Friday 24 June 2011

Solar Eclipse in July: The Greek example!


Recently, in writing about the solar and lunar eclipses that occurred in June, I identified June as a very important month this year (click here to refresh your memory). This is true of July too, because there is another solar eclipse coming up on July 1st, 2011, at 08:23 UT at 9 degrees of Cancer. As I had also mentioned in the June eclipses post, eclipses have always been feared for being associated with disasters, but what really happens around the time of solar eclipses is the culmination of events. Therefore, a solar eclipse heralds the end of a cycle and the start of another; hence, the association of solar eclipses with important endings and equally important beginnings.  In this post I will examine the astrological meaning of this upcoming eclipse, which takes place in Cancer and is all the more important for activating the Saturn-Pluto-Uranus cardinal T-Square, a very rare configuration. I will analyse the meaning of this configuration using the recent Greek crisis as an example, after first explaining what kind of endings and beginnings the solar eclipse will bring for falling in the emotional sign of Cancer. In my next two posts I will also talk about how each sign is expected to incorporate the energies of this eclipse.

As I had also written recently, a solar eclipse brings to the fore ‘solar’ issues such as purpose, identity, self-expression, creativity, well-being, leadership and authority. Consequently, a solar eclipse is a time for setting new goals and for finding new outlets of creativity. It is also a time for expressing ourselves and for channelling our energies in new ways, as well as for taking the lead in new situations, and thus for finding a new purpose in life and for achieving a new sense of identity. It is important to note, however, that every new beginning carries with it a certain amount of sadness for what may have just ended or for what we may have been called to give up so that we can move forward. Therefore, solar eclipses mark important endings and beginnings, which can be accompanied by positive emotions, as well as by negative ones. In any case, solar eclipses give us the necessary push to close an old chapter in our lives in order to go ahead with a new chapter.


The new beginnings associated with solar eclipses depend of course on the sign in which the eclipses take place. As mentioned above, this July’s eclipse will fall in the sign of Cancer. Therefore, issues around family, home, belongingness, emotionality, protection, helping, caring and loving will come to the fore. More specifically, the solar eclipse in Cancer will mark a time for setting new goals related to our home and family life, emotional needs and security, development of emotional ties and caring for others. This eclipse will also mark a time where the issues just mentioned stimulate new creative outlets; some of us may thus find that we have a talent for expressing ourselves in caring, loving and emotional ways. The solar eclipse will further herald the possibility of achieving a new sense of identity that is related to our capacity to love, nurture, help and protect, as well as to build a secure nest or home. 

For instance, this may be a time where we end or begin home- or family-related affairs that are of special importance to us. It may further be a time where we end or begin important activities that require our capacity to help and care for others. It could also be a time where we consider new ways of loving, protecting and helping other people. Quite alternatively, it may be a time where we are the ones to ask of others to love, protect and help us in new ways. Therefore, it becomes clear that this solar eclipse in Cancer will urge us to realise that we cannot do everything on our own, but that we need other people’s help, love and support in order to make it when the going gets rough. Reconsidering where exactly we belong and on whom we can rely will thus be high on our priority list around this time. This is especially true because of the cardinal T-square that this solar eclipse activates as I mentioned earlier on.

More specifically, Saturn at 10 degrees of Libra is opposite Uranus at 4 degrees of Aries, while they are both squaring (forming a 90° angle) Pluto at 6 degrees of Capricorn. This formation is known as a T-square, which is a rather harsh configuration that brings a lot of tension and struggle between the planetary principles involved. I have already discussed what kind of processes Pluto in Capricorn heralds (click here to refresh your memory), but suffice it to say here that Pluto’s transit through Capricorn urges us to eliminate old and rotten public, professional and political structures, so that new and healthier ones can be established. The Saturn-Uranus opposition could be then seen as the principal motive behind the public and political transformations reflected by Pluto in Capricorn: repression of justice (Saturn in Libra), on the one hand, and urgency for challenging the status quo (Uranus in Aries), on the other.

The repressed sentiment of fairness that recent austerity measures in Greece have spurred seems to reflect the workings of Saturn in Libra, while the urgency of the Greeks to question these measures appears to be an excellent example of Uranus in Aries. With the solar eclipse at 9 degrees of Cancer, the Sun and the Moon will oppose Pluto and square the Saturn-Uranus opposition, thus forming in the sky what is known as a Grand Cross (see the chart above), a configuration that involves even greater tension and struggles than those involved in the T-square. Therefore, one of the events that the solar eclipse seems to reflect is the culmination of the Greek crisis, with the on-going EU summit in Brussels being dominated by another Greek bail-out amongst fears of a Greek default that might put the future of the Eurozone at risk. The culmination of the Greek crisis is, however, just one example of how this Grand Cross manifests itself. The point is that public, professional and political transformations (Pluto in Capricorn) related to repression of justice (Saturn) and people’s urgency to question the status quo (Uranus in Aries) lead every single one of us to find new ways to help and to be helped (solar eclipse in Cancer). Stay tuned to hear soon how your personal sign will be affected by July’s momentous solar eclipse!

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