Solar Eclipse 2024 – an astrological/psychological view

 

Image courtesy of NASA

In the days leading up to the 2024 eclipse, which will cover much of the USA, I’ve been pondering on how the physical eclipse – when the Sun is obscured by the Moon, from our viewpoint on Earth, along and either side of the line of totality – could be looked at from an astrological/psychological point of view.

The Sun represents the individual’s sense of self in the natal chart. The Sun is symbolic of the mind and the will, of the ability to make decisions, to take the lead, to assert oneself, to be an individual, to choose and yes – to shine and stand out in some way.The Moon represents the individual’s feelings, their emotions, the need to be loved, to have those emotional needs met, and the inner child, who might be impish or fun-loving or scared, shy and vulnerable.

If – and only if – we’re travelling along the path of personal growth and self-understanding, we’ll already be reasonably aware of our own strengths and vulnerabilities – all good Sun and Moon stuff. So shifting away from the incredible experience of physically seeing and feeling a total eclipse, and viewing it astrologically, how might it be experienced in real, everyday life when our Sun/light/sense of self is eclipsed, clouded, hidden and darkened by our Moon/feeling, sensitive/needy self?

When something happens in life where our feelings totally take over and block out our more rational mind, does our thinking go haywire? Do we have a knee-jerk emotional, irrational response, perhaps tapping into a previous traumatic event and triggering reactions similar to those we had then? If his happens, our sense of self – the Sun – takes a knock as we temporarily forget that we are OK just as we are, and that we’ve come a long way.

If this happens, it’s a personal eclipse and, unlike the real physical eclipse, it can happen any time. In a total eclipse, the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, blocking the Sun’s light for a short period of time. But it’s a temporary thing, and the transient experience of darkness and chill passes….as these effects can when we’re plunged into a personal life event “eclipse”.

With a real solar total eclipse, viewed from a location on Earth, there’s always plenty of notice of the event as excitement and anticipation build up ahead of the event. It’s predictable, whereas on a personal level, it may be less so if something or someone comes along, bringing experiences which swamp our sense of self and our rational mind. We forget that we can choose, can use our will (be it good will, strong will, or skilful will) to temper our emotions and ride out this temporary, personal eclipse.

Sun and the Mind

We gain a sense of self of the mind through the Sun, which, in the chart, represents our autonomous self - awareness. With its Cardinal quality, the Sun is our drive to be assertive, go-ahead and initiatory. The Sun is the sense of self we gain through our ability to make decisions and use the mind. It’s our capacity to choose, our capacity to make conscious choices and ultimately take responsibility for ourselves.

Whichever role you cast it in, it represents how we direct and use our will based on the decisions we make. It leads the way, and the rest of the planets, our psychological drives, follow. The Sun signifies our strength and power and this is involved when we discriminate and judge, when we think, form ideas and tap into our innate creativity. 

 The Sun, the sense of self and the will   

Closely linked with the Sun is the use of the will. We can draw on

 · our strong will which gives us determination and the capacity to keep going

 · our skilful will which endows us with sound common sense and the ability to be flexible and adaptive as we work towards our goals, and

 · and our good will which enables us to include others and to work selflessly for their benefit as well as our own.

The use of the will helps us to be goal-oriented and better able to go after what we want to achieve.

When we’re seeking to achieve the goals we set ourselves, it’s useful to remember that energy follows thought. Using the Sun/mind, we form our ideas and go on to make these real, to make them manifest. Doing so, we can be truly creative.

Our capacity to use our will, to be aware that energy follows thought and to find practical grounding in our everyday lives for our ideas and creativity can be developed and should be encouraged. It can help us strengthen the Sun and gain a greater, more centred self-confidence, and ride out the temporary effects of a personal “eclipse”.

Asleep, waking or awake?

The inconsistency of being human is always with us. It happens all the time.

We decide to do something, but at a later date we change our minds. We have an opinion about something, but as we grow and change so do our opinions. We make choices which are sometimes right and sometimes disastrously wrong.

Using astrological psychology and applying the psychological functions of the planets to everyday life, it can be useful to know if we're expressing ourselves in an asleep, waking or awake manner. Here the inconsistency comes into play.

Take the Sun, for example. Here I'm assuming that readers will know their Sun sign and some of the characteristics associasted with that sign. The Sun is a strong contender for being of significance when we present ourselves to others because it's symbolic of our sense of self.

But the person with their Sun/sense of self in an asleep, unaware and unconscious state bellows loudly "I am the greatest" in all words and actions. This could be someone who has to be at the forefront of everything, always right, often full of hot air, egocentricity and narcissism. They need an audience and they care for little other than themselves.

Wake that Sun up a little and it comes into greater self-awareness and consciousness as they test themselves out against reactions from the environment (i.e. other people).

Expression of the Sun/sense of self when fully awake shows a person with self-confidence, autonomy and intelligence. They know they don't always have to be right, they have learned from mistakes they've made, and they are able to show humility and be magnanimous to others.

As with the Sun, so with the other planets. I'm not intending to discuss each one in turn as there's a lot of detailed info on the asleep, walking and awake stages of expression of all the planets in the full Astrological Psychology course book, available at Amazon.

So for now, we'll just take a brief look at Jupiter, renowned for its expression of vision, its ability to be joyful and to potentially be good company and fun to have around.

Asleep, Jupiter will easily be waylaid by the lure of sensuality of all kinds, and may go OTT with it, to the point of being sated and inactive. Like drunk!

Waking up it comes into its own, expressing joviality, good humour and joie ve vivre, and although this may be laced with a touch of self-righteousness, there will always be a good helping of optimism, which will attract others as some of this tends to rub off and create positive vibes.

When Jupiter is expressed in an awake manner, justice and good judgement abound. There's a sound sense of values, and a clear perpsective on situations and problems that arise. At this level, wisdom and ethics are present. 

Something worthwhile to aim for here! Be aware of which level(s) you might be expressing different planets on and remember - we're all prone to inconsistency. But the more we're aware of which level we're coming from - fully awake and conscious - the clearer and better will be our capacity to aim for the top level.

 

Winter Solstice

It's had to ignore dark mornings, short days and dark afternoons at this time of year. Living in the northern hemisphere, we should be used to this. Maybe we are, and  seek solace and light in other forms; you have only to look at the many indoor and outdoor light decorations at this time of year.

As an astrologer, I’m aware – in a non-too-intensive way – of the movements of the planets. The Sun enters the sign of Capricorn on 21st December,  a widely known fact anyway, but it bears repeating because we all, myself included, need reminding of things from time to time. And it’s always good to reconnect with these cosmic events outside of ourselves in the face of the current Omicrom surge.

Acknowledging and connecting with the position of the Sun in relation to ourselves on Earth is something we can do relatively easily at this time of year, especially this year as we live with uncertainty under the speedily darkening shadow of Omicron.

On 21st December the Sun is at its furthest point away from the northern hemisphere, making this is the shortest day and longest night of the year. Meanwhile, down in the southern hemisphere the Sun is riding high in the sky as the exact opposite happens.

The winter solstice takes place in the deepest, darkest part of winter, when daylight is in short supply. Yet it is a festival of light which, in the northern hemisphere, coincides with Christmas. This Christian festival takes place at the same time of year as the pagan celebration of the solstice which celebrates the gradual and at first imperceptible return of the light of the Sun after the long days of darkness.

It’s the turning point of the year and marks the return of the light and the rebirth of the Sun (the Son in Christianity…?), together with the promise of the warmth and energy the Sun brings to make crops – essential to life – grow once again after the earth has lain dormant. Goodness knows, we need a bit of light and promise right now.

This is the time of year when people of all faiths, and none, can express their connection with the earth, our life upon it in relation to others we meet, our life upon it in relation to the other living creatures we share it with, and our place in the solar system.

It's a time when we can share the warmth of friendship at this turning point of the year and bring some light and joy into our own lives and the lives of others.

What  could you do at this time of year to bring a little light into your own life? Could it be time to nurture yourself spiritually? To look further than the superficial materialism of Christmas? What could you do?

Be kind?     Light a candle?     Call a friend?   Get in touch with someone you've not contacted for a while?    Perform a random act of kindness?   Take a risk and smile at strangers as you walk down the street? Listen to some music which touches your soul and warms your heart? Get out into nature, walk in it, connect with it, observe it, appreciate it?

If you begin to express some warmth of spirit, it's likely to be mirrored and come back to you. A random smile often begets a smile in return. A friendly word to a stranger often brings a friendly response in return.Try it!

Greetings of the season to everyone out there, and may the warmth of friendship be wrapped around you at this time of year. We need it more than ever this year, this solstice.

Decisions and choices

My book The Living Birth Chart is a practical workbook which includes theory, chart examples and practical exercises for the reader/seeker to dabble in and enjoy the revelations they provide. It's a book to dive into and use if you want to bring your natal chart to life and apply what you discover to your everyday life. It's also about becoming more self aware and being responsible for yourself and the actions and decisions you make.

Now, I happen to think that achieving and maintaining autonomy and taking responsibility for ourselves is not easy. It’s something which we can always improve upon, wherever we are along this particular path, and sometimes we need to have a refresher and brush up on our skills in this department of everyday life.

Some time ago I heard a radio interview with one of the authors of a book called “Mistakes were made (but not by me)” * about why we justify foolish beliefs, bad decisions and hurtful acts - declining, wherever possible, to take responsibility for something which we’ve chosen to  do. 

Whether or not our choice was wise, foolish or misguided is not the point; the issue is our reluctance to take responsibility for the choice we made and the part we played.

As far as The Living Birth Chart is concerned, it’s always been my experience that the very best way to learn and understand astrology from a deep level is to make it come alive in ways that we can relate to on an everyday basis. It’s possible to learn astrology in an intellectual way, using our Mercury function of gathering and accumulating facts and information. But when we engage with Jupiter and use our eyes and our senses, and relate what we’re seeing, hearing, touching, perceiving to real life experiences, that’s when astrology truly comes alive and is for real.

When astrology becomes an integral part of your life on a day to day basis it begins to live - and you do too -  with a sharpened focus as you become more consciously aware, which means in turn that you begin to live in a more responsible way.

The point I’m moving towards here relates to the importance and significance of being autonomous and taking responsibility for ourselves and our actions, together with the capacity to recognise and honestly acknowledge when we’ve got something wrong. The converse is equally true, because if we’re really autonomous and self-aware we can quietly acknowledge when we’ve got something right without needing to crow or gloat about it.

One of the key features of astrological psychology as a tool for personal growth is that it places taking responsibility for ourselves, our lives and what goes on within them into our hands, and our hands alone, so it becomes more difficult to blame anyone else if things go wrong.

Using the birth chart as a tool in this way, we find it offers us choices. Once we’re aware that we can exercise choice in our everyday lives, things are unlikely to be the same again because we’ll be responsible for the direction our life takes, and no-one else!

An important way of working towards this greater wholeness can be achieved by developing and using the Sun, which can be likened to the conductor of our orchestra of planets and psychologival drives -  or as I sometimes like to think of it -  the leader of our jazz band!

However you wish to see the role of the Sun, it’s a very significant planet which is involved in the development of our sense of self, our autonomy, our ability to take responsibility - and as well to accept that yes, we do sometimes make mistakes!

The Sun is a Cardinal planet expressing Cardinal energy. It embodies the drive to assert and create, and it is important that this part of us is developed and strengthened so that it can be expressed clearly and without fear. It shouldn’t be hidden away like a bright torch under a damp blanket, but allowed to shine and be seen.

Sun and the Mind

We gain a sense of self of the mind through the Sun, which, in the chart, represents our autonomous self - awareness. With its Cardinal quality, the Sun is our drive to be assertive, go-ahead and initiatory.

The Sun is the sense of self we gain through our ability to make decisions and use the mind. It’s our capacity to choose, our capacity to make conscious choices and ultimately take responsibility for ourselves.

Whichever role you cast it in, it represents how we direct and use our will based on the decisions we make. It leads the way, and the rest of the planets, our psychological drives, follow. The Sun signifies our strength and power and this is involved when we discriminate and judge, when we think, form ideas and tap into our innate creativity. 

 

 

The Sun, the sense of self and the will   

Closely linked with the Sun is the use of the will. We can draw on

 · our strong will which gives us determination and the capacity to keep going

 · our skilful will which endows us with sound common sense and the ability to be flexible and adaptive as we work towards our goals, and

 · and our good will which enables us to include others and to work selflessly for their benefit as well as our own.

The use of the will helps us to be goal-oriented and better able to go after what we want to achieve.

When we’re seeking to achieve the goals we set ourselves, it’s useful to remember that energy follows thought. Using the Sun/mind, we form our ideas and go on to make these real, to make them manifest. Doing so, we can be truly creative.

Our capacity to use our will, to be aware that energy follows thought and to find practical grounding in our everyday lives for our ideas and creativity can be developed and should be encouraged. It can help us strengthen the Sun and gain a greater, more centred self-confidence. We can aim to be devoid of ego needs or the urge to prove that we are “the greatest”. 

And let’s face it - if we’re on a spiritual path, this attitude is pretty much redundant!

 

The Living Birth Chart is published in full colour. Click on the link for more info, and read a review of the book here.

 

* "Mistakes were Made (but not by me)" by Carol Tarvis and Elliot Aronson. pub. Harcourt Books

 

Taking responsibility, making choices

Model of Rosa Parks choosing & taking responsibility by sitting in a "whites only" bus seat. Montgomery Civil Rights Center, Alabama

It seems that our prime minister and government here in the UK are focussing just a little bit more on the need to be cautious, wary and considerate of others after 10 days of what has felt like a "way hey!" gung-ho, let's-let-it-all-hang-out approach to the easing of coronavirus restrictions.

Words of caution are creeping in (Q - why weren't they emphasised right from the start?) as many commercial outlets are still requesting people wear face coverings. The large crowds at the Euro2020 matches, the opening up of nightclubs and the return of open air festivals are crowd magnets. Scenes of people mixing and mingling as if nothing has happened begs the question of how many people will pick up the virus from this so-called return to normal? Numbers of cases from 19th July are yet to be seen, even though  cases generally appear to be going down. That's because the figures shown are for prior to this date. We'll know more in a couple of week's time.

Coronavirus, the pandemic, Covid-19, the Alpha, Beta and Delta variants - call it and them what you will - the current situation we're right now in the UK is one where the importance and significance of being autonomous, making wise choices and taking responsibility for ourselves and our actions is paramount.

Regardless of whatever the government and scientists say (personally, I think the scientists have the edge here, and have had for some time) we have to be responsible for ourselves and consider the needs and safety of other members of our society - the "herd" if you like - regardless of who they are, what they do, what they look like and whether or not they have been vaccinated. Just because the government has said we can get back to normal it doesn't mean we should.

One of the key features of astrological psychology as a tool for personal growth is that it places taking responsibility for ourselves, our lives and what goes on within them into our hands, and our hands alone. It becomes more difficult to blame anyone else if things go wrong as the buck stops with us. This might be the government's plan, but in my opinion personal responsibility should have been emphasised and reiterated long, long ago. People need frequent reminding of such things.

Here comes the astrological psychology bit. Using the birth chart as a tool and a non-predictive guide, we find it offers us choices. Once we’re aware that we can exercise choice in our everyday lives, things are unlikely to be the same again because we’ll be responsible for the direction our life takes, and no-one else.

At this point I want to briefly mention the fact that underpinning the Huber Method of astrological psychology is Assagioli’s psychosynthesis, which leads us - through the use of the birth chart -  towards integration of the personality. This is a kind of ever “onwards and upwards” approach towards our own individual wholeness.

An important way of working towards this greater wholeness can be achieved by developing our own sense of self, which is astrological psychology is symbolised by the Sun. The Sun can be likened to the conductor of an orchestra, the captain of a ship, the leader of an expedition - it's the Sun/conductor/captain/leader who calls the shots, makes the choices and the decisions.

However you wish to see the role of the Sun, it’s a very significant planet, and one which is involved in the development of our sense of self, our autonomy, our ability to take responsibility - and as well to accept that yes, we do sometimes make mistakes.

 The Sun, the sense of self and the will   

The Sun in astrological psychology is linked to the use of the will in psychosynthesis. We have 3 main types of will:

• the strong will which gives us determination and the capacity to keep going
  
• the skilful will which endows us with sound common sense and the ability to be flexible and adaptive as we work towards our goals, and
  
• the good will which enables us to include others and to work selflessly for their benefit as well as our own. 

If we're individually putting our Sun/sense of self to work in the current pandemic situation we're anxious to move on from, then all aspects of our individual  will which we might engage with are relevant. There's the need to be strong and determined and keep going through these challenging times. There's the ability to be flexible and adapt our behaviour along the way, and the situation also requires a large amount of good will towards others as well as ourselves, so it becomes a win-win situation where we can all help and support each other. 

 

I suspect anti-vaxxers and "no mask" wearers are unlikely to agree with much of this; it's my personal viewpoint formed over years of experience of working with people using astrological psychology and psychosynthesis, plus a good dollop of common sense.