The Sun in astrology is, as in life, our beacon of light and all mighty power. The Moon as the Sun’s celestial complement is our nocturnal source of wavering light representing the ephemeral and soul-stirring circumstances of the material world.
The new moon in Aries on April 8, 2024 at 2:20PM, EDT occurs within a few degrees of the north lunar node where the Moon crosses above the ecliptic in its serpentine orbit around Earth. As the Moon crosses the face of the Sun in Aries, the solar significations of destiny, confidence and authority emulsify with the living realities of instability, emotion and care.
Near the lunar north node and in the cardinal fire sign Aries, significations of inception, haste and momentum void of reflection are magnified to a great crescendo. Noted, the Sun is said to be exalted in this particular degree of Aries. Therefore, as eclipses often reveal the vicissitudes of life in a humbling manner, we may see through veils of power garnered by privilege and brute force versus cultivation, generosity, and courage.
As the eclipse culminates, Mars, who guides this solar eclipse, is transiting Pisces, the celestial temple of benevolent Jupiter located in peace-loving Taurus. Within a day Mars will meet disciplined Saturn in Pisces where themes of fierce tenderness, understanding, and prudence remind us that the greatest configurations of power are worthwhile only with an open heart and hand. Well conceived and in service of the needs and passions of which it serves, power generously protects, provides, and proliferates.
Aries
Mars, your planetary guide is transiting your twelfth house of solitude, undermining habits, and unforeseen nemesis. Conjunct impeding Saturn, here you are experiencing a keen sense of perception into yours and others’ motivations in business and romantic partnerships where you may not have authority over the matters at hand. The new moon in Aries is occurring in your first house of the self. Specifically, this eclipse will reveal the effects your shared or borrowed resources are having on your sense of pleasure, now obscured by a prevailing emotional drama affecting an otherwise coveted lifestyle. This month, focus on steadying a reality apart from those who hold an unproportional influence over your sense of autonomy regardless of how tempting prevailing short term comforts may be.
Taurus
The solar eclipse in Aries will pass in your twelfth house of secrets, confusion, and reverie. Here the Moon and Sun wed topics of communication and habits with matters of home and family. Venus, who guides your sense of self and wellness is also transiting Aries in the twelfth house of solitude where you can remain in a state of fantasy in order to avert harm at all cost. As the Moon eclipses the Sun’s light a message is magnified concerning habits on the homefront that occlude your ability to slow down long enough to navigate the nuance of power dynamics in relationships of love or mutual agreements. Learning to balance restorative introspection this month with the demands of home and family life will have you feeling understandably out of your element. You are magnetic at this time while truly honest communication feels slippery.
Gemini
The Moon, who guides your sense of feeling well provided for, joins the Sun, who conditions your ideas and manner of speech in your eleventh house of aspirations and community. At this solar eclipse, matters of cooperation among friends and associates engage with needs required for your own well being and creative ambitions within the community. As your guiding planet Mercury, retrograde in Aries, also passes your eleventh house, you’re rethinking, albeit indecisively, how to define in persuasive language your worth amongst collaborative endeavors. No matter your confidence level, communicating your worth, whether financial and or by the contribution of your talents, is a tricky process where you first must translate and then pardon the perceptions of others.
Cancer
The ongoing eclipse cycle in your tenth house further deepens a focus on the development of an observable expression of your brilliance. This particular new moon in Aries stresses the urgency of marrying this voice with a sustainable means of sustenance and self-possessed willpower. Mars who guides the topics of this new moon is afloat in Pisces close to inhibiting Saturn in your ninth house of ideologies and lofty ideas, a place aloof to the pivotal new moon. At this point in the eclipse cycle ask yourself first; what limiting beliefs of your capabilities and creative prowess is stalling a distillation of focus, and second; what circumstantial adaptations in financial habits would make this praxis a reality. While accepting some limitations as a source of strength, plunge your oar firm and deep, steering your boat in a direction that feels intuitively against your nature.
Leo
You’re coiling in notions of impermanence. Specifically, where it surfaces in faith and the arcs of relationships. Mars who guides this solar eclipse is transiting Pisces alongside the sage of endings, Saturn, in your eighth house of inheritance and loss. Goading Mars excels here by means of apparent surrender, or letting go. As the Moon eclipses the Sun in Aries in your ninth house of mystical matters and spiritual alchemy you are deeply questioning the exchange of loss for hard lessons learned, your own definitions of wisdom, and the merit of its sources. Note where tunnel vision, misperceptions, and a lack of forgiveness become lost opportunities for long term spiritual growth. Although eclipsed, the Sun at this degree of Aries possesses exceptional power, wielding faith, and truth beyond reason, the substantial versus the illusory.
Virgo
Mercury, your guiding planet, is retrograde in Aries where the Moon and Sun will meet in your eighth house of idling, worry, and yearnings. Not visible at this time due to Mercury’s close proximity to the Sun, pay attention to where you cut yourself short among those you serve in life romantically or by the graciousness of your talents. There is a precariousness affecting the way you’re understanding your efforts, worth, and creative decision making at this time making it delicate to keenly and confidently assert your will. As Mars, who hosts this solar eclipse is approaching Saturn in Pisces in your seventh house of relationships, be realistic regarding what you may lose creatively versus financially if the way you are accustomed to doing things for others were to change.
Libra
As the eclipse cycle on the north lunar node in Aries deepens in your seventh house of connections this new moon will reshape recent and long term relationships, in and out of the professional environment. Venus in Aries, your guiding planet, is in a place of heightened vulnerability and thin patience, possibly eager to prove something in order to save face. A partial truth behind this need for aligning your purpose with allies and sound vocation may be related to burning needs of sustenance regarding income or siphoning off potentially mounting debt. Regardless, as the Moon crosses over the face of the Sun, also in your seventh house, question what engagement in sound relationships feels like when it primarily serves your most valued and creative aspirations rather from a fear of lack.
Scorpio
The solar eclipse occurs in your sixth house of undue pressure and disorder where you feel the grind of life taking a toll on your state of mind and body. Upon this eclipse, matters of vocation and calling are under the microscope as you weigh the payoff of intellectual and spiritual growth for sweating efforts. Parallelling this focus, it appears a wrench has been tossed into the gears with either a romantic interest or new opportunity on the horizon, fanning the flames of an already burning desire for change. Mars, your planetary guide is in Pisces transiting your fifth house of pleasure close to the conjunction of nothing-to-lose Saturn. Blissfully awash in possibilities, Mars here invites romance and play as an intrinsic part of an unnecessarily complicated life that it appears you’re losing steam for.
Sagittarius
As the Moon masks the Sun in Aries in your fifth house of chances you’re understanding clearly the complicated remnants of former selves left in the wake of past relationships and cooperative efforts. Particularly, where you’ve indulged the company of others while seeking an unspecified sense of security. As Mercury, who guides your relationships is retrograde in your fifth house of risk and Mars who hosts this eclipse is adrift in your fourth house of home matters focus at this time on the benefits of a fluid approach to love for play, or for good, ideally both coexisting. Venus in Aries, alluring and frisky while transiting your fifth house may attract an otherworldly person of interest, inspiring a lifestyle that supports the tenants of creative freedom you naturally seek within life and relationship.
Capricorn
The new moon in Aries intensifies the eclipse cycle within your fourth house, referred to as the subterranean place, where you hold the memories and ideals of home, provenance, and your vibrant yet mysterious inner life. The Moon then meets the Sun near the lunar north node, drawing from the depths of your memory repeating relational patterns learned from born family dynamics and the emotional debts we inherit within them. Eclipses on the north node can have a purging effect and during this time you may be presented with and experience subconscious flashbacks, putting in clearer view everything you’ve been unsure of your origins to be. The Moon here is a digestive agent occulting an influential figure or event of the past that has misshapen rooted behaviors once unnamed, now understood.
Aquarius
Third house topics include mental agility, pattern recognition, and identifying communication cues. Saturn, your guiding planet is transiting your second house in Pisces close to boiling Mars, a turbulent combination where the means of your livelihood may be volatile at this time. As the Moon eclipses the Sun in Aries in your third house, the ability to share with others the necessity of having your needs met will have a direct impact on your ability to thrive in relationships and in the advancement of your born talents. The Moon guides your sixth house of drudgery where coming to terms with an honesty so verbally transparent yet gentle feels unnerving no matter what numbing rationalization you tell yourself. Focus this eclipse season on the effectiveness of your language when communicating your needs without others having to read between your lines.
Pisces
The Moon in Aries joins the Sun in your second house of nourishment, clothing, and finances; the liquid assets of life supporting means. As a fact of life for Pisceans, with Aries as a fire sign in your second house there is the probability at times to burn rapidly through energy and vital resources. There is a signature during this eclipse cycle of longing to be better fed by relationships, food, and pleasures that come with lasting nutrition versus fleeting gratification. Focus first on leveling undue stress you’ve recast as a default source of wellness at this time. While Mars, who guides this eclipse is transiting your first house of the body and mind, consider new physical regimes, and information fasting as a healthy approach to reducing the combustible clutter you’re harboring into clean ashes to rise from.
Story and Imagery by Shane Powers, Enon Valley Astrology
