Eclipses make powerful statements in astrology charts: by transit in natal charts, and affecting the event or situation in horary. Again, it's that darn "personal" luminary, the Moon, causing most of the ruckus.
The old rule of thumb (by Debbie Kempton-Smith, I think) is "three days before, and three days after" eclipses, describing when the situations are at their most intense and pronounced, so to try do actually do anything about what arises usually only creates a bigger, reactive mess. So in other words, it's about waiting through the applying and separating orb. And as most astrologers know, events usually happen BEFORE partile, not on exact partile.
The characteristics of eclipses are as follows:
- the issues that arise are usually unforeseen,
- they are crisis-oriented; things rarely go smoothly and pleasant during an eclipse, because that's not its purpose,
- creates an intense and anxiety-producing "malfunction" that will force change to be made to the situation,
- can bring projects and plans to a screeching halt to deal with underlying issues,
- does not resolve quickly; the emotional anxiety passes within a few days, but then you are left with...
- ...rubble. It takes time to dig out from the mess and figure out what to do next
- they are usually reactivated as "reminders" or "progress reports" of the issue during transits to the eclipse point, particularly squares and oppositions.
The solar eclipse on the 9th of May at 19 degrees Taurus on the South Node was a doozy. (For the traditional astrologers brave enough to read this site, it opposed the fixed star Serpentis; and Venus, its dispositor, had just passed up Algol for the Pleiades.) Anytime an eclipse affects the Nodes, it is especially powerful and intense. For example, one querent's natal chart had the solar eclipse in his 2nd house of money, and what seemed like a simple project bid award quickly ran into cost overruns with the contractor, and escalated into a major dispute with the escrow holder (8th house/North Node outlet). It will probably be revisited, reworked, or resolved when the Sun and other planets transit Saturn at the North Node in Scorpio later in the year. So I told him to hunker down for the long haul.
The 24th of May brought the lunar eclipse at 4 degrees Sagittarius (non-Nodal). For another querent, it happened in her 9th house of legal matters. In the days leading up to the culmination of the eclipse, a false and defamatory (Gemini/Sadge) article was published about her and her business, and she was forced to seek legal advice. The day of the eclipse, an attorney advised her that it wouldn't be worth it to move forward, because those kinds of cases are hard to prove--she'd have to live with it.
Sometimes other planets can mitigate and provide a way out of the mess eclipses create. Venus was still in rulership in Taurus for the solar eclipse, and Venus and Jupiter (eclipse dispositor) were conjunct (within 5 degrees) for the lunar eclipse. In the first case above, the unhappy contractor agreed to continue the work in good faith until resolution could be reached with the escrow company. In the second case above, the apparently sage legal advice was given for free by the attorney, and saved the querent a small fortune in litigation fees against a very large corporation.
So look for the unresolved, recurring patterns eclipses use as a monkey wrench in the best-laid plans when interpreting eclipses in charts.
