Forecast for week of April 2-8, 2012

By Kathy Biehl
The big turnaround is starting now. This is the moment that the ocean liner changes direction, the engine enters the roundhouse and circles into an about-face, the boat of a car slowly backs-and-forths into a K-turn. Have you been organizing, clearing, prepping and getting into shape? Might want to tackle what you can. Time for them is already becoming scarce…and will be a luxury soon enough.

The two retrogrades are coming to an end that have been largely responsible for the every-which-way-but-forward drag we’re been experiencing. Their final days have the effect of brakes ever so slowly halting a train as it pulls into the station.

Much of the week will have a suspended in air feel, as if time has momentarily stopped. Mercury, the planet that rules communication and travel flow, is stationing direct on Monday, and will not move noticeably until next week. By the week, Mars will ease into the degree where he will turn direct next week.

Thought, conversations, messages, getting around, getting anything done will all move into slo-mo. On top of that, since Mars is in a stressed-out aspect to the cosmic fog machine Neptune, motivations are going to be murky, cloaked and misread. People could stop in mid-action with no idea of what they were doing or how they got there.

Be prepared for this, and utilize it. Take second, third and fourth looks at everything. Double-check your research, facts, data, reasoning and planning. Allow scads of extra time for traveling. Put your car and work space in order. Send out feelers without expectations of a time frame for responses; just send them out and wait and see what comes back when.

Make a game out of it. You may as well, because no one will be able to force or predict timing. Expect that to be forever and you can only be pleasantly surprised.

Oddly, as these two retrogrades are wrapping up, Venus is entering the sign where hers will take place in May and June. She rules what we value (money, possessions, our connections to others, traits and talents in ourselves), and she’s about to whip up a lot of talk and activity in that arena. About to, mind you. She moves on Tuesday into the communication and technology-happy sign of Gemini, but since that is ruled by Mercury — who is as good as motionless — her stay there will get off to a leisurely start.

In this slow, simmering stew comes the first Full Moon of spring, on Friday. The Libra Full Moon spotlights our social connections, agreements, responsibilities and obligations. How are they faring? How’s the reciprocity? How far have you come in winding up old business and patterns, renegotiating or clearing out unworkable situations and firming up mutually beneficial arrangements? (My moon cast will be up on the site Thursday.)

What we see in the light of this Moon is not going to fade from sight quickly, with so much slowed in the sky (and the Moon’s ruler Venus lounging about in Mercury’s home sign while he is, again, basically motionless). Saturn’s putting on the brakes as well. He’s a bit out of reach of the Full Moon proper, but he is in the Moon’s sign as well as in her path. Time will abound to think and talk and formulate responses and action plans. Implementing them is another matter. That comes later; they’re still ripening now.

Work with the slowness. Look closely. Inspect. Analyze. Ponder. Rethink. Redo. Reorganize. While you can.

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Monday: Edgy aspects to the Moon nudge you to move beyond the comfortable and familiar. Open your arms wide and welcome whatever comes pouring in. While you’re waiting, open your thinking to a bigger, grander, more expansive vision of yourself and your life. Push against your walls. They’re ready to move.

Tuesday: Walls, rules, obligations, commitments, the “shoulds” that hang over your life — some or all dart through your dreamscape and point to a viable way out. The solution isn’t as appealing after you rise and begin interacting with other players in the flesh. Give the idea(s) time. Wait till Venus shifts into Gemini mode and inclines folks to talk and flit. (Feel free to let me know if you detect the shift.) Till a dreamlike quality overtakes and softens the day, bathes you in a compassionate awareness and links you to an unspoken understanding of so much…or makes you want to sit outside and become one with a blade of grass, or maybe go to a movie. Till you feel a kick inside you that makes it impossible to sit still and stifle those ideas any longer. Expressing and venting may be as far as you get with them, for now. Take care, though: what you say will hang in the air….and hang….and hang…since Mercury is (all together now:) basically motionless.

Wednesday: Mercury stations direct predawn, at the exact same moment that the Moon scuffles with both him and Saturn. Weighty discomfort surrounds the day’s launch — unwelcome messages you can’t escape; obligations and burdens tied to all those people you have to somehow make room for in your life. Yesterday’s having-in-the-air sensation is still in effect. Use it as an opportunity to observe, slowly, critically. Something will jump out at you in a way you hadn’t previously detected. Be open to it.

Thursday: Hang back this morning. The Moon is void of course until 11:33 AM EDT, and pushing, shoving or even concerted effort will not get results. Come the afternoon, though, a flurry of movement is possible. It may not be much in the grand scheme, what with the overriding braking influences still in place, but it will feel like incredible progress compared to the rest of the week. Meaning that: calendar tasks for this afternoon that you would like to see moving. People are sympathetic and cooperative. Inspiration and guidance are flowing, making it easy to choose to take them instead of falling back into playing online as you have so much of the week. Pace yourself, though. Pick your activities mindfully, or the exhilaration of getting something done at last could lure you into energetic burnout. A change of pace is definitely called for in the evening. Monitor your expectations and projections. The two guardians of love, worldly and higher, Venus and Neptune, are challenging each other tonight. Appropriate for Maundy Thursday, the question of sacrifice and martyrdom hangs in the air. The clash between Venus and Neptune will crack a few rose-colored glasses. Proceed with kindness. Ask to be shown what is real and what is illusion…and remember: Love begins on the inside.

Friday: Good Friday coincides with the beginning of Passover. Last night’s other-worldly atmosphere lingers on, and you may question your sanity. Asking for a reality check is generally helpful; the most reliable source, in this instance, will be inner or higher guidance. Try not to take other people’s actions and reactions personally. The Libra Full Moon has everyone on high alert regarding reciprocity, fairness and commitment in relationships. Perceived slights are epidemic and some people are going to act out, plain and simple. Regain inner calm and equilibrium in the evening, and then address/redress the day with others.

Saturday: The overnight hours bring some sanity and grounding to our psyches, while the morning was made for chilling out. Let your active, socializing impulses loose afterward. Your inner GPS can lead you to heart-soothing experiences, if not to the right place at the right time. The day is not without bumps and challenges. The masculine and the feminine are not pursuing the same agenda. This out of sync-ness could send off sparks like the verbal sparring in a screwball comedy, the only permissible avenue for sublimated sexuality. Or it could lead to head-butting. Choose your battles. Choose whether you even want a battle.

Sunday: It’s Easter Sunday, a celebration of the miracle of resurrection, and on a personal level many of us are making like chicks and pecking our way out of shells. Dreams reflect, expound on and process the uncomfortable currents we’ve been undergoing. They don’t go away on awakening, alas. Frustration, resentment, feeling impeded, generally being ticked off — something in that vein is stirring and not backing off. Sitting quietly before you launch the day offers a fighting chance of identifying what’s bugging you. Sit with it long enough and you will shift focus from other people to your own role, which will improve your ability to coexist with fellow humans on this edgy day. Desires expand yet remain tantalizingly out of reach. A palpably electrical nervousness is in the air, and easily in you. Monsters and demons are on the prowl. All of this is excellent for inner work, not so conducive to making happy memories with people close to you. Relationship issues are not going to be easy to duck. You’ll come through unavoidable conversations with less wear and tear if you’ve been pondering the Full Moon’s information and processing your position on it.

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