On August 17 1999 a 2.5 meter high tsunami rippled out across the Sea of Marmara, its source a 7.6 magnitude earthquake of 37 seconds duration which struck from an epicenter 70 miles east of Istanbul at a depth of 13km. While the tsunami claimed the lives of over 150 people the destructive power of the Izmit shake itself is reflected in stark numbers: official figures issued by Turkish authorities claim around 17,000 deaths resulted, although this is almost certainly significantly below the actual figure. While over 40,000 were injured, damage to buildings left over 300,000 people homeless and the total material cost to Turkey’s infrastructure has been estimated to have run as high as $8 billion.

Turkey is sandwiched between the Eurasian and Arabian plates and is no stranger to high magnitude quakes. The Anatolian plate moves, is literally being pushed westward, at an average rate of about 2.5 meters per century. The maximum offset along the rupture created by the Izmit quake was just under 6 meters, which, on the face of it, represents the release of a very high degree of potential energy, above the average for crustal displacement within this region. One fact of great interest about this quake however is that it took place six days after a high magnitude total solar eclipse whose path ran exactly over this region.

Correlations between eclipses, both solar and lunar, and tectonic activity are not well enough developed at this time to provide any reliable indicators of eclipses as precursors of such ‘earth events’. However, the notion is not without some grounding in physical reality. Aside from gravitational effects of the Sun and Moon, the momentary fluctuation in particle density and polarity affecting the Earth’s magnetosphere and biosphere is an observable phenomenon associated with eclipses, as is the synchronous ‘entrainment’ of ‘transmission lines’ within the earth’s electromagnetic field to the solar/lunar fields; the combined effect of such factors will contribute directly to if not produce an effect. The gravitational effects on both liquid mass and subcrustal plasmic pressure may well be enhanced as a result.

There is a problem here. The field of plasma physics in relation to tectonic events may well be in the process of yielding a deeper understanding to eclipses and their effects here on Earth, but, while such correlations need careful consideration and, while the data available in our time is growing which will facilitate this, the field itself is relatively young. It also, significantly, challenges scientific orthodoxy and remains underfunded, its findings appearing anomalous within the concensus of the dominant scientific paradigm; as a result, the orthodox scientific understanding of these effects remains clothed largely in theory which hides its true face, rudimentary and founded upon potentially false assumptions as the ‘electric model’ uncreasingly shows, at least at the public or should we say ‘disclosed’ level. The same degree of understanding could be said to apply to the astrological interpretation of eclipses.

Astrologers often asign meaning to the metaphysical apsects of eclipses via the familiar symbolism, rules and protocols of chart interpretation, its integral ‘science’. There is some crossover between astronomy and astrology here, especially with regard to geocentric (as well as heliocentric) planetary alignments, the geometry of ‘hard’ aspects and transits, however, the astrological emphasis is almost always at best speculative. The usual agreed understanding amongst astrologers, at base, is that eclipses have a lasting significance of up to six months – beyond that the jury largely remains ‘out’.

But, the golden rule of observation, collation that supports correlation applies equally to both astrological and scientific understanding. These are Virgoan characteristics. The data base that will help this understanding to evolve is growing exponentially, thanks in no small measure to the Uranian technologies which augur and through which we can perceive our gradual shift into the Aquarian age.  Electric and plasma technologies are at the leading edge of the shift. With this eclipse they carry Jupiters expansive energy and signal a phase shift in consciousness.

This shift is, in keeping with the Uranian archetype, infused with unexpected and revolutionary insight, it is partly characterised by jolts and instantaneity. It is a time of surprising advances and sudden ‘shocks to the system’, reality checks which not only illuminate but eliminate as well as restructure, referencing Aquarius traditional ruler Saturn which is squaring the March 9th eclipse from Sagittarius.

Saturnian strictures upon our world views are putting a hard edge on this eclipse, a fight with limitation and for control, but, the shift also has the flavour of ‘revelation’ or ‘the lifting of the veil’ about it. This was the original meaning of the word ‘apocalypse’ which itself echoes with the word ‘eclipse’ and suggests the immanent emergent reality illuminated beyond the occultation itself. The outgoing Piscean age is itself the veil that is being lifted, its Neptunian depths and Jupitarian heirarchies are being penetrated and radicalised as we make this phase shift.

Jupiter as traditional ruler of both Sagittarius and Pisces is also opposing the eclipse on the Moon’s north node in Virgo – a growing socialisation of spiritual values can be seen in our future, but it must come through and be inclusive of individual experience framed within a much broader sensibility. What we each hold to as personal truths will be and is being tested against the rigidity of the ruling elite, spiritual or not, and, with the square to Saturn, comes up against dogmatic resistance to change. We can also expect to increasingly experience this on a one to one basis with this aspect in the chart, but, there is a way to approach this problem indicated in the nodal symbolism of the eclipse itself.

Virgo also emphasises our humanity and Pisces our compassion, the need for both inclusivity and differentiation, the one within the other. We take stock and purify through discernment in Virgo and let go, seek union with the absolute in Pisces. To combine their symbolism is to find absolution within – it is the axis of perfection through forgiveness. When the two poles embrace we move nearer to wholeness.

When the north node is in Virgo this becomes the personalised goal. As a personal spiritual goal ‘purification of our aims and a willingness to consciously engage with our own soul’s evolution through practical means’ will be greatly enhanced through Jupiter’s proximity to the node, but, the Piscean mirror which Jupiter is holding up to each of us shows us that behind all this is the need to expand into a higher level of inclusivity. We are required to grow as souls in order to embrace a larger view. This is a prerequisit for the Aquarian age, if we are to retain our humanity while shifting into it.

Solar eclipses cast a lunar shadow upon Earth and in the shadow side of the Pisces Virgo axis this is reflected in  our times through experiences of victimisation, especially of women, through heirarchical disempowerment, a narrowness of mind and endemic delusion that removes us from reality.

When the Pisces shadow is experienced in Virgoan territory it will intoxicate first and diminish second, hide its true face behind our own dependencies and confuse facts with fictions. No one person can hold the entirety of truth, but, our willingness to see beyond it as we encounter it within ourselves and acknowledge the ‘truth in others’ grounds a greater sense of the whole and helps us to discern what is real. This is a prerequisit for meaningful change; to resist such inner transformation can mean experiencing isolation amidst lethargy inducing disillusionment – a loss of faith more characteristic of a dieing culture than a vital and spiritualised one. When stripped of such greater meaning and confronted with the hard facts of life we can become prone to on the one hand extreme unconscious neurotic compulsion, and on the other deepening depression in the face of overwhelm.  In a global context the ‘Media’ and their masters are at work here on a collective level of ‘dumming down’.

The shadow Neptunian factor also manifests in Virgo through addiction and its attendant drug induced loss of perspective and personal power, and we can also witness how this hijacks the Uranian channels of connectivity and communication that might otherwise provide liberation. Such power loss and disownment is reflected as a collectivisation of soul loss. An apt symbol for the negative shadow symbolism of the eclipse. Two millenia of such disenfranchisement has left a gaping hole which religions and the MSM are all too willing and ready to fill.

There is however a significant counterbalancing factor at work here which is reflected in the proximity of Chiron to the Moon’s south node and the new Moon. Chiron redeems his suffering through embracing his humanity. While his animal body suffers the wound his choice reflects an extreme evolutionary necessity. In the myth the archetypal healer must realise that his soul is subject to a higher power for the wound to be healed and in the process become transformed into a conduit for and embodiment of ‘reality of a higher order’. This could almost be a symbol of shamanic initiation, but, with the south node it is an ancestral wound that is being healed, one that is carried collectively whose shadow affects us at the individual level.

The collective wounding we have suffered under Piscean ‘rule’ must be undertaken as a personal responsibility to heal through our own lives (north node in Virgo). This augurs a radical shift within the religious order and a grassroots emergent culture of experience and Earth  based spirituality. In a sense we could see this as a call to become guardians of the Earth, but, answering that call begins with care of our own soul. That commitment towards the larger reality, as expressed from within the healing soul, is fundamentaly a call to connect with our soul’s desire and expands into intelligently and compassionately tending to the resurgence of the life force present within all things.

In our time and especially in relation to the March 9th eclipse it is the occultation of the life force and its spiritualising power, as it has manifested (south node) within the Piscean age, which is being momentarily called to attention. By the same token, on a philosophical level, the opportunity offered is to ignite our own soul’s desire to illuminate our personal path through opening to direct transmission from the source, outside of the influence of any spiritual heirarchy. How this may be experienced by any one of us cannot be foreseen, but, the imperative is to be receptive to it.

This is a practical philosophy at root. We work for it through practical means. In the material plane this manifests through the work we undertake itself, which becomes the vehicle for transformation. It is a disciplined approach to putting humanitarian ideals into action. Hands on help given to others, especially those displaced and clearly in need, for example. There is no room for prejudice in this – divisive discrimination works against the good of the whole and the mutable signs of Pisces and Virgo indicate that such discrimination as a negative can be transmuted into discernment as a positive force for the good. Chiron’s multifaceted practicality also reflects how we can put simple practicle means to a powerful healing end that transmutes such narrow mindedness.

This is an eclipse for the each of us to use as a turning point upon which, as an individual, we can reclaim a practical sense of our personal spiritual reality and commit to creating a coherent understanding of who we are and why we have come here. The message within this is ‘practice makes perfect’. Whatever the work we undertake, while it may be directed towards others, it can both liberate and heal ourselves directly as well. In those moments when we are faced with our own quiet need for healing meditation in nature may well be the best way to experience its inner light, but, setting the intent to work for those who come after us by caring for life here and now is the essential core – some might call it the Dharma path. Whatever it may mean to you to step onto that path is to take the road home.

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There is one last note to add here.

We must also pay particular attention when a ‘supermoon’ is involved in an eclipse, as it was on August 11th 1999, just as it is on March 9th 2016. Some astrologers see eclipses as Uranian by nature and, insofar as by concensus their effects remain unpredictable, this may be true. But, concensus in the Piscean age is radically different to consensus within the Aquarian. The shift from one to the other is highlighted and powered up with this eclipse. The question that naturally arises is at what stage in the shift have we collectively arrived, what phase are we in?

An answer to that question may come from interpreting the chart for the eclipse itself, but, the answer is essentially personal – collectively we each need only to look to the world we live in more closely to understand how fares the land. It is inherent in the Pisces Virgo axis upon which the 9th March eclipse is centered that we do so – paying attention is intrinsic in tending to something or someone.

There is no prediction of earthquakes being suggested here but the need to be vigilant and prepared for the unexpected is especially poigniant now with this new Moon. The need for grounded compassion and care of the soul is its signature but there are seldom more truthful times in which this becomes our imperative and driving force than when the earth moves and we witness the suffering of others.

In the next post we will return to this theme and look at how the eclipse of the Moon in Libra on March 23rd will help us tend to our personal and collective soul’s evolution further.