A Note on Eclipses and the Virgo New Moon 2026
The past two lunations were eclipses, and fittingly, my writing here went dark! I found myself a bit overwhelmed with everything I wanted to say about eclipses, and it took this time of quiet reflection to form this.
Eclipses, though seemingly rare, as they are not always visible in your location, actually occur in pairs and sometimes triples at least twice a year, visible somewhere on Earth. They are lunations (full and new Moons) that occur at a point (North or South Node) on the ecliptic (the path of the Sun through the sky) where the Moon aligns perfectly with that path. This creates a shadow, or occultation, of one of the luminaries (Sun and Moon), depending on whether it is a full or new Moon.
The phenomenon of eclipses is something that really got me believing in larger systems at play, a mystery of power and alignment whose probability is so low that it couldn’t possibly be explained by chance. Because how is it that the Moon, with a diameter of 2,159 miles, happens to be at the precise distance between the Earth and the Sun, which is 865,000 miles across, to create a perfect eclipse? This realization was a kind of astronomically inspired “Come to Jesus” moment for me.
Traditionally, eclipses have been seen for thousands of years as omens of impending doom from natural disasters and the death of royalty or those in power. The negative connotations come from empirical evidence collected by astrologers for thousands of years and the archetypal significance of the darkening of our most dependable sources of light in the heavens. With the recent deaths of pop-star royalty, Dolly Parton and Tim Curry, and the devastating floods in Nepal and at the Grand Canyon, this latest eclipse portal reveals that the omens have remained true since the time of ancient Mesopotamia.
How eclipses hit us on a personal level really depends on an individual’s chart; what’s being activated by transits, timing techniques, and whether or not they have an “eclipsey” chart to begin with. Were you born on an eclipse? Within 2 weeks in either direction of an eclipse? Between eclipses? Do you have Nodes on angles? If you answered yes to any of those questions, you have an “eclipsey” or “Nodal” chart.
The last two eclipses occurred on August 12th and August 28th. The first was a powerful total solar eclipse in the Sun’s home sign, Leo, that was visible across parts of Europe. This eclipse heralds the beginning of an almost two-year period of eclipses in the sign of Leo as the Nodes enter Leo and its opposing sign, Aquarius. And the second was the last eclipse in Pisces in a series that began in September of 2024. The reverberations of these eclipses move backward and forward through linear time to a couple of weeks before the first eclipse and a couple of weeks after the second. Once we have a lunation free of Nodal influences, we are safely out of the eclipse season window.
Beyond the doom and gloom of what can unfold on a collective level with eclipses, I’ve found that eclipses can speed up or transport you like a portal to different potentials. Uncanny or unexpected things may occur in the places in your life where the eclipses are taking place. Oftentimes things happen that aren’t very clear or feel murky in shadow. Because of this, it is important to stay focused on what you want to bring forth, to midwife energy that aligns with your highest good and most authentic self.
The energy of eclipses is intense, but also feels like possibility, and that is exciting to me. I feel like Paul Atreides poised with grappling claws on the crest of a sand dune with a thumper pulsing and a sand worm approaching like a giant freight train, shaking the ground. The eclipse portal feels like that in my body, like if I time things just right, I might actually be able to jump on and ride that beast into new dimensions. Terrifying, thrilling, inevitable.
For instance, Leo, the home sign of the Sun, is my 9th whole sign house, which can be the place of higher education, the moral compass, institutions, mentors, priests, and teachers. So during the solar eclipse (which was ALSO a new Moon), I was focused on planting seeds for my own role as mentor and guide. In the darkness of the Moon’s shadow across the sun, I took time to think about classes, workshops, and offerings that support people in their exploration of scent, myth, mystery, and the cosmos. I contemplated how to shine my solar powers in ninth house ways to share the knowledge I’ve been working so hard to cultivate.
Over the next couple of years, as the eclipses bounce back and forth between Leo and Aquarius, I will bring focus and energy to that zodiacal axis of my life, the balance of my 3rd and 9th houses. I will take caution in approaching the portals and ensure that I have a plan for that powerful energy that can start and end things so dramatically. Do you know which houses are ruled by Leo and Aquarius in your chart? Let’s take a look together to see what the next two years of eclipses may birth or end in your life.
NEW MOON IN VIRGO
Now, about that lunation that ends the eclipse season… Not gonna lie, it’s a banger. Today, Thursday, September 10th at 8:26 pm PST, the moon will be new in Virgo without the South Node for the first time since early 2025. The obscuring energy of the South Node has fully moved into Leo, and this Virgo lunation brings an opportunity for clarity that hasn’t been felt here in a while. The only problem with the clarity is that so much else is going on at the same time in the sky that you may be distracted from what’s important.
Firstly, the lunation itself is being sextiled by Mars in Cancer. This harmonious aspect creates a clear line of communication between Mars and its current ruler, the Moon. So, as frustrating as Mars in Cancer may feel, classically out of place like a warrior at a dinner party, at least he’s getting words of guidance and support from the host. Perhaps he’s encouraged to perform his martial arts as dinner entertainment, which funnels the energy away from causing friction with other guests. And perhaps Mars will push the Moon and Sun to take action in the Virgo house with precision and force. What action needs to happen in your Cancer house for new ideas to take root in your Virgo house?
Saturn, lord of limits, obligations, and cold hard truths, has a secret relationship with this lunation as well. Where it sits in Aries, at 13*3’ is antiscia to the Sun and Moon at 18*25’ of Virgo. This is a lesser-known, Hellenistic aspect that is a mirroring of light across solstice points. It creates a very small window of communication on a hidden channel. This aspect gives the new Moon an underlying sense of urgent seriousness, a desire to pin things down when so much is swirling around.
The ruler of the lunation, Mercury, will JUST have entered into the sign of Libra, leaving Virgo, the sign of its exaltation and domicile, a cozy place indeed! Mercury does have triplicity rulership by night in Libra, and that gives it some solid footing to land and hold the power of this lunation. But there is definitely something important about this shift at that near-exact moment from Virgo into Libran modes of thinking. Like, whatever you’d been contemplating or dreaming up, how can you now make it more beautiful, harmonious, and fair? It feels like launching a beautiful kite from the earth into the air. That launching sensation is emphasized by Uranus stationing retrograde in another air sign, Gemini, trining Mercury. And the swirling winds are made even more intense by a grand air trine formed by Pluto in Aquarius, Uranus in Gemini, and Mercury in Libra.
That shifting sensation is echoed in the movement of Venus on the very same day, from her home sign of Libra into her sign of detriment in Scorpio. This transition feels a lot less triumphant than Mercury’s sign shift; it has the sense of a golf ball landing in a water trap. Especially since, as she moves into Scorpio, she comes into orb of squaring Pluto and is exactly opposite a retrograde Chiron. She’s also now solidly in her retrograde shadow, meaning she is slowing down, marching towards maximum evening star brightness before she comes to a standstill and then appears to move backwards and into her underworld, purifying journey to the heart of the Sun and back to rise as a morning star.
There is so much shifting, swirling energy whipping around that is distracting and confusing. Try to anchor into the Virgoan earthiness of this new Moon; utilize the pragmatic, disciplined energy of Saturn and the discerning, selective power of Virgo to find and stick to what matters most in this moment. Make time to touch grass, with bare feet if possible; close your eyes and take a few deep breaths to feel the solidness of the Earth beneath you. Smelling the earth helps too! Get your hands in the soil; don’t be afraid to high-five a tree. Be rooted in your groundedness and let the West Wind of Autumn swirl around you.