Some people sing beautifully in the car, alone, and have never sung for anyone else. Some people have been writing for years in a notebook nobody's read, doodling in the margins during meetings, carrying a whole business idea in their head while telling friends it's just a hobby. And some want a child and still haven't found the courage to say it out loud, not even to themselves.

At some point that urge asks for daylight. Sometimes it arrives slowly. Sometimes it comes all at once, through an invitation, a push, a morning when you wake up tired of waiting for the right moment.

It's the theme of the biggest eclipse of 2027. On 2 August 2027, with maximum around 7:06am Brasília time, a total solar eclipse happens with the Sun at 9°55' Leo. The Moon covers the Sun's disc entirely, and the path of totality crosses southern Spain, North Africa, and Egypt. From Brazil it's not visible. Leo is expression, creation, the courage to show up, children, joy, and the heart.

The time is given in Brasília time zone and comes from the same ephemeris the site uses to build charts.

• Date: 2 August 2027.
• Maximum: around 7:06am, Brasília time.
• Where it falls in the zodiac: Sun and Moon at 9°55' Leo.
• Type: total solar eclipse, in which the Moon covers the Sun completely.
• Where totality is visible: along a path that crosses southern Spain, North Africa, and Egypt. Near Luxor totality lasts over six minutes, one of the longest seen from land this century.
• From Brazil: not visible.
• Five days before: on 26 July, Jupiter enters Virgo, where it stays until August 2028.

Anyone travelling who ends up within the path can only look at the Sun during totality; before and after it, during the partial phases, certified eclipse glasses are needed. Ordinary sunglasses don't protect your eyes.

Every solar eclipse is a New Moon: Sun and Moon at the same degree of the sky. The difference is that, in this case, the Moon passes exactly in front of the Sun, near one of the lunar nodes, and astrology reads this New Moon as a lunation with extra force. It opens a chapter, and the chapter unfolds over the following months, with no rush to fit into a single day.

Why eclipses come in seasons, how many happen per year, and what the dates are through 2035, it's all in the text about eclipses. Here the subject is this eclipse, the sign it falls in, and the area of your life it touches.

Leo is the sign of the heart, and the Sun is its ruler. A solar eclipse in Leo speaks of being seen exactly as you are: creating, playing, putting yourself out there, leading, having children, doing something purely for the joy of doing it. The Leo way of shining is described in the text about Sun in Leo.

The difficult side of the theme shows up too. The fear of looking ridiculous, the craving for applause that turns into dependency, the pride that stops you from asking for help. A beginning in Leo usually calls for both things: courage to show up and a bit of humour about your own vanity.

And the calendar has a nice touch. The eclipse comes five days after Jupiter enters Virgo, the next sign. One begins through the heart; the other grows it through method. Anyone starting a project in August 2027 has, in the same month, the drive of Leo and the patience of Virgo to make it work.

The sign shows the theme in the sky. The house in your birth chart shows which area of your life it happens in. Generate the site's free birth chart with your date, time and city of birth; the exact time makes a difference, because a two-hour error can change the house entirely.

On the wheel, look for the symbol of Leo (♌) in the outer ring. The number of the house occupying that stretch is the area where the new beginning is asking for room. If Leo is split between two houses, both count, and it's worth paying closer attention to the one holding the first ten degrees of the sign, where the eclipse falls. What each house holds is in what an astrological house is.

• House 1: the urge to be seen as you are; a new look, a new way of presenting yourself, the courage to take up space in the room.
• House 2: earning from what you create, and starting to charge for the talent you used to give away for free.
• House 3: writing, speaking in public, recording your first video; your voice in the group, at school, in the neighbourhood.
• House 4: more joy at home, hosting people, making the place feel like yours, making peace with your family of origin.
• House 5: children, romance, art, and fun; the creative project comes out of the drawer, or the wish to have a child finds its voice.
• House 6: working with pleasure, being recognised in daily life, swapping the workout you dread for one that brings you joy.
• House 7: a partnership that puts you in the spotlight, or a partner who wants the stage for themselves.
• House 8: courage for the intimate conversation, for opening your heart about sex, shared money, or a loss.
• House 9: publishing, teaching, travelling to do something you'll be proud of.
• House 10: showing up in your career, putting your name on your own work, asking for the position, leading.
• House 11: bringing friends together around a project, pulling a group along, dreaming big for the years ahead.
• House 12: creating without an audience, tending to your self-esteem from within, bringing into the light a talent you'd hidden even from yourself.

An eclipse is not a threat, nor a sign of doom, nor a reason to cancel a surgery, a wedding, a trip, or a contract on its own. Eclipses happen four to seven times a year, and everyone's life carries on through those days.

The general sky applies to everyone at the same time, and the August eclipse is in the sky of eight billion people. What it will mean for you depends on your whole chart, on the house where Leo sits, and on what you decide to do with the beginning that shows up. Nobody is required to start anything on 2 August.

An exercise I like to suggest at a solar eclipse: write, during the week of 2 August, a short letter to yourself. Say what you want to begin in the area of the house where Leo sits, what scares you, and what you'd do if nobody were watching.

Keep the letter and mark your calendar to open it a year later, in August 2028, when Jupiter is leaving Virgo. Sometimes the letter describes exactly what happened. Sometimes it describes what you still want. Either way, you'll have a record of where you stood when the chapter opened, and that helps you read the next one.

And the questions that come up most on this subject, with the short answer: