Oct 2023 Solar Eclipse - Beginning/Saros 134

This chart marks the very first moment the annular solar eclipse of the 14th of October 2023 became visible, its opening breath as the Moon began to slide across the face of the Sun. It belongs to Saros series 134, the 44th eclipse of 71, each one falling at the Moon's descending node. Because the Moon lay near apogee and appeared small, it could never fully cover the Sun; instead it left a ring of fire, an annulus of light. The shadow's path crossed the Americas, annular from the western United States through Central America, Colombia and Brazil, and partial across the wider continent. The chart is cast for Re'im, Israel.

Here the Sun and Moon meet together in Libra, Venus's Scale, the sign of fairness, partnership and the weighing of two sides. Both luminaries fall in the seventh house, the house of the other: marriage, contracts, open enemies and negotiation. Rising is Aries, the Ram, Mars's warrior mask, direct and combative. So the sky opens on a paradox: the sign of balance meeting in the house of relating, yet fronted by the pioneer's blade, harmony and confrontation held in one breath.