Aries Season: The Revolution Starts Within
Happy Astrological New Year!
As the Sun entered into Aries, the first sign of the zodiac, on March 19, 2024 at 11:06 pm EST we ushered in Spring, the Vernal Equinox, and the returning of the light.
We are a quarter way through the Gregorian year and 2024 has already been one for the books. The last few months have heralded major shifts with Pluto’s move into Aquarius in January and its conjunction with Mercury, Mars, and Venus in February; followed by the Sun’s conjunction with Saturn and Mercury in Pisces, and finally the Sun’s conjunction with Neptune at the final degrees of Pisces just before moving into Aries.
During the entirety of Aries season, Mercury will be retrograde (starting April 1st) or in its pre-retrograde shadow (starting March 18th). Mercury officially stations direct on April 25th after the Sun enters Taurus, but it doesn’t leave its post-retrograde shadow until May 13th.
Because lunar nodes are in Aries and Libra, the Sun’s entrance into Aries also marked the beginning of eclipse season – a historic eclipse season nonetheless. Eclipses happen when the Sun, Moon, and Earth come into a specific alignment, which only occurs when the Moon is close to a lunar node. The lunar nodes are points in space where the Moon's orbital path around the Earth intersects with the ecliptic, which is the path that the Sun traces in the sky from the perspective of Earth. North Node eclipses represent an increase – where we are going, where we are hungry, and where we are collecting experience that is important to our growth. South Node eclipses represent a decrease – qualities that we’re shedding, outgrowing, and what we need to move away from in order to grow.
The first eclipse this year is a Penumbral Lunar Eclipse in Libra on Monday, March 25th and the second is a Total Solar Eclipse in Aries on April 8th conjunct Chiron. The new moon North Node eclipse on April 8th happens to be occurring with the Moon exactly conjunct the North Node – DOWN TO THE MINUTE (we measure planets location in the zodiac in degrees + minutes). This degree happens to be one single degree away from the very place that Chiron was in when Declaration Papers were signed and months after Pluto entered into Aquarius. Although the Declaration Papers were signed in 1776, independence was not recognized by Great Britain until 1783, 6 years after Pluto entered the humanitarian, revolutionary, liberatory sign of Aquarius.
I don’t believe we can understand our experience outside of the interpersonal and social context in which we live. And. regardless of the politics you subscribe to, on a planet where our daily lives exist within the context of state borders and laws that are highly influential to the consequences of our actions and therefore major influences on our choices and behavior, the context in which we experience our lives is inevitably a political one. We’re living through an ecological crisis that threatens the survival of our species and millions more, multiple lifelong wars, including Israel’s genocide of Palestine, led by Netanyahu, the godfather of modern Israeli fascism, a Trump-like figure that is in no way a reflection of Judaism, Jews, or the vast majority of people in Israel. This is a war that has blatantly disregarded the United Nations international laws of war again and again, in large part with funding and weapons provided by the United States. This of course occurs in the backdrop of a U.S. election year, where Trump is running again despite having been impeached, and who has flagrantly embraced lawlessness, baselessly claiming the election was stolen and inciting an insurrection.
I believe this to be important context because, for one, it simply is the context. And for two, while in some ways we have more freedom than we ever had in human history (at least of us with settler-colonial backgrounds - I’m not claiming to be an anthropologist here), or at least in the last several hundred years, many of these civil liberties are very new and have only been won in the last century. My paternal grandfather was born in 1899 and my grandmother was born in 1915, 5 years before the women’s right to vote was ratified in 1920. African Americans wouldn’t get the right to vote until 1964, 9 years after my father was born.
With the eclipses occurring in Aries, the sign of independence and survival, and Libra the sign of justice and relationships, this history could not be more relevant. This is the second out of three eclipse seasons that will happen in these signs, the first on October 14th, 2023 in Libra occurring a week after Hamas’ attack on Israel. Regardless of where you stand on that catastrophic issue, we’re living through times where our tax dollars are funding endless wars, environmental destruction that threatens our lives, and our deepest, most instinctual human freedoms of thoughts and emotions are constantly being targeted by corporations to manipulate our behavior into buying things. (If you don’t know about this, seriously, look it up or watch the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma. Advertising companies frame their services in terms of not products bought but the behavior changes they invoke whether that be clicking a link and browsing a page without buying something or how long it takes for you to return to that page. Similarly, Facebook and Instagram prioritize content based on engagement, how many times you open your phone and check the apps, and naturally, the things that get a rise out of us are what hook us the most. Not to mention the filters that are literally causing body dysmorphia, especially in young people.)
Against this backdrop, the choices we make as individuals (Aries) and in our relationships (Libra) have a massive impact on freedom (Aries) and justice (Libra). Remember, eclipse seasons are not times to set intentions, take big action, or make important decisions. During eclipses, the light is disrupted, subtle information is exposed that is important to our growth, and lessons that are overdue are intensified by either quickened or slowed way down, sometimes coming to a head. These are times to get more rest, lay low, and pay attention. What is revealed during this is likely important to our individual and collective growth, and may not make sense until after eclipse season has passed.
Now let’s dive in.
March 18: The day before the Sun enters Aries, Mercury (already in its pre-retrograde shadow) makes a conjunction with the North Node in Aries foreshadowing the lessons we’re learning this eclipse season around stepping into the most authentic, liberated, passionate expression of ourselves. We may receive downloads, messages, or experiences that show us where we rub up against feelings of victimhood and the excuses we make of why we can’t be ourselves. If you feel triggered just reading the word “excuses” (which is totally real and valid) your feelings around needing to make yourself small or palatable for safety might be deeply entrenched. If this is true for you, try to explore the part of yourself that believes it needs to alter itself to be safe. Ask this feeling when it developed that belief and why. You will likely find that it developed when you were a child, at a time when you had no choice about where you lived or the people who surrounded you. Moving forward, when you get triggered in this way, if you can experience the trigger as a cry for help for your inner child that had no other choice, the messages this experience is sending you may become more clear. Now’s not a time to try to “fix” anything though. You’re not broken, you’re a human being collecting experiences and information about what you need and want to survive and thrive in the world. All you have to do, to the best of your ability, is bear compassionate, loving witness to yourself.
March 19: Sun moves into Aries, ushering Spring and the Vernal Equinox. For six simple spring equinox rituals, read this.
March 20: Vernal Equinox. Mercury makes a conjunction with Chiron in Aries, building on the themes from Monday the 18th, exposing us where we’ve felt rejected or wounded from being ourselves and foreshadowing the lessons we’ll be moving through this eclipse season. This week might reveal a new understanding of why you hide parts of yourself or a specific part of yourself that you had no idea you were hiding. This is a good time to reflect on: What are the places you feel most comfortable being fully yourself and why? What are the places you feel the least comfortable and why? What are the memories and beliefs you hold that it’s not safe to be you?
March 21: The Sun in Aries makes a supportive sextile with Pluto in Aquarius, helping us understand where we derive personal power from the collective. With the North Node / Chiron / Mercury conjunctions from earlier this week in the background, you might be realizing the ways oppressive systems of power have validated any beliefs around needing to hide or contort yourself in order to be safe and secure. Alternatively, depending on where you are in relation to these wounds, you might be realizing that when you take your personal freedom in your own hands, you set others free too. This is the difference between the mantras:
I’ll be myself when the world is a safe place to be myself;
and
When I am myself I create a world that is more safe.
Aries is the sign of the pioneer. Remember we stand on the shoulders of giants. If it weren’t for the courage of those who came before us, we would be wildly less free. Sun in Aries sextile Pluto in Aquarius is about radically asserting your freedom and refusing to derive power from anything that minimizes your most authentic self.
Also on the 21st, Venus and Saturn make a conjunction in Pisces, reminding us of the boundaries we need to have in our relationships in order to be ourselves and to feel aligned and unified with our spirit. Yes, spiritually we are all connected–but we are all spirits embodied–and that makes our experiences, expressions, and preferences unique. It’s through our unique expressions that we make one-of-a-kind contributions to the collective, and it’s the combination of these one-of-a-kind contributions that help wake each other up to different aspects of our spiritual being that we forget in this human form. This Venus and Saturn conjunction asks us to go deep and reflect on what qualities in relationships feed our spirit and how we value those qualities. What puts your heart at ease? What ignites your heart? What makes you feel seen and connected? And most importantly, what boundaries would allow you to make more space for those qualities? And what boundaries would allow you to bring those qualities forth more regularly and consistently?
March 22: Mars, the ruler of Aries and the Solar Eclipse on April 8th moves into Pisces, the final sign of the zodiac that is the archetype of the artist and the healer – spiritual, intuitive, sensitive, dreamy, and emotional. Mars is our survival instinct and the planet of action and activism. Mars’ transit through Pisces until April 30th supports us in taking decisive action on our emotions in ways that are both personal and relational. Because Pisces also represents the spiritual realm where all things are connected, in Pisces Mars reminds us that our individual actions are inevitably impacting the collective.
March 24: Right before the Libra Lunar Eclipse, the two benefic planets, Venus (ruler of Libra and Taurus) in Pisces makes a sextile to Jupiter (ruler of Pisces) in Taurus. If you have something important to do, this is the best day in the coming weeks to do it and a moment of clarity and protection amidst the shadows of eclipse season. This transit is about tending to our physical, spiritual, and/or emotional needs whether that be personally, relationally, or collectively. Because Venus rules the Lunar Eclipse in Libra on Monday, this may help to temper the intensity of the lessons that get exposed at this time.
March 25th, Penumbral Lunar Eclipse in Libra at 3:00 AM EST: The Sun and Moon make an opposition close to the nodes, but not close enough for the Earth to cast a shadow on the Moon entirely, making this a penumbral eclipse meaning that the Moon will appear only slightly darker than usual. As a South Node eclipse, this is about releasing disempowering interpersonal dynamics that are draining and taking away from you following your passion. Even if you’re in a nodal opposition, which means your North Node is in Libra, these dynamics would still be at play. For North Node Libra people, relationships are very important to your soul purpose and calling in this lifetime, but what pulls us also represents a growth edge. That means it’s even more important for you to notice when relational dynamics feel unbalanced and when you’re sacrificing yourself for a relationship. For all of us, relationships are healthy and balanced only when two people can express themselves authentically. If you suppress a part of yourself to “keep the peace” or be “likable,” you will inevitably (even if it’s unconscious) expect others to do the same. Our behavior is rooted in beliefs, and if we choose this behavior, there is a belief that we should suppress parts of ourselves to uphold societal standards of “civility” or “appropriateness” or maybe even what is seen as powerful. Because Libra is associated with justice and the law, you might even be noticing or rubbing up against larger systems of power and injustice that feed into these dynamics. You might realize you have a fear that if you don’t conform you’ll be “in trouble.” Sometimes that can feel baffling! As an adult, we know we won’t be in trouble for being ourselves the majority of the time, yet many of us still hold that feeling deep down. Whether it’s from society or the biological reality that, from the time we’re babies, we’re receiving data from our experiences about what behavior makes us receive love and what behavior leaves us feeling abandoned or rejected. Notice what comes up for you around acceptance, from others and even your acceptance for yourself.
March 28: Venus in Pisces sextile Uranus in Taurus is about resources and the ways our relationships feed us physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Venus rules Taurus and therefore rules Uranus’ transit through Taurus from 2018-2026 that, as a slow-moving generational planet, has been about the ways we relate to our resources and the ways the dominant extractive method of relating to our resources has caused the climate crisis. Everything we can touch is resource, including humans, because everything comes from and is sustained by the Earth. Because a sextile is a supportive aspect, this transit will likely bring feelings of abundance, but for those who are tuned into the ecological devastation and human rights violations that maintain Western comfort, this transit might bring up feelings or lessons around creating greater spiritual alignment (Pisces) between your values (Venus) and the way you consume resources. Overall, it’s a good day to reflect on how you can spend your time (which is a resource) in ways that align with your values.
April 1: April Fools! Mercury stations retrograde in Aries, disrupting and slowing down communication. Mercury in retrograde offers us time to reflect on how we are intellectually expressing ourselves–in our thoughts, speech, and writing–and whether it is of greatest service to the people we are and the people we want to become. If you’re a True Detective fan you might recall in Season 4, Evangeline to Rose Aguineau, “What were you…before Alaska? Your name isn’t Rose Aguineau, is it?” To which Rose replies: “Well, I was a very serious professor in a very serious school, writing very serious ideas.” Evangeline asks why she left. She replies: “Well, one Tuesday morning after coffee, I sat down to polish some pompous, useless article. And I just had enough. I had enough. Every damned word I’d written in my entire life was meaningless. Making so much noise. So much noise. It is a little quieter here.” I love that quote. Watching Season 4 nearly gave me a heart attack. I don’t watch scary things or horror. I’m a Pisces rising and the emotional intensity penetrates the entirety of my being. But the quotes were worth it, especially this one, which really reminds me of the use of Mercury Retrograde. So many words. So much noise. And when these communication channels get disrupted it can be infuriating. But how important is it really? Mercury retrograde gives us time to get quiet, and in Aries asks us how much of our thoughts and words are really our own, and how much are a result of our conditioning and institutionalization. Since our thoughts and internal dialogue is a critical component of what shapes our sense of individuality, and the North Node is in Aries, I think this Mercury retrograde is an important one. And, because Mercury in fiery Aries can lead to overthinking, it’s an important time to discern what thoughts are worth the mental space they occupy.
April 3: Venus in Pisces makes a conjunction with Neptune in Pisces for the second to last time in our lives. Neptune takes 165 years to move through the zodiac, so some people will never experience Neptune in Pisces, which is its own sign. Neptune is about dreams and delusions. It’s about the myths that underlie meaning-making, the invisible realm of beliefs that sculpt our physical reality. On a personal level, the Venus-Neptune conjunction in Pisces is a great day for creativity, making art or writing poetry, daydreaming, escaping to the beach, and being with the more mystical side of life. This transit can create relationship dynamics that feel dreamy, which may be real, and/but/also delusion is increased with Neptune, so be aware when things seem too good to be true. For those who are in relationships that are unstable or potentially harmful, note that manipulation could occur more easily on this day, and take extra care to set boundaries. Ideally, that would look like not being around the influence of people who are manipulative and harmful, whether the harm they cause is intentional or based on their own delusions. Also, because Venus also symbolizes value (including money) in the chart, this is not the best day to make any big financial decisions as they might be clouded by Neptune’s optimism and illusion. Overall, it’s best to hold off any big decision until after Mercury stations direct on April 25.
A brief note on the history of Neptune in Pisces: Neptune has been in Pisces since 2011 and will remain there for one more year until March 2025, when it will dip into Aries for a few months, and return to Pisces in October until January 26, 2026, never to return in our lifetimes. The last time Neptune was in Pisces was 1847-1862. This period encapsulated a year of revolts against monarchies in Europe in 1848 that ultimately failed resulting in repression and disillusionment among liberals. The Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engles was written. South Carolina became the first state to withdraw from the U.S. and the Confederacy formed, leading to the Civil War. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood of Painters was formed to revive British Art and attempt to express nature and true emotions in art. The speed of light was measured by Armand Fizeau and Moby Dick by Herman Melville was published. Thoreau published Walden. The Atlantic cable was completed to connect Britain and the U.S. by telegraph. And Darwin’s Origin of Species was published. The time before that when Neptune was in Pisces from 1684 to 1698 included the Salem Witch Trials, the birth of three musical giants (Bach, Handel, and Scarlatti), the publication of Newton’s Principia explaining laws of motion and universal gravitation, and the ban of religion in France except Roman Catholicism followed by a mass tolerance movement in the United Kingdom in what was called the Liberty of Conscience. Last but not least, was the Glorious Revolution or “Bloodless Revolution” in England from 1688 to 1689 when the Catholic King James II was overthrown and replaced by his Protestant daughter Mary and her Dutch husband William of Orange, planting the seeds for political democracy. Mary and William signed the English Bill of Rights in 1689 which outlined constitutional and civil rights and gave Parliament power over the monarchy and was credited as being the inspiration for the U.S. Bill of Rights.
April 5: Venus moves into Aries where the New Moon Solar Eclipse will occur on April 8th. Venus in Aries is about freedom in relationships and self-love. It’s a time to soak in the beauty of your creative impulse and, related to the eclipse, understand what blocks us from being authentic in life and relationships.
April 6: Venus in Aries sextile Pluto in Aquarius, bringing intensity to our relationships and highlighting the eroticism that comes from seeing our beloveds in their most authentic individuality and all the ways they are unique and different from us. Pluto asks us to go deep, so this transit reminds us that the satisfaction of superficial connections are short lived. If you’re feeling uninspired, dig deeper. In the age of the internet, a muse who is passionately dedicated to a craft that intrigues you is just some keystrokes and clicks away. On a collective level, this astrology reminds us that our collective liberation hinges on the ability to grapple with the wild variety of individual expression.
April 8 - New Moon Solar Eclipse in Aries: This Eclipse features an exact conjunction between the Sun, Moon, and Chiron at 19 degrees and 24 minutes Aries. As a North Node eclipse, this is pulling us towards what we hunger for as individuals and exposing the beliefs, thought patterns, situations, and societal constructs that block us from going after it. Aries is the sign of the warrior and it beckons our courage. Our courage to be unapologetically ourselves and stand against the oppressive forces that try to stop us. Aries is the first sign of the zodiac and about our individuation. It’s about being self-assured, doing what we want, and embarking on the journey our soul wants to go on.
In its shadow, Aries is rugged individualism. It’s competition, conquest, and relentless domination. That’s Aries' shadow because when we are self-assured and empowered, we can engage in relationships with each other, with the world around us, without losing ourselves and our individuality. When we are empowered in our uniqueness, we can respect other people, too, are different and still work together. Interdependence is a fact of our survival and that’s why Aries and Libra are on an axis. Signs are in their power when they’re balanced–when they can be fully expressed not at the expense of their opposite but in harmony with. It’s an art form that our culture hasn’t taught because quite frankly our culture is founded on the inability to dance with life in this way.
Conjunct Chiron, the wounded healer that exposes the challenge, the wound that is carried to teach us how to heal and to teach us that we don’t need to be all powerful and painless to exist and hold value, this eclipse puts us head to head with our indoctrinated tendencies towards competition, domination, and conquest. In Chani Nicholas’ March 18th, 2024 edition of The Weekly, she reminds us of a Carl Jung quote “To confront a person with his shadow is to show him his own light. Once one has experienced a few times what it is like to stand judgingly between the opposites, one begins to understand what is meant by the self. Anyone who perceives his shadow and his light simultaneously sees himself from two sides and thus gets in the middle.”
For this eclipse, Chiron is located a single degree away from where it was when the U.S. Declaration papers were signed meaning we are in the United State’s Chiron Return. This eclipse exposes the ways our process of individuation, our ability to face our shadow and reckon with the ways we turn away from and fail to believe in our own light. This astrology shows us the way we have been fed a lie of either-or-thinking, and wakes us up to the freedom that comes from the ability to see that we can simultaneously hold the ways life isn’t going the way we want it to go and our ability to choose differently based on the experiences that have shown us that we can experience flow and beauty. The collective impact comes from growing our capacity to extend that thinking toward societal systems and claim once and for all that it doesn’t have to be this way. We can have nice things and not destroy the planet. We can have vast diversity among humanity and still recognize the essence that unites us.
April 10: Mars in Pisces makes a conjunction with Saturn in Pisces helping us to solidify the things we’re learning about who we want to be, who we are on a spiritual level, and the structure and boundaries we need to create in our lives in order to exist from that place. This is a day to commit to your truth and your desires, no matter what obstacles you face. Saturn is the planet of tradition, time, structures, authority, boundaries, and commitment, and as such it sometimes represents the barriers that we face. Mars is the warrior, it is courage and ferocity, and with Saturn in the water sign of Pisces, we’re reminded that a river cuts a stone not through power but persistence. Where in your life could you use more discipline? And what boundaries would need to be in place for you to cultivate discipline there?
April 11: The Sun in Aries makes a conjunction to Mercury retrograde. In astrology, we call a conjunction between any planet and the Sun a “cazimi,” an Arabic term meaning “in the heart of.” Since Mercury travels close to the Sun, every Mercury retrograde has a cazimi, and it’s thought of as the revitalization necessary to get through the rest of its retrograde journey. As I said before, Mercury in Aries can lead to overthinking, and energized by the Sun this is especially true. Hone in your discernment about what thoughts are your own and which thoughts are indoctrinated or inherited by beliefs that don’t line up with your values. Remember that our thoughts and emotions don’t do well when they’re rejected. This isn’t about berating yourself or waging war against the things inside you that you don’t like but rather trying to understand the roots of those inauthentic beliefs and set the story straight by building trust between inner soldiers and your Spirit, showing the hypervigilant warriors that your Spirit Self is much better equipped to steer the ship of your psyche and they are fully welcome to take a rest.
April 15: Mercury retrograde in Aries makes a conjunction with Chiron, highlighting where the themes on April 11th can activate our emotions and fill us with anger or cause us to harden in self-protection. Whatever comes up today is likely to follow the thread of the Solar Eclipse from April 8th. Take note of whatever arises and do your best to validate your triggers that have resulted from the ways we’ve learned to rule our lives like dictators, controlling our every move and anticipating battle. Open yourself up to the possibility that as long as you accept yourself fully and deeply, you will have safety within your psyche. That even if the most dramatic consequences arise and you die, you die having defended your honor, refusing to be the one that kills a part of you so the rest of you can survive.
April 17: Venus in Aries makes a conjunction with the North Node in Aries, the eclipse point, again highlighting the themes from the Solar eclipse. Since Venus is the planet of love and relationships, this last major aspect of Aries season is about completing these lessons around your relationship with yourself and the way that impacts your relationship to others, your ability and willingness to express yourself authentically, the blocks you have around that, and the ways those blocks create tendencies of trying to control the people around you. If you’re feeling hypercritical of the people you love, think about what it would be like if they accepted the things about you that irritate them or they disagree with and consider extending them that same grace.
