Tag Archives: Mars in Aries

Weekly Forecast March 9: Mars Conjunct Uranus, Saturn Retrograde

Saturn V rocket, Apollo 11 liftoff, July 1969.

Saturn V rocket, Apollo 11 liftoff, July 1969.

This is a potentially explosive week. Whether that’s good or bad news depends on where you are.

If you’re in your space capsule, buckled in and waiting for ignition and liftoff, the explosion beneath you is a good thing. Not so good if life with a partner or family member has felt like a bomb waiting to go off. Even controlled demolition gets out of control under this week’s highly explosive astrological aspects.

We’re just a week away from the seventh and final pass of the 2012-2015 Uranus-Pluto square. Outer-planetary aspects such as this take place over time, so the day of the exact aspect often passes without Continue reading →

Weekly Forecast February 16: New Moon in Aquarius, Sun Enters Pisces

First signs of spring. © Pat Paquette, 2015.

First signs of spring. © Pat Paquette, 2015.

This is a week for sudden endings – some foreseen – leading right into unexpected new beginnings, as the overall pace picks up considerably.

Wednesday’s rare New Moon occurs in the last degree of Aquarius – so close to the end that the Moon enters Pisces seven seconds later, with the Sun another three minutes behind. It’s so close that I couldn’t get my astrology software to show the New Moon in Aquarius. It rounds up to the nearest fraction of a degree, which puts it at 0 degrees Pisces. I’ll discuss more about this unusual New Moon below.

Mercury is now moving steadily forward (from our perspective here on Earth), in brainy air sign Aquarius. Projects that were delayed Continue reading →

Weekly Forecast March 18: Sun Enters Aries, Mars Conjunct Uranus

Pioneers. © Pat Paquette, 2013.

Pioneers. © Pat Paquette, 2013.

Mercury is direct, thank goddess. It wasn’t the worst Mercury retrograde ever, but it had (for me, at least) some ugly exchanges and creepy irritations. Sounds like Pisces.

Don’t get me wrong. I love Pisces. My Moon is in Pisces, and sometimes I forget that I’m not a Pisces. Last week someone told me I looked like one. Looks like a fish, swims like a fish, must be a fish?

The thing is, Pisces has two distinct sides. One is creative and imaginative. The other is deluded and paranoid. I don’t know anyone with strong Pisces energy in their chart who has all the “good” Pisces and none of the “bad.” In short, Pisces energy is complex and difficult to manage, as these past few weeks have shown. Ironically, last week seemed to be the worst, even though Mars moved out of Pisces and into his own sign of Aries – or perhaps because of it. To me – and I know this doesn’t make sense, but that’s how it came to me – it was as if all the pent-up anger and frustration of Mars in Pisces suddenly was released after Mars changed signs on Monday. On the road, in the supermarket, even in line for coffee, the energy was aggressive and agitated.

Mercury’s return direct today (March 17), will help, but we’ll feel a more significant shift on Wednesday, when the Sun enters Aries. Venus leaves Pisces on Thursday, and then we’ll be back to two planets in Pisces – three, if you count Chiron as a planet, which I don’t. And there will be four planets in Aries.

Aries is known for being selfish, brash and impulsive, but it’s also dynamic, direct, and pioneering. My favorite metaphor for Aries energy is the seed bursting out of its shell beneath the ground in spring and pushing its way upward toward the sun. Think of having all that weight on top of you, and you’re tiny and yet so determined that you can push through it all. It’s a difficult task requiring single-minded purpose and total disregard for anyone else in a struggle for survival. Who couldn’t use some of that strength? I know I could!

Aries Ingress Washington D.C.

Click on image to enlarge

That said, the Aries ingress chart suggests that the weirdness of the past week may be with us for a while longer and might color the entire year in world affairs. I say this, because Pisces is still strong in the chart, especially for Washington, where Pisces is rising and Venus is near the Ascendant. In the ingress chart cast for London, Pisces is on the Midheaven, with Cancer Rising and the Moon approaching the Ascendant. In the Washington chart, the Sun, Mars, and Uranus are in the first house. In the London chart, the three planets are in the tenth house.
Aries Ingress London

Click on image to enlarge

The optimist in me would like to interpret this split personality as a sign that we can pioneer new territory, with advanced technology and the will to use it to find solutions to the world’s problems, while placing a priority on helping the poor and dispossessed and acknowledging that scientific advancement without a simultaneous awakening in human consciousness will get us nowhere and perhaps even destroy us entirely. Of course, “human consciousness” is a squishy, Pisces sort of term. In the 17th century, rationalist thinkers believed that human consciousness was advanced through science and that superstitious beliefs such as astrology and the mystical aspects of religion would be follies of the ignorant and illiterate masses. Isn’t it ironic that this view persists four hundred years later and that science still thinks it has all the answers? I do think there’s hope, but I also think that science and spirituality (for lack of a better word) are going to make combative bedfellows. It’s anyone’s guess if they’ll kill each other before successfully mating.

Terribly sorry if this isn’t practical advice for the coming week, but in the true spirit of Pisces, I believe that our thoughts, behavior, and actions reverberate into the collective, and this seems as good a time as any for a friendly reminder. It’s time for a collective reboot as the Sun moves through the final degrees of the zodiac and begins a new solar year at the spring equinox.

The other big aspect this week is the conjunction of Mars and Uranus on Friday. It’s a tad scary, as this is an explosive planetary combination, and in a fire sign, too. Unfortunately, astrology isn’t much good as a predictive tool here, because we can only talk about potentials and probabilities, and events normally don’t occur at the moment of an exact alignment. When Mars is involved in an aspect, the period of influence can be a week or more. Then, I do recall one instance in which an explosion was nearly exact. Back in 2007, with Mars and Uranus conjunct to the exact degree in Pisces, a tanker truck carrying gasoline exploded near the Bay Bridge in Oakland and caused a portion of the freeway to melt. Astrologers consider Neptune, ruling plant of Pisces, as ruler of oil and gas. Jupiter, the traditional ruler of Pisces, was in conflicting aspect with Mars and Uranus by less than two degrees. Without the benefit of a chart for every tanker explosion that ever occurred, it’s hard to say whether this was just a coincidence, but you can guess my opinion on the matter.

Back to this week, we’ll just have to wait and see. I certainly would caution you against blurting out your thoughts without stopping to think first. The resulting explosion might not melt a freeway, but it could ruin your whole day.

For those of you interested in a forecast for spring, I finally completed the formatting for the StarGuide Spring 2013 forecast. Several people have ordered in advance, so if you want your report this week, don’t wait! this forecast includes interpretations for all three eclipses in April and May. I do look at each individual chart and make notations if I see any unusual aspects in your chart – for example, if an eclipse is conjunct your Sun or Moon.

Much love and courage to all,
Aquarius, the sign of astrologyPat

Weekly Forecast March 11: New Moon in Pisces, Mars Enters Aries

Over the edge. © Pat Paquette, 2013.

Over the edge. © Pat Paquette, 2013.

We’ve got a schizophrenic week ahead, with Mars entering his own sign of Aries right after the New Moon in Pisces and Mercury still retrograde in the foggy sign of the Fishes.

As of the New Moon on Monday, the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Chiron, and Neptune are all in Pisces. Mars, however, is at the final degree of Pisces, which, as the final degree of the zodiac, is called the “weeping degree.” It is where all things must end to clear the way for a new beginning, and it represents the point at which we see that hanging onto the past is no longer possible. Among its many qualities, Pisces is the sign of escapism and delusion. It’s only human to try to imagine that everything will continue along as it is, even when we know inside that change is inevitable. And change, by definition, is destabilizing.

The New Moon typically represents new beginnings, but sometimes it can bring endings, too – again, in order to start with a clean slate. This is all the more possible with Mercury in “reverse,” but I have to remind you that we may not experience any significant movement until the following Monday, after Mercury is direct. Officially, he stations on March 17, but it can take a day or two for him to get moving again (what it looks like here on Earth). By then, Mars also will be approaching a conjunction with Uranus – an aspect that can be literally explosive, but that can translate to explosive change in our lives as well. Of course, if you’ve been looking for a change, the fast movement may be just what you’ve been waiting for, even though it could bring its own “upsets” in the sense that life can turn on its head. To get an idea of how this energy might manifest for you, look for where these planets are transiting your natal chart. If you need some help with that, I’m preparing the StarGuide Spring 2013 forecast (the start date is March 20, but you’ll get useful insight for Mars and Uranus in Aries). I still have some formatting to do, but you can pre-order anytime.

New Moon in Pisces

Click on image to enlarge

The Sun and Moon don’t make any close aspects with other planets, but there are some additional aspects in the New Moon chart to consider. The Uranus-Pluto square is ever-present, setting the overall tone for this turbulent period in human history, much as we experienced in the mid-1960s. Society as a whole is in a breakdown phase, and whether you’re benefiting from these sweeping changes or being swept along on an uncontrollable tide, your personal life is impacted in some way. Perhaps you’ve sold your car and are using public transportation to reduce your carbon footprint, or you may have decided to switch to a diet that is more sustainable for the planet or healthcare products that are free of harmful ingredients. One of my best moves so far was to close my account when my bank got taken over by Chase and to switch to our local credit union. These may seem like small moves, but when millions of people do it, they become major trends with huge implications for human history.

Which brings me to the second aspect, which is the sextile between Saturn and Pluto, which also are in mutual reception. I wrote about this last week and don’t have a lot more to say, except that this positive contact represents a window of opportunity to demolish what isn’t working and rebuild more sustainable structures, be they in our personal lives or in society as a whole. Mercury and Saturn are trine, as well, which bodes well for new ideas – some of which may be old ideas that were thrown out as impractical but that, due to changing circumstances, deserve another look. Mercury also has been in an ongoing square and mutual reception with Jupiter. On one hand, this can signify getting lost in details to the detriment of the big picture, but with awareness, it can be used to coordinate the details and the big picture in a compelling way.

Jupiter and Uranus, meanwhile, remain in a sextile, and when Mars conjoins Uranus on March 22, he’ll also be in a sextile with Jupiter. Although it’s true that Jupiter can be a magnifier, with obvious implications for the explosive combination of Mars and Uranus, he also confers some benefits and even good luck. The actual outcome remains to be seen, of course.

So, this week may be fast or it may be slow, and “fast” may be spinning wheels or it may be a fast ending. Hang in there, because Mercury returns direct on Sunday, and next week will look a whole lot different. If by chance you do have an opportunity this week to hang out on the beach or in front of the TV, do it now! Rest up, because we’ll soon be heading into a period of dramatic action.

Much love and courage to all,
Aquarius, the sign of astrologyPat

Weekly Forecast May 9: Mars, Venus and Mercury Enter Taurus

Bull vaulting. A fresco from the Palace of Knossos, Crete, c. 1500 B.C.

We’ve got only a few more days of Mars-dominated skies, and then we can exhale. If sound waves carried in space, our collective sigh of relief would be heard all the way to Pluto.

After weeks of Mars-dominated skies, Mars and Venus will rule together from Wednesday on, when he enters Taurus. They’ll be in mutual reception – he’s in her sign and she’s in his – until she enters Taurus on Sunday. There’s still a buildup of planets in Aries – in fact, if you’re willing to get up early, you’ll be able to see them – so it would appear that Mars retains the upper hand. However, he’s willing to share the throne with Venus until Sunday, when she takes over the whole show, and he settles down for a heavy meal and a long nap. I don’t know about you, but I’ve had enough of this rough-and-tumble Mars stuff. There have been times when I’ve felt like a car moving along in the middle lane, with traffic flying by me on both sides and a tailgater in the rear-view mirror.

We start the week with a conjunction of Mercury and Venus in Aries on Monday. It would be nice if kind words came tumbling out of everyone’s mouth without their having to think twice, but that’s probably wishful thinking. Venus in Aries can be demanding and competitive, and instead of words of love and kindness, you might get explicit instructions for meeting someone’s expectations, complete with checklist. On a completely different level, this aspect favors opportunities to earn a fast buck. If you get an offer today, jump on it. Likewise, if a bargain lands in your lap, don’t just stand there, or someone will grab it right out of your hands.

Wednesday is the big day, when Mars enters Taurus and both Mercury and Venus conjoin Jupiter. Financial markets no doubt will get a boost (I’m off to read Ray Merriman as soon as I finish writing this post), and turnarounds could come quite fast. To find out where you might get luck and opportunities, check to see where you have early Taurus in your chart.

On Thursday, Mars sextiles Neptune in Pisces. This is great for meditating, and it might actually lead to some enlightenment.

On Sunday, Venus and Mercury enter Taurus within an hour of each other. The pace will slow way down – I half expect to hear the gears of the universe grind as the cosmos puts on the brakes. We should see some resolution to some of the world’s hot spots, too. Taurus is the sign of money, so I expect we’ll also hear some important financial news. There’s no better time to take charge of your personal finances.

The Moon enters Scorpio on Sunday and will oppose Mars. Mars in Taurus may not get riled up very fast, but if you push him too far, you’ll regret it. If you find yourself butting heads with someone and neither of you wants to give an inch, go to your room and sulk, then get over it.

Next week is Wesak, the festival honoring Buddha’s birth and enlightenment. Hopefully, things will slow down enough so I can write a post about it. In the meantime, you can watch the planets line up in the dawn sky. StarDate has a neat video showing you where to look from May 9-12.

Wishing you all much love and courage,
Aquarius, the sign of astrologyPat

Weekly Forecast April 25: Venus Opposite Saturn, Mars Conjunct Jupiter

Stargazer lily. © Pat Paquette 2011

What a week it has been! Everyone I know was going through some kind of crisis, many of them relationship-oriented. Here’s an excerpt of an e-mail I received from a client on Friday:

“My plan for Easter brunch has turned into HELL!! SOS! My sister and her partner have been fighting like rabid dogs. She’s been saying for months that she’s leaving him but is STILL living there! She hurt his feelings by not inviting him to service on Friday or Sunday brunch … he’s never even been interested in church or God, he’s simply grasping at straws, at this point. I told them, that given the situation, I was uncomfortable with him coming down for Easter … that I wouldn’t sacrifice my family for his ‘hurt’ feelings. Harsh, but necessary. It looks like my husband and I will just take his mother out to brunch.”

The expensive ham she bought for the occasion is sitting in the refrigerator. I reassured her that things are going to calm down this week, and she can throw a party next weekend.

Amazon and Sony had a rough week, too. Both corporate giants had computer network crashes that affected millions of customers worldwide. Sony said its PlayStation Network was attacked by hackers. Mercury’s station certainly didn’t help. As I’ve noted many times in these pages, some of the worst problems happen when Mercury is at a standstill. I was at an information session on Wednesday that got a late start because the instructor’s assistant hadn’t shown up and there was no one to staff his office. Turns out she had a flat tire on her way to work. And on and on …

Violence in the Middle East is on the rise. What initially seemed like a sweeping revolution has turned into a bloody suppression. In an excellent article on CounterPunch, award-winning journalist Patrick Cockburn writes, “From Libya to Bahrain and Syria to Yemen, leaders are clinging on to power despite intense pressure from pro-democracy protesters.”

The increase in violence is hardly surprising, with Mars dominating the sky. The bigger trend is the approaching square of Uranus to Pluto. Many astrologers, myself included, have predicted rebellion and authoritarian crackdowns. The situation in the Mideast is just the beginning.

Before I get into this week’s forecast, I’d like to note that two greats left us last week, both as a result of multiple organ failure. Internationally renowned guru Sai Baba, whose followers include many celebrities, was 85. The man who invented CDs, former Sony president Norio Ohga, died at 81.

Overall, this week will be less frustrating, and relationships should fare a little better, too. The Sun in placid Taurus will help decrease the noise level, and Mercury’s return direct will go a long way toward repairing misunderstandings. That said, some relationships that ended in the past two weeks are over for good. If this is your situation, you likely are better off, even if it’s too soon to recognize it.

There’s not much going on in the sky on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday, Venus squares Pluto. The usual warning with these two in hard aspect is that power struggles can erupt in relationships, especially regarding sex. Using sex as a means of control over another person is a no-no, and it likely will backfire. What goes around comes around. Depending on where Venus and Pluto are transiting your chart, you also may have to be mindful not to get dragged into jealousy and possessiveness.

Working with this aspect should be a little easier, thanks to an easy trine later in the day between the Sun and Pluto. You can express yourself directly and tell the other person what you want and need, rather than resorting to underhanded tactics. The challenge, of course, is that first you have to be honest with yourself. If you’re willing to do that, you’ll have cosmic support.

The only aspect on Friday is a conjunction between the Moon and Uranus in Aries, which might generate some emotional fireworks, but in general lunar transits are mild and fleeting. Good thing, because this is the day that Prince William and Kate Middleton will be married. Even if you’re not into all the hoopla, do check out Helene’s series on the royal couple. I found it surprisingly refreshing.

Another relationship will be in the spotlight on Friday. Gabrielle Giffords, the congresswoman who was shot in the head in Arizona in January, plans to attend the launch of the space shuttle in Florida. Her husband, Mark Kelly, is one of six astronauts who will be on the flight. The presence of Giffords surely will eclipse the event itself, although it’s doubtful she’ll appear in public.

On Saturday, Venus opposes Saturn. Usually this isn’t a happy aspect for love relationships, but it is stabilizing, especially with Saturn in Venus-ruled Libra. Of course, both also are square Pluto, and while the angle is fairly wide, it nevertheless counts as a potent cardinal T-square. You may need to insist on your boundaries, as my client had to do with her sister’s partner. Although it will be difficult, try to do it with love and kindness.

Sunday is exuberant, with a three-way conjunction between the Moon, Mars, and Jupiter. Get out and play! Throw a party. Take a long walk or bike ride in a beautiful natural setting. Taurus is the sign of beauty, including the beauty of nature.

Speaking of the beauty of nature, I leave you with this amazing video by Norwegian photographer Terje Sorgjerd. To me, there is nothing more breathtaking than the night sky. (For a larger version, click on the link below the image.)

Much love and courage to all,
Aquarius, the sign of astrologyPat

The Mountain from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.

Weekly Forecast April 11: Mars Square Pluto, Full Moon in Libra

© Benis Arapovic for Dreamstime.com

Reading the news headlines this morning, I was struck by the number of words such as “angry,” “attack,” “hostile,” and “bomb.”

Maybe it’s just an average day on CNN and I haven’t been paying attention. But I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that we’re seeing manifestations of the Mars-Pluto square that began building up last week.

It’s not an overstatement to call this aspect violent. Mars in his own sign of Aries has his finger on the trigger and doesn’t need much of a reason to pull it, while Pluto just went retrograde and is at a standstill, making him more powerful than usual when the square peaks on Monday.

To an astrologer, it’s no surprise that police are shooting at protestors, while authoritarian rulers hole up in fear and international forces fire away at the wrong targets. When you’ve got this much angry energy surging through the collective, it has to have an outlet.

On a smaller scale, we’re at a higher risk of getting involved in power struggles this week, especially over money and control. It’s possible to channel Mars energy into physical work and vigorous exercise. However, with Pluto in the mix, it’s almost impossible to avoid getting caught up in anger and resentment.

Put another way, Mars in Aries might not be such a bad boy if he weren’t up against all these heavyweight outer planets. In a period of less than three weeks, Mars will have conjoined Uranus in Aries, squared Pluto in Capricorn, and opposed Saturn in Libra. Each of these aspects alone would be difficult enough to negotiate, but with all three together, it’s a wonder we’re not all killing each other. On second thought …

Mercury retrograde in Aries complicates matters still further. On Monday, right as he’s halfway through the retrograde phase, he crosses back over Jupiter. The previous Mercury-Jupiter conjunction was on March 15, while Mercury was direct. I recall having a lot of communications difficulties back then, too. Everything got worked out, but there were several issues going on all at once, each of which required several phone calls to straighten out.

When Mercury and the Sun conjoined this past Friday, I experienced a mix-up in connecting with someone that would have been comical if it was in a movie script. While I was e-mailing my contact afterward to find out what happened, my Internet modem suddenly went haywire, and I was without service for a couple of hours until my provider isolated the problem. I expect similar disruptions this week. By next week, when Mercury and Mars meet, matters won’t get resolved quite so easily or politely.

For the rest of this week, Mars moves away from Pluto and toward an opposition to Saturn, which is exact next Monday, right after the Full Moon in Libra. Relationships may be tumultuous. As intimidating as this sounds, there could be a silver lining. When anger builds up between two people and has no outlet for expression, the relationship is harmed, sometimes irreparably. As difficult as it is to deal with anger – yours or your partner’s – airing it could be just what you need to get back on track and become closer. The key is in being heard.

The Moon will be in Libra for most of the weekend. In the hours following her entry into the sign of balance and harmony, she’ll make contact with all of the planets involved in last summer’s cardinal T-square. She conjoins Saturn late Saturday evening, and then on Sunday opposes retrograde Mercury and, finally, the Sun – her last contact before moving on to Scorpio.

The Full Moon normally brings endings, resolution, and culmination. I’m hopeful that the troubled relationships so many of you have written to me about will indeed find some resolution, even if it’s an understanding that it’s time to let go and move on. Hopefully, you can arrive at a mutual decision that leaves both people feeling whole and OK about yourselves. If that’s not possible, do what you have to do to restore the balance in your own life, and let your ex worry about his or her own.

These are difficult times, but we will get through. By the end of next week, some of the pressure will be released, and we’ll get even more of a break when Mars, Mercury, and Venus enter Taurus in mid-May.

In the meantime, let’s do our best to remain open-hearted, kind, and compassionate.

Wishing you all much love and courage,
Aquarius, the sign of astrologyPat

Weekly Forecast April 4: Neptune Enters Pisces, Pluto Retrograde

Spring explodes into bloom. © Osk Ingad Alden, 2011.

The Mars effect gets ratcheted down a notch this week when Neptune enters Pisces.

For the past few days, since Mars entered his own sign of Aries, he has dominated the sky. Right on cue, conflicts around the world intensified. Even Neptune deposited to Mars, which I have to admit I found hard to wrap my head around.

Hopefully, Neptune’s move into Pisces on Monday will be the chill pill we need to return from the brink of insanity. I can’t think of a better antidote to the overdose of aggressive Mars energy we received at the New Moon on April 3.

With his ego-denying qualities, Neptune could be considered the “anti-Mars.” Whereas Mars stands for war and lust, Neptune is about peace and love . . . well, maybe. It’s hard to know much of the time exactly what Neptune is about, but peace and love are in there somewhere.

Neptune is said to be a higher vibration of Venus, the planet of love, beauty, and harmony, so it’s better still that Venus in Pisces will feed into Neptune for the next three weeks.

The last time Neptune was in Pisces, from 1847 to 1862, the Transcendental Movement flourished in the United States, led by Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, and others. Spiritualism became a trend, with séances to contact spirits of the dead. Edgar Allen Poe wrote his most famous poem, “The Raven.” The first oil well was drilled. The first surgical operation using general anesthesia was performed. The Opium Wars occurred during this time, and while the conflict wasn’t entirely over the drug, it’s still interesting to note that there was a major war named for a narcotic while Neptune was in Pisces.

This time around, I expect there will be a widespread spiritual awakening. I know I sound like a broken record – I’ve been writing this for more than five years – but I do believe we’re getting closer and closer to understanding what “spirit” is. There likely will be major developments in the oil industry, too. Given current trends, it’s likely that we’ll have to find alternatives due to a declining supply. Maybe the new Opium Wars will be the Oil Wars.

Back to the here and now, we not only have been under the red sky of Mars, but the warrior planet is now moving through the early degrees of Aries, activating the cardinal T-square of last summer. The alignment isn’t as close as it was back then, but it’s still intense, with the Sun and Jupiter conjunct at 16 degrees Aries on Wednesday, in wide opposition to Saturn. We’re being pushed relentlessly forward, no breaks allowed.

On Saturday, Pluto begins his annual retrograde, which lasts close to six months. I haven’t observed any particular trends in events during Pluto retrograde. However, if Pluto is transiting a personal planet in your chart – especially the Sun or Moon – you’re about to get the second pass, during which a situation could reach a crisis stage. The third pass, which will happen later this year or early next year, will mark resolution. The pattern is similar if Pluto is transiting a chart angle (cusp of the first, fourth, seventh or tenth houses).

Lastly, Mercury is in his second week of retrograde and conjoins the Sun on Saturday. This aspect favors revising plans for the future, revisiting an unresolved issue to exchange facts (remember to listen) and to try to clarify statements that may have been misinterpreted. If you have an opportunity to clear up a misunderstanding, do it early this week. Waiting until the weekend will put you in a no-win situation as a contentious square builds between Mars and Pluto.

We’re going to need a lot of love and courage to get through the next couple of weeks. Wishing you all a bottomless well of both,

Aquarius, the sign of astrologyPat

New Moon in Aries, April 3

© Daniel Boiteau for Dreamstime.com

The New Moon on April 3 belongs entirely to Mars. How will we experience this blast of pure energy, the violence of birth, the burst of a star being born?

I can’t think of another time when only one planet ruled an entire chart like this. Usually, two or three planets dominate a chart, sometimes more. At this New Moon, six of the nine planets will be in Mars-ruled Aries, and the three that aren’t – Venus, Saturn and Pluto – deposit to Mars. (It goes like this: Pluto is in Capricorn, which is ruled by Saturn, so Pluto goes to Saturn; Saturn in Libra goes to Venus, Libra’s ruler; Venus is in Pisces, ruled by Neptune; Neptune is in Aquarius, ruled by Uranus; Uranus is in Aries, ruled by Mars.)

Every beginning astrologer knows about Mars and Aries. Mars is the planet of war and anger, but he also confers high energy, raw sex appeal, and courage in the face of danger. Aries is the me-first, impulsive, “shoot first, ask questions later” sign. As the first sign of the zodiac, Aries is cardinal fire, the spark that initiates life. How we’ll experience that spark is the big question as Sunday approaches.

At 13°30′ Aries, the New Moon is square the solar eclipse at 13 degrees Capricorn on January 4 and the solar eclipse at 9°12′ Cancer on July 1 – the last eclipse in the Capricorn-Cancer series. If you didn’t notice any changes at the beginning of the year, you may get them now. The New Moon typically brings new beginnings and open doors, but any change that occurs now could happen so fast it makes your head spin (Aries rules the head). That’s the difference between a New Moon ruled by Saturn and a New Moon ruled by Aries.

Speaking of Saturn, he was square the eclipse in January and also will be square the eclipse in July. This time, he’s in a near-perfect opposition with the New Moon. Pluto at 7 degrees Capricorn forms a cardinal T-square, although it will be wider than the one we had last summer.

Friends and clients tell me that although they’re still encountering difficulties in circumstances that came to a head over the summer, they’re not struggling as hard as they were last year. I’ve attributed that to Saturn’s advance beyond the early degrees of Libra. At its peak, the 2010 T-square occurred at 0-4 degrees of the cardinal signs. Once Saturn moved on, the brick walls that had us so frustrated began to crumble.

They never did entirely go away, though, and we may experience some flashbacks at this New Moon. I’m hoping that it will be in the good sense; in other words, we’ll be able to make the breakthroughs we felt so close to last year and just couldn’t reach. So many of you wrote to me in frustration and distress, and I certainly had my share of it, too.

In an attempt to be optimistic, I’m also hopeful that Mercury retrograde will be helpful in revisiting unresolved issues. The ideal outcome would be to go back to the point at which we got hung up last year in order to make the breakthroughs that eluded us no matter what we did.

Indeed, the explosive energy of this New Moon may just blast through the last of the obstacles and take us to the new place that was so close yet always just out of reach. If you start getting the jitters or a situation begins spinning out of control, try to keep your eye on the prize. You know what it is!

For those who did manage to make a major breakthrough, this New Moon represents the next step. It may be too fast for comfort, but that’s the nature of this high-energy New Moon.

Now, I also have to mention the possibility that all this Mars energy is so intense that global hotspots around the world burst into flames, and people’s anger gets totally out of control. If you feel that happening to you, the best way to handle it is with vigorous exercise. You won’t want to sit still, that’s for sure.

Right after the New Moon, Mars conjoins Uranus. I don’t need to tell you what an explosive combination this is – especially with Uranus in Aries. The last time Mars and Uranus conjoined in Aries was in April 1934, with the Sun also in conjunction. Jupiter was in opposition and, as now, Pluto was at the apex of a cardinal T-square. On April 12 of that year, a few days before the conjunction was exact, researchers at the Mount Washington Observatory in New Hampshire clocked winds at 231 mph – the standing record for surface winds on earth. That’s not exactly an explosion, but we could safely classify it as an extraordinary high-energy event.

I guess you could say the winds of change are upon us, and man, are they blowing hard.

The Sabian Symbol** for the Sun and Moon at 13°30′ Aries is a serpent coiling near a man and a woman,” with the keyword REVELATION. This is the symbol of the union of the divine masculine, represented by Mars, with the divine feminine, represented by Venus. In occult studies, it pertains to the union of logic and intuition, the “sacred marriage.” I’ve written plenty here and on my old blog, The Pisces Chronicles, about the core wound of humanity being the split between the divine masculine and the divine feminine, and about the healing of this wound in our time.

As for the keyword REVELATION, that’s the meaning of “apocalypse.” Ruth recently wrote an excellent post about this, and I wrote a post on the Apocalypse seemingly ages ago on PiChron. You can find that article in my archives.

So, will this be an apocalyptic New Moon? I’m on the edge of my seat. Then, there’s no way I’ll be able to sit still through this, and you probably won’t, either.

Aquarius, the sign of astrologyPat

P.S. Don’t forget to write your abundance check!

** From The Sabian Symbols in Astrology, by Dr. Marc Edmund Jones. The author, an astrologer, channeled this work in 1925 with the help of Elsie Wheeler, a gifted psychic. There’s one symbol one for each degree of the zodiac, and we can use them to gain insight into charts.

Weekly Forecast March 28: Mercury Retrograde, Mars Enters Aries

Monster solar flare. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this view of a powerful M3.6 Class solar flare during a 90-minute sun storm in February.

This week is potentially volatile. New doors open, with seemingly unlimited potential to move in new directions, but something or someone could get in the way, resulting in anger and conflict.

The overused cliché “one foot on the gas and one foot on the brakes” applies, but with the added complication of the person in the car behind us flipping us off and laying on the horn.

Some of us may feel a surge of electrifying energy so powerful we’re overwhelmed and totally disoriented – like overdosing on caffeine and sugar. This will be especially true the closer we get to the New Moon on Sunday, April 3. Do your best to stay centered and keep your bearings.

Globally, there are several ticking time bombs in the headlines. When you think about the circumstances that led to the past two world wars and the events that lit the fuse, it’s hard not to be concerned that we may be headed in that direction again. Regimes are failing in the Middle East, “allied forces” are bombing Libya, thousands of people are still missing in Japan, and the damaged nuclear reactor isn’t entirely under control. These events are so severe that other serious situations around the world are barely a blip in the news.

That’s the state of the world as we head into this week’s high-intensity astrological configuration.

On Monday, the Sun in Aries squares Pluto in Capricorn, just as Jupiter in Aries opposes Saturn in Libra. Although the degree between these two patterns is wide, they’re still close enough to constitute a cardinal T-square. That, I believe, is the signature behind the global turmoil. Outer planetary aspects like these are major considerations in world events, with Saturn representing government and military, Pluto representing wealth and the power it conveys, and Jupiter representing religious beliefs and banks. The Sun is associated with national leaders. With all of these quarters pitted against each other, it’s no surprise the world is such a mess right now.

In our personal lives, transits to planets in the natal chart carry more weight than aspects between transiting planets, but we nevertheless need to look at where these patterns fall in our charts, because if one planet in the T-square is transiting a natal planet, it means the others also are in hard aspect, and that changes the interpretation considerably. It also makes it extremely difficult to predict how things will turn out for you, because the range of possibilities is increased exponentially.

The one thing of which we can be relatively sure is that nothing is being handed to us on a silver platter. We’re all facing challenges of varying degrees, and even when these tests and trials are for the best – they build character, make us stronger, open doors, etcetera, etcetera – getting through them requires all of our strength and awareness.

On Tuesday, Mars at 27 Pisces squares the lunar nodes, which are very close to the Galactic Core. I wrote about this rare phenomenon in last week’s forecast. For the most part, I think it represented a shift in consciousness, a subtle but ultimately positive development. But no growth occurs without change, and change is disruptive by definition. When Mars reaches this degree, it could set off events that will bring you closer to your goals and desires – as well as the inevitable tests you have to go through first.

Mercury turns retrograde on Wednesday, at 23 degrees Aries. I’ve experienced events related to this retrograde already, which isn’t surprising, given the buildup of planets in Aries. As he moves backwards in the sky, he’ll make second passes with Jupiter, the Sun, and Mars over the next four weeks. Usually, the positive way to channel Mercury retrograde energy is to slow down, think things through, research and revision. However, I doubt those activities will be possible this time around, as we’ll be in a constant state of flux.

It’s hard to imagine how life could be moving any faster, but we’ll find out when Mars enters Aries on Saturday. I always like to point out the good side of Mars, which is a lot of energy to accomplish even the most difficult of tasks before us. I hope that will be the case, but I don’t think it’s realistic to think that there won’t be an increase in war and conflict, both globally and in our personal lives. Not only will Mars be in his own sign, but he’ll be “fed” by four other planets, including giant Jupiter. That’s a lot of anger and aggression.

Sunday is the highly charged New Moon at 13 Aries – very close to the Saturn-Jupiter opposition – and a conjunction between Mars and Uranus. I’ll try to write a post on the New Moon this week, but I’m still backlogged and am getting several new requests a day. (For those of you on the wait-list, please know that I’m working as diligently as I can to get to you as soon as I can.) For now, I’ll just stay that I see in this New Moon more potential for a giant leap in consciousness, especially among men.

Later in the day, Mars conjoins Uranus, a tense combination that in the past has coincided with literal explosions. Then, there’s so much of that going on already that it would be hard to attribute any increase in activity to a Mars-Uranus transit, not unless it’s something major and unrelated to current news.

Whenever there’s a lot of movement afoot, as there is now, it can be scary. Evolving as a species and birthing a new world is a turbulent business, requiring much love and courage.

Wishing you all plenty of both,
Aquarius, the sign of astrologyPat