Just a quick update, as the next two weeks are fraught with numerous planetary aspects that will require your attention and a bit of finesse to navigate well. I thought you’d want to know. 🙂

One aspect is an ongoing square of Venus and Saturn. This is somewhat unusual in that both planets are traveling very slowly through the sky — usually, Venus would whiz right by any aspect with Saturn in a day or two, but this challenging transit will last for about two weeks.

Oh, and I should mention that Mercury turns retrograde on Sunday, Venus is retrograde through next Saturday (the 15th), and Saturn just turned retrograde yesterday. But retrogrades can bring blessings as well as banes if you know how to work with them. Here’s how to make the best of the challenges.

(Astrologers: Keep in mind that Venus rules relationships, money, issues directly affecting women, social arrangements, art and pleasure. Saturn is all about restriction, discipline, patience, building solid foundations, and making sure that what is built will last. Mercury rules communication, travel, commerce and trade. The signs involved are Sagittarius, demanding a broad perspective, Pisces, demanding a spiritual one, and Taurus, bringing it all back to Earth. Watch for another shift the 20th – the 22nd, as Sun, Mercury, and Mars all change signs.)

I recommend postponing any major purchases until the end of May, after both Venus and Mercury have gone direct. But particularly next week, just keep the credit card tucked in your wallet, and focus on Steven Covey’s excellent advice: “Seek first to understand, then to be understood”.

Social arrangements will easily go awry, and you may miss or misconstrue social cues that you’d normally pick up on effortlessly. Use the opportunity to practice patience, look for lessons on your spiritual path, and consciously practice empathy. The blame game is always problematic, but particularly not going to play well over these next two weeks.

Look to your teachers, especially if they are telling you something you don’t want to hear. And if you don’t have teachers, then you may be overdue for a confrontation with your ego.

We all have something to learn from each other, and no matter how long you’ve been in whatever your game is, or how many people consider you to be a teacher, there should be several people in your life from whom you actively learn, who challenge you — directly, or simply by example — to stretch your knowledge, abilities, and perceptions.

Don’t forget that you, too, are a teacher to anyone who looks to you to set an example, to point the way, to offer knowledge. This is a good time to review the examples you are setting, and the advice you are giving. Is it useful? Realistic?

This is also a good time to look at the underlying structures, the habits and patterns that direct the daily flow of your life. Awareness and appreciation of beauty is necessary to a healthy psyche, one that is too often neglected as we barrel through another day, just trying to get it all done.

But is “getting it all done” why we are here? Have you thought lately about why you make the choices you do, about what your soul had planned for this incarnation, and if you are in sync with that plan? Is there some inner sense of awe and wonder and beauty that regularly opens you up to the world of spirit, gives you a larger perspective, helps you appreciate the divine and creative nature of our existence?

Do your habits and patterns allow time and space for the appreciation of the beauty in your life? For your spiritual practices? For your most cherished relationships? This is a great time to evaluate and adjust your routines and assess what needs to be changed in your life.

On the national and global stage: Since Venus rules money and banks, Saturn rules business, and Mercury rules trade and commerce, you might surmise, correctly, that April will offer some challenges in those arenas. Check your habits and routines in business and finance, too, and look at the structures that support your business, whether it’s your employer’s or your own. This is a good time for any company to review, revisit, and reconsider all its supporting structures, particularly money-handling procedures, customer care, communications and IT. Also in the news will be art, women’s rights, and global business challenges.

How this weather affects you personally depends on your natal chart. If you feel like you could use a star to steer by right now, contact me here, and we’ll set up a consultation.