While we think the power of the "Great American Solar Eclipse" is a single day event, looking at the daily news would prove otherwise. Escalation of tensions in America over racism, mudslides in Sierra Leone, and North Korea rhetoric escalating. That's all in the week before. What is triggering all these events? Well, definitely the Eclipse energy plays a powerful role. But other planets are having their say, as well. Uranus recently went retrograde, planet of storms and the unexpected, electrical influence on a mass scale, and don't forget - the planet which influences us to not listen to advice. His degree is the exact same as the Sun/Moon eclipse point 28°, of Aries. This puts him in a trine, an aspect traditionally assigned to good and cooperative energy. Watching events as large trines occur, you will notice that it can also be a point of contention. I read these aspects as uncomfortable, and dramatic events, which bring shift, and ultimate good. There is a third energy rounding off the Grand Trine in the fire element, and that is the powerful planet of Saturn in Sagittarius. His movement has been retrograde, appearing to move backwards from Earth's perspective, since early April 2017. He moves direct on August 26th, and is in his station as the Eclipse occurs.
Saturn, Uranus and the Sun/Moon conjunction are in trine power, working on career, independence, and the Mother/Child archetype. Saturn is the father. We are all experiencing this powerful shift somewhere in our charts. Wherever it falls tells the theme of this Eclipse in our lives. As Saturn moves direct, we feel the shift back towards our lighter side, and the determination to move, long distances if need be, towards a new career, and our given life purposes. The power of Uranus is the drive to be autonomous, and call our own shots. With this retrograde, we have some old issues around thinking for ourselves which draw our attention.
The other subtle player is Mercury, the planet of communications, electricity, thought, transportation, siblings, neighbors, small animals, and contracts. Mercury went retrograde on August 13th, and will transit back over the degree of the Sun and Moon on the Eclipse. It hit this point on July 25th for the first time, a big news week for North Korea and missile testing. It will retrograde to that degree -- 28° 52 minutes -- on September 2nd, and when it changes direct, it will hit that degree again on September 7th. That will be a very big week for the news, accidents, contracts, education, transportation, and international news around aggression and the military, as Leo is bravado, and Mercury is ruler of military endeavors (in its Earth energy of Virgo). We will be wrapping up that story, or triggering an event.
Keep in mind a retrograde Mercury in its native sign of Virgo means communications, electronics, small appliances and thought can be off, or erratic. Uranus adds to the erratic nature of our times, and the attraction to the use of logic or intellectualism over emotion, or even reason. Logic is defective in that it can only take into account that which it knows, sees, or understands at the time. This is a limiting means of conclusions, though quite popular. When the planets ruling thought - Mercury, and genius - Uranus are retrograde, we see faulty thinking. Electrical synapses are short circuited, and we may feel anxious, panicky, or have a fight or flight instinct. It is a time of caution. When Uranus gets to the Eclipse degree again, April 16th of 2018, quicker planets will be in Taurus, including the Moon and Venus. Given that Venus rules money, finances and the Market, Pluto in trine to Venus, and the Sun conjunct, within TWO degrees of Uranus that day, upheaval, and aggression are almost assured. Add to that Venus in direct opposition to Jupiter in Scorpio retrograde, also a sign of joint monetary values, you get a bit of chaos, financial desires and ambitions at odds with passions about personal worth to others. This will be a strong storyline for tax protests. Power plays continue, and Leo's influence is reflected in the Sun, its ruling planet. With the connection to Uranus on this day, the Sun carries the eclipse energy from Leo, its own sign, to Uranus, ruler of the opposite sign, Aquarius, in the transit sign of Aries - the quintessential energy and god of war. There is a vibration of war as a means to increase financial fortunes, but that is, again, faulty thinking for our times. Uranus will show us these traditional ways of thinking, coupled at the Eclipse degree with the subject entity of the Eclipse, the Sun, that we can no longer behave in arrogant, narcissistic ways, but must shift the collective mindset to a broader, inclusive humanitarian vision.
Fun times.
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