Note: the eclipse is actually opposite an asteroid called Sphinx, named for the mythological creature who would offer riddles, not Arachne. Arachne is in Scorpio, but it is not in the immediate vicinity of the eclipse. I apologize for not catching this when I proofread the article for Eric. — Amanda
Tuesday at 5:09 pm EST is the first solar eclipse in Scorpio since 1995. This eclipse is conjunct an asteroid called Tantalus. It’s opposite one called Arachne (in Taurus). And it’s square a centaur planet called Nessus (in Aquarius). Each of these helps focus the theme of this event.
[Note to Scorpio readers, you can gain access to your 2012 birthday reading at this link.]
The last time the lunar nodes (which hint where eclipses will be) passed through Taurus and Scorpio was in 2003-2004. However, as occasionally happens, the cosmos served up a series of lunar eclipses in Scorpio, but no solar eclipses.
Seventeen years is a long time for there to be no solar eclipses in a sign — especially one as close to the core of human experience and consciousness as is Scorpio.
And now at long last we’re about to have one, which is sure to flush some of that rich silt up from the bottom of the river and out onto the flood plain, as well as fear, shadow material and anything else we may be hiding. When there are no solar eclipses in a sign for a long time, the feeling can be like pent-up energy behind a dam, which suddenly bursts when the eclipse happens.
With Scorpio, as mentioned above, this will include deeply personal material related to sex, death and the exchange of resources, including potentially the zones where all these things blend into one.
The eclipse is conjunct a point called Tantalus, an asteroid named for the Greek mythological figure. This is a complex myth, though the presence of this point in Scorpio essentially says to be conscious of anything that has a sexual tease. Tantalus is the source of the word tantalize, and the myth is a story of punishment through deprivation.
Nearly everything involving sex and sexuality comes with a tease, though often not the pleasant kind. Potential partners and existing ones can deprive one another of sex for a diversity of reasons. Many people are attracted to what they cannot have. Others concentrate power by using sex as a lure and then depriving someone of it. Often it takes two to play this game.