Sunday, April 10, 2016

The Astrology of April 2016

It will be a busy time this month. A host of celestial influences will spark action around the globe. Here are some highlights.

We have a New Moon/Supermoon on April 7th at 18 Aries 04. As pioneered by Richard Nolle, the Supermoon is a heightened time for natural disasters and for mass events. A time to be wary. The window is open the first two weeks of April.

On April 9th the Sun conjuncts Uranus, the planet of sudden surprises, freedom and awakening. Uranus acts by big calamities sometimes. It is also associated with winds and tornadoes. On April 11th the Sun conjuncts the new planet Eris. We don’t know much about Eris yet—though she was named for the goddess of Discord. Uranus is moving towards a conjunction with Eris, which forms in June and September of this year and again once next year. The last time these planets were conjunct in Aries was in the early 16th century, a time of major historical change which included the invention of the printing press and the Protestant Reformation. It didn’t all happen in a year then, and it will not happen in a year now. But major changes are coming for the planet.

April can be a difficult time in the US. During the current era there is a pattern of the fixed star Formallhaut rising and the fixed star Denebola setting which applies to the mid latitudes of the US—a swath that includes North Carolina, Virginia, Washington DC, most of West Virginia, all of Kentucky and Tennessee; carving out a region that extends to the Pacific Ocean and includes San Francisco, Las Vegas, Oklahoma City, St. Louis and other cities and portions of states. (This longitudinal swath extends at northern latitudes around the globe.) The open window is from April 9-29 every year in the current era. For more specifics on this phenomenon, see the work of Bernadette Brady.



Among the events facilitated by this opening in past years are these:
·         The assassination of President Abraham Lincoln on 4/15/1865
·         The sinking of the Steamboat Sultana with 1,800 deaths in Memphis, Tennessee, on 4/27/1865
·         The San Francisco Earthquake on 4/18/1906 which killed 3,000-6,000 (see painting above)
·         The Ludlow Massacre, a union-busting confrontation that killed 39 people in 4/20/1914
·         The Ohio Penitentiary Fire of 4/21/1930 which killed 332
·         The Texas City Industrial Disaster, a fire and explosion which killed 581 people, on 4/16/1947
·         The 1974 Super Tornado Outbreak of April 3rd and 4th 1974 which killed from 1,490 to 1,635 people (just before the range of dates)
·         The Waco-Branch Davidian Event in which 86 people died on 4/19/1993
·         The Oklahoma City domestic terrorism event on 4/19/1995 killing 168 people
·         The Columbine mass shooting, 4/20/1999, which resulted in 15 deaths
·         The Virginia Tech Massacre on 4/16/2007 which killed 38 people
·         The Tornado Outbreak of 4/25-26/2011 which killed 363
·         The West Fertilizer Company Explosion in West, Texas, which killed 15 on 4/17/2013

Multiple tornadoes occur at this time of year; only the two with the most damage are listed. Slightly out of geographic range, but in this timeline, were the sinking of the Titanic on 4/15/1912 with 1517 deaths, the Deepwater Horizon ecological disaster in the Gulf of Mexico on 4/22/2010 with 11 deaths at the site, and the psychologically devastating Boston Marathon Bombings on 4/15/2013.

         If you look closely at these events you will notice that a number of deaths are from human error or misbehavior. The ship sinkings, the industrial accidents, the union confrontation, the penitentiary fire, the Branch Davidian confrontation and more could have been avoided by more concern and compassion for others and greater attention to safety. What events in the future can be prevented by calm heads and thinking about how people can escape a fire? This is why it is important to look at potentials and consider alternatives before events are triggered.

We begin the month with the social planets Jupiter and Saturn retrograde. We end the month with five planets retrograde: Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, Mars and Pluto. Asteroid Juno, the indicator of partnerships, marriage, and treaties, is retrograde all month in the early degrees of Scorpio. What does all this retrograde mean? It means we are processing the nature of these planets and asteroids. We are internally dealing with old issues. For the social planets, Jupiter and Saturn, we are looking at religion, law, and our social contract with each other. With Mercury, we are advised to clean our own personal concerns up—paperwork, clutter, any backlogs. With Mars, which goes retrograde less often, we need to look at how we act. Mars retrograde is a time for handling old business, not starting new. Particularly, for Mars, no new love affairs, weddings, or elective surgery. Overall, the month, because of these retrogrades, shifts to a kind of nostalgic sentimentality. There is a strong desire to have things be simpler, like the old days. However, we will wake up when the planets move forward again to see that the old days had their problems and that we can do better.

Sabian Symbols are a way to dig down into the meaning of each of the 360 degrees of the Zodiac. Here, as is commonly done, the degree and minutes are rounded up. Degree areas highlighted this month include:



·         19 Aries, the New Moon: A magic carpet hovers over the depressing reality of everyday life in an industrial area.
·         21 Aries, Uranus all month: A boxer is entering the ring.
·         23 Aries, Eris all month: A woman in pastel colors carrying a heavy and valuable but veiled load.
·         Mars, being nearly stationary all month, only occupies two degrees, 8 and 9 Sagittarius:
o   Sag 8: Deep within the depths of the earth, new elements are being formed.
o   Sag 9: A mother leads her small child step by step up the stairs.
·         Saturn, which moves slowly, only occupies two degrees, 16 and 17 Sagittarius:
o   Sag 16: Sea gulls fly around a ship looking for food.
o   Sag 17: An Easter sunrise service draws a large crowd.
·         Pluto is at 18 Capricorn all month: A Union Jack flies from a new British warship.
·         Neptune is at 11 and 12 degrees of Pisces:
o   11 Pisces: Men traveling a narrow path, seeking illumination.
o   12 Pisces: An examination of initiates in the sanctuary of an occult brotherhood.
·         Chiron occupies only two degrees this month as well, 23 and 24 degrees of Pisces:
o   23 Pisces: A materializing medium giving a séance.
o   24 Pisces: A tiny island seems lost in the broad ocean, but its happy inhabitants have created a world all their own.

So how can we put this information about the Sabian Symbols together? The New Moon and Uranus positions seem to refer to the public mood in the US, and perhaps other places, and the US presidential campaign. The Mars degrees seem to refer to volcano activity and going to safe places. Saturn with the sea gulls brings up the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean. The Easter sunrise service could indicate the Pope’s efforts to bring compassion to this situation. The degrees of Neptune and of Chiron all seem to refer to the migrant crisis, including the Greek island of Lesbos where the Pope and the Eastern Orthodox Patriarch will meet soon. These degrees certainly call upon us to be compassionate and lend whatever aid we can to these displaced people. Omitting Eris’s degree for now, this leaves Pluto’s degree of the Union Jack. It may refer to the Panama Paper scandal, which includes information about accounts held by the family of British PM David Cameron—and world leaders and others around the globe. This Panama Papers scandal will directly confront the privileged 1% whose day of power may be ending.

We can also look at the highlighted degrees in our personal charts to see what they mean. In what house is Uranus transiting, where “A boxer is entering the ring?” Wherever that degree lies in your chart, you are being urged to step forward and take a stand. Similarly, where is your lost island at 24° Pisces? What are you materializing at 23° Pisces? Where are you seeking illumination at 11 Pisces? Where are you forming new elements at 8 Sagittarius?

Finally, let’s look at 23 Aries, where Eris spends all month: “A woman in pastel colors carrying a heavy and valuable but veiled load.” What can this mean to you personally and for our world? A woman in pastel colors implies that her gift or burden is something nice; she is dressed to please others. The item is heavy and valuable, but veiled, concealed. It may be a physical object, but more likely it is a heavy spiritual object. Where is a gift of the spirit coming to you? Where does 23° Aries lie in your horoscope?



Some astrologers (and other intuitives) like to see only the positive in situations. This denies reality. When hard aspects are predominate, someone in the collective will act them out. It only takes a very few people to wreck mass havoc as we’ve seen in some of the examples given above. You, as an individual, can choose to use these energies for the positive. I urge you to do so. But to assume that all 7 billion people on the planet will do so is foolish. We are not so evolved that some among us will avoid giving in to the lowest expression of the hard transits of the times. Do what you can to be your highest self. Do what you can to encourage the same for others. That is the best possible in today’s world.

To wrap up, April 2016 is a busy, eventful month. When people are compassionate and work together, time will pass quickly and much will be accomplished. When people choose to be divisive, to pick fights, to abandon compassion, then the results will be quickly felt and not pleasant. Much of the potential difficulties of this eventful period can be alieved by acts of love and charity toward others. So may it be.




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