We have heard a lot in recent weeks about ‘super-forecasters’, beings apparently typified by Prime Ministerial advisor Dominic Cummings and his protege Andrew Sabisky, both of whom failed to foresee the latter’s abrupt sacking and the whiff of sulphur his employ left lingering in 10 Downing Street. Astrologers are usually the ones castigated for wrong forecasts, but so far the star-gazers have been proved correct about the shape of 2020, a year that’s long been marked out for planetary turmoil.
Your astrologer has waxed on about Saturn-Pluto in past forecasts, and the conjunction’s association with a major economic downturn, something just instigated by the spread of the Corona Virus, itself a tragedy still unfolding . Contagions are linked to Neptune, a planet strong in March’s stars, though Saturn’s change of signs on March 20th marks a change of outlook in late March.
Incidentally, the horoscope of Cummings is not without insight into his oddness. His birth chart is dominated by the Sun in Sagittarius conjunct Neptune, both planets opposed by Saturn. The Centaur is a good fit for an intellectual quester obsessed by the Big Picture (though DC is not in the same league as Centaur John Milton and Paradise Lost), but Saturn brings its usual control-freakery, and Neptune a tendency to delusion. Don’ t take my word for it; the late Rheinhold Ebertin, in his 1940 textbook, The Combination of Stellar Influences (COSI) offers the following suggestions: ‘Perseverance, the ability to become completely absorbed in a subject…a peculiar character, a strong pre-occupation with oneself …diseases with causes difficult to ascertain.’
The redoubtable Marjorie Orr has more on him and his master, including a prediction made last summer that early 2020 would bring ‘an exceedingly jangled and worrisome patch – not exactly running to plan’. Now that’s what I call super-forecasting.
The planetary runes for March are, as ever, loaded, the Spring Equinox being the starting point of the year for astrology. The month is overloaded with Capricorn planets – Saturn-Pluto is still in operation and Jupiter meet Mars on March 20th (ouch!). The pattern is fragmenting a little, however, with Saturn moving into Aquarius for four months on March 2nd a position it last occupied in February 1962 and February 1991. It’s by no means a decisive shift – that comes in the last gasp of 2020, but it’s enough to shake up the tenor the times, and to shake up any birthdays born at the very start of their signs.
Mars arrives in Aquarius on the last day of March, and with a new Moon in Aries on March 26th and Mercury finally clear of its retrograde cycle, expect a quickening pace to events, public and private.
A Shoal Of Fishes
Jack Kerouac, Erykah Badu, Rupert Murdoch, Rihanna, Kurt Cobain, Tina Turner, Johnny Cash, Liz Taylor, Anselm Kiefer, Nina Simone, Albert Einstein, Karen Carpenter, Rudolf Nureyev, Christine Keeler, W.H. Auden, Jilly Cooper, Dr. Seuss, Julie Walters, Eric Gill.
Pisces
Your sign’s symbol shows two fishes swimming in opposite directions – at the same time, -while staying forever linked. That particular trick should serve you well in March, when tricksy Mercury is in retreat in your skies and playing elaborate games with your schedules, not necessarily for the worse. The Messenger blinks out of your sign on March 5th and arrives back on the 15th, ready for some firm decisions.
Merc Ret can also be a time of internal reckoning, your backwards facing Fish asking for the evaluation of recent experience. Your other Fish is driving forwards. The Sun in Pisces is well-placed to deal with outer affairs; business, teamwork, charity, driving projects forward, playing the game (birthdays circa March 12th take note). You get a fat bonus this month in the shape of a powerful Venus in Taurus, if not an actual wad of readies than a charmed social life. Help and joy look on tap from sibs and long lost cuzzies.
It isn’t just Mercury fogging the picture. Neptune’s endless trundle through the Fishes continues, and this month is highlighted by the full Moon in Virgo over March 8th and 9th. A weekend for a wild party but remember altered states can be taken too far (Neptune doesn’t care for boundaries). The far-out planet is back where it was when it turned retrograde last summer, making this full Moon a pay-off/climax/fulfilment (delete to fit) for birthdays 8th and 9th.
The world is in a hurry after the Spring Equinox and you should follow suit, Mercury now directing your affairs with rare precision. Make it so. Happy birthday.
Aries
March is foremost a countdown to the Equinox and the arrival of the ‘Yonge Sonne’, as Chaucer put it, in The Ram’s skies. It isn’t just a matter of it being your birthday month; other potent planetary events arrive simultaneously. You get a New Moon on March 26th, Saturn’s shift into an air sign works in your favour, and the meeting of ruler Mars and obliging Jupiter on March 20th is quite the moment for a professional breakthrough.
Mars may be your ruler, but the red planet is like a goad in your side in March, spurring you on to greater achievements. The mood from higher -up the totem pole is provocative, however – which Aries of all signs is going to resent – so you may have to grin politely until you wring what you want from those in high places. In any case the world is not in a hurry while Mercury is retrograde until the 9th.
The new Moon comes next to two ambiguous entities. Chiron is a planetoid much involved with healing and with wounds, so take no pointless risks thanks. Your astrologer knows little of the mysterious entity Black Moon Lilith, but the ‘wild woman’ is currently popular and present at the new Moon. Who knows, a bit of wildness might come in handy.
Also synchronous with the new Moon is a tight aspect between Venus and ruler Mars with Jupiter, emphasising the connection between work and money in the bank; unless you are doing something pro bono, make sure you are paid in full (Jupiter is keen on full).
On the final day of March your ruling planet arrows into your house of collective endeavour; ensure you are a team player this spring.
Taurus
While Mercury retreats, until March 10, patience is a virtue to be nurtured. The month ahead promises an array of creativity, play and bold purpose but for the first ten days your schedules are on a switcheroo.
Let’s begin with creativity. The annual visit of your guardian planet Venus is always a delight, always part of spring’s rebirth, in which, fertile nature-oriented Taurus plays a major part. Nurture that mood, Grow, cook, play host, flirt and renew your assault on your masterpiece. Particular attention focuses on Venus passing Prometheus in your skies on March 9th, throwing a wild card into that weekend’s full Moon and giving a jolt to your personal ambition.
Prometheus’ mission in your skies, until 2025, is to enjoy more freedom, but that is unlikely to arrive via the same-old same-old. If you hadn’t quite clicked that life as a Taurus is shifting into a new era, here comes Saturn at the very peak of your ‘scope on March 22nd for the next four months. Saturn’s message is simple; be in control of necessary change or else be a victim of it; a call for bold adventure. This is taster of more to come in 2021, with birthdays April 20th-24th mostly in the frame, but at the end of the month Mars also tops your ‘scope, and in April and May will set you a cracking pace where work and career are concerned. Go the extra mile.
The ongoing aggregation of planets in earthy Capricorn meanwhile favours business transactions, including international ones, and for chiselling out from the system what is rightfully yours. The Sun in Pisces, allied with Venus, promises some social enchantments. You’re chef du jour.
Gemini
While your totem planet, Mercury, is in retreat at the peak of your ‘scope – until the 9th, and to be on the safe side the 19th! – you are on shifting sands. Full and accurate information, especially from on high, looks unreliable, and for your part several changes of mind and plan are in order. Postpone committing to plans, it’s not a time to rush. The full Moon of March 9th does, however, urge you to shine in public and soak up any available glory, deserved or not.
The time to hurry arrives with a bang around the spring equinox. The odd confluence of celestial entities at the new Moon of March 26th suggests a furious social whirl, a mood re-enforced by Saturn simultaneously moving into a fellow air sign, Aquarius, for four months. You need to be constantly on point as you head into April, with your quicksilver ruler finally clearing its lines.
Relationships? The weighty planets in Capricorn make for a somewhat internalised picture and drilling down into the deeper issues of intimacy and co-habiting. For those in the dating game, things get livelier as March progresses, and with Venus in The Twins in April, you look in business.
Cancer
Let’s hope that you are battle-hardened rather than battle-weary, since you have a further month with warrior Mars in opposition. There are limits to how much carping you are obliged to endure, but actual warfare with significant others is best avoided. You look outnumbered, what with Saturn Jupiter and Pluto also opposing you.
In any case retrograde Mercury in Pisces asks you to slow down and reconsider your position vis-à-vis both professional or amateur projects and with significant others. Relish the go-slow, especially at the 4th/5th, with ruler Luna in your heavens, and at the agreeably potty full Moon on the 8th/9th.
The Spring Equinox arrives in a hurry at the peak of your ‘scope to recharge your career prospects. Any ongoing uncertainty about a relationship is also brought to peak point at this time, whatever the outcome.
You have welcome social support after the 5th courtesy of a powerful Venus in earthy Taurus. Be among your trusted posse and enjoy any new arrivals who pitch up; Prometheus lends your teamwork a maverick streak.
The pressure under which birthdays July 18th-21st have recently been subject lifts once Saturn changes sign in late March, but don’t breathe too big a sigh of relief; the ringed planet returns in just four months.
Leo
Downbeat, you? Everyone needs a rest from. time to time, and a soggy Mercury in retrograde is a good excuse to take one, at least as far as your one-on-ones are concerned. This is not just about romances; friends and bridge partners are also under a wait-and-see time in early March An almost full Moon on the weekend of March 8th is in Leo, when you can milk the crowd for approbation, and maybe sing for your supper.
There’s no need to force issues where others are concerned, take a powder and await the equinox, when Saturn moves into opposition for four months. Clarity, however disappointing or uplifting it is, then prevails.
The Sun and new Moon (March 26th) in fiery Aries point you towards a more upbeat spell, with plenty of open-ended encounters to entertain you. Time to play Tigger, as well as to maintain an eagle eye on career prospects. Here, Venus in full pomp at the peak of your ‘scope is raising the stakes from mid-month onwards. Stay agile, especially if a regime change is in operation. Your Sun ruler’s arrival here in late April may prove decisive.
Virgo
Something you want – let’s call it clarity – is something you will likely be denied until your ruling planet completes its retrograde cycle on March 9th, and even then you may have to wait until the Equinox until last month’s events can be understood and filed away. Virgo and Mercury want answers and detail, Pisces is a sign that struggles to comply, hence the fuzzy in exactitude that prevails over certain relationships, business or otherwise.
Brace yourself for a bit more of the same. The annual Virgo full Moon- yes, it’s that time again- on March 9th is bang opposite flaky, fluid Neptune. Good weekend for a spot of emotional rapture or cavorting in the limelight. Romance and what passes for it are in favour all month, by the way, thanks to Venus in dignity in earthy Taurus. Seek!
As ever there is business to attend to, Merc ret or not. The swarm of planets in Capricorn continues to provide a following wind. Given your careful, green-fingered husbandry, your business, enterprise and creativity can flourish this year – incoming is a particularly advantageous couple of months. Saturn’s four-month spell in Aquarius chiefly spells hard work at t’mill, but that never scared a Virgo.
Libra
Until the Equinox you’re tromping through much the same astrological weather as in February. The overload of planets in Capricorn signal the same fateful decisions and duties. Work – not necessarily of the professional kind – must be done. Mercury’s in a backslide anyway and keen to pick up a message, idea or person from late January. Check your diary.
Saturn’s move into Aquarius on March 22nd is a potential game-changer, especially for birthdays close to the Autumn Equinox, i.e. September 23rd-25th. Opportunity is incoming if you can handle the responsibilities it brings. Saturn is here for just four months prior to long term residence next year, making this a taster course.
The Equinox also means, as ever, that the Sun is in opposition from mad ol’ Aries (your complementary sign), where a new Moon arrives on March 24th. As ever, you are slightly on the back foot during Aries month but just now no one is ganging up on you, au contraire your one-on-ones look spirited but satisfying. Chiron’s involvement means a few old scars may be playing up, Pallas in your own sign spells- as last month’s forecast pointed out- capability. You’ll need to quicken your stride over March’s last ten days, with Mars setting the pace in April.
Scorpio
Everyone knows about the Scorpio with a stiletto up his/her sleeve, but your sign doesn’t get much credit as a positive force for emotional depth and understanding. Three weeks of the Sun in Pisces, with a full Moon opposite Neptune on March 9th, should see your touchy-feely instincts humming, your love light burning bright.
Romances are a bit of a high wire act just now, however. Passions catch fire and/or are as swiftly extinguished. Prospective lovers spring into view, old loves go missing in action. An empowered Venus in opposition can trigger simmering feelings when Prometheus is involved, as it is throughout Spring 2020.
March’s stars fall on an array of activities. Your Mars ruler is in the thick of Capricorn, where it can wring business deals and more profile from the powers that be. Mercury is retrograde until the 9th but sluggish as progress might be, you have to forge on with confidence. Developments on which you are waiting look most likely to arrive around the spring equinox, a busy time.
Saturn’s arrival at the root of your chart for the first time since 1991 offers a change of outlook – perhaps quite literally if you are in the process of relocation and de-cluttering. Saturn’s four month stay here gives you a taste of what’s to come next year, hard work – perhaps involving more focus rather than a greater workload – and achievement. Saturn likes medals, cups and prizes.
The action in Aries – a new Moon on the 26th next to Chiron in your sixth house – has a simple message: be healthy. Mens sana in corpore sano.
Sagittarius
It could feel like slow slog through treacle while a recalcitrant Mercury is hovering around the root of your ‘scope. In early March the messenger planet is returning you to old issues around your domestic situation and, perhaps, your clan. A full Moon next to foggy Neptune on March 9th points to the same issues but offers only what are likely unreliable solutions. A patient, incremental approach to issues that are bugging you is the way forward; a spring clean of the home, a re-think about here you fit in a career hierarchy.
The Spring Equinox will quicken your pace. An exalted Sun in fiery Aries is a cure for the blues and a reminder of your creative powers. The new Moon of March 26th is a fine moment to renew your purpose, including any search for romance and/or a cure for the wounds sometimes left by affairs of the heart. April looks like prime time for those in the dating game, but there is no harm in starting early.
Saturn’s move into Aquarius on March 22nd for four succeeding months also carries the sense of coming up for air. As a well-known Clever Clogs, you should be in your element where research and solutions are needed. and with Mars joining Saturn on the last day of the month, you will be in full company in the weeks ahead.
Capricorn
You know how it is. Someone’s got to be in charge and so often that someone is you. The Goat has an absolute overload of planets just now, indicating an overload of tasks, and with Saturn present you may be handling issues out of your control; the elderly, an ailment of your own. Issues of control – who has it – are in the air.
Saturn’s exit from Capricorn for a few months, starting March 22nd, just after the Spring Equinox, lightens your load for a well-deserved breather until midsummer, when Saturn returns for six months. You still have tasks and projects in progress of course, and here the omens are sunny. Like everyone else you are on a Mercury go-slow until the 10th, but thereafter make it pedal to the floor. Mars and Jupiter advancing side by side is an opportunist’s dream, play the indefatigable Mountain Goat.
The pleasure-loving Sea Goat is also in business this month. Venus is in your house of easy enterprise, easy creativity and easy parties; be among charmers, schmoozers and growers. Taurus and its denizens have much to offer this spring. The full Moon of March 8th/9th has a bit of enchantment about it.
Things inevitably get bumpy around the Equinox, but it’s routine turbulence. And someone has to be in control.
Aquarius
Watch that dial! In this case the dial monitoring the passage of Mercury as the messenger planet slides backwards, out of Pisces’ skies and into your own. Mercury in Aquarius between March 4 and 15 brings one recent issue or person back into contention for resolution. Birthdays February 16th-19th take especial notice.
Apart from which early March looks a time of rest and preparation ready for the big push that arrives with the Spring Equinox. Planets are either behind the scenes or out the way, though the almost full Moon on the weekend of March 6th/7th offers a giddy couple of days. A lunation in your money zone calls liquidity into the foreground. Saturn’s ingress into the Urn Bearer’s Skies for four months, starting March 22nd may well include property issues in its brief, along with the large sums of capital that involves. Be poised.
Simultaneously the Sun and a new Moon in fiery Aries speeds up the world and promises to ginger up your social life. At best, Saturn is about taking control and responsibility for your destiny – in both private and public lives – when little happens without determination. Re-enforcing an accomplishment-driven agenda, and helping facilitate it, comes warrior Mars, arriving in yours skies from March 31st to May 1st a stretch ideal for redefining your identity – ever considered red hair? – and reminding the world that you are very much in business.