The New Moon on Feb. 17, 2026, at 28+ degrees of Aquarius is an annular solar eclipse and it is the first eclipse of the year. The unprecedented Saturn-Neptune conjunction at the Aries Point is about to become exact within a few days. The eclipse squares Uranus in Taurus.

A solar eclipse can take place only when there is a New Moon. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon is at or near its furthest point from the Earth, and the Moon appears smaller than the Sun’s disk. The golden ring of the Sun stays visible around the Moon during the eclipse. The astrological trends that the solar eclipse shows are valid about the next six months. The current eclipse is at the future oriented North node of the Moon.

This eclipse is a member of the Saros series 10 North. The initial eclipse of this Saros was tightly conjunct Mercury, and Saturn was on the midpoint of the New Moon and Neptune. So Saturn and Neptune were involved in determining the quality of the original eclipse too. Bernadette Brady has delineated: “There is a very strong emphasis on communication and, at the same time, frustrating or inhibiting events may come into the person’s life via news, paperwork or a young person. The person may feel tired and drained, and this is therefore a good time to take things quietly and work through the difficulties one at a time.”

The conjunction of Saturn and Neptune takes place roughly every 36 years. However, since the beginning of the common era this is the first time that it is happening at the Aries Point, the first degree of Aries. Neptune entered Aries on Jan. 26 and Saturn followed on Feb. 14. Now the conjunction is developing to its full precision at the Aries Point. The historic Saturn-Neptune conjunction takes place on Feb. 20, 2026. The energies have been felt long before the peak moment.

The Aries Point is the starting point of the zodiac. It strongly symbolizes new beginnings. Saturn and Neptune operate in opposite ways. Saturn builds boundaries while Neptune dissolves them. No wonder that the world is in chaos now. The rebellious Uranus, the ruler of Aquarius, is shattering the structures of Saturn too. The eclipse forms a challenging square to the unpredictable Uranus. We are unlikely to get relief anytme soon and Uranus keeps offering us surprises.

The eclipse is opposite the peace planet Praamzius in Leo. The Sun and the Moon in Aquarius, Uranus in Taurus, and Praamzius in Leo form a t-square. A new round of peace negotiations has just begun in Geneva between the Ukrainian, Russian and US officials. Since communication, negtiations and making deals fall under the dominion of Mercury, which is strongly colouring this Saros series, I had a quick look at the charts of Ukraine and the European Union too. Ukraine has a triple conjunction of Venus, Mercury and Jupiter at 25-28 degrees of Leo, which receives the transits of the eclipse and other points of the t-square. The eclipse and the t-sqiare also transit the Moon-Mercury square of the EU.

The Full Moon in Leo occurs in the same degree with plutino Achlys, one of the large trans-Neptunian bodies named last summer.

208996 Achlys was discovered on Jan. 13, 2003, by Chad Trujillo and Michael Brown. Its shape is elongated and it has one known moon. Achlys is a third-largest known plutino after Pluto and Orcus. It has a mean diameter of about 770 kilometers and it is approximately 940 kilometers across its longest axis. The orbital period is 247.8 years.

Achlys was named on June 30, 2025, after the goddess of sorrow and grief. In Hesiod’s Shield of Heracles Achlys is one of the figures described as being depicted on Heracles’ shield, where she is understood as being the personification of sorrow or grief. Homer used the word achlys to describe a mist that is “shed” upon a mortal’s eyes, often while dying.

Nonnus, a notable Greek epic poet, regarded Achlys as a kind of witch. His Dionysiaca describes the life of Dionysus. Zeus had instructed twelve rustic spirits of the Lamos river to guard and protect the infant Dionysus from Hera’s wrath. According to Nonnus, Hera “procured from Thessalian Achlys treacherous flowers of the field”, which she used to sprinkle a sleeping charm over their heads, then “she distilled poisoned drugs over their hair and smeared a magical ointment over their faces”, changing them into ox-horned Lamian centaurs.