“Blood Moon Wolf Moon,” pastel life sketch by Maria Theresa Maggi
Welcome to Maria’s StarGarden. As I begin, I like to ask that the forces of love and light surround us, and bless our communication.
The moon is new and there is also a solar eclipse at 19 degrees Aries of the tropical zodiac on April 8, 2024 at 11:22 AM Pacific Daylight Time. Aries, of course, is the very first sign of the zodiac, the first fire sign and the beginning of the Spring Season in the northern hemisphere. It’s time of day is dawn. It rules the head in the physical body and is represented by the ram, who is expert at using the horns coming out of his head to spar and fight with his competitors for the right to mate. Thus, Aries is a very instinctual sign centered around action rather than thought. This doesn’t mean Aries people don’t use their heads, but their heads are in service nearly always to actions they instinctually feel are right or that will protect them and theirs. Aries is the warrior.
This new moon our Aries beginning features a solar eclipse. As we talked about when the full Libra moon was eclipsed just a couple of weeks ago, the energy of the sign the eclipse is in can take on the qualities of its opposite. So while last time Libra’s deliberation was “eclipsed” perhaps by a desire to act on one’s own, to stand up for what’s right, even if we might have to stand apart from partners, this time Aries, the warrior, must learn to look to others, to reach out, to deliberate and find consensus.
When we try to get up the nerve to speak or act on our truth, it can feel like we are alone and no one else sees it the way we do. But if we get past this fearful feeling and take action, we often find out we’re NOT alone and in fact we now are much closer to finding the people who think and live the way we believe in living. It’s often true that the simple act of taking that brave step attracts to us those who we’ve been needing or longing to be connected to somehow, but weren’t aware were out there.
There’s another profound element to this eclipse built into it by the presence of the asteroid Chiron at the very same degree as both the sun and the moon. Chiron represents the archetype of the wounded healer. In mythology he was a centaur, and centaurs were considered ugly and bestial in nature. Yet Chiron was a gentle and intelligent soul and a great astrologer on top of it. He learned to use the suffering he endured through rejection, loss and prejudice against him to become a great teacher. So this Aries new moon solar eclipse the warrior in us we are to activate is the wounded one. The ways in which we are battle scarred or hurt are the soul’s gold with which we can not only heal ourselves but help others heal. This solar eclipse demands that we start here and not only face our own woundedness, but share its wisdom with others, so they’ll know they are not alone and there’s a way to heal—together.
The planets in this eclipse chart are all bunched up in Pisces, Aries and Taurus—with the sole exception of Pluto in early Aquarius.