Easter Island.
There's a total solar eclipse today. One of the few places it will be visible is Easter Island. The Senior Editor of Astronomy.com, Michael Bakich, is blogging from Easter Island to describe the blackout as the moon blocks out the sun's light. The blog is here; Bakich's entries can be accessed from here. Easter Island is hosting some 4,000 tourists, who have been arriving over the past few days by plane and boat. Thousands of people are travelling to French Polynesia to see the eclipse. Reports here, here and here. The eclipse coincides with July's New Moon, that starts today at 19:40 Universal Time.
What are astrologers saying? My favourite comment so far came from Zodiac Arts, which summarized this eclipse as: "'Venetian Gondoliers Giving a Serenade' - The symbolic degree of this particular eclipse denotes happiness as an overtone of social integration."
The Chariot, from the Rider-Waite-Smith deck.
Zodiac Arts notes the significance of the Sun and New Moon crossing paths, with two opposites co-existing in the same space:
"The Sun that gives us life and lights our path is joined briefly with the dark and mysterious qualities of the Moon. The Moon blocks the light of the Sun. In this moment of perceived darkness, spirituality and the psyche combine anew, beginning another cycle in the spiral of our personal development. The last time there was a solar eclipse at this same degree of Cancer was in 1991; the next one will be in 2029. Think back to the personal themes in your life during the summer of 1991 and review the progress of your personal growth over the last 19 years. ... All eclipses indicate change; solar eclipses signify beginnings and usually manifest as events in the outer world. At solar eclipses we: begin something new, make promises to ourselves, commit, announce, present ourselves, show up, make plans, select events, make decisions, rise to the challenge, make an effort, change, mature, take on greater challenges, travel at a faster pace, feel restless, feel pressured by deadlines and a buildup of emotions, experience a crisis and feel excited. There are two kinds of solar eclipses. North nodal eclipses have a personal orientation and symbolize personal identity, ego and the physical body. South nodal eclipses are other-oriented and symbolize a spouse or significant other, relationships and new perspectives based on interaction with others.
This is a south nodal eclipse, suggesting that we are being called to use previously learned skills and talents in new ways and that the opportunities to do so will come through our relationships. This solar eclipse takes place with the Sun and Moon in Cancer. The tarot card associated with the sign of Cancer is ... The Chariot. The Chariot teaches us the defining quality of speech; how self-talk creates our reality. ... Mercury in a closing semi-square configuration to Mars indicates that some aspect of thought or communication must occur, and Jupiter square Pluto denotes the challenge involved in transforming philosophies."
There's a description of the meaning of The Chariot card here:
Basic Tarot Story
"The Fool is close to completing what he set out to create long ago, back when the Magician revealed those tools to him. But enemies are now standing in his way, devious human enemies, bad circumstances, even confusion in his own mind. There's no more forward momentum; he feels he is fighting just to stay where he is. Walking along the shore, watching the waves come in, he puzzles over how to defeat these enemies and get things moving forward once again.
It is here that he comes across a charioteer, standing in his gold and silver chariot, his black and white steeds at rest. 'You seem a victorious warrior,' the Fool remarks. 'Tell me, what is the best way to defeat an enemy?' The Charioteer nods out at the ocean. 'Have you ever been swimming in the water and been trapped in that tide which pulls you out to sea? If you try to swim forward, head-on, you go nowhere. You swim forward, the tide pulls you back and, if you tire yourself out, you drown. The only way to win without sapping all your energy is to swim parallel to shore, and come in slowly, diagonally. So, too, when fighting in a chariot. You win by coming up alongside that which you wish to defeat.' The warrior nods to his beasts. 'Your steeds keep the wheels turning, but it is your control and direction that brings victory. Dark and light, they must be made to draw in harmony, under your guidance.'
The Fool is impressed and inspired. He thinks he now knows how to win his own war. He thanks the warrior, but before he leaves, the warrior stays the Fool, 'One thing more,' he says, 'no victory can be won unless you have unwavering confidence in your cause. And remember this above all, victory is not the end, it is the beginning.'
Basic Tarot Meaning
The chariot is one of the most complex cards to define. On its most basic level, it implies war, a struggle, and an eventual, hard-won victory; either over enemies, obstacles, nature, the beasts inside you, or to just get what you want. But there is a great deal more to it. The charioteer wears emblems of the sun, yet the sign behind this card is Cancer, the moon. The chariot is all about motion, and yet it is often shown as stationary.
What does this all mean? It means a union of opposites, like the black and white steeds. They pull in different directions, but must be (and can be!) made to go together in one direction. Control is required over opposing emotions, wants, needs, people, or circumstances; to bring them together and give them a single direction, your direction. Confidence is also needed and, most especially, motivation. The card can, in fact, indicate new motivation or inspiration, which gets a stagnant situation moving again."
Bruce Wayne propelled out of the late Paleolithic era by a solar eclipse. Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #1 (July 2010).
On another pop cultural note, right now in DC's comics universe, Bruce Wayne, the original Batman, is trapped in time and is being hurtled from one solar eclipse to another. As each total solar eclipse appears, his time runs out in a particular historic period, and he is jettisoned to another. The eclipses literally have become doorways to different times. In this Grant Morrison-penned miniseries, the hero is literally fighting against the stream of time, while at the same time building his own legend of himself. Wiki: "The series will detail the journey Bruce Wayne takes through the timestream of the DC Universe after being deposited in the distant past by Darkseid in Final Crisis. Wayne will have to overcome amnesia and 'history itself' in order to make his way back to present-day Gotham City and retake his rightful place as Batman."
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