Welcome to Aries season
March 20, 2026 - April 19, 2026
The sun moves into the bold, action-oriented, and independent sign of cardinal fire with the equinox on March 20th at 7:46 am PT. Then Aries season ends on April 19th at 6:39 pm when the sun moves into Taurus.
There’s a reason Aries is the archetype to begin the astrological new year—it’s go time. This is the moment to set intentions and put one foot in front of the other as you work your way toward those goals. The beginning of Aries season may be full of revelations and realizations that help us contextualize the last month and a half of really intense, obscuring, and elusive transits. As Mercury stations direct, helping us make sense of eclipse season, and the quicker-moving planets conjoin Saturn and Neptune (freshly in Aries), showing us what this new norm will look and feel like, as we embrace it. This clarity can transition seamlessly into a grounded sense of empowerment as we earn our wins, assert ourselves, and combat the challenges in our way, like a ram on fire.
Happy equinox—welcome in the fresh energy of spring or fall, set intentions and seek balance!
Aries season begins on March 20th at 7:46 am PT
Aries season ends on April 19th at 6:39 pm PT
Lunations:
Full moon at 12° of Libra on April 1st
This moment highlights the importance of balance, but also the importance of beginner’s luck, as we embrace the newness of Aries season, and of existing in the wake of some of the big, game-changing astrology we’ve been experiencing acutely over the past few months. We don’t really know what this new world is yet, so instead of a focus on being perfectly balanced, this moment brings our attention to the many attempts we make in the name of balance—we’re taking stabs in the dark and seeing how they land. We have Jupiter on our side, absorbing some of the tension of this lunation—we have to develop new worldviews and find new ways to take care of ourselves and our people, as we navigate this unknown energy. This full moon may also put a spotlight on the fear and worry we feel about our weak spots, uncertainties, and the moments when we may not feel like winners, feel self-assured, or even know who we are.
A lot is changing under our feet, around us, and within us; we need time to catch up, to build new systems, to be lost, and to heal.
New moon at 27° of Aries on April 17th
This new beginning comes in as a refreshing burst of energy, but this spur to action may not feel all that comfortable. We are more personally navigating the energy we were reflecting on a couple of weeks ago with the full moon. This is a new beginning for healing and for embracing the things that hurt, things we need to heal from and make peace with, in order to find a new way forward for ourselves. This new moon is asking us to commit to ourselves, and our need to self-define and self-assert. Not just to commit to ourselves for the sake of discipline or in a one-dimensional way, though. This new moon is inviting us to commit to the many facets we contain, our thoughts, our feelings, our egos, the myths and fantasies we hold about ourselves, the things that we do, say, and believe, that make us who we are.
Major themes & transits
Tapping into a power source:
Aries is synonymous with the energy of empowerment, but we often think of this through a somewhat limited frame. Aries is a burst of motivation, the drive to self-assert boldly and through action, but this Aries season, we are experiencing empowerment in many forms.
With the ruler of Aries season, Mars, water-logged in Pisces, the motivation and forward movement that typically comes with Aries season may come to fruition a little more slowly and in more unexpected ways at first. While Mars wraps up its transit through Pisces, some of this empowerment comes from deep within—as we strengthen our resolve to better care for ourselves and each other through moments of great change, feel deeply, and allow our intuition to inspire aligned and meaningful action. This energy is heightened at the start of Aries season, when Mars trines Jupiter in Cancer on March 21st, and then again when Mars sextiles Uranus on April 8th, and also when Jupiter trines Vesta in Pisces on April 14th (although Mars will have moved on to its fiery home sign by that point).
As for the more typically Aries-coded empowerment, when the sun is in the cardinal fire sign, it is in the position to burn bright, exert authority, and be seen. This natural confidence boost will be heightened, bolstered, and amplified by the sun’s sextile to Pluto in Aquarius on March 25th and its square with Jupiter in Cancer on April 5th. This emboldened and empowered energy continues when Mars moves into its home sign on April 9th. In Aries, Mars can bring this more generalized feeling of empowerment into our actions, motivating, encouraging, and at times forcing us to manifest the energy we feel inside. This is especially true as Mars sextiles Pluto on April 16th and when it conjoins Saturn on the 19th. Even the conjunction between Mars and Neptune on April 12th, while potentially misdirecting, can help us to tap into the meaning behind the action.
Finally, a more unexpected source of empowerment may come from Venus in Taurus. While Venus, even with the strength granted to it in its home sign of Taurus, is not typically associated with great displays of power, this energy can quietly solidify the values and connections that consistently keep us feeling capable, undergirding the actions we take and giving them meaning. Venus will enter Taurus on March 30th, and this energy may feel particularly supportive on April 12th and 13th when it sextiles Vesta in Pisces and Jupiter in Cancer. Venus’ square to Pluto on April 3rd could definitely leave us feeling shaken and derailed, particularly when it comes to surfacing power dynamics within our connections, but (especially upon reflection) it can also encourage us to shore ourselves up and regulate our energy expenditure when it comes to our relationships and values.
Mercury retrograde:
Mercury enters its pre-retrograde shadow on February 11th (Aquarius season)
Mercury stations retrograde at 22° of Pisces on February 25th (Pisces season)
Mercury stations direct at 8° of Pisces on March 20th
Mercury leaves its post-retrograde shadow on April 9th
Mercury has been submerged, pulled backward by a Piscean riptide for the last three or so weeks, and we have all been in a water-logged game of telephone—the details lost to emotional interpretation, the data mismanaged in daydreams, and the communications adrift in the clouds. The game comes to an end on the first day of Aries season, when Mercury stations direct in Pisces and begins moving over old territory, clarifying things, integrating lessons and experiences, and sorting through feelings. Mercury’s station direct holds realizations for us about not just the last three weeks, but also the last two months; so the first few days of Aries season may feature some poignant “oh” moments about the energy we’ve been moving into this year so far, especially when Mercury conjoins the north node on March 22nd. Then, when Mercury trines Jupiter on April 3rd, we may find that in addition to the individual pieces of data, details, and minutiae of communication coming into greater clarity, we can also see how they fit together into the bigger picture.
A good portion of this retrograde was bolstered by Venus’ exalted presence in Pisces, but when Venus left at the beginning of March, Mercury still had a lot to figure out in Pisces, co-present with Mars and the north node. Mars leaves Pisces on the same day that Mercury finally makes it out of the retrograde territory (April 9th), so the process of integrating the retrograde lessons may have a distinct Mars flavor to it, which is to say, it might be a little spicy. The spicy flavor may continue even after Mercury clears its post-retrograde shadow, as Mercury sextiles Uranus and then moves into Aries on April 14th. Mercury in Aries is an all-caps message, and in the final days of Aries season, as Mercury conjoins Neptune on the 16th and sextiles Pluto in Aquarius on the 18th, that message may be trying to wake us up to illusions and power dynamics that are currently shaping the systems we collectively exist within.
Conjunctions to Saturn & Neptune:
March 7th & 8th: Venus conjoins Neptune at 1° & Saturn at 2° of Aries (Pisces season)
March 22nd & 25th: The sun conjoins Neptune at 1° & Saturn at 4° Aries
April 12th & 19th: Mars conjoins Neptune at 2° & Saturn at 7° of Aries
April 16th & 20th: Mercury conjoins Neptune at 2° & Saturn at 7° of Aries (Taurus season)
Earlier this year, when Neptune and Saturn entered (and conjoined in) Aries, we entered a whole new world. This Aries season is helping us clarify the bounds and meaning of this new, somewhat long-term, energetic norm as we learn how to embrace and navigate it. As the sun, Mars, and Mercury make conjunctions to Neptune and Saturn in their new sign (Venus already did this during Pisces season), we will get a clearer view of what it means to have these slower-moving and paradigm-defining planets in Mars’ cardinal fire sign. Quicker-moving planets that pass over Saturn and Neptune will give us some insight into the more personal and relational repercussions of both this new era and the conjunction these two planets formed back in February.
In addition, the sun (and the moon) can often function as an activator. When the sun moves over the exact degree of a major transit, or when it exactly aspects a planet involved in a meaningful and prominent transit, it can bring out the effects, make manifest the consequences, and re-engage the energy of that astrology. So when the sun conjoins Saturn and Neptune in the first few days of Aries season, we may find ourselves preoccupied with, and learning more about, the ways that our old systems and structures are dissolving, and the ways we are entrenching new beliefs into future foundations.
Get things going, embrace the fresh air, commit to the dreams that make you who you are, and rest as hard as you work.
Happy Aries season!
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all times in Pacific time
March 20th (7:46a) The sun enters Aries (0°)
March 20th (12:32p) Mercury stations direct in Pisces (8°)
March 21st (4:35p) Mars in Pisces trines Jupiter in Cancer (15°)
March 22nd (4:17a) The sun conjoins Neptune in Aries (1°)
March 22nd (10:28p) Mercury conjoins the north node in Pisces and opposes the south node in Virgo (8°)
March 23rd (11:26a) Uranus in Taurus trines Juno in Capricorn (28°)
March 25th (1:51a) The sun conjoins Saturn in Aries (4°)
March 25th (11:16a) The sun in Aries sextiles Pluto in Aquarius (5°)
March 26th (3:44p) Venus conjoins Chiron in Aries (25°)
March 28th (7:14a) Vesta conjoins the north node in Pisces (8°)
March 28th (7:46a) Pluto in Aquarius squares Ceres in Taurus (5°)
March 28th (3:12p) Saturn in Aries sextiles Pluto in Aquarius (5°)
March 28th (9:28p) Mars conjoins Pallas in Pisces (20°)
March 29th (1:49a) Juno enters Aquarius (0°)
March 30th (9:01a) Venus enters Taurus (0°)
March 30th (5:55p) Venus in Taurus squares Juno in Aquarius (0°)
April 1st (7:11p) Full moon in Libra (12°)
April 3rd (4:28a) Mercury in Pisces trines Jupiter in Cancer (15°)
April 3rd (3:37p) Venus in Taurus squares Pluto in Aquarius (5°)
April 5th (9:44a) Ceres in Taurus sextiles the north node in Pisces (8°)
April 5th (3:22p) The sun in Aries squares Jupiter in Cancer (16°)
April 6th (12:21p) Venus conjoins Ceres in Taurus (8°)
April 7th (7:53a) Neptune in Aries sextiles Juno in Aquarius (2°)
April 8th (9:11a) Mars in Pisces sextiles Uranus in Taurus (29°)
April 9th (4:36a) Mercury leaves its post retrograde shadow in Pisces (22°)
April 9th (12:36p) Mars enters Aries (0°)
April 11th (9:53a) Mercury conjoins Pallas in Pisces (25°)
April 12th (10:06a) Venus in Taurus sextiles Vesta in Pisces (16°)
April 12th (10:29p) Mars conjoins Neptune in Aries (2°)
April 13th (1:20a) Venus in Taurus sextiles Jupiter in Cancer (16°)
April 14th (8:21a) Jupiter in Cancer trines Vesta in Pisces (16°)
April 14th (10:10a) Mercury in Pisces sextiles Uranus in Taurus (29°)
April 14th (8:22p) Mercury enters Aries (0°)
April 15th (2:35a) Mars in Aries sextiles Juno in Aquarius (4°)
April 16th (8:09a) The sun conjoins Chiron in Aries (26°)
April 16th (11:55a) Mars in Aries sextiles Pluto in Aquarius (5°)
April 16th (7:01p) Mercury conjoins Neptune in Aries (2°)
April 17th (4:51a) New moon in Aries (27°)
April 18th (7:45a) Mercury in Aries sextiles Juno Aquarius (5°)
April 18th (1:34p) Mercury in Aries sextiles Pluto in Aquarius (5°)
April 19th (3:43p) Mars conjoins Saturn in Aries (7°)
April 19th (6:39p) The sun enters Taurus (0°)