Total solar eclipse April 2023: Why it's so important

WORDS Clarisse Monahan PHOTOGRAPHY Unsplash PUBLISHED Wed, 12 Apr 2023 - 2:30 pm

On April 20th, there’s a total solar eclipse in Aries (basically the Moon will blot out the Sun in the sky, making the world feel all dark and ominous for a bit). This heavy duty lunation will inaugurate a new 18th month “eclipse season,” involving the Ram and Libra. That means, for the next year and half, most of our eclipses will occur in one of these two signs.

Importantly, eclipse season always involves pairs. But not just any pairs. Rather, it always involves signs that are energetically and astronomically opposite. For the past 18 months, for example, our eclipse season has toggled between Taurus and Scorpio.

If you look at the zodiac wheel, these two signs are physically 180 degrees from each other, but they are also symbolically opposed. Taurus is ruled by Venus, Scorpio by Mars. Taurus enjoys, Scorpio obsesses. Taurus is about wealth. Scorpio relates to debt. Themes related to spending or saving money, accordingly, were augured.

What does the new total solar eclipse bring?

Now, a new eclipse season, and a new set of opposites. The Ram (ruled by Mars) is headstrong and self-centred. Libra (ruled by Venus) is always looking toward the other to find harmony and equilibrium. It’s not hard to see what kind of themes are going to arise over the next 18 months.

Indeed, Aries/Libra tensions will be between balancing ego and its drives (the Ram) with the demands of pair-bonding (the Scales). Therefore, whenever we approach one of these lunar or solar (such as the upcoming one on April 20th), be prepared to encounter issues related to the infinitely complex dance of “what I need” vs. “the needs of a given partnership.” “I want to buy a home–they want to travel around Vietnam together, wearing flip flops and reading Nietzsche.” Deep loggerheads.

This isn’t to say, of course, that these Aries/Libra tensions won’t constantly be afflicting us and our professional and/or romantic relationships. We always live in a state of stress with ourselves and others. But conflicts inherent to human life will tend to get inflamed around these upcoming eclipses, when the Moon (inner emotions) and the Sun (outer self-presentation) try to block each other out like bickering lovers on an otherwise lovely boardwalk.

Naturally, each forthcoming eclipse will also be slightly different because of other prominent transits impacting it. On April 20th, for example, we have a ton of energy in Aries: The Sun (exalted in the Ram)+the New Moon+Chiron (the wounded healer)+excessive Jupiter+the impact of the total solar eclipse itself.

All of this hot and scratchy Aries energy could have us feeling extra aggressive, ornery, or competitive. Because the Moon (emotion) will be blocking out the Sun (outer Self), we should anticipate outbursts that could undermine public image at the workplace or online. We might also feel overly harsh or angry with ourselves, as our Self/Sun gets overshadowed by the tantrum-throwing Aries New Moon: an eclipse is basically some inauspicious staging of selfhood momentarily lost, troubled, or disrupted.

A less virulent version of this transit around April 20th might instead bespeak a need for being more active or making a bold move at the office that is nonetheless unilateral. Such unilateralism, while very Aries, doesn’t account for the hidden lesson of eclipse season: you should think about the other sign co-functioning with it. While you may want to act with a hero’s bravado, you have partners in your life. They aren’t the dragon you must slay–they are co-equals necessary to your own development.

It’s said that the themes generated by an eclipse last for about six months, until the next one in this pair, which will occur in Libra in October. With so many daily cosmic lessons generated by the to and fro of our planets, however, it might be hard to keep the teachings of this particular solar eclipse in mind over the next many months. If so, just make sure it’s active in your awareness around the transit itself.

If, on the other hand, something about the significations of this particular solar eclipse in Aries resonates with where you are in life (needing to avoid unilateralism, seeking to establish more Libra balance in relationships, keeping your public image in check), then, by all means, use its energy to guide you until October, when episode two of this particular eclipse season airs next on our cosmic broadcast.