I Watched The Solar Eclipse With An Astrologer & Learned Its Impact
Just because April 8 is over doesn’t mean the vibes have settled down.
“Are you nervous for eclipse season?” is a question I’ve been asked by a few astrologically inclined friends over the last few weeks. On April 8, right in the middle of Aries SZN, a solar eclipse covered much of North America — marking not only a rare and exciting astronomical event, but also a period of major upheaval in the astrological calendar. Their concern definitely made some sense.
As an amateur astrology girlie — I know my big three by heart, check my Co-Star app daily, and follow all the popular zodiac meme accounts — I was intrigued by all the apprehension, but not entirely sure what I should be worried about. Should I avoid making big decisions for a few weeks? Stay home and not answer any texts? Prepare to meet the love of my life at my local coffee shop?
Other than heeding advice from horoscopes to ready myself for “unexpected changes,” I was going into eclipse season unprepared... until I got the opportunity to travel to see the event in its totality IRL with an astrologer and get answers about WTF has been going on cosmically (and how its impact can still be felt now).
To celebrate their yearlong partnership with the Sanctuary app, Moxy Hotels invited me to their Austin, Texas location for a two-night eclipse-themed stay. The partnership makes it easier for astro-loving travelers (hi, it’s me) to plan trips around the cosmic forecast, with location suggestions for each zodiac sign and programming at different properties worldwide based on the events happening there — like the total solar eclipse.
My Aries-themed cocktail, which was a version of a tequila sour.
An extremely silly eclipse glasses moment.
During my trip, we got to try astrology-themed cocktails and take our eclipse glasses to a local outdoor market, where we witnessed the total solar eclipse for around three minutes. Joining my group was Lauren Ash, a professional astrologer and writer working with Moxy and Sanctuary, to lend her expertise on what eclipses mean and how this one affected my birth chart and year ahead.
If you’re feeling the ~disruptive vibes~ lately and could also use some guidance, here are the biggest takeaways I learned from the stargazer, plus how this eclipse is prompting me to rethink my current priorities.
Eclipses Come In Pairs — & They Can Be A Bit Chaotic
The April 8 eclipse isn’t the only one we’ve experienced this year. On March 25, a lunar eclipse covered North and South America while the moon was in Libra.
I thought two in a row was a lucky coincidence, but it turns out that lunar and solar eclipses always come in pairs. Astrologically speaking, “eclipse season” is the period of around two weeks between these phenomenons. And it turns out my friends were right to be a little nervous.
“The reason that eclipses play out so dramatically is because they include the North Node and South Node of destiny,” Ash says. The nodes are two points on the zodiac wheel that occur in opposing signs, and they’re related to your purpose and life path. Eclipses occur when the sun and moon are sitting in the nodes at the same time.
In this case, the lunar eclipse in Libra came first, followed by the solar eclipse in Aries 14 days later. “The lunar eclipse kind of cracked open all the emotions,” Ash says, “and this solar eclipse is the final slamming shut of the door.”
I Didn’t Feel The Effects Directly... For The Most Part
Since this solar eclipse occurred in Aries, the two signs most directly impacted are Aries and the opposing sign of Libra (much love to my girlies with those placements on their sun or ascendant).
I don’t have planets in either of these signs, but that doesn’t mean I’ve been off the hook during this messy time. “You're not going to feel the eclipse as directly,” Ash tells me. “It’s much more of a subtle whisper, like a nudge.”
Instead, my sun and moon are in Cancer and my Neptune and Uranus are in Capricorn — the two other cardinal signs, which create a square aspect with Aries and Libra. “It's almost like you were observing other people's lessons and thinking, "Oh sh*t, this kind of applies to me, too," Ash says.
It’s true that I made it out of eclipse season relatively unscathed — on paper, at least. I didn’t have a personal fallout, job transition, or any kind of pressing crisis. (I did get some texts from people from my past I wasn’t expecting.) But a lot of my friends had personal things that hit the fan, and I helped coach them through it, which prompted me to be more intentional about the decisions I’m making in my life right now.
The Eclipse Was Only The Start Of A Big Year For Me
According to Ash, my Cancer and Capricorn placements have been affected a lot by eclipse season, even if there’s not a noticeable impact just yet. “They're the mother and the father of the zodiac,” she says of these two signs. While Cancer is all about nurturing and comforting others, Capricorn wants to be in charge and get things done.
Ash believes I’m in a moment of evaluating my career trajectory. “You're rethinking what you want in the next era of life,” she says. “Do you take on a role to check the boxes and find a creative outlet somewhere else? Or do you double down and make things work?"
It’s about planning for your moves a year from now, not necessarily changing anything.
For now, it’s the latter. “You really like the scene you're in,” Ash continues. (I’m an editor who gets to learn about celebs, dating, and astrology all day, so it’s fair to say I feel pretty lucky.) “I think it’s about planning for your moves a year from now, not necessarily changing anything.” She suggests I spend some time on my writing outside of work — which has been a goal of mine for a few years, since I’ve had a book idea I want to work on.
When Jupiter moves into Gemini on May 25, Ash says I’ll be kicking off an “eat, pray, love year” — IMO, the dream vibe for my 30th birthday celebrations this summer, and the perfect incentive to spend more time doing things I truly love.
She also recommends I don’t engage with any exes until the cosmic energy calms down a bit. “The eclipse is your seventh house, which rules long-term relationships,” she says. “And it's Aries, so it's very hot, heavy, and kind of sudden energy. I wouldn't say no forever, but I would say don't respond during this Mercury retrograde.” My goal right now is not to make any rash decisions when it comes to dating... and maybe to resist sending any risky texts.
If You’re Feeling Unsettled, Sit Tight For Now
Even with the solar eclipse behind us, we’re still dealing with Mercury retrograde, which ends on April 25. There’s also a planetary conjunction between Jupiter and Uranus coming up on April 20. “We're in a period of total revision,” Ash says.
Her best advice (for me or for anyone) is to expect the unexpected. “If you try to plan too far ahead, you're going to miss some things that are available to you,” she says. “A lot of people want to take this eclipse and immediately strike out [and make changes], but there's this sense of gathering your supplies and setting yourself up for how things are going to unfold.”
If you do have to make a big decision right now, try to be OK with it changing if it needs to. “People sometimes think, ‘Oh, if you start something during eclipse season, it's going to blow up,’” Ash says. “That's not always the case. Sometimes it just doesn't turn out the way you thought.”
I’ll be taking that advice into my “eat, pray, love” era and spending less time worrying about things I can’t control (and more time sending rational texts that I’ve thought about in advance).
