April 2024

Aries season always seems to pass by in a flurry of fiery energy that often seems to last no longer than the blink of an eye. This is may be especially true this month (despite the sometimes slowing effects of a Mercury Retrograde) as Aries will host a total solar eclipse. The sign of the Sun's exaltation, Aries is a Cardinal Fire sign which is firestarting energy at its purest and will have many of us acting boldly before thinking twice. Meanwhile, Mercury's retrograde effects may have us re-thinking and re-visiting those choices and more relating to the Aries part of our chart for the entire month.

With all things considered, this month will be the most "dramatic" part of the year involving big changes in Aries, some difficult challenges in Pisces, and one last sudden surprise (probably something positive!) coming in Taurus.

As always, if you need help understanding what's going on or how it applies to you, shoot me an email at 9livesastrology@gmail.com or fill out the form at 9LivesAstrology.com.

• 1 April 17:14 - Mercury retrograde 27°-15° Aries (until April 25) (chart)

• Starting on the very first of the month, Mercury will station retrograde through Aries. Consider the first seven days of April to be something of a preview period for some of the changes that are to come with the eclipse.

• As always, Mercury retrogrades will have us re-thinking, re-visiting, re-evaluating (all those healthy re-words!) the topics in our life that are governed by the Aries part of our chart. Sometimes, this can be people or topics from the past resurfacing. Sometimes it can look like opportunities to see how much we've grown.

• Whatever comes back up for you may change significantly by the end of the month, following the eclipse. Check below to see which topics may be activated, organized by rising sign.
  

• 4 April 23:00 - Venus enters Aries (chart)

• Normally Venus brings goodness to a sign, but Aries is the place of her adversity and her expression is limited here. Venusian softness and harmony is distinctly out of place in the discord and chaos of the Aries forge. Still, it's better than nothing!
  

• 8 April 13:18 - Total Solar Eclipse in Aries (chart)

• 8 April 13:20 - New Moon in Aries (chart)

• There's no way around it, a Total Solar Eclipse is a big deal and those eclipses that are visible with the eye in your region historically indicate eclipses that have more overt effects in our lives. If you live in the path of totality or visibility for this eclipse, consider that it may have a significant and swift impact in the topics governed by the Aries sector of your chart.

• Eclipses happen in roughly 7 year cycles with previous eclipses happening here on: 18 October 2013, 8 October 2014 (Total Lunar), 27 September 2015 (Total Lunar). What was going on in your life at that time? It probably isn't affecting you in exactly the same way, but it may have echoes through time.

• This series began on 19 April 2023 and will finish on 29 March 2025. Think back to last April. Did anything big end or begin? Especially relating to the topics governed by the Aries area of your chart?

• How will this affect me? We can get some clues by looking back at previous eclipses in this area (listed above). We can also look to the house of your chart governed by Aries. Listed below by rising sign:

  • Aries risings: Aries rules your 1st house and indicates the self, the body, the personality, and the character. This eclipse series will start a cycle of major endings and new beginnings relating to who you are to the forefront between now and March 2025. 

  • Pisces risings: Aries rules your 2nd house and indicates finances, income, your earthly/material possessions. This eclipse series will start a cycle of major endings and new beginnings relating to what you own and your income between now and March 2025. 

  • Aquarius risings: Aries rules your 3rd house and can indicate daily travel, schooling, our relationships with our siblings, and our communication in general (but also communication specifically about 9th house topics like spirituality, higher education, and travel). This eclipse series will start a cycle of major endings and new beginnings related to how you communicate your big ideas as well as potentially your relationship with siblings or events happening in your siblings’ lives or daily commuting to the forefront between now and March 2025.

  • Capricorn risings: Aries rules your 4th house and indicates your domicile and your private life as experienced inside the home. This house also carries significations for our relationship with our parents or what may be going on in their lives. This eclipse series will start a cycle of major endings and new beginnings relating to your home and private life or, perhaps, big changes in your parents lives to the forefront between now and March 2025..

  • Sagittarius risings: Aries rules your 5th house and indicates creativity, pleasure, hobbies, and sexuality. This house can also speak to children of our own or our interactions with others' children. This eclipse series will start a cycle of major endings and new beginnings relating to your creative passions, your sex life, or, potentially your relationship to children to the forefront between now and March 2025.

  • Scorpio risings: Aries rules your 6th house and indicates illness, injury, and hard labor. This eclipse series will start a cycle of major endings and new beginnings related to illness or sickness or the grind of  your daily work to the forefront between now and March 2025.

  • Libra risings: Aries rules your 7th house and indicates romantic partnerships, long term relationships, business partners and, to some extent, enemies that are openly known to you. This eclipse series will start a cycle of major endings and new beginnings related to your romantic relationship or business partnership or perhaps a new chapter with a long-term rival to the forefront between now and March 2025.

  • Virgo risings: Aries rules your 8th house and indicates death, inheritance, legal matters, and the assets of others. This eclipse series will start a cycle of major endings and new beginnings related to a legal matter, your debts or investments, an inheritance to the forefront between now and March 2025 or may activate the topic of death in your life.

  • Leo risings: Aries rules your 9th house and indicates travel abroad, higher education of any kind, and our spiritual or religious beliefs. This eclipse series will start a cycle of major endings and new beginnings related to spiritual beliefs (an initiation, perhaps?) or travel abroad to the forefront or may kick up some dreams of higher education between now and March 2025.

  • Cancer risings: Aries rules your 10th house and indicates your career and public reputation. This eclipse series will start a cycle of major endings and new beginnings relating to your career or public actions to the forefront between now and March 2025.

  • Gemini risings: Aries rules your 11th house and indicates your social circles, friends, groups you're a part of and is called a place of "good spirit". This eclipse series will start a cycle of major endings and new beginnings relating to your relationship and standing in social groups, among friends, and a general tide of good spirits to the forefront between now and March 2025

  • Taurus risings: Aries rules your 12th house and indicates sickness, seclusion, isolation, loss, and enemies that are not yet known to us. This eclipse series will start a cycle of major endings and new beginnings related to feelings of loneliness and isolation as well as your self-destructive habits to the forefront between now and March 2025.

• 10 April 15:35 - Mars conjunct Saturn in Pisces (chart)

  • There is no way around calling this transit what it is—a challenge. The scale and topics affected will vary from person to person, but the general theme remains. When Mars and Saturn meet (every two years-ish) they can create unexpected roadblocks, disruptions, and even grind things down to a halt. This will be a potent, if brief, period of difficulty in the Pisces area of your chart.

• 11 April 18:02 - Mercury(Rx) Cazimi in Aries (chart)

  • A "cazimi" is a moment in time in which a planet finds itself directly conjunct, or "in the heart of", the Sun. The significations of the two planets join and become supercharged. When Mercury conjoins the Sun in retrograde, it can be a good time to revisit communications, projects, ideas, or things from the past. With this conjunction happening in Aries, it might finally be time to do that thing you've been meaning to do since 2023.

• 19 April 9:00 - Sun enters Taurus (chart)

• 21 April 2:27 - Jupiter conjunct Uranus in Taurus (chart)

  • The Sun will enter Taurus, bringing an end to the most intense parts of the month as it leaves Aries, the sign of its exaltation. The Sun in Taurus is the harbinger of material and sensual pleasures—this will be especially true when Venus joins on 29 April.

  • Jupiter conjunct Uranus will bring a sudden, unexpected (though largely positive!) event to the Taurus part of your chart.

• 23 April 18:48 - Full Moon in Scorpio (chart)

• 25 April 7:54 - Mercury stations direct at 15° Aries (chart)
  

• 29 April 6:32 - Venus enters Taurus (chart)

• 30 April 10:33 - Mars enters Aries (chart)

  • The final transits of the month bring an interesting new wave of energy as Venus and Mars both enter the signs of their domicile and dignity. Venus will offer grounded, sensual, and aesthetic pleasure with a focus on the material and our surroundings. Mars, on the other hand, will waltz into the still-smoldering Aries area of our chart and have all our action items geared towards making sense of the situation at hand.

Notes on process:

All referenced times are CST (but will be relevant within an hour or two for anyone in North America); Find exact times for your location by using a transit calendar like this.

I use traditional Hellenistic and modern techniques within a Western/Tropical astrological framework and calculate using Whole Sign Houses. For more info about my process, see here.

Astrologer Chani Nicholas has a fantastic and equitably made tool to generate your natal chart with the whole sign house system (different than most other apps) that is free to use here.

For more information about astrology, witchcraft, and other pagan paths, visit the Pathways of the Pagan discord channel here. Connect with me at my website here or via email at 9livesastrology@gmail.com. I love to hear from you!