Forward Motion
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My dear friends, I’m finding that navigating these rapidly changing and disorienting times is a lot like grieving: it doesn’t go in a straight line. It’s a process. When the time came this week to write my weekly column, I simply couldn’t muster the energy or creative fire. So what I’ve done is condense portions of this week’s podcast episode for you, in which Jen and I had a thorough discussion of the coming week’s astrological events. Because this is from a transcript of that conversation, it’s longer than usual, and it very different from my usual writing style! But I hope you’ll find it a reasonable substitute this week while I’m getting my energy back. I’m thinking of you all and sending bright wishes your way. Thanks for hanging in there with me! ~ April
Defending against peril
Mars enters Aquarius this week (March 30, 12:43 pm PDT). Mars forward motion and how we defend ourselves against peril, which seems a very apt interpretation of how we’re experiencing it right now. It’s been hard to move forward; we’ve been experiencing exactly the opposite over the last week or two. More and more, we’re all kind of spinning our wheels as things are getting canceled and closed down around us. We’re working at home if we’re working at all, and things have been grinding to a halt.
As Mars Aquarius, I think what we’ll begin to see is a little more of a sense of – and I’ve been feeling this about Saturn in Aquarius too – there is a more hopeful quality to it. Because Capricorn is a very physical sign, a sign of cold, hard reality. It says what is happening right now in this moment is all there is.
And we do need to stay in the moment and cope with what’s in front of us. But Aquarius has a different agenda, which is to take collective action and build toward the future. On the heels of the things that we’ve all been going through – within that, there’s the opportunity to find a sense of collectivism and a sense of what we want to create together.
Aquarius’ opposite sign, Leo, is concerned with personal expression, personal artistic projects and the like. But Aquarius is where we create something together. It’s the future we all share, the creative acts that can only be done in association with other people.


The mission
Mars in Aquarius will immediately make a conjunction with Saturn (March 31, 7:45 pm PDT). When Mars comes along by transit, we can think of it as an aggravating factor. And what’s good about that is, it motivates us. If we’re completely complacent and very comfortable, we won’t get anything done. Mars describes that force from outside of us or from within us that says, “Let’s do something, let’s get something going.”
But when it comes together with Saturn, it triggers Saturn. What we’ve seen within society in the last couple of weeks, as Saturn has been sitting at 29° of Capricorn, is a lot of fear. So as Mars comes along and triggers Saturn, that’s what’s getting triggered – fear.
The Sabian symbol for that first degree of Aquarius, where Mars meets Saturn, is really important, because Jupiter and Saturn come together in a conjunction there around the Capricorn solstice. It is, An old adobe mission. There are a couple of different ways to break this one down. There’s the fact that is old and it’s something that has stood the test of time. And it is adobe, which is of the earth. So even though in Aquarius, we’re talking about that interaction between the sky and the earth.
And it’s a mission. Here in California we have a really singular way of looking at the California missions which are part of a past and don’t necessarily have the greatest legacy. And yet we’re proud of them, because they’re really beautiful buildings and they have interesting histories in the ways they have supported their particular communities within California. We’re very fond of them. Nearly all of the little kids in school in California end up doing some kind of class project about the California missions.
So, this is an important symbol, because this is the degree where Jupiter and Saturn come together later in the year. This will mark the beginning of a 20-year cycle (Jupiter/Saturn in conjunction), a 200-year cycle (these conjunctions in air signs), and an 800-year cycle (the cycle of the conjunctions through all the elements). And it’s very important to consider: What will we take from the past into the future? What are we going to find that’s useful as we build our new society together as Jupiter and Saturn come together in the visionary sign of Aquarius?
There’s a little bit of a warning there, based on what we’ve seen in California and the tradition of the missions. It’s a fine line between trying to bring good things to people and being a little bit too heavy-handed about it and not respecting existing cultures and traditions.


Ayyyy!
It’s a fascinating set of Sabian symbols that we have for this First Quarter Moon in Cancer (April 1, 3:21 am PDT, 12°9 Cancer). The Sabian symbol for the Moon is, “One hand slightly flexed with a prominent thumb.” It’s a sign of affirmation, like the Fonz… “Ayyyy!” In a kinder, gentler time, it was the universal sign of, “Hey, can you give me a ride?”
The First Quarter is always a time to take some kind of action. And what’s interesting about it is it’s in Cancer, the sign of home, and everybody is pretty much working from home if they are able to.
So having a First Quarter Moon there, that makes some sense. And if we weren’t all doing our jobs at home, it would be a First Quarter where we might be suggesting to people that this is a really good time to tackle projects around your home, for instance. And the prominent thumb-up says, “All systems are go. ”
The Sun is on a really interesting Sabian symbol, An unsuccessful bomb explosion, which sounds very scary. But it’s an unsuccessful explosion – so maybe things don’t turn out as badly as we expected or feared, with this degree.
So much is in suspended animation. At the Vernal Equinox, we had this sense of wanting to spring forward and do things with great energy. But so much is in flux, and it’s hard to make plans. It doesn’t mean that you can’t do things now and today. The First Quarter Moon really favors that approach. Unless it’s in Capricorn or it’s connecting with Saturn, it doesn’t tend to be so much about, “Let’s do something now to plan for the future.” It’s much more about, “What can I do today in my immediate environment to be effective and get things started, get things done?”
So we shall hold good thoughts for this First Quarter Moon. And you would basically look at where 12° of Cancer falls in your chart to give you a sense of, “Where are the good places right now to be taking a little bit of action?”


Venus at the bookstore
Venus enters Gemini (April 3rd at 10:10 AM Pacific Time), and as things do now as they enter signs, it will immediately encounter an aspect to Saturn, in this case a trine, the very next day.
Venus the things that we find lovely and appealing, that attract us and attract others to us. It’s about relationships, it’s about money, it’s about things we value and how we value ourselves. In my book on transits, the comparison I used was a shopping mall. There are all different stores, and they specialize in different things. So Venus going into a different sign will tell you, “Oh, what store would this Venus go to in the mall?” Venus in Gemini will totally go to a bookstore! It might go to Staples or one of those office-supply stores. Gemini loves writing materials and journals and fun stuff like that.
Find pleasure in Gemini pursuits. Simple conversation, reading, and maybe rereading books that we love or those things that people have been suggesting to you to read for months and you just didn’t have the time. Bright conversation, new ideas, a variety of input are all things that Gemini finds absolutely delightful.
Anytime we see Venus, any kind of planets in Mercury-ruled signs, Gemini and Virgo… or Mercury coming together with Saturn… all of these say, “Do something concrete with your ideas, studying something a little more seriously.” Perhaps this would be a week where you tackle some piece of material that you’ve been trying to understand. It’s a really good time about getting serious about learning something, about expressing yourself, having some hard conversations maybe that need to be had. Or writing something substantial, if that’s something that you do.


Things change
This week also brings the first pass of three Jupiter/Pluto conjunctions (April 4th at 4:04 PM PDT). With these big conjunctions of the outer planets, what you usually find is they’ll come together three times. Because the faster moving planet – in this case Jupiter – will connect with the slower moving planet, Pluto (April 4). Then it will turn retrograde, back up, and go over the slower moving planet again (June 30). Then the third and last time (November 12).
It’s little comfort to people who now are losing money, are losing jobs, are losing loved ones. But we always have to find a way to frame the planets in a way that’s useful, even something as fearsome as Pluto. It’s true, we can see a lot of things go away. A lot of businesses in my own neighborhood, I know, are really struggling and might not make it and we may lose them. And in better times they were perfectly viable businesses. It’s not like people have done anything wrong.
But in order to move forward to the kind of society we’re headed toward, that means the old society, in significant ways. has to go. And that’s Pluto’s job. That’s what it’s been doing as it’s been traveling with Saturn all last year and then into this year. Saturn represents the old structures, the old rules, the old forms… the way we think things have to be. Pluto traveling with Saturn has said, “Well it doesn’t really, and we’re just going to turn everything on its head because to get to the next step can sometimes mean losing a lot of things we weren’t ready to lose.”
When one cycle ends, another is beginning. And that is a comforting way to think of what we’re going through. When terrible things happen, we can always look back from a historical perspective and say, “Well, we survived it. We got through it. And things change. And that’s the nature of life.”
Jupiter coming together with Pluto, on the one hand, it amplifies the difficult dimensions of Pluto, but at the same time, the great changes and advances in society also come from Jupiter with Pluto. These will be an interesting six months or so, as we’re looking at this play out.


Writing and images © 2020 April Elliott Kent
You can hear my complete conversation with Jen about all the week’s highlights
in our latest podcast episode, 019| Jupiter and Pluto: Two Thumbs…Up?