The Sun arrives at its Equinox moment Monday, March 20 at 5:24 pm in the eastern time zone, entering the cardinal sign of Aries. The word cardinal comes from the Latin “cardo” which means “hinge.” So cardinal signs in the astrology of another age referred to astrological signs that the Sun enters when it passes through the door from one season to the next ~ in this case, stepping out of Winter, and into Spring.
Less than 24 hours after its Equinox moment, when the Sun returns to the Northern Celestial Hemisphere, it encounters the Moon at New Phase March 21 (at 1:24 pm edt), as though the Moon were the first guest in the receiving line at a wedding, only this isn’t any ordinary wedding, it’s the most sacred of marriages, because it’s Spring, and the Earth, in the words of Rainer Maria Rilke, is like a child that knows poems by heart.
After its greeting with the newly-risen Sun on Tuesday, March 21, the Moon then carries the new impulse of the season on to Jupiter on Wednesday, March 22, and then Venus on Thursday, the 23rd. All of this will be seen in the western sky during the first few Spring sunsets.
In the festivals calendar, Friday, March 24 is the Feast of the Archangel Gabriel, guardian of all souls
coming to birth in the world, and Saturday is observed as the day of Annunciation, because everything that would come to birth out of the spiritual world must first be properly announced.
Once it was believed that the very first sunrise in the Earthly Paradise occurred on March 25th, which means that not only does this week include the beginning of the new season, with all its beautiful celestial encounters, but it has also been known as the time when the world truly began.
In Dante’s words, it’s the time when the Sun, as lantern of the world, rises with his happiest stars, to start his happiest course.
A happy greeting of the new season to you!
~Mary
Hear this episode and others on The Storyteller’s Night Sky podcast.
You can also live stream Interlochen Public Radio every Monday morning to hear it on the radio!
Cover image from Sky&Telescope