Pick a Direction and Floor It!
A friend delights in telling the story of a car trip with a Libra driver. At one point they reached an intersection with a sign marking several directions to choose from, and the driver froze with indecision and barely avoided running straight into the sign!
Well, Mercury in Aries (April 15, 2025, 11:25 pm PDT through May 10) is literally the opposite of Libra. Libra carefully weighs its options and comes to a careful decision. But when confronted with a fork in the road, Mercury in Aries decides in a flash which way to go and puts the pedal to the metal. Is it the right direction? Who cares? Who can know, in just a moment? But you can always change direction later. For now, just pick a direction, and floor it!
More things in Heaven and Earth
Mercury conjoins with Neptune this week (April 16, 2025, 9:11 pm PDT, 0º38’ Aries), initiating a new chapter in their ongoing (if very different) quests for clarity.
Mercury tends to feel that truth is found in the mind, in what can be observed with the senses and analyzed with logic. Neptune knows that it’s not as easy as that, that so much of what’s true and precious can only be experienced with the heart and soul. As Hamlet said, “There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
At this conjunction, Horatio gives himself over completely to Neptune’s realm of intuition and the invisible. Mercury in Aries prefers to move fast, but for a couple of days, let your mind wander a bit. Tune in to the static between frequencies. Let your mind jump the tracks of earthly logic and swim in the waters of imagination.
Lead with Charm
Mars has been in Cancer since January 6, and I don’t think the planet of open warfare has especially happy there. Mars is designed for shows of force and displays of overt sexual appeal, but in a sign as gentle as Cancer, it’s apt to smile sweetly and ignore that seagull swooping in its direction, at least until it gets close enough to give it a pinch.
On the other hand, Mars in Leo (April 17, 2025, 9:21 pm PDT – June 17, 2025) has no problem whatsoever with making a big noise and showing others who’s boss. It leads with charm and charisma, and usually these weapons are enough to get Mars in Leo what it wants, or to keep him safe. If those weapons don’t disarm its opponent, Leo lets loose with a terrifying roar, which is nearly always effective. But Mars in Leo also has teeth and claws, just in case you didn’t get the point the first two times around.
While Mars is in Leo, evaluate risk and need carefully. Always lead with charm, and avoid deploying the sharpest weapons as long as possible.
Cleansed or Baptized?
The Sun enters Taurus (April 19, 2025, 12:56 pm PDT, 12:56 pm PDT) on the Sabian symbol 1 Taurus, A clear mountain stream. Taurus season represents a fresh, cleansing transition from the hectic pace of Aries month; it’s almost like a baptism.
When I was small, we used to travel over the river on Sundays to a park in southern Illinois, where we’d have a picnic in the same bucolic setting. Nearly every time, there were baptisms taking place in the small stream running through the park. I remember wanting to wade in the stream on one of these days, and asking my Taurus mother, “If I do, will I get baptized?” “No, you have to ask for that,” was her sensible reply.
When we walk into Taurus’ stream, will we get cleaned up or baptized? It’s a pretty down-to-earth sign, but this year’s Taurus season opens on the same day Mars in Leo makes a trine aspect to Neptune in Aries (3:52 pm PDT), and our hearts (and possibly the rest of us) rush in the direction of all things spiritual.
Will we get cleaned up or baptized? I suppose the answer is… both? We can do our spring house cleaning, but there’s the chance for a little spiritual sprucing up as well. All we have to do is ask for it.
For Love or Money
Venus sextiles Uranus (April 20, 2025, 11:20 am PDT), the last of three such aspects and the conclusion of a story that began on January 26th and was repeated on April 7. This final aspect is the conclusion of a story about how, in any kind of relationship, it’s important to maintain our personal freedom, our own friends, our own interests, and our own money (Venus also rules finances). Venus connecting with Uranus may herald unexpected windfalls or sideswiping expenditures, such as a big tax bill. And it may ask us to reevaluate our most important relationships as well, especially whether they make us feel more free, or less.
Uranus likes to stir the pot, and when it stirs the pot of relationships and money, we really have to evaluate how important certain things and people are to us. Is the time and effort we’re putting into earning money, or being in a relationship, ultimately a good value?
The Determined Sleuths
As alert readers will recall from last week’s column, our venerable Mazda had started making a sound that was a kind of loud CLUNK combined with a SWOOSH, which online sleuthing had suggested was a problem in the suspension. When Jonny’s concentrated efforts and replacement of various parts failed, he volleyed the problem to Mark, our mechanic of many years, for more insight. Mark poked and prodded ceaselessly for a couple of days – and, he confessed, in the wee hours of the night, as he turned over the problem in his mind – without success.
Ultimately, he brought Jonny to the garage so the two of them could combine diagnostic forces. And in the end, they cracked the code. Because, you see, neither of these men will admit defeat. A puzzle unsolved will cost them sleep and peace of mind; giving up simply isn’t an option.
And so it is when Mercury, planet of the intellect, sextiles Pluto, planet of obsession (April 20, 2025, 2:39 pm PDT, 3º46’ Aries and Aquarius). Mercury in Aries has good instincts, especially about mechanical matters, but it’s often impatient and doesn’t necessarily stick with things. Put it together with Pluto in tech-savvy Aquarius, though, and between the two of them, they’ll skip lunch and dinner as long as it takes to eventually figure out that there’s a broken baffle in the fuel tank.
Keep Moving
The Sun squares Mars this week (April 20, 2025, 6:34 pm Pacific Time at 1º12’ Taurus and Leo), and a little Mars motivation is not the worst thing in the world for the Sun in Taurus. It’s energizing; and if Taurus has a flaw, which I am not prepared to concede, it’s that it can get a little stuck in a rut. So, a little Mars is probably a pretty good thing for Taurus every now and again.
Of course, this is a volatile combination of planets, too. It can be difficult, under a Sun-Mars square, not take things personally, or to ignore someone who’s being arrogant or egotistical – traits that are Mars in Leo’s shadow side, and that the Sun in Taurus really, really dislikes.
Mars in Leo, being a fire sign, has a little bit of a short fuse, while the Sun in Taurus is very slow to anger. But both of them are fixed signs, and once they get mad, they’re unlikely to back down. And they can really hold a grudge. This is especially true with Mars approaching an opposition to Pluto at the same time.
The key to navigating this transit is to keep moving. Physical activity is what keeps Mars on an even keel, and it will help keep the focus off what other people are doing, and on what we need to do instead.
Reconnecting
At the Aquarius Last Quarter Moon (April 20, 2025, 6:36 pm PDT), we might be craving a sense of belonging, and longing for social connections that feel significant and impactful. The Aries overload of recent weeks – the Sun in Aries, Neptune moving into Aries, a Solar Eclipse in Aries – has emphasized an individualist approach to things, and perhaps you’re beginning to feel a little lonely out on the prairie alone.
This Easter Sunday promises to be the most high-energy day of a tumultuous week, and a little bit contentious, too. But this Last Quarter Moon in sociable Aquarius encourages us to get out and reconnect with others. It completes a cycle that began with a Solar Eclipse, which says big change is afoot, and we felt called to deal with those changes alone. But now, we begin to wonder how we might work with others to fulfill a promise we made to ourselves at the Aries New Moon?
Writing and images © 2017-25 by April Elliott Kent
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