seventh houses. But even if I didn’t, the effect likely would have been the same, with the exception of the last eclipse, which falls directly on my first-house Sun in Aquarius. I’ll let you know what happens … if I live.

Just kidding. Back to your chart, Mem, the seventh house rules all close relationships, so the next 18 months could bring a significant person into your life. For some people, this might be a literary agent or investment broker. If you’re looking for a romantic partner, that is also a possibility. There aren’t always developments at the first eclipse in the series, but sometimes the second or third. In my experience, however, the outcome or resolution usually happens within a few months of the last eclipse.

Joe also recently posted an eclipse-related question, which I’ll answer tomorrow in the Saturday Extra! column.

I hope that answers your question, Mem. We’ll all be waiting for news, so please keep us posted!

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