One of the most insightful tools for understanding is the cyclical process of transformation, which the progression through each of the 360 degrees of the zodiac represents. Each degree has a specific underlying theme, represented by a symbolic image called a Sabian symbol. The eclipse occurs at 18 degrees 21 minutes of Leo. It is helpful to review the Sabian symbols for both 18 and 19 degrees Leo, as they represent the successive steps in the transformational process. These degrees of Leo are part of a larger grouping whose overall theme is "Release." The symbol for 18 degrees Leo has the underlying theme of human intellectual analysis and the ability to control natural processes. This is based on the historical accumulation of knowledge. To quote, "…we see man, as an agent of the collectivity of human beings, approaching nature in terms of the possibility of transforming it in order to satisfy his needs or his wants. At the highest level this activity one can speak of Alchemy." This bodes the possibility of radical revelation into the deeper principles of life, providing the gift of a greater capacity to work with nature to provide for collective humanity. If one thinks about what has happened to Gaia since the beginning of the industrial revolution, we see that this very issue is at the heart of planetary eco-destruction. Our desire to transform nature to satisfy our needs has been based upon the application of ever more advanced insights into the deeper nature of life, which we have used to provide a better standard of living. This impulse is basic to human nature, providing it is in wholeness and unity with life itself.

It is obvious that we are destroying the planet as we use our understandings and resulting technology to consume, pollute and desecrate the Earth. Why has this happened? There are probably lots of reasons, but a central theme is our separation from our own souls, and thus from the soul of Gaia. Call it the "Fall" or whatever, we have been living from our rational minds and ego selves, separated from our souls. So-called "primitive peoples" seemed to have a better connection with life than we did, and consciously honored life. They were connected with the Earth Mother and the Great Mother. This brings us back to the theme of the subversion of the feminine and Goddess from our religious and spiritual foundation. Without this connection to the innate life-sustaining intelligence imbued in the living Earth of our bodies and the planet, the dominance of the male attributes of intellect, materialism, control, domination are causing us to destroy the planet. Will our capacities to transform nature become inclusive of the feminine and thus aligned with the soul, or will they destroy us? We must understand that there is no soul without the feminine for the soul is feminine by nature, as it is the womb in which the drop of the one spirit is birthed into the Christ-conscious being. Soul is feminine and soul is Life. The knowledge of the genome can allow us to evolve into a superspecies, or to destroy ourselves with mutated lethal viruses and terminator genes in plants that wreck entire species. Our knowledge of subatomic physics can bring us to cold fusion and free energy or destroy us with outdated and unsafe nuclear power plants, and weapons of mass destruction. The possibilities lie starkly before us and are dependent solely upon our state of consciousness.

The Sabian Symbol for 19 Leo has to do with breaking free of social constraints through seeking of non-traditional means to experience the free flow of one’s energies, escape from routine humdrum. When we link this to the previous symbol we see some continuity. We have not only controlled nature, but ourselves and our own inherent nature. The free flow of soul expression is stifled by our roles as units of production in the corporate economy and consumer society. How many people do you know who are thrilled with their life in general and their jobs in particular? How many would like to take off for about a decade or so and explore who they are? This symbol seems to forebode a time of rebellion from oppressive social constructs—especially job/career—more demanding of time and energy, from oppressive laws and bureaucracy. This is already occurring. Witness the recent upheaval in the IRS and the anti-corporate movement that has already resulted in the loss of the charter by a tobacco company non-profit corporation for using a charitable facade as a vehicle to promote smoking in children. When I look at this chart, one of the intuitive messages I continue to get is, "If you loved the ’60s, you’re gonna be ecstatic about the turn of the millenium." This will be a higher octave—more dynamic, more totally transforming of the collective culture. The ’60s were but the advent of a complete transformation of planetary culture. Twenty-nine years, a Saturn cycle later, the promise of the ’60s is about to fully flower. It won’t happen on the college campuses this time; it will happen in the middle class suburbs, the quiet small towns, and the inner cities. The generation of "Baby Boomers" who incarnated to birth a new evolutionary cycle on this planet will wake up and remember that the ’60s were the wakeup call, and now is the time fully manifest the dream. They will realize that they are now collectively in power (Leo) and step forward with many others to birth the New Age.