What Is a Lunar Eclipse? An Astrologer Explains When They Occur in 2025

The lunar event you can count on for bringing the most drama in your life is, undoubtedly, a lunar eclipse. A lunar eclipse occurs two times a year, and it's basically a full moon on steroids. Unlike an astronomical event like Mercury retrograde, which often brings up plot twists that don't really go anywhere, a lunar eclipse's meaning is usually quite apparent, especially when you look at it in retrospect.

Regular full moons, which happen once or, at most, twice a month, are opportunities to release whatever is no longer serving you. They're a chance to cross the finish line on a big project or take a relationship to the next level. But a lunar eclipse is so intense and super-charged that your only job is to really roll with the growth-spurring shifts and changes they present.

In 2025, there are two lunar eclipses — one in mutable earth sign Virgo and another in mutable water sign Pisces. In order to prepare yourself, be ready for gasp-worthy changes, especially when it comes to relationships, as lunar eclipses tend to highlight cataclysmic shake-ups within your one-on-one bonds. This major astrological and astronomical event may also fuel pivots related to how you bring in money, interpret beauty, think of your values, experience empathy, and go about healing yourself emotionally and spiritually.

Read on for more information about what is a lunar eclipse and the lunar eclipse meaning in 2025.

What Is a Lunar Eclipse?

Astronomically speaking, lunar eclipses occur when the moon is at its fullest. Since Earth is directly between the moon and sun, lunar eclipses happen when Earth casts its shadow over the moon, dimming its light and often spurring a stunning red hue that lasts a few hours. There are three types of lunar eclipses:

Lunar Eclipse Meaning in Astrology?

Full moons offer the perfect opportunity for tuning into a meditation, putting your crystals out to charge, or making moon water. If you're not at this level, maybe you've found that visualization techniques, deep breathing, or yoga classes help you manage the energy of the moment. But unlike regular full moons, lunar eclipses only happen approximately twice a year, and the astrology of lunar eclipses stir up vibes that are far more intense than the average full moon's energy.

When it comes to astrology, lunar eclipse energy is so heightened, in fact, that you'd do best to steer clear of involved rituals. You don't want to work with it so actively, because it's simply too tough to harness. Think of it as a bolt of lightning or a powerful windstorm: the best way to handle it is to simply step out of its way and let it do its thing, even if it plows down your perfectly laid plans and leaves you with a chaotic mess. Eclipses teach you that there's actually a lesson to be learned and possibly even a new path forward once the dust settles.

Lunar eclipses, in particular, can feel full of upheaval, especially when it comes to your closest relationships. In astrology, the moon represents emotions, while the sun represents your core identity and self-image. In turn, the lunar eclipse meaning is pegged to your relationships with yourself and others. When the shimmering moon is at its most full and luminous, and is also simultaneously battling it out with an ominous shadow (aka an eclipse), you may be nudged to more clearly see your own shadows, patterns, behaviors, or issues that play out in your bonds.

That said, not every lunar eclipse will heighten your emotions and leave your life altered. It really depends on how the astrological event is interacting with your birth chart. You generally feel the eclipse most if it's "hitting" or matching up with a part of your chart at a particular angle. To get a sense of how it might affect you, you'll want to familiarize yourself with your sun, moon, and rising signs, as well as other planetary placements and angles in your chart, such as your Mercury, Venus, and Mars signs.

When Are the Lunar Eclipses in 2025?

Lunar eclipses generally happen twice (rarely, three times) each calendar year. In 2025, here's when you can expect a lunar eclipse:

Falling in the mutable earth sign Virgo, the first lunar eclipse of 2025 will bring intense realizations about how you're relating to others, showing up in your closest partnerships, and finding more balance in life. You might also want to reflect on how your sense of self is either being nurtured or quashed by particular pairings you've involved yourself in.

The second lunar eclipse of 2025 occurs in mutable water sign Pisces. As the 12th sign of the zodiac, Pisces, whose modern ruleris Neptune, the planet of spirituality, dreams, illusion, and delusion, is concerned with healing your inner wounds, exploring empathy, tapping into your imagination, escaping reality (for better or worse), and wading through deep waters of emotion. As a result, this could be a magical eclipse in which you're able to get a sense of what you need spiritually from your relationships. It's a time in which getting in touch with your intuition (as opposed to working with rational, cerebral energy) will be crucial.

What Zodiac Signs Will Be Most Impacted By the Lunar Eclipses in 2025?

When it comes to 2025's lunar eclipse in March and September, both take place in mutable signs, so people who have placements in any of the mutable signs — Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces — will be most impacted. However, everyone will feel impact to some degree.

Maressa Brown is a journalist, author, and astrologer. Her areas of expertise include writing, reporting, and editing lifestyle, pop culture, and parenting content that's both conversational and substantive. In addition to contributing to PS, she writes for a variety of consumer-facing publications including InStyle, Parents, and Shape, and was previously an editor at Cosmopolitan and CafeMom.