How to Prepare for Eclipse Season
aka how not to lose your marbles
Eclipse season is back. Like clockwork. Every 6 months, when the Sun moves into a dance with the North or South Node, we enter the eclipse portal.
This month, we have a total solar eclipse in Leo on 12/13 August, then a lunar eclipse in Pisces on 28 August. Two eclipses, a fortnight apart, and the collective field is already humming…
If you’ve been feeling a bit off lately, scattered, teary for no reason, wired but tired, you’re not imagining it. This is what the lead-up feels like. It gets all of us, even the ones who write about it for a living.
So before we’re in the thick of it, let’s talk about what eclipses actually are, what to expect, and how to look after yourself through a charged couple of weeks. No doom, I promise. Just the practical stuff I wish more astrologers would talk about.
A quick refresher
Eclipses happen when a new or full moon lines up with the Lunar Nodes, which are the points where the path of the Moon crosses the path of the Sun from our perspective here on Earth. At this time, our three most important celestial bodies, the Sun, Earth and Moon, come into alignment and we experience a moment of darkness followed by renewal.
The Nodes spend approximately 18 months in each pair of signs, which means we experience seasons of eclipses in the same signs rather than one-off events. The Leo solar eclipse belongs to a brand new story along the Leo and Aquarius axis, one that is just beginning to unfold and will continue through to 2028. The Pisces lunar eclipse is closing out a story that has been running since late 2024, so we are watching one chapter end just as another opens.
The sky does love structure…
Where we are eclipsed indicates an area where we are all learning, growing and stretching. The eclipses activate change, upheaval and release so that we can anchor into our future direction. They are known for creating quantum leaps, although those changes usually occur after we are out of the eclipse window, once the dust settles. Worth remembering when everything feels like it’s happening at once.
Now, the practical part.
What to know about Eclipse Season
1. People are going to be more distracted than usual.
The energy around an eclipse is inherently unstable. Most people feel something but can’t put words to it, which creates confusion. We experience more forgetfulness, short fuses, missed messages, baffling decisions, general human chaos. You’ll see it in small ways, the driver who does something wild, the email that never comes back, the friend who forgets you had plans. Leave margin everywhere, and try not to take the next two weeks of other people’s behaviour personally. Most of them have no idea why they feel like this.
2. You might be more distracted too.
You’re not exempt. Neither am I. You might find yourself foggier, more emotional, more reactive, or unable to hold a thought for long enough to make sense of it… It’s annoying, but it’s completely normal. Double-check the details, reread the text before you send it, and give yourself the same grace you’re extending to everyone else.
3. The eclipses are working for you.
This is the reframe I most want you to take into the season. The eclipses stir up the areas of life that are ready for change. So if something suddenly feels uncomfortable, unstable, or impossible to keep ignoring, that discomfort is information. It’s showing you where you’ve outgrown something. It could be a role, a dynamic, or a version of yourself that used to fit.
Anything that leaves during an eclipse season was already on its way out. And whatever arrives has usually been building for a while, we just couldn’t see it yet.
You don’t have to resolve any of it while it’s happening. Please don’t try. The way to work with eclipse energy is to be present with what’s coming up for you, rather than bypassing it or trying to mentally force a resolution. Write things down, give them room to breathe, and trust that the answers can come later.
4. Your design is how you navigate it.
Your strategy and authority are the literal keys to seasons like this one. When the field is charged, and everyone around you is spinning, your design is the steadiest thing you’ve got.
Generators and Manifesting Generators, let your sacral do the sorting, because if the response isn’t there, it isn’t yours. Projectors, guard your rest like it’s your job, because right now it is. Manifestors, inform before you act, especially if the urge to burn it all down arrives mid-eclipse (it might). And Reflectors, give the big stuff a full lunar cycle.
All of us: if your authority says wait, wait.
Eclipse seasons reward people who know how to make decisions as themselves. Honestly, that skill matters more right now than any forecast, including mine. If you’re ready to truly start living and making decisions as your true self, our guides are the perfect place to start.
How to prepare, practically
Nothing here is fancy. All of it helps.
Protect your sleep. Your body is doing real work integrating change, so go to bed earlier than feels necessary and let it.
Look after your body. Eat properly, drink water, move gently. It’s common to experience physical symptoms of purging and release around the eclipses, so be kind to the vessel doing the holding.
Leave space in your calendar. This is not the fortnight to schedule yourself to the edge. A bit of breathing room is one of the most supportive things you can give yourself right now.
Sit on big decisions if you can. The eclipse window distorts things. If a major choice can wait until early September, let it wait, and if it can’t, run it through your authority.
Write down what surfaces. The themes showing up now are a preview of your next chapter, and you’ll want to be able to look back on them later.
Let go of what’s clearly leaving. Holding on to what an eclipse is trying to remove only makes the process harder.
Prepare for distraction. From the people around you, and from yourself. And give everyone a tremendous amount of grace. We’re all trying.
Get familiar with the Leo and Aquarius-ruled parts of your chart. Because this is where you are heading into big change and transformation over the coming year and a half.
One last thing
You don’t need to fear eclipse season. And you don’t need anyone to get you through it, including an astrologer. The forecast is useful, but your design is what will actually carry you through. Everything you need to navigate the next few weeks is already built into how you make decisions.
Authority trumps transits, every time.
The best way to navigate big astrology is by living your design. If you don’t know your strategy and authority yet, my free chart look-up will show you both in about a minute. And when you’re ready for the whole map, my in-depth guides were made for seasons exactly like this one: your chart, interpreted by me, created just for you. Beautiful and useful for years.
I will be back with more specific insights for each eclipse as we get closer to them.
—Amy xx
Thank you, Amy! Question for you — when you say “get familiar with the Leo and Aquarius ruled parts of you chart”, does that mean where those signs land in our natal chart? I know astrology fairly well, but always struggle with applying the current astrology to my own chart.
Thank you for your insights! Im already feeling the urge to burn all the world down 😀🤡