Total Solar Eclipse in Aries: Agency in Our Actions 

The new moon in Aries (19 °23′) on April 8th at 1:21 p.m. CDT is a total solar eclipse. Eclipses are portals of transformation, marking turning points on our soul’s journey.

This is the second eclipse of this season and also the third of three supermoons in a row. Supermoons occur when the moon is closest to Earth, magnifying its impact on ocean tides, tectonic plates, and our emotional bodies. As such, the energies will be felt more intensely and may have more significant outcomes.

This eclipse cycle will be in effect until March 2025. This is the first solar eclipse of this year and the second in Aries in this eclipse cycle.

The total eclipse, a breathtaking sight, will be visible across North America, passing over Mexico, the United States, and Canada, starting over the South Pacific Ocean. The Pacific coast of Mexico will be the first place in continental North America to witness totality.

What Is a Solar Eclipse?

Solar eclipses only occur during the new moon and when the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, blocking the sun’s light from reaching the Earth. They offer new beginnings that launch us in new directions. We emerge from this cycle reclaiming more of who we are and birthing a fresh self-identity. We shed old programming so that we can upload new soul codes. 

“The very things we wish to avoid, neglect and flee from turn out to be the ‘prima materia’ from which all real growth comes.”

Andrew Harvey

Total solar eclipses typically occur during significant times of collective transition, moving outdated energies away and bringing different energies into the changed world. This solar eclipse serves as a mirror to reveal something that has been hidden within our own psyche.

This total solar eclipse transpires in the North Node. Eclipses that occur here tend to lead us to an innovative way of exploring a dimension of ourselves that helps our souls’ progress.

We last had a solar eclipse in this degree on April 8, 2005. Thinking back to that time, what new beginnings were emerging? Where were we called to individuate and evolve our sense of self? What creative sparks were summoning us to trailblaze our passion projects? How did we learn to advocate for ourselves? What awareness has developed from this past cycle?

Image Credit: Explore with Joshua

We Reconnect to Our Spiritual Mission

Aries corresponds with our intuitive knowing and the wisdom to be guided by our instincts. Through this sign, we ignite our spiritual mission—what we are here to initiate in this life. Aries learns through life experiences and the consequences of our actions so that we can anchor into self-trust and develop a type of leadership that is instinctual and consciously guided by our soul.

As the first sign of the Zodiac, Aries represents our experience of emerging from the creative void into the world. This fiery cardinal sign ignites our desire and what longs to be expressed. We are entering unknown spaces in the Aries area(s) of our lives, which may be uncomfortable. If we are willing to rest in the deep spaciousness that this cosmic weather is summoning, we can receive important insights and can connect to our creativity. We also can feel what it’s like to follow our desires and move boldly into a different way of existing in the world. We may feel creative inspiration, or we may become more aware of where we have lost our inner fire and find ways to reconnect with it. 

This eclipse shows us how to understand ourselves in powerful ways. It allows us to be with what is true, deepen our acceptance of the events of our lives, and connect to the big, bold visions for what is up ahead.

“A life that is truly lived is constantly burning away the veils of illusion, gradually revealing the essence of the individual.”

Marion Woodman
Image Credit: Patrick Hendry

The Wound Is Where the Light Enters

What makes this solar eclipse notable is its alignment with Mercury retrograde and its exact conjunction with Chiron, all in the sign of Aries. Life experiences may guide us to where we have felt abandoned or unlovable. We may be more aware of the areas where we have felt the need to prove ourselves or defend our position.

Chiron teaches us to revere all the parts of ourselves, even the parts that we feel are defective or unlovable in some way, as they are all elements of our story. Through our ability to turn towards our pain, be with it and make it sacred, we discover that the medicine resides within us. 

“Do not cringe and make yourself small if you are called the black sheep, the maverick, the lone wolf. Those with slow seeing say that a nonconformist is a blight on society. But it has been proven over the centuries, that being different means standing at the edge, that one is practically guaranteed to make an original contribution, a useful and stunning contribution to her culture.” 

Clarissa Pinkola Estes 

The alignment of Chiron with the North Node in Aries at 16° back in February was a significant activation. At that time, we were confronted with the suppressed parts of ourselves that felt rejected or abandoned so that they could be integrated, and we could be propelled toward vertical growth.

With Mercury in retrograde, we are invited to slow down and reflect on the past few months’ events, the consequences of our choices, and their impact on others. This is a time to learn from our past and present conversations, perceive old patterns differently, and come to a new understanding of the hurt we create when we make choices from our own hurt. We may feel challenged to practice patience, feel angst, and have a desire to move things along quickly.

Eclipses are pivotal moments that align with our soul’s intention. It is crucial to surrender to and accept what is happening, trusting in the divine timing that orchestrates our lives. 

In shadow, Aries can be immature, narcissistic, and fail to think things through. An unresolved hastiness can propel them to perpetually stay in motion, pushing ahead and creating karma through the unfinished business they leave behind that will come back to confront them. Aries can proceed without taking a vital moment to gain insight and integrate what they have learned. If we are determined to push ahead, abandoning our feelings and needs, we may be forced to find rest and reflection through a redirection from fate. As Aries energy is naturally geared towards bringing ourselves to the edges to learn from our experiences and understand limits, this sign can often be knocked back through an accident or injury as an invitation to reflect, recharge and reassess.

“Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darkness’s of other people. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely. Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”

Carl Jung

This cosmic weather offers spaciousness and the courage to explore within ourselves, rediscover our gifts, and awaken to new possibilities. We are open to a more profound acceptance of all our parts and where we are in our life’s journey.

Reclaiming Our Agency

The Aries archetype is here to learn how to defend its position, advocate for itself and stand up for what it believes in. Aries learn as they go, with the bravery to try something out, assess what they have created, and move on. Conflict in this sign is a vital teacher—as they mature, they develop more of a sense of how to marry intuition with instinct to discern what battles are truly worth fighting for and to access the wisdom to know how to block or step away from a battle that is not worth their energy or can’t be won. In its shadow form, this archetype is prone to defensiveness and may perceive life through the lens of adversity or threat, which alters their sense of reality.

This cycle asks us to confront our hidden parts. This may cause us to instigate a fight, take flight, or demand that everything needs to be our way or the highway. If this emerges, it is our wounded ego operating from fear and attachment. The more we resist the change that is unfolding, the more we create suffering.

This energy clears what we have been suppressing, causing us to be reactive and fiery. This may make us or someone in our lives more prone to explosive outbursts. We are noticing how anger was modeled for us and how we have been conditioned to express it. We can learn tools that help us to work with anger in a healthy way and allow our emotions to be experienced, which will inform and inspire our path forward.

This is a necessary time to cultivate our inner observer so that we see our behaviors in a fresh light and can choose to respond in a different way.

This cosmic weather also accelerates conflict and conflict resolution. Our energy pulls focus toward our desire for freedom, individualization and independence, and in the process of moving toward that, we create karmic consequences. In our attempt to create more freedom and independence, we may mistake freedom for entitlement to project, direct hostility or blame. Just because we can react doesn’t mean we necessarily should. We can hurt others and ourselves when our suppressed anger erupts to the surface. It is essential to understand our emotions so that we can learn to stand up for ourselves and advocate for what we need, but expressing anger does not have to result in aggression. 

“Your anger? It’s telling you where you feel powerless. Your anxiety? It’s telling you that something in your life is off balance. Your fear? It’s telling you what you care about. Your apathy? It’s telling you where you’re overextended and burnt out. Your feelings aren’t random, they are messengers. And if you want to get anywhere, you need to be able to let them speak to you, and tell you what you really need.”

Brianna Wiest

This solar eclipse empowers us to reclaim our agency and harness our raw emotions into healthier expressions. We are learning to create more sustainable relationships where we consider our impact on others and where we can thrive from a foundation of interdependence and the freedom to evolve. We assess where we may feel unmet in our relationships and what this might reveal about ourselves. We are becoming more aware of what no longer serves and what we need to create more fulfilling connections and life experiences.

Image Credit: Alex Shuper

The Invitation

This eclipse cycle ushers us forward to summon the courage to step into the unknown, trusting in our ability to navigate the best way forward and leave what we have outgrown behind. 

We are finding novel ways to assert our independence that are empowering and align with our values. Finding insight into where we have been holding ourselves back allows us to bust through old perceived limitations. 

We tap into our hunger and our drive for something more, and take an empowered risk into our next stage of evolutionary growth to discover what we are truly capable of.

The process may feel like we’re unraveling and may be a bit messy, but it is one that can ignite our sense of purpose if we are willing to learn from it.

“The fear you feel when you put yourself in a place that will help you grow is really your courage in disguise.”

Cory Allen

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