Celestial Notebook Overview March 2007

The astrological New Year begins just after midnight on 21 March as the sun enters Aries. In the Northern Hemisphere this is the vernal equinox and the beginning of spring: day and night are of equal length on this day. This means that the Day force (individual power) and the Night force (collective power) are equal as well. From here on the days get longer and for the next three months the emphasis is on celebrating individuality.

However on 19 March (Greenwich Mean Time) two days before our New Year there is a solar eclipse at 28 degrees 7 minutes Pisces. The light of the sun and that of the moon symbolise the light of consciousness in our lives. Both solar and lunar eclipses involve an obstruction of that light and compel us to deal more deeply than usual with subconscious as well as collective forces. You would have been feeling the effect of the solar eclipse for a few weeks now and that effect may last for six months to a lifetime, depending on where it falls in your chart.

Eclipses tend to unexpectedly expose hidden problems: aspects of our lives that we may have been too busy or too fearful to address are thrust into the foreground. The effects can be exciting or herald a time of difficulties; one thing is for sure: our spiritual growth is accelerated!

This eclipse is particularly powerful as Pluto is ninety degrees away from the degree of the new moon: astrologers call this a square aspect and its keyword is stress. Mythological Pluto is Lord of the Underworld and relates to our subconscious processes. We may create intense experiences and be faced with circumstances that are untenable: remember we are being freed of all that is useless in our lives.

Saturn, The Lord of Structure, has been retrograde (seemingly moving backwards) since the first week in December 2006. Retrogrades symbolise an emphasis on inner work and accepting yourself for who you are (not for who you would like to be) is pivotal at the moment. Outer success is secondary: express your core truth and build an inner security so that you are able to implement the necessary changes in your life structure when Saturn changes direction and moves forward in April.

With Mercury (communication) in mystical Pisces, Venus (love and money) in stable Taurus and Mars (action) in futuristic Aquarius it is time to truly let go of your conditioned ideas and attachments. Create the space to formulate what relationship and which career would best suit your emerging self. Trust in your core; be willing to be true to yourself and be aware that in every ending there is a new beginning.

On the last day of the month Pluto turns retrograde (on 28 degrees Sagittarius) until 7 September. Pluto is very slow moving and its influence is very obscure. It is a planet of extreme motivation and only concerned with confronting us with whatever we have not transformed to a higher level of expression – especially those parts of us that chronically resist constructive change at an emotional level. Retrograde planets appear larger and brighter to us and symbolically suggests greater enlightenment. With Pluto it is often a slow dawning of the light: be alert and do not deny what you don’t want to see.

Pluto will be retracing its steps going back to February 2006: what are the changes life has been asking you to make since then? Rethink and find fresh solutions based on your inner experience rather than on external influences. Enjoy the ride!

‘The centre that I cannot find
Is known to my unconscious Mind;
I have no reason to despair
Because I am already there.’ W.H. Auden