Some of the year’s biggest happenings in astrology will take place during March. The first major move is that of Saturn into Pisces on the 7th. Saturn’s ingress into the mutable water sign will take place under a full Moon in Virgo, the mutable earth sign. Not one to ever be left out of the action, Mars will be in a 5° square to that full Moon, from the mutable air sign of Gemini. After being in the Mercury-ruled sign since last August, Mars will also change signs in March. More immediately, on the 15th, the passionate planet will move beyond the shadow of its recent retrograde. Aggressive Mars describes our drive and our ability to act. During a retrograde period, its intensity is turned inward. In an air sign, this may have led to an agonizing period of mulling things over without being able to make or follow through on important decisions. The back and forth malaise was likely complicated by Gemini’s restless mind, eternal quest for variety and duality. As Mars moves out of the retrograde shadow and into new territory, the internalized ambiguities and frustrations, along with any shelved plans, are likely to give way to a renewed sense of direction and assertion. Adding to this thrust forward, Mercury will enter the cardinal fire sign of Aries on the 19th, followed by the Sun on the 20th. Mars will join the cardinal contingent on the 25th, when it enters Cancer, the cardinal water sign. Thus, the mutable full Moon, signaling a time of release and completion, will be quickly followed by a cardinal cadre stoking an irrepressible urge to forge ahead. Both will be accompanied by Saturn’s shift into peace-loving Pisces.
In 1966 Charlotte Keys, the mother of a Vietnam War draftee, said, “Suppose they gave a War and nobody came.” Though seemingly completely unrealistic at the time, her sentiment was adopted by a growing anti-war movement, who eventually put an end to the war. Pisces works like that. At first, its inklings and notions appear to be “far out” (to use another 60’s saying). Creative, relaxed Pisces gently persists. Its deep and immense call for wholeness slowly infiltrates and permeates, until all that is disharmonious becomes untenable. Saturn will make it all the way up to 7° Pisces 13′ before its retrograde starts on June 17th. Between now and then, we’ll begin to experience the forward momentum of the planet of form in the sign of integrity. They are indeed one of astrology’s oddest couples. Yet their potential to bring heart-centered, holistic solutions to personal and global conflicts holds a great deal of promise. Are we ready to “Give peace a chance”? Noting the issues that probing Mars presented during the past seven months, as the baton is handed off to Saturn, might offer a starting point, for our journey into the sign of healing.
