Monday night we experience the Aries New Moon, the latest of a series of conjunctions in the energetic first sign of the zodiac. Late last week was the Venus-Sun conjunction; Sunday Mercury passed by the Uranus-Eris conjunction; and now the Moon and the Sun will form their first conjunction of the astrological year.

As Eric writes, among many interesting features of the Equinox chart is that the Moon is conjunct Saturn and the Galactic Core to the degree. This is a reminder to stay strong on your spiritual footing, and not to let your mind be seized by prejudice, greed or uninformed opinions.

This is an extraordinary week. There are two conjunctions, both distinctive, though on Friday we experience the extremely rare conjunction of Uranus and Eris. As Eric notes, this is the third and last Uranus-Eris meeting before the two begin to separate. They will not form another conjunction until April 28, 2106.

Venus is now retrograde, which shifts the emotional momentum of our moment in one gesture. The retrograde lasts through April 15. And at the same time the Moon is heading into full phase; the Virgo Full Moon happens March 12, a week from now, but this one is going to gather energy and go off like a clap of thunder.

Today’s eclipse in Pisces was what you might call a watershed moment: a point of transition from one phase of your life to another. This one put us under considerable pressure to wrap up old business and make way for new experiences.

With the move from Aquarius to Pisces, the Sun has left the energy field of fixed and focused mental patterns, and entered the environment of flexibility, feeling and flow. As Eric writes, Pisces is here to draw you into your inner life, even as the world appears to be in a state of benighted mayhem.

The Sun is in the last few degrees of Aquarius, set to ingress Pisces Saturday morning; that is followed by a solar eclipse in Pisces about a week later. When there’s an eclipse on the horizon, as Eric Francis writes, every event or development becomes a step on the way into its vortex.

As of Monday, Mercury is in late Capricorn, on the way to entering Aquarius Tuesday morning. From early Aquarius, Mercury will aspect Venus and Mars in Aries, and Ceres in Taurus. Before it gets there, though, Mercury must clear the final degrees of Capricorn, which has both private and public implications, and a caution to beware of glamour and guide yourself to sincerity.

Yesterday afternoon EST, Mercury finally formed the conjunction to Pluto that was a gnat’s whisker away back on Dec. 19, during the station retrograde. Amy Elliott suggests that the fulfillment of anything so long in coming is always something of a relief, in clearing away uncertainty.

Tuesday at 10:25 am EST (15:24:45 UTC), an aspect takes place that got Amy Elliott’s attention: the centaur Nessus will be exactly conjunct the lunar South Node. Melanie Reinhart’s catchphrase for Nessus is “the buck stops here”; Nessus passing the South Node could well be “the buck stops now.”

Mars, the archetype of masculinity, has been traveling through the deeply feminine sign of Pisces since Dec. 19. Amy Elliott explains that it’s now about to meet Chiron, which presents opportunities for maturity, healing and a subtler sort of bravery.

“We need to remember that we have cosmic origins, even if we don’t remember what they are.” Sunday morning, Mercury stationed direct in Sagittarius in a conjunction to the Galactic Core. Eric Francis explains how we can work with this energy to keep a sense of meaning.