April 8 ~ 14: The Weekly Talisman
a solar eclipse in Aries darkens the skies, Mars and Saturn connect, and we're halfway through Mercury's retrograde
Welcome to your weekly forecast, my friends, I hope that this lands in your inbox and finds you well. A couple of tiny announcements:
Doors remain open for Astrology for Beginners, my new four week class that will teach you the fundamentals of astrology! Registration closes 4/13, and paid subscribers are invited to use their subscriber discount code.
I was a guest on my friend Taylor Paige’s new podcast, Magic Hour, and we chatted all about rediscovering the feminine in the birth chart via asteroid work, and you can check that out here ✨
The latest episode of Soror Mystica, my podcast with my friend, tarotist Mariana Louis, explores the symbol of the cosmic egg, and you can tune in here 🥚
Lastly, don’t miss my recent essay on the secret signs shared between lovers, published a few days ago here on Substack :)
Weekly Headlines: A solar eclipse in Aries arrives, Mars meets up with Saturn, and we meet the halfway point of Mercury retrograde.
Moonscape: After the eclipse on Monday the 8th, luna begins to wane again.
Themes: Surrender to the wisdom of the wound, our ability to take new action may be limited, but we may receive important messages.
Talismanic Image: As the Sun is eclipsed in totality, a snake sheds its skin in a desert landscape, below.
April 8: Solar Eclipse in Aries 19°
We’ve been in a place of deep limbo, the space between eclipses. This time can feel quite like a dream, and to me, conjures the image of a long echoing hallway, where we try to walk through but the air is thicker than normal, and our movements are slowed down. We’re being asked to contemplate the energy in our Aries/Libra houses, which occupy an axis of experience in your chart. Transformation, surrender, and change are all on offer here.
The solar eclipse arrives on Monday the 8th at 11:21am PST, clocking in at 19° Aries. The most notable details of this eclipse are twofold: the eclipse is happening at the exaltation degree of the Sun, which empowers and electrifies its expression, and the eclipse happens perfectly conjunct the wounded healer planet, Chiron.
An eclipse in the sign Aries may be here to teach us something about shifting our stance towards our sense of identity. Aries is the spring ram, the new soul, the beginner, the “Fool,” and sees the world through the eyes of one who is full of potential, untainted as yet by experience (or disappointment). Eclipses magnify, transform, and hide. The Sun will be temporarily obscured, and the Sun is the luminary of ego, of selfhood, of sovereignty. The Sun is King, and during an eclipse, he is knocked off his throne.
Messages flow in, here, around our need to redefine, or reflect, on the ways in which we take action in the world, for the sake of our ego selves, our identities. Are we really acting from a place of innocence? Do we lie to ourselves about what’s motivating us? Are we really clear on what path we’re walking down?
With Chiron in the mix, there is ample opportunity to explore our karmic wounds, but do so only to your comfort zone my friends. We should also note that the eclipse is ruled by Mars, which is about to conjoin Saturn—feelings of limitation, depression, and heaviness may arrive. Saturn puts the brakes on Mars’s battle march, and asks us to reevaluate the strength of our strategies.
There is a call and response element here, an answer to a problem presented two weeks ago on March 25th during the Libra Lunar eclipse, so think back to late March and contemplate what’s popping up now either as a complication or a solution to an issue you had at that point.
The Sabian Symbol for the eclipse is “A young girl feeding birds in winter,” suggesting “overcoming crises through compassion.” We can hold onto this image as we make our way through the eclipse portal, this week.
April 10th: Mars conjunct Saturn 14° Pisces
On Wednesday the 10th, Mars and Saturn will meet in a conjunction at 14° Pisces, at 1:36pm PST. This aspect has been building for the past two weeks, and has lent itself to the heavy atmosphere we have been moving through, so this conjunction is a crystallization of some more complicated astrological energy for us all.
Mars is the planet of action, conquest, bravery, and war. He wants to march forth on the battlefield, head held high, full of vigor, a champion averse to defeat. Saturn, on the other hand, is the planet of maturity, time, restriction, and isolation. Where Mars uses fire, Saturn douses that fire out with wet dirt.
Their conjunction represents a meeting of planets that are known to us in astrology as “the malefics,” they are both planets that can “do harm” in a chart. With Mars and Saturn cuddling up to one another, we find the malefics joining forces, which can create a heavy, upsetting atmosphere. I believe the way this manifests most obviously is that we’ll feel like our ability to take action (Mars) is short circuited.
Saturn wants us to have a plan. Saturn doesn’t care about Mars’s ambitions of glory on the battlefield. This transit asks us to go back to the drawing board, and reframe our course of action, so that we can actually bring about the change we’re seeking.
April 11th: Mercury cazimi 22° Aries
Mercury’s retrograde through Aries, during eclipse season, has been a bit prickly. We’re already being asked to focus so deeply on the Aries house of our charts right now, Mercury’s retrograde in Aries has added way more fuel to the fire. This week, though, we meet the magical halfway point of Mercury’s retrograde, which is noted when Mercury connects with the Sun in a conjunction.
A conjunction to the Sun has its own special astrology term, “cazimi.” This word comes from Arabic, meaning “to be in the heart of” something. When planets cross paths with the Sun in a perfect conjunction, they are drawn into the heart-center of the Sun, and there, they are purified by the flaming rays of Sol.
This is a moment of renewal for Mercury, and sometimes creates a bit of an “a-hah!” moment during Mercury retrograde. The light of the Sun may shine brightly into our psyches at this time, allowing us to see more clearly what the main message of this retrograde have been for us.
Check your charts, my friends, to scope out where 22° Aries sits in your charts, as this is the place of Mercurial renewal this week.
That’s all for now, may you be supported and illuminated by this week’s cosmic weather. See you next time :)