Dear Friend and Reader:
How was your weekend? An interesting aspect blew through town, namely Mars conjunct Neptune in Aquarius. This is a once per two year event and it seems to have had an interesting effect on certain people who are unaccustomed to navigating slippery psychic territory. The aspect came with a few visionary shades, a touch of paranoia and a bit of volatility. In case you had a kind of weird, intense or dramatic day Sunday or, for that matter Saturday, this may help you put it in context.
Below, faithfully submitted, is Planet Waves Monthly for April. I’ll catch you Friday, reporting in from Sedona.
Yours truly,
Aries (March 20-April 19)
Is it good to know how smart you are? Probably, at least in your case. The thing is, you may not know. Other factors in your personality may obscure this kind of self-awareness, and you may live walking around the world feeling like a “young soul” whose knowledge is not quite ready for the world, or truly applicable to life. From a cosmic perspective, all your best ideas and brightest awareness are like a show being performed with the curtain closed. You can hear the muffled lines being spoken, you’re aware of the stage sets changing, but the main idea may be eluding you. You need to know where to look — that is, where to direct your experiences this month such that you encounter the golden datastream. If you set out on a mission of some kind that involves intentionally traveling somewhere to learn something, you will very likely step into the flow, fully conscious. But for the full effect, you must initiate the journey.
Taurus (April 19-May 20)
Celibacy is an interesting way to see the world. It’s like encountering sex from the outside looking in, and experiencing the sexuality of others as a dimension apart, something out of reach. The kind of celibacy I see in your chart involves you experiencing yourself as a fully self-contained entity. Then, if and when you choose to open up, you’re devoted to that experience, as an individual, free and able to experiment in the moment. What seems to be an alternation between two realities, sexual and non-sexual, appears to be rooted in a question about whether you’re truly appreciated. You may feel that in holding back, you will get the answer to your question, and you may; but the paradox of that position is that to be appreciated, you need to offer some element of your consciousness. Anyway, feeling unappreciated is not just getting old, it’s very old, but whatever comes next is going to come from you.
Gemini (May 20-June 21)
We are all fond of the phrase “thinking outside the box,” but I haven’t seen much discussion of just what box that is. How about, it’s the box, more like a lawyer-free cell at Gitmo, of our beliefs? I would propose you’ve recently awoken to this possibility. It’s likely to have occurred in one of those moments when you actually experienced the confinement of a belief as a limiting factor in your life. Of course, once you feel the box, one of two things happens. Either you want to bust loose because it’s so confining, or you retreat in an attempt to make your whole reality fit the scale of your previously-acquired notions. You seem to be taking a while to make up your mind about which of these you want. But soon enough, you’ll be called upon to take a chance and express your beliefs as some form of unusually focused action, so I suggest you decide which work for you and which do not.
Cancer (June 21-July 22)
Acceptance is a precious thing. It is the feeling of the cosmos, of existence itself, opening its arms to us. The feeling of true acceptance involves transcending prior experiences of being too controversial, too intense, too scary — too anything. We all have our own baggage that we carry regarding these learned experiences of being too something, and with our hands on those suitcases, it’s impossible to embrace the world as it embraces us. I suggest you put those suitcases down, and look out at the world around you, listen to what is being said, and reach back when someone reaches to you. There is more to this opening up than you may recognize, as encountering the world in a state of harmony corresponds to encountering your own emotions and creative flow. Your life is indeed changing; developments you could not predict are meeting you like they already know you. Breathe into the journey.
Leo (July 22-Aug. 23)
The spot you are in is not as tight as it may seem. It may be your own rock-steady quality that is working against you. You may be expecting someone else to make a change you’re not quite up to yourself. Often people are willing to meet you on this turf, but you may want to reconsider your position, particularly if you’re being guarded about it. In fact you live in a world of openings at the moment, and in any positive or creative time, there are still going to be voices of doubt, both within and without. How you respond to them is up to you, but I suggest you keep the dialog as open as possible. In particular, any professional situation, or any circumstance where money is involved, calls for reminding yourself how resourceful you are, and working with others to access those resources. Any moment of scarcity is a silver mine. Any moment of doubt is the prelude to a revelation of your innovative quality, particularly when you collaborate, share responsibility, or share anything.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22)
If you feel like you’re being confronted, you may want to look again, and check out why you feel this way. Some Virgos are great at this kind of on-the-spot introspection; some are not. But let’s just say that your sense of being confronted is coming from within you, not from outside you. What is being presented to you from the outside is actually sensible, if not innovative. If it happens to be shocking, the reason is because of how brilliant it is. And I would reckon that who or whatever is in your face has a lot more in common with you than you may imagine or desire to admit, unless you slow down and ask yourself what you’ve been asking for, what you’ve been preparing for, and what is really meaningful to you. You have long passed the time when you can go through your existence living as a concept. Ideas are important, but experience is what you are craving the most, and what life is offering you the most abundantly.
Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23)
Don’t struggle for acceptance. Quietly work for what you want, and gradually learn to visualize yourself where you need to be. You are working your way into the world quite well, making a space for yourself that is likely to support you for decades. At this point you may feel like you’re working at odds with yourself, or somehow wasting your resources. I can, to the extent astrology allows, assure you that you are not. You’ve been involved in an extended phase of development, of cultivating resources, of opening the flow of abundance, and though it may seem too long, it’s a testament to the depth at which you are working, and the persistence you’re bringing to the task. If you get discouraged, remind yourself you’re making an investment in the future, in the world, and in your quality of life. This is not an exercise in compromise; rather it’s an exercise in consciously building your dreams.
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22)
Most people have no idea the extent to which you struggle with your security, particularly at certain times when your worst fears act up. You are able to maintain a stable façade of strength, authority and integrity, no matter what you may be going through inside. And what you’ve been through the past few weeks has probably rivaled any prior time in your life for self-doubt and perhaps conflict, whether inner or outer. On one level, you seem to be in a battle to break free of the past, to be heard and acknowledged, and to forgive yourself for the ways in which you don’t manage to get your message across to the people you think need to hear it most. You would go a long way toward progress if you declare the struggle over and tap into the rapidly developing sky that is heavily favoring the water signs, including yours. This is less about affirming something and more about consciously focusing on a feeling of safety and sanity that will be right there when you reach for it.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22)
You may feel like you’re giving everything and getting nothing in return. Perhaps recall all the times you had to give so little to get so much, or maybe consider your life right now an exercise in devotion. Much hinges on your ability to be steadfast now, in your beliefs, your relationships and most of all, tending your creative fire. In a sense, the path of your life at this moment hinges on your devotion. Give this process, this journey, more than you think you have to offer. Take the time, devote the energy, and don’t think about the results. Tend your fire first, then tend to the world. Burn whatever may be your equivalent of dry, well-seasoned wood, and let every gesture of your hands be one of clarity and sincere effort. It may comfort you to know that good things will come of your efforts, but I don’t suggest you seek shelter in the future. There is none yet — you are building it with your energy and love today.
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20)
What a profound time of re-evaluation you are in. It’s like you’re experiencing every sentiment in the entire spectrum of human potential toward yourself. It would be fair to call this a period of sorting out, though you would do well to consider the basis of your decisions for what you decide holds one value or another, helpful or harmful. The past is the most natural basis for comparison, though you may want to reckon the quality of the present against the quality of the future you would like to create, and stretch in an entirely new direction. You tend to hold yourself to an extraordinary standard, which is well enough, though I suggest you do so on some genuinely basic aspects of your life. What has the most value to you? What do you need the most, what do you desire the most, and what is the difference? To make the decisions you are making, you need to know yourself well. You need to understand how what has happened before still affects you today — and seek a future different than the past.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19)
You’re being called upon to focus your life, but you may be living in a world of chaos. It’s true that what you want is the most important thing, if only you could establish what it is. You may want to get accustomed to being a critter in motion, perhaps on the physical plane, surely on the mental one, and more than likely in your emotional space as well. I suggest you explore all potential avenues of output. Look for every way to express yourself, and consider everything, your failures and successes and those things that are unclearly one or the other, positive developments merely for having conducted the experiment. You have long imagined what you want to do or be, and you may fear that your ability to create your world will fall short of your inner vision of what you want. The creative process is messy, it can be wasteful, it leads strange places and its outcomes are uncertain. All the more reason to indulge while the indulging is good.
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)
You are bound to whom you are destined to be. In other words, at this moment, you are in a prolonged encounter with your mission in life. Many people say they want their mission, and few recognize that at times no matter how true it may be, it may also be a burden; it may involving taking numerous uncertain steps; and it may involve the experience of breakthroughs that leave you doubting much that you previously believed. You may have ideas so good, you have no clue what do with them. And at the same time, you may feel like you’re responding to a calling that you don’t understand, and don’t know how to fulfill. All of this is just about normal for what you’re experiencing (and everything I’ve said to Sagittarius applies equally to you right now). Take a moment and get a sense of the landscape. Imagine you are looking back on this moment with 10 years perspective. Consider what you know, and what you are learning. What would that perspective have you do? How would you feel as you took each step?