© 1999 Clive Richard Weeks
I couldn't film the Solar eclipse because it occured mostly over Europe. In Melbourne Australia it occured at 9:08pm and the Sun was well and truly down.
The above chart clearly shows a grand cross with the apex planets as follow: Sun (in eclipse) conjunct Moon in Leo, Mars in Scorpio, Uranus in Aquarius, Saturn in Leo. Using my usual orb of 7 degrees the formation (comprising squares, oppositions and conjunctions) is fully self contained.
Other patterns to note are a T-square with apex Jupiter in Taurus and Neptune in Aquarius opposing Mercury in Leo. There is also an easy opposition from the back of this T-square to Chiron in Scorpio
There is also a closed figure with Neptune quincunx to Venus (in Virgo), Venus square Chiron and Chiron sextile Neptune. You can call this formation a "quin-sex-square" if you like - I'm not sure if anyone has given it a name but it seems to occur frequently in my clients' charts.
I have heard mention of there being two grand crosses, but at the time of the solar eclipse there is only one; and for those who know about grand crosses - see personal comments below - one is enough!
The main problem I see with this formation - apart from the obvious point that it is being activated by the eclipse - is that Mars in Scorpio and Saturn in Taurus make opposition in such fixed signs (actually the whole cross is fixed - did I mention that?). Aquarius and Leo are fixed signs, but I feel that they can seem positively mutable at times compared to a Scorpio on a quest or a Taurus who has discovered what they really want and will not give it up for anything. There is great potential for warring with this opposition, although I would be far more concerned if Saturn and Mars squared each other.
The high-minded but unpredictable, humanitarian Uranus opposite the generous, creative, nature of Sun consciousness - both in the signs they rule - and eclipsed by the unconscious night of the moon, suggests a sudden turn in world consciousness through revelations from the personal and group unconscious. For how can the mind perceive light if it is not for the darkness?
Of course such changes will raise the ire of those who would fight to protect what they have built up. Thus Saturn and Mars can bring trouble.
Though the change will have taken place on August 11, it could take some time for the changed world consciousness to become apparent as it struggles to climb from the darkness of the eclipse whence it was born.
For a more personal view see below...
Much is being said about this formation as we approach the eclipse date. Some tying it to Biblical prophesies heralding the end of the world, others to the prophesies of Nostrodamus. The key thing that is getting many commentators excited is the fact that it is a fixed grand cross which means that the planets involved are in the signs of Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius, which represent the four Kerubs of Revelations and the four states of mankind. The fact that the solar eclipse (often taken to be an evil omen) forms part of the grand cross suggests catastrophic changes. It also may tie in with a specific date mentioned by Nostrodamus in 1999 where the world will basically end - at least from his far distant perspective in time.
Others see it as truly heralding in the age of Aquarius.
My personal slant on this formation is that there will be catastrophic changes - but not at all in the way that most people are predicting.
It should be noted that while grand crosses are uncommon, they are not "rare" as some have suggested. My natal chart has a whopping great one and some of my clients have had grand-crosses, which means that a grand cross was occurring in the sky when we were born.
Also my solar return for the current year of my life had the transiting sun involved in a solar eclipse as it transited my natal sun which is one of two planets in a fixed sign as part of my natal grand cross.
While this is not exactly the same situation as for August 11, I do believe that this makes me qualified to comment on the up-coming event with some authority - at least from a personal perspective.
Earlier his year, the almost idyllic existence I had enjoyed last year had to be sacrificed, with the resultant loss of many personal freedoms and the opportunities to express personal creativity. I have had to endure a job I did not like and take on a more responsible attitude to my life and the lives of those in my family. I have faced many personal difficulties and have had to try to just deal with them.
The resultant loss of what I had has been difficult. But it has been a tremendous if difficult learning curve for me.
I now feel that I am beginning to salvage what is truly important from the idyllic - but probably far too easy - life that I enjoyed last year. Maybe I'm growing up a bit.
And that is exactly what I believe that the world will be doing as this grand cross solar eclipse takes place. I believe that the world will be shaken, not by apocalypse, but by social, moral, political, and even financial tremors. Many events will go unnoticed by some at first. But I suspect that the tidal force of change will well up, and will eventually ring in immense changes in the fabric and direction of our current society - hopefully for the better.
There will be attendant catastrophic events and accidents to fill the papers and the TV news. But then there always have been such events in cyclic patterns. The frequency of such events may increase now as the world places itself in a position of stress such that something must eventually give. But I do NOT believe such events will be world-killers or humanity-killers. They will just be externalisations of the internal struggles of a humanity seeking maturity on one hand, and corporations seeking the all-mighty dollar at all costs on the other.
I have faith that the increasing upward movement of human evolution will eventually lead to corporate and political power structures that can be sensibly maintained without losing touch with the humanity that created them.
August 11, 1999 will be another step down this road. It is not the first and it will not be the last.
