04/08/2024
Solar Eclipse April 8, 2024
Astro Tips and More
Linda Sprague
The Solar Eclipse at 19 degrees/23 minutes Aries is Monday, April 8th. The long-anticipated event is especially exciting for those of us living in the path of totality where the moon blocks the light of the sun and gives us a few minutes of total darkness, and a ring of fire! I am one of those lucky people because I live near the Quachita State Forest in Arkansas. So first of all, a total solar eclipse is an extraordinary event, a precious moment in time, to remember that we literally owe our life to the Sun.
By now most people have read a lot about this event. I just want to share two things about the eclipse. First of all, the Sun in Aries is in exact alignment with Chiron during this eclipse. Chrion, known to astronomers as 95P/Chiron, is believed to be a comet and a minor planet. Chiron was identified in 1977 and is thought to have come from the Kuiper Belt, the area between planet Saturn and outer planet Uranus. Therefore, Chiron is the bridge between the observable (with human eyes) solar system and the outer celestial, unseeable realms of the solar system and beyond. Chiron is the bridge between this observable dimension and the transpersonal, unobservable dimension. Planets beyond Chiron cannot be seen without a telescope, but their presence is real and they invite us into the vastness of the Universe, both the external Universe studied by astonomers and flying telescopes, and the vast internal ocean that is our mysterious psyche. The psyche feels, senses and knows so much. In some way the huge Universe that goes on and on confirms our inner mysteries. Chiron is the bridge to an expanded awareness of the universe. Humanity is tiny physically, but humanity is big in consciousness when it is ignited by the outer realms. The event of this eclipse with Chiron opens a door or bridge to bigger energies and information.
In Greek mythology Chiron was the first practitioner of medicine. His teacher was Apollo. After Chiron was discovered, there was a resurgence of ancient healing methods as well as the discovery of new ways of energy healing. Chiron, the centaur of Greek mythology, is called the Wounded Healer because he had one particular wound that he could not heal. He was shot by a poison arrow in his knee and none of his herbs or potions gave him relief. Hence Chiron, the wounded healer. Chiron had one other wound. He was abandoned by his mother at birth. She was ashamed of giving in to Chronos who had changed into a centaur in order to seduce and basically r**e her. This eclipse opens our psyches to our woundedness. It opens us to grief as well as to a new layer of healing our grief. If you are emotional during this eclipse period that began in late March, don’t worry. Feelings fully felt return to peace. This eclipse allows us to experience understanding and peace about our own wounds. Be open to the healing of the Wounded Healer in yourself. This eclipse portal is truly full of healing opportunities through friends and laughter, music, dance, dreams, conversations, suggestions from others, hands on healing, change in belief patterns, emotional release, movies, walks in nature, a beloved pet, mantras, a deer in the forest, the sunburst itself! Does a healing experience mean we are finished? Maybe yes, maybe no. Each healing moment is a gift.
The second point about this eclipse is something many of us are sensing. The more we connect with the vastness of our solar system, Galaxy and Universe, the more we understand that what we call time and space are more complicated that a calendar and a watch. Many astrologers, teachers and channelers are talking about time lines. Some say this solar eclipse is a break in the current time line, a new time line is opening. In some way we are catching up with the message of the Maya Calendar end date in 2012. That was the end of time as we knew it then. Now we have a deeper understanding of what this means. The Maya believed that was the end of a particular time line that had existed since creation. Now we are ready for a new time line, a new chapter for planet earth. Perhaps it will take many celestial events to get the entire planet on a new time line. Maybe someday what I’m writing today will be laughable because we really don’t know what we are talking about. Nonetheless, there are some things that seem true. There is more to existence than planet earth, its solar system and its Milky Way Galaxy and we are connected with all of it. We are connected in an energetic way because everything is interrelated. Furthermore, thanks to our increasing sensitivity to the basic component of everything—energy—we can sense there are dimensions beyond those we can see in our backyard and those we see through a telescope. There IS something else, something more. There are so many people experiencing this “something else” and that something else kind of sensing and knowing is part of our collective ascension.
This solar eclipse may not give me concrete information about those other dimensions. However, I do believe this eclipse gives us understanding on a feeling/intuitive level about the awesome existence of life itself as well as a sense of a new time line in our spiritual evolving. If we don’t have words to explain the connection between heavenly events and what happens here in our neighborhodd, so what? There still is a connection between heavenly events and our existence. Without the Sun, our star, we wouldn’t be here at all. These events happen in cycles and each time they happen we have another opportunity to connect more fully with the big force of creation. That force is love. The earth is one manifestation of that love. Each of us is one spark of that love.
A poem by Richard Jefferies, an English writer born in 1848, in love with nature: It is eternity now/I am in the midst of it, it is about me in the sunshine/I am in it/as the butterfly in the light-laden air/Nothing has to come/it is now/Now is eternity/now is the immortal life.
Tomorrow, as we experience the total solar eclipse of the Sun, may we be in the eternal now; as we worship the sun and inch a little closer to love and compassion for self and others, may we know who we are. Linda Sprague
