Mar 2016
March Forth
March is abuzz with transits — the kind where knowing about them ahead of time can avoid a lot of drama.
Detachment amidst attachment
The buzz starts on that singular calendar date that’s also a command: March fourth. For a couple of days that first week, Mercury squares Mars in late fixed signs. Our communications are interrupted by infusions of ego.
Mars is the urge to get what we want. In Scorpio, it does so with stealth, using strategy and manipulation. This can be a perfectly value-neutral tactic, by the way. Unless we’re coming from negative ego, manipulation is just artfully making things work.
Mercury is our ability to come up with ideas, and share them. When in Aquarius, it raises communication to the level of 
high-concept, and holds tenaciously to its opinions.
Whether these ideas are eccentric/ ingenious or just pretentious/stubborn depends on the native, not the placement. The square in early March renders more extreme whatever is already going on.
This transit doesn’t have to involve acrimony, but it will easily default to a fight if we’re over-identified with our point of view. Circumstances will probably offer us exactly the right situation to practice mixing these two planets, resulting in a clash between the mental and volitional sides of ourselves.
Laura Sava
Our goal should be to observe how much we identify (Mars) with a particular idea (Mercury), without making the mistake of thinking that anyone who attacks our idea is attacking us personally. Ideally, we use the strength of Mars as a kind of fuel, to get the idea across.
It’s an exercise in achieving psycho-spiritual detachment while feeling uncomfortably attached.
Mercury
Mercury slams up against the Neptune-Saturn square March 11th -15th. The push-me/ pull-me here is between thinking that is over-concrete, vs. thinking that is dreamy and all-over-the-place. Does it sound familiar? This is the balancing act we’re doing all year, in one form or another, discussed in detail here.
The second week of March makes us realize, in case we hadn’t yet, that 2016 is about mental tightrope walking. Something will probably happen to force us to apply structure to an idea despite its complete lack of certainty. We have to come up with a plan (Saturn), all the while knowing that the best laid plans oft go astray (Neptune).
Pepper in the broth
Mid-month, there’s another Mars square, this time with Venus. Peaking on March 14th, the Venus-Mars square adds a feisty surge of ego to the
delicate art of relationship. This time the square is mutable: early Sagittarius (Mars) and Pisces (Venus). Usually, a Yin-Yang pairing like this adds a note of pepper to the broth of relating.
Mars, now in Sagittarius, puts a fire in our belly. Venus, now in water, deepens our sense of connectedness. They’re very different impulses, but the clash between them can get sparks going.
The exercise here is to notice the balance of give-&-take. And when (not if) it is pulled off-balance, to make adjustments.
Rose-colored glasses
Just before the Equinox, Venus’ winsome sensitivity is magnified by a conjunction with Neptune. A yearning for Oneness wells up within us, which is fabulous – we get a taste of the divine — but we need to be careful not to confuse these trans-personal yearnings with personal idealism.
If we do, we risk projecting our spiritual needs onto some mere mortal; who will, of course, never be able to fill them. If we’re careful not to misdiagnose our longings, however, we can fully enjoy the candlelit dinner. We can take pleasure in the theatre of a date seen through rose-tinted glasses.
We just need to remember we’re wearing them.
Jupiter square Saturn
The second of three exact hits of the Jupiter-Saturn square is March 23rd (the last one is in late May). Financial astrologers will be watching the markets around both dates, as the planet of expansion and the planet of contraction make their differences known.
On a personal level, we can profit from this chance to balance our growth with our cutting back. Every five years we get one of these push-me/ pull-me transits, and knowing which houses of your chart Jupiter and Saturn are passing through helps enormously. The former indicates areas that should be expanded, the latter things that need paring down.
Being up on the astrology doesn’t get rid of the tension between two incompatible urges, but at least it gives us a reality check. Then, if we’re already on the right track, it’s reassuring.
And if we’re not, we’ve discovered something important: that we’re in conflict with the natural cycle, and here’s a chance to get straight with it.