Absolutely! I was asked about the difference between when a Lunar eclipse comes before a Solar eclipse and when a Solar eclipse comes before a Lunar eclipse.

This is important in knowing how they operate relative to the nearest Lunation.

Though I answered this a long time ago, it bears a new look, since a New Moon sets the seed which will come to fruition at the Full Moon. There are two crucial elements when looking at the effect of back to back eclipses. One is the signs involved, and the other is whether the Moon comes before the Sun or vice versa.

If the Lunar eclipse comes two weeks before a Solar eclipse, we must keep in mind that the Lunar eclipse (Full Moon) is the beginning of the fulfillment of the previous New Moon which was not an eclipse. Therefore the themes of the previous New Moon come forth normally, uninfluenced by the eclipses which follow. The seeds of the non-eclipse New Moon come to fulfillment via the Full Moon Lunar eclipse which follows, indicating the New Moon has the seeds of things which are associated with whatever shuts down in the chart in the months which follow the eclipse.

So the Lunar eclipse begins a short period of things shutting down related to the prior New Moon coming to fruition at the Lunar eclipse. If a Lunar eclipse comes first, it is always followed by a Solar eclipse, which as a New Moon has its own themes of what will be shut down in subsequent years. Those Solar eclipse New Moon themes come to fruition via the following Full Moon which is not an eclipse, meaning the Solar eclipse energy is unrelated to “Lunar eclipse” effects, which were already set into motion at the previous Full Moon.

So when a Lunar eclipse happens first, several months of things shutting down in those areas is followed by the Solar eclipse beginning a shut down for several years in the sign and house it occupies. The Lunar eclipse marks a culmination of the prior New Moon, while the following Solar eclipse opens a new portal unrelated to the Lunar eclipse.

On the other hand, if a Solar eclipse happens before the Lunar eclipse, the Solar eclipse begins the usually years’ long "recycling" process related to its seed forms, which are brought to a specific focus and fulfillment in the subsequent Lunar eclipse. As you can see, there is a difference between two eclipses spanning two New Moons, and two eclipses “self-contained” in one New Moon cycle.

The second major factor in eclipses, as well as all lunations, involves two possible scenarios involving sign positions. The first is when the Sun sign of first lunation is the same as the Sun sign in the second lunation and when the Sun of the second lunation is in the following sign from the first lunation.

This is a crucial factor in lunation analysis, because when the New Moon and Full Moon Suns are in the same sign, there is a “continuity of illumination” involving one sign. But when the New Moon and Full Moon Suns are in different signs, it combines two different Sun sign energies. The second pattern “bridges signs” rather than operating within a single sign.

In eclipses this provides some interesting possibilities since Solar eclipse effects last for years while Lunar eclipse effects last for a few months at most. You can find out how long all the eclipses last by going to my archives. I gave you a list of all the Solar eclipses for the past 14 years and which ones are still active in the first article on this Lunar eclipse, and will post it again at the beginning of the coming Solar eclipse articles in a week or so.

Here are a few examples about various combinations in the past. In 2021 we had a Lunar eclipse at 6 Sag/Gemini on May 26, and a Solar eclipse at 20 Gemini on June 10. Here’s where the Lunar eclipse was the fulfillment of the previous non-eclipse New Moon, and lead into a Solar eclipse where the Sun was in the same sign as the Lunar eclipse.

Then 6 months later we had a Lunar eclipse at 28 Scorpio/Taurus, while the Solar eclipse was at 13 Sag on Dec 4. That also means the Lunar eclipse fulfilled the previous New Moon Sun at 13 Scorpio, while the following Solar eclipse at 13 Sagittarius provided the seed forms for the Full Moon which followed with the Sun at 28 Sagittarius.

However, in 2023 we confronted another pattern, when the Sun of the New Moon is different than the Sun at the Full Moon. That year we had a Solar eclipse at 30 Aries followed by a Lunar eclipse at 15 Taurus/Scorpio, and a Solar eclipse at 22 Libra and a Lunar eclipse at 6 Scorpio/Taurus. In each of these, a non-eclipse Full Moon preceded a Solar eclipse New Moon in the same sign, which was followed by a Lunar eclipse Full Moon with the Sun in a different sign than the New Moon.

In 2024 we had both Lunar eclipses preceding the Solar eclipses, and the Suns in the Lunar eclipses were in a different sign than the Solar eclipses which followed. The 2025 March Lunar eclipse Sun is in Pisces, while the Solar eclipse to come has the Sun in Aries. However, this shifts in the Autumn, as the Lunar eclipse Sun is at 16 Virgo following the New Moon at 1 Virgo while the subsequent Solar eclipse Sun is at 30 Virgo, followed by a non-eclipse Full Moon at 15 Libra/Aries.

Since it would be impossible for me to discuss all the potential meanings to be derived from all of these examples, I’ll leave them for your contemplation. This is an area which is rich for finding how various parts of our lives come forth and are left behind.

There are two possible planet patterns and two possible sign patterns for New and Full Moons. As lunations put the focus on specific signs and houses in our charts, it’s a useful study to see how each month specific areas of our charts are stimulated to either realization or action, and helps us know the unfolding larger patterns as they apply to us specifically.

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