by Sharon Isabel Curley and Nicole Goicuria
The Sun’s ingress into Aries marks the Spring Equinox, and the start of the Zodiacal New Year. We have completed the life cycle embodied by the 12 archetypes of the Zodiac, and as we transition out of Pisces season and into Aries season, it is time for rebirth. While there is always something brewing in the astrological weather, we are truly experiencing seismic shifts as two generational planets (Saturn and Pluto) are transitioning into new signs. Saturn is now in Pisces, and as spring begins, Pluto will ingress into Aquarius. It takes Pluto approximately 248 years to fully cycle through the Zodiac, meaning no one alive today has witnessed this transit. Pluto is the planet of karma, power, regeneration, and transformation. With Pluto in Aquarius, we are embarking on a new era of evolution in technology, humanitarianism, science, psychology, activism, monetary exchange, and social justice over the next two decades. Pluto’s transition into Aquarius will be complete in 2024, but we are being confronted with these themes now. Be aware of what seems to be changing within you and around you—this is Pluto waking you up and showing you what needs to change.
Spring also opens up the portal to eclipse season with a new moon in Aries at 0°. We will be introduced to the eclipses that will soon occur on the Aries and Libra axis, with a new moon solar eclipse at 29° Aries in April. This eclipse will give us a peek into the changes that are coming over the next couple of years, so pay attention to the seeds planted this spring, and look to where Aries and Libra are in your chart for guidance. Aries energy directs our focus to the self and our individuality. Nurturing and investing in what makes you unique, your vision for the future, and who you want to be is the focus of this season’s energy. Pluto and Saturn promise that whatever tests or challenges we experience are vital to our growth and evolution. The Tarot card of the season is Judgment. Judgment is the card that represents Pluto and is the second to last card in the Major Arcana. This card calls our attention to a cycle that is ending. When Judgment appears, it asks us to make important changes through recognizing the death and rebirth cycle within ourselves. This spring is an invitation to surrender to this process and refine our vision of our individual and collective futures by recognizing what has to die to make way for the new. Where Pluto is in your birth chart, and where it is transiting can help you identify what areas of life are undergoing deep transformation. Can you feel it?
Horoscopes are best read according to your Rising sign, or your Sun sign (if you were born during the day), or Moon sign (if you were born at night). If you would like to learn more about your unique Astrological profile or want a more detailed, personalized horoscope based on your birth chart, contact Nicole at theastralbotanica.com.
Aries
As we enter your birth season of spring, a deep cycle of transformation is necessary. Rodin’s notable statue, The Thinker, was first sought to be called The Poet. It was originally part of a commission that Rodin titled The Gates of Hell, which was inspired by Dante’s Inferno. I once read that perhaps the thinker even represented Dante. Either way, whatever the intentions were, I always wonder what he is thinking—lots of thoughts, or one thought frozen in time? Aries, a thinker and poet by nature, are you feeling stuck on a thought lately? Perhaps try writing that thought down and burning it in flames, like those which guard the entrance to The Gates of Hell. Your hopes and dreams are guided by Pluto and ready to change and fit nicely into your social group.
Taurus
If you feel lost or like you have lost faith, look to friends and community for inspiration. Putting yourself in the bigger picture may make it easier to see. Edward Packer, the creator of Choose Your Own Adventure books, is still alive today. I wonder if he goes through life vigorously deciding which door to open, which path to take, and so on. At 92 years old, I guess he’s mostly been choosing the right path! Having solidified a path, you are now ready to take control of where you are going. The past several years have been about shoring up your inner resources and sharpening your moral compass to find a vision that supports your ultimate truth and life philosophy. As spring falls upon us and you prepare for another trip around the Sun, feel free to follow its glow. As the Beatles once sang, “tomorrow may rain, so I’ll follow the sun.”
Gemini
In 1639, James Everll claimed to see what he considered in today’s language, a UFO over the Muddy River in Boston. Since very few aboard his ship and a few divers close to shore witnessed the same, this record is merely considered only possible. Years later, in 1947, over the night skies of New Haven, CT., many accounts all at once saw what they referred to as “a shop in the sky.” Still today, among the thousands of UFO sightings, somehow still none are proven to have existed. The Gemini gift of storytelling is always enjoyable enough to its crowd, that we often don’t question it, but instead repeat it. Could this be how the UFO story began, or are we as genuine as a Gemini, and also as doubtful, to make sense of its truth?
Cancer
You may recently be coming out of a deeply transformative experience where other people showed you ways in which you may limit yourself. In Ozzy Osbourne’s 1995 hit “See You on the Other Side,” he sings, “Leaving, I hate to see you cry/ Grieving, I hate to say good-bye/ Dust and ash forever, yeah/Though I know we must be parted”. Now that you are on the other side you are ready to embrace your personal power by continuing to build your life aligned with your values and personal philosophy. Sometimes it can be hard to say goodbye to parts of you that you feel attached to, but themes that start to unfold this spring may give hints as to where your next karmic journey is taking you.
Leo
The past two and a half years have brought relationships to center stage. Speaking of stages, I recently watched the heartbreaking documentary “Fore of Love” about two volcanologists in love and traveling the world. Maurice and Katia Kraft saw, studied, and chased together—until they didn’t. During the documentary, they visit Mt. Tamburo in Indonesia, a volcano that I think is likely my favorite, as it once caused the glorious “Year Without Summer” in 1816. In June of that year, snow fell in New York. I’d like to think of that incident as glorious, as there were long dark winters back then, and to have a small continuation in summer would bring me endless joy. Yes, here we are “The Year Without Winter” 2023. It is the only year I can remember where seasonal depression sank in for me during winter. Also sad, I suppose this whole year will be warm weather depression. For you though, you are creating room for growth in preparation for you to now experience deeply transformative relationships. How you see yourself and how others see you may have evolved, as you are currently being tested by the universe to live authentically while you also figure out what that means for you. So, enjoy your endless summer, Leo.
Virgo
Learning how to express care for others while still effectively tuning into your own needs has been a focus for the past two and a half years. How you experience your body or your mind may be transformed. I recently learned the Pizza Box was not invented until as late as the early 1960s. 80 years later, the box has not upgraded, nor improved, making a delivery pizza show up sometimes hot enough, but never crunchy enough and the cheese is always a bit too rubbery. How are there things like the pizza box which carries something so delightful for everyone not able to be improved in so long and yet we’ve since gone from rotary phones to smartphones? Transforming and improving is beneficial to us all. And now all of your self-improvement is going to be tested as you continue to integrate the compartmentalized parts of yourself within the healing containers that we call relationships.
Libra
Trader Joe’s has discontinued many of my favorite products including organic tampons, barley soup, and Kale gnocchi. Libra, as we enter Spring, and discontinuing things in your life seems right, choose wisely. It may feel right to let go of things, but as sensitive as you are, realize how some things may affect others in your life. You’re a people pleaser at heart, so evaluate your choices before making any final decisions. Saturn can help place this focus in your creative process, romance, sex, and so on. Transforming your daily routine and how you take care of yourself is only as relevant as whether you call Pluto a dwarf planet or not a planet at all. The littlest amount you do will make a big difference.
Scorpio
The past two and a half years may have brought in changes that shook the core of the foundation of your life. You are now better for it, as you understand yourself at a deeper personal level that makes future decisions that affect your most personal parts of your life better.
A recent bout of sick days had me traveling through the internet learning new things like there are no words that rhyme with wolf or opus. Reading this, my mind immediately went into a sort of fairy tale with soft music guiding a dangerous wolf through a dark and steamy riverbank. The leaves of the nearby plants were dripping with water, making a quivering silence as the wolf passed by. How romantic that nothing rhymes with these words or this situation, even. Scorpios I know often think in dreams or their own realities, causing an outpour of some of the best art I’ve seen to date. You’re now being called to grow in how you share your gifts with the world. Refining your gifts and finding stability in expression will be a theme.
Sagittarius
The past two and a half years, you focused on making your daily life what you want it to be. You learned about yourself through the people and places around you, and even if your utopian ideal did not materialize, you made connections in the process that will help to anchor you as you experience more growth and change. I recently stumbled on the Wikipedia page for blonde vs. brunette rivalry, and I discovered that the World Chess Tournament, held in Moscow, has featured two groups of girls competing against each other – one team is blonde and the other brunette. I highly recommend the read. What if you were forever assigned a stereotype to live by? Connecting with your immediate surroundings helps you to set intentions about what kind of foundation you want to build for yourself and those closest to you
Capricorn
You are exiting a significant cycle of death and rebirth that has shaped and solidified your identity. Having embraced your personal power, you are now ready to build with it. The intentions and plans made now will help create opportunities to acquire more resources to help make your goals for the outer world and your inner world materialize through sheer will. You can transform your everyday life just through living your truth. In 1983, an album by Will Powers entitled, “Dancing For Mental Health,” was released. With hits like “Kissing With Confidence”, featuring Todd Rundgren, this album was a favorite for a long time. As the Equinox is a time for rebirth, take the opportunity to reevaluate yourself, and go within to find your will power. Like other hits on the album, using your will power will make you “Smile” toward your own “Adventures in Success.”
Aquarius
These past two and a half years have been laying the foundation for you to now step into your personal power. Through tests and milestones, you have been confronted with your limitations so that you know how to work more effectively and have a refined vision to make what you are dreaming of a reality. The boombox, which represents so much; most notably the association to hip hop culture, was invented in 1975 in the Netherlands. Although some may think this odd, as most may not associate hip hop with the Netherlands, they actually have a genre they call Netherhop. As the Spring is coming your anxieties set in and you search for any amount of joy, try finding this in the Osdorp Posse, some of Netherhop’s finest. This spring plants the seeds of potential for years to come!
Pisces
Spring cleaning is upon us. Now is when we get to the nitty gritty of things like cleaning our baseboards under the beds. Although places like this gather dirt, since they’re hard to reach, we let the dirt build. And although hard to reach, still surface level. This, like your own self-identity, is often perceived by you only through others—if they can’t see it, it isn’t there. Allow Saturn to guide you now to grow and work on your deep parts and mature mentally and spiritually. Pisces, it’s time to go further than surface level and to dig deeper into yourself to find what really needs to be cleaned. This isn’t a time to get rid of things only to buy more, it’s to get rid of things to make space for you.
Sharon Isabel Curley is an artist living in Philadelphia. She began writing horoscopes as an art project in 2016 for a local newspaper called The Spirit, which has since gone under. When the Spirit was no longer, Sharon found other places to publish her work, syndicating it in The Secret Admirer and online art publication Title Mag. During the pandemic, creativity sort of disappeared for Sharon, and so she came up with the idea to collaborate with Nicole. Sharon says, “Maybe with Nicole’s expertise and my hopefully-enjoyable writing style, we can help to at least entertain people.”
Nicole Goicuria is a clinical therapist and community organizer living in Philadelphia. She is
passionate about her purpose as a healer and her practice of trauma-informed
Therapeutic Astrology and Tarot. Nicole says, “All I want is to share my love and enthusiasm for Astrology with as many people as possible. Through sharing my astrological insights and knowledge I hope to help others empower themselves with the information that the planets and their cycles
provide for us.”