Planetary news this week: Solar eclipse awakening and Mercury turns retrograde
Astrological update for the week of April 17-24, 2023
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Solar eclipse. The big news this week is the solar eclipse at the very last few minutes of Aries. I wrote about this last week but it bears repeating as we enter the doorway to the upcoming pair of eclipses.
Eclipses are often bunched into a series of two or three pairs, but this year the two eclipse pairs operate on their own, without any others in the series. The first of the pair, the New Moon, occurs at 29º 57′ Aries – just three minutes of a degree from being in Taurus rather than Aries. The very last degree of a sign, the 29th degree, is called the “critical” or “anoretic” degree and is associated with the endings of cycles and new beginnings. In this eclipse the Sun and Moon are a few degrees from the North Node of the future, signifying the pressure to release the past and move into an enlightened future.
The New Moon at the ending of a sign offers a sweeping away of the old and a fresh new beginning, especially with the Moon eclipsing the Sun, stripping away any artifice of conscious awareness and bringing us face to face with the raw truth of our needs and desires as described by Aries. In this moment which is rich with the power of Mars (ruler of Aries), we can begin to let go of some of our willfulness as patterns are completed. the Moon slips gently into Taurus just 20 minutes after the eclipse, forming a square aspect to transformational Pluto. We are in new territory, and this anaretic solar eclipse will help (force?) a push through obstacles into a […]