Astrological Maundering 5 Part 2
Updated: Sep 12
Technical Data and Discussion
In part 1, I talked about the three total solar eclipses of 1999, 2026, and 2027. I promised that some charts and more analysis would follow, and here they are!
I have provided a chart for each eclipse. An eclipse shadow lasts for a few hours and moves thousands of miles, so there is the question as to when one should cast a horoscope, and for where. As the eclipse passes over, a horoscope can be drawn for each location that falls within the shadow. You would probably choose the location where you live, or a place that you are concerned about, for example, Paris (in the case of 1999), Madrid (for 2026), or Mecca (for 2027). My interest is more general, so I have chosen a symbolic moment for each eclipse, the time when the eclipse moved across the coast into mainland Europe, in which I have included the U.K. but not Iceland (where the 2026 eclipse arrived first, but it moved back into the ocean for some time afterwards). I have added information that shows the extent of the eclipse’s path before and after this moment.
The planetary aspects do not alter much over a few hours, so in that respect it does not matter much which moment is chosen. My chosen moment will be sufficient to show the aspects. What evolves far more are the Ascendant, Midheaven, and other house positions. For the eclipses, these move through a few signs of the zodiac. Below, I indicate how far the Ascendant and Midheaven move for the length of the eclipse in question. For example, as the 1999 eclipse moved into England (the moment when I have calculated the chart that is shown), the Ascendant was Libra and Mars was in Scorpio, and so it was rising, but at some distance. As the eclipse reached its maximum extent over Romania an hour or so later, Scorpio had moved onto the Ascendant and Mars now rose. Mars is obviously quite a crucial planet in the 1999 case, so this information is worth knowing.
So here are the data for each eclipse, beginning with the chart itself. Note that I have used a 24-hour clock. Where only one time is given, this is Universal Time, UT (for readers in the U.K., this is the same as GMT). For specific locations, I have added local time.
The data is given to the nearest minute (time), nearest degree (chart house boundaries), and nearest minute of arc (planetary positions). [The exact degree and minute positions for the Ascendant and Midheaven in the chart diagrams are given by the software I used, but in fact this is false precision, as the timing and location are not as exact as that would suggest. They should, anyway, be moved back several minutes of arc as the towns specified are a little east of the actual location where the eclipse passed the coast for the first time.]
The eclipse paths are taken from www.timeanddate.com, and the horoscopes calculated using www.astro.com/horoscope. [Another calculation tool worth mentioning is www.astro-seek.com. I like astro-seek for the precision of place that it allows – you can give latitude and longitude – but despite having to approximate to the nearest town on astro.com, I have used that instead because of its clarity, and the fact that it allows me to add Ceres but remove other extra zodiacal points and minor bodies that I regard as superfluous – there’s a limit to what you can interpret in a chart!]
Data
11 August, 1999
Extent of total eclipse: 09.30-12.36, 3 hours 6 minutes.
Countries covered by the shadow of the total eclipse: England, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Hungary, Serbia (Vojvodina), Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, India.
Start: Atlantic Ocean. End: Bay of Bengal.
Time and place of entry into mainland England: Land’s End, nr Penzance, 10.11 (11.11 local time).
Time of maximum totality: 11.03 (Romania, 14.03 local time).
Time of new moon: 11.09 (Romania/Bulgaria border, 14.09 local time).
Last time and place of eclipse over land: Srikakulam, India, 12.36 (18.06 local time).
Range of Ascendant: entry into England, 12 Libra; exit from India, 14 Aquarius.
Range of Midheaven (M.C.): entry into England, 15 Cancer; exit from India, 25 Scorpio.
Heavenly bodies which rose during the eclipse path: Mars (which rose near to the maximum totality and new moon points), Pluto, Neptune, Uranus (which rose at the last moment of totality over land).
Heavenly bodies which culminated during the eclipse path: Mercury, Ceres, Moon (before the new moon), Sun, Venus, Mars.
Heavenly bodies which set during the eclipse path: Jupiter, Saturn (which set near to the maximum totality and new moon points), Mercury, Ceres. The Sun and Moon were close to setting at the end of the eclipse.
Heavenly bodies which reached the Nadir (I.C.) during the eclipse path: Neptune, Uranus, Jupiter, Saturn.
Heavenly bodies in their own sign: Sun, Mars, Uranus. Exalted: None.
Detriment: Venus. Fall: None.
Major Aspects. Grand cross: Sun conjunct Moon in Leo, Mars in Scorpio, Uranus in Aquarius, and Saturn in Taurus. T-square: Mercury (wide) conjunct Ceres in Leo, Neptune in Aquarius, and Jupiter in Taurus.
12 August, 2026
Extent of total eclipse: 16.58-18.34, 1 hour 36 minutes.
Countries covered by the shadow of the total eclipse: Russia (in the Arctic, far north Siberia), Greenland, Iceland, Spain, Portugal.
Start: Arctic Siberia, then through Arctic and Atlantic Oceans. End: Mediterranean Sea.
Time and place of entry into Spain: Luarca, nr Gijon, 18.28 (20.28 local time).
Time of maximum totality: 17.46 (Iceland, 17.46 local time).
Time of new moon: 17.38 (Greenland, 16.38 local time).
Last time and place of eclipse over land: Palma, Mallorca, Spain, 18.32 (20.32 local time).
Range of Ascendant: over Reykjavik, 5 Sagittarius (the normal house system breaks down further north in the Arctic), entry into Spain, 29 Capricorn; exit from Spain, 16 Aquarius.
Range of Midheaven: over Reykjavik, 29 Libra, entry into Spain, 24 Scorpio; exit from Spain, 4 Sagittarius.
Heavenly bodies which rose during the eclipse path: Pluto.
Heavenly bodies which culminated during the eclipse path: None.
Heavenly bodies which set during the eclipse path: Uranus (set as the eclipse passes Reykjavik), Ceres, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter. The Sun and Moon were close to setting at the end of the eclipse.
Heavenly bodies which reached the Nadir during the eclipse path: Uranus (just).
Heavenly bodies in their own sign: Sun, Venus. Exalted: None.
Detriment: None. Fall: Mars, Saturn.
Major Aspects. Grand trine: Pluto in Aquarius, Uranus in Gemini, and Venus in Libra.
T-square: Neptune in Aries, Mars conjunct Ceres in Cancer, and Venus in Libra.
2 August, 2027
Extent of total eclipse: 08.23-11.50, 3 hours 27 minutes.
Countries covered by the shadow of the total eclipse: Spain, Morocco, Gibraltar, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Somalia.
Start: Atlantic Ocean. End: Indian Ocean.
Time and place of entry into Spain: Cadiz, 08.47 (10.47 local time).
Time of maximum totality: 10.07 (Egypt, 13.07 local time).
Time of new moon: 10.06 (Egypt, 13.06 local time).
Last time and place of eclipse over land: Malaale, Somalia, 11.05 (14.05 local time).
Range of Ascendant: entry into Spain, 18 Virgo; exit from Somalia, 15 Sagittarius.
Range of Midheaven: entry into Spain, 17 Gemini; exit from Somalia, 17 Virgo.
Heavenly bodies which rose during the eclipse path: Mars.
Heavenly bodies which culminated during the eclipse path: Mercury, Venus, Sun, Moon (after the new moon), Ceres, Jupiter.
Heavenly bodies which set during the eclipse path: Neptune, Saturn, Uranus.
Heavenly bodies which reached the Nadir during the eclipse path: Pluto.
Heavenly bodies in their own sign: Sun. Exalted: None.
Detriment: Mars, Jupiter. Fall: Saturn.
[Note: as I wrote in my previous blog on Ceres, I do not regard it as the ruler of Virgo as suggested by several astrologers. However, it may be that it could be considered exalted there.]
Major aspects. Grand trine: Uranus in Gemini, Mars in Libra, and Pluto in Aquarius.
Discussion
The contrast I made in part 1 of this blog between the eclipses of 1999 and those of 2026 and 2027 can be further strengthened here. In 1999, Mars was the dominant planet, placed in its own sign of Scorpio; it both rose and culminated during the period of the eclipse. It is not surprising that Nostradamus named Mars alone of all planets in his famous verse which mentions 1999. In the chart, it is opposed by Saturn in Taurus, and these make up the grand cross with the eclipse in Leo and Uranus in Aquarius, the Sun and Uranus also being in their own signs (all three eclipses that I discuss have the Sun in Leo, and so it is in its own sign in all three). This represents quite a significant tension between conflicting forces. I surmised that the very close opposition between Mars and Saturn may suggest a lacuna in a time of conflict, and when Nostradamus says ‘Mars reigns before and after’, he seems to have hit the nail on the head. We lurched from the 1990s aftermath of the breakup of communism in Eastern Europe, amid hopes for a more peaceful world, to a hostile dictatorship in Russia in a frustratingly short space of time. The chances of highly dangerous conflict between Russia and the West seems more likely now than in the 1980s, and with more highly developed weapons.
Mars rose while the 1999 eclipse travelled across Romania and Bulgaria, and it moved higher and higher in the sky as the eclipse crossed the Black Sea, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran, a region that has certainly seen a great deal of strife in the years since 1999. Uranus, on the other hand, moved from the Nadir of the chart onto the Ascendant just as the eclipse came to an end. This is also a strong planet in its own sign and, while I have generally interpreted it so far in a positive sense as representing the Aquarian principles, it can also mean revolutionary turmoil or detached reasoning that lacks the element of empathy which I have regarded as potentially being suppressed because of the eclipsed Sun. Uranus needs the Sun, and vice versa. Uranus also signifies rapid technological advance, and we have seen how the use of social media and the internet can lead to an outpouring of aggressive and confrontational material that is neither constructive nor helpful, and certainly not empathetic. Once again, Aquarius and Uranus without empathetic feeling can be highly problematic. In such a situation, feeling comes out in all sorts of negative ways: nationalism, xenophobia, threats on social media, etc.
The good news, however, is that the planets Mars and Saturn, which are strong in the 1999 chart and traditionally considered malefic (although there is a modern tendency to regard all planets as having positive and negative potentialities), are weakened in the 2026 and 2027 charts. In both, Mars and Saturn are placed either in their detriment or fall (the opposite signs to rulership and exaltation). These planets in their negative qualities stand for aggression and restriction,and so these are reduced in their effects. Alternatively, Venus is weak in 1999 and strong in 2026. This planet, associated with love, attraction, and relating is named the ‘bringer of peace’ in Holst’s Planet Suite.
I have already mentioned the different shapes in the charts. In 1999, the grand cross dominates, while the bowl shapes of 2026 and 2027 include many positive aspects, sextiles (60 degrees) and trines (120), and a grand trine in each case. A grand trine is the most favourable of planetary patterns, suggesting harmony and ease between the planets concerned. These grand trines in air signs both include Uranus in Gemini and Pluto in Aquarius, but with Venus in Libra in 2026, and Mars in Libra in 2027. Pluto is hidden or abstract power, including the influence that comes with great wealth and financial investments. Uranus trine Pluto is an aspect that will last for a couple of years, and it will certainly facilitate the wealth that comes through science and technology. The current political discussion around the future of AI comes to mind; there are enormous gains to be made, while risking catastrophic losses, even humanity itself. So, it is helpful to have a planet in Libra in the mix, which signifies diplomacy and balanced judgement. Venus is strong there in 2026, having an affinity with its own sign, and Mars in Libra in 2027 is much softened in its force and energy. These grand trines in air signs do indicate that diplomacy and international agreement may come to the fore; indeed, they need to, given the enormous challenges that climate change and the acceleration of AI present.
We can also look at the planets that sit in the mid-points between the trines. These are sextile aspects, traditionally interpreted as positive and creative, and they are really close in the 2026 horoscope. There are only two degrees between five planets, although the sixth, Jupiter, is further out, another four degrees. Between Pluto and Uranus comes Neptune. One can’t make too much of the sextile between Pluto and Neptune, as it has been there throughout my lifetime! Pluto is further out in the solar system but spends a few years of its orbit inside that of Neptune; this happened in the late twentieth century, meaning that they have been tracking each other for decades. So that is hardly distinctive of 2026. The sextile between Neptune and Uranus takes a while to pass but, in contrast to Neptune and Pluto, only a couple of years; they were conjunct in 1993 and have moved sixty degrees apart since. Uranus is scientific and technological energy, the ‘magician’ among Holst’s planets, and Neptune more emotional and charismatic, the ‘mystic’. They are also manifestations of the collective psyche: inspiration (Uranus) and belonging (Neptune). It has been a long time since Uranus and Neptune were in the conflict of a square aspect (in the 1950s), and it seems to me that the very strange discoveries of quantum mechanics have brought science and mysticism a great deal closer in recent decades. I baulk at associating Pluto only with money, despite the use of the word ‘plutocracy’ (surely a very appropriate one in the world of Trump, Musk, and others), and feel that its depths contain more positive sources of hidden power, such as the world of quanta itself, and the spiritual lifeblood that comes through prayer. In the collective psyche, it represents the influence of ancestral traditions.
In the other direction, Mercury and Jupiter stand half-way between Uranus and Venus, Mercury very closely so. I rather idiosyncratically regard Mercury as exalted in Aquarius and not the traditional sign of Virgo, which it also rules. What does it mean to have a planet’s rulership and exaltation in the same sign? The Age of Aquarius is tailor-made for the god of communication. This would mean that all three of the eclipse charts have Mercury in its fall, in Leo. Mercury loses some of his magic and surprise when housed in the sign of the Sun, perhaps. But, nevertheless, Mercury sextile Uranus does reflect that we live in a time when crimes are more likely to come to light: dodgy donations, abuses of power, questionable associations. Mercury sextile Venus is good for openness and honesty in relationships. All of this adds up to accountability, an important principle in the Aquarian age. And positive aspects to Jupiter suggest generosity and a benign spirit, indeed the empathy that I have associated with the Sun in Leo, which is eclipsed. Jupiter in Leo in 2026 and Venus in Leo in 2027 may be seen as alternative indicators of empathy standing in for the Sun during its absence in the eclipse. Nevertheless, we shouldn’t forget the opposition in 2026 between Mercury conjunct Jupiter and Pluto, suggesting the powerful resistance of great wealth to empathy, openness, and more equal distribution of wealth.
Altogether, the bowl pattern of sextiles in the positive signs Aquarius (Pluto), Aries (Neptune), Gemini (Uranus), Leo (Mercury and Jupiter), and Libra (Venus) in the 2026 chart is most pleasing, and suggests a powerful harmony which seems to belie the times that we actually live in. Dare we hope for real and lasting change for the better? It is interesting that Uranus in Gemini has been associated with particularly tumultuous times in American history, a roughly 84-year cycle going back to the Second World War, the Civil War, and the War of Independence. Now we have culture wars! A stable America is key to global change, although Russia is very important too. But we need a strong and reliable America to deal with the Russian threat diplomatically and efficiently. It will take thinking, skill, and consistency, not unpredictable strategy based on self-aggrandising soundbites.
The 2027 chart has the bowl shape and the sextiles too. They are not as close as in the 2026 chart, but still pleasing. This time the eclipse of Sun and Moon itself takes its place among them, which is probably the most compelling factor. The differences with 2026 are that Mercury conjunct Jupiter are replaced by a three-way conjunction of Sun, Moon, and Venus, while Mars takes Venus’ place in Libra. Pluto again opposes the planets in Leo, so the billionaires will not be giving up yet!
Uranus is at the centre of these bowl patterns and suffers no conflicting aspects in these charts except for a wide square with Jupiter in 2027. Uranus is the planet which signifies rapid technological advances – in some ways it is an outer solar system version of Mercury – and thus the development of AI. Jupiter in Virgo is perhaps the excess of detail that will blight the attempt to keep AI within manageable limits. Ceres is conjunct Jupiter in the 2027 chart, and she stands very close to Regulus, traditionally regarded as the royal star. Female leadership will be very important over the next few years. I dealt with the T-square in the 2026 chart between Ceres conjunct Mars in Cancer, Neptune in Aries, and Venus in Libra in part 1 of this blog, and saw this as reflecting the perils of climate change, a challenge which, along with the need to harness AI for the common good, may yet bring the nations together when they have no other choice.
In the 1960s of my childhood, there was a TV series with the title Object Z. In this fictional story, Object Z was a large meteorite or planetoid that seemed destined to collide with the Earth, thus destroying everything. The human race was terrorised. But Object Z turned out to be an illusion, a creation of the scientists from various countries (most importantly, the U.S.A. and Soviet Union) who worked together on the conspiracy to bring the conflicting nations into harmony to counteract the apparent threat of Object Z. Climate change and the threat of an out-of-control AI might just be the Object Z today (although real and not illusionary!) that galvanises us into collaborative action. But this is very unlikely to be successful while nationalists, wealth-grabbers, con-men, and warmongers are in power. Therefore, we do need to replace MAGA in the U.S. and Putin’s regime in Russia, while resisting far-right movements in Europe with some urgency. These eclipse horoscopes have given me some hope that we may soon start to do so.
Footnote
I want to remind you that I am not claiming some universal law by which the positions of the planets cause world events. The reading of these eclipse charts, as with any others, constitutes the act of divination, the interpretation of symbols based on traditional formulae which has no scientific basis but yet seems to work. I have added a few ideas of my own to the received tradition, such as my reading of the dwarf planet Ceres. As divination suggests the presence of a divinity, then my prediction is at the same time a prayer for the better world conditions that would allow us to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century with co-operation and shared wisdom.
I have practiced astrology for many decades, but as a layman, without the consistent and thorough research and commitment that typifies the work of Geoffrey Cornelius, for example. Theology and not astrology has been my métier. Therefore, I am sure that many of my interpretations and conclusions can be critiqued, enhanced, and amended. I invite those of you with knowledge and experience of astrology to offer your insights and advice in the comments.
Comments