It's Saturday, early afternoon, summer. You're at the table with family, or at the beach, or on the bus, and someone remarks that the light has gone strange. The shadows of leaves on the ground turn into little crescent moons. The day takes on the look of late afternoon for a few minutes, without ever quite going dark.

It's the eclipse. On February 6th, 2027, an annular solar eclipse takes place, with maximum around 12:59pm, Brasília time, and the Sun at 17°37' Aquarius. Annular means the Moon covers the centre of the Sun and leaves a ring of light around it. From Brazil it appears as partial: in São Paulo, around 78% of the Sun is covered, and in Porto Alegre, around 83%.

In astrology, the sign of the eclipse is Aquarius: freedom, groups, friends, the future, and whatever in you sets you apart from everyone else.

Every solar eclipse happens at a New Moon, when the Sun and Moon are at the same degree. The difference is that, on this day, the Moon passes exactly in front of the Sun and its shadow reaches Earth. Why this only happens at certain times of year, how many eclipses there are per year and what the next dates are is explained in eclipses.

In an astrological reading, the New Moon is a beginning, and the solar eclipse is a beginning that calls for more room. It tends to open a chapter that unfolds over the following months, and its subject matter takes on the flavour of the sign. In Aquarius, the new chapter is about freedom and belonging: the group you want to be part of, the friend who arrives, the idea that once seemed too strange and now makes sense, the plan for five years from now. If you'd like to understand the monthly cycle behind this, the piece about the phases of the Moon helps.

The numbers below are approximate and vary by city. Two places just a few kilometres apart already see the eclipse a little differently.

• February 6th, 2027: annular solar eclipse, with the Sun at 17°37' Aquarius.
• Maximum eclipse: around 12:59pm, Brasília time.
• São Paulo: around 78% of the Sun covered, with maximum around 1:20pm.
• Porto Alegre: around 83%, with maximum around 12:55pm.
• Buenos Aires: around 82%.

In none of these cities does the sky go fully dark. Partial means the Moon bites off a large chunk of the Sun, and the full ring only appears in the narrow band where the eclipse is annular.

Never look at the Sun without protection, not even for a moment, not even with 80% of it covered. You need a proper eclipse filter, such as certified eclipse glasses. Ordinary sunglasses offer no protection. X-ray film offers no protection. Smoked glass doesn't either.

If you don't have glasses, you can watch safely and it's rather lovely: poke a hole in a card with the tip of a pencil and let the Sun's light pass through the hole onto a white sheet of paper on the ground. The image on the paper shows the bitten Sun. A tree's shadow does the same thing, which is where the crescent moons on the ground come from.

The sign shows the theme in the sky. The house in your chart shows which area of your life it happens in. The eclipse is the same for everyone, and the house where Aquarius sits in your chart is the area where a new beginning calls for room over the coming months.

Generate your free chart here on the site with your birth date, time and city. The exact time makes a difference, because a few minutes can change the layout of the houses. On the wheel, look for the symbol of Aquarius on the outer ring. The house number in that stretch is the area of life being stirred up. If Aquarius spans two houses, both count; the one holding 17 degrees Aquarius is the one that takes the eclipse full on.

The explanation of where the houses come from is in what an astrological house is, and how to follow the sky as it moves through your chart, in the piece about Transits.

• House 1: you. A new way of presenting yourself, the courage to look different from what's expected.
• House 2: money. An unusual source of income, a job born out of a group or a new idea.
• House 3: speech and study. The quick course, the piece of writing you decide to publish, the chat with the neighbour that turns into a friendship.
• House 4: home. The change of address, the family reorganising itself, the wish to live differently.
• House 5: pleasure and children. A relationship that starts among friends, a creative project with new people.
• House 6: routine. A different way of working, remote work, the new team, the care for your body that you start taking on.
• House 7: partnerships. A relationship that calls for more freedom for both of you, or a business partner who comes through a friend's introduction.
• House 8: what is shared. A money arrangement with someone else, a deep change that starts out quietly.
• House 9: the horizon. Travel, university, another language, a view of the world you start to stand up for.
• House 10: career. A new position, work with a collective purpose, the wish to have what makes you one of a kind recognised.
• House 11: friends and groups. The new group, the crowd you choose, a plan for the future built together.
• House 12: what stays tucked away. An inner beginning, therapy, volunteering, something born away from everyone else's eyes.

An eclipse is no threat, and nobody needs to protect themselves from it beyond their eyes. It's also no reason to cancel a surgery, a wedding or a contract set for that day on your own.

The general sky describes the mood of a season, and you're the one who decides what to do within it. The eclipse of February 6th happens for eight billion people at the same time, and what it shows is the theme and the area of your chart where that theme tends to gain ground. The facts still depend on you, on your choices and on what was already underway.

On the 6th, after watching the sky safely, sit with your chart open at the house of Aquarius. Ask yourself just one question: if nothing held me back, what would I start in this area of my life?

Write down the answer and keep it. Eclipse beginnings tend to be quiet on the day and only show their size months later. What I see most in readings is people who, at the end of the year, reread what they wrote and realise the answer was already there in February.

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