What happens in an eclipse
The Moon's orbit is tilted slightly against the Sun's path through the zodiac, so in most months the new and full moons pass just above or below the line joining the Sun and the Earth. The two paths cross at the Moon's nodes, known in astrology as the North Node and the South Node. When a new or full moon falls close to one of them, the Sun, the Earth and the Moon line up, and there is an eclipse.
At a new moon the Moon stands between the Sun and the Earth and casts its shadow on the Earth: a solar eclipse. In a total one it covers the Sun completely. In an annular one, like February's, it is near the far point of its orbit and looks a little too small, so a ring of sunlight remains. At a full moon the Earth stands between the two and its shadow falls on the Moon: a lunar eclipse. That shadow has a dark core and a pale outer fringe. When the Moon enters the core, part of it or all of it darkens, and a totally eclipsed Moon usually turns copper red. When it passes through the fringe alone, as in all three lunar eclipses this year, it only dims, and many people watching would not notice.
Three eclipses in one season
The Sun reaches one of the nodes about every six months, and for a short window around each passage the new and full moons come close enough to it to be eclipsed. Each of these eclipse seasons holds a solar and a lunar eclipse about two weeks apart. When the first full moon of a season comes early in the window, there is room for a third: in 2027 the summer season opens with the lunar eclipse of 18 July, peaks with the total solar eclipse of 2 August and closes with the lunar eclipse of 17 August.
The nodes slide slowly backwards through the zodiac, and the eclipses follow. In 2026 they fell in Leo and Aquarius, Virgo and Pisces. This year's February lunar eclipse at 1° Virgo closes the run on the Virgo and Pisces axis, the July one is the first to reach Capricorn, and in 2028 most of the eclipses fall in Cancer and Capricorn.
How astrologers read an eclipse
For much of history eclipses were feared as omens. We do not read them that way. In modern astrology an eclipse is a new or full moon with added emphasis, a turning point: a good moment to notice what has quietly changed.
A solar eclipse is read as an opening, the start of something you may not see clearly yet. A lunar eclipse is read as a culmination, when something reaches its fullest point and shows what it has become. Penumbral eclipses are the softest of all, and astrologers differ on how much weight to give them. We count them, and read them as full moons with a turning-point quality rather than as sharp breaks.
The signs give the themes. Both solar eclipses of 2027 fall on the Leo and Aquarius axis, the pull between personal expression and belonging to something larger. February's Aquarius eclipse, in the fixed air sign of Saturn, touches friendships and the ideas you hold about the future. August's eclipse in Leo, the sign the Sun rules, turns to creative work and the wish to be seen for who you are. The July lunar eclipse puts the Moon in Capricorn, Saturn's cardinal earth sign, opposite the Sun in Cancer, weighing duty and ambition against home and the people you look after.
The 2027 eclipses in your own chart
An eclipse speaks most to a chart when it falls close to one of its planets or its rising degree. If you have the Sun in Leo or the Sun in Aquarius, this year's solar eclipses fall in your own Sun sign. If your Moon is in Aquarius or in Capricorn, one of the summer's lunar eclipses falls in your Moon sign. An eclipse in the sign of your Ascendant touches the way you meet the world, and in a full chart the house where it falls shows which area of life it lights up.
The Big Three calculator finds your Sun, Moon and rising sign from your birth date, time and place. The full moon calendar for 2027 lists the new and full moons of the year that are not eclipses.