Episode Details

On September 18, 2024, or possibly the 17th depending on your timezone, a partial lunar eclipse will take place at 25°40’ Pisces. It occurs at 3.34 am in the UK where I am based, 2.34 am UT. This eclipse is an introduction to a cycle that will continue through 2025 and 2026, with similar eclipses in Pisces and Virgo marking the end of summer each year.

This is the first of three lunar eclipses in Pisces, initiating a period which offers us deep spiritual reflection, surrender, and transformation. The Pisces-Virgo axis invites us to explore themes of service, spirituality, and the balance between the material and the ethereal. We are likely to explore questions and themes such as How does being of service to others also reward and feed our soul? Are we so spiritual that we are detached from the material world, and if so, how can we ground ourselves in practical, earthly matters? How do our dreams impact on our waking life?

This eclipse occurs with the Sun applying to meet the fixed star Alkaid. Alkaid has long been associated with themes of mourning, protection, and cyclic change. It adds a layer of sombre reflection to this lunar eclipse, suggesting that this is a time to honour what has passed, embrace transitions, and prepare for new beginnings with a spirit of surrender.

What is a Lunar Eclipse?

A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth passes between the Sun and the Moon, casting its shadow over the Moon. Unlike a normal Full Moon, where the Sun and Moon are in opposite signs, a lunar eclipse adds the weight of the Earth’s shadow, symbolising supercharged moments of culmination, closure, and revelation

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Lunar eclipses highlight the need to release old patterns and beliefs, illuminating what must be let go in order to move forward. They may correspond with emotional and spiritual breakthroughs, bringing unresolved issues to light. A Full Moon alone is a time of heightened awareness, but during a lunar eclipse, this effect is amplified and is more likely to have a lasting impact on our lives, especially if it aspects planets in our birth chart. Eclipses may accelerate events, causing major endings, major beginnings, or shifts that may have been building beneath the surface for some time.

The Significance of a Pisces Lunar Eclipse

This partial lunar eclipse takes place in Pisces, a mutable, femine or yin, water sign associated with intuition, compassion, and the dissolution of boundaries. Pisces is ruled by Jupiter and has Venus as the Exaltation Ruler. Jupiter is the planet of hope, faith and wisdom as well as growth.

As the Moon is eclipsed in Pisces, its connection with our Earth is temporarily interrupted. Like a computer being switched off and on again, there is a sense of a reset. Themes of surrender, introspection, and connection to the spiritual realm may be intensified. Pisces energy is often flowing and ethereal, visualise the ocean, sometimes still and sometimes with dramatic high waves crashing, making it more challenging to engage with the material world. This eclipse may stir deep emotional waters, encouraging us to trust in the unseen and offering the opportunity to (re)connect with our higher selves.

The Sun, meanwhile, is in Virgo at 27 degrees, a sign of practicality, discernment, and service. This Pisces-Virgo axis emphasises the tension between the spiritual and the material, the mystical and the mundane. Virgo seeks order and efficiency, while Pisces is more concerned with the flow of life and the unseen forces that guide us. During this eclipse, we may find ourselves needing to balance these two energies, learning to integrate the practical aspects of life with a sense of higher purpose.

The Eclipse Cycle and Moon Family: Past and Future

This partial lunar eclipse is part of a Saros cycle, a repeating pattern of eclipses that recur approximately every 18 years. The Saros cycle organizes eclipses into families or serie