Astro-Notes: Lunations of March 2016
by Jude Cowell
Most often there are two solar eclipses in a given year though sometimes there may be four as in 1982, 2000, and 2011; 1992 sported three solar eclipses. The first solar eclipse of a year establishes the solar tone or resonance for the year with remaining solar (and lunar) eclipses adding their own vibes, flavors, themes and influences as each year proceeds.
Since New Year 2016 is peeking around our calendar's corner, let's consider the first solar eclipse of the year which manifests @18Pisces56 on March 9, 2016 followed by a Lunar Eclipse @3Libra17 on March 23.
Note that in America's natal chart (July 4, 1776 5:00 - 5:15 LMT Philadelphia, PA) our 9th house Neptune @22Virgo and 10th house Saturn @14Libra may be activated by the Moon for their midpoint is 3 Libra. As you know, the combination of Saturn and Neptune denotes potentials for such things as weak, ill, poor, or elderly people and thus social safety net programs to aid them--in a word socialism, but also communism, capitalism, bolshevikism, Marxism, materialism vs spiritualism or idealism, depressed or pessimistic people, undermining circumstances, pain and suffering, sacrifice, illnesses, contagion, neuroses, asceticism, renunciation, natural disasters--quite a batch of negative implications within the duo of societal planet Saturn and outer planet Neptune, the nebulous. Add the Lunar Eclipse of March 23 and we find women's health, difficult emotions, and chronic medical conditions may also apply. From a solar perspective of the Full Moon (Eclipse) there's a lack of vitality involved.
And of course an exact square between Saturn and Neptune occurred on November 26, 2015 with its obvious influences on the Collective via negative attitudes about Syrian refugees and countries and states refusing them entry (or attempting to), racism, protests, and other negative societal conditions which are causing many people anxiety, fear, and paranoia. Meanwhile, many of those with the power to act are indifferent to their duties and prefer to neglect their responsibilities! Apparently politicians behaving in breach of the public contract is not an embarrassment anymore and for some it's some sort of (degraded) badge of honor.
Will You Vote in 2016?
Naturally we expect the March eclipses to affect Campaign 2016 rhetoric and subsequent public opinion and we've already heard plenty of remarks, proposals, and promises concerning social programs particularly since one candidate, Senator Bernie Sanders, identifies himself as an Independent from Vermont who is a Democratic Socialist. Personally I equate the senator's policies with care for the common good which means spending money on our needs here at home and dedicating fewer resources to playing global cop and occupying other countries, though you may of course disagree as you wish.
Now here are brief astro-notes published previously concerning the 18 South Solar Eclipse which begins 2016, a presidential election year in the US:
March 9, 2016 18S themes include potentials for: endings, separations, and partings which can relate to travel or to break ups of relationships and/or alliances; grief and anguish may follow yet the pain of separation is lessened by new situations which create positive outcomes.
The Initial Eclipse in the 18S Series occurred on August 20, 1096 OS @3Sco29 with forceful even brutal Mars-Pluto undertones; this degree conjoins the current position of US Secondary Progressed Saturn Rx @3Scorpio showing America's compromised authority in the world, building most specifically (Rx) since at least 1996. Therefore, we can stretch all the way to midpoint picture potentials which may apply to the eclipse season: Mars-Pluto = Saturn: leaving no stone unturned in pursuit of a particular task (Ebertin); frustrated goals (Munkasey.)
Another major flavor within 18S via its initial eclipse is an obsessive quindecile aspect (165 degr) between two money planets, Venus and Jupiter which on one level can give much creative energy but also indicates an excessive drive for relationships and/or money; ideals, morals, and ethics are often based on material gain, belief systems tend to motivate action, and excess and indulgence are definite potentials. For positive expressions of 18S, education is essential. (Reeves, The Quindecile.)
Now an interesting cast of characters, entities, and events were born or occurred under 18S:
Sirhan Sirhan, Craig Ferguson, Rudy Giuliani, Marilyn Monroe, Mark Twain, Piet Mondrian, the city of St. Augustine, Florida, the US hostage release by Iran theatrically staged just in time for Reagan's first Inauguration, and the surrender of General Cornwallis to General George Washington at an hour, date, and location of what is said to have been Freemason George's choosing.
For historical context we find that 18S has manifested in the years 1908, 1926, 1944, 1962, 1980, 1998, (2016); next: 2034 @30Pisces which keys the Aries Point of World Events.
So there it is: the first solar eclipse of 2016 once the current eclipse of September 13, 2015 (18N) fades with its high level of stress and overtaxing of strength themes.
~:~
Eclipse info: Brady's Predictive Astrology.