The Wheel of the Year:
Spring Equinox: March 19-20, 2024
The Opening Notes to the Song of the Future.
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The Wheel of the Year: Ostara – Spring Equinox
Spring is arriving in southern Rhode Island. Crocuses dot the gardens and lawns with purple and yellow, white and lavender. We often ignore how connected we are to Mother Earth, but rarely in the Spring. As we watch Nature re-birth herself in the warmth and light of the Spring Sun, we can’t help but feel that connection. Spring is the season of hope and possibilities.
It’s the season of new beginnings.
The traditional religions recognize this connection to Spring and have their own ritual celebrations. But I’d like to look at the myth that gave its name to the Christian celebration of Easter. The story of the Goddess Ostara and the Easter Bunny.
Ostara, the Saxon Goddess of Dawn, who was responsible for bringing spring each year, was feeling guilty about arriving so late. To make matters worse, she arrived to find a pitiful little bird who lay dying, his wings frozen by the snow. Lovingly, Ostara cradled the shivering creature and saved his life.
Legend has it that she then made him her lover. Filled with compassion for him since he could no longer fly because of his frost-damaged wings, the goddess Ostara turned him into a rabbit, a snow hare, and gave him the name Lepus.
She gave him the gift of being able to run with astonishing speed so he could easily evade all the hunters. To honor his earlier form as a bird, she also gave him the ability to lay eggs (in all the colors of the rainbow), but he was only allowed to lay eggs on one day out of each year.
This beautiful and interesting myth of the Goddess of new beginnings offers us the promise of the gift of rebirth each Spring. Beautiful because a Goddess has compassion for and responsibility to life. She saves the bird’s life.
Interesting because she filled this wingless bird with her own life-force and it transformed into a snow hare, an animal spirit associated with creation, fertility and swiftness. These are certainly the characteristics of the Spring season. New beginnings, lots of fertility – and it all happens rather quickly once it starts.
I love that the Goddess opens up the hare’s feminine side so it can give birth once each year. The hare gives birth to all the colorful possibilities waiting to be hatched from the wishes we made on the ornaments on the Christmas tree at Winter Solstice.
This myth promises not just a re-birth of life, but also the possibility of a transformation of one form for another. It can hint at reincarnation, a whole new life with new gifts. But it can also promise us that the new birth each Spring will help us shape-shift into the form that best suits us at each stage of our lives.
The astrology of this season will inspire us to radically change our form – to step into our authentic Self, as we step out of the patriarchal overlay of our souls.
Spring Equinox 2024 Season: Emerging from our patriarchal sleep
This Spring Equinox ushers in a month of the most power energies of the year. After the Equinox on March 19-20th, we’ll see a lunar eclipse in Libra/Aries on March 24-25th, a total solar eclipse in Aries on April 8th, and the conjunction of two powerhouses in Taurus, Uranus and Jupiter, on April 20th. During this Aries’ month, Mercury in Aries is the only planet to go retrograde, once again emphasizing the Aries quest.
Who am I?
With the arrival of Spring in the northern hemisphere (hello Autumn down south!), these celestial happenings might bless the Earth with an extra influx of energy, sending us on a quest to understand who am I? Our world is in crisis. Now is the time to step onto the road, like Bilbo and Frodo, that leads to the Hero’s Journey.
This quest asks us to take responsibility for our lives, our cultures, and our world. During it, we will learn to start doing our part to help the world transition into a new age, leaving behind patriarchal perspectives and psychological imprints, hopefully for a more balanced perspective about freedom, gender, race and religious equality, and a deeper awareness and development of our human potential.
Astrologers always look at the Spring Equinox chart, which we consider the beginning of the new year, to see what energies we get to play with that year. This year’s chart is quite simple at the same time as it is inwardly complex.
At Spring Equinox this year, the Sun enters Aries on March 19th at 7:06pm Alaska Time/ 8:06pm PDT/ 9:06pm MT/ 10:06pm CDT/ 11:06pm EDT and on March 20th at 3:06am GMT.
At the Equinox, the Moon is in the sign of Leo. I like to call the Moon the operating system of the day/season – the basic soul energy that is infused into the day. The Moon in Leo is generous, open-hearted, creative and fun-loving. Since this Moon is Out-of-bounds, meaning outside the usual boundaries of planetary movement, we can expect lots of unique forms of self-express and creativity, as well as kindness, generosity and responsibility. Oh yes, Leo is supposed to be responsible because it is the sign of the King or Queen, those people who are mediators between heaven and earth, the gods and the people. It can also make people feel entitled and bossy. But in the Equinox chart, this Leo Moon is in a creative aspect to the Aries Sun, so it will express that need to know who am I? quest that Aries is known for.
This is a great chart for artists who want to speak to the people (Moon also symbolizes the people in a country’s chart) through their art. This trine aspect between the Sun and Moon makes me think of the guerrilla theater of the 60s. Guerrilla theatre is a form of socially and politically active public performance, in which actors use satire, improvisation, and drama to disrupt cultural norms. (google: https://study.com)
The Leo Moon is opposite Pluto in Aquarius, so our emotional body (Moon) is being pulled into the deep need to regenerate (Pluto) our collective Mind (Aquarius). The best way to change people’s minds is to feed them stories, art and music that opens their hearts so their minds can see new possibilities. Activist artists are needed now! (Where are the protest songs similar to the ones our musicians sang in the 60s-70s?)
The Sun goes into the sign of Aries at the Spring Equinox. It rises over the equator and begins its 6 month stay in the northern hemisphere. I love the Sabian symbol for this first degree of Aries. A woman just risen from the sea. A seal is embracing her. This image makes me think of Aphrodite rising out of the ocean, new-born of her father Uranus’ phallus/cosmic creativity. This myth tells us that the real power of life is LOVE. The seal is a reminder that our instincts play a big role in our awakening consciousness. We have to get out of our heads and into our bodies. We need our instincts to be awake during these critical times. Our heart wisdom/love opens the way for our instincts to help us with life.
This Equinox Sun is close to Neptune in Pisces, having joined with it on March 17th opening our imaginations to the longings of our collective Soul. So the Sun already picked up Neptune’s information that the collective needs of our world want us to grow up and take responsible action (Aries love action) to create a better world for all of us.
Aries is a joyous sign, an exuberant burst of heavenly fire that wants to manifest its potential. That’s why its quest is all about their identity. You have to know yourself and what you love so you can build it in the 3-D world. This Aries Sun is in a good relationship to the fiery Leo Moon and as well as to Pluto in Aquarius. The new identity (Aries) we’re all seeking has to do with our own sovereignty (Leo) and our connection to our society and its beliefs (Aquarius).
We can all see what’s going on in our society. The wealthy are trying to control our country, using the Christian right as a shield and a sword. Nobody is going to vote to give the wealthy ultimate power so they’re hiding behind the morality card. HA! We are facing an ecological disaster that big corporations want us to ignore. Technology is controlling our perspective, running amok with issues of privacy and control, so let’s get everyone off the addictive phase of using technology so we can figure out its best use.
We counter these destructive forces by banding together, by protesting, (I still think we need a general strike), by going out into our communities to bring a different perspective to our neighbors and friends, by really listening to those people who have a different perspective and actually having a conversation with them. We the people aren’t as far apart in our vision of life as the news and their wealthy owners make us seem.
Women especially have to stand up for those kinder qualities that the divine feminine symbolizes. We know how to take care of each other and the children. We know that war is just a way of bullying others. We know that we need a healthy environment for life.
Women. Please step into your power this year – use your feminine gifts to help change the energies of fear and death that are looming over the world.
As I said, the Equinox chart is both simple and complex. The complexity comes from the pairing up of so many planetary energies.
Mercury in Aries enters its shadow retrograde period at the Equinox. It moves between 28* Aries and 17* Aries during its retrograde period starting April 1st until April 25th. So it will slow down to ask the question Who am I? before it moves ahead. Since Mercury is a degree away from both the North Node and Chiron in Aries at the Equinox, the question of identity is up again.
Chiron’s energy shows us a wound that is our initiation into higher consciousness. Right now, Chiron is in Aries, making us question our identity. The Aries Solar Eclipse on April 8th is conjunct Chiron in Aries, in both the present chart and in the US Sibly chart of July 4, 1776.
We really need to think about this question of identity. The Chiron in Aries wound to our national identity is that the ‘father’ is not a loving, kind, strong protector of the land and of the people. The ‘father’ of the US is capitalism and corporations – machines and ideas rather than flesh and blood. This ‘father’ is willing to eat his own children to stay in power. So our task is to shape our own identity, to rebel against the machines of American capitalism and its expectations of us.
If we overthrow the tyrant, who will we be?
Can you see the strong weaving that is occurring in the cosmic energies?
Venus and Saturn team up in Pisces for this Equinox chart. Usually Saturn makes Venus shy, insecure and a father’s daughter who obeys the masculine rules. But I don’t think this is what is happening here. First, Pisces dissolves the old patterns we develop, and it’s been dissolving Saturn’s rigidity for the past year so far, so it can create a new collective structure when it moves into Aries in 2025 – 2026. And Venus is exalted in Pisces, starring in her role of Lady Wisdom. So I think this joining will be centered around Venus shaping what this new Saturn structure will look like. I think she’ll add in compassion and caring, community and equality to our collective dialogue. She’s building a spiritual structure to manifest Love in the world. Creating a vehicle of love for the world. We can help her make it happen.
At the Equinox, Jupiter and Uranus in Taurus are getting closer together for their conjunction on April 20th. Jupiter is an expansive, lucky energy while Uranus is the surprise giver. So look for a surprising shift and expansion of your Taurus energies. Taurus rules the body, self-worth, talents, money and pleasure and is ruled by the Goddess of Love. Look for what house 21* Taurus falls in and expect the unexpected.
Uranus is squaring Mars in Aquarius, so there can be unexpected accidents and incidents. But mostly, this is a call for independence, a need to be free of outer authority. It’s time to be the author of your own story.
Interestingly, Mars is at the same degree as America’s Aquarius Moon in the 4th of July chart, and America’s Moon, symbolizing we the people, will be squared/challenged by Uranus in Taurus in 2024-25. I keep seeing all of us waking up out of our consumer stupor and taking back our government peacefully, rather than seeing a ‘bloodbath’ that mr. maga-oo is predicting.
Libra Lunar Eclipse March 24-25, 2024
This Libra Full Moon eclipse at 6* Libra/Aries occurs on March 25, 2024 at 12am PDT/ 3am EDT/ and 7am GMT. The energy of this eclipse favors risk-takers and the unconventional and loves innovation and originality. (Where Dragons Dance/Kory Varlen) Chiron is still conjunct the Aries North Node. This eclipse can help us achieve our goals and begin to move our culture in a different direction.
Keep asking Who am I? And find out where you want to go.
Aries Total Solar Eclipse, April 8 2024
This Aries Solar Eclipse occurs on April 8, 2024 at 11:21am PDT, 12:21pm MT, 1:21pm CDT/ 2:21pm EDT.
Solar eclipses are super-charged New Moons. This is another big solar eclipse for the United States. It crosses the continent in a different direction from the one in 2017. Someone pointed out that the 2017 eclipse divided the country from north to south, whereas this one goes almost right up the middle before veering to the northeast. This eclipse goes over many cities and will be seen by millions of Americans.
It’s interesting because at this 20* Aries’ solar eclipse, the Sun and Moon are exactly conjunct Chiron, the wounded healer and mentor. The Equinox theme repeats. But even more interesting is that it occurs on the US’s Chiron at 21* Aries.
So this important solar eclipse energizes our collective wound to our identity. I wrote about these identity wounds in my last Substack article. Basically, we all (even the Native peoples because of us) have a wound to our identities because we are all immigrants. This is not our native landscape, and we’ve all had to adjust our identities to become ‘Americans’. But the culture we have now has been shaped by corporations, which are not people, and so our culture needs an overhaul. We need to deepen.
But first, let’s address the question of our identity concerning what it means to be an American. Does it mean what the Christian nationalists mean? Or does it mean that each of us has a responsibility to stand up for what we believe America stands for. Are we a mob or are we a group of people who are willing to stand up for our values?
The Right likes to drape itself in the mantle of patriotism, but it doesn’t work if they don’t stand up for our country’s ideals. For those of us who do, we have to acknowledge that we are the patriots that our country needs now. (I never could get into this patriotic myth. But I guess I am now!) Not people who use violence to get their way, but people who know how to use peace to bring about change. (I’ve been rewatching Star Trek Discovery in preparation for its last season. And the heroine of Discovery is someone who whole-heartedly believes in the foundational values of the Federation – freedom, truth, honor, valor, peace. And because she does, she constantly takes a stand that ultimately results in a new consensus and, sometimes a peace.)
The American story (which is our myth while not yet our reality) is that America is a land of opportunity, of freedom and equality, of potential and progress. The Land of Milk and Honey. Some people found that land, but many haven’t.
We’ve exported that myth into the world, but we aren’t living it. These times call on us to become passionate about our freedom and our values. Look at what’s happening in Russia today as the people go to the poles to vote. Some people have guns aimed at them to make them vote for Putin. Some protested by showing up at noon to vote to honor Alexi Navalyny’s call and some were arrested for protesting. Putin won by a large amount. Of course, because there wasn’t anyone else running against him. We could have that here too if we let mr. maga-oo run the show again.
If we don’t like our choices in leaders, then we need to become the leaders we want. But first, let’s finish up old business with this election. Pluto will have moved from Aquarius back into Capricorn for the two months before the US election and will return to Aquarius for the next 20 years by mid-November.
I see this as our initiation and our choice. Will we let money and power take over this country or will we vote in the people who will move us forward, so that in 4 more years new leaders will emerge to continue to move us into a new future.
There’s so much Aries energy up now. Find out where Aries lies in your birth chart. That’s where a new spirit of freedom wants to come into your life.
Until next time,
Merry meet and merry part. And merry meet again.
