Eclipses 2021 Season 1 — Super Blood Moon in Sagittarius on Vesak, Purification of Thinking

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“I don’t envision a single thing that, when unguarded, leads to such great harm as the mind.
The mind, when unguarded leads to great harm.”
— Gautama Buddha (Anguttara Nikaya 1.33)

The silver disc of the Full Moon hovers huge in the silent sky. And during a warm spring night its pale light suddenly turns blood red, as it relentlessly crosses Cauda Draconis—the Dragon’s Tail. As the world celebrates the birth and enlightenment of Gautama Buddha, the coils of the Dragon wrap up all around it. And here’s the night of Vesak 2021, starting the first season of this year’s eclipses.

The next Full Moon on May 26 is going to be a Total Lunar Eclipse, taking place at 5° 25′ Sagittarius. And not only the Moon is going to completely tinge with red, turning in a so called Blood Moon. But the event is also going to happen during a Supermoon. Meaning that the luminary is going to appear particularly big due to its proximity to the Earth (perigee).

So what are the implications of this event on Earth? What can Astrosophy tell us in regard to Lunar Eclipses? And what does the figure of Buddha have to do with all this? In this article we are going to answer to these questions, focusing in particular on the recent entrance of Jupiter in Pisces.

A South Node Eclipse

The eclipse happening at Vesak is a very powerful symbol. Buddhism is one of the most important Spiritual Paths of the world. It is clearly recognized and partially integrated by Anthroposophy, as well as by many other deep spiritual currents. And it’s always fascinating looking at the way the Universe is reflecting the spiritual Archetypes at play, arranging them in patterns we can actually recognize. Let’s try to interpret them.

This is going to be a South Node Eclipse. As you may know the Lunar Nodes are the two points where the orbit of the moon crosses the ecliptic. This means that every time we have an eclipse (both solar and lunar) the Moon is sitting on one of them. Depending on which node is involved, the eclipse comes with a different meaning.

The South Node is called Cauda Draconis, the Tail of the Dragon. And traditionally, it was interpreted as a “little Saturn”. This because the power of the South Node is destructive rather than constructive, and it tends to dissipate things.

As you can imagine an eclipse is always a sudden interruption of the celestial order. After all the sky is going to turn blood red! No surprise it’s never been looked at as a pleasant event, right? On top of that a lunar eclipse always takes place on a Full Moon, a symbol of things revealing themselves.

So let’s put everything together. Sudden things (eclipse) are going to reveal themselves (Full Moon), bringing news that will tend to destabilize a situation (Cauda Draconis). This is the general interpretation for this eclipse.

Now we can ask ourselves: is this going to be bad? How things are going to unfold? In order to answer to this question we want to look at the ruler of the Moon.

Jupiter as the Ruler of the Eclipse

The ruler of a planet is always going to provide information about how things are going to turn out. This is a general rule in Astrology. So if we want to understand how things are going to go (once destabilized) we need to look at the ruler of the Moon. Since the Moon is in Sagittarius, we are going to look at Jupiter to see how he’s doing.

Jupiter is going to be at 1° 11′ Pisces, and this is very good news. First of all Jupiter is a benefic planet, also called Fortuna Major—Great Fortune. Secondly, Jupiter is also going to be in Pisces, his nocturnal domicile. Being a very strong, dignified and benefic Jupiter the ruler of the Eclipse, we can say that things are definitely going to be destabilized for the good. In other words, things are going to be released and purified by this eclipse.

Some could argue that Jupiter in Pisces is going to make a hard aspect (a Square) with the Moon in Sagittarius. And that’s true, usually a Square comes with tension. But for a planet, having an aspect (any aspect for the matter) with its ruler is always a good thing. In technical terms the Moon, hence the Eclipse itself, is received well by a dignified benefic in its domicile.

But how is Jupiter going to contribute to the Eclipse? This is where Buddhism and the purification of thinking come into play.

Lunar Eclipses and Purification of Thinking

We know from Astrosophy that an eclipse is a very peculiar event. In order to understand it, we need first of all to remember that from a spiritual perspective thoughts, feelings, and instincts are real things. The Soul World—the Anima Mundi—is filled with them. They are all around us, constantly affecting our inner world. So in general it’s very different if we are surrounded by good thoughts or bad thoughts. And sensitive people can feel it.

Steiner said that during a Lunar Eclipse, impure and nasty thoughts dwelling in the Soul World have the opportunity to enter the Sphere of the Earth, and to affect it with their influence. This means that not any kind of soul substance, but thoughts in particular, are affected during this kind of eclipses.

This leads to a greater concentration of this type of thoughts during a lunar eclipse. And this can be very bad if we lower our level of consciousness during the event. For this reason from a spiritual standpoint it is crucial to be aware, and present to ourselves, during an eclipse.

But what about Jupiter? Jupiter in Pisces is particularly related to thoughts and abstract thinking. In Astrological terms it’s about the philosophical activity of the Higher Mind (Jupiter) escaping the world of the senses (Pisces). In Anthroposophical terms, we know that Pisces corresponds to the Cultural Epoch of the Consciousness Soul, a member of the human soul represented precisely by the forces of Jupiter.

You will now understand how the spiritual forces of Buddhism are actually perfectly aligned with this cosmic event.

Buddhism and Purification of Thinking

The activity of pure thinking—thinking not related to the world of the senses—is an expression of the Consciousness Soul. But in order to do that, in order to practice pure thinking, the preliminary step consists in disidentify yourself from automatic thoughts. Which are the by product of sense related thinking. After that, you can reach a state of awarenesses or, as they say in Buddhism, “being in the present moment, in the here and now”.

The western path pointed out by Anthroposophy doesn’t have this practice as the main goal. However, it’s clearly a crucial, preliminary step for spiritual development. We find it not only in the first of the so called 6 Exercises. But also in the Philosophy of Freedom, where Steiner points out to look at thoughts as an object of observation. When you do it, you also immediately disidentify yourself from automatic thoughts. You look at them as something you can contemplate in front of you with an inner eye, so to speak.

Purification of Thinking is something that these great spiritual paths have in common.

The Eclipse in Your Natal Chart

From a Spiritual perspective we can look at this Eclipse as an invitation to:

1. Become more aware and being in the present moment, definitely the best homage we can pay to the Buddha;
2. Recognize and disidentify ourselves from automatic thinking in order to develop pure thinking.

From a Soul perspective, in order to see if and how the eclipse is going to affect you please check 5° 25′ Sagittarius in your Natal Chart. The effect of the eclipse depends on the house it falls in, especially if any planet is involved (I take 1° orb). A Lunar Eclipse brings sudden news (Full Moon) about things that are ending (South Node) in the area of life represented by the house. You also want to check the meaning of any planet involved in the chart, such as the houses that it rules. The unpredictable effect of the eclipse lasts at least 6 months.

Most Affected Locations

As you may know, I usually use Astrocartography and the eclipse path to determine where the eclipse is going to be stronger. Astrocartography can show us where in the world the event is going to take place on one of the angles: Ascendant (red line), Descendant (yellow line), Midheaven (green line) and Imum Coeli (light blue line). In an astrological chart these spots are the most powerful.

We are also going to combine these information with the actual path of the eclipse, from which the event is going to be visible. Here’s the eclipse path provided by TimeAndDate.com:

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