The first thing to say about Sunday night’s New Moon in Aries is this is not business as usual. Sure, this is Aries, so, vibrant, alive, decisive, risk-taking action is a thing. And this year, the dials are set to 11.
Let’s dive in!
Aries is the sign that brings in the new. The Aries New Moon begins the astrological year. We are reborn, our energies gathered up from the cosmic seas of Pisces, shaped into a bright, fiery seed, and planted to fresh earth. Whatever is packed into that seed we plant now will shine throughout the next twelve lunar cycles.
New Moons are dark times. We can’t see what will emerge. During the Balsamic Moon, we’ve been releasing what we no longer need. We’ve prepared the ground. We plant our wishes and intentions. And we wait.
The sense now, though, is things are already happening. The tremendous potential energy of Aries rumbles under our feet. Maybe little jets of steam and flashes of light are popping out of the ground. Maybe when this one sprouts, it will be like Jack’s beanstalk, rocketing into space.
What’s packed into this seed, anyway?
The New Moon arrives just before 10:00 pm Sunday (EDT) at 26 Aries. This New Moon is ruled by Mars, who is currently out of bounds in Capricorn, a sign in which he is exalted. This alone brings extra power and unpredictability.
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The Sun, our star and center of the solar system, stays within certain boundaries as he follows his apparent path around the Earth. He traces the equator in a wave-like motion that brings him north and back and south and back. We mark these boundaries as the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.
Most of the time, planets stay within those boundaries. Sometimes they don’t. A planet out of bounds has escaped, temporarily. Mars, in this case, is still Mars––still the planet of action, movement, and decision––but without the usual constraints. The actions of Mars out of bounds can range from the amazingly heroic to the wildly creative to the dangerously criminal but tend to be intense and unpredictable.
The New Moon sits between Eris and Uranus, at 23 and 28 Aries. Eris is the chaos goddess. New to astrology, only discovered in 2005, she seems to be signaling the distress of the Earth itself. Her energy, calling us to listen to the Earth are face the consequences, is here.
Uranus is the revolutionary, the radical force for personal freedom, our right to be our unique selves undefined by the plans, rules, or desires of others. He magnifies Aries native energy and say, “Go for it!”
Pluto challenges the New Moon from Capricorn. This is the alchemist of the zodiac, the force that brings deep, slow transformation. We’re being pushed to live up to our potential. Are we just a flash in the pan? Or can we harness the vibrant life force of Aries to achieve something amazing?
Aries’ motto is “I am” and this year’s New Moon brings extra emphasis to this essential message. Each of us is unique. Each has a gift to share. Each of us is essential in making this world.
It feels like the stakes are high. It feels like anything is possible. What do you want to achieve in the next twelve months? Who do you want to be? This New Moon invites wishes and intentions about expressing our true selves, finding radical authenticity, and bringing that into the world.
In the days leading up to the New Moon, we can feel the rumbles but might also feel frustrated and blocked. Right now, Mercury is still retrograde in Aries. Combined with Mars’ recent conjunction with Saturn, this Mercury retrograde period has felt very stop-and-go, one foot on the gas and one on the brake.
This has also been an edgy time, with communications glitches, hasty words, sharp tempers, and power bursts and outages––also brought to you by the combination of Mercury retrograde in a Mars-ruled sign while Mars contends with Saturn on Saturn’s home turf.
So it’s good to know that Mercury turns direct on Sunday morning, alleviating the pressure. Mercury will still be moving very slowly, but as the New Moon arrives, energy is flowing in its usual directions again.
Venus exerts a calming influence. She is in Taurus, one of her own signs and a place where she is calm and grounded. She is trining Mars, opening a line of communication that is reassuring. “We can do this,” she says. “No need to rush. Steady progress is fine.”
She is likewise in a trine with Pluto. Here her role is more likely to receive some of Pluto’s transformational force and flow it into something beautiful, powerful, and creative.
This New Moon heralds two major transitions. Notice Chiron, sitting there at the very edge of Pisces. He will renew his own cycle of wounding and healing on April 17 when he enters Aries. Chiron last entered Aries in 1968, but we were not aware of him then. He was first discovered in 1977, so this will be the first time we’ve observed this transition as it happens.
Uranus, conjunct this New Moon, will move into Taurus on May 15. He’s been in Aries for seven years, arriving there March 11, 2011, the date of the Fukushima disaster. We will be watching for what the transition to Taurus brings, which is likely to be calmer if no less revolutionary.
As always, I recommend checking your birth chart. Anytime something like a New Moon or major planetary transition affects our charts directly, we’re likely to feel it more personally. Where is late Aries in your chart? This House offers clues to where you are being invited to express your brightest and most vibrant self.
Aries is a sign of new beginnings and fresh starts. Aries loves to break new ground, chart a fresh course, follow an unknown path. The seeds you plant at this New Moon can reflect this.
At the same time, we are not starting from nothing. Everything we learned and achieved in the last cycles is still with us. All that hard-won knowledge, the carefully nurtured wisdom, and the personal growth are now part of us. We draw on those resources as we move ahead.
Imagine yourself at the edge of an unknown land. There is no path. You will be the first to walk this way. The view is enticing, exciting, compelling. You adjust your backpack to rest comfortably on your shoulders. Inside your pack, you have everything you need. This journey will be long and sometimes difficult but you know it’s worth it.
We’re ready to go. At the Aries New Moon, we start.
I use Unsplash for almost all my photo illustrations. All astrological charts are my own. The images in this post include the title, created from the photo “The Fakir” by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen, the photo of the the racing cyclists by Markus Spiske, and the children running by Priscilla Du Preez.