The New Moon occurs on March 13th, at 10.21am UT, 23 03′ Pisces
The New Moon is conjunct an exalted Venus, as well as Neptune, the modern ruler of Pisces.
Venus conjunct Neptune is exact soon after, in the early hours of the next day at 20 45′ Pisces. Making this conjunction even more potent, Venus and Neptune are also parallel by declination.
This is a lovely, captivating lunation. Dreamy… heart-warming… imaginative… magical.
The fixed star is Markab, the brightest star in the Pegasus Constellation, on the wing of the Winged Horse. In mythology, Pegasus flew all the way to Mt Olympus to live among the gods. Pegasus is a sacred horse, he can help us rise above material reality to discover inspiration and spiritual wisdom.
The New Moon illuminates opportunities for creating beautiful visions and having faith in the power of our visions to become reality in the future.
Chart
Pisces is an emotional, sensitive, intuitive sign, that longs for spiritual experience and thus heightens our awareness of the mystical realms. The realm we came from, and will eventually return to. Venus and Neptune are both in a position of strength in Pisces, and the New Moon further emphasises the intensity of their combined influence.
Venus and Neptune are both involved with love. Venus is our individual desires, what we personally love. Neptune is spiritual, divine love. Neptune provides an invitation to look beyond ourselves and the everyday, so as to reveal compassion, idealism and (of course!) the mystical and magical.
The New Moon is also sextile Pluto. An aspect that draws attention to Pluto as symbolic of our collective experience of the pandemic – the restrictions, the social isolation, the emotional heaviness of it all. An amalgamation of extreme forces, that has in so many ways subdued our motivation and suppressed our pleasure in life. Now, at this moment in time, the sextile to Pluto points out we are being encouraged to seek how we can transform this – begin to find some relief. We can perhaps start by exploring what would be liberating and healing to materialise with the assistance of Venus and Neptune.
Venus-Neptune enhances our imagination, our intuition, our creativity, our desire to experience love and connection with others, and our potential for spiritual insight and wisdom. The New Moon bestows guidance to discovering what truly stirs our heart, a new start that could bring a glow of hope and joy. For sure, around the time of the exact lunation, we may perhaps feel more emotional than usual – ups and downs – and our dreams may be especially vivid. This sets in motion a flow, a receptiveness, that invites in messages and increases our ability to tune into our intuition.
As Neptune can not only heighten everything (sprinkle it with fairy dust!) – but also deceive us – the one caution is to avoid getting entangled with all-out illusions. Either by allowing ourselves to drift too far from reality – letting our idealistic vision blind us to the true nature of a person or situation – or over estimating our own capabilities. If we do, we may crash painfully back to reality as shown in the myth of Bellerophon and Pegasus. Bellerophon attempted to fly to Mt Olympus riding Pegasus. Jupiter was greatly annoyed by Bellerophon’s arrogant endeavour so sent a gadfly to sting Pegasus, who bucked, causing Bellerophon to fall back down to earth.
In the chart Mars is approaching the North Node. Mars is our individual will power, so this influence instigates a readiness to engage with future orientated action. As it happens, Mars will be exactly conjunct the (mean) North Node on March 28th, the same day as the Libra Full Moon. Once our vision springs to mind, we could be energised to pursue it, set out to attain what we wish for.
Fixed Star ~ Markab
Markab is currently at 23 46′ Pisces. Markab is the Arabs’ word for a saddle on a horse. A saddle helps us to feel secure when we ride a horse. A point of perceived stability, as we share their amazing strength, speed and athleticism. In actuality, to be truly united with a horse we have to enter their instinctive, emotional and intuitive realm. Open up to having our emotions and behaviour reflected back to us. Horses happily sacrifice their own desires when we ride them, but this will soon change if we lose their trust or fail to appreciate their generosity.
Horses carry us along a path of wisdom, guide us towards a better awareness of ourselves and an empathic understanding of others. Attune us to trust our instincts about who and what to trust. A deeper understanding of our strengths and limitations, but equally how to connect and co-operate with others. Whilst we may have to make sacrifices – adjustments – to bond with others, these connections can also guide and elevate us.
According to Ptolemy Markab has a Mercury-Mars nature. Traditionally, while Markab can have positive effects, there is also potential for malefic effects. The mythology of Pegasus, and the tale of Bellerophon helps us understand why. Markab brings the opportunity for success, but to achieve it there has to simultaneously be awareness and acceptance of personal strengths and (most importantly) limitations.
“It gives honour, riches, fortune, danger from fevers, cuts, blows, stabs and fire and a violent death.” ~ Fixed Stars and Constellations in Astrology, Vivian E. Robson
“Tied up with propitious bodies, Markab is said to influence above all the spiritual and mental nature, to give a good head for figures, intellectual alertness, mental powers in general and, last but not least, the ability to further propaganda activity, if at the same time other relevant aspects are also present.” ~ Fixed Stars and their Interpretation, Elsbeth Ebertin
TAROT ~ 10 OF CUPS
The New Moon takes place in the third Decan or Face of Pisces, ruled by Mars (in both rulership systems). The corresponding tarot card is the 10 of Cups. Here, we find Mars the planet of action and aggression pursues everything he wants, including a perfect, blissful home and family life. In Pisces Mars is emotional energy, shows us that by our putting heart and soul into dreams we can turn them into reality.
Book T calls this card “Perfected Success.”
PISCES III ~ “A man naked, or a youth, and near him a beautiful maid, whose head is adorned with flowers. It has signification for rest, idleness, delight, fornication, and for embracing of women.” ~ Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Agrippa
The Rider-Waite-Smith card depicts an idealised family. A loving couple have their arms around each other, their cherished children dance merrily before them, while a rainbow featuring 10 Cups shines overhead. The 10 of Cups is the card of desires attained and dreams come true. That there is truly no place like home, surrounded by loved ones.
Pisces contributes to the idyllic dreaminess of this card. There is a sense of fantasy, the fairy tale happy ending – but also the potential for spiritual development. The rainbow is symbolic of a bridge between heaven and earth, as personified in mythology by Iris, goddess of the rainbow and a messenger of the gods. Pisces is the last sign of the zodiac, and here in the last decan we reach the end, completion, before a new beginning. Contemplation of what would truly bring a sense of accomplishment at the end of a cycle. The love, peace and harmony depicted suggests that emotional fulfilment – rather than material riches – is the ultimate successful outcome in life.
“The Ten of Cups symbolizes what much of humanity would like to have: a secure, strongly loving family, material comfort, and the ability to live in harmony with nature and neighbours. A surge of joy comes with shared happiness, and the Ten of Cups celebrates this and also validates “coming home” to friendships and other havens from worldly strife.” ~ Spiritual Tarot by Echols, Mueller and Thomson
Top Image ~ Pegasus – Johann Bayer ~ from Wikimedia Commons
10 of Cups from The Aquatic Tarot by Andreas Schroter