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Growth, Pruning, Transformation, and a New Moon in Taurus
forecast for 24th - 30th April 2006
This is the week leading up to Beltane, a Celtic Fire Festival, which takes place on the night of 30th April/1st May. Traditionally the first day of summer, May Eve was a time of mystical union between humankind and the earth.
Fire, for the Celts, was symbolic of divine power. On the evening of the 30th April, all fires were extinguished, then re-lit the following morning, using wood from nine varieties of sacred trees. People jumped, and cattle were driven through the fire as an act of purification and spiritual transformation. There are planetary aspects around this week, namely the Sun square Saturn (Tuesday), and Venus square Pluto (Sunday), which are asking for something similar from you.
This new season of fertility was celebrated too with much merriment and physical frolicking in the bushes, people returning home with flowers in their hair and a smile on their faces (sounds like the Sixties). That?s the story that?s been handed down anyway. In the northern hemisphere it?s the time when the countryside is lush and billowing with flowers and blossom, everything is shooting up at an amazing rate, weeds are threatening to take over, nights are becoming shorter, and there?s this general feeling of ?ahhhhhh?, as summer displays its magic.
It?s time to relax and enjoy the season, even if you?re working. Getting out into the country, or even just walking out of your front door enables those feel-good hormones, the endorphins, to begin working, as the sun shines and the birds sing. The New Moon in Taurus is symbolic of a new cycle of fertility, creativity and activity, all done with the senses working at high intensity. Begin something new that will bring more enjoyment into your life, and if it?s something tangible and durable, so much the better (it?s a Taurus thing). However, alongside all this new growth, there may be parts of your life that are also being pruned.
A couple of days before the New Moon, the Sun squares Saturn. This is an aspect of restriction, often linked with authority figures, and is a time to find loopholes, strengths and weaknesses that enable you to find your way through any challenge, especially where you find your identity is being challenged.
It?s a good time to re-establish a connection with your own inner authority, to make changes that help to bolster your own self-image and reputation. It?s a time of reassessment of what is and what isn?t working in your life.
Integrity is crucial, as others will rapidly jump upon any lack of it. Pruning and discarding the playing of outworn roles, (such as ?victim?), will enable new, positive, inspiring scripts to emerge. It?s time to stand up for who you are, in all your shining glory, and rise to any challenges from others that may occur now.
On Saturday, 29th, the Sun sextiles Mars, providing energy for anything you choose to do. Anything involving physical activity is good, particularly involving the home and/or family, as Mars is in Cancer now, and feels at home (?scuse the pun) in these areas.
A heavy-duty aspect, concerning transformation in relationships, has been building all week, and culminates on Sunday, 30th April. The temptation is to use subversive or manipulative tactics; for example, encouraging feelings of guilt and responsibility, attempting to exert control to get what you want in a relationship, often trying to force the other person to change to suit you. The more you push, in your attempt to do this, the more they will elude you, and the more likely you are to destroy the relationship, leaving feelings of bitterness and animosity.
Relationships, whether they are new or on-going, are likely to feel intense and powerful; after the Venus/Pluto square has passed, it?ll be easier to see what is there in actuality.
This aspect is a reminder that relationships based on idealistic fantasy rather than reality, driven by compulsive needs and desires, and a fair amount of angst, may not last, whereas friendships and relationships based on unconditional love, and true respect for each other?s individuality can last many lifetimes. This is a time to start telling the difference between the two.
Pluto, planet of transformation, is calling for some kind of change in the way you relate, and experience love ? only you know what this involves. There?s a spiritual law that says you cannot grasp the new until you have let go of what is in your hand.
It could turn out to be an interesting May Eve! These aspects will dwarf the other astrological, mainly lunar, aspects this week; if you want to know the signs the moon is passing through, please see below.
Enjoy the New Moon! With much love, Astral xx
www.suewalker.co.uk
email: astralwalker@tiscali.co.uk
Some of the planetary dances this week:
Sunday, 23rd April ? Moon in Pisces ? 5.43
Monday, 24th April ? Moon trine Jupiter ? 7.04
Moon conjunct Venus ? 14.55
Tuesday, 25th April ?Moon square Pluto ? 1.35
Sun square Saturn ? 2.33
Moon in Aries ? 7.12
Moon trine Saturn ? 14.57
Moon square Mars ? 18.18
Wednesday, 26th April ? Moon conjunct Mercury ? 6.19
Thursday, 27th April ? Moon trine Pluto ? 2.44
Moon in Taurus ? 8.27
Moon square Saturn ? 16.25
New Moon in Taurus ? 20.44
(7 degrees 24 minutes)
Friday, 28th April ? Moon opposite Jupiter ? 9.05
Moon square Neptune ? 17.18
Saturday, 29th April ? Sun sextile Mars
Moon in Gemini ? 10.58
Mercury sextile Neptune ? 14.56
Sunday, 30th April ? Venus square Pluto ? 8.47
Moon square Uranus ? 10.59
Moon trine Neptune ? 21.34
NB: All times are bst (British Summer Time) ? one hour ahead of gmt (Greenwich Mean Time).
Copyright: Sue Walker. April 2006.
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