New Beginnings and the Aries Point

The new emerging from the old

Spring Equinox
March 20, 2104
12:57 pm EDT / 4:57 pm GMT

Last Quarter Moon in Capricorn
March 23, 2014, 9:46 pm EDT
March 24, 2014, 1:46 am GMT

Balsamic Moon in Aquarius
March 27, 2014
6:28 am EDT / 10:28 am GMT

New Moon in Aries
March 30, 2014
2:45 pm EDT / 6:45 pm GMT


It's officially Spring now, after a long, cold winter. The Equinox arrived, the beginning of the astrological and agricultural year. We're finally seeing signs of Spring: Bluebirds, robins, phoebes, crocuses, the green tips of daffodils, the first shoots of woodland flowers.

This is a powerful time of new beginnings, the annual reset button, a time when new and (hopefully) exciting things come into our lives.

So it's something of a paradox this year that it's happening in a waning lunar cycle, in a time of releasing, letting go, and composting. How do we balance this?

As I look at the charts for the Equinox, the Last Quarter and Balsamic Moon charts, and the soon-to-arrive New Moon in Aries, it seems to me the cosmos is easing us into something at this time, something significant.

Now, "easing" may not be the word that first leaps to mind when we consider how things have felt lately. Maybe words like "challenging" or at least "interesting" or possibly "overwhelming" come to mind as more accurate. In times of great change, though––and we are definitely in such times––support for our transitions and transformations is welcome and (sometimes) vital.

I've written before about the Pluto–Uranus squares (as many astrologers have). This challenge between the lighting bolt of revolution (Uranus) and the slow, inexorable shifting of tectonic plates (Pluto) has already happened four times, with three more to come. This pattern is the signature of our times, signaling the depth of change, its rapidity, and the polarization it brings.

The next exact square happens as part of a Cardinal Cross on April 21. On that day, Pluto and Uranus reach an exact square, with Jupiter opposite Pluto squaring Uranus, and Mars opposite Uranus squaring Pluto (and Jupiter). In the cardinal signs, which are the initiators, the beginners, this Grand Cross opens yet another gateway for BIG CHANGE.

So when we roll back to look at the Equinox, arriving during a waning lunar cycle when we're getting rid of stuff we don't need, we can think, hmmm, maybe I need to put more energy (Sun in Aries) into clearing the decks and making room for what's showing up.

Astrologically, the Spring Equinox arrives when the Sun reaches 0 Aries. This opening degree of Aries is called the Aries Point, and indicates where new things come into our lives.

Check your birth chart to see where 0 Aries falls for you, by House and aspect to major planets. As an example, my Aries Point falls in my Eighth House exactly opposite my Sun, which says important new stuff shows up in my life as deeply transformative experiences (8th House) that shake up and transform my sense of who I am (Sun opposition) … which for me is about right.

At today's Last Quarter, the Moon in pragmatic Capricorn squares the Aries Sun, a combination that says, yeah, there's lots of new energy here (Sun in Aries) but what are you going to DO with it? (Moon in Cap)

A few days later (March 27), the Balsamic Moon in Aquarius lines up with Venus, also in Aquarius, to say, ok, what are our core values? What's the grand plan? And … since this is a Balsamic Moon … what needs to get kicked to the curb so it can happen?

When the New Moon arrives on March 30, it will be in Aries, only 9 degrees away from the Aries Point, and conjunct Uranus the trickster revolutionary. Here we are invited to begin anew, to give birth to ourselves in a new form. This is the personal rebirth that will help set the stage for the Cardinal Cross about three weeks later.

Aries is a bright, fiery energy that wants to move, to act, to blaze new trails, set new marks, and reach them all. To have Aries show up in the waning time gives us a boost (or maybe a boot!) to get moving on what needs to shift.

See where Aries falls in your chart. Invite in the new energy, and use the Spring fire to clean out the last of winter and make space for something new and big. It's time!
    

Waxing Moon: Shift Happens!

Tiger wakes up!

Spring Equinox
March 20, 2013 7:02 am EDT
Gibbous Moon in Leo
March 23, 2013 1:56 pm EDT
Full Moon in Libra
March 27, 2013 5:27 am EDT

The Spring Equinox blew into town in a big way. I wish I could say it's brought warmth and sunshine, but we're still in winter here. So far, the changes have been internal––powerful on the inside.

Astrologically, the Equinox arrives when the Sun enters Aries, arriving at the Aries Point, zero Aries, beginner's mind, the Fool card in the Tarot. Where is your Aries Point? This is one of the things you want to know about your birth chart, for it's the place where new things enter your life.

My Aries Point is in my Eighth House of deeply transformative stuff. It's also exactly opposite my Second House Libra Sun. For me, it's like the Spring Equinox Aries Sun hits me right between the eyes. This happens every year, which, while I love Spring, might tell you why my favorite season is Autumn.

The convention phrase is "I feel like a new person!" What's more accurate for me this year––and with the intensely concentrated sky energies this might be true for you too––is "Wait! I just discovered I'm not who I thought I was!"

The transformation I'm experiencing involves peeling off lots of old layers that got added on in earlier searches for things like safety, privacy, acceptance and love. Those layers may have felt good and necessary at the time, but they're stiff and old now, holding me back from living my way into a more authentic life. Still, there's a lot of "ouch" in this process.

All the powers are online for this Spring cleaning: Mars and Uranus are conjunct in early Aries, ready to remove old layers with the sharpest tools they can find. The goddesses Eris and Pallas Athena hang out in late Aries, ready with blades of their own.

I've mentioned an ongoing yod, also called a Finger of Fate, in which Saturn and Pluto point at Jupiter––reminding us not to overextend, overinflate, or get too ahead of ourselves. Now we see a second yod overlapping this one: Jupiter and Mars–Uranus are pointing right back at Saturn, psuhing back against the forces of tradition, saying, yes, we're ready to lay solid foundations here but get on with it, already!

Meanwhile, Mars and Uranus are squaring Pluto while Chiron and Mercury sextile Pluto and semisextile Mars–Uranus. Oh yes, Chiron and Mercury are also trining Saturn. Venus enters Aries tonight (11:15 pm EDT), reaching her Aries Point moment. Whew!

These complex interwoven patterns are not deadlock; there's way too much energy flowing for that. These are healing patterns, blueprints for change.

We see powers for healing and compassion (Chiron and Mercury in Pisces), an awareness of the need for depth of understanding and strength (Saturn in Scorpio), an optimistic view of many opportunities (Jupiter in Gemini) and tremendous energy for growth and joy (everybody in Aries).

I want to highlight what an opportunity this is: Yes, we have a Spring Equinox every year, and Venus enters Aries every year, but Mars has a two-year cycle, and Uranus takes 80+ years to make it around the zodiac. Having this much focus in Aries, which this complexity of patterning, is special.

Maybe you're thinking you'd like a little less "special" in your life. I hear you, believe me, but we don't have that option. We live in interesting times. Our choices lie in our responses––are we riding the tiger or frozen in his glare?

At the Gibbous Moon on March 23, the Moon will be in fiesty Leo, squaring the Nodes of the Moon. Where, she asks, are we leaving passion and creativity behind? On the way to that moment, she will trine each of the Aries planets. These are wonderful days for healing art, creative expression, and passionate play.

Then, early on the morning of March 27, we reach the Libra Full Moon. The pattern is reminiscent of the last Full Moon: a singular Moon standing alone against a full court press of other planets. The energies, though, are very different. This time, we see one voice of balance and diplomacy speaking to a room full of supercharged adrenaline junkies.

This pattern reminds me of the Chariot card in the Tarot, which is all about learning to ride the tiger. I'll write more about this amazing Full Moon in a few days. What's important to see now is that it's coming, and bringing big energies with it.

This Full Moon will illuminate things like our authenticity, our passions, and whether we're speaking our truth––so taking a look now at our personal Aries Points and considering where change wants to flow in our lives are good things to be doing.

It's time to wake up. Toss the heavy blankets aside. Look around. Then, hit the ground running. It's a beautiful day!
    

The Waxing Cycle: Growing into Spring!

Crescent Moon in Taurus

new growth emerging!

March 15, 2013 10:50 am EDT
Mercury Direct
March 17, 2013 4:02 pm EDT
First Quarter Moon in Gemini
March 19, 2013 1:26 pm EDT
Spring Equinox
March 20, 2013 7:01 am EDT

Can you feel the breeze freshening? The sunlight getting stronger? The birds singing louder? It's been a long winter, and Spring is finally moving.

We swam through the Pisces New Moon gate, awash in feelings, full of visions and dreams, and a bit disoriented. Now, focus and fire emerge.

Mars is now in Aries, his home territory, ready to meet revolutionary Uranus. Transformation is in the air! One of the aspect patterns throughout this waxing cycle is a yod, a finger of Fate, in which Pluto and Saturn point at Jupiter.

Pluto and Saturn remain in mutual reception (they are in each other's signs, which means they're communicating and cooperating), and Jupiter is the great expander, the liberal-handed philosopher and adventurer. So, we're liable to say yes! when opportunities to embrace change come our way.

Tomorrow is the Crescent Moon in Taurus, and she opposes Saturn. Now, the Moon in Taurus can be stubborn, and Saturn is stubborn by nature. So, maybe we're not saying "yes!" to change ... maybe we're saying, "no, thank you, I'm quite comfortable where I am."

Except we're not, really, are we? Mercury still rests between Neptune and Chiron, keeping us deeply connected to our feelings, our visions, and where we need healing. And Chiron is squaring Jupiter, trining Saturn, and sextile Pluto, sooooo, no, we can't really pretend everything is perfect in our lives.

My suggestion is to channel the supportive, nurturing Taurus Moon energy into a commitment to self compassion and self nurturing. We can say, with this Moon, yes! let's change ... and let's work on it gently, with lots of support for the person I am, the child I was, and everyone in between.

On March 17, leprechauns bring us the gold of Mercury direct. There's real value in Mercury retrograde––we all need times to slow down, reflect, and revisit our thinking––yet it's tough to know how to apply information that comes our way during retrogrades. With Mercury's energy flowing forward again, we'll begin to see the light, understanding what needs to happen next.

March 19 brings an intense First Quarter Moon in Gemini. What? (I hear you say...) I thought Gemini Moons were fun, flirty and all about easy networking and talk. True enough, and yet this First Quarter brings a square between the Sun and Moon that falls in the final, anaretic degree of Pisces (Sun) and Gemini (Moon).

The final degree of each sign brings a concentration of energy, a strong focus. At this Moon, then, the Sun reminds us of everything we experienced and felt and learned in Pisces––the dreams, visions, creative inspiration, and also foggy confusion. The Moon reminds us to hang on to our perspective, and in fact to entertain lots of perspectives, ideas, notions, thoughts. Because ...

Boom! March 20 brings the astrological Spring Equinox, the moment the Sun enters Aries. And what an entrance this year brings! The Sun reborn in Fire is conjunct Mars and Uranus. Everything lights up!

Interestingly, the Equinox Moon has moved into protective Cancer, where she squares Mars and Uranus. One option here is to hide under the blankets, hoping those nasty, loud planets in Fire will just go away. (They won't.)

The energies now be moving into Aries (Venus is next to join the fiery gang) will make it impossible to ignore the surges of desire and will that arise now. And why would we want to? This is the sap rising, the new season dawning, time for births and emergences of all kinds.

Instead of hiding, the nurturing Cancer Moon can continue to offer support, to remind us that kindness is always possible, especially toward our tender selves. In square to Mars and Uranus, she asserts herself, refusing to go too fast or allow feelings to be trampled willy nilly in the mad rush toward the new.

The invitation coming our way now is to jump in with both feet, embrace Spring and rebirth, and let 'er rip. The challenge is to answer the call without burning *all* our bridges, and with kindness and compassion for ourselves and all life.

We can do it ... will we do it? That choice is up to us.
     

Mercury Retrograde: Treading Water or New Seas?

Toni Frissell photo for Harper's 1947

Mercury Retrograde in Pisces
February 23 through March 13, 2013

Tomorrow, Mercury turns retrograde in the visionary and also confusing sign of Pisces. Today is a good day to back up computers, and send messages that especially need to be clear and direct.

And yet ... I see the coming weeks with Mercury as an invitation to depth, not a time of anxiety.

Back in 2010, I wrote about how Mercury retrogrades are part of this planet's cycle, a time of renewal and reflection.

It's time to slow down. Relentless forward motion is exhausting and ultimately self-defeating. We are cyclical creatures who need are own times to replenish, and this is one.

We're entering the first Mercury retrograde of 2013, an experience quite different from 2012's retrogrades. Last year, Mercury explored the Fire signs––we were asked to look at our motivations, what drives us, what fires us up.

This year, all three retrogrades will be in the Water signs, and so we're diving into emotions, dreams, visionary experiences, lyricism, poetry, and mist.

Mercury turns retrograde in Pisces overnight (4:41 am EST), ushering the North American times zones into this period of reflection while we're deep in dreams. He's just past the Pisces planet conclave and decides ... wait, I'm not done here ... and decides to turn back and reconnect with each of the energies there: Mars, Chiron, the Sun and Neptune are in Pisces now, with Venus poised to enter soon. Each will conjunct Mercury during his journey.

Saturn retrograding through Scorpio makes this a time of power as well as vision. Astrology is about cycles within cycles, and the dance of Mercury and Saturn over the next few weeks will draw each of us into questions about what we desire, what moves us, what triggers us, and where the power lies in it all.

I'm fascinated with what I'm seeing in the charts over the next weeks. At the moment Mercury turns retrograde, the Moon will be in Leo trining Uranus––pulsing underneath the watery calm is intense energy for change and renewal.

On March 7, Mercury trines Saturn, both retrograde, as Mercury conjunct Venus, with both in the middle of a very large Pisces group. Questions of emotional power, visionary depth, and the power of dreams may come to the fore at this time.

March 17, Mercury goes direct sitting between Neptune and Chiron as the Sun and Venus are conjunct in late Pisces. Just days before the Spring Equinox, Mars moves to conjunct Uranus as the Moon moves to meet Jupiter ... Boom!

When we reach the Spring Equinox, the planet party has moved decisively into Aries and everything lights up.

Right now, we're offered a contemplative time, a reflective time, to dig deep, look in the mirror and unpack our emotional baggage. It's likely to be intense, confusing and emotional. Issues of power, manipulation, deception and glamour may raise their threatening heads.

If we accept the invitation, we'll do far more than tread water for the next few weeks hoping nothing gets too messed up––we'll find ourselves in new waters, refreshed and alive, ready for the explosion of Spring, the rebirth of Aries Fire.

It's up to you ... but I'm grabbing my swim fins and diving in!
    

Spring Equinox: The New Seed

eggs!

Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Eastern Daylight Time

Tuesday, March 20
Spring Equinox:
Sun enters Aries 1:14am
Moon semisextile Mercury (Aries) 1:41am
Moon semisextile Uranus (Aries) 4:10am
Moon conjunct Chiron (Pisces) 9:00am
Moon opposite Mars (Virgo)10:25am
Moon square the North Node (Sagittarius) 12:46pm
Moon sextile Pluto (Capricorn) 2:05pm
Moon sextile Jupiter (Taurus) 4:56pm

I want to share the chart for the Equinox, Spring in the Northern hemisphere, Fall in the Southern, and a hinge of the year in all earthly places. Note the amazing geometry of this chart, with its overlaid squares and triangles.

The Sun moved most decisively into Aries, closely aligned with Mercury and Uranus. The Sun at the Aries point highlights where change is happening, where new fire is alight, and here we have mind and communication, and the revolutionary trickster, ready and waiting.

Look for the Aries point in your birth chart: Which house holds 0 Aries? What upheavals are you experiencing there? What world-flipping new ideas are showing up? Where is your life force, your libido, your desire, glowing?

This is vital––literally!––and yet there is a context here that needs to be woven.

Notice how most of the planets are clustered on one side of the chart, with Mars standing alone on the other side. This is a basket pattern. Mars, the handle, takes on added importance.

Not only is he the handle of this Ostara basket, he is one point of the Grand Trine in Earth (with Pluto, Jupiter and Venus) and one corner of the Grand Cross in the mutable signs that includes the Nodes of the Moon as well as the Moon, Neptune and Chiron in Pisces.

Mars is holding a lot of important threads here, so it's good he's in organized, detail-oriented Virgo. We can be sure no one will be forgotten, no energy left out, all ducks will be lined up. And yet ... Mars in Virgo is no speed demon, is still retrograde, and rules Aries. What's up with that?

Aries likes to act, ACT NOW, jump in with both feet, no holds barred. With the Sun, Mercury and Uranus aligned, we could feel a big power surge to DO something. Mars retrograde in Virgo, with Saturn retrograde in Libra and Mercury retrograde in Aries join together to say, NOT YET.

Something vital has now been seeded, and needs time to grow. The power of the Grand Trine in Earth offers us a strong connection with natural cycles of growth and development, the ability to allow life to unfold without interference, the willingness to wait and watch.

The Grand Cross creates the container, the alembic in which transformation will occur. This container is anchored in Virgo and Pisces, the Earth and the cosmos, and includes the karmic life path, the Moon's Nodes.

This is the time of the anlage, the primordial seed from which something new will come. We cannot see its form yet, and opening the container will mar the process. With the coming New Moon, we will plant seeds and nurture them, allowing them to grow with the best support we can provide.

The alembic is an alchemical vessel that transmutes what we put into it. Another translation for 'alembic' is 'still,' and so we imagine ourselves heading into the hills with the trickster Uranus, setting up our copper coils and tubs away from prying eyes, fermenting the mix and hoping for a tasty and potent brew––uisce beatha, the water of life!

Happy Equinox Morning to all.
         

Moon in Libra and the Spring Equinox

Saturday afternoon through Monday afternoon

The Moon slipped into Libra soon after yesterday's magnificent Full Moon, opposing Uranus in Aries with a reminder that balance is beautiful and just. As more planets move into the blazing light of Aries, the Moon touches us gently, a reminder we're not alone in this cosmos.

tulips blazing

Sunday morning, the Moon carries the same message––remember the other souls who walk with us––as she challenges powerful Pluto in Capricorn with a square, and opposes Jupiter in Aries.

In the afternoon, the Moon joins Saturn in Libra. All this Aries fire could burn out quickly, and us with it, unless we recognize our limits and work (and play) within them. In art, the limits of form call out the creative impulse, shaping it into something of grace.

Sunday at 7:21pm EDT, the Sun shines into Aries, joining Uranus the Awakener at the Aries point and igniting the Spring Equinox. This conjunction between the Sun and Uranus at 0 Aries is rare, last seen in the early 1600's, and signals a new beginning of great power. What will be born, or reborn, for you this year?

The Libra Moon opposes Mercury, giving depth, shape and color to Mercury's cry in Aries, "I am!"

Monday morning, the Libra Moon trines Venus, and then Neptune, in Aquarius. These flows of energy among the Moon's depth of feeling, Venus' commitment to relationship, and Neptune's dreams, bracket the Sun's exact conjunction with Uranus. What wakes up in us this morning will be touched with the magic of the Moon, Venus and Neptune, the muses. Monday afternoon, the Moon slips into introspective Scorpio to explore the depths of this new world we find ourselves in.

Wikimedia's Media of the Day captures the energy of this fiery Equinox time of shaping and making, with Kuo Chang Shi, last professional sword maker in Taiwan, in a video from the Al Jazeera Creative Commons Respository: