The Kingmaker
What Eclipse Season reveals about value, resource, sovereignty, and modern individualism
Eclipses drive me a little bit crazy.
Not the energy, though there's always a particular intensity to the lunation it accompanies.
What drives me up a wall is the astrological chatter. Every Insta-astrologer and self-styled guru with a social media presence offers advice for utilizing the eclipse, harnessing it to manifest wealth, love, opportunity, a new apartment... It's a cacophony of largely-repeating voices offering nothing of value and contributing nothing more than misinformation which not only lacks scholarship but is, quite frankly, unprofessional.
I am firmly of the mind that eclipses aren't really personal events.
They can affect personal matters, especially if you have strong placements along their axis, but they're not powerful portals to your manifestation goals. Neither are they malevolent forces hellbent on destroying your (or your neighbor's or your ex-boyfriend's or your dog's) life. Most people simply play too small to find themselves in the cross hairs of a transit once considered to hold the fate of dynasties. Very few people play on that scale.
And that's precisely why it's difficult to offer advice during these times. Instead of looking at our own lives, we need to extend our vision outwards and consider the world in which we live.
In ancient times, eclipses were kingmakers. Those in power sought the advice of astrologers and magicians in order to secure their legacy in what could be very unstable times. These tumultuous celestial events were nothing less than sublime reminders of an authority beyond human will—the very Hand of God at work.
Despite the Moon's association with "the common people," it's unlikely that we truly ever see the full effects of eclipses on today's emperors. And this eclipse is a stark reminder of this. Scorpio is a sign that works from the shadows. It's the coiling serpent, the life beneath the surface. Very few people ever see the true face of power. It's also the sign of the moon's fall, a detrimental placement that pits the moons natural tendency towards intuition and emotion with Scorpio's calculation and depth. The result is a capriciousness and unpredictable. Sitting opposite Taurus, it asks how much can be taken with or without merit before we question our losses--and when that question is posed, Scorpio will be ready with justification.
This is the dark side of Scorpio: the scheming, power-hungry thief. Aries may be the zodiac's Emperor, but with its Martial rulership Scorpio is its General. At its best it's a brilliant strategist, orchestrating maneuvers with a supreme understanding of each and every possible counter-move. It's a Chess Master thinking seven steps ahead, willing to sacrifice its ranks for the ultimate win. Taurus seeks comfort and luxury and does everything in its power to hold onto what it finds valuable; Scorpio seeks power and glory and will use Machiavelli's own handbook to maintain it--even at the expense of values held previously sacred.
We need to look at the zodiac not as twelve individual pieces but as a series of progressions and relationships. Like all occult systems, its power sits in the lines between simple definitions. IT's more than planets in signs and houses. It can't be reduced to Gysin style cut ups or refrigerator magnet poetry. Planets are coloured by the signs they rule as well as those they fall under; each dignity and rulership must be considered to paint a full picture. This is why education and pedigree are imperative for astrologers. The tradition from which an astrologer emerged will greatly colour not only their interpretation, but the weight they put upon an event.
In just a few months, the nodal axis which determines the eclipses of a given year will shift once again. We’ve already seen a preview of the Aries/Libra axis with the New Moon Eclipse at 28 Aries this season. We're living in liminal times. This season is both a wrap-up and a sneak peek, an examination of the margins between two distinct energies. Taurus and Scorpio both highlight issues of value and resource; Aries and Libra highlight issues of self and boundaries. They both explore the polarities between Mars and Venus—The Hierophant vs Death, the Emperor vs Justice. Material vs immaterial, internal vs external.
The north node in Taurus has asked us all to examine our relationship to resource. Where does it come from? What do we do with it? What is most valuable to us and from what do we gain fulfilment? Alongside Uranus, we realize how fleeting some of these things really are. A full bank account isn't a guarantee, and we can't live every day in passionate happiness. Sometimes all we have to sustain us is an hour with a friend or an afternoon walk to ourselves. Taurus is a jar of jam made at home from berries picked in the rolling hills of your homeland. Its luxury costs hours of diligent work and must be nurtured tenderly—and ultimately, Taurus reveals just how costly those things are. The challenge of Taurus is the closeness of the sign. The North Node here has shown us how small we need to live in order to achieve true abundance. Or how big, spanning oceans of imported goods and inflated bank balances.
All this considered, the Aries North Node will likely focus on personal sovereignty, leadership, the divine fire we carry. If Scorpio compels us to play the Game of War to win power at any cost, Aries asks us to name a champion. Under which banner do we fight?
I think the question that emerges in this time is when exactly did we all become kings, and from whom did we take these crowns?
My advice for the eclipse is a lot like my advice during outer planetary retrogrades: observe closely. Your life may not change now. You may not feel an immediate spark, nothing in your life will likely catch fire. But slowly, something will stir in the shadows. It may skate by as nothing of note. It might not even make the headlines. But somewhere, someone foresaw this moment. Somewhere, someone's entire job was averting the crisis to come. And if they did it well, you will never know their name.