Aries II, which Austin Coppock called The Crown in his book 36 Faces about the magic and history of the decans, begins this year on March 30, 2022 at 1:45 pm EDT. The Sun will be in the ninth house, just thirteen and a half degrees past the Midheaven, in another "belly of the beast" configuration with all the planets on one side of the Nodal Axis, and most planets in the reactive occidental half of the chart. With the exception of Pluto, all the planets are also above the horizon, meaning that public events and policy are more likely to shape our experiences in the next ten days than our own private plans.

astrology chart for March 10, 2022 at 1:45 pm EDT - ASC at 7° Leo, Sun at 10° Aries, Moon at 21° Pisces.

Additionally, the next ten days will include the April 4th conjunction of Saturn and Mars — a combination with a traditionally fearful reputation. Although the Saturn-Mars conjunction always occurs every two years, it remains a herald of war and pestilence, as it did in March 2020 at the start of the pandemic; years when it occurs in a sign that either Mars or Saturn rules, as in 2020 and now, tend to be more difficult than at other times. This one is likely to be quite difficult.

The second decan of Aries is administered by the Sun, and the Egyptianized Greeks of the Greco-Roman era characterized it as the season of Persephone, the returning goddess-queen of the underworld. The Sun is exalted in Aries, and most of all what the Sun does is provide light and warmth and heat to cause growth and new life — more than anywhere else, more than at any other time, this is what the Sun does this time of year (at least in the northern hemisphere)... make things grow and rise and spring to new life. Under Mars's rulership, the Sun's expression of new life and heat brings a welter of new possibilities to the surface. However, under that Saturn-Mars conjunction, it remains to be seen if all those new possibilities are entirely favorable.

The Persephone connection is potentially much more difficult. Last year and the year before and the year before, Venus was either closely connected to the Sun or in a favorable place in her own sign of Taurus. This year... she's not. Venus is keeping close company in Aquarius with that Saturn-Mars conjunction still, just as Ukraine, Russia, and other places in the Northern Hemisphere 'should be' planting next autumn's harvests. Venus in Aquarius, keeping company with the malefics, suggest that the goddess of the underworld is lingering at the door, giving Hades a few more kisses before reluctantly heading to the car for her commute into spring. It's worth remembering that the Crown of Aries II is not just the solar crown on the royal head, but also the baby's head popping free of the mother, and the first green breaking free of the cold ground. Venus in her gothic Persephone guise here, with clove cigarettes and black thumb, suggests something of a delay in this process of renewal — with possibly unhealthy consequences later in the year. Famine joining war and pestilence makes a certain morbid sense, does it not?

Planetary Placements

The Sun is above the horizon, making this a Day Chart, but one in which the Sun is already past the meridian — a public reaction to events beyond the Sun's control. The Moon's close presence in Pisces, besieged between Jupiter and Neptune, promises that the next ten days bring a sense of closure and completion to ongoing concerns — but maybe not in ways that are favorable or completely enjoyable.

The Ascendant in the first decan of Leo puts "the spotlight" on major problems that can only be solved by expertise — while the Lot of Fortune in Cancer in the second decan invites us ordinary folks to "retreat to the walled garden" wherever and whenever possible. The Imum Coeli in the third decan of Libra in the third house serves as a reminder that we are likely to find our greatest happiness in these next ten days by spending them with our closest friends, our most loved extended family, and our neighbors.

The Nodal Axis puts the head of the dragon in the tenth house. You may have noticed that people are going back to work in office buildings — I had to attend a meeting today in a building where more than 85% of the work force that used to work for home, are now meeting in person. The third decan of Taurus, the prayer beads, reminds us of that idea of a daily and repeatable routine, a round of normalcies. However, the place where the crap comes out, is in our home lives, where The Crow, a bird of ill-omen, squawks above the back door. What is our hunger letting into our home lives? What does our mouth speak, that brings feces to our door?

Pluto in the sixth house stills sits on Capricorn's third decan The Throne. That notion of being called back to work, called back to perform in public.... and called on to take risks that we may not feel comfortable taking. Wealth is on the other side of the challenges, says the Lord of Riches... of course, Pluto is also the lord of the underworld, a not so comforting thought: both the risk-takers and the risk-averse wind up in his clutches eventually.

In the seventh house, Mars, Saturn, and Venus all cluster in the second half of Aquarius; the next four days will see Mars and Saturn conjunct for the first time since March of 2020, when the COVID pandemic and panic shut down most of North America. The two planets didn't conjunct until the last day of March in 2020; this time around they conjunct on April 4, in the decan of Aquarius called The Knot. It remains to be seen if Venus — already escaped from her Aries I besiegement — will say, "this time, guys, don't make them all hide from the plague," or if she'll say "you know what, folks, have at it: give them pestilence AND war in equal measure."

In the eighth house, as mentioned, the Moon is besieged between Jupiter and Neptune — a place of gut reaction, trapped between a genuine need for structure, grace and mercy on the one hand; and a genuine desire to break down all norms and structures, and go it alone on the other. Both options are carried forward by a zealousness that's out of alignment with the importance of the issues — there's a vehemence, a insistence on our specific brand of the truth, that doesn't match either the reality or the relevant level of importance.

Mercury, The Sun, Chiron and the Midheaven occupy Aries, in the ninth house. The Sun is only rarely more strong than when in the second decan of Aries — but in this place where he's already past the midheaven, there's a sense of being past his peak already. He might have had aspirations to achieve great things, but the Sun's power is already slipping; it may be a rather chilly spring. Mercury spends a great deal of expertise these ten days on analysis and separation of this from that, organizing and distilling these from those: be aware that you're likely to see a lot of analysis that boils down to "this situation is different from that situation because..." and that the larger similarities are likely to be glossed over and ignored. If you want to see a lot of people get mad simultaneously, keep pointing out similarities and watch people's heads explode with unnecessary levels of misplaced passions.

Uranus occupies the middle decan of Taurus in the tenth house — like a mob occupying the presidential palace, there's a sense of the normal order of things disrupted, and the traditions undone and overthrown for the sake of a new role. The mob is growing restless and uneasy, and ordinary folks may be feeling a rising level of discontent that's looking for expression.

Horoscopes by Rising Sign

The horoscopes for Decan I of any sign are free and public; the horoscopes for Decan II of any sign are made available to my Patreon supporters at the $3 tier and higher; the horoscopes for Decan III are available to Patreon supporters and email subscribers only.

Leo:

Virgo:

Libra:

Scorpio:

Sagittarius:

Capricorn:

Aquarius:

Pisces:

Aries:

Taurus:

Gemini:

Cancer:

Colophon

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I use iPhemeris for my charting software, and screenshot it to make charts. I want to thank the team that develops iPhemeris for the addition of Terms and Decans to their charts, appearing here for the first time! I use Hugh Tran's Physis typeface to craft logos for this blog, as well.

I use Christopher Warnock's The Mansions of the Moon as the basis of my Moon placement delineations, and Austin Coppock's 36 Faces as the basis of much of my planetary delineations. Neither gentleman endorses me. My own book, A Full Volume of Splendour and Starlight, is now available as PDF download from my Etsy website, as is my Almanac for 2021. Any errors in these columns are my own.

If you'd like to schedule a consultation with me, you can find additional information on the Services and Classes page.

If you want to read some of my other astrologically-oriented poetry, To the Mansions of the Moon is a collection of hymns to the angels of the Mansions mentioned in these columns. For the Behenian Stars is a collection of hymns to the first/brightest sixteen stars. The Sun's Paces are hymns to the thirty-six Hellenistic-era deities and ascended souls of the Greco-Egyptian Decans-calendar. While not astrological, Festae contains hymns to some of the older Roman gods and spirits from the calendar created by Numa Pompilius, the second ancient King of Rome.