Moon into Aries: What is Ready to Emerge?

Wednesday morning through Friday night

The Moon moves into Aries just after noon today (EDT), having completed a cycle through the zodiac and ready to emerge reborn. In this waning half of the lunar cycle, we share what we've learned and achieved, and release what no longer serves us. The Aries Moon eagerly sheds the old, the completed, the worn out, and strides into new territory.

French 15th century image of Demeter

The Moon's first aspect is a conjunction with Ceres, newly arrived herself in Aries. Ceres (Demeter in the Greek pantheon) is a goddess older than Zeus. His sister in the myths of Olympian gods, she is thought to predate this time, an ancient Earth Mother brought forward into the newer system.

Goddess of agriculture, she was the mother of both Persephone and Dionysus. Often portrayed as maternal and nurturing, Demeter has her fierce side. She was ready to let everything die, and would not yield, until her daughter was returned to her.

Demeter is also patroness of the Eleusian Mysteries, secret ecstatic rites held each year that celebrated the cycle of ascent and descent and ascent again, sacred to the fertility of all things. Ceres in Aries, brought to our attention today by the presence of the Moon, shows us the face of the fierce mother who understands the deep mysteries of life, and of death, and will fight to protect what she loves.

Tonight, the Moon joins revolutionary Uranus, and squares Pluto. This draws attention to one of the most powerful aspects in the sky right now, the Uranus-Pluto square, a true clash of titans. Ellen Longo offers an excellent discussion of these two energies in this post in her Astro4Business blog.

Thursday morning brings an opposition between the Aries Moon and Saturn in Libra, a time when we might feel pulled between the strong desire to pursue our own goals, and our awareness of the needs of others. The opposition is a time of maximum light, when each side fully illuminates the other, so use this aspect to see clearly what each side wants and needs, and look for a creative, balanced solution.

Friday morning, the Moon aspects the personal planets, sextiling Mars in Gemini, squaring Venus in Cancer, and trining Mercury in Leo. Like Saturn in Libra, Venus today is the voice of relationship. What so others need and want from us? Mercury in Leo strongly supports our most creative, joyful, passionate voice. Gemini Mars says, let's find the connections here and move toward a new synthesis.

The Mercury trine is the Moon's last classical aspect in Aries, leading into a void-of-course time. Just before the Moon enters Taurus, at midnight Friday, the Sun enters Leo, creating a square between them. This square is the Waning Half Moon, a time when we're challenged to let go of whatever no longer serves as, as we move toward the next New Moon, in the sign of Leo.

These are two fixed signs, which can dig in their heels, so our dreams tonight might reflect any tensions in our psyches between our desire to sign our own song, and our commitments and responsibilities. Both Taurus and Leo are passionate and creative, so look for a solution that honors those qualities. Soon after the Sun-Moon square, the Taurus Moon sextiles Chiron and Neptune in Pisces, so that later dreams might offer visions of how this can be accomplished.