‘The Birth of Venus’ Botticelli late 15th century {{PD}}

The Solar eclipse occurs April 28-29 (depending on your location) at 8 Taurus 51, a New Moon that only sextiles Neptune; everything else is outside even a generous orb, with Mercury just days past Superior Conjunction (if this were moving toward the eclipse point I would consider counting it) and Mars, though moving retrograde, outside the orb for a quincunx. That lays it all on Neptune and the Sabian for this eclipse, ‘A Fully Decorated Christmas Tree’.

A Solar eclipse is when the Moon arrives at a point just right between the Earth and the Sun, so that the Moon appears to be not just conjunct the Sun, but to be aligned directly between Earth and Sun; our view of the Solar orb is blocked (occulted), at least from particular points on Earth relative to the path of the eclipse. It’s an instance, in symbolic terms, of Lunar sensibilities temporarily blocking the light of the Sun (objective consciousness) from reaching Earth. That suggests that Lunar issues for a time overwhelm Solar ones. Normally as the Sun moves from sign to sign we see our attention drawn to each new chart area, and facets of that chart area are ‘stirred’ by the stimulation of the Sun’s light; in one of those areas, the one where the Solar eclipse occurs, we find that for the 6 months between the initiating eclipse and the next Solar one the energy that would typically draw our regard takes on an emotional, subjective lens, one where intuition and our feelings trump the clear, unblinking light of the Sun’s relative objectivity.

The New Moon, eclipse or not, also indicates new starts; so, we’re looking at a new beginning that may be born of ideals, fantasy, or creative application (Neptune), and that could represent (the Christmas tree) a time of celebration, could usher in an ‘ideal’ period, or present the beginning of a personal creative initiative (birth) or renaissance (re-birth). We’re looking at a pair of factors (the Sabian and Neptune) that describe personal ideals–but particularly with the Sabian, we have to note that the celebration is based on our relationship to the unseen, on faith. It’s not related to any specific religion, but instead on our individual idea of a kind of ‘perfect moment’, the kind that memories are built on and that are striven for consistently in everyday life. We also must note that this is a material celebration, in the sense that we embody our feeling in decoration, gifts, and storytelling, all very Neptunian.

The eclipse may be the inception of a ‘honeymoon’ period between ourselves and our imaginations, where we attempt to build our fantasy life. This is good, as we aim to represent our ideals in our material surroundings and in what we produce, but falling as it does during Mars retrograde, we may want to hold off on actual manipulation of the surroundings until after Mars’ direction, on 19 May. Until then we might do best to muster all our creative sensibilities, ponder what we truly want, and plan–then move when the action urge is once again accessible as a ‘stream’ into which we can launch our intentions.

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