The Wesak eclipse of 2023

The full moon of the 5^th of May 2023, which is the spiritual Wesak festival, was also a partial lunar eclipse. This eclipse is out of the ordinary for several reasons, outlined below. Most of all, it intensifies the energy of Wesak and opens the door wider to spiritual impression. For more, read on…

The full eclipse takes place at 17:23 UT. It is a penumbral/appulse/partial eclipse, according to whichever source one reads. It will be visible over all of South Asia, East Africa and Oceania, as shown below: In Western Australia the maximum eclipse is at 1:22 am on the 6^th. For New South Wales the maximum eclipse is at 3:22 am on the 6^th. For London, UK, the maximum eclipse is the same as the full moon, at 18:23 BST.

This is the deepest penumbral eclipse until 2042:

“This will be the deepest penumbral lunar eclipse until September 2042. However, penumbral eclipses are the most subtle lunar eclipses and are challenging to observe. You’ll need perfect weather and patience.”

The eclipse begins at 15:14 UT and ends at 19:31 UT, with a total duration of 4 hours and 18 minutes. Almost the whole of the lunar disc will be covered at the maximum eclipse:

This eclipse is the 24^th of the lunar Saros series 141 and the last penumbral eclipse. That is a south node series of eclipses and it is a waxing series. The total eclipses in the series begin in 2167. With the physical background in mind we now move on to the astrology, some of which was covered in the Wesak letter. The chart for the eclipse is below (bigger):

We have the following from that Wesak letter:

“This is quite an extraordinary chart. The Sun is at the 15^th degree of Taurus and likewise the Moon is the 15^th degree of Scorpio, the 15^th degree of fixed signs being very significant in terms of mundane astrology. The 15^th degrees of fixed signs are 45°, or a semisquare from the Aries points, or world view points.

Eclipses on the 15^th degree of fixed signs carry more weight than eclipses on the other degrees, except for the 0° cardinal, also called worldview points. This particular eclipse chart shows the sun conjunct Uranus at the 19^th degree of Taurus, and Mercury retrograde in Taurus. This is a south node eclipse, indicating old conditions are being addressed.

Pluto has turned retrograde in Aquarius at the 1^st degree of Aquarius. Mars has finally just gone or just returned inbounds from being out of bounds for several months. Thereby, the more restive conditions across the planet will lessen somewhat…The culmination lines for the lunation are of interest. [below (bigger)]

The Sun line runs through Canada down through the eastern seaboard of the US, then through the neck of Central America and touches the upper portion of Peru. The same is true of the Uranus line, showing the possibility of sudden or unexpected changes of outlook in those regions. The lunar culmination line runs through Siberia, Mongolia, Western China and Southeast Asia. The Sabian symbol for the degree of the Sun is as follows:

• • Head covered with a rakish silk hat, muffled against the cold, a man braves a storm

Dane Rudhyar…had some revealing commentary on the Sabian symbols, and this particular one has pronounced relevance today. He had this to say about it:

“KEYNOTE: The courage needed to meet the crises precipitated by social ambition.

The man with the silk hat has seen some of his ambitious efforts bring him social success; but he learns that often “nothing fails like success.” The storm may be within him, or it may attack his social status. He is ready to face it daringly. This shows a willingness to accept crises and to go through them—and therefore great character, the soil upon which a higher kind of consciousness may develop.”^[1]

Bolding added. The Machiavellian nature of Washington shows its very nature is to double down in the face of failure, shown by the Sun/Saturn square in the national founding chart. The Sabian symbols have a distinctly American flavour. Elsie Wheeler, the medium who brought them through, was American, as was Marc Edmund Jones, the Theosophist and astrologer who commissioned them.

This symbol speaks to the American establishment especially at this juncture, especially given the solar culmination line for the eclipse runs near Washington, DC. The ‘social ambitions’ of the United States in the past few decades have brought failure after failure in foreign policy, especially after having been the sole hegemon in the world after the collapse of the Soviet Union. That collapse was seen as a success by the Washington establishment, as if they had won a great victory, when in effect the Soviet Union collapsed because of internal pressures. Hubris at imagining the US to be ‘the one indispensable nation’ has resulted in the collapsing American status in the world,..

The lunar symbol is no less interesting than that of the solar Sabian symbol, read as follows:

• • • Children playing around five mounds of sand

Dane Rudhyar comments on this symbol as being “representative of future-oriented growth.”

In addition to the material just quoted from the Wesak letter there are also the midpoints that are important here, especially with this being a mundane chart. These were not covered in the letter because of their mundane emphasis. Starting with the midpoints to the lunation axis, the Sun is at the Mercury/Uranus axis:

“Readiness for action, over-zealous character, a premature action or hastiness, the ability to grasp a situation quickly, the inclination to do one’s work in haste. – The ingenious or inventive man. Sudden incidents, a quick adjustment to new circumstances, a surprise.”

Pluto is the default lord of this eclipse, since the Moon is in Scorpio and there are no other planets conjunct the Moon, this being a lunar eclipse. There are a few events to note already. Eclipses begin to make their presence felt a few days before the actual event. This eclipse falls on Ukraine’s Pluto. Ukraine is being pressured to pursue a massive counteroffensive against the better judgement of military analysts. Put simply, the Ukrainian military is in a very poor state. And the Russians are launching massive missile strikes on the Ukrainian rear ammunition depots, troop concentrations and command centers since May 1^st. On the same day the US military was busy, too – tracking another mysterious balloon off the coast of Hawaii.

The pressure is coming from Washington, who looks set to cut funding to Kiev in the event Ukraine fails to pull off even a modest victory, and soon. A counteroffensive for Ukraine now is premature. The weather has been bad, the equipment is not nearly enough and the troops are largely untrained. Eclipses to Pluto can bring a person undone, and nations, too. And there has been a surprise – the drones launched against the Kremlin in Moscow. Zelenskyy was conveniently out of Ukraine on the day, making one of his weapons tours – or so we might think.

Just after the drone attack Prigozhin of the Wagner PMC group made a video of an excoriating rant against the Russian General Staff. Basically he reinforced the narrative the West has promoted all along of the Russian forces – incompetent, not enough arms, not enough ammo, etc., etc. He told the West exactly what they wanted to hear. It was all theatre – a Russian maskirovka. Prigozhin is a marketing man. He does not command Wagner. The Ukrainian command is not falling for it.

So, who flew the drones into the Kremlin? (They were both knocked down.) Accusations are flying now instead of drones, fingers pointing. Whodunnit? Well, the point is it doesn’t matter. It was symbolic, really. There wasn’t enough charge in the things to make a dent in the building. And Vlad probably doesn’t reside there anyway. If it was meant to scare the Bear, it had the opposite effect. It has hardened the Russian public, in the same way as 9/11 hardened the American public temporarily. The hawks in Russia are baying for Zelenskyy’s blood now.

The once mild-mannered Medvedev wants to see the regime in Kiev wiped from the face of the earth. As of this writing, Zelenskyy is still hiding out somewhere in Western Europe, probably seeking asylum. His days in Kiev are numbered now. Before too long the public pressure on Putin and the General Staff to seek revenge will be too strong to resist. That brings us to the next midpoint, one of our infamous favorites, the ‘death axis’: Sun/Moon=Mars/Saturn:

• • • “Weak vitality, the inability to meet all demands or to master all situations, the necessity to overcome illness. – The illness or the death of members of the male population. (Sun)
    • Weakness of will, a mood or fit of depression, lack of courage. – Illness, separation or death of members of the female sex. (Moon)”

The combination of these midpoints points to weakening of efforts and the possible deaths of large numbers of people if rash or ill-considered action is undertaken. In the case of this eclipse this applies to areas of conflict, but it could well apply to natural or human-caused disasters as well due to mistakes or oversights. In the war in Ukraine it points to a very painful yet decisive period, for Ukraine especially.

Then there was another nation ‘afflicted’ or perhaps in process of being salvaged by this eclipse – the UK. There were local (council) elections in England on the 4^th, with more to follow in Northern Ireland on the 18^th. The Tories were savaged in England, losing over 1,000 council-persons (we must watch our gender assignments these days), in what was a rout by Labour, the Greens and the Lib Dems. Dishy Rishi said the result was ‘disappointing’ (you think?). He added, though, he didn’t think the result was a massive groundswell toward Labour. Somebody get the smelling salts for the man. One polling expert called the result “only a little short of calamitous for the Conservatives.” We might wonder what a true calamity actually looks like, given our midpoints above.

Then, there is the coronation of King Chaz in the UK the day after the eclipse (As an Aussie citizen I wasn’t paying any attention to it. Oi!). The Mars culmination line runs close to Ireland and the eclipse axis bisects the natal Mars/Neptune midpoint for the UK, with the eclipse axis affecting both of those planets for the UK. This is about controlling the narrative. People are being arrested for holding up placards in the UK protesting even before the coronation. We might suppose the British public is supposed to keep that upper lip stiffened while a monarch increasingly on the nose with the public throws a huge party at public expense. But we can’t have people being a public nuisance at such a sacred occasion while maybe half the world tunes in to watch. The Brits don’t seem to be too happy with their new King overall.

The eclipse axis forms a t-square with Charles’ Pluto forming the apex planet. The King was supposed to be the last one in the room during the procession, but Prince Wills, the Prime, and Kate were late and came in after Chaz. Perhaps there is some symbolism there. Chaz wasn’t thrilled. Anderson Cooper from CNN lamented there just doesn’t seem to be any joy at the coronation. And apparently he doesn’t know who Prince George is, either. Prince Harry, the Spare, was the only one smiling at the event. But enough of bread and circuses. We need to look at the activations. And I won’t be doing a separate post on the coronation. Charles became King the moment his mother passed on to that great kingdom in the sky.

The first Mars activation of the eclipse comes on the median date of 2 Nov 2023.The 2^nd one comes on 2 June 2024. The latter closely coincides with the exact date of the Jupiter conjunction with the eclipse axis, on 20 Mar 2024, which is the Aries ingress. We note with that Jupiter activation that it semisquares the Sun at the Aries ingress. The major event from the eclipse would come around that period, from March through June of next year. There are no other major planetary activations of this eclipse. The solar activations will of course happen on the 5^th of May for the next few years and then on 6/7 November the next few years. The 1^st solar activation occurs with the first Mars activation in November of this year, which will very possibly produce a fiery event.

We won’t go into the countries affected by this eclipse this time. It is already producing results. The Ukrainian counteroffensive is happening now, what there is of it. Bakhmut/Artyemovsk has basically fallen. The Bear is riled and on the hunt. The UK has a new crown – two actually – and a new Queen. God save the British public. The US is preparing China for war. The American public by and large is asleep, worried more about beer commercials than drag queens for Navy recruiting. And Asia shrugs and moves on. The US will be more concerned with its own problems soon enough than to be seeking adventures overseas. At least on the day of the eclipse the WHO (not the band) declared COVID to no longer be an international health emergency. But it is still a pandemic. Be thankful for small things, though – but expect bigger things to come from this eclipse

Featured pic from Star Walk

1. Rudhyar, An Astrological Mandala, (1974) NY, NY, Vintage Books pubs., p. 80 ↑