Aquarius Solar Eclipse, February 6, 2008

Aquarius Solar Eclipse, February 6, 2008

A Solar Eclipse is a high power New Moon. What makes it an eclipse is the fact that the Sun and Moon come together in the sky near the Nodes of the Moon - the points in space where the Moon crosses the path of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. So Earth, Moon and Sun all line up – all these energies are on the same page, so to speak. During a solar eclipse, the Sun’s energy flows are disrupted, so old patterns dissolve and new ones form. Something new is born during a solar eclipse.

The Moon’s nodes have just moved from their year-long journey through Pisces/Virgo into Aquarius/Leo. This is the first eclipse to take place in these signs, with the last one occurring on February 9, 2009 as a Lunar eclipse. Long associated with dragons and serpents, the moon’s nodes symbolize the collective urge for transformation. The Aquarius/Leo nodes point to a new collective destiny, which calls us to leave behind our Leo self-interest, pride, passion and tendencies that insist on our own way, that want to grab the limelight, the power and the authority, and that create drama instead of life-giving love. The Aquarian North Node, the next lesson in our unfolding destiny, energizes objectivity, friendship, a willingness to share unconventional ideas, to champion humanitarian causes, to be aware of our uniqueness and to cherish our equality and freedom.

Does this astrological language sound familiar? Isn’t it time we stopped thinking that we (individually and collectively) have the right to dictate what others do and start acting like we are all one and equal, which means listening to all sides of the story? Like the Hollywood movies we watch, we keep repeating the same old story. As well as being boring, it is insulting to the rest of the world. Each of us has a story to tell, which is important for the health of our global story. That’s the Aquarian story.

The Sabian symbol for the North Node at 28º Aquarius:

A tree felled and sawed to ensure a supply of wood for the winter. This symbol speaks to the human capacity to prepare for the future and to use both physical strength and mental ingenuity to meet the hardships inherent in the natural world. It refers to the efficient use of natural resources for insuring humanity’s well being by using Intelligent Foresight. (Don’t you love how astrology really works!)

This North Node symbol will be a marker for the next few years. We all need to develop intelligent foresight, the gift of another figure who embodies Aquarian ideals – the Greek Titan Prometheus. (More on him below.)

This Solar Eclipse symbolizes the highly visible ‘Sacred Marriage’ between Sun and Moon, God and Goddess, Masculine and Feminine energies at play in the cosmos. Regular New Moons occur when the Sun and Moon are in the same degree in the sky, but not aligned with the Earth. Their ‘marriage’ is invisible and therefore unconscious to us, unless we have developed a sensitivity to subtle energies.

A Solar Eclipse, though, invites us to participate in the ‘Sacred Marriage’ occurring in our Heavens. We can participate in the new beginning that all New Moons represent. The Sacred Marriage replenishes the Land, as well as each of us. A Solar Eclipse asks us to become conscious of the shifting energies that are creating our future and co-create with them.

So what energies have been invited to witness this sacred marriage of the Sun and Moon (visible in the lower Southern hemisphere), and the new birth that takes place in the house of Aquarius? The invited guests are: The Centaur Chiron with his wisdom and his wound, Mercury/Hermes in his role of Guide of Souls, Neptune the Lord of the Collective Unconscious and the Imaginal world, and Vesta/Hestia the Lady of the Eternal Flame of Life.

The other guests - Venus, Jupiter, and Pluto in Capricorn; Mars in Gemini (finally moving forward); Saturn in Virgo and Uranus in Pisces - including ourselves, watch from beyond Aquarius’ house, adding their good wishes to the event. So let’s see what this Marriage portends.

Aquarius, the Water-Bearer, is the sign of our ‘collective’ consciousness. It is a fixed, idealistic Air sign (sorry, not a water sign) and it represents how we collectively think about what it means to be human and our connection to each other. Carl Jung said that the Water-Bearer pours out the archetypal contents of the Collective Unconscious, energizing us to live these instinctual patterns of behavior more consciously. The Water-Bearer image has also been associated with the Tarot Trump #14 – Temperance, symbolizing the Soul Guide who helps us find the balance of Wholeness.

While astrologers give the rulership of Aquarius to Saturn and Uranus, because individual freedom (Uranus) entails responsibility (Saturn), the Titan Prometheus embodies many of the Aquarian qualities. Prometheus, ‘the great cosmic social worker’, rebelled against the King of the Gods when he stole the creative Fire from the gods to give to humanity. This archetype embodies the spirit within us that isn’t content with just living instinctually (being GREEDY FOR MORE) but wants to grow and live more consciously (stopping when there's ENOUGH). Prometheus, whose name means ‘the one who foresees’ (having foresight), knew that Zeus would win the battle with his fellow Titans, and chose to side with Zeus – the new order. He assisted in the birth of the goddess Athena from Zeus’ head, and was said to have created humanity from clay and water in the likeness of the gods, and later taught them all the cultural arts. He is the archetypal energy of the Cultural impulse, the desire to become more civilized, more god-like and conscious. “All human skill and science was Prometheus’ gift.”(Aeschylos) This impulse of good will toward humanity is certainly a part of the Aquarian story.

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