March 21 1:23 PM EST
As a general rule of thumb, each calendar year there is one new moon and one full moon in each zodiac sign. However, every few years we have TWO new moons in the same sign (*it is also possible to occasionally have two full moon in the same sign). These happen back to back, one at the very beginning of the sign and one 28 days later at the very end of the sign. That is the case this month with TWO new moons in Aries. The first of which is just after the spring equinox, with both the sun and moon at 0 degrees of Aries. The 2nd new moon in Aries is at the very tail end of Aries season, at 29 degrees of Aries. And this 2nd new moon is a solar eclipse, meaning that the sun and moon are united very close to the ecliptic (the apparent path of the sun ‘around’ the earth). Eclipses are the most highly charged and potent new moons and full moons of the year. So this is BIG news for Aries energy. Not only are there 2 new moons in this sign, but one of them is an eclipse. This solar eclipse in Aries on April 20th is also the beginning of a series of Aries/Libra eclipses that will last through 2025. AND both 0 degrees and 29 degrees of a sign are what are considering critical degrees, IE. having extra special significance and power. So… here we go with the first new moon in Aries..
As the first sign of the zodiac, Aries is the sign of new beginnings. 0 degrees is also the degree of new beginnings. What is started now has extra special significance and potency. And we are all being highly encouraged to lean in towards the new. After several years of Saturn in Aquarius (which ended just before this new moon on March 7), and the accompanying long term square between Saturn (stability, structure, rules, ‘the past’) and Uranus (rebellion, liberation, freedom, ‘the new’), we have learned quite a lot about what we wish to bring forward with us from our past, and what is better permanently released for energetic recycling and transmutation. This new moon is perhaps a ‘final’ invitation to make some of those observations and discernments, as transformative Pluto (overseer of energetic recycling and transmutation) is in the very final minutes of it’s 15 year transit through Capricorn, located at 29 degrees of that sign, before it moves on into Aquarius on March 23rd. Pluto is forming a near exact sextile to the new moon at 0 degrees Aries. Once Pluto is in Aquarius, as it will be (at 0 degrees) at the time of the Aries eclipse, some of these deeper processes of personal and collective transformation at a cellular and consciousness level (Aquarius) can commence. But for now, during this new moon, with Pluto still in Capricorn, we can still see what it is we are being asked to surrender or release from ‘the old way’ (Capricorn) and consciously choose to engage in this process.
So there is a delicate balancing act now between enthusiastically bounding towards the new, while also maintaining awareness of any thread of ‘unfinished business’ that needs to be attended to over the next 28 days BEFORE we get to the Aries eclipse. This is the time to do that work so that we can lean wholeheartedly and with genuine freedom towards whatever new and exciting paths or relationships may be unfolding starting around that time.
All of this is emphasized further by the fact that optimistic and benefic Jupiter, the planet of expansion and luck, is in its final months in Aries and will not return again for 11 more years. Jupiter in Aries has been a taste, a tease in some ways, of the new and fresh for the past year. It has been giving us bold new visions and ideas of what is possible, how we can live and how we want to live. Aries is instinctual and impulsive, not intellectual or cautious. New possibilities have been stirring in our heart, able to beat louder than the thrum of our mental calculations or cynical hesitations. Nothing much may have come from these stirrings quite yet. That’s OK. After all, Aries represents the fresh seed shooting out of the ground, ready to BE and LIVE. It is not yet mature or ripe. That will come in time. The next step is the stabilization of growth and magnetization of resources that occurs after Jupiter moves into Taurus on May 16th. But for now Jupiter in Aries is very highlighted during this time of the Aries new moon and following Aries solar eclipse. The dreams, the new projects, new vision that we dare to invest in and hold close to our hearts now can truly begin to take shape in the coming months and years if we plant the seeds now with Jupiterian faith and trust.
But again, there are sill certain things that require attention and release before we can reach that point. Just as planets at 0 degrees of a sign symbolize new beginnings, planets in the very last degrees of a sign demand our attention in showing we have ‘learned the lessons’ before they move on. Pluto, as noted, at 29 degrees of Capricorn, is making this abundantly clear. As is Mars in Gemini, now at 27 degrees in the final week of its 7 month long transit through that sign. How we deal with the pressures of tradition and expectations (Capricorn) and how we communicate and process information (Gemini) have been hugely highlighted recently, and hopefully we have experienced a personal ‘up-leveling’ in regards to those topics. That will certainly serve us extremely well moving forwards into the new. And so now as we straddle the old and the new in some senses, ‘practicing’ this new way of being in whatever situations come up over the next month will help us ‘graduate’ beyond the lessons of these long terms transits having learned how the apply them constructively.
Saturn is now in Pisces, having entered that sign of March 7th. Saturn in Pisces deals a lot with the themes of following our personal knowing and intuition (Pisces) vs. what ‘authorities’ eschew (Saturn), and getting in right alignment with Spiritual (Pisces) Law (Saturn). For more details on all of this (which will last until February 2026) I would point you to the post about that transit. But for now, Saturn is at 1 degree of Pisces still getting its ‘feet wet’ so to speak.
Venus is at 5 degrees of Taurus at the time of the new moon in a beautiful close conjunction with the North Node at 4 degrees. Leaning into the Venusian themes of harmony, relationships, abundance, magnetism, and pleasure now provides a certain kind of compass for us to follow as we engage with this dance of letting go and beginning. Venus reminds us that if we don’t ENJOY it, if we don’t feel PLEASURE from the situations, projects, relationships, then what really is the point? That’s not to say that pleasure or enjoyment alone should be our barometer. Far from it. But rather that we can even more clearly see the writing on the wall about what is truly worth our investment of time and energy moving forward by distilling inside of us if that sweet satisfaction is present enough to commit to all of the dedicated and concerted efforts necessary into order to make it a foundational part of our life moving forward. After all, Aries may leap impulsively, but Taurus reminds us that things require dedication to grow and blossom and we should make those decisions with discernment.
Much of 2023 is really about this dance between the old and the new, and we have more opportunity in the upcoming months that we have in a long time to really ground down into what we want for the future and start to see the results of those choices and efforts. But as we navigate this liminal space, a huge amount of faith, self-believe, trust, courage, confidence, optimism and strength is required to hold that flame of sacred new beginnings strong in our hearts. And that is what this new moon is helping us to achieve.
*art by @dorianlegret
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