Aries New Moon: Viva la Revolution!

The Aries New Moon occurs Thursday, April 7th, at 4:24 am PDT, at 18 degrees Aries 4 minutes.  Here’s the chart:  AriesNewMoon2016.  The Ram appropriately symbolizes Aries, which always acts instinctively upon it’s desires.  Of course, the Ram is also well known for butting heads with other males in the flock as it competes for the right to mate.  Ruled by Mars, the planet of war, Aries is the sign of pure male YANG energy; forceful and strong.

As the first sign of the zodiac, Aries always correlates to new beginnings.  So this sign is associated with Spring time (in the Northern hemisphere), the season that reflects a new beginning each year in the natural world when new life bursts forth as plants sprout new shoots and animals give birth.  The glyph for Aries represents new seedlings that have just pushed their way up through the soil, a remarkable instinctive act of natural strength.

As the first cardinal sign, Aries instinctively initiates action.  Aries overcomes it’s considerable fears through finding courage in action itself.  Most important however is the feedback Aries receives once it does act.  This always helps Aries discover something new about itself, the evolutionary purpose of this sign.  Through the instinctive process of continuously forging ahead into new experiences and unknown territory, Aries discovers and ultimately becomes who it is as a unique individual.

Accordingly, Aries needs LOTS of independence and freedom in order to initiate instinctive actions and pursue it’s desires.  When this freedom or independence is restricted, interfered with, or limited in any way, anger is always the natural reaction of Aries.  This explains why this sign is infamous for its anger and quick temper!

This New Moon in Aries carries a volatile instinctive energy pattern full of the impulse for revolutionary change!  This is because the Sun and Moon are conjunct Uranus, the planet associated with rebellion and revolution, which is also in Aries.  The Sun, Moon and Uranus are ALL square Pluto in Capricorn, which is gaining strength and influence as it slows down now ahead of its annual station retrograde on April 18th.  The ongoing square aspect (90 degree angle) between Uranus and Pluto is the most powerful and significant astrological pattern currently in the heavens.

Even though the powerful planetary connection between these two celestial heavyweights began over five years ago, and even though the seven EXACT squares between them have already occurred (June 2012 to March 2015), their connection and influence will continue through 2020.   This New Moon in Aries re-energizes this aspect between Uranus and Pluto in a BIG way!  Ruling revolution and evolution respectively, Uranus and Pluto are fueling major transformational changes worldwide.

Think of all the global changes that have occurred since Pluto first entered Capricorn in 2008 coinciding with the economic downturn that began on Wall Street and quickly spread around the globe.  The Arab Spring began in 2010 in Tunisia initiating widespread political upheaval throughout the Middle East and North Africa.  Then the Occupy Movement, begun in Manhattan in 2011, also spread quickly within months, occurring in cities in over 80 countries and across every continent except Anarctica.  The Occupy Movement brought the phrase “1% vs. the 99%” into our lexicon.

Unrest in many Arab countries continues to this day as the world witnesses the largest human migration since World War II.  Europe is overwhelmed by the millions of refugees fleeing countries in the region devastated by wars between Sunni and Shiite Muslims and their proxies.  And of course, the world is still trying to recover from the 2008 global economic downtown that began here in the United States.  It seems the ‘Occupy Movement’ is currently experiencing a renaissance in the current U.S. Presidential election as issues of income inequality, corporate welfare, Wall Street corruption and rigged economic, political and justice systems have become fundamental cornerstones of campaign platforms – at least on the Democratic side of the contest.

Think too of the extraordinary cultural shifts in our own country evidenced by the nationwide legalization of gay marriage and decriminalization of marijuana in several states.  Lets not forget that America also elected our first African American President in 2008 whose landmark legislative achievement, the Affordable Care Act, has forever transformed the U.S. health care industry.

Extraordinary change has also come to the world of science and religion!  Pope Francis has both inspired followers and upset leaders of the Catholic Church as he focuses his papacy on a return to the compassionate teachings of Jesus, rather than the traditional moralistic and highly judgmental doctrines so ingrained in the history and hierarchy of that centuries old religious institution.  Of course, the Islamic faith is also undergoing its own tremendous revolution as radical extremists continue to hijack and distort the peaceful teachings and traditions of that age old world religion.  As all this is happening, the scientific community discovered the “God Particle” in the Summer of 2012!

Quantum science continues to leap forward in its understanding of how life is created in our Universe.  Of particular interest to many is the emerging science of consciousness that has not only proven that consciousness creates reality, but is also proving the existence of the phenomenon of the ‘Soul!’  http://www.news.com.au/tablet/quantum-scientists-offer-proof-soul-exists/story-fnenjnc3-1226507686757

On a day to day basis, it can be difficult to grasp the magnitude of change currently unfolding on our planet.  Nevertheless, humanity continues to be in the midst of extraordinary levels of r-evolutionary change and transformation relative to old social, political, cultural, economic, religious and scientific structures and paradigms.

Expect this extraordinary pace of change to accelerate!

Uranus is associated with the archetype of liberation.  Uranus ALWAYS works to free us from whatever limitations are preventing further evolutionary growth on both individual and collective levels.  This is why Uranus is the planet of rebellion and revolution.  Often, in order to break free of the restrictions associated with the status quo, we must rebel against those forces that expect us to unquestioningly conform and comply to old established forms and structures and their rules and regulations.

It’s worth noting that when evolutionary changes are resisted for too long, Uranus acts to suddenly and unexpectedly shatter old realities and paradigms to enforce necessary change so that evolutionary growth can continue.  Resistance to necessary evolutionary change is in fact the primary causative factor for cataclysmic events.  In these cases, Uranus acts like an earthquake, transforming the landscape forever.

Currently moving through Aries, Uranus has been shaking things up in order to wake us up since May 2010 when it first entered Aries.  In fact, the very day that Uranus re-entered Aries (it’s first retrograde returned it to Pisces for eight months from August 2010 to March 2011), the catastrophic 9.0 Tohoku earthquake occurred off the Northeast coast of Japan that triggered the explosions and subsequent meltdown at the Fukishima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant on March 11, 2011.  Clearly this was a cataclysmic event.  It actually happened within just two hours of Uranus returning to the sign of Aries!  Revolutionary Uranus will remain in Aries, the sign of new beginnings until 2019.

And speaking of power…

Astrologically, the issue of power is ruled by Pluto and its sign, Scorpio.  Pluto represents the Soul and the evolutionary process itself.  Accordingly, Pluto teaches the right uses of power.  Intrinsically, all human beings are endowed with the power of FREE WILL CHOICE which facilitates the very process of human evolution.  Unfortunately, in our modern reality, most of us have been conditioned to attribute power to mundane and material things, like status and wealth.  Interestingly, Pluto also rules sex and death, two other things we typically associate with power.  Of course these are the things most commonly used to manipulate and control or wield power over others.  These behaviors always reflect gross misuses of power.

With Pluto currently moving through Capricorn (2008 to 2025), and the Sun, Moon and Uranus in Aries now squaring Pluto in Capricorn in this New Moon chart, those in positions of authority who are abusing their power will increasingly be exposed as their lies and corrupt practices are revealed.  Capricorn is the sign associated with established social structures like governments and with those in positions of social authority like CEO’s, bankers, politicians and religious leaders.

Iceland’s Prime Minister Sigmundor David Gunnlaugsson and his wife Anna Sigorlaug Palsdottir

A perfect example of the power of the Sun square Pluto (April 6th) to expose corruption just happened this week with the release of over 11 million documents called the ‘Panama Papers.’  This cyber attack/hack is the largest leak in modern history.  It revealed the names of hundreds of individuals including twelve heads of state, government leaders and their wealthy associates, as well as mafia figures and drug and weapons traffickers who have stashed their wealth in tax havens with the aid of a Panamanian law firm, Mossack Fonseca.  Among them are Ukraine’s President, Petro Poroshenko, and Iceland’s Prime Minister, Sigmundor David Gunnlaugsson, who resigned on Tuesday after more than 10,000 citizens in Iceland protested against he and his wife’s tax evasion.

For more information on this story go to http://www.democracynow.org/2016/4/5/panama_papers_world_leaders_rich_criminals

Remember I recently mentioned ‘International Transparent Forensic Accounting’ in a previous blog post? It appears this phenomenon is gaining ground as shocking (Uranus) levels of global corruption involving the rich and powerful are brought to light.  The Panama Papers classically illustrate how Pluto operates.  It first reveals and exposes that which is corrupt, decayed or dysfunctional.  Once revealed, those things will either be healed or come to an end.  Indeed this week has already brought an end to one career (Capricorn) for a leader who was abusing the power and authority of his position of prominence.  There will no doubt be more.

But now let’s also look at power from a more mundane point of view…

The world needs power in the form of energy sources in order to function.  Most of our cars still run on gasoline that fuels their engines, as does much of the machinery of industry.  Countless other common materials and profitable business products like fertilizers, plastics and pesticides that have become ubiquitous in modern life are manufactured from petroleum and its derivatives. 

Fossil fuels have powered global economies for a century and a half.  However, petroleum is a deadly pollutant that is destroying ecosystems all across our planet.  Scientists unanimously agree that we’ve reached a tipping point.  For our evolution to continue, indeed for our very survival, we must now make different choices regarding energy sources.

Why haven’t we made this necessary change yet?  Why are we resisting the very change Mother Nature (who we are all ONE with) is quite dramatically insisting we must make in order to survive?  The answer is that the petroleum industry has vast wealth and holds enormous power over the very politicians whose responsibility it is to make energy policy changes.  Did I mention already that political systems are ‘rigged’ and corrupt?  The increasing frequency of extreme weather events reflect our stubborn resistance to necessary evolutionary changes relative to how we generate energy and utilize ‘power’ sources.  Unless and until we collectively make a different free will choice, we’ll no doubt continue to experience cataclysmic weather events and increasing outbreaks of infectious diseases resulting from environmental degradation and climate change.

So we find ourselves at a choice point relative to how we power our lifestyles.  The crisis of climate change and its extreme weather events and rising sea levels are alerting us to the need to evolve away from our old destructive fossil fuel energy paradigm.  We must move quickly, globally, towards renewable energy sources that are clean, healthy and sustainable.  It’s time to r-evolutionize (Uranus and Pluto) our  relationship with energy and power!

Transforming our energy policies (Pluto) is not the only necessary evolutionary change we’re facing.  We obviously also need to change our politics.  Uranus rules politics because it’s  associated with how societies form groups within themselves.  The most common social grouping we all experience is our friends.  On a larger scale however, social groups are reflected through political parties.  Anyone notice the increasing chaos upending established political parties and systems the world over?  The current Presidential election process underway in the United States has completely shattered longstanding political ‘conventional wisdom’ as pundits, journalists and strategists find themselves utterly baffled at both Donald Trump’s and Bernie Sander’s success.  The ‘political revolution’ Bernie Sanders is calling for is indeed  happening!

So this New Moon powerfully re-ignites the ongoing r-evolutionary Uranus/Pluto connection.  But that’s not all it’s doing.  In addition, the Sun and Moon — and Uranus too are all inconjunct (150 degree angle) both the North Node and retrograde Jupiter in Virgo.  So what do these planetary connections mean?

Virgo is the sign of crises!  The New Moon’s connection to Jupiter and the North Node in Virgo reflects the need to make necessary changes and adjustments in order to effectively resolve and heal these crises.  Many things ruled by Virgo are currently capturing headlines.  For example, Virgo represents workers and workplaces so it’s not at all surprising that efforts to raise the minimum wage in the United States are finally gaining traction.  Just this week Governor Brown of California and Governor Cuomo of New York signed legislation raising their state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour.  Other cities like Seattle, Los Angeles and San Francisco have already enacted similar wage increase laws.

Virgo is also associated with health and healthcare systems.  Even as ‘Obama-care’ has dramatically reduced the number of uninsured Americans, varying statistics estimate over 30 million still have no health insurance.  So it’s also not surprising that a single payer healthcare system is once again front and center in the political discourse as a cornerstone of one of the Presidential candidate’s campaigns, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.

Virgo also rules the environment and it’s health.  As Jupiter moves through this sign (August 2015 to September 2016) it’s reflecting the enormous scale of environmental degradation.  So once again, it should not be surprising that we’ve also been experiencing an expansion of infectious disease outbreaks like Ebola and the Zika virus.  Also dramatically increasing are drug-resistant strains of bacterial organisms and viruses like tuberculosis and MRSA.  This phenomenon will increasingly threaten the health of people and animals all over the planet.

So thank heavens Jupiter also rules man-made laws and legislative processes.  Jupiter’s transit through Virgo has coincided with a growing number of successful legal actions against big environmental polluters.  Lawsuits prohibiting the manufacture of toxic pesticides responsible for decimating crucial pollinator species like bees, butterflies and bats have recently prevailed against corporate behemoths like Bayer and Monsanto.  Last month legislation banning GMO labeling laws set to go into effect soon in Vermont failed in Congress.  Additionally, several states Attorneys General have joined with New York’s Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman, who has brought suit against Exxon Mobil and others in the petroleum industry for fraud based upon decades of deceptive information provided to their shareholders about the impact of climate change due to fossil fuels.

It’s also likely that legal efforts against fracking, oil pipeline construction, offshore oil exploration and drilling will continue to grow and succeed all across this country.  Jeffrey Wolf Green, the founder of Evolutionary Astrology said over twenty years ago, “Environmentalism will become the new religion.”  As Jupiter in Virgo connects with the Sun and Moon in Aries now, we’ll continue to see changes and adjustments evidenced by environmental activism and legislation.  Not only will these efforts grow in strength and numbers but also in their success against corporate, financial and political interests that have a legacy of destroying our planet for profits.

The bottom line is that through the current influence of Virgo, healthier choices are gaining ground worldwide, among individuals, communities and nations!  What new choices are you making in support of your own personal health and well-being?  What changes are you pursuing to improve your work life or benefit your career path?

And finally, the Aries New Moon is also trine (120 degree angle) Saturn in Sagittarius.  This is a most auspicious planetary pairing!  In addition to Jupiter’s benevolent influence for legal actions against wrongdoing, the Sun’s very favorable connection to Saturn in Sagittarius (the sign ruled by Jupiter) is also bringing rewards and success to those whose prior efforts have worked for the common good or in pursuit of truth and justice.  Saturn’s association with responsibility, accountability and maturity, will be reflected in significant progress and achievement for those who have and continue to act ethically, with honesty and integrity (Sagittarius) for the benefit of all.

The influence of Sun in Aries trine Saturn in Sagittarius is reflected in recently enacted new rules regulating Advisors in the financial industry.  They must now put their client’s best interests ahead of their own profit goals.  Reports show that Financial Advisors have pocketed an average of $18 billion a year from the pension funds of those they advise.  This protection for worker’s hard-earned retirement savings is long overdue.  Another timely example of ethical responsibility is the decision by Paypal’s CEO, Dan Shulman, to cancel the company’s plan to expand their massive global operations center in Charlotte, North Carolina, after the state’s legislature passed a law repealing the city’s recent ban against discrimination for those in the LGBT community.

Pope Francis meets with the Mufti of Jerusalem Muhammad Ahmad Hussein, left, and Abdul Azeem Salhab, Head of the Waqef supreme court, near the Dome of the Rock Mosque

Sagittarius rules the search for truth so it represents the world’s religions and faith traditions.  Another historic example of maturity and integrity focused on the well-being of many has been evidenced time and again by Pope Francis as he has met with religious leaders from many faith traditions.  In the Spring of 2014 he met with Muslim, Jewish and Orthodox leaders in Jerusalem saying, “a visit to the Holy Land would not be complete without a meeting with the Muslim communities.”

Saturn is the planet of discipline and self-determination necessary to obtain our goals particularly those requiring serious, long-term effort and commitment.  What important goals are you working towards?  How are you evolving into a greater experience of maturity, personal responsibility and accountability?

Indeed MANY GOOD THINGS are happening throughout the world!  We just don’t hear much about them from corporate-owned mainstream media sources whose agenda depends upon fear and distortions of truth.  But then we all have the responsibility of making choices, daily, between fear and hope, despair and inspiration, truth or lies.

Long-term readers of my monthly New Moon posts, as well as those who listen to Heavenly Help, my free weekly podcast know that I’ve been saying for years (since about 2010!) that we are living in extraordinary times.  Ancient cultures the world over foresaw this time in human history as a time of tremendous evolutionary growth and change.  Their prophecies predicted both a time of great leaps forward in human consciousness and a time of cataclymic changes on planet Earth.

Consider the fact that every Soul alive on the planet today, including you, CHOSE to be here now.  This means at a Soul level, each and every one of us intended to be part of these r-evolutionary changes.  Indeed I believe the discovery of the Higgs Boson, or ‘God Particle’ reflects this revelatory leap forward in human consciousness foretold by the ancients long ago.  Since physicists discovered that consciousness creates reality, human beings now KNOW that we are responsible for the realities we are experiencing because we are the ones co-creating those realities through the power of our free will choices, individually and collectively.

IT’S TIME TO EMBRACE THE NEW!

IT’S TIME TO CHOOSE CHANGE! 

BE THE CHANGE YOU WISH TO SEE IN THE WORLD! 

VIVA LA REVOLUTION!

The Taurus New Moon occurs on May 6^th at 12:29 pm MST!

Copyright 2016.   Donna Lee Steele and Threshold Consulting.   All rights reserved.