Why This Eclipse Season Is Especially Powerful

Eclipses are notorious for being intense and tumultuous periods of change and realignment, and these powerful cosmic events generally come in pairs, known as eclipse seasons. Right now, the year’s second and final eclipse season is in full swing — as a lunar eclipse rose on Sept. 17 while the upcoming solar eclipse hits on Oct. 2. If you’re feeling a lot of cosmic intensity at the moment, trust that you’re not alone.

Every eclipse season pushes along a specific storyline in everyone’s lives, with the current season holding a lot of power, as it brings some meaningful endings and beginnings that could shift your path and reshape your future. The reason for this is that there are currently two different eclipse cycles overlapping — one is just beginning, and the other is approaching its finale. While an eclipse season typically lasts around a month, they are part of a larger cycle that lasts around two years, during which the lunations of each eclipse season take place on the same axis of the zodiac. During the 2024 September-October eclipse season, the two different axes are being activated, which means multiple areas of everyone’s birth charts are lit up with drama, change, and new opportunities.

As you prepare for the solar eclipse in Libra, it’s a good time to reflect on the significant shifts brought forth in you by this eclipse season. Here’s the full scoop on why this eclipse season may feel especially powerful.

How Long Does This Eclipse Season Last?

The summer-fall 2024 eclipse season includes two eclipses — the lunar eclipse that took place on Sept. 17, and the upcoming solar eclipse that will rise on Oct. 2. Many astrologers believe that the potent energy of these periods becomes active before and after the eclipses occur. By that measure, the current eclipse season officially started stirring under the first-quarter moon on Sept. 11 and will pass by the next first-quarter moon on Oct. 10.

Eclipse Cycles & What They Mean

Eclipse seasons encompass back-to-back eclipses, and occur a couple of times per year. But eclipse cycles have to do with the signs in which the eclipses are taking place, and these cycles last for years at a time. They’re dictated by the location of two lunar points called the North and South Nodes of Fate, which reside along the ecliptic (or the path the sun appears to follow as it moves through the sky).

While September’s eclipse began a brand-new cycle, this Libra eclipse is here to help wrap one up.

The North Node symbolizes your life purpose, the future, and embracing your true destiny, while the South Node symbolizes the past, your comfort zone, and things that need to be released from your life in the name of growth. When new and full moons hit within proximity of Lunar Nodes, the luminaries eclipse one another. It’s because of the influence of these points eclipses are believed to be deeply related to matters of fate and destiny, and realigning people to their meant-to-be paths.

The North and South Nodes have been in Aries and Libra, respectively, since July 17, 2023. Eclipses have been primarily taking place on the Aries-Libra axis of the zodiac since April of that year, highlighting themes of finding your true identity and letting go of codependence. But come January 11, 2025, the Nodes will shift into the signs of Virgo and Pisces, a new eclipse cycle, changing how everyone relates to their wellness routines and spiritual lives.

Why This Eclipse Season Is So Special

The eclipse season that’s taking place right now is significant because there are currently two different eclipse cycles overlapping — one that’s just begun, and one that’s in the process of wrapping up.

The Virgo-Pisces eclipse cycle that will span over the next two years just kicked off with the lunar eclipse on Sept. 17. That was the first eclipse that’s taken place in Pisces since 2017, so it’s beginning a brand-new journey, and areas of your life that may have been a little stagnant over the past years may start picking up speed. September’s eclipse was activating the growth-oriented North Node, so the energy of new beginnings was strong, and the eclipse cleared space for all the lessons and opportunities that will be emerging in your life over the coming years.

Meanwhile, October’s upcoming solar eclipse in Libra will be the last eclipse to take place in this air sign until 2033. So while September’s eclipse began a brand-new cycle, this Libra eclipse is here to help wrap one up. The Aries-Libra eclipse cycle won’t officially end until the Aries eclipse on March 29, 2025. But because this solar eclipse is the last one to take place in Libra — and because it’s taking place alongside the release-oriented South Node — this is bringing one last flush-out to help you let go of toxic partnerships or relationship dynamics that you’ve been clinging onto unnecessarily.