The Spring Equinox arrived this morning at 5:01am EST, synonymous with the Sun’s entrance into the cardinal fire sign of Aries.  Yesterday saw our central star conjoin Neptune in Pisces for the last time this century, an iridescent fog parting, and from the trident-bearing god some new clarity or truth being wrangled.  Still in piscean waters Neptune whirls, but only until March 30th when the sea god enters Aries — where a quicker-moving cast in Mercury and Venus has just been met by the Sun.

Aries is Mars-ruled, the red planet’s diurnal or ‘yang’ home, Scorpio being its nocturnal or ‘yin.’  While Mars rules this slice of the zodiacal year, as well as its first decan, the Sun is exalted here — equal parts day and night, equal distance between the solstices’ commencement of light’s ascent and descent.

Templed by Mars, Aries favors action, forward motion, trailblazing — an erotic dance of direction and directness.  Mercury and Venus, both retrograde, are presently here in the first decan of Aries, at 7° and 4° respectively, where the Sun has joined agleam and from Neptune’s mists emerged.  Yet when Neptune enters Aries on March 30th, it is almost as if Mercury and Venus will have traded places back to the sea foam, on that day Venus returned to 27° Pisces and conjunct the North Node, Mercury at the anaretic (29°) degree of Pisces where Neptune presently floats.

For a stellium of planets presently in the first decan of axe-wielding Aries — a childlike warrior spirit fearing not the coffee-table corner of Capricorn 90° prior or the guiding call of Cancer 90° to follow — the present moment seems to ask a compelling mix of different actions, not all of them forward-flung.  Yes, Mars is still in its fall of Cancer, wondering where is nurture, where is peace, where we might crawl to reconcile this paradox of violence towards the Mother.

With Mercury and Venus so close and in doubly Mars-ruled range, by both sign and decan, conversation may very well be impassioned, and it is not necessarily a time for silence or ‘holding back’ simply because there are retrogrades.  From the last decan of Pisces to the first face of Aries, these are times of heavy desire, of contemplating hunger and satiety, of feeling seen or wishing oneself fully witnessed.  Much inclination, conversation and craving may swirl about these realities.

I fancy that Neptune is, rather than only obfuscating or dissolving, stirring an ageless joy, a splash in the primordial pool that might cool Mercury’s mind and tongue, and cleanse the mirror of Venus which may just be in too heated a grip.

Just some of the themes to look out for…

*a sense of righteous selfhood mixed with receptivity to another’s desires
*oscillating between aggression and sensitivity to the human condition
*prioritizing of self vs. self-effacing and sacrificial behavior
*action, forward motion, trailblazing, direction, directness
*pauses to consider which directions and what approach
*overcoming a sense of shame, guilt or self-flagellation
*alternating between motivation and escapism
*alternating emboldenment and momentum towards one’s goals, alongside a perhaps irrational sense of having picked the wrong dream
*wanting only the dreamworld yet falling hard and fast into the pavement
*getting right back up

With Mars in Cancer presently applying to trine Saturn in Pisces, there will be windows to reach through what felt like weighty cauldrons of obstacle and unknowing… and the closer glimmers of this solar system will move direct through the firelight of renewed willpower once again.

Swim well stargazers,

—A.B.