The Last Dragons (Eclipses 2020)
2020 has been a perfect storm with no singular event or transit to point to or blame. Suffice to say, it began with a single flap of a dragonfly wing somewhere undisclosed. Though, I think most of us would agree the heavy ritual at the beginning of the year with Pluto, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Athene, and, of course, the Nodes of the Moon set the intention clearly from Capricorn coordinates. There were the Venus and Mars retrogrades, tangling the plot, feeding into conspiracies, and our uninitiated parts. All the Mercury retrogrades in water, reflecting clearly-and not so much-how mature we are in navigating our emotive seas. And now, the final two eclipses of the six right around the bend. We have officially entered the third eclipse season of 2020.
What qualifies an ‘eclipse season’ is when the Sun is close enough to the Nodes of the Moon to be eclipsed (around 18.75ª; making any eclipse season roughly 37.5 days). The quality of these times is a liminal one. Strangely familiar territory, like an ephemeral dream, with surprising themes lurking around corners and also hiding in plain sight, waiting to leap into our stories. It’s not a bad thing, but it can be alarming. Because when the dragon wakes, we never know what to expect.
In most cultures, eclipses are caused by some mythic beast. In the Pacific Northwest, for many of the tribes, it was a Great Bear; For the Tibetan’s, a flying dog; The Vikings saw wolves devouring the Sun and the Moon; and in India, it’s Rahu and Ketu, the immortal dragon who cannot let go of his revenge aimed at the Surya (Sun) and Chandra (Moon) for blowing his cover, getting his head chopped off at the cosmic tea party an eon ago. And so, when either comes close to the luminaries, eclipses are imminent.
On November 30th Rahu will get a partial bite out of the Moon in Gemini which will be visible throughout Eurasia and the Americas (8 º Gemini), and then on December 14th, Ketu, the tail of the great dragon will totally eclipse the Sun. That one will be visible in the southern tip of South America (23 º Sag). Now, even if eclipses fail to darken your skies at home, it does not mean you are exempt from the themes. We are all in this together: One world. One mind. One soul. Anima Mundi eclipsed.
Eclipse’s also have families, that is they have a birth, a life span, and an inevitable end. They begin near one of the poles (south or north) and every 6,585 days leap ahead 11 º on a different part of the planet, coiling around the world like the serpent on the Orphic Egg, towards the other pole. These families are called Saros Series. The Series the Total Eclipse is a part of on the 14th is 142-or according to B. Brady S.S 4 South; it began near the south pole way back in 1624 and will keep on living and eclipsing on Ketu until 2868. What does it mean? Well, I will suggest two things to help answer that question: 1. Follow the Series backward throughout your life, try to notice themes: ie. in December of 2002 was the last eclipse of this series, just around 6,585 days ago. Sit with it; Then before that, 84', 66' etc; 2. Study the chart for the first eclipse of the series. This is Brady’s advice. If you’d like to do that, it was March 19th, 1624. It was an eclipse in the last degree of the Zodiac (29º Pisces). Mars was conjunct Pluto in the sky, and there was also a Jupiter/Saturn conjunction as well, just like today. Studying that chart is a bit advanced in how it relates to the coming eclipse, but it’s a worthy pursuit.
Boiled down to its very essence, having passed through all the alchemical processes, eclipses relate to chaos. Chaos and change. The nature of life itself. They are a reminder that dragons are real and that there is a god. How could there not be with the perfection of their distances and their impeccable timing? As Ursula Le Guin once commented, “People who deny the existence of dragons are often eaten by them from within.”
So I say: May you stand strong with the Sun, even stronger with the Moon, and change with these Eclipses.
Eudaimonia,
Adam
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