The Sun enters Aries II The Crown on March 30 at 1:25 am EDT. The Crown contains the degree of exaltation of the Sun; Austin Coppock certainly noted this association when he gave this decan this name, and T. Susan Chang called it Kingdom of Gold when comparing it with Tarot's three of wands — the man staking his claim to the high ground as he watches ships travel on a sun-touched sea toward the destinations he commanded. The descending Chaldean order gives this decan to the Sun to administer under Mars' overall dominion — and there's indeed something golden about the weather of early April, at least where I live, as the trees of New England burst into leaf and the understory of bushes and wild perennials erupts again.
But there's a darker, or more sinister, power that underlies Aries II. The Hellenes of ancient Alexandria, the Greek-speaking residents of the delta of Egypt, acknowledged the return of Persephone from the underworld at this time of year — and their Demotic neighbors may have seen her as an archetype or face of Isis the consort of Osiris the lord of the underworld. Kore the maiden may have been kidnapped into the dark realms below — but Persephone returns to the surface as a queen who commands the greenery to come forth. The US Department of Agriculture once published a sign that quoted radio personality Paul Harvey, "Despite all our accomplishments, we owe our existence to a six-inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains." We can just as easily attribute our existence to Persephone in her role as the goddess of flowering plants, without whom there is neither grain for our bread nor feed for our animals. Paul Muad'Dib Atreides makes a similar point in Dune, both the novel and the books, when he reminds us that the power to destroy a thing gives you control over it — and we would starve without Persephone's enthusiastic return to the world of the living. If we consider her not "merely" as a goddess, but as the re-awakening life-force of all plant life after winter... we are as dependent upon her as a newborn on her mother's milk. Neglect her at your peril — and recognize that, even as we go down into the dust at the end of our lives, we will feed her children who will feed our children. She's not the goddess OF the circle of life, she IS the circle of life.
The Chaldean order gives this decan to the Sun, appropriately enough. The astrological year begins and ends under the administration of Mars, cutting away the last deck lines of Pisces and hoisting the sails for a favorable breeze at the start of Aries — but the middle ten degrees of Aries belong to the Sun. While it starts a little early this year, on March 30 instead of the 31st or even April 1 — it's still usually the season when the spring's promise starts to make itself felt in quotidian experience: the sun on the arms in short sleeves, the sudden redness of your cheeks after a day in the garden, the signs of greenery in the woods. This is the young Sun, coming into his power, at least in my neck of the woods. No less than Geoffrey Chaucer cited this in the first few lines of the Canterbury Tales,
Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote,
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote,
[…] and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne,
And smale foweles maken melodye,
That slepen al the nyght with open ye,
So priketh hem Natúre in hir corages,
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages...
Canterbury Tales, General Prologue
That bolded line, the "yonge sonne Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne" means "when the sun is at the half-way mark of Aries," five days from now. If you feel an urge to get up and go to Canterbury — whether England, New Hampshire, Connecticut or elsewhere — you'll know that it's in part an honest reaction to the arrival of April's sweet showers, and the end of March's dryness. The green ones are returning.
The dodeks, or twelfth-parts, of Aries II are reifications of Leo, Virgo, Libra and Scorpio, reminding us of the energy of this spring season, and the effect that it can have on young people of a certain age and inclination — one particularly well-coiffed blond(e?) shows off, struts and poses for another relatively innocent and innocuous young person; then the relatively inexperienced one makes goo-goo eyes at the object of their desire; there's a proposed transaction, of sorts, which works out on balance for both of them, and they both go off into a hidden and secret place to do a sexually explicit version of the hokey-pokey. The poet E.Y. Harburg, with characteristic wit, wrote:
in spring, a young man's fancy
lightly turns to thoughts of love;
and in summer, and in winter, and in autumn —
see above.
We are none of us immune from spring's preternatural charms, or Persephone's resurgent triumphant return from realms below.
Planetary Positions
The most essential element of this coming decanic season is the solar eclipse slashing across northern Mexico, the eastern United States, and into Canada's Maritime Provinces on the last full day of the decan on April 8. This is the second time that a full solar eclipse has been visible in Texas in recent years, with the 2017 "Great American Eclipse" crossing from Portland, OR, to the Gulf of Mexico. In many ways, these two eclipses make a big X-marks-the-spot on top of Austin, the state capital — and it should be remembered that solar eclipses are often associated with "the fall of princes," and deliver results that last for years rather than weeks. The middle two weeks of April thus may have stories to tell us about the coming elections in the US; I'll be writing for my Patreon members about this eclipse in the near future.
Because the transition to Aries II occurs early on March 30, this is a Night Chart with a Moon above the horizon — and all the other planets below it. There's some unusual insight this week into the mood of the nation as a whole as a result; when the Moon and the first house coincide with one another, it usually represents a clear agreement between the voiced and the voiceless in political matters. Both Ascendant and Moon are in Sagittarius, occupying the first and third decans (associated with the eight and ten of wands) — quickly-announced plans become difficult burdens. Be careful of picking up new projects this week, they are likely to spiral out of control and beyond original scope!
Pluto stands in the first degree of Aquarius in the third house — there's commercial and economic issues playing havoc with your close friends and extended family, but it's also through relationship with your family that your own economic issues are likely to become more settled. How would you feel if some of your troubled relations moved in with you? What would happen is a guest room became an extra residence? Could you stand having housemates? I'm sorry to say that this isn't just a question for next week alone — Pluto has a twenty-year course through Aquarius, and for a number of readers, this question is likely to pluck a heartstring in the back of your mind for a couple of decades yet. One way or another, we're likely to be called on to ease the economic burdens of the closest circle to our hearts; you may be asked to open your wallet, but don't feel that you have to close your mouth when you do so — there's a role for the critic here, too.
Four planets activate all three decans of Pisces — Mars and Saturn will conjunct on April 9-10, while Venus and Neptune meet on April 3 (another couple of Patreon projects for me!). Mars and Saturn trouble me a great deal, because their meeting has usually signaled an outbreak of significant illness somewhere in the world; sometimes it's been a mild bird flu and sometimes measles. It may not mean much to many readers — so much else was going on at the time — but there was a Mars-Saturn conjunction in early Aquarius on March 31, 2020... a plague of stale air and something about a Coronavirus stiffening the lungs comes to mind. Be alert to stories about waterborne illnesses, and take precautions. The Venus-Neptune conjunction is likely to be more favorable, a kind of wordless and refined adoration in love; deep emotional connections that feel both whole and selfless, and artistic flow-states, are easily achieved under this conjunction. You're also likely to see women on a variety of fronts cut effortlessly through a web of lies and demonstrate truth to an astounded audience — but it may not permit the poison to dissipate even so.
In this chart, these coming conjunctions are both signaled or foreshadowed in the fourth house, associated with house, home, and family. It's worth paying attention this week to any standing arguments in your house, like toilet seat up or down? or who takes out the garbage? with more care than usual. It may be wise to err on the side of giving your partner's opinion more weight and consideration than you would normally to preserve peace in the house — and to draw on the advantageous union of Venus and Neptune, and to quell some of the hotter passions and colder cruelty of the Saturn-Mars meeting.
The fifth house of pleasures, pastimes, love-making and children is currently home to the Sun and Mercury, along with the North Node, the Imum Coeli and the Lot of Fortune. This week's solar eclipse occurs on the node that constantly desires more, and never turned down a meal. Your kids (particularly those growing teenagers!) are likely to be more like bottomless pits than usual, and you'll run through your groceries faster than you would at other times. At the same time, your passions and hobbies may bring in an extra buck or two to offset other costs, and there's contentment and joy to be found in taking personal leave this week.
The sixth house of illness, health management, labors and laborers who work for you (as well as of domestic pets) currently holds both Jupiter and Uranus in its bosom. The planets are drawing closer to their upcoming conjunction on April 20th (I'll be writing about that in Aries III in more detail). Often seen as a meeting of sudden surprises, or opportunities where your leadership skills coincide with a unique place to put them to use, the Jupiter Uranus conjunction takes place in Taurus III The Prayer Beads — and holds out hope that, for just this once, "thoughts and prayers" will have some actual effect on policy, program, or procedure.
Forming a kind of "metaphysical basket handle" in the eleventh house of friends, associates, and colleagues, we find three nominal positions. THere's no physical object here at the moment worth astrologizing, but the Black Moon Lillith (BML), the South Node, and the Midheaven are all activating the first two decans of Libra, The Blindfold and the Sword and Two Links of A Chain. BML represents the part of our lives where we are most likely to break rules or upset norms to get what we want; it's the astronomical point where the Moon's course takes her farthest way from Earth, and where she moves the slowest. Accordingly, be aware that when it comes to your second and third circle of friends and acquaintances, you may have to break your longstanding rules about fraternization or revealing too much about your life to mere colleagues. However, the South Node says that this is where the crap of your life is likely to get dumped in the coming week — you'll need to vent your frustrations and annoyances somewhere, and someone outside your immediate circle is likely the best candidate. The Midheaven here also suggests that you need this friend right now, and that this moment, this venting, is something which may help define our story and our legacy. Pick your friend... and your rant... very carefully!
Horoscopes by Rising Sign
Decan I of any sign (usually covering the 21st of the month to the first of the following month) is free to all visitors; Decan II is only available to Patreon and Ko-Fi.com subscribers; and Decan III is available to Patreon, Ko-Fi, and MailChimp subscribers.
Sagittarius:
Capricorn:
Aquarius:
Pisces:
Aries:
Taurus:
Gemini:
Cancer:
Leo:
Virgo:
Libra:
Scorpio:
Colophon
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I have a Patreon account for those who want to support this column as it continues its third year. Those funds support artists, artisans and thinkers that I regard as contributing to the well-being of the world. You can also buy me a Ko-fi in $3 increments; any column I write after receiving a Ko-Fi donation will be open to the public). .
If you want to read some of my astrologically-oriented poetry, the largest collection is called A Full Volume of Splendor and Starlight, available through my Etsy shop, and containing poems and hymns to the planets, constellations, decan deities, and Moon Mansion angels. 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.
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. I also 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 for much of my planetary delineations. Neither gentleman endorses me.
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