9:06 pm  AHST   2/19/2023
11:06 pm    PST    2/19/2023

 2:06 am    EST   2/20/2023
 7:06 am   GMT  2/20/2023

Honoring our Soul

This New Moon is a SuperMoon, coming as close to the Earth as it gets in its changing orbit, affecting tides and weather as well as human psyches, made up of so much water as we are. And it’s the beginning of our cycle of a month in Pisces, the sign of transcendence, of deeply felt longings that come from our soul. During this month we can align with these energies to create communion with others, with ourselves and our soul’s desires. But this alignment is not automatic, and Saturn’s presence conjoining this New Moon underlines that fact. Though Saturn is still in Aquarius it’s at the last degrees of that sign, only 3 degrees away from this New Moon. This is a time to review our dedication to observing and taking actions that enhance our alignment with however we perceive our spiritual path. Meditation in all its forms, prayer, honoring the forces that sustain us, are all powerful ways to connect with the Universal Creative energy we all share, and which is the energy that powers our bodies and our lives.

Love Letters From Beyond

Venus is no longer conjoined with Pluto in serious Capricorn, as she was in the signature chart on New Year’s day 2023, but she is nearly exactly sextile Pluto in this New Moon chart. As we began this year, I had read this as her bring “in bed” with the archetypal god of the Underworld, and in this chart the harmonious 60˚ angle tells us she is still in communion with Pluto, though now from the spirit-centered sign of Pisces. She’s just about to emerge from the deepest sign of Pisces to the beginning degree of Aries, (in fact only 50 minutes after the exactitude of the New Moon), leaving behind her dreamy conjunction with Neptune, the archetype of the inner worlds. The zero degree of Aries is one of the cardinal crossing points astrologically, and a spotlight of importance shines on it when this happens. Perhaps she’s reminding us of what’s most important as we move forward into the New Year[1], to remember that love comes from the deepest and connected parts of ourselves, beyond ego and personality, beyond judgements and prejudices.

Expansion, Mindfulness, and Honoring our Wounds

Before the next Full Moon, three yearly conjunctions of planets will happen. First, on March 1^st, Jupiter and Venus will conjoin in Aries, bringing us the opportunity to take loving action in areas where perhaps we have been holding back. This conjunction will be visible in the west after sunset (see my photo on my Facebook Astrology page) . The next day, March 2^nd, Mercury and Saturn will conjoin in Aquarius. This energy can prompt us to watch our thoughts carefully, hopefully without judging what we see, but instead observing them and seeing the pattern of our thinking habits, how our self-talk influences our behavior. Also this can be good for writing and all forms of communications. The day after that, March 3^rd, Venus will conjoin Chiron. Here is an opportunity to bring loving kindness and compassion to those parts of ourselves that feel the most wounded, that challenge our faith in ourselves and the world around us.

Journey to Our Heart

This month of our journey through Neptune-ruled Pisces is an opportunity to allow ourselves to deepen our connection to the images, dreams, rich awarenesses that sustain our deep faith in living, our ability to focus on what is most important in our lives. It’s a month to also let go of the seduction of our attention from the media and to do more art, music, being quiet, reading, the more introspective activities that are often shunned in our consumer-dominated society. Part of how we can recover the forgotten parts of ourselves in this ongoing paradigm shift is by reclaiming the rightfulness of honoring soul activity, to counter the dominant culture’s demand to consume, do, do more, achieve, get “ahead”. This is the month to get a-heart, to do things that enrich our felt experience of life on Planet Earth and allow us to discover what is beyond the “me” of our lives.

[1] The astrological New Year being Spring Equinox, March 20^th next month.