12 Tips For The Capricorn Lunar Eclipse

Lunar Eclipse [24 Capricorn 04] – July 16 2019 (22:38 GMT)

This month’s Full Moon is special because it’s a Lunar Eclipse, i.e. the karmic nodes, points of destiny in astrology, are pulled into the Sun/Moon/Earth combination.

During an eclipse, a shadow is thrown as the Sun/Moon/Earth are in close alignment. This is why eclipse symbolism is said to be ‘shadowy’. Once the shadow clears, it brings what’s hidden to light or sheds a new perspective on a current situation.

Here are 12 tips to guide you:

1. Eclipses take place two times a year in pairs. We are now in a Cancer/Capricorn eclipse cycle which began in July 2018 and completes in July 2020. Full Moons or Lunar Eclipses are often about completion or achievement. This Lunar Eclipse may represent the end of a chapter or project which began in January 2019, during the last set of eclipses.

2. Eclipses are most important in your chart when they fall within 1-2 degrees of key planets/angles. This time around that’s 23-25 Cancer or Capricorn.

3. A Lunar Eclipse is often about relationships, a triangle situation. Sometimes, one person wins and another person loses. The aim is to be on the winning team.

4. The Cancer/Capricorn axis is about home/family/foundations (Cancer) v. work/status/the establishment (Capricorn). You may feel the pressure of juggling your working life with your home life/family life. You may be acutely aware of the passing of time, your mortality, of endings and beginnings. The ties of ancestry and legacy can be clearly seen.

5. Eclipses are often feared because they bring what’s hidden to light, they represent the unknown. They tend to be about external events too, where you have to let go of control. Once you accept this, you’re more in flow with life.

6. Eclipses are often concurrent with turning points. This is why they are considered game-changers as they move the goalposts of life. Fundamentally, eclipses are neither positive nor negative. It’s how you perceive and respond to what happens that’s important.

7. Sometimes, eclipses act as a catalyst for change but you don’t recognise this until later on. Their effect can last a few months after the exact date of the eclipse, even up until the next set of eclipses, which will occur in December 2019/January 2020.

8. Eclipses don’t bring change for everyone. This set of eclipses in particular is about a shift in power; the young generation (Cancer) v. the older generation (Capricorn); women (Cancer – Moon-ruled) v. men (Capricorn – Saturn-ruled).

​​​​​​​9. Traditionally, it’s wise to wait a few days after an eclipse before taking action or making a big decision. In fact, this time around, you’re wise to wait until August to take major action. This is because communication planet, Mercury, is also retrograde, i.e. on go slow, until the end of July.

10. This eclipse pulls in the planet linked to endings and transformation, Pluto. Pluto is at 21 Capricorn 50 and next to the Moon at 24 Capricorn 04. This means that this eclipse is a powerful symbol of an ending, a door closing. Sometimes, you have to sweep out the old in order to allow fresh energy to come in. (I’ve suddenly started a massive de-cluttering session, which isn’t surprising with this week’s eclipse energy).

11. Saturn is the ruler of this Capricorn eclipse. During the eclipse period, Saturn opposes Venus in Cancer, the planet of love and relating. These two planets also cut across the Cancer/Capricorn axis – Venus at 16 Cancer and Saturn at 16 Capricorn. This emphasises the importance of relationships during this eclipse. Notice where your commitments lie, which relationships are strong and where endings may be taking place.

12. We often think of Capricorn as the star sign linked to work and ambition. This is true because of the symbol of the mountain goat, doggedly climbing upwards. Capricorns work best when they have a long-term goal to work towards.

Yet, Capricorn’s zodiac symbol is actually the sea-goat. Capricorn is an earth sign but the fish’s tail lies below the surface in water, the realm of emotions. This is why Capricorn is thought of as the shaman with a strong link to emotional and instinctual depths.

Therefore, take time during the eclipse period to be quiet and still. Go and sit on top of the mountain, enjoy the views, turn inwards and meditate. It’s a powerful time to do so when you can tap in to your inner voice and hear more closely what life’s telling you or where it’s calling you forth.

Key Areas To Note

Here’s a reminder of the areas of your life where you may experience the theme of endings and beginnings. Or, you’re being called towards change & transformation:

• Capricorn & Cancer: 1st/7th houses – your image & appearance, personal goals; love & relationships, significant others, contracts. RELATIONSHIPS/CONTRACTS
• Aquarius & Leo: 12th/6th houses – retreat, quiet, solitude, a spiritual path; your health & work, what you sacrifice for others. WORK/SERVICE
• Pisces & Virgo: 11th/5th houses – your friends, groups & social issues; your children, creativity, love affairs, what you ‘give birth to’. SOCIAL GROUPS/SELF-EXPRESSION
• Aries & Libra: 10th/4th houses – your career & vocation, your status & reputation, where you’re heading in life; your home & family, your past & roots, where you come from. FOUNDATIONS/SECURITY
• Taurus & Scorpio: 3rd/9th houses – your education, neighbours & siblings, how you communicate; the bigger picture, travel, philosophy, religion, what gives your life meaning. LEARNING/ADVENTURE
• Gemini & Sagittarius: 2nd/8th houses – money, possessions, where your values lie; your joint finances, your sexuality, all things hidden, the unconscious. MONEY/SELF-WORTH

You may find it useful to read the article I wrote two weeks ago during the Solar Eclipse in Cancer. It includes the key years of the Cancer/Capricorn 18-19 year eclipse cycle: https://www.sallykirkman.com/a-close-look-at-the-cancer-capricorn-eclipse-cycle/

I shall leave you with a poem written by a wonderful client of mine, Lesley. It has an eclipse theme as both the Sun (masculine) and the Moon (feminine) are integral parts of eclipses. The two in unison, yet separate:

Today, as every year, at this point
There is a fusion
The he becomes the she
And the she transforms
The will
With love
Which becomes
A purpose
Beyond either.