Renewal of the Heart: Astrology of 3/31 – 4/6

We deepen into Aries Season, and this new spark/emergence of life is among us! Meditating on the combination of transits this week, it appears to me that in the process of welcoming new life (new developments in our inner and outer worlds) we also have to let go of limiting thinking or limiting emotional patterns based on the past. Is the new not in some kind of dynamic tension with the past? There can be mixed feelings here, liberation and grief alike.

In my own experiences of working through grief, I’ve also learned that there are both things I can do to usher along the process AND my body or psyche may have a true rhythm that is not mine to control, but just mine to be humbled by and surrendered to. I’m probably not alone in favoring the upswings – I love being on the up and up, and I feel distressed when I start to feel like I’m being pulled under by an event I’m having difficulty digesting/accepting, or pulled under by an emotional riptide I can’t shake off.

Venus in Aries joins asteroid goddess Ceres, an asteroid relating to the mysteries of the seasons, the mystery of the descent, and the deep embodied trust we gain in ourselves when we watch ourselves come through the cycles of life, again and again. Sometimes narrative tales cut off at heartbreak and -the end- and sometimes we fear that this will be our lot (will I ever recover?) BUT, there is also the reality of descent and renewal of the heart, of losing hope and finding hope again, of feeling disconnected from ourselves and finding ourselves again. What would it be like to really trust that? Consider if there are places your heart is feeling rekindled this week, and if anything you encounter sets an ember back aflame. If you feel wintery (and not so much a fire being lit) can you feel into a deep approval for yourself and trust of where you are at? These processes connect us to the seasonal mysteries.

Welcome back! Or in case this is your first time here, I’m Sabrina Monarch and I’m a soul-centered astrologer. I love providing perspectives on the opportunities of transits and putting into words what the zeitgeist feels like at this moment in time, to support you on your path & open a dialogue between us and the cosmos. If you would like to receive these weekly forecasts to your inbox and be notified of upcoming educational opportunities, sign up for my mailing list here.

Watch this forecast on YouTube, or continue reading below:

Here’s our week, after a few announcements:

Study Evolutionary Astrology with me in May 2021 – enrollment is now open! It’s always an inspiring group of deep thinkers that gather for this class. If you are wanting to learn karmic soul-centered astrology, and go deeper into the astrological craft in both an intuitive and a structured/guided way – and you resonate with these forecasts, you’ll love this course. Learn more, read testimonials, and enroll here. You can also listen to a podcast interview I did on Amelia Quint’s Bad Astrologers about what Evolutionary Astrology is for a feel of this system of astrology and how I approach it.

A special new episode of Magic of the Spheres – I’m reading the first two chapters from my forthcoming fiction novel The Garden of Sleeping Hammers. The novel is coming out in late spring of 2021. It is a magical & often foreboding/unnerving tale of an extreme awakening experience. ⁣⁣

Thank you to the brilliant Alex Maune @chthonicbacchae for the cover artwork, and Liina @local.smoke.press for the text on the cover and helping me design/format the book behind the scenes. Thank you to the professors and friends who have read it and/or are reading it before its release, and thank you Drew @anthrosophist for helping me select magical timing. Thank you to my family & friends who have supported me the entire way.

⁣⁣Tune in for the first two chapters on the podcast (or on your browser here) and stay here, on my mailing list, etc. to learn more about the upcoming release!⁣⁣

I’m very excited to share this with you. Many of you tell me you appreciate my words as an astrologer, but my background actually is in fiction and poetics. After all this time, I’m sharing something from my literary roots. ❤️

Here’s our week:

March 31, 2021

Sun in 11 Aries sextile Saturn in 11 Aquarius: 2:04 PM PDT

(Image: Unknown)

In traditional astrology, the Sun is exalted in Aries and Saturn is at home and well-resourced in Aquarius. The sextile is also a supportive aspect. So we have two well-dignified placements harmonizing with each other. Here are some possibilities:

• Sun-Saturn contacts generally speak to the possibility of light being blocked out (Saturn suppressing the solar quality) or the light being facilitated and bolstered with structure/container/form (also Saturn). The light can be blocked out when we forget what brings us joy, when we are beset with grief, when we overwork and overtax the body and our inner-resources without replenishment or rest. When Sun-Saturn is a strong signature natally, or is an event by transit, we might need to bring consciousness to how we practically facilitate the experience of light, and happiness even. As a metaphor, consider the effort it takes to prepare a picnic – to cook/prepare the food, pack the bags and perhaps a car, find the location to set up, and so on. But once you’re there, the experience is not just being outside, but being outside with an intention/purpose and a container that is the picnic. Sun-Saturn does similar things for happiness and wellbeing. It doesn’t just come necessarily – there is effort, and then positive consequences. The Sun in Aries is quite energized here and potentially motivated to endeavor upon creative acts (for work and pleasure alike) that require some amount of ‘work’ to be initiated.
• As for grief, Sun-Saturn contacts can also relate to the creation (Sun) of ritual or ceremony. Ritual is a form of “serious play” that allows us to mark occasions, cross thresholds, and create transformation. Ritual is a source of joy (perhaps when it comes to celebration or just enjoying the quality of a ritual) and also comfort when the ritual can hold an experience that is too much to bare without some level of container and dignity.
• Saturn in Aquarius may relate to an intelligence that recognizes patterns – Saturn in Aquarius is like a magical, futuristic architect. The Sun in Aries is pretty game – for life in general, but also self-expression, assertion of will, courage, and feeling the right to exist and take up space. Aries is very individualistic, but this is also the source of Aries’ generosity and goodwill to others and the world – after all, don’t you love the people you love for them just being exactly who they are? Have you not benefitted from countless inventors, artists, teachers, etc. who were so themselves that they ended up contributing something unique to society? Personal embodiment of one’s inner essence is really a gift, at a higher level. Keeping these things in mind, consider this week if you have some opportunity to take your creative expression seriously and to “be yourself” as your most important cosmic assignment.

• One form of the light being blocked with this alignment could be to not be oneself as a way to fit in with community/society – when equally, one could be themselves, and fit in with likeminded people. But one has to give up codependency with the false-community, to which we justify not being ourselves to please others. We naturally feel depressed when we are living inauthentically, or when no one sees the true version of ourselves. Likewise, we tend to feel so much enjoyment (and vulnerability, really) from being genuinely reflected in this life by people we like and admire, and to feel met by our peers!

April 1, 2021

Mercury in 26 Pisces sextile Pluto in 26 Capricorn: 11:04 PM PDT

• There may be some higher/deeper inspiration at play here around creating and circulating ideas which at some level, help us to evolve. 
• Let’s consider the complexity of soothing ideas. Clarissa Pinkole Estes says: “The difference between comfort and nurture is this: if you have a plant that is sick because you keep it in a dark closet, and you say soothing words to it, that is comfort. If you take out of the closet and put in the sun, give it something to drink, and then talk to it, that is nurture.” Mental complacency under this transit (“this is just the way it is, and it’s okay!”) is a possibility. As a slight difference than complacency, accepting our current state is a door-opener for change – because we stop resisting, kicking, and screaming, essentially – and we make room for some peace, calm, still, quiet, movement. Perhaps you know this pattern – that you’ve been able to make deeper changes in your life after you accepted the issue at hand, but not necessarily while you were in intense resistance to it. I would suggest *not* using your mental creativity to rationalize why pertinent issues in your life are “just the way that they are and always will be and it’s okay”. THAT borders on complacency. The mind does this for its own security – not only is a problem not a problem anymore, but now we can also just not make any changes because everything is okay. It’s different to acknowledge with sharp razor clarity, “this is where I find myself and I am in acceptance of myself fully” and sit with the tension that is the opening for a new idea or vision or action that would actually change your life and bring greater alignment.
• If you don’t have the energy to address a problem, it can be compartmentalized. But there is more power in knowing that you are doing that – doing it consciously.
• There is often a part of the cycle of transformation where we are burning off an old pattern, and it is coming into our conscious awareness. It feels exaggerated. We can actually midwife this peak moment into transformation by just being as conscious as possible. Noticing where we are out of alignment. Noticing where we want to be dishonest, or fall into some addictive tendency. Noticing what choices we make. When we do all of these same things unconsciously, we just continue on in the same way. As soon as we bring awareness to it, it begins to change – just like quantum physics holds some distinction between unobserved and observed phenomena, as though particles know they are being observed. Our psyche knows too. 🙂
• Becoming more conscious of unconscious patterns is often facilitated by mapping tools – like astrology, psychology, human design, tarot, etc. Sometimes these mapping tools have inherent limitations – like I personally have a lot of issue with the psychiatric medical model’s approach to handling spiritual transformation – its framework is unsympathetic to unseen layers of reality and quick to pathologize them. I do not find that map helpful personally. Other times, the way we approach a map creates limitations – such as when we use astrology to validate a sense of inner-wrongness (“what’s WRONG with my chart?!” Or “my chart is so fucked.”) Consider how the way you use mapping tools to understand consciousness is directed – are you limiting yourself or creating more opportunities for yourself?

April 3, 2021

Venus in 16 Aries conjunct Ceres in 16 Aries: 8:57 AM PDT

(Image: Maxfield Parrish)

• Let’s consider the Venusian mysteries… understanding how to receive what we desire is not a simple 1-2-3 guide. It is not “behave in this way” or “look this way externally” and you’ll achieve. These are interior, magnetic mysteries. How the person who desires love finds a resonant partnership, or how a person who comes from little money finds their way into wealth – are inner journeys. The more I sit with people or spend time in groups of people doing personal development, LOVE and MONEY may as well be mystery schools.
• At this moment, with Venus conjunct Ceres (and Ceres relates to the myth of Demeter, Persephone, and Hades, relating to underworld journeys, grief, seasons of renewal, and the mother/daughter mysteries) notice where you are at seasonally with your relationship to love and/or money. Are you in winter – it’s a little cold, contracted, things feel hard? Or are you in spring – you are starting to feel new life and new possibility? Or are you lavishing in the abundance of summer? Seasons teach us that everything comes with phases, and the more we experience ourselves coming in and out of phases, the more we build trust in our own resiliency and magic, as well as trust in our descent.
• There may be a kindling spark of some inner-willingness to make a choice (Aries) or pursue (also Aries) what we desire. We stop simply waiting for something to happen to us. We realize that this is going to be the year we make a livable wage or hit a new income goal. We realize this is going to be the year that we open to connection, make new friends, or find love. Though these mysteries (love and money) involve relationship (with others and with the energetics of money), deciding we are going to enter into relationship is a personal decision and a personal activation at that.
• In a gendered sense, there is a lot of conditioning/programming for men to be pursuers and women to be pursued. At extreme levels of distortion, this created a kind of “not taking no for an answer” pushiness style of courtship which has undergone much cultural critique, as well as a damsel consciousness “save me!” energetic. “Rescue me from my tower!” These types of consciousness (both ends of the spectrum) can take us to dark places. Potentially, we may have learned a lot about our own shadow from this shadow-dance. Likewise, finding a sense of renewal in our capacity to be more honest about our desire & skillful in the way we pursue and make ourselves available for connection, is also a possibility here.

Mercury enters Aries: 8:41 PM PDT

• Mercury’s ingress into Aries ends the transit of Mercury in Pisces, which may relate to an experience of feeling more certain or clear about ideas with Mercury in Aries than we did the sea/soup of Pisces. Mercury in Pisces is quite dreamy and poetic, and can get overwhelmed by practical details. Working with energetics, the energy body, the aura, and magical thinking can all be ways that Mercury in Pisces finds efficacy in the world. It can also be necessary to have good mental boundaries with Mercury in Pisces, as to not mull over negative fantasies or fears so much that one becomes harmed by their own fantasies. Vibrational magic, positive thinking, visualization, etc. are all amazing tools for honing Mercury in Pisces psychic talents in a life-enhancing direction.
• But now with Mercury in Aries, our focus becomes more singular (and less diffuse) and the element of fire (Aries) comes out where before there was water (Pisces). Less soaked in reverie, and more charged by actionable ideas.
• Mercury in Aries people can be quite direct, and there’s a certain charm and humor to how direct they are! This is a Mercurial Season of learning to just be frank… as fuck. Yet, let us not forget Aries is ruled by Mars, and words can be weapons. Generally there is some association with the ideas, the air element, and the swords (in tarot) suggesting that the mind is already a force that cleaves/separates and has some capacity for violence. There is a difference between swinging around a bat belligerently (that is one’s consciousness and words) and knowing one’s own capacity for violence with their speech and treating that weapon with respect, the same way we might approach using knives in the kitchen (mindful, intentional).
• And… sometimes we just learn through experience. There is room to pivot, repair, and correct, if needed. Aries is good at the bounce back. 🙂

April 6, 2021

Venus in 19 Aries sextile Mars in 19 Gemini: 4:18 AM PDT

• The energy of directness only intensifies! This can emerge as conflict (becoming apparent or being addressed) as well as going for what one wants, and verbalizing in a way that creates connection or action. This is the difference between being interested & making your interest known. Sometimes it is subtle or shown by action (which can leave room for interpretation) or sometimes it is directly named. Feeling into the tension fo the moment, and the truth in your body, you may know what direction is most appropriate for you!

Thank you for meditating on the planets with me this week! If you would like further guidance, I have been increasingly focused on longer-term experiences in the form of the Evolutionary Astrology Intensive, higher level courses for alumni, and 1:1 mentorship – helping people form a depth relationship to their natal chart and personal transits over time, to develop themselves, to heal, and to reach their goals, all through the soul-making lens of evolutionary astrology. I would love to support you in building your relationship with astrology. The intensive is currently open for enrollment, and I am soon to take on new coaching clients.

Find me on Instagram @sabrinamonarch, get on my mailing list to stay apprised of all upcoming offerings and events, and I’ll see you next week!

With love,

Sabrina Monarch

(Top Image: unknown)