Lunar eclipse in Pisces: A churning hurricane
What is happening during an eclipse?
Eclipse season occurs usually twice a year, approximately every 6 months. Eclipses usually take place in pairs, resulting in 4 annually. Eclipses take place in the points where the orbit of the Moon around the earth and the orbit of the Earth around the Sun intersect. These two points are called the Lunar Nodes.
During eclipse season, the Moon and the Sun are aligned on the same side of the Earth. As such, when they’re close enough, they can create a “cosmic-scale shadow.” We call this shadow an eclipse.
During a solar eclipse, the Moon passes in front of the Sun. From our perspective on Earth, the Moon seems to cover the Sun. She blocks the Sun’s light, partially or completely. Meanwhile, during a lunar eclipse, the Sun sits behind the Earth. The Earth’s shadow covers the Moon in a red shadow. Due to the way the Earth and Moon’s orbital planes align, solar eclipses overlap with the new moon phase and lunar eclipses coincide with the full moon phase.
Photo: Michael Fox-Boyne at valleytours.com
Eclipses have shocked and fascinated humanity for ages. In fact, the oldest record of an eclipse is a series of petroglyphs in Ireland. They are believed to be from November 30, 3340 BCE!
Astrologically, what does this mean?
The Luminaries
In astrology, the Sun and Moon are commonly known as the luminaries, or lights. The Sun and Moon are key to understanding identity, fortune, and purpose in the natal chart. Together, the luminaries reveal your conscious self, aspirations, and inner landscape, as well as your physical and emotional needs.
To truly understand a lived experience of astrology, it’s helpful to return to the relational and nature-connected worldview.
The Sun is the brightest star in our solar system. He cannot be ignored. He grants warmth, day, and life. In your chart your Sun sign says, “Look at me. This is who I am. This is how I wish to be seen.” He symbolizes your identity, ego, vitality, and spirit. Meanwhile, the Moon receives and reflects the Sun’s light. Similarly, in astrology your Moon reflects your inner world, the nurture you crave, and the care you give and receive.
Georg von Peurbach, Theoricæ nouæ planetarum, 1423-1461
Peuerbach is best-known for his work Theoricae Novae Planetarum, written in 1454, and published by his disciple Regiomontanus in 1472.
Eclipses: Celestial Recalibration
Normally, we feel the Sun and the Moon’s ongoing movements in our everyday lives in small and delicate ways. But during eclipse season, their message is a lot louder. To put eclipses into context, it’s helpful to think of the lights in your home. When one of your lightbulbs goes out, everything seems a little… off. At first, you might question what you see. Under different lighting, shadows eerily poke up in new places. The contrast and the colors of your reality all suddenly appear to be wrong. Now, what if someone turns on a bright light unexpectedly? It is a jarring and overwhelming experience where you are momentarily blinded. In both instances, it takes your eyes some time to adjust and process.
Eclipses function in the same way. A change in lighting brings a shift in perspective, a newfound recognition. Eclipse season thrusts us into a liminal space: a place where we are at once overwhelmed with awareness but are not quite sure of how to proceed just yet. This knowing is meant to inform you and reorient you. Ultimately, eclipses are about recalibrating.
Since solar eclipses align with the new moon phase, they usually usher in new cycles, fresh beginnings and shifts in life direction. Lunar eclipses on the other hand align with the full moon phase. As such, lunar eclipses denote endings, closures, and/or culminations.
The Lunar Nodes
In Vedic astrology, the lunar North Node represents the head of a dragon (Rahu). The lunar South Node represents the tail of the dragon (Ketu). The mythology tells the story of a dragon who drank the elixir of the gods to gain immortality. But as punishment for drinking something which belonged only to the gods, he was beheaded. Since he was now immortal, he couldn’t die. So, he was forced to spend the rest of his existence as two separate beings. The lunar North Node contains the dragon’s eyes, mind, and mouth. As such, it represents his insatiable hunger. Here is where he ruthlessly chases and consumes. Since he has no stomach, he will never be satiated. In astrology, the North Node represents amplification and increase. It signifies our deepest desires. The South Node represents what the dragon excretes. The South Node distills. It lessens, pares down, and releases. It’s important to call out that the North Node does not always denote good and the South Node does not always mean bad.
Astrologically, the lunar nodes change signs every 18 months. This means that every year and a half, we commence a new journey. One that requires us to rebalance and reprioritize, to chase and release. The nodes always work in tandem and complement each other. They show us where we need to recalibrate.
Okay, now what do you do with this?
First of all, let’s start with what you should not do. If you knew there was an upcoming power surge, would you rush to plug in your laptop? No, of course not! Similarly, you don’t want to tie any of your workings to an eclipse. This is not the time to manifest or undertake magical workings. (There will be other new moons and other full moons, I promise.)
Second of all, eclipses are omens of fate. They require us to move towards a state of introspection and acceptance. This is a perfect time to cleanse, rest, and reflect. Remember, events which occur during eclipses ultimately bring about some measure of cosmic realignment to our lives. Awareness is the first step.
Lunar eclipse in Pisces: A churning hurricane
Pisces is a water sign. Water signs are primarily concerned with the realms of emotion and intuition. Just like their element, water signs aim to blend and connect with others. Pisces is also a mutable sign. Mutable signs are flexible and adaptable. This is because mutable signs are associated with the end of a cycle, to make way for a new beginning — Pisces season signals the end of the winter season and it gives way to the beginning of spring. All of this is reflected in the flavor of this lunar eclipse.
I’ve lived in Miami, Florida my whole life. So when I think of a Piscean eclipse near the insatiable North Node, I think of a hurricane. Hurricanes are violent storms which form over the ocean. They start off as a tropical wave, and move westward across the tropics. Warm ocean air rises into the storm, and forms an area of low pressure underneath. As the air rushes in, it continues to rise and cool. It forms clouds and thunderstorms. The clouds release droplets, which release more heat, which continue to power the storm. Hurricanes are massively powerful events and contending with one demands acceptance and surrender.
There are only two options when a hurricane comes: evacuate or hunker down. Evacuating usually consists of packing a suitcase and flying elsewhere or loading up your car and driving somewhere safer. First, you’ll secure your home as best as possible – move in furniture and plants, put out sandbags, and put up the hurricane shutters. There is a strong possibility that when you come back, there will be nothing waiting for you. Otherwise, If the storm seems small enough, if you can’t afford to go somewhere safer, or if work simply won’t let you off with enough time to evacuate, you hunker down. Ideally, you have non-perishable food items, water, flashlights and batteries, candles, card games, paperbacks, an emergency crank radio, and hurricane windows or shutters. Then, you sit it out. When the rains start to pour and the winds start to howl, there is nothing to do but wait. When the power goes out and the 150 year-old, 60+ foot oak tree snaps in front of your window in the middle of the night (true story), there is nothing to do but sit and wait.
Given the destruction and harm hurricanes can cause, we rarely talk about the natural renewal process that follows these storms. This is called the aftergrowth. For example, following the category-5 Hurricane Andrew which hit Florida in 1992, there is evidence that the “loss of the forest canopy stimulated regeneration via seedling growth and recruitment” in Mangrove forests. Similarly ecologists have found that “in some cases, forest disturbances caused by hurricanes led to increased levels of nutrients in soils.” These nutrients serve as the building blocks for the forests. Moreover, though it takes time, forests usually fully recover biomass within 15 years. In fact, we have observed biodiversity increasing after hurricanes, as shown in studies analyzing 70-year tree demographic data of Hurricane Hazel (1954) and Hurricane Fran (1996). To quote a previous Program Director at the National Science Foundation, “Hurricanes are destructive, but they're also a mechanism of nature's renewal.”
A satellite image shows Hurricane Helene as it nears the Florida coastline. NOAA via AP
But all of that comes after the hurricane.
When you find yourself in the middle of a storm, the only way out is through, and it demands acceptance and surrender. This is what this lunar eclipse requires of us. This eclipse in Pisces asks us to hold and tend to moments of complex and shifting emotional truths, which in time will give way to new identities and pursuits.
Delineating the Lunar Eclipse in Pisces
On September 7th, 2025 the lunar eclipse took place at 8:12 am eastern in Pisces, next to the North Node. Jupiter is known as the great benefic, the god of abundance, wisdom, truth, and knowledge. He is both cosmic fertilizer and learned sage. Jupiter is the ruler of Pisces. As such, Jupiter is said to be the ruler of this lunation and the eclipse. Lucky for us, Jupiter in Cancer can see the Moon in Pisces. They are connected by trine aspect. This means Jupiter is aware of what is going on and can support the Moon. This bodes well for the topics being affected by the eclipse. Even better, Jupiter and the Moon are in each other’s homes. It’s the equivalent of being in friendly territory. Finally, Jupiter is currently in the sign of Cancer, his exaltation home. When exalted, a planet is treated like an honorific guest. Their host provides the best food, linens, and entertainment. He is well-resourced to lend the Moon a helping hand. Jupiter in Cancer is equipped to provide understanding, hope, nurture, and material support as you encounter this full moon’s revelations and culmination.
This lunar eclipse is revealing your hunger, where you want more. Your true Piscean vision might be lofty and grand. In true Jupiterian nature, it will be expansive. It will require growth, and growth can be scary. It can be hard. With Jupiter in Cancer, you will come to find that you have just enough to at least get started. With Saturn retrograde having entered Pisces again, it is important to reckon with the structures you will need to cultivate to bring about your Piscean dreams. Similarly, you might have to contend with the boundaries or limitations of your vision.
Guidance for the Lunar Eclipse in Pisces
According to your rising sign, this eclipse is illuminating the following areas:
Aries: This eclipse takes place in your 12th house of mental health, bad habits, self-undoing, retreat, insulation, and isolation.
Taurus: This eclipse takes place in your 11th house of friends, groups, networks, and your dreams and hopes for the future.
Gemini: This eclipse takes place in your 10th house of career, job, reputation, mother and motherhood.
Cancer: This eclipse takes place in your 9th house of travel, higher education, philosophy, God, and publishing.
Leo: This eclipse takes place in your 8th house of your partner’s finances and resources, inheritance, debts, loans, therapy, and baggage.
Virgo: This eclipse takes place in your 7th house of committed 1:1 partnerships, contracts, marriage, clients, and known enemies.
Libra: This eclipse takes place in your 6th house of health, routines, small pets, disease, work schedule, and toil.
Scorpio: This eclipse takes place in your 5th house of sex, creativity, creation, romance and joy, childhood, children, and birth.
Sagittarius: This eclipse takes place in your 4th house of home, family, roots, ancestry, and the past.
Capricorn: This eclipse takes place in your 3rd house of siblings, cousins, neighbors, neighborhood, communication, writing, rituals, and Goddess.
Aquarius: This eclipse takes place in your 2nd house of personal finances, personal possessions, resources, and income.
Pisces: This eclipse takes place in your 1st house of self, physical body, appearance, and identity.
Remember, when it comes to eclipses, there is nothing you need to do other than to be aware. For the next two weeks, reflect on what the eclipse is bringing forward for you. What is ending? What is culminating? What is calling your name? What is pulling at your heart brain? What are the limitations you face? Which foundations lack the strength to support your dreams?
In two weeks, on September 21st, we’ll have a solar eclipse near the South Node in Virgo. We’ll talk about the other side of the eclipse axis and what we are releasing next time.
