Forecast for April 2010 (All times EST)
by Global Psychics Psychic
Astrologer Phil Reckard

And all of the above will be square life/death/rebirth Pluto, off on the collective periphery ninety degrees away, adding life-sustaining and life-threatening defining moments throughout. This is why it is so important - and so transformative - to start getting things right this month, well before the fertilizer has a chance of hitting the ventilator this Summer.

Along with the Finger of God Yod pointing right at Saturn, the first week of April also sees Mercury and Venus forming challenging squares to Mars, throwing a bit of conflict into our close romantic relationships. This is yet another good reason to meditate on Venus each night after sunset as She rises to greater prominence throughout the next few months. And it might be a good idea to honor Mercury - our intellectual capacity - while we're at it. The Winged Messenger makes a rare appearance just below Venus in the first week of April, shortly before beginning to slow down to start its retrograde cycle.

So, Pluto turns retrograde on the 6th while Saturn moves back (retrograde) into Virgo on the 7th. Saturn then moves into an exact inconjunct to Wounded Healer Chiron on the 12th, with Neptune less than one degree away from Chiron. At once, this is the Good Professor Saturn's signal to remind us of what we've been working on the past seven months regarding spiritual (Neptune) healing (Chiron), and whether or not any wisdom (Saturn) has been shining through. We should also recall what blessed (if any) spiritual developments were happening for us during the astrological event of 2009, the Jupiter/Chiron/Neptune communion of last May and June, the official dawning of the Aquarian Age.

For one thing, this evolutionary process has simultaneously been exposing and fortifying hypocrisy and evil among ultra-conservative religious movements worldwide, reminiscent of - and redefining - Saturn's oppositions to Neptune throughout 2006 and 2007. We need to know that they are still (way) out there, spewing their venomous hatred that may yet spill into more acts of violence in the name of their one "true" God.

On the positive side, we can renew our awareness that we are all One Living Organism, that everything is indeed connected, and whatever other Universal connections we've been making. Within this exalted Consciousness, we need to be reassured of the protection it provides, meaning that we'll hopefully be in the right place at the right time, if and when things begin to spin out of control on the world stage.

This is the basic set-up for the New Moon of April 14 (25° Aries), the Sabian* image of which promises "The possibility for man to gain experience at two levels of being, the revelation of new potentialities." Leave no doubt that this is only a possibility, not a probability or a guarantee, we need to take this opportunity and run with it. And we should know that "two levels of being" implies two levels of Consciousness, hopefully two levels of higher Consciousness but this is no guarantee either. This New Moon should therefore be seen as a further understanding that we are indeed spiritual beings having one heck of a human experience, which begs a few important questions.

For instance, if we are all indeed one, why wars? Why suffering of any kind? Perhaps we really need to be asking a higher power to deliver us from evil, the evil we inflict upon ourselves as members of the same human family? It wouldn't hurt, and it just might help to turn "deliver us from evil" into our mantra, especially as Mercury begins moving retrograde on the 18th, just four days after this New Moon.

Taurus is the Fixed Earth sign while Mercury rules our intellects and our abilities to communicate and move about, so the tendency might feel like we need to be moving forward while our feet are stuck in concrete. Have you ever tried yelling while buried in the mud? Well, me neither, but Mercury begins its retrograde cycle at thirteen degrees Taurus, and the Sabian image might hold a clue for how we'll be faring, "A porter carrying heavy baggage." Oh how nice, more heavy lifting...

Mercury retrograde in Taurus even suggests some nasty seismic activity which is always bad juju to predict. However, the previous Mercury retrograde cycle occurred entirely within Cardinal Earth Capricorn (December 26 to January 15), which saw Mercury stationing to turn direct during a powerful Lunar eclipse. Mercury was less than three degrees away from life/death/rebirth Pluto when the Haitian earthquake hit on January 12, and it can be argued (unsuccessfully in my opinion but who knows?) that a retrograde Mercury and Pluto working together somehow caused the Earth (Capricorn) to rumble under Pot Au Prince.

Mercury and Pluto will be separated by three full signs by the end of April, forming beneficial (?) trines to each other throughout May, but another planetary development is unfolding that is well worth mentioning, perhaps even "causing" some different or complementary earth-rattling concerns. Earth Mother, Goddess of Agriculture and dwarf planet Ceres begins Her own retrograde cycle less than one degree away from a retrograde Pluto at month's end, perhaps disrupting the world's food supply in some way. This is not a call to stock-up or panic in any way because fear tends to feed into itself and then multiply, perhaps fueling the potentials into becoming reality. If anything, it will be interesting to see what commodity gamblers will be investing in, causing more shifting in the world's monetary (Pluto) systems.

In the meantime, a retrograde Saturn moves into an exact opposition to revolutionary Uranus on the 26th, just two days before a very intense Scorpio Full Moon. Phase One of the Saturn/Uranus oppositions occurred on November 4, 2008, Election Day in the US with the spirit of "Yes we can!" reverberating globally. Between February 2009 and the end of April, Saturn and Uranus have moved back and forth into continuing oppositions three more times, the fifth and final precise opposition will be occurring July 26, right at the height of the Cardinal Cross. Again, this is all about responsible (Saturn) change (Uranus), a roughly two year process of preparing our species for whatever awaits us at the end of the Mayan calendar. No big deal, right?

The Full Moon of April 28 is the same day Ceres and Pluto begin their retrograde dance lasting through to November, but Mercury's retrograde reaches a rare level of intensity as Mercury and the Sun conjoin each other in the same degree (9° Taurus) at the exact moment the Moon is full. The Sabian image for the Sun and Mercury "A fully decorated Christmas tree," adds a surreal touch to this lunation unless we can fully own the expansive keynote, "The ability to create inner happiness in dark hours." And even if we detest the holiday season, or don't identify ourselves as Christians, we can at least celebrate the birth of a Consciousness - ANY Consciousness - that can bring inner happiness during our darkest moments, no?

(It should be known that the Christmas tree is a surviving remnant of European pagan cultures, a ritualization of the Winter Solstice "borrowed" by their misguided persecutors, so there!)

Complementing yet opposing the Sun and retrograde Mercury, the Scorpio Full Moon's Sabian image is of "A dentist at work, overcoming the negative results of social practices and ego-craving," and this works on many symbolic levels. First, Scorpio's traditional ruler Mars is still in His retrograde shadow, in ego-fueled Leo as the focus of a T-square to this Full Moon. Mars' entire retrograde cycle - fully within Leo - has been working on our ego-cravings, deflating ego balloons in significant ways since this past December. Mars has simply been burning through to our key ego concerns, torching away whatever is unnecessary for our true selves. This has been a necessary process to prepare us for this Summer, so we should be honoring whatever has been coming to the surface, from deep within our Martian motivations.

Second, Scorpio's modern-day ruler Pluto speaks of all the wealth - and all of the deadly decay - that lies beneath the surface, often digging deep into our subconscious minds. And like a skilled dentist, working hard to remove our teeth's structural decline (Eeew!), this Full Moon urges us to go symbolically as deep, to remove and heal whatever decay is lying in our own depths. Third, Pluto is currently in Saturn-ruled Capricorn, the planet and sign that rules our social, political and economic institutions, as well as our bones and teeth. Our personal and global health issues are therefore magnified at this Full moon, especially with Saturn inconjunct Wounded Healer Chiron these days.

Finally, it takes a great deal of education, knowledge, experience and creativity to become a successful dentist, coupled with a dedication to do that sort of nasty but necessary healing work. And even if we can't stand the thought of going to the dentist's office, we should honor and emulate their combined skill-sets of learning, education, inventiveness and healing wisdom.

After all, our entire planet has a massive tooth ache, and someone has to do the healing work and heavy lifting.

(* The Sabian symbols are from Dane Rudhyar's "An Astrological Mandala," 1972)
Global Psychics Psychic Astrologer Phil Reckard