by Robert Wilkinson
New experiences of course, since it's the beginning of Spring, and the days will be longer than the nights for 6 months to come in the Northern Hemisphere. The Sun is about to enter Aries, promising renewal of energy and activity, even as we find opportunity and protection in bringing other things to their natural end.
The Vernal Equinox of 2012 happens at 10:15 pm PDT on March 19th, 1:15 am EDT, 5:15 am Greenwich March 20th. Today is the last day of Winter in the Northern Hemisphere, the last day of Summer in the Southern. This is an excellent time for looking at what has ended, what is emerging, and step out of the ocean on to dry land. Just keep following through on the future you have dreamed of, since every day is good for making a better future real.
The Vernal Equinox chart is said to indicate what we can expect over the next 90 days in the way of weather, both actual and symbolic. After many years of being an important factor in the Solstice and Equinox charts, Pluto has begun to recede in importance since it is no longer in a close hard aspect to the Sun in these charts, but Uranus has become increasingly important in these “seasonal” charts, since it occupies early Aries and thus conjuncts, squares, or opposes the Sun in the Equinox and Solstice charts.
When Pluto transited very early Capricorn 2008-2011, it was squared by the Sun at the Spring and Autumn Equinoctal points, and opposed by the Sun at the Summer Solstice point. These were very dynamic aspects that released a lot of energy, either blocking or propelling events.
Although the Sun is no longer in close conjunction, square, or opposition to Pluto during these changes of season, we reached a point in 2011 where Uranus entered Aries and became a major player in these seasonal charts. Add that is has begun its years-long square to Pluto, and we can expect to see even greater Plutonic energies to be cut loose for years to come!
Before now, we only experienced Uranus square Pluto energy at the 2010 Summer Solstice. I believe that the events of July, August, and September 2010 cut loose the seeds of transformation and revolution, and are directly related to the constant tensions set into motion at the Spring Equinox of 2011 and the period since then.
Squares tend to put the brakes on some things, while indicating a "turning of a corner" in other things. Squares to Pluto often show things going out of control or something extreme happening that results in either a favorable purification or a grinding toxicity. Given that Pluto is one of the anchors of The Grand Irrationality, when squared it releases a lot of energy precipitating situations that move people to make choices that propel them into their destiny.
Pluto is the ultimate transformer. It figured prominently in Equinox and Solstice charts in 2007, 2008, and 2009 due to it going back and forth over 29-30 Sag and 1-3 Capricorn. 2011 continued the pattern, though that Vernal Equinox chart saw the widest orb between the Sun, Uranus, and Pluto except for the 2011 Winter Solstice chart impacting the past 3 months. With this Equinox chart, we begin many years of Equinox and Solstice charts where Uranus is in close square to Pluto. Get ready for a very wild ride!!!
This chart, like many others done for celestial occurrences at this time, show the planets lined up in a "See Saw" Jones pattern, with elements of the “Locomotive” pattern. Since it is so close to the New Moon at 3 Aries coming on March 22, 7:37 am PDT, 2:37 pm Greenwich, many elements of that chart will be the same as in this one.
The larger occupied span ranges from Pluto at 10 Capricorn through Venus at 16 Taurus, and the other side of the See Saw offers Mars RX at 8 Virgo and Saturn RX at 29 Libra. This See Saw is very potent due to the Moon and Neptune in Pisces opposed Mars. All See Saws require that we find a balanced view of opposing trends, or find the center to avoid getting lost on the periphery.
On the one hand, we will all move with the seeds of what's coming requiring us to accept new responsibilities and new roles we can relax into, overcoming fear as we see the inadequacy of referencing past knowledge while trying to confirm new life conditions. These will be balanced by looking back to see how we’ve been training to demonstrate a potential mastery, as well as balancing responsibilities so that we can continue to join with others to create a more “civilized” way of life. This will help us to the next step of a “philosophical completion” that was set into motion February 2012.
As I mentioned, there are also elements of the "Locomotive” Jones patterns, since all the planets occupy 2/3 of the signs (Virgo through Taurus) with the open void between Venus and Mars. Locomotive patterns lack balance, but generate power, especially when we find the “balance weight” and apply it to the empty third. That would imply that we need late Taurus energies, along with Gemini, Cancer, Leo, and first decan Virgo energies to compensate for what’s lacking in the general atmosphere.
On this Equinox, the Sun in Aries and its worldly ruler Mars is retrograde in Virgo while its spiritual ruler, Pluto, is in Capricorn. That should make for a very practical and efficient Spring, even though the exact Earth Trines are past.
It also shows that as Mars speeds up, it will again trine Pluto, though by the time it catches up to the trine to Jupiter, it will be in Libra and we’ll all be under the influence of the Summer Solstice chart. As it stands, Mars will be in Virgo through the entire Spring season, and trine Pluto through mid-May. Efficiency rules!!
Also of note at this Equinox is that Mercury is retrograde, conjunct the Sun, and in Mutual Reception with Mars. That makes Mercury especially important for the next 90 days. I would think that with both Mercury and Mars RX, this Spring will be “back to the future,” where things from the past will be undone and/or re-done, and there will be returns, reviews, research and rehearsals before things actually get finalized.
As Mercury triseptiles Saturn, it re-invokes the very important Saturn triseptile Uranus that dominated decisions beginning last November and continues to the present time. This important “fork in the road” in the relationship between two major powerhouses has thrown all of us into shifts in our destiny and life directions.
Mercury is closely separating from a triseptile to Mars, while Mars is in close forming septile to Saturn. This makes the entire 13 week period very important, as we have three points of a Great Septile, or 7 pointed Star, activated. Degree spans most affected over the next 90 days will include 27-30 Libra, 18-21 Sagittarius, 10-13 Aquarius, 1-4 Aries, 23-26 Taurus, 14-17 Cancer, and 5-8 Virgo.
Thus we’re all going to confront major forks in the road of our lives wherever we have early Aries, early Virgo, and late Libra in our charts, since these areas are occupied by Mercury, Mars, and Saturn, thus affecting 6 signs, 6 houses, and any planets we may have in Aries, Gemini, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn, and Aquarius. If you have a planet or Ascendant in any of the 7 zones mentioned in the previous paragraph, then expect significant developments in the house where that planet is, as well as the houses that planet rules in your chart.
Since this chart governs the next 13 weeks, any transit to any of the 7 zones will activate the patterns. Of course that means the Moon will trigger it 21 times. Mercury will re-trigger it April 16-21, May 19-22, and June 14-17. Other triggers include the Sun activating the pattern over the next few days, as well as May 11-17, Venus during the last week of March (esp. 26, 30, and 31), Mars keeping it active from now through the first week of May, Jupiter all of May, and Saturn through the first three weeks of April.
Any time there’s a conjunction, septile, biseptile, or triseptile any of these planets during their activation period there will be some dramatic developments! Pay especial attention during May 11-22 since the Sun and Mercury do a tag team conjunction with Jupiter in the Taurus span. Lunar triggers will occur May 11, 15-16, and 19-20 (Solar Eclipse alert!)
This Spring chart shows 4 planets in Earth signs, 3 in Fire, 2 in Water, and 1 in Air. All in all, it should be a season of practical inspiration, or inspired works. After reviewing the plan and the understanding, set new individual and unique energy into motion so that you can “back into” a larger life and purpose. With only Saturn in Libra bringing Air into the chart, try to stay balanced in how you do what you do as persistent twists and turns present themselves. Above all, this Spring stay flexible!
The Moon is at 3 Pisces in the chart, indicating a Balsamic Moon phase, making the next 90 days completely future oriented where visions of what’s possible will be released. Many things will be closed out during the next 13 weeks, so show compassion and forgiveness as you release the ghosts of the past. We can experience “indestructible elements” in our personalities and lives, and with the Moon quintile Venus, some very unique blessings and rewards should come forth, once we let go of old understandings.
Besides Moon quintile Venus and the septile-driven aspects between Mercury, Mars, and Saturn referenced above, major forming aspects in this chart feature the Sun conjunct Mercury retrograde at 3 Aries and Uranus at 5 Aries, showing this to be a season where major upheavals and revolutions are in the air! There may be a review or replay of something from the past, or a new way of understanding and/or coordinating revolutionary developments from 2011. Other significant forming aspects are Moon opposed Mars and sextile Pluto, Mercury semi-square Venus and novile Jupiter, Jupiter quintile Neptune, Saturn quintile Pluto, and Uranus square Pluto.
The Lunar aspects indicate the need not to get aggravated by excessive drifting, needless worry or obsessive attention to detail, and keep your eye on what’s really needed for efficient tasking. It also shows that when we’re dealing with a problem that we shouldn’t get distracted by a lack of clarity. Old internal crises involving relationships and conflicting values may come back, though with Jupiter quintile Neptune and Saturn quintile Pluto we should be able to cultivate some intuitive gifts that can help us to move into our “garden of life, mind, and personality” with ease and foresight, as well as find unique ways to structure things in perfect balance or proportion.
Jupiter-Neptune gifts will be most evident for those with planets around 11-14 Taurus, 23-26 Cancer, 5-8 Libra, 17-20 Sagittarius, and 29 Aquarius- 2 Pisces. Saturn-Pluto gifts will be most evident for those with planets around 27-30 Libra, 9-12 Capricorn, 21-24 Pisces, 3-6 Gemini, and 15-18 Leo. Obviously, transits to these points over the next 90 days will trigger these highly specialized gifts, conditions, and circumstances.
This Spring stay alert to growth opportunities by taking note of inner changes that are like “new metals forming deep in the Earth” of your being. It will be a revolutionary time, where many will glimpse new dimensions of selfhood that mobilize their creativity or genius. A time to overcome fear while still getting the protection we need, many will heal through saying goodbye to old people, places, and ways of living. We’ll more or less pick back up where we left off last August, and though the old knowledge will prove inadequate, we’ll also see the unique indestructible elements of our selfhood.
Be practical, do your homework, research, rehearsals, and renewals in perspective, and do whatever tasks you must do to prove you can initiate your own movement, demonstrating something you’ve been training for since 2008. Use the power of synthesis to see a larger, wider dimension to your life, and stay focused as you say goodbye to many things in what promises to be a very weird, obsessive, compulsive, non-rational time in history. And if you think this is strange, wait until the Summer Solstice on June 20, 4:09 pm PDT, 7:09 EDT (June 21 at 9 minutes after midnight Greenwich), which features a very tight Uranus square Pluto and Jupiter square Neptune!!
There are no squares in this chart, so while the awareness and/or polarization is indicated by the Virgo-Pisces oppositions, with so many quintiles there will be highly specialized gifts and rewards as we stand between the endings of the Moon in Pisces and the new beginnings shown by the Sun conjunct Uranus. Those with planets in early or mid-Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn, and Pisces, as well as in the quintile zones mentioned 3 paragraphs up, will do very well this spring.
So with only two oppositions and no squares, overall this should be a relatively-stress free spring, except for the larger Uranus square Pluto influence. That doesn’t mean there won’t be some extremely important events and decisions to be made, or some pretty crazy turns of events, thanks to the activated 3 points of the Great Septile. It’s just that there is a heavy concentration in Pisces, Aries, and Taurus, with only three other signs active. It’ll be a concentrated time in some ways, a very unique and critical time in other ways, and gifts all over the place!
We've begun to fulfill a more holistic understanding thanks to long wave karmic echoes of Saturn showing us ground we first crossed in December 2011 and January 2012. Everything going on the next 13 weeks has to be seen as helping us come to a more complete realization of what needs reconstruction from the past, and assisting us to a more holistic view of our lives within a larger context.
The next few weeks will continue to bring us rewards to the degree we've let go of obsolete things in our life, and we should continue to demonstrate deep compassion and/or understanding, allowing ourselves to be attracted to people and situations that show us our Spiritual group work. There are great rewards and protections to be found in getting clear about the garden we want to cultivate, letting go of old views and understandings, and seeing why we’re making decisions about the past we’re leaving behind, and the future we began to embrace Spring of 2011.
Once Mercury and Mars go direct, many things will pick up speed in a very short period of time. We’ll have more Grand Earth Trines at work the end of April (New Moon Grand Earth Trine!) and mid-May just before the Sun and Mercury fill in the Taurus points of the 7-pointed Star explained earlier. Overall, it should be a very rewarding period of steady growth, a lot to enjoy, and a lot to understand through taking a larger view of your life.
Aum and blessings as we stand on the threshold of a new season of life!
© Copyright 2012 Robert Wilkinson
Thanks for this, as always, Robert. I'm smiling broadly at the concept of the gifts of Pluto and Saturn, especialy as Pluto inches toward my Chiron in first house. I'm tying very hard to study the "gift" in this lesson and haven't been able to find much written on it. Of course, it's critcal to me to find that "gift" to take away from the experience a transformation of self rather than a take down.
Posted by: Susan | March 20, 2012 at 07:25 AM