Survival Tools
If you’ve ever seen a movie protagonist dramatically subsumed by quicksand, you may be surprised to learn that such a fate is highly unlikely, despite how often it’s been deployed as a dramatic trope. Usually, even if you should accidentally stumble into one of these wet, sandy pits, you’ll only sink to waist level. That said, if you thrash and struggle to get out, you will be pulled under a bit deeper. And eventually, unable to escape, your greatest peril comes from predators, hypothermia, or dehydration, not from drowning.
It’s not the quicksand that takes you down. It’s the panic.
Most of us wander into metaphorical quicksand from time to time, into situations that overwhelm and incapacitate us. The instinct is to struggle mightily for escape, but that’s the wrong approach. What’s called for instead is a variation on the advice for escaping actual quicksand: Very gently move your legs to increase viscosity, and turn your body slightly so you can gradually float to the top.
Gentle motion, flexibility, and floating: These are your survival tools as Mars, the emergency response planet, enters Pisces (March 2, 2026, 6:16 am PST, until April 9). At times like this, surrender—not struggle—is the key.
Disarray
Each year as the winter solstice approaches, I think, “Hey – let’s wrap some twinkly lights around the front porch posts!” I pull open the drawer that contains a giant, rat-king tangle of strand lights, so jumbled and hopelessly knotted that my heart sinks at the sight of them. And I close the drawer for another year.
At each Full Moon, we’re revealed to ourselves. And this Virgo Full Moon, a total Lunar Eclipse (March 3, 2026, 3:38 am PST, at 12º53’ Virgo), what’s revealed are the ways in which we’re overwhelmed by the disarray of our lives. Look to the Pisces house of your chart, where the Sun is shining brightly on the disorder that’s accumulated. And then, look across the wheel to Virgo’s house, because that’s where you’ll find the key to untangling the knots. Taking a big old amorphous, Pisces blob of overwhelm and patiently picking away at it and soothing it into order is one of Virgo’s superpowers.
Of course, the world itself seems to be hopelessly tangled and overwhelming some days. The Full Moon is on Sabian symbol 13 Virgo, A strong hand supplanting political hysteria, reflecting Virgo’s calm, steady hand. And sometimes, the key to breaking your mental deadlock around overwhelm is to just take one small, easily measurable action – like cleaning out that drawer of holiday lights.
Luck
Why do some people seem to be so lucky? Astrologers associate Jupiter with luck, and certainly there seems to be an element of good fortune in the lives of those with Jupiter or its signs, Sagittarius and Pisces, prominent in their birth charts.
I don’t particularly believe in fate, but I do believe in luck. There are some people who seem to have a miraculous ability to deflect bad fortune and attract wealth and support. Then again, I suspect that may come down to an accepting, cheerful attitude.
We get a couple of days this week to put that to the test. As the Sun trines Jupiter in water signs (March 5, 2026, 9:14 am PST, 15º08’ Pisces and Cancer), luck asserts itself through intuition; see if you can grab a piece as it floats by. Those with the strongest will and the greatest confidence will likely do best, but this cosmic windfall is accessible to everyone. The week should bring good fortune to our Leo planets and houses, ruled by the Sun; and if your birthday falls during this week, you can probably expect a little something extra in your stack of cosmic birthday presents.
The Right Spice
A musician has been working on a new composition for weeks. It sounds good. It reflects her signature style. It says more or less what she set out to say. But it lacks…something. It’s competent, but flat, like a dish that needs some spice that you can’t put your finger on. She could play this piece to a club full of fans and it would be warmly received; only she would know that something was missing.
One afternoon, a friend calls and invites her to lunch. This friend always makes her laugh, and has a way of enticing her to try new things. They meet for brunch at a new place he suggested. The cuisine is new to her, but her friend recommends the perfect dish – fresh, lively, exotic. He entertains her with stories, and her delight over the food is punctuated with belly laughs.
She returns home refreshed, energized, and heads straight for her studio. She tweaks her composition with one small, new element that winds up being just what has been missing. And all it took was a few hours with something new and some laughter with an old friend, like a perfect spice to enliven the dish.
As Venus connects in a lively sextile with Uranus (March 4, 2026, 8:41 am PST, 27º49’ Pisces and Taurus), take advantage of something new that’s offered. Changing one small element in your day can make all the difference in how happy and creative you feel, and how you share it.
Happy Self-Sufficiency
You wake just before dawn. The desert nights are still chilly in March, and you can see your breath; the fire’s gone out overnight. You dress quickly, pulling on your favorite, tattered sweater, comfortable jeans, and boots. Expertly, you build a fire, then set the coffee going and feed the dog. For yourself, bacon, eggs, and toast, eaten at the kitchen table. You like eating alone. You enjoy the silence of this time of day; you don’t turn on music or look at a cell phone. You don’t own a television. You have no desire for background noise.
The Sun is up, and you enjoy the view of vast, empty scrubland, tinged sepia in the morning light. You hear the distant bleat of a neighbor’s goat. A bird settles on the porch railing, and you stare at one other in companionable silence.
The day spreads out ahead of you, and you tick off the chores: Bread to prepare for the next day’s baking. A hole in the roof to patch. A leatherworking project. Beans to soak. Wood to chop. Your hands almost tingle, eager to tackle all of it.
You might not see another soul today, and that suits you just fine. You feel a rush of satisfaction – a feeling of wealth, almost – as you contemplate your quiet, simple, self-sufficient life.
Venus is in Aries (March 6, 2026, 2:46 am PST, until March 30), and all’s right with your world.
The News That’s Important
Mercury turns retrograde when it’s reached its maximum distance ahead of the Sun. Like a little kid attached to its parents by an invisible leash, it races back toward the Sun with news of what’s just ahead. Some of it’s important, some of it isn’t. “There’s a big white dog about two blocks up the road!” and “The Wilsons are painting their house red!” spills out alongside “There’s a group of scary looking guys hanging around the bodega!” It’s not really Mercury’s job to sort out the important from the trivial; it’s all just news.
When retrograde Mercury reconvenes with the Sun by conjunction (March 7, 2026, 3:02 am PST, 16º52’ Pisces), we get to ask ourselves whether any of its news is important to us, and how much energy we should put into preparing for what lies ahead. Meanwhile, Mercury continues on its way backward through our recent journey, looking for missteps. Did we forget to pay a bill? Overlook an important page on the document we signed? Neglect to make a service appointment for the car?
What needs to be addressed? Start with the things that will put you in a better position to deal with what you know is around the corner – the white dog, the Wilsons, the guys at the bodega. Then handle what’s obviously going to be helpful whatever comes your way. Pay the bill. Get the car serviced. And take some dog treats along with you.
Married in Spirit
Venus meets Neptune in a conjunction this week (March 7, 2026, 3:27 am PST, 1º16’ Aries). Think how we start out so idealistically in relationships or in a life of service, and how, over time, those pure motivations sometimes jump the track. The artist sells out for money. The priest becomes enamored of financial gifts from his flock. The spouse falls out of love and has an affair.
The union of Venus and Neptune symbolizes the hope of refreshing and healing our human connections, of elevating earthly desire to a state of purity, holiness. Wherever we’ve become enthralled to the pleasures of earth and flesh, now is a time to release those desires and marry ourselves to spirit.
Fulfillment
This week brings a Venus-Saturn conjunction (March 8, 2026, 6:40 am PDT, 02º38’ Aries), a combination of planets with important stories to tell about what we value most and how that impacts our relationships with others.
When Saturn comes together in a conjunction with another planet, it either acts as a barrier to our getting what that planet wants, or it’s like one of those stakes you put alongside a little tree to support it as it grows strong.
In recent weeks, a couple of eclipses and Saturn and Neptune moving into Aries have been reflected in fast changes and instability. Saturn’s fear is that very basic needs will go unmet – the need to earn an income, to protect savings for retirement, even to have secure food sources.
That’s Saturn wearing his Grim Reaper costume. But remember, even while he rattles his ball and chain, he can also show support in the background.
Venus and Saturn together remind me of the Fulfillment Curve, a diagram that shows the relationship between money, consumption, and life satisfaction using a bell curve. It represents the idea that after you’ve reached a certain point, where you’ve met your basic needs and achieved a certain level of comfort, any additional money or material goods will contribute less and less to your overall fulfillment.
Of course, most of us are just concerned about those basic needs, not which kind of yacht to buy. But Venus and Saturn encourage us to focus on what we have, and on the fulfillment that we find in our relationships, personal growth, and life experiences.
Astonishing Acts, Years in the Making
For forty-five minutes on the morning of August 7, 1974, Philippe Petit walked, danced, and lay on a high wire suspended between the unfinished towers of the World Trade Center – a quarter of a mile above the streets of Manhattan.
Like all astonishing acts, this one was years in the making. It required hours of research, a team of compatriots, and the refinement of Petit’s natural grace and balance through hours of practice.
This week, Mercury trines Jupiter (March 8, 2026, 10:23 pm PDT, 15º05’ Pisces and Cancer). Jupiter pulls us toward the clouds, urging us on to spectacular adventures and impossible dreams. But nearly every dazzling Jupiterian undertaking begins with Mercury, and questions like, How is it to be done? What do I have to learn, and what skills must I acquire, to accomplish this audacious feat?
Dream big – and then, set about acquiring the knowledge and skills that will ultimately bring your vision to life.
Writing and images © 2017-2026 by April Elliott Kent
