Date: 11/8/2003,
Time: 08:12:41 EST,
Place: Middle Island, NY
(Although any place will do if the time is set to the moment of the eclipse,
a 6° orb is allowed for the Lights, and Chiron is used as a planet.)
From the website: www.astrosite.com

I had set the chart on Long Island, New York because that is where I lived at the discovery moment. As such, it is an appropriate chart of its "birth." The fact, however, remains that, since the Grand Sextile pattern (the chart’s distinctive signature) appears among the planets only, the Tropical Zodiac used, and the time is set for the exact moment of the total Lunar Eclipse, the chart can be erected for virtually any location on the face of the Earth, in any house system, and the pattern will remain the same.

Basic Chart Highlights

This most hopeful planetary alignment is a moment of rare beauty, astrologically. I know the immediate impact that it had on me, and I have seen that impact repeated in the recognition on the faces of countless others. Knowing anything at all about astrology, one cannot but be impressed. Even non-astrologers notice the symmetry and patterns in the chart that are its unique hallmark.

You will no doubt note that I have used Chiron as a planet. I have done so because I have seen it work, consistently and with the legitimate energy of a planet, in many hundreds of charts. Were you to ignore it, the pattern would not emerge. Using Chiron completes the Grand Sextile, and its significance as the "rainbow bridge between the inner and outer planets," thus comes into high focus.

The hexagonal outer frame of the of the chart is called a Grand Sextile. However, this pattern, in the compatible, feminine Earth and Water signs, is very rare, and this one is especially unique, since its widest orb is just some five and a half degrees (for the Sun and Moon) among all the planets, and it includes a total lunar eclipse.

Briefly, the Grand Sextile pattern in astrology signifies the mutual and unobstructed flow of energy between six planets through a sequence of sextile (60°) aspects.2 Add to that, the flow of energy that each of the six main planets in the configuration receives from two other trining planets, and one may see that the path of that flow between and among those six planets is wide open. This effect is only enhanced by the aforementioned tight aspect orbs among the planets. In essence, this energy flow creates a very powerful vortex, the exact likes of which does not occur in the 6,000 year span between 3000 BC and 3000 CE that I have personally researched, and perhaps a good deal longer.3

Aside from the phenomena of the Grand Sextile, the planetary energies present at each of the pattern's six "stations" are very appropriate to a moment that would carry the astrological signature of the Ascension. Consider the qualities of the planets as they are represented through the metaphors of astrology:

The Sun - the primal energy; the cause for being; masculine in nature; the basic will and vitality that inspires life; our creativity and conscious aim;that which expresses the best of who we are,
The Moon - the archetypical feminine; the mother; the personal subconscious mind, memory and imagination the; tidal ebb and flow of emotion; the avenues of habit and instinct; the shelter of home,
Jupiter - the king of the gods; beneficence, good fortune and expansion; the publication of ideals; the higher mind, wisdom and enthusiasm; generosity, optimism and increase on all levels,
Mars - the courage, desire, energy and willingness to act; the stimulation of passion; the ability to be the spiritual warrior,
Saturn - the physical bones of the Earth and our bodies; the disciplinarian and 'tester' of our metal; the limitations of the physical; endurance, perseverance, and stability, and finally,
Chiron - the crystal rainbow bridge between physicality and spirit, the inner and outer planets; the wounded healer; Christ consciousness; initiation; the interface between God and Godling.

Could anyone want a better group of complimentary traveling companions for the voyage to the Ascended World?

The fact that a total lunar eclipse is part of the Grand Sextile pattern adds to its significance immensely. In at least one viewpoint, an eclipse carries the implication of the beginning of some important undertaking or the bringing to fruition of an issue that had its conception at an earlier time. This eclipse could just so mark one of those milestone events on a global level.

While the eclipse is one of the defining elements in the chart, it is only one of several factors that make it unique. Remember, the chart is not "place specific." That is to say, that since the Grand Sextile pattern arises from between planets only and does not rely on any "moving" point of the chart, such as the Ascendant or MC (as was the case with the Gaia Mind Day chart that was circulated for January 23, 1997), it is in effect, at the moment of the eclipse, at any location on Earth.

Within the Grand Sextile pattern there is the pattern known as the "Star of David" - formed by the two inverted Grand Trines. This pattern is also universally recognized as the three dimensional representation of the Merkabah, the Light Body Vehicle of Consciousness (a very important symbol for those working with Light energies). Another name for this planetary pattern is the "Seal of Solomon," which contains the promise of the advent of Divine Wisdom attendant upon this moment. Other pattern by-products of this tight Grand Sextile include: the three Mystic Rectangles, four Kites, and six Minor Grand Trines.

Astrologers will note that there are also three oppositions within the pattern, (four, if the wide Mercury/Moon is included) and a T-Square involving the Sun, Moon and Neptune (effectively bringing Neptune's voice into the pattern). While the three oppositions themselves might seem to indicate difficulties in the chart, I contend that the interconnectedness of the planets, through their mutual trines and sextiles (natural by-products of the Grand Sextile), allows them to find a "way around" the normal obstacles of each opposition, while also easing the stress of the T-Square.

Further, I see the square between Venus and Mars, along with the oppositions emphasizing the male/female, Yin/Yang relationship quality which the oppositions strongly suggest. This balance may be thought of as providing an energetic equilibrium for the vortex.

Several other key astrological factors are in play at this moment:

The Concordance Eclipse is a member of the Saros Series 5 New South, considered by Bernadette Brady as the "best" of all series.

Like the appropriateness of the planets involved in the Grand Sextile pattern, the Sabian Symbols of the planetary degrees are highly suggestive of the "Ascensional" character of the moment,

Mercury changes degree during the course of the eclipse, thereby giving it two Sabians,

Uranus, having reached its final Stationary Direct in Aquarius on that morning, will be at its strongest position during its entire 84+ year transit cycle.

The dynamic of the Mercury/Uranus square is heightened by its exclusivity allowing unencumbered communication between the two planets that represent the lower and higher intellectual capacities,

Mars finally clears the shadow of its relatively rare Pisces retrograde on the evening before the eclipse, freeing it to function in the "retrofitted" capacity of a spiritual warrior,

The goddesses Venus, Vesta and Juno are conjunct in the truth seeking sign of Sagittarius while Venus is in partile parallel (read conjunct) to Pallas Athena, the goddess of wisdom, fairly trumpeting the presence of the Goddess in this moment,

Five "power squares" appear between dynamically compatible planets: Jupiter and Pluto, the Sun and Neptune, Mercury and Uranus, Venus and Mars, and Neptune and the Moon.

Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are conspicuous by their absence from the Grand Sextile pattern, indicating that the basic energy pattern is one of uncompelled personal and individual choice,

There are several prominent Parallels of Declination,

For those interested in such things, Saturn and Chiron are in close conjunction to the fixed stars SIRIUS and VEGA respectively, and Lilith is in partile conjunction to ALCYONE (the Pleiades), calling into the moment the esoteric energies that those Star Beings represent4,

The North Node is at a Critical Degree,

The significance of the Part of Fortune at the 7th house cusp, at any location, and finally5,

When viewed as a Seventh Harmonic chart, it reveals a moment in time that is profoundly numinous, that is to say, it is filled with the sense of the presence of Divinity.