It appears we have recently entered a period distinguished by departure. A notable number of people and patterns have discontinued of late. For instance, a handful of well-known media personalities left their their posts for various reasons only last week. Fortunately, astrology offers a time frame to anticipate or (even better) precipitate even more departures likely to follow.
The implied time frame begins with the second Aquarius New Moon in a row at 6:47 pm EST (23:47 UTC) Wednesday, and continues through the entire lunation (the period from one New Moon to the next) well into March.
Our first Aquarius New Moon saw the luminaries (Sun and Moon) share the very first degree of fixed air last month on Jan. 20. This week’s merger of the Sun and Moon will depart from a pattern of five consecutive luminary conjunctions in the first degree of successive signs. That pattern started with a Scorpio New Moon and solar eclipse on Oct. 23, 2014.
Instead, the Sun and Moon will briefly share the very last degree of Aquarius this week just before both depart for Pisces. Meaningfully, it will also be both Ash Wednesday and Asian lunar new year — two culturally significant points of departure in many parts of the world.
Appropriately, that new pattern will both repeat and conclude next month with yet another New Moon on March 20 in the very last degree of Pisces, just before the Aries equinox. That New Moon will also be a solar eclipse.
Until the vernal equinox, and following on the heels of tomorrow’s Aquarius New Moon, a cascade of notable departures will take place on the zodiac and in the sky. Implicitly, the events of your life will either find a way to follow suit or be made to.
Mars departs Pisces and enters Aries on Thursday. Venus makes its own departure from Pisces to ingress Aries Friday, closely followed by the Moon.
Then, this weekend Venus and Mars conjoin for the first of three times this year. It begins a remarkable departure from the usual pattern of Venus and Mars merging in the same degree of the same sign only once every other year.
Come March 3, Mercury will depart from the narrow arc of Aquarius in which it has been pacing back and forth since the beginning of 2015. (That is, it leaves its ‘echo’ or ‘shadow’ phase.)
Saturn’s station retrograde March 14 will eventually lead to its brief departure from Sagittarius in June. After taking care of several months’ worth of unfinished business in Scorpio, Saturn will return to Sagittarius for the long run in September.
Finally, on March 16 or 17 (depending on your time zone), Uranus in Aries will make the last of its seven exact square aspects (separations of 90 degrees) to Pluto in Capricorn. After that, Uranus will begin a long, drawn-out departure from Aries while permanently moving away from its three-year pattern of oft-repeated and functionally continuous squares from Pluto.
It’s all nearly enough to make you want to sing “Auld Lang Syne” for St. Patrick’s Day. But don’t plan on crying into your green beer.
Instead, you should probably contemplate how to participate with what the astrology indicates. There appears to be an entire lunation chock-full of successive departures now at hand, to be either undertaken or completed. Assuming such appearances are valid, it would probably be best if you took matters into your own hands.
At the very least, you will want to prepare for familiarity to depart. It will mean releasing attachments where appropriate. It will also and ideally mean creating new routines to replace what you had gotten used to. Even if the life pattern in question was not something you were particularly fond of.
For we tend to be creatures of habit, and even the most cursed of customs leave a vacuum that needs filling once departed. Hence, a very good reason for you to initiate departures of your own accord, so as to mindfully and intentionally replace old with better, rather than simply new.
Even as millions begin the ritual repentance of Lent, you might want to consciously choose your own abstentions rather than have some arbitrarily thrust upon you. Additionally, while millions more clean house in order to entertain not only family and friends but also a more benevolent ambiance, you might want to do some cleansing of your own.
Indeed, in some ways, tomorrow’s Aquarius New Moon might even feel something like an eclipse in advance of the real thing. Based on what is going to be happening for astrology over the next month or so, that might be a good feeling to go with. Especially so if you want to end up where you want to be, doing what you want to do when the next season auspiciously begins.
Offered In Service
Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.
Thank you for this lovely piece, dear Len. As I was reading it, one of my favourite songs started up in my head, as a kind of background music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7PQooSn8OI
This is indeed a time of deep cleansing – where old wounds have been surfacing mercilessly, and I’ve felt as if ‘ve been going backwards, and probably have – but only so I can go move on from all this yucky stuff I feel immersed in right now (even had a dream of emerging from it last night, and cleaning all the goo off).
Conviction. Determination. Resolve. Exhilaration. Gratitude. Love. I am so ready for change to the better. Rice pudding it is! (including the cinnamon – apparently it’s an aphrodisiac).
Thank you for the shot of excitement, Len. Pure medicine.
Lizzy: Thank you for being so kind. From my own experience, i do have a very good idea of just how you feel about the “yucky stuff” you have a written about. Thank you for your healing perspective. The video is appreciated beyond words.
Mandy: My thanks to you in turn for sharing your enthusiastic inspiration (which is medicine for me). Rice pudding is okay by me as well.
I’ll be departing March 19th from KY to CO to audition for Naropa University’s MFA program in Contemporary Theater. I hadn’t noticed yet that there will be a new moon on the 20th. That’s awesome, I’ll have some fresh new moon energy for the audition, which is the 21st. If accepted, I’ll be departing Louisville KY for a stay in Boulder CO for at least a couple of years come July 2015. Departures, letting go, and renewal, are poignant themes in my foreseeable future. It’s cool how astrology affirms what I already know, or sense.
Good luck
Michael,
Best of luck!
Let me say from personal experience that Spring Equinox is a good time to land in Boulder. It worked for me, quite well.
Solar Return commeth on Saturday, departures all over the place, not the lease of which was recently me. But the cat made it with me, I was most concerned about her departure during the trip, right now she seems content. By necessity I’ll be cleaning more than expected while still unpacking boxes as the new place had a few bugs (literally) that also need to depart.
I’ve felt Merc and his motion more than “normal” this time ’round maybe since he was squeaking back and forth over natal Venus (among other things as always) and am pleased that he’s finally departing his retro motion.
So I’ll be seeing the Moon and the Sun on the other side of their departure from AQ and for some reason, have this feeling, that the old will continue to depart with the ringing in of the new.
Thanks, Len.
“least”
I turned OFF the durn “instant spelling breaker/fixer” on my computer but that command too, has departed.
Michael: Please allow me to wish you all the best as well. It’s a privilege to affirm what your sense of the matter, and the endeavor you have undertaken.
Samantha and Strawberry: Thank you for being so supportive of Michael.
aWord: Happy impending birthday! It’s good to know you have your feline companionship for your new home. i empathize with what it’s like to relocate when you would rather relax and celebrate. Please keep the first Venus-Mars conjunction in mind as a significant indicator of your solar return so as to make come comparisons on September 1st/2nd and November 2nd/3rd when their merger will repeat. It would be appreciated if we could hear back from you about how that works out. And don’t worry about the spelling. Just having you here is something to be deeply thankful for.
How clever you are Len; tying all these departures to Ash Wednesday and Chinese New Year as celebrations of departures . . . . something I would have missed without your perceptiveness.
Familiarity is departing rapidly in my household, something belated rather than me getting a head start. Honestly, I believe the Universe is fouling up my computer so as to force me to spend more time in the process of release (hard for us with a predominant Cancer sign influence). It’s working though so I trust my guides, for now anyway. No playing on the computer until you clean up your room.
Michael, how exciting for you and since you are, for now, a fellow Louisvillian, I hope the snow hasn’t stopped your progress in preparing to leave for Boulder. There is an interesting formation in the New Moon chart that includes Jupiter in Leo at the apex of a yod with Chiron in Pisces who sextiles Ceres in Capricorn who is conjunct Pluto. Theater being a 5th house platform (stage) and Jupiter (good luck as well as expansion) being in the sign of Leo who is associated with the 5th house and acting, he will be making “adjustments” (Chiron, Ceres and Pluto all form quincunxes to Jupiter) so bear that in mind and stay flexible!
aword, happy solar return to you and note also that in the New Moon chart – just hours away now – has Vesta at 11+ Aquarius! The 2 rulers of Aquarius, Saturn (tried and true) and Uranus (totally unexpected) are flirting with a semi-square that will be exact on the day of the May 4th Scorpio Full Moon. So happy your kitty survived the trip, they aren’t the best travelers are they?
be
Barbara: Thank you so much for not departing from your participation here in spite of your computer struggles. Speaking as a natal Cancer ascendant, i do empathize with the struggle to release attachment – it’s a learned skill for us with a strong component of cardinal water. Thank you even more for providing aWord more information to solar return on and for offering Michael the benefit of your wisdom regarding his auspicious departure. We are so lucky to have you here!
You’re too kind Len. . . and we love you for that! My apologies to aword in that it won’t be a semi-square between Uranus and Saturn, it will be a sesquiquadrate, exact on May 4th Full Moon. It’s not just that my computer is likely to cut me off (I have about 30 seconds left once the clicking starts
) but we got another 3 inches (approximate) of snow here in less than 10 hours before this crazy Leo Full Moon’s influence is over. I’m not sure when I will ever get out. Starting to get a little antsy and am not taking enough time to re-read. Mayday! Mayday! There is a message for us – this big dump of the white stuff here in the non-north part of the country. Mother Nature is not happy. With a natal Cancer Sun conjunct Ceres, my pantry/fridge is pretty well stocked but enuf’s enuf!!!
be
Hey, just realized that the soon-to-be-gone Leo Full Moon chart (set in Washington DC) has 16+ Scorpio on the IC – the root base from which the Full Moon’s energy comes from. That’s the same degree where Saturn was in the August 2nd Mercury-conjunct-Jupiter chart (also set in DC, where he was in the 12th house). Saturn was in a grand trine with Chiron in Pisces and Venus in Cancer in that chart, but also in a quincunx with Uranus in the 5th house (associated with Leo). Okay, okay I get the message; Jupiter is way too much of something and Mercury is local travel, and they were conjunct at 3+ Leo, putting the Feb 3 Leo Full Moon’s Vesta at 3+ Aquarius in opposition to them.
Not only that, the Leo Full Moon’s Saturn at 3+ Sagittarius (trine the August Jupiter-Mercury conjunction) was sextile the full moon’s Vesta and they formed a yod to the U.S. Sibly’s Venus at 3+ Cancer, costing the nation a pretty penny for getting rid of all this snow. Saturn lessons are the hardest lessons but we won’t forget this one soon will we?
be
Thanks Len, Thanks Be – and of course that 11AQ is DC close by natal Pholus at 9AQ and slightly wider orb opposing natal Uranus at 8Leo. That transiting Vesta also makes a nice trine to my namesake asteroid in Libra — which if we give it an 2 degree orb opposes natal Moon/Eris over which Uranus has been hovering in Aries. (There — I KNEW we’d get Eris into the mix if we looked).
Samantha, Strawberry Laughter, Len, and Barbara, I’m humbled by your support. Barbara, thank you so much for a more detailed look at the astrology, and especially the tip to stay flexible. I’ll carry all this energy forth, thank you all.
Thank you Len. As always, leaving me with a feeling that my soul has been bathed in beauty.
I feel like the butterfly in the making, becoming a gelatinous alchemical stew, vibrating with the signatures of worlds larger than this, getting ready to share their brilliance, with each flap of my wings.
May we all land where we want to be, doing that which brings us contentment.
I have these moments, all by myself – that are so profound. I want to share them with everyone. But I can’t – they don’t feel. It’s Hard.
Yet some do. That’s why I am. I think so anyway. Love Len
yoniyoganidra: Thank you for your generous assessment of my service in this piece. Speaking to your butterfly metamorphosis metaphor – you might want to check ho Pluto and Chiron are aspecting your natal and progressed charts. Methinks one of your natal or progressed planets may be either at the mid-point or completing the yod. i could be wrong, please understand – just a hunch you might want to follow up on.
Cowboyjam: Know what you mean. So many times a great experience is there for me with nobody to share the moment. Yet, i have faith that nothing is forgotten or known alone. Somehow, some way, you shared – which (for all of us) is a caution as much as a gift.
Thanks. That feels better to me. I want to share soo much – and when I find that I cant it is hard. But maybe I am in actuality. I don’t know for sure. But I hope so. That feels good. Happy!
Thank you for the suggestion Len.
I have natal Pluto and Uranus in the 9th house, Virgo and Leo respectively; their meetings, encounters or arm wrestling (sometimes) has been amazingly awesome. Not always easy in the moment but in retrospect, delicious.
I am a Pisces Moon, in the 3rd house, along with Gemini Sun, so Pisces rules my 10th house; Chiron and Neptune are very precisely narrowing my focus to what that 9th house Natal Pluto and Uranus want to bring into this world, through me.
I love how flexible they are, there is always a multiple choice answer/option(s) to their call for action: yes, Yes, and YES.
They are so “case” sensitive.