Eclipsing the Age of Aquarius

August 12th, 2026 was the first of six eclipses within the Aquarius/Leo axis over the next 18 months. It was a solar eclipse with the Sun, Moon, South Node, Jupiter, and Mercury all in the sign of Leo, while the North Node of the Moon is across the way in the sign of Aquarius. The next eclipses will be a partial Lunar Eclipse on August 27th/28th, 2026; a February 6th, 2027 Solar Eclipse; an August 2nd, 2027 Solar Eclipse; an August 17th, 2027 Lunar Eclipse; and finally the last Solar Eclipse on January 26th, 2028.

The north and south nodes of the Moon are invisible elliptical points that determine the Moon’s trajectory. Not only is the Moon orbiting this beautiful Earth, but the nodes orbit the Earth in a counterclockwise fashion that is calculable and moves through one “house” or sign of the Zodiac every 18 months.

The Zodiac is a giant wheel of balance that helps us calculate our clock and calendar. Each house and its opposite shadow/fall sign are quite significant in this wheel of balance. The nodes of the Moon are considered to be the head and the tail of the “Dragon of Society.” The North node is where we are collectively headed, while the South node is the shadow side where we are coming from. When the nodes shift every year and a half, society feels it.

We have been navigating the Pieces/Virgo axis for the past 18 months with the North Node in Pisces and the South Node in Virgo. Pisces deals with beliefs, fantasy, illusion, religion, compassion, forgiveness, ideas, creativity, space, everything, nothingness, disillusionment, and the collective unified consciousness and universe at large. Virgo is more about language, free will, the ability to choose what to believe and our own individual path, specific thoughts and ideas, meticulous craftsmanship, specific details, right & wrong, judgment, nature, the nurse energy that gives back to humanity. If Virgo represents the flowers and trees that bloom and die every year, just as all life, Pisces would be the place we all go when we take our last breath. No one really knows, but billions have beliefs that shape their entire reality. Both of these signs also deal with addictive behaviors and the desire to escape reality through one form or another. The alcoholic at last call and the yogi on their mat are both chasing a feeling; one is just more sustainable than the other.

We are moving out of the Age of Belief and entering the Age of Knowledge. December 21st, 2012 marked the end of the Mayan calendar, which was the end of the Age of Pisces (Belief, Imagination, Unity), and the beginning of the Age of Aquarius (Knowledge/Technology/Society). Pluto (Transformation) slowly entered Aquarius in March 2023 and will be there until January 2044. This has been and will continue to be an abundance of technology that will spread knowledge and information through the masses of society. Society has not only been embracing technology, but we’ve also become immersed in it like a frog in a pot of water with the heat slowly rising, not realizing it’s consuming us.

This nodal shift sets up the next series of eclipses that are important for us to pay attention to, where we are headed on the large scale. The big needle is pointing toward Aquarius, and Leo is now the shadow, the opposite. If Aquarius is about Technology, knowing, and society, Leo represents the Sun, the human spirit, pride, courage, ego, identity, the individual within nature and society. Leo is natural chicken while Aquarius is processed lunch meat, something not possible without modern technology.

As new technological standards are implemented into society, we begin to find conveniences but lose our individuality. In public restrooms, toilets flush themselves; the sinks and hand dryers are mostly motion-sensitive. Aquarius is the grocery store, while Leo is the forest and the hunt. Leo is the individual who lives among, feeds upon, and coexists with nature, while Aquarius is online shopping and food delivery services. The theatre to a TikTok dance. Watching mukbang or going out to eat on a date. Human connection or staying in to watch TV. Making love or watching porn or using a toy. We will lose the human element of our individuality with the shadow side of Leo if we focus too much on the spoils of technology’s comforts through Aquarius. When we spend too much time on our phones or around electrical currents all day, doctors and cultures around the world will tell us to take off our shoes, stand on the earth, and ground ourselves. This Age balances our connection with technology and society with our connection to ourselves and nature.

Consensus Bias

We are dealing with two different aspects of the ego: individual ego, and its opposing collective societal ego. When the large groups or collective averages of society gather in thought, they share a consensus that their beliefs are not beliefs, but knowledge, and that others should understand and respect or abide by their knowledge of what is right. If their particular group or party all feel a certain way about a topic, it gives a false sense of security to the individual that the collective belief they share is correct because so many others also believe this as well. When knowledge reaches an individual who chooses to break away from the group thinking, they can become a target of ridicule and potential public shame. The individual must have that great Leo pride and self-assurance to endure society’s constructive criticism and judgments. Most people praise free thinkers as long as they think like them.

18,000 to over 100,000 Gods have been worshiped throughout recorded history. The different religions think they’re right with the correct views, answers, ways to pray, and worship. The Democrats and the Republicans both think they’re right with the right views and answers for the direction of society. Different lifestyles think they have the right views and answers on how to live. Vegan or carnivore, sober or yogi, gun owner and gun protester, theologian or atheist; all are two sides of the same coin. When we align ourselves with a group for whatever the reason may be, we risk losing aspects of ourselves to the collective. Our individual decisions or opinions can be swayed by the current or blown like a feather in the wind if we are not clear in our identity, who we are, and what we want and what we stand for.

To think that the world would be a better place if everybody “fill in the blank“. If everyone believed in Jesus, the world would be a better place. If no one believed in Jesus, the world would be a better place. If everyone just stopped drinking and partying, the world would be a better place. If everyone felt this way or thought this way or considered this…

The arrogance of our pride to believe everyone or anyone has to think, feel, believe, or do anything the way we do is an illusion that creates the separation, judgment, lack of acceptance, and empathy that prevents us from healing as a whole.

When we get wrapped up in the consensus bias, we can create a filter in our perspective that our thinking, which is our beliefs, personal or a group, are facts and knowledge because others feel this way too. Knowledge is currently spreading through technology at lightning-fast rates that humanity is having a hard time keeping up with. New knowledge can pop the bubble of fantasy or beliefs that are the foundations and building blocks of some people’s reality. Information will come out over the next year and a half that will make us all question aspects of our lives and those who lived here before. We have the ability to adjust our sails and pivot. Open our minds to new thinking, and don’t get caught up in the doom and gloom that media and social media use to separate us by our differences instead of uniting us in our strengths. Strength is in numbers, and that is a two-way street we will all have to learn to navigate over this 18-month transit.

Balancing Technology and Reality is Key

We can create a false sense of reality where we can say almost anything to anyone online, behind our keyboards or the glow of our phone, with little to no consequences in real life. Social media and news continue to paint a picture and pull on the heartstrings of people, flooding the news feeds with negativity. Yet we can walk outside and see love, see kindness for strangers, people getting along and doing fun things, people helping animals, and a lot of positivity.

It’s good to surprise ourselves from time to time. It’s good to be wrong. That allows us to grow and learn something new.

Our relationship with what we value, and how society can shape what we value, is another aspect we will face. Why do we value the things that we value? Do I need to spend money I don’t have on things to fit in so people I don’t know can accept me and value me? Do I seek validation through others in society? How does society value me? How am I valuable to society? Do we need the next fad or fashion trend, clothing item, bag, shoes, car, phone, or gadget to impress people, or for ourselves to feel valued or of value?

Comparison to others is the thief of joy.

The water doesn’t drink itself; the Sun doesn’t shine for itself. All the colors of the rainbow make up the spectrum, as all the elements together create a balanced ecosystem. The Sun may be the most adorned object in existence, but if it weren’t for the wind, the clouds, the rain, and the dark of night, it would destroy all the crops that sustain life. We have to be able to tap into our element and appreciate what we bring to the whole, even if it’s not the movie star, famous singer, cover model, doctor, inventor, or investor that gets the attention of the Sun. The grass is always greener, fire burns fast, and every rose has its thorn.

We will collectively have to navigate traditional medicines to pharmaceuticals, processed food and health options, beauty standards, keeping up with the Joneses, the next piece of technology that will change everything, the next fashion fads, plastic surgeries, weight loss drugs, healthy diet and lifestyle. We are shifting what we value as a society and individually. Buying things to make ourselves feel better is under a microscope right now. Being mindful of whether we’re chasing a feeling, acceptance, a lifestyle, or how a lifestyle would look.

This is a good transit. We shouldn’t turn a blind eye to the fact that we are birthing this technological age of life into existence. Our history and evolution are beautiful. Human life is a series of organisms living among other organisms, on a living organism. How we made it to streaming music and videos on our TV’s, reading magazines on our phones, HVAC, self-driving cars, drone-delivered goods, and an entire world of knowledge at our fingertips–we may never know, but it is truly astounding to see what we’ve created, and it’s an amazing time to be alive. 

It’s wonderful to play in this world of merging nature with technology and finding our balance between the two, as well as our balance between ourselves and the societal waves, which will be an ongoing dance that we will dance together. We just need to remember to set down our phones, take off our shoes, and put our feet in the grass from time to time.

TAKE ACTION: As technology continues to shape the way we live and connect, Aaron Eschenburg invites you to create more balance by occasionally setting down your phone, stepping outside, and reconnecting with the natural world. For more insights into the astrological shifts influencing our individual and collective journeys, follow Aaron’s latest updates on YouTube.