The Sun enters Aries III the Burning Rose, on 9 April 2023 at 11:15 pm EDT, according to the naming conventions established by Austin Coppock in 36 Faces (Three Hands Press). Ruled by Mars but administered by Venus, it’s a place of the flame of candlelight and the romantic fireplace, rather than the burning bonfires of early Aries.
Thank you to Nico, Wren, and Heather for donations through Ko-fi.com to make the horoscopes of Aries III available to the public.
The ancient Greeks of Alexandria celebrated Eros the son of Aphrodite at this time of year, perhaps marking the Sun’s passage through this decan with hymns and tale-telling about the marriage of Cupid and Psyche. According to the tale, Eros fell in love with Psyche, a talented and clever girl of great beauty — but knew his own power to seduce and win over any woman solely on his looks alone. On a scale of one to ten, he knew he was an eleven — accordingly, he wooed Psyche in complete darkness, married her in complete darkness, and only came to her bed in complete darkness to make love to her. Yet Psyche was concerned: who had she married? And her sisters poisoned her with warnings that she hadn’t married a god, but a monster. Accordingly, when he was spent with love-making one night, she lit a candle and observed him. A single drop of wax fell from the candle onto his perfect skin, and the pain woke him. Howling in horror, he fled from her bedside and refused to reconcile with her for breaking his one commandment — that she would never see him in person. He remained aloof until his mother Aphrodite had put Psyche through all sorts of rigorous tests and proofs of her actual love of him, as opposed to her infatuation with his mere appearance: narrow mazes of thorn bushes and crawling across floors strewn with broken shards of pottery. What will we do to prove love? Does it really need proof?
I’m sure that we need not make any obvious comparisons between the myth of Cupid and Psyche to the misogyny, body dysmorphia, and preening self-importance of gymbro influencers with gleaming pectorals and six-pack abs on TikTok and Instagram — who insist that every girl they’re with maintain themselves as a perfect ten or else — and who create a string of damaged people following their every word and action, no matter how toxic. The comparisons really write themselves, don’t they?
Venus administers this decan on Mars’s behalf. Mars brings conflict and battle and separation, while Venus chooses to bring reconciliation and armistice and connection; it’s an odd combination, but one which makes sense in the context of the Cupid & Psyche myth — and a combination that all of us have seen play out in love, where one partner becomes smitten with the other far more than the casual player can stand. It need not be as highly gendered was the original myth, either: plenty of women have made their men jump through bizarre hoops; and plenty of men have disdained and scorned women that are actually interested in pursuit of the photoshopped model that’s even out of her own reach. If I had a dollar for every gay friend who’s found themselves heartbroken over a crush who preferred someone else, I’d be a rich man indeed. Love and desire are a one-way street more often than we’d like to admit; and even in a genuine relationship, they’re often out of alignment with one another, with one partner’s libido cresting at the wrong time for another’s trough… I’ve written more on this decan in 2020, 2021, and 2022.
The dodeks of Aries III are Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces — the romantic coals glimmering and shimmering with heat at the end of a long night of conversation as the clothes finally come off; bodies touching and sliding together with dark urgency in the night; the awakened knowledge of the early morning light; and the sudden urge to get up, get dressed, and do the walk of shame — contrasting with the equally strong pull to snuggle in bed and curl one’s body around a new lover.
Planetary Placements
With the Sun below the horizon, w’ere looking at a Night Chart in which Jupiter is the ruling planet and the Moon is the guiding luminary. In Aries, Jupiter is dignified by triplicity, but combust with the Sun so close at hand. Pleasure and entertainment is the focus for the childless in the next ten days, but those with children may find that their offspring occupy an outsized portion of their attention in the next week or so. Passion projects may bring great delight, but they’re just as likely to be put on hold by the need to sightsee or travel. Additionally, Aries’ ruling planet Mars is square from Cancer, indicating ongoing responsibilities not easily avoided — US residents may find that tax day (April 18) looms larger than life. The Lot of Fortune in the fifth house indicates considerable leeway, and possible profit, from hobbies and pastimes like gaming and gambling; a startling result in US and other lotteries may be in the cards… you can’t win if you don’t play, but winning is still incredibly unlikely; don’t put in money you can’t afford to lose.
Mars is indeed the only planet above the horizon, giving the warrior outsized influence in the days ahead. Those responsibilities are likely to take the form of parental duty, even with people who aren’t parents; you may find yourself taking a paternal role with a younger person who needs guidance and attention, and you may be the only person available. Smothering and mothering should be avoided, however; try to guide from the side rather than lead by command and authority — Mars is ill-placed to issue marching orders, but well-placed for advisory roles.
The Nodal Axis runs between Taurus and Scorpio, bringing initial pressure on daily routines and troubling our solo time — But, our next new moon will be an eclipse scheduled to occur on April 20 in the last degree of Aries, likely to cause shifts in our spending habits and in the self-management patterns we expect our children to adopt. It’s hard to know exactly what this means, but the cluster of planets in the sixth house suggests that our children’s spending patterns will be up for debate; and a good many parents may decide to work for different safety protocols in American schools in the near future.
The other planets in Taurus — Mercury, Uranus, and Venus — activate all three decans here. Venus is in the queen’s throne, as the ruler of Taurus, but nearing its last degree, her time of power here is limited; her diplomatic channels and gracious efforts at compromise on many issues may fail after she leaves for Gemini on April 11. Mercury, for their part, turns away from the moment of upheaval, and fails to make a rendezvous with Uranus, instead choosing to begin the shadow period of their retrograde during the night of April 7-8, and starting the true retrograde on April 22. We may get some inklings of the mismatch between clean communication and outraged cries of revolt these next ten days, but the shouting match may not emerge fully until June 5.
Working backwards, Pisces is home to Saturn and Neptune, each about equidistant from the midpoint of the sign, and from the beginning and end. Have you ever seen one of those ‘bug-repellent candles’ that burn in a long coil, or an incense ceremony thurible that burns in the shape of a labyrinth before it reaches the center? Saturn in Pisces promises a year or more of winding his way to the center of a labyrinth, pouring cold water on heated claims and redirecting attention from maze-like flummery to the heart of the matter. Neptune promises more and more outrageous and angry claims in the dark of night, unsupported by reality. The two won’t ever meet exactly in Pisces — but the situation is like that of two fish in the same small bowl. They keep swimming in circles around one another, each absolutely convinced of their own truth, and equally convinced that the other is absolutely deluded about reality. Sound like any people… or countries… that you know? No side can really do without the other… do your best to build connections wherever you can.
Pluto has left behind Capricorn’s last decan The Throne and entered Aquarius I The Mark of Exile. It’s not a permanent change, and Pluto will backslide — but there’s going to be a decided tilt in negotiations in the office and in the restaurants and business worlds, away from managers and customers, and toward employees and tipped workers, in the coming months. Be polite, tip your servers… but be on the lookout for scams, too. I saw a restaurant receipt this week where the “courtesy calculations” for 15%, 18% and 20% were more than double what they should be. That’s fraud, my friends… be wary!
The Moon is in the first house, in the Sun’s half of the chart, but in the Twentieth Mansion — a road house popular with hunters and bikers and whistleblowers (both kinds: the umpires who keep the rules of the game, and the upright and honest people who report corporate or government malfeasance). Called “The Beam”, it’s a dive famous for game-meat and road-kill preparations, and it’s not everyone’s cup of tea — but it is a place to find allies, and de-fang your opponents with kindness over a bowl of delicious venison stew. You just have to be prepared to set aside some of your principles and your taboos. It’s very dangerous to count cards here, but be aware that the conversation is about more than just the poker game, even when it sounds like so much talk of pips, queens and aces.
Horoscopes by Rising Sign
Thank you to Nico, Wren, and Heather for donations through Ko-fi.com to make the horoscopes of Aries III available to the public. Horoscopes for decan III of each sign are normally available to Patreon and email subscribers only.
Sagittarius: Take some time to enjoy yourself these next ten days, and play with “the kids,” whether they’re your by blood or adoption. Some of these entertainments are likely to require you to lead the charge, while others may simply require you to take out your credit card and pay for what someone else has ordered up. A difficult situation with family or siblings looms in the background, as you take a long and winding path to the truth through delusion. Make peace where you can, but recognize that some of your communications are being sent back “no such address” — you know what you’re saying, but the message isn’t being heard.
Capricorn: You may face a new sort of criticism in days ahead, as siblings and close friends weigh in on your spending habits; you may have a few choice aspersions of your own. Your own family will wrestle with the alligators of truth and propaganda in the next ten days (holidays like Easter and Passover do that to people). Try to eat well, enjoy yourself, make peace where you can, be ready for the surprise or involuntary outing that may still be entertaining. An argument with a significant other may feel infantilizing — try to see it clearly from their point of view before responding.
Aquarius: Everyone around you is doing it wrong, and it’s easy to lay into them. There are a range of brand-new expenses you think you have to spend, even as there are a series of very real limitations on what you can spend. Family matters are eating time from your personal relaxation schedule, but this is also a chance for you to show off in another way — as long as you get your household projects into some kind of order — and take care of the surprises first! Expect at least one angry mother causing you trouble — a focused check-in with a friend about your personal plans may help keep you on task.
Pisces: You may feel stiff or sore when you wake up in the morning over the course of the next few days. It’s easy to self-criticize as a lack of exercise or too much of a good thing — but it may be an overindulgence in wildly wrong health fads and mysterious potions and pills, or an overdose of anger and fear over things you have little control over. Siblings and close friends provide guidance and tactful advice when a sibling runs off the rails at family holidays — but the problem may not be resolved soon. A work problem requires a tactical approach rather than a logistical one: deliver existing resources short-term instead of building full supply lines.
Aries: You have a new source of delight and excitement, which awakens your capacities as a leader and allows you to display generosity with your time and talents. It’s just going to require you to resurrect some long-dead professional skills to make this work. Your home environment suffers from unexpected limitations which put real-world constraints on dreamy plans for expansion or renovation — the critique may seem harsh but try to learn from it. Financial matters require you to work harder and more unexpected hours than you planned to in the second half of the next ten days.
Taurus: The next few days, you get to change your mind often and people will defer to your daily agenda, but some people may be surprised and hurt by your intellectual justifications of hot-take scheduling that benefits only the short term, especially after April 12. Make plans with a longer calendar in mind that just today. You may feel friskier and sexier than you have a in a while but again after April 12 your financial picture may damage your bedroom mood. Less time alone will do you good, but be watchful of friends intruding on your personal life.
Gemini: You might be facing layoffs or firings at work, but it may just be an expectation that you work from the office instead of home — don’t start imagining the most dire of possibilities before they factually emerge. That said, you might want to call a few friends and say, “hey, want to shoot a round of darts? Toss horseshoes?” Between bullseyes, you can drop hints that you’re really enthusiastic about the idea of working somewhere new, maybe with them? Something new could emerge. You also should spend some time thinking about your daily routines: where do you want to be in six months? Six years? Some of these ideas need to be spoken out loud, but maybe just to your spouse at first; they may have some constructive thoughts about how to journey toward those achievements.
Cancer: My mother is fond of saying, “If it’s not one thing, it’s your mother.” There is a real possibility that the next ten days involve one of those kinds of passive-aggressive ‘arguments’ with a parent, in which neither of you can quite commit to saying the thing that’s on your mind. For you, you’re thinking about family legacies and duties, and your relationships with the extended family; and as a result you may wind up saying more than you mean to say. Also, your daily work-routines may get the better of you— target each project to a specific state of ‘done’ in turn, rather than trying to prioritize everything.
Leo: There’s a journey that you need to go on — in part it’s about having some fun with a friend, and in part it’s about learning to claim your sovereignty. It might take the form of a class you’ve always wanted to take, but it also might be about taking a young person of your acquaintance on a round of college visits or something like that. You will have to take charge to make this happen the way it’s supposed to. Recognize that it might require a tight budget and narrower parameters — don’t plan for five stars and room service if you can’t afford Motel 6. If you’re partnered, there may be some criticism from that quarter, or some withheld resources. Take it in stride, mend fences when you get back — but try not to seethe as you go it alone. Let the anger out and let it go.
Virgo: Resuscitating a career matter that seemed to be dead may be your first order of business these next ten days. It may require that you return to school or seek a new certificaiton or renew an old one; going on a real journey to become outstanding in your field will prove highly beneficial. If you act quickly, you may be able to get reimbursed or even paid up front to seek the diploma —but don’t delay. If you need certain papers to keep working, be sure they’re all in order soon, or you may have to enlist a spouse in finding them or wasting their resources on replacements. Have a household to-do list? Start a written punch list, and cross them off your schedule.
Libra: Make plans with friends, particularly with people that you’d like to make the beast with two backs with; or set up house with. Did I suggest spousal relations? Yes — it’s ok to think co-signed bank accounts and white picket fences. But let’s be cautious about getting ahead of ourselves: what is this person going to be like in twenty years? Play the guessing game —imagine yourself twenty years older, your practical quotidian experience weighing down your high ideals and deeply tangled in routine. Can you imagine wanting to break free of that life and make something new? Would you do it all over with this specific person, laundry and taxes and the Oscars Awards night in pajamas? The same goes for the boss — don’t let them pull a “we’re all family here” routine. They’re not making popcorn for movie night.
Scorpio: Your subjective experience may be that trouble seems to come whenever you open your mouth around your partner. You probably feel silenced and alone; you’re worried about money and targeting specific financial problems one at a time — but you have eight looming due-dates and no idea how to get them paid. There’s a big issue looming for your family’s black sheep… but you’ve got a gut feeling that maybe this time the outcast is saying the right thing, and that’s got you looking at uncomfortable truths about your family in a new light around the spring holiday dinner table. There’s not much to say: things are hard, and you’re likely to be reacting to things beyond your control by lashing out like an angry parent or a child without self control. Make a little daily lightness in your life: be generous, show off your artwork or be proud of your kid’s grades. Start the conversation with your partner, not about what they’re doing wrong, but what you love about them and how they make you feel like you’re at home. The signaling that you long to connect will go farther than a rebel without a cause scene.
Colophon
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If you want to read some of my astrologically-oriented poetry, the largest collection is called A Full Volume of Splendor and Starlight, available through my Etsy shop, and containing poems and hymns to the planets, constellations, decan deities, and Moon Mansion angels. 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.
I use iPhemeris for my charting software, and screenshot it to make charts. I want to thank the team that develops iPhemeris for the addition of Terms and Decans to their charts. I also use Hugh Tran‘s Physis typeface to craft logos for this blog, as well.
I use Christopher Warnock‘s The Mansions of the Moon as the basis of my Moon placement delineations, and Austin Coppock‘s 36 Faces for much of my planetary delineations. Neither gentleman endorses me.
