Welcome to the most dramatic, life-changing month of the year. April is one protracted cluster of dynamic, challenging, reality-altering influences. Pressure we’ve been feeling all year can no longer be avoided or contained. It’s going to blow, erupt, startle, excite and dazzle in nonstop action. It’s splitting open and restructuring the very ground beneath our feet, while a cosmic hand hits the reset button on relationships and financial matters.
Exactly how this will happen can not be predicted, by anyone. An enormous, nigh on feral wild card element is at play. We won’t see a lot of the changes coming, sometimes in the form, sometimes in the direction or source, sometimes in the timing.
The areas under assault are not surprises, however. You’ve been feeling rumblings. You’ve been feeling dissatisfaction. You’ve been making your own stabs at rearranging certain areas, situations and relationships. Look at what in your life has been hammered, destabilized and primed for remodeling (or demolition) since the summer of 2012. Keep looking and you’ll see tendrils stretching back to the summer of 2009 as well. Most immediately, recall what changed life as you knew it between Christmas and New Year’s. Perhaps that happened only in your point of view; perhaps it played out in events and external situations. Developments from all those times, the beginning of the year especially, are coming back around again for readdressing.
The explosive Aries New Moon of March 30 delivered the first freeing blast. Two categories of change influences are behind the tumult coming in April: a series of related transformative aspects and a pair of eclipses, a lunar in Libra and solar in Taurus, interspersed among those aspects. There’s a saving grace, too: Venus, goddess of all we value, dipping into the compassionate, universal waters of Pisces on April 5 and making a series of heart-opening, heart-healing and ultimately grounding aspects throughout the month.
The harsh aspects (category one above) are escalating the change imperative of the ongoing clash, or square, between Uranus and Pluto, the agents of unforeseeable and unavoidable change. One celestial body after another is jumping into their conflict, in wave after wave of t-squares increasing the pressure for structural change, until overload and deadlock hit with the four-way stand-off of the cardinal grand cross — after which our thinking rearranges and allows moving ahead.
These waves are not like water, but more like waves of earthquakes and aftershocks, overlapping as they build and crest and fade. The first, from April 1-3, sends the Sun into Uranus’ rebellious ambit and inflames motivation to break free, to remake yourself and to be your own person. We have no choice, with bigger-is-better Jupiter egging us on, and Pluto’s foundational fractures (and the wee fear beasties squirming from them) bearing down on us with an evolve-or-die mandate. Eat your spinach; it’s not only nourishing, but fueling your courage and daring to meet this month headlong.
The grounding cord for this wave consists of the clear, stabilizing messages and thinking from Mercury trining Saturn. Venus’ shift to Pisces on the 5th softens our hearts and opens us to higher guidance. Use that as GPS when this first wave crests with relationship standoffs, showdowns and compromises, as the Sun opposes Mars on the 8th. These are part and parcel of the revelations, closures, exits and emotional high tides associated with the Libra Full Moon lunar eclipse that’s building.
While that wave is still resounding, the two rulers of love, Venus and Neptune, meet on the 11th. Their union provides a brief escape, if not a taste of magic and bliss (no joke!), as well as the personal and relationship benefits inherent in the bold and drastic changes we’re undergoing and witnessing.
The second wave peaks midmonth, with the first eclipse in tow. The 14th perfects a t-square from Jupiter and Pluto to Mercury and Uranus, tilting perspectives, unlocking thinking and ambushing us with information that ignites and perhaps inflames. As this occurs, Pluto stations for his annual retrograde, which begins the slow and steady build-up of pressure for the coming waves.
The next day brings the lunar eclipse at 25 Libra, which will roll out chapter endings and emotional closure into the fall. This eclipse is a recurrence of one on April 15, 1995. Events that occurred during the spring and summer of 1995 indicate themes that are coming to a head again for you. (Read a full discussion in my mooncast later this month.) This second wave crests on the 16th, when a Mercury-Mars opposition further lights up relationship standoffs, showdowns and compromises.
Immersion quickly follows in emotional healing, profound forgiveness (of yourself, first of all) and a palpable sensation of divine love, as Venus meets Chiron and makes a lovely link to Jupiter on the 17th. This promises to dissolve longstanding relationship wounds, self-worth issues and inability to allow yourself to be human. Powerful, potent, important desires could be in reach as well, thanks to the opportunity aspect between Venus and Pluto on the 18th. Making them tangible dovetails with the emphasis on the here and now that surges when the Sun begins its annual stay in Taurus (and begins his approach to the coming solar eclipse) on the 19th.
The hottest, most challenging stretch of the month occurs between the 20th and 23rd, as Jupiter, the influence of expansion, and then Mars, the god of war, enter the ring with Uranus and Pluto. Their configuration creates a grand cross in the cardinal signs, which will simultaneously rev the impulse to move and yet prevent movement. You may well feel like you are being pulled in four directions. Breathe. Breathe some more. Wait it out, as agonizing as it may feel.
In the moments when your head stops spinning, think back to the beginning of 2011. This cross is taking place at the same degree as that January’s Capricorn solar eclipse, which refocused the trajectory for long-term goals, long-term security and other foundational aspects of your life. The cardinal cross is activating that trigger and redefining core issues of identity, home, relationship and career.
That’s not the only time period coming back around. During this cross, Uranus and Pluto perfect the fifth of the seven squares they are making from June 2012 through March of next year. The square is momentarily stretching and laying bare the radical restructuring that you have been undergoing for the past two years. A story line runs from June and September 2012 to May and November of last year, to now. The current chapter is heavy on rewriting relationships. You’ve hit the end of the line with old patterns. Certain people and types of connections are annoying, frustrating and irritating you to the point that you are calling quits. Other people and types of connections are presenting themselves as allies and desirable travel companions. Like the Libra lunar eclipse, Uranus, Pluto and their companions in the cross are demanding that you rewrite your relationship groundrules. Resistance is futile; change is inevitable.
By now, the benefits are coming well and easily into view. The last week of the month fosters a practical bent and mental clarity, blossoming into refreshed, refocused perspective and cause for optimism. Hearts and relationships calm down, take defined form and grow secure, stable and tangible.
By the 29th, we’re ready for the power-up of the Taurus New Moon solar eclipse. It’s launching a solid, new relationship to self-worth and stewardship of personal resources, talents and assets. (For more on that eclipse, read my mooncast, which will be posted late in the month.) So much has changed or departed. So much has been left behind, redesigned, rearranged or restructured. You may be left with less, but it will feel like more.
My 2014 astro-overview *and* guides for each sign will help you get through the changes of April and beyond. Get your own copies here.
Also be sure to listen to my weekly podcast and forecast for May 30’s Aries New Moon.
The extended weekly forecast is still on hiatus while I finish a book. If you miss the weeklies, it wouldn’t hurt to let me know. (Contact form below.)
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© Kathy Biehl 2014. All Rights Reserved. You may forward this article as long as the copyright notice is intact. No part may be used or reprinted without my prior written permission. Karma, ya know.
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