Eclipses and the Sustainable Breathing Cycles of the Cosmos
Inspiration from Manilius on Lunar Eclipses
Announcements
#1: I will be offering a live webinar + Q&A/discussion/reflections on Eclipses, where we will explore the symbolic understanding of eclipses/lunar nodes through the works of Manilius and Valens and an esoteric read of eclipses/lunar nodes using ancient number theory and a sprinkle of Orphic Hymns. Let's look at eclipses (pun intended!) through a different angle!
This webinar is for everyone (suitable for astro-curious, but also informative for astrologers)!
The recording of this event will be available for participants to download within 7 days after the event and for purchase at my shop afterwards.
Date and time: March 22 (Saturday), at 6:00 PM Lisbon Time (Time Zone Converter)
Duration: 60 mins
Price: €5
#2: I will start including a Donate button in every post I create, which are open for everyone to read (nothing behind pay wall). If you enjoy my work and would like to support it, please consider ‘buying me a coffee’!
Intro and the 2025 Eclipses
We are at the doors of the Eclipse season of 2025 (in the midst of Mars slowly moving forward again in Cancer, Venus retrograding through Aries, Mercury about to station retrograde and Saturn's rebirth).
In the spirit of welcoming the first Lunar Eclipse of the year on March 14 (6:54 am Lisbon time), I am going to share a quote on Lunar Eclipses from Manilius’ Astronomica which inspired my rethinking on how to interpret Eclipses.
DISCLAIMER: This is not going to be a deep dive into predicting what the upcoming eclipses in Pisces/Virgo mean. However, I have included a short list of possible topics by rising sign in the resources section below. Here, I intend to offer a more timeless image that you can apply to any eclipse.
But… First things first! Here are some astrological details of the eclipses and lunar nodes of 2025 for your reference:
March 14 2025 - Total Lunar Eclipse at 23°59 Virgo
March 29 2025 - Partial Solar Eclipse at 8°53 Aries
September 7 2025 - Total Lunar Eclipse at 15°24 Pisces
September 21 2025 - Partial Solar Eclipse at 28°59 Virgo
Eclipse: Toppling of an Existing Power
Since the ancient times of the Babylonians, eclipses have been seen as omens for the overthrow of ruling powers and periods of havoc and change. (See article in the resources section for an example.) The disruption that eclipses symbolize is also well recognized and widespread in contemporary astrological predictions.
In my practice, eclipses are one of the my favorite tools to understand where the tides are changing in a person's life. Look up the astrological houses occupied by Aries and Libra in your chart. You may notice that for the topics governed by these houses there were peak moments of culmination and dramatic changes as well as new beginnings between April 2023 and now. This is indicated by the eclipses that occurred in those signs.
My anecdotal example: in Feb 2024, I moved across the world. Now my new home is in Portugal. Aries is in my 4th house, no kidding. I said goodbye to my old apartment, which had deep connections to my ancestors, and established new foundations in a new home. The move was chaotic and uprooting and I am still seeing its effects playing out.
A More Organic Perspective of Eclipses
We tend to get ourselves stuck in the fallacy that if something works, it will ALWAYS work. It should, right? Until it doesn't. Until the earth shakes. (Same applies for the opposite: if something hasn't been working, it will never work. Until it does!)
If we have watered our plants one way, that way should work every single time. Until they start turning brown. If a gift we picked maid someone happy in the past, we tend to gift a similar gift in the future for them, expecting that the other person's taste remains unchanged. Until they confess they don't enjoy it anymore.
And if we are the ones who feel the urge to change, we may not want to let go of a role we promised to play. Until we have to. We try to remain unchanged to not disappoint others. Or ourselves.
I see eclipses as critical points/shake ups. They invite us to accept the “breathing cycles” of the cosmos. If one inhales, one must exhale too. So does the world around us. Eclipses are a reminder that our world can't just keep “inhaling”. That would be unsustainable.
(I will go deeper into this in my upcoming Live Webinar on Eclipses.)
End Note: A Passage from Manilius’ Astronomica
Before we go, as promised, I am sharing a quote from Manilius, one that first caught my attention and inspired me to go down this rabbit hole. I invite you to meditate on this poetic way lunar eclipses were once understood:
“Even thus at a certain time the signs too lose their powers and on recovering them exert them anew. The cause is plain: whatever signs have seen the Moon eclipsed, reft of her brother and plunged into the darkness of night, when the Earth comes between to cut off Phoebus’ [the Sun's] rays and Delia [the Moon] draws not the light wherewith she is wont to shine, those signs too become as stricken as the planet occupying them, bowed the while in grief and deprived of their customary powers, and they mourn Phoebe [the Moon] as though she had been carried out for burial.”
Breathe, mourn what is being “exhaled” and observe the world breathing with you.
Thanks for reading! Happy eclipse season and I'll see in the next one!
Raimundo
Resources
'A king will die': 4,000-year-old lunar eclipse omen tablets finally deciphered - an article of Live Science from August 2024
Here are some topics that may come up for you through the eclipses in Pisces/Virgo based on your ascending sign (not exhaustive list):
Aries/Libra risings: reimagining what it means to spend time alone; hard work, labor and sacrifice in need of a new focus; new understanding of the fragility of your health leading to openness for check-ups and changes in routines.
Taurus/Scorpio risings: leaving friends, circles or support groups behind or meeting new ones; realization that some dreams, hopes or wishes are not what you think they were, which then leads to creation of new ones; new hobbies; new sense of attraction; changes in your children's lives (if applicable).
Gemini/Sagittarius risings: letting go of work or social roles you play and the doors this will open for you; change of management roles at work; relocation; changes in your family, especially for your parents.
Cancer/Capricorn risings: picking up new learning objectives or finishing up degrees; changes in the lives of your siblings (if applicable); exploring new philosophies or new horizons; leaving behind an old sense of familiarity and embracing a new one.
Leo/Aquarius risings: changes in your or your partner's finances that lead to new strategies for self-sustenance; changes in the way we value ourselves and how others value us; topics of death and rebirth.
Virgo/Pisces risings: working through your sense of identity and autonomy; taking care of your health and energy levels; beginnings and endings of relationships; shake up in your partner's life (if applicable).
Thank you Raimundo, the Manilius quote is beautiful and helpful. The image of the signs themselves in mourning is powerful. I feel that eclipses are a time for inner quiet, reverence, and non-action, very much like the early stages of mourning.