The New Moon in Aries on Apr. 20, 2023, is a solar eclipse, the first eclipse of the year and a rare and intriguing one in several ways.

A solar eclipse occurs usually twice a year when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, and all three bodies are in line. A total eclipse occurs when the Moon completely obscures the light of the Sun. When the Sun and the Moon are exactly in line with Earth, but the apparent size of the Moon is smaller, a bright ring of the Sun appears around the Moon, and the eclipse type is called an annular eclipse. A partial eclipse occurs when the Sun and Moon are not exactly in line with the Earth and the Moon only partially obscures the Sun. This current eclipse in Aries belongs to the extraordinary fourth type of solar eclipses, a hybrid eclipse.

Sometimes an eclipse can shift between annular and total. It is called a hybrid eclipse, an extremely rare phenomenon, which will only happen a few times per century. It will happen only four more times this century. This annular total solar eclipse is visible in Australia and Indonesia. However, the transition from annular to total and back again occurs at two remote locations at sea.

This hybrid solar eclipse takes place in the last degree of Aries. It is square to Pluto, which recently entered Aquarius. The Moon enters Taurus right after the eclipse and the Sun follows a few hours later. A powerful transformative shift can be expected. Mars is the ruler of Aries and Venus is the ruler of Taurus. The eclipse is in aspect to both planets. It is in quintile to Mars in Cancer and novile to Venus in Gemini.

The quintile (72°) is generally considered as the aspect of creativity. When we divide the chart circle (360°) by five we get the quintile. Robert Hand has written about the five-series aspect family: “All these aspects seem to have a quality that we usually associate with Pluto, with overtones of Venus and Mars.” Dane Rudhyar has described the novile (40°), which is the division of the circle by nine, like this: “At the level of the Nine, the individualized person discovers and envisions the meaning and purpose of what he or she is.” According to him, the novile can lead to personal rebirth.

Each solar eclipse is a member of a particular eclipse family, a Saros series, which has certain characteristics. Each series will run for well over a thousand years and produce a solar eclipse every 18 years. We can study the characteristics of a particular Saros series by delineating its birth chart or by searching similarities between events that have occurred 18 years apart at the time of the eclipses. The word saros means repetition. The current eclipse chart has the same distinguishable flavour as the initial eclipse of this Saros in 1103 had.

The Saros series is number 7 North. The initial eclipse was in Libra opposite Pluto in Aries, and occurred on the Venus/Mars midpoint. Astrologer Bernadette Brady has delineated it as follows: “A very sensual family of eclipses, ranging from sudden sexual passions and lust to birth and procreative drives. This series is not subtle, and can catch people off guard and confront them with their own very deep passion which may have been hidden for many years.”

The solar eclipse in Aries is in conjunction with a tiny near-Earth asteroid ꞌAylóꞌchaxnim, which remained hidden until January 2020. It is the first and so far the only asteroid known to have an orbit completely within Venus’s orbit. The name means ‘Venus girl’ in the indigenous Luiseño language of southern California. The name celebrates the location of the discovery. The orbital period around the Sun is about 150 days. At about 4.1 million years from the present, ʼAylóʼchaxnim will most likely collide with Venus. In the old times the Luiseño people called Venus as Aylucha, “that which is left over from evening till morning, food or anything of the kind.” The presence of ‘Aylóꞌchaxnim emphasizes Venus in the chart, and the fact that the transformation at hand can be built on what already exists.

This has been a big week for Finland! First there was the tight and polarized parliament elections on Sunday. The conservative National Coalition Party and the radical right populist Finns Party won, which is not promising good for this country and its people who are already struggling with increased electricity bills and the cost of food. Then on Tuesday Finland became a full member of NATO in a ceremony held in Brussels. The membership is what all parties agree on and what we’ve been eagerly waiting for since we applied for it last May. This is a consequence of Russia invading Ukraine in February 2022, which fundamentally changed our security environment.

The Full Moon in Libra is opposite the tight conjunction of the Sun and Chiron in Aries. Jupiter is involved in the conjunction too. Jupiter in Aries, Praamzius in Leo, and Huya in Sagittarius form a Grand trine in the Fire signs.

The Sun in Aries says ”I am” and Chiron in cojunction with the Sun tells that there is a wound in the core self and something needs to be healed. This applies to the identity of Finland. Aries is the sign of new beginnings, and we are now searching for a new identity as a militarily allied country. Quoting President Sauli Niinistö, ”Finland’s membership is not targeted against anyone. Nor does it change the foundations or objectives of Finland’s foreign and security policy. Finland is a stable and predictable Nordic country that seeks peaceful resolution of disputes. – – – NATO membership does not change everything. But being an ally requires Finland to adopt new ways of thinking, and some changes in legislation as well.”

The solar arc directed Sun of Finland is at the Aries Point. The meaning of the Aries Point is described as follows at the website of the Uranian Astrology Institute: ”It has often been interpreted as ‘out in the world’, ‘out among the public’, ‘among the general public’, and one that I also find most appropriate is ‘public settings’.” Finland has certainly gotten enormous publicity this week.

The Aries Point can also be called as the Cardinal Point. In fact also the first degrees of the three other cardinal signs (Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn) represent the Aries Point. Since the radix Moon of Finland is in exact square to Sun of Finland, the solar arc directed Moon of Finland in the first degree of Capricorn is now at the Aries Point too.

Finland became a full member of NATO on Apr. 4, 2023, at 14:45 CEDT (-2:00) in Brussels, Belgium, when Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto handed over the official document to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. In the event chart Praamzius, the symbol of peace, is rising in the first house. You can read more about Praamzius here: New Moon in Leo — August 08, 2021, 13:50 UT

Huya is a binary trans-Neptunian object discovered in 2000 and classified as a plutino. The secondary is not named, but it is relatively large compared to the primary, and the Huya system possibly resembles that of Pluto. Huya is named after the rain god of the Wayuu people indigenous to the Guajira Peninsula of northern Venezuela and Colombia. The orbital period of Huya is 250 years. Currently Huya is orbiting closer to the Sun than Neptune. It has passed perihelion in 2015.

In the radix chart of Finland Huya is rising in Gemini exactly at the ascendant. Now the transiting Huya in Sagittarius is at the descendant. It will be hovering there at least all this year. In other words, Huya has made this 180 degree journey in time from the birth of the independent Finland to this moment. Howard Sasportas writes: ”Traditionally, the Ascendant is considered the ‘point of self-awareness’ and Descendant is considered the ‘point of awareness of others’. It describes our approach to relationships and the qualities (along with the planets in 7th) that we are looking for in a partner.” These charts offer an interesting case study in solving the astrological meaning of Huya.