March Overview

Safety in the Deluge

Mars is conjunct the 8° Pisces North Node on March 12 - 13. Mercury went retrograde at 22° Pisces on 2/26, moving direct at 8° Pisces on March 20, the day of the Spring Equinox and Astrological New Year. Mercury is sitting on this 8° Pisces 3/17 - 3/23.

The evolutionary question this transit poses is essentially: how do you take the enormity of what you feel and do something with it, rather than being immobilized by how large the task seems? Mars provides the answer - not by making the task smaller, but by simply beginning.

That said, this is a rich and complex time that has more to it. The Sabian Symbol is: A jockey spurs his horse, intent on outdistancing his rivals.

Dane Rudhyar comments that “Wherever this symbol is found indicates the need to spur one’s total being toward speeding attainment of whatever a goal may be….a self-quickening.” The Number 8 holds the vibration of leadership, abundance, financial security, power, and manifestation.

The star Skat is also at this degree, a blue-white star that we can see if the skies are dark enough. According to Ptolemy, Skat is of the nature of both Saturn and Jupiter, bringing good fortune and lasting happiness. 8° Pisces also carries themes of planetary wounding, grief, and bearing witness to what is dissolving. Skat can also indicate safety in a deluge, so we know we will not drown.

With both Mars and Mercury (retrograde and direct) at this degree, there is a deeply introspective quality to this time, a layer of psychic sensitivity that also has drive. If you have been waiting for a good time to release some part of your life that is ending and launch into new beginnings, the force is with you. But you may feel you just have to make changes, even if attempts to rationalize things seem hollow. The foundation is stronger than it may seem.

It’s a tricky time, though. The qualities of surrender and even grief need to be timed with powerful energy, controlled with skill, mastery, discipline, and practice. It is also an image with the Piscean tone of self-mastery at the highest levels, learning to ride the powerful horse not only with expertise but with respect, knowing when and how to surrender and when to control.

Important Dates:

2 - Mars moves into Pisces for about 6 weeks
3 - Virgo FM Lunar Eclipse
6 - Venus moves into Aries for 3.5 weeks
8 - Moon goes out of bounds until the 14th
10 - Jupiter goes direct at 15 Cancer
28 - Pisces New Moon
20 - Mercury goes direct at 8 Pisces
Sun moves into Aries!!!!
22 - Moon enters out of bounds until the 27th
31 - Venus moves into Taurus for 3 weeks

Jupiter stationing direct at 15:05 Cancer on the 10th is also very significant. Cancer is one of Jupiter’s most beloved signs, with the themes of home, roots, ancestry, emotional security, the past, and mother all under review and amplified understanding during this retrograde period. Jupiter stationing direct just two days before Mars hits 8° Pisces releases these themes with some force!

Jupiter in Cancer, with all this Pisces energy, brings a water sign harmony that quietly underpins the foundation, giving deep roots even when surface waters are turbulent. Also, Cancer is the sign of the crab, which carries its home on its back, a built-in safety in the deluge. The universe has our back: the foundation will hold, the shelter is real, and we can move forward with our goals now.

I have already written an essay on the Virgo Full Moon / Total Lunar Eclipse, and will write an upcoming piece on the Pisces New Moon. Of course, we also have Mars going into Pisces, Venus moving into Aries, the Equinox / Astrological New Year, Mercury direct, and more, all of which will be covered in more detail in the members’ section.

This month will have its share of emotional intensity spikes! I think it is important this month to feel fully and begin moving, but stay mindful of the Moon’s out-of-bounds dates. Trust your feelings, but don’t necessarily act on all of them immediately!