Before we get into the second eclipse season of 2025, a few brief announcements:
Folks in search of a generative work sprint: join me for Showing Up to the Work. Last day to sign up is September 14th!
My first book Heretic: A Queer Revolt Against Evangelicalism, Empire, and the Lies We Are Sold comes out in paperback IN 16 DAYS! Order from my local bookstore to get a signed copy!
Also, umm, my paperback re-launch event on October 8th with Casey McQuiston is already sold out???? More than a month ahead??? So if you wanted to go to that, email Astoria Bookshop about a wait list? asd;flkj y’all are amazing
And also, since your time and attention is valuable and I want to make sure this newsletter is a good, supportive fit for you, so that you can full-body yes or full-body opt out here when we are all so fucking tired and overwhelmed by our inboxes:
a friendly reminder that here at Astrology for Writers, we talk about the intersection of astrology and creative living.
I frame astrology as a mindfulness practice that helps cultivate a more grounded, aware, intentional life. Here, I don’t offer fast pass hacks to help you make more, but rather, an invitation to slow down and become more intimate with the stories of the he(art). Over the last six years of its existence (!), this newsletter has grown to cover not only astrology but also witchcraft, traditional publishing behind-the-scenes, author interviews, and more.
tl;dr If you’re looking for quippy App Astrology (TM), you’ve come to the wrong place.1 That kind of astrology has its utility, but it is not the project of this writer-and-artist-focused newsletter.
And now: let’s get into what this eclipse season means for writers and artists.
The total lunar eclipse (full moon) in Pisces arrives today at 2:08pm Eastern, at 15 degrees.
The moon is co-present with Saturn, offering a helpful bucket for those watery Piscean feelings and instincts. The sun in Virgo is conjunct Mercury, where we are especially empowered to articulate said feelings.
Such lunations have an intensity to them, and personally, I really like that today’s eclipse comes with help from Mercury and Saturn. I am perhaps unusual amongst astrologers in actually liking hard Mercury-Saturn aspects; maybe it’s because I have one such aspect in my own chart. But when Mercury (so much about communication and literal writing) meets Saturn (the outline, the structure), we are forced to consider the relationship between form and content. Between our creative instinct and how we want to represent it in tangible form.
This is useful not only in creative work, but also in using tools like journaling and meditation. Mercury and Saturn offer us technologies through which to process our emotions and experiences, the tangible and intangible alike. Mercury, especially powerful in Virgo, helps us articulate what is bothering us, what has been plaguing us, and, perhaps most importantly, what we want or want to change. And Saturn means that there is an edge we can grasp before falling through the Piscean fog; we can feel the edge of ourselves and so perhaps not become quite as lost in the eclipse ~emotions~.
Before we get into the areas of life this eclipse is specifically bringing up for folks, a few loving reminders that longtime readers will recognize:
Not all eclipse seasons are created equal. If this is your nodal return, or if you have a Pisces or Virgo sun, moon, or rising (and also, frankly, if you have a Gemini or Sagittarius rising), this eclipse cycle will be impacting very obvious parts of life. But if none of that applies to you, and especially if you don’t have personal planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars) in Pisces or Virgo, this eclipse may be, for lack of a better word, on the quieter side. And thank fuck, you know? How horrible would it be if every transit impacted every single person The Most.
Eclipses tend to be dramatic, Tower-like moments when you are sticking your head in the sand about something. If you are dealing with life head-on, hard as it may be, then eclipse season is probably not going to tell you much that you don’t already know. It may well be perversely affirming.
Astrology is the occult modality most singularly suited to the exploitative internet content machine. Remember that headlines about eclipses are generally going to be pulling on your fear or your anger, those two most activating emotions marketers try to rouse. Be aware of that, and unplug — advice that I need to take myself, as well.
All of that said! Below you’ll find the areas of life this Pisces eclipse is highlighting for you, along with some questions for reflection.
Aries Risings: your subconscious & personal connection with the unseen world; what you are slowly integrating into our consciousness; ancestral legacy, generational inheritance, and family secrets
Taurus Risings: your friendships, community commitments, and/or professional networks; the internet and how you present yourself on it; hopes and dreams
Gemini Risings: your relationship with legacy & authority; your public roles and reputation; how you think/feel about the idea of “career”; in Hellenistic astrology, this is also the part of the chart that tells us about the birthing parent or primary caregiver
Cancer Risings: your relationship to teaching & learning within the wisdom pathways (philosophy, religion, spirituality, and astrology); overall approach to beliefs; publishing; travel, especially international; national and international journalism; long-term plans
Leo Risings: your collaborations with others; contracts — monetary, emotional, spiritual, and otherwise, including but not limited to the book deal itself, short-term & one-off collaborations, anything to do with your independent clients/students, freelance work, debts, taxes, royalties, inheritance, alimony, child support; grief and loss; mental health
Virgo Risings: your committed partnerships, whether romantic or business, but most especially contracted relationships such as spouses, domestic partners, agents & managers, long-time editors, and co-writers
Libra Risings: your daily work life, especially the environment of your workplace; any people you specifically employ or who report to you; daily health & wellness; how your work impacts your body; pets
Scorpio Risings: your creative and erotic energy; your relationship to pleasure; recreational sex; important children in your life; inner child work; games and play, such as sports and gambling
Sagittarius Risings: your home; relationships with caregivers, parents (especially fathers), and grandparents; roots and cultural heritage; relationship to privacy
Capricorn Risings: your daily rituals and routines, including your writing routine; communication; K-12 education; siblings and close friends who feel like family; local neighborhoods; local and regional journalism; columns and blogging (like a newsletter!)
Aquarius Risings: your resources, material and otherwise; your personal finances, income streams, and budget; how you spend and how you save; what you value
Pisces Risings: your self-expression & identity; your (approach to) appearance, style, and aesthetic; your way of showing up in the world; your general vitality and energy levels
With these varying topics in mind, an invitation for reflection on this most slow-moving of eclipse days:
What has been shifting in these areas of life since mid-September 2024, when we had the first Pisces eclipse in this cycle? How have these particular topics arisen? Have there been major challenges, or are you in the process of intentionally transforming something?
Has the Virgo/Pisces eclipse cycle been impacting the content of your writing more, or the form itself?
What resources are available to you in this moment? Money, time, health, energy? Friends, family? A Discord where you can talk with like-hearted folks? A stable job? Opportunities being sent your way? If listing these things in gratitude feels available to you right now, do so.