ARIES EQUINOX 2017: DO WE LEAP OR FALL?

This year we arrive at that major Ingress/Initiation into the new zodiacal year on March 20th.  Will we leap or fall into Aries?  Leaping implies energy and vigorous action while falling implies some sort of losing of control or letting go.  Most of the Aries people I know  would prefer to leap. 🙂   In order to do this we need to know where we want to leap to.  That requires a sense of direction.

This chart implies that one’s sense of direction must come from an inner sense of values since Venus in Aries is Retrograde and follows the Sun, but leads Mercury, also in Aries.

The Aries three-some of Sun-Venus-Mercury asks, “How will you communicate what you value and love to others with a greater sense of purpose?

 One example of this recently was the International Women’s Day on March 8th where women everywhere gathered and wore red as a statement of resistance, solidarity, and strength.  Red IS Aries color.  Look at the people you know who have either Sun, Moon, or something major in Aries.  Have you noticed their affinity for wearing red or having it in their decor?  Of course this could also be people with strong Mars in their charts.  So Red it is.  It’s a great First Chakra color that implies energy and passion.  It’s also the color of our blood which is the SAME COLOR IN EVERY RACE.  We all have red blood.

Looking at this Aries Chart several factors stand out.  Mars, ruler of Aries, is now in Taurus (March 11th through April 21st) so energy ahead needs to be harnessed carefully.  Mars, like Ferdinand the Bull in the pasture, is slow to warm up and needs coaxing, not pushing, but like harnessed cattle, this steady energy will persist doggedly once aroused.  Mars in Taurus is good for resistance too.  We may see more of this in the months to come.  Another quality shown by this energy is defense.  Yes, in America there is now a call for an ever larger ‘defense budget’.  We see the symbolism here as this Mars activates America’s Cancer planets and all the security issues that are implied.  Homeland Security—another highly revealing phrase that Mars in Taurus will be used to buttress.  With the Nation’s Mars in Gemini in the 7th house of open enemies there is often the multiple (Gemini) enemies to defend against.  With that same Mars in square to Neptune these enemies can also be imagined rather than real.  I wonder which ‘enemies’ will be targeted when the Nation experiences its Mars Return by the third week in May.  President Trump’s Sun/Uranus lights up this Mars tremendously, so it deserves close watching.

These are collective issues as we overlay the Ingress Chart with a nation’s.  We see the symbolism come to life this way and read the signs.  We can also apply the symbolism to our own lives and try to work with the energies in ways that bolster our own defenses or resistance, but may also enhance the slow and steady progress that we wish to achieve where some goal is concerned that enhances our own security.  In other words, each Ingress map gives us hints of how the energy ahead is going to manifest and how best to use the energy.  This can be conscious co-creation.  We know that Aries likes to sprint ahead with zest and fire, but Mars this year holds Aries back a bit and says hold on, slow down, not so fast here.

The Sun also lines up between Chiron in Pisces, rising ahead, and Venus Retrograde following behind.  Venus is now in the shadow of the Sun so perhaps we need to dig a little deeper for a strong value before we use Chiron to either wound or heal in our process.  Chiron is strongly configured with the Last Quarter Moon/Saturn in Sagittarius implying a need for grounding and serious feelings before heading in any direction.  This is not a haphazard movement though we’re often moving through the fog of Neptune in Pisces and trying to create some sort of order out of all the chaos we may find in our path.  These aspects are sobering and indicative of much of the suffering and hardships we both witness in the world out there and perhaps experience in our own private lives.

One antidote is the flowing fire energy of Uranus in Aries working well with the Moon/Saturn in Sagittarius. This combo is helping to create a framework for freedom if people are willing to work at it.  Uranus is part of that great Cardinal T-Square with Jupiter and Pluto.  Jupiter leads everything in this chart and rules both Ascendant and Midheaven so legal matters are front and center now as is the issue of right relationships, equality, and justice.  When Saturn and Uranus work together we have less conflict between traditional values and methods, and new advancements being invented.

Doug Chin blocks second travel ban

You can see Saturn at work as Federal Judges create checks and balances in the on-going chess game of travel bans (Saturn in Sagittarius) in the United States.  These are indicative of the checks and balances needed in any large body of people where no one person should hold all the cards of power.  With Pluto at the apex of this Cardinal game for control, it’s a hard battle to win because not all the players are playing fair and square.

The Sun is in a challenging Quintile (72 degrees) to Pluto.  Power issues are big now.  And this aspect implies action that is either highly creative or highly destructive.  Which takes us to the bottom line.  What responsibility does power hold in the world today?  Is power wielded for the greater good, or the good of the few?  What are the consequences when only a few gain and the rest lose?  This Cardinal Cross does imply an enormous (Jupiter) polarization where both the ideal of freedom and highly eccentric convictions are often at cross purposes as the shadow elements represented by Pluto try to manipulate the outcome.

One small asteroid, Vesta in Cancer, has to try to balance these titanic forces right now.  Vesta represents the ‘Goddess of the Hearth’, the keeper of the Sacred Fire, as well as the home fire.  Demetra George states that she is ‘the symbol of protection which insures the cohesion of the state and family for the people of the earth.’  This message always comes back to a theme I find so important:  any culture or society is only as strong as it’s ability to defend, protect, and provide for its children, the elderly, and those who are sick.  When a society starts to abandon it’s children, it destroys it’s own future.  When a society abandons it’s elderly it loses it’s connection with its past and its own history.  When a society abandons it’s sick ones, it literally loses its capacity for empathy and thus its own Soul.

 If Vesta is added to the Cardinal configuration we have a symbol of strength where all four corners are represented:  Aries = Individual Rights; Cancer = Family bonds and relationship rights; Libra = Partnership/Equality Relationship rights; and Capricorn = State and Authority protection and traditional continuity for the entire people and their rights.  We need all four of these Cardinal signs to be represented and strong in a good way.

These Cardinal gateways occur four times a year.  With this Aries Ingress we see a picture of both challenge and strength.  For me this is an image of harnessing purpose with love, giving selfish laziness and fickleness a kick in the pants, and finding my place in the whole where I can do the most good from my own level of abilities and consciousness.  In my chart 0 Aries falls in my third house of communication.  This blog is my sounding board, my Aries point of departure.  Where is your Aries point?  This is the area where you are meant to initiate your own Fiery Leap ahead.  And may you be blessed in your efforts this year!

Artist Benjamin A. Vierling