 |
| Art by Claudia Tremblay |
New Moon in Aries: The Pregnant Pause
Moon conjunct Sun- 4/11/21 @
9:30pm CDT
It’s my birthday today. A new year for me, and a new lunar phase for
all of us. There is something about the
New Moon in Aries each year that stirs up the seeds of creation and sets things
in motion…even as that lunar motion is imperceptible to our ‘see it to believe
it’ views of life.
Most would never equate the
Cardinal Fire energy of Aries with stillness.
There is an initiatory spark to it.
It inspires movement, liveliness, creative action. And yet, within the silent song of Sun’s exalted
rays, there are unseen elements in pregnant pause…growing in meaning before
being revealed.
Venus, who descended into invisibility
behind the Sun this February, has only just experienced her Exterior
Conjunction with Sun on March 25th.
She is still transforming in the Underworld before she reveals herself
as Evening Star next month. Like the
unseen Moon at this time, the stillness inherent in this pregnant pause is that
we cannot yet see what will be birthed from this Aries initiative. We may be ‘expecting’ new life…but we are in
the ‘waiting womb’.
And it isn’t easy to wait for
anything during Aries season…especially while all planets are moving in direct
motion. It isn’t easy to wait for things
when you were blessed with Aries energy at your birth either. There’s always this desire to launch into new
endeavors, to blaze a trail, to express boldly from the ‘I Am’ of our
existence.
But the quality of time, the
Kairos, we are feeling at this lunar initiation is so weighty and purposeful
that even an Aries native will want to take this time to consider the way ahead
before jumping into action. For anyone,
it can be fearful to not see the path ahead.
What if we fall into a chasm and the Underworld swallows us? I mean, that’s extreme…but extremities are
part of the larger lesson of these times.
This Aries season confronts us with our own edges, and we must engage
the inner strength to pass through them.
The seeds are stirring…but
they’re underground. We need only to
shoot our roots down to find support. Tapping into the underneath is crucial to
the integrity of what we grow from this beginning.
The Aries Stellium and the Plutonian
Underworld
Art by Sandara
Full-speed-ahead as most other
planets are now, Pluto has been slowing down significantly in Capricorn and
will station retrograde by April 27th. And this already slow-moving outer planet is in
a 90 degree square with this New Moon.
But it’s not just the luminaries coming into square with Pluto. It’s Venus, Persephone, Eris, and Ceres too…all
of them in Aries, conjunct our luminaries and squaring off with Pluto at this
time. All we can see of this square in
our sky is the brilliance of our shining Sun…but there is so much happening
behind the scenes.
Pluto square Eris is
definitely an enduring undercurrent of our times…we already experienced 3
exactions of that square in 2020. And
the next exactions occur surrounding Pluto’s direct station in October this
year. Because both are slow-moving outer
planets…they’ve been within the orb of influence with this square for a while
and will continue to be as we navigate a time where ‘heavy discord’ that
demands purposeful action seems part of the ‘new normal’.
Less than an hour after New
Moon, Venus exacts this square with Pluto.
As Venus’s cycle relates to the mythic storyline of Inanna and
Ereshkigal…this Underworld part of Venus’s journey is where Inanna learns the value
and meaning of death from the Chthonic Mysteries taught by her older sister,
Ereshkigal. The Queen of the Underworld (Pluto)
confronts the Queen of Heaven (Venus) with her own shadows and her own death
(Sun conjunct Venus). And yet, there is
a revivification process taking place now.
Ereshkigal has had her redemption for her sister’s involvement in her husband’s
death. She is weary from her own
pregnancy with Ninazu and allows the galla to take Inanna’s corpse in her
gratitude for their help through her labor.
Now Inanna is redeemed as well by being slowly brought back to life…but
there are still a few weeks before her return to the sky (Heliacal Rise of
Venus in early May).
There are many correlations
between the Chthonic Mysteries of Inanna and Ereshkigal and the Eleusinian Mysteries
of Demeter/Ceres and her daughter Persephone/Kore. And, at this New Moon, Ceres and Persephone
join Venus/Inanna in her Underworld transformation. All of them are at a turning-point crisis
with Pluto/Ereshkigal. In this turning-point
we see the seasonal shifts that these stories reflect. In the Southern Hemisphere, Ceres is mourning
her daughter’s return to the Underworld as this hemisphere experiences the
introduction to their colder months. In the
Northern Hemisphere, Ceres is rejoicing in the return of her daughter…and the
growth of the warmer months springs forth.
Persephone conjunct Venus at this time really highlights the power of
the Queen of the Underworld, and the important decisions she must make in those
depths.
And all of these celestial
bodies, along with Eris and our luminaries, are square to Pluto…adding quite a
bit of weight to an enduring dynamic echoed from last year. So while it is a collective Soul Crisis we’ve
been moving through for over a year, we may each be feeling it very personally
now. Something is transforming deep
within us, and we are pressed to make important decisions that could alter our
course. The planets suggest that, in
this process, we don’t disregard the parts that are hidden beneath the
surface. Those are the crucial elements
in what we need to process (sometimes from fear into fuel) throughout this
lunar month.
Aiding us in this task is a
sextile opportunity between this Aries Stellium and Mars in Gemini. Mars is out-of-bounds from the Sun’s path,
and bringing in a rogue energy to guide all that is in Aries into new
territory. Mars has been offering a lot
of information to act upon. And all that
is in Aries asks us to move only toward what, of many options, is in integrity
with us. There is also a mutual
reception between Mercury in Aries (Mars’s diurnal domicile) and Mars in Gemini
(Mercury’s diurnal domicile). This mutual
reception will be growing into a sextile throughout the week ahead, building
opportunities to put our ideas (Mercury) into action (Mars).
Adding to this opportunity is
that Jupiter in Aquarius is in harmonious aspect as well, creating a Blessing
Triangle with a trine to Mars and a sextile to the Aries Stellium. Yes, there is a great blessing in all that is
stirring within us right now. We may not
see it at first, but we are supported in this Aries initiation. As with Inanna/Venus…there is promise of new
life.
New Moon in Aries 23
Sabian Symbol: “A woman in pastel colors carrying a heavy
and valuable but veiled load.”
'The Blessing' by my friend,
Shannon Bagley Hilson.
Gifted to me when I was pregnant
with my daughter.
In this symbol that the luminaries
highlight now, there is lightness and heaviness co-present. In Dane Rudhyar’s interpretation of this
symbol, he specifically defines ‘a pregnant woman in a light summer dress’. The symbol is about inner fulfillment, as
well as the weighty value in the task of creating something meaningful. Both versions of the symbol are protective about
what is being carried. It also suggests
that what is currently veiled will soon be revealed. So, whatever it is that we each are carrying…whether
it be an idea still forming within, a new venture awaiting its proper timing,
or even a heaviness we are transforming (maybe all of those things and more)…may
this Aries New Moon bless us through our Sun’s rays.
Love and Gratitude,
Felina Lune Kavi
