A Couple Ways of Looking at Solar and Lunar Eclipse Charts

by Milky Way Maid

[Charts to follow if not uploaded by the time this posts]

Hello, astrology students! Today's lesson is about how to look at Eclipse charts. Actually I will talk about a way of looking at a Solar Eclipse, and a way of looking at a Lunar Eclipse.

The history of astrology tells us that the first recorded observation of a Solar Eclipse was in China, in 2154 BC. In fact, there was an eclipse that year on Oct. 12, but unfortunately the official astrologers were asleep at the wheel, so to speak. We quote:

“At that time Hi and Ho corrupted their principles and abandoned themselves to wine. They neglected their offices, forsook their posts, began to confuse the celestial laws, and ignored their faculty. Consequently, when in the third month of autumn . . . the people ran afoot in general consternation. Hi and Ho were dead to their duties of office, not having known or heard of it, and were stupidly perplexed as to the celestial signs, so that they committed a crime which former rulers proscribed against. The regulations in regard to eclipses say: being before the time, the astronomers are to be killed without respite, and being behind time, they are to be slain without reprieve (Sepharial, p. 32-33).”

First, the Solar Eclipse. This method is SOLELY for Solar Eclipses. The proponent of this method is Dave Roell of AstroAmerica aka Astrology Center of America. You can look for a more detailed explanation of his method in the June 11 issue of his newsletter at his website, AstroAmerica dot com.

The first step is to cast a chart for the Solar Eclipse set for your locality – or where you will be at the time of the Solar Eclipse. Take care to convert the time, which is probably given as Eastern Time or Pacific Time, to your own time zone. Note carefully where both the Sun-Moon and the Nodes fall.

Dave notes that Judith Hill notes that solar eclipses are polarized along the lines of the node. I might add that total eclipses occur when the node is 5 degrees or less away from the sun, and partial eclipses occur when the node is more than 5 degrees from the sun. As a general rule, anyway. So, in other words, says Dave, eclipses are really more like hyper nodes – maybe I should capitalize that like this: Hyper Nodes.

Dave simplifies his key to solar eclipses like this: FIRST, note the HOUSE that the eclipse falls in; this will clue you in to the SETTING of whatever event is triggered by the eclipse. SECOND, “convert the SIGN of the eclipse to the house on the “natural” or Aries rising wheel.” The sign will clue you in to the kind of EVENT is triggered by the eclipse. If the sun and the node fall in different houses, the node is preferred – BUT you will have to look at both and make a judgment on which is more active.

Also bear in mind which node the eclipse occurs near, because this will clue you in to whether to expect gains or losses. A North Node eclipse will tend to bring you things or bring a new beginning, and while a South Node eclipse will tend to take something away, or end a situation.

A good example is the eclipse before the Wall Street meltdown of 2008. There was a solar eclipse on Aug. 8, 2008 at 6:14 am; set the chart for New York City. The South Node is in the first house, affecting the whole world. It is in Leo, and Leo (in a natural, Aries-rising chart) is ruler of the fifth house of speculation, in other words things like the stock market – which duly crashed that fall.

I do have a little trouble applying it to the Aurora, CO Batman shooting, tho. The shooting occurred in a movie theatre on July 20, 2012 at 12:38 am to 12:45 am MDT. The Solar Eclipse prior to the shooting was on May 20, 2012 at 5:23 pm MDT. I have cast a chart for the eclipse, so have a look.

The lights are in the eighth house, as one might expect. The eighth house indicates death only sometimes, but here it is literal. Other possibilities would have included beginnings and endings, intense situations, absolute decisions (meaning ones that cannot be taken back), money given to others to manage, a spouse's money, pooled funds of all kinds.

It occurred in the sign of Gemini, which falls in the third house in an Aries-rising chart. The third house rules daily life, errands, siblings, etc. Well that does not seem to fit. However, it would rule malls, I think, since basic shopping for necessities is part of one's daily life. Also, look at what is actually IN the third house in this eclipse chart: bad boy Pluto. And it so happens that Pluto trined Mars on May 16, an ominous transiting aspect if ever there was one. Mars is in the eleventh house of groups of people, so I would probably have avoided hanging around crowds.

Let's move on to looking at some lunar eclipses. I feel that lunar eclipses are more personal than solar eclipses. We can get some idea of what the eclipse will mean to us personally by looking at the chart. At the same time, one has to bear in mind that many times the effects of an eclipse can be so subtle, and be so gradual, that we may never link the eclipse to a growing interest in photography or music, for example, or to meeting someone who later proves significant in the course one's life takes.

I would like to look at the eclipses before the assassination of President Kennedy. Rose Lineman kindly provides both solar and lunar eclipse charts, set for both Washington, DC and for Dallas. The node is in the eighth house in all four. It hardly seems like Pres. Kennedy would have been any safer at home! For the record, Jupiter's placement usually indicates where one is safe. In the case of JFK, Jove is in the fifth house in the eclipse charts, which would suggest that he might have been safe in an amusement park, on Wall Street, in a casino, somewhere with children or artwork.

Yet one must note that the eclipses set for Washington have Sagittarius on the ascendants, while the ones set for Dallas have Scorpio on the ascendants. This alone indicates a more intense cast to the events of the Dallas trip. Also some aspects tie in more sharply to the angles, and volatile planets are much closer to the Midheaven – which is itself a critical degree – in the Dallas charts.

For example, chart rulers Mars and Pluto occupy the tenth house. Rose Lineman notes that Uranus at 2 degrees Virgo is not only nearly atop the Midheaven but is also conjunct the fixed star Regulus, representing “worldly position and power”; that Uranus is almost atop both MC and Regulus does seem to signify the sudden change in who holds the reins of power in Washington.

One cannot isolate an eclipse chart from the natal or progressed charts of the principals involved. For example, Lineman notes that Kennedy suffered from the fact that progressed Moon, progressed Mars, and progressed Jupiter were all in the natal eighth house at the time of his death, AND since they were in Gemini, they squared the lunar eclipse Uranus, Pluto and Mars (in that order) in Virgo.

So you see there are layers upon layers of connections between the events, the eclipses, and all the natal and progressed charts of the principal players involved. I encourage you to play with the chart data given below to make whatever combination charts occur to you. Try making triple- and quadruple-ringed charts.

SOURCES:

Lineman, Rose, Eclipses: Astrological Guideposts, 1984, AFA.

March, Marion and McEvers, Joan, The Only Way to Learn About Tomorrow, 1988, ACS Publications, Lesson 9. .

Roell, Dave, Dave's Method of Reading Eclipses, June 11, 2013, AstroAmerica newsletter, astroamerica.com.

Sepharial, Eclipses in Theory and Practice, 1991, Sun Books.

(Mention is also made of a Jan Spiller book on eclipses, which Dave says is excellent, but I do not have the title of that book.)

RUN YOUR OWN CHARTS:

John F Kennedy, May 29, 1917, 3:15 pm Boston MA.

Lee Harvey Oswald, Oct. 18, 1939, (unknown time) New Orleans LA.

Assassination of JFK, Nov. 22, 1963, about 12:30 pm, Dallas TX.

Pre-Assassination Lunar Eclipse, set for Dallas, July 6, 1963, 3:55 pm.

Pre-Assassination Solar Eclipse, set for Dallas, July 20, 1963, 2:43 pm.

Batman movie shooting --- July 20, 2012 in Aurora, CO at 12:38 am to 12:45 am MDT

SOLAR ECLIPSE prior to shooting was on May 20, 2012 at 5:23 pm MDT.

Good news: couple marries one year later: http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/18/us/colorado-shooting-anniversary/index.html

Chart Comparisons for Abe Lincoln, J. W. Booth, and fatal shot

by Milky Way Maid

I did not know if a chart comparison would be successful when I started this little project, but I was intrigued enough to give it a go.

I had no birth times for the two principals – Abe Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth – so I used noon for both. I did find a time for the fatal shot inflicted on the late President; a source said it occurred at 10:13 pm on the night of April 14, 1865. The President lingered for some nine hours before he finally breathed his last.

This composite chart has Abe Lincoln in the center ring, Booth in the middle ring, and the fatal shot in the outer ring representing the transits. I should maybe have put the assassination in the center, since it is the only one to be specific as to time; you are free to construct such a chart on your own software and see what that yields. I will tell you that the assassination chart yields an ascendant of 9 degrees, 21' Sagittarius (with the Moon rising at 9 degrees, 12' of Sag), and the MC is at 26 degrees, 14' Virgo.

The way these charts interlock is at first glance far too complex to treat fully in one article. There are many planets in a narrow slice from 7 to 14 degrees of the signs, another group at 29 or 00 degrees of signs (which is a harmonic of the first group), and some more at 22 to 27 degrees of the signs.
Let's start by listing the planets at 7 to 14 degrees of the signs.
In Pres. Lincoln's chart: Mercury at 10 Pisces, Pluto at 13 Pisces.
In Mr. Booth's chart: Neptune at 10 Aquarius, Uranus at 12 Pisces, North Node at 12 Aries, and Jupiter at 8 Virgo. Mr. Booth has Jupiter, the planet of the actor, inconjunct Neptune in Capricorn and opposite Uranus in Pisces.
In the transit chart of the assassination: Neptune at 8 Aries, Pluto at 12 Taurus, Mercury at 14 Taurus, Mars at 8 Cancer, Moon at 9 Sag.

Listing planets at 29 to 01 of the signs yields this list: Lincoln's Moon at 29 Capricorn, Booth's retrograde Mercury at 29 Taurus and his Moon at 1 degree Sag; the transit chart has the North Node at 00 degrees Scorpio and Jupiter at 29 degrees Sag.

Planets at 22 to 27 degrees of the signs include:

Lincoln's Sun at 23 degrees Aquarius, Jupiter at 22 degrees Pisces, and Mars at 25 degrees Libra.

Booth's Saturn retrograde at 26 degrees Scorpio.

The assassination has the Sun at 25 degrees Aries, Venus at 25 degrees Taurus, Uranus at 26 degrees Gemini, Saturn retrograde at 27 degrees Libra. In other words, transiting Saturn is on Lincoln's Mars.

I think it is pretty impressive that there are so many points in the charts that do intermesh the way they do. One could hardly find two unrelated people with that many points of contact, or points that are in such close aspect. It is very complex. I did not even get into trying to run progressed charts for either man.

There was a Total Solar Eclipse on April 25, 1865, but that comes too late to directly affect the circumstances of Washington, DC leading up to the tragic events at Ford's Theatre. Thankfully, NASA gives moon phases for 1801 to 1900 online. There was a partial lunar eclipse April 11, 1865 at 4:28 am.

To get Eastern Standard Time, subtract five hours from the Universal Time given on the NASA site. So that would make it 11:28 pm on April 10.

OK, now see the lunar eclipse chart for April 10, 1865. True node and Koch houses, as I have for all my other charts on this article.

Wow, this ties in really well with the charts of the principals in the drama. Ascendant is almost 22 degrees Sag, MC is at 12 degrees Libra. There's that 12 degrees again! OK, let's go around and list the planet positions before doing anything else. Sun at 21 Aries. Moon is opposite at 21 Libra, with Saturn close by at 27 Libra. North Node at 00 Scorpio – those three points are in the tenth house. Jupiter in the first house at 29 Sag. Neptune almost to the IC, at 8 degrees Aries in the third house. Sun at 21 degrees Aries, as we said, in the fourth house. Fifth house holds Mercury at 10 of Taurus, Pluto at 12 of Taurus and Venus at 25 of Taurus. In the seventh house we find Uranus at 26 degrees Gemini and Mars at 5 degrees Cancer.

Let's take that MC at 12 degrees Libra--- This time it is inconjunct Lincoln's Mercury-Pluto in Pisces, inconjunct Booth's Uranus in Pisces, opposite Booth's North Node in Aries, inconjunct transiting Mercury-Pluto in Taurus.

Looking at the chart in another way, we ask ourselves “Where were these people when the events unfolded?” At a theatre, where Pres. Lincoln had taken his wife to see a play. What is in the house that rules the stage, the fifth house? There we find Mercury and Pluto, representing the fatal bullet. They would have done well to avoid fifth-house places, given the ominous looks of that sector of the chart.

Where would he have been safe? Look where Jupiter is, in this case in the first house – the first house represents – among other things – where one normally is, in this case at the White House. He would probably have been safe if he had stayed in the White House. He probably would have been safe if he had taken a long trip, say to New York or Boston, since the ninth house is empty. Staying at home would probably have been a good option, too, with the Sun occupying the fourth house. Too bad the Lincolns did not just schedule another séance or something. Too bad they did not have cable or Hulu back then.

This article cannot be exhaustive treatment of the two principals in the historical drama, but I hope that you might be intrigued enough to print out your own charts and play with this a bit. If your software will not go back to the 1800s, you might give things a whirl at the free chart service offered by Astrodienst dot com online.