Parsing the Leo Solar Eclipse 2026
A few things to note with the upcoming solar eclipse:
This is a South Node solar eclipse. Austin Coppock goes into great detail in his multi-lecture series masterclass, Here There Be Dragons, as to how we should be considering 4 different kinds of eclipses: solar eclipse on the South Node, solar eclipse on the North Node, lunar eclipse on the SN, and lunar eclipse on the NN (I talk about this a bit more further below).
The next thing we have to consider are the two lenses we might view eclipses through--the Saros cycle lens, which is a period of roughly 18 years and 11 days (223 lunar months), and the Metonic cycle lens, which describes a period of 19 years (235 lunar months).
The Saros cycle lens will track eclipse paths and predict shadow geometry as each sequential eclipse shifts 120 degrees westward around the globe.
The Metonic cycle lens aligns solar years with lunar phases to build a lunisolar understanding of time, which in turn, helps us compute holidays like Easter.
In Metonic cycles, eclipses return to roughly the same region and calendar day every 19 years, though they slowly drift out of sync after a few iterations.
The Saros cycle lens will track eclipse paths and predict shadow geometry as each sequential eclipse shifts 120 degrees westward around the globe.
The Metonic cycle lens aligns solar years with lunar phases to build a lunisolar understanding of time, which in turn, helps us compute holidays like Easter.
In Metonic cycles, eclipses return to roughly the same region and calendar day every 19 years, though they slowly drift out of sync after a few iterations.Both cycles have something to say in our lives, but for now, I would like to focus on the Saros cycle lens.
Both upcoming eclipses are from families of eclipses that occurred in August 2008--note the Saros numbers next to the 2026 eclipses and the 2008 eclipses.
In the pics below, I've lined them up by whether they are solar or lunar (shout out to the wonderful Petr from Astro-seek.com).
So one way to parse this is by going back to your own experiences, if that is possible. What was going on for you in August 2008? What changes and shake-ups came up for you in the 9 months and beyond that followed (see my other thread on calculating the duration of effects from an eclipse)?
If you are able, you can go back even further, to July 1990...For me, this coincided with a move within Japan from Kanazawa to Tokyo--and the beginnings of a time that would shape my professional choices for the next 13 or so years.
In August 2008, I was awaiting the birth of my first child, a journey that continues to shape me today.
I went back further to see what recurring energetic patterns are around this solar eclipse in its Saros family. I went back as far as May 1882, since that's when the total solar eclipse started for this family. This is what came through that appears to be echoing today (from a mundane perspective, just to be clear): resistance to colonialism; military alliances between countries; pandemics; escalating anti-immigration sentiments; dominant powers exerting pressure to guard their interests.
It's worth noting that this is a South Node solar eclipse. Austin Coppock teaches that while the Hellenistic view of the Sun connects it to vision and intelligence, the Indic tradition sees the Sun as mildly malefic in part because of its association with identification and pride, and the way that ego--the personal ego--can get in the way of other things...
With a solar eclipse near the South Node here, we get a dissolution of part of the ego structure...We are letting go of identifying with something--there is usually a dissolution of part of the ego structure--and we stop defining ourselves so much by what is going on in the part of our lives that the sign and house in our charts are calling attention to...
And quoting AC here, "a lot of times, in addition to how much we identify with that area, there are also cues for the act of prioritisation; with the solar eclipse on the SN, you may realise that you don't need to worry about [what your chart is pointing to], that things are kind of taken care of there and it's okay to re-prioritise and spend more time on the other side of things.
Wishing you all the best for the upcoming eclipse~