“April is the cruelest month,” T.S. Eliot claimed, in the opening lines of “The Waste Land,” “breeding/ Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing/ Memory and desire, stirring/ Dull roots with spring rain.” Perhaps he was right about this one thing — he did have an intimate knowledge of cruelty. The breeding, mixing, and stirring in the fertile ground he wrote of is not so different from the kind that hovers in the air above it. Memory and desire mingle in the stars, too, waiting to take a new form. On April 4th, Mars makes a conjunction to Saturn in Aquarius, and our movements take a restrictive quality, password protected, limited access. It’s probably for the best seeing as how Venus shifts into Pisces the next day, co-present with Jupiter and Neptune and boundless with more options than she knows what to do with. On that same day, April 5th, Mars in Aquarius squares True Node in Taurus, reminding us that, when it comes to our actions, there’s only one way to see different results. On April 7th, comfortable, direct Mercury in Aries makes a sextile to honesty-is-the-best-policy Saturn in Aquarius and all cards are bound to get placed on the table. Jupiter in Pisces makes a sextile to True Node in Taurus on April 8th, and perhaps cruelty, however we conceive of it, can be endured if hope is present. On the same day, Mercury in Aries makes a sextile to Mars in Aquarius, and the energy is zealous, self-reliant, and strong-willed. A first-quarter moon in Cancer rounds out the week on the 9th, a moon that squares the Sun in Aries, as if to ask “What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow/ Out of this stony rubbish?”
Aries Sun & Aries Rising
The week after a new moon in Aries might be energizing for some, but sometimes a lot of energy is just too much. A new moon that precedes your ruler, Mars, making a conjunction to Saturn and then a square to the True Node can prove one test too many. It’s your birthday month, and you deserve a poem instead — a gentle poem that speaks to your gentle heart, like the one by E.E. Cummings called “You Are Tired (I think).” It begins this way: “You are tired, / (I think)/ Of the always puzzle of living and doing;/ And so am I.” A poem that captures the difficulties of being an Aries in this world, where young hearts are held as sacred as they should be: “You have played,/ (I think)/ And broke the things you were fondest of,/ And are a little tired now;/ Tired of things that break, and — / Just tired./ So am I.” A poem that takes you to a soft place, which is what I encourage you to find wherever you can in the 3D world: “I’ll sing you the jacinth song/ Of the probable stars; /I will attempt the unstartled steppes of dream, /Until I find the Only Flower,/ Which shall keep (I think) your little heart/ While the moon comes out of the sea.”ILLUSTRATION BY BARBARIANFLOWER
Taurus Sun & Taurus Rising
Despite the prevailing conception of Taurus people as resplendent idlers, those that know you know that you’re not the kind of creature who sits around and waits for the world to change. You protect your dreams fiercely and go about the business of making them happen. You’re ready to do what it takes to change the world by starting with yourself and asking the world to catch up. Sometimes that sort of (ahem) bullheaded approach really works, especially when it comes to ritual practices and classrooms, where the attendants arrive thirsty and ready to be led to the water. But, when it comes to the institutions themselves — places that pride themselves on the old ways, places that reward those who know how to wield the book even if they don’t go by it — influencing change is a trickier affair and often a losing game. Let yourself celebrate the small wins this week; don’t sweat what's beyond your realm of influence. ILLUSTRATION BY BARBARIANFLOWER
Gemini Sun & Gemini Rising
“If I’m lonely,” Adrienne Rich (Gemini Mercury) wrote in her poem “Song,” “it must be the loneliness/ of waking first, of breathing/ dawn’s first cold breath on the city/ of being the one awake/ in a house wrapped in sleep.” I’m thinking of a loneliness particular to Gemini people, the kind that know how to relate in social settings — who sparkle with information and are game wherever games are available. It’s the loneliness of knowing more than you understand what to do with. Of burdening yourself with information too precious to be shared lightly. It comes in cycles, like those precious moments when you get to be the most crystalline and uncluttered version of yourself. That sort of loneliness can be a kind of gift, you know. It just takes time to see it that way.ILLUSTRATION BY BARBARIANFLOWER
Cancer Sun & Cancer Rising
Many people will admit that the past few years have intensely affected the fabric of their relationships. For Cancers, this admission is all the more prevalent, with Pluto in your house of the other and Uranus in your house of friendships. If the topic feels resonant, it’s worth noting that Pluto’s work in the last degrees of Capricorn is reflective — it is the work of a planet that has come to the end of a story. And, while Uranus remains in your house of friendship, the True Node (and consequently eclipse season) has lit up that very same house. There’s a sense that what falls away was always meant to fall away. That it has served you as best as it could, even if that service was difficult to bear at times, even if you thought you had more time — you didn’t. Time, even when it felt like a betrayal, was on your side. It taught you to budget your energy. It taught that when you learn to respect your time, you’ll never move towards people who don’t.ILLUSTRATION BY BARBARIANFLOWER
Leo Sun & Leo Rising
Sometimes, in order to change your mind you’ve got to change your seat. But, occasionally, a change of perspective doesn’t come from an environmental shift at all. It comes from that moment of recognition when you find yourself in a place that’s so familiar it’s almost sickening. It’s a little like déjà vu but more like lucid dreaming, when you’re cognizant enough of your power to change the scene. As the Sun makes his way through Aries, you’re encouraged to be observant without judgment (as much as possible, of course). Do your best to notice the conversations that feel repetitive, the arguments that play out like broken records, the physical aches that seem to travel along an old groove. Is there a way for you to step to the side of the reel? Is there a place where the story is ready to be interrupted? Can you imagine the steps to a version where the ending isn’t one you’ve seen before?ILLUSTRATION BY BARBARIANFLOWER
Virgo Sun & Virgo Rising
Do you feel Mercury’s journey under the stars of Aries? Their desire to push the conversation forward, to get it all on the table so that it can be sorted and done with? There’s something earnest about an outlook like that — about the truth’s ability to change the stakes and level the playing field. In the days ahead, Mercury encounters two very different kinds of successive and supportive energies: a sextile to Saturn in Aquarius on the 5th and a sextile to Mars in Aquarius on the 8th. Collaborating with Saturn, Mercury invites you to be more methodical about how you deal with new information, while Mars arrives to take that data and set a new plan in motion. You can think of these two encounters as precursors to what awaits Mercury-ruled folks come week’s end: a conjunction between Mercury and Pluto on the 10th. Yes, you’re allowed some off-hours sweetness, but all Virgos know you don’t have to get ready to stay ready.ILLUSTRATION BY BARBARIANFLOWER
Libra Sun & Libra Rising
All relationships are a challenge, but each one challenges us differently. This conversation is a wide one, it’s not limited to other human beings, but we’ll get there. Before beginning the conversation, it’s useful to understand that to be challenged is to be present: Our bodies are challenged by gravity; our sense of time is challenged by the rotation of the planets. When we encounter another living being — an animal, a person, even the ocean — we are challenged by their life up against our own, their way up against ours. We are innately drawn toward relationships (toward challenge) because we wish to know ourselves through encounters with the other. Difference is magnetic, irresistible, and illuminating. This week, when you find yourself challenged in a relationship, try to look for the place where difference thrives between you and the other. Can you accept the challenge while protecting the differences between you?ILLUSTRATION BY BARBARIANFLOWER
Scorpio Sun & Scorpio Rising
Aries season may feel like it has a Sisyphean list of errands for you, but Aries season isn’t all about the Sun in your house of service. Aries season is a congregation of stars that work on you. It’s Mars (the planet that both you and Aries answer to) moving past the boundary of Saturn and ranging into the hopeful fields of Aquarius where even the most fixed parts of your life (where you come from, who you’ve been) are ready to be reimagined. Mars trails behind Venus as she enters Pisces on April 5th — an ingress that’s generally auspicious and particularly so for you. There’s a flow between the stars of Scorpio and the stars of Pisces. There’s a portal that demands you make space for the erotic in the midst of the mundane. There’s a song that’s faint but getting louder, a righteous babe screaming she believes in the radical possibilities of pleasure.
ILLUSTRATION BY BARBARIANFLOWER
Sagittarius Sun & Sagittarius Rising
It should be pretty obvious by now that your idea of what safety looks like and feels like is changing. It should be clear as a cloudless day that the monotony of certain kinds of habits and routines may feel safe for a while, but safety that’s rooted in things staying the same is an illusion. Everyday, something is different about you and around you. You shift gradually or you shift tectonically. Either way, your life must ultimately give way to the unknown. How has the unknown entered your days, Sagittarius? Did you invite it, unwittingly, thinking that it might only affect one part of your life and not the whole of it? Now the lessons are pouring in, one subject illuminating the one beside it. Just because you consider yourself an eternal student doesn’t mean you have to enjoy the course you’ve found yourself taking. Transformation doesn't have to feel good to feel right. In fact, it rarely does. ILLUSTRATION BY BARBARIANFLOWER
Capricorn Sun & Capricorn Rising
Surely, you’d be the first one to turn your heart toward a struggling friend and remind them that healing isn’t linear. You’d encourage them to speak love to themselves and their mistakes, to take the old rag from the skeleton closet and mop up that spilled milk with efficient, gentle strokes. You’d rinse that rag and wring it out, giving them permission to admit where they went wrong, cleanse themselves with sorrow, and begin again. Surely, the parts of you still struggling to let go, to move on (or to move period) deserve that same kind of understanding. Surely, you’re wise enough now — strong enough now — to know that there are weeks when the instinct to be disciplined must bow down to the heart’s need for gentleness and grace.ILLUSTRATION BY BARBARIANFLOWER
Aquarius Sun & Aquarius Rising
With Mars still under the stars of Aquarius, and both the Sun and Mercury sparkling in your house of communications, Aries season might have you feeling like a busy bee casting spells and scheduling coffee klatches. The tasks before you are tasks you are more than ready to take on, tasks you have been preparing for. Partially because you are ready to make new connections and see yourself differently through them. Partially because new connections put your older connections into relief. Whatever difficulties you face in regards to these tasks are difficulties rooted in your methods, in your desire to anticipate and control the conversation, and in your efforts to have your contribution recognized and appreciated. Saturn’s hold on Mars might have you ready to keep your walls up and your lines set in stone, but there’s something to be said for being flexible enough to enjoy the company. ILLUSTRATION BY BARBARIANFLOWER
Pisces Sun & Pisces Rising
Sweet one, the universe is here. It is here always but sometimes it needs special attention. Sometimes the universe calls your name in a particular way to remind you that you are never alone — that being alone is impossible in a living world. Venus slips under your stars on April 5th, and anything is possible if you want it, if you believe with your whole heart that it can and should be yours. Venus in Pisces is a star glinting off the water, attracting like-hearts and -minds. To receive all that is available to you, you’ll have to overcome old betrayals. You’ll have to trust your erotic energy — whether that’s with other people, with creative expression, or with a stream. Yes, Venus is with you, but Mars remains in Aquarius, and if you want to know the power in the waves around you, you’re gonna have to ride them. ILLUSTRATION BY BARBARIANFLOWER
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