No longer a dress rehearsal
On April 20th we arrive at the second New Moon in Aries. In fact, the two New Moons bookend the sign – the first was at 0 degrees and the second will occur at 29 degrees. This is unusual in itself. 29 degrees of any sign is a ‘critical’ degree - a volatile degree because there is a feeling of running out of time, so there is a need to do and do quickly. Aries as a sign is volatile enough already, and this New Moon will be doubly volatile because it is an eclipse. Also it is a special type of eclipse. It will be a hybrid solar eclipse, which means that it will be a combination of two types of solar eclipses – annular and total. And this is pretty unusual.
29 degrees signifies some kind of ending followed by a leap in the dark to a new era. But what does this new era hold? It accompanies a change of sign for Pluto into Aquarius – an air sign - echoing the Jupiter/Saturn mutation into Air back at the end of 2020. And we do have some reflections of this in the news currently. Firstly a new report on air pollution and its effect on us all. Secondly, ChatGPT continues to make the news with worries about its leap to fame but perhaps without full testing. And in more tech news we see in Iran how facial recognition of females not wearing the hijab might be linked to their bank accounts in the future. This echoes what happened with the truckers in Canada who participated in the freedom convoy. The IMF have also now announced the use of a digital currency which can be used in cross-border transactions. Unicoin can be used with the SWIFT system and will also be able to attach bank accounts. So digital currency and all the potential that goes with it is almost here.
The upcoming eclipse will pass across the western tip of Australia and will be visible also in South East Asia. It has been named the Ningaloo eclipse, an aboriginal word, and the path of totality will pass over the UNESCO World heritage-listed area of the Ningaloo coast. One thing we do know that is going on in that area is that the American and Philippine forces have recently launched their largest combat exercises in decades in the Philippines and its waters across the disputed South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait – a troubled area right now with the situation between China and Taiwan. So 29 Aries and the feathers of war are being preened and displayed.
The Sun and Moon sit with the North Node, so the eclipse has to do with our future rather than letting go of something from the past. Saturn is in an exact sextile to the North Node whilst Pluto squares the nodal axis. Pluto sits at 0 Aquarius where he will be for a couple of months before he slips back into Capricorn. Pluto is making his square from 0 Aquarius now, rather than 29 Capricorn. He is signifying something that is beginning. With Saturn sextiling the eclipse we have the opportunity and the ability to adopt strategies of resilience. And Aquarius is a sign that wants independence and freedom. We have the opportunity to stand our ground and ensure that is what we get – but not if apathy takes over.
So in summary we have a solar eclipse which echoes a 20 year cycle (Pluto in Aquarius) and a 200 year cycle (Jupiter and Saturn). What is this eclipse trying to tell us? The Moon is in Aries whilst Mars, the ruler of this eclipse, is in the Moon’s sign of Cancer. This is a very defensive Mars. It is a Mars who will protect his family and his tribe. But it is a Mars who essentially feels lacking in power. The eclipse at 29 degrees of the sign signifies that there’s a feeling of a need to get things done quickly. A bit like the need to panic buy but on top of the panic the shop is about to shut. Saturn in Pisces sextiles the nodes and the Sun/Moon. Saturn is essentially moral, but in Pisces he feels the ground under his feet might get washed away; his boundaries are perhaps blurred so he may act because he can, rather than how he should. He must be conscious to keep his boundaries strong.
Both Mars (ruler of the eclipse) and Venus (ruler of the North Node) are out of bounds – they both have maverick energy to add to the unpredictable behaviour of eclipse energy. Pluto is an evolutionary planet and he may well destroy if we don’t evolve and change in some radical way. Evolution means that we raise our level of consciousness – I am seeing this happen to be honest but not necessarily to the extent we need it. And the last three years we have endured appear to have sent many backwards – wanting others to keep them safe, needing to be protected from the views of others that might produce hurt feelings and a desire for more rules and regulations and limitations to our freedoms. We need to realise that we must take responsibility and ‘own’ the situation we are in.
Aquarius, and I speak having my Moon and Jupiter in that sign, represents authenticity and truth. So with Pluto in Aquarius I feel we have the power of truth rearing its head. The people want truths, not lies or propaganda or glitzy attempts to preach. They’ve had enough of that. But they have to be prepared to face those truths. So in terms of raising our conscious awareness this becomes a ‘do or die’ moment with regard to our future destiny (north node). There’s not much time left for any more rehearsals and no more just waiting for our old lives to come back by magic.
With Mars in the Moon’s sign and the Moon (the people) in Mars’ (action) sign, they are supporting each other. But Mars perhaps resorts to dirty dealings because he feels powerless. And we have Mercury (the mind and communication) in Venus’ sign of Taurus whilst Venus is in Mercury’s sign – Gemini; Venus and Mercury are giving each other some moral back up.
Mars is in Cancer – he is protecting the family, the tribe. Maybe it has to do with our food supply – surely not panic buying toilet rolls again! But plenty of other things are happening with our food. We haven’t been hearing much on shortages lately, but with limited grain coming out of Ukraine, shortages of fertiliser and farmers making losses, I’m wondering that it still must be on the cards. There is also a protective peel being put on fruit and veg, such as cucumbers. It supposedly saves on plastic packaging and combats climate change – but things like cucumbers already have their own protective peel don’t they? All they would need is a good wash. But this peel – called Apeel – can’t be washed off. Do we know if it has been really tested for safety? The blurb says it is totally plant based and totally safe but is it when it cannot even be washed off?
I honestly feel that this powerful solar eclipse in the final degree of Aries is a bugle call. We have a chance to do something, to take action but the window is closing. The chart is boundaried by a maverick Mars who feels powerless at one end and Pluto in Aquarius at the other. New Moons are times of new beginnings – times that we set new intentions. And with a square from Pluto this is a call to make some kind of intention that is potentially life changing. This is about setting a real intention for things that will truly matter to us. So many people consider that we are well on the road to get back to normal. Instead though we are on the way to whatever will be our new normal. If we just wait for it all to happen, we will get what we are given because we won’t have participated in its creation.
Mercury sits in Taurus alongside Uranus preparing to go retrograde just after the eclipse. This strikes me as important although personally I don’t worry that much about Mercury retrograde – it gives us an opportunity to go back over things and review, research. But this Mercury is an enlightening Mercury and Mercury with Uranus is in a wide orb to the eclipse. Maybe there will be some kind of ‘eureka’ moment which can give us an insight to a solution to what is a global spiritual crisis right now. Pluto in Capricorn has revealed most of the corruption and toxicity within corporates and banks; however, he hasn’t quite finished his job there so there is yet more to reveal for those who haven’t caught on.
Whilst the Sun and Moon sit with the North Node, our future destiny, Pluto squares both nodes – the South in terms of the past and the North representing our future. And we are talking about a Taurus/Scorpio axis. What is hidden and what is buried versus our security, the Earth and what will keep us practically safe and secure.
Firstly Taurus represents nature and the earth, so our intentions should be to work with nature, to appreciate nature and to eat as naturally as possible. Eat the least amount of processed food, avoid what is coated in Apeel until we know a lot more about it. If possible grow your own and then you can be sure of exactly how what you put inside you has been treated – or not treated. Check labels for ingredients you may not want to consume such as insects, but this is becoming challenging as so many rules seem to be arriving that prevent us from finding out how our food has been grown and what has been added.
The exponential speed at which AI is going is unsettling for our minds – can our brains genuinely cope with the sheer amount of ‘stuff’ it’s being asked to do? But what we cannot afford to happen is that we slip into apathy and just hope it all goes away. It’s not – it has to be dealt with. Ask questions – we cannot know how to act if we don’t understand what is happening around us. The world is not to be taken at face value – Pluto never takes a single thing at face value. Can we harness AI and use it to our benefit rather than be shackled to an AI system? We must be very present and very conscious. And with Mercury going retrograde we need to do our research and be prepared to dig deep.