My latest book, Eclipses: Solar & Lunar was published this week. It’s book three of my Predictive Astrology series, and I’m pleased that I managed to complete it in time for the next eclipse season in September. If you’re a regular subscriber to this blog, my apologies for so few posts over the summer months: the book was my focus of attention – and real life has also been keeping me busier than usual. This book also marks the halfway point in that series (always a good moment) and it’s one that I truly enjoyed writing.
Recent (and not so recent) solar and lunar eclipses have given me so much material to work with. Though I’ve been working with the astrology of eclipses for years, their impact on us all at a personal level, as well as the way they shape history, is something that continues to amaze me. As we head into a new eclipse season next month, I’m sure the impact of the solar and lunar eclipses that are yet to come will be just as momentous, so perhaps now is a good time to remind ourselves of the power of eclipses in astrology.
The link to purchase this book is here: https://books2read.com/eclipses
Extract From Eclipses: Solar & Lunar
If I were asked to describe the effects of solar and lunar eclipses, how would I do so? That question crosses my mind on a regular basis because, as an astrologer, it’s often directed my way. Every month on my website, www.starcrazypie.com, I prepare lunation reports for the full moon and the new moon. They are some of the most widely viewed blog posts that I produce, but viewing figures increase dramatically during eclipse seasons. Astrology fans love an eclipse and that’s understandable, as solar and lunar eclipses have, in equal measure, fascinated and terrified the human race since the dawn of time.
Every ancient civilization across the globe sought to explain the changes in the condition of the Sun and Moon during an eclipse. To our ancestors, the most plausible explanation was supernatural; clearly some seriously bad demons were at work. During eclipses, they believed the Sun and Moon were being consumed by devils, so rituals were developed to scare away the forces of darkness. They lit fires, pots and pans were beaten like drums and receptacles of all kinds were turned upside down to avoid ‘catching’ the evil that rained down on the world.
To our ancestors, eclipses were a sign that all was not well, and who could blame them for believing that? When a solar eclipse occurred, day became night, and when a lunar eclipse appeared in the heavens, the Moon changed shape and appeared to be stained with blood. Eclipses were ill omens and that was the end of the matter. If you were a king in those ancient (and not so ancient) times, it made sense to know when eclipses, with their malign influences, were likely to occur.
Astrologers were hired to help kings and princes avoid the bad stuff, and this – remarkably – is how we arrived at the place where observable, empirical scientific scholarship began. The ‘need to know’ what fate had in store for powerful men became the seed bed for astronomical science – prompted, no doubt, by the fate that lay in store for the astrologer who got it wrong. Failure to accurately predict an eclipse was bad news for the seer – often existentially so.
In the 21st century, empirical science and the ‘dark arts’ (that’s astrology and the occult sciences) sit poles apart. No modern astronomer, astro-physicist or cosmologist would admit that there is anything to be gained by believing in astrology, yet it’s surprising how much we use predictive and forecasting techniques to inform modern, everyday life. The airwaves are filled with commentators, pundits and experts who discuss the potential outcomes of everything from elections to sports games, movements on the money markets, the future of the global economy and (of course) the weather.
They are attempting to predict the future as much as any much-maligned astrologer, but the good news is that we no longer kill our ‘super-forecasters’ when they get it wrong. And they do get it wrong, because, as every astrologer knows, the universe throws a curve ball from time to time, and eclipses are often the curve balls in question. However, of all the super forecasting arts, only astrology factors solar and lunar eclipses into the predictive equation.
So, what happens when a solar or lunar eclipse occurs? If I had to describe the effect of a solar eclipse it would be something like this: imagine you’re in a room. Suddenly the light is turned off. After a short while, the light is turned on again. You look around the room and everything is different. The furniture has been rearranged. And the wallpaper has been changed. It may not even be the same room, because a solar eclipse has the power to change everything. You may be in a completely different space. Whatever has happened, you can’t change things back to how they were before. You have to get used to whatever those new conditions are.
Now let’s apply that same analysis to a lunar eclipse. How, in simple terms, would I describe the effects a lunar eclipse? Well, imagine you enter a room and you see something you should not have seen. You back out quickly and close the door, and when you reopen the door and re-enter the room, everything seems normal. Except you can’t forget ‘that thing you saw’. At that moment, you know that whatever you thought was normal, usual, right or wrong, good or bad, is over. And again, there’s no coming back from that. That’s the effect of a lunar eclipse. Together they represent the ultimate in celestial interventions.
In this book, I want to get to the heart of what it means when you – via your birth chart – encounter the power of a solar or lunar eclipse. And I’m going to begin by looking at the astronomy of eclipses – the mechanics of the universe, as the first ‘astrologer/astronomers’ viewed the universe in a mechanical, physical sense. The astronomy of eclipses is indivisible from the astrology of them, so in chapter two, I focus on the astrological basics. For most of you, eclipses are important because they make an impact on your life, and that’s why chapter three focuses on the most important effects of eclipses that we experience as human beings.
Eclipses affect us at both a collective and individual level, but feel an individual impact, an eclipse must make meaningful contact with your natal chart or other astrological chart, such as a progressed chart or solar return chart. The remaining chapters address that in astrological ‘cook book’ format. You’ll find a complete guide to solar and lunar eclipses in the houses of your natal chart, together with a full analysis of the aspects made by solar and lunar eclipses to the planets in your birth chart.
Throughout the book, there are examples of eclipses in action. I have used case studies (large and small) to show how eclipses affect individual people, and how they connect with wider forces in play at the time the eclipse occurs. In predictive astrology, significant eclipses – the ones that make direct contact with important planets and points in your birth chart (and/or activate particularly powerful aspect patterns in your natal chart) have the power to alter the course of your life.
The heavens may not give you everything that you want, but the gods will always provide you with what you need. As I was drafting this book in 2024, there were some truly significant solar and lunar eclipses for me to work with. As you will see from the case studies – and the further examples used in the appendices to this book – eclipses really do change everything; nothing is ever the same as it was before.
Further Reading
Sara Shipman | Astrology Books
Sara Shipman | Eclipses: Solar & Lunar
Sara Shipman | Solar Returns: An Introduction
Sara Shipman | Solar Returns: Planets in Houses
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© Sara Shipman 2025
