Every eclipse season, the same conversation seems to make its way through witchy spaces. Certainly from my clients.

Should you practice magic during an eclipse? My answer is usually no. But perhaps more importantly, my answer is I personally don't. There is a difference.

I have always approached the actual day of an eclipse as a time for rest, observation, reflection, and surrender rather than active spell work. This isn't because I believe eclipse energy is inherently evil, dangerous, or something witches should fear. It's because I experience eclipse energy as incredibly chaotic, unpredictable, and already very much in motion.

When the Universe is rearranging the furniture, I don't particularly feel the need to start moving the couch. I would rather watch.

Eclipses Are Already Doing the Work

Astrologically, eclipses occur when a New or Full Moon happens close enough to the Lunar Nodes for the Sun, Moon, and Earth to align in a way that creates an eclipse.

Symbolically, that matters.

The Lunar Nodes are associated with direction, evolution, release, and the unfolding of larger cycles. Eclipses can correspond with periods of culmination, revelation, beginnings, endings, redirection, and circumstances that don't always make complete sense until much later.

For me, that makes eclipse energy fundamentally different from an ordinary New Moon or Full Moon.

During a regular New Moon, I intentionally plant seeds. During a Full Moon, I perform release work, divination, cleansing, or spellwork.

During an eclipse? I let the eclipse eclipse. There is already enough happening. And the energy usually takes the wind out of me. There is no need to add anything else to an already very full energetic bucket.

The Total Solar New Moon Eclipse in Leo occurs on Wednesday, August 12th, 2026, at approximately 12:36 p.m. Central Daylight Time. The New Moon is exact at that time, at roughly 20° Leo. This will be felt by Fixed signs Sun, Moon and Rising. Leo, Aquarius, Taurus, and Scorpio, particularly around 15°-25°. The closer a natal planet or angle is to 20°, the stronger the activation is traditionally interpreted to be.

This eclipse is also part of the developing Leo-Aquarius eclipse cycle, so themes emerging now don't necessarily belong only to August 12th. They can become part of a longer story unfolding through subsequent eclipses on this axis into 2028

I Don't Like Casting Into Chaos

Most of my magical practice involves intention. Even when I'm working intuitively, I want to understand what I'm asking for, why I'm asking for it, and what energy I'm bringing into the work.

Eclipse energy doesn't feel particularly interested in giving us that kind of certainty. It is not grounded. Everything I do requires grounding as the Earth Goddess I am.

Things during eclipses can be obscured. Emotions are heightened. Information is still emerging. Something that feels incredibly important in the moment may look entirely different a few days later.

That's why I personally don't love performing manifestation magic during the exact eclipse. If I don't have a clear view of the landscape yet, I don't feel any urgency to start directing energy toward a specific outcome. There will be another night for the spell. There is always time to do more spell work.

The Eclipse Doesn't Need My Help

There is also something deeply spiritual to me about occasionally choosing not to manipulate energy. Witchcraft teaches us how to act. But it can also teach us when to be still.

Sometimes the most magical thing I can do is put down the candle, close my grimoire, make myself something warm to drink, and pay attention.

An eclipse can become an incredibly powerful period of observation when we stop trying to immediately turn every astrological event into something we need to do. Witnessing how it plays out IS the ritual.

If I Do Anything, I Choose Rest

This doesn't mean I spend eclipse day pretending nothing is happening. Quite the opposite. I simply choose practices that allow me to receive rather than direct.

If I feel called to ritual during an eclipse, I gravitate toward things like meditation, journaling, grounding, taking a bath, spending time in nature, resting, dreamwork, gentle divination, or simply sitting quietly with whatever I'm feeling. I often write down everything that has been surfacing throughout this eclipse season.

But I'm not necessarily trying to manifest something, banish something, bind something, call something in, or make a major energetic declaration.

I'm listening. And sometimes listening is much harder than casting the spell.

Rest Can Be Witchcraft Too

I think our modern relationship with spirituality sometimes creates pressure to constantly perform.

There's a Full Moon, so we need a ritual. There's a New Moon, so we need intentions. There's a portal, so we need manifestation. There's an eclipse, so surely we need to do something!?

But you don't. You are allowed to experience cosmic events without turning them into productivity.

You don't need twelve crystals arranged around you. You don't need to charge every jar of water you own. You don't need to write twenty seven manifestations before midnight.

You can go to bed. You can read a book. You can sit outside. You can drink tea. You can take a long shower and imagine the day washing away. You can simply exist beneath a strange sky and acknowledge that humans have been looking upward in wonder for thousands of years. There is magic in that too.

This Is My Practice, Not a Universal Rule

I want to be very clear about this because witchcraft is incredibly diverse.

I am not saying witches shouldn't practice magic during eclipses.

There are witches, occultists, astrologers, ceremonial practitioners, folk practitioners, and other magical people who intentionally work with eclipse energy.

Some may use eclipses for shadow work, transformation, banishing, breaking patterns. Some specifically want the disruptive, liminal quality of an eclipse because it serves the work they're doing.

And if that is part of someone's established practice, I respect it. Witchcraft has never been one universal rulebook.

Different traditions have different teachings. Different practitioners develop different relationships with celestial events. What feels chaotic and unsuitable for my spellwork may feel extraordinarily potent to someone else's.

I'm not interested in policing another witch's altar. I'm simply telling you what happens at mine and what my recommendation would be.

What I Recommend If You're Unsure

If you're new to witchcraft and wondering what you're "supposed" to do during an eclipse, my advice is remarkably simple. You don't have to do anything.

If you're uncertain about the energy, use the day for mindfulness. Use it to journal, rest, pay attention to your dreams, notice your emotions, observe what's happening around you and for grounding yourself. Let revelations arrive without immediately deciding what they mean.

You can always perform spellwork tomorrow.

In fact, sometimes waiting until the emotional intensity has settled gives you a much clearer understanding of what you actually want to do. Not making impulsive reaction/decisions based on super heightened energetic shifts. Also super heightened emotional states. There is wisdom in waiting.

The Day After

My personal restriction is also very specific. I'm talking about the day of the eclipse. I don't spend the entire eclipse season hiding from my altar.

Eclipse themes can unfold for weeks or months, and I don't believe we need to stop practicing magic for an entire season because eclipses are happening somewhere within it.

Once the eclipse itself has passed, I return to my regular practice. And often, I return with considerably more clarity. What surfaced during this time? What changed?What did the eclipse illuminate? What did I realize I was ready to release? What suddenly feels important?

Those observations can become incredibly powerful foundations for later spell work. First I listen. Then I decide what deserves my magic.

A Simple Eclipse Day Practice

If you feel called to acknowledge an eclipse but don't want to perform active spell work, keep it simple.

Make yourself comfortable somewhere quiet. Dim the lights and put your phone away. You can light a candle if you want to. Take several slow breaths and ask yourself:

What am I being asked to notice rather than change?

Write whatever comes to you. There is no need for manifesting or releasing. And you don’t need to force an interpretation. Just yet. Merely observing is enough. Then close your journal, extinguish your candle, and rest.

Let tomorrow be tomorrow.

Final Thoughts

Eclipses remind me that I don't always need to be the one directing the energy. Sometimes the sky gets to speak first. My choice not to practice active magic on eclipse days isn't rooted in fear. It's rooted in respect for uncertainty.

The energy already feels chaotic enough to me. Something is being obscured. Something is being illuminated. Something is shifting. I don't necessarily need to know what it means yet. Things unfold exactly as they are supposed to. But sometimes we need to wait and watch as they unfold rather than immediately reacting.

So while other witches may light their candles and intentionally step into that current, you'll probably find me somewhere considerably quieter. Reading my book. Writing in my journal. Taking a nap. Definitely going to bed early.

Unfortunately, I am often watching a dumpster fire around me. People not being grounded during eclipse season is never a pretty sight. Do not engage with other people’s bullshit if you can help it. Obviously there are occasions when confrontation and engaging is needed. But if you can avoid other people’s heightened emotions. Do it.

Because sometimes the witchiest thing you can do is recognize that not every moment requires a spell. Or a response. Sometimes you're meant to witness the magic before deciding what to do with it. And protecting your peace is also vitally important.