New Moon in Aries

Ok, let's look at tomorrow's new moon - 30th March, around 7:30 pm GMT.

It's at 10 degrees Aries, conjunct rebel freak planet Uranus! Square Pluto in Capricorn and Jupiter in Cancer! I feel like putting exclamation points on the end of every sentence, looking at this!


(DIE ANTWOORD BREAK!!!)

So fun, so freaking scary. That's what this feels like. Big jolt of freak energy, teetering on the brink of mayhem.

New moons are about beginnings, and a new moon in Aries is about the start of something big. Woo, here we go! Yippie ki yay motherfuckers, it's spring! And everything is just shooting up out of the ground like, aaaargh, let me loose!

Aries is a cardinal sign: cardinal fire. The cardinal signs (Aries, Libra, Cancer and Capricorn) initiate action, and as the first sign in the zodiac, Aries kicks off everything.

It's the moment of birth: the moment where the baby finds itself suddenly clear of the constriction and anonymity of the womb. What a shock! A riot of new sensations: strange air on your skin, strange blurred forms all around you as you open your eyes for the first time and let out your first big yell of individuality:

“Aaaargh, here I am!! I, MYSELF, ME!!!”

Aries is about newness, excitement, raw enthusiasm - a headlong urge to begin something new; to set a new story in motion.

Ok, but here is the hard part – because there has to be a hard part. Birth is always hard...but these times are especially fraught: nothing is uncomplicated or innocent here. The birth we are looking at is an especially difficult and dangerous one, and as to what is being born, who the hell knows?

It's alive! God help us.

The fact is, we are headed for some shock and awe starting mid-April, and this new moon is the herald. This is the kickoff, the jolt of lightning that rouses the monster.

“Frankenstein” actually fits the themes of the current cardinal t-square between Uranus, Pluto and Jupiter very well. We have a mad scientist (Uranus) creating life out of dead bodies (Pluto)...and his poor hideous creation wants nothing but affection, acceptance, family – Jupiter in Cancer themes. But his efforts to attain these things only lead to heartbreak and violence. Everyone he tries to love either runs away in terror or gets accidentally killed.

Well “Frankenstein” is the worst case scenario, I guess. Maybe we can re-write it though...if we're brave enough not to run in terror from our monsters. They only need a little kindness, a little acceptance.

This new moon is disposited by Mars in Libra, and Mars is currently retrograde and opposing the lunation. In non-astrologese, what this means is it's all about relationships.

Aries and Libra are opposite signs...Aries is about selfhood, pure and simple, uncomplicated by the demands of relationship. But Libra is all about relating, marrying, creating harmony between the self and others.

These two polarities require balancing here. Aries energy on its own can be self-involved, arrogant, blunt and crude.

(Aries cake)

Libra, on the other hand, can be too diplomatic, too people-pleasing, so concerned with social correctness and politeness that the imperatives of the individual self are lost.

Clearly, these signs have something to learn from each other. Libra needs a bit of the fire and self-determination of Aries, and Aries could use a dose of Libra's social finesse and concern for the other.

With both the north node (the direction of the whole story) and Aries' ruling planet Mars, in Libra, the demands of right relation take center stage at this new moon. What we are looking at are the difficulties of balancing the needs and desires of the self in relation to others – especially in close, one-on-one relationships like marriages or partnerships.

And it's a difficult balance. There is a lot of emotional intensity, ambivalence and blockage here...especially with Mars retrograde. Covert tactics, passive aggression, power plays. An underlying drive for freedom, escape, self-determination; vicious argument as a form of communication and exchange. Belligerent posturing, undercover maneuverings. A hopeful new order being manipulated into abusive relationship with a corrupt old one... a revolutionary impulse co-opted, sold out, betrayed.

Prague spring.

On a collective scale, we are seeing the public desire for change coming up against entrenched, rotten old power dynamics. It's fraught and explosive. And the same themes apply in personal relationships...

This is about not selling yourself short, not throwing yourself away in relationships that are manipulative or abusive. Standing your ground, standing up for your right to live by your own standards. And figuring out how to reconcile this fiery self-focus with relationship...How to be yourself, and free, in the context of a relationship.

There is a definite gender theme here. Libra's ruling planet, Venus, is in Aquarius, trining Mars in Libra. Women are the movers and shakers in balancing the relationship equation: they will be the ones demanding change, unwilling to conduct relationships via the old rules, willing to abruptly walk out on situations where their needs aren't being met. Firebrands!

(That's a quote from Lady Lazarus by Plath on her back.)

Men will be more likely to be struggling to maintain control in the context of stale old patriarchal power dynamics. They are going to have to learn to work with women, and within a radically new set of relationship rules. Not easy, but the trine between Venus and Mars means it's definitely do-able... and it's what both parties actually want, deep down. They want to relate, and they want change and freedom in the context of relation.

Something very helpful here: Mercury in Pisces is conjunct Chiron, trining Jupiter in Cancer and Saturn in Scorpio and sextiling Pluto. What this means is resolution of these issues is available via communication. And it's a very specific type of communication: intuitive, compassionate, profound, emotional.

The speaking of old hurts and grievances in a way that does not accuse or lay blame on the other. And also nonverbal communication: music, art, poetry, gestures of empathy and kindness.

Giving the monster a flower...

But please keep in mind that this sort of thing is always a possibility when you're dealing with monsters:

And we all know how well this approach worked in disarming the military-industrial-partiarchal complex. Ha fucking ha.

Anyway, please keep in mind that despite the fact that nastiness is possible at this time, and can lead to outright war (like in 'Frankenstein' where a lynch mob forms after the monster drowns the little girl!), war can hopefully be averted via the recognition that we're not really separate; that we all need each other ultimately. The ability to empathise and put yourself in the opposing party's shoes (without letting empathy turn you into anyone's doormat) will get you far here. 

PS: re. the discussion of gender relations, what we're talking about here are archetypal 'masculine' and 'feminine' energies and gender roles, not necessarily physical genders! It's about the construction of those roles and necessary shifts within that rotten old structure.