Spring begins on March 20th with the Sun exiting Pisces and entering Aries at the time of the Vernal Equinox. Astrologically, this is the beginning of the New Year, the renaissance and rebirth that Spring promises. We see it in nature with the birth of baby animals and with the blossoming of flowers and blooming of trees. And we feel it in ourselves as we seem to get a second wind, become more energized and enlivened after the doldrums of the wintertime.
This Spring has quite a thrust of energy with us ready to launch forward with new projects and looking at how we can best streamline our operations in order to be effective and productive with less expenditure of energy and with less time spent. We want to explore during this Spring, throw off the shackles of restricted access. Even a more democratic mood may be in evidence as people look to engage greater independence and express a new sense of themselves unfettered by enlisting the control games of the powers-that-be. Each of us may seek ways to be free and to be.
We start the Spring with a Stellium of three or more planets in both Pisces and Aries. We have one foot in the past, finishing up loose ends, and one foot in the present, preparing for an adventuresome future. We also begin the season with a Grand Trine in the Water Element, as the Moon in its own Sign of Cancer trines Saturn in Scorpio and the Moon trines both Mercury and Neptune in Pisces. We may find our comfort zone in the sanctuary of our home and in the support and joys of family and extended family of our good friends.
By Sign, we also have a Cardinal Sign T-Square with the Cancer Moon square the Aries-transiting planets of the Sun, Mars and Uranus, and the Moon opposed Pluto. We are looking to make changes to our lives, whether those changes incorporate minor shifts or radical transformations in how we are doing our lives. Some of the changes may not be self-created but rather our forced responses to the changes in the landscape and parameters in which we are operating.
We should not fear the challenges foisted upon us, for we have become used to the Uranus square Pluto that has been influential in our lives and to our lives for the past three years when Uranus first entered Aries, and even before that since 2008 when Pluto first entered Capricorn. Much has gone on over these past few years — times of eliminations, releases and being rid of the outworn and the outmoded. At times, we might have felt like the mythological phoenix on its funereal pyre seeing the waste of our lives go up in flames. While we might have been tested over these past few years, we have survived the tests and dealt with whatever losses that have come our way.
This Spring sees the impact of the Uranus square Pluto ratcheted up ever more so. There may be more eliminations, losses, releases, all making the way for a new day, new beginnings and like that mythological phoenix allowing us to rise from the ashes to soar ever higher.
A Spring cleaning and cleansing are well warranted as we clear our path for new adventures, new interests and new projects that better reflect who we are and who we are becoming from the alchemical process of the past few years that allowed base mettle of egocentric personality to be turned into spiritual gold of soulful expression.
We perhaps have become more real, more attuned to what our life purpose truly is and more willing to let go of the safety nets that never truly provided security in order to investigate, test the waters and adapt to a new sense of ourselves.
Welcome to Spring. Welcome to the renaissance of our own lives.
As we cross the threshold from Winter into Spring and the true beginning of the new year, let’s keep in mind the wise and true saying that ‘we never get more than we can handle’.
We may have gone through the dark night of our soul in recent times, but now we can walk more fully in our light. Not that there won’t be tests and challenges along the way. Surely there will, but we may have better developed our skill set to not only cope, to not only survive but now instead to thrive, to grow and develop and be willing to accept both responsibility and accountability for our decisions and for our actions.
This Spring is a time for spontaneity, for the serendipity and synchronicity of being in the right place at the right time, where we do not have to do it all, but we can be open and receptive to the gifts from the universe, those unexpected opportunities that arise virtually out of the blue. At the same time, this Spring may be a period of reunions, reconnections, and recapitulations — going back over past situations, being in contact with family members and friends of our past, and remembering moments along the pathways we have already taken. Who we were and who we are becoming may seem paradoxical in our reflections, but the more we can bear witness to the journey we have taken, the more appreciative we can be of the magic and mystery of this life experience.
At times, we may find during this Spring that life is all too confusing. If we would suspend judgment, avoid trying to fit incidents into neatly tagged compartments of understanding, then like little children we can embrace the wonder of it all. Even if we try and figure things out, the universe could throw us some curveballs that keep us guessing, wondering and allowing us to maintain an openness and receptivity to the varied factors of asequential reality.
This Spring offers times of subtle shifts into dramatic changes, other times of explosive blasts of radical change, all part of the process to get us from where we have been and who we have been into a new day dawning.
Around the 26th of March with Mars square Pluto and Mars sextile Jupiter and the 27th with the Libra Full Moon could be one of those times when situations may explode or implode. Getting a heads-up from people who are objective and can offer a detached sounding board might help us put things in perspective and prevent us from overly reacting instinctually. Braking action may be called for, but the acceleration of activity might feel more like a runaway train.
While the early Spring period speaks to our self-focus and the desire for us to advance our personal interests, much of our solace will come from the sanctuary of our homes and loved ones. Like a base camp at the foot of some Himalayan-like mountain, we can draw upon the love and support of family and friends as we look to scale the mountain with the intention to reach the summit.
Early Spring can have us stretching the limits, having to be nimble and quick as we adapt to unexpected variables thrown in our path, and push the envelope regarding the old parameters and what may seem now like old restrictions to our progress and to our process. There can be times of pushback from the old and the familiar. If we do not lose faith in our intentions and in ourselves, we can use whatever pushbacks along the way to hone and fine tune both our means and our plans.
We may have to be resourceful, but such a need can sharpen our wits and develop the ability to be expeditious and focused in our ways. We are not looking to be encumbered. We have already experienced the weightiness of too much stuff — too much material things, too many superfluous activities and too often wastes of our energies. The March period may call us to action of pruning and cutting away the dross of our lives, those situations that may have served a purpose once but no longer benefit us. We are far more interested now in cutting to the core, concentrating on the truly important and giving our lives far more meaning and meaning that reflects who we are, not who we were expected to be.
There will be times for us to draw upon our intuitive nature, to disregard empirical evidence but to trust the whisperings of our inner voice. We may feel as though we are going against the current of popular opinions, the consensus of what is. But we may be more astutely aware of what is right and true for us as individuals and we might choose the path less traveled, our individual journey.
The sense of expansion and broadening our interests can be highlighted with the Aries New Moon on the 10th of April. Like a horse with blinders removed, we may be working with peripheral vision to think outside the box, consider possibilities foreign to our experience and widen our involvements. We may have a far more philosophical approach to our lives and find encouragement in discussions and encounters with other people. We are still looking out for number one, ourselves, but we are also appreciating the uniqueness of character in the people we know and meet.
Although the early part of this Spring season can have us exploring, testing the waters, trying out new interests with various pushbacks, head-bangings and resistance from behind; we can start to plant the most promising and potentially fruitful seeds of new projects as we come into mid-April.
During April and May, the energy shifts away from the Aries focus to more of the Taurus energies and with it the Taurus transiting planets trining Pluto and opposing Saturn. This begins first with Venus exiting Aries to enter its own Sign of Taurus on the 15th of April, followed by the Sun entering Taurus on the 19th of April.
From the inner urgings and outer explorations of early Spring, we can move to implementing our well-considered plans and most meaningful projects. Both by our own intentions and the reality of our circumstance we may find that we are being hard pressed to be as resourceful as we possibly can. We may not be able to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, but we are likely to force ourselves to be expedient, prudent and highly practical in implementing our plans and advancing our goals.
The key element during this Spring period is to discern the true gold of what truly has purpose for us and the fool’s gold of images and appearances that are appealing and seductive but could lead nowhere except for wasteful expenditures.
The Lunar Eclipse with the Scorpio Full Moon on the 25th of April may provide a wakeup call to our finances. We might have gone blithely along assuming that the worst is behind us. Certainly we have seen various global equity markets ratcheting up to all-time highs, and the sense of an economic recovery gathering steam being pronounced by government officials, economists and news headlines alike. What we might not have taken into account is the increasing pinch of governmental taxes, user fees, and rising costs of basic necessities.
I was surprised by the number of phone calls I received at the beginning of the year from people who had opened their first paycheck of 2013 and questioned why their take home pay had gone down compared to a month ago. I reminded them of the end of the two-year payroll tax cut. And we have yet to see some of the other municipal, state and federal tax and user fee increases already set to go into effect this year and next.
It would be wise for us to take a cold, hard look at our finances, see where we can pare down and what the impact on our financial situation might be with any increases in the many varied costs of living.
During the latter part of April through mid-May we have the opportunity to focus, strategize and devise a best practices plan by which we can take care of what needs to be done and still expand our interests and develop new projects.
This Spring has three Eclipses — two Lunar Eclipses and a Solar Eclipse. The Lunar Eclipse on April 25th and the Solar Eclipse on May 9th speak to our resources — our financial situation, our sense of worth and due diligence. Although we may have crawled out from under a very heavy economic downturn with news reports indicating ‘good times are here again’, I would suggest that we be very attentive to what is going on in our local communities, in the nation and in various nation states around the world. Instead of addressing severe problems with a clear vision and a willingness to bite the bullet and do what needs to be done to correct mistaken ways, we may have merely pushed the problems further down the road with the resolution to such problems still to be addressed at some distant time unless the problems force the hand of economic and governmental leaders.
The Taurus influence shifts as we come into the second week of May. Venus exits its own Sign of Taurus to enter Gemini on the 9th of May, followed by Mercury entering its own Sign of Gemini on the 15th.
The Lunar Eclipse on May 25th with the Sagittarius Moon opposed the Gemini Sun and both square Neptune in Pisces accentuates a level of confusion, miscommunication and disinformation. What we see is not likely what we get. Magicians may abound, casting spells of make believe upon one and all. There can be a sense of euphoria at this time, but such exuberance can be irrational at best, delusional at its worst with harsh ramifications.
We may have our head in the clouds, but it would be wise to keep our feet firmly on the ground. We could easily be swayed by the hucksters, those promising brighter days and without much effort on our part. We might ask ourselves the question: how long can we dance to the music before the piper needs to be paid?
The end of May into June can be a highly active period. From the 20th of May through the end of the Spring season on June 21st – 22nd, we have a Stellium of three or more planets in the Mutable Air Sign of Gemini. We seem to be here, there and everywhere, stopping briefly at any one place before we set off again. Such a disposition can influence our thought processes as well, as we look at situations in a cursory manner, glancing at issues but glossing over the specifics. We are likely to feel upbeat, enjoying social gatherings, looking to engage our pleasures and focusing on have a good time and good times galore.
While we might feel somewhat blissed out, these Gemini transiting planets are also squaring Neptune in Pisces, adding to the realm of fantasy and make believe. We can be enjoying ourselves, flying high but without total comprehension of what is going on around us or what the true reality of situations might be.
The end of May also begins the movement of the personal planets into Cancer, first with Mercury on the 31st of May and then later on June 3rd – 4th Venus entering the Cardinal Water Sign. This Cancer energy will be highlighted at the Summer Solstice as the Sun moves into Cancer creating a Stellium of three or more planets in the Cardinal Water Sign.
As we come into June we may be far more interested in family get-togethers, reunions, reconnections, celebrations associated with graduations, weddings and other special occasions.
The Gemini New Moon on the 8th of June can be especially pleasant. Not only do we have a Stellium in Gemini with a focus on relationships and our interactions with that special loved one. The Cancer transiting planets also are making a Water Element Grand Trine with Venus in Cancer trine Saturn in Scorpio and both trine Neptune in Pisces. Love is in the air, and we are likely to feel that we are doing the dance with our soulmate[s].
The only wrinkle to the euphoria and idyllic love qualities at this time would be the Cancer-transiting planets opposing Pluto and squaring Uranus. Although we can enjoy pleasurable times and bask in the love and friendship of those close to us, we might also experience certain unexpected situations that can rock our world and force us to pay heed to dictates coming down from on high. We live in volatile times, and it would be wise, even during our most serene and enjoyable moments, not to let down our guard. Rather, these times asks us to be aware and mindful of the likelihood of expecting the unexpected.
This Spring can be a time of exploration, self-discovery, seed plantings, new projects, and highly pleasurable events and idyllic moments. This Spring is also a time of further dramatic changes in the backdrop of our world, eliminations and releases of the outworn and the outmoded. We are in a transformational time and a time when we might experience certain growing pains as we move from the chrysalis-state to shapeshift into a new sense of being with new interests, new involvements and releases from our past.
Happy Spring!
Spring 2013… from the renaissance new life is exposed.
