This week the Moon waxes into visibility, growing from a silver finger-nail into a cup half full of reflected light.  On Wednesday, Mercury leaves the whale’s song of Pisces behind for the bull horn of Aries.  Two days later, Uranus crosses into the Ram’s arena as well, joining Jupiter in Aries this Friday.

Mercury and Uranus’ shifts into Aries change the elemental balance of the skies, trading water for fire. We emerge from the last fortnight’s exploration of murky depths and enter a much more straightforward and action oriented time period.  The pace will only increase as the weeks roll by, so pace yourself.

Mercury in Aries:  Thinking Helmet

Mercury, planet of connections and communications, drops his Pisces water wings and picks up his special Aries Viking-style thinking helmet on Wednesday.   Mercury in Aries gives the mind the quality of a flamethrower- thoughts ignite into visionary storms of logic and words take on both a more confident and antagonistic tone.  For Mercury, Aries is a sign of direct and forceful, if not necessarily clear, communication.

Mercury will within the boundaries of Aries from March 9th until May 15th- over two months.  This unusually lengthy stay is because Mercury is due for a retrograde in the Ram’s sign.  Mercury will stations retrograde on March 30th, and will backpedal until April 22nd.  This is the second installment in the new cycle of Mercury retrogrades in fire signs, which will continue throughout 2011.  For more information on this cycle, consult the “Mercury Retro Cycle Shift” section in my essay “The Astrology of 2011.”

Uranus in Aries:  Ridden by Lightning

Uranus has been in Pisces since 2003, and on Friday, March 11^th, Uranus moves into Aries, where the electric planet will be until 2018.

Uranus’s energy is electric.  The blinding intensity of a lightning bolt, of pure spirit unleashed on the unsuspecting everyday mind.  It is a wavelength of revelation, revolution and innovation.   As the planet changes signs, this energy targets different parts of our lives, different portions of our psyche.

Uranus’ movement into Aries announces a whole new series of shifts, a new battleground for radical change and experimentation.  For much of the last decade, Uranus in Pisces (2003-2011) sent shafts of lightning deep beneath the waves of the unconscious mind, triggering visions of the forgotten past.  In Aries, Uranus aims at our sense of personal power, demanding that we abolish old limitations.  Uranus in Aries will be triggering radical personal empowerment for the next 7 years.  This means taking into our hands what we’ve let others decide, it means attempting what we previously thought impossible.  It will inspire both bravery and fool hardiness.  For in order to respond to this potential for personal empowerment, we must imagine ourselves as capable of it.  This means taking on the archetypal qualities of the legendary warriors, wearing the masks of the gods which we seek to emulate.  A fine ceremony, but the mask demands more of the flesh than it can deliver.  Take up the mask of your ideal, but remember when to take it off.

Coming Soon, To A Season Near You

Therefore Uranus’ shift into Aries this Friday is not simply a seasonal change.  It is part of the background energy of much of the coming decade.  The heavens will be kind enough to massively over-emphasize this energy over the next 2 months, as the Sun, Mars and then Venus all conjoin Uranus in early Aries.  For a more comprehensive discussion of this April’s excitement, consider the yearly timeline given in my essay “The Astrology of 2011.”

Those Rough Teen Years

While many of the aspects between Uranus and the other planets will come and go, Uranus in Aries will hold a square with Pluto in Capricorn for nearly 4 years.  This tense configuration pits the need for radical self empowerment (Uranus in Aries) against crumbling but powerful institutional structures (Pluto in Capricorn).  You can look forward to more upset protesters, draconian crackdowns and regime changes all over the world.  This series of tense squares is  going to run through 2015, so get used to it.

HOROSCOPES

Horoscopes are not a real chart reading by an experienced astrologer.  However, they are fun and can be reasonably accurate.  Read your from Ascendant and Moon signs if you know them.  If you don’t, find out. I’m a long time fan of the free chart generation software at astro.com.

Aries:  The Ram

Mercury’s movement into your sign on Wednesday sees communications shift into your corner for the next while, placing the thinking helmet squarely on your head and holding a bullhorn to your lips.  Don’t say what you don’t want people to hear.

Uranus’ movement into your sign on Friday ignites a 7 year period holding within it a series of personal revelations.  You’ll come to better understand exactly who you really are as your ability to restrain yourself all but dissappears.   By all means explore yourself, but try and keep the collateral damage to a minimum.  The March Aries can expect these changes to hit sooner rather than later.  Get ready!

Taurus:  The Taurus

Mercury’s movement into Aries on Wednesday sees communications emerging from secret spaces, giving voice to opinions you didn’t know people had.  You’ll find what usually hides in the back of people’s minds clearly communicated during Mercury’s time in Aries over the next 2 months, and probably gain a little clarity from it.

Uranus’ movement into Aries on Friday begins a 7 year period marked by a series of subconscious explosions.  The personal power you’ve spent time suppressing in order to maintain the peace will take its revenge on you if you can’t find a healthy, integrated way to express it.  Reclaim your power and do something useful with it.

Gemini:  The Twins

Mercury’s movement into Aries on Wednesday sees communications speed up a bit, pulling messages out of the sodden state they’ve been in for the last few weeks.  A whirlwind of discussions about what is and is not actionable is on the way, with several bumps and abrupt turns waiting on the road over the next 2 months.

Uranus’ movement into Aries on Friday begins a 7 year period marked by a series of radical expansions to your social network. You’ll be discovering how to exercise your personal power amidst groups of people.  Not only that, but Uranus’ time in Aries will also seed a revelation or two about the true nature of your ideal life.

Cancer:   The Crab

Mercury’s movement into Aries on Wednesday turns up the volume of messages in your career-sphere.  You’ll be thinking and rethinking the way you communicate professionally for the next 2 months.

Uranus’ movement into Aries on Friday begins a 7 year period that will bring a number of changes to your professional life.  You may find your goals changing relatively rapidly as strive to integrate independence and a fresh sense of personal empowerment into your professional life.

Leo:  The Leo

Mercury’s movement into Aries on Wednesday sends your thoughts over the next rise, prompting you to contemplate farther vistas.  The question of what comes next will dominate your concerns for the next 2 months as you think and re-think your answer.

Uranus’ movement into Aries on Friday brings the red lightning to your perspective, unleashing a slowly unfolding 7 year storm on your beliefs.  Expect to start seeing things in a different way.

Virgo:  The Virgin

Mercury’s movement into Aries on Wednesday bring communications to how much is yours and how much is someone else’s.  As Mercury will retrograde before he leaves Aries, you can expect discussions of this nature to get more complicated before they’re resolved.

Uranus’ movement into Aries on Friday encourages you to change the way you share resources with other people.  These lessons are likely to play out through a series of alliances and team-ups with fellow super heroes and villains.  The root intention here is that you come to understand how to empower yourself through cooperation.

Libra:  The Scales

Mercury’s movement into Aries on Wednesday sees vital communications ramp up.  If it seems like there’s a lot of news- wait- there’s more.  Merc’s pending retro guarantees a number of complicated conversations over the next two months.

Uranus’ movement into Aries on Friday begins a 7 year period wherein you can expect unusual developments within partnerships.  Expect the partner you have to go through a mutation phase, and expect the partners you have yet to attract to have an unusually magnetic but potentially insane quality.

Scorpio:  The Scorpion

Mercury’s movement into Aries on Wednesday shifts communications to a variety of practical issues.  You’ll likely to spend alot of time over the next two months considering and reconsidering your fiscal and financial habits, as well as fixing a number of small problems.

Uranus’ movement into Aries on Friday begins a 7 year period.  Within this period, you can expect sudden changes in your physical and fiscal health.  Starting a form of wholistic physical exercise, such as yoga or tai chi, can help minimize the negative physical impact of the strange Uranian energies in play.  This is a chance to re-invent your physical health- work with it.

Sagittarius: The Archer

Mercury’s movement into Aries on Wednesday shifts your thoughts to a more creative place.  You’ll spend much of the next 2 months thinking and re-thinking both your ideas and how execute them.

Uranus’ movement into Aries on Friday begins a 7 year period.  Within this period, you’ll find yourself inspired to create in ways you never thought possible.

Capricorn: The Goat

Mercury’s movement into Aries on Wednesday brings communications around to your living situation, likely to be a hot topic for the next two months.

Uranus’ movement into Aries on Friday begins a 7 year period.  Within this period, you’ll find your desires taking you to new locations and old, stagnant living situations exploding with little warning.  The key intention behind this destabilization is to find a more empowering set of circumstances, a proper super villain’s lair.

Aquarius: The Water Bearer

Mercury’s movement into Aries on Wednesday accelerates the pace of communications, and highlights a number of peripheral tasks.  There are a lot of small things to accomplish over the next few months.  Get to it.

Uranus’ movement into Aries on Friday begins a 7 year period wherein you’ll encounter considerably more adventure.  The shift promises more day to day surprises, and sudden shifts in your immediate circumstances.

Pisces: The Fishes

Mercury’s movement into Aries on Wednesday shifts your thoughts to your financial situation.  You’ll be thinking and rethinking your income/expense ratio for more than the next 2 months.

Uranus’ movement into Aries on Friday begins a 7 year period of financial experimentation and empowerment.  On a concrete level, Uranus’ move into Aries will bring with it a series of  financial ups and downs.

2011 Astrological Almanac

Like this?  Want more?  Get an entire year’s worth of astrological insight with the 2011 Astrological Almanac.

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