This week’s question comes from Gretchen in Arkansas:

Are we affected personally by every eclipse in a series?

Gretchen, this is a terrific question and, of course, a timely one, since we’re in the middle of a string of three eclipses in a row.

For those not familiar with the eclipse cycle, there usually are four eclipses in a year. They arrive in pairs, with a full moon and new moon (in either order), followed about six months later by another new moon/full moon pair. In rare cases, there are five or six eclipses in a year. In 2013, we have five of them, with three in a row this spring. A lunar eclipse always occurs at the full moon, while a solar eclipse always occurs at the new moon.

When eclipses occur is determined by the lunar nodes – yes, the same lunar nodes that astrologers use as indicators of “past lives,” destiny, life purpose, and karmic connections between people. The nodes are points in space where the Moon’s orbit crosses the ecliptic, which is the path the Sun appears to take around the Earth. Ecliptic, eclipse. Get it? The lunar nodes fall in a sign pair and move backwards through the zodiac at the rate of about one sign pair every year and a half, although there is overlap in the signs of the eclipses. So, for example, the nodes currently are at about 16 degrees Scorpio (North Node) and Taurus (South Node). The lunar eclipse on April 25 was in Scorpio, according to Western tropical astrology. The solar eclipse on May 9 falls in Taurus, followed by a lunar eclipse in Sagittarius on May 25, the last in the Sagittarius/Gemini sign pair. In October, the eclipses begin to migrate into the Libra/Aries sign pair.

Graphic created by Tom Ruen.

Just as transits of the outer planets can be tracked through your natal chart, with corresponding life events that tend to manifest with these transits, we can track the eclipses through the houses in your chart. Usually, the eclipses spend a year or two in opposite houses, depending on the width of the individual houses (in the system I use, they are unequal). I have found consistently over time that where the eclipses fall in a client’s chart correlates strongly with the areas of life that are most urgent for them. Eclipse pairs in the first and seventh houses and the fourth and tenth houses tend to bring the most change. These are the ones that often are accompanied by traumatic breakups in relationships, life-changing injuries, career breakthroughs, family issues, and other challenges that can completely upend our lives. Eclipses in the others houses tend to be less dramatic, or at least, they aren’t as broad in scope. Eclipses in the twelfth house might go completely unnoticed, or you may experience them internally, through a significant dream, past-life memory, or personal revelation.

For you, Gretchen, the eclipses have been in the second and eighth houses, the two key financial areas of the chart. While the eclipses are in these areas, your finances may go through an overhaul, or the finances of a domestic or business partner may change, which affects you as well. Changes can come in quick bursts over a year or 18 months and may be distressing, but often the changes we experience near eclipses push us toward a goal faster than we’d get there on our own volition. And all eclipse-related events aren’t upsetting. Stunning breakthroughs can happen around eclipses, especially if the Sun and Moon make positive aspects to natal planets. The eighth house also is associated with sex, personal power, and transformation, so there are other possible outcomes that don’t have to do with finances.

Will you see developments at each eclipse in the series? Not necessarily, and there’s no straightforward answer or even a rule of thumb, as eclipses-related events don’t always happen with a few days of the eclipse itself. When an eclipse is powerfully aspected in your chart, you might even feel the changes six months in advance. Of course, this makes it hard to attribute these events to the eclipse, but we do have clues. This certainly is true in world affairs. In February 2010, there was an earthquake in Chile that I linked to an eclipse several months later.

My StarGuide seasonal and annual forecasts tell you where the eclipses currently fall in your chart (sometimes they cover four houses, which gets complicated). Both reports are on sale for 25 percent off. Unfortunately, I can’t drop the price further, because I have to spend the same amount of time creating the report for you. However, if you order the Spring 2013 forecast now, I’ll give you transits through the end of July.

So, Gretchen, I guess the easy answer to your question is “no.” :-)

Pat

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