The 28 August deep partial lunar eclipse

On 28 August 2026 there was a deep partial lunar eclipse visible across the Americas. The maximum eclipse was over the Amazon at the border of Argentina. The eclipse axis is in the early degrees of Virgo and Pisces. It will bring unexpected effects and establish new directions. For more, read on…

This eclipse was the last of an almost tetrad of total lunar eclipses, the others being on March 14, 2025, September 8, 2025 and March 3, 2026. All of those were on Virgo/Pisces axes. This eclipse did not activate any of the past three. This present eclipse will be activated by a partial lunar eclipse on 20 February of next year.

This eclipse was the last partial eclipse prior to the series of the total eclipses of the lunar Saros series 138. It had a duration of 2 hours and 35 minutes. It rose over the Pacific and set over Iran and the eastern Arabian peninsula. The partial eclipse was visible over far Western Europe and far Western Africa. The penumbral eclipse occured over the rest of Europe, Africa and the Middle East. It was a blood moon, with a small sliver of the moon visible at the maximum eclipse. Graphic is courtesy of NASA.

The maximum eclipse took place at 04:12 UTC, just past midnight EDT in the US. The chart for the eclipse is below (bigger):

This is a north node eclipse, revealing new realities, with Neptune as the Lord of the eclipse, since it is a lunar eclipse and there are no other planets conjunct the Moon. The Moon was in Pisces.

Since the eclipse occured over the Americas, the Sabian symbols for the Sun and Moon will convey some meaning for the people of the Western Hemisphere. The Sabian symbol for the Sun is as follows:

• • • A man becoming aware of nature spirits and normally unseen spiritual agencies. 5° Virgo

The Sabian symbol for the Moon is as follows:

• • • A church bazaar 5° Pisces

Combined, these two symbols signify a growing awareness of what is actually taking place behind the scenes with world governments, especially in Europe and the United States. They also signify a growing spiritual awareness. The growing awareness is shown in the solar symbol, whereas lunar symbol points to ‘ritualized beneficence’. The actual meaning of this symbol is to prompt us to attribute spiritual meaning to even the most banal materialistic activities.

What we are currently witnessing in the United States is the beginning of the collapse or reordering of the neoliberal economic order, more specifically of the post-Cold War era, which ushered in Thatcherism and Reaganomics, cementing the financialialized economic system and globalization in place. That is set to be overturned over the next year or two. This eclipse is one of the signals for that. We see the reasons why indicated in the eclipse chart.

The major standout in the chart is the t-square that is formed by the eclipse axis with Uranus as the apex planet. Change, possible black swan events, the establishment of new orders, and a more revolutionary outlook are the order of the day.

The chart is rather a complex combination of factors. In addition to the t-square just described we see a Finger of the World configuration with the Moon/Uranus square as the base and Venus as the apex planet. The Finger of the World configuration points to a pressing social need that must be addressed via the energy of the base square, but resolved via the apex planet – Venus in this case.

Venus is an integrating factor in a horoscope. It is typically equated with women and love in general as well as aesthetics. But in a mundane chart Venus is often associated with diplomacy, protocols and with economics. We know the old saying that money makes the world go ‘round, and in a very mundane sense it does because it rules the supply of capital around which governments make their policies. The US and Europe currently find themselves at the start of major financial conundrums, for which old methods of resolving them seem to offer no solutions. Scott Bessent claims that he does, though.

But there is no joy in Mudville and the Mighty Bessent is striking out. Currently we see growing instability in the bond markets, with Trump threatening military actions in an attempt to stave off a bond market collapse. That is a sign of growing desperation. It also indicates the administration is seeing no fiscal home runs. The hidden message there is military action against Iran, because the fuel prices are the main catalyst of the current bond market instability in Japan.

For the Trump administration there is little in the way of fiscal policy they can use to offset this, aside from printing money. Our erstwhile allies and even frenemy states are refusing to join in on the secondary sanctions against Iran. Venus at the apex of this Finger of the World points toward that instability in the bond markets and the reorganization (Moon/Uranus) that will be needed to reestablish stability. It also points to the difficulties the administration is encountering with regard to diplomacy, while other nations are banding together slowly as faith in the US economy slides.

A new reality has suddenly dawned on Washington, in that they are boxed into a corner, unable to do anything about the crisis in the Persian Gulf, with the clock ticking toward the midterms. Diesel market is cracking. Fuel prices, especially for diesel are rising, along with anything that is shipped by truck or rail. A food crisis is beginning, too, with grain prices soaring due to closure of Ukrainian ports, weather and shortages of fertilizers. And there is an international airport in Buffalo, NY where the press just ran a scare piece that the airport was out of jet fuel. It will probably not be long before that actually is the case rather than scaremongering.

The next feature of the chart is the yod that is formed with the Uranus and Neptune sextile as the base, with the Moon at the midpoint, and the Sun at the apex. This reflects two things at the same time – the new realities that are dawning, along with the resulting confusion that unexpected change often brings. There is no military solution to what is taking place.

Mars is in Cancer in this chart, and in its fall by essential dignity. The indication is that aggressive military action will not bring solutions. Instead, Mars forms an easy opposition with the full moon axis, with the Sun making in applying sextile and the Moon making an applying trine to Mars. New alliances are forming, at least tentatively. We see this with the recent Mecca Accord between the Pakistanis, the Saudis and the Turks, with recent rumors of Iran being asked to join the Accord as well. Russia signed a $25 billion deal with Iran for development of its domestic nuclear infrastructure. This is exactly the opposite of what Washington or the Israelis want, which is a nuclear-free Iran.

Jupiter and Saturn are trine in this chart, which is a prime wealth building aspect, seemingly in distinction to the instability in the bond markets. But for people who know how to game the system, meaning the markets, there are vast fortunes to be made there. Those fortunes will be made much to the detriment of the rest of us. At the same time, Mars is square to Saturn and that carries a warning.

Mars square Saturn in a chart is what we would call a rags-to-riches-to-rags aspect. It points to people or nations who have an unusually high opinion of themselves, which inclines them to make bad decisions – especially catastrophic financial decisions. The Biden administration was particularly ‘blessed’ with this aspect. COVID lockdowns and withering sanctions against Russia produced a tremendous blowback against the US financially, in addition to what had already been done to the US economy by presidents past and present. People with that aspect in their chart especially need sound financial advisors. We do not seem to have that sort of sound financial advice in Washington or Wall Street at the moment.

Financial markets will need careful watching over the ensuing months. Scott Bessent’s recent announcement of ‘financial D-Day’ for Iran won him endless scorn in the financial publications, if that gives you any indications. His fiscal policy regarding the bond markets has also won him scorn. Bessent himself is a failed hedge fund manager, which also fits with this particular aspect. He had alleged ties with Epstein and known ties with George Soros and was instrumental in devaluing the Japanese yen some years ago. Questions are beginning to arise as to whether or not he is deliberately crashing the US dollar.

Mars square Saturn people will gamble, often on a hunch, which more often than not proves to be a wrong bet. Bessent has a wide Mars biquintile to Saturn in his chart, which can be quite obsessive, while at the same time contributing to his arrogant, if ill-judged demeanor.

The first activation of the eclipse comes from Mars at the median date of 9 Dec this year. It makes a retrograde activation on 9 Feb next year, with its final pass on the 25^th of May that year. The Sun will follow the first Mars activation on the 23^rd of February, thus doubly activating this eclipse with the eclipse a few days before, mentioned above.

The Sun will thereafter activate the eclipse axis every 28 Aug and 23 Feb until the eclipse fades out. Jupiter will activate the eclipse on the median date of 17 August next year. Thus, this will be quite an active eclipse, affecting the whole of next year and the remainder of this one, at least.

The culmination lines for the eclipse are shown below (bigger):

The main stand out with the culmination lines is the Pluto line that runs through the center of the US and Central America, highlighting the oligarchy in the US and the scuttling of trade deals between Canada, Mexico and the US. The Pluto line also cuts through the region holding the strategic petroleum reserves for the US and those are now in the danger zone. If the salt caverns containing that oil collapse the remaining oil will be spoiled. That is something to be closely monitored.

The Moon and North Node lines run through South America, with Venezuela and Argentina being most affected. Both of those nations are going through serious financial difficulties, and badly in need of a new lease on life.

The Sun and Mercury lines instead run through eastern China, Siberia, Indonesia and Western Australia. The focus for those nations will be on oil, since the Eastern Asian nations rely on the Persian Gulf because their refineries are tooled toward the sour crude that comes from the Gulf. The Sun is quincunx to Neptune in the eclipse chart, highlighting oil as well as confusion.

The Uranus line runs through Scandinavia, Central Europe, Greece, Western Turkey, Egypt and Central Africa. It is an area of the world that is ripe for change, especially in Central Europe and Egypt. Libya is also contacted by the Uranus line.

Of particular interest in this world period are the Mars and Ceres lines, which run through Iran and Pakistan, as well as the other ‘Stans, with the Ceres line running directly over the Strait of Hormuz. This will be the main battleground – whether the conflict is hot or covert – with the supply of oil being front and center over the coming months. Ceres is associated with supply in the Orthodox measure, and Pluto-like change in emotional and mental matters. The US wants to see the Strait open and is threatening all kinds of tactics to achieve that end, all falling on deaf ears to the Iranians. The Iranians have control of the Strait along with the Omanis, probably from now on.

As for the nations who will be affected by this eclipse, probably the main nation to be affected will be Ukraine because the independence chart for Ukraine has the Sun on the 1^st degree of Virgo. Ukraine is a very difficult position now. All its efforts to bring Russia to the negotiating table for a cease-fire have failed. Its ports are effectively closed.

There are reports of massive Russian attacks on Kiev and with the Ukrainian economy in tatters. And now we read that the powers that be in Ukraine are looking at drafting women, specifically those without children, since the supply of capable men to use as cannon fodder is virtually exhausted. In Germany in World War II we saw something similar, with the Hitler Youth manning of defenses in Germany as the Allies advanced– children, in other words. We will not cover any of the other nations in this post.

On these last cheery notes, for individuals the call goes out to watch one’s finances, to build community, because small communities (re: the church bazaar symbol, above) can be one’s salvation in hard times. Make friends with farmers. The cities will become difficult if there is a large financial collapse. Such a collapse may or may not happen, but it is better to be safe than sorry. These are testing times.

We have been hearing about financial collapse for a long time, to the effect that we have become somewhat apathetic about it all. But watch closely what happens with inflation due to fuel shortages and the bond market in particular, because the bond markets drive government policy.

Most importantly, tend to one’s spirituality, whatever that may be. To remain centered and calm in troubling times is a true gift and it helps to stabilize others. The very thing we want to avoid is a sense of panic. Do keep your car topped up if you still drive a patrol vehicle. The same goes for heating oil. If you intend to travel over the next months that may become increasingly difficult as shortages begin to bite.

It is also advisable to keep enough cash on hand for a week at least and food as well. If saner heads prevail, which is quite possible with the indications in this chart, then we may just squeak through without too much trouble. Just keep in mind that nobody in their right mind wants to see a worldwide financial upheaval. It is just under four months to Christmas and a little over two months to the midterms. After that, will all be able to see where everything stands. Until then stay well, stay focused and stay proactive.

Featured pic from Sky At Night Magazine