Astrology with Alice: Let’s learn about the seasons of life

Think back to 2005. Where were you? What were you doing? What was happening? More importantly, how were you? I ask because the last eclipses of the year are right around the corner—a lunar eclipse on Sept. 17 and a total solar eclipse on Oct. 2—and they will hit similar energetic notes as the ones from 2005.

So how can eclipses cycle back? It has to do with the regularity of the moon’s cycle. The moon comes back to nearly the exact place, relative to the sun and Earth, every 19 years, which is a metonic cycle. (If we want to get specific, a metonic cycle spans 235 synodic–or lunar–cycles, which shakes out to be about 19 years.) So the reason that this year’s solar eclipses are “twinning” the 2005 eclipses is because—you guessed it—19 years have elapsed. So in astrological geek speak, it’s been a metonic cycle since the 2005 solar eclipses.

Furthermore, the eclipses this year (including the ones from this spring) are also part of the same Saros series as the eclipses of 2005. Long story short, eclipses belong to “families” of sorts called Saros series, and each Saros series is designated by a number. Each eclipse in a Saros series is separated by one metonic cycle (19 years), and an entire Saros series lasts about a millennia. So not only are the solar eclipses this year similar to the eclipses from 2005 by placement in the sky, they’re also part of the same Saros series. (For the Geminis and Virgos who love to nerd out on details, the upcoming September eclipse belongs to lunar Saros 118 and the October eclipse belongs to solar Saros 144.)

So basically, these eclipses are bringing a similar energy back to our planet, and they’re nudging us forward, down a path we started 19 years ago. We may experience thematically similar events, or we might experience a closure or change to something we began then.

For me, 2005 was a year of major transition. At that time, I recognized that my social anxiety was turning me into a near-hermit and that I was becoming borderline agoraphobic. Finally sick of how limiting my life was getting to be, I decided to go back to school and finish my degree—something I had always regretted not doing.

So come 2005, I was finally back in college, setting off on a journey that forced me to confront all my old fears and doubts. Like a ship going out to sea, I was figuratively watching my home port drift out of sight as I was sailing deeper into the unfamiliar ocean. And my destination was also nowhere in sight yet, so I had to just rely on my own inner navigation. After the initial enthusiasm of going back to school wore off, I had to dig deep and hold steady to my new path by believing in myself, which went against my hyper-critical, immigrant tendency to focus on failure.

However, everything I accomplished that year led me to transfer to the University of Washington, where I received a generous scholarship that paid for the rest of my education. This allowed me to focus on my studies without needing to worry about money. So while it wasn’t a year of obvious achievement, it was directly responsible for the achievements that came later. Therefore, knowing that the upcoming eclipses will affect me in a similar way, I can guess that I’ll be doubting myself, feeling unsteady, and seeking validation that won’t come yet because my hard work probably won’t pay off until much later. (Ugh, ugh, and ugh.)

But dear reader—never fear—this doesn’t mean that your fate is the same as mine because we all have different birth charts. I’m just illustrating how you can use your personal history to gather clues as to what the eclipses might hold in store for you. Looking to the past is a powerful way to work with eclipse energy, and I’m going to help you compile what I call an eclipse profile, which is basically a profile of the important themes from the last metonic cycle.

When you think back to 2005, don’t get hung up on the details, because this upcoming year isn’t going to be a perfect replay of history. We’re working with themes—not events—so you’ll want to ask yourself what the overall vibe was that year.

(What if you were born after 2005? Or if you were still really young and can’t remember what happened? Scroll to the end and read the horoscope for your sign!)

The first thing to consider is what season of life were you in?

When I speak of seasons here, I’m not talking about age. We experience many springs, summers, autumns, and winters throughout our lives because we go through many beginnings and endings. We have ideas that we act on, businesses that we build, and relationships that we leave behind, so we can experience any season at any point in life. So think back to 2005: what sort of season did you feel like you were experiencing then?

• Were you in a spring season where you were starting new ventures, full of ideas and enthusiasm? Were you throwing things at walls to see which of your ideas might stick? Did it feel like you kept working and planting seeds but the results weren’t happening? Like all the action was happening underneath the earth but nothing was sprouting yet?
• Were you in a summer season where your efforts were bearing fruit and you were in a period of expansion? Were you busy, busy, busy? Did opportunities abound? Were you experiencing career or relationship highs? Were you wildly creative during that time, full of activity and bursting with ideas? Did you start new jobs, businesses, or relationships?
• Were you in an autumn season, when things were beginning to slow down? Were you entering a period of reflection and feeling the pull to contemplate? Were you starting to shift your focus from productivity to sustainability? Often during autumn seasons, the hustle and bustle dies down enough for us to start questioning the status quo. We pull back from the action and start to actually digest what’s happened to us. We question and review during autumn seasons.
• Or were you in a winter season when all good things must come to an end? Winter seasons are periods of transition where we feel like we’re no longer quite here anymore but we’re not there yet. Like the actual season of winter, it’s a time when growth stops to give the Earth a chance to rest—and the same happens to us during a personal winter season. It’s a time for pausing, solitude, and creating space for us to go within and get away from the distractions. It’s a time of reconnecting with our inner core. However, these times can feel lonely (and even depressing), and the lack of action and results can feel disorienting and disappointing.

After you’ve considered the possible season you were experiencing, recall the areas of life that were active for you in 2005. Were a lot of relationship issues coming up? Career stuff? Money fluctuations? Was it a spiritual time? Did family demand a lot of attention? Where was the upheaval in your life? Where were the changes?

For me, I was solidly in a spring season, feeling unsure about the new career path I’d chosen and frustrated that my efforts weren’t bearing fruit fast enough. I was desperately begging for some sort of external validation to confirm that my efforts weren’t going to waste. And now, in 2024, I am—indeed and once again—frustrated that my bleepin’ professional fruit ain’t fruitin’ fast enough.

We can’t avoid what’s going to happen, but we can change how we meet our future. We can choose to show up in a healthier way.

So what’s the point of knowing any of this, you may ask? Can you somehow change the future or avoid unpleasantness? Yes and no. We can’t avoid what’s going to happen, but we can change how we meet our future. We can choose to show up in a healthier way. For example, for me, since I know I’m in a spring season, I realize that I need to cultivate patience because I’m heading into a time of sowing—not reaping. I won’t be able to sidestep this part of my journey, but I can spare my mental health from worrying that things aren’t happening fast enough. For the sake of my emotional well-being, I must curb the impulse of my inner Veruca Salt every time she screams, “I want it now!” I am in spring and it’s just not summer yet.

I’ve found that this approach—which is something I do in readings with clients—is not only more helpful and useful than a list of horoscope predictions, but it’s actually more accurate and personal. This also empowers everybody to be their own astrologer in a way, because nobody knows you better than yourself.

Once you’ve identified your season in the list above, consider the challenges of the season as well as the wisdom and insight you’re being invited to develop this year. I’ve started with some suggestions to help you get started:

Spring

The challenge with being in a spring season is dealing with impatience. There’s a newness to whatever it is you’re starting, and you’d love some validation to confirm that you’re on the right path—you want to see things pay off. You’ve spent a lot of time dreaming, planning, and implementing, and now you’re keenly feeling the cruelty of the saying “a watched pot never boils.” You’re watching and you want that thing to boil!

Maintaining trust and faith is easy when you’re still close to your starting point, but it’s a lot harder when you’re on the path, far from home, but still nowhere near your destination. However, trust and faith are exactly what you need to develop patience. Learn to enjoy the journey and appreciate every little bud that springs from your hard work. It’s okay to celebrate sprouts and saplings even if they’re not yet grown trees.

Summer

During a summer season, you’re busy. Creativity wants to flow and new things want to be born. The lesson to learn during a summer season is to let what wants to come into the world flow through you. You’re creating, you’re manifesting, and it can feel like all the things are happening, and your job is to help it happen.

However, the challenge during this time is self care. You can also feel like you’re being presented with too many opportunities or that you’re being pulled in too many directions, so try to make sure you’re taking care of yourself. Also, enjoy this time for what it is. Experience it freely and fully without the expectation that it should last forever.

Autumn

An autumn season is a time to digest all the stuff that happened in the prior summer season. Autumn is when you come off of the high of summer and actually sit with everything that’s happened. It’s a time of questioning and reflection. Is everything that you’ve accomplished actually what you want? Do you need to make any pivots? Or maybe you’re still integrating with the experience and need some time?

Things may start to slow down during autumn seasons, which can feel disappointing because we’ve all been taught by capitalist systems to always be productive. But the soul, like the earth, also needs to slow down, and there’s nothing wrong with introspection.

Winter

The winter season is frustrating, so what we need to learn during our own winter seasons is acceptance. Our usual distractions—work, hobbies, traveling, socializing—are often unavailable to us during a winter season, as it often feels like a low point in our lives. Maybe money is tight. Maybe there’s trouble at work. Maybe we don’t have access to our friends. The overall vibe is contractive and limiting. No matter how hard we work towards our goals, some areas of life just refuse to produce, and we need to learn to accept that the proverbial earth just needs to rest before we can plant new seeds.

The winter season is a time of transition and magic because, even though it looks like nothing is happening on the surface, so much regeneration is happening underneath. It’s when we take all the questions and observations we’ve collected during the previous autumn season and actually distill wisdom from those experiences.

Winter’s lesson of acceptance has to do with accepting the fact that we can’t rush or bypass this season. Going straight from summer into spring is pure foolishness, because you won’t process any of your experiences, much less learn from them. Therefore, the uncomfortable pause that winter inflicts actually allows us to keep from repeating old mistakes.  Winter is when you learn to reignite your inner fire.

How the eclipses will affect each zodiac sign

Different areas of life will be energized by these eclipses. So once you’ve identified and learned about the season of life you’ll likely re-encounter during this eclipse cycle, combine that with the description for your zodiac sign below.