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Thursday - April 17, 2025

Yesterday's post talked about the possible "conflict" aspect of Mercury conjunct Neptune. Meaning, people could use it to talk sh*t and think sh*t, and use it in more life-negating purposes.

Now as Mercury finishes up sitting at 0° Aries and move further into the sign, let's talk about the other thing this conjunction can bring up: having your mind blown.

Yesterday, today and tomorrow allow your mind to see something from another perspective, to learn something you didn't know that you didn't know, or to get a deeper understanding that takes you so deep you don't know what to do with the information.

I considered posting this yesterday but felt like the "conflict" aspect needed to be addressed first. And I'm glad I did as many people are having their "mind blown" in what they are learning from either being in conflict with others, or observing conflict in others. I know I certainly have.

I wanted to write a little more about what I call resonance - ie something happens “up there” in The Cosmos, and although it doesn’t affect anything in our chart, it nevertheless has a big impact on us.

But first, I need to describe tuning forks. (Former music major, that’s how my brain works sometimes.)

A tuning fork is a metal device with two tines:

When you smack it on something hard, the tines vibrate, and working together they sound a particular pitch - in the case of our photo, it’s the “C” above middle “C,” vibrating at 512Hz (sound waves at 512 times per second). However, if you have a musical instrument handy and play the exact same pitch, the tuning fork will vibrate in sympathy with those soundwaves, and make the same pitch, without being smacked on something first.

And that’s what happens, sometimes, with us and the skies. Maybe your natal Sun and natal Mars are in a close aspect - the transiting Sun and transiting Mars form an aspect with each other - and although this transiting aspect doesn’t touch anything in your chart, you still feel it.

That’s because you are hardwired to resonate to Sun-Mars activity, just like our tuning fork resonates to C512.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be an aspect, either. Sometimes (to continue with Sun-Mars) all that happens is that one planet is transiting through the other’s sign - Mars through Leo (coming soon!), Sun through Aries (ditto!) or Scorpio.

I’ve noticed this in my own life with Sun-Saturn activity - in my birth chart, they’re opposed. Aspects between transiting Sun and transiting Saturn (especially conjunctions, squares, and oppositions) always set me off, regardless of whether or not they “ding” anything in my birth chart.

So when you have some cosmic drama happening, and there’s nothing in your transits to blame it on (hahaha) - look to what’s happening in the skies.

Sunday, April 13, 00:22 UTC, 23°20’ Libra

Chart erected for Washington, DC (Saturday, April 12, 20:22 EDT)

The key phrases for the Full lunar phase are “culminate, fulfill, illumine, manifest;” and “pour all our energy and efforts into our intentions.”

We’re done with eclipses for a while, Mercury and Mars are direct, and Venus stations direct forty (40) minutes after the Full Moon matures. So I think this particular phase is going to shed light on whatever those processes dredged up for us.

And it may not be a very pleasant illumination, for all that it’s in Libra. The Aries Sun is sandwiched between Chiron and Eris, and everything is square Mars/Cancer.

Ouch.

There may be an issue in particular which stems from a problem we’ve known about for a while - time to deal with it, I’d say. Think in the longer term and make careful, canny plans about how to get there.

The Moon enters Scorpio at 13:54 UTC on Sunday, April 13. After a difficult, intense start, we can make a lot of progress cleaning up what the Full Moon brings to light.

These are the days in April during which (1) the Moon is in a particular sign, and (2) making a flowing aspect to the ruler of that sign. (Almost always a trine or sextile, sometimes a conjunction).

Sun: Sunday, April 6, 04:34 UTC - Monday, April 7, 14:31 UTC

I’m looking forward to this - it will be a great time to take action on our intentions. We have a lot of vitality and confidence and luck.

Mercury: Tuesday, April 29, 06:34 UTC - Wednesday, April 30, 05:50 UTC

Good for taking tests, “smarting off” (as my parents would put it), being glib and clever, solving puzzles, and reading a new book.

Venus:

Sunday, March 30, 20:16 UTC - Tuesday, April 1, 15:54 UTC

Sunday, April 27, 07:17 UTC - Tuesday, April 29, 05:18 UTC

Two nice long periods for art, beauty, love, and money - with a practical frame of mind. Not as social as you’d think; both are more tending to established links rather than making new connections.

Mars:

Sunday, April 13, 13:54 UTC - Tuesday, April 15, 12:52 UTC

Friday, April 25, 07:24 UTC - 12:29 UTC

The first one is great for finishing up any Mars Rx work. The second is more a burst of energy that we can use to power through. Both require some kind of physical outlet. (It can be very cathartic to clean the bathroom!)

Saturn: Friday, April 18, 14:12 UTC - Sunday, April 20, 17:21 UTC.

Executive summary: all three “personal planets” are direct, but we’re in a waning Moon time. Better to take stock of life and save the doing for later.

Lunar Phases

Thursday, April 17, 03:24 UTC - Disseminating Moon, 12°22’ Sagittarius

The key phrases for the Disseminating lunar phase are “teach, share, communicate;” and “ease up on efforts with our intentions.” Might get preachy, with a lot of people ignoring others’ boundaries. Don’t be one of them.

Monday, April 21, 01:36 UTC - Last Quarter Moon, 1°12’ Aquarius

The key phrases for the Last Quarter lunar phase are “turn away,” and “tear down old structures that no longer serve us well.” A volatile, violent old structure needs to go. We may try to talk our way through trouble, which may or may not work. Time to let go, and there’s really no substitute.

Void of Course Moon

Wednesday, April 16, 02:24 UTC (Scorpio) - 02:37 UTC (Sagittarius)

Friday, April 18, 11:38 UTC (Sagittarius) - 14:12 UTC (Capricorn)

Sunday, April 20, 17:21 UTC (Capricorn) - 23:22 UTC (Aquarius)

Retrograde/Direct/Etc.

Pre-retrograde shadow: Pallas/Aquarius, Saturn/Pisces

Retrograde: Juno/Sagittarius-Scorpio, Vesta/Scorpio

Post-retrograde shadow: Mercury/Pisces-Aries, Venus/Pisces, Mars/Cancer-Leo, Jupiter/Gemini

Transiting Mercury exits its “Storm” on Tuesday, April 15 - by that point, it’s moving more than 40’/day. Review any ideas you had while Mercury was backwards.

Ingresses

Tuesday, April 15, 06:31 UTC - transiting Juno retrogrades back into Scorpio

We have about three months of processing how toxic jealousy poisons how we relate to other people. Environmental pollution also becomes a bigger issue.

Wednesday, April 16, 06:25 UTC - transiting Mercury re-enters Aries

Coming right after Mercury exits its “Storm,” we have just over three weeks for thinking clearly, mentally cutting through the crap, and speaking truth to power.

Friday, April 18, 04:21 UTC - transiting Mars re-enters Leo

Mars is still in its post-retrograde shadow. If you can remember what you were trying to do back between November 4, 2024, and January 6, 2025, this is now the time to act on rectifying the situation(s).

Saturday, April 19, 19:56 UTC - transiting Sun enters Taurus

Happy Taurus season! It gets off to a very bumpy start, but the rest of the transit is fairly smooth sailing. Good for settling down and tending to the basics.

Et Cetera

There are three Opportunity Periods this week:

Tuesday, April 15, 19:00 UTC - Wednesday, April 16, 02:24 UTC. “Good OP to take charge and find a solution for difficult tasks as Mercury picks up speed.”

Friday, April 18, 07:21 UTC - 11:38 UTC. “Good to develop enthusiastic work and do the right thing.”

Sunday, April 20, 15:23 UTC - 17:21 UTC. “Take advantage of this waning Moon OP, good for pushing forward projects already begun.”

Now that Mercury, Venus, and Mars are all in direct motion, we’re feeling more than ready to get on with our lives. The difficulty is that we have a waning Moon for the next couple of weeks (the New Moon is on April 27). This waning Moon makes it a good time to stop doing things, though. If you need to quit smoking or eating junk food or being a sloth, here’s your chance!

We can still be productive if we “just” take stock of where we are. And taking stock is the prudent thing to do, because over the weekend, a potentially violent situation may arise. The main event is the third and final opposition between Mars and Pluto. As a refresher:

Sunday, November 3, Mars/Cancer opposite Pluto/Capricorn at 29+°: two days before the US elections

Friday, January 3, 2025, Mars Rx/Leo opposite Pluto/Aquarius, 1°08’: NOLA attack, Tesla attack, Trudeau steps down, LA fires

The Last Quarter lunar phase will act as a trigger - but be forewarned, the final Mars-Pluto opposition doesn’t mature until April 26, at 3°48’.

Surrealistic cover detail, graphics magazine.

Gebrauchsgraphik 1950: Vol 21, Issue 1.

Naturgeschichte des Tier- Pflanzen- und Mineralreichs. 1888.