John Godolphin Bennett (8 June 1897 – 13 December 1974) was a British mathematician, scientist, technologist, industrial research director and author. He is perhaps best known for his many books on psychology and spirituality, particularly on the teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff. Bennett met Gurdjieff in Istanbul in October 1920 and later helped to co-ordinate the work of Gurdjieff in England after Gurdjieff’s arrival in Paris. He also was active in starting the British section of the Subud movement, and co-founded its British headquarters.
March 2025 is a very important month – like VERY important. Neptune enters Aries – Neptune only changes signs once every 14 years! This shift by itself is so significant that it cannot be emphasized enough.
Not only will this completely reset the energetic landscape, but 0 degrees Aries – the very beginning of the zodiac – makes this an even bigger deal. Things are about to shift in major, undeniable ways.
If Neptune’s ingress into a new sign wasn’t already enough of a game-changer, March 2025 is also when eclipse season begins, and both Venus and Mercury go retrograde.
Expect fated events – whatever needs to happen to restore the karmic balance will happen.
This is not a time to be reckless or to simply shrug and say “c’est la vie” – but rather an opportunity to reflect on the bigger picture, connect the dots, and align ourselves with our true path.
Let’s take a look at the most important transits of the month:
March 2nd, 2025 – Venus Goes Retrograde
March 2nd, 2025, Venus goes retrograde at 10° Aries.
The retrograde starts at 10° Aries and ends at 24° Pisces, bringing focus to the 24° Pisces – 10° Aries area of the zodiac.
Venus retrograde periods are very important because they bring changes of heart and shifts in priorities. This is when we make up our mind (aka heart) on important matters.
This particular Venus retrograde is connected to the Venus retrograde cycles of March-April 2017 and March-April 2009, etc. – Venus retrograde revisits the same area of the zodiac every 8 years.
Some people, especially those with planets or angles in late Pisces and early Aries, may notice a repeating theme or pattern. If this is you, reflect on what was happening in your life during the previous Venus retrograde periods to note any similar themes.
One promising thing about this Venus retrograde cycle is that stationary Venus forms a sextile with Jupiter. This suggests that whatever work we need to do internally will help us grow and expand in meaningful ways. This is necessary work, and we will be thankful later.
March 3rd, 2025 – Mercury Enters Aries
On March 3rd, 2025, Mercury enters Aries. The shift from the last sign of the zodiac (Pisces) to the first one (Aries) is perhaps the most dramatic of all possible ingresses, and Mercury is no exception.
If Mercury in Pisces is intuitive, dreamy, and indirect, Mercury in Aries is bold, impulsive, and to the point.
We will feel the shift and embody that fiery, action-oriented energy – our thoughts will become sharper, decisions faster, and words more direct.
March 12th, 2025 – Sun Conjunct Saturn
On March 12th, 2025, Sun is conjunct Saturn at 20° Pisces. Sun-Saturn conjunctions are those moments in the year when we get a reality check. How we experience it – as a challenge or an opportunity – depends on our relationship with “reality.”
When you hear the phrase “reality check,” does it sound like something positive or negative?
The truth is, there’s nothing inherently “good” or “bad” about reality. Reality simply is. It’s up to us to understand it and recognize the role we play within it.
This deep understanding is, in fact, an opportunity – a chance to assess who we are (the Sun) and how our purpose fits into the larger structure of life (Saturn).
March 14th, 2025 – Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Virgo
Welcome to the Eclipse Season!
On March 14th, 2025, we have a Full Moon and Total Lunar Eclipse at 23° Virgo. What an incredible eclipse this is!
Firstly, it’s a total eclipse, which means it’s much more intense than a partial eclipse. We are going to feel this one deeply. It’s a South Node eclipse, meaning it’s more outcome-oriented, bringing resolutions that have been long in the making.
Then the eclipse forms tight aspects with other planets: a very tight opposition to Saturn (at 22° Pisces), and also a very tight, almost exact trine to Uranus (at 24° Taurus).
This speaks about a systemic change or a disruptive outcome that was long overdue and inevitable. The house of cards will collapse and what was unstable will finally find a resolution. The eclipse is also loosely sextiling Mars, which is positive signal of change.
There may be no turning back from the path we’ve been on, but there’s a whole new horizon ahead of us.
That being said, things may not be entirely what they seem. Just one day after the eclipse, its ruler, Mercury, goes retrograde – almost like a cosmic “wait a second” moment, forcing us to reconsider or revise the situation.
There’s more to the plot – more revelations, more developments. Stay tuned.
March 15th, 2025 – Mercury Goes Retrograde
On March 15th, 2025, Mercury goes retrograde at 9° Aries, which is just one degree away from where Venus went retrograde (at 10° Aries).
Needless to say, that part of our chart becomes VERY important. There is something significant that requires reflection, review, and reconsideration.
When there’s not just one, but two planets retracing the same degree in the zodiac, the message is clear: pay attention and take action – something here needs to be addressed.
March 17th, 2025 – Sun Conjunct North Node
On March 17th, 2025, the Sun conjuncts the North Node at 27° Pisces. The Sun-North Node conjunction is that once-a-year opportunity to connect with ourselves and our purpose.
Words like “purpose” are often overused to the point of losing their significance – but really, what could be more important than our individual purpose in life?
Yes, “purpose” is a broad term because it means something different for everyone. But this conjunction is the universe’s way of giving us a yearly chance to get closer to discovering what it truly is.
As the famous quote says: “The two most important days of your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”
March 19th, 2025 – Sun Conjunct Neptune
On March 19th, 2025, the Sun is conjunct Neptune at 29° Pisces. This transit is even more important since it’s part of the larger alignment with the North Node – so we’re really talking about a Sun-North Node-Neptune conjunction.
We already had the exact North Node-Neptune conjunction back in February; however, since both the North Node and Neptune move slowly, its effects may not have been fully accessible or clear at the time. The Sun will now make this personal. That purpose, that tingle deep in your soul, will be awakened.
It will be inspiring because with Neptune, nothing is too far off, nothing is impossible. It will be compelling because the North Node makes this vision impossible to resist and gives us the determination to pursue it.
No, this is not “just a dream.” Everything that we have ever built, achieved, or transformed was once a vision, a spark in someone’s imagination.
March 20th, 2025 – Sun Enters Aries
On March 20th, 2025, the Sun enters the first sign of the zodiac. Happy New Astrological Year!
This is when the cycle begins again, bringing a surge of fresh energy and momentum.
If you’re an Aries, you are naturally embedded in this energy of bold emergence and limitless possibility.
For all the rest of us, Aries season is an opportunity to press the reset button, embracing a renewed sense of optimism, initiative, and new beginnings.
March 29th, 2025 – New Moon Eclipse In Aries
On March 29th, 2025, we have a New Moon and partial Solar Eclipse at 9° Aries.
This New Moon eclipse is almost unaspected, with a loose conjunction to Mercury retrograde (at 0° Aries) and a loose sextile to Pluto (at 3° Aquarius). However, the eclipse ruler, Mars, is in great form – it trines the Saturn-Mercury-North Node-Neptune conjunction in Pisces and sextiles Uranus in Taurus.
The eclipse chart looks pretty good! This reinforces a message of hope – and the fact that Neptune moves into Aries literally the next day gives us the reassurance that while things are changing rapidly, the change is ultimately for our greater good.
March 30th, 2025 – Neptune Enters Aries
This is a big day – Neptune leaves its home sign of Pisces to move into the uncharted realm of Aries. This shift will bring major transformations, some of which may take many of us by surprise.
Literally minutes before the ingress, Neptune conjuncts Mercury retrograde at 29°59’ Pisces – a moment where a piece of information or insight could change everything.
Sure, Neptune is not Uranus, so we might not see an abrupt, shocking change – but with Aries, nothing is ever predictable, especially since this ingress happens right after an eclipse.
Yet, whatever it is, something will shift, and the impact will be so profound that it may take time to fully understand.
We can expect major global developments as well as personal shifts, since Neptune is moving into a whole new house in our natal charts. Whatever has been a dominant theme in your life over the past 14 years (as represented by the house Neptune was transiting) will now evolve into something entirely different.
We are entering a brand-new 14-year chapter – and the house where you have Aries in your chart will give you important clues about how this transit will unfold for you personally.
The 12 Houses – A Journey Through The Natal Chart
In The 12 Houses – A Journey Through The Natal Chart, we explore the 12 houses of the natal chart while tracking major transits together. Not only will you learn about the 12 houses, but you’ll also get to experience major astrological shifts – like Neptune’s entrance into Aries or Venus retrograde – in real-time.
Over the next 12 months, you will benefit from the expertise of highly qualified astrologers AND from the insights and shared experiences of other students. We’re in this together.
If you feel called, join us on this 1-year journey. Enrollment closes March 1st, 11:00 PM PST:
People attend a protest march against U.S. President Donald Trump and New York City Mayor Eric Adams in Manhattan’s Washington Square Park in New York City, U.S., February 22, 2025. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
The American press is “not equipped” to cover a true authoritarian strongman presidency like President Donald Trump is creating, warned Huffington Post senior White House correspondent S.V. Dáte in a dire analysis Wednesday.
“The Washington, D.C., press corps, used to playing small ball for small exclusives, has been suddenly thrust into a presidential administration that appears hell-bent on transforming our constitutional republic into something entirely different,” wrote Dáte. “For decades, the coin of the realm in political journalism was access. Who you knew determined what you knew, and especially what ‘inside’ information the people you knew were willing to give you.”
That kind of reporting can often lead to big scoops in a political environment where politicians play by the rules and care about norms and democracy. But it’s wholly inadequate for the beast the free press, and the American people at large, now face, he wrote.
“In the before days, if a reporter had the opportunity to get a new tax proposal from Mitt Romney’s campaign a day before he announced it, OK, whatever. If President Barack Obama’s campaign had some research they wanted to plant about Romney’s businesses, sure,” he wrote. “In the end, the source relationships that led to that genre of stories were harmless. Whether Obama won or Romney, the future of the republic was secure. That is no longer the case. Before our very eyes, Donald Trump and his administration, with what so far has been an extraordinarily pliant Republican Congress, are taking those exact steps that autocrats who were initially democratically elected take to consolidate power.”
The problem, he wrote, is that the old strategy requires reporters to schmooze with Trump loyalists who are working to undermine both constitutional rights and the free press itself, and that’s simply unsustainable. This is evidenced by Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s increasingly ruthless crackdown on any press criticism of Trump, from barring the Associated Press from using the name “Gulf of Mexico,” to decreeing the White House itself chooses who sits in the press pool — and kicking out the Huffington Post for asking Trump about Jan. 6 pardons.
White House reporters can no longer just fiddle while Rome burns, Dáte warned — they have to stop playing the old games and be straight with their readers about what is happening.
“Trump made clear what he thought of democracy when he tried to end it four years ago by trying to overturn an election he had lost. Far too many of us accepted the bargain to leave out that context in our coverage for the sake of access to Trump’s campaign and the chance for an interview,” he wrote. “That was then, when the idea of a nation careening toward autocracy might have seemed just a wildly remote possibility. It seems neither wild nor remote now.”
VATICAN CITY—Revealing that he had quickly distinguished himself at the four-day invitation-only event, Vatican sources confirmed Friday that Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, a 75-year-old American prelate with a 3-foot vertical leap, had emerged as the frontrunner in the Papal Combine. “The College of Cardinals has produced some strong prospects this time around, but Dolan’s basilica agility time of 10.8 seconds has made this his papacy to lose,” said Catholicism analyst Dave Hutchins, adding that high-ranking members of the Holy See hadn’t seen vertical prowess like Dolan’s since the legendary John Paul II era. “These cardinals have been training their whole lives for this, but when the whistle blows for the 40-yard baptism dash, Dolan’s leaving them all in the dust. That 3-foot vertical is putting him way closer to God than any of the other pontifex maximus hopefuls. Every drill they run, Dolan’s at the front of the pack. He’s swinging that censer the fastest. He’s weaving through those cones and glasses of sacramental wine without spilling a drop of holy water. This is a cardinal in his physical and spiritual prime, and frankly, it’s an exciting time to be Catholic.” At press time, Cardinal Dolan had reportedly dropped out of the combine after a blood test came back positive for Protestantism.
Ours is the age of authoritarian rulers: self-proclaimed saviors of the nation who evade accountability while robbing their people of resources and corroding or destroying democracy. Their mutual-admiration club also draws on models from the past. Vladimir Putin rehabilitates Soviet tyrant Joseph Stalin, Donald Trump praises Libyan despot Muammar Gaddafi, Jair Bolsonaro admires Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, and Recep Tayyip Erdogan invokes Adolf Hitler as the model of an efficient leader.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat covers a century of authoritarianism to explain why strongman rulers in Africa, Europe, and Latin America, drawing from a common playbook of machismo, propaganda, violence, and corruption, have found popular support even as they bring ruin to their countries. The fruit of decades of research, Strongmen gives readers insight into how such rulers think, who and what they depend on, and how they can be opposed.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat is an internationally acclaimed historian, speaker, and political commentator for the Atlantic, CNN, the Washington Post, and other publications. She is a professor of history and Italian studies at New York University and lives in New York City.
Consciousness, sexuality, androgyny, futurism, space, the arts, science, astrology, democracy, humor, books, movies and more
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