2 of Wands

Aries New Moon

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Ad Parnassum (1932) by Paul Klee
audio recording of Aries New Moon article

Aries New Moon

The Aries equinox is a sacred day to honor the life force of the World Soul. Every year when the Sun enters the tropical zodiac sign of Aries, reaching the place where the Earth’s equator and the path of the Sun intersect, we collectively experience the wonder of equal darkness and light all across our planet. While the Aries equinox marks the deepening into Fall in the southern hemisphere, in the northern hemisphere its stellar gate opens a surge of Spring animation, as bird song and flowery colors emerge from dark slumber. While the annual harmonizing of light and darkness always delivers a palpable sense of renewal, this year the feeling of rejuvenation will be more extreme due to the new moon in Aries initiating a new lunar cycle on 21 March. The Moon will unite with the Sun at 00°49’ Aries, less than twenty-four hours after the ingress of the Sun into Aries. The fiery Moon in Aries will pour down the essential Eros of the equinox into our lives, stimulating an invigoration of movement, inspired action, and propulsive desires.

The regenerative potency of the Aries New Moon aligning with the equinox will be further amplified in the following week by Pluto entering Aquarius on 23 March and Mars entering Cancer on 25 March. Both ingresses will correlate with the unleashing of major new storylines, as Mars has been in Gemini since 20 August 2022 and Pluto has been in Capricorn since 2008. The Aries Moon will be separating from aspects with both Mars at the end of Gemini and Pluto at the end of Capricorn, further intensifying the feeling of being at the precipice of mammoth change. As a result, we may need to contend with bringing resolution and closure to longstanding issues before we can fully focus on the excitement of change on the horizon. The magnitude of uncertainty within collective events, from fears over economic collapse related to banking failures to waves of political unrest that have been building, reveal how we are crossing a collective threshold of transformation. While its understandable for many to have fears stoked, the amplified quality of chaotic flux sparked by the Aries New Moon makes it an ideal lunation for shedding the dead skin of the past and embracing creative changes that will align your life more fully with your core purpose and passions.

With the Aries Moon applying toward conjunctions with Mercury and Jupiter in Aries, there will be a heightened impulse to push forward with new developments and growth. However, due to Mercury being combust in its invisible phase with the Sun, we may need to stop ourselves from rushing ahead too quickly in order to bring extra discernment and clarity regarding the choices we need to make. Important information may be hidden from our awareness, or we may be too blinded by our own excitement over desire to make something happen. In contrast to Mercury, Jupiter will still be visible as an evening star, lending his hopeful inspiration to whatever plans we conceive within the darkness of the lunation. However, Jupiter is also in his phase of heliacal setting in which he will be making his final visible appearance on the western horizon following sunset. Thus Jupiter will have an intensified presence during the Aries New Moon, as the star of Zeus delivers an oracular message while descending into the mystery of his invisible, underworld phase with the Sun. With the New Moon in Aries also being in the bounds of Jupiter, listen for messages from Jupiter related to your calling and role to play amidst the changing tides of world events.

However, the Moon is not only applying toward a conjunction with Jupiter, but also Chiron in Aries. Jupiter and Chiron recently initiated a new thirteen-year cycle together by conjoining on 12 March, and so the Aries New Moon will link them together again. In contrast to the external ambition that can be kindled by Jupiter in Aries, Chiron opens the door to our vast internal realms of psyche, tending the threshold of our conscious awareness with the deep well of wisdom found within unconscious depths and ancestral influences. Brian Clark has written that “as an embodiment of suffering, of pain and mortality, Chiron confronts our compulsion to fix, to overcome and resolve . . . In his cave, the instinct to fix it and feel better is held long enough for the soulful symbols in our symptoms to be appreciated as images of healing.” The Moon yoking Chiron and Jupiter together can instill courage in facing the world while tending to one’s inner wounds, remembering that the strength gained from healing one’s own wounds can be shared with others who have been facing the same struggles. Moreover, in the week following the lunation Mercury will also quickly move through a conjunction with Chiron on 26 March followed by a conjunction with Jupiter on 27 March. Thus the week following the Aries New Moon will bring opportunities for gaining deeper understanding for old wounds and integrating parts of ourselves that have been repressed or cast off. Taking the time to tend to whatever restorative process is constellated by Jupiter and Chiron will help foster a sturdier sense of internal value that will ultimately serve the external ambition to achieve your most important long range goals.

Adding to the fertile potency of the lunation aligning with the equinox will be Venus, as she is shining brightly as an evening star within her earthy home of Taurus. Venus will be forming a conjunction with the north node of the Moon during the lunation, en route toward eventually forming a conjunction with the radical innovation of Uranus on 30 March as the Moon waxes toward fullness. Venus has the most essential dignity of all the planets during the Aries Equinox and the Aries New Moon, making the earthy pleasures and sensualness of Venus a potent source of respite and recovery from the difficulties of the world. The relational strength of Venus in Taurus can also help nurture potent alliances that can help in resisting forces of oppression.

Highways and Byways (1929) by Paul Klee

Mars in the final degrees of Gemini is responsible for the care of the New Moon in Aries. Mars in Gemini has a receptive exchange of signs with Mercury during the lunation that can help generate new ideas and plans for the future, as Mars is in the airy home of Mercury and Mercury is in the fiery home of Mars. In the week preceding the lunation, however, Mars passed through an obscuring fog of Neptune that was intensified by the Sun, Mercury, and Neptune uniting while forming a confusing square aspect with Mars during the days of March 14 – 17. The tension between Mars and Neptune could have led you through disillusioning experiences and tests of your idealism or beliefs. However, with Mars separating from Neptune and the Sun and Mercury joining Jupiter in the fiery domicile of Mars, the shift brought by the Aries New Moon brings the increased clarity needed to make choices and judgments. Austin Coppock in 36 Faces ascribed the image of “An Executioner’s Sword” to the third decan of Gemini where Mars is located during the lunation, writing that though “the other decans of Gemini involve discovery, exploration, and simultaneity, in the third wait choices- judgments that must be made. To achieve actuality, a multitude of possibilities must be sacrificed.” While Gemini opens doors to endless options and interpretations, the influence of Aries focalizes action upon singular choices and desires.

Mars has been in Gemini since last August, and will only be within Gemini for a few more days following the lunation. Due to the extended period of Mars retrograde in Gemini from the end of October to the middle of January, we have been on a long journey with Mars in Gemini that has enabled us to make judgments with deeper awareness for the consequences of our actions. Mars finally moved beyond the degree where he originally stationed retrograde on 15 March at the same time he was forming a square aspect with Neptune, Mercury, and the Sun. The tidal wave of dissolution brought by Neptune, Mercury, and the Sun in Pisces may not have been helpful in terms of gaining clarity, but it may have made you aware of information, insights, or inspiration normally concealed from your awareness. Now that Mars has separated from Neptune, the emphasis upon Aries in the month ahead will kindle inspired movement and productive action informed by the extended encounter between Mars and the imaginal realms of Neptune.

Mars will leave Gemini to enter Cancer on March 25, bringing a starker sense of finality to the long retrograde phase of Mars in Gemini which has had a monumental influence over the past five months. It will be worthwhile to reflect upon the life events that aligned with the transit of Mars in Gemini: from 20 August 2022 to 30 October while direct, from 30 October 2022 to 12 January 2023 while retrograde, and from 12 January until 25 March while direct again. Mars brings awareness of instinctual drive, emerging desires, and how they align with our purpose through action and making things happen. Periods of Mars retrograde can feel extremely frustrating at times, but the inner initiation it leads us through can bring about a radical realignment with our most deeply felt desires and purpose. Mars retrograde can penetrate our normal defenses, making us vulnerable to an infusion of new desires that can steer us away from the known into unknown potentialities. Now that the Mars retrograde period has completed, contemplate the ways in which you experimented with new directions and encountered new desires, gaining realization for the essential, renewed purpose that has finally emerged with readiness to be implemented.

Mars entering its fall of Cancer will plunge the star of Ares into the low lying places of its zodiacal depression. While Mars in Cancer does not possess the exalted status of the Sun in Aries, it’s extreme capacity for protection can be focused on fighting for counter cultural causes and on behalf of those who have become marginalized or oppressed by systemic power structures. Mars in Cancer also possesses a dynamic creativity that can discover unorthodox forms of expression. Fortunately, Mars in Cancer will be applying toward a watery trine aspect with Saturn in Pisces that will become exact on 30 March, the same day that Venus forms a conjunction with Uranus. Toward the end of last year, Mars in Gemini formed two exact trine aspects with Saturn in Aquarius due to its retrograde phase. These occurred on 28 November 2022 when Mars was retrograde and on 28 September 2022 when Mars was direct. Note any threads of development that extend from these previous dates until now, particularly in areas of life in which you have had to apply hard work and disciplined practice to push past obstacles and initiate new movements of work for yourself.

The Star by Leonora Carrington

Pluto in Aquarius

Though the shift of Mars finally leaving Gemini will create new storylines, the impact of Pluto entering Aquarius will have a larger impact due to the long cycle of Pluto that takes approximately 248 years to go around the zodiac. Pluto will enter Aquarius on 23 March where it will remain until returning to Capricorn on 11 June 2023. Pluto will return to Aquarius on 20 January 2024 until re-entering Capricorn for a final time on 1 September 2024 where it will remain until 19 November 2024. Pluto will then enter Aquarius with finality on 19 November 2024 where it will continue to fill the jugs of the Water Pourer with its underworld water for two decades, finally leaving Aquarius for good on 19 January 2044.

Pluto was last in Aquarius between 1777 and 1798, when the American Revolution came to an end and the French Revolution began. Relevant to the recent ingress of Saturn, Saturn was also in Pisces during the storming of the Bastille that initiated the French Revolution. Prior to that, Pluto was in Aquarius between 1532 and 1553, when the Copernicus Revolution took place and the Protestant Reformation deepened. Themes of collective fracturing and decentering stand out with the transit of Pluto in Aquarius, as Pluto in Aquarius has not only correlated with revolutions contesting the centralised power of the monarchy and church, but also with the transformation of human consciousness that shifted the Earth from being the center of the universe to the sun and the heliocentric model. During the transit of Pluto in Aquarius in the 5th century B.C. the Peloponnesian War was raging between Athens and Sparta, Socrates was teaching in the streets of Athens, and Plato was born. During another transit of Pluto in Aquarius, Constantine I emerged from civil wars to become the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, decentering the seat of power from Rome in the West to Constantinople in the East. While Constantine was involved with the establishment of the Nicene Creed during Pluto’s time in Aquarius in the 4th century CE, when Pluto later entered Aquarius in the 11th century the Great Schism erupted between the western Roman and eastern Byzantine branches of the church. During the subsequent transit of Pluto in Aquarius from 1286 to 1308, the explorer Marco Polo famously brought news of his travels in the East to the West, and the Scottish freedom fighter William Wallace achieved victory over the English following the recent colonization of Wales during the reign of Edward I, the “Hammer of the Scots.” Popular revolutions often erupt during the transit of Pluto in Aquarius that ultimately lead to important reforms, even in defeat.

During the last time that Pluto was in Aquarius at the end of the 18th century, technological inventions such as the cotton gin, threshing machine, steamboat and gas lighting led into the rapid emergence of the Industrial Revolution from the Scientific Revolution that began during the earlier transit of Pluto in Aquarius during the 16th century. The recent, rapid rise of AI technology has been one of many developments foreshadowing the transfiguration of reality that will take place over the course of the next twenty years with Pluto in Aquarius. The recent collapse of numerous banks mirrors the entry of Pluto into Capricorn in 2008, and while it may foreshadow vaster economic uncertainties that will develop with Pluto in Aquarius it also clearly relates to Pluto beginning to draw its transit through Capricorn to a conclusion. Since Pluto will only be in Aquarius for a few months during 2023, we will be undergoing a couple of years of transitioning into the meaning of Pluto in Aquarius while we simultaneously wrap up the lessons from Pluto’s time in Capricorn.

Pluto was discovered during the development of depth psychology in the 20th century, and part of its meaning is found within our relationship between conscious awareness and our unconscious. Pluto in Aquarius will deliver many lessons revealing that if you cling too tightly to an idea or ideal it will turn into its opposite, like the concept of enantiodromia (Greek meaning “to run counter to”) that was unearthed in the work of Carl Jung to demonstrate that anything at an extreme state will turn into its opposite quality. The danger of Pluto lies in resisting change and death, whereas its gifts involve the regeneration of resources and wisdom that emerges by embracing processes of death and rebirth. Pluto in Aquarius will stress the importance of allowing for the death of our ideals when we reach a state of clinging to them too tightly against all reason, being open to flexibly shifting idealistic visions to align with the ways in which the world and reality are actually changing.

In addition to fixating upon intellectual beliefs, Aquarius can also involve control and manipulation of information, and so the extremes of media manipulation and propaganda by those in power already present will find new insidious ways of intensifying their impact through the use of the technological advancements that will continue to accelerate. It will be up to each of us to utilize critical thinking when interfacing with technology and the ways in which our minds can be manipulated in the years ahead. As Carl Jung wrote in the Undiscovered Self:

“Even today people are largely unconscious of the fact that every individual is a cell in the structure of various international organisms and is therefore causally implicated in their conflicts. He knows that as an individual being he is more or less meaningless and feels himself the victim of uncontrollable forces, but, on the other hand, he harbors within himself a dangerous shadow and adversary who is involved as an invisible helper in the dark machinations of the political monster. It is in the nature of political bodies always to see the evil in the opposite group, just as the individual has an ineradicable tendency to get rid of everything he does not know and does not want to know by foisting it off on somebody else.

Nothing has a more divisive and alienating effect upon society than this moral complacency and lack of responsibility, and nothing promotes understanding and rapprochement more than the mutual withdrawal of projections.”

2 of Wands by Pamela Colman Smith

Aries 1 Decan

The New Moon in Aries will arise in the first decan of Aries, associated with the Two of Wands tarot arcanum illustrated above by Pamela Colman Smith. The image of a conquering figure holding a globe, piercing the expanse of the horizon with his gaze is fitting for a decan steeped in will power, as he seems intent on enacting his vision upon reality and expanding his influence. The ambitious confidence and assertion present in the image connects with the fact that the first decan of Aries is the face of Mars. T. Susan Chang in 36 Secrets connected the Two of Wands indicating the ending of one stage and beginning of another with the primal rupturing of the first decan of Aries. Chang wrote that in the “first act of rupture and planting, a whole life cycle takes root – that’s why we see the entire globe held into the hands of the 2 of Wands. You can call it planting time or you can call it spring cleaning. You can call it a paradigm shift between the old world and the new world. You can stress the destructive power of this face, or its power to fertilize. The point is that there is no looking back.”

In Henrich Cornelius Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy, a “black man, standing dressed in white and girded” emerges in the first decan of Aries. Agrippa wrote that he has “a large body, red eyes, and great strength, and [appears] as if angry; this image signifies and is made for boldness, strength, loftiness, and immodesty.” The Picatrix described a similar black man with red eyes “girded in white cloth,” except he is holding an axe. Indeed, a man with blazing red eyes holding an axe appears in numerous traditional texts. In comparison, the Liber Hermetis pictured a man “standing on feet like claws” and “holding above his head a double-sided axe with both hands.” While in Ibn Ezra’s The Beginning of Wisdom, the first decan of Aries contains a “self-laudatory” and “irascible” figure “of the giants’ race” who has “a head in the form of a dog with a candle in its left hand and a key in its right hand.” Rather than wielding a weapon of violence, this mysterious figure described by Ibn Ezra appears to be carrying tools of revelation and initiation.

Austin Coppock in his book on the decans 36 Faces ascribed the symbol of “The Axe” to the first decan of Aries. Coppock rooted the symbolism of the Axe in it being “the primordial splitter” that creates the division necessary for growth, as “cosmologies begin with the sundering of the One.” While Coppock described the Axe as a magical tool essential for “breaking bonds which no longer serve” and bringing “subjective order to the world” through “taming the environment,” he also noted that the first decan of Aries possesses a raw, unfiltered, and untamed willpower that can evoke the “tyrannical spirit of the infant.” As it is a decan focused upon “the will pressing reality to conform with its pattern,” its strength lies in the personal power of an “unrestrained will” and “the individual yang struggling out of the collective yin.” Yet Coppock also warned of “a tendency in this decan to try to do too much with force alone,” quickly accumulating karmic debts and fierce opponents.

The Hellenistic text the 36 Airs ascribed Aidoneus to the first decan of Aries. While there are later versions of Aidoneus as a mythical king who married Persephone, Aidoneus is essentially another Greek name for Hades enthroned in the underworld that can be translated as “Unseen One.” The fifth century B.C. philosopher Empedocles identified Aidoneus as one of the four fundamental roots of creation associated with the elements of earth, water, air, and fire. While there has been contention over which element was meant to be Aidoneus, Peter Kingsley in Ancient Philosophy, Mystery, and Magic made a good case for Aidoneus being fire, which would further link with the astrological association of Aries with fire. We can imagine how the rupturing of the Aries equinox unleashes the subterranean fires at the root of creation and our own personal creativity. With the Aries New Moon igniting the fiery ambitions and individualism of the first decan of Aries, with Pluto entering a new sign, it will be important to consider how we wish to claim and wield our personal power in the world. The primordial fire of Aries can liberate us from the shackles of past restrictions, yet its true wisdom lies in directing us toward the integrity of our full potential. May the New Moon in Aries guide you into deeper relationship with your own creative actualization.

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References

Agrippa, Heinrich Cornelius. (2021). Three Occult Books of Philosophy. Translated by Eric Purdue. Inner Traditions.

Chang, T. Susan. (2021). 36 Secrets: A Decanic Journey through the Minor Arcana of the Tarot. Anima Mundi Press.

Clark, Brian. (2022). The Jupiter-Chiron Cycle: Weaving the Ways of Wisdom.

Coppock, Austin. (2014). 36 Faces: The History, Astrology and Magic of the Decans. Three Hands Press.

Kingsley, Peter. (1995). Ancient Philosophy, Mystery, and Magic: Empedocles and Pythagorean Tradition. Oxford University Press.

Full Moon in Aries

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Morning Fantasy

Morning Fantasy (1904) by Mikalojus Konstantinas

Full Moon in Aries

The Full Moon in Aries on October 1, 2020 will pour a fiery ferment into our lives and stories, inflaming the tension that has been building in the past month. Since the middle of August, Mars and Saturn have been engaged in grinding conflict that has exacerbated impasses, amplified anger, and provoked outrage over abuse and misuse of power. Mars and Saturn are at centerstage of the Full Moon, with Mars retrograde in Aries raging against the stalwart stationing direct of Saturn. The timeless endurance of Saturn will persevere through the onslaught of martial heat, yet matters will be dismantled and irrevocably altered by the frenzied fire from Mars. While longing has been thwarted in many ways during the dissolution, we can remain rooted in our desires that continue to be reshaped into new dimensions.

The Full Moon is in a place of extreme fire, as Aries is the home of Mars and the exaltation of the Sun. The influx of fire will demand fuel to consume, waste and inauthenticity to be burned off, kindled inspiration to be shared, and faith in our intuitive knowing to be followed. The peak light of Selene adorned in the flames of Aries will illuminate our turn into the final quarter of 2020, yet it is not merely the end of a year we are approaching- it is the closing down of two centuries of Jupiter and Saturn conjoining in earth signs and a reckoning with all of its troubled ghosts. The tumultuous storms of 2020 have exposed innumerable injustices across society, amplifying awareness of long-standing issues of systemic oppression in need of remedy and reparation. The recent clash between Mars and Saturn has magnified difficulties and brought experiences of foreboding toil for many, but these same forces that cause separation can also motivate ferocious determination to resiliently embody and activate our core values.

Pivotally, the Full Moon is separating from a conjunction with Chiron in Aries and applying to a catalyzing square aspect with Jupiter in Capricorn. Chiron can facilitate being present with problems, allowing symptoms to guide discovery and reveal the underlying issues in need of attention. As Melanie Reinhart has spoken of Chiron’s gift in mediating ancestral relationship and healing, there is a larger perspective to integrate concerning how our temporary personal issues are seated within vaster patterns of intersecting ancestral wounds and burdens, as well as ancestral blessings and resources of strength and resiliency to draw from. It will be worthwhile to pull back from busyness to ground into nurtured space of reflection in the wake of the Full Moon. Within a protected space of rootedness not unlike an imaginal cave of Chiron, allow yourself to see through present dilemmas into the larger tapestry of soulful patterns and stories at play.

Paul Klee red house

Red House (1929) by Paul Klee

The Full Moon is in the fiery red home of Mars, placing the extremity of heat inflicted by Mars during its retrograde phase front and center. Mars is separating from a square with Saturn and applying toward a square with Pluto that will be intensified due to Pluto stationing direct on October 4 at 22°29′ Capricorn. Pluto stationed retrograde on April 25 at 24°59’ Capricorn and since then has been instigating a radical realignment between our internal metamorphoses and the shattering of societal systems that have corresponded with Pluto initiating new cycles with Saturn and Jupiter. From the Full Moon until Mars completes its square aspect with Pluto on October 9, there will be a release from the constraints of Saturn and an upwelling of volcanic desire as Pluto takes on the role of blacksmith within the forge of Mars.

The stillness of Pluto stationing direct will saturate the astrological landscape with the chthonic fertility of Hades. As the underworld ferryman emerges to demand offering from Mars, so will we need to examine our inner soil and the seeds germinating within its silent darkness. Look within for guidance rather than to external forms of security, for the volatility incited by Mars across civilization will necessitate finding faith within the deep harbors of psyche rather than the societal structures being dissolved and reforged. The strife and discord within collective events will be rampant with purgative force as Mars additionally will form a conjunction with the dwarf planet Eris on October 4, the same day Pluto stations direct.

While conjunctions between Saturn and Pluto have long been known in mundane astrology to incite collapse and polarized conflict in global events, the irrevocable dismantling of long-standing societal structures that has corresponded with their conjunction in 2020 has been magnified in intensity due to Saturn and Pluto uniting in close proximity with their own south nodes. The archetypal meaning of the entire orbital arcs of Saturn and Pluto crashing down across the ecliptic has been in effect during the past year, and as they both station direct together while Mars crashes into them they will unleash a final flood of accumulated toxicities and oppression built up from ages past.

Thus Mars retrograde is not only forming a square with Saturn and Pluto but also the nodes of Saturn and Pluto, placing it at the unfathomably cathartic place of volatilizing Saturn and Pluto from the southern bending of their own nodes. As a result, we have arrived at a crucially important opportunity to confront societal issues that have been festering and plaguing people for centuries and detoxify their intersection with us as individuals. The Full Moon in Aries will illuminate the importance of claiming responsibility for our behavior and intention, being accountable for the wider collective impact of our individual action. As the tension between Saturn, Pluto, and Mars erupts, we may discover the courage needed within our depths to protect those who are vulnerable and stand up for the world we wish to see rebuilt in the years ahead.

Image 71 from the Red Book

From Liber Novus by C.G. Jung

Vitally, Mercury will be at its maximum elongation as an Evening Star during the Full Moon in Aries, demarcating the threshold of Mercury beginning to slow down before stationing retrograde in Scorpio on October 13. Mercury in Scorpio will be making a sequence of three oppositions with Uranus in Taurus between now and November 17, with its first exact opposition occurring on October 7 and its second occurring on October 19 after shifting retrograde. Mercury and Uranus facing off will make the already volatile astrology even more chaotic, but there will also be enormous creative potential unleashed between Mercury and Uranus for reception of revelations and liberating yourself from whatever needs to be shed and released.

Mercury will be under rulership of the fiery instigator Mars, making the upcoming Mercury retrograde phase in Scorpio especially disorienting and purgative. With Mars retrograde already dislodging stuck patterns, Uranus being opposed by Mercury in the dark watery climate of Scorpio will amplify capacity for absorbing atmospheric undercurrents and penetrating under the surface of dynamics to reveal what has been hidden in the root of the matter. The watery landscape of Scorpio is not only a place of burial and decomposition, but also a place in which decay nourishes and feeds the growth of orchards and vineyards that ultimately produce fruit. While we will need to allow for unexpected commotion that can upturn plans, the simmering tension between Mercury and Uranus can also reveal insights buried in the boglands of Scorpio that will prove to be potent catalysts of profound growth.

2 of Wands

2 of Wands by Pamela Colman Smith

Aries 1 Decan

The Aries Full Moon will rise in the first face of Aries associated with the Two of Wands card illustrated above by Pamela Colman Smith. The image of a conquering figure holding a globe, piercing the expanse of the horizon with his gaze is fitting for a decan steeped in will power, as he seems intent on enacting his vision upon reality and expanding his influence. The ambitious confidence and assertion present in the image connects with the fact that Mars rules the first decan of Aries, giving Mars both domicile and face rulership over the Aries Full Moon. 

Austin Coppock in his book on the decans 36 Faces ascribed the symbol of “The Axe” to the first decan of Aries, as it has a long association with fierce figures such as in the Liber Hermetis where we discover a man “standing on feet like claws” and “holding above his head a double-sided axe with both hands.” Coppock rooted the symbolism of the Axe in it being “the primordial splitter” that creates the division necessary for growth, as “cosmologies begin with the sundering of the One.” Indeed, not only did the Hellenistic text the 36 Airs identify the mythic Aidoneus with the first face of Aries, so did the ancient philosopher Empedocles identify Aidoneus as one of the four fundamental elements at the root of creation.

While Coppock described the Axe as a magical tool essential for the use of the first face of Aries in “breaking bonds which no longer serve” and bringing “subjective order to the world” through “taming the environment,” he also noted it is a face of raw, unfiltered, and untamed willpower that can evoke the “tyrannical spirit of the infant.” As it is a decan focused upon “the will pressing reality to conform with its pattern,” its strength lies in the personal power of an “unrestrained will” and “the individual yang struggling out of the collective yin.” Yet Coppock also warned of “a tendency in this decan to try to do too much with force alone,” quickly accumulating karmic debts and destructive opponents.

The Aries Full Moon will ignite the fiery, raw individualism of the first face of Aries, and so we need to consider how and why we intend to wield its penetrative potency externally and internally. While the martial ambition found in this face can be linked with empire builders who wish to amass immense power and control, its primordial fire is also what brings the inspiration and foresight required to throw off the shackles of colonizing empire and insist on liberation. However, fighting fire with fire amidst the incendiary astrology of the next month can risk unleashing devouring flames that burn out of control and lead to severe destruction. Considered responses and thoughtful initiatives are advisable within our external relationships, yet within our inner furnace we may more freely direct the fierce flames of the Full Moon to melt down entrenched patterns, fluidly reforging a revivified presence.

Nowhere, Love, will World exist but within. Our lives
pass in transformation. And all the while the outside realm
diminishes. Where once a solid house endured,
some abstraction shoves itself into view, completely at ease
among concepts, as if it still stood in the brain.
The Zeitgeist is building vast reservoirs of power, formless
as the thrusting energy it wrests from everything.
It no longer recognizes temples. Furtively we hoard
what the heart once lavished. Where one of them still survives,
an object once prayed to, revered, knelt before—,
it’s already reaching, secretly, into the invisible world.
Many no longer see it, yet without the gain
of rebuilding it greater now, with pillars and statues, within!

— Rainer Maria Rilke, from the Seventh Elegy of Duino Elegies translated by Edward Snow

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References

Coppock, Austin. (2014). 36 Faces: the history, astrology, and magic of the decans. Three Hands Press.

Rilke, Rainer Maria. (2000). Duino Elegies. translated by Edward Snow. North Point Press.

Aries New Moon: At the Crossroads with Chiron

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7E7F1A9B-107C-4F34-85C9-46DA9CD4874B_1_201_a

Wood, sinew, horn (bovine, elk) bow circa 1500

New Moon in Aries

These days you don’t need astrology to tell you we have arrived at a collective crossroads. With the COVID 19 pandemic causing seclusion in quarantine around the world, with businesses and schools closed and public gatherings banned, the need to sustain drastic measures for containment has brought us betwixt and between, forced to accept indefinite timelines for when public activities now classified as “nonessential” may resume. There’s a pervasive, mysterious unknown pulsing throughout personal and societal spheres for how to handle the simultaneous threats to health and economy. Crossroads have ancient connection with liminal states and being at the intersection between different worlds. Divinities traditionally honored at the crossroads include Hekate and Hermes, deities who bridge the underworld of death with the upperworld of life, psychopomps who know the ways of divination and can light our way through dark nights of the soul.

The Aries New Moon is at the crossroads of the lunar nodes with Chiron and Lilith waiting to greet us at its intersection. The New Moon is applying tightly toward a conjunction with both Chiron and Black Moon Lilith in Aries, while forming a square aspect with the lunar nodes. Chiron is the wise mentor of the heroic who also teaches the medicinal alchemy found within the interconnected spirit of our material world. While there are different forms of Lilith across different ancient cultures, there are common features of her that resonate with Chiron: the experience of being in exile and the essential sacredness discovered when making home in the wild, dwelling in the outskirts of civilization. Together they are seeding the fiery Aries New Moon with a call to claim our authentic integrity and resolutely reforge a meaningful vision to embody within the darkness.

The lunar nodes demarcate the intersection of the orbital arcs of the Sun and Moon, the crossroads where our material forms encounter our yearnings of soul. The lunar nodes mark the places of eclipses as well as dynamic points of change within the monthly motion of the Moon. When the Moon forms a square aspect with its own nodes, it has reached the furthest point north or south it will travel in latitude before heading back in the opposite direction toward the ecliptic. The Aries New Moon is at the southern bending, dredging up subconscious material that needs to be faced without avoidance or denial. With the New Moon squaring the nodes, we are more likely to feel unsure of which direction to follow, oscillating back and forth between choices associated with both ends of the nodes.

Old astrological text conjures images of dragons as the nodes, with the north node symbolizing the head and the south node the tail. While the north node consumes with desire, absorbs new material, and seeks new plots for your story, the south node makes sacred through sacrificing, harvesting, releasing, re-channeling, and retelling. Similarly, Black Moon Lilith is another aspect of the Moon’s orbit connected with a mythic figure who has been demonized and feared. As it connects with the Moon’s farthest point in orbit away from us and our conscious awareness, so does it bring forth the parts of our multiplicity that have been cast off into our unconscious. Altogether it’s a lot of shadowy material for Chiron to distill in his alembic, yet the medicine he will extract from it will be exactly what we need.

The Aries New Moon being at the southern bending also means it is forming an exact square aspect with the Capricorn Solar Eclipse on December 25, 2019 that was conjoining the South Node of the Moon. As a result, the New Moon will stir up personal and collective material originating from the time of the eclipse- while this clearly connects with accounts of the coronavirus becoming known in Wuhan, China at the end of December, there likely are more uniquely personal issues with roots in the weeks surrounding the eclipse that will need to be dealt with.

Since Jupiter in Capricorn was closely conjoining the Capricorn Solar Eclipse, and Jupiter is presently engaged in a volatile conjunction with Mars and Pluto, a lot of the current issues experiencing dissolution and intensification are signified by Jupiter. For example, Judith Hill in her book Eclipses and You listed numerous significations that become activated when Jupiter is within a degree of a solar eclipse: stocks and speculation, the air travel industry, schools, colleges, senators and congress, conferences, bail-outs, philanthropy, and charity.

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Hatakeyama Shigetada Carrying a Horse (1822) by Katsushika Hokusai

Mars in Capricorn rules the New Moon from its place of exaltation and pinnacle expression. Mars has been operating recently from a place of extreme potency as it has moved through conjunctions with Jupiter and Pluto in Capricorn- indeed, Mars is separating by less than one degree from Pluto and two degrees from Jupiter during the New Moon. In the chart for the Aries Equinox that sets the tone for the year ahead, Mars is asserting its powerful influence over the events of the forthcoming year as it is applying tightly to a conjunction with Jupiter and Pluto. Mars in Capricorn has extreme stamina, perseverance, resilience, and ambition that needs to be directed wisely. Its present primacy correlates with the disruptive current events that have been causing destruction to societal institutions and separation in personal lives, yet its exalted proximity with Jupiter and Pluto brings ample reserves of fortitude and willpower to carry us through the COVID 19 calamity.

As the Aries New Moon waxes into its first visible light, it will form a catalyzing square aspect with the conjunction forming between Jupiter and Pluto in Capricorn. Jupiter and Pluto will form their first of three conjunctions during 2020 on April 4 as the Moon continues to increase in light a few days before the Full Moon in Libra on April 7 (the other two conjunctions of Jupiter and Pluto will be on June 30 and November 12). When Jupiter combines with Pluto, new knowledge and growth opportunities come from eruptions and catharsis that can expand vision beyond previous restrictions. Yet the buoyant expansiveness of Jupiter must come to terms with the death and decay of Pluto, and as Pluto pulls Jupiter into its depth of darkness it will expose hypocrisies and injustices we will need to sustain focus on to remedy.

It’s important to keep in mind that we are approaching only the first of three conjunctions between Jupiter and Pluto this year, and that the first test that comes from outer planet alignments tends to be the harshest. As numerous social structures are rupturing, there will be some we will have to let go of and witness being torn down. Fortunately, the combination of Jupiter and Pluto with Mars in Capricorn contains the visionary drive necessary for regenerating, rebuilding, and reforging new dreams, goals, and forms to take the place of whatever will be falling apart. However, the obsessive determination kindled by Jupiter and Pluto in Capricorn can be all consuming, and so it will be vital to allow their ruler Saturn to temper any excess or inflation emanating from their combination.

The recent ingress of Saturn into Aquarius marks one of the biggest changes of the year, as Saturn changing signs redistributes enormous gravity, pressure, and weight to a new area of life. There is cause for hope with Saturn in Aquarius, as Saturn in its fixed and airy home can promote not only effective scientific responses to the coronavirus, but also distribution of thoroughly researched plans for protection and visionary reordering of institutions to deal with its devastating impact on individual lives. Just as Aquarius traditionally signifies quarries where minerals are dug up, so will Saturn in Aquarius be able to excavate needed knowledge and resources from places that have been hidden up until now.

As the Moon waxes toward fullness, Mars will be steadily approaching a conjunction with Saturn that will finally culminate on March 31. Mars and Saturn together can signify difficult experiences that feel harrowing and require working hard with persistent commitment to address hardships. However, we can also constructively weld the passionate, fiery energy of Mars to the disciplined and determined scrutinizing of Saturn. The restraint of Saturn can temper the inflamed aggressiveness of Mars, making it possible to direct the dynamic boldness of Mars with a serious  and contemplative focus.

By the time of the upcoming Libra Full Moon on April 7, Mars will have moved through a conjunction with Saturn in Aquarius and will be forming an exact square aspect with Uranus in Taurus. Mars plowing through catalyzing aspects with Saturn and Uranus will provoke confrontations within institutional structures over how to respond to the pandemic that will stir up larger ideological conflicts that will be shaping societal changes in the years ahead. It’s likely that the present intensity surrounding COVID 19 will continue to build to a crescendo around the time of the Libra Full Moon as Mars completes its aspects with Saturn and Uranus, before it begins to wane. As Mars will be impacted by the restriction of Saturn and the shattering liberation of Uranus, their volatile combination can reveal how structure and containment can lead to a freeing of creativity and a forging of stronger community in the face of adversity.

lunacy 100 aspects of the moon

Lunacy – Unrolling Letters from One Hundred Aspects of the Moon (1889) by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

In contrast to the agitating aspects between Mars with Jupiter and Pluto, Venus in Taurus is forming a flowing and stabilizing trine aspect with Jupiter and Pluto in Capricorn. Venus is shining bright as an Evening Star and is likewise the bright blessing involved in the dynamics of the Aries New Moon. Venus in Taurus correlates with the steadying presence of artistic expression that has been bringing people together who would otherwise be isolated within quarantine. Whether through singing together from balconies or utilizing technology to stream art, song, and storytelling, the unifying comfort brought through shared creativity has been pleasing to Venus in Taurus. Venus is also engaged in a square aspect with Ceres in Aquarius during the New Moon, emphasizing that the capacity of Venus in Taurus to find stability in whatever resources are available needs our focus rather than panicking over fear of lack and hoarding resources from those who need it.

During the first week of April when Mars will be stirring up tension between Saturn and Uranus and Jupiter will be uniting with Pluto, Venus will also be experiencing a major change. On April 1, Venus will go out of bounds in northern declination and then on April 3, Venus will enter Gemini as it visually forms a conjunction with the Pleiades in the night sky. Venus will remain out of bounds for two months, and due to Venus stationing retrograde on May 12, Venus will also be remaining in Gemini until August 7. Venus will be untethered, freedom seeking, and creatively curious as the Moon waxes full in her airy home of Libra on April 7. It will be ideal to make space and time for creative experimentation and exploration once Venus enters Gemini.

Meanwhile, Mercury in Pisces is entering its period of being at maximum elongation as a Morning Star, meaning that it will be picking up speed to play its fleet footed messenger role with full aplomb. Mercury is retracing the degrees it previously moved retrograde in Pisces and will cross the degree where it previously stationed retrograde on March 29. Typically this is the phase of Mercury during which to put into practice whatever innovations were developed during its previous retrograde phase, however world events have taken such a dramatically different turn that it truly feels like we are operating within a different climate now. Mercury in Pisces can bring guidance through intuition and sensing the emotional needs of others.

During the first week of April, Mercury will form a conjunction with Neptune in Pisces on April 3 during the same time that Venus enters Gemini, Jupiter conjoins Pluto, and Mars forms a square aspect with Uranus. Mercury’s union with Neptune can be productive for those involved in musical, artistic, imaginative, poetic, and other forms of creative work, but can otherwise cast a mist over communication that will require making an effort to gain as much clarity as possible.

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2 of Wands by Pamela Colman Smith

Aries 1 Decan

The Aries New Moon will emerge within the first face of Aries associated with the Two of Wands card illustrated above by Pamela Colman Smith. The image involves a conquering figure holding a globe in one hand as he gazes from a protective castle into an expansive terrain. It is the body of water that appears to have secured his focus in this moment, and the presence of the globe seems to imply a moment of reflection regarding expanding his influence or dominion. The grandiose ambition and confident assertion present in the image is fitting considering that Mars rules the first decan of Aries, giving Mars both domicile and face rulership over the Aries New Moon.

Austin Coppock in his book 36 Faces ascribed the symbol of “The Axe” to the first decan of Aries, which has a long association with furiously martial figures who dominate enemies and assure victory in battle. For example, the Liber Hermetis ascribed an image of a man “standing on feet like claws,” while “holding above his head a double-sided axe with both hands.” Coppock deepened the symbolism of the axe through linking it to the splitting and separation from “the One” of ancient wisdom traditions, a severing necessary for creation and growth. Coppock linked this separation to “building a distinct and individual life . . . the individual yang struggling out of the collective yin” which he compared to both the cutting of the umbilical cord between child and mother and the cutting of trees to build homes in the wilderness.

While the martial ambition found in this face and pictured in the Two of Wands card can be linked with empire builders who wish to amass power for themselves, its primordial fire is also what brings the inspiration and foresight required to throw off the shackles of empire and insist on liberation. Chiron is tending the celestial fire of the Aries New Moon so that we may seek counsel with our ancestors, sustain patient compassion amid strife and separation, and kindle courage to enter the fray of the unknown with creative vibrancy and a flexible consciousness ready to respond and bring nurturing support wherever it is needed. Liz Greene in The Astrological World of Jung’s Liber Novus shared the following passage from Carl Jung’s Black Book that gets to the heart of the ancient potency found in the first face of Aries:

“He [Phanes] is foresight. He is the end of fear. He is the sprouting seed, the opening bud . . . He is the spring and the desert. He is the safe haven and the stormy night. He is the certainty in desperation. He is the solid in dissolution. He is the liberation from imprisonment. He is counsel and strength in advancement. He is the friend of man, the light emanating from man, the bright glow that man beholds on his path.”

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References

Coppock, Austin. (2014). 36 Faces: the history, astrology, and magic of the decans. Three Hands Press.

Greene, Liz. (2018). The Astrological World of Jung’s Liber Novus: Daimons, Gods, and the Planetary Journey. Routledge.

Hill, Judith. (2013). Eclipses and You: How to Align with Life’s Hidden Tides. Stellium Press.