18 Mar Sunshine Caresses ~ March 20th-26th, 2017

“…All at once, as with a sudden smile of Heaven, forth burst the sunshine, pouring a very flood into the obscure forest, gladdening each green leaf, transmuting the yellow fallen ones to gold, and gleaming adown the gray trunks of the solemn trees…”

– Nathaniel Hawthorne (The Scarlet Letter, Ch. 18)

Happy Astrological New Year! This is a week that begins a whole new cycle of the zodiac and thus brings a flood of new sunshine into your life.

The above passage from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s romance, The Scarlet Letter, describes the internal experience of the Sun moving from Pisces into Aries so well. When Hester Primm’s grim life is lit up again by true love, hidden wells of desire spring into bubbling fountains and the ice of her isolation dissolves.

When the Sun moves into Aries, the deep wells of Piscean love overflows upon the outward world!

”Love, whether newly born, or aroused from a deathlike slumber, must always create a sunshine, filling the heart so full of radiance, that it overflows upon the outward world.”

This is the week of the equinox, where the light and dark are balanced in repose for a brief moment of perfect harmony. As the Sun moves into Aries, its sign of exaltation, you will experience an ignition of desire along with the volition to begin a new chapter of your life that makes much more room for passion!

As with a sudden smile of heaven, forth burst the sunshine.

Whether you are in the northern or southern hemisphere, the season of Aries represents a rebirth of your intrepid and indomitable spirit. As ennui evaporates, your imagination (so long lost at sea during Pisces season) will now concentrate, condense, and burst into being!

Like an explosion of wildflowers, so many of your wintry dreams will finally begin to manifest. The renewal of your spirit is finally found in this verdant flourishing.

At the dawn of any new era, it is best to look forward into the future with innocent eyes of purest optimism. Envision a fountain of prosperity and love. Start your new year off as someone totally in love with life, enamored by the simple enjoyment of a beautiful morning.

It’s a beautiful mornin’, ah

I think I’ll go outside a while

And just smile

If you need a little extra push to get into the Arian spirit, listen to A Beautiful Morning, a magnificent pop song by the Rascals. This song was released in March of 1968 and its message of joy will herald many more springtimes to come. A Beautiful Morning offers all the spiritual wisdom you’ll need to get your year started off on the right foot.

Just take in some clean fresh air, boy!

Ain’t no sense in stayin’ inside

If the weather’s fine, and you got the time

It’s your chance to wake up and plan another brand new day

Either way

It’s a beautiful mornin’, ah

Monday/Tuesday: Each Bird Keeps Singin’ His Own Song

Each bird keeps singin’ his own song

So long!

I’ve got to be on my way now

Ain’t no fun just hangin’ around

The week begins with the equinox and the Sun’s ingress into Aries. Find a way to ritualize this moment and formulate a focused goal for the next season of your life. Aries is the Sun’s place of exaltation, meaning that the Sun’s light is best utilized at this time to empower growth, clarity, and renewed volition.

With a great rush of blood to the head, you will become aroused again. Considering that Mercury, Venus retrograde, and Uranus are also in the sign of Aries, you will be greatly empowered to reinvigorate your lust for life.

Enjoy the heat of new willpower and allow yourself to be propelled into action!

Wednesday/Thursday: Shouldn’t Hide

It just ain’t no good if the sun shines

When you’re still inside

Shouldn’t hide, still inside, shouldn’t hide

On Thursday, Mercury in its bright invigorated placement in Aries will square Pluto in Capricorn.

An aspect between Mercury and Pluto will catalyze a new blossoming of your mind.  The shadows on you will break out into the light and your soul, like a rose, will grow.

Pluto always dredges things up from the deep, thus you may find that secrets and hidden motives are suddenly revealed. Don’t hide from the revelations that arrive. This is a time to fundamentally transform your world with the power of your word. Thus, consider your words carefully and avoid the dissonance of dishonesty.

Your words are like seeds of creation. So speak your future into existence through incantations of beauty and let there be light.

Friday/Saturday/Sunday: Sunshine Caresses

There will be children with robins and flowers

Sunshine caresses each new waking hour

Seems to me that the people keep seeing

More and more each day

Gotta say, lead the way

On Friday, Mercury in Aries will oppose retrograde Jupiter in Libra, initiating you into the weekend with a sense of golden optimism and grandiose possibility. An internal flowering will warm your soul, offering you just the right words to lead you on your way towards the future you have been envisioning. A fountain of wisdom within you will be summoned by a book, a teacher, or a friend who loves you dearly.

The magic of the Sun’s light will continue to caress you as retrograde Venus in Aries makes her inferior conjunction to the Sun. Eclipsed by shadow, for a brief time Venus will become invisible in the night sky. This is the veil that Venus makes her great transition behind. Next week, Venus’ will begin to appear once more, rising before the dawn as the Morning Star, otherwise known as Lucifer the light-bearer.

The intrepid vision of yourself as being willful and inspired will only grow in strength after Venus’ conjunction with the Sun, which will begin to offer illumination about emotional issues you are still clinging to from the past.

On Sunday, Mercury will conjunct Uranus in Aries, electrifying you with radiant ideas! The innovation you need to push forward on something important has finally arrived. This is a day to weed out any dull routines which are preventing your growth. To honor the potential for big surprises, allow your day to be disrupted by novelty.

Have faith in divine providence. With an aspect between Mercury and Uranus, you will be able to expand your creative repertoire if you allow for experimentation. Enjoy the beauty of the breakthroughs that arrive as if they were new blossoms reaching up towards the Sun.

Let this initiation into the cardinal fire of Aries increase your appetite for life more and more each day…lead the way.

all paintings by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema