Bob Dylan may be a Gemini sun, as befits a bard, but his famous ballad resonates this Aires season, with fast moving events and a rapidly shifting reality around us.
Following on the heels of an energetic but polarizing full moon in Libra on March 28th, highlighting themes of self versus partner/other, we enter April in a rapidly accelerating season of change. Spring is always a time of growth and seasonal change, resonating with the straightforward energy of Aires, a cardinal fire sign ruled by warlike Mars. Cardinal signs (Aires, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn) begin each season, initiating projects and getting things off the ground. In Aires this inceptional energy is powered by its ruler, Mars, which provides unfiltered drive and focus. Aires doesn’t spend time thinking things, through — “just do it” could well be its motto.
The sun and Venus have been in Aires since March 20th and 21st, respectively, but the Aires party really gets going on April 3rd with the arrival of Mercury, which shakes off the Piscean water. No more meandering philosophical tangents, poetic expression, or forgetting to send that email (again); Mercury in Aires prefers to get straight to the point. Is it actionable? as the intelligence analysts might ask, in true Mercury in Aires fashion. If not, we don’t have time for it.
There are essentially two halves of April, the first part, until April 14th, when Venus moves into Taurus, when there is a distinct change in tone, followed by a mellower second half (though with some potential fireworks). The signature of first half of the month is all Aires energy and drive, go-getting and blowing through the tasks at hand.
This period includes a fiery new moon in Aires on April 11th, with the conjoined sun and moon making energizing sextile (60 degree) aspects to Mars in Gemini and Jupiter in Aquarius, inviting grand action in the social sphere. Sextile aspects are made by signs of different elements that are grouped traditionally by gender — water and earth as feminine signs and, conversely, air and fire, as masculine signs. Unlike trine (120 degree) aspects, which involve harmonious signs of the same element, sextiles energize the planets involved through a frisson between different but complimentary elements.
Ruled by a supportive Mars in Gemini, and with Venus nearby in Aires, this new moon asks us where we want to see action in our social lives. After a year of social distancing, we may be rearing to socialize, and, with increasing vaccinations and reopenings, we may want to take concrete actions to do so. We also might be re-evaluating our relationships. Which ones have survived the past year? Which ones might need an overhaul? What new people are in our lives now?
But: a note of caution. Aires is a challenging place for relational Venus, in Mars’ man cave, so to speak. It’s quite a dignity shift for Venus, coming out of exaltation in Pisces, where it spent March among the glittery cobwebs of fantasy and inspiration. In Aires, Venus applies Mars-like strategies to Venusian issues — relationships, art, aesthetics. Romantic conquest is a potentially fun outcome of this placement, though Venus in Aires finds the reality of maintaining a relationship challenging, just as governing is no fun after the thrill of military conquest.
Aires’ act-first-think-later tendencies, especially with Mercury in Aires contributing to the mental command center, can lead to impulsive action and, later, potential regret. The best course of action, during these rapidly evolving times, may be to take note of things that aren’t working but hold off on action until later in the month, when clearer heads and cooler tempers may prevail. Alternately, the impulse to get together socially may be getting ahead of the science. Our desire to engage, filtered through decisive Aires, may lead to problems later. We can try to slow this down by pumping the brakes on Aires’ impulsivity and slow walking any actions that seem to be moving too fast.
After the new moon, the high water (fire?) point of the first, Aires, half of the month, the scene starts to change right away, with the moon leading the way on April 12th, out of Aires and into the green pastures of Taurus. One problem with any planet entering this sensual earth sign, since the entry of Uranus into Taurus in 2018, has been the co-presence of this rebellious outer planet. Uranus actively enjoys surprises and upending the status quo, impulses that are antithetical to Taurus’ plodding, extremely practical modus operandi. It’s a discordant vibe, to say the least.
As a fixed earth sign, Taurus is generally predictable as can be — except when Uranus is out to pasture as well. The moon entering Taurus, usually a peaceful sojourn through the sign of its exaltation, immediately calls our attention to the ongoing sign-based square between Uranus in Taurus and Saturn in Aquarius, acting, as the moon does, as an amplifier. The ongoing tensions between those with institutional power (Saturn) and those without it (Uranus), begun last year with Saturn’s entrance into Aquarius, again come into focus. The square isn’t exact, as it was last in mid-February, but we are reminded again that these issues are still with us.
The change in tone increases as Venus follows the moon into Taurus on April 14th. In one of its home signs, Venus exults in sensual, earthy Taurus, happy to be out of Mars’ hostile territory in Aires. Creatively, this is a great time to connect with tactile art forms, music and singing, dance, clothing design and all fabric arts, culinary arts, as well as beautifying with an eye towards luxury. Could your wardrobe use an update? It’s a great time, with Venus in Taurus, to enjoy gorgeous fabrics on our skin (think silk or velvet), to pamper and beautify ourselves after a year of sweatpants. Go buy those gorgeous heels, that dress you’ve had your eye on, or get a haircut (following health precautions, of course) or shave your pandemic beard. Venus in Taurus wants you to look great in a timeless, classy, elegant way.
On April 19th, the tone slows way down to Taurus’ tempo, (think classical music after Aires’ taste for hard rock), with the entrance of Mercury and the sun into the sign of the bull. Our energy for living and thinking/communicating will slow down, subject to the whims of Taurus’ ruler, beautiful Venus, dignified in her home sign. Whereas we were motivated by Mars’ fire and drive in Aires, the new queen in charge of the skies now has other concerns — relationship stability, material abundance, and beautification.
But the soothing Taurus vibe has some fireworks concealed within the velvet, due to the contact by each of these planets — the moon, sun, Venus, and Mercury — with Uranus and the corresponding square that kicks up with Saturn in Aquarius. Starting April 22nd, this square becomes emphasized as first Venus, then Mercury, and finally the sun, at the very end of the month, conjunct Uranus and then square Saturn. There may be surprising events with an undertow of unrest.
This signature comes to a head with the full moon in Scorpio on April 26th, with the moon opposing the sun and nearby Uranus and forming a loose square to Saturn in Aquarius. With the ruler of this full moon, Mars, newly entered into sensitive Cancer on April 23rd, there is a sense of emotional intensity and potential for sudden conflict. There is an interesting mutual reception between this full moon and its ruler, with the moon in Mars’ ruling sign (Scorpio), and Mars in the moon’s ruling sign (Cancer), which ties together the topics of these two planets — emotions and drive, but with each planet trying to do the other’s work. Another wrinkle: both planets (moon in Scorpio and Mars in Cancer) are in their signs of depression, opposite their signs of exaltation, which weakens the whole configuration, signifying a sense of frustration, of thwarted efforts.
I suspect that in a month, at the end of April, we will be in a similar situation emotionally as we are now, at the end of March, with a sense of two steps forward, one step back. The overwhelming desire to get back to our pre-pandemic lives will be potentially in conflict with health advice; the warming weather may feel like an added incentive to move past the last year. But things are unsettled still; we’re not yet out of the woods and must exercise caution in our actions.
As a coping mechanism, a distraction to get through the (hopefully) beginning of the end of the pandemic, take advantage of the sensual bounty of Venus in Taurus. In its earth sign home, Venus is focused on the material rather than the social sphere, which is the focus of Venus’ other home sign of Libra (arriving later this fall — get out your social calendars in advance of that!). Now, still in Venus in Taurus’ comfortable pastures, we can beautify, indulge, and luxuriate, even while remaining socially distanced, without the social pull of the air signs, which will come soon. Cook a gourmet meal, upgrade your wardrobe, beautify your home, watch an opera stream (opera is literally the most Venus in Taurus thing imaginable). Exult in tangible and tactile luxury. It will help!