April = Full Steam Ahead!

What a mixed up winter we've had! I've lived in Northeastern United States most of my life and can never recall flowering trees budding in March! Wow.

I truly cannot complain about the lack of snow and ice (compared to the prior winter) but the past few months I felt like I was living somewhere other than New England. The rest of the country hasn't had it so easy, though,with record tornadoes destroying parts of the midwest and south, and torrential rains in the Pacific Northwest. Even Hawaii had ten days of straight rain while a storm parked itself over the islands last month. After one of the driest winters ever, New England will be crying for some of that rain if we do not soon get some April showers. The weird weather since January, and especially this last month of March, only heightened the feeling that we've been stuck in alternate universe, a psychic quagmire, spinning our wheels.

So....I am really glad to say: April brings a completely fresh start. Leave winter behind and point your best foot forward. The planets are aligned to help you. This month sets us off to the right start as messenger planet Mercury turned direction motion yesterday. It has been circling back through the watery sign of Pisces. You may have felt like you had a low-grade fever or a fog filled your brain. Nothing you aimed to accomplish seemed to get done. However, with Mercury moving forward now, the fog occupying our minds lifts. Our judgment clarifies as a clear breeze blows across decisions to make. Our thoughts had a thorough housecleaning, and now are polished, ready to take up a new mantle.

Substantially helping this feeling, fiery planet Mars also turns direct on April 14th. Next week you will really start feeling more like yourself again. The kinks and knots in your system and life will smooth out like a traffic jam gradually unsnarling. Hooray! I know so many folks (including here on the home front) dealing with health concerns or tangles at work caused by Mars' reverse shift through practical Virgo. Animals or people who work with animals may have been particularly affected these past few months. The up side of our recent experiences is that we sure found out what did not work. And when you think about it, knowing what not to do is equally important as what to do. It gives us the opportunity to try what will work. Feeling the sting of "no", or rejection, is as they say, "one 'no' closer to 'yes'."

Now as the planets help us to move forward, mysterious ailments or scuffles at work (or a lack of work) will be clarified and remedied. All the while, Saturn has been making a beautiful angle to Neptune, giving us strength to carry on with our dreams. This dream-maker energy receives a tour-de-force boost at mid month when Mercury joins planet of surprise Uranus in fiery Aries, forming a terrific angle to the moon's north node. Pieces of yourself or your world that you seek to change are at hand. Feel the revolution within. Break free from the chains of habit. Toss out those rigid expectations and traditions foisted on you as a child or in your current relationships. It is true that where we are right now is precisely because of our choices. But as adults, we can also choose to be something else. Be that change you wish to see in the world. Then watch the ripple effect circle out from your being.

April 20-30 is the time to aim for precisely what you want and release your arrow straight toward your target. The Sun (our will) lines up with Pluto, planet of desire and transformation, and Mars to deliver the goods. Prepare to receive. Manifestation is yours. Just in time for the season of graduations and weddings. Funny how the cosmos works! Projects, in some cases, efforts we have worked on for a long, long time will come to completion. Ah, fruition. Stand up and take a bow. Raise your glass and celebrate the months and years of very hard work now finished. Well done! Then, bestowing grand celestial applause, the nurturing, emotional moon joins this earthy troika on May Day. Even as Mother Earth says a heartfelt, "Congratulations", she gestures for us to plant the seeds for our next venture....