General Astrological Influences, April 2001
by Maya del Mar

Brave new world, here we come! Aries is where we plunge into life renewed In spirit and imbued with our mission. Aries energy gives us the courage to meet all challengers. We move from a universal concern for society to a focus on our personal goals. And we pursue them heartily and enthusiastically.

Energy moves very easily. Fire and air continue as the dominant elements, now supported by a fiery Aries sun. Fire represents spirit and action. It needs air—ideas or ideology—to feed it. This combination means that events move ahead quickly. Fire and air have in fact been dominant in the sky since July 2000, and will continue to dominate the heavens until July 2003.

In addition, most of the month’s aspects are harmonious—the skids are greased to slide things right along. Movement will also be helped by the energizing of sensitive Eclipse points by transiting planets in Aries. All of the Cancer-Capricorn eclipse points of 2000-2002 will be stimulated by squares from Aries planets during April.

For the most part we will not be working with new projects now. There is very little start-up energy in April, and we will be working with things which we have already begun, just pushing them right along, taking advantage of sudden opportunities which the eclipse contacts may open, and ignoring opposition.

Great Britain has traditionally been under the sign of Aries. In fact, four of its charts have Sun in Aries and four of them have North Node of the Moon (destiny) in Aries, including the current chart (1801). Britain certainly pursues its own pathway. One of its recent forays was feeding cattle scraps to cattle—resulting in mad cow disease.

West Germany, East Germany, and unified Germany all have strong Aries energy. Both the current Prime Minister of Germany, Gerhardt Schroeder, and the last Prime Minister, Helmut Kohl, have been ruled by Aries. Germany has made a conscious effort in many ways to make its assertiveness peaceful and productive. For instance, they have Green Party people in policy-making positions in government, and are conscientious about environmental harmony.

Vision and direction counts for everything under Aries. We will accomplish what we set out to do, and we better be certain it’s a direction we want to pursue. I suspect that Aries Al Gore did not really want to be President.

An example of positive Aries vision and audacity was Thomas Jefferson. The Aries energy field provides the bravery to plunge into projects regardless of opposition. Thomas Jefferson made the gamble of the huge Louisiana Purchase, and the other gamble of sending off Lewis and Clarke to explore it. He believed in his vision and made it happen.

So did Timothy McVeigh, whose chart is dominated by Aries.

Sagittarius, another fast-moving fire sign, is also very strong now, and loaded with potent energy. Most powerful is Pluto, the Great Transformer. Also in Sagittarius are assertive Mars, strategist Pallas, and maverick Chiron.

Fast transformation is the theme of the month, particularly in regard to old issues. Keep your purpose clear.

April’s big event is Saturn entering Gemini for a two-year stay. This happens just after Venus turns direct on April 20, and Aries Venus will be Saturn’s major influence for the next two years. The focus of Saturn in Gemini is communication, commerce, and technical skills.

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