The Sun entered the sign of Aries on March 20, at the Equinox that heralds spring in the north and autumn in the south. The Moon moves on a different timetable than the Sun and will meet up with the Sun on March 29 at 3:58 a.m. Pacific time at 9 degrees of Aries, for a partial solar eclipse that will be visible in parts of North and South America, Europe, and Africa.
Eclipses come in pairs (or sometimes triplets). This one follows the March 13 lunar eclipse in Virgo. The March 29 lunation is the last of a series of eclipses falling along the Aries/Libra axis over the past two years. An eclipse, either lunar or solar, occurs when the Sun and Moon are aligned closely, by degree, with the Moon’s orbital nodes, which change sign pairs every 18 months. Astrologically, an eclipse is a super-charged new or full Moon that intensifies the symbolism of the signs and aspects involved.
Aries, the cardinal fire sign, begins the zodiacal wheel. Aries is like the Sun at the dawn of creation, the urgency and instinctiveness of birth. Aries is new, unencumbered, determined.
The glyph, or symbol, for Aries is a stylized V, looking like a ram’s horn, as in: Aries is pushy to get its own way. Another take, found in the Aries Witch volume of Ivo Dominguez Jr.’s Sun sign series, is that the Aries glyph “can also be interpreted to be a seed sprouting with two leaves burgeoning.” Aries, Dominguez writes, “is the desire of life to come into being.”
One of the key words for Aries is “initiation,” to set something in motion. An initiation is a beginning that involves an ordeal, proving oneself or entering into a secret society of spiritual seekers, moving into uncharted terrain. To become an initiate requires the fire of courage and the faith of unknowing. Aries is individualistic, such that the faith is in oneself. The paradox of birth is that one is born by and with others, and yet one emerges alone.
Aries’ ruling planet is Mars, and Mars figures prominently in the chart for the March 29 eclipse.
Mars is currently traveling through Cancer, the sign of mothering (for all genders), protecting, and nurturing. Mars is moving toward a harmonious trine (90-degree aspect) with a cluster formed by Saturn, Venus, and Neptune, moving in the late degrees of Pisces, close to the Moon’s north node. Pisces is moving water, the quality of compassion that discriminates against no one. Mars in Cancer, ruler of the March 29 eclipse, trine to so much Piscean power, is a rallying cry to act without hesitation to protect sentient beings, our own selves included.
Mars at this New Moon is moving toward a 60-degree sextile aspect with Uranus, suggesting possibilities for unexpected breakthroughs.
At the March 29 lunation, the Sun and Moon will be flanked by two other initiators of fierce, protective action. On one side is Chiron, the slow-moving asteroid symbolic of woundedness and healing, in its long sojourn through Aries (2018-2027.) Moving speedily and close with the Sun is Mercury, the Messenger, currently in a period of retrograde motion, and having just backed up to the critical 0 degree of Aries for the eclipse occasion. Mercury, the Mind, in Aries, is like a sharpened blade, ready to cut through any kind of mental or verbal bullsh*t crossing its path. Mercury in Aries is a readiness to birth new ideas and to shout them from the rooftops.
On the night of March 29, Mercury will make a fleeting conjunction with the outer planet Neptune, just as Neptune is about to ingress Aries. Neptune changes signs only about every 14 years and has been in Pisces since 2011. Outer planet sign shifts coincide with shifts in collective consciousness, as well as unconsciousness. Humans born under particular outer planet signs have generational “signatures,” like the “baby boomers” born when Pluto was in Leo and then Virgo. Everyone born in the coming years with Neptune in Aries will have a particular, though as yet unknown, lens on the world.
Neptune is the Roman name for Poseidon, the mythical Greek god of the sea. Studied by astrologers since its discovery in 1846, Neptune is a force of mystery, dreams, ideals, illusions, conceptions, and misconceptions. Neptune’s passage through watery Pisces, since 2011, has been reflected in both affirmative and unsavory ways. On the better side, in my view, there has been growing public interest in astrology and other occult arts. On the low end, we’ve had bands of con artists flooding media zones with “alternative facts” and waves of delusional propaganda, with dangerous results.
“Now that Neptune is moving into Aries,” writes my friend and astrology teacher Daniel Fiverson in his Astrological Weather Report blog, “it signals a new era in which ideals and dreams must form through direct action. Aries demands movement, courage, and self-determination—qualities confronting Neptune’s usual preference for fluidity and surrender.”
The last transit of Neptune in Aries occurred between 1861 and 1875, a time in the United States of both civil war and the rise of the abolitionist movement to end slavery.
The glyph for planet Neptune is a trident, a three-pronged spear, symbolizing sea god Neptune’s power to command the waters of life. Neptune’s domains include altruism, while the sign of Aries is like the sprouting seeds that burst forth from below the earth, determined to live.
There’s no telling exactly how Neptune’s passage through Aries will manifest. There likely will be entrenchments of battle lines and greater struggles to survive.
At this fiery solar eclipse, one might imagine how to sharpen one’s resolve, how to turn ideals into tridents of action for the protection of life.
Blessings for the Aries solar eclipse!
~ Sara
Sara R. Diamond, an astrologer based in the San Francisco Bay Area, is a life-long student and practitioner in several esoteric paths. Her style of astrology combines modern-psychological astrology with insights from traditional astrology. Sara is also an estate planning attorney. In addition, she has published four books on right-wing movements in the United States and earned her Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. You are invited to contact Sara via her website at www.SaraDiamondAstrology.com.
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