Mercury trine Mars

Pisces New Moon

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Coin depicting fish-bodied Atargatis holding egg, flanked by barley stalks.
Audio recording of Pisces New Moon article

Pisces New Moon

The New Moon in Pisces on 20 February signals a shift from the airy abstractions of Aquarius into the dissolving waters and imaginal potency of Pisces. Not only does the New Moon at 1°22’ Pisces amplify the watery regeneration of the Sun moving from Aquarius into Pisces, but it also heralds the movement of Saturn from Aquarius into Pisces that will take place on 7 March during the forthcoming lunar cycle. While Saturn leaving its domicile of Aquarius to enter Pisces will mark a pivotal turning point in personal and world events, the liminal quality of the Pisces New Moon is even further magnified by the fact that Pluto will be passing over the final degree of Capricorn during the coming lunar cycle. Pisces is the mutable water sign that marks the end and beginning of seasons, and so the New Moon in Pisces is well suited to usher us across a major month of transitions that will involve Saturn leaving Aquarius to enter Pisces for the first time since 1993, and Pluto leaving Capricorn to enter Aquarius on 23 March for the first time since 1777. The darkness of the Pisces New Moon invites descent into realms of feeling and intuition, allowing self-created obstructions to dissolve within inner tide pools so that new creative solutions can begin to take shape.

The New Moon in Pisces is applying to a conjunction with the projected degree of the fixed star Fomalhaut, the mouth of the Southern Fish (Piscis Austrinus) who drinks from the celestial water poured by the Aquarius constellation. Although not the same constellation as the Pisces constellation of two fish bound together, some ancient star-lore viewed the Southern Fish as the mother of the two fish who form the image of Pisces. Similar to Pisces, Fomalhaut as the mouth of the fish has significations for aquatic life and the life giving nature of the oceans, rivers, lakes, and streams essential for our survival. Combined with the hard lessons that Saturn will bring to Pisces, the New Moon in Pisces will deepen awareness for corruption of water in current events, including the many stories connected with droughts, diseases, and toxic pollution that have been intensifying in concern recently such as the explosion of hazardous chemicals caused by the recent train wreck in east Ohio in the United States.

Yet during a time of collective uncertainty that has the potential to increase fear of the future, the Pisces New Moon aligning with Fomalhaut also contains a magical antidote from the realm of dream and imagination. Fomalhaut has long been considered to be one of the four royal stars that serve as guardians of the sky and hold tremendous power for both good and ill (along with Regulus, Aldebaran, and Antares). Amongst the royal stars, Fomalhaut is the most magical and otherworldly, the most powerful in terms of enhancing capacity for moving between dreaming and waking reality to give birth to new forms of vision, imagination, and hope for the future. Ptolemy connected Fomalhaut with Venus and Mercury, fitting its nature as a poetic, visionary, and mystical star. Bernadette Brady has described Fomalhaut as possessing the “nature of enchantment, wherein one accomplishes things through a deep natural understanding of the nature of relationship, rather than the use of will power.”

Bernadette Brady additionally wrote that Fomalhaut is not only associated with “charisma . . . beauty or perfect harmony,” but also “high ideals or lofty visions” that force individuals under its influence “to clash with mainstream thought in order to achieve these ideals.” Brady further noted that the gift of charisma brought by Fomalhaut is also its nemesis, as Fomalhaut can bring a downfall of fortune “if the ideals or dreams are corrupt in any way.” As a result, it will be important to explore the shadow side of dreams within the darkness of the Pisces New Moon, exploring the ways in which the manifestation of visions will impact the wider web of relationships in the world. It will also be imperative to resist fear and the obstruction of uncertainty, instead discovering sustenance and support through your inner capacity to re-dream the way forward. Practices of active imagination can have heightened capacity for revealing new paths of discovery that have been previously hidden from awareness, using methods that bridge the essential creativity of the unconscious with conscious awareness.

While the Pisces New Moon will take place in the first two degrees of Pisces, Venus will be in the final degree of Pisces when the Sun and Moon form their rejuvenating conjunction. Venus in her exaltation of Pisces has further connection with Fomalhaut, as many strands of mythology have linked the starry mouth of the Southern Fish with great goddesses from Syria such as Atargatis and Derceto. In one version documented by Eratosthenes, a Greek polymath from the third century B.C. who was chief librarian at the Library of Alexandria, the Southern Fish rescued the Syrian goddess Derceto after she fell into a lake. In another version, Derceto flung herself into a lake after falling in love with a beautiful mortal who she gave birth to a daughter with, surviving by changing into the form of a fish with a human head. Another version has the Southern Fish rescuing Isis, the great Egyptian goddess.

Gavin White in his book on ancient Babylonian star-lore wrote that “The Fish” containing Fomalhaut was considered to be sacred to the water god Enki who dwells in the watery Abyss beneath the earth. White wrote that since the Southern Fish would have previously been a marker of the Winter Solstice period, the Greek star-lore portraying the Fish as a protector of the Syrian goddess Derceto has similar symbolism to stories of the Pisces constellation in which two fish rescue a golden egg in the Euphrates river which they roll onto dry land where a dove then sits on top of the egg to hatch the Syrian goddess. White wrote that since these are constellations associated with the time between the Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox, they portray “the fish as benevolent creatures of the watery depths, which rescued the stricken sun from the waters of darkness and guided it back to safety” and “its ascending path that leads towards the springtime.”

These mythic links between Fomalhaut with protection of the life-giving Sun and goddesses symbolize its strength for protecting our inner capacity for imagining and manifesting our creative potential. The 1st Century A.D. Roman poet and astrologer Manilius described the Southern Fish in association with diving into hidden depths to gather pearls. Yet Manilius further emphasized that “the diver who has plunged into the depths becomes, like the booty, the object of recovery.” As we come to the end of Pluto’s first pass through Capricorn, after dealing with five years of Saturn occupying its homes of Capricorn and Aquarius, we’ve all become more acutely aware of the toxic, oppressive aspects of societal power structures and the difficulty in effecting change and holding those in power accountable for reform and reparation. Fomalhaut’s presence with the Pisces New Moon is an invitation to seek answers from within the realm of dreams and imagination, utilizing fantasy as an inner respite from external stressors rather than as a distracting disconnection from reality. The New Moon in Pisces will offer opportunities for discovering solutions from internal sources of imaginal insight and within relational exchanges with the living enchantment of the world.

Dragonfly, plate 1 from Le Fleuve (1874) by Édouard Mane

Jupiter in Aries rules the Pisces New Moon while applying toward a conjunction with Chiron that will become exact on 12 March during the waning half of the forthcoming lunar cycle. While Jupiter in Aries can supply an underlying boldness of fiery assertion in pursuing larger goals and visions, its proximity with Chiron will put us into deeper touch with any past wounds and issues of identity and alienation that are reemerging to be faced again within current developments. As a result, the lunar cycle flowing forth from the New Moon in Pisces will bring opportunities for integrating parts of ourselves that have become wayward, repressed, or denied. While we often cast away parts of ourselves for protective reasons, the coherence of Jupiter and Chiron will create opportunities to foster a stronger sense of self value and inner security that can ultimately help us in achieving our most prioritized goals in the future. There is an excellent article written by Brian Clark about the Jupiter-Chiron cycle and their conjunction you can read here. Amongst many other themes, Brian Clark deduced that the start of a new cycle between Jupiter and Chiron in 2023 will highlight mundane issues centered around educational changes, medicinal wisdom, indigenous reconciliation, refuge for the displaced, and natural and psychic wilderness.

Mercury in Aquarius will weave connections between Jupiter and Chiron more closely together, as Mercury will be separating from a collaborative sextile with Jupiter in Aries while applying to a sextile with Chiron in Aries. Mercury in Aquarius is incredibly active during the lunation, as it will also be applying toward a catalytic square with Uranus in Taurus and a flowing trine with Mars in Gemini. Mercury is moving fast as a morning star and in strong position to translate and transmit informational exchanges amongst Jupiter, Chiron, Uranus, and Mars. While the square between Mercury and Uranus that will become exact on 21 February could bring jarring, unexpected news or twists in storylines, within the bigger picture the harmonious trine between Mercury and Mars will bring a helpful boost of clarity regarding whatever plans of action we have been developing and implementing. As the trine between Mercury and Mars becomes exact on 22 February, listen for insights being revealed about how to adjust plans, modulate your use of energy, and reframe your relationship with the larger goals in life you have been focusing on achieving.

The aspects Mercury will pass through following the Pisces New Moon can facilitate important dialogue within your relationships in order to gain insight for the changing nature of desires and needs for both individuals. Mercury clashing with Uranus may lead to impulsive thoughts of freedom and rebelling against restrictions, yet Mercury in Aquarius can listen with the degree of detachment needed to step back from emotional engulfment in order to discern the most beneficial path forward for everyone involved. Mercury in Aquarius is also in a strong position for brainstorming new ideas and innovative solutions, taking account of a multitude of competing factors, and bringing discerning analysis to any difficulties in need of being worked out. After Mercury forms its flowing trine with Mars on 22 February it will apply toward a sobering and grounding conjunction with Saturn in Aquarius that will become exact on 2 March. With Saturn at the final degree of Aquarius and on the precipice of entering Pisces, the union between Mercury with Saturn will help in letting go of what needs to be released, cutting away excesses and distractions, and realizing the central heart of issues that need to be focused on. Thus while there is a dreamy quality to the Pisces New Moon, the many important aspects that Mercury will make during the waxing half of the lunar cycle can lead to the formation of practical strategies, insights into problem solving, and effective adjustments to longterm plans so that there is greater alignment between your authentic desires and your use of time and energy.

Salomé with the Ibis by Marie Laurencin

Venus will be at the final degree of Pisces when the Sun and Moon unite on 20 February. The star of Aphrodite will then exit her exaltation of Pisces in order to enter her inversion of Aries less than an hour after the lunation. The shift of Venus from Pisces to Aries brings a loss of essential dignity to Venus that could correlate with a need to let go of expectations in order to adjust to changing circumstances. Yet there is an important mediating factor at play when Venus enters Aries: the presence of Jupiter. Once Venus enters Aries she will begin applying toward a conjunction with Jupiter that will become exact on 2 March, the same day that Mercury will also form a conjunction with Saturn. Venus will stoke the flames of passion and inspiration while building toward her union with Jupiter, supplying a wave of uplifting support for goals and ambition. With Mercury conjoining Saturn in Aquarius on the same day, the grandiose plans of Venus and Jupiter will be tempered by a pragmatic grounding energy, which will necessitate being realistic with goals. The following day on 3 March, Venus will move into a conjunction with Chiron in Aries that will deepen awareness of any internal issues intersecting with your capacity to claim greater personal agency.

In addition, during the waxing half of the lunar cycle Mars in Gemini will move increasingly closer to forming a square aspect with Neptune in Pisces. Mars will not form an exact square aspect with Neptune until 14 March which will link to the timing of the last quarter phase of the lunar cycle. However, at the upcoming Full Moon in Virgo on 7 March, Mars will be within three degrees of a square with Neptune giving the clash between Mars and Neptune a powerful influence within the upcoming Virgo Full Moon. The square between Mars and Neptune is significant for many reasons, chiefly due to the fact that it was a major aspect embedded within the early stages of the Mars retrograde period last October and November. Mars previously formed a square aspect with Neptune on 12 October when direct and again on 19 November when retrograde, and so there may be issues re-emerging from last October and November to be worked out and resolved.

During the waxing half of the lunar cycle Mars will move within an orb of influence with Neptune on 24 February with their tension continuing to build with intensity as the Moon waxes toward fullness. Mars and Neptune are commonly viewed in astrology as difficult archetypal forces to bring together in combination, as the boundless and unifying imaginal force of Neptune brings obscuring fog to the focusing of Mars. Neptune can make it trickier for Mars to cut through options into focalized action in some cases, over inflating the hubris of Mars in other cases through dogmatic perspectives and self-righteous actions. Yet we can utilize the friction between Mars and Neptune to cut through the places we have deluded ourselves, allowing our experiences to reveal insights that can bring about a reorientation to our reality. Those experiencing a dissolution of longstanding beliefs will likely need to pass through a disorienting phase of fluidity before being able to gain clarity. With new storylines ready to leap into effect in the month ahead due to Saturn and Pluto changing signs, the square between Mars and Neptune will reveal ways in which the flux of change is showing up within both personal and collective events.

Pisces 1 Decan

The Pisces New Moon will activate the first decan of Pisces associated with the Eight of Cups card illustrated above by Pamela Colman Smith. The image contains a figure retreating into a watery, island realm of caves and seclusion ideal for contemplation. With their staff planted in the earth, the red cape and boots of the figure symbolize the inner vitality they may utilize in discerning deeper understanding for their reality. T. Susan Chang in her book 36 Secrets wrote that the Eight of Cups teaches us how to face our fears of the unknown, bringing “realization in the realm of emotions” that reveals when “it’s time to move on.” The first decan of Pisces is the face of Saturn, a symbolism that aligns perfectly with the image of a hermit turning away from the accepted and familiar in order to receive new visions of depth and penetrating insight. Within the triplicity rulership scheme it is also the face of Jupiter, bringing a devotional quality to the soul searching enacted here that can nurture new perspectives by facing uncertainties and abandoning past assumptions. T. Susan Chang made the insightful point that within the “amniotic darkness” of the Eight of Cups, we can “let go of the fear that anything could happen, and open up to wonder and to awe: indeed, anything could happen!“

In Henrich Cornelius Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy, a “well-dressed man” emerges in the first decan of Pisces who is “carrying a burden on his back.” Agrippa mentions that this decan signifies “journeys, changing one’s place, and an attentiveness for seeking substance, and nourishment.” There is a subtle emphasis in this wording upon the “seeking” of substance rather than possession. Like in the image of the Eight of Cups, there is also a necessity for travel and change, journeying away from the familiar into the unfamiliar in search of what is being sought. Indeed, the Brihat Jataka gave the image of “a man decked with ornaments, holding in hand sacrificial vessels, pearls, gems, and conchshells and crossing the ocean in a boat in search of jewels for his wife.” Yet, the Yavanajātaka described an image of a completed journey: “a woman with a beautiful body whose eyes are expansive and long. Her body is adorned with silk and gold. She stands by the Great Sea, which she has crossed in a boat for the sake of a heap of jewels.”

Austin Coppock ascribed the image of “The Labyrinth” to the first face of Pisces in 36 Faces, writing that it signifies “a quest to map invisible walls of reality,” “the subtle structures which guide human life,” as well as the realization that our own unconscious is a primal progenitor of our current reality. Coppock wrote that the first decan of Pisces holds “the convergence point of perception and reality,” a place where we “recognize our imprisonment in our own reality construct” as well as “the possibility of liberation” from moving beyond our former boundaries into “a world as yet uncorrupted by our assumptions.” Coppock wrote “liberation is achieved here through insight alone,” as the discovery that our soul can be the designer and builder of our reality is the realization that can “transforms the structure itself from a prison to a palace.” Yet Coppock also warned of the dangers of becoming lost within the labyrinth found within this decan, writing that “much depends upon if the seeker knows what is sought.”

The link between the primal, fertile potency of the unconscious with the first face of Pisces is interesting considering that the Hellenistic text The 36 Airs linked the first decan of Pisces with the Titan Okeanos. More of a primal sea divinity than Poseidon, Okeanos was the great river encircling the world where the Sun rose from at dawn and returned to at sunset. Yet in keeping with the fecund nature of Pisces, the binding quality of Okeanos is also incredibly fertile. Okeanos and his divine wife Tethys, goddess of the sea, gave birth to the three thousand river gods and the innumerable Oceanid nymphs, creating aquatic life forms that bring divine purification and nourishment to our human realm. Carl Kerenyi wrote that Okeanos “possessed inexhaustible powers of begetting,” with the “rivers, springs and fountains – indeed, the whole sea – issue[ing] from his broad, mighty stream.”

Fitting for a decan that can place us in contact with the creator of our reality structure, it has also been suggested based upon lines from Homer that there may be an alternative tradition in which Okeanos and Tethys are the primeval parents of the gods rather than Gaia and Uranus. Kerenyi wrote that “ever since the time when everything originated from [Okeanos] he has continued to flow to the outermost edge of the earth, flowing back upon himself in a circle.” Kerenyi wrote that when the new order of Zeus was established, only Okeanos “was permitted to remain in his former place- which is really not a place, but only a flux, a boundary and barrier between the world and the Beyond.” Okeanos inhabiting the nexus between the known world and the Otherworld makes him a fitting divinity for the first decan of Pisces.

It’s further fitting that with precession, the tropical zodiac degree of the fixed star Fomalhaut is now found within the first decan of Pisces. With the Pisces New Moon conjoining Fomalhaut, we will have enhanced opportunity to encounter the meeting ground between dreaming and waking reality, leaving the illusions of consensus reality for the wisdom that can be found within imaginal depths. May you dream well with the New Moon in Pisces.

If you enjoy my writing please consider supporting my work through a monthly subscription on my Patreon page. Take a look to see the benefits you will receive as a patron, and the learning opportunities available on the Cedar and Oak tiers. On the Oak tier in our monthly classes we are currently exploring the fixed stars, including the mythology of the stars and how to work with them not only in natal and mundane astrology but also how to develop relationships with them through ritual.

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References

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

Brady, Bernadette. (1998). Brady’s Book of Fixed Stars. Weiser.

Brady, Bernadette. (2008). Star and Planet Combinations. The Wessex Astrologer.

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

Eratosthenes and Hyginus ; translated with an introduction and notes by Robin Hard. (2015). Constellation myths : with Aratus’s ‘Phaenomena’. Oxford University Press,

Kerenyi, Carl. (1951). The Gods of the Greeks. Thames and Hudson.

White, Gavin. (2014). Babylonian Star-Lore: An Illustrated Guide to the Star-Lore and Constellations of Ancient Babylonia. 3rd Edition. Solaria Publications.

Total Solar Eclipse in Sagittarius

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Robert Fludd from Utriusque Cosmi (1617)

Robert Fludd from Utriusque Cosmi (1617)

Solar Eclipse in Sagittarius

As the Sun turns black during the total Solar Eclipse in Sagittarius on December 14, so may we feel overshadowed by what is ready to be laid to rest in the darkness of our subterranean soil and what is stirring in our chthonic depths with the seeds of new growth to come. The eclipse will appear above as a dark void unveiling stars normally obscured by daylight, while below it will be felt as a fertile matrix unleashing material that has been hidden from perception into awareness. While solar eclipses have long been known to demarcate pivotal endings and beginnings in storylines, the Sagittarius Solar Eclipse is unusually significant due to it arising at the threshold of not only a new year but also a new astrological era.

Indeed, in the week following the Sagittarius Solar Eclipse we will experience Saturn entering Aquarius on December 16, Jupiter entering Aquarius on December 19, and a grand conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn on December 21, the day of the Capricorn Solstice. Not only is the conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn initiating a new twenty year cycle of sociopolitical changes in culture that always occur when Jupiter and Saturn unite, their conjunction at the end of 2020 is also marking our entrance into a new astrological era in which Jupiter and Saturn will only be forming conjunctions in the tropical air signs of Aquarius, Gemini, and Libra. After Jupiter and Saturn conjoin at 00°29′ Aquarius on December 21, there will only be conjunctions between Jupiter and Saturn in air signs until 21 December 2159 when they will unite in Scorpio, followed by two more grand conjunctions in air signs (2179 in Gemini and 2199 in Aquarius) before the elemental era fully shifts into tropical water signs in 2219.

As a result, the Sagittarius Solar Eclipse is occurring in the final week of an astrological era of Jupiter and Saturn conjoining in earth signs that began in 1802. Since eclipses typically intensify our experience of forms entering and leaving our life, there will be an immeasurably larger scale of wider collective change at the same time we will be experiencing our own personal mutations. The dissolution of the eclipse can loosen however we have been bound up in knots by difficulties from the past year, yet we may also sense an unraveling of innumerable threads of historical and cultural conditioning that have been bound together. As eclipses enhance our capacity to purify and release material attachments, we may experience not only a personal reckoning with our own past attachments but feel how there is a wider reckoning occurring across global civilizations concerning collective attachments that have dominated the past two centuries.

The astrological tradition imagines eclipses as a great dragon or serpent consuming the light of our Sun and Moon, with the North Node of the Moon symbolizing its head and the South Node its tail. The Solar Eclipse at 23º08’ Sagittarius will be aligned with the tail of the dragon, as the South Node of the Moon will be at 19º56’ Sagittarius. As a result, we can align with the eclipse by emphasizing processes associated with the South Node of the Moon such as emptying, shedding, cleansing, purifying, releasing, and harvesting. Knowing that the solstice a week after the eclipse holds great potency for visioning and intention setting with Jupiter and Saturn conjoining, the week surrounding the eclipse can help us gain a sharper sense for the projects and goals to focus on and cultivate by letting go of whatever is inessential or no longer resonant with our core purpose. Sit in the stillness of the solstice season and let the gravity of the eclipse settle your soul on the creative desires that will be most enlivening for you to cultivate and develop in the new year. Let your sense of linear time be eclipsed so that nonlinear revelations may bring inspiration as you simultaneously surrender to the dissolution, emptying, and deepening of the eclipse.

Folio from a Mu’nis al-ahrar fi daqa’iq al-ash’ar (The Free Man’s Companion to the Subtleties of Poems) of Jajarmi dated A.H. 741/A.D. 1341

More immediately, however, the Sagittarius Solar Eclipse is important due to being the first solar eclipse in a series that will occur in the signs of Sagittarius and Gemini over the course of the next year (there will be another solar eclipse at 19°47′ Gemini on 10 June 2021, followed by another solar eclipse on 3 December 2021 at 12°22′ Sagittarius). Since the eclipse is the first of a series of solar eclipses in the signs of Sagittarius and Gemini, it will introduce new narrative themes into our life while we simultaneously need to begin molting aspects of our old attachments and identity. One way to get a sense for how your story may be changing in accordance is to pay attention to the associated topics and condition of the Sagittarius and Gemini houses of your natal chart. 

As the shadow of the Moon completely covers the face of the Sun, so will the meaning of Sagittarius also undergo a blackening as it becomes veiled by the void of the eclipse. Sagittarius is the fire sign that comes at the end of the calendar year, the time of greatest darkness in the northern hemisphere when cold winds blow. Sagittarius kindles the inner fire that incites grand quests for meaning and adventure, and in its symbol of the wayfaring centaur reveals how it synthesizes reasoning with instinctual intuition as it searches widely for meaning across diverse cultures and philosophical traditions. The other primary symbol of Sagittarius is the archer, showing its tendency to look ahead and center its gaze on targets to strike, fueled by the fiery visions hovering over the horizon. In keeping with the eclipse arising at a threshold between collective eras, Sagittarius is a sign open to mystery and capable of sustaining faith in the face of the unknown.

Since the Sun is being eclipsed in Sagittarius, however, we need to be ready to release fixation on already knowing where we need to go and what we need to do. There are illusive influences swirling around the eclipse difficult to decipher, as Neptune in Pisces is forming a bewildering square aspect with the lunar nodes and the eclipse is separating from a square with Neptune. The shadow of Sagittarius involves dogmatism and self righteousness, insisting that one’s inner sense of the truth is in fact the truth despite other perspectives indicating you do not really know the full story and have not appreciated other viewpoints. It will also be important to not rush ahead with sole focus on future directions, instead taking time to contemplate the past and integrate any essential lessons from whatever old material is being emptied into the void of the eclipse. The deep wisdom of Sagittarius needs to be applied like a nonlinear spiral, reaching back in reflection on lessons learned from the past while cohering a clearer vision of the new direction opening in the year ahead.

Robert Fludd from Utriusque Cosmi (1617)

Robert Fludd from Utriusque Cosmi (1617)

Jupiter in Capricorn is the ruler of the Sagittarius Solar Eclipse as it traverses the final degree of Capricorn. Jupiter will be less than one degree away from Saturn in Capricorn during the eclipse, with Saturn at 29°44′ Capricorn spending its final two days in the sign of the Sea Goat. Saturn has been in Capricorn since 19 December 2017, and ever since Jupiter entered Capricorn a year ago on 2 December 2019 we have been experiencing the closing of not only their past twenty year synodic cycle but also their past two hundred year elemental era of uniting in earth signs. As we exit 2020 to enter 2021 we will be able to witness manifestations of the old earth era fading away as the new air era takes shape through the kind of rapid change and dispersed movement associated with air. Before crossing the threshold we will be well served by pausing within the stillness of the solstice season to recenter and deepen into envisioning the life we wish to create free from the obstacles and hangups from the past. As the new desires take root within, we can hold space for them while facing challenges and prioritize the steps that need to be taken to begin making the vision a reality.

In the larger context of being in between collective eras, it’s significant that Venus in Scorpio is applying toward an almost exact sextile aspect with Jupiter in Capricorn that it will complete a few hours after the eclipse, as well as a harmonizing sextile aspect with Saturn in Capricorn that Venus will complete the next day on December 15. Venus in the third decan of Scorpio possesses potency in digging into the roots of desires, a skill that will help us more gracefully cross the collective threshold. By laying old desires to rest we will create space for whatever new passions, interests, and dreams will emerge in accordance with the grand conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn. Venus in Scorpio will resurrect essential desires through decomposing old wounds and losses, helping us to sort what must be let go with finality and what needs to be regenerated within the new visions we enact.

Saturn has been strong in its earthy, nocturnal home of Capricorn during the past three years and so has brought immense adversity on collective and personal levels for us to endure. Yet as we sit with the lessons of Saturn and persevere through the tests brought by the star of Cronus, we slowly strengthen the bones and foundational structures of our lives. As Saturn lingers in the final degree of its Capricorn domicile that accentuates it’s cold and dry nature, it’s an ideal time to contemplate what you have created from its contraction and honing force in the past three years. Let yourself witness how you have grown in your ability to take responsibility and act from your own sense of authority, as we will each need to become even more accountable for doing our individual part in helping to create the world we wish to live in during the next three years of Saturn bringing the next level of its tests from its airy, diurnal home of Aquarius.

Robert Fludd from Utriusque Cosmi (1617)

Robert Fludd from Utriusque Cosmi (1617)

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 Sagittarius Solar Eclipse on December 14, 2020 is part of the Saros 142 eclipse family that has its origin in a 1624 eclipse at the south pole. The 1624 date is intriguing for numerous reasons, including that some mainstream media reports about the upcoming conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn have stated that it will be their closest visible alignment since 1623. While other media reports have instead declared the upcoming conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn to be their closest visible alignment since 1226, it’s nonetheless notable that the period of the early 1620s has connection with the upcoming sequence of the Solar Eclipse on December 14 and the grand conjunction on December 21.

For those living in the USA during a period of intense polarized conflict that has its roots in the nation’s history, it is significant that the 1620s is the same period during which the Mayflower landed ashore, the Plymouth colony was established, and the legend of the first Thanksgiving was conceived. During this past era the collective traumas of the Atlantic slave trade displacing Africans, European immigrants fleeing oppression becoming displaced from their own ancestral culture, and indigenous people losing their land and lives all intensified in development. The ancestral wounds, grief, and trauma from this time period are still all around us, unresolved and in need of healing and reparation. While the promise and potential of being on the precipice of a new astrological era may make us want to focus on future visions, it will be necessary to return to the roots of the discord gripping current events for there to be any hope of mediating the polarized conflicts and creating a more just society.

In Bernadette Brady’s stellar book Predictive Astrology: The Eagle and the Lark she named the eclipse family of the Sagittarius Solar Eclipse “4 South” and wrote about it having its origin in a solar eclipse on March 19, 1624. However, checking the NASA site of saros series for eclipses, the origin of the Saros 142 eclipse family was actually on April 17, 1624. Brady described the 4 South eclipses as involving “very strong emotional feelings concerning relationships and/or money,” with sudden desires to end relationships running up against blocks that create great frustration, leading Brady to advise “avoid[ing] rash action until the issues settle down.” Brady’s description may have been based on some research into events associated with the saros series, but also clearly was connected to the fact that the March 19, 1624 eclipse was at the midpoint of Venus and Pluto with Pluto also in a conjunction with Mars and Venus also in an opposition with Saturn and Uranus.

In contrast, the April 17, 1624 eclipse is at the midpoint of Mars in Gemini and Chiron in Pisces, with Venus in Pisces applying to a close conjunction with Chiron. In fact, the Chiron and Venus conjunction in the origin eclipse from 1624 is at the same degree as transiting Neptune in Pisces today. As Chiron can function in connection with ancestral relationship and healing, one message from the 1624 origin eclipse relevant to the present is the capacity each of us possesses for forming relationships with our ancestors and doing our own individual part to deepen our relationship with the intersection between our ancestors and the present experienced in our individual bodies and within the world around us. As we deepen into relationship with our ancestors we deepen into recognizing the impact of culture and ancestral trauma on our individual lives as well as how they shape societal events.

Catafalque by Peter Kingsley has been my favorite book that I have read that was published during the recent transit of Saturn through Capricorn, in large measure due to the attention Kingsley gave to having relationships with our ancestors as well as stressing the importance of the living ancestors in the work of C.G. Jung. Kingsley wrote:

“We too are broken. All of us, not just some or a few, are addicts. We have lost any contact with our ancestral homes not because someone chased us out, but because we chase ourselves out. And there is not a single atrocity westerners can inflict on indigenous people that they have not also inflicted on themselves.”

If you want to reflect back upon your experience with previous solar eclipses in the Saros 142 series, the previous solar eclipse took place on December 4, 2002 at 11°58′ Sagittarius, on November 22, 1984 at 00°50′ Sagittarius, and on November 12, 1966 at 19°45′ Scorpio. All three of these eclipses were total just like the one on December 14, 2020.

Light in darkness

Robert Fludd from Utriusque Cosmi (1617)

Another key aspect of the Sagittarius Solar Eclipse involves Mercury in Sagittarius. Mercury in Sagittarius will be three degrees away from the eclipse, moving swiftly toward a conjunction with the Sun it will complete on December 19 at 28°42′ Sagittarius. Mercury will form a conjunction with the dark Moon shortly before the eclipse, and is also separating from a disorienting square aspect with Neptune. Mercury’s close presence with the eclipse will seed the significations of the star of Hermes into the impact that the eclipse will make in world events. Judith Hill in Eclipses and You listed significations of Mercury in connection with eclipses including news services, journalists, communication systems, phone and computer companies, writers, books, young people, childhood education, literacy, the postal system and language. 

Before Mercury forms its solar conjunction, it will first move through a flowing trine aspect with Mars in Aries. With Mercury separating from a square with Neptune and applying to a trine with Mars, we have a correlation in the USA with the use of the Internet and social media by those in power to manipulate public opinion that voter fraud in the presidential election took place despite having a total lack of evidence showing the proof. Whether or not your are being swayed by conspiracy theories, however, all of us are having to contend with our personal information being used by Internet companies to manipulate our choices and behavior. Mercury is also the ruler of the North Node in Gemini, and therefore its approaching union with the Sun is ideal for burning off distractions and shifting away from our attention being dispersed into too many directions into become focused upon the heart of the matter aligned with our greater purpose. All of us need to increase our capacity for critical thinking and seeing through attempts to manipulate our perception as we cross the threshold into a new astrological era of air.

As Mars in Aries is finally picking up substantial forward momentum we will likewise have increased support for getting things done and taking action. As Mercury moves through the trine with Mars and forms its conjunction with the Sun on December 19, we can ideally gain clarity regarding our creative desires and begin envisioning more fully the work we wish to create in the year ahead. At the same time, Mars is applying toward its final square aspect with Pluto in Capricorn that it will complete on December 23 a couple of days after the grand conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn. Mars previously formed a square aspect with Pluto when it was retrograde in Aries on October 9, and so we have had a few months to let whatever desires were stirred up by their previous tension to simmer within our inner depths. While we previously may have felt blocked or inhibited in some way from fully expressing whatever ambitions were ignited by Mars and Pluto in October, we can use the week following the Capricorn solstice and the conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn to make significant progress on whatever goals were forged during the past few months of Mars moving backwards and forwards in Aries.

10 of Wands

10 of Wands by Pamela Colman Smith

Sagittarius 3 Decan

The Sun in Sagittarius will be eclipsed within the third decan of Sagittarius associated with the 10 of Wands card illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith.  Human toil, endurance and perseverance are some of the immediate associations evoked by the image of determination, as this card has been associated with oppressive dynamics and limitations we must face and do our best to work through. The third face of Sagittarius is ruled by Saturn and the Sun, bringing together within its space of relentless determination the polarized tension between the limiting contraction of Saturn and the animating spirit of the Sun. While we will need to take care of necessary responsibilities in the days surrounding the eclipse, we will manage things better by refraining from overworking ourselves and instead making contemplative space to ponder the meaning gathered from our experiences.

Austin Coppock ascribed the image of “A Horse’s Skull” to the third face of Sagittarius in his book 36 Faces, describing how it reveals the unification of mind, body, and spirit through committed work and effort yoked to a goal.  Coppock also wrote that the final face of Sagittarius brings a reckoning regarding whatever needs to be sacrificed in pursuit of desires, noting that “those who walk this face must choose which burdens they will bear to the bitter end, and which are not worthy of such feats of will and endurance.” Both the Picatrix and Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy warn of the “evil inclinations” that can be harbored within this decan for those overly desperate to achieve objectives. Coppock described the intoxicating pursuit of victory that is found in this face, noting a need to realize when the “desperate fervor” of this decan’s power is appropriate and when it is inappropriate and will exact “a heavy toll.” These essential points by Coppock are in deep accord with what needs to be released and emptied into the eclipse in the third face of Sagittarius. It’s not a time for being forceful with whatever ambitions you have been consumed by, but rather a time for surrender and release so that the freed up space may generate new desires and visions that will be in greater alignment with the quality of time we will enter at the end of 2020.

In keeping with themes of necessity, the Hellenistic text The 36 Airs of the Zodiac proclaimed the presence of the primordial goddess Ananke in the third face of Sagittarius.  Ananke is the mother of the Fates, the overseer of souls incarnating in Plato’s Myth of Er, and is the primordial mother of creation in some strands of Orphic cosmology who governs the cyclic nature of the cosmos. Ananke is the goddess of Necessity, and her presence in the third face of Sagittarius further amplifies the fateful feelings that will be incited by the eclipse initiating us into the grand conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn. May the watchful eye of Ananke alert us to whatever actions needs to be taken and whatever responsibilities need to fulfilled as we contend with the burdens of Necessity. As the Sun emerges from the shadow of the eclipse and enters its sacred space of the solstice, may its returning light illuminate an inspired path of Eros for us to follow into the new era of air.

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References

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

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

Hill, Judith. (2013). Eclipses and You: How to Align with Life’s Hidden Tides. Stellium Press.

Kingsley, Peter. (2018). Catafalque: Carl Jung and the End of Humanity. Catafalque Press.