How much is enough?
How much do we actually need to be happy? Of course, this varies from person to person. But happiness research shows that in addition to necessary expenses, plus a little Extra, more money doesn’t really bring more happiness. It can provide more pleasure and comfort, but it’s not the same thing. Many people who are dying will give everything they have just to have a little more time.
as Venus square Jupiter (March 18, 2026, 9:09 AM PDT, 15° Aries 10′ Cancer) Take a moment to consider how many hours of your life (life’s most precious commodity) have been exchanged for things that don’t bring you much happiness. Let your desire for the latest, shiniest gadgets be influenced by Jupiter in Cancer’s preference for items that are old, inherited, or well-made enough to stand the test of time. And focus on things that make you happy and don’t cost a penny.
Sesame crisp variations
There was one daylight saving time morning when I felt a little groggy and wanted to have something different for breakfast. What sounds good? A quick mental scan finally came up with one result: “bagel.” I waddled over to the bagel shop and came home with a nice big bag full. When I texted my neighbor to offer her a breakfast, she was delighted: “I couldn’t face my usual breakfast this morning,” she said. “Now, it feels like the sun is coming out!”
As the old saying goes, “A change is as good as a break.” It’s amazing how much energy can be unleashed by the smallest changes in your daily routine. It doesn’t need to be anything dramatic; maybe it’s a different breakfast, a new route to work, takeout for dinner – just something different than usual.
Sun sextile novelty-loving Uranus (March 18, 2026, 1:20 PM PDT, 28°14′ Pisces-Taurus) Just a reminder embrace change. It doesn’t have to be chaos, but there’s no doubt that we’ll be cheered and excited by even the smallest, sesame-spiced changes.
start from ending
how do we understand new moon in pisces (March 18, 2026, 6:23 PM PDT, 28°27′ Pisces) The last sign of the zodiac, the one dedicated to letting go of old baggage and releasing attachments? How do we start over when we’re stuck at the end?
The delightful songwriter David Wilcox has a song that says, “Start with the end, which is the best place to start.” For example, he believes that a marriage might be much better if it started with a breakup, because by then, “there’s no pretense and the truth can be told with certainty.”
Closing and letting go are both a process. This is the new moon that starts the process, which starts with letting go of pretense and speaking your truth. Due to the lunar home cycle, the shelf life of each new moon is not just 29 days, but three years. We step onto the cliff and begin the long, slow fall—and this new moon has a lot to do with how we approach the process.
What a wonderful New Moon in Pisces, with the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Mars, and the Moon’s North Node all in this sign—and the Sun and Moon tightly conjunct Neptune in Aries! What you are, your feelings and thoughts, your worldly plans, your spiritual core – they are all holding hands, ready to take the leap.
Mercury is still retrograde in Pisces, bringing a flurry of questions, outbursts of curiosity, and distractions. How to fall into a dream of liberation when magpies are chirping in your ears?
Oh, I would like to remind you to let the old stories fade away. Block out those hurtful sounds. Ignore the screams. Decline to choose.
Focus on letting go. Focus on fall.
plow and seed
Look at a newborn baby—so fragile and defenseless. But think about what it just went through. The process of birth is bloody, sometimes violent, often dangerous, and honestly, it must be terrifying for a little new person to come to this planet. Look at that baby now and you’ll be amazed at its resilience. Listen to its loud calls and admire its ability to meet its needs even when it can barely see or even turn over on its own.
This week, Sun enters Aries (March 20, 2026, 7:46 AM PDT), a sign of new beginnings. Where does Aries (especially the first degree) fall in your birth chart? Here you are as fragile and resilient as a new thing. Here, you are brave and the pioneer who blazes your own path. You are the plow that prepares the soil, and you are the seed that is planted there. You are a newborn baby, the most vulnerable and powerful of all living things.
What’s for dinner?
Like many married couples, my husband and I spend a lot of time each day discussing what to have for dinner. On a recent day during Mercury retrograde, the negotiations began with delicious homemade vegan “clean bread.” It called for ricotta cheese so we went to the grocery store and accidentally bought cottage cheese. Back home we came up with a substitute but then couldn’t find a neat bread recipe. We turned to tomato pasta but found we didn’t have a favorite pasta recipe anymore. Finally, we were served an orzo, which we loved, but just as we started preparing it, the water filter pump started screaming for attention.
You get it. Classic Mercury retrograde events—wrong ingredients, missing files, technical glitches. Mercury goes retrograde three times a year, lasting a few weeks each time, and is mild most of the time but often intensifies.
This week, Directly connected to Mercury Station (March 20, 2026, 12:33 PM PDT, 8°29′ Pisces), ending the most recent retrograde period that began on February 25. When it wakes up and starts going its own way, maybe the recipe will come. If not, we at least have tomato pasta in the pantry. The water filter pump seems to be calm again. Now, life goes on.
Wild blue over there
When Mars trines Jupiter (March 21, 2026, 5:01 PM PDT, 15° 16′ Pisces, Cancer) All the detours you have taken along the road of life, all the different interests, courses, and projects that seemed like distractions, have all of a sudden led you down the path to something extraordinary. All roads converge, leading to a happy, broad future.
Mars in Pisces wants to keep success in mind; fortunately, Jupiter in Cancer provides exactly these rewards – rewards that can make you feel prosperous and cared for. If you’ve been struggling to build an emotional safety net despite setbacks and disappointments, help is at hand. You’ve made it past the abyss of despair, now it’s time to embrace the wild blue beyond.
kissed by soul
We are a species that longs, dreams, mourns, prays. Our awareness of death leads to a desire for spiritual understanding. Not only do we want to know what happens next to this world, we also want to understand why we, personally, are here.
as The Sun, symbol of personal divinity, conjunct Neptune (March 22, 2026, 4:18 AM PDT, 1°50 Aries), planet of faith and spiritual awakening, please heed this invitation to reunite with your personal creative source. By doing the things that make us shine, the things that open our hearts, the things that inspire us with love – we remember why we are here and feel kissed by the spirit.
Many of us wish to explore our creativity more fully, and a reunion with the source of creativity brings us into the realm of the Sun, the symbol of personal creativity. When the Sun splashes across Neptune’s powerful waters, it’s not a time to create art, but rather a time to absorb feelings, lessons, and sensations that awaken creativity and joy—these are then transformed into art that enhances relationships and makes us feel better about who we are.
Text and images © 2017-2026 by April Elliott Kent
