It’s really early days for Pluto’s recently initiated 20 year journey through Aquarius where it previously powered the Renaissance, the Age of Enlightenment and the odd Revolution. It currently sits in the first degree of Aquarius which it won’t progress beyond before it travels back into Capricorn in June for the remainder of 2023. This degree is highly significant as it is the same degree of the zodiac where Jupiter and Saturn met in December 2020 to initiate a 200 year period of these significant meetings in air signs. Additionally Saturn has only been in Pisces for a few weeks but the shifting sands are palpable.  The way we gather, work together and exchange will be reinvented and the level of technological change will be significant.

While the previous New Moon occurred just after the Equinox in the first degree of Aries the April New Moon on the 20th of April at 2:12pm is in the final degree Aries. This is the first eclipse of the year and it is a partial Solar Eclipse which won’t be visible in Australia. This eclipse and the lunar eclipse that follows immediately after are part of series of eclipses emphasising a sense of force, power, deep passions and the unexpected.

Nevertheless we can expect this to be an introspective period. The reference at 30 degrees of Aries is to A Duck Pond and its Brood. This speaks to natural boundaries. Peace and inner contentment with one’s essential destiny is required to meet everyday life and every effective activity has to be focused, with the associated boundaries consciously accepted. The intensity of this New Moon is further indicated by a tight square between the conjoined Moon and Sun and Pluto. Bold new initiatives have the potential to lead to deep transformation if you’re not too impulsive at this time.

Mercury goes retrograde in earthy Taurus for its usual three week period from the 22nd of April and will continue its journey back through recently charted territory until the 16th of May ending its shadow period at the end of May. Mercury in Taurus brings ideas down to earth for practical application and we can expect the retrograde focus to be on rethinking our sense of security and things in the material realm such as food, housing and our bodies.

The Full Moon Penumbral Lunar Eclipse at 3:34 am on the 6th of May is at 15 degrees of Scorpio a degree described as Children Playing Around Five Mounds of Sand.  This speaks to the early steps in the development of a mind seeking to be attuned to a higher level of human evolution. The number five refers to a five pointed star and symbolizes the mind in its most creative and penetrative aspect and future oriented growth.

The Scorpio Full Moon draws our focus to mystery, complexity and all that is intangible, in contrast to the Sun in Taurus where vitality is rooted in earthly physical sensations. Emotional release and expression is on the agenda at this Full Moon. A streak of originality and unpredictability is accentuated with Uranus sitting beside the Sun and opposing the Moon at this lunar eclipse.