Maha Shivaratri and the Phoenix bird

Phoenix bird – a symbol of renewal

Maha Shivaratri is a Hindu festival  celebrated annually in reverence of the God Shiva. It is believed to be the day shiva was born to save the universe by drinking "haalaahala" and Gaaja the poison and drug that emerged from the churning of the ocean (samudra manthana). While most Hindu festivals are celebrated during the day, Shivaratri is celebrated during the night by keeping a "jaagaran" - a night-long vigil as it is believed that Lord Shiva saved the universe from darkness and ignorance. This day is also believed to be the day that Shiva was married to the Goddess Parvati. The Maha Shivaratri festival, also popularly known as 'Shivaratri' falls in February or March as per the English Gregorian calendar. Of the twelve Shivaratris in the year, the Maha Shivarathri is the most holy. In 2016, Maha Shivaratri is being celebrated on March 7 just before the solar eclipse of March 8-9.

Shiva literally means "auspiciousness, welfare". He is the third god of the Hindu Trinity who destroys negative presences such as evil, ignorance, and death in order to renew and regenerate. Resonating to the  essence of Shiva’s  theme, the   upcoming eclipse [18pi]  is conjunct Ankaa, alpha Phoenix – a mythical bird that regenerates from its ashes.

In addition, the eclipse forms a T-square with Jupiter-Saturn with Saturn at the apex. Here Saturn is conjunct the star Sabik. About Sabik Nick Fiorenza writes:

Sabik of Ophiuchus, and surrounding entries, can stimulate involvements that lead to our greater biological well-being and illumination--especially regarding transmutation of our experience and our human condition from a lower-order to a more refined state of being. This level of transmutation in our lives requires full unconditional acceptance and integration of our past experience, so the bio-energetic patterning we hold within can be inverted to re-express its compliment--thus allowing a new expression that subsequently draws new fulfilling experience. This process in esoteric science and physics is called time-reversal or phase-conjugation. In advanced healing and meditative techniques, this is a means of producing the opposite but properly phased cellular pattern or signature within self that cancels (actually fulfills) the existing pattern we embody. Generally, this is an all-or-nothing deal requiring our unconditional willingness to embrace the healing / transmutational process. The choice is ours. Sabik also can simply indicate a threshold to cross or transition to make, generally regarding a change in our neurology, how we act, or in our capacity to take action to change and evolve.