Have you ever watched a movie so unrealistic that you just can’t get into it? It’s hamfisted, full of unreasonable characters and scenarios so hairbrained that no real human being would go along with the chain of events that unfold. There’s an underlying metaphor so thinly veiled that you just have to roll your eyes and every line of dialogue delivers overdramatized profundity. That movie is 2020, and this eclipse could be the turning point.

Solar eclipses occur when the moon intercepts our view of the sun. Symbolically, this is where our emotions prevent our highest expression; where our internal world clouds out everything else around us. This can be enlightening, giving us a rare opportunity to examine the shadows we project, but it requires a degree of introspection that only comes with intention and focus--two things that are nearly impossible in the wake of volatile emotionality.

And volatile emotionality is the name of the game lately.

Cancer season begins in earnest on June 21st, but we began to feel the pull as early as the end of May, when Mercury moved into the sign and urged us to express all our deepest feelings. For many, this seems ill-timed: private Cancer spent considerable time in the spotlight over the last few years while the North Node encouraged us to reach into the watery depths and plum the recesses of our private lives. The lunar nodes dictate the eclipse cycles, and there’s been a considerably electric tension around the Cancer/Capricorn axis. In the summer of 2018, we were asked to examine our ambitions, status, and outward reach, and figure out whether this was in balance with our domestic lives--by the time the North Node progressed into Gemini this May, many of us had completely redefined the concepts of family and home. But if astrology teaches us anything, it’s that growth is a continued process. Our priorities have changed, our hearts refocused, but now we need to project this into the world around us and make the changes permanent.

But before we do this, we need to take a look backwards.

Mercury is retrograde in Cancer until July 12th. Retrogrades are a time of reflection, revisiting lessons to refine solutions. It stands to follow that this retrograde through Cancer is meant to crystalize the lessons learned over the last few years and provide valuable time to revisit the growth we’ve experienced. When I wrote the Retrograde Ready workbook for 2020, this particular Mercury retrograde stood out as a time to note the tension between material and spiritual growth. It’s no surprise that the Devil began to spring up in my readings during the retrograde shadow, highlighting the “below” of our personal cosmologies. Everywhere we look, earthly concerns threaten to creep in and build dams against our evolution. This is compounded by the symbolism of this particular eclipse as well: at the time this phenomenon perfects, at 2:41 AM on June 21st, both the Sun and Moon are at 0 degrees of Cancer. This degree presents the image of a craftsperson fully absorbed in their work, carefully navigating the act of creation with all the skill they have honed over their years. However, this becomes a double-edged sword: if we are too focused on perfection, we willfully ignore other mitigating factors. The eclipse thrusts our emotions into a spotlight, forcing us to pause our work and examine what’s behind the scenes. With the North Node just one degree behind in Gemini, we may find that the ideas we express are not totally in line with the emotions we foster, let alone the lives we build for ourselves.

We also feel a distinct gravity from Mars and Neptune, both deep in the wine-dark sea of Pisces and further anchored by Pluto and Jupiter both retrograde in devilish Capricorn. While Neptune continues to lend its signature haze of confusion to the mix, Mars pulls the strings of tension: if you try to act out into the world, you may find yourself sinking in the quicksand of materiality. There is no escaping the pull within: we absolutely must face down our shadow in order to continue on. This is a time of spiritual seeking. Answers come through dreams, meditation, or altered states of mind. Reality feels more illusory than our inner worlds, but this is ultimately to our benefit. Saturn is still in retrograde, currently trine Venus in her own trek backwards, softening our structures and allowing us to revise our routines and realities. Relationships are fluid, far from the social ties that normally bind. We are in a perfect position to step back and examine our role from the outside in.

Our eclipse chart shows the ascendant at 12 degrees of Taurus, in direct conjunction with a point called the Part of Fortune. The Part of Fortune is not a planet, nor an asteroid, and does not represent a single celestial body in the chart--rather, it’s a mathematical equation used to represent a source of abundance. If you’ve tuned into any of my morning readings on Instagram or read my Retrograde Ready workbook, you’ve definitely heard me say that 2020 asks us to redefine success. Prosperity looks very different on this side of the Saturn Pluto conjunction, but figuring out what that means to each one of us individually is an ongoing process. Many of the planets currently in retrograde make us keenly aware of our fear of scarcity and others emphasise health and happiness against all odds. The Part of Fortune is an interesting point, indicating physicality in all its forms--especially in Taurus, the Sign of the Sensual World. It brings health, pleasure, and resources to the forefront--a mixed blessing, considering the themes we’re dealing with. 12 Degrees of Taurus in particular is about removing one’s self from the world of our own creation to examine where we’ve boxed ourselves in by desire. We may be clinging to a past that keeps us stuck in a cycle long outgrown. It’s ultimately up to us to turn these would-be distractions into support structures, removing our focus from the world around us and placing it on the world within. Very literally, we are forced to see the shadow of our subconscious as it eclipses the world around us--sometimes, the universe is completely on the nose and it doesn’t get more literal than an annular solar eclipse.

During this time, it’s important to take stock of the growth you’ve experienced. Read through old journals, look back in your datebooks, and ground yourself in the change. You may not be where you thought you were going, but you are still miles away from where you started. If this brings up feelings of sadness or resentment, examine their source. If the answer is desire, check your definitions of success and abundance and see where they’re more in line with your reality than you might initially think. This year is bookended by serious Saturnian aspects, and as we enter the second half of 2020, we find ourselves examining new structures. The Saturn Pluto conjunction in January cracked the Pandora’s Box of our shadow wide open, and the Saturn Jupiter conjunction in December will break the chains that keep us tethered to cycles of the past. As we reach towards the ingress of so many outer planets, we feel a rush of new ideas and expression--but first, we need to make room in our hearts for these ideas to take root.