The Fire
It can sometimes be challenging to know which parts of you are true, and which ones are a habit, acquired to make life easier rather than more authentic. When the Sun squares Pluto (April 23, 2025, 10:10 am PDT), it gets a lot easier to know which is which.
As my colleague Michelle Gould once said, Pluto is like a fire that burns away whatever isn’t true about the planet it connects with. And in the case of the Sun, it’ll burn away whatever is not truly you.
What is it in your personality, and in the life that you’ve built for yourself, that doesn’t match who you are on the inside and your sense of integrity? This transit only makes itself felt for about a week, but in combination with Mars opposed Pluto a few days later, it’s a very strong influence that will clarify what is cluttering up your life and needs to go away. Take note, and by the end of the week you will likely feel motivated to start clearing away the clutter.
Fulfillment
This week brings the third and final Venus-Saturn conjunction (April 24, 2025, 5:02 pm PDT, 27º13’ Pisces) in a series that started on Jan. 18 and repeated on April 7. This is a combination of planets with important stories to tell about what we value most and how that impacts our relationships with others.
When Saturn comes together in a conjunction with another planet, it either acts as a barrier to our getting what that planet wants, or it acts like one of those stakes you put alongside a little tree to support it as it grows strong.
In recent weeks, a couple of eclipses and Neptune moving into a new sign have been reflected in fast changes and instability, shaking the US financial system in particular. The result has been fear, one of Saturn’s typical devices, that very basic needs will go unmet – the need to earn an income, to protect savings for retirement, even to have secure food sources.
That’s Saturn wearing his Grim Reaper costume. But remember, even while he rattles his ball and chain, he can also be showing support in the background.
This conjunction is on Sabian symbol 28 Pisces, A fertile garden under the Full Moon. James Burgess says of this Sabian symbol that it speaks of the great lesson that “to have enough is a feast.” This reminds me of the Fulfillment Curve, which shows the relationship between money, consumption, and life satisfaction using a bell curve. It represents the idea that after you’ve reached a certain point, where you’ve met your basic needs and achieved a certain level of comfort, any additional money or material goods will contribute less and less to your overall fulfillment.
Of course, most of us are just concerned about those basic needs, not which kind of yacht to buy. But Venus and Saturn encourage us to focus on what we have, and on the fulfillment that we find in our relationships, personal growth, and life experiences.
Willingness to Engage
Mars’s lessons are primal, lessons of survival. Survival means protecting yourself from threat and having the confidence to compete with others for the same resources. When Mars and Pluto meet, as in this week’s opposition (April 26, 2025, 6:05 pm PDT, 3º48’ Leo and Aquarius), it’s possible that your Mars in Leo lion will break free from its cage and eviscerate its prey.
But without a healthy outlet for your energy and ambition, you may be feeling impotent and inadequate. The haunting question is, do you have what it takes to succeed? Or will you simply give up?
As always with Pluto’s transits, the message is about understanding the limits of your personal power without letting those limits defeat you. No matter how hard Mars fights, how angry you get, or how hard you work, things sometimes happen that are beyond your control. What matters most is how you handle that powerlessness, anger, and frustration.
Mars’s Sabian Symbol at this opposition is 4 Leo, A man formally dressed and a deer with its horns folded. Have they given up, or are the formal attire and the folded horns a disguise to hide their ferocity, and their willingness to engage at any moment?
Pennies From Heaven
Each year’s New Moon in Taurus (April 27, 12:31 pm PDT) marks a fresh start in our relationship with wealth. Especially with Taurus’s ruling planet, Venus, in a conjunction with frugal Saturn at this New Moon, I’m reminded of a Taurus friend who from a young age has saved every bit of loose change she finds on the street. She tells a story that after many years, she had enough to fill a glass jar almost as tall as she was. She rolled up the coins, took them to the bank, and emerged with enough cash to rent a limousine for the night and treat several of her favorite people to dinner at a fabulous restaurant!
Of course, actual coins are not the only “pennies from heaven” that come our way. Small kindnesses compound as well, though we might notice and appreciate them more if they were made of metal.
For example, do you save up the toxic coins of negativity, while overlooking the kindnesses that come your way? Write those “pennies” on tiny slips of paper and drop them into a big, glass jar. The bank won’t give you much for them, but they could certainly make you feel better on a day when the world has felt a bit mean.
In the chart for this New Moon, the Mars/Pluto opposition is square the New Moon point, making this a more tumultuous and even stressful New Moon than we would expect in Taurus. It can be hard to focus on our blessings when security feels elusive, and so much is beyond our control. But if we refuse to bow to fears and focus instead on blessings and kindnesses, we might even find a few shiny pennies along the way!
Writing and images © 2017-25 by April Elliott Kent
For more on this week’s planetary news, listen to my podcast!
