As late winter turns towards mid-spring, March and April bring a turning of the Cosmic kaleidoscope. Early March continues February’s focus on our personal lives, as we strive to integrate the changes of late 2019 and early 2020. Late March and early April return us to the collective level as the locus of our attention. We usually move between the personal and collective lenses on a daily basis, but the astrology often pulls us more toward one or the other – a tidal pull we’ll feel during these two months.
No doubt the emergence of the coronavirus will be a major factor in the collective mind during March. Although we’re uncertain who to trust for information in the era of Saturn/Pluto in Capricorn, a virus isn’t going to respond to political rhetoric – the truth outs despite any particular spin on this matter.
The first week in March might be called “The Quest for Clarity.” We begin the month with Mercury retrograde in Pisces, while the Sun approaches a meeting with Neptune on the 8th, just a day before Mercury stations to go direct – at the full Moon. We may be looking for clarity, but it’s anything but certain that we’ll find it with this very foggy Pisces/Neptune vibe dominating the skies. This sense of uncertainty during the first week of the month may lead to reactions and overreactions, especially with the Moon going through the sign of Cancer at midweek, particularly on the 4th and 5th.
While we try to sort out what’s real and what’s not, Venus, the planet of love and relationship, makes some very tense aspects, squaring Saturn on the 3rd and meeting Uranus on the 8th. We’re incited to action in the area of relationships, although we may not be quite sure what’s actually going on. Jupiter squares his wife, partnership asteroid Juno, on the 2nd, adding further tensions to existing relationships through the first week of the month. Double-check information and your interpretation of it before acting. Still, these aspects will make it hard to sit still where love life is concerned. Trust your feelings, and the value of your connections more than logic – the heart knows better than the mind.
Those with a creative bent will find that the beginning of March offers many opportunities for a new perspective on projects. The full moon on the 9th is in the sign of Virgo. Unlike last month’s Leo full moon, the sign of Virgo isn’t known for partying (although Friday and Saturday before the full moon should be fun), and it’s more likely that we’ll be focused on issues like health and work, and perhaps we’ll see where we’ve been overly critical of ourselves and others.
The Sun enters Aries on March 19th at 11:49p EDT, marking the Spring Equinox. For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, the days will now be longer than the nights. Aries is consider the ‘exaltation’ of the Sun, because it’s the sign in which Sol changes from being beneath the horizon for most of the day to spending more time above the horizon (the equinox is the point of equality).
Mars climbs high in Capricorn in March. In fact, he is ‘out of bounds’ (beyond the maximum declination of the Sun) until the 18th. Mars’ out of bounds period seems to correlate strongly with the spread of the coronavirus, and indeed Mars is the planet associated with infections. His meetings with Jupiter and Pluto once he gets back ‘in bounds’ are also likely to be significant.
Mars meets with Jupiter on the 20th, then goes on to connect with Pluto on the 23rd. This is a time of action, and is likely to be ‘go time’ for projects and plans hatched or launched back in January. There’s not likely to be much time to pause and consider, so it would be good to have a direction chosen before mid-month.
A key date for the month is the 21st, when Saturn enters Aquarius, beginning a stay that will last until 2023 (although he will retrograde back into Capricorn from July through December of 2020). Saturn in Aquarius is focused on the collective, politics more than business, and principles rather than profits. Aquarius is a fixed sign, and Saturn can be rigid, so there’s some reason to be suspicious of this placement. Saturn in Aquarius can be so focused on doing the right thing that it fails to realize the personal costs.
At worst, it can signal the rise of individuals who “love humanity but hate people.” At best, Saturn in Aquarius will demand that we live up to the principles we espouse, or call us out for our failures.
March’s new moon is on the 24th, in the sign of Aries. At this new moon, we exercise our determination to go forward in our lives. In some ways, it’s the real beginning of the year, the point at which the solar and lunar cycles are both growing, a time to look forward rather than backward. With the Sun and Moon close to Chiron, we could feel somewhat self-critical, however. Note some of the ‘soft spots’ in your life, and resolve to improve what you can.
As we wax out of the new moon, Venus helps us to keep things moving socially and perhaps even romantically, as she trines Jupiter on the 27th and Pluto on the 31st. If we were struggling for clarity earlier in the month, the conclusion of March brings determined – rather than impulsive – action. Mars also meets with Saturn on the 31st, giving us a taste of what Saturn’s stay in the sign of the Water Bearer will mean for us on a collective level.