Eclipses and Your Natal Chart

Eclipses always mean crisis. Now, crisis is not necessarily a bad thing; however, wherever an eclipse falls in your chart is an area of life that is going to undergo some change, or at least require more of your time and attention than usual for the next five months or so.

Solar eclipses are far more important than Lunar Eclipses. The house where the Solar Eclipse falls in your chart will be the main focus of crisis for the next five months. The house where the Lunar Eclipse falls (usually the opposite house) will be a secondary area of crisis. Since opposing houses are so closely related, however, it's often easiest to consider the pair of houses as a unit.

The March 2007 eclipses occurred at 21 degrees 3 minutes of Pisces (Solar Eclipse March 18th) and 12 degrees 59 minutes of Virgo (Lunar Eclipse March 3rd). Look at where the eclipses fell in your chart, and read on!

1st House—7th House.
If the eclipses occurred in your 1st/7th houses, the focus for the next five months will be on your relationships.

• The 1st house is our sense of self; it is who we are as individuals. Eclipses in the 1st house usually signal a period of personal development and growth.
• The 7th house is how we relate to other individuals. Naturally, when we ourselves change, this also changes how we relate to other individuals. Eclipses in the 7th house also signal a period of personal development and change; the main difference is that we experience the crises and the need to change as if it were coming from outside ourselves, because we project our 7th house on other people. No matter how it appears, it's never about the other person. It's always our own stuff.

2nd House—8th House.
If the eclipses occurred in your 2nd/8th houses, the focus for the next five months will be on your resources.

• The 2nd house is the house of our personal resources; our possessions, our skills, our talents, and our finances. An eclipse in the 2nd house will always make us more aware of our attachments: the things that we believe that we cannot survive without. Since most of us are very attached to money, this may be a time to reevaluate and explore your relationship with money.
• The 8th house is the house of other people's resources, joint finances, taxes and inheritances. An eclipse in the 8th house makes us aware of our responsibilities to others: both physical and emotional. Its often an indication that it's time to explore what truly belongs to us, and what belongs to our partners.

3rd House—9th House.
If the eclipses occurred in your 3rd/9th houses, the focus for the next five months will be on your relationship to the world.

• The 3rd house relates to our personal domain: the places and things that we are the most familiar with. The 3rd house also relates to our communication and to our personal, individual spiritual practices. An eclipse in the 3rd house often forces us to reevaluate the things we take for granted, and become more aware of how we communicate with ourselves and with others.
• The 9th house relates to unfamiliar environments: foreign countries, new ideas and philosophies, and organized religion. An eclipse in the 9th house causes us to consider the bigger picture of our lives. How do we want to grow and expand?

4th House—10th House. If the eclipses occurred in your 4th/10th houses, the focus on the next five months will be on balancing your private live with your public life.

• The 4th house relates to our private lives: our home, our family,and our emotional and spiritual connections to our ancestors and heritage. An eclipse in the 4th house can often indicate a time of family crisis.
• Of course, since an eclipse in the 4th house often means an eclipse in the 10th house as well, that crisis may have a lot to do with balancing the demands of your career or public life with the needs of your family and private life.

5th House—11th House.
If the eclipses occurred in your 5th house/11th house, the focus on the next five months will be on issues of individual expression and group participation.

• The 5th house relates to the things that make us feel special and worthy as individuals. It's the house of our creative expression, and includes children, gambling, and love affairs. Eclipses in the 5th house can stir up the creative urge, or represent changes in our relationships with our children or with our casual romantic partners.
• The 11th house is the house of friendships; this is the house of group participation and shared creativity. Eclipses in the 11th house can often indicate changes in our relationships with our peers and our friends.

6th House—12th House.
If the eclipses occurred in your 6th house/12th house, the focus on the next five months will be on your health, both physical and spiritual.

• The 6th house contains all of the things we need to do on a daily basis to maintain a physical body: food, exercise, nutrition, and our daily routine, including our jobs. Eclipses in the 6th house often indicate changes in our routines, and it's important to be aware of your physical needs to avoid illness.
• The 12th house contains all of the things we need to do on a daily basis to maintain a soul. The 12th house is where we meditate, and explore our unconscious. Eclipses in the 12th house often indicate that you will need to spend more time alone, in your personal spiritual practices.

Mercury Retrograde
When chaos reigns February 13 to March 7

If you idled your evenings away watching the planets slip across the sky, you would eventually notice Mercury seem to stop, and then for three weeks, move backwards. In ancient times, astrologers were the chief scientists and advisers to emperors and this unnatural motion was cause for alarm. Even to this day, Mercury Retrograde is regarded with no small amount of dread, trepidation and fear. Yet, it will come three times a year, every year. So learning to manage it will give you a real edge.

Briefly, Mercury is responsible for communication in all forms, including transportation; remember those winged heels? He reigns over information, education and the truth. For these three-week periods his energy is moving backwards and inwards. He's engaged in reflection and reviewing - not in forward progress. This is harder for us to accept than it was for the ancients -- they saw life as cyclical. We want steady progress, and so do our bosses.

Communicate cautiously
The best way to handle Mercury Retrograde is to be extra cautious in these areas: speaking or writing to friends, loved ones and co-workers; emails; phone communications; contracts; travel plans, flight connections and baggage; giving directions (be especially clear at the tanning and hair salon); with your car; and even when throwing parties.

Being scrupulously careful however, does not mean don't communicate - in today's wired world that's simply not possible! None of us can avoid sending email or speaking to others, nor should we, it's just important during these few weeks to be extra, extra careful. Use your best judgment, don't assume things will all come out in the wash, especially where you already know there's potential for trouble: an unhappy boss; a jealous co-worker; or a harried medical tech. If the situation is fraught when going into the retrograde period, then you must painstakingly check, revise and re-think every communication before opening your mouth or hitting 'send'. The key is to take the time to consider the recipient's point of view -- before you make your statement.

Beware of electronic glitches
Mercury Retrograde is also a time when computers, cars and electrical equipment can go haywire. Likewise luggage, packages, mail can be either delayed or lost. If you start a new job, new project or new relationship it'll turn out quite differently than you imagined, so either go in very cautiously or if at all possible avoid making a firm commitment until Mercury goes Direct on the evening of March 7^th.

Be sure to protect yourself by keeping copies of important documents, doing a back-up of your computer and duplicating your important computer files on a flash memory card.

If you're in an industry that is naturally ruled by Mercury: communications, marketing, advertising, publishing, public relations, investor relations, broadcast production, sales, writing, transportation, shipping and travel; you'll need to take more time with each communication you send and those you receive from customers.

Check everything twice
Mercury Retrogrades are nature's time for renewal, for review and to re-do things. The way to get the most from this time is to go back and check your work, to review contracts, to clean and reorganize your office and home, to edit and revisit projects that aren't complete, and most importantly, to just take time to enjoy the simple things in life. Go for a walk, sit by the beach and reconnect with the natural world. Besides, if you feel renewed and refreshed, well, that delayed flight won't matter as much!