A Gift-Wrapped Month

The March 2006 Forecast

To subscribe, contact me at terry@terrylamb.net.

Note: Please support this publication with your voluntary contribution. To do so, go to www.paypal.com, then enter terry@terrylamb.net as the payee. Thanks!

Past forecasts

Saturn is retrograde. Mercury is in detriment and fall.

Mercury squares Pluto (1st of 3)	26°32' Pisces/Sagittarius	February 28
Sun conjoins Uranus	5°51' Pisces	March 1
Mercury begins backward motion (stationary retrograde)	26°55' Pisces	March 2
Mars trines Chiron	6°53' Gemini/Aquarius	March 3
Jupiter begins backward motion (stationary retrograde)	18°51' Scorpio	March 4
Mercury squares Pluto (2nd of 3)	26°35' Pisces/Sagittarius	March 4
Venus enters Aquarius	0°00' Aquarius	March 5
Sun trines Jupiter ℞	18°49' Pisces/Scorpio	March 9
Venus opposes Saturn ℞	4°58' Aquarius/Leo	March 11
Mars squares Uranus (waxing)	11°18' Gemini/Pisces	March 11
Sun conjoins Mercury	21°20' Pisces	March 11
Venus conjoins Chiron (3rd of 3)	6°36' Pisces/Leo	March 12
Mercury ℞ trines Jupiter ℞ (2nd of 3)	18°42' Pisces/Scorpio	March 14
Pisces Full Moon Lunar Eclipse	24°15' Pisces/Virgo	March 14
Jupiter ℞ squares Neptune (2nd of 3)	18°39' Scorpio/Aquarius	March 16
Sun squares Pluto	26°43' Pisces/Sagittarius	March 17
Mercury ℞ squares Mars (2nd of 3)	15°35' Pisces/Gemini	March 19
Sun enters Aries	0°00' Aries	March 20
Mars quincunx Jupiter	18°15' Gemini/Scorpio	March 24
Sun trines Saturn	4°30' Aries/Leo	March 24
Venus squares Jupiter	18°11' Aquarius/Scorpio	March 25
Mars trines Neptune	18°56' Gemini/Aquarius	March 25
Mercury returns to forward motion (stationary direct)	13°45' Pisces	March 25
Venus conjoins Neptune	18°57' Aquarius	March 25
Venus trines Mars	19°46' Aquarius/Gemini	March 26
Saturn trines the Lunar North Node	4°27' Leo/Aries	March 27
Sun sextiles Chiron	8°31' Aries/Aquarius	March 29
Aries New Moon Solar Eclipse	8°35' Aries	March 29
Pluto begins backward motion (stationary retrograde)	26°45' Sagittarius	March 29

All dates are based on Pacific Time.

Blue = harmonious/Red or orange = challenging

Events in bold are more significant.

March can be defined by a single energy pattern that will occupy our awareness from start to finish. It’s a package deal, like a gift that when you open it you get the whole thing at once (whether you want it or not). We have planetary stations (times when they “stop still” [from our perspective] to change direction) from Mercury, Jupiter, and Pluto, when we’ll get concentrations of the energies associated with these planets. If you recall, Mercury is the messenger of the gods. It speaks more loudly during its retrograde, so the messages it carries from the other planets (gods) are more noticeable (often dramatically so). This retrograde it carries messages from two planets, Jupiter and Pluto, because it contacts each of them. Coincidentally, you’ll note that both of these planets also begin their retrogrades during March, further emphasizing the effect. The message from Jupiter is basically good news but less powerful (coming from a trine), while the one from Pluto will be more challenging and carries greater potential (coming from a square). Both can of course be used for good. Their retrogrades occur as follows:

Mercury (26°55 & 13°11' Pisces)	March 2 and 25	intensified messages from planets it encounters (Jupiter & Pluto); the fruits of our focus; intensified learning process; do you dare listen to and heed the voice in your head?
Jupiter (18°52' Scorpio)	March 4	reality check on our hopes and dreams; now that you know the problem, do you dare move forward anyway?
Pluto (26°45' Sagittarius)	March 29	the big challenge we face is revealed; now that you know the whole truth, do you dare slay the dragon and go for what you’re aching to have?

A quick review: Mercury’s retrograde lasts for about 22 days and occurs every 3 ½ months. It is the most common retrograde and the most feared, but only because it is the best known. Jupiter and Pluto (as with every planet beyond Mars) retrograde every year for 4–5 months. Their retrogrades establish a sense of rhythm and routine in our lives. All retrogrades are times when good things can happen. If we sat out retrograde periods, we would do nothing for more than half our lives.

Mercury’s Messages

Similar to the Mercury retrograde in November, this one activates a Mercury laden with messages and tasks to be performed on behalf of the god/desses. Three time periods tie in with Mercury’s contacts with Pluto: February 26 – March 6, March 13–17, and April 8 and 13. They will all tie together in some way. We got a glimpse of what we will experience now on or around December 15 last year. However, if you don’t feel like you have a clue, that’s to be expected. You won’t feel that way by the end of March! You’ll know full well what this year’s banquet will be. This time period could be especially significant in your life if your birth chart has any placements around 26° of Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, or Pisces (the mutable signs). If you’ve been waiting for the right time to make big changes in your life, the time may be now.

The Jupiter Layer: Dare to Follow Your Dreams

Jupiter adds to the feast. Jupiter makes its turnaround on the 4^th (2 days after Mercury’s), just as it was about to leave behind its most recent dance partner, Neptune. Jupiter made its first of 3 contacts with our foggy friend on January 27^th and was headed well away, until by a twist of fate it is now destined to make two more contacts with Neptune, the next on the 15^th. Our lives will mirror this pas de deux: There will be something that has captured our imagination, and we have run wild with expectations. Something has led us to believe that our problems will be solved any day now with a “magic bullet” of some sort. However, the universe typically works more gradually than that. Even if our great expectations were to manifest in their fullest form, they are just one more step on the path. We must use these new resources wisely to take us to the next step (or two). The timing of this fulfillment may be delayed as well in some aspects by as much as 4–5 months. Whatever fulfillment comes at this time is meant to be used in the coming 4 months to create the new reality you’ve been dreaming of.

The challenge is to believe in yourself and your dreams when you get a dose of other people’s reality. If you have the right people around you, you will get some very positive supporting feedback, but you may also get a dose of disturbance from those who envy you or doubt themselves. While it is good to be receptive to outside input, if you have a well-developed system of checks and balances, you will be more sure of your own version of the truth and less vulnerable to those who could bring you down. Of course, there are times when we need others checks on our behavior, but that is part of the learning process. If that happens now, we still have time to adjust and make the most of the rest of this cycle, which ends in late November. Key dates in this cycle are October 25, January 27, February 1 and 6, March 4, May 4, July 6, and August 2. Events on or near these dates will tie together in the development of our plans.

The Really Great News . . .

. . . is that Mercury is going to make a harmonious contact with Jupiter during its (Mercury’s) backward travel period. As always, this will be the 2^nd of 3 contacts, the first of which was on 19^th. If you weren’t able to make much use of that contact, you’re not alone. Whatever was attempted at that time could not be finalized because Mercury was not “done” with Jupiter. The good news is that we’re going to get more bang for the buck because we get three shots at the prize — three chances to get it right. The second chance comes on 14^th, and the final one on April 4. We’ve had lots of signals on how to use these planets together and how to make the most of the Jupiter-Neptune contact. (See last month’s forecast.)

Pluto’s Role: A Time of Great Potential Is a Time to Take Great Care.

On the 29th, Pluto makes its station. Pluto moves so slowly, it is essentially at as the month opens. Like a giant piece of machinery that grinds slowly to a halt once the engine has switched off, Pluto has lost its steam but none of its power. A metaphor for the experience is a data/energy download from the Cosmic Computer beaming unrelentingly into our consciousness. This is not something to fear but something to recognize. We will surely find our experiences profoundly stirring during this time. We may experience pain, but only as a sign that it is time to change course. This period is guaranteed to awaken our deepest yearnings and most sacred Self. We will only experience pain until we stop resisting what we have longed for the most in our heart of hearts. Because Pluto is involved, it is likely that we will have to deal with long-buried secrets in some way. This is an awakening process that comes from our core. It has never been truer that “he not busy being born is busy dying” (Dylan Thomas). If we can busy ourselves in being reborn, we will not stagnate or degenerate — we will have a role in directing the energy to our own (hopefully wise) uses and goals.

So the entire month is a gift, tied up in a bow and neatly packaged in glittering wrap, with a mysterious prize inside. This can be — will surely be — a magickal time, if only because we are aware of it. If we can go one step further to wisely and courageously apply our personal forces to support our process, we will gain that much more benefit.

Eclipses Up the Ante.

We’re due for another set of eclipses, and they fall on dates and at points in the heavens where their dynamics are augmented (and intensify the other dynamics). The lunar eclipse on the 14^th is particularly powerful, as it connects the Sun and Moon with Pluto. This will bring a culmination of intensity in whatever situation surfaces in the first week of March. This also suggests that whatever arises in that first week will take until the lunar eclipse to be completely resolved. The plus side of this is that, if we are patient, something really big can be created. Although we as humans have a tendency to want a challenging situation to be over as soon as possible, if we can allow ourselves to stay with it for as long as it takes, we can get more benefit and fulfillment from the situation. In this case, we may want to give up on whatever we’re dealing with because it seems too big, too scary. Giving up (or avoidance) is the classic weak response of the mutable signs, so we are more likely to do so during March than at other times. The other thing we may experience during March and especially around the 14^th is a feeling of being overwhelmed by circumstances and events. It’s as if we have to take care of everything at one time, even if it’s only because others tell us to. We can negotiate ourselves through these times, and it certainly helps to know that such periods are limited to a few days at a time.

Lunar Hot Spots

The Moon heats these energies up on a weekly basis, this month falling on Sunday through Tuesday. Once the Sun changes signs to Aries on the 20^th, much of the daily tension has released and relaxed in our lives.

The Solar Eclipse

The second eclipse of the month falls on the 29^th and is our last in Aries-Libra, after 2 years of triggers in these signs. So those with planets in Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn can now breathe a sigh of relief. Your transition period is complete and you can anticipate more stability in the future, all other things being equal. Over the next six months, however, you have the chance to put the finishing touches on whatever changes you moved into in April 2004.

As this is also the day that Pluto starts its retrograde period, it’s bound to be memorable. However, since the eclipse and Pluto’s change in direction are not tied to each other except in time, their energies will not augment each other. We will feel them in two different areas of our lives.

The Love Factor Revisited

Last month I talked about an anticipated contact between Venus and Mars, the love and sex planets. On the 26^th, that contact finally occurs. If you know how to time it, it is great month for creating interpersonal harmony and agreement. Partnerships of all types — love, business, etc. — can be fruitfully formed. If you’re single, it is good month to meet someone special.

Uranus’s New Cycle

In other news, Uranus’s new yearly cycle starts on the 1^st. It’s the right time to start new initiatives that have to do with aligning yourself with your sense of purpose and meaning in life, whatever that is. If you need to make adjustments to make your life more meaningful, this is the time to start them. If you ignore the warnings that life is becoming empty, you may be in for a few surprises to get you on track. Uranus is the planet of miracles and accidents, the tools that the universe uses to wake us up to our sense of aliveness.

This Month's Waves to Ride

If you look at the chart at the beginning of the forecast, you can see lots of interconnected blue lines. These are the waves we can ride in to shore to create what we want out of this month’s energies. There are lots to work with. Primary among these is a connection between the planets in water signs (Jupiter in Scorpio, Sun/Uranus/Mercury in Pisces). These boost our opportunities and can allow us to glide through the month if we stay focused on them. it’s not that we won’t feel the challenges that come up but that we won’t let them consume our lives because we are so busy using them to enhance the opportunities coming our way already. While Mars is in Gemini, we also have a chance to inform our actions with objectivity and knowledge. These skills will be significant supports in resolving the situations that arise this month, provided we remember to use them.

Although this month will probably take some of us to the edges of our endurance, it can also be an exciting time, when new doorways open and opportunities present themselves. We do our part by being open so that we notice them when they occur, then do what we can to step through the doorway into the light of a new world.