New Moon in Aries Tuesday 24th March 09.38 am GMT.

Holly Hazeltree

The chart for this new moon is very top-heavy – meaning virtually all placements are in the top half of the chart. This shows that events in the wider world are going to dominate heavily, not only this month but, as this is the spring equinox new moon, for the rest of the year.

This is a powerful chart and one with a stark message for all of us. There are a few layers to the meaning in this, of which the chart being top-heavy is the first – that in itself is a signal that the wider world events will dominate.

This chart has the 4^th and 10^th houses intercepted. Intercepted means that a house is bigger than usual and swallows up a whole sign before moving on to the next one. As the planets are top-heavy, I’ll deal with the 10^th house first, before moving into implications for the 4^th.

The Sun and Moon are conjunct Chiron in the 10^th house. Chiron was discovered in 1977 and is an asteroid that represents wounding and healing. Given the coronavirus, it’s pretty obvious that the life force energy (Sun) and emotional energy (Moon) will be weakened (Chiron). As these planets are in Aries (the self), the individual will be affected and this will have an effect on how the individual is perceived in the wider world (10^th house).

The sign on the 10^th house cusp – its energy signature, if you like – is Aquarius, which represents humanity, the entire world, so anything going on in this 10^th house has global ramifications. So far, so obvious.

Pisces is the sign that has been swallowed up in this house. When a sign is intercepted, this usually means its qualities are hidden or repressed in some way. A way to look for a pressure valve to release this repression is to look at what the ruler of that sign and its opposite (in this case Virgo) are doing, as this can give an indication of a best course of action. In this chart, Neptune, the ruler of Pisces, and Mercury, the ruler of Virgo (Pisces’ opposite) is in intercepted Pisces, so its energy is ‘hidden’ from us. Taurus and Scorpio are intercepted in this chart as well, in the 11^th and 5^th houses respectively.

Pisces rules the imagination, the mystical, the spiritual. Virgo rules the embodiment and manifestation of this spirit. Virgo is often described as ruling healing and health, and it does, but there is more to it than this – its energy is about the embodiment of the higher realms, which is why it gets described as healing. When an interception happens this link is broken, so it cannot function properly.

To me, it appears that we are beginning to collectively realise that there are some serious downsides to globalization (Aquarius 10^th house) and how it affects the health of our nations and homes (Virgo intercepted in the 4^th house – the 4^th house represents home, rootedness, tradition). Chiron conjunct the Sun and the Moon as well as Neptune AND Mercury being intercepted (rulers of the intercepted signs) suggests we have some deep wounds about this. Moreover, in the 11^th house (associated with Aquarius) which rules groups, ideas and friends, we find intercepted Taurus – sign of beauty, value and worth. Uranus and Venus are here, which suggests that ideas and aesthetics that we value, which could assist us, are also being cut off from us.

Now, what to do about this? Fortunately, whenever we have an intercepted house, this energy loss is compensated by what is called a duplicated house. A duplicated house means that one sign stands on the cusp of two houses, doing ‘double duty’. These signs, and where their rulers are placed, can give us an indication of how to release the suppression of the intercepted signs.

In this chart, the 12^th and 1^st house cusps are both in Gemini, and the 6^th and 7^th houses are both in Sagittarius. Identity is a key issue for this year, for all of us. Who are we, individually and collectively? What do we value, what do we DO? This will be a dominant theme for the spring equinox and for the whole of this year. For those of you that followed last month’s reading, all of that inner work should have given some indication of this.

The reason these questions are so pertinent is that knowing the answer identifies what gives us root strength and wellness. Sickness inflicts us at many levels and the only remedy is to increase the life-force. Knowing how we can achieve that is crucial. The Cancerian north node conjunct the ascendant not only reflects this but also that this affects all of us on the individual level.

Finally, in the 8^th house we have a Capricorn stellium going on. Jupiter, Mars and Pluto are all in late degrees of Capricorn, with Saturn at zero degrees Aquarius. Saturn moving into Aquarius denotes us moving into a new cycle. Jupiter, Mars and Pluto in the 8^th indicate that mastery of all our resources is imperative now. Now is the year to get fit, improve your finances as much as possible and set goals – no matter how big or small – and take steps every day to making them a reality. The 8^th house is a crucible of transformation and being ruled by Capricorn resources of all kinds, particularly tangible ones, are involved. Avoiding this work will just mean more challenges later on, as much of our old ways of doing things are going to begin falling away. This has to happen so that we can realise our own individual power and align with those who resonate with us. It is a fantastic opportunity for those of us who can hold our nerve.