Vernal Equinox – March 20, 2026, 14:46 UT

The New Moon in Pisces in the early hours of March 19, 2026, is followed by the Chiron-Eris conjnction in Aries later the same day. The Sun enters Aries on March 20, marking the Vernal Equinox and the beginning of the astrological new year. Mercury is stationary conjunct the North node of the Moon at 8+ degrees of Pisces, about to turn direct five hours later.

The New Moon at 28+ degrees of Pisces is in conjuncton with Neptune and tno Borasisi in the early Aries. Neptune is associated with oil and Borasisi with nuclear power, among other things. Both planets may also refer to a denial of the truth.

The Chiron-Eris conjunction at 24+ Aries shares its degree with centaur Okyrhoe, named after the nymph daughter of Chiron and Chariklo. She was a prophetess, whose ability to speak was taken. She revealed to Chiron his fate. Zeus tranformed her into a mare for revealing the secrets of the gods.

Astrologically Okyrhoe has been interpreted to give clairvoyance and abiliity to travel between different realities. According to Mark A. Holmes’s delineation, “Okyrhoe seems to indicate being criticized or attacked, being able to cope with attacks or unpopularity, ability to stand up for one’s beliefs or principles.”

This New Moon is in tight conjunction with Okyrhoe of the European Union at 29+ degrees of Pisces. The European leaders stood up for their principles despite of threats from Trump and rejected his call for help to reopen strait of Hormuz: “This is not our war.”

Silencing Okyrhoe can also be seen as a symbol of the restriction of press freedom and the free flow of information. When Trump was elected to his first term in 2017, Okyrhoe was in early Aquarius, caught by the Sun within a few days. Trump’s attacks on the American media and journalists began immediately. He has caused a significant decline in freedom of the press. In recent news we saw how the Pentagon has not permitted press photographers to take photos inside the press briefing room after taking unflattering photos of Pete Hegseth. There has been no free press in Putin’s Russia for a long time, but now Russian authorities have said that they are escalating internet censorship efforts by fully blocking the nation’s most popular social media platform Telegram in April.

I also consider the recent heated debate in Finland as an example of the Chiron-Eris-Okyrhoe conjunction. Our government proposed that all restrictions on nuclear weapons would be removed from the Nuclear Energy Act. The parties didn’t receive information about the government’s bill in advance. Broad parliamentary consensus on issues related to Finland’s security has worked successfully before. The assessment of such significant legislative changes affecting Finland’s security should take place in parliament.

Mercury turned retrograde on Feb. 26, 2026. Mars squared Uranus on Feb. 27, 2026, and the next day the United States and Israel began a series of strikes against Iran. Violence and accidents are commonly associated with the Mars-Uranus square. Now only a few days after the challenging square, the Full Moon at 12+ degrees of Virgo is accompanied by a total lunar eclipse. There are usually two lunar eclipses a year. This is the last total lunar eclipse until New Year’s Eve 2028. The Sun in Pisces is in exact conjunction with asteroid Pallas. The Moon in Virgo is tightly sextile to centaur 39P/Oterma in Cancer.

There is no clear orbital distinction between centaurs and comets. Centaur 39P/Oterma was discovered in 1943 by the Finnish astronomer Liisi Oterma. At the time it was an active comet, but a close approach to Jupiter in 1963 put it on its current inactive centaur orbit between Jupiter and Saturn. 39P/Oterma’s orbital period around the Sun is nearly 20 years. For the time being I am not able to get centaur 39P/Oterma appear in the chart wheel, but its location is currently at 12+ degrees of Cancer conjunct Jupiter.

There is another comet in Cancer more closely conjunct Jupiter, namely the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. It was discovered on July 1, 2025. It may be the oldest comet yet seen. It came from the direction of the Milky Way’s Galactic Center. Comet 3I/ATLAS cannot be traced back to its original parent star because it has been traveling around the Milky Way for billions of years. It passed closest to our Sun on Oct. 29, 2025. It will pass Jupiter on March 16, 2026, before heading further to the outer regions of our solar system and then escaping back into interstellar space. The opportunity to catch the message that the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS came with will soon be lost.

The Sabian symbol for the Full Moon is Virgo 13, A strong hand supplanting political hysteria. “This is a symbol of the real weight of human personality as emphasized here by the direct intervention of outstanding individuals in the affairs of their fellows. They must provide an over-all ordering for each moment of history if it is to count for much in the lives of the others around them, since there is always a counsel of confusion to take over when events are allowed to drift or when the immediate leadership proves deficient. The greatest opportunity for self-discovery lies in the transient crises of everyday living. The keyword is POWER. When positive, the degree is consistent effectiveness in dramatizing personal potentials, and when negative, loss of all opportunity by timid action.” (Marc Edmund Jones)

Instead of order, the political leaders are providing us chaos and destruction. The symbol of the strong hand hardly refers to them. Asteroid Pallas is named after the Greek warrior goddess of wisdom, foresight, and well-planned warfare. Demetra George points out that in the sign of Pisces Pallas embraces the wisdom of compassion, and can be a devotee of nonviolent resistance, for example.

The New Moon on Feb. 17, 2026, at 28+ degrees of Aquarius is an annular solar eclipse and it is the first eclipse of the year. The unprecedented Saturn-Neptune conjunction at the Aries Point is about to become exact within a few days. The eclipse squares Uranus in Taurus.

A solar eclipse can take place only when there is a New Moon. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon is at or near its furthest point from the Earth, and the Moon appears smaller than the Sun’s disk. The golden ring of the Sun stays visible around the Moon during the eclipse. The astrological trends that the solar eclipse shows are valid about the next six months. The current eclipse is at the future oriented North node of the Moon.

This eclipse is a member of the Saros series 10 North. The initial eclipse of this Saros was tightly conjunct Mercury, and Saturn was on the midpoint of the New Moon and Neptune. So Saturn and Neptune were involved in determining the quality of the original eclipse too. Bernadette Brady has delineated: “There is a very strong emphasis on communication and, at the same time, frustrating or inhibiting events may come into the person’s life via news, paperwork or a young person. The person may feel tired and drained, and this is therefore a good time to take things quietly and work through the difficulties one at a time.”

The conjunction of Saturn and Neptune takes place roughly every 36 years. However, since the beginning of the common era this is the first time that it is happening at the Aries Point, the first degree of Aries. Neptune entered Aries on Jan. 26 and Saturn followed on Feb. 14. Now the conjunction is developing to its full precision at the Aries Point. The historic Saturn-Neptune conjunction takes place on Feb. 20, 2026. The energies have been felt long before the peak moment.

The Aries Point is the starting point of the zodiac. It strongly symbolizes new beginnings. Saturn and Neptune operate in opposite ways. Saturn builds boundaries while Neptune dissolves them. No wonder that the world is in chaos now. The rebellious Uranus, the ruler of Aquarius, is shattering the structures of Saturn too. The eclipse forms a challenging square to the unpredictable Uranus. We are unlikely to get relief anytme soon and Uranus keeps offering us surprises.

The eclipse is opposite the peace planet Praamzius in Leo. The Sun and the Moon in Aquarius, Uranus in Taurus, and Praamzius in Leo form a t-square. A new round of peace negotiations has just begun in Geneva between the Ukrainian, Russian and US officials. Since communication, negtiations and making deals fall under the dominion of Mercury, which is strongly colouring this Saros series, I had a quick look at the charts of Ukraine and the European Union too. Ukraine has a triple conjunction of Venus, Mercury and Jupiter at 25-28 degrees of Leo, which receives the transits of the eclipse and other points of the t-square. The eclipse and the t-sqiare also transit the Moon-Mercury square of the EU.

The Full Moon in Leo occurs in the same degree with plutino Achlys, one of the large trans-Neptunian bodies named last summer.

208996 Achlys was discovered on Jan. 13, 2003, by Chad Trujillo and Michael Brown. Its shape is elongated and it has one known moon. Achlys is a third-largest known plutino after Pluto and Orcus. It has a mean diameter of about 770 kilometers and it is approximately 940 kilometers across its longest axis. The orbital period is 247.8 years.

Achlys was named on June 30, 2025, after the goddess of sorrow and grief. In Hesiod’s Shield of Heracles Achlys is one of the figures described as being depicted on Heracles’ shield, where she is understood as being the personification of sorrow or grief. Homer used the word achlys to describe a mist that is “shed” upon a mortal’s eyes, often while dying.

Nonnus, a notable Greek epic poet, regarded Achlys as a kind of witch. His Dionysiaca describes the life of Dionysus. Zeus had instructed twelve rustic spirits of the Lamos river to guard and protect the infant Dionysus from Hera’s wrath. According to Nonnus, Hera “procured from Thessalian Achlys treacherous flowers of the field”, which she used to sprinkle a sleeping charm over their heads, then “she distilled poisoned drugs over their hair and smeared a magical ointment over their faces”, changing them into ox-horned Lamian centaurs.

At the New Moon at 28+ degrees of Capricorn there was a cluster of planets and minor planets in late Capricorn and early Aquarius. The New Moon is sextile to Saturn and Neptune in Pisces and trine to Uranus in Taurus.

The Sun and the Moon were in conjunction with asteroid 5 Astraea, also at 28+ Capricorn. Astraea was the fifth asteroid discovered. The first four (Ceres, Pallas, Juno and Vesta) were considered first as planets, but rapidly after the discovery of Astraea in 1845 more asteroids were discovered, and it became apparent that these were members of new type of celestial bodies. Astraea was a Greek goddess of justice, who was the last of the immortals to live together with humans during the idealistic Golden Age, when no evil existed in the world. But when humans became crueler and more corrupt, Astraea abondened humanity and went to live among the stars in the constellation Virgo. Astrologer Martha Lang-Wescott describes the meaning of Astraea excellently with these phrases: “it ain’t over ’til it’s over”; “go down with the ship”, “wait until the dust settles”; “the famous final scene” (Martha Lang-Wescott, Mechanics of the Future).

Mars and Mercury at 26+ Capricorn are in conjunction with another Astraea family asteroid, 8273 Apatheia, discovered in 1989. In Stoic philosophy, the concept of apatheia refers to a state of mind in which one is not disturbed by the passions. It was the quality that characterized “the sage”, someone who had attained wisdom.

Asteroid 1566 Icarus and centaur Hylonome are in the first degree of Aquarius. Among the keywords of astrologer Juan Revilla for centaur Hylonome are “lost innocence” and “the cry of the poor.”

Asteroid Icarus was discovered in 1949. It is a potentially hazardous asteroid with an extremely eccentric orbit. It comes closer to the Sun than Mercury and goes further out than Mars. It was named from Greek mythology after Icarus, the son of Daedalus. They attempted to escape from prison with wings that Daedalus constructed from feathers and wax. Icarus ignored his father’s advice not to fly too close to the Sun. The wax melted and Icarus fell into the sea and drowned. Astrologically Icarus likes to take risks and wants to escape limitations.

Plutino Arawn is in conjunction with Venus at 1+ Aquarius. Arawn was the ruler of the Celtic otherworld, Annwn. Arawn was a shapeshifter, who switched places with a mortal man. Van Morrison (the Sun conjunct Arawn) has said: “What’s your original face? Know what I mean? Who are you really? There’s so many different kinds of healing but, if you are in alignment with yourself, then that in itself is going to be healing. If you’re trying to be something other, like something superficial, trying to be someone you’re not, then that would take you away from your true centre.”

At 3+ Aquarius there is Pluto, the Greek ruler of the underworld, who kidnapped the maiden Persephone and made her the queen of the underworld.

In Cancer, opposite the New Moon and the cluster, is Cardea, one of the quasi-moons of Earth. It is an asteroid discovered in 2004. A quasi-moon is an asteroid that actually orbits the Sun, but if you watch it from the Earth, it looks like it’s orbiting our planet just like the Moon does. Cardea is named after the Roman goddess of the hinge, the goddess of doorways and transitions, symbolizing the guardianship of thresholds.

The interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS made its closest approach to Earth on Dec. 19, 2025. The comet was at 10+ degrees of Virgo conjunct the South node of the Moon and cubewano Aya. Aya was named last summer from Akkadian mythology after the goddess of dawn. She was the wife of the Sun god and called the “morning-maker”. The Sun was at 27+ Sagittarius, exactly at the Milky Way’s Galactic Center and in conjunction with cubewano Varda. We remember that comet 3I/ATLAS originated in the direction of the Galactic Center. Varda is named after the Star-Queen in J. R. R. Tolkien’s fictional mythology. She created the stars and constellations and also set the vessels of the Sun and the Moon upon their appointed courses in the sky.

At the New Moon in Sagittarius on Dec. 20, comet 3I/ATLAS was at 9+ degrees of Virgo. The New Moon is always a conjunction of the Sun and the Moon, so the Moon was now also at the Galactic Center and conjunct Varda.

On Dec. 21 is the Winter Solstice. The Sun enters Capricorn and the days start to slowly get longer from now on. In the solstice chart the Sun is still in a tight conjunction with Varda. The Moon at 17+ Capricorn is in conjunction with cubewano Máni, another large object named last summer, and asteroid Vesta. In Norse mythology Máni is the personification of the Moon. Vesta is the brightest asteroid seen from Earth. It is named after the goddess of the hearth and keeper of the sacred flame. The interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is at 8+ degrees of Virgo.

The days have been dark and short, and the Moon is invisible at the New Moon. Professor Emeritus of Space Astronomy Esko Valtaoja has recently stated that seeing light requires conscious effort. Let us seek the light.

The Full Moon in Gemini is exactly square to the lunar nodes. Mercury, the ruler of Gemini, turned direct on Nov. 29, 2025. The Sun in Sagittarius is in conjunction with minor planet Hidalgo.

From geocentric viewpoint the lunar nodes are the two points where the monthly path of the Moon and the yearly path of the Sun intersect. The ascending node can be associated with the future and the descending node with the past. The nodal axis is a symbolic path which involves, quoting Melanie Reinhart, ”not only our incarnate life, but also other levels of existence, some known to us and others not.” She calls the degrees squaring the nodes ”balance points”. Now the luminaries occupy those degrees.

944 Hidalgo, possibly once a comet, was discovered in 1920. The Minor Planet Center classifies it both as a Main-belt asteroid and an unusual object. It has traditionally been considered an asteroid, because centaurs were not recognized as a distinct class until the discovery of Chiron in 1977. Actually Hidalgo is the first member of centaurs ever to be discovered. Its eccentric orbit takes it to the inner edge of the asteroid belt, crosses the orbit of Jupiter, and grazes the orbit of Saturn. Its diameter is approximately 52 km and the shape likely elongated.

Centaur Hidalgo was named after Mexican revolutionary Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, who is recognized as the father of Mexican independence. Hidalgo can show affinity for Spanish-speaking countries and cultures. Acting on one’s beliefs, showing courage to challenge authorities, and protecting the weak can be manifestations of Hidalgo.

Retrograde Mercury meets the New Moon at 28+ degrees of Scorpio. There is an awesome and complex Grand Cross in the fixed signs.

Mercury turned retrograde on Nov. 9 and re-entered Scorpio on Nov. 19. The New Moon occurs in conjunction with Mercury and several trans-Neptunian bodies, all either in the same degree with the New Moon and the retrograde Mercury, or within two degrees.

The Sabian symbol for the New Moon is Scorpio 29 An Indian squaw pleading to the chief for the lives of her children. “This is the symbol of the stark sacrifices the self must make in the common interest and of the high responsibilities the group must accept for the welfare of each individual, as these factors together create a functioning society and enable man to control his everyday world. Here is emphasis on the give-and-take in human allegiances, and a call for a balancing of rights and wrongs as a result of direct experience with the problem of self-fulfillment.” (Marc Edmund Jones)

The trans-Neptunians at the 28+ Scorpio are Deucalion, Dziewanna and Typhon. Deucalion is a cubewano with the orbital period of almost 296 years. It was named from Greek mythology. Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha were the only people who survived a great flood. An oracle told them to “throw the bones of their mother” behind them. They understood that their mother is Earth and her bones are stones. The stones they then threw over their shoulders became people who repopulated the world.

Dziewanna is a scattered disc object with the orbital period of 592.5 years. Dziewanna was discovered during the Polish Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment of Warsaw University, and there were a couple of Polish astronomers involved in the discovery. So the planet was named after the Slavic goddess of the Moon, wild nature, forests, and hunting. She is a maiden goddess having much in common with the Roman goddess Diana.

Typhon is a scattered disc object and a centaur, when using the extended definition of a centaur. Typhon was the first known binary centaur. The orbital period is almost 237 years. Typhon was a giant monster in Greek mythology, associated with typhoons, hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and hot winds.

One of the recently named cubewanos, Goibniu, is at 29+ degrees of Scorpio. The different populations of the Kuiper belt and the scattered disc are not always easy to distinguish. Goibniu is also classified as a scattered-extended object. The orbital period of Goibniu is about 271 years. It is named after the Irish god of metallurgy and hospitality. He made weapons for the gods and furnished feasts for them. Goibniu was the metalsmith of the Tuatha Dé Danann (“the people of the goddess Danu”), the race of gods who populated Ireland before the Celts.

Directly opposite this heap of planets is the unpredictable Uranus at 29+ degrees of Taurus (conjunct Sedna). There are two trans-Neptunians tightly in conjunction with Uranus, namely Alicanto and Lempo.

Alicanto at 28+ Taurus is an extreme trans-Neptunian object (ETNO) with the orbital period around 6000 years. Alicanto was named after a nocturnal bird from Chilean mythology. Alicanto has wings that shine at night with beautiful, metallic colors. A miner who follows it can find treasures, but a greedy one will be guided off the cliff.

Lempo at 27+ Taurus is a triple plutino named from Finnish mythology. The orbital period is 248 years. Is Lempo the goddess of love and fertility or the devil? The name Lempo is connected to fire. Erotic love has been described like a flame which flares up within a person. After Christianity came to Finland, the reputation of Lempo worsened. Love can turn dangerous, and even lead to destruction.

The other opposition of the Grand Cross consists of Damocles in Aquarius and Praamzius in Leo. Praamzius is a cubewano with the orbital period of 278 years. It is named after the chief god from Lithuanian mythology. He was the god of sky, peace, and friendship and played a role in creating the world.

Then there is Damocles at 28+ degrees of Aquarius. Damocles is a damocloid and a centaur. The damocloids is a group of minor planets which may be inactive nuclei of the Halley-type and long-period comets, tells the Wikipedia. The Sword of Damocles is an expression which describes the imminent and ever-present peril faced by those in positions of power. According to Wikipedia, “More generally, it is used to denote the sense of foreboding engendered by a precarious situation, especially one in which the onset of tragedy is restrained only by a delicate trigger or chance.”

The last degrees of the signs are called “anaretic degrees”. They are often referred to as the degrees of crisis. The late Finnish astrologer Raimo A. Nikula once noted that it’s precisely the 28+ degree of a sign that is often the most difficult one, not the last degree. According to him there is always a paradox involved in last degrees: they can be both punishing as well as be spiritually very rewarding, because the individual has in his possession the whole experience and extension of the sign. He said that the last phases carry the possibility to purify the soul so that new life experience is possible, but first the individual may have to face things that rise from the unconscious.

Supermoon in Taurus glows big and bright. One of the many Kuiper belt objects named in late summer, centaur Petraios, is in conjunction with the Scorpio Sun.

(696315) Petraios is a centaur discovered in 2016 and named in August 2025. Its orbital period is about 91.5 years and diameter around 77 kilometers. According to the official naming citation, “The centaur Petraios took part in the battle at the wedding of Pirithous, a symbolic clash between primal chaos and social order. His name means ‘rocky’, evoking strength and stability. As Ovid tells, Petraios fell while grappling with the rooted Earth. Like this minor planet, he marks the edge between structure and upheaval.” How aptly descriptive of this time!

In Greek mythology Petraios was the grandson of Chiron and Chariklo. The battle between the centaurs and the Lapiths is called Centauromachy. The centaurs were guests at King Pirithous’s wedding, but they got drunk and tried to abduct the women, including the bride. The Lapiths won the battle. It was Pirithous himself who killed Petraios (Petraeus). Ovid describes: ”I saw Petraeus trying to uproot an acorn-laden oak and as his arms embraced it and he forced it to and fro, rocking its tottering trunk, Pirithous, hurling a lance that pierced Petraeus’ ribs, pinned fast his writhing chest to the tough wood.”

Centaur Petraios is depicted in a vase from ca. 565 BCE fighting with a Lapith.

Image: The Francois vase.

Actually there were two separate centaurs named Petraios or Petraeus in Greek mythology. The other one was the “laughing tippling” leader of the satyrs. He was one of the Lamian Pheres, twelve rustic spirits of the Lamos river. They were instructed by Zeus to guard the infant Dionysus and protect him from Hera’s wrath, but she transformed them into ox-horned centaurs. Later they joined the army of Dionysus and accompanied him on his wanderings to India.

Dionysus is the god of wine-making, intoxicated ecstasy, and fertility, also known as Bacchus. His wine, music, and ecstatic dance were considered to free his followers from self-conscious fear and care, and subvert the oppressive restrictions of those in power. We could say that this other Petraios represents the battle between chaos and order seen from another perspective.

We have a rare visitor in our solar system. The interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS was discovered last summer, and now this oddity is in exact conjunction with the New Moon in Libra, in the same degree with the Sun and the Moon.

Long-period comets originate from the distant Oort cloud, whereas short-period comets come from the Kuiper belt. The recently discovered main-belt comets form a group of their own. They orbit in more circular orbits within the Main asteroid belt.

Our visitor came from interstellar space, the space between stars. Comet 3I/ATLAS is the third interstellar object discovered, after Oumuamua, the “first distant messenger” in 2017, and the first observed “rogue comet” Borisov in 2019.

We don’t know where exactly comet 3I/ATLAS is coming from or where it is heading after its orbit around our Sun. It seems that it originated in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius, near the Milky Way’s Galactic Center. Astrologically the Galactic Center is often thought to be an intense energy point and symbolize the higher purpose or the door to deeper understanding. In the chart the Galactic Center is located around 27+ degrees of Sagittarius.

Comet 3I/ATLAS may be the oldest comet yet seen. It could be at least 7 billion years old – older than our solar system, which is about 4.6 billion years old. The diameter of its nucleus is not big, perhaps less than 1 km. Initially, the comet had a red coma. When the sky darkened due to the total lunar eclipse on Sept. 7, 2025, astronomers took advantage of the opportunity to observe the interstellar comet and found it to be green.

Comet 3I/ATLAS was discovered on July 1, 2025 (astrologically in the early degrees of Capricorn). It passed by Mars on Oct. 3, 2025. It will reach perihelion (the closest distance to the Sun) between the orbits of Earth and Mars on Oct. 29, 2025. Then it will pass by Venus on Nov. 3, 2025. It is expected to make its closest approach to Earth on Dec. 19, 2025, but it will not come very close us. It will pass Jupiter on March 16, 2026, before heading back into interstellar space.

Comet 3I/ATLAS is in solar conjunction on Oct. 21, 2025, the day of the New Moon. It means that the Earth, Moon, Sun, and the comet are aligned with each other so that the Moon is between the Earth and the Sun, and the comet on the opposite side of the Sun as seen from Earth. It is not visible from Earth’s perspective now, but space probes will continue to observe it.

Ancient astrologers considered comets to be harbringers of doom, predicting the death of a king or some other disaster. Although comets are unpredictable, modern astrology sees them in a bit more positive light. Comets bring a message of change. Considering the current state of our world, a message from the center of the Milky Way, from the Source, is bringing hope and a broader perspective to humanity.