The 1999 Solar Eclipse
When the Moon passes in front of the Sun and partially or wholly obscures
it a Solar Eclipse is created, which can be seen on Earth by an observer
situated in the area covered by the shadow. When the Moon passes into the
Earth's shadow and is obscured there is a Lunar Eclipse, visible from an
entire hemisphere of the Earth.
This is the chart for the major Solar Eclipse which occurs on 11th
August 1999, set for its point of totality at Lizard Point in Cornwall.
It is referred to by some as the Nostradamus Eclipse because the famous
astromancer predicted the eclipse and wrote about a series of events he
associated with it by prophecy.
The chart is dominated by a powerful Fixed Grand Cross, and the Sun/Moon
conjunction in the tenth house is opposite a close conjunction of Uranus
and the South Node. The most powerful Grand Cross occurs at the Points
Of Avatar, which are half way through each of the fixed signs, e.g. 15
degrees Scorpio. When the Sun is at these degrees in the natural Zodiac,
it is at the points connected with Celtic Festivals in the Old Style calendar,
such as Samhain. In this chart, Mars is within two degrees of this point,
and so this intense Grand Cross is also very closely associated with the
Points Of Avatar.
The Cornish Tourist Board can take satisfaction from the position of
the Part Of Fortune, incidentally, exactly conjunct the Ascendant, in Libra.
A dramatic eclipse in the Pacific on 5 February 1962 involved a conjunction
of Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, the seven principal
members of the Solar System, in the sign of Aquarius, not more than 16°
wide. On 14 June 2151 at 1825 hr there will be a 99% total eclipse in central
London (total in Sheffield and Norfolk). The oldest recorded Solar Eclipse
is on a clay tablet found among the ruins of Ugarit, now in Syria, and
records the eclipse of 5 March 1223 BC. In 450 BC Anaxagoras of Clazomenae
reasoned that because the Earth's shadow on the Moon was curved, the Earth
must therefore itself be spherical.
Other types of eclipses are the Penumbral Eclipse and the Annular Eclipse.
A Penumbral Eclipse is one where the moon does not pass directly through
the shadow of the Earth, but hovers in the periphery in the penumbra of
the shadow. In an Annular Solar Eclipse the light of the Sun is not completely
blocked despite the precise alignment, due to the relative distances of
the three planetary bodies, and a ring or annulus of sunlight is visible
around the circumference of the Moon.
Eclipses have always been regarded as being of considerable significance.
The ancients are said to have believed that the Sun and Moon were being
swallowed by a dragon called Atalia. Eclipses were regarded as malignant
in a chart if the degrees involved were conjunct the radical Sun, Moon,
ASC, MC or any malefic. New techniques are still being pioneered for eclipse
interpretation, thanks to computer technology, and though the essence of
most eclipse researches are similar, there are diferences among various
schools.
This page was
last updated on 12/06/03