Astrology Status for February 28, 2015

Deceptive Astrological Coloration

Everyone has doubtless heard of essentially harmless and vulnerable animals who have evolved to resemble dangerous and well-protected animals. Or you will recall movies in which information revealed in the final scenes (The Sixth Sense) forces us to rethink the entire movie. Something like that is happening in March.

Some of March’s most noticeable aspects seem to justify negative expectations across a broad range of issues. On the face of it, the bad news in March can be made to seem really bad.

Seeming Cause for Grave Concern

There is an exact Uranus/Pluto square on March 16th. Uranus and Pluto will both be direct during the exact square. This strengthens and sharpens its explosive, disruptive potential.

The negative potential of this square is further aggravated by the effects of Mars conjunct Uranus and square Pluto. Both will be exact on the 11th, a few days before the Uranus/Pluto square on the 16th (New York Time).

This powerful and harsh set of aspects suggests a sharp peak in abrasive rhetoric, repressive politics, confrontation, and, brutal and violent aggression. Realistically, we do have to expect some disturbing events in March.

Political and economic pressures will come to a head. On the individual level, health and employment issues, domestic and legal issues will come to a head.

It seems to get even worse. There is a total solar eclipse on March 20th, the Vernal Equinox, and a total lunar eclipse on April 4th.

These eclipses can trigger long-pending disasters or release destructive pressure that has been building unnoticed in the background of structural integrity has been compromised over a period of time. That is why, for example, bridges suddenly collapse or pipes rupture.

It is indeed likely that lingering Uranus/Pluto issues will flare up one more time. They might also continue to simmer into the indefinite future. On the individual level, employment, health or domestic issues can reach crisis levels.

Finally, the fact that all of this is happening close to the the vernal equinox on the 20th raises the specter of a very difficult spring, indeed.

About Face

However, the fact that the upcoming Uranus/Pluto square is the last in a series of 7, changes expectations entirely. We have already absorbed the energy of 6 exact Uranus/Pluto squares.

So we have already absorbed and more or less neutralized the brunt of this aspect’s destructive and transformative power. The worst that the Uranus/Pluto square has to offer is now behind us.

We will still have to deal with the damage already done by the Uranus/Pluto square, certainly. However, negative Uranus/Pluto events will taper off sharply and existing Uranus/Pluto situations will stop getting worse. We can start the cleanup in earnest. And look unhindered to a better future.

Protective Coloration

The Mars/Uranus conjunction and the Mars/Pluto square on the 11th will, indeed, make the last Uranus/Pluto square on the 16th seem worse than it is. Don’t be fooled.

The new Mars/Uranus/Pluto activity simply does not pack the wallop and does not have the staying power of the fading Uranus/Pluto square. The troubling and attention-grabbing Mars/Uranus/Pluto fireworks can disguise, or camouflage, the fact that a lengthy, difficult and much more powerful Uranus/Pluto influence is ending. In reality, all it will do is set up those still committed to a dark and negative outcome for a fall as we head toward two total eclipses in a row.

The eclipses are not the universally, uniformly dark omens some might think. Eclipses can bring important issues to a head, ending costly debate and controversy. They can bring answers to longstanding questions and do all of the above in our favor. Eclipses can also remove unrealistic possibilities from consideration, leaving us to devote our energies to more realistic options.

Eclipses might not always resolve issues to our complete satisfaction. But by closing out old business, eclipses create fresh starting points, allowing us to move forward less heavily encumbered by the past.

Reversing Course

Saturn is stationary retrograde on the 14th. This is, in many cases, a solid plus. Many legislative, legal and bureaucratic issues currently seem to be approaching finality. In many cases, the most likely seeming outcome is decidedly unsatisfactory.

This is especially concerning since final votes seem scheduled to coincide with the highly problematic, conflicting, deeply troubling aspects of mid-March.

These conflicting and largely negative aspects make it all the harder to marshal our forces and stop the momentum. The upcoming eclipses deepen the sense of uncertainty and foreboding surrounding these outcomes.

However, with Saturn stationary/retrograde, all of these problematic legislative, legal and bureaucratic proceedings will grind to a halt unresolved and the issues will, of a sudden, be open to review. Their seemingly unstoppable momentum toward an unsatisfactory outcome will stall out and its once certain outcome  called into question. Going into March, we could be looking at defeat. Going into April, we could be looking at victory, or at least an agreeable compromise.

The Eclipses Themselves

To get some sense of where this potentially very confusing mix of conflicting forces will take us, I cast a composite chart for the two total eclipses.

The power and negative potential of March’s aspects are apparent in the composite chart. However, you have to look closely to see them because the squares are concealed behind multiple, overlapping trines, including one loosely formed grand trine.

Netting it All Out

Recently, I have been reporting on signs of a major energetic shift. For a long time, hard aspects in cardinal signs have dominated the charts. I’m thinking of the Uranus/Pluto Square in Aries and Capricorn and before that the Saturn/Pluto/Uranus T-Square in Libra, Capricorn and Aries. Very difficult stuff.

We are now entering a period dominated by a much more forgiving mix of hard aspects in mutable signs (Saturn in Sagittarius square Neptune in Pisces) and a fire sign trine (Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus in Leo, Sagittarius and Aries respectively).

Also, we are moving from an energetic set up that favored aggressive, disruptive, outer-directed action based on rigidly held views. We are now moving into an energetic set up that favors the kind of inner changes and soul searching that can fundamentally change the social, economic and political dynamic.

To me, the choice in March is simple. We can mistake the transient social, economic and political fireworks supported by Mars/Uranus/Pluto aspects for something much more serious than it actually is and completely overlook the passing out of the Uranus/Pluto square influence. Or we can look more closely at what is actually happening and see the dawning of different and much better times.

Do not allow a few admittedly hard and potentially destructive aspects convince you to abandon hope or to drop your plans for the future.