Saturday at dawn we’ll step into the Balsamic phase with a Moon in mid Aquarius. This serious-minded, cerebral Moon stands ready to make carefully thought-out decisions. This is good, because there’s a lot going on.
This will be another long(ish) post.
In the Balsamic phase, the Moon is dark. On dark nights, we tend to rest more. We want time to reflect. We’re closing one cycle and preparing to enter the next. We move through the last days before the New Moon.
This transition will feel more dramatic than many. We’re moving from dreamy, mystical Pisces into bright, sharp, energized Aries. Plus, there are three reasons why this year’s Pisces-to-Aries shift brings extra drama.
First, the transition happens at the very end of Pisces and beginning of Aries. The final degrees of any sign are intense and focused. The first degree of Aries, 0º Aries, is an equinox
This is more than the end of one lunar cycle. We’re closing a zodiacal year and beginning a new one. The Aries Ingress occurs within the Balsamic phase.
Second, Pluto will change signs, leaving Capricorn to enter Aquarius, during the New Moon phase. Pluto changing signs is a big deal. They’ve been in Capricorn since 2008. Having this occur so close to the Aries Ingress and a New Moon adds fireworks: We’re entering a new time. Things won’t be the same.
Third, this lunar cycle has a dramatic ending: It closes with a second New Moon in Aries that is our first eclipse of 2023.
This overview helps us focus on what we want to release. What are we done with? What’s done with us? This is not a time for holding on to “maybe.” We need to travel light.
Let’s look at what happens within the Balsamic phase.
March 19, minutes after midnight, Mercury enters Aries. The Sun (28º18’ Pisces) and Neptune (25º14’ Pisces) remain nearby.
Mercury is still invisible, too close to the Sun to be seen. Yet this shift into cardinal Fire lights up our thinking. The fresh spark helps us choose what to keep and what to leave behind.
March 20, late morning, Venus meets the North Node at 04º24’ Taurus. Venus is strong in Taurus. Here she prefers to move slowly, seek comfort, and not change too much. The North Node, and Uranus coming up, let Venus know that change will happen. How do we align with it?
Venus acts with grace and warmth. If change is inevitable, let’s make it as painless as possible. Let’s put our weight behind changes that support justice, harmony, and safety.
Over the long run (and Taurus is all about the long run), inclusive, restorative justice will bring the most comfort for the most beings.
Also March 20, in early evening, the Sun enters Aries. This is a key moment. We begin a new zodiacal year.
The Aries Ingress charts for world capitols will be evaluated for clues on what to expect in different parts of the world over the year ahead. In our birth charts, 0º Aries is the Aries Point, a place where new things come into our lives.
Where is 0º Aries in your chart? Which house? Aspecting which planets? Considering what new things we might expect helps us focus on what to let go of.
The Moon’s final aspect before the New Moon is a sextile to Pluto, with the Moon in the final degree and minutes of Pisces and Pluto in the final degree and minutes of Capricorn. This is an intense place for each.
With the Moon, we feel in our bodies how deeply our dreams, fantasies, spiritual orientation, and creativity are foundational.
Pluto asks: How much of this is real? In what sense are these things real? Which are true, in the deepest sense? Which will you carry forward?
The cycle we’re closing focused on Pisces, where we’ve experienced illumination and deception, dreams and delusions. We’ve lost and (hopefully) found our way. We’re entering a new year, heading into a new world. What’s worth carrying with us?