Astrology 3/14-3/20: Churning The Ocean

The Moon waxes as we pass between eclipses, the days overflowing with an agitated mixture of the past and future.  The week begins with a potentially chaotic but brief grand cross.  Its middle, however, is characterized by introspection and emotional upwelling, courtesy of Mercury’s conjunction with Chiron and the Dragon’s Tail.  Finally, the weekend holds both the equinox and a rather lovely conjunction of Venus and Neptune in Pisces.  The old and new swirl about- for everything is in this season, churn, churn, churn.

Passing Shitstorms

Mercury begins the week in a complicated configuration.  On Monday the pathfinding planet squares Saturn in Sagittarius and opposes Jupiter in Virgo nearly simultaneously.  The Moon, which is in the middle of Gemini, joins in on the fun, aspecting all three of these bodies.  These four planets take up positions on the four points of a cross, completing a configuration known in astrology as a “grand cross.”  Grand crosses are tense aspect patterns, and tend to brew up storms large and small.  The specialty of this configuration is to generate tangles of interconnected issues.  These complicated knots of energy tend to breed confusion as to how to proceed, and can make prioritization difficult.  As grand crosses go, though, this one is mild and should pass by Wednesday.

Frictions

Meanwhile, on Monday, Venus in Pisces swishes into a square with Mars in Sagittarius.  This is a conflicted but passionate aspect.  Contacts between Venus and Mars like this highlight interpersonal friction.  Sometimes that friction is of the delightful variety, but in other cases it is more a matter of chaffing and emotional inflammation.

If Venus were to square Mars in isolation, it would be somewhat easier to handle, but this aspect occurs on Monday, during the brief Grand Cross.   Ambient stress and confusion may make differences of opinion or perspective more difficult to reconcile.  If in doubt, save the discussion for a day with more ambient clarity.

The Fruits of Industry

This week Jupiter in Virgo perfects its trine to Pluto in Capricorn, highlighting just how transformative the seemingly mundane work of attending to the details can be.  Incremental gains accumulate over time, and are subject to compound interest. This is the second of three trines between the two bodies, and thus speaks to a process already well underway but months from completion.

Drag the Waters

Later in the week, Mercury goes on to conjoin the planetoid Chiron and the Dragon’s Tail- the South Node of the Moon.  This combination reinvigorates the themes which last week’s eclipse offered.

The Dragon’s Tail reaches deep, and dredges up shipwrecks from voyages long past.  Ghost ships sail these seas, the specters of their sailors ready to share their tales.  What the Tail churns up is complicated, for some of these stories need to be heard, while other narratives desperately need to be put to rest.   As promised by last week’s solar eclipse on the Tail, a sorting process is in action- some of what lies dormant must rise to the surface, while some of what resides at the surface needs to be submerged and dissolved below.  All of this serves to highlight the process of remembering and releasing which is at work this month.  Yet those traumas which are ongoing cannot be released, for those stories are yet to have their endings penned.  Unless we would rely on the kindness of strangers for our narrative, we must seize our quills and remember our author-ity.

Q2

After a month trolling the ocean-floor, the Sun rises from the waves, triumphant, entering Aries on Saturday, March 19^th. In Aries, Sol illuminates potential, heats the spirit and sets the body in motion.  It is vigorous in Aries, but combative.   The Sun will be in the Ram’s sign until April 19^th, when it enters Taurus.

The Sun’s ingress into Aries marks the beginning of the tropical zodiac and the moment of the equinox.  Equal in length and power for just a bit, day and night call a temporary truce.  Though it is signaled by a single event- the Sun’s ingress into tropical Aries, the equinox can also be seen as the period of time- roughly a week- when the ratio of day to night is not only unusually equal, but also unusually stable.  Celebrations may thus partake of its power without needing to be scheduled to the minute.

The equinox marks our entrance into a new season, and the second quarter of the year.  While the Sun crosses this pivot-point, look back to the resolutions you made and hopes you held at the New Year.  Review and renew the vows you made to yourself.  Though your discipline may have flagged over the last few months, much of the year still remains.

If learning more about astrology happens to be one of your priorities, consider my Fundamentals of Astrology class, which begins the day of the equinox, this Saturday the 19^th.

In addition to beginning the quarter, the Aries ingress begins the zodiac, and its chart has long been used to peer into the fortunes of the year ahead.  Though an analysis of this year’s chart is beyond the scope of this article, my friend and colleague Nina Gryphon has been kind of enough to post an article about the 2016 chart on her blog.

Rainbow Coral

The week ends with Sunday’s lovely conjunction of Venus and Neptune in Pisces.  The star of Aphrodite and the distant blue planet share many significations, and both are amenable to lovely beaches of Pisces. Sunday would be naught but leisurely glory, but for the Moon in Virgo’s square with Mars, which contradicts the otherwise harmonious conjunction a bit.  Fortunately, Venus’ conjunction with Neptune will be active for the days surrounding Sunday, particularly on the preceding Friday.

Here pleasure meets imagination, and affection with compassion.  A brief vision of the heart’s pretty reefs emerges, all rainbow coral and sea-life abundant.  If you can, schedule an activity which opens the heart to wonder and beauty this weekend.