Skip to the content

Highlights for April 18-24, 2022: Baptism, Laundry, and Logic

Baptism, Laundry, and Logic

Dates and times are given for U.S. Pacific Time zone.

Strangely Beautiful

I once saw a documentary about casting for films and television, and a casting director who was interviewed about her work said something I’ve never forgotten. She said that what made actors stand out to her, and eventually get cast, was some quality of strangeness about them. She said that’s the quality casting directors are looking for, because it’s fascinating and the camera loves it.

Venus rules attractiveness, and Uranus rules strangeness. When the two meet this week in the spark of a sextile aspect (April 18, 2022, 00:15 am PDT), what is odd and unique becomes beautiful. Find a quality that makes you unique – a physical feature, your walk, your voice – and call attention to it. Unleash your personal attractiveness, and see what connections are formed, and what doors may open.

The Fateful Decision

It’s just after sunrise and you’re beginning the day in a moldy-smelling laundromat, waiting for your sheets to dry. Your mind wanders back to a fateful decision, and an opportunity that subsequently slipped through your hands. Passing on an opportunity because the timing isn’t right, or because your plate is too full with things you love, is one thing; but letting self-doubt derail you is something else entirely. The Sun’s square to Pluto (April 18, 2022, 8:14 am PDT) gives you an opportunity to face that decision squarely; why did you really say no?

It’s a sobering inner dialogue. But by evening’s end, the Moon enters Sagittarius (April 18, 2022, 7:16 pm PDT) and the sky brightens. All the detours you’ve taken along your path, all the different interests and classes and projects that seemed like distractions, have led you all at once to something remarkable. All the paths converge and lead toward a joyful, wide-open future. You’ve passed through the slough of despond; you fall asleep on freshly washed sheets, dreaming of a wild blue yonder.

Baptism

The Sun enters Taurus (April 19, 2022, 7:24 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 Sunday, to a park in southern Illinois where we’d have a picnic in a 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 will bring the Sun into aspect with Mars, Jupiter, and Neptune in Pisces, a sign that seeks spiritual meaning; so 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.

The Pot of Gold

The Last Quarter Moon is the time each month for taking stock and recalibrating direction. But this internal progress report isn’t confined to the current lunar cycle, beginning at the most recent New Moon. Rather, it can be a time of reviewing your life in larger terms.

The Sabian symbol for the Last Quarter Moon at 3º13′ Aquarius (April 23, 2022, 4:56 am PDT) is 4 Aquarius, A Hindu Healer, while the Sun is on 4 Taurus: The rainbow’s pot of gold. Both of these symbols have a touch of spiritual sensitivity and high-mindedness about them, and this Last Quarter Moon sees Venus drawing close to the recently conjoined Jupiter and Neptune. The pot of gold is certainly the earthly abundance of the Sun in Taurus, and of Venus; but the rainbow and the healer are a reflection of imagination and of being made whole.

As we meditate on what we’ve accomplished since the Aries New Moon, let’s remember that gold takes many forms. Contemplate the relationship between abundance, spiritual right-mindedness, and the urge toward self-realization and perfection.

Proof

I studied Communication in college and had a liberal arts major’s typical fear and suspicion of mathematics. But in all my years of school, one of my favorite classes was the one that fulfilled my math requirement: symbolic logic.

How elegant, this system of statements and proofs! They looked beautiful, dancing neatly across sheets of paper on my dining table. And although I found them sorely difficult and frustrating, I worked on them night and day, determined to master them. And in the end, I did. I received one of only two A’s in my class of 40 students. It remains one of my prouder achievements.

This week’s Mercury/Saturn square (April 24, 2022, 6:50 am PDT) calls back to the conjunction between these two planets on March 2, 2022. Since then, you’ve been working on something that’s really stretched you intellectually. You’ve already gotten your A, but you’re haunted by a concept that only you are aware that you never really grasped. So you’re cracking open your books this week, and by July 30, when Mercury opposes Saturn, you’ll see the results of your diligence.

A Common Hymn Book

The heart may be somewhat disillusioned this week, but the mind saw the truth all along. Mercury’s sextile to Neptune (April 24, 2022, 3:37 pm PDT) has some advice to offer us.  Advice like the classic sign posted behind the counter of a small shop: “In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash.” Or, “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition!”

Neptune is the ruler of faith – but faith works best when it’s hung over a well-reasoned, clear-eyed framework. We have to use common sense, learn what we can about a situation, and reason the matter through before we grant ourselves the luxury of faith. In this, Mercury in practical Taurus excels.

But as Neptune reminds us, reason isn’t everything. I’ve studied astrology fairly diligently for nearly half a century, and it’s proven a reliable guide to understanding myself and others. But that’s not why I love it. I love astrology because it supports my faith that the universe is meaningful and that there are connections between what happens in the heavens and what takes place on earth. These aren’t things that can be proven, but that doesn’t matter. For all the astrological techniques and theories I’ve explored over the years, faith is what makes sense of it all for me. And this week, as Mercury and Neptune harmonize in an agreeable sextile aspect (April 24, 2022, 3:37 pm PDT), there’s an opening in the wall that separates faith and reason, and a common hymn book that lets them sing together in the choir.

Writing and images © 2019-22 by April Elliott Kent

For more on this week’s planetary news, listen to my podcast!

Helpful things…

1 comment to " Highlights for April 18-24, 2022: Baptism, Laundry, and Logic "

Leave a Comment