Solar Eclipse May 9 2013

The New Moon is exact at 19 degrees 32 minutes of Taurus on May 9 in the US (5:30 pm West Coast, 8:30 pm East Coast) and on May 10 at 1:30 am in the UK, 10:30 am East Coast Australia. It occurs with a Solar Eclipse that begins two hours before the exactitude of the New Moon and ends 50 minutes later. The strongest moment of the eclipse occurs just four minutes before the New Moon (when the Moon is exactly conjunct the Sun).

A Solar Eclipse means that the Sun is eclipsed by the Moon moving between the Sun and the Earth. It’s an Annular Solar Eclipse, meaning it’s not total and the rim of the Sun will be visible around the Moon. This is sometimes called a Ring of Fire and will be visible from Western Australia and Northern Australia, eastern Asia, the Northern Pacific and the Western US.

Eclipses come in familes: this eclipse is part of Saros Series 138 South 15. Berbadette Brady in her book “The Eagle and the Lark” says that this eclipse series “is about release of tension. A situation which has been lingering will suddenly clear. In the clearing of the problem there is also a sense of grief or loss, which is not so much personal but belonging to the collective”.

Solar Eclipses signal new beginnings and are like an amplified New Moon. If your birthday falls between May 7 and May 12 you will feel this eclipse more than most, and it signals a time of change and new beginnings in your life. Scorpios are also likely to feel the winds of change. Anyone with the Sun or other personal planets at 18-21 degrees may also notice a higher than usual amount of activity and new experiences and people coming in. For all of us, wherever Taurus 20 falls in your chart is the area of life receiving a new impulse, a new start.

The New Moon is conjunct Mars, the Moon’s South Node, and Mercury. This lunar cycle kicks off with a powerful surge of energy and is very much about communication. New enterprises that communicate (old) wisdom (Mercury conjunct South Node) especially about the feminine, farming, and the earth (Taurus) are well-starred now. There is a note of caution here: the South Node conjunct Mercury can indicate the surfacing of old issues that you would rather keep under wraps, and increases the possibility for making verbal mistakes, so watch what you write and say around this time.

Here’s the chart of the eclipse, set for London.