Weekend Entertainment Guide 3/21/25
Aries Season, tax timing
As of March 20, the Sun is now in Aries. I’m waiting for Neptune’s ingress into Aries on March 30 for things to really start feeling refreshed, though. The current Mercury Retrograde will continue until April 7, and the current Venus Retrograde will continue until April 12. Then, from April 12 until May 4, when Pluto turns retrograde at 3°49’ Aquarius, no planets will be retrograde, so events could unfold more quickly during the second half of April.
Bad tax advice
One of my favorite Mercury Retrograde activities is looking through my old diaries to reflect on the past. I recently revisited an April 5, 2019, entry that captured my late father’s approach to acquiring tax forms. At the time, he was obsessed with the idea that the defined benefit pension plans associated with Oregon’s Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) violated several amendments to the US Constitution.
Doing taxes Dad-Style:
1. Drive around town unsuccessfully looking for IRS office to pick up tax forms.
2. Back home, look for IRS office in phone book.
3. Get distracted by nearby listing for US Attorney for the District of Oregon.
4. Call US Attorney’s office to discuss PERS. Make sure Eva overhears this while she is trying to e-file her taxes like a normal person.
5. At the US Attorney office’s suggestion, call the FBI to discuss PERS.
6. Go outside to do yard work. Tell Eva to answer the phone if the US Attorney or the FBI call back.
7. Have Eva print out the tax forms from her computer.
Better tax advice?
I often try to follow the common astrological saying that you should file your taxes when the Moon is void of course so that nothing will come of them. Julie Demboski explains the basic idea in a 2014 blog post: “Whenever you want to put something through a system and have it pass through with little problem and without drawing attention, then initiating the journey during the Moon’s Void is the right time.”
Lynn Koiner generally concurs but says that parallel and contra-parallel aspects, which have to do with declination, count as major aspects — a void of course Moon is a period of time in which the Moon does not make major aspects. I personally have never worked with parallel or contra-parallel aspects for determining when the Moon is void of course or for any other purpose.
Bonnie Gillespie says the activities to pursue or avoid during a void of course Moon vary based on the sign the Moon is approaching. By that logic, Gillespie advises to avoid filing taxes when the Moon is approaching Scorpio, or void of course in Libra. I have generally not thought about this type of thing too much myself.
Readers, do you have any experiences with astrological timing for filing your taxes, or with void of course Moon happenings more broadly? Please discuss in the comments. Of course, I am not a licensed financial professional.
Hot on Substack
, Aeries Ingress 2025Dorje Kirsten looks at the Aries ingress chart for the United States and sees multiple indicators of economic problems for the nation over the coming year.
, Aries Energy and the Mother of Pop AstrologyTouhey analyzes the natal chart of Linda Goodman, who had Aries Sun and Aries Rising.
, The eagle and the rattlesnake: Pluto and US global powerStenbacka reflects on the squares and opposition of transiting Pluto to the natal Pluto of the United States during the nation’s first Pluto cycle, as well as the recent US Pluto return.
, Are you sure/That we are awake?Simons recommends watching how your dreams change as Neptune, the planet of dreams, changes sign from Pisces to Aries.
, linear troubleZahrt comments on the raw energy of line drawings.
Free online event
Kepler College will host Astrology Day 2025: Hellenistic Astrology in Today’s World on March 22 at 9 a.m. Pacific. There will be three separate panel discussions: “Julia Child’s Double Life: From Spy to Chef, A Hellenistic Chart Analysis,” “Revisiting Time: Ancient Timing Techniques in Modern Practice,” and “Triple Consciousness of a Soul: Whitney Houston, Power and Peril of a Diva.” Register here.
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Rising sign wills are back!
For Pluto’s shift from Capricorn to Aquarius in November 2024, I asked readers to submit Rising sign wills — similar to the senior wills done at some schools where graduating seniors will things like favorite desks to students in the grade behind them. I’m doing it again for Neptune’s ingress into Aries! For example, if you have Libra Rising, and you have had Neptune in your 6th house since 2011, what lessons from that transit would you like to share with the Scorpio Risings who are going to have Neptune in their 6th house next? Email submissions to astrologybooks@proton.me, message me on Substack, or reply to the email version of this post with submissions in the form of, “I, [your name], a [your Rising sign] Rising, will to [the next Rising sign]. . .” I will print them next week.
Last summer, when I wrote a preview of Leo Season, in doing some research to find a native with a Mercury-Venus conjunction in Virgo, I not only found a good example in Julia Child, I learned a bit about her background as a spy, as well. Well, I don't remember if it was a spy precisely, but if memory doesn't double fault on me (again!), then I think she worked as a very impressive codebreaker for the British government within their intelligence services, so if that equals "spy," good enough for me.
Anyway, yes, I'm expecting after the rather confusing, turbulent energies of this strange blend of Aries and Pisces we've had over the past few weeks and will continue to have until mid-April, that second half of April should feel noticeably different.
Of course, as any good astrologer should say, "Only time will tell!"
Anyway, thanks, as always for the good write-up!