On October 14th, at 1:55pm EST, a Solar Eclipse will take place at 21° of Libra. The direct path of the eclipse will cut through Oregon, Utah, New Mexico, and Texas, with partial visibility in the western and midwestern portions of North and South America. Check out NASA’s eclipse page for more viewing information, if you’re curious. This particular eclipse, in its direct path, will produce a terrifying / thrilling visual effect — a “ring of fire” from the Sun dancing around the edges of a black Moon.
Solar eclipses occur as rare New Moons—during a normal New Moon, the Moon and Sun meet along the ecliptic, and as they get closer to each other the Moon darkens because it cannot reflect light without distance. A typical New Moon doesn’t happen with the two bodies on the same visual plane; imagine the Moon much higher or lower in the sky than the Sun’s position. However, when the Moon on occasion *does* pass in front of the Sun on the exact same visual plane, it can perfectly block out the Sun’s light from our earthly perspective. These events bring a kind of luminous darkness, a chilling and beautiful reminder of the massive natural forces that we live within, because of, and in perspective to. We are small, the cosmos is unendingly vast.
Metaphysically speaking, eclipses are often referred to as portals. This is somewhat apt as eclipses are working at the level of time and space—in order to see one, you need to be in its physical path at the right time. Portals, thresholds, and doorways have similar requirements, literally and spiritually. Like a portal in a fantasy, eclipses tend to make things suddenly appear and disappear, and they often bend the normal rules of reality, or at least our expectations.
Saturday’s Solar Eclipse (or on Sunday, depending on where in the world you live), may pull a bit of a magician’s trick on some of us, disappearing one subject or story so that another may reappear elsewhere. Solar Eclipses, as New Moons, usually introduce or start something in a big or intense way—even though it may take time to pinpoint it. However, this Solar Eclipse is taking place close to the South Node of the Moon, the lowest point on the Moon’s ecliptic where the Sun and Moon can meet in the sky. True to the idea of “going low,” South Node eclipses tend to decrease, disintegrate, and dissolve the themes of the sign and natal house that they occur in. They can also represent a return to the past, like revisiting old sediment that has settled into a sunken point. With a South Node Solar Eclipse, something old can become something new. Or, perhaps, something old must be sacrificed in order to decongest and make space for something else.
Occurring in Libra, the Venus-ruled sign of the Balancing Scales, the upcoming Eclipse has a distinctly relational, social, and aesthetic scope to its transformative power. Libran energy seeks to find harmony with others, often through beauty or intellectual understanding—it is masterful in peacemaking, connecting, and discerning. Love and friendship are usually of the utmost importance to those with strong Libra placements. The Scales are always moving, calculating, finding the center point between Self and Other. And yet, the shadows of Libra can point to imbalance and unfairness—by being overly accommodating, indecisive, vain, or excessively concerned with the experiences of others. As such, the coming Libra Solar Eclipse may ask us to release a pattern of people-pleasing, or a relationship that has become empty, or a carefully constructed social identity. We might return, as the South Node can sometimes encourage us to do, to an old pain point that underlies some of our relationship issues. Depending on your birth chart, this Eclipse could affect anything from how you spend money to how you show up at work, but with an interpersonal twist. Since Solar Eclipses are essentially supercharged New Moons, which are a seeding point rather than a climax, we may be untangling these lessons for quite a while, anywhere from the next lunar month up to the end of next year, when the eclipse cycle will move out of this sign.
We can take some inspiration for this journey from Libra’s natural opposite, the Mars-ruled sign of Aries, the Ram. Zodiac signs always operate in a polarity, a generative spectrum that can help us to hold onto life’s philosophical paradoxes. By contrast to Libra, Aries energy leaps before looking and prioritizes individual awareness, directing action from its internal compass rather than external cues. It’s not afraid to break a few eggs to make an omelette. Aries seeks forgiveness, Libra wants permission. When we contemplate the natural tension between fiery, action-oriented Aries and cool, intellectual Libra, we may find that rather than getting stuck in one mode or the other, we’re able to access a creative, third option. Ultra-Libra, bell hooks, described one such option in her famous book, All About Love: “to begin by always thinking of love as an action rather than a feeling.” When we synthesize love with action, for love of self *and* for love of others, we can move from feelings of powerlessness, loneliness, and codependency to those of mutual autonomy, care, and interdependence. We can take responsibility for our roles, honoring both our individual agency and the influences and realities of other people.
Of course, translating love into action is not easy. The Justice card, symbolic in the Tarot for the sign of Libra, depicts how sobering it can be to confront the parts of ourselves or others that may not be acting in fairness. And to know that no matter who or what initiated an unsatisfying dynamic, it is up to us to determine our response, once it has been revealed. Similarly, the IV of Swords, which links to the third decan (20 - 29°) of Libra in the Golden Dawn’s system of correspondences, shows how we must return to the Self in order to heal, or to be changed, rather than relying on the world to do it for us. Yet, as the Scales would remind us, withdrawal from the world also has its limits and drawbacks. Some transformations for good are only available through relationships with others—as the opposite card in the zodiac scheme, the IV of Wands, depicts. It is up to us, individually, as we process the relevance and meaning of this Solar Eclipse, to gauge which side of the Scales we may have tipped to, and how to begin to rebalance them. If you’re familiar with your birth chart, give some thought to the house that Libra occupies for more context about how this Eclipse may show up in your life.
Some final astrological considerations for understanding this weekend’s Eclipse are that because it is taking place in Libra, it will be ruled by Venus, who is currently in Virgo. Venus in Virgo is both in aversion (meaning it makes no traditional aspect to) Libra, and in her traditional sign of fall. These technical points suggest that we may struggle with overthinking, or issues of low or conditional self-esteem, as we initially grasp the changes wrought by the Eclipse. Venus does have mutual reception with Mercury in Libra, however, creating perhaps a bridge between our feelings and our ability to think through alternative or new approaches. After the Eclipse, the Moon’s next aspects are an intensifying square to Pluto and a conjunction with hard-hitting Mars in Scorpio, which double down on the severing and releasing qualities of the Eclipse’s connection to the South Node.
As you head into the weekend, plan some down time if at all possible. Eclipses and the days around them can be quite energetically draining. Take time to rest, get extra sleep, journal about your experiences and emotions, and, if you want to get magical about it, take a bath with sea salt or use a sea salt scrub in the shower to absorb negativity and stress. Since Eclipses come in pairs, we are entering a two-week liminal zone until the next one arrives on October 28th — a period when things may feel charged or just plain weird. Try to be patient and avoid making major life decisions! Take care of yourself out there.
Lastly, that brings me to some housekeeping and general announcements.
If you’re new here, check out my fall astrology workbook, which covers astrological transits from September to December 2023, with 28-pages of interactive exercises and special content! Paid subscribers get free access to seasonal workbooks, and free subscribers can take 20% off with the code WKBOOK20.
On Wednesday, November 8th, I’ll be returning to the Flower Scout Studio to teach a live class on Astrology for Art & Creativity. It’ll be super fun! Look for more information and a sign up link coming soon.
In December, I’ll be giving an overview talk plus Q&A on the major astrology of 2024 over Zoom. This discussion will be free for paid subscribers, and $12 for anyone who’d like to participate. Exact date forthcoming!
And finally, on January 24th, 2024, I will be closing my books for individual readings. I plan to spend next year working on an *as-of-now-secret* project. I will continue to write here on Substack, of course, and to create educational content. If you’d like a personal reading from me, you have about three months left to get on the schedule!
xoxo,
Rachel