Standing Behind What Matters: Leo South Node Total Solar Eclipse

(The video is an edited and shortened version of the deep dive written post. It addresses recent debate in the Astrological community around Steven Forrest. )

Sometimes you may sense life beginning to change before anything obvious has happened. Other times, the change is calling you loud, bold and clear to all.

You may find yourself returning to the same question, the same place, the same creative idea, or the same piece of work, as though something is quietly gathering momentum beneath the surface. Total Solar Eclipses can arrive like this, a quiet but significant new beginning.

The Moon passes directly between the Earth and the Sun, interrupting the familiar rhythm of daylight. Ancient astrologers regarded eclipses as extraordinary events, offering those who observed, omens. They were moments when the ordinary order of things was briefly suspended. Paying attention to those omens was important and helpful, because they could mark changes whose significance only became clear with time.

This eclipse falls at 20° Leo, in the third decan of the sign. This is the first lunation since the True South Node entered Leo, while the Mean South Node remains in Virgo until 18th August. As a South Node eclipse, the beginning carries the symbolism of release as well as renewal.

Something may need to diminish, complete or fall away before we can recognise what still holds life and meaning. Questions around visibility, creative identity, recognition and the roles we have learned to inhabit may begin arise and to shift in our consciousness.

It opens a new Moon Family, the first phase of a cycle that will unfold over the next twenty-seven months and possibly beyond into a second family. When a Moon Family contains an Eclipse, the story may continue into a second Moon Family over five and a half years.

As part of a much longer Saros series, an 18-year cycle, it also carries echoes of a pattern initiated before any of us were born, and which will extend far beyond our own lives.

Every New Moon opens a fresh lunar cycle, inviting new possibilities to take root. A Total Solar Eclipse carries that same promise of renewal, but its influence may reach much further, marking a chapter that unfolds over months and sometimes years.

Rather than searching for immediate answers, keep a note of what ends or begins now. Conversations, opportunities and quiet shifts may become the first threads of something much larger. Keep a note of what changes around you now, including what becomes quieter or loses its hold. Sometimes an eclipse reveals what matters by showing us what we are ready to stop carrying.

Overview

* Journal Prompts & Ritual

* Understanding A Solar Eclipse

* Moon Family and Saros Cycles

* Nature of Leo

* The Decan of Leo

* The Astrological Conversation

* And Finally…

Journal Prompts

A Total Solar Eclipse can often raise new questions before you reach the answers. Rather than searching for certainty, spend a little time noticing where your attention has been returning.

* What keeps drawing your attention?

* Is there a conversation, idea or opportunity that keeps returning? Why does it matter to you?

* Where are you quietly stepping forward, even if you hadn’t intended to?

* What feels ready to mature or release?

* If this eclipse marks the opening of a longer cycle, what seems to be quietly setting it in motion?

Eclipse Ritual

I don’t personally work with ritual around eclipses. This is more a time for inner work and for observation. However, if you are looking for guidance, you may consider the following reflections.

Set aside a little quiet time on the day of the eclipse, or during the days around it. Light a candle if that feels meaningful, take a walk, or simply find a time and place where you won’t be disturbed.

Read through your journal reflections and write a few sentences about what you notice today and the weeks around the eclipse. There is no need to make commitments or set ambitious intentions. Simply record what feels alive or significant for you, now, in the moment.

If you keep a Moon Family journal, this becomes your first entry for the New Moon in Leo.

You may choose to return to it over the coming months. Notice what develops, what fades away and what continues calling for your attention. Looking back is often where an eclipse reveals its meaning.

Understanding a Total Solar Eclipse

The sky darkens as the Moon appears to swallow the Sun. It is a dramatic moment, when it occurs during daylight, regarded with fear by generations before us who might not have had access to explanations of the phenomenon and feared for a short while that the Sun’s light might never return. It reminds us of how significant the Sun’s light and its reliable quality are for us.

We must remember that we live through 4, or more (there will be 5 in 2027) eclipses a year. It is the activation of our personal astrology charts that makes an eclipse individually meaningful. They are not events to be feared, as they are relatively regular and predictable.

A solar eclipse marks both an ending and a beginning, a doorway into unknown territory where the old light fails. I like to think of them as a portal opening, old ways no longer support us, and a new vision must emerge. We are offered karmic universal support to release old stories, ways of showing up or reconsidering what we are giving our energy to sustain as the Sun’s light disappears and is symbolically reborn.

What is a Solar Eclipse?

A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon, which we can think of as representing Soul* , passes directly between the Earth, symbolising matter and the Sun, Spirit, temporarily obscuring the Sun’s light. Symbolically, it marks a moment when conscious awareness (the Sun) is overshadowed by the unconscious and instinctive (the Moon). The soul's needs are brought back into focus and we are reminded of our path.

* See the beautiful post Thinking About Eclipses by Joli Knott

This eclipse belongs to Saros Series 126, a family of eclipses that repeats every 18 years and 11 days (and 8 hours!). This is the 48th event, since the inception of this series in 1179 or you could say we are in the 48th chapter of its unfolding story, linking us back to the eclipse of 2008 and forward to 2044.

This eclipse is Total as it is near the middle point of the series. Most Saros series continue for approximately 70+ events and 1200 to 1300 years. Eclipses reach Totality around the mid-point of the series.

Chris Brennan of The Astrology Podcast, who has conducted extensive research on eclipses, has found that they usher in great beginnings and great endings. A New Moon Solar Eclipse, marks an ending, and release at the same time as significant new beginnings being seeded in the Leo part of our charts.

Eclipse seasons can be intense, perhaps bringing accelerated change, pushing us toward decisive action, breakthroughs, or necessary closures. However, events may often be seemingly insignificant at first and grow into greater endings, creating room for significant beginnings over time.

Symbolically, an Eclipse is a moment where something once visible is obscured, only to return with deeper insight once the shadow passes. Once the light returns, like a bridge being crossed into new land, you can never go back, you cannot unsee this new land that is different to what you knew before. Just like tectonic plates shifting, so slowly the movement can barely be measured, but with absolute finality once a division is made.

Every New Moon occurs when the Sun and Moon meet in the same place in the zodiac, beginning a fresh lunar cycle. A Total Solar Eclipse is a New Moon where that alignment occurs close enough to the lunar nodes for the Moon to completely obscure the face of the Sun along the path of totality. This acts as a super charge to the lunation.

To the ancient astrologers, this interruption of light was never an ordinary event. Eclipses were traditionally treated as omens, drawing attention to periods of disruption or change whose consequences could unfold over time.

Some eclipses coincide with obvious turning points, while others are quieter in our personal lives. Where it falls in your natal chart would give us more information on this, for example we might expect an eclipse that falls in an Angular house to be louder, for better or worse, than a succedent or cadent one. In the case of Leo, the dignity of your natal Sun will tell us more about the better or worse and how it may play out and in which part of your life.

There is no need to force meaning onto the day itself. Eclipses are often understood best in hindsight. They invite patience and observation rather than participation.

Moon Families and Saros Cycles

This eclipse begins a new Moon Family in the Leo III ‘address’, around the 20-degree area of the zodiac chart.

The cycle will continue through its First Quarter, Full Moon and Last Quarter over the next twenty-seven months. These phases are a progressing relationship between the Sun and Moon, which are 9 months apart. Each phase reveals another stage of development, allowing us to observe how what begins now grows, changes and takes form through time.

If this eclipse closely activates a planet or angle in your birth chart, you may experience its themes more personally. If it does not, it still forms part of the wider atmosphere, inviting you to observe how personal and collective cycles unfold together.

Saros

The eclipse also belongs to a Saros series, linking it with eclipses stretching across generations. The Moon Family describes a shorter developmental cycle. The Saros places this eclipse within a much longer celestial lineage, reminding us that some patterns reach far beyond one lifetime, marking longer chapters in our lives.

The Total Solar Eclipse will be visible over Greenland, Iceland, northern Russia, the Atlantic Ocean, Spain, and part of Portugal. It will be visible as a partial solar eclipse in the northern U.S, Canada, Europe, and northwestern Africa. Interestingly, in mainland Europe and Africa, the Sun will also set while it’s still partially eclipsed, creating an opportunity to see a sunset eclipse. Timeanddate.com gives more information about visibility in your area as well as a livestream.

It is from Saros series 126, as classified by NASA. The Saros is an 18-year cycle in which the eclipses recur in the same place but gradually move forward crossing the earth from the pole (north or south that the eclipse began at) until it ends at the opposite pole centuries later.

You may remember previous eclipses which fell in this part of your birth chart. If you experienced major shifts in then it is more likely you may experience similar themes with a different flavour or seasoning this year, as the current planets are in different places, and you too, are different.

Bernadette Brady in Predictive Astrology: The Eagle and the Lark categorises both the Leo Eclipse and the upcoming Pisces Eclipse at the end of the month as 10 South. She offers themes, drawn from the astrology of the original eclipse at the South Pole in 1179. She reminds us of previous years in this Cycle, when you may look back for recurring themes in the recent past: 1954, 1972, 1990 & 2008.

The themes you might look out for include:

* Breaking out of a hopeless situation to finding options

* A worry lifting

* A solution offered, do not delay accepting

One of the simplest ways to work with either cycle is to keep a note of what begins now and look at how it matches with themes from your past. You might also look at the half cycle, 9 years ago, when the nodes were in opposite signs, for example we are presently experiencing the South Node in Leo, 9 years ago, the South Node was in Aquarius and it was the North Node transiting Leo.

Your observations also become supportive when the Moon Family reaches its First Quarter and Full Moon, revealing how the pattern has been developing and helping to inform your choices then.

If you want to know more about the cycles underlying this eclipse, and the Leo Aquarius axis, our Astrology Collective ASK Astrology offered a workshop this month, with my colleagues and friends Practical Astros ⚕️ and Shawna - Unfolding Astrology. The workshop recording comes with a workbook and additional resources. This is available for purchase, find out more here.

Working with the Moon Family

New Moons represent a fresh start, a clean slate, new growth as the Moon begins a new cycle with the Sun every month. It will bring attention to the themes related to that sign in your chart, and also the placement of its ruler. So, for Leo, look at what house Leo occupies in your chart, but also where your natal Sun is and combine those house themes.

Monthly Cycle: Reflect on what is ready for release now from the Full Moon in Aquarius July 2026, what was revealed or concluded 2 weeks earlier, and what are you now feeling pulled to initiate?

Six-Month Cycle: This New Moon connects back to the Leo Full Moon on 1 February 2026. What was culminating or revealed to you then, what have you been releasing or beginning to compost since?

Two-Year Moon Family Cycle: This Eclipse is part of a larger Lunar arc that is only just beginning and will conclude in November 2028, and may even continue into a second Moon Family and last over five years.

Consider what long-term changes you would like to see over the next two plus years. The synchronicities, signs and omens, any new beginnings and doors opening with ease for you at the time of this eclipse may guide you with this, do take notice.

We are guided by the dates of the phases for when we might expect significant turning, or pivot points in this story arc when we are looking to make adjustments to allow the story to flourish and our goals and dreams to grow.

This practice of connecting and linking the hidden threads of Lunar Cycles is outlined by Dietrich Pessin in Lunar Shadows III. This technique unveils a longer sequence of interconnected lunation progressing phases that weave a narrative over 27 months.

- New Moon: August 12, 2026 (20° Leo)

- First Quarter Moon: May 13, 2027 (22° Leo)

- Full Moon: February 10, 2028 (21° Leo)

- Last Quarter Moon: November 9, 2028 (18° Leo)

This Moon Family is most felt by those with planets or angles in the fixed signs, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius and Taurus or the Fire triplicity, Leo, Sagittarius and Aries, between 15 to 23 degrees.

You may choose to consciously work with any of these cycles and choose the length that suits how long it will take to grow your plans, ie for a quick short-term goal the monthly cycle is perfect but for long-term plans, look for a Moon Family that connects with the relevant planet in your chart for optimum results. An astrologer or Astro Coach can support you with this.

If you are looking for more support, we work with the Moon Families every month in Celestia Circle, just upgrade your subscription to join. I have kept it at the lowest level that Substack allows for as long as I can. You may also choose to have a Moon Family reading where I will identify the upcoming Moon Families that will support your plans, you can look back at significant stories in your life, or centre yourself in the present moment. If you can’t decide, I’ve got a plan: we can let the Moon Families guide us!

Celestia Astrology is a reader-supported publication. Subscribe for free posts or upgrade to join Celestia Circle, check out all the astro goodies!

The Fixed, Fire, and Yang Nature of Leo

Leo, as a fixed fire sign, embodies the sustained passion of the flames, creative endurance, and unwavering personal power. Fire represents the vital force of inspiration and courage, instinct and knowing. Its fixed modality grants it staying power, determination, and resistance to change unless self-directed.

As a yang sign, Leo expresses itself outwardly, radiating warmth, generosity, confidence, and responds well to the visibility of the light. This combination makes Leo a natural leader, capable of enduring hardships while maintaining a steadying presence.

Ruled by the Sun, Leo is the sign that represents Kings, and central figures around which others cluster, just like the planets that all orbit the Sun. The Sun symbolises clarity, light, spirit, purpose, ideals and vitality. It follows a fixed, reliable path along the ecliptic, and this inspires its significations.

All signs have a shadow side, with fixed fire this can manifest as stubborn pride, an unwillingness to adapt, or an excessive need for validation or attention. After all, any attention is better than none? Leo’s fierce loyalty and self-assurance can sometimes turn into inflexibility or dominance, making it challenging to accept criticism or compromise.

When unbalanced, Leo’s fire may burn too hot, leading to arrogance, self-centeredness, or dramatic displays to secure attention, scorching those it comes into contact with, rather than blessing them with warming light. The lesson of healthy fixed fire is to temper passion with the wisdom of the Solar Luminary, ensuring that personal radiance uplifts rather than overwhelms.

The gift of Leo is often a childlike enthusiasm, the Sun’s steady, regular journey is simple and reliable. Leo offers creativity paired with loyalty. The things that matter and last most grow and thrive here with attention, repeated effort and the willingness to remain engaged long after the excitement of beginning has passed.

Leo is associated with the heart. For the ancient astrologers, the heart was more than a physical organ. It was the centre of vitality, courage, authenticity and purpose, a place from which life could be lived wholeheartedly. Leo invites us to become more fully present in whatever we do, whether that is our work, our creativity, our relationships or our place within the wider community.

Confidence is often associated with Leo, yet genuine confidence often develops through experience. We become confident by doing the thing we once doubted we could do, by speaking honestly when it would have been easier to remain silent, or by staying with a piece of work long enough for it to become part of who we are. The fixed nature of Leo supports us to push through this.

The Decan of Leo III: The Banner

The Eclipse takes place in the third decan of Leo, ruled by action-oriented Mars in both traditional and triplicity rulership. This decan is associated with perseverance, resilience, and the willingness to defend one’s position against opposition. Here, the warmth of the Sun meets the determination, focus and friction of Mars, creating a landscape concerned with what inspires us, as well as with what deserves our commitment when the going gets tough.

Austin Coppock in 36 Faces named this decan “The Banner”, illustrating the need to rally behind a cause and hold one’s ground. He writes that it speaks to

“the tenacity to fight for the place one has gained, to struggle and be victorious over contrary forces within and without” and “the power of the utterly steadfast heart, which never fails to rise to the challenges present”…

“what resides in the heart is untouchable, invisible. This is the hero’s heart”

Astrologer Kira Ryberg has named Leo III “Defensive”, highlighting the challenges of maintaining sovereignty in the face of external pressures.

At first, the word may sound combative, yet its deeper meaning is also protective. What have you created that is now worth caring for? What values have become important enough to uphold? Where can healthy boundaries allow something precious to continue growing?

A banner exists to be seen, it acts as a public, visible marker of where we stand, what we represent and what we are prepared to carry forward. It gathers people around a visible principle or purpose. Some will recognise themselves within its colours and find their people, while others may challenge it. Either way, the banner makes something visible.

Something in your life may be becoming more visible, for example, it could be a creative project, a new responsibility, a role within your community, or simply a growing clarity about what matters most to you. You might be clearer about the banner you want to rally under. Whatever develops here may ask for more than enthusiasm. In a fixed sign, it also asks for consistency, patience and the willingness to keep showing up.

Under Mars rulership, the landscape we travel through demands resolve, courage and the willingness to defend what has become important. Here Mars is feeding Leo’s steady fire, helping inspiration become something dependable, capable of lasting beyond the first burst of enthusiasm.

There may come a point when our work, values or relationships become visible enough that they require additional care. We are discovering whether we are prepared to publicly stand behind them, defend and protect them, blending both visibility and responsibility.

The Wild Way

The Wild Way names the card for this decan Strength Under Fire. Late summer is rarely dramatic, it is a fading of the heat and light of the height of the long, hot summer days as we prepare for transition. Strength in nature is found in what continues, what survives.

In the card, we are shown a hedgehog standing upright against a yellow sky on a green hill, surrounded by flowers. The hedgehog holds a banner high, blue with a red lion which flutters above his head.

We are given the keywords:

Under Pressure, Daunting Challenges, Resilience

“Just as Leo III hedgehog bravely defends his position from attack, it is now time for you to engage with your inner warrior spirit. You must act with courage and determination in the face of opposition to secure your place and protect your position. Attacks may come from within you in the form of unhelpful thoughts or from the world at large. Yet at this time your heart and spirit will remain strong and true, no matter what life throws at you. Take your lead from the little spiky one and dig in your heels!”

This offers another way of understanding Leo III. Resilience is seen by our willingness to remain faithful to what we know is worthwhile. There may be delays, uncertainty or changing circumstances, yet these need not distract us from the deeper work of bringing something to maturity.

If you spend time outdoors during the weeks following this eclipse, notice the quality of late summer in the northern hemisphere. The light begins to soften while the shadows lengthen. The first hints of autumn appear, even while the warmth of summer remains and this informs the responsibility and resilience we find in this decan.

Tarot 7 of Wands - No Guts, No Glory

Leo III corresponds with the Seven of Wands, T Susan Chang has given the decan the memorable title No Guts, No Glory.

The Seven of Wands tarot card often depicts someone standing on higher ground, defending their position against those below. It is tempting to read the image as conflict alone, yet it tells a subtler story. The figure has already climbed the hill, so we can assume the achievement has already been made. The question now is whether they are willing to remain true to what they have gained, and how well they can defend it.

In the Seven of Wands card shown below, we see a figure standing alone, defending their ground despite apparently overwhelming odds. The figure stands braced on top of the hill, holding a wand defensively in front of them with both hands. Below, we see six wands, pointing upwards, reaching up to the figure’s waist level, which they appear to be pushing away.

This card speaks to the necessity of persistence, the fire of conviction, and the ability to face external resistance without wavering. It challenges us to find our inner strength and stand firm even when confronted with adversity.

Once something becomes visible, it also becomes vulnerable. Creative work asks to be shared, but then it is vulnerable to criticism. Leadership asks to be embodied, but heavy is the head that wears the crown. Values ask to be lived rather than simply admired or filed away in a folder. This is where we walk the talk.

You may find this eclipse brings moments when quiet courage is called for, and maybe it matters more than certainty. Courage is not always dramatic and heroic. Sometimes it is found in continuing with a piece of work after the excitement has faded, speaking kindly when disagreement would be easier, finding forgiveness or a way forward when it is easier to leave, or remaining faithful to a path whose rewards are not yet visible.

The Lions Tower - Dreaming the Decans

T Susan Chang chooses to illustrate the challenges and gifts of this decan in verse bringing us the images of brave embers, scorched earth, lions tower and endurance:

“School of Hard Knocks: higher learning.

Seven embers bravely burning.

War god, as you seize your torch,

Be mindful of the earth you scorch.

The lion’s tower burns for you.

You do not do as others do…

Courageous, stubborn, blunt or crude,

I burn with my own fortitude!

No matter what ordeals occur,

I am determined to endure.”

Each of the above decan perspectives illuminates a different aspect of the same terrain. Together they invite us to notice not only what matters to us, but what we are quietly choosing to stand behind.

The Astrological Conversation

The planets are not speaking one at a time, they all engage in a conversation, responding to one another, each adding another layer to the landscape unfolding beneath this eclipse. Rather than trying to understand everything at once, it can help to notice which parts of the conversation are showing up in your own life.

A New Story Begins

The Sun and Moon unite at 20°02′ Leo, opening both a new lunar cycle and a new Moon Family, and a new chapter in the Saros cycle.

The Sun is in its own domicile, but during a solar eclipse the luminary that ordinarily provides Leo’s light and coherence is itself obscured. This gives the eclipse an unusual tension and perhaps additional impact. Leo draws our attention towards vitality, visibility and wholehearted participation, while the eclipse interrupts the light by which those things are usually seen.

Something familiar may therefore look different when the light returns. Notice whether your understanding of an existing situation begins to change over the coming weeks.

This is the first lunation since the True South Node moved into Leo, and at the eclipse it remains at 29° Leo, the final degree of the sign. If you use the mean nodes, they will move into Leo and Aquarius on 18th August. The eclipse itself takes place at 20°, but the nodal shift changes the territory we are entering.

For the next 18 months, the South Node will move backwards through Leo. It will gradually diminish, unveil, reveal and release some of the sign’s themes around visibility, recognition, creative identity, leadership and the roles through which we have learned to shine, as it is activated by planets and lunations.

We may begin to see more clearly where an identity, ambition or way of seeking recognition has consumed too much vitality, and what remains meaningful when some of that investment of energy, time or other resources falls away. Any new beginning may arrive because you have first moved through the completion, simplification and clearing of space for a different expression of Leo to emerge in the part of your chart where Leo falls.

From Aries, retrograde Saturn offers a whole-sign trine to the Leo eclipse, bringing questions of responsibility, endurance and consequence into this new lunar cycle.

Leo III already understands that inspiration becomes meaningful through what we are prepared to sustain. Saturn is offering to reinforce and crystallise that theme. The question is whether we can give it structure, time and continued attention.

Mercury, Jupiter and The Outers - Speaking from the Heart

Around the Aquarius Full Moon at the end of July, Jupiter passed through the heart of the Sun, a condition the ancient astrologers called cazimi. Jupiter’s themes of meaning, perspective, confidence and growth were brought directly into the solar spotlight.

By the time of this eclipse, Jupiter has moved ahead to 9° Leo, while Mercury, the Messenger and Communicator, newly in Leo after its retrograde cycle, is close to Jupiter, but sits at 5°, soon to move through that cazimi degree. However, first has its attention focused on the Outer Planets.

Mercury notices details, asks questions and gives us language to share experiences. Jupiter broadens the horizon, helping us recognise how individual moments may belong to a larger pattern. Together in Leo, they can give greater reach to ideas and conversations, particularly those connected with creativity, confidence, leadership or something we care about enough to speak for.

Mercury is past its opposition to Pluto in Aquarius, while Jupiter remains within the wider opposition. This adds depth to conversations which may uncover something that had remained beneath the surface. An idea can change when it meets another perspective. A conversation that begins casually may continue working on us afterwards.

Mercury is also just past the trine to Neptune and applying to sextile Uranus, taking the perspective from the other Outers for synthesis and integration. I look at what this means for the Barbaults’ basket below.

Notice which exchanges refuse to fade, what information has stuck with you. What initially seems like a passing remark, an invitation or an unexpected piece of information may become important because of what it causes you to reconsider or reframe.

Venus and the Journey of Ishtar

While the eclipse captures our immediate attention, Venus has quietly begun another significant cycle.

She entered Libra on 6th August, this is her own domicile or home. Venus is strong here and can act in her own nature. She draws our attention towards relationships, beauty, fairness, creativity, social harmony, balance and the ways we exchange care with one another.

At the eclipse, Venus is at 5° Libra, still several weeks from the beginning of her retrograde shadow. Yet by whole sign, that retrograde story is said to have begun on her entry into Libra.

Venus enters her retrograde shadow on 31 August at 22° Libra, stations retrograde on 3 October at 8°29′ Scorpio, and returns to Libra on her backward journey. She stations direct on 13 November at 22°51′ Libra, finally leaving the post-retrograde shadow on 15 December at 8°29′ Scorpio.

Themes emerging now around relationship, creativity, desire, value and exchange may therefore be worth noting. Venus develops the conversation and story over the rest of the year.

Astrologer Alison Dale drew attention to another striking feature of this eclipse. Asteroid Ishtar, at approximately 0° Sagittarius, completes a six-pointed pattern through the zodiac, creating two trines. Venus forms an air trine with Uranus in Gemini and Pluto in Aquarius. At the same time, the asteroid Ishtar at 0° Sagittarius forms a fire trine with Mercury in Leo and Neptune in Aries.

The symbolism is compelling at this time of Eclipse and the first lunation as we are introduced to the Venus Retrograde.

The story of Inanna, or Ishtar, tells of a descent through seven gates into the underworld to protect others. At each gate she lays aside another symbol of her authority, her adornments, until she stands stripped of the identities and protections she carried with her.

The myth feels particularly resonant as Venus approaches a retrograde cycle that will take her from Libra into Scorpio and back again. Questions of relationship, beauty, creativity, desire and value may deepen as the autumn progresses. We may find ourselves reconsidering what we want, how we relate, or which identities still belong to the person we are becoming.

Things may not become clear until the end of the year when Venus has cleared her shadow, by then, what might you have sacrificed or released?

The Barbault Basket - One Pattern, Many Conversations

Behind the eclipse, the slower-moving planets continue to hold the remarkable configuration often described as the Barbault Basket, this is the defining signature of the current sky as it is so rare.

This outer-planet pattern persists and will form and reform over the next few years. Individual lunations and faster transits will repeatedly touch different parts of it, activating it, drawing the longer collective configuration into our everyday experience.

During this eclipse, Mercury in Leo and Venus at 5° Libra are activating points within that wider pattern. We may find these two personal planets bring seemingly separate areas of life into contact with one another.

It might look like a conversation influencing or inspiring a creative project, a relationship changing the direction of your work or an unexpected opportunity altering an ambition.

This is one of the reasons I find Moon Families so useful, they can help us understand the longer timing process of how these longer stories can develop in our lives. We can also see how meaning emerges slowly, and shifts in the process.

Notice whether the eclipse feels deeply personal, quietly collective or perhaps a combination or neither? Many of the questions arising now are part of a wider, longer moment of change that people, and society (!) are meeting in very different ways.

And Finally…

A Total Solar Eclipse rarely gives us everything we need to understand it on the actual day. However, it can change the quality of our attention.

You may find yourself returning to the same conversation, idea or question over the coming weeks. Something that seemed ordinary before the eclipse may gradually unveil itself to reveal greater significance. Equally, something that once held your attention may quietly begin to lose its place as you prepare to release it.

This is one of the gifts of working consciously with lunar cycles. We begin to recognise a pattern while it is still unfolding, rather than only understanding it in hindsight.

We can connect with the different layers of time, planetary cycles and symbolism unfolding right now. The Moon Family is beginning its twenty-seven-month development. Venus moves towards the retrograde journey that will carry relationship, harmony and connections through the autumn. The symbolism of Ishtar adds the ancient image of descent, the gradual laying aside of what has served its purpose so that something different can eventually emerge.

The Barbault Basket continues holding a much longer collective configuration, giving us perspective. While the Saros Cycle zooms out, giving us 18-year life chapters and reaching beyond our own lifetimes.

Each has its own timing and moves at its own pace. We do not need to synthesise and understand them all, only to pay attention to the symbols, events, and conversations in our own lives and how they connect with the sky. Which layer (s) are speaking to you now? We often find that meaning grows through observation.

Late summer carries its own quiet wisdom. Maybe something is quietly ripening in your own life? What do you now find yourself standing behind? What keeps returning, asking for your time, your attention and your wholehearted presence?

Travel well, friends.

Sonia

If you are looking for an Astrologer, and you enjoy my style of Astrology, I currently have space to take on new clients. If you would like a personal individual Astrology reading, I set a healing Reiki intention for every client before the reading. You can opt out of this if you prefer when you book at CelestiaAstrology.com.

If you prefer to go deeper and work with the Moons’ cycles and the planets in your personal chart then I also offer Astro Coaching, Celestia Circle and Readings. Contact me through a message here, or book at CelestiaAstrology.com. You can also become a paid subscriber to download my Astro Coaching WorkBook and access the archive of posts which guide you through it, working with the Moons. Upgrade your level to join the Celestia Circle and work regularly with the Moon Families.

Please do leave a comment below, I would love to hear your thoughts, experiences or questions.

References:

AustinCoppock.com The Decans: Images and Applications

Bernadette Brady, Predictive Astrology The Eagle and the Lark

Dietrich Pessin Lunar Families III

KiraRyberg.com The 36 Decans

T Susan Chang Dreaming the Decans

The Wild Way Oracle deck by Nicola Allan @nicola_allan on Instagram & Twitter

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