All Times Pacific: Astrology Report April 30-May 7
Friends, we have before us a week dominated by a Pluto station and a mixed bag of Venus aspects. Jupiter square Pluto is getting stronger daily until exact on May 17 and is with us until mid June. It can indicate arrogance and the letter of the law, ambition without regard for the greater good, the shadow usurping judgement, ruthless power politics. The continuing turmoil involving the banks and courts may reach a critical point around May 5 especially, but any time in May and early June. Secrets about politicians, judges, and financial institutions may be revealed.
In our own lives it’s important to keep moving. Our definitions of success are changed when Jupiter squares Pluto. Watch carefully how you are treated, and how you treat others. Choose your allies carefully. Examine ambitions. Pluto demands we serve a greater good and Jupiter that we accept justice. Strange that when these planets square they can bring out the worst in each other. A good time for shadow work. Identify areas of life where you seem to be getting results that are the opposite of what you intend. Interpret as you would a dream.
Saturday April 29’s exact Mars sextile Uranus will be with us all week. With Pluto nearly stationary it may be difficult to feel the energy this sextile indicates. We can update our tech to help us accomplish our ambitions. We can explore liberating ways to use excess energy. We can disentangle from all the ways we collect to block ourselves. Manly Hall used to say, “relax away from the problem.” Freeing ourselves from conflict we can feel re-energized, and ready for a fresh start.
Sunday April 30 only lunar aspects are exact. With Venus so busy this week why not help out the Venus people in your life?”= Let them know you care. Men in particular may benefit from examining their relationships with Venus. As Juana Inés de la Cruz wrote: “Foolish men who accuse a woman mindlessly — you cannot even see you cause what you abuse.”
Monday May 1 is the most critical day of the week and possibly the month as Pluto is stationary retrograde in Aquarius at 10:09 AM. Sun conjunct Mercury is exact in the late afternoon. The Pluto station tends to be an intense time and stays intense while occupying the degree of station. That means all the way until June 11, which happens to be when Pluto returns to Capricorn. We only have about six weeks of Pluto in Aquarius left and then it’s back to Pluto in Capricorn until early 2024.
This particular experience of the Pluto station, because it is in the new sign that Pluto will occupy for twenty years, may not be as grueling and grinding as these usually are. Secrets will be revealed. Pluto has a way of shocking us with events we saw coming but didn’t address. With the Jupiter square to Pluto occurring during this time, the government, the economy, and the judicial system have serious issues to work through, the least of them being the new budget. Arrogant actions taken during this aspect tend to backfire as Pluto dismisses Jupiter’s ambitions no matter how skillfully justified. Sun conjunct Mercury can indicate extra ego in communications, so mindfulness called for. A good time for writing and study, and any activities involving dexterity.
Tue and Wed May 2 and 3 only lunar aspects are exact. As John Trudell said, “I am just a human being trying to make it in a world that is rapidly losing its understanding of being human.”
Thu May 4 Mercury retrograde square Neptune is exact in the late morning followed by Venus sextile Jupiter exact in the evening. The square could indicate a week of deception, misinterpretations, confusion, disillusionment, and interrupted or delayed communications. For creative people it’s much better for imagination and inspiration, rather than editing or structural work. The sextile can be a joyful time, perhaps romantic, often overly optimistic and indulgent, but real opportunities for fun, romance, success, travel may arrive. Let Venus help you feel good about life.
Fri May 5 another important astrological event of May occurs, a full moon, known as a Flower Moon, with a lunar eclipse in mid-Scorpio. Lunar eclipses are said to indicate endings and this is our second eclipse in about two weeks, after the solar eclipse of April 20 which indicated a new beginning. What areas of your life are opening to new horizons? What has ended or is ending? Let go of stressful attitudes and expectations. Do your best. Adjust to the current. “Rest in Nature,” as Eliphas Levi wrote, that is, trust what Manly Hall called “the rational soul of nature” and allow yourself to be carried along awhile instead of pushing forward in a race against the clock.
Sat May 6 only lunar aspects are exact. During this brief season of eclipses and Pluto stations we may encounter challenges to our credibility and to our efforts. With Venus inconjunct Pluto creative people may struggle, and romance could get thorny. With this astrology we may encounter people who misinterpret and discourage us. Keep in mind this good advice from Lady Murasaki Shikibu: “It is useless to talk with those who do not understand one and troublesome to talk with those who criticize from a feeling of superiority. Especially one-sided persons are troublesome. Few are accomplished in many arts and most cling narrowly to their own opinion.”
Sun May 7 Venus enters Cancer at 7:25 AM. Venus in Gemini is flighty but fun. Venus in Cancer is about love of mother and country, of family and home. It’s an emotional placement for Venus, as changeable as the moon. But Venus inconjunct Pluto is exact in the afternoon complicating matters. Inconjunctions indicate two areas of life that seem disconnected yet both demand attention, often creating discomfort and even illness. This aspect is said to indicate sickness caused by ignoring one area of life while emphasizing the other. For example, the workaholic may suffer a health problem that forces him to recuperate at home with the family he or she has skillfully avoided. If you recognize two areas of your life that may cause stress because you cannot find a way to balance them or prune one of them be sure to accommodate both. We can even refresh ourselves by cycling our attention from one to the other. Look to Venus in your life and those unavoidable Pluto demands that seem to threaten it. Give them both attention.
