April Astrology

I’ve been trying to do things a little differently with astrology recently. There has been some sideways commentary that things are feeling pretty negative right now, and I agree. The world is a little messy and I can’t quite parse out if the world is newly negative, or if we are just more connected than ever and therefore the negativity can travel more fluidly than before. To be honest, I don’t know.

What I do know is that we are in a certain cycle that we have seen before. Albeit a very, very long time ago. Pluto hasn’t been in Aquarius since 1778. We still have Uranus in Taurus, last seen in 1775. Saturn took a spin through Pisces in 1788. If you look back, these particular alignments brought a lot of revolutionary, foundational changes. The Boston Tea Party (1775). The American Revolutionary War (1778). The ratification of the Constitution of the United States (1788). These were massive social changes for the times.

What we don’t often think about is what must have happened before these changes actually came to fruition. Imagine the frustration and disillusion with the system that inspired people to the Tea Party. Imagine the grinding heel of financial inequity coming down from the entrenched monarchical system that brought about the revolution. Imagine the emotional sea of action that made the Constitution birthed into being. Sound familiar? Are we here again?

In some ways, yes. In some ways, no. The river is the same, but the water is different, if you catch my meaning. We as a species have moved on from the space of the 1700s and we are being invited to take the next steps. What you feel now are the echoes of that time brought forward into this time. They are different even as they feel familiar. It means that we have done a lot of work, but there is still more to do.

Does that mean that this is a negative time? I don’t know. It feels pretty rough, I’ll say that. But it doesn’t feel impossible if we look at it over the timeline of humanity. There can be a certain comfort that we have been here before and we have upped our game pretty consistently. It may not feel like it when we only look at the here and now, but I think one of the great gifts of astrology is that it points out the reality that time exists in cycles and those cycles are ages, not years. It asks us to look up and in doing so, also look out.

So as we go through these times, try to remember that this era is but a drop of water in a long flowing river that leads to the ocean of time. All you can do is swim with as much dignity as you can muster, and with as much knowledge and foresight as you can gather. These points here, I believe, are opportunities to get that broad view and turn it into a map that lets you navigate with some grace. If the report sounds negative, try to think of it in the same way that a “watch out for alligators” sign is negative.

Knowing really is half the battle.

Apr 1—Moon in Leo trine Sun/Chiron/Jupiter/Sedna in Aries

This big ass Aries conjunction travels in some form throughout the month. Planets dip in and out, but the Sun, Chiron and Sedna remain pretty consistently tight. So you want to be aware that there is a lot of Aries kicking in your life at the moment. The themes here are independence, healing and betrayal; nobody gets a free pass. You will need to pay attention to the places that you chose to power through when someone hit you hard. You will need to see how you ‘just kept swimming’ when you should stop and simmer in it for a minute.

The Leo moon is giving you some great energy to feel your powerful self as you navigate these challenges. You have everything you need to face the healing, and you also have the creativity you need to do so in a way that is authentic to both the past you and the future you. You can’t do it the way anybody else can, nor should you. With this alignment, you won’t want to. And isn’t that a wonderful thing?

Apr 1-8--Sun/Chiron/Jupiter/Sedna in Aries square Pallas in Cancer

I mention this simmering aspect simply because it runs in the background counter to everything that the Moon trine brings. This is the part of you that is looking for solutions based on old training, traditional modes, or ancestral norms. The greater part of you knows that this isn’t the way, but you have to overcome the training and the ingrained habits. Pallas in Cancer likes to do things the way they have been done; it finds value in the old ways. That isn’t a bad thing, but it isn’t the thing to do right now. You must embrace the parts of you that want to strike out and do it the way YOU want to do it.

Know this is there and you are halfway to mastering the challenge.

Apr 04 — Mercury enters Taurus

Mercury in Taurus square Pluto in Aquarius

Moon in Virgo trine Venus/Juno/North Node in Taurus

This is a huge shift of energy that will literally feel like someone handed you a big, fat bowl of practicality. So where earlier in the week you wanted to run for you life to simply anywhere that was ‘better’ than here, now you really, really want to know where you are going, if there will be snacks, and when are the scheduled bathroom breaks.

Taurus asks us to slow down, get in connection with our earthly needs and to be present in the sensual moment. What are five things you can see, touch, hear or feel right now? These simple realities will ground you into a place where you can understand what it is that you really need. When Mercury enters Taurus this behaviour becomes very intellectualized, which helps you to organize yourself in a tangibly functional way.

Deep down, this whole transit is rooted in money. Sing with me now, Got my mind on my money and my money on my mind. Flo Rida had it right for these times, y’all. This Virgo moon helps you make your money while the Venus is Taurus tells you how to spend it in a way that feels safe for you. Think about your future. Think about your money as a partner in this future. Think about saving your money in a way that lets you prepare for the future and also enjoy today.

Additionally, the square with Pluto in Aquarius blows this out. It will be too blown out, which makes it exceedingly uncomfortable. You will take in too many variables and try to reconcile too many things in an effort to meta-organize and ground/expand. Stop. Don’t do that. Get the big picture and then divvy it up into actionable, bite sized pieces. Pluto will have you all the fuck the way out there—in some ways that is so good—but it will also make functioning through Taurus really fucking hard. Taurus wants to build, Pluto wants to deconstruct. How do these things fit together for you?

More importantly, how do they fit together with you and your money?

Apr 05 — Mercury in Taurus opposition South Node Rx in Scorpio

Once you start thinking about your money and being in relationship with it, the gremlin of past karmas jumps out of the closet and moons you. Try not to be startled or chagrined by what that ass is showing you about past you. Instead, choose to laugh and learn. You are moving on now. See, integrate, forgive, heal and change. Karma can be cleared with awareness, and the dharma that awaits you is one of security that is authentic to what security means to you.

Do the work and the work is done. Its that easy.

Apr 05/6 — Full moon in Libra

Moon in Libra trine Hygiea in Gemini

Moon in Libra opposition Chiron/Sun/Jupiter/Sedna in Aries

This full moon is a mixed bag. It has lots of healing built into it, and has the potential to clear a lot of mental operating paradigms that have become outdated. You can make this as easy or as hard as you want it to be, which is somewhat of a theme this month. Libra asks you to find balance and grace; the moon gives you the heart to do it. In that way, there is a lot of space to wrap up any issues you may have with your relationships in a way that is good for the mental health of all involved.

Hygiea makes this a holistic process, so you may feel compelled to do a really robust healing ritual. The energy of the Chiron conjunction will put a lot of flame beneath the concepts of “me” vs “we”, which helps with this all around, but can inspire some intensity that can be challenging. You may find that if you set this balance up now, however, that when things start to compress later in the month, you have a stronger foundation to stand on.

Apr 07 — Venus in Taurus trine Ceres Rx in Virgo/ Pluto in Aquarius

Ceres is pretty content in Virgo, given that the sign truly supports the act of mothering. It sees all the details and offers compact ways of executing for maximum benefit. What is interesting about this trine is that it offers two types of support (Ceres/ Venus) in two very supportive signs (Virgo/Taurus). Both planets and both signs together create this loving foundation that is truly and utterly grounded in the concept of support.

So examine that. What does support mean to you? How does feeling supported help you to mother both yourself and others? If you were truly supported in a fashion that works for you, what would you do to grow and elevate? How can we all receive the support that we need in the way that we need? These are the gifts that this Aquarius Pluto brings to the trine. Remember, this Pluto blows things out.

This particular moment in time is a call to be honest, determine what we really need, and then ask for it in a way that enriches both the receiver and the giver. Win-win. The hope is that by laying down this blueprint for yourself, you can show others the way to do the same.

Apr 9—Moon in Scorpio trine Pallas in Cancer/ Neptune in Pisces

Leading up to this, we have seen a call to do a lot of work that brings balance, support and authentic security to ourselves and others. This Aquarian thinking has been all over the board even as the work has been intensely personal, or Taurean. The astral processes (Aquarius) are working hard to create stable new reality in earth (Taurus).

Where this trine here weighs in is in the heart, or in the water. We could call it ‘in the feels’. Scorpio reveals the depths, the poles of both agony and ecstasy. It strips away the secrets and literally lays the beating heart out believing that deep truth is the best path to healing, and that healing can’t happen in the dark. So be prepared for that; you’ll feel a little exposed.

On a meta level, this exposure is happening to that Cancer Pallas which is rooted in tradition, or the old ways. Your (our) ancestral wounds are going to be pulled up to the surface and laid bare. You have to see them. You have to own them. You have to transform them. This isn’t about banishing them or labeling them as bad. Not at all. You have to heal them by transforming them into something better. This is the work of the Neptune in Pisces.

Neptune rules Pisces, and Pisces is all about dissolving back into the source. At its core, it asks you to bring all of your human separateness back to god so that you can become one with all that is. At this moment, that dissolution is of the secret shames of your past, the lessons you learned from your ancestry that never should have been taught. You are here right now to return them to the sea, to hand them back to god, and to dissolve the hold they have on you.

Big healing, y’all.

Apr 12 — Venus enters Gemini

And now we lighten up. Lighten up! Hopefully you have taken the opportunities of the last few weeks to get down and dirty so that when you finally say, “enough!”, you can do so from a place of levity. Venus in Gemini is fun, communicative, flirty and sassy. Its a good time to get out there and just have a good time for the sake of having a good time. The work never ends, so when you have these breaths of light you have to take them and love them and feel the simple joy of them. That’s what a Gemini Venus can teach you: the real simplicity of joy.

So go get laid, ffs. And don’t overthink it.

April 13-- Moon in Capricorn square Vesta in Aries

This Vesta has been a quiet engine in the background for a while. It has been dipping in and out of conjunction with the massive Sun conjunction we have seen and been working with all month. Interestingly, it hasn’t been overtly impactful until just now, which doesn’t mean that it hasn’t been contributory, just that it hasn’t been up in your face.

Vesta in Aries is a fat double dose of independence. Vesta denotes a spiritual style of independence, one that is rooted in belief, dedication and cause. In Aries, it lends these characteristics to the self, meaning that you have been really dedicated to making certain that you are honouring yourself, your needs and your values. Its a good thing. Sometimes Aries Vesta can take this a little far, which makes it really, really potent. Potent verging on dangerous if you don’t recognize and balance the drive. (That Libra Moon really helped with this)

Capricorn has a similar orientation, but with a wholly different tone. Vesta is independent; Capricorn can be selfish. Vesta is dedicated; Capricorn is driven. Vesta is aloof; Capricorn can be cold. Remember that Capricorn is ruled by Saturn, and Saturn is more interested in results than feelings. So when the Moon dips into Capricorn it gets a little frosty. When that moon squares up against this Vesta, we start to see a struggle emerge between evolutionary, spiritual independence and calculating self-advancement. Be aware of when you cross the line and try to keep a spiritual eye on yourself. Are you behaving in service to your highest self, or to your small self?

Go high, people. Go high.

Apr 16 — Vesta enters Taurus

This Taurus Vesta is more tightly aligned with devotion and strength, making it feel much more manageable for the times we are in. This particular shift of Vesta is a call to plant seeds both literal and figurative, get grounded in your new reality, and tend to your foundation with dedication and devotion. It teaches you how to work an element of your faithful spirit into even the most practical and mundane of all tasks. Your work is your offering to your life, so you are invited to behave that way for this transit and see the difference that makes in your daily life.

Apr 18 — Chiron in Aries square Mars in Cancer

Be careful here, alligators ahead.

As we’ve talked about before, this Chiron is asking you to face your wounds and not to run away from them as if they are insignificant. They aren’t. So much of this month has to do with where we admit that we aren’t fine, show the wound to the sun and then learn what we need to heal that wound. It takes a breathless amount of honesty and vulnerability. But that’s the work.

Mars in Cancer doesn’t like that type of action. It likes to take action in the closet, away from the eyes of others. It doesn’t like to be seen as weak, so it admits no weakness. But healing requires “weakness”, so you will find that you may be shutting yourself down. Be aware, if you do this, if you shut it down and refuse to own the wound, there is an attack setting that will get activated.

You will be the asshole. You will operate in defense mode. And you may cause more damage than you need to, or put your healing journey back a few steps. This isn’t an awesome space, y’all. But if you know, if you are willing to be uncomfortable and put your healing above your pride, you will find that huge changes are waiting for you.

If I were you, I’d take the opportunity to open this door to vulnerability so that it doesn’t get blown open for you with the New Moon just around the corner.

Apr 19/20 — New moon solar eclipse in Aries

Buckle up. Put on your goggles. Pop a beer and throw up your hands to scream WOOOOOOOO!!!

I do hope you have been doing your work, because this New Moon is a chunk of C4 on the door of whatever is blocking you from moving forward in your life. Its happening, and its happening now. There is a massive amount of fire energy and new start energy today. It is the Flaming Ace of Rods, here to both light it up and also light the way. So this is big stuff to work with.

As we go forward from this point, you will have to stay on your toes and balance the fine blade between rebel with a cause and anarchist without a clue. This aspect can slip into rage and vengeance in the quest to force the change instead of allowing the change to be birthed naturally. Just like with any birth, you will have to learn when to push and when to rest. You have to know what you are doing, why you are doing it, where you are in the process, and what you hope will come from it. This moon is a push, and a big one at that; in a few days will be a rest. Inside those rest periods, you have to remember the intensity of this particular contraction to understand what you will need for the next push. Birthing is a wave, and once you have started you don’t actually get to stop. But you do rest in the troughs of the waves, so please don’t let the intensity of this moon cause you to believe that you have to GO GO GO all the way until the whole thing is done.

Or that anything is ever actually ‘done’. The best we can hope for is a completion of a certain stretch, and it really feels like this moon here is giving you that marker. Is it the final push for you? That’s possible. Is it the beginning for you? That’s also possible. It all depends on where you yourself are in this collective birthing journey. That determination is something that should feel very easy if you have been keeping up with your process.

If not, well then, surprise! Don’t run from the crocodiles on the other side of the door that just blew up, they are surprisingly fast.

Apr 20/21 — Sun enters Taurus

Sun in Taurus square Pluto in Aquarius

Usually when we move from Aries to Taurus there is a sense of breath. Like we all somehow settle down from the full bore pace of Aries and move into a more manageable gait. Taurus allows us to get our priorities straight, focusing in on things that we can taste, touch, smell, feel and build upon. Taurus is fixed earth and as such, asks us to ‘fix our earth’.

However. Fuckety fuck, however.

The Sun and Pluto have been having a South Philly fuck you, no, fuck YOU for a good long while now and that isn’t letting up for at least another week. Taurus doesn’t like being told what to do, and it especially doesn’t like being told that what it does is outdated, outmoded, and basically a facet of the matrix. That pisses it off big time. This then brings out the darker aspect of Taurus which is a stubbornness that is second to none.

What does that mean in real time? Well. Basically, you won’t tolerate anything delivered in top down fashion. You’ll get real pissed off real fast and trench in, hanging on to your ideas and opinions as if they were delivered straight from the mouth of Jesus himself. There will be no swaying you to the other side, even if you are wrong, wrong, wrong. So maybe we don’t stand on any soapboxes, or start any debates for the next several weeks.

Because this shit doubles down for the rest of this week, and lingers throughout the whole Mercury Retrograde, which starts….tomorrow.

Apr 21 — Moon in Taurus conjunct Uranus in Taurus square Hygiea in Aquarius

Sun in Taurus conjunct Jupiter/ Sedna in Aries / Vesta/ North Node in Taurus square Pluto in Aquarius

Mercury stations to retrograde in Taurus

I seem to have classic hip hop artists as my muses right now, because all I can hear when I look at this massive parade of planets is Sir Ice Cube. Chickety check yo’self before you wreck yo’self….Sing it with me now.

This is that resting trough we talked about with the New Moon, and it is the first place where you need to stop pushing and take a good long look at how you have been going about this whole thing. That big as fuck conjunction we dealt with in Aries is splitting halfway into Taurus which is majorly splitting your resolve. Half of you wants revolution now and is willing to do what it takes to make that happen. The other half….doesn’t. You know that changes need to happen on a collective, meta level. But you also know that you don’t want to live in a post-apocalyptic, no-grid world where you can’t get a chalupa at 2 am if you so desire. So there needs to be some creative thinking here.

Unfortunately, the moon is also joining this Taurus party right now so you feel pretty lazy. Kind of fat cat sleepy lazy where the couch is cozy, your belly is full, and someone loves you enough to let you have more than your share of the fuzzy blanket. So rocking the boat doesn’t seem smart. But at the exact same time, you know that the boat is sinking anyway and a smart cat would get off of it and find higher ground before the damn thing dumps you in the drink. But getting to higher ground involves getting wet and actually swimming, and right now kitty is warm and remind me why I want to be wet? See the dilemma? Your awareness and your heart are in very different places

Furthermore, bloody Mercury stations today to retrograde, also in Taurus. So your head isn’t truly in the revolution game, even as you sense that a personal revolution is coming whether you want it or not. Winter is coming, but all you can think about is what you want for breakfast. Higher level executive processes about changing the way you manage your earth doesn’t feel easy and it won’t feel easy for the next three weeks. So check yourself. Don’t make those big moves, especially if they deal with your earth, aka your money. Don’t change your job (unless you set it up before this). Don’t sell your house (unless it was settled before this time). Don’t sell your investments or move banks. Stay the fuck put until you have a chance to check these impulses against your higher processes.

There will be another wave of changes, you can bank on it. But this moment right here is the time to sit on the couch with a Big Gulp and get a real clear view of what you want from revolution and what you actually want to preserve from the matrix. Then when it comes time, you can maneuver correctly.

Apr 25 — Saturn in Pisces trine Moon in Cancer/South Node Rx in Scorpio

Hopefully, this water trine will seal in some of the lessons from this leg of your journey. We have seen a number of smaller aspects between these planets all month, so it isn’t as if the trine suddenly jumps out at you. That South Node and Saturn have been dancing for weeks now, showing you how to move on from your shit so that you can start living the life you dream. Saturn lends a seriousness to this process that the South Node can appreciate. Saturn also isn’t a delicate flower, so the harsh awarenesses brought up by a karmic point in Scorpio don’t sting the way they could. Together they are helping you to ‘knuckle down’, rather than turn away.

Interestingly, once the Cancer Moon joins this party, its sensitivity opens up the last few petals needed to integrate this process. The natural intuitiveness of this Moon placement will help you to find just those last few places that had been hidden. Let it happen; process it however you must. The trick with this trine is to allow it all to float up instead of digging for it. Trust me, that which comes to the surface is exactly the thing you need to move forward.

Apr 28—Moon in Leo sextile Venus in Gemini

So look. This is a minor aspect, and there are a lot of other things going on this day that we could talk about. But don’t you think this month has been enough? At some point all work and no play makes Jack a homicidal nutjob, so maybe we consciously take the day off from the work and just enjoy what is out there.

You are so blessed in so many ways, no matter how hard things may be. Remember, we all chose to be here. We elected this life. And whatever karmas or dharmas you may be pursuing, no matter how severe, we must always take time to remember the maya, or the play. This life we are in is a giant play, so...play. Be creative. Be social. Visit friends. Pet animals. Eat good food and have witty conversations. One must tend to the garden of earth in order to harvest its delights.

So take this day and do just that thing, whatever it may mean to you.