The Big Risk the 2018 Final Solar Eclipse Wants You to Take

The upcoming new moon solar eclipse in Leo on August 11 is asking you to listen to your true heart’s desire and to make the changes you need to bring more joy, more pleasure, and more passion into your life.

It can be a liberating experience for those who feel as if their life is not as joyful or as happy as they were hoping it would be. This eclipse can motivate you to make the moves you need to create a life you really love.

However, it can frighten others who are resistant to change, don’t know what they want, or are afraid to take the risks in order to get what they want.

Sometimes being happy is scary because it takes radical confidence and an unwavering belief in one’s self to make the life of your dreams truly manifest. This year’s last solar eclipse is asking you to do just that — to break out of your old ruts or patterns and do something radically different in accordance with your own heart.

In true Leo fashion, the mood of the eclipse is asking you to not be afraid and shine your own light into the world, even if the rest of your life seems dark, or even if it is something you never in a million years thought you would do.

 by Brittany Binowski

The Universe Has Your Back

The new moon solar eclipse in Leo will be conjunct Mercury, which is currently going retrograde, and in a square with Jupiter. This can bring up lots of important conversations about what you truly want and feel. It is not a time to hide your own emotions, or to pretend they don’t exist, but to go deeper and deeper into your own soul and experiences to find the truth.

With Mercury nearing the end of its retrograde cycle, and with the sun being so close to a conjunction with Mercury, you may receive important news, insights, or answers about what exactly you need in your life to be happy, if you allow yourself to go there.

It will also form a quincunx to Pluto in Capricorn. This means that in order to do more of what you love in life, you may have to let go of or change some of your pre-existing ideas of what your life should be like, or what you thought you once wanted it to be.

At the time of the eclipse, Venus will also be in Libra, opposite Chiron, trine Mars, and square Saturn. Relationships and money will play a key factor in this eclipse. You may find that after doing some soul searching to figure out what you really want, you need to have some uncomfortable conversations with the people that mean the most to you, or make some serious decisions about your relationships and finances that can drastically alter the course of your life. You could also possibly feel restricted by others, or by your financial needs at this time.

Need a little help figuring out what it is you really want? 

Uranus is in a square with Mars and the lunar nodes, and a trine with Saturn. This could also bring lots of unexpected events as you or others break free from some old structures in life that may have been providing obstacles.

With Jupiter also in a trine with Neptune at this time, there could be some emotional sensitivities or undertones lingering beneath the surface. However, these inner promptings or intuitions can help you to make the right changes and adjustments you need, with more clarity, so you can feel more comfortable in life.

An eclipse occurs when the sun, earth, and moon all align on a path called the ecliptic. The ecliptic is an invisible circular line through space which denotes the sun’s journey through our solar system.

The north and south nodes in an astrological chart signify where exactly the ecliptic is located at any given time. Both the sun and moon must be in close degrees to the ecliptic, or lunar nodes, at the same time for an eclipse to occur.

Eclipses typically occur in pairs, in opposing signs, over the course of a year and a half. At the end of that year and half, the lunar south and north nodes change signs, and another cycle begins.

The eclipses are currently in the signs of Leo and Aquarius. At the end of this year, the eclipses will occur in the signs of Cancer and Capricorn.

However, this past month on July 11, we did have our first partial eclipse since 2011 in the sign of Cancer, heralding the start of that new cycle. Be on the lookout for things you experienced during that time seven years ago to come back up for review.

The last eclipse in the Leo-Aquarius series will be a lunar eclipse in Leo on January 21, 2019.

How Eclipses Affect Us

Eclipses in astrology are essentially super-powered new or full moons, that bring major, fated events in life that can last for six months at least, until the next series of eclipses, or many times even longer, affecting our lives for years to come.

Eclipses force decisions and events in our lives that we have been putting off, or inspire us to act so that we can break free from old or limiting patterns in our lives.

They serve as catalysts to correct our course, if we are not on the right path — or propel us forward even more onto our current path, if it is the right one.

Because eclipses can bring with them such major events and emotions, it is helpful to spend some time to yourself during an eclipse to process the insights and information you are receiving. It is also helpful at this time to let the things in your life that are no longer meant for you leave, and to open yourself up to the new opportunities they can bring.

Fighting against the messages, nudges, and inklings you receive during this time could create inner conflict, exacerbating some of the eclipses’ more negative effects.

Being open to receive what comes your way will help to ensure a more positive outcome, and an easier transition, into the new circumstances and experiences eclipses usher in.