Dreams and Ideals
When the Sun makes its annual conjunction to Neptune (March 19, 2025, 4:25 pm PDT, 29º36’ Pisces), the soul yearns for a brief vacation from the ego. Like an actor who loses himself in a role, a lover who melts into their beloved’s eyes, or a preoccupied youngster gazing out the window during math class, we may wish to be unfocused, semi-conscious, lost in a reverie.
Neptune is the planet of dreams and musings, where we go to escape from the everyday world. And it represents, too, what we idealize. This conjunction takes place on the Sabian symbol 30 Pisces, A rock formation like a face is idealized by a boy who, as he grows up, begins to look like it. It does seem that what we fixate on is often what we achieve or become – or maybe we’re just attracted to what is already inside of us.
Something Newly Born
Look at a newborn baby – so fragile, defenseless. But consider what it’s just been through. The process of being born is bloody, sometimes violent, often dangerous, and honestly, must be terrifying to a small newcomer to the planet. Now look at that baby again, and marvel at its toughness. Listen to its full-throated cry, and admire its ability to get its needs met when it can barely see and can’t even turn over by itself.
This week, the Sun enters Aries (March 20, 2025, 2:01 pm PDT), the sign of new beginnings. It marks the vernal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere, the energetic new year, and it’s the point that Neptune and Saturn will soon energize when they enter Aries (on March 30 and May 24, respectively).
In which house does Aries, especially its first degree, fall in your birth chart? This is where you’re as delicate and as tough as something newly born. Here, you’re courageous, a pioneer who blazes your own trail. You’re the plow, readying the soil, and you’re the seed that’s planted there. You’re a newborn baby, the most vulnerable and formidable of all creatures.
Makeover
A charming, 1920s era bungalow is the latest in my neighborhood to have been completely made over. Following a now-familiar formula, the original casement windows were replaced with unimaginative vinyl ones, and the beautiful shiplap siding was pulled off to make way for stucco. Any classic built-ins that remained inside are, I’m confident, long gone.
As I once heard someone say, it seems that house’s owners liked everything about it except the inside and the outside.
At another house nearby, workers were seen repairing the original windows, carefully scraping old siding back to bare wood, and finishing it off with a paintjob in beautiful, era-appropriate colors. It is a joy to behold.
Venus sextile Pluto (March 21, 2025, 2:32 pm PDT, 3º22’ Aries and Aquarius), like all Venus-Pluto aspects, loves a makeover, whether it’s refurbishing an old house or helping someone choose a new hairdo and wardrobe. But there’s a difference between bringing something back to life by stripping it back to its intrinsic beauty, and making it over into something else entirely, something it was never meant to be.
The Regretful Phase
There is important business to resolve at this Capricorn Last Quarter Moon (March 22, 2025, 4:29 am PDT, at 02º05’ Capricorn). It’s business that has its origins in the Pisces New Moon on Feb. 27, and it directly impacts the Capricorn and Aries portions of your chart.
The Last Quarter Moon is the phase in the lunar cycle for taking stock. You have one more chance to take action toward your New Moon goals, this time with more knowledge and experience than at the First Quarter phase, the other action point in the cycle. But before you do, you should move into a state of introspection, like the Sabian symbol for this Last Quarter Moon, The human soul receptive to growth and understanding, and contemplate what has and hasn’t been working up to now.
The Last Quarter can be a regretful phase; we may have stumbled from time to time during the Lunar Phase Gestation cycle that began with the Capricorn New Moon on Dec. 23, 2022. That New Moon squared ambitious Jupiter in Aries, and perhaps you made a promise to yourself then to reach a cherished goal. Now, at last, you’ve got the vitality of the Sun in Aries on the scene to push you over the finish line. Don’t give up now!
The Venus Star Story
The Sun and Venus retrograde come together in a conjunction this week (March 22, 2025, 6:07 pm PDT, at 2º39’ Aries). Venus’s retrograde period generally reminds us to treat ourselves well, because if we don’t value ourselves, no one else will. And when Venus comes together with the Sun, it marks an important chapter in a story of love, creativity, and self-regard.
A conjunction of Venus and the Sun is called a Venus Star Point, and it occurs near the same degree and sign every eight years, a new installment in a story about love and worth. Look to the position of 2º39’ Aries in your birth chart to see where this story is unfolding for you.
Venus in Aries always values independence and looking to ourselves for approval. Its conjunction with the Sun is a powerful time to magnetize the situations and relationships that are truly in line with your heart and values. Look your best today. Don’t hide out at home. Accept compliments gracefully. And you might gain insight into an important relationship in your life – whether or not it’s really good for you, and whether this person appreciates you exactly as you are.
Choices Available
In a month full of big shifts, a sextile between the Sun and Pluto (March 23, 2025, 12:32 pm PDT) may seem insignificant. But no connection between the Sun and Pluto is ever unimportant.
The two began a new cycle with their conjunction on Jan. 21, 2025 at the very beginning of Aquarius. When these two important symbols are in a conjunction, there’s enormous pressure to change our current form. Often, this pressure comes from those who have power over us, like a boss, a parent, even a government official.
But at the opening sextile, we’ve gained a little distance from that power struggle. We can begin to see the choices that are available to us – although whether we’re willing to take them, or whether they will take us where we want to go, is another question.
Writing and images © 2017-25 by April Elliott Kent
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