Maybe the journey isn’t so much about becoming anything.
Maybe it’s about un-becoming everything that isn’t really you,
so you can be who you were meant to be in the first place.
Paul Coelho
The New Moon on April 1, 2022, at 11 Aries marks a turning point, marking a moment when we have healed from something we have been working on for past year and are emerging into life feeling more wholly ourselves. We are ready for a new chapter and a way of relating and engaging life where we are more authentic, real and true.
The first New Moon after the Spring Equinox and the first new moon of the astrological calendar kicks off the lunar cycle for the year ahead. What we begin now is an energy signature that will carry through the full astral cycle.
We are in an Aries Season with a Twist
The Sun and Moon are sandwiched between Chiron and Mercury in Aries
There is a lot of Aries energy stirring us to be bold and forthright. Typically, fast-moving and assertive, the fiery energy of Aries is being tempered by larger movements happening in the sky that speak to a shift in our perspective. There is new clarity emerging from a process that has us unlearning what we thought was hard-wired in us. We have been healing hurts that had us see the world through a distorted filter. The Aries New Moon invites us to take it slow as we resolutely move forward so that we don't speak or take actions that have us revert to an old way of operating.
Spontaneous and vigorous energy of Aries, that asserts and boldly takes quick action without second guessing or evaluating if we should say it or do, is still available to us. We are still invited to follow our impulses, yet we are simultaneously asked to mindful. This means that if we move too swiftly or try to do too much, we may not hear what is being said or honor the message our feelings or body is giving us. In other words, don’t’ take short cuts but be present to what is happening within and all around - because something new is springing forth from within and we don't want to miss it.
Aries is about Initiative. We feel Emboldened to Strike Out into New Territory
The New Moon favors the launch of a new project or endeavor. We may be inspired to generate or create something new. An Aries New Moon normally encourages us bold, big action. but this Aries is softened by its relationship to other planets. We are to also be thoughtful and aware of the nuances of what we are feeling, seeing and experiencing.
Sometimes the bad things
that happen in our lives
put us directly on the path
to the most wonderful things
that will ever happen to us.
Nicole Reed
Chiron and Mercury Conjoin the New Moon
Chiron in Aries: 2018 to 2027
Chiron’s position in the sky signals the area of life where we a collective healing is taking place. In Aries, it is about reconnecting with our essential nature. We are to clear away the messages, patterns and situations that rob us of vitality, confidence and the deep trust in our own instincts. In Aries, Chiron supports us in clearing out social conditioning, residue of trauma and the layers that cover the jewel of our beautiful, radiant self. With this, courage and vitality are restored.
Chiron is at the lead of the New Moon. The New Moon is happening in the same territory that Chiron spent a good part of last year. This indicates that the deep healing and inner work we were doing last year is coming to a completion. We can look at our life and self with fresh eyes.
Mercury in Aries, talks and moves fast, makes quick decisions and tends to speak off the cuff. We are feeling more confident to follow our impulses and be spontaneous, creative, and bold. Yet, after the last year, we may be thinking about things differently. We need to be attentive to our thought processes and not get going so fast such that we skip over the signals or awarenesses that have us moving in a new way.
Aries is the sign of the warrior, the fighter, the pioneer. We are gaining new clarity around what we want to fight for. Rather than be bottled up or feel ourselves a victim of circumstances, we are ready to pick up the sword and fight for what means the most to us in a thoughtful and grounded way.
Passionate and Cautious, Bold and Responsible
Mars, Ruler of the New Moon
Mars in Aquarius, motivated by ideals, has us seeking conversations with others around a shared vision. We feel passionate about some future movement (Mars conjunct Venus). We feel responsibility for tending to the dreams we have for our life, but simultaneously feel restrained and inhibited from making huge strides forward (Mars conjunct Saturn). There is an eruptive, rebellious and revolutionary urge that can have us break out and be impulsive (Mars square Uranus). The restraints (whether external or internal) -can lead is to feel bottled up and anxious about how to move forward in a generative way (Mars/Saturn square Uranus).
Mars conjunct Venus/Saturn and Square Uranus:
A disciplined, organized approach is the best way to handle the tension we feel Yet, discipline needs to be coupled with listening to our intuition and feelings so we do not override the urge to slow down, move in a may be different than what has been planned. There is a lot of energy here and a need to blow off steam. Accidents can happen if we are not present to our surroundings.
Mars conjunct Venus. Venus is now pulling away from Mars after traveling with him for 6 weeks. Their extended time together in Aquarius amplified our focus on the future plans for our relationships - our expectations for them, and where we see them heading. Over the last days, our thoughts about the future direction of relationships and how they fit with our future plans has had an added note of seriousness (Venus and Mars conjunct Saturn)
Saturn is reining in Venus and Mars, slowing us down, maybe even stopping us in our tracks to give us a reality check. Again, we are asked to be attuned to what is happening that may be new or different to what we had planned or how we see ourselves. The feeling of being restrained, slowed down or even stopped dead in our tracks will intensify over the next days (Mars moves closer and closer its exact conjunction with Saturn on April 4). The feeling of restraint is there to serve us, to have us more mindful and deliberate in our words, thoughts, and actions. There is a clarity of vision and purpose taking shape but we may feel thwarted from acting in familiar or habitual ways.
Sometimes the best thing you can do is not think,
not wonder, not imagine, not obsess. Just breathe,
and have faith that everything will work out for the best.
Unknown
Catching a Wave
Jupiter/Neptune Conjunction the first two weeks of April
When Jupiter and Neptune come together about every 13 years, we are infused with a mind-opening experience that inspires us in some way. For the first time in 166 years they are meeting once more in the sign of Pisces, which can be defined as a spiritual awakening or spiritual realignment. There exact conjunction is April 12, but they will be traveling together the first half of April.
This awakening can happen in a myriad of ways if we allow it. It is akin to a surfer who catches a wave. The surfer has done the needed preparations, knows the day's conditions, and has assessed the variables. But at the moment she moves to catch a wave, stand on her board and ride it, all this falls away. In that moment, she is simply feeling the movement of the water, herself, and trusts her instincts, her intuition to guide her moment by moment. She rides the wave and where it will take her.
If we are not in tune with the movement of 'the wave', stay in our head around what we think should be happening, we may feel overwhelmed and look for an escape. In essence, we fall off the wave.
Neptune is the planet of the ideal, the dream. Jupiter grows what it touches and thus is fueling the Neptune dream of experiencing union. If we are unable to get out of our own way, quiet our mind and open to what we are ready to receive, we can feel disillusioned, depressed or give ourselves to overindulgence in some form of escape. Our mind then has successfully sidestepped the gift that is available. The next weeks is less about telling the universe what we want and saying prayers that ask the universe to bow to our will, and more about walking with a spirit of surrender and humility, where we admit we don't have all the answers and soften around how we think life should look, so we can receive a gift.
My brother Jim has five planets in Pisces. His career journey illustrates how Piscean energy moves and the potential for the Jupiter/Neptune conjunction in our lives. From a child, he loved the ocean and his social life revolved around it. He surfed, water-skied, scuba dived, fished and was competed in 2-person sand volleyball.
Loving the ocean, animals and the beauty of our planet, Jim got his college degree in environmental science and got a job as an environmentalist. He made notable contributions to the environmental issues that California faced, but day after day he felt less satisfied sitting at a desk, wearing a tie, and looking at a computer. He wanted to be with the earth and water he loved.
One day, Jim up and quit his job without a clue about what he would do to pay his bills. He knew what he did not like, a desk job, and moved towards he did like. He knew he loved the water, so late one the afternoon, he purchased a 6-pack of beer and headed for the docks. He approached a dive boat coming into port and volunteered to help them clean their boat. He returned day after day to repeat this same routine, until one day he was offered a job as a crew hand on the boat. It wasn’t much money, but he was doing something that gave him joy. He had caught a wave.
Jim went on to get his captain’s license and eventually became captain of the boat. Each day at sea, the boat would drop anchor and the boat’s passengers would go scuba diving. Jim then had a few hours with nothing much to do. One day, he thought: perhaps I could go diving, too and take some pictures. So, he bought an underwater camera and one of his first photos was featured in National Geographic.
He found he loved sharks and began to take photos of sharks. But he began to feel the limitations of photography and thought perhaps he should try his hand at making films. So, he enrolled in a 2-week film course in Los Angeles, bought himself the necessary gear, and began shooting and editing underwater short films. He was soon hired by an underwater film company where he worked for a couple years.
But, one day, Jim came into work and was told cutbacks needed to be made and that he was being laid off, effective immediately. He called me on the phone just after he left the building. He felt panic, not knowing what he was going to do. I told him that I wasn’t worried about him because things always emerge for him. What I knew is that he knew how to ride a wave, not overthink things and let life carry him to the next thing that was already waiting for him.
It wasn’t an hour later when he called me back and said he had just spoken to Jacques Cousteau’s son, Jean-Michel and had been offered a job as the editor on Cousteau's underwater films. This was over 20 years ago, and Jim is now an independent filmmaker and still collaborates with Jean-Michel on projects.
So, in thinking of the Jupiter/Neptune conjunction, I thought of my brothers’ story. He did not know where he was going. He knew what felt good and what did not. He simply began with his love of the ocean. He felt the movement, caught the wave, and rode it to where it took him.
Something beautiful may emerge for each of us this month, if we leave ourselves open, surrender, follow the flow of the current, and welcome what is ready for us to receive, that is beyond perhaps something we could imagine for ourselves. Some astrologers are speaking to the conjunction as a great spiritual awakening. This may entirely be possible, but if we expect it and try to grasp it, we may actually miss it. This conjunction is about surrender and getting out of our own way, opening our heart and trusting that the divine create flow that invigorates and makes all life and growth possible will carry us and open us to where we have wanted to go (that we may not even know ourselves).
Often the best things that happen in our lives arrive without effort, without us having planned or strove for them. This month has the potential to grace us with something new, that opens us to something previously out of reach.
Be so completely yourself
that everyone else feels safe to be themselves too.
Unknown
Solar Eclipse on April 30
The wave of this month will carry us into the Solar Eclipse. In many ways, April is a month of transition, where we close the chapter on some old pattern or way of seeing and find a strength of self that brings renewed confidence and direction. We are to take initiative and made strides, but move slowly enough so we can acknowledge what has been healed or how we have changed such that we are seeing ourselves and the world with new eyes. In this, we are aligning with the a new way or plan that is being intuited but is not yet fully formulated. April 30, the Solar Eclipse will launch the new chapter forward.
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