The new Moon in Aries (exact on April 5th at 11:55 pm EDT) is an annual re-invigorating from the inside out, and a chance to be truly you again. It's the new Moon that tickles you and re-ignites your lust for life. This new Moon reminds you of what feels vital and authentic.
Too often we're in reacting mode, rather than being the Actor in our lives. It drains our lifeforce to please and impress others all the time. Aries' mantra of "Me First" can be a re-orientation to being true to yourself, and seeing life take shape from that. This new Moon reminds you to "do your own thing." If you've become dulled from people-pleasing or dragging your heels, here's a chance to get back on the fresh track.
Aries has a natural optimism that comes from the sheer joy of being alive. This cardinal fire sign gets fired up under pressure. Gandalf from the Lord of the Rings might've been describing our uncertain world, when he said: "There was never much hope, just a fool's hope." Aries is the Fool in the Tarot, not because he's simpleminded. He's the Fool that meets the future boldly, as an adventurer. Today's call for speedy, innovative solutions is tailor-made for Aries -- a chance to do great feats to save the world. It's a new Moon to believe that the world itself could be made anew.
Wherever Aries falls in your birth chart, there's a chance to push into new ground of experience, totally alive at the edge. As an Aries might say, this new Moon is the Best One! We're still drawn into the lunar darkness where wisdom is best seen with the inner eye. But the Aries messages are like flashing neon signs across a darkened sky. Dreams and passions resurface in the imagination, and dare you to claim them. Images of the larger-than-life version of you comes to visit, and can inspire you to set intentions that fulfill that vision.
Along with the Sun-Moon conjunction in Aries, this lunation forms a T-square with Mars in Cancer and Jupiter in Capricorn. This is a challenge to put the impulsive brilliance of Aries through the maturity meter that's coming to the foreground now. It means not wasting time swimming against the tide, or pursuing goals that don't make use of your real talents and resources. Being realistic doesn't have to be a drag. By starting where you are, and building on what you've got, you'll get where you want to go.
This new Moon is about beginning again and seeing anew, like in this T.S. Eliot poem:
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time
It's amazing to me how radically life can change when your personal story changes. And with Mercury in Aries, there's a "fire in the mind" that could inspire a rewrite. In her latest book, The Age of Miracles, Marianne Williamson writes that new thoughts bring the potential for miracles, and new life scripts. "If you want to spend the years you have left simply reenacting dramas of your past, you can. The same script will indeed be coming around again for your review. It always does. But if you choose, you can take the script and give it an awesome rewrite, totally get on top of your material, and take a bow at the end that blows everyone away."
It's a new Moon to believe in change. Ask for it. What would it look like in your life? What would you be doing, and who would you be doing it with? See if you can stoke that inner fire by doing things purely for fun. It takes a lot of courage to "be happy" these days with the state of the world. But if the world is spiraling into chaos, perhaps being happy is a form of resistance, as Marianne writes. It's also about savoring life's pleasures, knowing how serious things can be. Years ago, I made a list of things that made me happy -- thatched roofs, vintage motorcycles, horses, the ocean, bellydancing -- and I still carry it in my wallet. Make your own list this new Moon, and see which find their way into your life.
When Aries Health Ledger died, I took note that his parents admired his "self-styled" journey in life. He went out and became a movie star -- he did it! That's what this new Moon is about -- moving swiftly in the direction of your own true dreams. You don't have to be perfect, just willing to try. For this new Moon, the joy is in the doing and being, and trusting that the future will take care of itself.
