Astrology Highlights for March 30-April 5, 2026: Such Riches as These

Such Riches as These

Venus, the planet of pleasure, enters Taurus and the garden of earthly delights this week (March 30, 2026, 9:01 am, through April 23). After an exhilarating but exhausting transit through Aries, Venus – and we – can be forgiven for wanting to flop down on the couch with a good book and a snack.

There’s a time and place for self-improvement, and also for striving. But Venus in Taurus celebrates the pleasures that are simply ours for the taking. The beauty of a shaft of morning sunlight on a dozing cat; the sound of a loved one’s voice; the smell of bread baking. What need have we of money, when we have such riches as these?

So, rest up – but don’t get too comfortable. Venus’ square to Pluto is coming two days later, bringing intensity that you’ll want to be awake for.

Cycles within Lunar Cycles

The Libra Full Moon (April 1, 2026, 7:12 pm PDT, 12º21 Libra) signals that relationships and communication are under close scrutiny this week. What do you seek in your relationships with others? How can you shift your perspective and behaviors in order to be more loving and accessible to those you love? With this Full Moon square Jupiter and opposed Saturn, how can you really hear what others have to say, especially when the message is difficult? And how can you set personal boundaries that are, in the end, most supportive of healthy relationships?

The Full Moon is the revelation point in the 29-day lunar cycle, when we see very clearly what was conceived at the previous New Moon (in this case, the March 18 Pisces New Moon). But it’s also an echo of the previous Libra New Moon, on Oct. 21, 2025, as well as the peak of a Lunar Phase Family Cycle that began with the Libra New Moon of Oct. 2, 2024.

Cycles within lunar cycles…. We’re accustomed to setting intentions at each New Moon, but if we think only of what can be accomplished in a 29-day period, our hopes are necessarily limited to small, immediately achievable ones. And truly, that’s not how life works. Making a choice, setting a goal, planting our flag in the soil…these are moments when we set into motion powerful forces that continue to send out concentric circles through the waters of our lives – and in the case of this Full Moon, our closest relationships.

Polaroid

It’s commonly understood that in order to navigate the world successfully, we have to “play the game,” and play it in a very particular way. There’s some truth to that, as far as it goes, but it kind of depends on your version of success. What happens if you “succeed” in the way prescribed by others, but not in any way that’s truly important to you?

Mercury in Pisces prioritizes kindness, naturalness, and acceptance, speaking in our natural voice, and signing our true name, not just our legal one. It uses intuition to identify what we’re after, and pursues it utterly without artifice.

This week, Mercury makes the last of three trines with Jupiter (April 3, 2026, 4:28 am PDT, 15º57′ Pisces and Cancer); the first was on Feb. 16, and the second on March 8. That makes this last pass especially important, because it’s where we can look back and ask ourselves whether we see any through lines connecting all three moments — conversations, decisions, ideas, or realizations that have been developing over time, and are like a Polaroid that’s finally showing a clear picture.

Don’t Diss the Diva

It’s easy to dismiss Venus as a planetary lightweight, an inconsequential party girl eating bon-bons and wearing a fluffy boa. But if you doubt her power, consider how many of the decisions in our lives originate from her domain: desire – whether for love, pleasure, money, or social acceptance.

So while last week we gave a certain amount of virtual ink to aspects involving formidable Saturn and Pluto, this week it’s Venus, freshly in her home sign of Taurus, who commands our attention.

Venus will square Pluto this week (April 3, 2026, 3:38 pm PDT, 05º15’ Taurus-Aquarius), and when Pluto is in aspect to another planet it tears out anything that isn’t true to that planet, or in integrity with its highest expression. I suppose it’s fitting that my normally lovely neighborhood is being torn apart, Pluto-like, to begin the process of burying power lines. It’s been a noisy, dirty, and disruptive process, both physically and psychologically; and now, Venus freshly in Taurus will crave calm, quiet mornings, birds chirping, folks walking their dogs and babies. But Pluto in Aquarius, a sign of community, insists that racket and grime are an appropriate price to pay for ensuring that power lines won’t cause fire, keeping the neighborhood beautiful and – hopefully – safer.

Leadership Challenge

We’re used to thinking of Aries as an indomitable symbol of initiation and bold progress. But don’t sell its fellow cardinal sign, Cancer, short as a formidable influence; it represents not just the sweetness of the nursery, but the warrior of the hearth. It’s the sign you can depend upon to protect you as you launch ahead in a new direction.

As the Sun in Aries squares Jupiter in Cancer (Apr. 5, 2026, 3:22 pm PDT, 16º08’ Aries-Cancer), their combined forcefulness can be energizing, aggravating, or some mixture of the two. The difference between them is largely one of style. Aries doesn’t hesitate or ask permission, boldly moving forward without apology. Cancer, on the other hand, is more cautious, thinking how its actions will affect, and possibly imperil, the things and people that it holds dear.

But the Sun aspecting Jupiter is a tremendous motivator, and this week, it’s time to think big and to enlist others to join in your quest. When faced with a leadership challenge, Aries’ solution is to set an example by leaping onto a stallion and galloping into the distance, daring us to catch up. But as cautious Cancer might say, “Someone’s going to have to protect our homes and families while you’re galloping off to parts unknown!” Both are right – and both are necessary to spur the rest of us on to success.