Our solar system has entered an energetic stream of light waves,                                                         Inducing a symphony of altered consciousness.                                                                                                 Excited brain cells open beyond memory to forge new neural pathways.                                           Definitions of reality are in question.                                                                                                                        We see new colors.                                                            We   Dream          New             Dreams.

Image: Detail from Creative Source Painting by author during Astrology & Creativity workshop last summer at Dreaming Mountain Retreat Center, co-led by Susan Green. Watch for news about upcoming 2013 workshop.

The NEW MOON at 21 ARIES, 5:45am EDT, 2:35am PDT, 9:45am GMT

is mythically interesting, as it features a union of Sun-Moon as well as Venus-Mars, two archetypal conjunctions. Carl Jung wrote of the “conjunctio” as a union of spirit and matter, male and female, human and divine, a merging symbolic of the process of individuation. This is the heroic quest of Aries.

ARIES is pioneering, impulsive and, at times, more than little trigger-happy. Whoa! Especially with Mars so strong in its own sign, we may need to reign in some of those impulses—without dampening our motivation and initiative. Saturn in Scorpio can help with this, as we focus on maintaining a still centeredness. With that caution duly noted, Maris in Aries, at its best, is the heroic impulse, the courage of the pioneer.

Mars, in Aries especially, can also get impatient, frustrated or angry. Anger is a more vital emotion than depression, which many may be feeling, yet excitement is much the better. Let’s try for such an energy upgrade. “Follow your bliss, follow your excitement” is a great motto for Uranus, very stimulated in Aries. .  Looking for something new and different? We all are, as we aspire to a new way of living on Earth.

Venus is the planet that sets the emotional tone. In adventurous Aries, Venus becomes a heroine with a warrior spirit, waving a colorful, starlit banner in a proactive emotional invitation to the universe to bring her wants she wants. Let’s follow her lead. We just can’t be too pushy about it or we push it away.

Remember that 13th fairy who wasn’t invited to the Princess’ birth, showed up anyway and cast a curse? Well, here she is — Eris, a dwarf planet discovered in 2005 and initially nicknamed Zena. She is standing squarely in the dark on this New Moon, with her hands on her hips. Oh, she can be contentious. In Greek myth, she is the uninvited goddess who tossed that Golden Apple down to land at the feet of the Trojan Prince, Paris, instructing him to give it to the “fairest” of the three goddesses, Hera, Athena or Aphrodite.

In one of her many masterful books, The Goddess Path, Patricia Monaghan names a key quality for each of 20 goddesses. Hera is Dignity, Athena is Strength and Aphrodite is Passion. What could the poor powerless young man do in front of the irresistible seductive lure of the passionate Goddess of Love other than speechlessly hand her that apple? In some way this is an instructive story for this New Moon, with hasty, reactive  Mars impulsively ready to “go for it.” What is “IT”? That is a key question that needs to be answered in order to avoid the strife, discord and rivalry that Eris can evoke.
Personally, I know I can be a bit prickly pear. Anyone else get that way? Lately, feeling some not totally recognized urge surging and emerging from the Saturn in Scorpio depths, I have not been sure what it is that I am looking for or want to be doing. With Venus, invisible in the Sun’s light, feeling the urgency of Mars, I decided that I want invitations to come to me. This sounds simple, but it has radical implications, really, to follow up the invitations with trust. Of course it has to feel great! —and energizing, exciting, refreshing, interesting, intriguing. Several such invitations have come, including an internal invitation that is allowing me to step through an opening door to new explorations. The door has been opening for a while, but I’m feeling a stronger, what? Confidence, yes, Clear Intention? yes — to walk out into new creative territory, feeling ready to be inventive, not knowing what will come forth.

Remember that Mercury has recently been retrograde, on an extended snorkeling in the Piscean sea exploring underwater worlds colored brightly or darkly by the dream world fantasies of Neptune and shape shifting altered realities of Chiron. The tide has turned. Soon, on April 13, it will surface into Aries with as much pristine clarity we are capable of perceiving. Pluto stations retrograde on the 12th, with an intensity like holding your hand over a candle flame, graphically indicating the necessity for redesigning our lives.

This New Moon augurs a fresh creative start, a sparkly, even startling invitation from the cosmos that may even take us a by surprise. Are you up for it?