The Sun has entered Scorpio, the sign of transformation, passion and strength. The New Moon in early Scorpio is an intense solar eclipse. This is a partial solar eclipse. It will be visible from large parts of Europe, Africa and Asia, if weather permits. Two major cycles are merged now, namely the monthly lunation cycle and the Venus cycle.

The Sun and the Moon are in conjunction with Venus and dwarf planet Haumea, two planets associated with fertility. Venus is in the same degree with the luminaries. The Roman goddess Venus is associated with love, beauty, desire and sex. Astrologically Venus symbolizes that what we appreciate and value, and our relationships. Haumea is the Hawaiian goddess of childbirth and fertility. She can take many different forms and her children sprang from different parts of her body.

The New Moon is always a conjunction of the Sun and the Moon, and it is the starting point of a new cycle. It is a good moment for fresh starts and new beginnings. A solar eclipse occurs usually twice a year when the Moon obscures the Sun’s disc either totally or partially. An eclipse is considered more powerful than the ordinary New Moon.

Each solar eclipse is a member of a particular eclipse family, which has certain characteristics. These series of eclipses are called the Saros series. Each series will run for well over a thousand years and produce a solar eclipse every 18 years when the Sun, Moon, Earth and nodes of the Moon have returned to the same positions relative to each other. We can study the characteristics of a particular Saros series by delineating its birth chart or by searching similarities between events that have occurred 18 years apart at the time of the eclipses. The word saros means repetition.

The current solar eclipse is a member of a Saros series number 6 South. The initial eclipse in 1049 was also in conjunction with Venus. Astrologer Bernadette Brady has delineated it as follows: “The eclipse series is about being forceful and taking power. It has a manic flavour about it, with great force or strength manifesting in the relationship area. Individuals experiencing this Saros Series may experience sudden events, like falling in or out of love, or sudden sexual encounters. The individual may also exert a huge effort in some group activity.”

There is precise repetition in the cycle of Venus too, but in its entirety the cycle is complex. The rose pattern, or the pentagram of Venus, is the path that Venus makes over a period of eight years observed from Earth.

Image: The pentagram of Venus

The exact conjunction of the Sun and Venus occurred on Oct. 22, 2022 in the last degree of Libra, together with Haumea. Venus is now on the far side of the Sun in direct motion, and the Sun is between Venus and the Earth. This is called a superior conjunction. (The inferior conjunction takes place when Venus is retrograding.) If we compare the phases of Venus to the lunation cycle, we can call this current phase “Full Venus” (and the inferior conjunction as “New Venus”). Whereas the New Moon is a fruitful time for starting new, the full phase is the time of fulfillment of that which was started.

Astrologer Anne Massey has studied the cycles of Venus thoroughly in Venus, Her Cycles, Symbols & Myths (Llewellyn Publications, 2006). The New Venus in the same sign repeats every eight years, and the Full Venus also repeats every eight years. The signs change slowly within time. Eight years ago on Oct. 25, 2014, the superior conjunction of Venus with the Sun occurred at this same position in Scorpio. According to Anne Massey, both the New and Full Venus seem to equal an eclipse in strength.

Let’s cherish things that we value, especially our relationships!