Eclipses and Houses Monday Morning Check-In Post

How Are You??!!

“What house is your blah, blah, blah in?” I’ve been asked many a time and always answered with a shrug. My interest in astrology has been more focused on the macro, ie: how particular aspects and events may affect the collective, and less on the personal minutiae. Oh, sure, I know in what sign my sun, moon, and rising are. The same is true for some of my planets, but not all of them, and I could not tell you anything about my houses.

Well, that changed last week when my interest in learning more about astrology from a personal perspective was piqued largely by my sister saying, “The Solar Eclipse next week is happening in your _________ house,” triggering this thought, “Maybe I should look into what the heck this even means.”

WTF even are houses????

Sections would be the answer.

There are twelve sections on the circular chart of one’s astrological map, that’s it. Houses are sections on the chart each relating to a specific area of one’s life.

“Houses” always felt so mysterious to me. Sections- well, we all know what sections are- a piece of the pie. (writing the word pie is nudging me to remind you to watch “Resident Alien”).

The houses sit in a circle running counter-clockwise beginning at the Eastern point of the horizon, middle left of the chart, or the 9:00 position on the face of a clock (see the image below).

It’s flat on a piece of paper, a circle comprised of twelve sections (houses) each thirty degrees apart. What falls into them - celestial bodies, planets, and astrological constellations - is based on the Earth’s 24-hour spin on its axis. The houses stay put, it’s the view of the sky that changes. So, perceive the flat map of the astrological chart, blank, thrown up on the sky exactly at the moment you are born, and this determines where everything lands in your natal chart.

If you were to look at it from a 3D perspective, suddenly the entirety of the sky sits all around you, with you at the center of your map/chart sitting here on Earth at the date and time of your birth in the location where you were born. These three pieces of information are crucial in filling in the map of one’s natal astrological chart, as this denotes the sky, exactly as it was the moment you were born based on your location.

Simple diagram of astrological houses based on Western Astrology

Houses one through six are referred to as the personal houses and relate to matters of the self, identity, and close relationships with others. Houses seven through twelve are referred to as the interpersonal houses and relate to experiences that take us beyond our individual needs and interactions into partnerships, collaborations, and deep philosophical and spiritual realms. A full rundown of the houses can be found here and in many other articles on the interwebs.

Okay, great, now how do I find out what house an eclipse will be in based on my chart?

First, run your natal/birth chart. Have a qualified astrologer do this for you or use a free online tool. These tools will also include some generic interpretations of your chart.

I like this one, this one, this one, or this one.

Now look up which sign the eclipse is happening in. The Solar Eclipse this October 2nd, which will be exact at 1:45pm Central time, is occurring in Libra. This handy page denotes when each eclipse will happen and in which sign from 1945 to 2050. All astronomical and scientific data, including the exact times of all eclipses, can be found here.

Now go back to your natal chart, find the house where the sign of the eclipse happening is sitting (for this one, Libra), and voila! You now know how this eclipse may affect you more personally as eclipses tend to highlight the properties of the house/section of yours in which they correlate. You can also use this calculator to do it. (I offered a simplistic view here without factoring in the degree to which the eclipse is in Libra. Using the calculator I gave will factor the exact degree in, and this may change the house position for you. It did not change it for me).

This Solar Eclipse in Libra lands in my third house. The third house is about communication, thoughts, ideas, and how we express ourselves with the people we are close to. Siblings are often referenced as an example. Libra is about cooperation, harmony, balance, and justice. Fascinating that this interest in the houses would be suddenly brought to me by my sister with whom I have been effectively communicating a lot right now due to the situation with our mother. It’s pretty much on the nose.

In the bigger picture, solar eclipses tend to bring power shifts. With this one happening in Libra, any inequities or imbalances will be highlighted as Libra is focused on fairness, balance, cooperation, and the biggie - justice.

“No justice, no peace!” I’ve chanted it again and again in demonstrations I have been a part of. Expect to become more aware of injustices this week and a deep desire emerging in you to remedy them both personally and in the bigger picture.

Eclipses can also usher in some pretty big and life-altering events, both personally and in the collective. The period between the eclipses can be the most intense. We are currently dealing with violent weather patterns and climate change disasters worldwide. My thoughts and love are with all of you who have been affected.

Although technically only two eclipses are happening during this system which began with the Lunar Eclipse on September 17th/18th, there is an “Almost Eclipse” on October 17th when we will also experience a supermoon in Aries. We won’t move out of the intensity of the eclipse energy until a few weeks after October 17th. It’s a lot. I am feeling it all and thinking about people I love in the Southern parts of our country, including those in the hardest-hit areas of North Carolina.

How are you??!! Please let me know in the comment section below.

*Disclaimer - I am not a professional astrologer. I wrote this piece in part to deepen my understanding of the content. If you have an interpretation or add-on to what I am offering and want to share it in the comments to be helpful to the group here, please do. Also, I tried to find the natal chart for the US to see which house the eclipse is falling in for the country. There are so many differing opinions on this that I gave up, which seems to reflect the experience of being a citizen of the United States.

If you missed our Equinox and Eclipses event last week, you can get the audio recording here or here. This transmission was filled with so much information, healing, and love.

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