We start out this month with Mercury still moving backward in Pisces, but his turnaround day is the 9th. This should be a very welcome shift in our experience as Mercury retrograde in the sign that invented the unconscious was very challenging to move through. We are not quite done with this process though, as the third act of every Mercury retrograde has the planet of the Mind covering the same territory for the third and final time. Between the 9th and the end of March, we will be wrapping and revisiting things that emerged in our experience as far back as early February. However, clarity about what we have gleaned from this passage may take a little time to reveal itself to us because of the Piscean connection with all that is unconscious. When Mercury finishes his shadow as April arrives, we will start to understand all that we have learned in February and March.
Also on the 9th, the Full Moon occurs at 9:48am PST at 19-degrees of Virgo. The Virgo Full Moon is always about our spirit/flesh polarity, as Pisces rules our spirit, and Virgo invented the body, through which spirit animates us into existence. Virgo is also one of the rulers of Mercury, further emphasizing the importance of this particular retrograde and its connection to this lunation. And since Full Moons are always about letting things go that no longer serve us, and Mercury’s retrograde process took us on a journey through the unconscious mind, we are sure to have access to some richer material that is now ready to be released because of last months’ deep dive.
Of course, the big news of the month is the Vernal Equinox, the beginning of the astrological new year, taking place on the 19th/20th of the month. Pisces/Aries is the alpha/omega of the zodiac, sometimes referred to as the birth canal. In Pisces, we drop into the void, where all consciousness is undifferentiated potential. Aries springs forth through that void and into consciousness, brandishing the mantra, I Am. When the Earth and the Sun are aligned with the midline of the ecliptic, the backdrop in the cosmos behind it is this single point of ecstatic creation. We think of this point as 0-degrees of Aries, the start of the first sign of the zodiac. Thus, we begin the solar cycle over again. This is more of a marker moment than an event generator, where we are invited to celebrate the harmony that we are always seeking. The days and nights are of equal length, and we are in an energetic alignment of wholeness and integration, and we celebrate this sense of balance within ourselves.
Aries is where we get things started up and moving; he is the first cardinal sign of the zodiac. Cardinal is a term that means initiatory energy, that which puts things in motion. Aries is the only cardinal sign that is also a fire sign, so this is truly a moment to get things moving, especially after a month in the watery Pisces mansion. This particular Equinox promises to be a rather event-filled passage, courtesy of a great deal of traffic. At the very moment of the equinox, Mars begins to activate all three of the big players in the Capricorn mansion. He will meet up with Jupiter on the 20th, Pluto on the 22nd, and then Saturn at the very end of the month on the 31st. Aries rules Mars, and Capricorn is the sign of his exaltation, imbuing him with about as much power as he can carry with him at any time.
One artifact of this Mars activation will be to retrigger some of the intensity of January’s Pluto/Saturn Conjunction, as well as the eclipse that was so overwhelming to move through. Additionally, Mars in Conjunction with any of those planets indicates a fairly significant rising up of energy that we will experience very tangibly connected to our goals, physical energy, and any of the things we choose to focus on. Mars/Jupiter (March 20th) is about confidence, optimism, and positive movement forward. Then on the 22nd, Mars/Pluto is all about change, transformation, purification, and letting anything that wants to die off be allowed to do so; there will be changes made.
At the very end of the month, Mars will also Conjunct Saturn. Only, this will happen in the sign of Aquarius, as that is when Saturn will dip into this sign, giving us a hint of what the three years of Saturn in that sign is going to bring when he finally move into Aquarius in earnest next year. This year, he will weave back and forth between Capricorn and Aquarius, starting the process of the lessons he plans to serve up in the Aquarius mansion. On the 31st, Mars will also enter Aquarius, Conjuncting Saturn as his first order of business in this sign. In Capricorn, all of the old paradigms and structures on the planet are subject to deconstruction. In Aquarius, we will knit together the new world that we are currently building, where the global community will learn to truly care for itself. When Pluto moves into Aquarius in a few years, that process will begin in earnest. This spring, we will be treated to some of the karmic reckoning to come, as Saturn foreshadows his future passage through Aquarius that officially begins in December.
The New Moon of the month takes place at 2:28am PST on the 24th. This lunation at 4-degrees of Aries kicks of the astrological new year in full force. On the side of this New Moon is a beautiful Trine between Venus in Taurus – her sign of rulership – and all of the players in Capricorn, which includes Saturn, Pluto and Jupiter. From this perspective, this first New Moon that kicks off our astrological year has the power of love built right into it, helping us move through all of the dynamic changes the planet is going through right now with all of the love we can muster. Good thing too, because this New Moon happens to be exactly Conjunct both Chiron and Black Moon Lilith.
Chiron is where all healing takes place, and Black Moon Lilith connects to the subsumed rage of the Divine Feminine, whom we are charged with assisting to come back into alignment within the human collective psyche. Right now, she is mad as hell, and the rage that is rising up from millennia of subjugation, misogyny, and toxic masculinity run rampant. Chiron brings a healing, but does not signal a retreat. This New Moon portends a moment of directed force. People may be activated by this Full Moon to stand up more powerfully in the way of protest, objection, and the desire to impact powerful change on the planet. This is going to be the most profound year of breakdown and the breakthroughs that always accompany such moments of transformation. This New Moon may just feel a bit like the gunshot that kicks the race off. May it lead you to extraordinary places.
