Today is the Vernal Equinox: daylight shines equally on all parts of the Earth, it’s the first day of the Sun in Aries, the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere (autumn south of the equator), and the beginning of a new astrological cycle. We collectively flow out from the fertile, womb-like waters of Pisces and step into the fiery, alert ‘I am’ consciousness of Aries. In terms of the Sabian symbols we’ve been exploring, we are shifting from a state of envisioning our future-self to a state of emergence and presence – even if that presence is still tenuous.
The Sabian symbol for the first degree of Aries is, “A woman just risen from the sea. A seal is embracing her.” At first it sounds a bit like Venus herself, who emerged from waves of sea foam a fully formed goddess.
Yet Venus bears only some resemblance right now. That planet is halfway through Taurus, one of the two signs it rules (the other is Libra) – a homecoming of sorts.
The big Venus event of 2012 is in June: the Venus transit of the Sun. That is a rare and powerful event in a season of rare and powerful events – but we’re not there yet. The Venus of that moment is still taking shape.
So, too, is our consciousness as represented by the Sun today. Yes, it has arrived in the sign of ‘I am’, fully illuminating the personal/political space of the Aries Point just as the Occupy movement (and whatever other political and social movements emerge this spring) is re-establishing itself. The Sun is about to make a conjunction to Uranus in Aries — the perfect image of self-awareness.
But let’s look closer at the second half of that symbol: “A seal is embracing her.” The seal is waiting for her when she comes out of the water, like he or she was expecting her.
In one sense, the woman – humanity – is being met by a representative of the rest of creation. We could see this as a recognition of the unity of life on Earth. Yet Dane Rudhyar, author of An Astrological Mandala (one of the most dearly loved interpretations of the symbols), sees something else: a lot of potential at a possible tipping point.