New Moon in Aries

This is on the 18th April, around 8 pm GMT. Aries is the first sign of the zodiac, so a new moon in Aries is like the real New Year. So happy New Year!

The sun and moon will be conjunct at 28 degrees Aries, and they will be pretty much un-aspected by everything else in the sky. This is self-contained and intense - a big burst of fiery will, courage and absolutely self-focused energy.

Mars (will, drive, energy) - the dispositor of the new moon - is now in slow, steady, realistic Taurus. He is conjunct Mercury (mental energy) and squaring Jupiter (expansion, enthusiasm). He is also in harmonious aspect with Pluto.

This is the will and energy to get a job done, and to get it done properly. Bravery and energy combined with realistic thinking and unswerving will.

I like this a lot. New moons are about new beginnings, and whatever you initiate at this new moon – be it a new project, a situation, an intention – it will have real sticking-power and force behind it. The force that through the green fuse drives the flower. 

Appropriately, the poem linked above is about the life force containing a death drive as well. Pluto – which symbolises death, rebirth, metamorphosis and transformation - goes retrograde the day before the new moon (17th April). This is about a deep, relentless and internal process of transformation. Self-transformation - as we are dealing with Aries, the sign of ME! in all its raw urgency.

Re. Pluto retrograde: you want to know how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly?

It's not pretty - it's actually kind of nauseating.

“First, the caterpillar digests itself, releasing enzymes to dissolve all of its tissues. If you were to cut open a cocoon or chrysalis at just the right time, caterpillar soup would ooze out.”

Did you think metamorphosis was supposed to be all adorable and sweet, like in a children's book? Ha!

Transformation on this order is not a 'nice' process. It's primal, disgusting, gruelling – also relentless and intense. This is Plutonic depth-work. Self-digestion.

Like the phoenix, which resurrects itself by destroying itself...

(by FJ Bertuch)

On a psychological level, this is like the Dark Night of the Soul, or the Nigredo in alchemy – the place you come to when you've burnt out on what you used to believe in and are forced to look into the darkness and unknown in yourself – because there's nowhere else to look, everything external has broken down as a source of meaning.

This kind of breakdown is necessary for growth (see here), but it's about as pleasant as the caterpillar-to-butterfly transformation detailed above.

OK, I don't mean that we're all gonna be digested alive or have to go through the Dark Night of the Soul...though plenty of people will need that kind of inwardness, pressure and darkness for their further growth.

But I do think some kind of internal reckoning is required, for just about everyone - and that's what this Pluto retrograde is about.

We've come through a very trying time over the past few years - the Uranus square Pluto years (2012-2015). The pressure for deep, systemic change in our lives has been intense. Many of us have been through some crazy shit, and things will never be the same again. It's like the aftermath of a natural disaster. The scales have fallen from our eyes in potentially traumatic ways...and we may have lost things we thought we couldn't live without.

And here we are, still alive! And what was strong enough to survive has survived. Look around you – look at what in your life is still standing, still functional, still sustaining you. Of course nothing is permanent, but whatever has stood the test for you over the past few years has to be pretty damn strong. Whatever wasn't strong enough will be gone.

I think externally, things will be settling now. We will not be dealing with the same levels of external shock and urgency.

But internally, there is a need to process the changes we've been through – to come to terms with all this upheaval on a personal level. And to not slack off in our efforts to get clear of old conditioning.

It's like, you have a house that's been half-destroyed by a tornado, and it's looking pretty bad. You are not gonna be able to do a patch-up job here. You will probably have to strip it down to the foundations, and then assess the stability of the foundations before you rebuild – maybe even re-cast the foundations. And what you build will be entirely new. Even if you re-use old materials, you're not going to build the same house.

Or you may have found yourself in a new world, building a new life. And maybe structurally, this new life is sound! I hope it is. Because you are going to have to be looking at the structural integrity of it – all the stuff you mightn't have wanted to think about, in the initial euphoria of newness and change – till the early autumn of this year. It's not as easy to establish the new as we might like. It can take a lot longer than we thought it would.

But we have Pluto retrograding through Capricorn till September 2015, through territory he was in during the final Uranus-Pluto square...and we also have Saturn (karmic necessity) grinding backward through Sagittarius and into Scorpio, sign of psychological depth and healing. Pluto and Saturn will be in mutual reception again (each in the others' sign, fostering an easy dialogue between these energies) from mid-June to mid September.

Saturn will finally leave Scorpio (till 2041!) on the 18th September, a few days ahead of Pluto stationing direct on the 25th September.

So basically, these two heavyweights will be working in concert to facilitate psychological depth work, restructuring and processing – it's very important this summer. Especially coming as it does after the revolutionary and historic Uranus-Pluto squares.

Remember external change is just not good enough. More than that will be demanded of us. There is a level of deep psychological insight and realism demanded, before you can fully inhabit the place you're standing now – and before you can move forward.

Reinforcing the "reality check" theme, we'll also have Venus (now in sparkly, hyperactive Gemini) involved in a fairly painful t-square with Neptune in Pisces and Saturn in Sagittarius for the new moon. With Venus involved, this has to do with relationship and money matters especially – but also self-esteem and values. We are looking at dreams vs. realities in these areas – longings and delusions (Neptune) vs. pragmatism and boundaries (Saturn). And some potentially painful disillusion and loss.

From Charlotte Joko Beck's “Everyday Zen”:

“In a relationship, whenever we sense unease -that point where it doesn't suit us - a big question mark should shoot up as to what is going on with us. How we can practice with the unease? I am not saying that all relationships should be continued forever, because the point of a relationship has nothing to do with the relationship itself. The point of relationship is the added power that life gets in working with it as a channel. A good relationship gives life more power. If two people are strong together, then life has a more powerful channel than it has with two single people. It's almost as though a third and larger channel has been formed. That is what life is looking for. It doesn't care about whether you are "happy" in your relationship. What it is looking for is a channel, and it wants that channel to be powerful. If it's not powerful life would just as soon discard it. Life doesn't care about your relationship. It is looking for channels for its power so it can function maximally. That functioning is what you are all about; all this drama about you and him or her is of no interest to life. Life is looking for a channel and, like a strong wind, it will beat on a relationship to test it. If the relationship can't take the testing, then either the relationship needs to grow in strength so that it can take it, or it may need to dissolve so something new and fresh can emerge from the ruins. Whether it crashes or not is less important than what is learned. Many people marry, for instance, when nothing is being served by their relationship. I am not advocating that people dissolve their marriages, of course. I simply mean that we often misinterpret what marriage is about. When a relationship isn't working, it means that the partners are preoccupied with "I": "What I want is . . ." or "This isn't right for me." If there is little wanting, then the relationship is strong and it will function. That's all life is interested in. As a separate ego with your separate desires, you are of no importance to life. And all weak relationships reflect the fact that somebody wants something for himself or herself.”

Remember the north node is in Libra, sign of balance, harmony and right relationship - so relational issues are highlighted. I think the above passage is one of the most useful and interesting perspectives on relationships I've read, and it's directly relevant to the themes of the new moon - so I'll leave you with it.