Eclipses and You by Judith Hill
This book works as a wonderful companion to Judith Hill’s book The Lunar Nodes. In the first book, she gives the reader a clear sense of, among other things, how the transiting nodes emphasize houses in a chart. The transiting north node indicates where the tide is coming in, and the south node is where the tide is going out. She balances our outlook on the phenomenon by stepping away from the western view that gain is “good” and loss in “bad” by integrating the eastern perspective that gaining more from the earthly realm can entrap a soul while releasing earthly matters may free the spirit. The north node tide, in other words, brings in both negative and positive matters to a house, while the south node may indicate the loss of things we are better off without.
In Eclipses and You: How to Align with Life’s Hidden Tides, Judith Hill builds on this understanding by showing how the eclipses landing in one or the other houses containing the transiting lunar nodes gives the work of the nodes a kind of punch. And what was most helpful, she distinguished among the four kinds of eclipses so that readers may perceive just how to work with the eclipses.
Solar eclipses are new moons, or beginnings. A door is opened and the effects from this eclipse could be revealed in the week before or even the weeks and month after the solar eclipse. Solar eclipses at the north node are “power surges,” when a great burst of energy comes into the house with the transiting north node. If the solar eclipse is with a planet in that house, the meaning of the eclipse is broadened to include this energy. I am thinking, for example, of someone with a solar eclipse falling in their first house. The transiting north node may have been turning this person’s energy towards self development, and they may at the eclipse get the impulse to run a race or take a course in public speaking or go for a new look.
A solar eclipse at the south node is a “power outage,” in the areas of life ruled by the south node’s house placement. This same person six month later may experience a new moon solar eclipse in their seventh house, where a particular relationship may have been draining them as the south node transited the house, or they may have found that they gave too much of their time and energy to others and had too little for themselves. At the eclipse, they may receive the impulse to extricate themselves for a particular relationship or way of relating.
One thing Judith Hill emphasizes, however, is that solar eclipses are not good times to set intentions because the energy is so unstable. While we may feel the impulse and should honor it, we are better off waiting until the following new moon to actually set the intention and put a plan into action.
Lunar eclipses are full moons and so culmination points, when something comes to fruition. It is interesting to look back six months to when the new moon in the house of the lunar eclipse (sometimes this was a solar eclipse and sometimes not) and see if something is playing out which began then. For example, the solar eclipse on December 26, 2019, fell in Capricorn on the south node, which many identify as the window through which Covid-19 entered the collective. The lunar eclipse on July 5 will be the Capricorn full moon following the December 26 eclipse, and may indicate a growing spread of Covid-19, a second wave – or a resolution of the crisis. Because this lunar eclipse will be near the south node, something will be released. It could be as well the government controls will be lifted and people will have to assume personal responsibility for risking contamination.
The lunar eclipse on the north node, however, indicates a culmination which is a power surge. With a north node transiting the fifth house, for example, we may have a great burst of creativity at the lunar eclipse. One thing Judith Hill points out about lunar eclipses, however, is that the Sun at the opposite point is experiencing a kind of vacuum since so much energy is being pulled toward the Sun, which is with the opposing lunar node. This particular creator, for example, may find that the demands of the project mean less time with friends, or a need to drop out of social organizations to spend more time creating alone.
Integrating the signs into the eclipses is also an important key to working with the eclipses. During the transit of the south node through Capricorn, for example, many of our government organizations and social structures have been shut down, while the transiting north node in Cancer showed the strength in “sheltering” at home. At the current transit of the north node in Gemini, we are being asked to listen to stories and other points of views, to learn from each other. The south node in Sagittarius tells us that we need to release some of our preconceived notions and world views to encompass a greater justice and truth.
Judith Hill’s book provides astrologers with an invaluable tool for recognizing the power and potential of the eclipses in our life.
