Like life’s journey itself, this April is a mixed bag of highs and lows. We may feel expansive, a burst of energy and the promise of renewal that Spring offers us annually. We are ready to step out, focus on our personal ambitions, and see how we can expand our interests. On the flip side, we might encounter certain impediments, blockages and obstacles that get in the way of an easy slide into developing our projects. We could be more focused on our individual selves than on our involvements with other people, even our significant loved ones. We can find some of our goals hampered by a lack of resources.
It would be wise to keep in mind, even as a braking action to our impetuousness, that April has been signaled out by one stock market trader who placed a very large bet back in early February that by the end of April the stock market would experience a significant correction, even liable to a crash. Headlines in February buzzed about a 96,000-lot put options contract, a bet that the market would decline over the intervening months. This bet was all the more surprising by its size, especially when typically high lot contracts are 500. Since that time the market has recorded new highs with some professionals wondering whether the market has peaked on the short-term and faces incredible headwinds in the near future. Some of the energies this month, the lows this month, could indicate contractions and restrictions to our resources. And they may be accentuated towards the latter part of this month.
But that is then, the latter part of April, and in the early part of April we may be running and skipping with joy. The month begins with the Aries Sun sextile Jupiter in Gemini. The month also begins with a Stellium of three or more planets in Aries with the Sun, Venus, Mars and Uranus all in the Cardinal Fire Sign. The Aries-transiting planets both sextile Jupiter and also trine the Moon transiting through Sagittarius on the 1st of April.
We may be feeling on top of the world, sensing the rebirth and renewal of nature that Spring promises and with it a second wind from some of the doldrums of this past winter. While our exuberance can be robust, it could also border on the irrational, since the Aries-transiting planets are also squaring Pluto in Capricorn. We may want to be free, independent, and able to stretch our wings and do our own thing. But we could also find various forms of wing clippers, those situations that restrict us from total autonomy, that confine our movements and limit our abilities.
Are we aware of a tightening to our independence and autonomy? Possibly not, for the month also begins with a T-Square in the Mutable Signs as the Sagittarius Moon opposes Jupiter and the Moon squares Mercury and Mercury is square Jupiter. We may prefer to live in a fantasyland of possibilities and prospects and negate the impediments or restrictions to our desires and our goals.
It would be wise for us to consider our decisions and our actions as we move ahead. We may want to be impulsive and spontaneous, but it would be wise that we be aware of the shifting conditions around us and in the world at large.
While over the past few years we have caromed from one crisis to another, barely escaping fully-fledged catastrophe, we need to be mindful of some of the subtle shifts that have gone on in different regions, yet could prove endemic to the entire world system. The most recent situation has been the ‘bailout’ of Cyprus with its requirement of large bank depositors paying the price and the strong likelihood of a Cyprus economic recession. In 2012, Greece was in the headline news as concern about a Greek default on its loans led to a ‘bailout’ of Greece under what many considered draconian austerity measures with consequent rioting in the streets. In 2008, Argentina announced that it would nationalize US$30 billion in private pensions. Governments’ reach into the pockets of its citizens in order to stave off economic catastrophe has been seen in glimpses by various measures of negative impact on the people of their nation states. Where will it stop? Or will it stop?
Two of the keywords for the successful navigating of the currents of these times are: awareness and mindfulness.
Like keeping our ear to the railroad track to hear when the train is coming, we need to keep aware of actions taken, their likely ramifications and what liabilities we may be subject to as a result of their unintended consequences. And we need to be mindful in regard to how we can avoid significant negative impacts on our lives and our lifestyle. The times they are a’changing.
The beginning of the month seems pleasant. We all may have a strong dose of Spring fever, looking for the warmer days to get outside, seeking out fun activities to engage. We may feel highly creative and willing to test the waters of new interests.
Love is in the air. While we might feel romantic, our primary relationship and romantic interest may be with our selves. We can be narcissistic in the early part of April, looking at personal makeovers, preening and primping and wanting to put ourselves out on center stage. Everybody is a star in the early part of the month, and we might find ourselves looking in the mirror and oblivious to the actions on the larger world stage.
The New Moon on the 10th of April can have us looking at broadening our involvements. Our optimism may know no bounds and we might even believe that by willing that some thing be a certain way, it will be so. Nice concept, and while wish fulfillment often works and intention goes a long way towards realization, we might also assume that we have the resources available to make our greatest wishes a reality. This time and the two weeks that the New Moon influences up to the Lunar Eclipse on the 25th could have us forgetting our financial budgeting, spending like there is no tomorrow, all with an acceptance that if we do what we love, the money will follow. I would suggest a word of caution regarding spending and splurging during this April timeframe.
On the 12th, Pluto turns retrograde and will be in retrograde for the next five months. Although the shifting from direct to retrograde motion could trigger earthquakes, volcanic activity, explosions and bomb blasts, we are also asked to look inward at some of the changes that have gone on in our lives and some of the changes we need to incorporate into our lives in the days ahead. All of us, as individuals and as a society, are going through major transformations, shapeshiftings, with various releases and eliminations.
This Plutonian energy is akin to the mythological phoenix on its funereal pyre to eventually rise from the ashes to soar ever higher. So too for ourselves. We are being asked to let go of the old, our old identities, whom we have been. We are being asked to question ourselves sincerely about who we truly are, not what we are, the identities of what we do with our lives but rather the more fundamental question of who we are at our essence, at our soul level, at the very core of our being.
On the 13th, Mercury exits Pisces to enter Aries. Our mind may spark revolutionary thoughts, ideas as to how we can be the pioneer in our own life path’s journey, how we can take the lead and determine what is best for us as individuals.
On the 15th, Venus exits Aries, a Sign of its Detriment where Venus is not at all comfortable. Venus enters Taurus, its own Sign. We are likely to be more considerate, more attuned to social decorum and looking at how we can present ourselves in the best possible light.
With the Sun Mars conjunction on the 17th – 18th we may be looking to move forward with our plans in an assertive, even aggressive manner. We just have to be wary of being so forceful and so self-focused that we don’t run over other people or wind up stepping on everyone else’s toes.
The 18th – 19th has Venus sextile Neptune. Venus is transiting its own Sign of Taurus and Neptune is transiting its own Sign of Pisces. Their energies are increased in influence. We can present ourselves at full optimum with a certain mystique and mystery that is appealing and seductive. Whatever we touch today we are likely to beautify, and we can add sparkle to every social gathering.
On the 19th, the Sun moves into Taurus, followed by Mars moving into Taurus on the 20th.
Increasingly, with greater movement of the personal planets from transiting Aries into transiting Taurus, we are likely to find some of our initial springtime thrusts are now being placed into action. The mid-part of April sees a significant shift from Aries into Taurus, first with Venus on the 15th, then the Sun on the 19th and Mars on the 20th, although Mars exiting Aries has Mars leaving its own Sign to enter a Sign of its Detriment where Mars is not comfortable. With the Mars entry into Taurus, the Stellium of three or more planets in Aries comes to a close and a Stellium of three or more planets in Taurus is created as Mars joins the Sun and Venus in the Fixed Earth Sign.
Our initial thrusts of Spring can take greater root as we put spirit into action. With a sense of the enthusiasm and confidence earlier in the month, we may feel impelled to go out and buy what we need to create a more idyllic life for ourselves. We might spend time fixing up our home and our surroundings. We may look at increased improvements in our workplace with new software and upgrades to our hardware. We could decide to dress for success and spend some monies on a new spring wardrobe.
While the Taurus transiting planets will sextile Neptune and trine Pluto, they will also oppose Saturn. It would be wise for us to keep an eye on our resources, our finances and our budgeting. We need to keep aware that as time goes on the tax bite from increased taxes and increased user fees may take a larger bite out of our disposable income.
The 20th – 21st has Mercury in Aries triggering the Uranus Pluto square by Mercury conjunct Uranus on the 20th and Mercury square Pluto on the 21st. We may have some insightful ideas, radical departures from our old belief system, and we could be concentrating on adopting new attitudes and a more streamlined operation. What we have to be wary of is the question as to whether our infrastructure, our hardware, can cope with new operating systems or if our insistence on what we want to do and how we want to do it meet resistance from the standards and the traditional formats. Conversations could become heated if we feel our directions and forward movement are being blocked. This timeframe could also see rising demonstrations of the individual against the state.
We may have further indications of yet another Spring uprising as people take to the streets to question, demonstrate and protest against the actions of the powers-that-be.
This latter part of April could prove quite intense. The stubbornness of Taurus can be seen by the inability to give a little on any matter. On the one hand, we might feel right in our decisions and in our actions, thanks to the Taurus-transiting planets sextiling Neptune. But our decisions and actions may be based more on how we perceive situations with a sense of manifest destiny thrown in than a realistic evaluation of our prospects or our resources to accomplish our plans.
The 22nd begins the Taurus-Scorpio opposition with Venus opposed Saturn. We may have great plans to beautify our surroundings and create the perfect makeover for ourselves. If we do so, we could find ourselves spending more than would be wise with a willingness to take on debt by increased expenditures on our wants rather than our needs.
This expectation of our having whatever we want can be fueled by the Mercury sextile Jupiter on the 23rd – 24th and by the Taurus transiting planets of the Sun and Mars sextiling Neptune, the Sun sextile Neptune on the 24th and the Mars sextile Neptune on the 26th – 27th. We could easily buy into the wish fulfillment and the illusions projected to us by our desires and by the consumer teasing hypesters.
While some may be whistling, humming, even singing aloud that ‘happy days are here again’, it would be wise for us to do our due diligence and see what is truly going on. Amidst all the euphoria and mesmerizing platitudes, we have a Lunar Eclipse on the 25th at the time of the Scorpio Full Moon. The question of our resources, our budget and our financial situation can be heightened at this time and may bring us up sharp to the reality of where we are.
This is also the time when the bet placed back in early February of the 96,000-lot put options contract on a significant correction in the US stock market expires. Does that particular trader win to the detriment of the investor herd? Or is that bettor a loser under the guise that the house always wins?
Any way we slice it, this Lunar Eclipse on the 25th does not seem to be happy-making, no matter how the picture might be painted.
The 28th has the Sun opposed Saturn, followed by the Mars opposed Saturn to end the month and begin May.
The confidence and enthusiasm with which we start April may burn brightly in the early part of the month, but could diminish as we come towards the mid-part of the month to be but a flicker at the latter part of April. We may look to put our spirit in action, take our new projects and give them more substance during this month, but it would be wise that we veer towards conservatism in the expenditure of our resources, for towards the latter part of the month we may question what has occurred to our revenue stream when our expense outflows seem to have grown larger. Clarity and patience are needed as we launch forward with implementing new ideas and new directions.
April 2013… time to sow with clarity and patience…
