Lunar Eclipse: Baltimore Bridge Collapses
Under the darkness of the lunar eclipse, a Singapore-flagged Dali cargo ship veered off course and collided with the Francis Scott Key bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, USA at 01.28 EDT on 26 March 2024.
Image by BBC News
Under the darkness of the current lunar eclipse, the cargo ship Dali veered off course and collided with the Francis Scott Key bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, USA at 01.28 EDT on 26 March 2024 [1].
During an eclipse, the lights go out and power is symbolically lost. This BBC News video clip (1 min) shows the lights on the ship literally going out and power being lost [2] only minutes before the ship struck the bridge and caused its collapse.
As a full on full Moon, a lunar eclipse is a dramatic ending to a lunar cycle. The bridge, a “cathedral of American infrastructure”[3] has met a spectacular end. In the collapse chart below, the elevated Moon signifies death. Time is definitely up for this structure.
The construction crew who fell into the water are shown by Venus. Her conjunction to grim Saturn flags the enduring perils of life on the water.
The ship is shown by the largest planet in our solar system, Jupiter. The Dali is a huge vessel. Jupiter is in steady Taurus, the sign of tangible, moveable possessions. Taurus’ exalted ruler is the Moon, the planet of containment. This slow-moving container ship was carrying numerous containers en route to Columbo, Sri Lanka [4].
Jupiter is approaching shock-inducing Uranus. That’s the key astrological signature for the bridge dramatically falling down, as triggered by the lunar eclipse. The bridge giving way is affirmed by the Moon at the South Node. It’s a symbolic crossroads signalling downwards movement. Here, the bridge literally fell into the Patapsco River.
While the Moon-South Node conjunction symbolises descent, every other planet is under the horizon. The collapse chart clearly depicts the bridge as fully submerged underwater.
This event echoes the toppling of the statue of Francis Scott Key in San Francisco during demonstrations against racial injustice on 19 June 2020. Juneteenth, observed annually on 19 June, commemorates the end of slavery in America [5] and became a federal holiday in 2021 [6].
As the author of the US national anthem “The Star-Spangled Banner”, Francis Scott Key’s lyrics include “land of the free”. As a slave-owning lawyer, he defended in court slaveholders' rights to own humans [7]. The pronounced Uranian theme highlights contradictory human nature.
With Pluto finally settling into Aquarius in 2024, and as the US Pluto return reverberates, the architecture upholding US society continues to be interrogated. This year’s eclipses bring that process into sharp focus once again, as did 2020’s seismic planetary activity the world over [8].
When the Francis Scott Key bridge first opened on 23 March 1977 [9], Mars at 2° of wishy-washy Pisces was the opening chart’s most prominent planet, as shown below. Mars’ return to this exact same spot at the time of the bridge’s collapse reveals its inherent wobbliness. This is restated by Mars’ rulership of a weak, sick house in the opening chart, coupled with an unstable Moon-Uranus opposition and unreliable Neptune descending.
In the collapse chart, Jupiter 16° Taurus meets the opening chart’s Moon 15° Taurus. This Moon shows abundant assets in the house of concealed, unscrupulous dealings. Questions might be raised as to the backstory of how the bridge was funded and built. Concerns as to what really caused the ship to collide with the bridge might also be prompted. Was it really just an accident?
The Moon was occluded when the bridge was built and then eclipsed when the bridge collapsed. The truth may never be fully revealed. The illuminating, eclipsing Sun is also hidden at the bottom of the collapse chart.
On a brighter note, the collapse Moon’s next and only aspect is an opposition to Mercury in loud, shouty Aries. Here, Mercury rules significant others with expertise. Maybe some people want to investigate and make a noise about this incident. With the collapse chart’s afflicted Mars activating the ‘tell all’ cusp, and a gossipy, elevated Moon, falsehoods are liable to spread.
Mercury is set to retrograde in Aries on 1 April and will return to its collapse chart spot of 24° Aries on 9 April. That’s only one day after 2024’s star total solar eclipse. This signals the yet to be fully disclosed significance of this tragedy and a revised take on the current perception of the situation. Direct Mercury then reaches 24° Aries for one more time on 10 May, which may further extend the public timeline of this story.
The collapse chart’s Uranus is at 20° Taurus. The cargo ship is called Dali. Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dali was born with the Sun at 20° Taurus [10]. Maybe this whole episode is just a co-incidence after all. Uranus also acts as a reminder of the sheer randomness of life.
References
[2] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-68667813
[4] https://www.vesselfinder.com/vessels/details/9697428
[5] https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/historical-legacy-juneteenth
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juneteenth
[8] Several major planetary cycles renewed in 2020: Saturn joined Pluto at 24° Capricorn on 12 January; Mars joined Pluto at 24° Capricorn on 23 March; Jupiter joined Pluto at 24° Capricorn on 5 April 2020, and Jupiter joined Saturn at 0° Aquarius on 21 December.
[9] https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-baltimore-sun-key-bridge-opens-at-10/144152310/
[10] Born on 11 May 1904 at 8.45am in Figueras, Spain https://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Dali,_Salvador
Eclipse Season and Israel-Gaza
Two eclipses later this March and in early April, mirror the two lunations in between which Hamas attacked Israel last October. As the same zodiac degrees are activated by this year’s upcoming eclipses, major developments in what happens for Gaza and Israel are promised in the coming months.
Photo by Alexander Mils on Unsplash
Two eclipses, one later this March and the other in early April, mirror the two lunations in between which Hamas attacked Israel last October. As the same zodiac degrees are activated by this year’s imminent eclipses, major developments in what happens for Gaza and Israel are promised in the coming months.
In an article in mid-January [1], I noted that transiting Mars was due to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s natal Jupiter on 5 February. This transit co-incided with Hamas presenting its three-stage ceasefire plan to Israel [2]. The two planets met in Capricorn where Mars, representing Hamas, is markedly more influential than Jupiter, signifying Netanyahu. In this specific context, Hamas were better placed than Netanyahu. Netanyahu probably felt strongly pressured to accommodate the proposal. Not just by Hamas but also by Hamas’ backers (Mars rules Netanyahu’s 12th house of covert enemies), by his own negotiators (Mars also rules his 5th house of agents) and by his international allies (natal Mars in the 9th house of foreign affairs sextiles the PM’s Libran Sun). The concerted effort to press for a truce seems to have reaffirmed Netanyahu’s belief that his way is the right way. More generally, the Sun-Mars sextile in his birth chart also shows that he has relatively easy access to a steady supply of quality arms from abroad. The ethnic cleansing and decimation of Gaza continue.
March and April’s eclipses are notable for Israel-Gaza as they trigger the zodiac degrees activated during Hamas’ incursion on Israel. This carries far more astrological weight than the transit noted above.
The 25 March lunar eclipse at 5° Libra is directly opposite last September’s aggressive full Moon at 6° Aries on 29 September 2023. The 8 April solar eclipse at 19° Aries opposes the solar eclipse at 21° Libra on 14 October 2023.
At the September full Moon under which Hamas struck Israel on 7 October, Mars was at 21° Libra igniting the exact degree, 21° Libra, of the solar eclipse that followed on 14 October. This eclipse landed on the Israeli chart’s ascendant at 23° Libra, the angle representing the population. The darkness that descended on the people was underlined by Pluto’s direct station on 11 October at 27° Capricorn. As Pluto was stationing on Israel’s IC at 25° Capricorn, the angle highlighting land, roots and heritage, the devastating assault was experienced by some as a brutal attack on Israel’s right to exist. Hostages were taken and remain captive reflecting Pluto’s association with abduction. Plutonic themes of indiscriminate annihilation, merciless domination and the primal struggle for survival still prevail in the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Last September, an afflicted Mars prematurely activated the October solar eclipse. Under this month’s lunar eclipse in Libra on 25 March, an afflicted Venus precipitates April’s Jupiter-Uranus conjunction. The renewal of this planetary cycle is a key feature of 2024’s astrology. Jupiter is good fortune and Uranus is unpredictability so it’s a mixed blessing. Currently inconceivable sudden breakthroughs are promised. Then again, wildly exaggerated benefits are also symbolised and may not materialise at all. Jupiter and Uranus are meeting in practical Taurus so reliable outputs matter. As nearly all the planets are bunched up in one corner of the zodiac at this time, the situation feels hugely imbalanced.
At the 8 April total solar eclipse in Aries, the Sun’s light is totally obscured by the Moon. A total solar eclipse is the most potent variety of eclipse there is. As as solar eclipse, this lunar cycle already has a stronger impact than the preceding lunar eclipse. Mars and Saturn dominate the picture. The Moon carries and injects their negativity into Jupiter-Uranus in Taurus. This gnarly set up promises trouble with a big helping of disruption. Yet, something good can also be freed up. Given the tricky nature of this particular eclipse, the dense earth of Taurus, and the commotion that usually accompanies solar eclipses, any fortunate dimension may not be immediately obvious.
While the upcoming eclipses bear directly on the war on Gaza, April’s solar eclipse also draws in the world leaders named at the end of the January article [3]. As their birth charts were connected to October’s Libra eclipse, they are also drawn into this April’s opposing eclipse in Aries. The two eclipses are connected by sign and degree.
With Saturn at 20° Libra, Chinese President Xi Jinping [4] is one more name to add to the list of world leaders who might feature prominently in the headlines near the solar eclipse. With Jupiter at 17° Libra, Donald Trump also has to contend with April’s eclipse [5] in court as the Sun and Moon meet on the cusp of his 9th house of litigation.
Sunday’s new Moon in Pisces marked the start of the lunar cycle which culminates in the March eclipse. This current new Moon is ruled by Jupiter in slow Taurus and is impeded by resistant Saturn. The stories due to unfold over eclipse season are still emerging, or starting new chapters, with some delay.
A charity aid ship departed a few days late from Cyprus carrying vital supplies to starving Palestinians via a new humanitarian maritime corridor [6]. Pisces is a water sign represented by two fish swimming in opposite directions. This is not a straightforward mission. Nor is it easy, let alone enough, to ease immense suffering given tough Saturn’s presence in Pisces all year. Don’t be fooled by the sluggish start to this eclipse season.
References
[1] https://skyscript.co.uk/inmundo/plo-second-saturn-return/
[3] https://skyscript.co.uk/inmundo/plo-second-saturn-return/ Queen Rania of Jordan is not impacted by this eclipse.
[4] Born on 15 June 1953 in Beijing, China. A noon chart in the absence of a birth time.
[5] Born on 19 June 1946 at 10.54am in Jamaica Hospital in Queens, New York.
[6] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/12/first-aid-ship-to-gaza-leaves-cyprus-port
Astro Note: New Moons and Solar Eclipses | Full Moons and Lunar Eclipses
A note to explain new and full Moons and their heightened versions as solar and lunar eclipses, with Nasa diagrams.
New and Full Moons
A new Moon happens when the Sun and the Moon are at the same degree of the zodiac circle as a new lunar cycle begins. Hidden by the Sun, the Moon is invisible.
A full Moon occurs when the Sun and Moon illuminate each other from opposite sides of the zodiac belt.
Astrologically, the effects of a new Moon last for a fortnight, or for as long as it takes a new Moon to increase or wax the light it reflects until it becomes a fully lit full Moon.
A full Moon is the midpoint or culmination of a lunar cycle, and its effects last for another two weeks until the full Moon decreases or wanes the light it reflects and becomes an invisible new Moon again.
A full lunar cycle takes a month, a term which is derived from ‘Moon’. A month is defined by how long it takes the Moon to return to its starting new Moon position with the Sun after completing a full lunar cycle.
Solar and Lunar Eclipses
Eclipses block solar or lunar light as seen from Earth. They occur when new and full Moons happen on the ecliptic, or the Sun’s apparent path around the Earth.
In a solar eclipse, the Sun’s light is blocked by the Moon [1]. A solar eclipse is a heightened new Moon.
In a lunar eclipse, the Moon’s light is blocked by the Earth [2]. A lunar eclipse is a ramped up full Moon.
At the 8 April 2024 solar eclipse, the light-giving Sun and Moon, or luminaries, will conjoin at 19° Aries. At the 25 March 2024 lunar eclipse, the Moon is at 5° Libra, illuminated by the Sun at the exact same degree in the opposite sign, 5° Aries.
Astrologers have worked with eclipses as reliable markers for turning points in world events for many years. When an eclipse meets or opposes a planet or angle in an individual’s birth chart, that person will also experience the eclipse as a milestone moment in their own life.
Eclipses are spectacular phenomena to witness. Their astrological meaning is equally dramatic. If an astrological chart is a symbolic map of an unfolding path then an eclipse can act as cosmic steer to align with that path.
A solar eclipse is more potent than a lunar eclipse. The Sun is the centre of the solar system so when its light is obscured, darkness pervades more deeply and widely than when the Moon is in the shadows.
The effects of eclipses typically last for much longer than a couple of weeks as they carry more symbolic weight than regular new and full Moons.
References
[1] https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/solar-eclipse-diagram/
[2] https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/lunar-eclipse-diagram/
Photo by Jongsun Lee on Unsplash