This Report was written and published for Stormie Grace's Spring 2023 Newsletter: https://www.stormiegrace.com/so/51OQR2hTE?languageTag=en
It's Aries season, y'all!
We start off the astrological new year with the Sun’s annual ingress into Aries on March 20,and even more fittingly, a new Moon at 0 Aries on March 21. This is the new beginning of new beginnings, the perfect setting to start fresh with a clean slate and dive headfirst into an adventure or new endeavor. This fiery energy encourages us to act first and think later, because any hesitation might mean a missed opportunity. In addition to the Sun, Moon, Mercury and Jupiter in Aries sparking the “need for speed” energy, all planets are direct in March, so life is moving forward quickly! This is a high energy time and momentum is building up as we trailblaze our way into our Spring goals and projects. With so much energy in the realm of Aries, we’re asked to show up as our most authentic selves, with boldness and courage.
Pluto dips its big toe into the Truth-telling waters of Aquarius on March 24 for the next several months, giving us a taste of what’s to come as we ponder the social structures we want to see transformed in our world and what parts of the status quo we’re ready to reject to create a better path for us all.
After 6 long months of Mars in Gemini, Mars will finally make its entrance into the lunar waters of Cancer on March 25th, which may speed up the already quick pace even more, and throw in a few wrenches to dodge along the way. Here we need to make choices about how we defend and protect our own comfort as life continues rolling forward. This transition from air to water was also echoed earlier in the month when Saturn made its big ingress to the expansive waters of Pisces on March 7th. After so much time spent focusing on restructuring our more social and intellectual realms, we’re now shifting focus to the emotional, intuitive, and subconscious spheres of water, where it becomes harder to articulate our thoughts and our needs but we feel them more deeply than before. Here we ask ourselves – how do we support and provide structure to something that feels endlessly expansive?
April starts out slower than March, with Mercury entering its pre-retrograde shadow in Taurus and Jupiter in the heart of the Sun on April 10th. The liberating and expansive influence of Jupiter is renewed, which will allow it to come through boldly and brashly as it finishes up its trek through Aries.
Venus enters Gemini on April 11th, bringing unification to the things that Mars has ravaged through in Gemini and neatly tying up the loose ends Mars left in its wake. By sowing seeds so that new life can grow and picking up the pieces, Venus encourages us to create new connections and pathways to share information after Mars may have severed away the older, outdated pathways. New opportunities come through for our Gemini houses, and a chance for reconciliation, unification, and peace. The process might be slow and laborious at first, but will get easier as Venus gets further into Gemini, passing its square from Saturn.
As we make our way through Aries season we end it with a BANG - a solar eclipse at 29 degrees of Aries on April 19. Through this lunation we’ll want to pay attention to where this falls in our own charts to see where changes and lessons of initiation and courage are ready to flow through us. The spirit of competition is calling us to show up boldly and brashly in the areas in life we experience the fiery sparks of Aries. The Sun enters Taurus on April 20th, which might feel like an intense shift following the solar eclipse. We may be feeling like we need to find ways to gain more control over our lives, or that power has suddenly shifted away from us. This may be a good time to consider our relationships with power and control and how they have impacted and manifested in our lives.
With that, we re-enter Mercury retrograde season again on April 21, with Mercury in the sensual realm of Taurus, gathering raw data through the five senses and seeking to share its tactile truths. The truths we’re recovering, rediscovering, and digging for during this period might not be what we’re expecting, but they will foster necessary changes moving forward and shift our perspective and recenter us to a more practical focus, especially with Mercury’s proximity to Uranus.
On May 1st Mercury will retrograde into the heart of the Sun just as Pluto goes retrograde and starts its retreat back to Capricorn. The progress we’ve made over the Springtime is being called into review as we take stock of what we’ve accomplished and make adjustments to prepare us for the Summer season. Just as we start to review, we’re also hit with our second eclipse of the season - a Lunar eclipse at 14 degrees of Scorpio on May 5. Having two Martian ruled eclipses, we’re experiencing the variety of Mars energy - the fierceness of the warrior in Aries and the cool, composed strike of the sharpshooter in Scorpio. With Mars in Cancer calling the shots once again, we consider what is worth fighting for, and to what extent are we willing to go to protect our sense of comfort. The answer may be what stirs our souls emotionally; a depth and intensity worth fighting for. Venus enters Cancer on May 7th, bringing some calm and peace to what has been turbulent waters with Mars, Saturn, and the Moon doing all the churning in the water signs. This is starkly different from the energy how the season started, with so much energy tied up in Air and Fire signs. In a water dominated world, we’re getting into our feelings, walking through our memories, and leaning into our intuition – taking things a little slower and looking for the deeper meaning of it all.
Saturn has been attempting to navigate the oceanic expanse of dreams and unconditional love that is Pisces, but might be floundering a bit until Jupiter enters Taurus on May 16, where it can now see its ruler and start to make sense of the flow. Now, it can start to build some foundations and crystalize dreams into reality. Bringing in some necessary structure and containment to what has previously been expansive and boundless. Jupiter in earthy Taurus brings some grounding and stabilization to the flowy, watery energy, allowing it to be anchored to something solid. We have the opportunity to live in the beauty of our dreams because we now see the path to start paving them into the real world. With Jupiter in Taurus, beauty is abundant! Food tastes better, colors feel more vibrant, flowers smell sweeter, and we can indulge in the pleasures that the world has to offer us, as long as we don’t let ourselves get too carried away!
The Sun enters Gemini on May 21, signaling that we are now straddling the seasonal boundary of Spring and Summer. The Sun in Gemini will build on the new connections that Venus nurtured during its tour through Gemini earlier, shining light on our informational transactions and connections, while encouraging our curiosity. Simultaneously, as the Sun changes signs so does Mars enter fiery, blazing Leo. We immediately can feel the shift from the flowing, watery energy to intense fixity as Mars, Pluto and Jupiter are in a tight t-square with each other. While we’ve been exploring our inner, emotional realms, reality is now catching up and asking us to put what we’ve learned into action. We’re being challenged to go after our desires and achieve what we want at all costs. The Mars Pluto combination encourages us to ruthlessly pursue what we claim as ours while Jupiter eggs them on, fanning the Martian flames further. We feel highly focused and directed to do what needs to get done or we may feel like we’ve been unexpectedly thrust into the heat of battle, ready or not.
As this intense energy starts to dissipate, Venus will enter Leo on June 5th, reigniting the t-square, but again putting out whatever fires Mars started, and setting things back to rights. As Venus enters Leo and approaches her pre-retrograde shadow, she is desperately trying to catch up to Mars (spoiler alert: she won’t). As we live through the luminous Leo part of our lives, the things we are trying to put into action may never reach fruition, just as Venus will not fully catch up to Mars no matter how close she gets, reminding us not to have all our eggs in one basket and always have a backup plan.
On June 11th, Mercury returns home to Gemini, here to assess all the work that has gone on in its home while it’s been away. We’re feeling even more social and curious, and ready to connect, learn, and be mentally stimulated. Just as Mercury makes it home, Pluto will officially make its retreat back to Capricorn. Pluto has challenged us to question and reconsider some of the social structures in our lives and provided an opportunity for adjustment. Now Pluto will give us a chance to work through our findings so it can retest us when it re-enters Aquarius next year.
We finish up Gemini season with one last test, Saturn starts its first retrograde in Pisces on June 17. Saturn has been observing the upkeep of the Pisces parts of our lives and is ready for us to start making some revisions and changes, all in the name of building better, stronger foundations for the future. As we leave the Spring season officially, we’re feeling passionate, curious, and a bit reflective, but ready to explore what summer and Cancer season has to offer!