New Moon in Aries / Total Solar Eclipse – April 8, 2024, 18:21 UT
The New Moon in Aries is a total solar eclipse visible across North America. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, completely obscuring the light of the Sun momentarily. All three bodies are in line. In the astrological chart, the Sun and the Moon are in conjunction, as always at the time of the New Moon. Even if the eclipse is not visible where you live, its astrological significance is not reduced because of it. In addition, the eclipse degree can remain as a sensitive point for years to come.
The eclipse occurs exactly in conjunction with the centaur planet Chiron, in the same degree and down to arc minutes. The trans-Neptunian Eris is also prominent in the chart. It is in the same degree with Mercury retrograde. Mercury turned retrograde on April 1, 2024.
We associate both the New Moon and Aries, the first sign of the zodiac, strongly with new beginnings. The eclipse intensifies the power of the moment. The eclipse is like a transition point that gives a chance to adjust the direction that we are taking. In Aries there is pioneering spirit, self-motivation and action.
Each solar eclipse is a member of a specific Saros series. Each series starts as a tiny partial eclipse at either the North or South Pole, produces an eclipse every 18 years, and finishes at the opposite Pole. Each eclipse family has the characteristics of its own. Today’s eclipse belongs to the Saros series 8 North, which started in 1501 at the North Pole. We can cast the chart for the initial eclipse and use it to help interpreting the current eclipse chart. The initial eclipse was in Gemini (ruled by Mercury), and astrologer Bernadette Brady has delineated it like this: ”Inventiveness and flashes of genius are the hallmark of this Saros Series. The individual will have intuitive leaps, insights, good ideas, visions or vivid dreams. This new-found inspiration will pull the person away from his or her social life or relationship, thereby causing strain in the private life. This is a time when the person needs to be free, if only for a few weeks.” (Bernadette Brady, Predictive Astrology, 1992)
Centaur planet Chiron was discovered in 1977. It orbits the Sun on an elliptical orbit that is merging the realms of Saturn and Uranus. The orbital period is about 50 years. Observations in 1989 showed that Chiron had developed a cometary coma. A tail was detected in 1993. Today it is classified as both a minor planet and a comet. Chiron has three rings (yes, three rings!) and their structure is constantly evolving. The evidence of the rings was provided by several observations of occultations, the latest of which was in 2022. What a maverick!
Sue Tompkins and Melanie Reinhart have written: ”…In this sense Chiron bridges the realms of Uranus (radical change, revolution and the overturning of old collective structures) and Saturn (lord of manifestation and preserver of existing forms). By weaving both impulses into a higher synthesis, more uniquely personal than either planet, Chiron’s process may help us to individuate beyond the various pressures of the collective to which we are all subject. Commitment to the healing of ourselves, others and our environment is the price this minor planet seems to be asking us to pay.” (Sue Tompkins, The Contemporary Astrologer’s Handbook, 2006)
According to Barbara Hand Clow, ”Chiron is a knife-like tool you can use to dissect levels of awareness.” (Barbara Hand Clow, Chiron Transforming Bridge Between the Inner and Outer Planets, 2004)
Mercury is now retrograding in Aries. Retrograding planets work a bit differently than planets in direct motion. Their energy is said to be more introspective. Martin Schulman has said: ”…through one’s Retrogrades, it is possible to ultimately become one’s own Guru through the enormous self awareness that emerges the minute the ‘not me’ identity is no longer a strong vibratory force in the person’s life.” By the ”not me” identity Schulman means the part of us that society, tradition, and our parents have taught us.
Although Schulman writes about ”Retrograde Mercury Personality”, the following can be adapted to transits as well: ”Once the communication barrier is passed, there is a tremendous amount of insight that comes out of the Retrograde Mercury. To make this easier, the Retrograde individual should not try to make the form of his life fit into the ideas and opinions of others around him. Instead he can find more comfort in being grateful for his rather unique way of seeing things.” (Martin Schulman, Retrogrades and Reincarnation, 1977)
Now Mercury and Eris are in a tight conjunction in Aries. Eris is is the most massive and second-largest known minor planet in the Solar System. It was discovered in 2005 and the next year named after the Greco–Roman goddess of strife and discord. It is a TNO in the scattered disk with the orbital period of almost 560 years.
Amy Shapiro writes about Eris-Mercury aspects: ”Mercury, like the chemical element, in its purest state is a tool of reflection, as a mirroring surface for what is near it. Eris polarizes all that she encounters.” (Amy Shapiro, Inviting Eris To The Party, 2014)
The last quote is from Henry Seltzer, and he too is talking about natal aspects between Mercury and Eris, but we can apply this again to the current transits as the stepping stone on our path to find our true ”me” identity: ”All the intellectual roads that you traverse have the power to bring you into closer connection with yourself. It is a life-long study to discover who you really are, on the inside, and once you do, you find that you are in a far better position to express your unique attitudes to the world around you.” (Henry Seltzer, The Tenth Planet, 2015)