Astrology of March: Universal Reality
March is a month of powerful beginnings and conclusions that bring relief. The end of Winter and the start of Spring is a hopeful time of transition. The wheel turns and we enter the solar time of year. We begin to stir in our cozy burrows that have held us for three long months as the warmer weather draws us out onto the softening land. The change we’ve been desiring has arrived at last. The Spring Equinox on March 20, marks the Sun’s ingress into the fire sign of Aries. In many traditions, Aries is the beginning of the zodiac and Pisces the end. March is home to them both, and, as such, hosts the alpha and omega of astrology.
The omega, Pisces season, from February 18 to March 20, is the final sign of Winter. Associated with the primordial womb of gestation and the unmanifest to which we shall return. Pisces season initiates us inwards so that we can re-emerge made new. Aries, the alpha, is the initiation to individualization that springs forth and begins the journey again. The water of Pisces is present in the frozen creeks that begin to run and the icy walkways that turn into trickling streams.
Pisces is about deep feeling and dark recesses--the subconscious. We’re drawn beneath the waters to the hidden treasures and untold mysteries of unexplored realms. There’s magic in these occulted places, but often, also, a ward or guardian. Some fear that must be faced or trial that must be passed. Swimming towards the opening of a new life is not an easy process. Ask anyone who’s given birth or been born. Life is a big deal and for the first three weeks of March, we're marinating in some profound passageways. Pisces season heightens our sensitivity, empathy, and compassion. Be gentle with yourself as you traverse these mutable waters, like a little fish in the tide, that are carrying you towards a new day.
February is a challenging month in the cold realms and many people reported hitting a wall with the one-year anniversary of the pandemic. For most parts of the USA, quarantine became mandatory just as Saturn entered Aquarius on March 21, 2020. This initial ingress activated the square with Uranus in Taurus. Hard aspects between Saturn and Uranus are connected to pandemics. An exact opposition between Saturn in Leo and Uranus in Aquarius was in effect during the Spanish Flu in 1918-1919. The 3 month transit of Saturn through Aquarius from March 21-July 1, 2020, brought the Covid-19 pandemic to the USA, and we’ve been living with it ever since.
The 3 squares between Saturn and Uranus in 2021 are expected to bring their own pandemic peaks: on February 17, June 14, and December 24. The square last month coincided with the spread of a new more deadly variant of Covid-19. The exact squares represent times to practice greater caution. Anniversaries bring up big feelings. What do you need right now to support yourself in getting through this time?
While Saturn and Uranus remain in a square by sign until March 2023, it lessens in intensity after January 2022. They do come back into a 3 degree orb between August-November 2022, so we’re not completely out of the woods until then. We still have a long road ahead of us. Although most of us would like the process to conclude faster, many people are getting vaccinated and hope is present. We should expect things to start opening up again in a major way once Jupiter enters Pisces on May 13, 2021.
March opens with a nice change of pace. Mars enters Gemini on March 3, and some of the tension we’ve been living with since January 6 begins to dissipate. The February 17 square between Saturn and Uranus is still active, but Mars’ departure from Taurus takes some of the pressure off. We can breathe a sigh of relief as Mars will not enter fixed sign territory again until it prowls into Leo on June 11.
Mars in Mercury’s mutable sign of Gemini will have our mind racing and our pulse pounding. We’ll start to shake off the Winter doldrums and reach out towards friends and community. Making plans for the warmer months will bring a sense of joy and possibility. You’ll receive party invitations for outdoor events or perhaps plan a trip with your pod squad. Sharing your thoughts and ideas and acquiring new information is paramount while Mars is in Gemini until April 23. You may feel motivated to begin a course of study or start a blog. This transit is going to pick up the pace of life and help carry us towards the balancing point of the Vernal Equinox. What was initiated at the Aquarius New Moon on February 11, will start to take a more defined shape and form when Mars in Gemini trines Saturn on the first full day of Spring on March 21. Stay nimble and quick until then.
March brings the final phases of Mercury’s retrograde cycle through Aquarius. Mercury stationed direct on February 20, and began making its way through Saturn’s airy terrain for the final time. Mercury conjoins Jupiter at 17’33 on March 4, inspiring us to believe that greater and more is possible than what we see right now. We could all use a boost of optimism, and this transit will help us envision a better tomorrow. This is their 3rd and final meeting in 2021: Mercury conjoined Jupiter for the first time on January 11, and then again, while retrograde, on February 14. This final pass in the post-shadow is helping us move forward with projects that were put on hold during the active cycle, or decisions that were made as the result of retrograde insight.
The Lunar Nodes, where eclipses happen, represent areas of life of accelerated increase (North Node) and loss (South Node). We’ve been having eclipses along the Gemini-Sagittarius axis since June 2020. The Gemini Full Moon on November 30, and Sagittarius New Moon on December 14, was the first complete set of the cycle. Have you experienced expansion in the Gemini area of life and contraction in the topics ruled by Sagittarius? You’ll gain greater insight into how this process is unfolding for you when the Sun squares the Nodes on March 5. This transit is amplified by the Moon in Sagittarius conjunction with the South Node. We’ll be feeling this mutable t-square in our bodies, but it will also illuminate our mind. Eclipses serve as catalysts, and, since it's Pisces season, you may be inspired to make a sacrifice that will support your evolutionary development.
Venus in Pisces is traveling not far behind the Sun. You’ll come to understand how this Gemini-Sagittarius process is connected to your experience of love and relationships when Venus squares the Nodes on March 9. At this time, Venus is directly across from the asteroid Goddess Vesta in Virgo. This transit may inspire you to recommit to what you truly love. Vesta is about making things clean and clear so the light of divinity can shine through. Note what's in need of a bit of polish in your life. Virgo teaches us reverence--how to care for things well so that they last. Venus and Vesta are encouraging you to engage in daily acts of devotion during the second week of the month.
The Sun conjoins Neptune at 20’38 Pisces on March 10, dissolving our experience of subjective reality and immersing us in the timelessness of truth. The Sun represents our individual self. The implantation of divinity that makes us a unique and special someone. There is no one that has ever been born on earth that is exactly like you, and no one will ever be the same again before the Sun burns out. How incredible. Yet, simultaneously, we all emerge from the Source, and a very small part of us remains connected and aware of that collective Oneness. Both the personal and the transpersonal are true at once, although it is difficult for our minds to hold them at the same time.
The transit between the Sun and Neptune has the power to dissolve the duality of subject-object and glimpse the underlying truth of existence. Allowing the paradox of dual and non-dual to co-exist simultaneously can be disorienting. But anchoring ourselves in the love that undergirds all of reality, increases our sense of being supported through this journey. What do you want to devote yourself to at this time? Make it truly worthy of your efforts.
The Pisces New Moon, with Venus conjunct Neptune, on March 13, is groovy af. Don’t forget to set your clocks to “Spring Forward”. Whoo boy, this is gonna be a daylight savings time for the record books with confusion reigning supreme. It's a Saturday, so if you can stay home, make art, read poetry, indulge in romance, pledge your undying love to a noble cause, martyr yourself on the altar of a most worthy cause, wander in a field of flowers, weave a crown of garlands, chase rainbows, host a séance, cover yourself in body paint, meditate on Oneness, manifest unconditional love, and otherwise trance out. Neptune is related to both illusions and the dissolution of veils. Seek the supreme truth. Recommit to your dreams. Wish upon all these stars because better and more is possible for all of us if we imagine it so.
Mercury finally exits its post-retrograde shadow on March 13, and enters Pisces on March 15. This is not quite the convocation that we had in Aquarius, but there are four planets present for the final days of Pisces season. Mercury’s transit through Pisces will plunge us into the emotional truth of the situations we’ve been exploring for the past month. We’ll be drawn deeper into the mystery but also encounter the need for details and facts when Mercury squares Mars on March 23. Before then, you may find your mind wandering and your imagination soaring. Let yourself follow into strange places and unexplored territory. Mercury in Pisces is the ultimate poet and dreamer so don’t expect life to make sense from now until April 4. But if you hold on while letting go you’re sure to enjoy the ride.
The Sun moves into Aries on March 20, and the wheel turns again...