Time to fall … into the beginning at the Aries Equinox
Dear Reader,
On March 20th, the Sun crossed over into tropical Aries. The Sun’s arrival in the first sign of the zodiac is a major turning point in its yearly cycle, signaling the beginning of the astrological year and the start of spring in the Northern Hemisphere.
The soil is warming up and welcoming new growth. The trees are making sap and budding. The birds are building nests for their young. And we’re invited to align ourselves with nature and the changing season to begin anew again.
What are you noticing around you?
How are you experiencing this time of year?
A shift in balance
The Aries Equinox is one of the two days of the year when day and night are balanced, the other being September’s Libra Equinox. It marks the halfway point between December’s Capricorn Solstice, the longest night of the year, and June’s Cancer Solstice, the longest day of the year.
On its northward journey from the Winter Solstice to the Summer Solstice, the Sun is standing directly above the Equator on the day of the Spring Equinox. It’s the “Waxing Half Moon” and “sunrise” of the year, when there is half dark and half light, with light gaining.
At this point of equilibrium in the solar cycle, the planet is bathed in equal amounts of light everywhere. We’re about to step into the light half of the year, which will bring earlier sunrises and later sunsets, and see increasingly long days.
Moving into spring, what needs rebalancing in your life?
What do you need less of or more of ?
Guided by the Sun in Aries
The beginning of spring coincides with Aries season (March 20th – April 19th), when the Sun is moving through the sign of the Ram and new life is bursting into being. Aries is a cardinal fire sign, temple of Mars and exaltation of the Sun, and signifies a season of initiating new beginnings and actively making our lives what we desire them to be.
Aries gives us permission to follow what feels energizing and exciting and renews our enthusiasm for life. It sparks a fire within us, encourages us to go out into the world, and reminds us that our actions matter. It’s not afraid to try something new or to go first. It jumps head first into things and boldly takes us into new directions.
Are you a child of Aries season, having been born during this time of year? Do you have placements in Aries other than the Sun?
If so, how does it inform your way of being in the world?
What makes this Aries Equinox special
This year’s Aries Equinox sees the Sun closely conjoined with Neptune at the last degree of Pisces. At the same time, Mercury and Venus are both retrograde (moving backwards) in early Aries. At the end of March, Mercury and Venus will head back into Pisces, while Neptune will enter Aries for the first time since 1862–1875.
With this heightened planetary activity back and forth across the Pisces/Aries threshold, our desire to move ahead might be met by an equally pressing need to slow down, review, and reassess the direction we’re heading in. Whatever it is we want to do next (Aries) needs to have our soul behind it (Pisces).
This can be frustrating for quick-moving Aries, who likes to rush in and do something now. But with Pisces, we don’t just want to do something for the sake of doing something. We want to lead (Aries) with compassion, sensitivity, and intuition (Pisces) and act (Aries) based on principles of reciprocity and reverence (Pisces).
When the ending is falling into the beginning
A few years ago, I heard about a prophecy given by the Kogi, who live in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains and consider themselves to be the guardians of the Earth. If you don’t know who the Kogi are, I highly recommend From the Heart of the World, a 1990 documentary, and Aluna, a 2012 sequel.
In 2013, the Kogi said that we are in the ending times.They said that the ending would fall into the beginning in 2026, and that we would be entering into 13 years of the great cleanse between 2013 and 2026. According to Grandmother Jyoti, the Kogi said that “it’s important to watch the ending as it falls down […] but to stay focused on that which is breaking through.”
As I’ve shared in my last newsletter, the beginning of 2026 will feature the exact conjunction between Saturn and Neptune at the 0 Aries point, ushering us into a new era. I’m reminded of the Mother Earth Delegation of United Original Nations and the wisdom of the elders who share the directions they receive from the Earth, that what will be ushered in may be balancing and beautiful.
Are you ready to step through the portal of spring?
How are you arriving in the spring?
What feels alive in you now?
Where is your curiosity leading you?
What prayers are carrying you forward?
What are you rebirthing in yourself?
What needs to come to life again?
You can take the questions in this newsletter on your walk or into your journal, your dreamtime, or any other kind of creative or contemplative practice, either solo or with others. I hope they tickle you and help you weave yourself into the mysteries of early spring!
Aries season and YOU
Even if you don’t have placements in Aries, you still have Aries somewhere in your birth chart — we all do. For more insight into where the Aries part of the story is playing out in your life, find the house in your birth chart that contains the sign of the Ram.
The areas of life signified by your Aries house are where you’re invited to return to communications (Mercury) and creative projects (Venus) that are becoming relevant again, to retrace steps in your thinking (Mercury) and relating (Venus) for greater flow and ease, and to remember or reconnect with pieces of information (Mercury) and sources of beauty and pleasure (Venus) that you had forgotten or neglected.
With all the planetary activity across the Pisces/Aries threshold, the topics signified by the Pisces and Aries houses in your birth chart are being connected in some way, carrying threads of meaning from one area of life over into another, back and forth. It might be worth considering how both houses are where you are receiving insights or instructions for these ending times and the new beginning we’re falling into collectively.
Until next time...
I look much forward to writing to you again at the time of the Taurus Cross-Quarter, which marks the height of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and heralds a season of fertility and earthly pleasure. It falls on May 5th at 7:58 am Central European Time this year (convert to your local time). As always, this is an auspicious time to tune in and meditate, divine, or make art.
In the meantime, I’m wishing you a blessed beginning of spring wherever you are!