What a doozy of an eclipse season. When eclipses storm in like that, they unmask the underlying grime in need of a good power washing. Alchemical by nature, eclipses transmute our lead into gold. We’re forced to identify what needs an immediate overhaul. We’re shoved to confront the old behaviors, beliefs and patterns that surface for yet another round of self-improvement.
Twice a year, the path of the moon crosses the track of the sun. When these two cosmic bodies precisely align, we have eclipses. The weeks between them are known as the eclipse window, and that opening can remotely trigger an avalanche of emotional debris.
Looking back helps us to understand astrology better
Did you notice anything come up for you during this eclipse portal? It lasted from the Aquarius new moon, solar eclipse on Feb. 17 through to the Virgo full moon, lunar eclipse last week. Did something surface? If so, how’d you deal with it?
Often some fear grabs our attention, like brakes screeching. We were cruising along just fine, then wham-o, we’re suddenly crazy triggered. Hurling down a trauma black hole, the light vanishes and sucks the air out with it. Our nervous systems instantly go to DEFCON 1. We lose all rational control. Fight, flight, or freeze become our only tactics.
Plummeting to our lowest common denominator of avoidance strategies: wine, vaping, scrolling and pie a la mode — trying to just get a break from the rumination. It’s intense. I’ve been there many a time. And I just went there once again during this eclipse portal. Thankfully, it’s been a while since I was vacuumed into my PTSD wormhole but sucked in I was.
I circled back to an old, deep fear: people aren’t safe. I get where my belief came from. I have the tools to unravel it. But this one snuck up on me, going 0-60 in a nanosecond, and wow, it was a fierce one to disentangle.
That’s the kind of reckoning eclipse season delivers
This exact alignment of the sun and moon amplifies their energies. Depending upon your astrology chart and the lessons you’re trying to learn this go round, the eclipses will hit each of us differently. Some we’ll skate right through and others will grind salt into our core wounds. The latter was this eclipse season for me. How was it for you?
For simplicity’s sake, if you’ve got planets or angles (like your rising sign) in Aquarius, Virgo, or Pisces, then this eclipse window was batting a thousand on your chart too. (There’s a lot more to this, but I’ll leave the detailed astrology lesson for another day.) Point being, if the eclipses were near the lessons you’re learning, that curriculum was activated.
What came up for you throughout the eclipse portal?
We witnessed alarming actions in the world, yet again. Saturn and Neptune came together during this eclipse window as well, in Aries. Saturn activates our day-to-day experience, and Neptune ebbs and flows between dreams and illusions. Aries is the fiery warrior, rushing in without much contemplation. In the attack on Iran, we see warring, illusions, and the real world all intersecting. The last time these two planets aligned in 1989, we saw the Berlin Wall fall, the Tiananmen Square massacre, the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and the invention of the World Wide Web. It’s not the same configuration now, but interesting to note.
Eclipses and planetary conjunctions promote growth. We always have the option to opt out. We can double down on our fears and numbing out. Plenty of that to go around. Ultimately, after countless avoidance attempts, I now find it’s easier and faster to just hunker down and do the work. It totally sucks in the moment but it’s freeing on the other side. Even small changes move the needle.
Like astrology, it’s easier to see our progress in the rear-view mirror. This post-eclipse week is a good time to integrate and let the teachings settle. Check in and see what was going on as you traversed these eclipses and hefty planetary alignments. How are you handling what came up? And, most importantly, where do you want to steer your spaceship now? Let’s take a moment together to pause, breathe, and get honest about where we’re at and where we want to go. As Carl Jung taught, making the unconscious conscious makes all the difference.
For more astrology insights, you can find my regular astrology coaching columns in The Aspen Times.
🌙 Sheridan
Astrology Coach & Moon Sisters Circle Guide
I work with women who’ve survived trauma, untangle old conditioning, identify unconscious patterns, and take concrete, practical steps forward to regain control of their lives.