Partial Solar Eclipse of September 2007
By Eric Francis and Kirsti Melto
New Moon in Virgo — Sep. 11, 2007, 12:44 UT
THE NEW MOON of September occurs at 18+ degrees Virgo. This is a partial solar eclipse on the South Node of the Moon. The focus is in Virgo at the moment, as earlier this month, on Sept. 2, Saturn entered Virgo for the first time in about 27 years. In addition, the current Venus retrograde began in Virgo, and Venus stations direct in Leo Sept. 8 — just three days shy of the eclipse.
Sue Tompkins says in The Contemporary Astrologer’s Handbook about Moon in Virgo: “Strong on humility and gentleness, above all this is a helpful, kindly Moon and also one packed with common sense.” About the sign of Virgo in general she writes: “Like Gemini, the other Mercury-ruled sign, Virgo wants information but, whereas Gemini is inclusive in orientation in that it gathers all information, Virgo is more exclusive: it only wants information if it is useful. Thus, Virgo has a gift for discrimination and prioritizing. There is a capacity for selection, an ability to sift — criticism and analysis are key Virgo skills.”
Yet with Virgo, we must remember at all times the profoundly self-critical factor that is often paralyzing. Sun or Moon in Virgo can get a lot done as long as it stops thinking and takes some kind of action. With Uranus directly opposite the eclipse, this seems within the realm of possibility, though the result may be a little shocking.
The Sun and the Moon are in conjunction with two small worlds: a trans-Neptunian minor planet called Logos and a main belt asteroid called Atlantis. The Sun is also parallel with Logos, enhancing the power of the conjunction. If two bodies share the same degree of declination, that is, they are at the same distance from the celestial equator (either north or south of the celestial equator), they are said to be parallel. The conjunction of Logos means language, a form of technology. Atlantis represents the use and abuse of technology, and the effects of small things on big systems. Atlantis is a culture that in our mythology fell from grade as a result of the abuse of its technology. Uranus is also about technology, invention and breakthrough.
This eclipse seems to include a commentary on technology and our relationship to it.
Logos, a Cubewano (a type of outer planet beyond Pluto) is a binary Kuiper belt object with an orbital period about 307 years. “A binary planet” is a pair of worlds that are similar in mass and orbit one another. Each orbits the other around a gravitational balance point that is between the two — a location called the center of mass, or the barycenter. The pair may have born like twins, or may be produced by collisions, where a single body is split in two. Binary minor planets are a relatively recent discovery. It is not unusual that TNOs have binary companions, and more are being discovered all the time. Logos was discovered in 1997 and its binary companion Zoe in 2001. The naming of Logos took place in 2006.
In English, the word “logos” is the root of “log” (as in record) and of “logic.” Logic is a special area of philosophy and it has many branches. Logic is the essence of critical thinking, which is not necessarily anything critical in negative sense of the word. Critical thinking is the ability to think clearly and rationally. It enables one to analyze, evaluate, and restructure one’s thinking. Fair-minded critical thinking requires intellectual humility, empathy, integrity, courage and other intellectual traits – mostly these are characteristics of Virgo. Critical thinking without these traits may result in clever, but manipulative thought serving unethical purposes.
Psychologist Carl Jung used the term “logos” for the masculine principle of rationality.
Traditionally, logic has been seen as a branch of philosophy. In ancient times the motivation for the study of logic was to learn to distinguish good from bad arguments and to become more effective in argument. In later times formal logic has been studied in the context of mathematics. The development of formal logic and its implementation in computing machinery is the foundation of computer science. Computers can also be used as tools for logicians.
Logic is essential for a scientist. Albert Einstein (theory of relativity) had Logos in the 10th conjunct his Pisces Sun. Charles H. Townes (who developed the the principle of the maser and laser) had Logos in Taurus in the 10th square the Sun. Henri Becquerel (one of the discoverers of radioactivity) had Logos in the 10th in Aquarius conjunct his Moon, Johannes Kepler (creator of the three laws of planetary motion) had Logos in wide conjunction with his Jupiter-Pluto conjunction in Pisces. Thomas Alva Edison’s (developer of the light bulb) Logos was conjunct his Mercury and Sun in Aquarius in the 4th. (The source for the birth data of these scientists is Nick Kollerstrom & Mike O’Neill, Eureka Effect.) In this light I think it is quite safe to assume that one keyword for Logos really is “logic” — and maybe also that because of it Logos probably is quite comfortable in Virgo. But inventions also depend on breakthrough, an energy that is delivered in the current eclipse by the presence of Uranus in Pisces.
Could there possibly be a better chart examples of Logos than the chart of sir Frederic Calland Williams, the developer of the “Manchester Baby” — the world’s first machine that had all the components now classically regarded as characteristic of the basic computer — and the chart of the first computer program? The source for the chart of the first computer program is Nick Kollerstrom, The Metal – Planet Relationship. The “Baby” successfully executed its first program on June 21, 1948.
F. C. Williams later said of the first successful run: “A program was laboriously inserted and the start switch pressed. Immediately the spots on the display tube entered a mad dance. In early trials it was a dance of death leading to no useful result, and what was even worse, without yielding any clue as to what was wrong. But one day it stopped, and there, shining brightly in the expected place, was the expected answer. It was a moment to remember. This was in June 1948, and nothing was ever the same again.”
F. C. Williams was knighted in 1976 for his work as an electrical engineer and electronics innovator.
These both charts are also lunation charts, as the chart of the first computer program is an exact Full Moon chart and Williams’s natal chart is a New Moon chart. There is a Jupiter-Logos opposition in both charts!
Williams’s Sun-Moon conjunction (New Moon) sextiles his Logos and his Uranus squares his natal Logos. His Mercury-Pluto conjunction (and the midpoint of his Mercury and Pluto) is opposite the Galactic Core.
Virgo is rising in the first computer program’s chart. Logos is the most elevated planet of the chart. Logos is conjunct the Sun and Uranus. Mercury is also in wide conjunction with the Sun, Uranus and Logos. Uranus opposes the Galactic Core. Uranus = Sun/Logos. Uranus/Logos midpoint of this chart is at 24 Gemini 20, which is in exact conjunction with Williams’s Mercury at 24 Gemini 41.
Heraclitus (ca. 535 – 475 BCE) established the term “logos” in Western philosophy. His main doctrine was the unity of opposites. He thought that all things are composed of opposites, and because the opposites are at strife with one another, all things are in constant change. The change is governed by logos, a principle of order. He also claimed that everything originates out of the logos. One of his statements is: “Men do not know how that which is drawn in different directions harmonises with itself. The harmonious structure of the world depends upon opposite tension like that of the bow and the lyre.”
Zoe, the binary companion of cubewano Logos (not its moon, but the planet that it orbits with) could represent the Sophia aspect — the wisdom aspect.
“For the Gnostic Christians, the Sophia was a central element in their cosmological understanding of the Universe. A Feminine figure, analogous to the human soul but also simultaneously one of the Feminine aspects of God and the Bride of Christ, she is considered to have fallen from grace in some way, in so doing creating or helping to create the material world. For the Gnostics, the drama of the redemption of the Sophia through Christ or the Logos is the central drama of the universe. The Sophia resides in all of us as the Divine Spark.”