Are you coming or going: April's major gear shifts

April is notoriously a powder keg of a month.  Three, two, one, KABOOM.   The Sun in fiery Aries often triggers impulsive or volatile acts.  April 2017 is no exception.  Added to the usual combustible energy is an inordinate amount of planetary gear shifts, both retrograde and direct motion.  The month opens with three planets in the Warrior sign, in the beginning, middle and latter stages of Aries, ramping up the dynamic that much more and just to make sure all the bases are covered!

Aries at its best is terrific for initiating anything:  projects, ventures, relationships.  The caution (and there is always a caution) is finishing what Aries energy starts.  Bright, brash and brave?  You bet!  Considered, thoughtful or reflective?  Hardly.  Aries is essential energy to push forward, enter spring, into the true New Year as the ancient world understood and celebrated on the Spring Equinox. 

With the Sun (our will), Radical Uranus and Venus (love and money) all fired up in Aries, we may rush headlong into life.  Venus in particular is at a flash point degree of Aries and choices made now regarding relationships, purchases and investments need a greater degree of scrutiny than you may feel inclined to spend.  Meanwhile, Generous Jupiter exactly challenges Transformer Pluto during the first week of April, further inciting our inner flame thrower.   Mind your words and deeds now.

Enter Mercury and Mars in pragmatic Taurus.  Taurus wants to know what its Return On Investment (ROI) will be for any effort made.  Wants to know what it’s getting for its hard-earned dollar.  A good deal, sure.  A treasure to be admired, even better.  A relationship/partnership or venture to last a lifetime:  now you are talking.  These are questions of worth.  Value.  So in your rushing around, Messenger Mercury and Motivating Mars (how we think and act) in practical, earthy Taurus pushes us to stop and ask:  what’s in it for me?   Don’t be shy.  Step right up and find out what you are actually getting into here.  Really.  Are you getting the best value? Does he/she/this company/group truly understand your worth?   What is the long-term gain of this idea and product?   Inquiring minds (Taurus) want to know.  For certain.  Supporting this closer look are two super helpful angles:  the Lunar North Node in analytical Virgo to Messenger Mercury (how we think) and Mars to Pluto in Capricorn, matching our actions and desires.

The North Node is our directional compass, True North.  Paired with Mercury, it prompts:  forget the flashy packaging, how will this relationship, job offer, purchase, project serve you next month, next year, for the rest of its (and your) life span?  All the while Transformer Pluto and Motivating Mars pump up the power, the moxy, to get under the hood, buy the right products to plant and invest for maximum growth and establish firmest foundation.  We are, after all, in the season of planting.   And these four energies (North Node, Mercury, Mars and Pluto) do not mess around.  In earth signs, they are straight shooters in word and deed.

With this framework, April moves under way.  It wastes no time doing so.  That gear shift?  It starts now.  Sagittarius Saturn, Lord of Dharma and Karma, turns retrograde motion on Wednesday, April 5.  Unlike the inner planets, the effects of Saturn’s inward motion is more subtle.   Saturn is about lessons, making sure you understand the lesson at hand, now, what you are experiencing here today.  In educational Sagittarius, Saturn’s internal direction offers a review, one more chance to make sure you have learned and understood.  We are especially reminded now that earth is one big school.  Are you making the grade or giving less than your best effort?  If the latter, face the consequences.  Saturn is the Teacher via current events and Sagittarius is the Truth and the Law.   The Truth will set you Free.   But only if you are honest, do the work, tell the whole Truth. There are no shortcuts or escape hatches.   With Saturn retrograde, you have yet another opportunity to show you’ve mastered the material, learned the lesson.  This is a period of tests and examinations for us all.   Watch for yours.  You will know when it is Test Time.  Presenting itself to you might be:  an uncomfortable moral dilemma, a choice to speak up for someone who cannot do/speak for themselves, facing your fears, accepting an opportunity to expand your horizons/grow and evolve…or choose to stay small, safe, tucked away in what you already know.

What will you do?  Just remember:  grow or stagnate. 

The start of the following week Sunday April 9^th, Messenger Mercury also turns retrograde.  This actually helps the internal review process aforementioned.   The next three weeks, until May 5^th, is a time to review, reflect and renew.  Re-member all the RE words during Mercury retrograde.  Use the rest of April to Re-search any new products or proposed commitments to buy/invest in.  After May 5^th, go for it. 

Mercury’s inward motion occurs just two days before the Full Moon in Libra on April 11^th.  While we do have significant planetary earth and water energies to temper the planets fired up in Aries, this is a LOADED Full Moon.  Radical Uranus conjoins the Sun, acting like a match to gasoline opposite Libran Jupiter and the Moon (oversizing emotions/relationship/attachments) while Capricorn Pluto hovers in between triggering both pairs.  In other circumstances, Libra is about temperance, balance and detachment.  However the stress of these angles may prove way too much for some.  A gentle reminder in the raw, hyper-charged days leading up to the Full Moon (especially with Messenger Mercury switching gears):  listen, pause and think before replying.  Walk around the block to clear your head, exercise, write, release the volcanic energy you feel rather than taking it out on loved ones or co-workers.

You’ve got this.

On the following Saturday, April 15, we get a reprieve.  Venus turns direct motion, emerging as a Morning Star.  For those celebrating, this event arrives in time for Easter.  Venus moves forward in Pisces which she backed into the first part of April.  Surrender to the flow, the universal ebb and tide, with overflowing gratitude and grace.  Conjoined to the healer Chiron and making a lovely angle to Motivating Mars and Nurturing Ceres in Taurus, we are afforded ample opportunity to repair damage to our lives (whether self-inflicted or harmed by others), or to offer a wealth of healing, help and service those who need it.  This is exceptionally compassionate energy, April 14-18.  Love, love, love.  Plant what you seek to grow, let the light shine in and out, experience OM…your personal call to prayer and creation, be one with the Universe and Universal Mind.  This is truly the energy of redemption.  What do you seek to redeem?   It is just lovely for Easter celebrations and the conclusion of Passover week.

This energy stays with us for an entire week, through April 21^st and we will need every bit of it as the largest cosmic gear shifts occur one right after the other.   Hold on to your gratitude and grace!  First up on April 20^th, power house Pluto turns retrograde motion in Capricorn.  Still challenging Jupiter in Libra, watch for break downs in negotiations, discussions or matters you thought were resolved, stepping away from relationships and deals of all kinds.   The very same day, the Sun (our will) changes signs, moving into earthy Taurus, conjoined to Messenger Mercury.  Again, the alignment of our thoughts and will in such a practical and grounded sign, greatly neutralizes the powder keg that can be April. 

It certainly diffuses tension, and, beautifully aligned to the Lunar North Node in Virgo, fosters the Pluto retrograde desire to detach and review what is on our plates.  April 20-23 is truly a time for second thoughts, careful planning and preparation rather than a major thrust forward.  Ask:  what are you missing?  Have you been completely thorough in your work?  Have you asked enough, the right questions about a possible purchase, relationship, venture, project?  Helping you probe into all aspects of your horizons is Motivating Mars’ shift into curious Geminii.  The first of the air signs, Geminii is purely mental energy, versatile and flexible.  It is exceptionally good at information gathering. 

Challenging the Virgo North Node and Pisces South Node, you may feel pushed and pulled, not know if you are going or coming, or which way is up or out.  Use this energy to process all sides of the matter at hand.  What direction do you want to go?  Which avenue is the healthiest and most productive to pursue?  What do you want, need, to know?  Do you have enough or the right kind of information?  What is the data telling you?  This is very cerebral stuff, not emotional or touchy feely.  Best to detach and evaluate during the final ten days of April.  If you are trying to problem solve in any way, take occasional breaks to clear your head in a way you know works for you:  a woods walk, drive in the car, sleeping on it, listening to music, exercising, or talking it out with someone you trust who can lend understanding.

 It is amazing what comes of stepping out of the mental melee for an hour, day or two, to glean fresh insights.  We forget this in our modern instant messaging era.  Space and time are tremendous antidotes.  The caution with this Mars/Geminii-North Node/Virgo mental energy is getting way too wrapped around the axel, losing sleep over something, getting stressed out then boiling over emotionally and verbally.  With Messenger Mercury-Radical Uranus conjoined, this is very possible indeed.   So before you lose control, step back from the heat of the moment to maintain calm, peace and quiet.  You can accomplish a lot with this energy by applying intentional thoughts to action positively.   Refrain from sinking down into the mental rabbit hole of what ifs.  Stop.  Just stop.  Think of the best that can happen, all of the good, healthy scenarios…not the worst.

Did you know that being calm, the state of peace, is in fact the highest emotional state a human being can achieve?  Not joy, bliss, happiness, eureka… but calm.  Why?  Because from a place of tranquility, when our thoughts and mind are calm, we think more clearly and rationally… and can then make choices that best serve us.

Good to know as we celebrate the New Moon in Taurus on Wednesday, April 26.  In the Northern Hemisphere, we feel and see the signs of Spring.  Tis the Season for planting, increasingly spending time out of doors and in natural settings.  Make your New Moon wish list:  hand write about five desires you want to achieve in the next month, season or year.  Plant your wishes in the warming earth or cast them into a moving body of water.  Then step back like a mother sending her children off to school.  Let them go.  Let them grow.

Of Special Note:

I am offering my class “Creativity and Moon Cycles” on Thursday, April 27 at 6:30 pm at Newton South HS Library, Newton Massachusetts.   Think you are not creative? Or, experiencing a block in creativity?  Come learn how you connect to your creative engine, develop ideas and bring them into full bloom.   This class teaches what inspires you and how to effectively access your creative flow.   To register, please go to:  www.newtoncommunityed.org or call 617.559.6999 and reference “Creativity and Moon Cycles”.  Course fee is $49 for three hour course.

The Surge Forward

Feeling dreamy?  Foggy?  Crystal clear?  Inspired?  Sleepy?  All of the above?

March begins in a Neptunian wonderland as the Sun makes its annual conjunction to Neptune on March 1^st.  This watery outlying planet rules the highest and lowest of humanity:  the saints and sinners, the glamorous to the guttural; mysticism and mysterious malaise.  Somewhere in the middle resides the truth, the facts, the actual essence of life.

Neptune and its sign Pisces increasingly infused our cosmic landscape and lives as February drew to a close and March commenced.  Rather than dominate (as would Taurus or Aries), gentle Pisces and Neptune wash over us, alluring, inspiring, tantalizing us with imaginative solutions, fantasy, the possible.  There is a reason it rules extreme polarities of human behavior:  It is a test of human judgment to cut through life’s fog, discern what is real from what is not, fact from fairy tale.  Those born with challenging aspects to Neptune may often spend a lifetime addicted, pursuing escape promised by any given drug (power, sex, money, and substances), or in a hazy confusion. Those with good, or no aspects, to Neptune may be possessed of pristine insight, artistic gifts and deep healing abilities.

Neptune and the sign it rules Pisces are so often misunderstood.  This energy may prompt dense misunderstanding if we do not slow down, take time to sort through details, give ourselves over to the source, root cause of the matter at hand.

Take for example the recent Academy Awards announcement for Best Picture which took place under a Piscean eclipse.  Pisces and Neptune rule fantasy, Hollywood, image….Warren Beatty was handed the wrong envelope to open and paused when he read the incorrect printing; instead of believing his eyes, asking for clarity...where is the envelope for Best Picture? to avoid the whole debacle, he and Faye Dunaway were eager to "get on with the show", rushed to judgment and a major (or minor, depending on your viewpoint) error occurred.

Extend this scene to your own life:  where do you rush to judge?  Your job, co-workers, your neighbors, partner, children, personal health or finances?  Popping a pill with the desire to make the pain go away (or any other quick-fix cover), rather than hitting pause, taking time to sort through what is real, what is not, sourcing out the truth, will only lead you in circles until you run into yourself.  “Wherever you go, there you are” says the title of a wonderful book by Jon Kabat-Zinn.

Neptune and Pisces are water.  What do we see in the water?  Our reflection.  Ourselves.  Do you like what you see?  If not, how do you go about changing your image?  What is on the inside reflects on the outside.  If your interior is not clean and whole (notice I did not say perfect), then your exterior will not present, reflect, as clean, whole, honest, real, true. 

Pretenders take note.

And so it is with this steep dose of Neptunian energy that we wade into March.  We'd prefer to day dream; but to the contrary, we feel positively pushed, internally incited to DO on Day 1 of March.  Despite the Pisces Sun-Neptune pairing, an abundance of fire dominates the cosmic force field.  Serious Saturn in Sagittarius aligns beautifully with Motivating Mars and Change Agent Uranus in fiery Aries.  This combo says change and change now.  Like a match to gasoline, the emotional Moon joins Venus in this active Aries mix on March 1^st.   All things are possible.  Don’t like what you see in that Piscean reflecting pool?  No time like today to get going.  Make your move.  For some, this energy will feel like standing in a swamp or strong ocean waves, fighting to move ahead one step at a time.  Our feet (Pisces) get pulled down and under with each step and yet we push on, driven by tasks and to-dos.

Tempering our rush to pull the trigger is Generous Jupiter in judicious Libra.  Playing tug of war directly opposite Mars/Uranus, Jupiter's placement is all about temperance, evaluating your options carefully before deciding how to move ahead.  Also helping us to clarify and discern reality is Mercury in Pisces.  Take a moment to meditate, pray if you like, ponder your situation.  Ask your inner authority for insight.  The answers (contrary to popular belief) reside within you, not externally.  Messenger Mercury in mystic Pisces says “follow the trail of breadcrumbs to find the answers.”  It is a magical journey if you allow.

Then, on March 4^th, Venus turns retrograde motion.  Talk about hitting the pause button.  Wow.  Every eighteen months the planet of love, money and relationships shifts into reverse gear, a giant re-wind to re-view your relationships (to money, other people and yourself).   The next six weeks is a great time to give yourself a makeover while Venus moves backward in Aries before turning direct motion on April 15.  Take stock, of yourself first.  What works and doesn’t work about you, your behavior, habits and patterns.  How do these impact (for better or worse) your life, including the most significant parts of your life – relationships to others, at home and work.  How do your patterns negatively or positively impact your ability to earn money, to earn a living?  This six week stretch is not a great time to start a relationship...of any kind.

It is also worth noting that Jupiter, the other great benefic planet is now retrograde in Libra, ruled by Venus, lending double emphasis on reviewing relationships, negotiation, diplomacy, art and beauty. 

Having Neptune (imagination/escapism), Mercury (communication) and the Sun (our will) in dreamy Pisces will slow us down to ponder, wonder, and reflect.  Meanwhile, Saturn, Mars and Uranus fire signs are pressing the gas pedal to go, go, go ahead with changes.  How to manage this contrarian energy?  This clash of emotions and internal forces? 

Take turns.  Be inspired and flow, then do, act.  Control what you can control and let the rest go.

Give each wave their due so neither feels squashed/suppressed.  Make like a painter:  apply that paint to the canvas of your life as needed.  Then step back and take in your picture.  Where do you need to make changes or adjustments, more here but less over there?  Paint accordingly.

Steadying our hand is Motivating Mars’ shift into earthy Taurus on Friday, March 10^th.  Pragmatic and real, Mars in Taurus lends a practicality to our thrust forward, especially in the areas of finance, how we bring home income, the kind of people and possessions we surround ourselves with.  Mars in Taurus wants us to make the most of our skills and talents.  Are you?

This is an especially vital question as it occurs under the light of a waxing Full Moon on March 12^th, in analytical Virgo.  This Full Moon really tempers our emotions, the clash of cosmic planetary cycles in fire and water, colliding within us.  Eminently practical, she makes a gorgeous alliance to transformer Pluto guiding us emotionally to plot and plan our future steps.  What is your vision?  asks Neptune, Sun and Mercury in imaginative Pisces.  Ok then, here is how you get from A to Z say Capricorn Pluto and Virgo Moon.  The Lunar North Node (True North on our internal guidance mechanism) aligns beautifully with the Taurean Mars right now.  What is realistically accomplished?  Small steps forward every day.

Two days later, Messenger Mercury moves into Action Aries.  Feel the surge?  From now through the end of March our minds are on fire, igniting the urge to push ahead.  Blaze a trail.  You feel you’ve had just about enough of the delicate dance, that pause and reflect business. 

Not so fast cupcake.

In all things, nature and life, there is balance and temperance, remind titans Uranus and Jupiter.  Still directly opposite in the sky, change agent Uranus demands new growth, new methods, new…well, everything.  In Aries, its predisposed radical tendency is heightened that much more.  Meanwhile Generous Jupiter in Libra says, all in good time.  All in good time.  First things first.  In our post-modern, stressed out world, we are well to remember nature – the natural cycle and rhythms to life.  For everything there is a season.  Divine timing.  Do what you can, when you can and give a rest to the rest.

There is tremendous healing potential now with the Sun (our will) conjoined to wounded healer Chiron in a prominent degree of Pisces.  What, how, whom will you heal?  Good question.  Especially on the Equinox as the Sun shifts into Aries on March 20^th.  Spring is a time for giving birth, new life, a vivid reminder that the only constant in life is change.  Our will now joins Venus, Mercury and Uranus in the primary sign of the zodiac and we feel a seemingly irrepressible mandate to forge on.   And, the angry challenge between change agent Uranus, transformer Pluto in Capricorn and Jupiter in measured Libra, just got a whole lot tighter.  Feeling squeezed?  Put upon, constantly under siege?  Many of us are. 

All that Aries Warrior force lashes out:  no defense here, only offense, offense, offense.  Forward we go.  Attention readers, a public service announcement: do not be offensive.  Think before you speak, consider how the other person will receive your message.   Pluto in practical Capricorn says:  take the long LOOOONNNGG term outlook.  What will be the consequence of your actions a day from now, a week, a month, a year…or longer?  Aries is mighty impulsive.  It is great for blasting out of ruts we may be stuck in, starting anything new and leading the charge where you are so called.  Just be mindful of fallout from your actions, intended or otherwise.

The shift into action mode is complete with the Aries New Moon on Thursday, March 28^th.  Tightly wedged between Venus, the Sun, Uranus and Mercury, this brave New Moon makes 5, count ‘em, FIVE, fully half of our planets in the solar system, cycling through raw, shot-gun Aries.  If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen, says this New Moon.  It is an excellent time to set intentions for what you want to manifest in the month and year to come. 

Just be careful rushing into any endeavor riding on the chariot of this New Moon.  You will not feel inclined to slow down though.  In your racing around, think of the Big Picture and long term.  You don’t want to have an accident, undo all the work you’ve planted to date, turn in sloppy work or incite arguments.  Please be especially careful with heat-based appliances or equipment (cars, dryers, stoves, grills, furnaces, anything with a switch) in the home for the next few weeks.  Take caution with fire:  matches, candles, cigarettes, fireplaces.  Late March offers highly energized but combustible energy.  Watch your words. 

Words DO matter.  Not just for Mr. Trump, but for us all.

Of Special Note:

I'm offering my "Creativity and Moon Cycles" class through Newton Community Education again this spring.  Come learn about how you connect to your creative self-expression, what inspires you and how to maximize your potential in this class.  We will look at your natal birth chart to identify your moon by sign, phase and house.  From this placement, your creativity flows!
WHEN:  Thursday, April 27, 6:30-9:30 pm, Newton South High School Library.  To register, please visit:  www.newtoncommunityed.org; or call:  617.559.6999.  I look forward to seeing you there!