ARIES NEW MOON - 21 March 2023
This is the first New Moon of the astrological year and is occurring in the very first degree of the whole zodiac! It also directly follows the Vernal Equinox, which is on Monday. Aries is the first sign of the zodiac, so this New Moon is the ultimate New Moon, a time of new beginnings and fresh starts, when we have a chance to plant some metaphorical seeds and watch them grow. This is the ideal time to give birth to something new, whatever that may be. It could be an idea, a concept, a project, a business, a relationship, a new belief or an intention. Whatever it may be, this is a very powerful Moon for starting something new and being brave enough to step out of our comfort zone. I have often wondered whether beginner’s luck is simply the universe rewarding us for daring to try something new!
Aries is the pioneer in us, the part of us that has the courage to start fresh and to take the first step along the path less travelled. It is an enthusiastic, independent, forthright, brave and assertive sign that is well versed in the art of self-love. Aries encourages us to trust our instincts and to act on our impulses. This is the sign that acts first and thinks later, but also reminds us that it is better to try and fail than to not try at all. We all experience fear and self-doubt, but Aries encourages us to feel the fear and do it anyway. Without Aries’ initial spark of enthusiasm, motivation, courage and energy, we would never start anything or try anything new! This New Moon feels like the ultimate spark to ignite a raging fire, so it is important to be clear about what we are birthing during this time.
Mars, the ruler of this Aries Moon, is forming a challenging square aspect to the Sun and Moon, although it is “out of sign” as it has not quite reached Cancer. The Sun in Pisces and Mars in Gemini will be squaring off against each other for most of the week leading up to the New Moon, which could prod us to be brave enough to take a risk and to contemplate what we might want to create at the New Moon. These are two masculine energies and can bring a great deal of energy, courage, enthusiasm, motivation and the capacity to assert ourselves. This combination can also bring up anger, impatience and the potential for acting and reacting from ego. However, Mars’s influence can certainly push us to do things that we might usually shy away from and to face up to things that we might have been putting off.
Saturn is supporting Mars with a harmonious trine that will be exact on 30 March. The planet of commitment, reality, control, responsibility and discipline teaming up with the planet of action, motivation and courage seems like a good recipe for some focused hard work that has the potential for creating something of lasting value. This pairing can help us to act based on a realistic assessment of the situation and to be willing to put in the time to make things happen. Saturn reminds us that things don’t necessarily happen overnight, but may require patience, persistence and commitment in order to bring them to fruition.
Saturn entered Pisces on 7 March and holds the potential for helping to make our dreams concrete and making the spiritual dimensions more tangible and “real”. It could also peel away any illusions, forcing us to take off the rose-tinted spectacles and see things as they really are, rather than how we imagine them to be. This could be a very helpful yet rather uncomfortable experience! There is also the potential for Pisces somehow dissolving the Saturnian structures and old, antiquated systems, while on the other hand, those in authority could use propaganda and Pisces illusion as a form of control.
It is a strange pairing, but it could be rather profound and karmic time, as the lord of Karma goes through the last sign of the zodiac, a sign of endings. We could be forced to face the skeletons in the closet and make the unconscious more conscious. The next couple of years could be a good opportunity to control our self-defeating and self-sabotaging tendencies.
Pluto is also about to change signs, on 23 March, having been in Capricorn since 2008. This could bring a significant shift of energy, as the planet of soul, power, subconscious, death, rebirth and transformation moves into humanitarian, revolutionary and freedom loving Aquarius, where it will reside until 2043. Aquarius is a very different energy to Capricorn, that’s for sure! Capricorn represents structures, authority, government, the patriarchy and the rules and regulations by which society lives. Pluto has slowly but surely been exposing the rot in the structures over the past fifteen years and has made the dark side of the patriarchal system more and more visible and apparent. Agendas have been brought out into the light and corruption simply cannot be swept under the carpet anymore. The old way is crumbling, making the way for something new.
Enter Pluto in Aquarius, a humanitarian sign that questions the rules and regulations and believes in equality, brotherhood and sisterhood. It could be a rather uncomfortable time for those in authority, as Aquarius questions and challenges any antiquated structures, unfair hierarchies, corrupt corporations and any bureaucracy or suppressive rules that make no sense or favour those in control. Any imbalances in these areas do have the potential to bring about uprisings and revolutions, as Aquarius is a sign that is for the people, not the state. Pluto could also mean that we become more aware of the shadow side of technology and how it can be used for power, manipulation and control, which could lead to some kind of detoxification in this area and some kind of solution. Pluto can really expose the darkness around technology, despite the convenience it seems to offer.
Pluto in Aquarius does bring the potential for helping humanity transform into a more cooperative community, whereby we share resources and change our mindset so that there is more cooperation, fair exchanges, equality and a greater sense of community. It is quite likely that there will be more grassroots cooperatives popping up as people seek to find an alternative way of living to the current system that seems to be crumbling around us. It will be interesting to see what occurs as Pluto shifts from Capricorn into Aquarius, as they are such different energies! Aquarius is all about innovation, progression, revolution, change, equality, freedom – a direct reaction against the Capricorn rules, structures, governments, traditions and patriarchal values that Pluto has been slowly but surely detoxing over the past few years.
Those of us with planets or angles around 29° or 0° of a sign will feel the energy of this shift more acutely. At the moment Pluto is sitting at the very end of Capricorn, so anyone with planets and angles around 29° of Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn will be feeling the transforming power of Pluto most strongly, as it strips away self-deceit and helps us to face our shadows. When Pluto slips into Aquarius it will activate any planets or angles around 0° of a sign, especially the fixed signs of Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius. This could bring quite a shift, which could be quite exciting or quite unsettling, depending on what way we look at it! We could be called to release and liberate ourselves from old patterns and any unhealthy programming and conditioning that simply no longer serve us. This could feel quite freeing, empowering and enlivening!
The Sabian symbol for this Moon, at 1° Aries, is a powerful one: “A woman just risen from the sea. A seal is embracing her”, which Dane Rudyar describes as “Emergence of new forms and of the potentiality of consciousness. This is the first of the 360 phases of a universal and multi-level cyclic process, which aims at the actualisation of a particular set of potentialities. These potentialities, in the Sabian symbols, refer to the development of man’s individualised consciousness – the consciousness of being an individual person with a place and function (a destiny) in the planetary organism of the Earth, and in a particular type of human society and culture. To be individually conscious means to emerge out of the sea of generic and collective consciousness – which to the emerged mind appears to be unconsciousness. Such an emergence is the primary event. It is the result of some basic action: a leaving behind, an emerging from a womb or matrix, here symbolised by the sea. Such an action is not to be considered a powerful, positive statement of individual being. In the beginning is the Act: but it is often an imperceptible, insecure act. The tender germ out of the seed does not loudly proclaim its existence. It has to pierce through the crust of the soil still covered with the remains of the past.”
This symbol brings the sense of a new beginning, whereby we try something new on for size. There is a strong feeling of rebirth at the moment, with such a powerful New Moon combined with Pluto, the planet of death and rebirth moving into Aquarius, the sign of change and progression. What needs to die in order for something else to be birthed in its place? What are we leaving behind that no longer serves us? What do we yearn for the most and yet also fear the most? It is time to move towards it, planting the seeds, stepping out of our comfort zone and embracing the new, despite any fear or uncertainty we may have. When the seedling pierces out of the ground for the first time it has no idea what awaits it, but it does it anyway. So must we have courage and faith that whatever happens we will be ok. Aries reminds us that is better to have tried and failed than to never try at all. Plant the seed and watch it grow!
Much love
Amy
xoxo
Picture: “Seed of Renewal by Pyro Helfier
My website: www.amybirdartandastrology.com
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