New Moon 22º Aries 8:31 pm MDT, Venus Square Pluto

The Astrological New Year (Again)

Many astrologers (and other folks) say the spring equinox—March 20 this year, when the sun moves into Aries, first sign of the zodiacal wheel—is the astrological New Year. Others though, say the New Year really begins at the first new moon in Aries after the spring equinox. Which, guess what, is this one! Me? I like to celebrate as many holidays as possible, so I say let’s celebrate both.

But truly, I see this whole period as the time of birth (and rebirth) and I try to focus on the clearing and release, the “spring cleaning” and turning over the soil once the equinox hits, and then really set intentions and plant seeds with the energy of the new moon in Aries.

Currently, the sun, Venus, Mercury, and now the moon (as of April 10) are in Aries, and as the first sign, and Cardinal Fire, Aries encapsulates the energy of spring, birth, initiation, beginning and winning. But this feeling has been held back, restrained, by the moon, which was not yet here in this place of the new, but still traversing the old, reflecting, looking back and releasing the last year, as it moved through Aquarius and then Pisces last week.

It was like all the planets have been at the starting line, chomping at the bit, but they’ve been waiting for the moon to come open the gate. Meanwhile the moon was rolling through dreamy, watery, (ungrounded) Pisces.

If it has felt like things in your life were raring to go but something was holding them back, or like you’ve had your foot on both the gas and the brake—this is why. And this moon marks a major shift.

My posts over the past month or so have had a major focus on reflection and release—on looking back over the last year and deciding what to carry forward, what to learn from, and what to throw away. This is always the case for this time of year, but it’s especially potent and poignant for the intensity of the last year (in the world and in the cosmos—as above, so below).

But now, finally, after the moon’s final sweep through the last degrees of the last sign of the annual wheel, now we’re ready to really step into the new year with freshly turned dirt and the rich rotting compost of what no longer served us.

So let’s plant those seeds!

If you’ve been feeling some of this start/stop energy, know it will lighten up with this moon—though not entirely, as then all of these planets will move into Taurus and meet up with Uranus, planet of lightning breakthrough and innovation, just before bumping up against (squaring) Saturn, Lord of boundaries, constraint, and restraint.

This here we go!… not so fast! is part of the infrastructure of 2021. Like, yes, we’re moving, we’re opening up, we’re getting vaccinated… and we’re not out of the woods yet. Taskmaster Saturn is not through with us yet.

I was talking with a friend recently, and we each had similar metaphors for the progress we were trying to make with our work and career projects, but also just in developing further intimacy with our deep selves and visions and passions.

She described her feeling as being like a frozen lake, and she just wanted to hurry the thaw, to reach parts of herself that felt numb and distant. I, for my own part, was describing the push-pull energy as if I was trying to get an egg to hatch. And we realized, together, that we couldn’t rush the process.

Your job, she told me, is to just sit on that egg. And it’s an important job. You’re not just sitting, you’re doing crucial, life-making work. Meanwhile, I realized, I was running around setting up heat lamps, turning up the thermostat, trying to make the hatching faster. And she couldn’t rush the melting of her discovery either. When winter lakes thaw too quickly, we remembered, the waters flood.

So set your intentions, your visions, plant your seeds—and also, let the process be the process. Move with and through the natural cycles—or drive yourself nuts and suffer the consequences at your own peril.

22 Degrees of Aries

This new moon is a power horse, not only because it’s the first one of the astrological year, but also because of where it’s located in the sky. It just so happens to fall on the exact degree (though, of course, not “just so happens,” because this universe is brilliantly designed) where Mars spent much of last year traversing and then reversing and squaring (three times) Saturn in Capricorn (also at 22º)—at the same degree of the Saturn-Pluto conjunction of January 12 2020—which marked the intensity of what was to be the year of 2020.

The new moon reactivating this point is a reminder (and perhaps a reverberation) both of the events that occurred in 2020, and that this is just the beginning of cycles that will continue for many years, decades, and centuries. And not that the centuries to come will all be doom and upheaval of this past year, but to notice and understand the way the world has been and will continue to be irrevocably altered and reshaped by these events, for worse sometimes perhaps, but also for better.

Venus Square Pluto

One other major act in the drama of the skies right now, which ties into this new moon, is a difficult connection or conversation (a square) between Venus and Pluto. Remember, Venus is the planet of relationships, connections, beauty, and finding our biggest and best selves through the painful/joyful vulnerability of intimacy with others—the hot rawness of being seen. And Pluto, meanwhile, is Lord of the Underworld and king of deep dark transformation. So these two coming together can unearth some buried material about our weaknesses (and perhaps hidden strengths) in the realm of relationship, intimacy, and knowing ourselves more deeply through our connections with others.

SPARK! A course on creativity, the erotic, and radical pleasure

Stay tuned because we’ll be opening enrollment for SPARK at the end of April and beginning the eight-week online course in May! We cannot wait to reveal more details including some very juicy early-bird bonuses and extras!

Why this course focus? Because creativity and the erotic—our intimate connection with ourselves, with others, and with the world around us—are deeply interdependent. 

Social conditioning and the social water we swim in (patriarchy, homophobia, transphobia, sexism) dissects and divorces the two. Because this conditioning has a very prickly and oppressive relationship to sexuality, it labels the erotic taboo, bad, shameful, and wrong. This is an effective strategy to separate women and nonbinary folks from the power of the erotic. Similarly, creativity often gets labeled frivolous, unnecessary, and selfish. People (yep, women and nonbinary folks, especially) are assigned guilt and shame for wanting to pursue their passions and take time for creative pleasure. 

We’ve also found, through our own experiences and working with others, that addressing the blockages and healing the stories around our sexuality has a ripple effect on our creative process and output—and vice versa. As writers, we have found the writing process to be one of the most healing and empowering ways to understand and express our sexual identities. This course offers a safe, welcoming communal space to explore, expand, heal, and express your sexuality and erotic energies. You do NOT have to be a writer to thrive in this space, and this is not a how-to workshop for sex writing. 

We see sexuality and the erotic as pathways to radical pleasure and creativity.

New Moon in Aries Ritual and Writing Prompts

Aries New Moon Ritual

As noted, this is a beautiful moon for envisioning your next year and planting the seeds you will commit to nurturing and nourishing. This includes the intentions of the care for yourself and your dreams that you will need to create any sustainable work and progress. So this moon’s ritual is a simple and classic (and powerful) creative seed planting one.

1. Light a white candle for the moon and/or a red candle for Aries. Gather stones such as carnelian, red topaz, ruby, moonstone, and/or selenite.

2. Journal on the following: What are my visions and aims for the next year? What do I most want to experience in this next annual cycle?

What would the juiciest delicious and most fulfilling day, one year from now, contain? What would it feel like, look like, sound like, smell like, taste like? What would I do, who would I be with?

3. Write down your one (up to three if you really feel the urge) most electric vision on a piece of white paper in red ink.

4. In the dark of the waxing moon (in the next seven days would be best), go outside and bury the piece of paper in the dirt. Say aloud, I plant the seed of this vision which is growing to fruition in the sun of this coming year. So must it be.

5. Say thank you to the dirt, the earth, the moon, and the sun.

6. Snuff out your candle when your ritual is complete.

New Moon in Aries Creative Writing Prompt

Write a story set on a planet with more than one moon (you select the number). The culture(s) of this planet worship each of the moons, though each luminary represents a radically different way of being in relationship with the world and each other. As you explore this world and its cultures, consider how the peoples (beings?) work together or in conflict to design and sustain rituals, laws, and norms to honor the many moons and the elements of life they each represent.

Photo by Joshua Fuller on Unsplash