Eclipse 2010 Part III

Eclipse Part III

(This was written in August/September 2010.  The eclipse chart notes for Greenwich, Washington D.C., and Hawai'i date from then and refer to the July 11 Total Solar Eclipse.)

In this, Part III, I am going to jump more deeply into astrology and bypass some of the softer stuff that was in previous blog entries about eclipses.  Here we spend time looking not at eclipse paths and sky shows but at horoscopes, horo = hour, scope = view.  What we call "charts", as in, "Let me look at your chart."

I distinguish mundane from political charting in that a mundane chart has an astronomical basis while a political chart links the astronomical with social and political life on the planet.  It can be a thin distinction; for example, a New Moon is a mundane event but when calculated for a specific location it may be used for a political chart.

When we look at a mundane chart such as an eclipse, lunation, ingress, season, conjunction, etc., it doesn't come with a specific location.  We might get coordinates for the place where an eclipse is maximum and use that, but a mundane chart is most often viewed astrologically as set for the place where we want to consider its effects.  If we want to know about life in the US we set it for Washington DC.  Some astrologers will set a mundane chart "for the world" at a location that appears quite Eurocentric, Greenwich, England.  That choice has a long tradition and some very experienced astrologers still abide by it.

We can set a mundane chart for any location that fits the information we might like from the chart.  In my practice I most often set one for the White House for political/national information and one for the town where I am living or for any place of interest.

I may also use an astro-mapping program to quickly identify locations where a particular factor suggests that a chart for a specific location might be revelatory.  You may have heard of Astro*Carto*Graphy® mapping and "lines".  The maps provide a shortcut to where a chart will put this or that factor on one of the up, down, rise or set points.  Lines show where the planet or factor will be near or on an angle at the location.  That's very handy but it's only one factor.  Some hucksters are offering to find you love, money, health, and happiness based on these lines alone.  Tsk.

What we learn from location charts is how the event's (ingress, lunation, eclipse, etc.) planetary configuration works out for the area, nation, or whatever.  In any chart we note "angularity", the placement of a factor near one four sensitive chart locations:  1) Ascending or Rising, 2) Descending or Setting, 3) Culminating, "up", at the Midheaven, MC (Medium Coeli) or, 4) Anti-culminating, "down" at the IC (Imum Coeli).  When we find a planet or point at or near those chart angles it is emphasized and the emphasis is tied to the location.  So Mars, god of war and planet of fire, might be in emphasis for one location and not for another. 

Viewing charts based on the Total Solar Eclipse of July 11, 2010, 7:40:27 PM GMT, 19:40:27 UT, at 19° 24' Cancer (Summer Time was in effect, please note this time is NOT Summer Time, but Standard Greenwich Mean Time).

The illustration shows the path of totality (the darker blue band).

For an eclipse you may see two different times, one based on the longitudinal alignment of Moon and Sun (New Moon or lunation) and another keyed to the moment of greatest eclipse.  Greatest eclipse occurs in the South Pacific at 19:33:31 UT.  There's usually not a great deal of difference, and I may look at charts for both times, but to keep it simple I usually chart for the lunation which is the time I use for all New Moons, eclipse or not. 

At the time of the eclipse in England, the Sun is getting ready to set.  That is a public/social part of the horoscope so we might surmise from a "world chart" that the eclipse effects will be felt world-wide and that ordinary people (not just presidents and kings) will receive the message of this eclipse.

The "karma" of personages of the old guard will have a strong effect on events to transpire and it is the new lawmakers and young persons who will breathe life into progress (North Lunar Node Rising, South Setting).  It is obvious that the leaders of the past have a great deal of responsibility for the mess the world is in even though much of the populace has such a lack of historical perspective that they place the blame for current ills on current leaders.  The other side of that is represented in the Greenwich chart in that the future direction is in the hands of younger people coming into view, creators of new technologies like Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), or political gadfly Julian Assange (WikiLeaks).  

The eclipse in DC occurs in the part of the horoscope that has to do with international relations and that will be an area of additional focus for the period and in months to come.  With the Sun and Moon in that House it is likely that leaders will be traveling internationally.  No surprise in what we find at the bottom of the chart, "the homeland".  The planet Neptune of the sea is in emphasis.  That brings to mind the oil spill and indicates continuing confusion, illusion, and leaky-leaky in the Gulf.

Looking at the chart for my current home (Hawai'i), it has the eclipse in the legislative 11th.  There's a lot of attention given to the upcoming election and negative ads are in abundance.  Two planets traditionally referred to as "malefic", Mars of war and heat, and Saturn of lack and limitation are in the 1st House that has to do with the health of the community.  Hawai'i currently has the highest drought rating (by far, as high as the scale goes) of any of the fifty states.

Eclipse season comes again about the time of the Winter Solstice.  Part IV of this series will consider:

The Total Eclipse of the Moon, December 21, 2010, at 3:13 AM Eastern/12:13 AM Pacific.  It occurs on the Gemini/Sagittarius axis with Moon in Gemini, Sun in Sagittarius, 29° 21'.  Moon opposite Sun 8:13:27 AM GMT, Maximum Eclipse at 8:16:53 AM GMT.

The Partial Solar Eclipse, January 4, 2011, 9:02:36 AM GMT (Moon conjunct Sun), 8:50:33 AM GMT (Maximum Eclipse), occurs with Sun and Moon at Capricorn 13° 38'.


Thanks to Janus www.astrology-house.com for charts and to NASA for eclipse path map.  Questions?  Ask away.

A Few Notes on October 2010 Astrology

October 11, 2010:  A lovely Crescent Moon in the early evening last night went out of bounds (OOB) a few minutes after her exact forty-five degree separation from the Sun.  She’ll remain OOB until

Wed 10/13/2010 1:35 PM UT, 9:35 AM Eastern, 8:35 AM Central, 7:35 AM Mountain, 6:35 AM Pacific, and 3:35 AM here in Hawai’i.

Additionally, a longer term aspect came to perfection last night.  The aspect, a parallel in declination, is not one that gets a lot of press.  It’s a measurement analogous to latitude on the surface of the planet.  Saturn and Uranus reached the same precise distance south of the celestial equator.  The aspect suggests some emphasis of the dynamic between the planet of order and structure, Saturn, and the planet of revolutionary change, Uranus.

This is an enhanced continuation of one of the big picture planetary alignments that’s been discussed quite a bit in terms of the opposition of those two.  Saturn opposed Uranus for the first of five times November 4, 2008 and then the opposition repeated (due to retrogrades) 5 February 2009, 15 September 2009, 26 April 2009, with a final exact opposition on 26 July 2010.

The expression represented by the aspect in opposition is far from over as the aspect in declination reminds us.  Saturn wants to put a straight jacket on the impulse for democratic advance as represented by Uranus that the writer Richard Tarnas has compared to the archetype of Prometheus.  Prometheus was the Titan who looked out for the well being of man and is famous for giving the gift of fire (a modern comparison might be technology and the democratizing Internet).

At this point in a global economic recession the forces of Saturn represent the conservative impulse to go with what is tried and known while the progressive impulse of Uranus is to protect and find benefit for the masses.  The obvious parallel (pun intended) is apparent to the astrologer as another of the connections to be found between the sky show and life on this miracle planet.

What a time!  SuperMoon-New Moon and Venus retrograde October 7, Jupiter retrograde in aspect to Neptune retrograde on the 8th for more on the “adjusting” going on about faith, religion, and beliefs, and a Mercury with the Sun “Superior Conjunction” on the 16th to suggest continued focus on relationship communication.  We need to listen to one another more than we need to talk to one another.

I thought to just post the OOB Moon information to Facebook but this grew a bit beyond the mild lunacy that the OOB suggests so I’m putting this on the blog instead.  Look for the day-to-day effect of the OOB to see a bit of jitter to life, the ball takes an odd bounce.