When the conversation at a dinner party on Thursday night shifted to “celebrity” “wellness” “influencers,” I found myself passionately defending the concept of ingesting bentonite clay. No one agreed with my take. “You can eat the clay! It’s good for your gut!” But also! No one knew anything about it!! Of course I had to share this very important information. This is a silly example, and was so not a big deal (here I go Libra-ing again), but I think this is what it means to be a Libra in its most distilled form. People think Libras are people pleasers. But Libras are actually provocateurs. Provocation doesn’t have to be ugly, sometimes it’s just about insisting, “Of course you can eat clay! It’s good for your gut!!!”
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The lunar eclipse in Libra was today (March 25) at 3 am ET. We’re no longer just “in eclipse season,” the eclipses are here. Eclipses distort reality and speed up time. Eclipses are also story arcs. I often feel like I could spend an entire session with a client just talking about the parts of the chart being highlighted by the current eclipse cycle. Even if there’s some flashier Saturn or Neptune transit going on. Even if the eclipses aren’t activated by a timelord technique. This is because eclipses aren’t subtle. Over the course of a year and a half, eclipses sweep in to disrupt and reconfigure two opposing parts of life. Eclipses force us to let go of tired habits so that we can learn to fly. Eclipses knock us down a notch while pushing us out of our comfort zone. On a very technical level, they tend to distill one part of our life so another part can rapidly expand. We prune so we can propagate.
Eclipses are when fate overcomes us.
So let’s review: what makes an eclipse?
Eclipses are determined by the lunar nodes — two points in the zodiac that demarcate where the Moon’s orbit overlaps with the ecliptic (the apparent yearly path of the Sun). When the Sun and Moon are both within 15º of the nodes, the luminaries are obscured during a New or Full Moon, aka get eclipsed.
The lunar nodes move backwards around the zodiac, further adding to their time warping abilities. It takes the nodes about 19 years to make their way around the wheel and they spend 19 months in each sign. The North Node moved into Aries and the South Node moved into Libra on July 17, 2023, at the same time as last summer’s (harrowing) New Moon in Cancer. The nodes will remain in Libra and Aries until January 2025. Currently the nodes are at 15º of Aries and Libra making this eclipse season the exact halfway point in this story.
Aries and Libra are cardinal signs. Cardinal signs like to start the party, but have a harder time keeping it going (and let’s not even get started on the clean up aspect, they’re already on to the next thing…). Eclipses in these signs are turbulent. This is a big adjustment from the eclipses we experienced from 2021-2023 in Taurus and Scorpio which were more of a toxic purge/awkward leap combo. There were many moments of grief. With the Aries and Libra eclipses, our major beginnings and endings feel simultaneously decisive and vulnerable. But they also have a sense of humor (which the Taurus-Scorpio eclipses had none). The point is to go, not to stay. Eclipses along this axis challenge our ideas of relationships (Libra) and autonomy (Aries), push us toward balance (Libra) and independence (Aries), and complicate what it means to assert boundaries (Libra) and power (Aries).
Think back: 2023
The nodes entered Aries and Libra in July 2023, but we’ve actually been inside this story since April 20, 2023 when we had our first Solar Eclipse at 29º Aries. We then had another Solar Eclipse at 21º Libra on October 14, 2023. Eclipses are time markers but they don’t contain all the information. An eclipse is a portal, and a portal is a mode of transportation. The “big events” don’t always happen on the eclipse itself. Events pertaining to the topics an eclipse is highlighting may show up right away, but they also might have a bake time of six months.
Our current eclipse season is the only one of the Aries-Libra cycle that will have both lunations in these signs. The ebb and flow between balance and brashness is the loudest it will be in a decade and for another decade.
Stories unfolding around today (March 25)’s Lunar Eclipse in Libra may relate back to something that was going on around the Solar Eclipse in Libra on October 14, 2023. What were you starting to break away from last fall? Have you let it go or are you still hanging on? What’s that process been like?
Stories unfolding around April 8’s Solar Eclipse in Aries may relate back to something that occurred around the Solar Eclipse in Aries on April 20, 2023. What big declarations were you making? Have you stuck to your promises? Or are you onto the next thing?
Think back: 2004 - 2006
Astrology is time magic. To put this month’s Lunar Eclipse in Libra (March 25) and Total Solar Eclipse in Aries (April 8) into perspective, we must frame them in conversation with previous eclipses on the same axis. Those past eclipses occurred between Fall 2013 - Spring 2016, and before that between Fall 2004 - Spring 2006.
The last time the North Node was in Aries and the South Node was in Libra was December 26, 2004 - June 22, 2006. We are currently in this period’s nodal return (read: the same fate has come back around). The South Node is what we’re moving away from, lessening or spiritualizing, while the North Node is what we’re seeking, what we crave, what we desire. From Fall 2004 through Spring 2006—when the eclipses from this cycle were active—we were moving away from relationship oriented Libra and toward the fiery independence of Aries. Just as we are now. We were willing to let go of love for love’s sake, people pleasing habits, codependent behaviors, and constant vigilance toward others in order to find more satisfaction for ourselves. To satiate this hunger, independence became our highest value, and in that process, rebellion and unbridled self-expression took the wheel. To seek balance, tradition was sometimes weaponized.
The top two Billboard hits of 2005 were Mariah Carey’s (Aries) “We Belong Together” and Gwen Stefani’s (Libra) “Hollaback Girl”. Funny enough Aries Mariah wrote a very South Node in Libra song, and Libra Gwen wrote a very North Node in Aries song. Even down to the aesthetics in the music videos. Nodal transits amplify both sides of the spectrum in an attempt to find balance.
Two of the biggest pop rock hits of 2005 were Coldplay’s “Fix You,” and Death Cab for Cutie’s “I Will Follow You Into the Dark” — two songs that describe clinging to Libra ideals for dear life. On the other end of the spectrum, another huge pop hit was Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone” which is a perfect anthem for the North Node in Aries.
Destiny’s Child released their final album under this cycle titled Destiny Fulfilled (South Node in Libra) so that Beyoncé could fully strike out on her own as a solo artist (North Node in Aries).
This nodal cycle brought the founding of YouTube and Twitter, as well as the first human face transplant. I put these three things together because with the North Node in Aries, image is our sharpest tool, and through this previous transit, we discovered ways both medical and technological to warp our identity.
Under this same influence, Martha Stewart left prison (North Node in Aries) and returned to her farm in Bedford, NY where she could get back to her lifestyle brand empire in peace (South Node in Libra).
On the world stage, the Kyoto Protocol, an attempt to unify international systems to battle climate change, went into effect in February 2005 (South Node in Libra); Angela Merkel became the first female chancellor of Germany (North Node in Aries); in the Catholic Church, the beloved Pope John Paul II suffered health issues throughout 2005 and passed away during the spring eclipse season. He was replaced by Pope Benedict who sharply pivoted the church toward rigid traditional values (South Node in Libra); In Ireland, the IRA (which has a lot of Aries-Libra eclipse patterning) ended (South Node in Libra) its military campaign in Northern Ireland; In Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas was elected to the presidency, and Hamas (which was founded during a previous Aries-Libra nodal cycle in 1987) won the 2006 Palestinian legislative election (North Node in Aries).
Think back: 2014 -15
The nodes were next in Aries and Libra from February 18, 2014 - November 10, 2015. At this point, the nodes were reversed from their position in 2005-6 with the South Node in Aries and the North Node in Libra. At this time, we were moving away from the brash outspokenness of Aries and toward the tidy, aesthetic provocations of Libra.
If 2005-6 was when Twitter and YouTube came on the scene to give us all new modes of self expression, 2014-15 is when we began trying to distill the self. Casual posting was no longer for friends and family only. Micro-influence became more attainable. During this eclipse cycle was when Zola’s 148-tweet thread changed storytelling. 2014 was the first year that in the US, more people were using their phones than their computer to access the internet. Surfing the web and its requisite self-expression was now fully “on the go.”
Pope John Paul II who died during the last eclipse cycle in 2005 was canonized as a saint during this one (North Node in Libra).
After the Kyoto Protocol set the tone for global climate agreements during the last rotation, this cycle brought an IPCC report revealing that the world faces “severe, pervasive and irreversible damage” from global carbon emissions (South Node in Aries). It was around this time that rhetoric around slowing climate change turned away from collective damage and more toward individual responsibility. The Going Zero Waste blog launched in 2015, popularizing the idea of fitting a week or a month or a year’s worth of waste into a mason jar (South Node in Aries).
In the United States, this was the end of the “too good to be true” vibes of the Obama Era (North Node in Libra). On June 16, 2015, Trump announced that he would be seeking the Republican nomination for President (South Node in Aries), an action that would eventually shake the collective out of the delusion that “systems were in order” (North Node in Libra).
Nothing illustrates the delusional decay of the North Node in Libra more to me than the top pop hit of Summer 2014: “Happy” by Pharrell Williams. “Happy” = the hills are alive with the sound of Libras. “Rude” by Magic!, also popular that summer—Why you gotta be so rude? Don’t you know I’m human too?—is the perfect South Node in Aries counterpoint.
To get micro, in Brooklyn, 2014 felt like the end of a golden age of making precious little art (North Node in Libra) about one’s precious little identity (South Node in Aries). It was the third season of Girls and everyone was getting sick of both Lena Dunham and Hannah Horvath. (if you’ll indulge me) On a personal level, 2014 was the year my performance group put up Too Many Lenas — a show about six versions of Lena Dunham living in a house together (South Node in Aries). We called in queer auto-portraiture (North Node in Libra). The New York Times did not get it.
2023 - 2024
We’re now living through the nodal reversal of what happened between February 18, 2014 - November 10, 2015. If you’re feeling like 2014 or 2015 is back again. But this time with a twist? It’s not just you, it’s in the stars. This is also why “everyone” is rewatching Girls. Eclipses are time warps not just because of the work they do in the moment, but also because they make a joke of linear time. Past, present and future are present at once. We’re also living through the nodal return of what happened between December 26, 2004 - June 22, 2006. After years of slow progress, we’re all anxious to make big leaps (Aries). We want what we want and we want it now. Making those dreams come true requires releasing an obligation to be nice (Libra). To steal the title of a trending self help book (which I’m now reading), it requires the courage to be disliked.
The Who of Eclipse Season
The thing about eclipses is that they’re not always personal. Times are turbulent for everyone, but those with planets or angles in Aries or Libra (especially Aries and Libra risings) show up as the main characters. This comes through in ways both ridiculous and sublime.
Gwyneth Paltrow—whose Sun in Libra is at the degree of today’s eclipse—was on Hot Ones last week. Without anything urgent to promote, besides her goop line for Target which has been out since last Fall (released around October’s Solar Eclipse in Libra), the sprawling interview takes many twists and turns. At one point, Gwyneth shouts “Fuck Bill Clinton!” (whose Libra ascendant is also at the degree of today’s eclipse), kills a fly with her bare hands, and muses “Heteros are so funny” as she leads host Sean Evans through a skincare routine. In parts it's unclear whether Evans is interviewing Paltrow or Paltrow is interviewing Evans. On a literal level, a Libra being pushed out of her comfort zone through the act of eating hot wings is exactly what a Lunar Eclipse in Libra is all about. Libran things getting spicy. The Libra learns to let go, let God, and also get a little messy. Embracing the North Node in Aries heat. Through this, the Libra becomes themselves.
Another Libra who’s taken center stage under this eclipse is AOC, who has the Sun, Mercury, Mars and Midheaven all in Libra, and the Moon in Aries. Both her Midheaven (career point) and Moon (which rules her 8th house of debts, secrets and shared resources) are being hit by the Lunar Eclipse. AOC has taken a lot of heat in the past few months from her fellow progressives as she’s used her gigantic platform and influence to call for a ceasefire but has refused to call what’s happening in Gaza a genocide. A few weeks ago, she snapped at protesters who confronted her at a movie theater, defending her choice to use the language she was using, in the most Libran way possible. But on Friday March 22, she gave a speech on the house floor finally describing what’s happening as an “unfolding genocide.” Tides of fate are turning. Again, it takes eclipses to push us out of our comfort zone—in this case, Libra politicking.
Beyoncé, who has Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto all in Libra, is another main character of this eclipse cycle. (IMO, she is also definitely a Libra rising, but that is a debate that I don’t feel like getting into right now lol) The much anticipated Act II of her already completed album triptych, Cowboy Carter, announced as a surprise mic drop during the Super Bowl in a very eclipse fashion (remember: eclipse events don’t always happen on the eclipse), comes out this Friday, March 28.
Ariana Grande is yet another pop star main character. The South Node in Libra is traveling through her public image sector and boy is her status being challenged. The Lunar Eclipse is exact on her Moon/Jupiter conjunction in Libra (people’s princess vibes). Over the past six months, she’s been in the news for her new album eternal sunshine, the Wicked movie trailer, and the ongoing saga of her dating life.
Who in your life is showing up as a main character right now? Or is the main character you?
Main character or not, the fates from 2015 or 2005 are coming back around.
Eclipses bring up reminders from the past. Again, past, present and future exist at once in these times. But just because the past is present that doesn’t mean we have to flirt with it. And just because the future is present doesn’t mean we have to worry about it. With the South Node in Libra, the message is more let this go than take this on. With the North Node in Aries, the message is be bold. Don’t hesitate.
Eclipses allow us to consider what’s worth revisiting. The best thing to do is remain present. If you’re chosen to enter the narrative, do so with grace. Otherwise, keep observing.
I’ll leave you with some mantras for these eclipses:
What you’re choosing matters.
What you’re choosing is fate.
What you’re walking away from matters.
What you’re walking away from is fate.
Stay hydrated bbs!
xoxo