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Astrological forecast for Sun in Aries
Mar 20 through Apr 21
by our reluctant shaman
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Watching the news these days might make us feel like crawling into a corner, but that would be a correct thing to do if the corner is your sacred space to join in on the global meditation at the Full Moon. The Libra Full Moon of March 21 sets up at 90° angles to the separating Mars/Pluto opposition, forming what is known as a "Grand Cross" on Good Friday. These cross-currents are urging us to move beyond simply praying for sanity, and actually becoming the voice of sanity whether it be a call-out for world peace, sending and receiving love, removing obstacles, or whatever else needs the balance that a Libra Full Moon represents. The equinox (March 20) is traditionally a time of new beginnings for those of us in the northern hemisphere, so let's help turn it on, shall we? Leave no doubt.
To put some of the immediate tension into context, Aries' ruling planet Mars moved out of exact opposition with Pluto at the New Moon of March 7 and kept moving on, but he won't be out of his retrograde shadow until the first week of April, just in time for the New Moon of April 5. In other words, the Mars/Pluto opposition and Mars' retrograde shadow are still very much in effect at the equinox and Full Moon. This energetic has been the motivation behind some people's desire to lash out (Mars) at large and invisible targets they're not likely to hit (Pluto), especially in political and economic arenas.
Mars moves through the rest of emotional Cancer until the second week of May, reminding us that the crab (Cancer) has a shell for two main reasons; self-containment and protection. We can't be too sure how well others have been dealing with the conclusion of the Mars/Pluto oppositions, so a little protective seclusion might be in order this month.
Looking beyond the Full Moon and equinox for a moment, the New Moon of April 5 at 17° Aries provides guidance for how to proceed. Dane Rudhyar in his "An Astrological Mandala" refers to 17° Aries as an "inward withdrawal," coinciding with the tarot card for this month, the Hermit. The hermit crab in particular would be a highly appropriate animal totem for us to consider. These tiny crustaceans inhabit shells not of their own species, suggesting they seek out a protective home from something outside of themselves - something stronger than their inherent weaknesses. Even though the empty shell of a sea snail (a hermit crab's adoptive home) might be deemed as somehow "lower" than that of a crab, the "higher" and "lower" find a common connection within the life cycle of a hermit crab.
This taps into "as above, so below," the essence of the spiritual path for the true seeker. Each and every Master throughout history found the value of the hermit stage for their spiritual growth, even though Jesus, Mohammed, and Buddha (for only three) wandered through an actual wilderness in their various hermit phases, much like a hermit crab searches for a new home as it outgrows the old.
Another way to consider the energetics for this month can be seen in the symbol for Aries itself:
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The Aries glyph also evokes the activities associated with agriculture, where farmers need to poke however deep down to plant their seeds. The planted seed can thus be seen as the hermit stage for future potentials, a soaking-in of the fertile surroundings in the dark and the deep, working with the inherent wisdom of our DNA. Without this necessary downward plunge, nothing ever grows upward or bears fruit. Imagine a plant with a taproot - a root that grows straight down like that of a carrot plant - the Aries glyph can be seen here as well.
The last week of March and the first week of April is a busy two week stretch, but an ideal time to catch the subtle clues coming at us for the next big thing, Saturn's exact oppositions with Prometheus (Uranus) starting later this year, and continuing on well into 2011.
First, Mercury is moving at full-steam again from it's retrograde cycle of last month, and passes Venus on March 24. Mercury overtakes both asteroid Vesta and Prometheus on March 27, telling us quite plainly that change (Prometheus) begins at home (Vesta). Venus follows suit over Vesta and Prometheus the next day, and Vesta (Goddess of the Hearth Fire) herself passes over Prometheus on the 28 th as well.
All of that activity, as well as the equinox and Full Moon, happens while Prometheus crawls through 20° Pisces. Rudhyar writes of this degree as "An indication that in the end and at the appropriate time the individual's needs will be met among those to whom he is linked by a spiritual (or biological) web of energies." Doesn't a "spiritual web of energies" sound like a global meditation? Just ignore the gender specific pronoun - our needs will be met if we're working with this energetic correctly.
March 27 and 28 would therefore be a wonderful opportunity to make an inward withdrawal, and look at what changes (Mercury/Prometheus) are needed to beautify (Venus) our inner home fire (Vesta) in order to flow with the inevitable changes that are coming. Mercury, Venus, and Vesta light up the creative and radical side of Prometheus, especially for those of us on the path to becoming agents for positive change.
On esoteric levels, Mercury (our intellect) finds a higher-level connection with Prometheus as the creative inventor. Mercury leads this mini parade over Prometheus the last week of March, telling us we have a brain for a reason, we just need to use it. More accurately, if we keep our minds wide open, the Winged Messenger can relay important messages from our source in order to create a better reality. Venus and Vesta lend a Divine Feminine touch to the proceedings, urging us to keep things quiet and harmonious as we meditate on what kind of future we want to co-create.
Mercury, Venus, and Vesta are therefore seen as trying to teach us how to make friends with Prometheus, a radical combination of Che Guevara, Thomas Edison, and Leonardo Da Vinci - all wrapped into one entity. Wouldn't it be a good idea to be on the beneficial side of such a force? This tide will be carrying us into facing 2012 without fear, while living in fear will be a guarantee when the good professor Saturn catches the unaware off guard - folks who fear the change of evolving.
Mercury enters Aries on April 2, bringing in a two-week stretch where our minds can gain a clarity that Mercury in Pisces doesn't afford, especially now that Mercury is at full speed since it's very interesting retrograde cycle of January through mid March. Were any outside-the-box concepts formulated in the past couple of months? Mercury in Aries encourages us to turn those radical ideas into an inventive reality (Prometheus), despite or because of the other stuff happening in the here and now.
April 2 is also when Pluto stops to move retrograde, a little more than two months after moving into Saturn-ruled Capricorn. Capricorn in turn rules over large institutions like the banking and financial industries, and because Pluto will slip back into Sagittarius from June to November, we've only been getting a taste of what Pluto in Capricorn means for us. One thing is for certain, the old ways of doing business are no longer serving us as individuals, nor those same large institutions. Jupiter entered Capricorn as well this past December, and some people who were living too large (Jupiter) have found themselves in credit trouble (Pluto rules wealth) with get-rich-quick investors who are a little too Jupiterian themselves.
Interestingly, major asteroid Juno has been sneaking up on Pluto lately, and will be turning retrograde herself later in April within two degrees of a retrograde Pluto. Look for partnerships and marriages (Juno) to undergo some form of transformation (Pluto) in the following weeks and months. This will be occurring on personal (if not subtle) levels with significant others, business relationships, as well as international treaties and alliances - all either solidifying, breaking apart, reaching out to new partners, or arriving at different levels of understanding. Be on the watch for high-profile divorces, corporate take-overs and collapses, separatist movements and the ensuing clamp-downs - it's already happening. Counselors, mediators, and diplomats should be seeing a spike in business between now and the end of the year.
Further squabbling comes to us courtesy of an approaching Ceres/Saturn square at the New Moon of April 5. Ceres moves into talkative Gemini (March 29) after a prolonged ten-month stay in Earthy Taurus. With Earth Mother Ceres square a retrograde Saturn in Earthy Virgo, the debate (Gemini) on agricultural issues and global warming is sure to heat up, and there will probably be some sort of disruption in the food supply, most likely with grain (Ceres) crops - ethanol vs. food, for instance.
Also at the busy New Moon of April 5, both Mars and Jupiter are square the Sun and Moon as Mars begins moving into an exact opposition with Jupiter in late April. Fortunately this will be a once-off-and-done opposition as Mars doesn't start another retrograde cycle until December 2009. Also in late April, Mars will be moving into a trine with Prometheus, square to Venus, and inconjuncts to Chiron and Neptune - yikes! Meanwhile, Mercury, the Sun, and later Venus will take turns forming the third point of a Grand Trine with Saturn and Pluto, with the Full Moon as a kite focus on April 20. Not to mention Vesta entering Aries or Saturn stopping to move direct. Fortunately for me at this time, a bulk of these complexities happen after the Sun has moved into Taurus, so hopefully I'll have a better idea as to what it will all mean by then.
Hint: the Scorpio (ruled by Pluto) Full Moon of April 20 should be a very interesting time as the Wheel of Fortune card is revealed! Just remember that the New Moon of April 5 calls for an inward withdrawal and avoid the urge for rash decision making, but don't ignore whatever creative juices have been simmering on the back burner.
May the Wheel turn in our favor.
See the Pisces Forecast here
See the Aquarius Forecast here
See the Capricorn Forecast here
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