Virgo Total Lunar Eclipse
On September 7, 2025, the Moon at 15° Pisces swells to fullness and is obscured by the Earth’s shadow, turning its silver face into a veil of blood and shadow. This total lunar eclipse is a cosmic drama where endings, revelations, and reckonings unfold — not quietly, but loudly. In opposition to the Moon, the Sun at 15° Virgo aligns closely with the South Node, symbolizing old certainties — addiction to order, systems, control, and the comfort of known security. Yet, even as it insists on its clean lines and perfect analysis, it cannot prevent the unraveling. The Moon, connected to the North Node in Pisces, pulls us toward an unfamiliar horizon, where security is unknown; into dissolution, into waters of compassion where boundaries dissolve, reminding us that our essence is not defined by order or status, but by connection to the vast, mysterious whole. This eclipse demands a choice: do we stay chained to the technical fixes of Virgo, tinkering as the world burns, or do we allow the tide of Pisces to carry us into imagination, mercy, and a faith that does not require control?
But this eclipse is powerful. It arrives with a roar from deep within. Pluto, now in Aquarius but retrograde, moves through a tight, challenging angle to the Moon, pressing on the collective psyche like a hand on an unhealed wound. Shadows emerge. Power can’t stay hidden. Pluto, the ruler of the underworld, squares Eris at 25° Aries with intense force. Here, the conflict deepens: Pluto’s established systems of power, secrecy, and control clash with Eris, the goddess of strife, the voice of the marginalized, the one who refuses to stay hidden. Eris is no longer just an uninvited guest; she’s throwing her golden apple into the banquet halls of nations, challenging us to confront who belongs, who’s excluded, and why.
The “Nine Gates”—the unprecedented sequence of nine exact squares from transiting Eris in Aries to the United States’ natal Pluto in Capricorn that will occur between 2026 and 2030. Their echoes will surely persist, urging the nation to face its shadow and neglected voices. This eclipse marks their beginning.
At this moment, the other gods stand in attendance. Neptune has entered Aries, a newborn water god wearing fire as a crown. Behind him, Saturn lingers at the last degree of Pisces, dissolving authority and certainty—a once-rigid pillar now adrift in the sea. Their conjunction signifies a transition from the old to the new: the dismantling of centuries-old structures and the rise of an undefined, potential-filled vision. Uranus, fully electrified at the first degree of Gemini, harmoniously receives Neptune’s fire, sparking revolutions in thought, communication, and technology. This is the sky where myth and technology blend—the digital oracle and the prophet’s dream clashing into a new, unstable truth.
We can already see it: artificial intelligence replacing human voice and thought, raising questions about authorship, creativity, and what truly defines the human voice. Elections are influenced by algorithms and digital misinformation. A climate gone wild, with fires in the West, hurricanes along the coasts, and floods drowning once-fertile plains. Trials are unfolding in American courts where the powerful confront justice, and the legitimacy of institutions is cracking under pressure. The eclipse reflects this precisely. Mercury, linked to the South Node in Virgo wrenched in a hard angle by Uranus, highlights the fragility of facts: the corruption of the word, and the breakdown of trust in systems of governance and media. Mars in Libra squares Jupiter in Cancer, echoing the fiery clash between justice and nationalism, diplomacy and protectionism. In the headlines, we see it: massive protests demanding accountability, governments scrambling to shore up their questioned authority, voices raised in protest that will not be silenced.
Eris, standing with Chiron in Aries, throws salt on the wound of exclusion. What has been pushed to the margins, repressed, or scapegoated won’t stay silent. The cry of the wounded outsider becomes a clarion call. Jupiter’s square to Eris amplifies this demand: legal battles, ideological clashes, and moral confrontations surface. Pluto’s square also makes the conflict unavoidable—no more evasion, no more delay. The nine gates are opening.
For the United States, this eclipse runs deep. The U.S. Moon at 20° Libra is stirred by Mars and Eris, fueling a restless, angry population into upheaval. The U.S. Sun at 14° Cancer is caught in Jupiter’s expansion, but instead of bringing relief, it heightens conflict, creating tension between national identity and international responsibilities. It is the struggle between Pluto’s deep-rooted power and Eris’s rising cry demanding to be heard that challenges the foundation of American authority and forces the nation to confront its buried contradictions.
Uranus in Gemini energizes the natal Uranus of 1775, destabilizing media, elections, and the entire nervous system of the republic. Already, debates about censorship, digital surveillance, and free speech are rumbling like thunder before a storm.
With Neptune retrograde and moving away from Saturn, the nation is caught between dissolving structures and the loss of certainty. The dream wavers, and with it, the old wounds of violence and identity resurface: the nation’s revolutionary roots, its wars, and its ongoing struggle over what freedom really means and who it belongs to. Disillusionment, anger, and despair simmer among the people — yet even in this decline, a quiet awakening is growing, suggesting that freedom can be reimagined beyond the old myths.
This eclipse is more than just a shadow on the Moon. It signals the prelude to a grand square dance between Eris and Pluto, with nine exact squares occurring between 2026 and 2030. Each one strikes at the foundation of the empire, demanding truth, inclusion, and transformation. As climate disasters worsen, AI reshapes the fabric of work and speech, and as the trials of leaders and tests of democracy escalate into crises, the gates will open wider and wider. What begins here is not just a passing storm but the start of a new era.
This eclipse does more than close a chapter; it shatters the spine of the old book. It cracks the collective vessel, spilling what has been hidden into the open. It exposes the futility of control and the need for surrender. It reveals wounds unhealed, power unmasked, voices rising from the margins.
It warns us of the path ahead, when humanity must decide who it is, what it values, and whether it can include the excluded without tearing itself apart.
The Moon in Pisces indicates a start of wisdom, showing that compassion can hold what control cannot. Still, Pluto and Eris roar back: mercy won’t come until the truth is faced, exclusion is acknowledged, and the shadows we hide become visible. The eclipse is a call. The Nine Gates are opening. And there’s no turning back.
Virgo Partial Solar Eclipse
Two weeks later, on September 21, 2025, a partial solar eclipse occurs at 29° Virgo. The earlier Virgo lunar eclipse had already revealed the shadow of perfectionism—the cost of trying to master chaos through relentless systems, rules, and critique. Now, at the final degree of the sign and aligned with the South Node, Virgo reaches its edge. What once felt like strain becomes the threshold of release. At 29°, the impulse to control gives way to a gentler truth: that wholeness does not come from perfection but from surrender. This eclipse opens the possibility of renewal, inviting us to move beyond exhaustion into clarity, compassion, and a wiser order yet to be born.
The eclipse says: you can’t fix your way out of this. You can’t critique your way forward. The old script of Virgoan micromanagement has run its course. The 29th degree is a threshold where Virgo’s lessons boil down to one question: will you release the need to be perfect or stay stuck in the loop of trying?
Across the sky, Saturn and Neptune in Pisces oppose the eclipse, inviting us into a tide of surrender that does not erase but transforms. Saturn in Pisces teaches us the discipline of faith and the structures that can hold compassion. Neptune, recently into Aries, signals the birth of visionary will—a new era where imagination turns into action. Together, they draw us across the Virgo–Pisces axis, urging us to let the 29th degree be an ending and Pisces the start of a new story.
Pluto in Aquarius forms a harmonious angle with the eclipse, assuring us that what we release personally contributes to collective rebirth. The 29th degree is never private; it reveals all that has happened before, resonating with history and the turning of the cosmic wheel of fortune. What you let go of now becomes the seed for the reinvention of the entire system.
The passage is raw. Eris and Chiron in Aries pierce the wound of authenticity, insisting that the fracture be faced. Mars, also cathartic at 29° Libra, urges us to find a balance between confrontation and fairness, while Jupiter in Cancer stirs the ancestral stories we carry. Yet even here, healing occurs through disruption. Venus in early Virgo whispers: refine without cruelty. Mercury in Libra promotes dialogue and balance, reminding us that truth can be spoken with grace. These are the medicines that help us cross the threshold not by breaking, but by opening.
In the chart for the United States1, this eclipse hits at the core. Just behind the U.S. Ascendant at 0° Libra and directly on U.S. Mars at 27° Virgo, it challenges the nation’s projection of power—military, industrial, and global. America’s Mars, the driving force behind national assertion, is eclipsed near the final degree, prompting questions about what must end and what new form of strength could emerge. The old way of wielding force cannot continue, but a wiser, more balanced expression is waiting on the other side of release.
The eclipse also touches U.S. Neptune at 20° Virgo, symbolizing the ideal of purity and the myth of exceptionalism. Under the shadow, these illusions waver. However, this unraveling opens space for a new vision: humility, service, and compassion as guiding principles. Transiting Saturn, conjunct Neptune and U.S. Neptune in Pisces, opposes each other from the 6th house, not erasing America’s sense of purpose but transforming it. They point toward a vision of service grounded not in control but in empathy—structures that can uphold compassion and institutions that can promote healing. The last time that this U.S. Neptune opposition occurred was in the years leading up to the Civil War.
Pluto at 1° Aquarius, retrograde, trines the eclipse and triggers the aftershocks of the recent Pluto return. Power structures are indeed breaking down, but not aimlessly. In Virgo’s focus on service, health, and environment, Pluto points toward reform that seeds a new Aquarian collective spirit. What dissolves here opens the way for reinvention.
Yes, the wound deepens. Eris and Chiron in Aries, joined at the hip, form a challenging aspect to the U.S. Libra Ascendant, raising questions of identity and belonging. Even these fractures hold the potential for healing. Eris emphasizes that silenced voices must be heard, while Chiron offers a path to integration through honesty and courage. The wound, once no longer ignored, becomes a gateway to inclusion.
With all the outer planets except Jupiter retrograde, this season calls for reflection. America revisits its history—old wars, injustices, ecological missteps—but not to dwell on the past. The eclipse encourages the nation to reevaluate its story so it can be rewritten. The Nine Gates of Reckoning will not only require confrontation but also offer a chance to reshape identity, truth, and power.
History affirms this rhythm. When Neptune last entered Aries in 1861, the Civil War shattered illusions but also marked the start of a new era of freedom. In the 1930s–40s, Neptune’s crossing of the Virgo–Pisces axis coincided with global conflict and economic collapse, yet it also brought about new international structures and a rebuilt world. Every threshold has required sacrifice, but each has sparked renewal. This eclipse indicates that America is once again at such a threshold: the end of an illusion and the beginning of a new vision waiting to emerge.
Together, the Virgo lunar and solar eclipses symbolize a period of release and realignment. The lunar eclipse revealed the futility of control; the solar eclipse now emphasizes that myths of mastery must give way to balance, compassion, and vision. For the United States, this is not a minor event—it hits the Ascendant, Mars, and Neptune, urging the nation to redefine power, myth, and identity. Yet the sky reminds us: what ends is not the dream of justice but its distortion. What dissolves is not vision itself but illusion.
The myth of Astraea, the virgin Roman goddess of justice, permeates this eclipse. In ancient stories, she left Earth when corruption became too widespread, ascending to the heavens as Virgo. However, her return was always anticipated. The eclipse at 29° Virgo marks not only her departure but also her call back to humanity: to pursue justice through balance, compassion, and right relationships rather than perfection. Simultaneously, Eris throws her golden apple, revealing divisions not to destroy but to bring truth into the open. Healing begins where fractures are recognized.
The Nine Gates of Reckoning, already within reach, demand courage—but they also hold the promise of renewal. As Eris and U.S. Pluto square again and again, the fractures of the old order will widen, yet in those very cracks lie the seeds of inclusion, healing, and rebirth. This eclipse season is not an ending but an invitation, a rehearsal for what is to come: a mirror showing us what must be released, and a promise of what can be born. At 29° Virgo, the final degree marks both a climax and a threshold. Behind us lies the exhausted paradigm of endless fixing; ahead stretches the Piscean sea of surrender and vision. To step through is to trust the tide, face the wound, and discover that even the smallest act of letting go becomes part of a greater transformation already underway.
We stand at the cliff’s edge. Behind us lies the worn-out paradigm of endless fixing; before us stretches the Piscean sea of surrender and vision. To step forward is to trust the tide, to face the wound, and to know that even the smallest act of letting go can help shape the collective transformation already underway. When we reach the limits of all we have known and step into the unknown, one of two things will happen: we will find solid ground, or we will discover that we can fly
1 The chart for the United States that I use, favored by Jim Lewis, is cast for July 6, 1775, Philadelphia, PA, 11:03 am LMT. This day and time correlates to the start of the American Revolution when the Second Continental Congress passed an act to “bear arms” against Great Britain, created a standing army, and named George Washington as Commander-in-Chief.
© 2025 Daniel Fiverson All Rights Reserved
