Do you ever think about astrological events and wonder is this a way out? I’m struggling here or there, but will this be it? Will I finally have a breakthrough? For me, that looks like radically changing my hair, getting piercings I have wanted since I was 19, finishing my tattoo sleeve, growing my business (if I can get out of my own way) and generally living the goth life of my dreams. I’ve been thinking a lot lately how it all starts when you actually figure out how to bring the real “you” into every area of your life until one day you look up and it really is all made up of you reflecting on the outside, from the inside.
Knowing that this total solar eclipse — meaning if you are in the path of totality (enter your zip code) your whole area is going dark, as in nighttime darkness — is the biggest transit of the year for everyone, it’s fun to think about how on Tuesday I may wake up in a new apartment with my partner. We may wake up in new realities, on new timelines, in a completely different world. In this last week, leading up to tomorrow, I have experienced the exact dosage of horror that I need to believe in events like this (and even extremely spiritual people like me need reminders): On Monday, I went to see Late Night With the Devil, which was excellent. Throughout the week, the lights on a cabinet that you press in just the right spot in my home went on by themselves and a TV in my home went on by itself twice. On Thursday, I performed an exorcising ritual (as part of my spiritual group’s curriculum) and made Rebirth cookies. A storm rocked my area all week, and at one point I had to call the fire department due to a series of happenings in the basement where I work. On Friday, I experienced not one but two earthquakes, which in true Pisces moon fashion made me feel like I was in a surreal dream, because the first one was the strongest in my state’s history. This actual week has spooked me in a way that makes me excited to be alive. The reason why this eclipse is such a big deal is because it and this year are setting you up for the next 20 years - the next total solar eclipse will be in 2044 (covering Canada, Montana and the Dakotas), then 2045 (including California, Florida and Nevada). Think about it, the last total solar eclipse was in 2017. Where were you at this time? How drastically has your life changed since then? Not speaking for just me but I know others who have gone through major upheaval in the last 7 years. And now we enter another cycle of that true overhaul. Major breakthroughs and quantum leaping — some of us will go kicking and screaming (in 2017, I did), and others will willingly step over the threshold.
If you don’t already have glasses, try your local library or a Warby Parker store (they’re so excited to quantum leap that they created an entire homepage for the eclipse). Here is a list of approved vendors from the American Astronomical Society in case you get/got them off of Amazon. And in general, enjoy the F out of this event if you’re interested, it may be the way out you’ve been waiting for.
Whether today or tomorrow, please also enjoy this surreal photo of Caroline Blind, on the set of her music video for ‘God Damn the Sun’ (Swans Cover) in 2020, I am absolutely taken by this image, it is what my goth eclipse dreams are made of — I can see us all there with her, waiting.
Jennifer Diane is a witch scholar, writer and model based out of New Jersey. She’s authored Folk Horror, Rural Horror, Devil’s Manifesto, Emotional Horrorshow, and Salvation (out now). Book a one on one session, shop her books and zines, or find her on Instagram.
Please note, I pen free and paid content for this publication, Darkness Thriving, as well as monthly fictional stories for the Dark Lord Show Me the Way section. You can control what you receive via email by going here.