I’m getting married.

Not for the first time. My lover and I actually have done this before. About two years after our first date, we decided that we liked the idea of spending the rest of our lives together. So we printed up some lavender invitations, wrote wedding vows, and created a magical ceremony involving water, candles, feathers and precious stones. Our friends came and formed a circle around us, and one of our friends sang, “Gracias a La Vida”. Both sets of parents were there, even though my lover’s parents had to come all the way from Venezuela to Virginia.

And no, there was no presiding minister, although a good friend took the role of Mistress of Ceremonies and talked about our connection to the community. And no, no papers were signed. And no, our legal status didn’t change at all, although our hearts were changed.

So this one is different. This ceremony takes place in front of an elfin, smiling justice of the peace. (He likes marrying people, and doesn’t care what gender they are.) We have to sign a lot of papers, swearing that we aren’t married to anyone else and we aren’t related to each other. And we will be partners in a legal union.

There are quite a few perks. I can stay here in Germany legally, although my lover is the one with the established job. I will be covered by her insurance. I even get cheaper train tickets, since she has a Bahncard, a train discount.

It will happen on April 3, exactly twenty years after our first wedding.

Today, walking towards the train station in the rain, Marisol and I were joking that we should get married in a different country every twenty years. I have to admit that I’d like to go back to Virginia for the next one. It would be nice to be legal there. It seems like a dim possibility, true – but we never thought we’d be able to get married in Germany.

Things change. And in 2028, Pluto will be in revolutionary, experimental Aquarius. Who knows what could happen? The last time Pluto was in Aquarius, Simon Bolívar and Lucretia Mott were born, and the Bastille was stormed.

There is a lot of potential for change now, in March 2008. There’s the potential for both social and spiritual evolution. Sharp, bright Aquarius joins with soft, flowing Pisces, and these are the dominant factors in March. It doesn’t look like a placid month, but a time when some rarified forces come together for change. It’s an idealistic month: a time of dreams, cosmic imaginings, and enlightened ideas.

In the last few columns, I’ve spent some time describing the practical, minimalist influences that have appeared in late 2007 and early 2008. With Pluto, Saturn and Jupiter all in earth signs, we’ve all gotten a lot more grounded lately. We’ve all settled down into a new acceptance of reality.

But March is not all that earthy. These earthy influences form a frame around the Aquarius and Pisces influences, which simultaneously take us out into space and plunge us deep inside ourselves. Aquarius gives mental stimulation, a bright compelling hunger for truth. And Pisces touches us spiritually, and gives a yearning for universal connection.

Uranus has been going through Pisces for five years now, and Neptune has been going through Aquarius for ten years. But they’ve never stood out the way they do at this new moon (on March 7). Perhaps it’s the contrast with all those earth tones. Perhaps it’s the fact that these two outer planets are in the middle of a cluster of planets and bodies.

They are like two sages, each with its little crowd of devotees. Neptune is surrounded by Mercury, Venus, Chiron and the north node, while Uranus is next to the sun and moon. And each is in the sign ruled by the other. And so Neptune, the poet planet, preaches about change and truth and liberation, while Uranus, the rebel planet, preaches universal acceptance and holistic thinking.

Some of us will hear the Aquarian message more strongly, and work out our next radical move, joining with others to promote social and economic liberation. Some of us will hear the Piscean message more strongly, and will become more loving and accepting in the moment. Most of us will hear a blending of these messages. These two signs stand side by side in the zodiac, and there’s a natural progression between the truth of Aquarius and the universal love of Pisces.

But there will be some who don’t hear either of these messages. There will be some outsiders. The outsider image at this new moon appears in the opposition between Mars in Cancer and Pluto in Capricorn. Mars, the planet of anger, stands outside these two little groupings of devotees, and confronts the planet of power, Pluto. In Cancer, Mars is all about the need for security, for possession, for protection.

In the Washington DC new moon chart, Mars stands just above the horizon. Does Mars symbolize the endless war, or does it symbolize our anger at the way the war drains our resources? Is it the martial instinct, the attachment to a narrow and painful view of the world? Or is it our battle against state power which doesn’t support the interests of the ordinary family?

Either way, there’s a battle going on throughout March. And not far from the battle, there is the sound of chanting, of music, of brilliant conversation, and of new ideas crackling through the ether. Everyone flocks to where the two wise ones stand – Uranus in Pisces and Neptune in Aquarius – because they are the ones creating the future. They are the ones who take ideas and emotions and turn them into new possibilities.

When my lover and I sign those papers, one of those new possibilities will be realized for us. Twenty years ago, this was as unthinkable as the matter transporter on Star Trek. And now it’s happening. We take the enlightened social attitudes of Aquarius, we move towards the beautiful dreams of Pisces, and we end up revealing ourselves, becoming more fully ourselves, changing the world as it changes us.

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