Winter 2020 Eclipse Guide

Astrology

Dec 20

Friends, it is time once again to surrender to the process of change signified by solar and lunar eclipses. Eclipses are astronomical phenomena where either the sun or moon appears as if it were being obscured by the other from the vantage point of earth. As twentieth-century astrologer Alexander Ruperti writes, the Moon’s nodes (and by extension, eclipses) represent, “ a symbolic war between the ‘Solar Angel’ and the ‘Lunar Lords’ governing the past of mankind.”

Since the beginning of 2019, the Moon’s nodes have been in Cancer and Capricorn, signs that exemplify the Moon and Sun in our culture’s imagination. Cancer is the sign of nurturance, fragile beginnings, childlike emotions, and openness. Capricorn is generally thought of as a sign where ego, usefulness, world-building and power-consolidating reign, although I challenged these ideas in my last blog post.

In my experience, all of 2019 has felt like a battle ground between fear (and the scarcity mentality that engenders fear) and emotional surrender (trusting yourself and the process of change). Our Mercury retrograde cycles have been in water signs, asking us to face and express buried emotions. Pluto in Capricorn has been dredging the roots of our personal and collective traumas, going back generations.

Eclipses quicken this process of reckoning with the past because they tend to be moments where flashes of insight, change, and loss occur. Accepted astrological wisdom is that eclipses have a six-month window of influence. But I think that’s because it can take months to examine and integrate events that happen during an eclipse window.

To prepare for the energy that may shift during these eclipses, take some time to reflect on what has been your story of 2019. Were there inflection points in January and July (during the last eclipses)? What old patterns and stories have been running in your mind? What emotion lies underneath those? How can you connect to your embodied emotions in the present and nurture yourself?

December 26 South Node Solar Eclipse

The first eclipse comes at 5 Capricorn during the new moon. The Centaur asteroid Pholus as well as Jupiter are flanking the sun during this eclipse. As David Leskowitz has demonstrated, Pholus can bring our awareness to the root causes of pain and shame and help us to transform them. Jupiter will help usher in the wisdom to integrate the energy that is released during this south node eclipse. Chiron is squaring this eclipse, increasing the pressure to confront our most difficult vulnerabilities. Meanwhile, Mercury in Sagittarius can help us express our authentic truth and perspective while Venus in Aquarius connects us to the truth that when we heal our individual selves, we also can shift collective traumas.

I often look at the channeled degree symbols of John Sandbach for a key to the energetic and emotional character of a particular degree of the Zodiac. The Chandra symbol for Capricorn 5 is: Tall dark cypress trees in a cemetery.

Since ancient times, the cypress tree has been a symbol of mourning and transformation in the Greek imagination. The myth of Cyparissus is about a boy who dies of grief after accidentally killing his beloved pet and is turned into a cypress tree.

A few weeks ago, I was at the medieval monastery of Nea Moni on the island of Chios. What was once a thriving monastic complex is now a museum. In April 1822, several thousand people were killed by the Ottomans after taking refuge in the monastery. Their bones and pierced skulls are lined in a glass-front cabinet inside a little chapel. The day I went the place was deserted.

Moved by the overwhelming sense of loss I experienced, I went to one of the cypress trees planted next to the church and hugged it. I grounded my energy into the earth and tried to create a healing exchange between earth and heaven through my body. This is the only way I could overcome the grief and desolation that washed over me from one moment to the next while I wandered the site alone.

January 10 North Node Lunar Eclipse

Not every eclipse cycle contains a solar and lunar eclipse. Yet in this case, the lunar eclipse on January 10 can help us to move toward integrating what was released at the solar eclipse. The lunar eclipse occurs on the full moon in Cancer, just days before Saturn and Pluto complete their once-in-every 35-ish years synodic cycle. Mercury is now with the Sun and the goddess asteroid Ceres.

This full moon configuration emphasizes the need to express where you may have sacrificed yourself and your own needs in order to serve others (or what you thought others wanted), or were forced into compromising yourself. The best way to get through these feelings to give yourself space to feel them and then notice how your energy changes.

During the new year, we are always pulled by the lure of resolutions and new goals. “Capricorn season” is about self-control, it seems. But this full moon eclipse in Cancer helps us to see the other side of what we’ve lost through relentless goal-seeking and productivity: a connection to our emotional needs and the ability to nurture ourselves. Achievement and intimacy don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

The Chandra degree symbol for 20 Cancer is: Many brightly colored tropical fish.

Here the fish are a symbol of our ability to tune into the subtle colors and movement of our emotions. Our sensations and feeling states can change from moment to moment and if we are able to watch them change and hold space for those subtle shifts, we can re-write the story we’re telling ourself in the moment.

Staying Grounded

Perhaps the best wisdom for handling Winter 2020’s astrology is to stay present and connected to yourself and ask for support if you feel that you are moving towards a place of isolation, overwhelm, or depression. Know that we are all riding the waves of these shifts and this will pass. As soon as the nodes shift into Gemini and Sagittarius in May of 2020, we will have an opportunity to rediscover some of the magic and inspiration that has felt inaccessible in 2019.

Like me hugging the cypress tree, finding support from nature, or a friend who can stand like a tall cypress for you, can help you let go of strong emotions from your body.