Feels Like We're Actually Moving (ALL PLANETS DIRECT)

Vol. 68 // 04-23-25

I’ve realized that a big contributing factor to my inconsistency has been that the weekly installment became much less fun for me. It started to feel so overwhelming, and that, paired with the little payback I was getting for it, led to the demise of my productivity. So we’re taking things in a different direction.

Instead of giving you a big breakdown of each different activation, ingress, and aspect, I am going to be sharing a little conversation about what the ~vibes~ of the week are.

This week is where things start to feel a bit more exciting, not that all of that eclipse and retrograde energy wasn’t exciting, but I suppose things will feel more exciting in a way that we will all be a bit happier about. Mars moved into Leo on the 17th or 18th of this month, which concluded its egregiously long stay in Cancer. Let’s take a look at its activity over the past seven months or so…

• September 4th to November 4th - Mars direct in Cancer

• November 4th to December 6th - Mars direct in Leo

• December 6th to January 6th - Mars retrograde in Leo

• January 6th to February 24th - Mars retrograde in Cancer

• February 24th to April 18th - Mars direct in Cancer

That’s a lot of time in Cancer, and Mars really doesn’t enjoy Cancer. All of that being said, we have learned many, many lessons about setting boundaries, advocating for our emotions, being more authoritative in confrontation, and listening to our bodies for when to take action and when to rest. However, many of us are probably feeling a bit tired of needing more rest than usual and are ready to get some things moving. Luckily for us, Mars in Leo is all about inspired action and implementing change that will make life feel more movie-esque.

Mars in Leo paired with all of the Aries energy that we’re getting into with Mercury back in Aries and Venus soon to follow means that this is a great time to build momentum, but it’s not an ideal time to force inspiration that isn’t there. Trying to act from a curated, performative identity may get you the attention or progress that you’re looking for, but it will ultimately be unsustainable. Inauthentic action will likely have to be backtracked upon later. This may be especially important to be mindful of as Venus completes its stay in Pisces, as she and Saturn are congregated around the north node for the remainder of April and are reminding us that progress is hardly ever linear and that even if the progress we are hoping to achieve is not being accomplished as swiftly as we’d like it to, we can find an appreciation for the moments that we might perceive as delays if we can zoom out of linear time and return to alignment. Later down the linear road, we may notice how vital those “delays” were for our creative process and the stability of our manifestations’ materialization.

As we venture into Taurus season, we will have the sun governing over Mars’s activity, and with Mars governing all of the planets transiting through Aries, we will have a lovely unified conversation between Leo, Taurus, and Aries, and all of their energies will be supporting us in finding consistent habits and reliable systems to cultivate inspiration. This is going to be a really lovely time for us to connect with new ideas or pull old ones off the shelf, but it will be important for us to not jump ahead of ourselves and try to take on more than we can realistically manage at once, as this was the main imbalance that Mars’s transit through Cancer intended to rectify. This will apply to all sorts of things—interpersonal relationships, physical activity, business advancements, and creative processes. The key under this energy will be to not overexert yourself, to not reach 100% capacity, as this will likely lead to burnout and will require more time to recover than some of us are willing to take. Taurus is a sign that is known for its reliability and loyalty—it stabilizes. Now that we have increased and more consistent energy levels due to Mars in Leo, we may find it to be a helpful time for us to make just as much time for play as we do for work, as our leisure and fun will be what keeps breathing new life into our efforts toward responsibilities and requirements.

Venus is concluding her time in Pisces this week and will shift into Aries on the 30th, just a few days after the Taurus new moon. Venus is still retracing her steps through her post-shadow retrograde period, meaning that it may be important for us to observe how our Venus retrograde experiences are reaching points of maturity or perhaps how previously confusing matters are now revealing insightful truths for us to integrate. Venus is exalted in Pisces, as she is able to connect with the highest idealization of pleasure, beauty, comfort, and artistry—the iteration of these things that exceeds their material potential. While this is a beautiful time to brainstorm creative projects and daydream about your desires for the future, it may be challenging for us to translate these ideas or dreams into the material world for the remainder of this transit. Considering her closeness to the north node, this may also be a heightened time of vivid, potentially prophetic, dreams—they may hold messages that you’ll be invited to interpret.

We might find our creative processes changing and evolving at this time; many aspects of ourselves will perhaps be going through a transitional period for the remainder of April that will be helping us to lay a new bedrock for our dreams, a bedrock that feels more aligned with the vibrations we are now matching. Self-reinvention will likely be a significant theme of these next several months, as we have some big shifts happening later this spring and into the summer that will be activating a more flexible and determined self within each of us, allowing us to embrace more adaptability and innovation so that we can open ourselves to new potentials within ourselves and, ideally, override patterns that have continued to uphold realities that we are no longer compatible with.

Lastly, Lilith in Scorpio will be forming a t-square to Mars in Leo and Pluto in Aquarius for the remainder of this month as well; Mars and Pluto are opposite one another, and Lilith is squaring the two of them. This will be something I will go much deeper into in the moon analysis for the Taurus new moon, as the new moon will be hosting a very specific conversation involving this t-square that intends to conclude many of the conflicts we’ve found ourselves involved in since the beginning of this year. But in a nutshell, this may be calling back to a conflict that we tried to find a resolution to back at the beginning of January. Perhaps there was a matter where you wanted one thing and another party wanted another, which ultimately led to an aggravating showdown in which neither party really got what they truly wanted. That happened when Mars was retrograde in Leo, about to re-enter Cancer.

Now that Mars is direct in Leo and Lilith is adding a sense of “do or die” to this conflict, we may be feeling more definitive about how we’re engaging in these matters, whether it is the same conflict coming back or a different one that echoes the same themes. We’re likely being reminded that sometimes messy conflict is the only thing that will truly allow for peace to be restored. Whether that’s showing up in a conflict with another party or it is a conflict that is being hashed out between two different parts of your consciousness, know that you might not be able to get everything you want. Sometimes in war, bloodshed is unavoidable, so it’s best to protect yourself first and trust that others are capable of doing the same for themselves. You may not be the star in everyone’s show, but you always should be the star in your own.

Hope you have a lovely rest of your April. xx

ARIES, this may be a time in which you’re focusing on your finances; perhaps you’re considering how you can infuse more you into your financial pursuits—you may be contemplating starting a side hustle or a new creative venture. This is also likely a time in which you’re dissolving subconscious rules that you’ve held yourself to and are acting more from instinct, which is perhaps supporting you in finding more confidence in the way that you navigate the world and your social spaces. This is an important time for you to identify sustainable practices for reaching financial and fitness goals, but it’s important that you remain open to different ideas or alternative methodologies, as adaptability will be what allows you to find what works best for you most efficiently.

TAURUS, this is your season, meaning that this will likely be a time in which you are becoming reconnected with yourself and are perhaps recentering your focus by grounding into your body, refining your eating practices, and perhaps reassessing your finances. This may be a time in which you are reevaluating what you identify with and how you wield your autonomy. Perhaps the very foundations of your identity and living spaces are going through some reconfiguration at present. This is a supportive time for you to invest in your family, daily structures, and basic needs; you may find it beneficial to simplify your investments to only those that matter most to you so that you can give them the attention and energy they need to thrive.

GEMINI, this may be an important time for you to turn toward your spiritual life to find security rather than trying to cling to material representations of it. There may be matters that feel as if they’re testing your faith within your professional matters; this is an important time for fated closures to wrap themselves up so that you can move into more soulfully aligned directions within your professional life. This is an important time for you to trust the process. Alternatively, you may find that any delays that have dragged on in your daily life will start to be resolved starting now, which may naturally facilitate an increase in inspiration and productivity. Know that you can bookmark any ideas that you can’t get to immediately; it may be helpful to keep a notebook nearby to jot down any sparks of inspiration that come your way.

CANCER, this may be a time in which you’re feeling more motivated to see more progress in your material goals, which may mean that this is a favorable time for you to invest in new projects, especially creative ones. However, you might find yourself stifled if you continue to play into social norms; this is a favorable time for you to lean into your raw creativity and unfiltered inspiration, even if it is not what would be deemed “good” by the general public. If you’ve been contemplating a new professional path, you might find yourself facing significant decisions that will open doors for you in the future, but you are encouraged to choose based on what your intuition says rather than clinging to what makes sense on paper. Beginning a social media presence may benefit you later on.

LEO, this is a great time for you to look at your long-term future and big ambitions so that you can start making more meaningful progress toward them. This could be a valuable time for you to take more intuitively guided risks, as your instincts are sharper and your intuition is clearer at this time. You may be embarking on a new path, professionally speaking, or there could be things that you are investing in now that will be a part of your life for quite a long time. You have increased energy and may especially be focused on personal or fitness goals at this time; let inspiration guide your actions for optimal productivity. This is also a crucial time for you to be conscious of karmic patterns or unwanted cycles that you may be prone to slipping back into; now you are supported to close them out for good. Use your increased power to your advantage—you are leveling up!

VIRGO, this is a favorable time for you to be open to different perspectives and alternative ways of doing things; you may find that many aspects of your life are in flux at this time, and your tendency may be to resist—you’re encouraged to move with the flow and trust the direction that it’s carrying you in. This could be an important week for intimate and vulnerable conversations—these may be important turning points in close relationships, which may result in decisions to solidify or dissolve commitments. It’s best to move intuitively at this time and not to equate your physical productivity with success too strongly—you may be accomplishing big work within your psyche and inner world, which is just as valuable, even if it may not produce much tangible evidence.

LIBRA, this may be a time in which you’re concluding certain responsibilities at work or within your lifestyle structures; perhaps you’re accessing a new level of freedom within your daily life because of your devotion to setting boundaries and honoring your energetic body with more assertiveness. This may be what allows for you to engage in more fulfilling relationships; you could be starting to reap the rewards of boundaries that you’ve previously set, and, interestingly, you might find that your connections with others are helping you to access a more potent version of yourself because of them. This is a time for you to allow for your life to restabilize if you are still in a bit of transitional space.

SCORPIO, this season may be challenging you to commit to your true desires more meaningfully, which may require you to sever ties with things that don’t reflect the quality you might be seeking. This may also be a time in which you’re being asked to re-evaluate yourself and who you are becoming; perhaps you are finding that this period is requiring you to face some aspects of yourself that you have been able to cast aside in the past but now are struggling to keep ignoring. It will be important for you to approach this process from a place of non-judgment. You’re being encouraged to infuse your self-development practice with a healthy balance of empathy and accountability, not fixating on what you may be disappointed by within yourself, but also having the responsibility to make changes that are more aligned with your authentic truth. Artistic practices may help you transmute any big emotions at this time.

SAGITTARIUS, this is an important time for you to consider how you can break free from familiar structures; while this season encourages you to examine your daily structures and rituals, you’re being reminded that moving into uncharted territory is often where you make the most discoveries about what you desire, who you are, and what inspires you most. This may be a time in which you’re feeling uncomfortable with leaving behind the spaces that you know, but simultaneously, you might feel the call to venture into unknown directions to potentially take some big strides toward your long-term goals. This is a favorable time for you to invest in practices that help you feel grounded without making you rigid in your ways.

CAPRICORN, your dreams or passing thoughts, both of which you might otherwise write off as unimportant, may reveal the answers to things that have been a bit confusing. There may be fateful conversations happening that are meant to help you shed an old identity and don a new one; this may feel like a powerful time of renewal within you, and you are perhaps going to be designing a new self or a new foundation to stand upon by finally excavating parts of yourself that have been buried in the rubble of the past. This energy will reward you for embracing vulnerability and humility; you may start to access new levels of intimacy with yourself or others by doing so.

AQUARIUS, before you ignite action toward new ideas and ambitions, you must clarify what is inspiring your actions; if you are acting from a place of self-punishment to meet an imagined “quota” or to perform for others in any capacity, this may be an important time to pause, reassess, and pivot to a more authentic source of motivation. This is a time for you to embrace sparks of inspiration when they come, but if they aren’t there, don’t try to force them into existence. Every relationship ebbs and flows, including our relationships with creativity, productivity, and ourselves. Center yourself in your inner truth—the path forward will reveal itself in due time.

PISCES, you might be shedding an old layer of self at this time, and considering the shifts into fiery spaces, you might feel yourself being ejected from your typical fluidity into a more action-oriented and reward-driven space. It will be important for you to not push yourself harder than your body is comfortable with this week, as you may find your energy levels are still a bit sensitive and are not capable of an increased workload quite yet. Use this week to envision your ideal objectives and start imagining the road to get there. Try not to wallow in any lostness or confusion; instead, utilize your intuition to light the way into new directions and have enough faith to separate yourself from things that no longer feel aligned with your authentic path.