Eclipses and Saros Cycles in Astronomy and Astrology

This is a primer on eclipse fundamentals. I focus on the astronomy of eclipses here as opposed to their use in astrology, though I provide a bit of context on that too. It’s imperative to have a solid knowledge of what eclipses are on an astronomical level before you can interpret them on an astrological level.

The Basics

Eclipses occur when the Sun, Moon and Earth line up in a particular way, close to the Lunar Nodes. This alignment is called a sygyzy (which is a game-winning word to use in Scrabble, just FYI).

There are two Lunar Nodes, which are the points of intersection of the Moon’s path around the Earth with the ecliptic (i.e. the Sun’s apparent path around the Earth). One Node is called the Ascending or North Node, which is where the Moon moves from the south to the north, and one is called the Descending or South Node, where the Moon moves from the north to the south.

The Earth’s slight tilt ensures that eclipses can only occur a couple of times a year instead of at every lunation — only when the Sun, Moon and Earth are lined up just right.

Solar eclipses occur at the New Moon — they are a Sun-Moon conjunction.

• This is when the Moon passes in front of the Sun, darkening its light.

Lunar eclipses occur at the Full Moon — they are a Sun-Moon opposition.

• This is when the Moon passes through the Earth’s shadow, giving it a reddish hue.

Eclipses occur in pairs, twice a year.

• A solar eclipse always follows a lunar eclipse, or vice-versa.
• Occasionally there can be a third eclipse and even a fourth eclipse in a row, though this is very rare. They will always alternate: solar-lunar-solar or lunar-solar-lunar.

Eclipses always occur within about 17 degrees of one of the Lunar Nodes.

• The closer the Sun and Moon are to the Nodes, the more total the eclipse will be.

Eclipses are only visible from certain locations on Earth.

• Those outside the path of totality will see a partial eclipse.
• Those too far outside the path of an eclipse will not be able to see it at all.

Types of Eclipses

Eclipses are classified according to how complete they are and there are a few different types of each.

Total Solar Eclipse

• The Moon completely blocks the Sun, creating a path of totality on the Earth’s surface.
• Those inside the path of totality will experience daytime darkness and be able to observe the Sun’s corona.
• Those outside the path of totality will experience a partial eclipse.

Partial Solar Eclipse

• The Moon covers only part of the Sun.

Annular Solar Eclipse

• The Moon is centered in front of the Sun but doesn’t completely cover the Sun’s disk.
• This occurs when the Moon is near apogee (its farthest distance from the Earth) and creates a “ring of fire.”

Hybrid Solar Eclipse

• Those outside the path will see a partial eclipse.
• This is a combination of all three types of solar eclipses, depending on the observer’s location.
• Hybrid eclipses begin as an annular eclipse and transition to a total eclipse, then finish as an annular.

Total Lunar Eclipse

• The Full Moon is completely blocked from the Sun’s rays by the Earth’s shadow (penumbra).
• This is also called a Blood Moon because the Moon appears reddish-orange, because of dust particles in the Earth’s atmosphere which bend sunlight and allow different wavelengths of light to reach the surface of the Moon.

Partial Lunar Eclipse

• The Earth moves between the Sun and the Moon, but the objects are not precisely aligned so the Moon only appears slightly reddish and not all of its surface appears that colour.

Penumbral Lunar Eclipse

• The Moon moves through the faint outer part of the Earth’s shadow (penumbra).
• This is a very faint eclipse that often looks just like a regular Full Moon.

The Path of the Nodes

The Lunar Nodes move through the zodiac signs retrograde (backwards) in reverse zodiacal order. They are exactly 180 degrees apart, so they are always in one set of opposite signs: Aries-Libra, Taurus-Scorpio, Gemini-Sagittarius, Cancer-Capricorn, Leo-Aquarius or Virgo-Pisces. This sign axis is very important in the interpretation of eclipses on an astrological level.

The Nodes change signs every 18 months (approximately). This means that the eclipse cycle will occur across one sign axis for about 18 months before shifting to another. The shift isn’t always exact, and often will result in eclipse cycles blending together for a period of time. For example, in 2026, the Nodes change signs from Virgo-Pisces to Leo-Aquarius on July 27, but we got the first eclipse in the Leo-Aquarius axis on February 17 (a solar eclipse at 28 Aquarius). This was followed by a lunar eclipse at 12 Virgo on March 3.

It takes the Nodes just under 19 years to move through the entire zodiac, which means you get a nodal return every 19 years. You get a “reverse” nodal return every nine and a half years, which is where the North Node will be on your natal South Node and vice-versa. More on these below.

The Nodes “wobble” back and forth slightly in space due to gravitational disturbances caused by the interaction of the Earth, Sun and Moon. You may notice that occasionally, your astrology software shows the Nodes stationing or direct instead of retrograde, though they are retrograde for the vast majority of time.

There are two ways of calculating the Lunar Nodes and you can toggle between them in your astrology software:

• True Node: the exact mathematical calculation for where the Nodes are at any given moment.
• Mean Node: the average of all the variations in the exact Nodal position.

The exact position of the True Node will be slightly different from the Mean Node, but it usually doesn’t make much difference. I use the True Node in my work.

Saros Cycles

Each eclipse belongs to a particular Saros cycle, also called Saros series, which is a sequence of eclipses that occur at intervals of a Saros.

• A Saros is a period of 223 synodic months or just under 19 years.
• After this time, the Sun, Moon and Earth return to approximately the same position and thus cause a nearly identical eclipse to occur – they occur at the same lunar node with the Moon the same distance from Earth and at the same time of year.

Each Saros cycle is identified by a number.

• You can use the particular Saros cycle number to look up all the eclipses in that cycle.

A lunar Saros cycle consists of about 50 lunar eclipses over about 870 years.

A solar Saros cycle consists of about 70 solar eclipses over about 1200 years.

At any one time, there are about 42 Saros cycles running at once.

Each Saros cycle begins with a tiny eclipse at the north or south pole. Each successive eclipse shifts slightly north or south towards the opposite pole, and about 120 degrees west of the previous eclipse in the series.

• Therefore, you can tell the approximate age of an eclipse based on where it occurs:
  • Younger and older Saros cycles consist of small partial eclipses close to one of the poles.
  • Middle-aged eclipses are closer to totality and occur across the middle of the Earth.

Because eclipses always occur in pairs (one lunar and one solar), each Saros cycle has a “partner” of the opposite type.

For example, the eclipse that occurred on February 17, 2026 was an annular solar eclipse belonging to Saros cycle #121. Its partner is lunar Saros cycle #114.

Eclipses in Astrology

Indian astrologers conceive of the Lunar Nodes as a great dragon. The North (Ascending) Node is Rahu, the head of the dragon. The South (Descending) Node is Ketu, the tail of the dragon.

This imagery, of a great dragon wrapping itself around the earth, matches perfectly to the way that each Saros cycle moves slowly up or down the Earth from pole to pole. They begin as a tight curl at the pole, lengthening into sinuous waves around the middle of the Earth, and then tightening up into a little curl again at the opposite pole. When you map out eclipse paths and Saros cycles on the Earth, it looks just like the path that snakes make in the sand.

In both Vedic and traditional astrology, eclipses and the Lunar Nodes are regarded as malefic, negative influences. This is particularly true when eclipses occur close to the degrees of an individual’s natal chart angles or natal planets.

Many modern astrologers regard eclipses – and by extension, the Lunar Nodes – in relation to themes of reincarnation, karma and past lives. Some modern astrologers do not regard eclipses as malefic influences per se, but most acknowledge them as periods of profound transformation and major life transitions — again, usually when they hit key aspects in the individual’s chart.

Saros Cycles in Astrology

There are many ways of using Saros cycles in astrology. Because Saros cycles are very long, I find them most useful for studying long historical cycles. However, you can use them for natal astrology too, especially once you have reached middle age or older. You can also use them for ancestral astrology and studying family patterns over generations.

One of the most common ways to use them in natal astrology is to look at the Saros cycle of your prenatal eclipse (usually the prenatal solar eclipse) for some insight into the life path or soul journey of your current incarnation.

Because each Saros cycle repeats every 19 years, the recurrence of your prenatal solar eclipse occurs around ages 19, 36, 55, 74 and 93. This is commonly referred to as an “eclipse return.”

However, we don’t need to limit ourselves to just looking at the prenatal solar eclipse. You can look up the Saros cycle for any eclipse and then consider it in relation to life repetitions that occur every 19 years. This is particularly useful when an eclipse hits a key degree in your chart – you can prepare yourself for what may occur the next time it comes around.

You could also do this for key moments in history, tracing backwards and forwards in time what occurred in history during each Saros cycle.

Eclipse Geography

Another way that I like to use eclipses is to look at where the path of totality will be on Earth, and where the point of maximum visibility/totality will be. Then, I compare this to what’s going on geopolitically in those regions. I also look at where the eclipses fall in the natal charts of the impacted nations and the leaders of those nations. This is most useful when looking at a series of eclipses and a broader section of history/current events, versus just a single point in time.

Many astrologers (myself included) think that eclipses are more impactful if they are visible in the location they occur, and vice-versa. That said, eclipses can still have an effect on individuals even if that person is in a location outside where the eclipse is visible. It really depends on where the eclipse falls in the natal chart.

Eclipses and Saros Cycle Resources

Hermit Eclipse website: easily searchable lists of all Saros cycles

Time and Date: upcoming and past eclipses with excellent interactive maps

NASA Catalog of Solar Eclipse Saros Series

NASA Catalog of Lunar Eclipse Saros Series

For more of my writing on eclipses, check out my other blog posts.