Writing Prompts for the Solar Eclipse in Aries
To the sacred fire of new beginnings
Fire is an alchemical force. Offer something to the fire, and it will change. Such is eclipse energy, especially in Aries, a fire sign.
(Joseph Tomanek Fire Dance 1889)
This Saturday, March 29th, we’ll experience a north node eclipse in Aries. Every year, there are two eclipse seasons: portals, possibilities for change, and celestial magic. The south node is a place of release and letting go, while the north node is where we move toward and to a calling, a tug at the heart and the soul.
Eclipses are moments of karmic path-changing, surrender, re-alignment, and departure. From Latin eclipsis and Greek ekleipsis, an eclipse is an abandonment, literally "a failing, forsaking," from ekleipein to forsake a usual place. And so, eclipses speak to change. They arrive as an omen, prayer, blessing, and illumination.
Aries is a cardinal fire sign, meaning it ushers in a new season (in the northern hemisphere, spring). This is a time of new beginnings and change. Fire, in magic and ritual, is about transformation. But beyond transformation, fire gives us the gift of heat, nourishment, it sustains and protects. Fire is also destruction, risk, voracious, even. Fire is both and. Fire defies singular definition.
During an eclipse, the lights turn off for a moment. Perception is altered. In the dark, what flame do you light for yourself? What shadowy inspiration flickers, asking for you to examine it more closely? Such is the magic of a moment like this. During this eclipse, what spark can change everything?
Writing Prompts for the Solar Eclipse in Aries
Imagine the page is a bonfire. Offer to this fire what you want to transform, and what feels ready to change. If you’re unsure what this might be, spend some time considering the changes that have happened so far in your life, what feels like an important turning point and why? Is another turning point waiting for you on the other side of this moment? Began this piece, “Dear bonfire, I offer you…”
In Louise Glück’s poem Burning Leaves (read the full poem here) She writes, “The fire burns up into the clear sky,/eager and furious, like an animal trying to get free,/to run wild as nature intended—.” Write five metaphors for fire, to create a poem in five stanzas (groupings of lines). To you, is fire a wild animal? Is it the beating heart? Is it your creativity? Your ancestors? Through these five metaphors, explore your relationship through writing with the symbol of fire, and find you’ve crafted a poem.
In popular astrology, there is much discourse about the chaotic energy of eclipses and fear-mongering around these times of potent magic. Instead of giving in to the fear, allow this sacred flame to be a blessing. Write a love letter to eclipse season, forge a new relationship in this alchemical fire with change.