March 2024 Important Dates
AKA my notes on The Astrology Podcast's March Forecast.
February recap: The conjunction between Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Pluto in Aquarius conjunction has aligned with new tech developments. The Venus-Pluto conjunction heralded OpenAI's new text-to-video generator and the ensuing discussion on its potential political, labor, and artistic effects. Mercury was conjunct Mars and Venus trine Jupiter (with Virgo Moon completing a grand trine & involving the Saturn-Pisces opposition) the day Neuralink tried its first human subject. How will different parts of society react to further developments in cybernetics and body augmentation? Past occurrences of astrological alignments can help us make predictions. Advances in robotics during a major transit in the humanistic sign of Aquarius will challenge us to redefine what it means to be human. On February 10th, around the Mars-Pluto conjunction, a group of people set a self-driving delivery car on fire in San Francisco. These robo-taxis are likely going to increase when Jupiter enters Gemini, and indeed a few companies are poised to launch in other cities.
In other Pluto in Aquarius news, last episode Chris noted there's work in using X-rays to ancient scrolls from Herculaneum and Pompeii that can't be opened without incurring damage. On February 5th, the day of the Mercury-Pluto conjunction, the first images of one of these scrolls have been made available. This fits with Mercury-Pluto themes of lost or buried information coming to light. On the same day King Charles of England's cancer diagnosis was announced--an announcement of mortality. We also had the first privately-funded lunar vehicle landing. Pluto makes large thing imperceptibly small and makes microscopic things enormous.
In Saturn in Pisces news, in 2020 Chris predicted success for Miley Cyrus's Saturn return and indeed she won the Grammy. This also marks part 2 of the Dune movie--the book was written under Saturn in Pisces as well. Other influential sci-fi & fantasy stories were written under Saturn in Pisces like Lord of the Rings, and our hosts predict that a new classic will be born during this transit. In other Mars-Pluto news, we have ambiguous stories about nuclear weapons and Israel's announcement of storming Rafah. Unfortunately the upcoming eclipses (connected to 6 months ago) do not bode well for cessation of warfare. On February 15th, farmers in India have begun striking again, and doctors in South Korea walked out on the job to protest working conditions--Mars in Aquarius squaring Jupiter-Uranus in Taurus reactivates these ongoing labor disputes.
Our hosts recorded the forecast before the perfect Mercury-Saturn-Sun conjunction in Pisces hit on February 28th (the day I'm typing this!), which is one of the major influences over the first half of March. The other big influence is Mars-Venus in Aquarius. In the mutable, indeterminate sign of Pisces, Saturn doesn't bring us as much order as he did in the previous two signs of his domicile.
March 2nd/3rd - Venus square Uranus
Venus in Aquarius squares Uranus in Taurus--either a change is needed to bring us peace and pleasure, or something is disrupting our pleasure. Austin says either way, this placement prompts us for significant changes. Venus's is overcoming Uranus (earlier in the zodiac, has the upper hand), so we can make good use of this placement if we shake things up a little bit in relationships.
March 9th/10th - Mars square Uranus, Mercury enters Aries
Mercury has entered the sign where he'll retrograde, stretching what would normally be a transit of a few weeks into 2 months. Mercury in Mars's sign amplifies the wishes of the red planet, who's doing some pretty interesting stuff. In a firey Mars-ruled sign, Mercury wants something practical to do. This clarity and decisiveness will be welcome after all the indecision of Pisces. However, the North Node is in Aries, with the power to obscure things even when it's not blocking the Sun's light. There will be an eclipse here in April, so the pathfinding is tricky. We'll definitely be doubling back as Mercury prepares to retrograde. Sometimes you need to dive into things while you have the vision, yet before you have the rationale. Austin likens it to clearing your way through thick jungle terrain to determine whether a route is viable--it's only by going forward that you find out that you're on the wrong path, and thus, where the right one is. Mercury retrogrades teach us to learn from our mistakes--third time's the charm!
Mars follows Venus's path, and along with Mercury, weighs heavily on the upcoming lunation. Mars-Uranus connotes surprise attacks, sudden severing, unexpected explosions. Internally this can make us feel restless and impulsive. Keywords: recklessness and action without planning. Think of a cigarette being dropped near an oil drum. Technology disruptions are also likely.
March 10th - Pisces New Moon
Saturn and Neptune are close by to this lunation, and though Mars-Uranus is weighing in, Mars in particular is ultimately reporting to Saturn's broader plan. As Neptune and Saturn approach their conjunction, we'll seek escapism and the imaginal as a respite for our fatigue. We need to step out from being immersed in these waters. Mercury conjoined Neptune on the 8th before he left Pisces, leaving the imprint of confused or empathic communications in the air as the lunar cycle resets for the month.
March 11th/12th - Venus enters Pisces
From here she builds up to a conjunction with Saturn at 11° on the 21st. As the sign of her exaltation, she's better able to bring harmony and reconciliation in our relationships, though Saturn brings a cool distance to our relationships. She'll conjoin Neptune in this sign next month. We may also see some kind of artwork that resonates with people on a deep emotional level.
March 17th - Sun conjoins Neptune, Electional chart
At around 1PM local time, this chart has Cancer rising with a dignified Moon in Cancer, applying to a trine with Venus at 7Pisces and sextile with Jupiter in Taurus in the 11th house. This chart occurs before things go crazy later in the month and is the best time to start something new. It's especially good for friends, groups and alliances and doing new things outside of the box.
March 18th - Mercury enters shadow (not pictured)
Mercury hits 15Aries, the point he'll retrograde back to, at the same time as he conjoins the North Node. This is a precursor of things that will occur in April.
March 19th/20th - Sun enters Aries
This puts the Sun in the same time as the Node that will eclipse it.
March 21st - Venus conjoins Saturn
Saturn and Venus bring a sort of melancholy beauty to things. Though we may see them at odds for signifying discipline and love respectively, Saturn does exalt in Venus's sign of Libra. In the sign of Pisces empathy is especially relevant--think understanding each other's feelings because we've suffered the same things. Nostalgia is another important keyword.
March 22nd - Mars enters Pisces
This puts him on track to contact to Saturn (exact cojunction c. April 10th)--a dangerous combination. Along with the Sun in Aries and Mercury slowing, this represents the event horizon of major developments for the rest of the month and early April. This will be the first Mars-Saturn conjunction in Pisces; note the Aquarius conjunctions in 2020 and later years coincided with the COVID lockdown(s). Sea lane transit will likely slam on the brakes as well, and current maritime conflicts will see big developments. More figuratively we may ask "where are we going, and what dangers lie ahead?"
March 25th - Libra Lunar Eclipse
For about a week things have been building up to this eclipse. Its twin will be visible across much of the United States in early April, meanwhile a comet will start to be visible in the night sky. Mars in Pisces copresent Saturn weighs heavily on this eclipse. The pace of events starts moving quickly and chaotically around eclipse season, and things start to move rapidly up or down, especially for prominent people & companies. This eclipse represents a culmination or next chapter of events started in October--major beginnings and major endings (in the Libra house of your chart for individuals). The picture may begin to get clearer. It's not the last installment, but things are clearly underway. Unfortunately this does not bode well for ongoing global conflicts. We can't see clearly with the eclipse, meanwhile Mercury is slowing down about to station retrograde, while right on the North Node. Combined with dangerous Mars-Saturn, it's a bit of a crazy situation. Jupiter's approach to a conjunction with Uranus indicates some surprising, amazing wins, and some people will find unexpected good fortune once the smoke clears. However, not everyone will be able to count on winning the Jupiter lottery here. (Later in April, when Jupiter conjoins Uranus exactly we can expect some kind of freedom and liberation).
The two weeks between these eclipses will be very active, dramatic, and chaotic, with beginnings and endings galore. In the Indian astrology dasha timing technique, the US Sibly chart has been in a time period ruled by Rahu (north node) since the early 2010s, making any eclipses visible in that country especially important to it. This is a time to be flexible!
