It’s time to get back on track. Aries III begins April 9, at 5:41 am with the Sun’s passage to 20° Aries 0′ over my locale in western Massachusetts. Early astrologers calculated matters from where they were in the world.

We begin by noticing that the Sun and the Ascendant are both in Aries, the sign of cardinal fire. It’s likely that we’re seeing the beginning of some new things, and the things that are beginning are hot-hot-hot!

At the same time, some old things haven’t exactly gone away. Chances are, this Coronavirus is now among your friends and extended acquaintances. You may not know anyone personally affected, but you have friends of friends, or you’re reading about people in your community who are affected.

Let’s take a look at the planetary placements. It’s worth noting that I usually start with the Sun, and then proceed counter-clockwise around the chart from his position.

I wrote, and then removed, the individual poetry for this decan’s installment. Too many of these delved into the fear and stress of the present moment. Try to remember that this, too, will pass.

The next Decan begins on April 19 — which is currently regarded as the day the pandemic peaks here in Massachusetts.

Planetary Placements

The Sun is entering the third decan of Aries at this time, around forty minutes before dawn. Austin Coppock associates this part of Aries with The Burning Rose, as an emblem of the power of Venus in this place. Many of us will find our creative energies rising within us, as the higher mental attitudes which the Sun represents will be energized and awakened. At the same time, though, the Sun is below the horizon, and we will all likely find our interior mental landscapes much more interesting and well-lit than our experience of the wider world; consequently there will be much, in the world of politics and economics and health that will be opaque, even as we understand ourselves better.

Uranus is the only planet in Taurus in the second house. a lot of surprising things will happen to our financial lives, our money, and our possessions this coming week — which should come as a surprise to no one, really.

Venus is in the third house of extended family and siblings, indicating that there will be a cohering and connective desire to reunite families and work through the experience in a state of natural togetherness. Mother and Child is the name of the decan she occupies, suggesting that many of us are finding this ‘together’ time nurturing and robust; however, some are experiencing confinement as a kind of overly-smothering confinement, in which they feel babied or infantilized.

The Imum Coeli, or bottom of the sky, sits conjunct the North Node in Cancer in the Fourth House. Here’s this nurturing environment again, a dream being made real (or a dream many of us wish was real — the ability to retreat into the shell of house and home, and armor up against the world). Alas, few of us have homes in which we can remain permanently secure — the dream is more-and-more wanted, even if it’s less achievable.

The Fifth House is Leo, empty of planets but ruled by the Sun. Our attention is focused on our selves and our children and our own happiness in this time of confusion.

The Lot of Fortune is in the Sixth House, in Virgo. Although this is a theoretical point, and not an actual star or planet in the sky, it demonstrates that we’re likely to make money by repeatedly banging our heads against the problems of our time, solving through brute-force analysis the individual challenges we face.

Also a theoretical point representing our partners, the Descendant occupies the last degrees of Libra in the Seventh House — our spouses, partners, intimate friends, statistically-significant-Others, are all spinning around themselves, active and energetic while remaining in one place.

The Eighth House is presently in Scorpio, an intense and densely sexual sign associated with death… and in the house of death. The Moon is here, in the tropical Mansion called “The Crown of Scorpio”, and about to pass into the “the Scorpion Heart” associated with the fixed and somewhat-malefic star Antares. The Crown here offers protection to some against predatory forces; but the Heart promises poison in the form of medicine. By actual position against the stars, the silver queen is solidly in the Fifteenth Mansion, “The Covering” associated with the fulfillment of wishes. From this we may see that three paths, all equally in the offing, affect all of us who are trying to find the right path through the present mess — guard your resources, don’t take any strange or unknown medications, and yet seek to identify and pursue what you really and truly want on the other side of these ten days.

The Ninth House, dealing with travel, is ruled by Jupiter — and that noble and lordly prince is seated upon The Throne in the sign of Capricorn. In company with toxic and deathly Pluto as his present companion, they present an image of generosity and death — too much kindness, too much generosity, too much authoritative action, is likely to lead us into dangerous places. The princes occupy the higher parts of the sky, signaling that we’re approaching a point of decision between a positive solution, and a deeply negative one. Another way to frame this, is as a choice between life, and prosperity — the Moon’s watchful support by sextile invites us to spend less time on career, and more time at home, if we wish to see our dreams accomplished.

Saturn and Mars, a traditional emblem of pestilence and plague, hold the early degrees of Aquarius in the Eleventh House. At this point, it is highly likely that my readers know someone affected by COVID-19: affected, or infected, truly, and likely to face at least the mid-range awfulness of the sickness, if not its terminal fate. The conjunction itself may be over, but both planets still occupy the Decan called The Mark of Exile, a fitting emblem of us all still isolated; and both still occupy the first bound of Aquarius, which is ruled by Saturn by day and Mercury by night — the constant struggle to maintain boundaries with our friends during daylight, and the mercurial connections via videoconference by night. It truly is a warning to remain cloistered and apart from the professional and social networks that would normally occupy our hours of leisure.

Neptune and Mercury hold the middle and latter parts of Pisces, in the Eleventh House. We’re invited to work our magic via the Net these days, by videoconference and telephone and email. However, it’s emotionally and energetically exhausting to do this, day after day, as colleagues that we once held at a distance now enter our more personal dominions and employers expect our compliance — to continue laboring for them in loneliness and solitude. Apart and alone, we are expected to muster a team effort from our allegedly-healthy prison-homes and potential sick-beds.

Stay healthy, everyone, and try not to give in to fear.

Horoscopes by Rising Sign

Removed as too depressing and difficult. Stay home, stay safe, keep breathing.

Colophon

I use iPhemeris for my charting software, and screenshot it to make charts. I use Christopher Warnock‘s The Mansions of the Moon as the basis of my Moon placement delineations, and Austin Coppock‘s 36 Faces as the basis of some of my planetary delineations. Neither gentleman endorses me. My own book, A Full Volume of Splendour and Starlight, is now available as PDF download from my Etsy website.

Any errors in these columns are my own.

If you’d like to schedule a consultation with me, you can find additional information on the Services and Classes page.

If you want to read some of my other astrologically-oriented poetry, To the Mansions of the Moon is a collection of hymns to the angels of the Mansions mentioned in these columns. For the Behenian Stars is a collection of hymns to the first/brightest sixteen stars. The Sun’s Paces are hymns to the thirty-six Hellenistic-era deities and ascended souls of the Greco-Egyptian Decans-calendar. While not astrological, Festae contains hymns to some of the older Roman gods and spirits from the calendar created by Numa Pompilius, the second ancient King of Rome.