April 2021 - The Astrology Overview
Welcome to Saturn’s missive for the month of April, 2021.
The month of April is interesting, with the first half of the month being hot, charged up by the personal planets Sun, Mercury and Venus transiting Tropical Aries, in sextile to ruler Mars in Tropical Gemini. Mars is now the only planet not contained within the half of the chart that falls between the South and North Nodes. So Mars will be out and about, urging quick and enthusiastic action, and the planets in his sign of Aries will want to comply. Further, as they make the superior sextile to Mars, they will be encouraging Mars, as they will be feeling restricted and held back from the energies of the last year, wanting to break out and move about. Tropical Aries is the point of new beginnings in the zodiac, and so planets here wish to initiate new action, as is natural for the first of the cardinal signs, but Aries can be reckless, impatient and doesn’t always think things through.
The second half of the month is cool, dominated by the movement of Sun, Venus and Mercury into Tropical Taurus. Ruled by Venus, this will suit her just fine, but this is not the normal, calm, sensual ride through the sign of the earth. This time, Uranus is there, and most notably, the sign is receiving the superior square from the planet of the year, Saturn. So things will not go as we plan, perhaps, and surprises will abound. Much of how things go when the emphasis turns to Tropical Taurus will depend on our actions while Sun, Mercury and Venus are in Tropical Aries. Saturn is always ready to remind us that actions have consequences, for good or ill. Make decisions based in wisdom and patience and you will probably find Saturn rewards you (or at least doesn’t thwart you), while decisions made in haste, ego, aggression and folly may come back to bite you in the ass, and especially so when Saturn is involved.
April 4 Mercury enters Tropical Aries, staying 14 days, exiting to Tropical Taurus on the 18th. All of the fast, inner, personal planets are now out of the winter quadrant and in the spring quadrant. Entry of Mercury into Tropical Aries puts Mars, still in Tropical Gemini, into mutual reception with Mercury. We will want to move quickly, aggressively, seeking thrills and adrenaline rushes, fearing boredom above all things. Caution is advised, as Mercury, upon entering Tropical Taurus, will join a grouping of the Sun and Venus to conjunct Uranus and receive a square from Saturn in Tropical Aquarius, who is in the superior position. Poor choices while Mercury is in Tropical Aries will result in surprising limitations and obstacles as these fast personal planets reactivate the Saturn/Uranus square (which has never actually gone out of orb) and meet Saturn’s dictates head-on limiting their forward expanse in some manner.
Throughout the text below, I will not go into a great deal of detail about many sextiles we see this month, but will simply note now that sextiles are windows of energy that can be helpful, if you put in the work. They are opportunities for those who know how and when to use them, but they will generally not intrude into your life to bring events about. Conversely, when we are not thinking clearly, or applying any discipline, sextiles can be openings where we can do things that may be ill-advised. Sextiles do not always bring benefits, in the sense of trines. What they do is present opportunities, which you may make use of or miss out on. How you make use of those opportunities is up to you. But if you should make good use of them, then they can bring benefit. The kind of opportunity and the potential they present will be determined by the planets involved and what house placements and/or aspects they may make in your natal chart. A sextile activating important natal placements will have much more impact.
On the 6th, Venus sextiles Mars. while Moon in Tropical Aquarius sextiles Venus and Trines Mars. A good day for pleasure and romance, but also a window to make pleasure-seeking decisions that may not serve us well in the long run. Meter out your pleasures wisely. Do what you will, if it harm none (including yourself).
On the 8th, Mars squares Neptune and Mercury conjuncts Chiron, and then on the 9th, Mercury sextiles to the North Node while trine the South Node. This day presents a lot of opportunity for healing, especially issues we carry from the past, while also embracing our destiny, but not a good day for too much action, and especially rash action. Use the square of Mars and Neptune to see through illusions, delusions and stories of victimhood and grandeur that may be holding us back. Using that square to dive deeper into the peeling away that real spiritual work requires is an excellent use of that square, and is inner work, which is supported, while outer running amuck will not bring the same rewards and may instead bring obstacles, difficulties and conflicts into our lives. The truth is, you don't have to do anything yet, and you don't have to have all the answers. Sometimes, residing in uncertainty can be a great teacher, and help to build patience and faith. Finding compassion for others, no matter how different from yourself, rather than aggressiveness and judgement, is another excellent use of this square.
On the 10th, Mercury sextiles Saturn, Venus sextiles Jupiter. A good day for progress on projects you have started within the last year, but also a good day to get carried away and try to move too far, too fast. Work on projects you have already started and don't feel like you have to finish them up. Just get some more done, and enjoy that small accomplishment.
On the 11th, New Moon in Tropical Aries as Sun approaches sextile to Mars, exact on the 12th. Venus squares Pluto and the entire New Moon configuration is in wide square to Pluto, who is in the superior position. This New Moon kicks off a lunar month of new actions focused around initiating action, but with the tension between Venus and Pluto, expect it to bring up buried issues and ask us to deal with obstacles from the past, deeply buried and often ignored, that hold us back from fully manifesting our deepest desires, personal power and life path. Another easy day to waste in pleasure-seeking, take the time to ask yourself, "What would I like to manifest in my life that would bring lasting benefit to myself and others?" This lunation sets up the energy theme of the next month, so set intentions that revolve around manifesting your true power, life path and that allows space for healing and an expression of what you love and your own personal aesthetic.
12th, Moon moves into Tropical Taurus ushering the new Taurus alignment into being. Our emotions around the 12th/13th can tell us a lot about what the upcoming Taurus transits will be about.
13th, Sun makes exact sextile to Mars. A day that will feel good and much can be accomplished, but take care not to overdo it or start new things. Work on things you have already started.
14th, Venus enters Tropical Taurus, one of its two home signs. Sun sextile Jupiter. Another day that might seem too good to be true, but as with the rest of the month and its sextiles, proceed with care and caution and work on things you have already started. Issues may arise today that reveal to us what the Venus transit of Taurus will hold for us.
15th, Sun square Pluto. Another 'fly-in-the-ointment' aspect, where we will see potential obstacles based in emotional issues and buried wounds that hold us back from our true path. Working on releasing blocks to our personal power, or conversely, recognizing why we are being blocked in certain ways in our life can bring healing and empowerment. Not a great day for initiating new action, but the potential is here to work on old projects, perhaps with realizations about blockages and limitations.
17th, Mars/Jupiter trine, while Mercury sextiles Mars and Jupiter, and Mercury makes a square to Pluto. It will seem as if it is all going so well that you might think you should just do whatever you want, but the real power of this aspect configuration is found in applying discipline and putting effort toward long term projects, not over-doing it, getting carried away, or starting new things for no real reason other than boredom or variety-chasing. Don't let your mind get enflamed with too much excitement and carry you away into unwise ventures. There can be realizations about how we block our own personal power, and for those who are willing to take the deep-dive into the inner realm today, there is the potential for a lot of self-realization.
18th-19th - Sun and Mercury form a Cazimi (conjunction) and both then move right on into Tropical Taurus. On the heels of Mercury squaring Pluto, this deep dive of the planet of our minds into the heart of the Sun will help us to bring realignment to our mental processes. This is occurring on the degree where Mars stationed into it retrograde cycle last year, so expect some of the issues from last fall and into the early winter to be present, both personally and in the world at large. The Cazimi is important for recharging our thinking processes, clearing our minds of old obsessions and allowing us to move forward with clearer heads, and as both planets are moving into Taurus where they will meet Saturn through inferior square, clearer heads will be central requirements for the next chapter of April and on into May.
23rd, Venus conjuncts Uranus, Mars moves into Tropical Cancer and the Moon is transiting Tropical Virgo, giving a boost through a trine to the Taurus placements. Later in the day and into the early 24th, Mercury conjuncts Uranus. Major energetic shifts today! Mars will move into the sign of its fall, where it will be more touchy and emotional, and less functional, though it will move back into the sextile configuration with the planets in Taurus - Mercury, Sun and Venus, which will be helpful. The next six weeks will probably find a lot of people having raw emotions and being up for a fight, so try to ground into that Taurian, earthy set of sextiles as much as possible. Much of this emotional rawness will be cloaked in 'concern', perceived slights and 'justice-seeking'. Be very careful to examine your motives during this transit, as your stories of victimization may not be as true as you think, and they may in fact be serving to disempower you, rather than lift you up. Further, with the Venus/Uranus conjunction, expect the unexpected, for both good and ill, that will effect your sense of beauty and fairness. Some things will not go your way during this period, and rather than melt into an emotional puddle of defeatist stories of victimhood, use these events and feelings as motivation to both examine yourself and to move forward with greater motivation. Justice and fairness arise in the world through steady progress and cannot generally be attained in one day or through one swift action.
24th, Venus squares Saturn, quickly followed by the Mercury square to Saturn. These squares will highlight the limitations that are set in place to allow a careful and steady building of the changes Saturn has been bringing about since the Great Conjunction of December 2020. It is so important to remember that building things in the real world takes time, and while we want it all yesterday, Saturn will remind us that all things that are lasting take some time to build or achieve. Don't let today destroy you or push you to precipitous action out of a sense of hopelessness, and know that the events of this period are to motivate change, not to keep change from happening.
26th, Full Moon - Volatile, as Moon in Tropical Scorpio opposes the Taurus cluster and squares Saturn from the superior position, reactivating the Saturn/Uranus square energy. Moon and Mars are in mutual reception, with Mars in Cancer (ruled by the Moon) and Moon in Scorpio (ruled by Mars), and thus intensifying each other. Expect emotions to be volatile. Unrest on both the macro and micro levels, possible demonstrations or civil unrest. Take care around the period of the 25th through 28th as this transit of Moon through Tropical Scorpio plays out. If there was ever a god period to stay in the house, turn off the news and do the inner work of peeling away our personal delusions and falsehoods, this is it! Those who can turn these stressful energies inward in a constructive manner can gain a great deal of healing from this Full Moon. Those who merely react will be caught up in events, and that might not be so pleasant.
27th, Pluto stations to turn retrograde. On the heels of the volatile Full Moon, the lord of the Underworld and our inner power, stations to turn retrograde, pulling us into a period of several months where we are given the opportunity to examine our inner motivations, personal power, the nature of power in the world at large, wounds, blockages and disempowerment. As always, during this retrograde, progress may seem stalled, and the important thing is to not feel disempowered, but to examine what is emerging in our lives and in the world at large, asking what it is trying to show us. Pluto has almost made it to the American Pluto Return, stationing direct within minutes of the exact conjunction, and even though it is turning direct and will not make the exact conjunction for nearly a year, we are in the US Pluto Return period now. We are being forced to look at our collective shadow, see through our national delusions, and deal with issues of power and fairness. I expect that within the next two years we will see major changes that will influence this country's direction for the next two-hundred and fifty years of the the next Pluto cycle. These slow planetary aspects can seem agonizingly slow, but I think that is the point. They deal with big, deep issues within the personal and collective soul and psyche, and these kinds of things take time to unravel and set aright. Real change is happening, and Pluto the transformer is a major part of that change, being in Tropical Capricorn, ruled by Saturn, and set to next enter Tropical Aquarius, also ruled by Saturn. Further, Pluto will be in True Constellation Sidereal Capricorn and Aquarius for the next 45 years or so, giving Saturn reign over the planet of transformation for decades to come. Saturn has set change in motion with the new Great Conjunction cycle and will continue to bring change into reality for decades to come. The most important thing you can do is to stay focused on being the person you want to be and working in the world in a manner that brings about the world you want to see and live in. You have infinite powers of manifestation, even when it seems like you are powerless. One of the most important things you can do is to examine your own shadow, finding places where you feel victimization and disempowerment which can lead to a desire for revenge rather than fairness and balance. Grievance is not a sufficient basis upon which to build fairness, and are usually pointing out places where we need to do inner work.
29th, Moon trines Chiron, giving some possible healing and release from the energies of the Full Moon. After the high-stress of the last few days, this will be a subtle but potentially powerful opportunity to find some healing and solace. Any inner work you do during this period is liable to bear fruit. Whatever the emotional content of the last few days, going within to learn its meaning and find how to make realignments to our inner beliefs and motivations will prove helpful, while projecting our hurt and anger outwardly may cause problems. Whatever injustice or unfairness we may witness, allow that to motivate us for the long view, working to bring real change, inner and outer, rather than just reacting with rage, fear and a desire for revenge or instant gratification. The outer manifestations of the last few days will also be directing us to look at our inner beliefs and issues. We must heal ourselves before we can be effective healers for the world.
30th, Sun conjunct Uranus, capping the energies of the last week off with more surprises and obstacles. Here again, we are liable to see limitations to our desired forward movement. This is the Saturn message, that even in times of accelerated growth and change, things must follow a specific course. Use what is revealed at this time to map out future action. It is likely we will see holdups and obstacles occurring that show us where to apply our motivation and action so as to manifest our desires. Also, precipitous actions earlier in the month, during the heavy Aries period, may see the chickens come home to roost now. I would expect that there will be issues around health and our current health crisis, social justice and political systems, as well as personal realignment for many peoples personal lives, especially if they have been resisting any important changes over the last year. Watch for what is revealed and use that to continue working, not to be self-defeating or nihilistic. Each setback or slowdown is revealing areas where we can apply effort to gain the desired result.
Finally, Saturn would like to leave you with this message, "Take care this month to not get carried away. Just because things feel good, it doesn't mean they are conducive to your long term success. One of the most important things you can understand is that just because an action is possible, that doesn't mean it will be beneficial, and in fact, many times they only serve as distractions, pulling you away from your successes. Distraction is a great temptation, because the desire for variety and excitement, the general restlessness and adrenaline addiction of most humans, keeps you from making long term plans and sticking with them, because that is not exciting or sexy for most of you. It is the rare human who has long-term planning skills, and while many of you make long term plans, few are persistent enough to follow through on those long term plans. But reality is not created willy-nilly through an adrenaline high and the quest for excitement. In fact, it is these energies that abort much of your potential, seeing it still-born before it could ever be born through waste, avoidance and poor choices. In the month of April will be real opportunities to make headway on your long term plans. The energy will be available to make progress. Unfortunately, as is so often the case, many of you will squander this opportunity through wasting your time and energy on pointless socializing, running hither and thither, ego-driven pursuits and the endless quest for pleasure. While in more stable times such activity may at worst simply waste your time, in a time of accelerating change, as you are in now, such activity can bring much more dire repercussions, for yourselves and those around you. And yet, times of change, fraught with peril as they are, also serve as times of immense opportunity, for those with the forethought and creativity to recognize this and seize the day. For those who have been recognizing their opportunities throughout the last year, use April to further what you have started, as positive activities begun in this time of changing energies will bear long term fruit, and the energies available, especially at the beginning of the month, will support continued action on such projects. Use those first two weeks of April wisely, setting boundaries, but using the immense energies of drive and excitement with care and caution, seeking not to bite off more than you can chew. Use the second two weeks of April to dig down deep and understand where care, caution, inner healing and consideration of others might play an important role in your life and in your forward movement. Use those weeks to meditate upon and consider where you might apply your efforts to making the changes in the world you wish to see, and how the new processes you have set in motion within your life might intersect with the work of changing the world. The energies of the Universe now support change, and so change is the dictate. Attempting to "return to normal", or turn the clock back to previous ages will not bear fruit and will actually decrease your energy, your influence in the world and your ability to be effective on almost every level. You cannot move the Universe, and when the Universe determines to move of its own accord, you cannot stop that movement, regardless of what you do. Take care and be thoughtful, for much is available now for those with eyes to see, while those who will not see and fight the changing of the age will be swept away by the changes that are coming. Do not allow setbacks to defeat you, and know that while the changes are now certain, they will not happen all at once. Patience in all thing!"
