Guest post this week by my excellent astrologer Brittany. If you are looking for a deeper dive into your chart, I recommend her wholeheartedly.


If you’ve read my July forecast and my weekly horoscopes, you know that we are in the next round of Cancer-Capricorn eclipses this month. With Saturn and Pluto near the south node in Capricorn, the 2018 – 2020 eclipse cycle in these two signs is an intense one. The Cancer-Capricorn axis is about integrating emotions with ambition, trust with control, love with power, sensitivity with difficult choices, creativity with sensibility, the mystical with the practical. The north node in Cancer asks us to let go of rigid expectations about order and recognition, and focus our attention on caring for others. Cancer operates in spirals of families, ancestors, generations. The north node here points the wise way forward, asking us to make careful decisions, for our choices now will impact future generations.

My ascendant is in Cancer, which means the moon is my chart ruler. I pay close attention to lunar cycles in my mundane daily planning and my spellwork. I’ve also been in business as a professional astrologer since 2016 (and studying astrology for much longer). But it’s only in the past year or so that I’ve seen a fair number of posts about how dangerous eclipse magic is, and how people should avoid doing magic during eclipses. This seems to fit with a general attitude of concern about what the baby witches are up to now that witchcraft and astrology are in another cycle of popularity. It’s understandable that the elders of traditions want to protect newcomers from making mistakes, especially with so much misinformation on the internet. Warnings are well-meaning attempts to care for others. At the same time, mistakes are inevitable, and they are tools for learning. Failures rarely result in fatal danger. More often, they lead to greater wisdom.

This trend towards warning people about eclipse magic also makes me think of something that one of my teachers, Jason Miller, said recently to students of his Sorcery of Hekate course. He was responding to a general attitude that he said he’s been seeing too, of increased superstition and fear in magical circles. In response to this growing trend he said, We’re magicians, we’re witches, we’re sorcerers and sorceresses. We should be less superstitious because we are dwelling in this world, not more superstitious.

I wholeheartedly agree. As magicians, witches, sorcerers and sorceresses, we have accepted the inherent risks of magical life. We dwell between the seen and unseen worlds. We work with the forces of nature and with the spirits, in both darkness and in light. We’ve chosen a challenging path of power and growth over the comforts of mundane materialist reality. And we know that darkness isn’t something to fear, but that when it is approached with wisdom, it is a source of protection, healing, and knowledge.

Eclipses are dark movements. At a total solar eclipse, the moon crosses the sun and temporarily blocks its light, and a total lunar eclipse features the moon passing through the earth’s shadow, creating a red “blood moon” effect. Both of these—the seeming death of the sun and the blood on the moon—were fearsome omens for the ancients. If you can read visual metaphors, sudden nightfall and bloody sky orbs don’t exactly portend happy fun times. Nor do eclipses portend happy fun times today! The same theory still holds true: an eclipse cycle is a cycle of change, one that usually involves a crisis or decision, and that requires dealing with some kind of shadow. An eclipse is a period of darkness, but that doesn’t mean we should avoid it.

So what kind of magic is most worth doing during this Cancer-Capricorn eclipse cycle? Any magic that will help you stabilize and endure a time of upheaval. Anything that might help you embrace and accept change. Anything that might help you grieve and accept death, or the “death” of an old version of yourself. Relating with ancestors. Speaking to the dead. Shadow work. Emotional and somatic healing. Retrieving past-life memories. Merging and melding the Cancerian world of feelings and the Capricorn world of materials. Protection from harm. Release of fear. Shining a torch on the darkness and taking a good, hard look at what you find. Uncovering knowledge and allowing what you learn to change you.

You can choose the type of ritual or spellwork that works best for you and your life. I won’t insult your intelligence with a list of magic not to do during an eclipse, or warnings about keeping yourself safe while you perform chthonic workings. I believe that astrology is for everybody, because everyone gets a natal chart, and everyone lives under the influence of the stars. Which means that you don’t need to know how to cast an electional chart and make a talisman to use astrological cycles for magical purposes. Astrology is for everybody, just like magic is available to all of those with the will to seek it out.

Emotions will run high during this eclipse season, and for those of us who have natal planets or points in Cancer or Capricorn, it is likely to be pretty stormy. As with all astrological cycles, I think we should use this one to our advantage. Go into the darkness and find out what it has to teach you. Brave the intensity, and learn from your mistakes. To avoid darkness when practicing sorcery is to miss the point. All cycles hold the potential for magic, including the dark ones. We should be less superstitious because we are dwelling in this world, not more so.

Bio: Brittany Goss is a Brooklyn-based Evolutionary astrologer and personal coach at The Rebel Coach. She specializes in helping womxn cultivate the courage to lead authentic lives, and combines coaching with astrology for clients who are interested in working with celestial cycles for personal growth. A practicing witch since 1999, she now holds a first degree initiation in the Shadowfolk tradition of witchcraft, is a devotee of Hekate, and tends to favor the magic of journeys, dreams, and divination.

Join the Circle

Get the Agile Magic Manifesto free and learn to make your magic more effective in a chaotic world.

Check your email for your free guide!