Aries, being the first sign in the Zodiac cycle, is all about new beginnings, new toys, new experiences. People with a lot of Aries in their chart always have to have the newest gadget or piece of technology. Aries likes to go! go! go! and is very forward looking. This is all against the grain of some of the longer-lasting energetic currents.
Saturn in Capricorn has slowed everything down. Rushing is simply not a possibility and will feel dissonant.
Mercury retrograde is that break you’re always asking the Universe for – 3 or 4 times a year, you get it. It just doesn’t happen on your schedule, so you fight it and get cranky. MRx asks us to Stop. Breathe. Ground. Where are your feet? How did you get to this point? Are there any loose ends that need to be tied up? And then, once that is all taken care of, can you start to think about moving forward. Just think about it! Do not do. There are no shortcuts available to you in MRx. You must do everything slowly and with conscious purpose, or you’ll get tangled up in your own feet.
You can see how Mercury (mind, thoughts, communication, travel) and Saturn (structure, foundation, how things work) are working together. The good news is that, between the two of them, there is some amazing energy for manifestation! When it all slows down this much, the energy gets very thick, and it’s a marvelous time to bring things through. The caution here is that you must pay close attention to where you are putting your focus, and therefore your energy. Don’t focus on what you don’t want, focus on what you do want. It sounds easy, but it takes a certain amount of discipline.
Into this mix, we bring Jupiter retrograde in Scorpio. A time of contemplation, evaluation, analysis. A time to do some serious shadow work. A time to adjust our perspective, to change how we see the world and ourselves, so that we can actually change the world and ourselves. Perspective dictates experience.
Equinox, as I said, is a magical, momentary pause, where everything is in perfect balance, and therefore outside of time. What could be slower than stasis? This stillness, by the way, is why the Earth’s magnetic field develops cracks – nothing should ever be in stasis, or it will begin to cease to exist. These cracks create similar cracks in our own magnetic fields (we belong to the Earth), and we become more raw, irritable, sensitive, vulnerable…
…and because of the Jupiter-Saturn-Mercury slowdown, we have no way to effectively escape the feelings. Instead, we need to consciously process them. Is it any wonder there are two drinking holidays around this time of year? Most people would generally prefer to escape than to process.
Here’s a thought – Since we’re moving so slowly anyway, why not use all of this to manifest the world in which we want to live, by feeling the way we want to feel in our lives? It’s all simply a matter of finding the right chemical reaction in your body to foster. Remember a time when you felt, even for a moment, the way you want your life to feel. If you haven’t had it, you don’t actually want your lie to feel like that because you don’t know what that feels like. As you recall feeling that way, you are generating the same chemical reaction in your body, only 10 times stronger. Focus into it, feed it, allow it to grow bigger, stronger, more real. Spend at least 15 minutes generating that body chemistry. Do it a little bit every day through mid-April. See what you can create!
Now what about the hefty influence of Aries? If you can bring the feeling of anticipation, of newness, the appreciation of the shiny into all of this contemplation and conscious manifestation, you might actually enjoy the ride. I mean, yes, it’s got a bit of speedball energy to it, but if you can harness it, surf it! Noting is going to feel particularly real right now anyway. Just go with it!