We move from the Last Quarter into the Balsamic phase with the Moon late Aquarius. We’ve left behind the world we knew. It turns out we didn’t know that world at all, really–it’s not what we thought it was.
We sail through a starry sky toward the unknown. Look at all that Pisces ahead, where everything dissolves into–what? If we thought we knew before, we’re not sure now. The world is changing. Or maybe it’s old illusions shredding away.
The Balsamic phase in the place for letting go. This time, suspended between eclipses, we let go of certainty.
In Aquarius, we work hard to discern and understand. We choose values to commit to and build goals on that foundation.
Pluto’s entry into Aquarius signifies two things (at least): We’re moving into a futuristic time of great thoughts, a world in which the vastness of space becomes our new habitat. And also, everything we thought we knew about that future is wrong.
During the Last Quarter phase, both Venus and Mercury had their cazimis with the new Aries Sun. The illuminations were brilliant and fiery, but we can’t access details yet. Both planets remain combust, hidden under the beams of the Sun.
Suspended between eclipses, we’re in a time of unknowing. Notice that this pair of eclipses happens in the same transitional space so many planets are in, but backwards.
Venus, Mercury, Saturn, and Neptune move from Pisces into Aries, while the Nodes of the Moon leave the Aries–Libra axis for Virgo–Pisces. The Aries New Moon eclipse on March 29 is the last in Libra–Aries.
There are excellent reasons for letting go. Many spiritual and magical traditions counsel us to empty our minds of prejudice, certainly, but also certainty in general. Receiving wisdom rests in understanding that we don’t have it already.
In these uncertain times, the idea of retreating from the world is compelling. Sure, let’s find the mountaintop retreat or the rocky island off the coast of somewhere. But that’s not exactly the message here.
We can stay as informed as we wish or need to (without doomscrolling, please). The challenge of this Balsamic Moon is not to turn off the news, but to accept that we don’t know what it means. Not in the literal sense (although accurate facts are hard to come by right now), but in the larger sense of meaning and context.
Can we live in the world with open minds and hearts? What certainties must we release to do that?
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