Eclipse Season, Part Two
myth and prophesy
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We’re now in the midst of eclipse season. The penumbral lunar eclipse happened three days ago, on March 25th, the day after Palm Sunday, and the day of Purim. Normally, this would also be the day of The Annunciation of the Birth of Christ, the famous moment when the angel Gabriel utters the words that still echo down through the centuries, Ave, Maria, that is, Hail Mary. However, this year, the March 25th date of the Annunciation falls during Holy Week, and in Catholicism, you can't have a feast day during Holy Week, so the celebration of the Annunciation has been moved to …wait for it…April 8th, the day of the total solar eclipse!
These holy days are etched into the West's religious consciousness and should be noted as part of this cosmic event.
I want to set the stage before we dive into the coming total solar eclipse on April 8th.
How are we to understand things like eclipses and comets? Our modern minds are trained and often shamed into thinking about them as merely natural phenomena with no other meaning than the scientific one assigned to them. However, if we plumb the wisdom of our ancestors, we find something different. From antiquity, through the Middle Ages, until the early modern period, our ancestors would have understood and experienced the appearance of a comet and an eclipse as an omen portending disaster. Not necessarily a disaster that happens at the time of the comet or eclipse but something that is coming in the near future.
The very word disaster references an ill-favored star.
disaster (n.)
"anything that befalls of ruinous or distressing nature; any unfortunate event," especially a sudden or great misfortune, 1590s, from French désastre (1560s), from Italian disastro, literally "ill-starred," from dis-, here merely pejorative, equivalent to English mis- "ill" (see dis-) + astro "star, planet," from Latin astrum, from Greek astron "star" (from PIE root *ster- (2) "star").
The sense is astrological, of a calamity blamed on an unfavorable position of a planet, and "star" here is probably meant in the astrological sense of "destiny, fortune, fate." Compare Medieval Latin astrum sinistrum "misfortune," literally "unlucky star," and English ill-starred.
A total solar eclipse and a comet appearing together would have surely distressed our ancestors. On April 8th, we’ll be experiencing that, along with a few other amazing events.
(If you didn’t have a chance to read Eclipse Season, Part One, you may want to catch up by reading it HERE)
The Hebrew word for eclipse is Likui, and it means defect. The Talmud says a solar eclipse is a bad sign for the world.
Let’s follow our ancestor’s example, give some credence to the signs in the heavens, and assume that these extraordinary events are communicating something to us.
We can consult the Tarot and see which cards from the major arcana match the letters in the Hebrew word for eclipse.
Hebrew does not use vowels, so we are working with Lamed, which corresponds to Justice, and Libra, and Kaph, which corresponds to The Wheel of Fortune and Jupiter.
From this, we can gain more insight into the nature of an eclipse. We see that it is about changing fortunes amplified by Jupiter's energy and a movement of the scales of Justice. This could be a reckoning, a judgment, a sentencing, a punishment, or an acquittal. But which way will the scales tip? The Wheel of Fortune spins both ways, bringing good fortune or disaster. Whatever it is, it will be big and recognizable thanks to Jupiter's expanding and amplifying presence.
Deciphering the Eclipse
There is so much to say about this eclipse and so much speculation that I hardly know where to begin. It would be prudent, to begin with observable facts before we try to connect the dots and weave meaning from these events.
Let us begin.
Looking east from Jerusalem, the center of the world for the three Abrahamic religions, the total solar eclipse will feature a nine-planet alignment. Neptune, Uranus, Jupiter, Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Mars, The Sun, and the Moon will all align in Pisces.
The Devil Comet (12P/Pons-Brooks) will become visible during the moments when the sun is in totality and darkness descends.
It’s hard not to see this as a cosmic drama. The Nine Angels, the Intelligences of the planets, assemble in Pisces, the sign of The Lord of Hosts, to watch the moment when evil will be revealed. Justice and the Wheel of Fortune will either allow a great evil as a punishment or pronounce judgment upon the evil itself. Notice that it takes the eclipsing of the Sun, the great spiritual light in the heavens, to reveal the evil in the darkness. We will continue to unpack this event to see if we can discern what will transpire.
Some portion of the eclipse will be visible across the entire United States. But, we find some very interesting occurrences in the path of totality, where the total solar eclipse will be visible.
The path of totality will cross over two cities named Niniveh and one named Jonah. The Old Testament story of Jonah and the Whale is the story of Nineveh in Assyria, a wicked city that is given the opportunity to mend its ways. It heeds the prophet’s warning and is spared the destruction that would have been its just punishment. Is this a warning and opportunity for us as well?
The path of totality also crosses over an area in southern Illinois called Little Egypt. Illinois boasts several towns with Egyptian names, including Cairo, Thebes, Carmi, Karnak, Goshen, and Dongola.
The story goes that in 1831, there was a famine due to harsh weather events in the preceding growing seasons, and the people of northern Illinois had to travel south to this region to buy grain. They likened themselves to the Children of Jacob, who had to travel south into Egypt to buy grain during a famine, and thus they began calling this area Little Egypt. Going to Egpyt to buy grain during a famine is the beginning of the story of Joseph, of Technicolor Dreamcoat fame, who interpreted the Pharaoh’s dreams and rose to power. The Hebrews in Egypt multiplied, and after Joseph was no longer remembered, the Hebrews were enslaved, and the whole Exodus drama unfolded. Interestingly, the total solar eclipse happens just two weeks before Passover, a Jewish holiday commemorating the Exodus.
In the dreams Joseph interprets, the number seven features prominently. I bring this up because another total solar eclipse crossed the United States seven years ago. Seven is viewed as a number of perfection and completion. If you map the path of the 2017 eclipse and the path of the 2024 eclipse it creates a giant X on the United States.
If you look at the mark that the paths of the eclipses make, the X looks like the Hebrew letter Aleph, which corresponds to The Fool in the Tarot and the element of Air. The Fool in Tarot can occupy the major arcana's beginning or end position.
It becomes apparent that there will be a significant ending and, possibly, a new beginning. Endings and beginnings are mysteriously the same; both often come from a crisis or cataclysmic event. Birth and death are the same kind of event, just at different points on our timeline.
Our correspondences with The Fool also relate to Air, perhaps pointing to the events happening in the sky, the eclipse and the comet.
In Tarot, we interpret The Fool as journeying through the cards and all they represent, then transforming into The World, the last card numerically in the major arcana. The World corresponds to Saturn and the Earth. Saturn is often considered severe; we might wonder if this portends a severe occurrence on Earth.
Many have noted that the X of the 2017 and 2024 eclipses falls over the New Madrid fault line, where two plates of the earth’s crust come together. On September 17, 1811, a total solar eclipse was visible in the United States. Thomas Jefferson recorded the eclipse in his weather journal. Then, between December 6, 1811, and February 7th, 1812, four massive earthquakes occurred along the new Madrid fault. They were of such magnitude that the vibrations caused the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, nearly a thousand miles away, to ring and the Mississippi River to run backward. No one can predict if this will happen because of the eclipse on April 8th, but the precedent is there.
This is just the tip of the iceberg and the edge of the rabbit hole. We could explore more, but I feel that is enough for us. I want to address something else I am observing: the creation of a mythology around the upcoming total solar eclipse.
Even a cursory search online, especially on YouTube, will yield a dizzying array of information about the upcoming eclipse. You’ll find everything: astronomical, scientific, astrological, and new age. End Times Christian prophecy, and Christians who don’t go in for that debunking those. Psychic Mediums, Starseeds, channelers, Vedic astrologers, light workers, diviners, and oracles of all manner have weighed in on the eclipse.
Could it be that despite centuries of materialist reductionist thinking cranked out by Science, deep down, we are aware that we live in an alive and enchanted universe and that a spiritual realm is just beyond our everyday sight? Do we know in the spiral of our DNA that comets and eclipses really do have something they are communicating? Are we wired to tune into communications from the gods? Perhaps.
One thing is more certain: we crave meaning. We are meaning-making beings, and we are driven to ferret out the meaning in unusual events.
After watching dozens of videos about the eclipse from viewpoints across the spectrum of belief and non-belief, I can see a mythology forming around this cosmic event.
The question is, why?
Times are not good right now, not in the United States or many other countries. There is war, uncertainty, distrust, division, violent crime, societal unrest, natural disasters, corrupt governments, moral decay, economic collapse, environmental crisis, deception, fear, panic, and the backlash all of that sparks. We need reasons for why these things happening, and we want to understand.
Our collective consciousness wants to know that all of this, even the disastrous, has meaning and is ultimately part of a divinely ordained plan. We want assurance that everything happens for a reason. If we can be certain that everything happens for a reason, it makes living through the madness bearable.
The mythology created around the eclipses, the comet, and the planetary alignment focuses on a dire need for change. The realization that the status quo is unsustainable and something must give has become palpable. The sense that something unprecedented is about to happen is pervasive. The need for a course correction, a reorientation, and a regaining of what has been lost is such a desperate feeling that even a disastrous punishment would be accepted if it would ultimately put things right. It seems that collectively, we may even understand that a purge or a purification is necessary, deserved, and just (Libra energy).
In other words we’re ready to accept the consequences of what we collectively have done. We will gladly reap what we have sown if it will make things better. This is a new and probably temporary mythology about this instance of “signs in the heavens” that reflect our collective desire for sudden radical change to put our ship back on course. At the heart of this is the renewed belief that a higher power is present, able to communicate and intervene on our behalf when necessary.
Like all myths, there is hyperbole and variation. For example, the 2017 eclipse passed over seven cities named Salem, a variation of Jerusalem, which means peace. Some have interpreted this as the last seven years of peace that will end with the 2024 eclipse. It is also true that the 2024 eclipse passes over two cities named Nineveh, but not the other two cities in the US named Nineveh (Nineveh means Strong Propagation of The Seat of Government; that’s worth pondering when it comes to who or what might be revealed as evil).
Some have tried to weave a narrative about the American Civil War into the path of the 2017 eclipse, declaring that it exited the continental US at Fort Sumpter, where the Civil War was ignited. This reflects growing concerns about a new civil war in the US. But that seems like a thin thread of connection.
I’ve also found some commentators who see the big X not as a bullseye for destruction but as a benediction or blessing denoting protection and safety. Myths are born through a need to understand and find meaning, especially when things are difficult and uncertain. The fact that the internet is losing its mind over this eclipse is not surprising, given everything happening in our world right now.
However, the fact that a mythology is being born does not diminish the notion that these cosmic events are profound communications from above.
Also, I’d like to reiterate that comets, eclipses, and the like point to events that may happen in the near future. I would not expect anything alarming to happen on eclipse day (making naysayers feel justified.) However, I would watch carefully what unfolds in the following weeks and months. These events are signs of the times and are meant to wake us up so that we can calmly and soberly make sense of the events we will live through.
What are your thoughts about the upcoming total solar eclipse? Do you think it is a sign or just a natural event? What have you read or heard about it that you find fascinating?
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The other strange thing I have noticed in the cards is how the readings are becoming more condensed and focused on the next "Event" almost to the exclusion of all else! I love the consistency of outcome but don't normally expect such narrowness and focus across the board. The Wheel of Fortune, Death and the Fool are in almost every reading at the moment along with the Sword of Life (Ace of Swords) All about dramatic change, clarity and new adventures!
Great Article, I have to say, many of my clients seem to be finding clarity one way or another in May! I can't remember a time when so many people seem to be converging on one month for answers. The end of the current post-Mercury retro is particularly important in that regard. Moving into September is another convergence of outcomes too. I am not an astrologer but do find certain astrological events are replicated in the Cards! Especially Mercury Retro. So my predictions for this month are a reconning in Ukraine by the 9th of May, The Russians could be in for a nasty surprise and in the USA I think Biden may come a cropper. Of course, the opposite could be true! Maybe the West gets its comeuppance and the revolution is the changes we need to make to survive the Assault on Western Liberal Democracy. Also, the Philippines will stand up to Chinese provocations over territorial waters