The New Moon in Aries takes place today. The New Moon is time to launch new projects. Get your ideas out of the planning stage and into active motion.

This New Moon combines artistic and aesthetic refinement with intensity of purpose. The real highlight is the contact between Jupiter and Pluto. This is the success combination. Pluto is power, obsession, and drive. Jupiter supports business and helps us to establish a good, positive, rewarding life. This contact correlates with the positive moves we've seen economically over the past few days. But there's no reason to wait for external forces to move. This contact supports launching new projects and ventures. At a personal level, strive for the benefits of Jupiter. The Renaissance mystics felt that Jupiter's highest good was creating a life of moderation and joy. That's the energy we want to embrace for the next two weeks. But there are cautions to respect: Jupiter tends toward extravagance and excessive consumption, while Pluto can make power plays and strive to control others.

Communications with others is strongly supported right now: both in business and in personal relationship and family. Expand your network professionally and work hard to reach out to others in business. This network will help support you later this year when I suspect we'll be back in an economic funk. It's a great time to push through pending problems and questions.

With friends and family, create an environment where stories can flow and everyone can communicate freely. Artistic energies should flower too, so open yourself to aesthetic expression. Find new music and explore artists you've not been viewing. Grab those close to you and engage them artistically.

There'll be an undercurrent of stress, though, which I suspect carries over from the economic issues of our times. There may be rapid, unexpected changes emerge through this period. While this may be a good time for financial speculation, be very careful because of the risk of rapid reversals.

I've prepared a detailed report on every New and Full Moon this year. Check out my summary of 2009 just by registering at EvolvingAlchemy.com. You'll also find my new, personalized monthly report. While this article covers influences that affect all of us, the personalized montly report focused on your individual chart. Pick up a free first month's report by registering at EvolvingAlchemy.com.

Finishing my meditations this morning, a memory floated by. Under a redwood tree in 1991 a realization swept away years of problems in meditation. I was reading Thomas Cleary's translation of The Secret of the Golden Flower, a Chinese classic that blends wisdom both from Taoism and the Chinese Chan Buddhist traditions. It was the fourth section, titled Turning the Light Around and Tuning the Breathing:

On the whole, beginners suffer from two kinds of problems: oblivion and distraction. There is a device to get rid of them, which is simply to rest the mind on the breath.

The first moment sitting back in 1984 instantly acquainted me with distraction. If it wasn't the pain in my knees from the shock of sitting in an unfamiliar position, it was work. Or it was something that someone said that hurt me. Or it was my wanting to get up and move. My first teacher called it monkey mind: the distracted flitting between thoughts. Meditation was a direct attack on the fragmented tripping between disconnected thoughts. The real connection, of course, is all the thoughts were rooted in my conventional sense of myself as a disconnected, autonomous entity.

But what was the cure? My early teaching in Zen Buddhism from American monks tended toward the idea that real enlightenment is a state of narcotized tranquillity. But The Secret of the Golden Flower is clear:

Should one have no thoughts? It is impossible to have no thoughts. Should one not breathe? It is impossible not to breathe.

It's not getting away from it all, it's coming to balance. And the notion that no-mind means turning off the mind is ridiculous. The ideal in meditation is regulating the mind and self between the poles of distraction - monkey-mind - and oblivion where the spirit is detached and inert. Oblivion is actually more dangerous than distraction.

Distraction means the spirit is racing; oblivion means the spirit is unclear… Oblivion means the lower soul is in control… Oblivion is ruled by pure darkness and negativity.

In the Western Mysteries, the same metaphor exists. The sealed vessel is where the alchemist does transformative reactions. If the heat's too low, nothing ever reacts. That's oblivion. If the heat's too high, the pressure insight may cause the vessel to burst, releasing the virtue inside - that's distraction.

From the East or from the West, the secret is the same. Spiritual transformation occurs in the middle zone, where inner energies are alive, vital, and supple, but where the distractions of multiplied concerns do not disorient the real purpose - of attending to clarity.

Try an experiment! Grab a few minutes today for meditation. As you watch your distractions arise, drop your gaze downward and continue to follow your breathing. If you begin to become drowsy - oblivious - raise your eyes and breathe a bit more quickly. Learning to regulate inner states through the gaze and the breath is a key to all work with the Mysteries.

Here's an overview of the significant planetary influences over the week ahead.

* On the 29th and 30th of March: Plan to retreat a bit on these days to go within and receive intuitive insights and inspiration. Your focus should be inwardly directed rather than consumed in external busy-ness. Visions and new creative directions may open - but take care to evaluate them carefully. Illusions can disappear in the colder light of day. Purify your environment and diet; you may be more sensitive to environmental influences.
* On the 31st and 1st of April: Energies shift from the inward focus we've had onto partners. It's time to let relationships bloom. Explore the sensual: good food, good times with partners and friends. Let art open you to new understanding of your world. As always, it's possible to get carried away with too much consumption - so go easy and stay sensible.
* On the 1st and 2nd of April: Greater relationship intensity emerges as the week goes on. This can produce deep connections with others. Power plays and control issues may arise, though, so keep your cool. If you're an artist or creative type, let your creative juices flow and go!
* On the 3rd and 4th of April: It's time to turn the energy around again. Plan to switch your focus from relationships and external concerns back to your body. Reinvigorate your body with extra rest, gentle exercise, and excellent diet. Work situations may challenge your endurance, and you may feel the pressure to rebel against external authority. Stay balanced and keep your perspective.

Remember that these are general interpretations applicable to us all because of the overall planetary pictures that arise this week. But getting interpretations personally created for your chart is a snap at http://www.evolvingalchemy.com. When you join us - free of charge - you'll see detailed information for your own chart in straightforward language.

Have a great week!