Can you feel yourself descending inward? Pulling back towards the center of your self? If you’ve been resisting this transformation, now could be just the time to let go and allow yourself to reflect and release with the Dark Moon on Sunday before we begin anew with the waxing phase of the lunar cycle.
This New Moon brings with it another astronomical viewing delight for much of the Northern Hemisphere! An Annular Eclipse. This means that from a certain band of the Earth, viewers will get to see a “Ring of Fire” around the Moon.
"Ring of Fire" courtesy NASA
For those of us outside the “path of annularity”, we’ll still be able to see the Moon pass over the Sun, resulting in what will appear to be a Waxing Crescent Sun.
Eclipse at Totality as can be seen from SLC, UT, courtesy Clark Planetarium
For folks on Mountain Time, the Eclipse will begin at 6:19pm, with totality at 7:29, and conclusion just before sunset, at about 8:20 or so. If you’re not in our timezone, you can use this timezone map to calculate the difference…
Just be sure to protect your eyes! If you look directly into the eclipse for more than a moment, you’ll be doing potentially permanent damage, and you won’t feel a thing.
Looking for some more resources and inspiration for viewing? Be patient, load times may be slow on some of these links as so many people from around the world are going to these very pages! Here’s a good tutorial for a diy pin-hole projector if you can’t get your hands on some solar viewing glasses. Here’s a great map that shows what will be visible where, this map shows times of local greatest eclipse in UTC. Lots more astronomical information can be found at Eclipse-maps.com, and the HuffingtonPost.
For an astrological perspective, Sara Varcas of Awakenings: Intuitive Astrology for the Heart and Soul has offered the following:
Solar Eclipse in Gemini, 20th May 2012 23:53 GMT
This Solar Eclipse, in the first degree of Gemini, signals a powerful time in which great advancement can be made in consciousness. It occurs in alignment with The Pleiades, a star cluster in the final degrees of Taurus, which has long been revered in the history of humanity’s relationship with the heavens. Many cultures have believed this to be the place from which we all came originally. It is seen as a birthing place, and a place of our highest spiritual potential. It sends energies into our world to assist us in the transformation and evolution that’s taking place upon this planet right now. To have a Solar Eclipse occurring at this point in the heavens is a highly auspicious moment and one that we would be wise to acknowledge and honour. It is, truly, a gift from the cosmos!
This Solar Eclipse speaks to us of a trinity or triad of energies. In traditional terms many connect trinity with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In these times of awakening, we can embrace the trinity as the creator, the created and the creative force, the collective soul, which connects all things with its very essence, making the creator the created and vice versa. The degree of this eclipse relates to seeing that which is previously hidden, especially in the emotional realm, and it may well be the case that this eclipse reveals emotions and feelings that we have previously left to lie quietly in the depths of ourselves. These emotions, however, need to be experienced in order for their energy to be released in a creative and positive way. We are now entering a time in which anything suppressed, denied or hidden will inevitably be demanding attention, be it oppressed communities or repressed emotions. The ‘underdog’, that which is ignored and denied, is rattling its cage now, and will not be ignored or disrespected any longer. Its day has come, and we all have our part to play in embracing the bits of ourselves that we have treated as the ‘underdog’ of our own psyche.
Eclipses, both Solar and Lunar, are often seen as unpredictable and disruptive events in the astrological world, but in fact, when eclipse cycles are studied across hundreds of years it becomes evident that they occur in cycles, each with its own impacts and effects. The cycle to which this eclipse, and the Lunar Eclipse due at the beginning of June, belong is a positive and productive one, which can bring about great progress, and deliver results for previous hard work and commitment to pursuing our goals. For such an eclipse cycle to occur aligned with the Pleiades is, indeed, a time of great energy. In effect, we are being ‘zapped’ by the universe with a vibration that we have not been exposed to before. It may disrupt us for a while. We may feel it physically as well as emotionally, but any disruption is merely a recalibration of our being – physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually – to enable it to work with these different and much faster and more creative energies that are flooding our planet now.
If you’ve been nursing and nurturing a dream, working to bring something to fruition, now could well be the time that true fertilization occurs. Pay close attention to your thoughts, feelings and moments of inspiration now, for they may be central to the fulfilment of your future potential. No matter how ‘out there’ they may seem at first glance. Remember, this eclipse changes the rules of creation forever! What seemed impossible before is coming closer by the day.
This eclipse puts particular focus on the planet Neptune, through which its effects are likely to be felt very powerfully. Neptune brings us both divine love and human deception. Sometimes the latter can be confused for the former (and vice versa) and problems can arise as a result. But essentially, all that Neptune knows is love, and all that it sees is love, no matter what may appear on the surface of life. Herein lies an important message for us: Whatever this eclipse heralds for us and our lives, it is brought to us on a vibration of love. Not some wishy-washy, nicey-nicey ‘fake’ love, but the enduring, powerful, transformative love, that can move mountains and resurrect the dead parts of ourselves and our lives. This is love that burns bright and strong, illuminating everything in its path, no matter what. This is the love that sees us as we really are, warts and all, and still embraces us wholeheartedly, assuring us that we have come home, never to be separated from that love again. This is the power behind this eclipse. This is the vibration through which it does its work. Are you ready to be loved back into an existence that is vibrant, authentic and creative? ‘Cause ready or not….here it comes!
- Sarah Varcas
Equipped with welding helmets and goggles, I look forward to enjoying the eclipse with family and friends in the foothills of our valley. We won’t see the ring of fire, but we’ll be together in awe.
However you enjoy the eclipse tonight, whether with your own eyes or in your minds eye… this moment in time offers us yet another opportunity to acknowledge the magnificence of our physical experience. Let us be filled with wonder and reverence for our participation in this planetary dance!
