Cut the BS - Taurus eclipse, May 10th 2013

This is the complimentary solar eclipse to the Scorpio lunation on 25th April. An annular eclipse is where the Moon obscures all but the outside edges of the Sun, creating a spectacular 'ring of fire' effect. The first partial obscuration starts at 21:25 UT on May 9th and reaches maximum annularity at 00:26 UT on Friday May 10th. 

The Sun is the central life-giving force, so solar eclipses are a bigger deal than their lunar counterparts. The Moon coming in front of the Sun symbolically puts emotion before Self, and there is purging as a new cycle starts. Unlike the buoyant atmosphere of the Full Moon, New Moons are a down time in the lunar cycle, where the atmosphere is dark and half-formed. There is an atavistic sense that primitive man must have felt, a fear-factor almost, that the light has died and will it ever return?

Eclipses are generally not good times to make decisions - the energy is too overwhelming.  Since this is a New Moon, the general advice is to wait at least three days before and after to take a major course of action. By May 13th, the waxing crescent Moon will appear, symbolizing the return of the light. For all signs and all people, there is often a markedly different atmosphere after an eclipse. A corner has been turned and nagging doubts or past emotional freight is left behind. Check your chart to see if you have planets on or very near 19 Taurus or Scorpio.

People with the Sun in fixed signs: Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius, stand to be most affected by any changes - particularly if your birthday is between 8-11th May or 8th-11th November. This eclipse will prepare the ground for the impending transit of Saturn across your Sun, which will hit first in mid-December. This is where you are either working furiously at your ambitions, or stripping your life down and making things simpler. What better time than an eclipse in Taurus to cut the bullshit?

The eclipse path covers Australia's Northern Territory, Papua New Guinea
and the Solomon Islands. Significantly, it crisscrosses the path of
November 2012's total solar eclipse, just north of Cairns. 

Venus, the eclipse ruler, moves into Gemini on May 9th, which also implies change and a focus on dialogue and diplomacy. Transiting Mercury is also within a degree of 19 Taurus, further suggesting the importance of ideas. Taurus is famous - notorious, actually - for stubbornness, but in world affairs, an old way of thinking may be eclipsed and replaced by a new concept. This could be connected with finances and material security.

Vedic advice is also adamant that we should not undertake negotiations, long journeys, or any important actions on the eclipse day. Furthermore, it is advisable to bathe after the eclipse has passed. Spiritual work, chanting and meditation, is auspicious, however - mantras are many times more powerful during the eclipse hours - and it is also recommended to fast on the eclipse day. In Jyotish, this eclipse falls in the Venus-ruled nakshatra of Bharani, which emphasizes a positive clearing-out process.