It’s the Wild Wild West, folks. Trailblazing, untamed and unpredictable but fantastically creative, an against-all-odds determination to forge a new true identity we never thought possible, burning hot wrought iron energy hammering us, transforming us into what we need to be to make this new homestead for our being a reality. Welcome to the most unique astrological signature in our lifetime – the Uranus/Pluto square in a cardinal grand cross formation with Jupiter and Mars. This is one tight, dynamic formation and these formidable planets, each with a divergent voice, aspect each other around the 13° point of the cardinal signs April 20th through 23rd. Those who have planets between 11° to 15° degrees of Aries, Cancer, Libra and/or Capricorn can already attest to the life-changing energy at play. Those who don’t undoubtedly have loved ones and friends who will need a supportive, non-judgmental witness to the challenges they face. As a society of nations, we effectively are both players and witnesses on the world stage, with the primary geopolitical flash point being Ukraine. Ultimately, we are all pioneers on this wagon shifting train to paradigm land.
Setting the stage for this period, the Sun enters placid, value-driven Taurus on April 19th. Out of the inspirational but volatile fires of Aries, the Sun couldn’t be more ready to soak up the stabilizing force of this earth sign. The Sun in Taurus may not be quick on his feet, and downright immovable when he wants to be, but he understands the priceless commodities of beauty and love, as they are what connect him to his soul. In this Venus-ruled sign, he treasures the potency of life that graces us with the splendor of nature, music that opens our hearts, and pure silence that allows us to unplug. The Sun anchored in Taurus during this volatile period will hopefully give us pause from identifying with the noisy, contentious posturing of the cardinal grand cross planets, and bring some welcome sensibility to the table. He can take us back to the basics by asking us to focus on what we consider most valuable. We could take his cue and put our stock in love.
Tuning into our hearts may provide the most important channel we will have to align with the transcendent frequencies beaming to earth April 20th to 23rd. The planet of abundance may bring luck or excess when he squares Uranus and opposes Pluto on April 20th. Jupiter is the architect of our faith, not the kind taught to us in the hallowed halls of worship, but the faith that comes from knowing we are more than just this mind, this body, having this life on earth. That knowingness fills us with joy and the confidence that anything that happens here is just a blip on the screen of universal consciousness. That which lies beyond our narrow-minded corporeal reality is where Jupiter wants to take us and when he comes into alignment with the epoch-defining aspect between the planet of awakening and the shamanic planet of transformation, he sets off a depth charge that, once it reaches the surface of our awareness, could blow our minds. Strategically magnified by Jupiter, the fifth of seven tension-filled “crisis of action” squares between Uranus and Pluto becomes exact on April 21st and may finally reveal the fundamental changes in our world that have been incubating since the series of aspects began in 2012 and will finish in 2015 taking into account only the exact hits, or considering an orb of influence of +/- 7-8° has actually been in effect since 2008 (remember that financial meltdown?) and will finally end in 2018.
As the energy of the powerful, initiating grand cross signature begins to release, retrograde Mars pulls into Grand Central Station when he squares Jupiter on April 22nd, then opposes Uranus and squares Pluto on April 23rd. After holding back his penchant for direct action since he went retrograde in Libra at the beginning of March, Mars has a lot of pent up energy that may be triggered when he hooks up with the powerful slower moving planets. Although the Uranus/Pluto square is plenty explosive by itself, with Jupiter as the engine and Mars as the caboose on this train, there seems to be enough atomic fuel to blast us into a new dimension. Look for historic acts of creation as well as destruction. What is left standing when the smoke clears will be the new paradigm.
Mercury takes a scoffing stance at the “resistance is futile” Borg when he enters Taurus on April 23rd shortly before Mars picks up his last passenger at Grand Central. In the thick of it all, the sudden switch from groundbreaking to conservative in our manner of perceiving and communicating may make us feel like digging in our heels to any change. While Mercury travels in this practical earth sign through May 7th, he may also issue quiet missives encouraging us to pass on the drama and take time to digest the massive data download before making any commitments – certainly reasonable enough! Once we’re convinced of the value of any change we’ll reliably handle what needs to be handled.
Adding further stability in the aftermath of the disruptive energy patterns, Venus in compassionate Pisces and Saturn in soul-bonding Scorpio form a productive trine on April 24th. Under their spell in the water signs we are given the opportunity to really feel just how indispensable love is and be motivated to take the time needed to work on our relationships so that they will endure through the turmoil as well as the triumphs.
Fresh revelations may arrive on April 25th when Mercury catches up to the Sun for the Superior Conjunction. Teaming up in Taurus, the brilliance of this planetary pair is likely to manifest in complex if not speedy mental engineering and their normally talkative demeanor will be tempered by the “less is more” Taurean influence to ensure only essential concepts will be conveyed. Both are in sextile to Neptune in Pisces (becoming exact on April 26th and 27th respectively), which adds poetic nuance to the conversation. This magical configuration aligning mind with spirit offers the potential to express a sense of connectedness with all that is. Whatever happens over the course of these couple of weeks, at this moment we should know we’re all in this together
On April 28th the conversation may turn to the conservation of the Earth, with the Solar Eclipse in Taurus. A week after Earth Day, the annual conjunction of the Moon and the Sun the greenest sign of all is an extraordinarily potent New Moon due to its precise alignment with the Earth. On the heels of the Uranus/Pluto square, this eclipse thus evokes the DNA in the seeds of discontent that can be traced back to the 1960s when the outer planetary pair was conjunct in mind-body-spirit conscious Virgo. During that tumultuous time, we first began to awaken to the concept that we needed to take care not only of our own bodies but also the health of the glorious planet on which we live. A positive channel for the major discontent rising out of this current cardinal grand cross would be to honor the Taurus in all of us and take a stand to protect that which we love and that gifts us with so much beauty, grace and spectacular wonders. How many more calamitous natural disasters will it take for the powers that be to sign the petition to take action now? Do we value our relationship with the Earth enough to take the quantum leap? These are truly the “crisis of action” questions of our day.
Mercury in materially supportive Taurus takes those questions to Pluto, Jupiter and Saturn April 29th to May 2nd, asking for input from the various positions in the Medicine Wheel of the sky. When he trines Pluto in Capricorn, they will discuss how society’s structures can evolve at a profound level to operate on a sustainable course and be able to recognize that industry needs to gain a deeper understanding of mother nature in order to work with her more efficiently. His sextile to Jupiter in Cancer brings up questions of how each family can decide to make environmentally conscious changes to ensure the Earth can continue to provide a safe and bountiful home for the family of man. By the time he opposes Saturn in Scorpio the conversation will turn to the very real consequences of not taking action. Saturn will insist we master discipline over our bad environmental habits hell bent on the insatiable consumption of the Earth’s resources just to satiate the equally greedy pursuit of profits by shortsighted capitalists. Hopefully they will come to the conclusion that exploiting the Earth is no longer a viable option.
Gentle Taurus’ natural ruler Venus packs up her “all is love” Piscean bag on May 2nd and boldly sets off for a 26-day Aries escapade. With courage in her heart and freedom on her mind she will fall in and out of love at every port, enjoying her excitingly fresh encounters while beguiling others to sign on for her spontaneous no-strings-attached simplicity. While some may find her approach to love unreliable, what she lacks in heartstrings, she makes up for with her innocent and unfettered expression of love. Like a baby with no memory of being mistreated or anchored in a drowning relationship, she reminds us that love is an adventure and a spirit that is free to love rather than obligated can take us to the mountaintop of bliss.
Here’s the data:
**Times where noted are Pacific Standard Time.
**Degrees where noted are rounded to the nearest whole degree (except for the Grand Cross listings, which are the exact degrees/minutes).
April 19th Sun at 0° Taurus at 8:56 p.m.
April 20th Jupiter square Uranus at 13°29’ Cancer/Aries at12:25 a.m.
Jupiter opposite Pluto at 13°34’ Cancer/Capricorn at 4:05 p.m.
April 21st Uranus square Pluto at 13°34’ Aries/Capricorn at 11:38 a.m.
April 22nd Retrograde Mars square Jupiter at 13°48’ Libra/Cancer at 12:28 p.m.
April 23rd Retrograde Mars opposite Uranus 13°39’ Libra/Aries at 12:09 a.m.
Mercury at 0° Taurus at 2:16 a.m.
Retrograde Mars square Pluto at 13°33’ Libra/Capricorn at 6:47 a.m.
April 24th Venus trine Saturn at 21° Pisces/Scorpio at 10:15 p.m.
April 25th Sun conjunct Mercury (Superior Conjunction) at 6° Taurus at 8:27 p.m.
April 26th Mercury sextile Neptune at 7° Taurus/Pisces at 10:27 a.m.
April 27th Sun sextile Neptune at 7° Taurus/Pisces at 3:34 a.m.
April 28th Moon conjunct Sun (New Moon Solar Eclipse) at 9° Taurus at 11:14 p.m.
April 29th Mercury trine Pluto at 14° Taurus/Capricorn at 10:29 a.m.
April 30th Mercury sextile Jupiter at 15° Taurus/Cancer at 1:32 a.m.
May 2nd Mercury opposite Saturn at 21° Taurus/Scorpio at 5:56 p.m.
Venus a 0° Aries at 6:21 p.m.
Wow, I have 14 degrees Saturn in Libra in the 8th house. Oh my! I just received some inheritance money–an unexpected windfall from my aunt who passed Feb. 9. My mother, who is 91, talks constantly about how she feels she is dying, although the doctor hasn’t indicated that. I wouldn’t be surprised if the energies of this coming week are what take her. Any insights you can share? That Saturn hit has me nervous.
Looks like we better gird our loins with this approaching Grand Cross. It was a memorable Full Moon and Lunar Eclipse! My external hard drive failed on Tuesday and 7800 photos disappeared before my very eyes. Thank heavens for Carbonite recovery, which took 24 hours! And now I also back up in Dropbox not knowing what the good ole Wild West is going to bring. Thanks for excellent overview!