Full Moon Total Lunar Eclipse in sidereal Leo Purva Phalguni: Good Company is Good Medicine

*LONG POST: Eclipses are powerful revealing events that shine the spotlight on areas that have been hidden or are ready to be seen. They can make secrets public, bringing “bombshell” news reports the days surrounding an eclipse. They highlight our karmic connections and give us opportunities for further engagement or release… or we can create deeper “eclipsing” karmas during these times if we go against our inner knowing. They can usher in massive change, especially if they are connecting to planets or degrees in our personal birth charts. It’s always recommended to be meditating, mindful and intentional during eclipses.

The March 2-3, 2026 Full Moon Total Lunar Eclipse is in a degree of sidereal Leo called Purva Phalguni. The Moon is full at 6:38am ET on March 3, and hits the eclipse pinnacle at 6:33am ET turning the moon a deep shade of red. Purva Phalguni brings the focus to the fruits of our labor – but more importantly on the qualities of the preceding efforts as these give birth to the outcome. Its symbols are the hammock and the marriage bed and so governs rest, connection, pleasure, joy, celebration, and creation on all levels – from a fertilized egg to a new social order. Purva Phalguni loves life and celebrates it. Its medicine is art, dance, movement, and all creative expression. Its deity Bhaga (the god of marriage) and its Venus rulership make lasting commited connection central. Yet the same love of comfort can tip into indulgence, vanity, dependency, laziness and lack of discipline which can derail meaningful accomplishments and even harm relationships.

When we have eclipses, we are being asked to look at the indications the sign embodies, and to look within ourselves to see if we are honoring these areas in our lives. Often times, eclipses come along to let us know we have work to do in these areas. We only have a few eclipses a year so it’s important to really do the work the sign is highlighting. This lunar eclipse asks us to look to our relationships: intimate, social, societal, business, etc.

✨Are you in a place of active and honorable creation?

✨Do you need to take time to regroup, rethink and maybe clean up how you’re engaging?

✨Are you able to have fun in your unions and relationships, and rest easily within them?

✨Who are you giving your time, energy, love, and allegiance to?

✨Are you staying connected because of shared history, or because you genuinely love and want to celebrate one another?

✨Are you over-giving?

✨Or indulging?

✨Are you in joyful commitment, or quietly resentful?

✨Is the union still bearing fruit? Or is its season complete?

Ketu plays a pivotal role in a Lunar Eclipse as it sits with the sensitive Moon. Ketu, the South Node of the Moon, represents our past life gifts and karmas, loss of ego identity, and ultimately our moksha or liberation. It’s highly intuitive but can also get confused, lose trust, and easily fall into conspiracy or paranoia. It also points to the areas we try to escape our reality. For better or for worse, it has the ability to dissolve and release. When it presents in our lives, it’s like the beautiful yet bittersweet “namaste” energy: one hand rises bringing in karma (often unexpected), the other rises and comes together in gratitude when the karma is complete. Letting go isn’t easy, but it’s important to recognize the time well spent in fulfilling our karmic ties and being gracious in moving on. Endings that come with Ketu create space for new and more aligned alliances to follow.

This is a karmic release and reset eclipses can offer us, and the current Mercury Retrograde and multiple planets sitting opposite the Moon are augmenting it. One of Ketu’s jobs is to help us “deadhead” – to trim away the old. Taking a moment to honor the beauty that once was and to grieve it is appropriate. Staying stuck, however, is not. Eclipses are revealing events that help us understand where we need to put our attention, where the karmas are complete, or where we might want to avoid as engaging could end up “eclipsing” us in the long run. This eclipse sign encourages us to look at our relationships, release ones with gratitude, and “clean house” in the ones we still want to celebrate.

However, the idea of celebrating may feel foreign, indulgent or inappropriate to some. This Full Moon reminds us that the more we connect to the calm and joy we find within ourselves and with our special people, the more we will be inspired to create more of this in the world. Pushing it aside will only breed more disconnect and loneliness. Purva Phalguni simply wants us to celebrate the fact that we get to have this embodied experience. One of the more esoteric sides of Purva Phalguni is the things it loves to do also strengthens the vagus nerve, which is said to support to joy, among other things. (The vagus nerve connects each organ in our bodies and is said to be one of the main cluster of nerves to support rest and digest, mood as well as a number of other important functions in the parasympathetic nervous system.)

Being connected to the bed and our comfy places, this eclipse sign encourages us to clean up our rooms, under our beds, to change our sheets and make sure the places and spaces we rest and recover are supportive of us. Rest and rejuvenation are necessary esp with so much intensity swirling in the ethers in the air element signs. Our nervous systems need recovery time right now. This is doubly supported as so many planets are in Saturn’s sign of Aquarius now. Austere Saturn likes nothing more than a good cleaning up and clearing out. Ketu sitting with the Moon is nudging us to let go of the old. The the current intense planetary energies can be utilized to help us overcome obstacles that have been impeding us on our paths so we can live our lives in the fullest way possible. That may mean doing hard things and putting in massive effort when we may want to curl up in our cozy Purva Phalguni bed and just chill. As the inspiring gold medalist Alysa Liu said, “I love struggling. It makes me feel alive!” This perfectly embodies the prominent Saturn emphasis in the sky plus the lunar eclipse sign that is so grateful to simply be here that it makes everything a celebration of this beautiful life we are given. 

While the month of March is extreme and challenging - even dangerous - remember eclipse energy is something to embrace and bring forward with us over the next half year. So while not immediate, this feels hopeful for the world in terms of the invisible motivating energies we’re experiencing as a collective. Purva Phalguni wants to focus on creativity, on being in nature, being in connection, being embodied - even down to the vagus nerve within our own bodies which are said to support nervous system health and augment a sense of joy. Right now however, this may feel eclipsed.

This Leo lunar eclipse and Aquarian planetary pile up dissolves egos and has the power to bring down rulers and kingdoms. The Aquarian line up has a drive for equity, social change, and doing what is best for the collective – not the individual and certainly not for a king. And so, it can help us get back to living in joy which is the opposite of ego. Consider this eclipse a karmic reset moment where we can pull away from the old identifications, and remember we are creative beings meant to bring beauty, joy and celebration into our daily lives. As Dr. Vasant Lad said on May 23, 2005: “Your ultimate Truth is how you live your life.” If we can each think of 3 ways each day to augment celebration and connection in our lives, this alone will have a massive impact on the world at large. Imagine if we all focused on boosting our vagal tone, thereby increasing calm in our lives. Empathy and understanding surely follow in a much bigger way. This lunar eclipse is shining the light telling us to make time for these. They are that important for the next half year.

Mercury retrograde is also contributing to frustrations. We are familiar with its usual tech/travel/communication issues; these are magnified this month. But when we gently allow Merc R into our personal lives, it asks us to rest, retreat, and rethink out paths forward. Merc R is also a time for reviewing old ideas and bringing them back to the forefront. As Mercury governs “majja dhatu” – the brain, marrow, nervous system in Ayurveda – we will all benefit from regularly nourishing our nervous systems. Abhyanga and Pranayama are best (see resources page). Adaptogens are helpful. Prioritizing rest and connection IRL is especially key as this is the main focus of this particular Lunar Eclipse. Good company is good medicine.

Some things to consider:

🙏What brings you joy, and how can you welcome more of it into your daily life?

🙏What has completed its karmic cycle in your life? Can you move on from it? (This doesn’t mean suppress memories. It means moving forward while keeping the seed of love and gratitude within your heart while knowing it’s complete.)

🙏What does true partnership look like to you?

🙏Are your prioritizing rest? Intimate connection?

🙏How do you express your creativity, and where might you be holding back from sharing it fully?

🙏Can you make your cozy places ready for you to rest easily? This can look like committing to making your bed, cleaning the bedroom esp under the bed, changing the sheets, overall creating more of an inviting environment. In times of overwhelm, organization brings clarity and helps reduce stress.

Some practices to consider:

💚Sing, hum, dance and get into nature; this helps strengthen the vagus nerve (connected to the parasympathetic nervous system, and to creating joy and happiness in the body) 

💚Practice pranayama (intentional breathwork) with a focus on the 3+4 chakras, the solar plexus, the lungs and heart center

💚Take intentional breaks

💚Connect with loved ones

💚Revisit your favorite songs

💚Start a gratitude journal

💚Donate to supports those in need. The Moon connects to nourishment. Here is an article listing top organizations feeding those in need and in areas of conflict: https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/eight-organizations-on-the-frontlines-of-hunger/#:~:text=%231:%20World%20Food%20Programme,Donate%20to%20WFP%20here.

 ::PEACE::