I have learned so much recently about Vedic astrology I wasn’t really interested in watching or being exposed to the eclipse light. Because my new understanding is the power and sacredness of these celestial events, reaching far beyond the immediate experience into the very depths of our souls, collective consciousness, and individual life journeys on this planet.
I wanted to be in silence, nature, solitude and feel the power as the Sun, Moon, Rahu, and Mercury all aligned together and very close to my own natal Sun Mars and Mercury in Pisces. Three planets being eclipsed including my ruling planet (Mercury for Gemini rising). This configuration of most of the planets in the last three signs of the zodiac (Aquarius, Pisces, and Aries) hasn’t happened since the time I was born…60 years ago…and won’t happen for another 60 years. This is all about letting go, surrender and rebirth. The symbol of the Nakshatras (segments of Pisces) Uttara Bhadrapada and Purva Bhadrapada are the front and then the back legs of the death bed.
The tarot card Hanged Man originates from this nakshatra. That Tarot Card is also the last card in the deck, meaning you reach the point of complete surrender after many life experiences which show you that the only path is following Divine Will. Whatever is in your highest alignment stays, with no effort, and what isn’t falls away. And the death of that is pretty painful.
The Tarot Cards represent 78 passages of growth and evolution we go through to reach the end, which is letting go of it all. After that is a rebirth with the Fool Card, which represent Aries energy, innocent and unbound and naive. Just starting out with no experience. The Fool will make many mistakes as he goes through his Heroes Journey towards on the path of evolution and liberation.
Another reverence for this eclipse configuration is in the Old Testament in the story of Jonah and the Whale. In other words, this same alignment of the Sun, Moon, Mercury and Rahu in Pisces happened during this Biblical event.
God called to Jonah one day and told him to go preach to Nineveh because the people were very wicked. Jonah hated this idea because Nineveh was one of Israel’s greatest enemies and Jonah wanted nothing to do with preaching to them!
Instead he took a boat to go to a different town. That is when the storm took over the seas, (caused by an eclipse in with the same alignment of planets as the current one) he got tipped out of the boat, eaten by a whale, and after three days got spit out onto the shores of Ninevah. The people believed Jonah, turned from their wickedness, and God had mercy on them. Jonah now became angry and bitter because God did not destroy the Ninevites who were Israel’s enemy!
Here is where we all need to accept one another and make peace, stop quarreling and warring. Here is where Saturn and Mars come into exact alignment in this trecherous Nakshatra of Purva Badrapada which happens exactly today on April 10th. (This is one Nakshatra behind Revati where the eclipse happened).
During the days leading up to the Eclipse on April 8, 2024, the Sun traveled through these nakshatras Uttara Bhadrapada, Purva Badrapada, and then eclipsed in the very last section of Pisces (Revati Nakshatra). It may sound a bit dark and gloomy at first, and it is challenging energy because our concepts and beliefs get put to the ultimate test. For instance, how hard is it to let go of the hurts others have caused you? Even though you may believe that is a good thing to do, are you still nursing grudges from the past? However, Revati is seen as a Nakshatra that nurtures and fosters wealth, expansion, and vigour. So Revati is like the rainbow after the storm.
This procession represents the stages of life on earth. We have already gone through the 25 previous Nakshatras over the course of the year. The very last part of life as well as the zodiac, is letting go of everything. It is also death of ego. This is a profound shift of Moksha or ultimate freedom that is unbound by anything outside. Something which can’t be understood by the mind because it is outside the mind. This is why Vedic Astrology used symbols and stories to illustrate things which can’t be understood by the mind.
This eclipse was going to completely change me in some way, over the period of some time. It was a completion of my life to this date, as really it is for all of us and a huge shift for each of us and the collective. I didn’t know if I might be struck by lightning or something. There was no use trying to hide in a closet. I came out here barefooted in nature to greet and welcome whatever turning point needed to happen.
I packed my banjo in my backpack and hiked barefoot into the forest near where I live to one of my favorite waterfall spots. I sat on a bed of moss and spent the eclipse playing/singing chants to Krishna, Ganesha, Saraswati, Shiva and slowing down into the silence of the universe. I didn’t need to look at the Star Sun, but could just feel it in my bones. I tuned to the sound of the water which was singing a constant Ohmm and there were a lot of birds coming near as I started to bring my own human sounds into the wilderness.
As the forest became darker and darker there was a point where it was like the last glimmer of twilight during the middle of the afternoon. There was a feeling of primordial fear with no object to direct the fear. I heard some rumbling thunder just over the ridge at about the darkest period, and the forest was dead silent besides the sound of the eternal ohm coming from the water crashing down the creek.
It wasn’t about one tiny moment in time when the actual alignment happens, but about the evolution of consciousness as it experiences the cycles of the Grahas (Planets) pulling and pushing us through different cycles on our journey to enlightenment. Lessons learned, experiences had, growth and development through the process of each life experience.
We are such tiny specs in comparison to these massive energies swirling around the Sun. Each of these energies are also inside of us. Understanding comes out of the chaos of random information which needs to be filtered, and through discernment, most of it discarded. But the few pieces of truth shine like gold nuggets through the veil of ignorance, confusion and illusion.