The month of flowers begins with exhilaration on the airwaves. In the afterglow of a square from Jupiter to Pluto, with a freshly waxing Moon, and Sun, Venus and Uranus all in Aries, we may even feel a bit hyperactive. Yet with Mercury in pre-retrograde shadow, this restlessness may lead to a sense of confusion, like trying to make a car go with a rocket charger.
As the month rolls on, Taurus will climb to predominance. The sign of grounding will support consolidation of whatever we mobilize under Aries. So it’s worth our while to peer beneath the hood and find, create or improvise a way to use the rocket charger, and open the track that the sign of the bull will translate into a golden highway—or just another rut—before April comes to a close.
Despite our tendency to whine about Mercury retrograde, it can be a real asset. Yes, the pauses it puts on our movements and communications are inconvenient and time-consuming. When we’re ready to go with a new project or idea, purposefully delaying it can be downright frustrating. However, in the real world, all of us have unfinished business of one kind or another. In fact, our most interesting projects are those we’ve started independently, and almost everybody slips into some degree of postponement and neglect. Each one of Mercury’s shadows and retrogrades brings a chance to make good with our intentions and bring our lives up to date, as well as focusing on inner work, crucial to the harmony and success of outer conditions.
This April, helping to enrich retro Mercury’s push to reorganize, review, and redo, savvy Pallas is at the Equinox degree of 0 Aries, upping the ante on our strategic abilities. Call on the Goddess to ignite your wisdom and apply all your talent to find a way to push through on things you started previously. Organize shopping to make fewer trips, delegate mercilessly, unplug the phone and the internet, let your toenails go, hire a teen to play with the cat and change the litter… do whatever you have to, but in April, move on what really matters.
Mercury is one of five orbs that will be retrograde. As the month begins, Jupiter, planet of beliefs, promotion and fortune, and Venus, planet of love and finances, are both going backwards in the sky. On Wednesday, April 5, Saturn the builder joins the resistance, and on Thursday, April 20, even big-daddy Pluto turns in his tracks. Besides calling us to redo and review each of these planetary influences in our minds and lives, this pattern optimizes inner work. Aries needs action, yet part of the movement will be in awareness. We need time, leadership and brawn to act on what counts and also tend the inner flame—through journaling, therapy, dream work, meditation, prayer or whatever our preferred combination may be.
For more tips on each of these valuable retrogrades, read on.
Some of the pressure is relieved on Sunday, April 2, when love-planet Venus backs into Pisces, taking the heat off our interactions and facilitating compassion and forgiveness. Pisces exerts a dissolving effect. With Venus, planet of love and finance, moving backwards in the Pisces, we can more easily look at…Get the rest of the signs and the whole story now! Become a Premium Subscriber! Or, if you are already a Premium Subscriber, log in here.