Highlights for March 14-20, 2022: Something Newly Born

Something Newly Born

Dates and times are given for U.S. Pacific Time zone.

Handling our baggage

Mercury tends to be a tad unfocused as it moves through Pisces. But as it connects with Uranus in a sextile aspect this week (March 17, 2022, 5:13 am PDT), it gets a little bit of a wake-up call.

Uranus is on the Sabian symbol 13 Taurus, “A man handling baggage.” So this wake-up call runs along the line of “Handle your… stuff.” This could be psychological clutter or the piles of paper stacked up all over my office – and now that I think of it, the two are probably not unrelated. Fix one, and the other will go a long way toward fixing itself.

While Mercury is in Pisces, it is important to give our minds a bit of a rest. And one of the advantages of doing so is that a rested mind is apt to see more clearly and make better, more inspired choices. So give your mind a good time out, but don’t hit the snooze alarm as Mercury sextile Uranus this week. Let’s get up and handle our baggage.

A fertile garden

At the Virgo Full Moon (March 18, 2022, 00:17 am PDT), every planet but one occupies a tight section of the sky between the signs of Capricorn through Taurus. The Moon alone stands, fully illuminated, in the opposite side of the sky. Where our focus has become too narrow and blindered in recent weeks, the Virgo Full Moon opens up new vistas offering fresh perspectives.

This Full Moon’s Sabian symbol, 28 Virgo, is A bald-headed man. It’s hard not to see the Russian president in this symbol, especially with the Moon’s close trine to Pluto (power, control, nuclear weapons) and the Moon’s North Node, a point of destiny. It’s a fearsome image.

But the Sun at this Full Moon, together with Jupiter and Neptune (en route to their April 12 conjunction), is on the symbol, A fertile garden under the Full Moon. If there is a silver lining to the current dark clouds, it might be the awakening of compassion, the capacity for kindness, and outpouring of support for those caught up in a violent struggle.

Just twelve hours later, the Sun makes a sextile to Pluto (March 18, 2022, 12:37 pm PDT). This is its last major aspect before entering Aries on the 20th; for the next couple of days, we sit with the lingering tone of Pluto. The Pisces season has opened us emotionally, with kindness, with sorrow, with fear. How can we use Pluto’s power to focus our energy and gather strength for the new energetic year that lies ahead ahead at the equinox?

Expect the unexpected

A square between Venus and Uranus (March 19, 2022, 4:16 am PDT) is the sort of diabolical combination that threatens unexpected expenses. But even if your computer or car has fizzled out right on schedule, be of good cheer: unexpected income that can also be symbolized by this aspect.

Relationships are also Venus’s terrain, and this week could bring a new and stimulating business or personal connection – or, perhaps, surprising developments in existing ones. When Venus and Uranus connect by square, tension arises around the appropriate balance between togetherness and independence. Finding that balance is a bit of a tall order. But this aspect can also help us notice worthwhile people we might previously have overlooked, or even help us see with new eyes those with whom we’ve become familiar to the point of blindness.

Something newly born

Look at a newborn baby – so fragile, defenseless. But consider what it’s just been through. The process of being born is bloody, sometimes violent, often dangerous, and honestly, must be terrifying to a small newcomer to the planet. Now look at that baby again, and marvel at its toughness. Listen to its full-throated cry, and admire its ability to get its needs met when it can barely see and can’t even turn over by itself.

This week, the Sun enters Aries (March 20, 2022, 8:33 am PDT), the sign of new beginnings. In which house does Aries, especially its first degree, fall in your birth chart? This is where you’re as delicate and as tough as something newly born. Here, you’re courageous, a pioneer who blazes your own trail. You’re the plow, readying the soil, and you’re the seed that’s planted there. You’re a newborn baby, the most vulnerable and formidable of all creatures.

The Emperor’s Clothes

Mercury conjoins Jupiter this week (March 20, 2022, 11:06 pm PDT) on the Sabian symbol 19 Pisces, “A master and his pupil.” It seems like a fairly straightforward depiction of Jupiter (the master) and Mercury (the pupil). But as anyone knows who has ever been a teacher, the master very often learns quite a lot from the student.

When we lean too hard on what we know – on being the expect – we develop ever-increasing blind spots. Like the boy who points out that the emperor isn’t wearing any clothes, Mercury can reveal the deficiencies in our knowledge just by asking questions.

This week, even (or especially) when you’re confident in your knowledge, think twice before declaring something to be the truth. Hesitation could save you some embarrassment. And remember that listening to someone who doesn’t have the same knowledge that you do is not only respectful, but could end up being instructive as well.