NOTE: You can now experience video dictations of these Moon phase articles by visiting and subscribing to the Life By Soul® YouTube channel! The video versions are usually up within 48 hours of the article’s post. Here’s the link to the video for the 2023 Aries New Moon.
The 2023 Aries New Moon reaches its maximum phase at 10:23a PDT on Tuesday, 21st March 2023 (0ᵒ49’). New Moon phases are often associated with fresh starts and new beginnings. However, with this 2023 Aries New Moon, we really are beginning a new chapter with a zero degree/near Aries Point New Moon occurring less than 24 hours after the Vernal (Spring) Equinox. It doesn’t get much more “new chapter” than this.
I’ve been telling people that 2023 wouldn’t really begin until the Spring Equinox and the Aries New Moon – that we’d be dealing with the residual energy of 2022 until March, until now. That’s because the combination of energies that would be happening at this time would bring an energy of new beginnings and inspired actions that would feel like a walking over the threshold of a doorway into something very different than what we’ve been living in before now.
So, at 2:24p PDT on Monday, 20th March 2023, the New Year finally begins with the Sun’s ingress into Aries initiating a new Zodiac year.
Aries is the first in the lineup of the twelve Zodiac signs. With its cardinal fire energy, it’s the one that gets everything started… through action. This sign tends to be seen as a leader, but not as much for leadership as for initiative – it has no problem going first or being the first one to try or do something new or different. This is why Aries is often seen as a leader. Yet the reality is that Aries doesn’t really care if you follow – Aries is usually taking action because that’s its natural inclination, and it’s going to take action for itself. Aries is known to act on impulse or inspiration, and this could result in getting ahead of others yet also getting in over one’s head and having to back up to clean up before moving forward again, which can make Aries frustrated or angry because it doesn’t like going back or having to do anything again. Aries wants to move forward, and to do so quickly and with intensity.
The 2023 Aries New Moon has a remarkable degree of focus on self, yet it’s a self-awareness accessed through one-on-one relationships of all kinds as well as social and professional associations and affiliations. There’s an abundance of energy available for each of us to assess our self-identities and adjust our self-perceptions. There will be plenty of insights available regarding how we see ourselves as individuals and how we see ourselves as part of a community or collective whole. To make any adjustments, we’ll need to look at the quality and value of our personal, social, and professional connections and partnerships.
In some cases, you may discover that others may see you as a better person than you perceive yourself to be; and some people may see you as a worse person than you perceive yourself to be. However, this 2023 Aries New Moon will prove to be one huge reminder that it’s up to you to think about what is being said, to feel what is true for you in what is being said (even if that feeling may be uncomfortable or unusual for you), and to act upon and/or adjust then act upon the truth your feeling reveals. You may discover that whether your feeling is aligned with your assessment or their assessment, aligning with that feeling is the best way to go now.
If you feel uncomfortable, that discomfort may be revealing a call to break a belief and/or behavior pattern that has been causing challenges for you – a pattern likely rooted in your emotional past. If your emotional pattern is to self-deprecate when receiving positive attention or feedback, or to become overly assertive (or aggressive) in promoting yourself as superior to others, or if your childhood family or home environment conditioned you to believe emotional and psychological abuses were normal, you may find yourself having a difficult time coming to terms with some of the information and insights coming to light for you now.
In all of your past and/or present relationships, especially the ones with imbalances or abuses of power or authority issues, the more the ego-driven motives of others are revealed, the more each of us may begin to recognize where and how we’ve betrayed ourselves with some of our choices and actions made to appease or align with those individuals. This could be a moment where some of us may feel deeply disempowered… but by acknowledging what we chose for ourselves and why we chose it at that time, we can do the work to heal our self-identity wounds, and rise stronger than ever in the power of our renewed integrity of self.
Reclaiming our self-identities and our integrity is likely to affect the dynamics of all of our relationships. These relationships could be our business partners, our recreational partners, our romantic partners, our life partners… As we reconnect with and reestablish healthy relationships with ourselves, we’ll also get to explore which relationships we value most and which ones we’re most valued in. The ones with balanced and reciprocal energies are the ones we want to carry forward. The ones that are imbalanced and/or one-sided get to be reassessed, and we get to choose whether we want to continue them or not.
Though it may seem selfish to end a relationship (and though you may be accused of being selfish) because you’re not feeling valued or supported by your partners in taking actions to advance your own best interests, it may actually be the best thing you can do for yourself to begin creating a life in which you learn how to value yourself first before expecting or depending on others to give you value… or for you to stop sacrificing yourself and your dreams out of fear of being alone.
On the flip side of that, you may be feeling that some of your relationships are too much for you right now. If so, ask yourself why you’re feeling that way, even with some of the relationships you value deeply. You may find that popular values are bring surprising shifts in your personal values or in the values of others, and those shifts may support changes in the way you experience and express your emotions. Getting back in touch with what you truly value about yourself and your life could bring forth what you need in order to break old emotional patterns and seek out new social circles with different social ideologies. You may need to set some boundaries in order to protect yourself emotionally and/or energetically right now (as a temporary relief), but you may also need to ask yourself if some of these boundaries need to become permanent.
But remember, everyone is going through this right now, so keep in mind that others may be doing the same thing you are – breaking old patterns and seeking new circles, and setting what they feel are necessary boundaries to protect themselves emotionally and energetically from people and/or situations they no longer want to engage with. You may be on the receiving end of those boundaries, and just as you may want your boundaries respected, you’ll need to respect theirs.
Under this 2023 Aries New Moon, it’s important to understand and act in the belief that no relationship is worth more than your peace and your ability to take action to establish that peace. That, and the peace you seek starts within you, which is why you must feel good about who you are and the actions that you’re taking so that everything you say and do is aligned with your inner truth, with your integrity.
If you haven’t been acting in alignment with yourself, the time to begin that journey back to clear and (re)established self-identity with solid personal integrity is now. It’s time for a ‘new you’.
The numerology of the 2023 Aries New Moon reveals the bigger, more collective picture of how this Aries energy is showing up in the world. This New Moon’s maximum phase is occurring on a 4 Universal Day in the western and middle eastern nations, and on a 5 Universal Day in most Asian nations (the “Stans” and everything to the east of them). This is quite a symbolic split of the energies, as 4 energy is very much about structure, stability, security, and safety while 5 energy is about unexpected events, creativity, adaptability, adjustment, and change. While the western nations are trying to maintain and strengthen the status quo, the eastern nations are creating change and/or adapting to it. Both share the 1 Universal Month energy of new beginnings and initiative actions, and the 7 Universal year of reflection, analysis, reassessment, and rest – in some cases, the calm before the storm.
Our highest ethical and spiritual ideals of Oneness and interconnection may be profoundly challenged by trendy ideas and beliefs. Through these challenges, many of us may begin to recognize the contradictions of our beliefs and words, making more and more of us wonder if those words have any real meaning, or if our beliefs and the ideals that come from them are too unrealistic. Either way, our intellect and inner knowing are likely at odds in more ways than many of us care to admit… which is a big part of the problems we’re facing right now. Who’s going to call out the hypocrisy is no longer enough. Under the Aries Sun and Aries New Moon, the question becomes… who’s going to start taking actions to address the hypocrisies we’re witnessing and/or experiencing?
One of the ways we answer that question is in recognizing that what we value in our personal relationships with each other reveals the power and strength of our societal institutions and structures. Our current societal and global conditions are demanding that we give more weight to the material and physical than how we communicate and collaborate with each other. Yet over the next three months, as Pluto dips its toes into Aquarius from 23rd March through 11th June, we’ll begin to recognize what some collectively-aware people and institutions are already aware of – that the power of the future is found through actions rooted in open-minded and evolutionary communications and collaborations. That is how and why our personal, social, and global relationships of all kinds are shifting… and why it’s so important for the institutional status quo to undergo a near-complete if not full transformation.
The authoritarian/restrictive/controlling institutions and systems of “the old world” simply do not and cannot allow for collaboration nor evolution that are cornerstone of the emerging “new world”. It will become clear during this 2023 Aries New Moon and during the entire 2023 Aries Sun period that the old ways slow things down, producing frustration and angst, while the new ways facilitate faster and smoother ways of moving everyone involved forward and upward. Despite the efforts of some to maintain the status quo or possibly even regress us back to a more easily-controlled way of operating, the transiting planets have other plans for humanity and for the way the world works. It’s time for a ‘new world’.
To dive more deeply into the specifics, here are the astrological transits within 3ᵒ orb of exactness at the time of the 2023 Aries New Moon’s maximum phase.
Aries Moon conjunct Sun (0ᵒ) – Emotional investment in self; actions to realize self
- opposite Libra Ceres Retrograde (0ᵒ) – Assessing whether or not you’re valued by others in your one-on-one relationships of all kinds
- (wide) conjunct Mercury (0-5ᵒ) – Your thoughts and beliefs about yourself are likely to influence the actions you take
This combination of transits shows the potential for each of us to adjust our self-perception. This first occurs by recognizing which perspective we value more – our own self-perception or the perception of ourselves influenced by others. This combination also gives us an opportunity to recognize that in some cases, others may see us as better people than we perceive ourselves to be; and some people may see us as worse people as we perceive ourselves to be. It’s up to us to think about what it being said, then to feel what is true for us (even if that feeling may be uncomfortable or unusual for us), and to adjust to the truth the feeling reveals.
DAISY-CHAIN STELLIUM: Aries Chiron conjunct Jupiter conjunct Vesta (14-18ᵒ) – Healing one’s self-identity wounds expands one dedication to advancing/lifting oneself.
- square Cancer Pallas Athena (14-18ᵒ) – This may be a challenging process if your emotional pattern is to self-deprecate or if your childhood family or home environment conditioned you to believe emotional and psychological abuses were normal. Behaviors and beliefs rooted in these emotional energies could be a difficult pattern to break.
Taurus North Node conjunct Juno conjunct Venus (4-5ᵒ) – Our individual and collective futures depend on how committed we are to our one-on-one partnerships of all kinds. These are our business partners, our recreational partners, our romantic partners, our life partners… We get to explore which partnerships we value most and which partnerships we recognize we are most valued in. The ones with balanced and reciprocal energies are the ones we want to carry forward. The ones that are imbalanced and/or one-sided we get to reassess and choose whether we want to continue them or not. Though it may seem selfish to end a relationship because you’re not feeling valued or supported in taking actions in your own best interests, it may actually be the best thing you can do for yourself to begin creating a life in which you learn how to value yourself first before expecting or depending on others to give you value.
Taurus Uranus sextile Cancer Pallas Athena (15-16ᵒ) – You may find that popular values bring surprising shifts in your personal values, and the shifts in your personal values may support changes in the way you experience your emotions. Getting back in touch with what you truly value about yourself and your life could bring forth what you need in order to break old emotional patterns and seek out new social circles with different social ideologies.
(Pisces Neptune conjunct White Moon Selena) square Gemini Mars (25-28ᵒ) – Your/Our Highest ideals (spiritual ideals of Oneness and interconnection) may be challenged by trendy ideas and beliefs. People may begin to recognize the contradictions of their beliefs and words, making more and more of us wonder if those words really mean anything… or if our beliefs and the ideals that come from them are too lofty. Either way, intellect and intuition are likely at odds in more ways than many of us care to admit… which is a big part of the problems we’re facing right now. Who’s going to call out the hypocrisy, and under the Aries Sun and Aries New Moon, who’s going to start taking actions to address the hypocrisies we’re witnessing and/or experiencing?
YOD: (Pisces Neptune conjunct White Moon Selene) quincunx Leo Black Moon Lilith Retrograde quincunx Capricorn Pluto (25-29ᵒ) – As our societal institutions and structures are under pressure to transform and align with our higher collective and spiritual ideals, we will notice the resistance from those who are ego-invested in the status quo. This resistance is necessary for us to recognize where more changes are needed, where more of the status quo needs to be dismantled and cleared in order to make space for what serves our collective and interconnected greater good to begin to be realized in the world.
Aries Eris trine Leo Black Moon Lilith Retrograde (24-26ᵒ) – The more the ego-drive motives of others are revealed, the more each of us may begin to recognize where and how we’ve betrayed ourselves with some of our choices and actions made to appease or align with those individuals. This could be a moment of great disempowerment… but by acknowledging what we chose for ourselves and why we chose it, we can rise stronger than ever in the power of our renewed integrity of self.
Libra Ceres Retrograde trine Capricorn Pluto (29-0ᵒ) – What we value in our relationships with each other reveals the power and strength of our societal institutions and structures. Right now, this out-of-element trine reveals that we give more weight to the material and physical than how we communicate and collaborate with each other. Over the next two months, as Pluto dips its toes into Aquarius, we will begin to recognize how and why our personal, social, and global relationships of all kinds are shifting, and why it is so important for the institutional status quo to undergo a near-complete if not full transformation.
Libra Ceres Retrograde quincunx Pisces Saturn (0-1ᵒ) – If you’re feeling that some of your relationships are too much for you right now, ask yourself why you’re feeling that way, even with relationships you value deeply. You may need to set some boundaries in order to protect yourself emotionally and/or energetically right now (as a temporary relief), but you may also need to ask yourself if some of these boundaries need to become permanent. Is the value of the relationship more important than your peace?
The energy of the 2023 Aries New Moon will be felt from 17th March through 23rd March 2023. Throughout this week, set intentions, plant the seeds, and take the first step(s) to free yourself from a past that was not aligned with your inner truth, in order to align yourself in the present with a journey toward the future and the life that you’ve always wanted to live – a life that is true to you.
If ever a time to plant those seeds and take those steps, now is the time.
Happy New year… finally!
Let’s get started. New Year. New You. New World.
Thank you for reading and sharing Signs and Numbers. Until next post…
~ Light and Blessings,
Grace
