March 13, 2025 at 11:54pm PDT—One of the reasons March is such a pivotal month is that Thursday brings the first South Node Total Lunar Eclipse in Virgo. We haven’t had one of those since 2008! The nodal cycle is almost 19 years long. Every 18 years and change, eclipses repeat in the same signs and nodes, activating a particular axis in our chart. The North Node was in Pisces, and the South Node was in Virgo from 2006 to 2008. We can reflect on that time to get an idea of some of the themes that will emerge again.
Wherever the nodes go, eclipses follow. Eclipses are catalysts: they bring issues to a head, forcing a turning point—we must respond. We can count on major endings as well as major beginnings during eclipse season. If we know what houses the Virgo-Pisces axis falls in our chart, we know where we can expect these pivotal changes to occur.
The Lunar Eclipse in Virgo is a full moon. Full moons illuminate and culminate—like reaching the top of a roller coaster and getting a panoramic view. Eclipses act as turbo boosts. When conjunct the South Node, as Thursday’s Lunar Eclipse is, we’re called to release and let go. The South Node has a surrendering energy that often accompanies closure and healing.
The Total Lunar Eclipse occurs in Virgo, a sign that values service, helping others, and creating systems that improve everyday life. Virgo placements are practical, detail-oriented, and hold themselves to very high standards. They’re humble experts who excel at creating order out of chaos. Virgo sets a high bar and constantly challenges itself to do better.
In addition, the Sun is right next to Saturn, and both the Sun and Moon make a harmonious aspect to Uranus. Finally, the ruler of this eclipse, Mercury, is getting ready to station retrograde in Aries the following day. What can we make of this?
Putting it all together
This morning, I heard a conversation that helped me shape my thoughts around this Total Lunar Eclipse in Virgo. I was listening to a podcast on communication, where the guest spoke about filler words like um, ah, like, and you know. These words act like potholes, breaking up your flow and making it harder for your audience to stay fully engaged. While they may seem insignificant, they disrupt the rhythm of your speech, weaken your message, and make you appear less confident. Eliminating fillers elevates your delivery—you simply communicate with greater clarity and authority.
It struck me that this South Node Total Lunar Eclipse in Virgo is a lot like eliminating fillers!
- Filler tasks that keep you busy but not,
like,fulfilled. - Filler commitments that
literallydrain your energy without purpose. - Filler distractions that,
well,keep you from focusing on what truly matters. - Filler routines that feel obligatory but
actuallybring no real joy. So…Filler worries that take up space in your mind without contributing to growth.Right?
The communication expert went on to say that while it’s a challenge to axe out fillers, it’s entirely possible. I remember listening to a favorite astrologer of mine being interviewed a few years ago. The conversation was littered with fillers. It was so bad, it was hard to listen to. Imagine my surprise when I heard her speak recently and the fillers had vanished! She sounded 1000 times more confident. She later mentioned that after that first interview, people had criticized her constant injections of like. Even though the feedback hurt, she took it to heart and worked hard to eliminate those verbal potholes.
This is much like Virgo’s relentless drive to refine, tweak, and polish until excellence and expertise are second nature. Virgo doesn’t seek perfection for its own sake but rather for clarity, efficiency, and service. It distills the messy and the muddled into something precise, functional, and deeply useful. Just like stripping away verbal clutter makes communication stronger, Virgo teaches us that removing what’s unnecessary—whether in words, habits, or routines—creates something sharper, more deliberate, and ultimately more impactful.
Where Saturn comes in
Conjunct the Sun and opposite the Moon, Saturn’s presence in this lunation asks us to face reality. Saturn works over the long term by deleting and setting boundaries, just like saying more with less. Saturnian processes requires effort and time, relying on discipline and persistence. Saturn wants us to commit to the changes we want to see in our lives, often showing up when we’re sick of being sick and tired. In this case, the change is coupled with Virgo’s call to do better, raise our standards, and edit out the filler no longer serving us. That takes work.
What happens then? Similar to the harmonious conversation this lunation makes with Uranus, we open our lives to more freedom and alignment. Imagine what your schedule would look like without the ums, ahs, and soos clogging up your time—lean, intentional, high-caliber, and actually energizing.
With Mercury, the planet resourcing this eclipse, hitting pause, we’re in revision mode. It’s a time to sift through and rethink what matters in the long run, stripping away distractions and sharpening our focus. The eclipse sets the stage for a reset—one where we exchange fluff for substance and clutter for clarity. This spring, ask yourself: How can you purify your routine by eliminating filler? The small steps you take now will shape a future of deliberate intention.