New Moon in Aries

Last Angel (1912) illustrated by Nicholas Roerich

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “fortune favors the bold,” and that’s very on brand for the New Moon in Aries coming Friday, April 17th. New Moons are associated with new beginnings, and in the cardinal fire sign and first sign of the zodiac, that energy is amplified. When you factor in that we have at least 7 planets and celestial bodies also in Aries, the energy is unmistakable. That’s a lot, and for those of us who are familiar with spiritual concepts like timeline shifts, Kali Yuga, and massive dimensional transformation, all this Aries initiation energy feels auspiciously right on time. So what does this mean exactly? Well, you can take everything you know about Aries, the good, the bad, and the mid, and apply it to pretty much every facet of life right now.

Aries is the sign that pushes forward without a roadmap or game plan, and that energy invites you to do the same. This is not about making sure you have some definitive plan before you start, but trusting your instincts, intuition, and experience enough to take the necessary steps into the unknown without overthinking, over-preparing, or needing perfect clarity. Aries prefers bold, decisive action, and this New Moon shines a light on the areas of your life that are asking to be examined and dealt with through action. This is a movement Dark Moon, so the reflection and introspection will want action to accompany it. So go ahead, take that first step or leap into the future you want. The Aries fire has your back if you’re bold, honest, and true to yourself.

This New Moon is closely conjunct Chiron, the Wounded Healer, which means old wounds, old anger, old insecurities, and old stories about who you are or are not may be rising to the surface. Aries is deeply connected to identity, independence, courage, and selfhood, so when Chiron is activated here, many of us are being asked to look at the places where we have been taught to suppress ourselves, stay small, silence our instincts, or deny our anger in order to keep the peace.

You might be feeling a sense of urgency you can’t quite name, or you might know exactly what needs to change in your life but it hasn’t felt like the right time, or you’ve been overwhelmed, avoidant, exhausted, or just plain unwilling to deal with it. Trust me, we’ve all been there, and we all have areas of our lives we really do not feel like dealing with. But avoidance rarely makes a problem disappear. Usually it metastisizes and takes on a life of its own in the darkness, which is exactly why Aries is here to shine a giant, flaming spotlight on whatever has been ignored, postponed, buried, or pushed aside.

The overall theme from all of this planetary fire is the urge to move, initiate, and experiment, even through uncertainty. Aries is symbolized by the ram, and it’s not exactly an animal known for subtlety, diplomacy, or patiently waiting for the right moment. A ram will charge and headbutt whatever is in front of it, whether that is another ram, a predator, a tree, or anything else that gets in its way or stokes whatever all-consuming rage is burning deep inside its belly. Aries tends to follow a similar pattern.

One of the biggest themes I’m feeling of this New Moon is healing through action thanks to the close conjunction with Chiron. Chiron moves relatively slowly and spends anywhere from around two to eight years in a sign, depending on where it is in its orbit. Astronomically, Chiron is a centaur, a small icy body orbiting between Saturn and Uranus. Chiron has been in Aries since 2018, which means many of us have been working through long-term wounds around identity, anger, courage, selfhood, and the right to take up space for years now.

In mythology, Chiron, known as the “Wounded Healer,” was an immortal centaur, half man and half horse. Unlike the other centaurs, who were often depicted as wild, violent, drunken, and impulsive, Chiron was wise, patient, and skilled in medicine, astrology, healing, music, and prophecy. He was the teacher of heroes like Achilles, Jason, and Asclepius. Chiron was accidentally struck with a poisoned arrow by the hero Heracles. The venom was said to be agonizing and completely untreatable, so Chiron, despite his immense knowledge of medicine and healing, could not save himself.

That is what makes Chiron such a poignant figure. He could heal everyone but himself. He had to carry relentless, chronic pain, despite all of his wisdom, knowledge, and supernatural gifts. Chiron eventually chose to relinquish his immortality in order to free himself from the burden of never ending suffering. Chiron teaches us that our deepest wounds are often connected to our most powerful wisdom, and that the things that hurt us most can eventually become our greatest medicine.

The very first “Chiron” I ever met, many New Moons ago, was a little goat at a farm sanctuary who sweetly rammed the ever-loving shit out of me until I paid full attention to him and gave him head scritches. He wanted my full attention and affection. Apparently, this pattern continues with my cats, especially my seventeen year old Peach, who greets me every morning with the most enthusiastic, ram-like headbutts imaginable. If I’m being totally honest, I can’t even sit down on the couch without her lithe little frame launching toward me with a sprightly enthusiasm impressive for her age and insisting that we forcefully touch foreheads as our ongoing greeting and exchange of affection. Aggressive headbutts are her love language, and because I adopted her when she was four to six months old and do not know her exact birthdate, based on her personality and strong tendency to headbutt people and other animals, I strongly suspect she is an Aries like her mama. She teaches me to be present and focused, that’s part of her medicine.

There is something very Aries and very Chiron about that kind of insistence. Pay attention to me. Don’t you dare ignore me. Don’t look away. Love me properly. Tend to me. The wounded places in ourselves can act the same way, headbutting us over and over again until we finally stop, pay attention, and give them what they need, like my sweet little Peach.

This New Moon is also conjunct Eris, the Goddess of Discord and Chaos, who has been moving through Aries since 1925. So if you’re wondering what celestial body is responsible for the last century of absolute shenanigans, we may have found our culprit. All jokes aside, Eris has a way of exposing what has been simmering under the surface all along. She is the energy that disrupts false harmony, that points to the thing everyone knows is wrong but nobody wants to say out loud. She brings up themes around exclusion, rejection, being ignored, or feeling like you have to betray yourself in order to belong.

Eris moves much more slowly than Chiron and can stay in a sign for many decades, which makes her influence feel much more generational and collective. Almost everyone alive today has Eris in Aries, which is part of why themes around identity, exclusion, rage, individualism, and challenging false harmony feel so culturally relevant right now. Together, Chiron and Eris highlight the ways we have betrayed ourselves in order to fit in, feel safe, be chosen, or be accepted, or the ways we have pretended everything was fine simply to keep the peace. But self betrayal and self abandonment never really work. They only create more fear, resentment, and suffering in the long run. I’m not advocating you go full Aries, tell everyone off, or give the middle finger to your boss mid-meeting. Nothing overly aggressive or rash is necessary.

And speaking of Aries’ less sparkly traits, this energy can absolutely make people more reactive, impulsive, angry, impatient, or combative. We may notice more conflict in our relationships, more tension in the collective, and more people reaching a breaking point. Aries energy is fast and hot, and when it feels overwhelmed, threatened, or frustrated, it can lash out before thinking. Like the ram itself, Aries can react first and reflect later, which is why this New Moon is not just about action for the sake of action, because not all movement is progress and not all honesty is necessarily healthy or productive. This is about intentional, conscious action that comes from truth rather than from ego, frustration, resentment, defensiveness, or the need to prove something.

So, we’ve covered the Sun and the Moon in Aries, as well as Chiron and Eris, but now let’s look at how the planets in our solar system that are currently in Aries are impacting this New Moon, shall we?

Mercury is the planet of communication, so in Aries, what you say, what you text, your tone and such can come across as direct, blunt or even rude, and you may also find yourself feeling a bit impulsive or aggressive with communication, so grab the fire horse by the reins and communicate with intention. You may want to cuss someone out, but breathe and find the right words to get your point across without unnecessary drama or escalation. Here, the New Moon can encourage clear, direct communication, making you feel more confident in your own voice so you can say what you need to say. Just be sure to avoid being unnecessarily cruel, rude or aggressive if you can help it.

Saturn is associated with discipline, structure, patience and responsibility, acting almost as an opposing anchor to Aries’ need for speed. This can be frustrating if you don’t pause and work with the energy productively. Aries and Saturn can work splendidly together once you realize how to utilize both strengths and minimize their shadow aspects. Saturn’s influence acts as the brake pedal to Aries full throttle desire for acceleration, encouraging us to make sure our movement isn’t just movement for movement’s sake, but is intentional, sustainable, mature and rooted.

Neptune just entered Aries for the first time in more than 160 years, and Mars meeting it here creates a unique combination of intuition and action. In my earlier Neptune/Saturn in Aries essay, we already discussed the transition from Pisces watery dreaminess to Aries fiery awakening, so these themes may have you feeling a bit stuck in the middle as you find your footing between the old and the new. So if you’re feeling unsteady or confused, that’s part of the process. Aries doesn’t like to dwell for too long in the liminal, which is why you might be feeling overwhelmed, antsy, and have the urge to do something, anything, to move forward. This is part of Aries magic, though, if you breathe and allow yourself to flow instead of fight, using the fire as fuel to start moving even if you aren’t sure where it will take you. And that’s why this New Moon asks us to make our introspection active.

There is also tension in the sky from Pluto in Aquarius and Jupiter in Cancer, both of which are interacting with this New Moon. Pluto intensifies everything it touches and can reveal where our personal desires clash with collective pressure, social expectations, or the groups and communities we are tied to. Meanwhile, Jupiter in Cancer is holding up a magnifying glass to our desire for emotional safety, intimacy, belonging, and protection. Together, this can create a push and pull between the part of us that wants freedom and the part of us that wants security, between the future we know is calling us and the comfort of what is familiar.

Put it all together and what do you get? Well, a lot, but basically this is a time for thoughtful, deliberate action. That is why this New Moon is asking us to align our thoughts, words, intentions, and actions, to say what we mean, mean what we say, and stop pretending. You do not need a perfect plan, total certainty, or anyone else’s approval before you move forward, but you do need honesty and resolve, especially with yourself.

This New Moon asks where you are ready to stop circling, stop waiting, stop doubting, and stop abandoning yourself, and where you are finally ready to tell the truth, make the move, set the boundary, take the risk, or begin again. Healing may not look like sitting still right now, processing endlessly, or waiting for the perfect sign from the Universe. So strap in, because the New Moon in Aries on Friday, April 17th pours gasoline on the fire that’s been building for the past few months. Whether you think of this as one chapter ending so another can begin, a collective awakening, or a timeline shift, the energy is undeniable. Be bold, be brave, and become who you are meant to be.