!! Life !!

This month I feel compelled to write about something I noticed in the cycle of the zodiac signs:

The first four signs of the zodiacal year follow a cycle of action and rest. Aries: action; Taurus: rest; Gemini: action; Cancer: rest. Or more precisely: Aries: action; Taurus: rest; Gemini: research; Cancer: care. The cycle continues like this with increasing complexity throughout the zodiac (Leo: perform; Virgo: synthesize, etc).

We like to act as though the zodiacal year is a clear movement through all of these signs with the sun’s passage through them. “It’s Gemini season!” We say now, “Time to get out there and take it all in!” But the planets close to the sun complicate this—Mercury and Venus remain in Taurus for much of the month, while Mars is still behind in Aries. We have just as much planetary energy asking us to sit down as we do asking us to get out there.

It’s almost like astrology is a complicated mix of 7 planets, a moon, a sun, countless asteroids, 12 signs, 12 houses, one earth, and 7.7 billion people! 12 signs we each possess all of, all those celestial bodies working in tandem/chaos.

Reflecting on this, catsitting in another city, lying down on the couch with a sweet old kitty on my chest, I was thinking about the not-just-duality of rest and action. I thought about the complicated dance that is negotiating the two to create efficiency.

I recently performed in a dance work that required me to hold strenuous and muscular positions for quite long periods of time. Sometimes the answer in a challenging shape is to muscle through, but most of the time it’s about figuring out where I can allow for release in order to maintain tension where it is needed. Where can I find space between the two that makes efficiency possible?

The main astrological stories I’m interested in this month are conversations between planets in Taurus and Aquarius, and then Taurus and Capricorn.These are conversations that have to do absolutely with rest (Taurus) and action (Capricorn), but Aquarius’ presence in the mix is a bit more complicated. If I had to choose one of the two for the sign of the water bearer, it would be rest, but mostly the sign’s focus on knowledge, freedom, information, and individuality speak to me of the great spectrum between these extremes.

Astrological events this month:

June 1-2: Mercury retrograde in Taurus / June 3: Mercury stations direct / June 1 – 8: Mercury in Taurus square Saturn in Aquarius / June 9 – 13: Mercury in Taurus trine Pluto in Capricorn / June 11 – 13: Venus conjunct Uranus in Taurus / June 14: Full Moon in Sagittarius, Mercury ingress to Gemini / June 16 – 20: Venus in Taurus square Saturn in Aquarius / June 21 – 23: Venus in Taurus trine Pluto in Capricorn / June 22: Sun ingress to Cancer / June 24: Venus ingress to Gemini / June 28: New Moon in Cancer

This month I encourage you to consider the grey area between action and rest. Much has been made in the past few years about the deep importance of rest, stopping, pausing: this is all still true. But many people feel pressed by the moment we are in to return to an activity level that was before *all of this*. If you are struggling to get back to it, please consider the wide spectrum that is activity.

If you are struggling to find the pause that you need, please consider the wide spectrum that is rest. Please consider all the numbers between 0 and 60.

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May 2022 Horoscopes

This is a busy month of astrology, in both amount of activity and characteristics of that activity.

Most of the beginning of 2022 has been marked by a lot going on in the very murky and mystical waters of Pisces. Just when I thought the emphasis on the fish was over, another lunation, another pileup, another aspect would happen and I’d be back to writing about this part of your natal charts. Writing horoscopes feels oddly repetitive as it is, and for the beginning of this year it felt almost psychedelic with how much I was repeating.

May is, blessedly, a break from this.

April ended with the entrance to eclipse season on the 30th: a new moon and solar eclipse in Taurus. New moons are beginning times, and eclipses are associated with endings/beginnings as well, so this turn feels extra good to me. Especially since it is followed by a bunch of planets moving into Aries: the sign of the new, of birth, of energy.

Astrological events this month:

May 3: Venus ingress to Aries / May 4-7: Sun conjunct Uranus in Taurus / May 10 – June 3: Mercury retrograde in Gemini / May 11: Jupiter ingress to Aries / May 14 – May 16: Sun in Taurus square Saturn in Aquarius / May 16: Full Moon and Lunar eclipse in Scorpio / May 15 – 21: Mars in Pisces conjunct Neptune in Pisces / May 18 – 21: Sun in Taurus trine Pluto in Capricorn / May 24: Mercury ingress back to Taurus / May 24 – 26: Venus in Aries sextile Saturn in Aquarius / May 27 – 28: Venus in Aries square Pluto in Capricorn / May 25: Mars ingress to Aries / May 27 – 31: Mars conjunct Jupiter in Aries / May 29: Venus ingress to Taurus

In May, Venus, Jupiter, and Mars all enter the sign of the ram. Aries announces himself boldly, comes in off the gate full of fire and encourages us to do the same. With these three planets moving into his sign, we get similar energy.

Mid-month, we get our second eclipse with a full moon and lunar eclipse in Scorpio. I adore that the Scorpio full moon takes place in the springtime: showing us that even in our brightest and most hopeful moments, the depth is still there.

As a fun/irritating wrench in this mix on this astrology, Mercury will station retrograde for the second time this year in its home sign of Gemini. Mercury retrogrades are always associated with communication and technology problems, and since Gemini rules these areas as well, we can expect a particularly hectic tumble through the month.

The emphasis on Aries combined with the Mercury retrograde this month reminds me of the Knight of Swords:

A knight, bearing a message, comes careening onto the scene, something to say, sharp-witted and sharp-weaponed, perhaps not looking where he is going.

After months of incapacity, the shift into Aries, coupled with the eclipses, gives you an opportunity to start something. Whatever energy you’ve been looking for, astrologically this month will bring it. It might not be tidy and it might not go according to plan, but things this month are gonna start moving.

Wishing you the best of it,
Amelia

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April 2022 Horoscopes

Late last year, I transitioned to writing these horoscopes monthly instead of by lunation (which is bi- to tri- monthly). Since switching to this method, I’ve been able to notice when a month is particularly astrologically active, since I write up these little lists of the astrology that stands out to me.

I realize that to most readers of a horoscope, such lists are a lot of astrological gobbledygook. They’re also incomplete, as many more things go on than I can name. These lists help me see a length and number of transits that are taking place, the balance of soft vs. hard aspects, how much change there will be, how much things stay the same.

April, I can attest, is a busy month:

April 1: New Moon in Aries / April 4-21: Neptune conjunct Jupiter in Pisces / April 5: Saturn conjunct Mars in Aquarius / April 6: Venus ingress to Pisces / April 12: Mercury ingress to Taurus / April 16: Mars ingress to Pisces / April 16: Full Moon in Libra / April 18: Uranus conjunct Mercury in Taurus / April 21: Sun ingress to Taurus / April 24: Saturn in Aquarius square Mercury in Taurus / April 27-29: Neptune conjunct Venus in Pisces / April 28-29: Pluto in Capricorn Trine Mercury in Taurus / April 30: New Moon in Taurus and Partial Solar Eclipse

In major astrological news, April sees one of the big transits for 2022, the conjunction of Neptune and Jupiter in Pisces. This is big because both of these planets have rulership and association with Pisces: Neptune is the modern ruling planet of the sign, and Jupiter the ancient ruler (so, depending on the astrologer you’re talking to and what they practice, you’ll hear different opinions on who’s in charge). With both of them in Pisces walking side by side for a moment, I have the image of two colleagues walking alongside one another, both directors or leaders in some way, perhaps a retired and current leader of the same space, conversing over the state of their shared affairs.

In the case of Pisces, this is mysticism, faith, art, spirit, and WATER. In the backdrop of all the other astrology of the month, there’s a lot of opportunity for confusion and mess.  Pisces and Jupiter both have a lot of optimism associated with them, but I personally really feel the Neptunian themes of overwhelm and fatigue when I think of Pisces: in general I want to warn us all of burnout and to remind us to take space and rest when we can.

Venus and Mars both join Neptune and Jupiter in Pisces this month, and towards the end of the month Venus, too, will conjoin Neptune in the watery depths. Overall the astrology of April is funny stuff for Aries season, with many more planets stuck in the swampy murk of the two fish than we may want for the season of action and risk.

At the end of April, we have an unusual third lunation in one month that kicks off this Spring’s eclipse season, with a new moon and partial solar eclipse in Taurus. This lunation will sit riiiight close to Uranus in the same sign, and describes a moment of opportunity for new changes.

People on the Internet really doomstrologize eclipses, and every eclipse season I try to remind us all that eclipses are normal, regular, constant astrological occurrences, so when the infographics start to come out remember these words.

Since the eclipse is directly preceded by a trine between Pluto in Capricorn and Mercury in Taurus, our communication strategies will be nicely helped by the only transiting trine we will see this month. Take advantage of that as you look to apply the eclipse thematics of change and new beginnings to your own chart.

There are some months that I speak poetically and in imagery, and then there are others, like this one, where I’m drawn to speak with a lot of clarity about the most mundane takes on the astrology possible. Perhaps the emphasis on Pisces this month makes me dig my heels in and insist on the everyday; makes me want to communicate that even at its most fantastical, astrology is largely a description of the incredibly normal occurrence of planets hurtling around our solar system.

Sometimes it’s important to find the beauty and spirituality in everyday things, and other times it’s important to find the everyday in the depths. To tread water and stay afloat. At the risk of that overused metaphor, this is a time for such an image.

With love and life vests,
Amelia

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March 2022 Horoscopes

Venus has spent a long time in Capricorn.

In December, she moved into this structural territory to then slow right down and skate backwards through the new year, retrograde through until the end of January. During these months, she moved her slowest at two points – at 26º of the sign in December, and at 11º of the sign in January.

Then throughout February, she picked up her pace where she was eventually joined by her long storied partner Mars, who met her mid-month in the sign of the sea-goat and harried her along through til the beginning of March.

Venus in Capricorn is careful business: this is taking time to be certain of your structures, double-checking your finances, loving your boundaries. While she moved backwards in January, she gave the energy of just give me a minute, I have to be absolutely certain that I did the work right—when energetic Mars joined her I saw them as two lovers, Mars coming along to hold her hand and encourage her that everything had truly been done correctly, and she could leave it behind and move on.

Now here we are, just weeks away from the start of Spring, and Venus and Mars are still together where they will hold hands briefly in Aquarius before Venus moves back to her quickened pace and leaves Mars Behind.

Mars may be the planet of energy, but Venus moves faster. Mars might be power, but Venus is persuasion.

In March, and then early April, we see all three of the inner planets move through the sign of the water bearer and form sobering conjunctions to Saturn. They also make squares to Uranus that echo the Saturn-Uranus squares of last year into this one. There is a brief salve with the new moon in Pisces conjunct Jupiter (although it also coincides with the Mercury-Saturn conjunction), and with the Mercury-Neptune conjunction in Pisces on the 24th, but both of these are brief and I fear will highlight more of the overwhelm and misinformation Pisces can offer than of its sweet creativity.

Astrological events this month:

After all the astrobabble, I’m sorry to report: ultimately, we are still in some tough astrology. But this is news to nobody. Many of us do not quite remember good times, and many of us know that good times for some come at the cost of struggle for others.

Often I am heavy with the knowledge that people look to astrology for comfort and guidance. I am not a counselor or therapist, or a political theorist, or a social justice specialist, or a thinker of any form beyond myth and archetype. When the stars are describing the tough times as such, I’m largely just a bearer of bad news.  I also feel strongly that my voice and my drawings from the stars are ultimately not the commentary anyone needs on world events.

What I can offer is a lens on your personal life. Your personal life continues to happen. Your love, your work, your health, your meals continue to happen.

The full moon in Virgo this month is the greatest celebration of this I can think of. In all the great dreams of Pisces, in all the revolutionary ideas of Aquarius, Virgo comes along with the moon to remind us: our daily lives still offer us the deepest reality we can know.

So counter your feelings of disillusionment by being grounded in the most tangible knowledge you can find. Resist by continuing your existence. Make the meals, do the dishes, do your work, see your friends—not as a means of escapism but as a means of celebrating this inexpressible, precious, and simple reality that we have the privilege of living inside of.

In solidarity, in love, in resilience,
Amelia

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February 2022 Horoscopes

Because of Venus’ retrograde and extended stay in Capricorn, much of the astrology for this month will be in the same part of your chart that was activated in January. The planets really do not particularly care about months: they want you to know you aren’t yet done with this Capricorn stuff.

Astrological events this month:

February 1: New Moon in Aquarius, Mercury stations direct / February 2: Imbolc, the midpoint between the winter solstice and the spring equinox / February 12-20: Mars-Venus conjunction in Capricorn / February 15: Full Moon in Leo, Mercury ingress back to Aquarius / February 19: Sun ingress to Pisces / February 25: Uranus in Taurus trine Mercury in Capricorn, Mercury exits shadow 

In February, Mars and Venus form one of two conjunctions they’ll make at the start of this year, this one in Capricorn from February 12th to the 20th. In March they’ll conjunct again in Aquarius. When I speak to my clients about these planets, I often describe Venus as what’s good for you and Mars as what you’re gonna do anyway. When they are aligned we see a clarity of vision and the energy to enact your values.

In Capricorn, this is at once work energy, but also: integrity, boundary, routine. Fuck January… February is the month for resolutions.

Following up on January’s time of retrograde planets, February becomes a month of action. After February 2nd, all the planets will be direct for the first time in many months, and we get a nice stretch of no retrogrades. Since retrogrades denote a time of introspection,  this collective move forwards speaks to me of action. Since this action comes after much deep reflection, this collective move forwards also speaks to me of maintaining our eye on the past.

For Black history/Black futures month, I am reflecting on this astrology as speaking about movement forwards with the past always in our pocket. Much of this months’ astrology is in Saturn-ruled signs, and many astrologers have written or spoken on the connection between Saturn and Black people (see this video, for example, by iJaadee). The connection to the past while imagining futures that could be is both foundation building and imaginative.

I hope this forward-moving astrology can be conducive to healing, growth, and movement.

Joyous imbolc,
Amelia

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