Since the times immemorial, eclipses have been considered to be the bad omen of troubling times to come.
But astrologers have been all over the place on how to read them. This is the reason why I normally don’t do eclipses.
So even though I guessed that this particular eclipse has got to be THE MAJOR EVENT IN THE SKY OF MY LIFE TIME (the last one like this happened in 1638), I waited to see what other astrologers had to say about it and watched the events unfold.
Its symbolism did not escape me though: an eclipse is a bad omen because the darkness swallowing a luminary. But this one was to be the doubly dark, occurring on the darkest night of the year.
The most interesting discussion among astrologers on this topic centered on the symbolism of the zodiacal degree this eclipse occurred in. These were Western astrologers. They used Tropical zodiac and Sabian symbols. I don’t give Sabian symbols much credence, so I looked to see what Vedic astrology has to say about the degree symbolism.
Vedic astrology uses Siderial zodiac (based on actual constellations), and it imbued each zodiacal degree with deep imaging and meaning that is uncanny in its accuracy.
So this is what I found:
It fell into nakshatra of Mula (0′ – 13’20 of siderial Sagittarius). Mula is symbolized by intertwined roots and translates from Sanscrit as “Root” or “inner core”, suggesting it being central to the web of karma. Anything occurring in Mula is very important karmically.
Mula, these 13’20 of zodiacal belt, is ruled by demonic goddess Nritti, whose name itself translates from Sanscrit as “Calamity”. Moreover, she is the daughter of Adharma (vileness) and Himsa (violence), and the mother to Mrityu (death) and Bhaya (fear).
This tells me I have to be on look out for some kind of karmic calamity that brings on violent death and strikes fear into the hearts of men.
The good thing about Nritti, though, is that all her calamities are destined to bring on the greater good.
The very degree of this lunar eclipse is falling into Gemini navamsa. Gemini and its ruler Mercury are all about communication and travel. Alas, Mercury at the time of the eclipse was retrograde! So the karmic calamities I have to look for have to be about miscommunication, travel troubles and the like.
So let see, we had
1)European blizzard that held travelers hostage at the airports and brought Western Europe to a standstill.
2)We had North American blizzard, that caused quite a few deaths, and held passengers stranded in NYC subway for more than 7 hrs.
3)We had disastrous Australian floods and
4)deadly Brazilian floods
5)We had mass murder by Safeway supermarket in Tusa (Nritti has a weird sense of humor)
did I miss anything?
Interestingly, the eclipse was best viewed from Western Europe, North America, Hawaii, some countries of the far east and New Zealand.
What greater good may come out of it? Well, English are bound to get more snow-plows for their airports, NYC will now put tire chains on its buses and ambulances, and we may finally put back sanity into our political discourses (hopefully).
I have been feeling the effect of the eclipse personally too. Perhaps, because it affected my natal Mercury, or because Mercury was retrograde during the event, my life has been plagued by plans and communications going awry ever since.
Someone, please tell me how long the effect would last!
I hope it is not going to take 2 years like a solar eclipse!
My son’s natal chart was affected much more seriously, squaring his IC/ MC axis and Mars, while falling into his 6th house. So far though, only one negative thing has occurred in his life:
He has been attending a free after-school program (the only kind I could afford) 3 days / wk. On Tuesday, he had guitar lessons and on Thursdays he had choir practice. Last week though I was called to the program director’s office, where I was told that Nick’s absence twice a week from program negatively affects their funding and that I had to choose between their program and Nick’s musical aspirations.
Of course, I had to choose the program. I must work to pay my rent. My ex’ unemployment benefits have expired this month, and he still has no job (i.e. I have no child support).
I suppose, a homeless daddy is becoming a real possibility for my son, and that could be another Nritti’s calamity for him…
Check your planets within 1 degree from 2′ of Cancer or Capricorn, and tell me your story. Let’s figure out this eclipse together.