By David Ockrassa
This year's Aries Ingress is on March 20th, at 7:20 PM for the East Coast of the US, making it 4:20 PM on the West. In my last Ingress newsletter (Cancer 2010) I wrote about numerous configurations pressuring us to make changes, about emotional tension and how the Jupiter - Uranus conjunction due to its square to many of the other active participants in that chart would make the changes seem to be unexpected.
What I did not do, and, in truth, cannot do in a few pages four times a year is cover all the intervening zodiacal activity between Ingresses. Which, of course, is a strong argument for seeing your local astrologer on a regular basis!
Case in point is the Solar Eclipse that happened on Jan. 4th of this year. The path of visibility was through much of North Africa. The seemingly sudden, unexpected changes there have been a major part of the news for the past couple of months.
Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, Algeria, Syria, Morocco, Iran and Libya have all been going through turmoil. Even Tibet, at the far eastern end of the path of visibility, has now been affected, as the Dalai Lama has announced he is stepping down as the political leader of Tibet, while remaining its spiritual leader.
So use these quarterly long view comments as setting the tone for the coming three months, but not as a detailed agenda!
With that in mind, what's going on in this Ingress?
Jupiter has moved away from his conjunction with Uranus, but the Sun and Uranus are both at 00 Aries. More sudden changes coming to light. (In fact, Uranus entered Aries on March 11 here, March 12 in Japan... less than 18 hours after the earthquake....)
Hopefully the changes we are being asked to make will not be as traumatic.
Looking at the chart (and ignoring, for the sake of the pattern, the asteroids and nodes) it's easy to visualize it as a hand fan, with the conjoined Moon and Saturn as the handle, all the other bodies being the fan itself. So the Moon - Saturn conjunction is what is in control of all the others. Now, this could be seen as constrained emotions or, more positively, as controlled emotions, i.e. emotions that are not running wild, but controlled and directed. These two bodies are in Libra (the full moon was only about 20 hours before the equinox) so we have the chance to take control of our emotions in regard to our one-on-one relations, in spite of the Sun - Uranus pressure to break from old, established modes.
Likewise, Mars in Pisces isn't terribly enthusiastic about taking action, so there is little additional energy there to support the Sun - Uranus energy. He (Mars) does, however have what's called a mutual reception with Jupiter - they are in each other's signs of rulership (traditional system) so all is not lost on this front. Mars can take some action, but it will tend to be subtle, not the brash activity so often associated with the warrior planet. Subtle does not necessarily mean small. In this case, it might be more along the lines of sweeping (Jupiter) but gentle (Pisces) changes, non-confrontational (Pisces again) action to work toward our dreams.
Self-controlled emotions and working peacefully to expand our dreams doesn't sound so bad. It actually seems like a rather adult way to proceed. If things are self-controlled it seems that we have chosen to take personal responsibility, rather than shirking that and letting others decide for us. Of course, that also means that if we don't follow through with the work, we only have ourselves to blame. The work for us in this chart doesn't seem to be too onerous, if we allow the Jupiter moderated Mars to work in it's current dreamy Piscean state. It can then, perhaps, be a damper on the Sun - Uranus push for sudden changes, and perhaps help us to make the needed changes in a kinder and gentler fashion.
Where, on an individual level, these changes and energies lie depends on where these elements fall in your individual chart. Locate the middle degrees of Libra in your birth chart - this is where the Moon and Jupiter will be. While the general message of Libra is about relationships, the style of this Sign is about seeking balance and fairness. So in whatever House of your chart these two planets wind up from the equinox chart is where you can take control of your emotional investment in that area of your life. Do the same with 20 Pisces, the degree of Mars in the seasonal chart. The House of your chart where this is will tell you where you're in line to make some changes in pursuit of your dreams.
Use the keywords below to start thinking about where you might want to make some changes. Books have been written about the meaning of each house, so obviously this small listing is only to get you thinking about the possibilities!
1st House: Doorway is called the Ascendant or the Rising Sign. Personality, physical body
2nd House: values, personal resources, moveable possessions
3rd House: immediate environment, siblings, short trips
4th House: Doorway is called Imum Coeli or IC. Personal roots, home, family, tradition
5th House: creative self-expression, love affairs, speculation
6th House: work, service, health, daily routine, job
7th House: Doorway is called Descendant. Partners, contracts, advisors, one-to-one relations
8th House: debts, partner's values and possessions, sex, death, rebirth
9th House: higher education, philosophy, religion, long journeys
10th House: Doorway is called Median Coeli, MC, or MidHeaven. Reputation, career, profession, vocation
11th House: friends, hopes and wishes, groups, group associations and ideals
12th House: subconscious, the past, hidden matters