New Moon in Aries & Spring Babes: Astrology of 4/3 – 4/9

Our first New Moon of spring is this week! It is an Aries New Moon square Saturn, Pluto, and the lunar nodes, and what a dynamic meeting that is! Think courage, resolve, and discipline to do something new. And – really having to let go of the baggage, judgements, grievances, and other HEAVY energies we’ve been holding onto in order to take the leap.

Welcome back or, if you’re new here, my name is Sabrina Monarch and I write this weekly forecasts with a background in practicing Evolutionary Astrology. I write these forecasts with an intention to shed light on some of the dynamics of the week, along with challenges and opportunities that may be arising in our worlds. If you want to stay in touch and receive the weekly forecasts to your inbox, sign up for my mailing list here. I also teach online Evolutionary Astrology courses designed to give you your bearings in the world of astrology (so you can form your own relationship to the art of astrology & be able to form your own interpretations) and if you sign up for my list you’ll be notified when the next course is being offered.

I’ve had a synchronicity lately of hearing multiple parents on separate occasions speak of how having children made them realize they had an inner-babe they had to take care of with the same tenderness, and I’m not sure what could be more Saturn square Aries than that! The more this image works on me, the more stunned I am by it. And I want to share it to lend some softness and compassion to the approach of considering this week’s astrology & the various ways we may be feeling hard on ourselves or others these days.

I also received a cool image from Cello of Astrology with Cello in a conversation the other day. She came up with a metaphor of what it’s like to be wearing tight clothing and seeing people in loose, flowy clothes and not yet really understanding them or what it would be like to be like them. And then one day, how comfortable and how good it feels to wear loose clothing and finally getting what those flowy-clothed people were onto! I’m not saying it as good as she did. But the point is: the tight, constricted, conservative-leaning edge of Saturn is a lot different than the bursting-forth, fresh, impulsive, innocent babe-like energy of Aries, and that is a tension that can be arising within the field this week, sparking opportunities for our growth and for change.

These two archetypes (Aries forms a square to Capricorn, Saturn’s sign, in the natural zodiac) are inextricably in relationship throughout childhood/parenting, society, etc. The child and the parent. The rebel and the system. The fresh, new idea and the careful manifestation of that idea into tangible reality. The young and the old. The fresh idealist and the seasoned one. You don’t have one without meeting the other. The sacred marriage of the two within is how we have discipline to do something hard (the courage and the will to take on a challenge), how we get amped up to go ‘pro’ in life, or how we commit fiercely to facing life rather than running away from it. What aliveness and courage do we discover in ourselves when we face obstacles? How can we be grounded/practical and stay lit at the same time?

It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that work and play are separate arenas, but magical things happen when these realms align.

(Top image: “Dawn” by Veda Ram)

Here’s our week:

April 5, 2019

New Moon in 15 Aries: 1:50 AM PDT

This is our first new moon of springtime (if you count the equinox as the start of spring), so we may expect to feel a deepening of entrance into this season, like the lifting of yet another winter veil. New Moons are an excellent time to set intentions. You can apply yourself towards these intentions and watch them grow up until the Full Moon. The New Moon is fertile with possibility, and its growing light as the cycle continues has a way of pulling our New Moon seeds to fruition. Here are some thoughts on this Aries New Moon in particular!

• Our enthusiasm and our fire levels (Aries IS a fire sign!) may be high, provoking us to be interested in starting something new or diving right into a challenge without worrying too much about our usual hang-ups, like enough already!!

• We may discover however, that the excitement that is calling us forward (a new sense of can-do-it-ness or personal empowerment) may also have a little ball and chain around its eager ankle. This New Moon in Aries forms a square to Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn, and also squares the lunar nodes in Capricorn and Cancer. This ball and chain metaphor is not to say that you can’t do it. What it does mean is that moving forward on your path, or birthing a new version of you, actually yanks at the old ego-structures that you used to be bound to. Some of these older structures cannot live on if you change. Recognize what you are bound to so that you can unlatch yourself.

• Some practical examples: let’s say that you are going to do something new and fiery (Aries) like start a business or commit to going to the gym, and these are things you’ve just been talking about and wishing for. The transition to actually doing these things will challenge all of your identifications with, “I don’t think I can put myself out there,” or “I don’t think I have the energy.” Do not think that these things will not put up a fight. If you are far enough along in this confrontation, you may watch them dissolve on their own. But often these old identifications compete for a space at the table, long after we need them. Check in with yourself – what new version of yourself is your soul calling you to birth? And what identifications and stories do you hold that directly restrict you from this birth? What can you do to free yourself?

• We all need a little fight in us sometimes – Aries is an energy that helps us emerge. Are you stuck, lost, entangled? A little (or a lot of) fight is going to help you get out of that. This fight energy is fire and like fire, we must learn how to wield it. Not every situation is a fight, and we need to know when to flame and when to chill.

(Image: Rafael Araujo)

• The opposite archetype of Aries is Libra, the sign of balance, grace, and diplomacy. (However, without some Aries energy, Libra can stay stuck in decision-making mode without actually doing something!) Aries is less likely than Libra to weigh pros and cons before acting. It is a common Aries experience to burn hard, take things too far, and only learn in the aftermath. However, like a child who only learns coordination by running and falling, and getting back up and trying again — we may need to hold space for the parts of ourselves that over-extend, as we learn how to come back to center. No need for shame. Just humble self-accuracy that is learned via experience.

• Listen to the courage within your soul, and the nobility within your soul.

“The fully developed or mature warrior, however, has gained the wisdom to modulate aggression, and so becomes ‘energetic, decisive, courageous, enduring, persevering, and loyal to some greater good beyond our personal gain.’ This is a psychological profile of the awakened warrior.” – from the introduction to The Awakened Warrior: Living with Courage, Compassion and Discipline edited by Rick Fields

April 7, 2019

Mercury in 20 Pisces sextile Saturn in 20 Capricorn: 2:17 AM PDT

(Image: Rafael Araujo)

• We have precepts, or understandings about the nature of reality. These precepts largely filter the kinds of experiences and perceptions that we have access to. It doesn’t matter how far along we are in our self-development or spiritual paths – we all have boundaries around what we are wiling to perceive at any given leg of the journey.

• There is a gentle opportunity this week to loosen these boundaries and in so doing, gain new insights about reality. See if you can tease out some assumptions you’ve been holding (it’s hard to see them sometimes, I know!) and see what could happen if you let them dissolve.

• How to spot an assumption: an assumption can be an opinion or a perception which is taken at face-value as fact.

• Pisces has quite a few talents in the realm of imagination. You may also try the act of trying out new thoughts or feelings & see just how reality-bending that can be. What if you choose to perceive your life as enchanted and dreamy and you record the evidences you find of that through journalling? It can be whatever qualities you are seeking to make more real contact with, like gratitude, love, fun, adventure, etc. We don’t call Mercury a magician for nothing. Thoughts are magic! So prepare yourself! 😉

• With Mercury as magician, and Saturn as lord of consequence, consider as well the ways that the “spells” we choose consciously or unconsciously to participate with actually effect our lives. There were many possible realities to choose from before we decided to narrow in on one by investing in it with our thoughts and beliefs. Remember this agility.

April 9, 2019

Venus in 17 Pisces conjunct Neptune in 17 Pisces: 11:13 PM PDT

(Image: Charles Vess)

• This transit can bring deep magic and healing to our hearts and to the way that we relate with not just other people, but other nonhumans like plants, or even more ethereal beings like angels or guides. We can dissolve into the experience of communion.

• This transit is not totally fun and games when it comes to a potential to get carried away, which is more of a risk where there is lack of self-knowledge or lack of a sense of self. If we are confused, or receiving mixed signals, this can be a good time to just be honest with ourselves about that. We can witness the slideshow of images and impressions we feel without feeling obligated to believe in them. We can be patient and curious about asking ourselves who we are and what we value, so that we can get a greater sense of self. And if we get carried away now and then…maybe that is medicine for us too. Maybe we long to be carried away, if only to discover that romantic, all-cares-to-the-wind side of ourselves and the mysteries contained therein. Tune in with your soul and what is right for you. Maybe you know how to recognize red flags now, and you save yourself extra trouble. It is the soul that guides us.

• Venus relates to all forms of relationship, that of our relationship to self and to other. We often learn about what we value by having diverse experiences with others, and discovering how we resonate (and gaining self-knowledge in return about what we like and don’t like). When Venus is in Pisces or contacts Neptune, we are more susceptible to being enchanted! And this is a gift, as much as it is something to be humbly aware of.

• We are also likely to be feeling a sense of longing, and in many cases it is an ideal we are longing for – even if it is cleverly disguised as a person or a circumstance. This is a good time to be very curious about our longing. We may realize that there are higher ideals in our lives that we want to form more of a relationship to. Our longing is not here to be swept under the rug. It is here to call us back to ourselves. “Remember this dream you had before you came here to earth?” Longing asks us. By presenting itself as out of reach, or slipping farther away as we move toward it, Longing calls us to dance with it, which calls us to actualize a hidden potential within us.

Thank you for meditating on the planets with me this week! I really appreciate you being here with me as I know that if you connect to this writing we have likemindedness and that is so special. Please share this article with a friend who you think would resonate!

Please let me know what you think in the comments – truly I want to know so leave a note! I love you and you are tribe to me, thank you for finding your way to these words and resonating with them in whatever ways you have. If you feel you would benefit from further guidance on your personal natal chart and transits, I am available to help! Book a reading with me here.

With love,

Sabrina Monarch

Sabrina Monarch is a soul-centered Evolutionary Astrologer who publishes weekly astrological forecasts, works with clients and teaches. She has been collecting astrological experience for over a decade. She is a novelist and is currently pursuing her masters in Philosophy. She also enjoys kundalini yoga, meditation and ashtanga yoga.