The Cosmic Story for March

 

The Cosmic Story for March 2022

March & Mars

Did you know that March is named for the Roman god Mars? 

 

 

Mars didn’t become the Roman version of the god of war until Augustus became emperor. The Roman Mars was originally a god of nature and wild things, a god of fertility and abundance, of male sexuality and vegetation. He was a Green Man. Mars was concerned with family and community, like the wolves who raised the founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus. He was a great example of archetypal masculinity.

So for the ancient Romans, March was a time to plant seeds – not go to war. Mars’ generative nature and his ‘seeds’ brought forth new life each year. For us, planting these seeds can be literal, as all you gardeners are doing now, or creative seeds of thoughts, ideas, inspirations. With the Pisces New Moon in the beginning of March, we have an ideal time to plant and water the seeds for the coming year.

In March, we begin to come out of our wintry inner world and start to use all that energy we stored up, like seeds, in our winter rest. March is the transitional time between Winter and Spring, with Spring Equinox (in the northern hemisphere) occurring on March 20, 2022 this year.

March is a time when our passion and energy begin to focus on our new plans for the year. Many cultures (and astrology) see Spring Equinox as the beginning of the new year, as the Sun moves above the equator once again, bringing more light and warmth to the northern hemisphere. (While the southern hemisphere is preparing for autumn.)

Just as the sap is once again rising in trees, stimulating growth in nature, our Mars nature is rising up within us, now that we’ve purified and released the past. With this uprush of male energy, we begin to look outward for it to express itself. But instead of war (again!) which the old patriarchs use to control us, let this Mars energy be more playful and creative – make love, have fun, play and laugh. This is the way to shake off the dormant energies of the winter months. Light and new life are coming back!

America’s Birth Chart: the first Pluto return & Mars

 U.S. 4th of July 1776 Chart

 

Mars in the sky now is also very prominent, aligning in the morning sky with Morning Star Venus and Pluto at 28* Capricorn, the degree of America’s Pluto. The U.S. has just had our first Pluto return on February 20-22, 2022 so perhaps this is why we feel like we’re living in revolutionary times. When a country has its Pluto return (many other countries have had a few – the U.S. is a young country), there is usually an evolution and transformation in society concerning whatever sign their Pluto occupies.

Just to recap: the outer planets, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto along with Eris, speak to our collective evolution, a collective realization of a higher perspective on life than we get from our subjective perceptions. These are the planetary energies that work on our collective transformation. Since 2020 and until 2025 and beyond, these outer planets will be re-shaping how we perceive life and our world. Knowing how they’ll affect us can help us navigate these shifting waters.

Besides this Pluto return, the U.S. is also having a 5th Chiron return as well as a third and final Neptune opposition to its natal Neptune this year.

In the U.S. July 4, 1776 chart, we declared our independence the last time Pluto was in Capricorn, the sign of corporations, government, finances as well as the ‘ignored’ Council of Grandmothers. Our founding fathers used the model of the Iroquois Nations – 6 tribes that banded together in peace – to base our constitution on. The only thing they didn’t include was the Council of Grandmothers (duh! White males), which was the real power in these tribes. The Grandmothers decided who could lead and if and when the tribes could go to war. The Wise Women of the tribes held the Sovereignty for the land. Perhaps we need to institute this Council in the U.S. in the coming years.

Pluto strips us to the bone. It gets us back to essentials. We are back in the evolutionary energies of the American Revolution. What are we willing to stand up for? Can we look at our past, at all the death and destruction America has created at home and in the world, and can we see the Truth and then go forward with the lesson learned? Can we be free if others are not free? Can we sit back and ignore the call to evolve?

With our Pluto return, America is being held accountable for its past as we come to understand just what a corporate state we live in. We were founded by a corporation – The East India Trading Company. The rich allowed immigration because they needed people to tame the land and work for them. From the very beginning, our government was designed for the rich, white landholders (and slave owners) who broke away from England.

The irony is one of their rallying cries was Taxation without representation is tyranny! According to many reports, today our representatives do not listen to their constituent's concerns – rather they listen to their wealthy donors, ie lobbyists. Perhaps we need to re-examine where we’ve come from so we can change course and evolve our government into a true democracy. And perhaps have a tax revolt!

With the U.S.’s Chiron in Aries, Americans seem to have an identity crisis. (Aries’ Chironic wound is “who am I?”) Americans for the most part don’t have a deep, centered sense of self-worth because we’ve been sold on the idea that money is what gives us that worth. I believe we’re all orphans, uprooted from our ancestral homes and still not rooted in the true magic and power of the American landscape as our Native American relations are. Perhaps it’s time to grow up and take responsibility for our lives instead of waiting to be told what to do with them. There’s a lot of people, especially women, learning self-love these past two years, quitting jobs that don’t serve them, standing up for their rights. Covid seems to have helped with that.

The U.S. has Neptune in Virgo in its birth chart and we’ve been experiencing a Neptune in Pisces opposition to it all last year and this year. America’s Neptune in Virgo energizes the need to manage and care for Nature and her resources. It called for us to work to manage these resources well to make a good life for the people. In many ways we have a wonderful life compared to the rest of the world, but at what cost? Unfortunately, instead of being stewards of this beautiful and blessed land, we’ve allowed corporations and the wealthy, and our own conspicuous consumption, to vandalize our collective commons, poisoning our land, our water, our air, our food and our social interactions.

Oppositions bring things to a head, like a Full Moon. They force us to confront what we don’t want to see. Of course, a Neptune opposition and Neptune in Pisces also bring dis-orienting conditions and delusions to the masses, as well as pandemics! We see this negative manifestation in all the dis-information as well as censorship on our social media, our fear and anxiety over Covid, as well as our inability to listen to each other, as we are caught up in the illusions and delusions in our own heads. But Pisces is the sign of our shared life, and so we can be certain that there are ways to resolve our conflicting opinions in a peaceful way.

Neptune can also open our spiritual awareness, especially in its own sign of Pisces, symbolizing the great oceanic womb of life and the Collective Unconscious. As the English mystic Julian of Norwich said, ‘All manner of things will be well.” Hopefully, this Neptune transit will open our creative imaginations to help us see what needs to be done to fulfill this original vision of life in America. A vision that our native relations still hold to. Neptune generates that greater vision, the ability to see the whole of life and its possibilities, and perhaps we’re ready to learn from their earth wisdom.

On April 12, 2022 both the rulers of Pisces, Jupiter and Neptune, will meet up opposite the U.S. Neptune, hopefully engendering our spiritual imagination as a country. We have to remember, though, that there are many right-wing Christians who believe we are living in the End Times and they are pushing to get it started. Unfortunately, they hold a lot of political power in the United States. That’s why we have to take that story away from them and find the Wisdom to transform the mess patriarchy has made of our planet. It’s time to clean up our own home before we get to go out to explore other planets.

Astrology of March

So back to Mars. Mars connecting with Pluto is always a powerful and dangerous time, one that patriarchy usually uses to dominate others. It’s interesting that Putin has invaded Ukraine at America’s Pluto return, as if testing the U.S. during these disruptive times. But it is inadvertently showing us that the original American ideals of freedom and democracy have blossomed around the world. And that people are willing to stand up for their rights and life against dictators. We Americans can probably learn a lesson from the Ukrainians about standing up for our rights.

I wonder how most Americans feel about so many of our representatives praising Russia and Putin and picking on the President as he uses diplomacy to get our democratic partners to stand up to this useless war. Perhaps we need to see this as part of the American shadow – that so many of our wealthy business people and the ‘ruling elite’, do not want us to be a true democracy, because they would lose power.

Perhaps this is a moment when the world decides that war is never the answer. And that we the people of the world want PEACE, regardless of what our leaders want.

Mars and Venus in Capricorn joined together at the Leo Full Moon on February 16^th and they’ve been traveling together as they join Pluto and the Moon this weekend. While Mars is strong in Capricorn, Venus has just completed her retrograde in Capricorn, beginning her new Venus Star Point as a Morning Star. So she is also powerful. I see this as signaling a time when the feminine and masculine energies of humanity are re-balanced. Under patriarchy, the masculine energies have dominated and used the feminine energies. This new balance gives them equal sway, although the correct balance is that the feminine intuits what needs to be done and the masculine makes it so. Feminine, imaginal consciousness is the foundation of life, while masculine, logical consciousness helps us to focus our intentions. They are different but equal. The heart leads and the head helps shape what is needed.

 

 

The balancing of feminine and masculine energies is an important initiation for all of us this month. It’s time to match our doing with our being. At it’s highest spiritual expression, we need to embody the Christ and the Sophia/Wisdom. That doesn’t mean that we have to be ‘saints’. It means that we have to start living as ‘spiritual beings having a human experience.’ It’s a call to be innovative, creative, courageous, loving and just. It’s a call to help our communities – family, friends, neighbors, country, world – in whatever way our talents take us. It’s a call to discover our inner freedom from patriarchy and our outer courage to leave it behind.

Once Venus and Mars pass by Pluto, re-birthed with new energy and power, they will meet again on March 6^th as they enter Aquarius, on the degree of the Winter Solstice 2020 alignment of Jupiter and Saturn. They want to speak to the collective consciousness of our planet. About a change in power dynamics.

 

This is another instance of Aquarian energy entering the mainstream. We are definitely in a deep cultural transformation from the old – patriarchy – to a new world of societal freedom and democracy. The old order is crumbling, and so the old patriarchs are fighting to stay in power. But the future is with us and they will ultimately die out. Now is a great time to undermine their power and purpose.

Pisces New Moon & Virgo Full Moon

We have an interesting tension of opposites this month. While March begins in the feminine, receptive, watery sign of Pisces, it ends in the wild fires of Aries, bursting with new life. As we release last year’s outworn energy back to Source (Pisces), we leave ourselves open to this next year’s energy growing within us (Aries).

Something new is coming.

On March 2^nd’s Pisces New Moon, both the rulers of Pisces, Neptune and Jupiter, as well as the Sun and the Moon (and after March 10^th, Mercury), are together in Pisces, creating a deeper connection to what’s going on in our collective unconsciousness – a longing for peace, a desire for balance, a need for love and caring, as well as a fear of death, a denial of responsibility, an anger at feeling powerless. Pisces encompasses all the multiple dimensions of Life itself, the mystery of life that we get born into. The lesson of Pisces is to surrender to Source. The initiation of Pisces is to see beyond suffering to the Truth of Life.

Meanwhile, the old patriarchal consciousness is still creating war, death, famine and plague in the world. It’s still all about the money. Instead of It’s all about life. None of our leaders are asking us to sacrifice some of our comforts to help create a better world. They worry about the cost of heating oil instead of asking us to turn down the heat and use less – less heat, less gas, less electricity, less water.

Why DON’T they ask? Because we’d do it and they’d be out of power. So we need to do it anyway. Why wait for them to ask?

If we dive deeply enough into the Piscean ocean, we can emerge with a new identity – one connected to the Self/Soul. A consciousness of our spiritual purpose, to know ourselves and to know that we are one world, interconnected and whole. What happens to Ukraine happens to us. So what are they carrying for us? A fierce desire for freedom from oppression perhaps?

 

 

When Neptune and Jupiter meet on April 14^th, let the Aries Sun power our courage to open ourselves to these entwined energies of the water of life (Neptune) and the power of heaven (Jupiter). Let there be an end to our petty illusions and delusions so that we see the Truth of Life. If we do, we can embody our spiritual reality and we can become the cupbearers (like Aquarius) who pour out the visions of the possible future.

Pisces New Moon

The Pisces New Moon occurs on Wednesday, March 2, 2022 at 5:35 pm GMT/

12:35 pm EST/ 9:35 am PST/.

 

 

The Sabian symbol for the New Moon at 13* Pisces is: An ancient sword, used in many battles, is displayed in a museum. The sword often symbolizes will power and focus, and this powerful symbol speaks to our need to use our will power to achieve our spiritual purpose. Now more than ever, it is time for each of us to pick up our ancient swords, not to kill or dominate, but to defend and protect. It’s time to develop our spiritual will.

 

 

Jupiter is closely conjunct this Pisces New Moon, expanding the possibilities that originate in our seeds. Uranus in Taurus supports these efforts, offers us opportunities to reform our behaviors and beliefs, opens us to Earth’s organic genius and opens our intuition and insight into our potentials. So please use the magic!

Just before this New Moon, Mercury and Saturn meet up in Aquarius. The Sabian symbol for 20* Aquarius is: A white dove circles and descends bearing a message. This is a symbol of peace and love, for doves are sacred to Aphrodite/Venus/Mary. So our collective Mind is focused on peace (and blessings and prayers to Ukrainians for bearing the burden of teaching us this!). May the Holy Spirit of Life protect and defend them and all people who are living in war. It’s time for this to stop!

Virgo Full Moon

The Pisces/Virgo Full Moon occurs on Friday, March 18 at 7:18 am GMT/ 3:18 am EDT / 12:18 am PDT. 

 

 

The Sabian symbol for the Sun at 28* Pisces is: Populist leader electrifies a political meeting and brings them to their feet. This is definitely a rallying cry for people power. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is a perfect example of this. Instead of running away from his country where he is the prime target of Putin’s invasion, he is staying and fighting for his country.

The Sabian symbol for the Moon at 28* Virgo is: Bald-headed man dominates a meeting of national figures. Here’s the exact opposite of the Sun degree symbol. Perhaps this is a reminder not to allow leaders to get too powerful. To have no hair on the head seems to indicate someone with secrets – since hair represents involuntary thoughts. It also indicates that there’s no intuitive connection to the outer world. This guy is in it for his own power. Even though Putin isn’t bald, he comes across as bald sometimes. He is definitely an example of this thug.

This Full Moon has both Jupiter and Neptune conjunct the Sun and opposite the Moon, adding a spiritual, imaginal dimension to this. Perhaps we’ll be called to stop our inner bald headed man from taking power! And with Mercury in Pisces in a helpful relationship with Uranus in Taurus, once again our intuitive brain is open to receive new information that can quell his domination.

Saturn in Aquarius squares the lunar nodes in Taurus (north node) and Scorpio (south node). Our collective consciousness is getting squeezed by the traumas of war and betrayal as well as by the need to listen to Nature if we’re going to heal ourselves and our planet.

Venus and Mars, the rulers of the lunar nodes, are in Aquarius now, squaring Uranus in Taurus. It’s time to be wild and free. It’s time to band together and start creating a new society, connected with Mother Earth’s creative genius. It’s time to start living the future.

Spring Equinox 2022

Spring Equinox occurs on March 20, 2022 at 7:35am GMT/ 11:35 am EDT/ 8:35 am PDT. 

 

 

This equinox chart’s most intense energy comes from two squares.  There is a square between Pluto in Capricorn and the Libra Moon.  This is a powerful call to stand up for equality, freedom and justice.  With Venus and Mars in Aquarius squaring Uranus in Taurus, we find another call to take a stand on freedom and equality.

 So this is the quest for us this Spring.  Can we take a stand for our values?  Can we stand up for peace over war, for equality over domination, for harmony over antagonism?

Spring Equinox Blesssings!

Cathy

Mysteries, Yes

Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous
to be understood.

How grass can be nourishing in the
mouths of the lambs.
How rivers and stones are forever
in allegiance with gravity
while we ourselves dream of rising.
How two hands touch and the bonds
will never be broken.
How people come, from delight or the
scars of damage,
to the comfort of a poem.

Let me keep my distance, always, from those
who think they have the answers. 

Let me keep company always with those who say
"Look!" and laugh in astonishment,
and bow their heads.

~ Mary Oliver ~

(Evidence)

The Cosmic Story: Aries New Moon 2021

 

The Cosmic Story: Aries New Moon 2021

The Fire of Creation 

Motherpeace Deck

In many ways, this Sunday’s Aries New Moon is another beginning of the astrological new year – another aspect of Spring Equinox. Now the Light and Dark will grow imbalanced until Summer Solstice/Winter Solstice.

Up North, the Light is returning.

Astrology is based on cycles. Such as the soli-lunar cycle of Sun and Moon. Astrology looks at the planetary cycles and tries to understand what happens when two planets connect to each other in different mathematical configurations. It also looks at how present cycles are related to past cycles.

This New Moon is connected to a few past cycles and planetary aspects, so we’ll be revisiting what happened in the past so we can move into the future.

Aries symbolizes the fire of Spirit descending upon us, giving us life, giving us the opportunity to start over, to begin again. Just as we’re energized by this fiery Spirit, Spirit wants to be expressed. Fire wants to burn! 

 

 

The paradox is that fire is both creative and destructive – it is up to us to shape something with the fire into the third, transformative state. (You can read more about the magic of Fire and its patrons at The Bard's Grove) We humans can use fire to both create consciousness as well as destroy life.

At this moment of cultural crisis and transformation, we’re each being asked by destiny to make our choice – will we create a new life here on Earth and heal ourselves and Mother Earth or will we continue to kill and destroy life?

This Aries New Moon will square the sensitive degrees of Capricorn where Saturn, Pluto, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury came together last year to such devastating effects. Now these archetypal energies have been regenerated (Pluto) and infused with hope and imagination (Neptune in Pisces). We have opportunities now with Jupiter and Saturn in Aquarius to affect collective consciousness through our technology and our common visions.

The world is at a turning point. We can collapse back into a death culture that thrives on war and power, or we can emerge into a new world where peace and cooperation can set our energies flowing to heal Nature and re-create ourselves.

Will we use the pure fires of this powerful Aries New Moon to heal or destroy ourselves? Never doubt that our individual choices will unite and set the vision for our future.

Whatever you think of President Biden, he is setting a course to re-build America from the bottom up. This is a vision that helps people while it works towards climate accountability. Hopefully, COVID has given us a sense of sacrifice and community. Pluto says it’s time for us to take responsibility and sacrifice our time or money to create ‘a more perfect union’. (Abraham Lincoln) 

 

Like the new light of sunrise, Aries and Mars embody a pioneering energy, the same type of energy used to explore and later unfortunately dominate the New World. After people settling in America used this Mars energy to fight and conquer this wild, beautiful continent, their descendants focused that Mars energy on commercial enterprises and scientific and technological discoveries. It is the energy that America has thrived on. It is a young, eager, adventurous energy that made us a great power in the world.

Lately, though, we seem to have lost this pioneering spirit as a country. Perhaps turning away from it because we’ve seen and understood what its done to our Native peoples, to the land and to other countries. Or perhaps our relative wealth breeds contentment and sometimes laziness.

But this decline aligns with the fact that we’re at the end of America’s Pluto cycle (our power and our past), which runs from 2021 – 2024 and perfects (conjuncts natal Pluto) for the first time on February 20, 2022 (2/20/22).

As the cycle ends, a new one begins. What will we make of it? While Pluto works to destroy what is no longer viable, it also wants us to evolve and grow. Will our evolutionary track lead us to extinction? Or to new heights of human consciousness, compassion and wisdom? We have to work with Pluto on this one. As this archetypal energy of power and surrender is renewed, we the people will partake of it. Just like Americans engaged with it before we declared our independence in 1776.

This death and rebirth energy compels us to question ourselves and our values. What are our country’s values? What do we stand for? How do we value our natural and cultural resources? How do we value our people, who are all immigrants and therefore orphans who have been uprooted from their motherlands. What are we willing to fight to protect – people or things? How should our government be structured and should our collective government provide us with basic necessities for ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’? How should the country’s finances be organized – should the economy be the cultural center or just a tool when we put life at the center? What role does private business play in our country? What role do citizens play?

While Aries is about the individual Hero’s Journey, the truth is our whole world culture needs regenerating. So humanity is being called to the Hero’s Journey. 

 

Will we answer the call?

This is who we were born to be. This is what we were born to do.

Aries New Moon 2021

The Aries New Moon occurs on April 11, 2021 at 3:31pm Alaska time, 4:31pm PDT/ 7:31pm EDT and on April 12, 2021 at 12:31am GMT.

 

 

The Sabian symbol for the Sun and Moon at 23* Aries is: A pregnant woman in a light summer dress. Besides being an image of fertility, pregnancy is an inner process. This New Moon is so juicy and full of potential. Summer is the time when the Earth is most fertile. Take this image with you as you plant your New Moon seeds in the dark. Watch for the slim crescent Moon on Tuesday. That’s the day to begin something new.

This Aries New Moon is comprised of a conjunction of 6 planetary bodies: Chiron, Mercury, Sun, Moon, Eris and Venus join energies to fill us with the courage and strength to be authentic, strategically engaging in the world in new ways. If we ask these archetypal energies to guide us, they can help us manifest what creative ideas we’ve been working with this past year.

We’ll need some guidance as this New Moon squares 23-24* Capricorn where the transformative conjunction of Pluto and Saturn happened last year on January 11, 2020. As well as to the degrees of the three Jupiter-Pluto conjunctions during 2020.

This Aries New Moon squares where the Capricorn New Moon on January 13, 2021 occurred. That New Moon was conjunct Pluto, hopefully helping us confront our fears. With this New Moon in a first quarter square to January’s New Moon, we get to move past our fears to a clearer vision of what’s needed. We are being asked to choose. That’s what free will is all about. The choices we make.

Since we are helping rebuild our society (sq to Pluto), we as citizens have the responsibility to find out what our government is doing. When we go to City or Town Council meetings, we have a voice in what happens in our local, state and national communities. If we all pay attention, we can help communities steer our way through these troubled waters. This is the time to make new commitments to transform the world. Just don’t settle on the exact form yet. Play with your options! Aries loves to play.

This Aries New Moon fire is fanned by Saturn, Jupiter and Mars in air signs, sparking new ideas and possibilities. With Saturn in the mix, we have to come up with good, solid ideas before we act on them.

Like the shifting, dancing flames, however, it isn’t time to settle in on one answer or way. That comes later on this Spring. Now is the time to dance with the flame and try out new shapes and patterns to see which one rings true for you.

 

With Venus and Mars dancing together in a cooperative, encouraging sextile, our values and our desires dance well together. Our values and what we love will become clear to our authentic Self. It’s time to brake free from patriarchy’s capitalistic spell controlling our desires.

Mars, which rules these Aries planets, is in Gemini and likes to play around with different ideas and information – so it’s a good time to do more research. With a creative trine to Jupiter in Aquarius, it’s a great time to talk with people and find out what they’re thinking about, which will help you consolidate your own ideas.

Communication is key here, especially since Mercury in Aries is in what’s called mutual reception with Mars in Gemini – they’re staying in each other’s home sign. Mars can be argumentative, so please try to listen before you speak. It’s about really hearing what others say before you respond.

We do have to watch out for Mars since he’s out-of-bounds – meaning he’s going to be a wild card energy, that refuses to play within the lines. Allow your thoughts and ideas to be outrageous if you want. You’ll be winnowing through them in the next month or so.

With Mars in Gemini and Jupiter in Aquarius closely supporting this New Moon, you’ll want to pick and choose which seeds to plant, since you might have an over-abundance of them.

 

 

Mars’ sister, Eris, warrior goddess of the Heart, mediates between this New Moon and Venus. She will insist that we listen to our hearts and our values (Venus) when we set our seed intentions – otherwise she’ll create dis-cord for going against our hearts’ desire.

Find your Aries house. Look at what sign and house your Mars occupies. These will tell you which road is right for you. Understand what underlying motives make you want to take action. With Mars in Gemini, first and foremost, you are going on an adventure of the mind (Georgia Stathis). Think of all those possibilities!

When Mars goes into Cancer on April 23^rd, the same day as Mercury conjuncts Uranus in Taurus, your emotional body will come online and you’ll know what direction to take.

Over the next week or so, Venus, the Sun and Mercury will square Pluto, helping us leave behind old habits and ideas that no longer serve us in our new story. You might run into some old power dynamics that you’ll have to deal with. Don’t react! Try to understand what’s going on and choose how you want to deal with it.

 

Venus moves into Taurus from April 14 – May 8. Things will feel more gentle and enjoyable. Venus is beginning her Evening Star phase as the Goddess of Love and Wisdom rather than her Morning Star phase as a Goddess of War and outer engagement.

All the planets are moving forward now until Pluto goes retrograde on April 27^th. So things might move forward rapidly now. Just go with the flow and see what happens.

The Sabian symbol for Pluto turning retrograde at 27* Capricorn is: Pilgrims climbing the steep steps leading to a mountain shrine.  It's time to go in search of higher consciousness.

Mercury, Mars, Saturn, Venus, Pluto and Pallas Athena are connecting to the Gemini/Sagittarius nodes. This bit of information from astrologer Anne Ortlee: when planets aspects the nodes like this watch for people to come into your life who will have an affect on you in some way. So see who you connect with in the next few weeks. They might be bringing you the help you need.

The Sky is ever changing and so are its energies. Try to keep up but be good to yourself. This is still a new and emerging energy we’re dealing with. Take care of it as you would a beloved child.

Blessings of the Spring to you all!

Cathy

I Want A Lot

You see, I want a lot.
Perhaps I want everything:
the darkness that comes with every infinite fall
and the shivering blaze of every step up.

So many live on and want nothing
and are raised to the rank of prince
by the slippery ease of their light judgments.

But what you love to see are faces
that so work and feel thirst....

You have not grown old, and it is not too late
to dive into your increasing depths
where life calmly gives out its own secret.

~ Rainer Maria Rilke ~

(Selected Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke, trans. By Robert Bly)

The Cosmic Story: Pisces New Moon 2021

 

The Cosmic Story: Pisces New Moon 2021

The earth was without form, and void;

and darkness was on the face of the deep.

And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

The Book of Genesis

This weekend’s Pisces New Moon is the last New Moon of the astrological year of 2020.

It was just a year ago that we all became aware of the COVID virus and the world went into lock down. While many people are annoyed, upset, anxious, fearful, lonely and bored from a year of self-isolation, it was a great year for Mother Earth’s health and for people awakening to our unity in a world-wide crisis, forcing many of us to take responsibility for our lives – and for the life of our home planet.

Not everyone is built to be introverted or a hermit, but in many ways this year was a collective vision quest, a journey into the wilderness of our own souls and our collective soul. Now, as we transit through the sign of Pisces once again, we can let the traumas of last year dissolve in the watery depths and embrace the vision of the lessons we’ve learned.

Pisces is the sign of the Source, of the immaterial dimensions of soul and spirit. Jung called it the sign of the Collective Unconscious, that psychic realm that holds all our hopes and dreams and fears about life as well as all the knowledge of how to live life. It is the realm of our collective wisdom as well as the realm where we can connect to Source.

The primal ocean from which life arose here on Earth is still available to us on the inner realms. Like the beginning of the Book of Genesis, life came out of the waters as Spirit hovered over it, awakening it with the winds of its breath.

At this New Moon, there are three planets in Aquarius, the sign of the Higher Mind, and four planets in the sign of Pisces, the sign of the Universal Heart, the Collective Unconscious – the World Soul. It is the sign of the Source of Life, the primal waters of creation. Aquarius is the sign of the Higher Mind, of the archetypal, cosmic laws of life. It is the breath of Life.

Like the Spirit that hovers over the face of the waters in the beginning of time, the three Aquarian planets – Saturn, Jupiter and Mercury – send the winds of change and freedom over the waters of the Piscean depths, where Venus, Neptune and the Sun and Moon understand our longings. The Aquarius planets fill them with new energy, vision and life.

When these energies work together, we have the possibility of a new creation, a new birth.

 

The Pisces New Moon

The Pisces New Moon occurs on Saturday, March 13 at 1:21am Alaska time, 2:21am PST/ 5:21am EST/ 10:21am GMT.

 

 

The last two planets the Pisces Moon touches before she unites with the Pisces Sun are Venus and Neptune. So she brings their energies into play when planting her seeds.

The Sabian symbol for Venus at 20* Pisces is: A table set for an evening meal. The evening meal meets us at the end of the day, or end of a cycle of life. The nourishment is not only for our physical body but for our emotional and spiritual bodies as well. This symbol suggests that at the end of our labors, our needs will be met.

 

Venus here connects us to the time of day she naturally rules. She is a goddess of evening, of between states, the connecting link between soul and spirit, day and night. She invites us to sit at the table of the Grail and receive the nourishment we desire and love most.

The Sabian symbol for Neptune at 21* Pisces is: Under the kindly and watchful eye of a Chinese servant, a girl fondles a little white lamb. In occult tradition, which these symbols came out of, the Chinese are from the original root race of humanity. And so, they become a symbol of the ancient knowledge that is passed down to us. It is through a child-like innocence and wonder at the beauty, softness and warmth of the little lamb/ newborn Nature, that our feeling nature awakens to this ancient knowledge.

Neptune here can pass on the most ancient wisdom available to us if we are open and receptive – Neptune asks us to surrender to what IS. Neptune in Pisces connects us to ultimate Truth. About to merge with Venus, Neptune opens our hearts to our ultimate Truth.

The Sabian symbol for the Sun and the Moon at 23*04’ Pisces is: A ‘materializing’ medium giving a séance. This is the image that suggests we have to power to create our own reality. Dane Rudhyar says it is “the ability to give of one’s own vital energy to substantiate one’s conscious ideals or unconscious desires.” If we believe we have something special that we need to contribute to our society, it is up to us to ‘substantiate’ it – to make it happen.

There is a gentle sextile from Pluto in Capricorn (yes, he’s still there) to this Pisces New Moon, reminding us that our society needs to change, that it is going to change whether we like it or not, and that it is up to each of us to make that change within ourselves.

Mercury is back to the degree where it went retrograde on January 30^th. What new ideas and ways of perceiving are you engaged with? The Sabian symbol for Mercury at 27* Aquarius is: An ancient pottery bowl filled with fresh violets. This image is a reminder that we don’t have to throw out all of our old knowledge and wisdom – we need to reshape it and re-fill old Truths with new feelings and energies.

Jupiter has reached the 3^rd decan of Aquarius, which is Libra’s decan (10* in each). The Sabian symbol for Jupiter at 20* Aquarius is: A large white dove bearing a message. The dove of peace and love (Venus’ bird) brings us this message. Isn’t it time to treat each other with respect and courtesy? And to see yourself as worthy and valuable?

Saturn in Aquarius is still within a few degrees of its square to Uranus in Taurus. Earth’s creative genius wants to break up old, stale ideas of what is possible. The tension between the old life and the new is the theme for this year. Be the bridge to your new life.

The message of this Pisces New Moon is: Are we ready to open to the unconscious wisdom of life, where we have to trust that we will be nourished by Spirit? If we can, then it is up to us to ‘make it so’ in the 3D world. Spirit will help us materialize our soul’s purpose – which might just be to become a conscious human being.

This is a time to pay attention to your dreams, to dance, sing, do art, write poetry. Use all the artistic, creative tools at your disposal to access those hidden realms of Pisces. Swim with the mermaids, leap with the dolphins, go deep with the whales.

Maurice Fernandez, in his book Neptune: The 12^th House and Pisces: The Timelessness of Truth has seven phases of development we go through when Neptune is in Pisces.

1. Innocence in the miracle of life – living life in complete innocence, as if still within the timelessness of the cosmic womb.

2. Losing innocence – being birthed out of the Cosmic Womb into the confines of time and space, prompting the emergence of an individual ego consciousness.

3. Strengthening Immunity – adapting to time and space by developing a defense mechanism, forming and solidifying the ego, and recognizing the value of work.

4. Becoming the instrument of Life – tapping into Collective Consciousness, participating in collective exchange and the dynamics of the masses.

5. Defying Fear – questioning existing limitations, living more authentically, choosing Truth over security, freeing the spirit.

6. Humbling the ego – realizing egocentric limitations when gaining perspective on the larger cycles and forces of life.

7. Spiritual innocence, disillusionment, and maturity – realizing and consciously aligning with the timeless principles of Truth.

Where are you in this process?

Through all our disillusionment about our governments, our inability to unite to heal the Earth, our failure to distinguish ‘fake news’ from the Truth, we are being tested to see if we can trust Spirit, to surrender to its call and walk away from an old cultural paradigm that is deadly to ourselves and to Mother Earth.

When you know what it is you really long for, use those Aquarian planets to shape your intentions. And then plant those seeds. Hopefully, they’ll include love, gratitude, peace and freedom. Pisces energizes creativity, love, beauty and Spirit – all the intangible things in life. The things are are really worthwhile.

During this last New Moon of 2020, let yourself lighten up as you access a higher frequency.

 

Spring Equinox arrives on March 20^th. As the light grows in the northern hemisphere, it dims in the southern hemisphere. Take that moment of balance and breathe into your life.

You can read all about the Spring Equinox in my blog at The Bard’sGrove.

Warmth and light be yours,

Cathy

 

Equinox Chant

Onward we go round the Spiral,

Touching Darkness

Touching Light.

Twice each turn we come in balance.

Make choices on this night.

Make choices on this night.