We’ve all been incredibly energetic—even re-birthed—after the awakening Spring Equinox had us humming a new tune. Sure, things can feel a bit in-flight and uncertain; we’re not supposed to know exactly what we’re doing so much as know we’re ready for something different. This is not only due to the Sun’s entry into vitalizing Aries after a swim in ethereal Pisces, but also the coincidental Mercury retrograde (set to go direct this month on April 15) that can cause confusion, delays, and re-routes. Venus in sensual Taurus until April 24 likes any excuse to slow down and luxuriate, even if it means some of our goals are put on hold.
A good day for everyone to sow seeds of intention is April 15 when Mercury stations direct and a New Moon in Aries refreshes our attention and hooks us back into our dream. Deep, existential questions may continue as heavy hitters Pluto and Saturn go retrograde, but with Mars fresh in ambitious Capricorn, we can’t help but start our climb and get to work on what we’ve deemed truly essential in our lives. As Greg McKeown is his best-selling book “Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Pursuing Less” reminds us: the word “priority” was singular for 500 years. It meant the very first or prior thing. Mars in Capricorn (here until May 17) gets its fuel from setting its sights on a singular mountain peak. What can you go big on?
Read for your Sun and Rising Sign if you’re a believer!
- Aries (March 21 – April 19)
- Taurus (April 20 – May 20)
- Gemini (May 21 – June 20)
- Cancer (June 21 – July 22)
- Leo (July 23 – August 22)
- Virgo (August 23 – September 22)
- Libra (September 23 – October 22)
- Scorpio (October 23 – November 21)
- Sagittarius (November 22 – December 20)
- Capricorn (December 21 – January 19)
- Aquarius (January 20 – February 18)
- Pisces (February 19 – March 20)
ARIES
This can really feel like the beginning of your year as the month starts with the Sun already in your trailblazing, let-the-good-times-roll sign. Having the almighty Sun in your First House of personality can bring a boon of good energy and life force and similarly attract opportunities that need just the right dose of your attractive flair. Of course, anything too bright can burn, so make sure you’re not shutting others out with the tune of do-re-me-me-me. With messenger-planet Mercury retrograde in your rapid-fire sign, you may have had to re-learn the value of patience and perseverance. The cosmos may even be forcing your hand to take a second look at some decisions you’ve made in the past.
While waiting for anything can be torture to an Aries, consider any confusion and delays like a free life coaching session giving you just the right stimuli to soften around the edges. Just when you think you can’t take it anymore, Mercury will turn direct on April 15 and you’ll find life flows more freely than it did pre-retrograde. It’s also a New Moon in your very sign that day, very close to Uranus, which may lead to bolt-from-the-blue realizations that turn the wheel of fate. Hold on tight to your dreams.
TAURUS
You’ve been enjoying the harmonious sweets of lovely Venus in your sign since March 31 and will continue to do so until April 24. Sometimes all this planet wants you to do is chill out and smell the roses, so relaxing into a more zen and sociable state is right up your alley. Saying yes to invitations and indulging yourself a bit more is how you’ll feed this pleasure-seeking planet; consider it an early birthday gift from the Cosmos. You’ll also have pesky Mercury “hiding” in your 12th House and retrograde until April 15, so trying to force progress may feel futile as calling a commercial casting director to gets notes on your audition. Instead, trust the work you’ve done and focus on what’s in front of you.
After the mid-month mark, especially after April 19 when the Sun enters your First House of self-expression, you’ll feel a bit more effective at making the elusive “it” happen. Whatever that is, clarify on the New Moon of April 15 and watch out for April 29 when a Full Moon in dramatic Scorpio brings something full circle in your consciousness. This is your last full month without the unpredictable electricity of Uranus in your sign. If there does happen to be a lull, milk it.
GEMINI
You’ve been crystallizing the long-term plan and will be plenty busy connecting with stimulating groups of people who want to support you. You can thank the Sun and Mercury in Aries for this. Because Mercury is retrograde, there could be some blast-from-the-past moments, or picking up where you left off on a goal or community you’d left for dead, at least until April 15 when the communication planet goes direct. While relationships may be feeling a little unwieldy (or just all over the place) with planet of love Venus cruising through your ethereal Twelfth House (until April 24), it’s forcing you to work on those things you can control and let go of what you can’t, like how others feel or relationships that may go into hiding for a time. This lesson of surrendering what you can’t control could put you in an incredibly open and spacious place for your art.
This theme only intensifies through month’s end when the Sun enters that mysterious 12th House terrain on April 19. Give yourself time to think and bring consciousness to this next stretch of 2018. The role you play in the community or what people look to you for has a clue to your continuing fulfillment. Admit what you’ve grown out of or what’s grown out of you. This is a month of creating space and getting excited about what’s to come. And Venus transits into your flirty sign on April 24, giving you something to look forward to.
CANCER
With the Sun and Mercury electrifying your House of Career through to the middle of the month, you’re hungrier than ever to make fresh career connections. Reach out to people who intimidate you and put yourself in the ring. With the Sun in Aries, the buzz word for the month is courage and going outside the comfort zone. That means going outside the comfort zone in your career and offering to the community. While Mercury is retrograde, you have a chance to re-trace steps or even get a second chance at a connection with a big wig or someone/something important in your career. There’s power in demonstrating your personal brand, whether that’s the “type” you broadcast in headshots or your side hustle, even if it’s a total about-face. Don’t underestimate the role of stress to chase you towards places you actually need to go. You can either willingly seek out those vitalizing experiences or wait for the Cosmos to manipulate circumstances to stretch your capacities as a stand-out. On the softer side, you may find you’re getting all sorts of soft-and-fuzzy invites to wine and dine with like-minded souls. Venus is in sensual Taurus after all, and you’re hard-pressed to turn down epicurean delights.
LEO
Your 9th House of Adventure has been lit up by the spicy pairing of the Sun and Mercury in the friendly fire sign of Aries. Yes, that Mercury has been retrograde, which could be materializing as a lot of expansions and contractions, false starts and stops as this the messenger-planet Mercury has been sending mixed messages. Either way, you’ve heightened your game and gained some real-world experience and will continue to push boundaries until the Sun mellows out and transits to Taurus on April 19. Lucky you! This is your career house so those risks you’ve taken may finally get some reach or spin into real-world opportunities. Alluring Venus is also fresh in your career house (since March 31), boosting your star meter and giving you a glow the public will lap up.
With Venus in earthy Taurus, be careful overplaying your diva card. What’s more in the Cosmic flow is sharing your easygoing affability and dazzling with your sense of style and good taste. April is a decidedly good month for putting up a show and stepping into some bigger shoes, especially during the sweet spot of April 19–24. Mercury also goes direct mid-month, so if plans have been on hold, get ready for some. Your travel bug will be biting and if you’ve dreamed of heading off the beaten path, the New Moon in Aries on April 15 will sprinkle some pixie dust.
Being pushed into your discomfort zone—relationship and otherwise—may feel like the default position as the Sun and Mercury have been uncovering all sorts of raw heat and volcanic emotion. If you’ve been feeling a little testy, you can thank this planetary pairing for burrowing into your 8th House of Sex, Death, and Other People’s Money. It seems you can’t take a step without involving someone else’s drama, though more likely, others may just be a projection of things we’ve stuffed down and we need them to wake us up to our potential. This is actually a time you stock up on your superpowers of psychological acuity if you just agree not to shut down and get all up in your head about it.
You’ve got sexy Mars and Venus both in earth signs now, which is adding considerable weight to your charisma and air of mystery, and amplifying that theme of mating and relating. Going it alone at the moment just doesn’t seem an option and this month will be a lot more fun linked arm-and-arm with someone whose mind your respect. (If they jumpstart your libido, all the better.) After April 19 when the Sun moves into Taurus, your travel house will be a getting a lot of attention and you’ll be itching to celebrate having broken out of the passionate cocoon of the 8th House.
LIBRA
You start the month filled with light by that brilliant Full Moon in your sign and may be busy wrapping up and enjoying the completion of recent projects. There will be little time to rest, however, as rule-the-world Mars in Capricorn forms a tense 90-degree aspect to your Sun spurring you onward and upward. Sure, this can provide a little stress as Mars in Capricorn needs a mountain to climb and will ask that you go full in and not let obstacles derail your ascent towards whatever peak seems to be daunting you. Until May 16, you’ll have this take charge energy keeping you on your toes.
With three planets retrograde this month, reviewing the past and reforming a game plan is in the stars and should inform your climb. Don’t put yourself under any pressure to get there in one fell swoop. It’s more about re-setting a goal that inspires you so much that the daily grind of getting there is even a joy. Lovely Venus in Taurus is transiting your saucy 8th House until April 24 and embodied, sensual pleasures seek your participation. This may truly be the only way to let off steam. Star April 15 as there’s a New Moon dawning in your 7th House of partnership giving you a refreshed vision of love and romance to toe-tap about.
A sense of get-to-the-bottom-of-things urgency may define a large part of this month with the Sun blazing a trail in fiery Aries and your 6th House of health and work. Ambitious Mars in Capricorn is only adding fuel to this fire. Look for this investigative panache to come full circle with the Full Moon of April 29 in your sign, turning up a piece of information which may have eluded you. You are busy and while it may feel like your mind is all over the place as you do your research, make connections, dot your I’s and cross your T’s. While it could be a little exhausting, your passion and openness to learn new and better ways of doing things nets a higher quality of living and more measurable results. Life is truly in the details right now but do give yourself permission to be messy in the exploration phase.
Where your concerted effort isn’t required this month seems to be relationships, with partners or potential partners sniffing around without you having to do anything more special than usual. You can thank lovely Venus bursting above the horizon into your 7th House of partnership making you look like someone else’s other half. Look forward to unforced sweetness from a current partner and be curious about the double-takes you’re getting from down-to-earth charmers that cross your path in the day-to-day. You’ll certainly be out-and-about with fiery Mars in that 3rd House of communication, so be open to impromptu conversations of delightful depth and intensity.
SAGITTARIUS
The part of you that wants to have fun and let loose may be at odds with the part of you that needs rules and boundaries to meet your goals, especially financial ones. You have a powerhouse of energy split primarily between your 2nd House of Earned Income and your 5th House of all things fun. Part of you may want to get down to brass tacks and be fiscally conservative while the other is screaming “Carpe Diem!” Learning to live the short and long game to your liking may be a struggle, but it may also the gift helping you hone your values and ask where your prodigious energy is really worth expending.
The questions will only get deeper as both Pluto and Saturn retrograde in that pragmatic 2nd House and give you some time to review such investments. Limitations may actually sharpen your creativity and force you to make choices of quality over quantity. Mars in Capricorn is pushing you to get real with finances and take action to create and protect assets. It doesn’t mean it can’t be fun. Without a healthy dose of risk and betting on the big life, Sagittarius would be put right to sleep. It’s just about focusing your bets and acknowledging that your values are transforming. With Mercury turning direct (less confusion and delays) and the New Moon in your 5th House of Fun, you’ll split the difference and be able to enjoy all this native fire energy (until April 19t and set aside some chips.
CAPRICORN
You’re coming in hot this month and others may know how you feel and what you think before even you do. This is because you’ve got a triplicity of planets–Pluto, Saturn, and Mars–in your wear-it-on-your-sleeve 1st House. Putting it out there isn’t something you have to think about, but knowing you’re not hiding anything may make you think twice. Because these particular planets are broadcasting an air of authentic power and authority, it may behoove you to trust your expertise and play your Ace card. It’s also worth being aware of how strong you really look, no matter how you feel. Shrinking violet you never were, but now you are especially ripe for showcasing your strength and commitment. The only way this can really backfire is if you let yourself swerve into snobbishness or haughty aloofness (the Capricorn shadow), so keep your humility and good wits about you.
Saturn and Pluto will both retrograde this month, giving you plenty of self-reflective time to make sure you’re keeping yourself honest. Shining a light on your inner self (including home, roots, and early family dynamics) may continue to bowl you over with realizations and burn off old patterns, as the Sun and Mercury retrograde charge through your 4th House. You’re coming into your own more and more, so be compassionate with yourself as you find the right balance of power in your captivating daily persona.
Your world has been buzzing, which can mean either a melodious hum or the grate of open combat depending on other inclinations of chart, character, and free will. With the Sun and Mercury breathing fire into your 3rd House of communication and commerce, you’re hungry with curiosity and the world will tantalize you with opportunities to converse, negotiate, wheel and deal. The other huge piece in the Zodiac pie is in your 12th House, which rules the subconscious (or your deep consciousness if you log a lot of hours in meditation or sweat lodges). With the entry of feisty Mars here (since March 31 through mid-May), it won’t be long before you figure out what’s underneath the hood.
With all that energy in your 3rd House of Communication, unconscious impulses (hopes, fears, attachments) that come out in simple transactions could send you reeling into an existential crisis. The best medicine for those undergoing 12th House transits is to intentionally take time out and unplug. Meet your subconscious halfway by analyzing your active dreams, looking at art, and observing your mind without judging it. While one of your star qualities is exciting connections with ideas and people, it can also be one’s undoing if pushed too far. This is a month to savor long moments of zen and let events unfold in their own divine time.
With dreamy Neptune at the official halfway point of your already dreamy sign, you’ve become an expert at going with the flow, as life may have proven that you’re not totally in charge these days. Even so, you’re likely getting some intense messages this month to drum up opportunity in areas and networks in which you already excel. With your 11th House of future hopes and dreams and networking chockfull of intense planetary energy, there’s something you’re being called to do that requires some serious schmoozing. Spearheading a weekly meetup group? Stepping up at an organization? Charting a course for world take over? Your work is ready to breathe and wants to share oxygen with those who are already big fans of yours so it’s not like you have to reinvent the wheel as much as grab onto the one that’s already spinning.
With such a packed 11th House, you’ll be shown what you’re made of as soon as you walk into a room with more than a handful of people. Your ability to lead—or perhaps what you need to get there—will likely be shown to you through the reflection of the group. Choosing the right ones are key right now. Meanwhile, your 2nd House of money is also lit up, especially until April 19, and may require an entrepreneurial spirit to get something going. Your words are silken this month with Venus in sensual Taurus gliding through your House of Communication; make sure you set some time aside to bond with friends over good food and get feedback on next steps.
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