Sun Into Aries 2012: New Pathways Emerging

Typically when the Sun enters bold, inpatient Aries, it initiates a cycle that brings us a renewed sense of drive and dynamism. As the days lengthen, flowers bloom and temperatures rise, the invigorating energy of this Cardinal fire sign fills us with the annual impulse to forge ahead. With Mercury, Saturn and the Ram’s ruler, Mars, already retrograde, and a Pluto retrograde and some Mutable crosses in the immediate forecast, the action will be much more subdued in 2012. In the bigger scheme of things, a set of eclipses, a Venus retrograde and occultation, and the first of some massive Pluto Uranus squares will occur during the coming three months. The decidedly more cautious pace of this Aries cycle is signaling a season of discerned development. The careful application of Aries firepower can help us make mindful and meaningful progress as the game-changing variables in the offing unfold.

Irrepressible and indomitable, enlivening and enthusiastic, Aries starts the spring and inspires us with confidence and courage. On March 19th at 10:14 P.M. PST, when the Sun enters this initiating sign, that sense of possibility and provocation will be heightened because the Sun will meet up with thinking Mercury and inventive Uranus already in Aries. On the 22nd, the new Aries moon will add more fuel to the inextinguishable fire, and activate some Cardinal cross energy. Like intersections, astrology’s crosses represent perpendicular points of planetary collision. One force must yield to another in order for one to progress. By March 29th the Sun and Pluto will be in such an alignment. The Sun in Aries signifies personal will with an emphasis on individuality and independence, and Pluto in Capricorn represents a sober assessment of available resources. One of this cycle’s key yellow-light dates. this square is advising us to take a long-range look when making significant decisions about how we use time and money. The Mars retrograde in rational, methodical Virgo will help quell our passions long enough to weigh the options carefully, and Mercury’s backward movement into integrating Pisces, where dissolving Neptune also is, will support holistic solutions. By the way, Mercury will go direct on April 4th and Mars on the 13th.

The placements of Mercury and Neptune in Pisces and Mars in Virgo point to another important feature of this Aries sojourn, the Mutable influence. The Mutable signs, Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces, end their respective seasons and are generally associated with closure, completion and change. On April 3rd, Venus moves into inquisitive, talkative Gemini. From this position Venus will square Neptune on April 5th, Mars on the 7th and Chiron on the 12th. The Sagittarius moon of April 9th through 11th will create another series of Mutable squares. With much less harshness than their Cardinal and Fixed counterparts, the adaptable Mutable crosses teach us flexibility and gentle release. 2012’s spring cleaning can be literal and physical and biological and neurochemical. The Mutable crosses support freeing ourselves from the past, and the Cardinal crosses endorse sowing the seeds of our desired new realities.


Like music behind our intentions, Venus can play a major role in shaping those new paradigms. The implications of the planet of love, relating and possessions in the sign of information, communication and technology are enormous, and this transit is a unique one. It will last for four months and includes a retrograde and occultation. Venus will reach the retrograde shadow point of 7 degrees Gemini on April 12th, and by May 15th it will be at 23 degrees when the retrograde that will last until June 28th begins. During the retrograde, the Venus occultation and next set of Gemini/Sagittarius solar and lunar eclipses will take place. Similar to an eclipse, during the occultation, Venus will appear to pass in front of the Sun. Venus occultations occur in pairs separated by eight years, but these pairs only take place every 121 years. The June 5th event is the second half of the 2004 set. Though I’ll be writing more about the eclipses and occultation in the Gemini edition, their influences will start during this Aries cycle when Venus enters Gemini.

The squares Venus will make to Neptune, Mars and Chiron in April are part of a larger spring trend. One possibility is that they will expose some of the fault lines in our psyches, the uncomfortable corners where the intent to change meets the old, internal resistance stored in our habitual negative thinking and emotional bodies. The presence of Venus in Gemini will beam constant reminders of life’s intrinsic beauty. The more often we recognize it, the more often we experience the Venus effect. As this template upgrades each individual operating system, the greater the possibility for collective planetary evolution. Excitable and unflappable, Aries is arriving to point the way forward and to cheer us up and onward. Though a few retrogrades may cause some pause, it’s time to celebrate this invincible force of spirit.

Sun into Aries 2011: Perilous Problems and Inspired Solutions

On Sunday, March 20th at 4:21P.M. PST the Sun rolls into spirited, action oriented Aries where it will find Mercury, Jupiter and Uranus already transiting the sign of the Warrior. Fearless, agitating upstart Mars will arrive in enlivening Aries on April 1st and a new Aries moon on April 3rd will bring the planetary total in this Cardinal fire sign to an impressive six. Stern Saturn will sit opposite of Aries in Libra and reforming Pluto at a hard right angle to Aries in Capricorn, and the T-square formed by these planets will be highly energized during this solar transit. We will have a Mercury retrograde from March 30th to April 23rd, and Neptune will return home to watery Pisces on April 4th where it will merge with healing Chiron. Lately much attention has been given to the term Spiritual Warrior. The forthcoming mixture of Arian courage and leadership and Piscean insight and compassion offer this archetype sustenance.

When Uranus reentered Aries on March 11th one of the more volatile forces in the cosmos reconnected with one of the more explosive sources of energy. Uranus’s new location also added kindling to an existing Cardinal sign T-square. Uranus is associated with disruption and chaos as well as innovation and radical breakthroughs. A T-square is an alignment under which planets oppose and square one another, and in astrology oppositions and squares represent tensions between the forces involved. This T-square is considered an especially potent one because two of the planets forming it, Uranus and Pluto, are outer planets and all of the planets involved are in the Cardinal signs of the zodiac. Outer planets express generational and collective experiences and the Cardinal signs initiate the four seasons and thus reflect times of great change. Uranus is in Aries until 2018, Libra is in Saturn until October 2012 and Pluto is in Capricorn until 2023, So as of March 11th we entered a powerful 19-month-long T-square. During the Aries solar cycle immediately ahead, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, the Sun and new moon of April 3rd will be adding energy to the impulsive Aries component of the T-square. Mars and Mercury will continue to fuel it on into May and Jupiter through early June.

March 11th was also the day of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and the beginning of a nuclear crisis. By March 16th the literal forces of uranium and plutonium had forged to pose the threat of a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-ich facility. While the planets of astrology do not cause things to happen, they are symbolic reflections our reality. In this case, the erratic energies of Uranus in provocative, irrepressible Aries began forming a rough square to the planet of destruction and renewal, Pluto, in Capricorn, the sign ruling governments, business and institutions. Severe Saturn, the planet representing both lessons and limitations, was and continues squaring Pluto and opposing the planets in Aries from Libra, the sign of balance, diplomacy and the collective good.

That in the wake of the unfolding Japanese nuclear event, we see a global review of nuclear safety underway is not surprising. However, Aries is infamous for getting all fired up and instigating change, but then lacking the resolve to see it through. It will be interesting to see if the initial reaction to Fukushima will be sustained long enough to institute meaningful or permanent reform in energy policy. On the bright side, original and progressive Uranus in trailblazing Aries offers great potential for technological breakthroughs and advances, and this transit will last for seven years.

Mercury is associated with quick thinking and Aries with rapid action, and together the two can prove rash and reckless. Helping us slow down enough to review conditions on the ground and the possible consequences of our actions will be a Mercury retrograde from March 30th through April 23rd. Since Mercury entered Aries on March 8th you may have noticed that people are doing a lot more talking than listening, with little to no editorial exercise. The forthcoming Mercury retrograde will give us a chance to pause between sentences, collect our thoughts and consider our options before acting. Given the array of planets in impatient Aries, Mercury’s retrograde and slowing influence should prove beneficial. But don’t expect boredom to set in any time soon.

The planet of drive, power and passion, Mars, brings its audacious brand of excitement home to fiery Aries on April 1st where it will be until May 11th. Fierce and fearless, Mars represents raw force. Often through anger, it puts us in touch with our needs and desires. It also inspires bold and decisive action. Where and how we direct its power is up to us. Saturn in Libra and Pluto in Capricorn will be poised to combat Martian aggression. But the planet of War, in step with five fellow Aries travelers, will fight unjust restriction and authority in his push for independence. Even during times of conflict, the Spiritual Warrior remains aware of his motives. He then consciously directs his actions to a greater purpose.

To assist us with tapping into a deeper source of awareness, as well as vast stores of serenity, compassion and creativity, oceanic Neptune will return home to holistic Pisces on April 4th. Named for the Greek god of the sea, Neptune is another one of those influential outer planets. An immeasurable source of guidance, it represents our dreams, psychic abilities and connection to the collective psyche. Being the final sign of the zodiac, Pisces promotes understanding, unity and wholeness. Healing asteroid Chiron moved into its curative waters back in February. Together Neptune and Chiron will remind us of the human dimension of any challenges we face. Moreover, and oddly enough, this combination of Neptune and Chiron in intuitive and inventive Pisces and quirky, ingenious Uranus in Aries may prove to be the perfect elixir for our Spiritual Warrior. Empathy, insight and imagination blended with original leadership may be just the concoction She needs for the tenuous days ahead.

You can also sign up for my free astrology newsletter at http://www.awakeningqueenmaebh.com/contact-us.html.

Sun into Pisces 2010: Ready, Aim, Meditate

On February 18th at 10:36 A.M. PST the Sun joins gentle Venus, generous Jupiter and innovative Uranus in dreamy Pisces, with only an Aries moon hinting at the awakening energy that will begin unfolding during this solar cycle. As the Sun travels through completive Pisces, aggressive Mars will turn direct in fiery Leo and Mercury and Venus will venture into instigative Aries. This mixture of planets in intuitive, nebulous Pisces and provocative, pioneering Aries walks our psyche’s fine line of war and peace and helps us plan and act accordingly. It also foreshadows some of 2010’s most noteworthy planetary activity, the movements of both Jupiter and Uranus into Aries and their returns to Pisces.

LIke last month, at the start of this solar cycle we find must of the planets lined up along the winter axis of the zodiac wheel. Winter is the season of reflection and contemplation and this one has had extra brakes on it with a Mars retrograde that began the day before Winter Solstice. But unlike when the Sun entered Aquarius or Capricorn, now the majority of these planets are in the season’s final sign, Pisces. Being the last sign of the zodiac as well, Pisces prepares us for Spring and the start of a new astrological year. Before even the March 20th Spring Equinox arrives, on March 10th Mars will turn direct. In fellow fire sign Leo, it will be poised to fuel the fervor of the planets in and bound for Aries, Venus on March 7th, Mercury on March 17th and the Sun on March 20th.

Ruled by the planet of insight and illusion Neptune, for Pisces life is but a dream. One of the Yin or inward pulling signs, it is happiest in its serene nether worlds. Ruled by passionate Mars, Aries could not be more different. Not only does the Cardinal fire sign demand that we deal with the real world, it is intent on shaking the whole thing up. The dance that will unfold during this cycle between the fish and ram is an unusual one. We all want the peace and bliss found in mutable Pisces’ idyllic waters. Yet inertia is not an option, nor would we really want it to be.

The most dramatic example of these energies in action during this cycle is the War in Afghanistan. For years the Taliban regularly shot and beheaded women publicly to demonstrate its unchallenged and brutal authority. At the same time it also operated terrorist training camps with impunity. Before 9/11, only the voices of women’s rights activists, and a few military hawks, called for intervention. Pisces teaches us compassion for the innocent and the weak, and Aries understands the imperative to act. Presently, the battle of Marjah, a fight that may well come to be regarded as the Normandy of the Afghanistan War, is underway as the planets awaken from the Pisces dreamland and shift into the Warrior energies of Aries and Mars moving forward in Leo, a fire sign revered for its leadership and courage.

In its lower vibration, Pisces is spaced out, uncommitted and unreliable. In its lower forms, Aries is selfish, grossly insensitive and recklessly impulsive. But in combination in their higher degrees, Pisces’ imagination, empathy and quest for Oneness complement Aries’ decisiveness, boldness and fearlessness. We can see how together these energies may well win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people, and the War. From May 27 through August 13 Uranus will enter Aries. A few days later, on June 6th, Jupiter will also enter Aries where it will stay until September 9th. Both will ultimately retreat into Pisces before entering Aries for good in 2011. The window they create this summer is an outstanding one for trying out new projects, paths and ideas. With both heavyweights returning to Pisces for the long Autumn, there will be plenty of time to refine these ventures. It will be interesting to see how these aspects play out on the international stage.

More immediately, in our own lives, while the Sun moves through Pisces, we have a little more time to prepare for the big opportunities ahead. Still, during this solar transit, some of the important doors are very likely to begin opening. Gleaning some reflective Pisces wisdom now may well serve our big picture plans. Some exquisite points of Pisces guidance include the February 28th full moon in analytical Virgo and the March 15th Pisces new moon when Mercury will be conjunct Uranus. Don’t expect the solutions to come by thinking your way through the issues or problems, however. Under these influences, you’re much more likely to have your a-ha moment when delving into a pool of creativity, such as writing, painting or playing music. For it is only deep in those unfathomable Neptunian depths that Pisces yields her prescient pearls.

Insider's Guide to April 2009 and All things 12Listen.com

Happy April,

I hope that this note finds you well. If you’ve been reading astrologer C.A. Brook’s column in the Power Peek, you no doubt know that Spring 2009 is off to a subdued start with Venus, Mercury and the Sun striving to move forward in gung-ho Aries while Pluto in stern and serious Capricorn squares much of the enthusiastic energy. Saturn is still retrograde in detail-obsessed, skeptical Virgo, and fiery and feisty Mars finds himself in the incompatible waters of nebulous Pisces. So if you’ve been feeling like despite the very best of intentions to jump start your life things are just not lining up and falling right into place, well, those are some of the astrological reasons. And did I mention the Venus retrograde that we have until the 18th, which has had more than a few people calling in with relationship crises?

But this post isn’t to bum you out or to discourage you; my co-workers and I are here to help you navigate these tricky astrological tides successfully. So here is the insider’s guide to April Specials at 12Listen.com. Keep it handy.




Those full and new moons are excellent times for your meditations, prayers and petitions. Speaking of which, if you need assistance with your Spiritual Spring cleaning, I’m co-moderating the Violet Flame board at 12Listen.com on April 15th and 29th. So drop by and post, and I’ll get right to work on helping you transmute those sluggish energies into inspiration and Light. I'm a huge fan of the VF.

April 30th ends the month with the beginning of Hay House’s “ I Can Do It ” conference in San Diego. Dr. Doreen VIrtue is in fact giving the keynote address to the conference that evening. In other exciting news, our very own Mark Husson will be holding his first presentation of “Lovescopes” on Sunday, May 3rd. I’m flying clear across the United States to be there for that! Please introduce yourself if you're attending.

May will see Saturn turn direct, the release of "Lovescopes" and the Grand Opening of my newly revamped website which has been "under construction" since January. See what I mean about progress being possible and hard won in April? Until then, thank you so much for your love and support.

Affirming evermore love and Light,
Elizabeth

Ps: Last week I rented a movie called “The Five People You Meet in Heaven,” and I cannot recommend seeing it or reading the book enough. I have no promotional affiliation with it, only a heartfelt desire to help you stay plugged into the Love and Light we all truly are. This film is a wonderful reminder.