Astrology Highlights (printable)

Aries New Moon 'Scope
by Dana Gerhardt

What’s in the sky this cycle?

This New Moon brings a partial Solar Eclipse. If you want to see it and are in the Northern Hemisphere, I suggest astral travel. Set your coordinates for Antarctica, the southeast Atlantic Ocean, the southern half of Africa, or Madagascar. Whether or not you can see the eclipse, you will feel it. Perhaps you’ve already been feeling it. Eclipses start their vibration sometimes three to four weeks in advance. Eclipses bring a dramatic acceleration or sudden turn of events. This month eclipse has already been reverberating in news stories from Iraq. Commanders of the occupying forces are in shock: "The war has suddenly changed." What has recently changed for you? If events in your own life have turned, I hope you’ve also noticed there’s an illuminated doorway just ahead of you. It is open and beckoning. From the other side a voice is chanting: "Resistance is impossible… but change is good." Eclipses force much needed changes to the surface. Their shakedown makes it easier to release worn-out behaviors, attitudes and relationships. Their turbulence impels us to grow.

This New Moon is particularly potent. It is the second New Moon in Aries this year—it also brings a Solar Eclipse. In the final degree of Aries, this New Moon suggests a test—of how much conviction and consciousness you’re bringing to your growth cycle this Spring. Was—at the Aries New Moon last month—your inner heroic nature roused to action? You may have found that what was stagnant in your life was becoming unbearable. Spring is about initiating action. Leaves suddenly fill out bare branches. Hyacinth and tulip bulbs shoot up from the ground. Where have you been springing forth? This is the second cycle of Artemis—goddess of the Moon and goddess of the hunt. She is summoned in each of us this season, expressed in our joyous independence, in our nurturing and courageous action.

In the New Moon chart, Mars (Aries’ ruling planet) is approaching an opposition to Pluto (it will be exact on April 24). Going forward this cycle requires transformation—resistance suggests an explosive confrontation with one’s shadow. As if all this intensity weren’t enough, Mercury is still retrograde (until April 30). Communication isn’t smooth yet. The Trickster keeps messing with the mechanics of life. There may be times when you feel caught in a balancing act just beyond your abilities. But on a brighter note, the Sun enters Taurus within hours of the New Moon. Taurus brings a stabilizing energy. It holds out a promise of endurance, balance and grounding. Establish your connection to earth. Keep your eyes on the values that matter to you. But keep moving, like swift Artemis, in the direction of your desires.

Perhaps the most important resolve you might make this New Moon is to shift your focus from what you don’t want—on to what you do. Your future will be created by what you place your mind on now. If you’re focused on irritations or lack, you will get more of the same. If you fill your heart with winning feelings, if you fill your mind with images of success, the momentum towards a brighter future will build. Negative energy only brings more negativity. The tulip bulb shooting up from the earth doesn’t think "I don’t want more winter." It is thinking "I want to be a luscious bloom." When you do likewise this cycle, a resplendent future will be speeding your way.

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