Red Tent Round Up #5: April New Moon Solar Eclipse in Aries
Just My Thoughts This Month: The Mythology of Kheiron, the Eclipse, and Three Worldy Examples of Some Relevance
The concept of the Red Tent is a revived Native American tradition where the community held space for women during menstruation, honouring their physical embodiment of the natural cycles and heightened intuitive capacity at this time.
As many women menstruate with the New Moon, this monthly round-up of material, relevant to the astrology, is intended to be both comforting and thought-provoking for all those embracing the slow, dark depths of this transformational period (pun absolutely intended).
This Red Tent Round-Up will be published monthly, just before the New Moon, with the Sabian Symbol for the degree of the New Moon provided for reflection. The rest is my redistribution of words and works from the Wise Women (and Men!) I am fortunate to have happened upon. Le grá, in love.
“If you don’t like something, change it.
If you can’t change it, change your attitude.”
— Maya Angelou (Aries)
This New Moon Solar Eclipse occurs at 19 degrees of Aries, Monday (The Moon’s Day) 8th April 2024, 19:21 GMT (Dublin, Ireland).
Aries Keywords: Assertion, Initiative, Self-Actualisation, Fervour, Intemperance, Dynamism, Enterprise, Courage, Dominance, Leadership, Innovation, Scientific Advancements
The Sabian Symbol (Dane Rudhyar & Elsie Wheeler) for 19 Aries:
THE “MAGIC CARPET” OF ORIENTAL IMAGERY.
“The use of creative imagination. A way of life refusing a hectic involvement in social competition and waste-producing overproduction allows for the development of unattached and transcendent understanding. The static floor (carpet) on which man’s feet (symbols of understanding) rest can become transformed into the means for great flights of imagination and super-physical perception. The period of rest from outwardly directed activity bound to collective normality presents the creative mind with the possibility of surveying in dreams the totality of the present-day social situation, thus “to see whole.” A strife-transcending and unattached outlook upon everyday reality.”
Well, this month we have a special New Moon: a Solar Eclipse in Aries, the sign of Mars.
How fascinating that we have a Sabian Symbol concerned with oriental imagery, when the depiction of eclipses in their most memorable form is steeped in oriental mysticism.
Eclipses occur when there is a New Moon or Full Moon within range of the Lunar Nodes, producing a Solar or Lunar Eclipse, respectively. The Nodes are hypothetical points in space, rather than physical bodies. However, the Oriental astrological traditions treated them as bodies, with their own agencies, naming them Rahu (North Node) and Ketu (South Node).
The nodes were depicted as a great dragon that swallows the Sun and Moon. The head of the dragon, Rahu, magnifies and intensifies. The tail of the dragon, Ketu, diminishes and weakens.
We have a Solar Eclipse in bold and brazen Aries, the exaltation sign of the Sun, on the exact exaltation degree for the Sun (19 deg), within three degrees of Rahu, in the Solar Decan.
With so much Solar and Martian masculine energy infusing this Eclipse, is it any wonder that most of the personalities featured here this month are men?
The eclipse is also exactly conjunct asteroid Chiron, a romanisation of the name of the Greek Centaur Kheiron. This is extremely rare and particularly fascinating when we examine the nature of worldly events taking place within the context of the Kheiron story (below section).
Eclipses typically bring the fall of powerful leaders, talented professionals, or anyone of authority. Of course, thereafter there is usually a successor, so eclipses can bring personal gains under certain circumstances.
This is an intensifying eclipse - Rahu the dragon’s head - and the increased energies need to be channeled appropriately. Aries’ focus and drive can get a major project over the line, but that same energy can cause heads to butt: divorces, resignations, arguments and accidents often accompany an Aries eclipse.
The Adrenals (flight or fight hormones) are particularly affected, and as per the invitation of our Sabian Symbol, taking time for rest and contemplation will bring balance to those systems.
There is a refreshing lack of stifling self-consciousness with Arian energy that allows for groundbreaking experimentalism. Aries is pioneering and willing to take risks, however, we may run head-first into new projects that require more than the initially supposed commitment.
Journal: Have you ever barrelled into a project head-first without any prior planning? If yes, did it work for you? What compelled you? What did you learn? If no, why not? What was holding you back? Do you need a healthier relationship with risk, or self-consciousness?
This is a particularly potent New Moon Solar Eclipse for anyone with planets in cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn), even more so when on the angles (1st, 4th, 7th and 10th Houses).
Given the cardinal nature of Aries, events may manifest suddenly and intensely, but with relatively immediate conclusions. The effects may be felt up to 90 days or so post-eclipse.
THE WORLDY ROUND UP
The Mythology of Kheiron, the Eclipse, and Three Examples of Why It’s Relevant to the World Right Now
Kheiron was the offspring of an uninvited assault upon the beautiful nymph Philyra by Kronos (Saturn). Philyra attempted to evade Kronos’ advances by transfiguring into a mare and fleeing, but Kronos pursued her in the form of a stallion.
At birth, Kheiron was abandoned by Philyra, but the Solar deity Apollo adopted the young demi-God Centaur. Under Apollo’s guidance, Kheiron matured into a sophisticated and scholarly Centaur, whose knowledge of astrology, hunting, music and medicine was sought after by many Greek warrior heroes.
Kheiron was accidentally wounded by the poison arrow of his student, Hercules. Given the immortality of the demi-God, he suffered relentless agony, and despite being a renowned healer, he could not heal the wound himself. Zeus took pity on Kheiron, and granted him death.
Kheiron & The Eclipse Astrology
Given the rare, exact conjunction of the eclipse to asteroid Chiron, let’s examine this in story a little further.
Venus is also present in Aries for the eclipse, but this is the sign of her Fall. From my experience, Venus in Aries/Fall in birth charts can speak to illicit romances, sexual affairs or deviances, sexual trauma or assault, and general relationship drama - much like the story of Kheiron’s mother Philyra. Planets in Fall can become disgraced or behave unconventionally - Philyra’s abandonment of her child.
The Arian energy has some less savory associations, given the ruler Mars: war, bloodshed, violence, sexual assault, ruthlessness, recklessness, dominance, ego, aggression, etc.
However, the higher consciousness Arian expression tends towards the exalted qualities of the Sun: diplomacy, fairness, dignity, leadership, tact, bravery, cooperation, etc.
Centaurs were typically rowdy, violent, sexually aroused and persistently pesky creatures with little time for higher knowledge. The Solar consciousness of Apollo guides Kheiron towards great learning, generosity and temperance, transcending his more instinctual Centaurian nature.
Despite Kheiron’s gift for diplomacy and healing, his teachings focused on training warriors for battle, perpetuating the violence and aggression so innately connected to the story of his genesis.
The conjunction of the Sun, Moon and Chiron this eclipse signals a need for integration of the active Solar and passive Lunar principles, with reflection on our wounds from early childhood or other formative experiences, such as romantic relationships, and how these manifest as our shadow qualities.
Ruler of the eclipse Mars is in close conjunction to Saturn in Pisces. Mars-Saturn combinations can be particularly oppressive and tyrannical. The martyring inclination of Pisces here creates the victim-turned-abuser motif. The warmongering Martian energy combined with Saturn’s concern for boundaries creates boundary collision conflicts. Mars is concerned with the sign of Aries, the first sign that may be associated with the genesis and origin of matters.
Hmmmm, what contemporary genocide story does this remind us of?
Here’s where my own political bias and personal world view might colour this eclipse interpretation… With some weirdness towards the end.
1. The Genocide of Gaza
An obvious but important one… The headlines are flooded with empty articles on the Gaza genocide, but few report on the reality of the atrocities. Like Kheiron’s perpetuation of warriors and aggressors, a dominance game likely arising from early abandonment - so too is Israel acting out the victim-turned-abuser.
The blatant media bias towards Israel has only backfired, and almost everyone I know is now suspicious of the extent of political and corporate sway that Israel has somehow wrangled within its short existence.
Like Kheiron wounded by his own trainee, the social media evidence of the IDF’s barbaric nature is spreading like slow poison within the hearts and minds of the masses, i.e. Israel is ultimately wounding itself as all respect for the nation appears to be profusely hemorrhaging.
The tensions in Gaza peaked with the shooting on October 7th 2023, a week prior to the Solar Eclipse in Libra, the sign opposite Aries. I wish I could say that this started with an eclipse, and will end with one, but the situation escalates daily. We can say that the Eclipse may bring sudden and unexpected plot twists, hopefully for the better.
Here’s hoping that the Solar Aries consciousness takes precedence in the future unfolding events in Gaza.
What do you think?
Are you hoping for the ole’ historical Aries eclipse-associated assassination of a political leader to ring true…? Joking, I don’t condone violence as a remediation for violence…! But I would love to hear your thoughts on this seemingly hopeless situation, have you noticed a shift in people’s perceptions of the political power structures?
2. Vatican & Co. Demand Abolition of Surrogacy
On the weekend prior to the eclipse, the Holy See met in Rome with the co-signators of the Casablanca Declaration of 2023 - a committee of 100 experts of 75 nationalities concerned with the abolition of surrogacy (a collection of leaders - solar Aries theme).
Surrogacy refers to a contract between a woman and other parties, where the woman carries a baby to term in utero that is not her own child, often in exchange for compensation but not always. Surrogacy is usually sought after only when the possibility of carrying a child to term is a medical risk or impossibility.
The Venus in Aries theme is apparent here, as this combination often accompanies issues around women’s rights, and the violation of their bodies. Philyra essentially acted as a surrogate, given that she had no intent to raise Kheiron.
Of course the Vatican’s involvement in the matter is signified by the Saturn-Mars conjunction in Pisces - a sign associated with the Roman Catholic Church, notorious for it’s nefarious involvement in the reproductive rights of women.
The committee wishes for surrogacy to be abolished on the grounds that it commodifies women and children. The issue is an incredibly difficult one to ethically assess - on the one hand, we have amazing technological advancements (a Sun/Mars Aries theme) that enables parenthood for those who otherwise would not experience such joy. On the other, there are very real and serious human trafficking issues that the practice of surrogacy would incentivize.
The negative effects of separating babies from their birth Mother is well documented as causing abandonment and attachment issues well into adulthood for the individuals born by surrogacy. Olivia Maurel, a born-by-surrogate activist involved with the Casablanca Declaration, wrote a fascinating piece for Evie Magazine about her experience.
What do you think?
Should women be free to act as surrogates, as “their bodies are their choices” after all? Or should there be certain prohibitions within certain contexts?
3. NASA wages war against the Sun and CERN might be opening space-time.
This is where things get weird, and I love it.
Firstly, NASA will be firing three sounding rockets into the shadow of the Moon to test the effects of the eclipse upon the ionosphere - the boundary between Earth and space . Cue Mars-Saturn in Pisces: technological exploration (Mars) of the boundary (Saturn), and spacey Pisces speaks for itself.
The experiment has been named The Atmospheric Perturbations around Eclipse Path (APEP). NASA has explained that Apep is an Egyptian serpent deity, the nemesis of the Sun God Ra, representing chaos, darkness and evil.
Rockets fired into the Sun is certainly a fitting image for such a deity. The dragon-serpent motif of Rahu according to oriental astrology, the Node that “swallows the Sun” in Aries, is then a bizarrely coincidental image in its own right.
CERN, the European Centre for Nuclear Research, will be firing up the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) on April 8th. The LHC is an experimental nuclear particle physics device constructed from a 27 km circumference ring of magnetized superconductors, traversing the Swiss-French border.
One of the stranger speculations is that the intention is to open up interdimensional portals. For what? Lord knows. There are many who reckon reality has been altered since they started messing around with the LHC, and some believe that the collective misremembering phenomenon called the Mandela Effect may be attributable to these experiments.
(For the record, no C3P0 in Star Wars did NOT have a silver leg in my memory. This has to be evidence that reality has been tampered with.)
Things have gotten weird, like the New Year’s Day Miami mall aliens incident also being attributed by some to the activity at CERN - yep, that was a thing - although Police claimed the massive Police presence was brought about by teenagers messing with fireworks. In favour of the alien theory, this guy’s testimony of the events seems relatively reasonable.
Personally I wouldn’t completely disregard the idea that CERN could be messing with space-time, simply because, like Kheiron with his superior knowledge of healing and medicine, there were forces beyond the limitations of his knowledge that he could not overcome. Our human arrogance (how Aries) regarding scientific knowledge never ceases to amaze me; there are always unknown unknowns.
Whether these claims are true or not, the immense energetic forces required by CERN to make groundbreaking discoveries are extremely aligned with an Aries Solar Eclipse motif. What will they discover on this round? Oppenheimer, the inventor of the atomic bomb, had a Venus-Jupiter conjunction in Aries. Aries is big (kinda scary) energy stuff. The more outlandish theories may be attributable to the Mars in Pisces influence, as Pisces thinks “big thoughts”.
My main takeaway is that humans are capable of incredible things, sometimes destructive things, and we exalt ourselves to the status of demi-Gods and Goddesses. Yet eclipses are those times when we may indeed be blindsided and humbled, we may be tested and our true mortality made apparent.
What do you think?
Has life gotten weirder? Does the nature of reality seem to change with every passing year? Is it an affirming experience for you, or is it disconcerting?
An open mind is one of the better Arian qualities. The nature of reality certainly has a way of getting weirder and uncertain over time, at least in my experience.
However, when we zoom out and see how world events seem to slot neatly within the astrological motifs, there is this sense that we are being afforded a momentary glimpse within the mind of God/the Universal Intelligence; things will run their course according to an intelligent design.
Wishing you as peaceful a Solar Eclipse as is reasonably possible!
I.C.Y.M.I
Here’s last month’s Red Tent for the New Moon in Pisces…
I finally started my RedBubble shop called Lexophilia (still in its infancy!), where you can get a Selenophile notebook, or other surreal art prints, along with some other interesting words (and patterns coming soon!)
Retreat. Regenerate. Rebirth. Xx
Hello, Hello There!
I’m Sarah Griffin, this is Griff-in-Theory. Irish Vilomah, ex-pharmaceutical scientist, creative and inquisitive spirit, lover of both the macabre and the mystical. This is a space for pondering, so I would love to hear your ponderings in the comments.
Fab as always! Extra fascinating. Mad month to be fair. Your writing is exquisite.