The Upcoming Eclipse Season
Themes from the Sabian Symbols for the individual and collective
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âItâs eclipse season. Should I be terrified?!â So says astrologer April Elliot Kent in one of her regular eclipse season soundbites from her podcast, Big Sky Astrology.
Coincidentally, I was just writing in an email to a client, a fellow âeclipse babyâ (as I refer to those of us born within ten days of an eclipse). We tend to have life changing events occur on or near eclipses when the Moon makes significant aspects to our birth chart or progressed chart.
Here is what I said about my approach to eclipses:
âPersonally, I don't do anything different with my schedule, but I prep myself mentally and emotionally for anything out of the ordinary, intense, or begging for my attention!
I definitely stick to my routines for well-being, though.â
This may be too close to the cheesy advice, âStay ready so you donât have to get readyâ that some of my Peloton instructors shout (lovingly?) at me, but it is my plan for this yearâs eclipses.
Last yearâs eclipses yielded a sudden six month no contact period with my mother, and illuminated how to protect my energy by being the boundary rather than speaking it. I am so grateful I was open to the lesson, even though it appeared abruptly, as I was forced to trust my intuition and connect regularly with my spirit team on the topic until I felt comfortable resuming interactions.
Whether or not you are an eclipse baby, I thought it would be interesting to dive into the Sabian symbols for each of the four eclipses occurring this year. If you are not familiar with the Sabian symbols, you can learn about them here, but you will also be able to follow along just fine if you are new to these word pictures, which were channeled in 1925 and have been studied since. (As an aside, no one is more surprised than I that I began seeing word pictures for the collective around the time of last Octoberâs eclipse, which fell in my 12th house, exactly between my natal Uranus and Venus).
I will cover the first two eclipses and associated Sabian symbols in this post, and the September eclipses when we get closer. Be aware that when reading the symbols, the degree is ârounded upâ per convention.
The Keynotes are from Dhane Rudhyarâs (DR) book An Astrological Mandala: The Cycle of Transformations and its 360 Symbolic Phases. The symbols are better understood in the context of the one preceding and the one following and better yet, in the phases into which DR organizes them. My interpretations draw from this larger context as well as from my own thinking.
March 13 - 14 (depending on your time zone) Lunar Eclipse.
The Sabian Symbol for the Moon at 23° Virgo is 24° Virgo:
Mary and her little lamb.
Keynote: The need to keep a vibrant and pure simplicity at the core of oneâs being as one meets the many tests of existence.
DR relates this symbol to maintaining innocence on the spiritual path, rather than ââŚto find himself glamorized by his own successesâ. The symbol harkens to the focus of the previous nodal axis of Aries-Libra, during which 18 month period (mid 2023 - early 2025) the collective was asked to examine the individual in relation to self and the individual in relationship with others. DR writes: âBeyond individual prowess and social eminence, the individual whose innocence is fixed upon spiritual realization should genuinely radiate innocence.â
The Moonâs position in Virgo is opposite Saturn, the Sun, and Neptune all in Pisces. In my mind, this is illuminating where the collective has lost its innocent belief in the systems (Virgo) which are meant to serve them. I look to the Sabian symbol where Neptune has been camped (symbol 30° Pisces) for quite some time for the root cause of this loss of innocence event.
A majestic rock formation resembling a face is idealized by a boy who takes it as his ideal of greatness, and as he grows up, begins to look like it.
Keynote: The power of clearly visualized ideals to mold the life of the visualizer.
Perhaps the collective is realizing that what we have set as the ideal of success, we have achieved in a grotesque manner. What we are seeing in the leadership of the US is a reflection of all of us who have bought into a version of individualized greatness through the accumulation of wealth, property, and power.
I realize this seems a US centric interpretation, yet it may be more broadly or even personally interpreted by looking at where systems meant to serve (Virgo) have been idealized, resulting in disillusionment (Neptune, Pisces) with leadership or self (Saturn, Sun) and confusion with structure or definition of goals (Neptune, Saturn). Given that all are in the sign of Pisces, there is an overarching theme of spirituality, innocence, and the end of something before a new cycle begins. With Uranus in a trine to the Moon, there could be an extra unexpectedness to a revelation.
Mercury rules over this eclipse, and turns retrograde the same day from 9° Aries, just one degree from the next eclipse position. It will move through the eclipse positions of Neptune and the North Node. It enters Pisces on the day of the second eclipse, further emphasizing the themes from the symbols. The retrograde adds a possibility that what has been illuminated by this eclipse will have an echo in the next.
The Sabian symbol on which Mercury turns retrograde echoes this loss of innocence. If we take our disillusionment and turn it into symbols for future generations to learn from, it ill not be in vain.
Symbol for Mercury at 9° Aries is 10° Aries
A teacher gives new symbolic forms to traditional images.
Keynote: Revision of attitude at the beginning of a new cycle of experience.
March 29 Solar Eclipse
The Sabian symbol for the Moon at 8° Aries is 9° Aries:
A crystal gazer.
Keynote: The development of an inner realization of organizational wholeness.
DR relates this to the concentration required to develop individualized consciousness. With the ruler of this eclipse, Mars, in Cancer, and its symbol relating to a frank conversation in which ââŚthe individual operates both as an objective mind and an emotional participant in the events and hopes of his dayâ, and Mercury in retrograde in Mars ruled Aries, there is a hint to achieve clarity by not holding our tongues. All of the preparation the Aries-Libra nodal axis did to enable us to learn our truth in relationship to others will pay off here - if we are brave enough to speak it.
Pluto makes a sextile aspect to this Lunar eclipse from Aquarius, emphasizing the objectivity required in order for a society to progress in a just fashion. Its symbol weaves in a component of spiritual discipline, which is interesting given the continued concentration of Pisces energy, with Venus (exalted once again in Pisces after a dip into Aries) in retrograde between the North Node and Neptune. The Nodes will be stationed, which is a magnification of the intention starting at this New Moon eclipse.
Both symbols for the North Node and Venus bring in the concept of not only seeing wholeness, but allowing for differentiation, diversity, and multiplicity, or as DR describes in regards to Venusâs symbol, 29° Pisces, âCycles of existence begin in unity and end in what I have called âmulti-unityâ. In the description for the North Nodeâs symbol, 28° Pisces, DR writes:
âThe symbol refer to a typical garden, not to a field. Such a garden contains a variety of plants, herbs and vegetables grown specifically to fill an equal variety of human needs and tastes.â
There seems to be a flicker of hope if we infuse our intentions at this pivotal New Moon with inclusion.
Full symbols referenced in this section:
Mars, 23° Cancer: The meeting of a literary society. Keynote: An objective and critical approach to the common factors in our culture and to its psychological problems.
North Node, 28° Pisces: A fertile garden under the full moon reveals a variety of full-grown vegetables. Keynote: The full satisfaction of the individualâs basic needs.
Venus, 29° Pisces: Light breaking into many colors as it passes through a prism. Keynote: The analytical power of the mind necessary for the formulation of life processes in their many aspects.
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