Pluto the planet of transformation, in structured Capricorn turns retrograde on April 22nd and remains there until early September. During its regular orbit, Pluto rules rebirth and helps us rise above the ashes to a better life. Pluto is the catalyst of change. Capricorn, a cardinal earth sign ruled by Saturn, is all about following the rules and hard-work. There are no short-cuts in Capricorn’s world.
On April 19th, the Sun will leave the action-packed, energetic sign of Aries for stable, practical Taurus. A fixed, earth signed, ruled by Venus, the image of the Bull, should be more “Ferdinand”, less “china shop”. In Taurus, it is now time to stabilize that Big Bang of exploding life force that began in Aries and secure its sure, steady growth. Without the grounding counter-balance, the new life energy would soon burn itself out after all that volatile, fiery exuberance. Taurus is our basic sense of worth, in the broadest meaning of the word; our material worth, as well as our internal self-worth. It is our values: what we consider worth the price, both literally or/and figuratively.
Even though Mercury is now moving forward, another slow down occurs as Saturn turns retrograde today until September 6th. Saturn is now in its home sign of Capricorn. Saturn is happy in Capricorn where his orderly and structured energy is appreciated. Saturn in Capricorn will be teaching us a great many things about the effort it takes to mature and the importance of making that effort without expectation of what will be received. Now the work is the reward.
Mercury, the planet that rules over communication, thinking, writing and technology begins its first retrograde period of 2018 today until April 15, 2018. Mercury is the ruler of talkative Gemini and efficient Virgo. For 3 or 4 times each year, Mercury appears to orbit backwards or be in retrograde orbit and turns its cerebral energy inward. When this happens, appointments are missed; last minute cancellations occur and email is misdirected. We don’t seem to be able to get our point across and the POV of others is lost on us. Murphy’s Law rules the day and we can expect nothing but chaos. But for me, I have always felt the issue is that we are like the proverbial Sisyphus and his boulder, spending 3 weeks of futility trying to bend Mercury to our will.
