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.
