Diamonds, Voyages, and Quicksand
Dates and times are given for U.S. Pacific Time zone.
Turning coal into diamonds
From an early age, I was determined to be a wonderful singer and practiced for hours every day. When I got to high school, I was chosen to sing in the school’s top vocal group. Our ambitious Capricorn director chose beautiful but extremely complex arrangements; we often found ourselves in the choir room at 7 am to rehearse before the regular school day began.
Years later, I was reminiscing with an old friend who had shared those chilly wintry mornings in the choir room. Thinking about them gave me a warm feeling; nothing has ever been more joyful to me than working hard in order to do something well. But my friend interrupted my nostalgia to say, “You know, some of the kids in our class thought he was too hard on us.”
I mean… maybe those kids were right. I remember those times fondly, but then, I was never what you’d call a normal kid. I did become a good singer though, because Saturn drove me hard. I think it was a fair trade-off.
This week, Saturn squares the North Node (April 11, 2022, 7:30 am PDT), which is on the Sabian symbol 23 Taurus: A jewelry shop. So many of us persist in seeing Saturn as the big, cold, lump of coal in the Christmas stocking of our birth chart. But I think Saturn puts pressure on us because that’s the way you turn coal into diamonds.
It’s kind of heartening to imagine that Saturn thinks we belong in a jewelry shop, alongside the other precious gems.
Anchors Aweigh
Jonny and I have a deal, the sort that’s common among people who share a home: Anytime a new coffee mug is brought into the house, another from our extensive collection has to be sent on its way. Likewise, when Jupiter comes to visit, backing up a huge truck full of treasure at our door, we have to find space for it. Neptune is happy to oblige by taking some things away with the tide.
This week’s Jupiter/Neptune conjunction (April 12, 2022, 7:43 am PDT) is arguably the single most important planetary aspect of the year. The two meet in a conjunction every 13 years, advancing roughly one sign of the zodiac each time. Watch the progression of the conjunctions through your chart, house by house, and monitor your own voyage. I was ten years old when I experienced my first Jupiter/Neptune conjunction, and this is my fifth. In each instance, my life was profoundly changed.
If I look back at these previous Jupiter/Neptune conjunctions, I see a pattern of risk taking that eventually paid big dividends. But Jupiter’s bounty took a long time to materialize, and was accompanied by a component of sadness, loss, or delusion as well. A price was always paid, something lost to balance the gains.
It’s not that Jupiter and Neptune are opposites. Each of them want us to expand our horizons. But one expands our bank balance or the number of stamps in our passport, while the other expands our heart’s awareness, sometimes by taking away illusions or something else we’re not ready to let go.
Find the house of your chart where 23.58 Pisces falls. This is the embarcadero from which you’re launching a new, 13-year voyage. Look to the planets in your chart near 24 degrees, especially those in Pisces, Gemini, Virgo, or Sagittarius – these are elements of your character that will be your first mate on the voyage. (This is excerpted from my full essay, “Now, Voyager: Jupiter conjoins Neptune,” here.)
Surviving Quicksand
If you’ve ever seen a movie protagonist dramatically subsumed by quicksand, you may be surprised to learn that such a fate is highly unlikely, despite how often it’s been deployed as a dramatic trope. Usually, even if you should accidentally stumble into one of these wet, sandy pits, you’ll only sink to waist level. That said, if you thrash and struggle to get out, you will be pulled under a bit deeper. And eventually, unable to escape, your greatest peril comes from predators, hypothermia, or dehydration, not from drowning.
It’s not the quicksand that takes you down. It’s the panic.
Most of us wander into metaphorical quicksand from time to time, into situations that overwhelm and incapacitate us. The instinct is to struggle mightily for escape, but that’s the wrong approach. What’s called for instead is a variation on the advice for escaping actual quicksand: Very gently move your legs to increase viscosity, and turn your body slightly so you can gradually float to the top.
Gentle motion, flexibility, and floating: These are your survival tools as Mars, the emergency response planet, enters Pisces (April 14, 2022, 8:06 pm PDT, through May 24). At times like this, surrender—not struggle—is the key.
Cycles within Cycles
The Libra Full Moon (April 16, 2022, 11:55 am PDT, 26.45 Libra) signals that relationships and communication are under close scrutiny this week. What do you want for 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 Pluto, how can you really hear what they say, even if it’s difficult? And as the Full Moon also trines Saturn, 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 lunar cycle, when we see very clearly what was conceived at the previous New Moon (In this case, the April 1, 2022 Aries New Moon). But it’s also a response to the call of the previous New Moon in the same sign – in this case, the Libra New Moon of Oct. 6, 2021. And it’s an important point, too, in a two-and-a-half year Lunar Phase gestation cycle; this Full Moon culminates a cycle that began with the Oct. 16, 2020 New Moon at 23.53 Libra.
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 28-day period, our hopes are necessarily limited to small, achievable ones. But 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.
Voice of calm
In his book, This is Chance!, John Mooallem remembers the 1964 earthquake that devastated Anchorage, Alaska. The heroine of the story is Genie Chance, a part-time radio reporter and working mother who became the unlikely hub and heart of the region’s communications in the days following the disaster. She remained on the air for 59 continuous hours, acting as the hub of emergency response communication, reuniting families, and giving the rest of the world a glimpse into the stricken city.
Chance was a sun-sign Aquarian, but the qualities for which she won praise brought her to mind as I thought about Mercury’s current transit through Taurus. Genie’s calm tone, focus on practical details, and sheer stamina embodied the best qualities of Mercury in Taurus: calm, practical, with no drama. That’s a helpful mindset and delivery for this week’s conjunction of Mercury and unpredictable Uranus (April 17, 2022, 9:51 pm PDT), which is likely to introduce shifting circumstances and surprising news. But as Genie Chance’s story reminds us, extraordinary times may try our calm, patience, and sense of normalcy, but can’t extinguish them altogether.
Writing and images © 2019-22 by April Elliott Kent
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