Partial Lunar Eclipse June 26, 2010

I've been asked by a friend to comment on the imminent partial Lunar eclipse that is happening later tonight. I'm hesitant to respond because what I have to say is not going to sit well with many astrological aficionados. A cursory search on the web yields any one of a number of predictions based on an analysis of the time of this eclipse. The problem with most of these predictions is that they are, for the most part, based solely on the chart of the eclipse. You might well ask what else a prediction might be based on and I would say at least you've asked the right question. An analogy might be helpful. Let's say you are a doctor and are monitoring a patient with multiple health issues and they've been admitted to a hospital with some acute symptoms. What sense would it make for you to ignore all of their previous medical history, age, sex, etc. and assess the future of their well being based solely on one acute symptom? Analyzing a lunar eclipse chart is tantamount to that. No, it's even worse. It would be like ignoring the patient entirely and focusing only on a description of the symptom which, in effect, is an almost entirely worthless endeavor as far as being of any practical value to the patient's treatment plan. That is is not to say that a doctor would ignore symptoms. Those symptoms are important when placed in a full and proper context. The same with a lunar eclipse chart. For an astrologer working with an individual it is absolutely necessary they have a firm understanding of that person's natal chart to begin with. Then they are in a position to ask the right questions to understand how that individual has been dealing with the unfoldment of their progressed chart and the long term transits up to the present. Finally, the astrologer can place the individual in the present time stream of the larger cycles of energies that are in play at any given time, eg., the soli/lunar eclipse cycle that has been unfolding within the larger solstice/equinox cycle to name just two. Arriving at an astrological analysis of any moment in time and its effect on an individual, a city, a state, a county or the world at large is an immensely complex and arduous endeavor and requires an unstinting intellectual rigor and breadth of vision. Dozens and dozens of inter-related factors and principles are involved, many of which are in constant motion. For example, I would cite one of these principles -- the principle of heirarchical astrological influence. The simplest expression of that is: no transit or eclipse can trigger an event that is not an a priori potential in an individual's natal chart. If it's not in the original horoscope, it ain't gonna happen, folks. No matter how many eclipses or Grand Cardinal Poobahs you have. As I said, this would be one of the simplest expression of the hierarchical principle. This principle is applied in the understanding of how spheres of influence nested within each other operate. Each sphere contains another with progressively less impact until you finally arrive at the present moment. Tonight that happens to be a partial lunar eclipse. Unless you have carefully examined and weighed all those spheres as they have unfolded you are in no position to understand what's going on. Astrology is simply a means of knowledge. It is not a creator of knowledge. I often tell new clients that I can't tell them anything they don't already know - on some level. All the work that goes into a reading is a means by which an astrologer can get as close as possible to understanding the point of view of their client. We are literally selling water by the river. Anyone who tells you they can see things about the future that can't be seen any other way is a huckster, a charlatan, a flim-flam man. By the time you have done all the required analysis of a given person's or country's chart it's not that hard to predict what will happen next. So I have two questions for you. One, who is willing to devote the enormous amount of time and intellectual effort involved to be able to stand alongside the likes of Ptolemy, Regiomantus, Ficino, Bruno and Kepler to name but a few of the great Western minds that understood astrology? And, two, who really wants to know the truth?