Total Solar Eclipse in Aries

Creation stories tend to begin with chaos. One of the most well known comes from ancient Greece, where the nine muses lent their divine memory and voice to Hesiod. In Hesiod’s Theogony, the gaping void of Chaos gave birth to Gaia (Earth) as well as Erebus (primordial Darkness) and Night whose mating birthed Day and Aether. Night and Darkness giving birth to Day and Light is found in many other creation stories. It’s also common to find a primordial embodiment of Chaos, often a serpent or dragon, playing a pivotal role. Total eclipses return us to primordial Chaos and Creation. In spite of all our technological trappings of modern civilization, total eclipses continue to force techniques of control to give way to chaotic emergence. Day is overcome by night as our radiant Sun culminating in the sky becomes overridden by blackness, bringing the usually invisible nearby planets into visibility. Symbolically eclipses also bring the invisible into visibility while the light of our conscious awareness must face whatever is residing in the darkness of our unconscious. There is a great unraveling as old narratives come to an end at the same time new storylines arise. When big changes in life correspond with the timing of eclipses, it can feel like a chaotic chasm has opened to bring forth creation.

In astrology, the chaos of eclipses is represented by the image of a dragon symbolizing the transiting lunar nodes that mark eclipses whenever a new or full moon occurs in their vicinity. Since the Total Solar Eclipse in Aries on 8 April 2024 is conjoining the North Node of the Moon, it is the Head of the Dragon that will be devouring the solar light. A Total Solar Eclipse aligned with the North Node in Aries is perhaps the most north node of all eclipses, as Aries contains the north node symbolism of general increase due to marking the intersection of the ecliptic and the celestial equator – this is why the Sun’s annual entrance into Aries marks the point of the Sun increasing in light and height in the northern hemisphere. The cardinal and fiery nature of Aries combined with the North Node will amplify hunger for growth and moving quickly in pursuit of desires. Yet the Sun will also be eclipsed while occupying its exaltation of Aries. In fact, the exact degree and minute of the eclipse is close to the exact exaltation degree of the Sun. Thus while we likely will experience some sort of surge in new desires, creative directions, or some other form of inspiration, we will also experience the eclipsing of something we have exalted. We’ll likely witness the downfall of figures who had been holding exalted positions of status or power.

Eclipses in cardinal signs, especially in the fiery cardinal sign of Aries, correlate with an accelerated speed of development in personal and collective events. This has certainly been the case since the Lunar Eclipse in Libra at the end of March, but with the total eclipse in Aries being followed by the conjunction between Jupiter and Uranus in Taurus on 20 April, we can expect to experience an eruptive leap forward during the rest of the month that moves at an even swifter pace. Jupiter will only be two degrees away from Uranus when the Aries Sun becomes eclipsed, and the star of Zeus will then quickly move through a conjunction with Uranus before the upcoming Full Moon in Scorpio on 23 April. While the changes that correlate with total eclipses tend to be unexpected, the fact that Jupiter and Uranus will be simultaneously uniting means that storylines will take sudden turns that veer off into new directions and potential we would not have predicted beforehand. The combination of Jupiter and Uranus can create sudden, instantaneous change and revelation. Sometimes this comes from external sources such as scientific breakthroughs that overturn old paradigms of belief, but the lightning strikes of Jupiter and Uranus can also come in personal moments of discovery and insight. The inspired genius we receive during times of Jupiter and Uranus does not always materialize through personal accomplishment immediately, but it can become the source of innovative work we develop in the years ahead.

The Moon in Aries will be forming an exact conjunction with Chiron while also applying to a conjunction with Mercury retrograde in Aries. Mercury is in its underworld passage of being too close to the Sun to be seen, playing the psychopomp role it takes on during its retrograde passage. As a psychopomp to inner psyche, Mercury is in its phase of breaking down and decomposing old material, mental constructs, and other habitual patterns in need of release. Combined with the cathartic release that will correlate with the Total Solar Eclipse, Mercury retrograde in Aries can guide us through a potent period of regeneration and renewal in the weeks following the eclipse. Though we will need to be mindful of the trickster quality Mercury takes on while in retrograde motion, the more we sustain curiosity about any delays or complications we experience related to Mercury retrograde, the better we will be able to flow with the metamorphosis Mercury will be guiding us through. Mercury will form a conjunction with the Sun in Aries on 11 April, creating a potent day of intellectual renewal and the seeding of new ideas to develop in the months ahead. It will be an ideal time to make space for meditation, reflection, or any other method that can help you clarify the experiences and events aligned with the eclipse.

If all of that were not intense enough, there is another factor that will further amplify the gravity and potency of the eclipse: Mars forming a conjunction with Saturn in Pisces. Mars in Pisces is the lord of the eclipse as well as Mercury retrograde and Venus in Aries, and is applying closely to a conjunction with Saturn that will become exact on 10 April. The conjunctions of Mars and Saturn in traditional mundane astrology have long been used to forecast trouble, and so it is not surprising that they are coming together during a time period of numerous upsetting current events that provoke grief and anger simultaneously. The conjunction of Mars and Saturn will be a significant influence shaping eclipse events, and is also a factor in the meaning of the new cycle forming between Jupiter and Uranus, as Mars in Pisces will be forming sextile aspects with Jupiter and Uranus in Taurus on 19 April, the day before Jupiter and Uranus form their exact conjunction. Though Mars and Saturn correspond with distressing collective events, particularly in mundane issues related to water while in Pisces, their unions can be utilized in our personal lives through welding the burning heat of Mars to the disciplined, determined focus of Saturn. The inflamed aggressiveness of Mars can become tempered by the restraint of Saturn, making it possible to direct the boldness of Mars with serious thought and pragmatic strategy. To make use of Mars and Saturn, however, we need a place to direct them and work requiring effort to transmute them through.

Even when we have a clear place to direct Mars and Saturn, however, they do not facilitate achieving results quickly. The combination of Mars and Saturn corresponds with working hard to persist through obstacles and developing work that takes times to come to fruition, yet will ultimately possess a long lasting impact and influence. Thus there is an odd mixture of astrological factors involved in the eclipse that indicate having to encounter obstructive barriers to work through on the one hand, combined with other influences such as Jupiter and Uranus that correspond with breaking through limitations. It’s possible that we may have to persist through a week of delays and busy life events that dissipate energy following the eclipse before being able to enjoy more of the liberating uplift of Jupiter and Uranus mixing together in the third week of April. Mars and Saturn combining suggests we will need to face difficult circumstances with courageous resiliency, and so it may be the tests and challenges we must persist through in the wake of the eclipse that leads us to the inventive revelations of Jupiter and Uranus.

There have been so many upsetting collective events and humanitarian crises erupting in current events that the mental and emotional overwhelm of comprehending it all can create despair over a lack of agency in being able to change things for the better. Since the Aries Solar Eclipse is happening at the same time that Mars and Saturn are coming together, there may be a need to take additional rest and time for mental recovery. However, with Jupiter and Uranus also forming a conjunction, there will not only be a need to take our collective challenges and crises seriously and turn toward them rather than avoid them, but to also discover how we may each contribute to reshaping dynamics by cultivating the inner gifts we possess to share with others. Jupiter and Uranus in combination possess one of the most powerful forces of liberation within all of astrology, making it an ideal time to embody the positive relational changes we would like to witness in the wider world within our own personal relationships. Yet there is perhaps no greater symbol of the resilient strength needed to persist through the travails of our times than Chiron forming an exact conjunction with the Aries Solar Eclipse.

Chiron in Aries

It’s not unusual for an eclipse to form a conjunction with another celestial body, but it is rare for the conjunction to be exact to the degree and minute. The conjunction between Chiron and the Total Solar Eclipse in Aries is exact. In its exactness, it makes the impact of Chiron irrefutable, even if you are someone who normally doesn’t take much stock in celestial centaurs such as Chiron. As an astronomical centaur, Chiron is a strange entity with an eccentric orbit in between categorization, similar to the mythic Chiron. In myth, the hybrid nature of Chiron is in between animal and human, being both an animal and a god. In ancient Greece, the half human, half horse centaurs were viewed as wild beings outside the normal order of civilization who roamed in the uncivilized wilderness. In astrology, Chiron bridges the traditional realm of the seven spheres encircled by Saturn with the vast realm of transpersonal planets and kuiper belt objects guarded by Uranus. The orbit of Chiron extends to Uranus and comes within the orbit of Saturn, bridging two of the main signatures involved in the astrology of the eclipse: the conjunction between Mars and Saturn in Pisces and the conjunction between Jupiter and Uranus in Taurus.

Chiron represents the alien and alienated who resiliently develop and express their unique gifts, skills, knowledge, and authority through roles serving their community or culture despite having experienced rejection from family and culture. Chiron was abandoned by his father Kronos and Oceanid mother, and yet became a foster parent to numerous youth who grew up to become the heroes of epic legend. As a mentor and foster parent, we can imagine Chiron to be both a nurturer of inner strength who could tend to inner vulnerabilities, while at the same time being a discipliner who demanded that his protégés dig deep to realize their full potential. The youth brought to Chiron were the kind of half human, half divine heroes who possessed such extreme powers that prophecies often followed in their shadow. There was something so magnificent about their potential they could be seen as a threat to the order of their times. And so they would come to the cave of Chiron to be nurtured and taught by the steady hand and deep wisdom of Chiron.

In astrology, contact with Chiron can mentor and nurture the wild parts of us that do not fit in, that are too much or too extreme for the conditioning captivity of consensus culture. Chiron reaches the parts of ourselves that can fall victim to shame, that can become repressed and expressed in self sabotaging ways rather than as inspired expression of our genius. The inherent treasure and inner gem possessed by these parts for whatever reason have often been wounded, and in their wounding turned into being stuck and restrained in complexes of one sort or another. This node of intersecting specialness and wounding is the terrain governed by Chiron. It’s the reason the stereotypical keyword of “wounded healer” gets tossed around about Chiron without much depth, but it’s also why there is an underlying meaning buried within the keyword that resonates with the inner knots that the key of Chiron unlocks.

Perhaps the main reason Chiron has been called the wounded healer is due to his death and sacrifice, a part of his story that resonates with his proximity to the Aries Solar Eclipse. The divine Chiron was wounded by a poisoned arrow shot by Heracles that struck him on accident. A poison that was no ordinary poison, but rather the poison of the Hydra. As the Hydra is another great chaotic and chthonic serpent known for her many heads that ceaselessly regenerate, the wounding of Chiron by the poison from the head of the Hydra fits well with Chiron forming an exact conjunction with an eclipse aligned with the Head of the Dragon. Further resonate is the fact that Chiron ultimately chose to sacrifice himself in order to liberate Prometheus, due to bearing the incurable poison of the Hydra within his immortal body. Since Prometheus has been linked to the archetypal meaning of the planet Uranus, and as the god who brought fire to humanity is also resonate with the meaning of Jupiter uniting with Uranus, there is a direct link between Chiron’s mythology and the combined impact of the eclipse with the conjunction of Jupiter and Uranus.

As a result, the more you can dig into the deeper meaning of Chiron in Aries in your life and the alienated parts of your inner multiplicity he can help you come into greater awareness of, the more you may be able to experience a Promethean liberation as Jupiter and Uranus come together toward the end of April. Within the cave of Chiron, as we deepen into awareness of our past wounding we simultaneously discover the ways these past difficulties have brought about the medicine we can create through our being-ness to help others face the same issues we have faced. Chiron’s link between the realms of Saturn and Uranus is not about transcending the material limitations of Saturn but rather deepening into them in a way that can bring the emancipatory revelations of Uranus into material forms that make a real impact in people’s lives. Chiron understands the interconnected nature of all realms and the medicine found in both the plants under his hooves and the stars orbiting above his head, and so further connects with the expansive synthesis of knowledge and understanding simultaneously available through the coming together of Jupiter and Uranus.

While Chiron is tending to the volatility of an eclipse connected with the North Node of the Moon, it’s further significant that Chiron is occupying the sign of his own South Node, as the heliocentric South Node of Chiron is at the final degree of Aries. It’s notable that Chiron spends the longest amount of time in Aries, the sign of his South Node, and the shortest amount of time in Libra, the sign of his North Node. When Chiron is in Aries, he is also at the extreme of his orbit in the vicinity of Uranus. There is therefore something of the eccentric, maverick, revolutionary, and alien nature of Uranus that Chiron comes into closer contact with when in Aries and approaching his own South Node. I’m not suggesting that Chiron enjoys the South Node experience more necessarily, only that he simply spends far more time in the sign of his own South Node than in the sign of his North Node. The South Node symbolism certainly fits well with the meaning of Chiron, as it indicates his facility with releasing what needs to be let go, integrating spiritual awareness while releasing material attachments, and embracing the shedding that must come before an emancipatory metamorphosis. In moments of quiet reflection, meditation or contemplation, notice what the eclipse is jarring loose that Chiron can help recover and regenerate. It may be the seeds of a great beginning.

Using the chart for the Declaration of Independence in the United States of America, one version of which is known as the Sibly chart, it’s notable that the USA is experiencing a Chiron return at the same time the eclipse exactly aligned with Chiron is passing over a large swath of the nation. While news of the wounded and the wounding caused by various aspects of the USA has been loud in current events, the Chiron return of the USA also suggests something more subtle and far more profound may be going on under the surface amongst many of its citizens. If the USA has hope for turning itself around from the polarizing direction it’s seemed hellbent on continuing at all costs, it will be the inner work that Chiron can facilitate individually that can ultimately lead to a collective shift and regeneration of people coming together to take direct action for change.

Head of the Dragon

Since the Aries Eclipse at 19°24’ Aries is conjoining the Head of the Dragon, it means it is part of a serpentine North Node eclipse family. Eclipses come in families known as the saros cycle. The origin of their ancestry begins at either the south or north pole and then traces a serpentine path around our world every eighteen or so years, moving ahead eleven degrees of celestial longitude each time. The Aries Solar Eclipse is part of the saros cycle 139, and so you may notice relevant themes occurring that connect with experiences from the last two eclipses in this family: 29 March 2006 at 8°35’ Aries and 17 March 1988 at 27°41’ Pisces. For example, there is a direct connection between the last eclipse in this family with the humanitarian crisis and bloodshed in Gaza, as there was a formation of a Hamas-led cabinet on 20 March 2006 followed by Hamas taking over administration of Gaza on 27 March 2006.

The origin eclipse of the saros 139 eclipse family took place on 17 May 1501 at 4°51’ Gemini, two degrees away from the projected degree of the royal star Aldebaran, the sacred eye of the Bull. The origin eclipse was also less than four degrees away from an applying conjunction to Saturn in Gemini. Bernadette Brady in Predictive Astrology emphasized that the 1501 origin eclipsed formed a square aspect with Uranus in Pisces, that Pluto in Scorpio was at the midpoint of both Venus and Saturn as well as the eclipse and lunar nodes, and that Mars in Pisces was on the midpoint of Neptune with the eclipse while also engaging Mercury in Gemini in a square aspect. Brady declared that “inventiveness and flashes of genius are the hallmark” of this eclipse family, and that they bring “intuitive leaps, insights, good ideas, visions, or vivid dreams.” All of this fits perfectly with the intensifying impact of Jupiter and Uranus presently, including that Brady also wrote that individual freedom from present relational dynamics needs to be at least temporarily granted, because the “new-found inspiration will pull the person away from his or her social life or relationship.” It further strikes me that since the origin eclipse was close to the degree of Aldebaran, we will need to use the moral compass of staying true to our inner integrity and values as part of navigating through whatever visionary leaps emerge in the month ahead.

There is also an eclipse metonic cycle tracking the last time an eclipse occurred close to the same degree and minute: this was on 8 April 2005 at 19°05’ Aries, another time period that may contain resonate themes with the present. In terms of current storylines, however, you may notice an especially important link with the last Solar Eclipse in Aries that took place on 19 April 2023, or the previous Solar Eclipse in Libra that took place six months ago on 14 October 2023. There will be one more Libra Solar Eclipse on 2 October 2024 followed by a final Aries Solar Eclipse on 29 March 2025, and so whatever Aries and Libra eclipse storylines are developing will continue to do so over the course of the next year.

In addition to the eclipse occurring on the side of the Dragon’s Head, Mercury is also retrograde in Aries and heading toward eventually stationing direct on 25 April close to the North Node of the Moon. Before and after Mercury’s stationing date the star of Hermes will also pass over the degree of the eclipse twice: first on 15 April while retrograde, and then again on 4 May while direct. Within this same general time period, Venus in Aries will also form a conjunction with the North Node of the Moon in Aries on 17 April, a conjunction with Mercury retrograde on 19 April, and a conjunction with the degree of the Aries Solar Eclipse on 20 April, the same day as the Jupiter and Uranus conjunction. As Mercury stationing direct will happen five days after the conjunction between Jupiter and Uranus, we will have opportunities toward the end of April and beginning of May to more deeply integrate whatever growth potential is unleashed by the eclipse. The repeated contact to the North Node and degree of the eclipses by planets in the next month, combined with Jupiter and Uranus coming together, suggests an extraordinary leap forward could be possible in personal work and vision. Although periods of Mercury retrograde can correlate sometimes with issues in communication, it will be helpful to be able to work with the process of Mercury retrograde in order to bring about a mental reset, renewal, and regeneration amidst a time period of quickly accelerating change.

The inferior conjunction of Mercury retrograde being received by the exalted Sun in Aries on 11 April will therefore be a particularly potent opportunity for insight regarding whatever shape shifting and transmutation you are experiencing. The reseeding of Mercury in solar light occurs as it aligns in between the Earth and Sun by zodiacal degree, as close to us in orbit as possible for Mercury within its cycle. Known as a moment of clarifying rebirth that can enhance realization and seed new ideas for the Mercury cycle ahead, it’s the cyclical moment when Mercury enters what Demetra George has named the “sanctum sanctorum,” or “the innermost holy chamber of the mystery initiations” found within “the protected space at the heart of the Sun.” Gary Caton in his book Hermetica Triptycha about Mercury retrograde noted in the included ephemeris that Mercury’s solar conjunction on 11 April will occur near the projected degree of the fixed star Baten Kaitos in the constellation Cetus, a star known as “the belly of the sea monster.” As the constellational image of Cetus is another eternal image of a primordial chaos serpent, in this case a chaotic sea serpent, there is a fascinating resonance between the eclipse and Mercury becoming reanimated in the belly of the sea dragon.

As we are living through an extended period of Saturn coming to the end of its cycle with Neptune while both are transiting through the oceanic sign of Pisces, we are all in the belly of a great whale, an extraordinary sea serpent of immense potency. This means that the transit of Mars in Pisces in the month ahead will bring up many of the terrors and fears we can associate with Saturn and Neptune in Pisces, with Mars forming a conjunction with Saturn on 10 April and with Neptune on 28 April. Yet within the darkness of the monstrous sea serpent’s belly, spiritual realizations and alchemical transformation may occur. Consider how your current conception of reality and what is possible has been swallowed by larger forces, while deepening into contact with the faith you possess for embracing the unknown potential of the moment with resilient courage and dynamic creativity.

Aries 2 Decan

The Sun in its exaltation of Aries will be eclipsed by the Moon in the second decan of Aries associated with the Three of Wands arcanum illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith. The eclipse is taking place in the final degree of the decan, just on the border of the Sun and Moon passing from the second decan of Aries into the third. The second decan of Aries has more of a focus on cultivating one’s noble essence into some sort of kingdom or kingship that inspires others, whereas the third decan of Aries is more focused upon the performance of one’s inner nobility in ways that bring inspiration to others. As the second face of Aries holds the degrees of the exaltation of the Sun, we fittingly find an image of solar sovereingty with a heroic figure overlooking a numinous landscape from a mountainous peak in the Three of Wands image. There are ships heading off into the vast expanse beyond into other worlds for communication and commerce. Similarly, numerous ancient texts attribute images to the second face of Aries that depict resources and rulership.

T Susan Chang in 36 Secrets wrote that the Three of Wands goes with “faith in the good efforts you have already made,” investing “in well thought through acts of benevolence,” and “mak[ing] your own rules, and liv[ing] by them.” The sovereignty of being able to create your own world according to your own rules fits well with the fact that the Sun is the ruler of this decan in both the descending and triplicity rulership schemes, the only decan in which the Sun is the ruler for both. With the Sun being eclipsed here, we are being confronted with the way we’ve all contributed to making the world the way it is now, including the ways this can make us angry and frustrated for things to be different. With the light of the exalted Sun becoming extinguished only to return again with its radiant luminosity, consider the ways you have been conforming to cultural paradigms that need to be extinguished in order to return to the expression of your own radiant luminosity.

In Henrich Corenelius Agrippa’s The Celestial World, the second face of Aries is clearly shown as being rooted in sovereignty: “In the second face of Aries rises the form of a woman, dressed in red garments on the outside and under them white. She is stretching out her foot. This image is made for nobility, loftiness of kingdom, and great dominion.” While the color red is a match for the sign of Aries and its ruling planet Mars, it also can symbolize the living of a passionate life with embodied eros through acts of creation. In alchemy the color red is associated with the rubedo or reddening alchemical phase that is not only known as the “crowning” stage of the opus, but also involves the incarnation and embodiment of freshly enlightened consciousness into the blood and flesh of the body. The woman stretching out her foot further shows the expansiveness inherent in this decan that can nurture a stretching of forms through creation into new territories of development.

Austin Coppock in 36 Faces ascribed the image of “The Crown” to the second decan of Aries. Coppock described the focus of this decan as being “the world which emanates from an individual” and “the qualities which they choose to embody.” Coppock wrote that the potent capacity to create one’s own world found in this face leads to not only the attraction and magnetism of others of like-mind, but also to “the key to creating pocket realities which do not obey the laws of the collective reality field in which they exist.” Coppock emphasized that the “virtues and vices” that define our character as well as “the interactions of the character with the world around it” are habits honed through our personal practices. Coppock illuminated that the luminosity of “potential hardens in the scaffolding of practice, like gold cast, stretched and worked” by an artisan smith. In this way, our unique and innate “potential becomes the royal regalia, the crown jewels of one’s personal world.” Yet Coppock also noted the responsibility of leadership and the burden of the crown that comes from creating a world that others may inhabit and derive inspiring sustenance from. While we may witness the downfall of contemporary world-builders and the arising to greater power and status of ascending world-builders in the aftermath of the eclipse, make space to focus on the cultivation of your own unique virtues from which you may create your own world.

The Hellenistic text the 36 Airs attributed Persephone to the second decan of Aries, an interesting association as she is also a noble figure who bridges the world of the visible and invisible, the goddess who rules the under-World of soul, death, release, and resurrection. Persephone’s association with the second decan of Aries is interesting considering that the dwarf planet Ceres if forming a square aspect with the Aries Solar Eclipse. Although Ceres has astrological significations for productive growth, her meaning also involves the mythic story of her grief over losing her daughter Persephone to the underworld, and the mystery initiations she brought to humanity as a result. The eternal return of Persephone became associated with the eternal renewal of life following the decomposition of death, living symbolism further enacted and embodied through initiation into the Mystery. Moreover, Persephone also has connections with the Moon resonate with the fact that the Moon will be eclipsing the Sun. In fact, Plutarch wrote that Persephone’s netherworld realm is literally on the face of the Moon.

Persephone’s presence in the eclipse calls us to honor being an eternal soul fully embodied within a material realm of continual life and death. While we must reconcile ourselves to living in a world of great suffering and death, Persephone also signifies our capacity for discovering newfound power and strength within ourselves in spite of the wounds we must bear. In fact it is sometimes our experience of wounding that leads us to cultivate the inner power Persephone possesses to bridge the realms of the living and the ancestral, the visible and the invisible. In the weeks following the Aries Solar Eclipse, make space to envision the world you can create and the worlds you may bridge through the cultivation of virtue and the expression of your own sovereign character. Not only will claiming this agency bring about a renewal of life force within your own personal sphere, it can also provide uplifting inspiration for others to do the same.

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References

Agrippa, Heinrich Cornelius. (2021). Three Occult Books of Philosophy. Translated by Eric Purdue. Inner Traditions.

Brady, Bernadette. (1998). Predictive Astrology: The Eagle and the Lark. Weiser Books.

Caton, Gary. (2017). Hermetica Triptycha: The Mercury Elemental Year. Rubedo Press.

Chang, T. Susan. (2021). 36 Secrets: A Decanic Journey through the Minor Arcana of the Tarot. Anima Mundi Press.

Coppock, Austin. (2014). 36 Faces: The History, Astrology and Magic of the Decans. Three Hands Press.

George, Demetra. (2019). Ancient Astrology in Theory and Practice: a Manual of Traditional Techniques. Rubedo Press.