I am going to quickly run through the month and then break things down below in the 'unpacking' section below. The rest of 2022 is, in many ways, spent responding to the events of January - April.
We begin April with a New Moon (11 Aries) on April 1st. Launching a new lunar year on the first day of the month sounds promising, although this is April Fool's Day, so not sure how we will factor that into our thinking. Hopefully this isn't like the whole hindsight is 2020 thing :) This Moon is about STARTING, being brave, having initiative and beginner's mind. The flame is lit. Keep in mind the ruler of this New Moon, Mars, is on a collision course with Saturn, so big impulsive moves are probably not a good idea just yet. I break this down below and will again in much more detail in its own post later this week!
This Moon is ruled by Mars, who is applying to his conjunction with sober Saturn on April 4th-6th, this is this month's DANGER WILL ROBINSON aspect, at powerful 22 degrees Aquarius. This is EXACTLY squaring the North and South Nodes of Fate in Taurus/Scorpio. Astrologers call this being 'in the bends'. Choice point/crossroads time. Tension/frustration. Evolutionary astrologers see squares to the Nodes as previous skipped steps that cannot be avoided now. Something is happening that MUST be considered to bring this time period into balance and before we can move forward. You might remember when I did the original Ukraine invasion chart this is when I was hoping this thing would be wrapped up because there is something here that sets our course/no turning back. Saturn 'at the bends' is also us/the structures of the world desperately trying to hold onto something that is gone. Mars and Saturn start a hyped up/cyber focused two year cycle now. In our own lives Mars/Saturn can bring a stop sign/road block. We might hear a "no" or have to say one. We might have to take on a new responsibility. This energy is accident prone/can be dangerous and Aquarius rules tech, groups, group think, plus your Aqua natal house, so you want to be cautious in these situations. Avoid impulsivity. This is like a limit placed on our action/passion/anger and, so, can be explosive. The good news on April 6th - Venus enters Pisces, the sign of her exaltation! I am still hopeful this time period can bring Mars (the war) to at least a ceasefire (stop/Saturn). Once we get past this point we are depending on prayers - the Jupiter/Neptune - (which are very, very powerful and we can't discount them).
By the middle of the month we are moving into the year's BIG aspect, the Jupiter/Neptune conjunction in Pisces, April 12th-13th, but really in play all month. There are an unlimited number of ways this one can play out. Let's make some word salads - big compassion, endless possibilities, unbridled enthusiasm, protecting victims, an abundance of refugees, luck comes out of nowhere, God, spiritual connection, what our ancestors lost we now gain, off the charts intuition, addictions get bigger, dreams get bigger, mass delusion, big lies. This might expand (Jupiter) the virus (Neptune/Pisces) somewhere, but is just as likely to increase freedoms.
By the middle of the month, Mars is swimming in Pisces, too. It's like we are pushing against water, which has a tendency to run off in unintended directions and even come back at us. The Full Moon in Libra on the 16th has us seeking balance, partnership, peace. The Moon is making a gazillion aspects for us to unpack including a square to Pluto, while ruler Venus sextiles Uranus (change is good). The middle of the month looks dicey with the Sun squaring Pluto - power plays/'before and after' kinds of crisis/tension transformational situations and Mercury meeting Uranus for sudden/chaotic news/change of plans/financial changes. Then the end of the month Pluto stations retrograde (the death postponed, we are re-thinking the massive 2022 transformations) Venus meets Neptune and finally Jupiter, which is dreamy/all's well that end's well kind of energy, and on the LAST DAY OF THE MONTH - we move into the Eclipse spin cycle with a Solar Eclipse in Taurus - a super-charged new beginning and conjunct change-maker Uranus. Solar Eclipses can bring the 'the king is dead/long live the king', kind of energetic. Eclipses also work backward and might have brought big changes to us at the end of February or end of March, too. You know we will be talking about this!
If ever there was a year for April showers to bring May flowers - it is this one. We begin the month with a meeting of our two malevolent planets and end the month with a meeting of the two most benevolent. We know better days are coming ... BECAUSE THEY ARE! All the inner planets change signs this month, Eclipse season begins, we have massive conjunctions and squares - it seems that ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN.
Let's unpack the beginning of the month:
APRIL 1ST - April begins with a New Moon in Aries on April 1st to launch the month and the new Lunar Year. Aries New Moons require initiative, beginner's mind, STARTING.
The Moon meets the Sun at 11 degrees Aries. They are sandwiched between Mercury and Chiron, so we might be dealing with some tough news or about to be (could be just new information coming in). Chiron is back where he was early last summer, so there could be a connection to what is starting now or what results we are seeing now to something that was hurtful/healing THEN.
The New Moon in Aries is answering to Mars who, at 18 degrees Aquarius is applying/approaching his meeting with Saturn who has been settled into 22 degrees Aqua (master number and inconjunct the HOT 22 Cappy, so hot itself) for a few weeks.
Saturn is like the dad, waiting up for his son and pacing the living-room, with things for junior growing more precarious by the hour (not that father bites and is going to eat him, but Saturn being Saturn you never know, it's not outside of the realms of possibility here). All of us are junior with this impending sense of ... what's the word for something that's been building for a long time and we don't want to face it? Well, I won't write the "D" word because words are powerful and we haven't even finished March yet, but we might be feeling something like this.
There could be a reality-check/limit. We might have to deal with a "no".
Jupiter's approach to foggy Neptune at the same time should provide us with just enough hope/optimism (or maybe this is anesthetic, depends on what we are dealing with, and maybe doesn't really matter right now) to get us through this one. Maybe the "new" is launched from the "no".
Venus is past Saturn by now, so we have somehow maneuvered the finance/relationship/values/self-esteem road-block or reality-check or the new start is connected to our DEALING with it. Mars in Aquarius, who rules the show and the lunar year ahead, and at first glance is making only pretty awful aspects (ugh), IS, when we add in the powerful asteroids, making a smooth sextile (opportunity) to his sister Pallas in Aries. So, Mars in Aqua gets back to his own power/sign/Aries through Pallas - the important thing here is, no matter the challenges ahead - WE HAVE A PLAN (and maybe a sister? Or someone like a sister?). At least, since Pallas is said to have sprung fully formed from her father's head - WE HAVE AN IDEA.
(Since we've pulled in Pallas to help our Mars, let's see what the other Goddesses are up to and what this might say about Ukraine/Russia since all the Goddesses have chosen sides, through their amazingly tight conjunctions at the birth of all the central players. Except, of course, wise Pallas, which is probably why she can be so helpful now. And Eris, although she is leaning toward Zelenskyy here.
Saturn is tightly conjunct Juno (Ukraine), the extreme pressure on them, the kind that makes diamonds as well as rubble, so maybe also their stepping into their own authority or the need to have/the earning of their own authority/agency. Remember Russia's first bombing in late February was also Ukraine's first fight for their FREEDOM to exist as a sovereign nation and came just as Pluto returned to the U.S. Declaration of Independence (liberation!) degree. The New Moon is creating an opportunistic sextile with Ceres (Russia). Although this is rapidly unwinding and we'll remember Ceres also rules complicated compromises. Vesta (Putin) is also sextiling the New Moon and this one is applying, so new plans/new moves in the works from him. Venus (Zelenskyy) is PAST Saturn, so has earned his stripes, so to speak, hopefully this says he is past the mortal damage to his physical body. Venus is sextiling Eris so maybe Zelenskyy is using some terrorist tactics of his own now or threatening to pull something out of the shadows and into the light. Venus (Zelenskyy) is sextiling Black Moon Lilith (Putin), so there is an open channel here. It is applying and stunningly exact on April 4th/5th. The portal opens, they connect, then Lilith pulls ahead, then Venus catches up and they meet again, this is all within hours and at the very end of Aquarius/Gemini (mental, smart, cyber, detached), then Venus PASSES the sextile with Lilith, moves into Pisces while BML hangs out at 29 degrees Gemini until mid-May when she moves into Leo. Remember in our original war chart for the first bombing, Saturn was Russia and the Moon/Jupiter was Ukraine. Both planets, Saturn and Jupiter, strong, in signs they once ruled. Traditional thinking would say Saturn beats Jupiter, but as we approach the first meeting of Jupiter with Neptune in Pisces since 1856 when Russia signed a peace treaty in a war they lost - called the Treaty of Paris, not coincidentally the same name as the peace treaty that officially ended the American Revolutionary War which Pluto and Neptune are currently re-visiting! - things are not so cut and dried. Whatever happens, early April looks quite dicey, and the whole month opportunistic for a change of direction.)
Whatever begins at this Aries New Moon is very important. We need to be brave. This is our last New Moon with all the planets direct.
April 2nd - the Sun meets Mercury at 13 degrees Aries. New information, conversations. Information is illuminated/brought to light. Communications can be sharp/pointed/fast. Words can be impulsive/unfiltered. This is all part of the New Moon story. This aspect takes us back to late January, maybe brings results from what was discussed/decided/what was happening then.
APRIL 4TH-5TH - DANGER ZONE - our actions (Mars) meet limits/new rules (Saturn). Our will is frustrated. We have two malevolent planets, Mars and Saturn, meeting at master number 22 (Aquarius) while squaring the Nodes of Fate.
This is very constructive, powerful energy, but can be explosive/dangerous. Here is a stop sign/road block/no. Again this is part of the New Moon story. Sometimes Mars/Saturn can make us angry or resentful - it will be important to calm down and just focus on what we can do and not what we can't. Patience/discipline is required. New responsibilities can come in. Cut corners will found to be lacking and shortcuts will backfire. Mars/Saturn are linked to recklessness/violence and a tendency toward accidents. But like all Saturnian aspects the opportunity is offered to develop more significant values and greater understanding, and, in higher-mind Aquarius to group consciousness.
With the Nodes of Fate at 22 degrees Taurus/Scorpio, this is a gnarly T-Square pointed at Saturn. Squares to the Nodes are fated/skipped steps - require an adjustment as old as time itself. Are we moving backward - which is always more comfortable and not because it is better but because it is familiar or are we moving FORWARD toward something ELSE. We want to be directing our sails toward Taurus - something more grounded, stable, simple, our Taurus house theme. We want to be releasing the Scorpio compulsions, complicated drama, third party situations, any over-focus on our Scorpio house theme - see the Nodes post HERE.
Saturn 'at the bends' from future-focused Aquarius and squaring the Pluto ruled Scorpio South Node also speaks of the crumbling patriarchy. Mars, the healing of the wounded masculine, and keep in mind Mars is the ancient ruler of Scorpio, and the square to our North Node in Taurus, the rising of the divine feminine.
(this is happening exact on Ukraine's natal Moon - the people - on Zelenskyy's mid-heaven and Putin's IC/North Node ie home/roots/fate - if his birthtime is accurate - and sandwiched between Biden's progressed Sun and Ascendant and exactly inconjunct the U.S. Neptune and on the IC for a chart cast for Washington DC, also exact on my own IC, oh my.
To me this looks like Putin - with that IC/North Node in his 4th house, is doing something protective/defensive or retaliatory/maybe hidden, but also can be aggressive and Zelenskyy, probably along with allies doing something public and ambitious/aggressive. Both charts' finances/resources are very much activated here. This is an incredibly INTENSE time and taking a very heavy toll on the people of Ukraine - that 22 Aqua Moon in the Ukraine chart. In Russia's chart this is happening on the natal Uranus of both the 1917 Russian revolution and their 1999 chart, so chaos for the people there, too. :(
APRIL 7TH - Mercury, at 22 Aries, sextiles Saturn in Aquarius. New/passionate language, fresh ideas and information is stabilizing/creates structure. Good for commerce. Even a fast argument is helpful/grounding. Now we are working with the new rules. Able to see any new ideas in a more clear-headed, maybe less attached, way (the 'ideas' of many people are actually opinions rather than ideas). There are opportunities now to be blending the new and the traditional, the individual with the group. Both the smooth and challenging Saturn aspects this month, surrounded by all the Jupiter/Neptune, is a good thing - an insistence of life that we not lose ourselves in the ethereal realms/drift away, that we require ourselves to keep our feet on the ground/stay responsibly human/keep pinning the experience to the wall - as a teacher of mine used to say.
APRIL 8TH - Jupiter, at 23 Pisces, is sextiling the North Node (trining the South) while Mercury, at 25 degrees Aries is sextiling (opportunity) Mars in Aquarius.
Confident and lucky Jupiter creates a portal with the North Node of Fate - our best way forward. We are going to have to stretch a bit for this one/take a risk. At the same time our words and actions are working together. Good news can come in. Make/take the call. Take action with what you hear. Do you feel lucky?
APRIL 10TH - Mercury, at 28 degrees Aries (damn he is flying!) squares Pluto in Capricorn. Tension/frustration. Secrets come out. Conversations can be scary/feel like 'life and death'. Our focus narrows. This might also speak of power plays/manipulations. Later this same day, Mercury moves into Taurus, so our words/conversations may turn to our finances, resources, stability. We are thinking about and talking about what really matters/what we value/what we need.
In Part II we will cover the rest of the month.
Hope something here is helpful. Back tomorrow with next week!
xo all
artwork by the talented cecile pardigon
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