Saros 2 Old North: Eclipse Family in Astrology

Unfortunate news concerning friendships or relationships, but fast action brings good results

This is a difficult eclipse family, as its members bring unfortunate news concerning friendships or relationships. You will be dealing with ideas of separation or the ending of a union. However, although the picture may look glum as the eclipse takes effect, the actual results are quite positive. You will quickly grasp what has to be done, and fast action can bring good results. The theme of this eclipse is action concerning personal relationships.

The New Moon conjuncts Jupiter and this conjunction sits directly on the Mars/Uranus midpoint. Mercury is on the Venus/Saturn midpoint.

The 1946 eclipse at 8 degrees Gemini coincided with one of history's great periods of relational restructuring: the formal dissolution of wartime alliances and the painful process of reckoning with who had been friend and who had been foe. The Nuremberg Trials, which began in late 1945 and continued through 1946, represented a civilization-scale reckoning with broken trust and severed bonds. Yet out of that painful accounting came the United Nations, NATO, and the framework for the most sustained period of peace in European history.

The 1982 eclipse at 29 degrees Gemini fell during the Falklands War, a conflict that abruptly redefined the relationship between Argentina and the United Kingdom while simultaneously strengthening alliances within the Commonwealth. The speed with which diplomatic relationships transformed during that period (from negotiation to conflict to resolution in a matter of months) perfectly illustrates the Mars/Uranus quality of this series: sudden disruption followed by rapid, constructive reconfiguration.

The 2000 eclipse at 9.5 degrees Cancer arrived during the bursting of the dot-com bubble, which severed thousands of professional partnerships and business friendships almost overnight. Yet the rebuilding that followed produced more resilient business models and, for many individuals, more authentic professional relationships. The 2018 eclipse at nearly 21 degrees Cancer accompanied a period of widespread social recalibration, as public discourse about boundaries, accountability, and the true nature of professional relationships intensified across multiple industries.

This series is now approaching its final eclipse: the 2036 activation at the first degree of Leo will be its last. An eclipse family that has spent over 1,200 years teaching humanity how to navigate the endings of relationships will itself reach its conclusion.

Speed matters. When 2 Old North touches your chart, the worst possible response to difficult relational news is prolonged indecision. The Mars/Uranus engine in this family's birth chart rewards those who acknowledge what has changed, grieve briefly, and then act. This does not mean acting rashly or without feeling; it means not spending months in a holding pattern hoping the friendship or partnership will somehow revert to its former state.

The difficult news typically concerns a specific relationship or group affiliation. It may arrive through a conversation, a message, or a sudden event that makes the state of the connection undeniable. Let yourself feel the weight of it. Mercury on the Venus/Saturn midpoint means the emotional processing is real and necessary. But once you have absorbed the reality, take the constructive step that presents itself. The Jupiter conjunction promises that the outcome of that step will be surprisingly, sometimes remarkably, positive.

This series is entering its final chapter. The most recent eclipse occurred on July 13, 2018; the last eclipse in this ancient family will take place on July 23, 2036, at the first degree of Leo. For anyone whose chart was activated in 2018, the 2036 eclipse represents not only the next chapter in that personal story but the closing act of a lineage stretching back to 792 AD. There is something poignant in working with an eclipse family that is itself reaching its own ending.

The twentieth century saw 2 Old North move steadily from Taurus through Gemini and into Cancer. The 1910 eclipse at 17.5 degrees Taurus and 1928 eclipse at 27.8 degrees carried the relational disruption theme through a sign of material stability and established values. Three Gemini eclipses followed (1946 at 8 degrees, 1964 at 19.1 degrees, 1982 at 29.3 degrees), shifting the axis of relationship change into the communicative realm, where words spoken and letters received became the primary catalysts.

Cancer claimed the next two activations (2000 at 9.5 degrees, 2018 at 20.6 degrees), adding emotional depth and domestic resonance to the relational disruptions. The final eclipse in 2036 at 0.8 degrees Leo marks both a sign change and a farewell, as this 1,244 year old family produces its last activation in the sign of the heart. The progression from Taurus to Leo traces an arc from material bonds to verbal contracts to emotional attachments to matters of personal identity and creative self-expression.