All the astrologers have been talking about 2020, with some major planetary shifts, alignments, placements and retrogrades to contend with.  March is not the primary focus, but there are some key things happening. 

Here is a compilation of the month’s key astrological moments according to some of the major astrologers online:

The first week of March has Venus and Mercury at a positive sextile (60° angle) on March 4th, when Mercury (still retrograde) backs up into Aquarius after being in mid-Pisces on February 16 when it first went retrograde.  Mercury does not like being in Pisces, as astrologer Nadiya Shah, tells fans, since it can bring a lack of clarity to communication, though it does help with fantasy and imaginative story-telling and other creative endeavors that we communicate.  It can, she adds, bring on a Freudian slip, and not realizing what you have said before it slips out.  When Mercury enters Aquarius, it is much more reliable, scientific and detached and can be related to groups and community issues. 

This positive connection between Mercury and Venus helps in collaborating in a nice way, according to The Water Trio—three fun Australian astrologers—Kelly Surtees, Alicia Yusuf, and Cassandra Tyndall.  They say that Venus brings the fire and enthusiasm it represents in Aries, without a combative or offensive sense that sometimes comes with speaking up.  So you don’t have to worry in this short alignment about being assertive in speaking your mind, because there can be harmony through honesty.

Venus also squares (90° angle) Saturn –which is an angle of tension that brings hurdles to overcome.  Saturn is restrictive and a disciplinarian. In Capricorn it can come from the authority, or a sense of responsibility, so the fun may be limited in some way due to guilt or obligation.

Venus moves into Taurus, a sign that it rules, the next day, which shifts its enthusiastic and passionate energy to a more lazy, pleasurable vibe that makes you want to eat good food, experience nature, get a massage and just enjoy simple pleasures, says the Water Trio.  They suggest having a spa day, going out in nature, grabbing a cocktail or treating yourself to something luxurious.  They say do it on a Friday sinceFriday is the day of Venus.

Venus in Taurus also has standards.  It doesn’t put up with any B.S. because it knows its worth and value—and it is a high bar.  Taurus is quality over quantity, and Venus will be in there for the month of March. But by March 8th, it meets “wild child” Uranus on the same day that the Sun meets up with Neptune.  Sun/Neptune will make it feel like the “wheels are spinning but we are going nowhere fast,” according to Rick Levine.  But Susan Miller expects that Venus meeting Uranus –depending on where it falls in your chart—could bring unexpected thrills, happiness, love or money. At least in Taurus, it could be pleasurable.  Rick Levine notes that while Venus gets excited about new things when it meets Uranus, Uranus can complicate things in a way that shakes things up more than is comfortable.  So it can go two ways, he says.  Either we could be agitated because we are unfulfilled by nothing happening, or we could be excited about doing something new and different. 

March 9th is the Virgo full moon as well as the day Mercury stops heading backwards and starts to move forward again toward Pisces.  The sun, directly opposite the moon that day, is meeting up with Neptune, an aspect that, depending on where it falls in your chart, can be confusing or enlightening.  Neptune can confuse, bring on psychological issues, even depression, or in relation to the arts, can focus on the “dreamy, fantasy sides of life,” says Rick Levine.  He thinks that is fantastic, since if falls on a weekend, and says, go to the movies, read a book, but don’t do technical things.  I would add meditate, do yoga, and focus on connecting to spiritual matters.

Levine says it is a potent full moon because Virgo, where the moon falls, is about what is useful, true, practical and factual.  Pisces, where the sun is, is ruled by Neptune, and enhances that illusion and fantasy.  This opposition pulls us in both ways, Levine says, which expands our awareness to be able to “see things from the opposite sides of the same coin.”  He calls the energy of early March “edgy.”

Remember, too that full moons bring something to culmination, closure or an end. What that is will likely depend on what area of the chart the moon falls in. 

Mercury will stay in Aquarius for 12 days, and it is tied to what was going on 02/02/2020 when it was originally at that point.  We have an opportunity to deal with things that need to be finished up.  In Aquarius it can be about groups and community yet it is detached, Nadiya Shah reminds us.

Susan Miller says that March 11th is the luckiest day of the month when the Sun and Jupiter are in positive alignment.   In fact, as the sun moves through Pisces it is hitting the key planets in Capricorn at the same positive angles—so sun will sextile Mars, Pluto and Saturn as well.  These along with Mars sextiling Neptune on the 14th as Mercury moves toward Pisces, provide a number of possibilities as things begin to untangle from the confusing full moon, Levine says.

As we get to the second half of the month—energy changes in new ways.  The sun, as it prepares its move into Aries for the Spring Equinox, sextiles Saturn, which is on the precipice of its entry into Aquarius for the first time in more than 28 years. Sun sextile Saturn feels stable, but Aries is impulsive and passionate.  The following day—the 20th—Mars, which embodies the Aries energy, meets up with Jupiter and that assertive energy and readiness to act is expanded.  “They get along great but can go too far,” Levine says, because both are enthusiastic and there is no resistance.  There could be exciting stuff in the news around this time, he adds.

Susan Miller adds that Mars and Jupiter do meet every two years, but only once every 36 years in each sign.  So this is a powerful combination to put to use.  I disagree with Levine when he says there is no resistance.  This placement in Capricorn brings more hard work and practical discipline to the alignment.  In Chris Brennan’s March 2020 Astrology Podcast he, Kelly Surtees (of the Water Trio group) and Austin Coppock discuss that this Mars/Jupiter alignment can help productivity, focus and efforts related to long-term issues be achieved more rapidly and successfully. 

On the 21st, Saturn makes its move into Aquarius, while Mars meets Pluto on the 22nds.  Pluto is also intense and combative, the way Mars can be (both rule Scorpio). Mars is the warrior and Pluto is death/rebirth—or transformation, so the combination can be troublesome.

Susan Miller notes that Saturn in Aquarius will take away the heavy pressure we (you) may have been feeling for the past two years while it has been in Capricorn.  However, Saturn brings its own challenges, but in Capricorn it is multiplied.  Astrologer Pam Gregory notes that with Saturn and Venus going into fixed signs of Aquarius and Taurus respectively, we will experience a sigh of relief. 

Saturn sneaks back into Capricorn in the first week of July and we will feel the difference. But for the next few months, we get a foreshadowing of how things will be for a few years after Saturn goes permanently into Aquarius in December on the Winter Solstice.  

But March is introducing us to the changes that Aquarian energy will bring as we leave the heaviness of planets piling up in Capricorn.  Nadiya Shah says, “We will start to see tings differently and dramatically differently in the second week.”  And, with the connection between Aquarius and the internet and astrology, she notes that we will be looking for meaningful interconnections with others online and through astrology.

By March 22nd we have a great day with Venus at 120° of Jupiter.  In the early part of the day, Brennan and his crew suggest it is a good day for a social event. The planets are in good places where they are happiest, and a connection between the moon and Jupiter makes it a good day for creative pursuits, as well.

The new moon at 4° of Aries comes along on the 24th and it is at an angle to the nodes that can cause confusion, and Levine says we may be tempted to act before thinking, but we would pay a price for it. Use common sense, he says, and don’t take shortcuts. He also says it is a time of forgiveness, vulnerability and opening up even when it hurts because we have to face our own shortcomings and wounds.

Jupiter and Pluto will begin to meet in the last days of march when venus is at a highly positive angle to that connection (they meet exactly for the first of three times on April 3rd).  Nadiya Shah tells us that the Jupiter Pluto conjunction will allow us to understand power more deeply.  It is an intense energy.  Brennan’s group says it asks us, “How hard do you want to make something happen and why?”   

On March 31 Mars and Saturn meet exactly at 0° of Aquarius.  Mars is the gas and Saturn is the brake and both are challenged by unpredictable Uranus in Taurus.  It is a fierce combination that makes us think about whether we want to keep doing what we are doing in the house that it lands in our chart—career, relationship, education, location, health practices. It is time to restructure that area of our life, according to Brennan and friends.  Levine adds that Mars brings “a new wave of stamina to the work that needs to be finished.” He suggests using the Mars energy as a sense of determination  rather than as a way of leaping ahead—and use Saturn to help exercise control and deal practically with issues that arise. 

As planets begin to move into Aquarius this year, Levine says it is a “new territory where comfort and familiarity give way to recognition that the past is falling away quickly.  We must learn new rules and skills and change with the changing times.”