13 Days to Glory
A wizard’s outlook for the remaining days of March
Ah, March. The year’s turning point in any old boring year — and this is no ordinary old boring year. At this point, of course, we’re more than halfway through the month, so hopefully you’ve got a fair idea of what this time is all about, or at least what it’s bringing to the table, in your life and in the world. Either way, it’s never too late to gain an understanding of such things — and to then take advantage of them — and we’ve got a couple solid weeks left. Almost.
It’s always going to be difficult for any of us, myself included, to look at a time period of less than two weeks as monumental in its importance. There’s just so many of them! Sure, sometimes it can be done — usually when we have a lot packed on the calendar, important deadlines, big decisions due on your part or especially that of others but affecting you, etc., etc. But I bet that’s not the case right now as you look out between this moment and Monday April 1. If I told you there’s a lot riding on this little stretch, you’re likely to blow it off, or seek refuge in the fact that ALL thirteen-day periods can in some way be seen as critical for everything that happens after.
Anyway, I’m not going down this road to put you in a panic so much as to illustrate the nature of these moments and those to come. That’s the purpose of these monthly outlooks, after all.
Ultimately, this isn’t the only thirteen-day period that’s critical, but it’s one of them. It’s near the top of the list.
Hear me on this, though: if you can’t tell already, 2019 is kind of a batshit crazy year, and as I never tire of saying, the tone and content of any given year is always set by what goes down between the spring equinox and the summer solstice. That starts tomorrow. So pay attention. If you can work through the early challenges that present themselves and orient yourself in the direction most likely to send you where you want to go this year, and you’re conscious enough to get to work on that now, your whole year will be better off. Ultimately, this isn’t the only thirteen-day period that’s critical, but it’s one of them. It’s near the top of the list.
I’ve got plenty to say about the next couple weeks, but it’s impossible to talk about this month without looking at its astrology a little bit, because it’s no small matter. To be clear, I am no astrologer and indeed possess only a cursory understanding of its vast mechanics, but I get my information mainly from Austin Coppock along with the Astrology Podcast. First off, as with last year, Mercury Retrograde plays a big role in our affairs. This time around it started on the 5th and we only come out of it when the month winds down to a close. If you aren’t familiar with this often frustrating phenomenon, it typically denotes a time of minor but constant accidents, spills, delays, inconveniences, and mechanical failures. The other side of it, however, as my sister-in-law recently pointed out, is that if you are aware that this is going on, it forces you to slow down a little bit. When you’re forced to slow down a little bit, you gain a host of benefits — something that’s true even when it’s NOT a Mercury Retrograde. You’re more mindful of what you’re doing, better equipped to understand the real nature and root causes of your issues and frustrations. Likely it’s a bit more than spilled wine. Try and look at things from that angle, at least until this little solar system storm passes us by and we head into April. Even the authorities on this subject have suggested that this Merc Ret has a good bit of insight behind it.
There’s another big thing I should mention:the day after the Mercury Retrograde began, and on the very day of the New Moon and even Ash Wednesday on top of it all, Uranus “ingressed” (I still don’t know what that means) into the sign of Taurus, where it will remain for eight years. even if it doesn’t directly impact our experience of this month, it’s part of the nature of the month and the ramifications will reverberate outward for quite some time. Eight years, in fact. What I do understand well enough is that the shift of a Uranus cycle, which always lasts for eight years, is a very tumultuous thing. The astrologers point back to 2011 at things like the Arab Spring and several other major global changes that occurred starting then, but more significantly that have essentially set the tone for the interval since and are ultimately responsible for the world we are living in now. So buckle the hell up.
It’s on a personal level, however, that I’m feeling this one the most. Think back in your own life to 2011. Was it different? Was it a lot different? Maybe not for you. For me, I started 2011 in a completely different life than where I finished it. I was married to a different person, would not become a father for another couple of months, and seemed on a certain life path that would be completely disrupted by the end of the year. That wasn’t the end of it, either — it was only the beginning. In the time since, I started The Wizard of Monadnock, lost my job, got married again, had another child, started a very unexpected new career, moved to Peterborough, launched a podcast, ran for office, and now I’ve started an online magazine. Yeah, and that’s just some of it. EVERYTHING for me changed in the last eight years. Now, assuming we all live an average of around 80 years, is it reasonable to assume that every passage of 10% of that time will bring gigantic changes? Sure it is. You can dismiss the astrology and still believe that part. The stars and planets just give us a sense of when these changes can most truly be said to begin. By examining these beginnings, we can hopefully get a handle on the nature of the time period — the nature of the 10%, as it were — and develop a little bit of foresight about what kind of things we can expect — and perhaps prepare.
Pay attention this year, especially starting now. There are things about to erupt forth — likely by summer time — that are going to either change everything immediately, perhaps on the world stage and perhaps in your own life. More than likely both: microcosm/macrocosm, as above, so below and all that.
The good news is, we find ourselves right now in a fairly comfortable and strong position. As we feel those freshly warm yellow beams of the sun coming down on our vitamin-deprived skin, we also feel ourselves personally able to exert some of our own seasonally-growing strength. There’s a lot of joy in that — and you can retain joy when you are solid inside but also flexible externally. That’s the key. Joy, especially in these first nice days, is delightfully infectious, but a certain presence of mind is needed to avoid tipping over into debauchery or arrogance.
I advise at this time to be as cool and warm as can be in your social interactions. When conflict arises, now is not the time for intimidation; I believe firmly that intimidation has its place and can be an important tool, but now is not the time and not that place. It would only lead to temporary improvements before blowing up in your face a couple weeks or months down the road. Instead, take only those victories you can win by, well, actually winning people over, by making them your friends and allies — or, at the very least, fellow actors in mutual good faith. Those you win in this manner are far more likely to stick around and they have no reason whatsoever to be plotting secretly against you.
Along with everything else, this is a time of love, a time when glimpses of balance — particularly in our relationships — can be found. Our ideas are nourished and infused with creativity and life as the earth around us also starts to wake from this all-too-long slumber. For some of you, it may be possible in this moment to find joy in exactly what you have right now, without any painful desires for more. This is a form of freedom, and if you find yourself relating to this spirit, I urge you to go deeply into it, to really feel it and know it and own it.
So long, that is, as you can simultaneously prepare for the challenges to that contentment that lay in store. It is indeed possible that our own weakness or the treachery of some around us starts to creep onto the scene, disrupting this peaceful flow. As part of that, we may be tempted to waste our time in low pleasures. Believe me, I am not one to be judgy about someone’s choice in pleasures — I’m very liberal in that regard — but now is not the time for distractions and wallowing in the luxury of wasted time. If you find yourself being swept away by passions, seek to resist it. There will always be time down the line for passionate indulgence, so remember that and put it off.
Two things are likely on the way — danger (large or small) and adjustment (large or small). Try to see this danger coming and identify it in advance. If it creeps up on you and you become party to it, the results could be disastrous. By adjustment, I am referring to the leveling-out of imbalances. In this case, if there are those seeking to bring you down or even if it’s your own appetites you are contending with, if you are able to resist both open war and passively succumbing, things will even out in your favor. If you are not, they may not.
Ideas and new avenues are popping up all over the place, just as the weedy little spring flowers will in a couple of weeks. It’s all there for us, and there’s no need to hurry. Think always of water, of flowing water, and how by its steady, constant flow it can cut through any mountain or metal in its path. The seeds of the new are being planted. Even if you have to endure a little time of purgation right now, that victory is ensured a little ways down the line.
As I’ve said several times, this is no ordinary year, but a time of intense, immense transformation. It will sometimes be unpleasant and jarring and will almost certainly spill over into next year. But it’s not all violent and chaotic. We have the blessings of the universe on our side and we’re sitting on the cusp of material increase.
Last word of advice: be like the earth, receptive to the creative and willing to bear all things — good, bad, ugly, and obnoxious. Don’t try to take the reins if you don’t have to. Don’t try to forcibly assert yourself up at the top. See the creative powers for what they are. Instead of controlling them, receive them.
April will soon be here, with promises this year more of flowers than of showers. I’ll see you there.