April Rewinds: Astro Report

Lots of retrogrades (and introspection) affecting us this month, giving us the chance to review our growth since the start of the year. We are slowing down, making sure we have solid foundations.

April 5th at 10:06pm (pacific): Saturn Retrograde in Sagittarius.
April 9th at 4:14pm: Mercury Retrograde at 4° Taurus.
April 10th at 11:08pm: Full Moon at 21° Libra.
April 15th at 3:18am: Venus (currently R) goes Direct in Pisces – exalted!
…and Jupiter Retrograde in Libra until June 8th!

And TODAY, Sunday, retrograde Venus in Pisces is squaring retrograde Saturn in Sag at exactly 27°.

Partnerships are being seriously reevaluated this week. Relationships regarding love and business are tested to see if they can withstand the pressures of long term commitment. Saturn doesn’t fool around. Are you willing to do the hard work necessary to keep your pledge to another person? If yes, the relationship has a strong center and will probably be a lasting one. But if they are castles built of sand, they will diminish.

This is an important time to take inventory of what’s working and what’s not working, and to gauge the commitment level of each person. This tension will be accented by the Full Moon in Libra tomorrow, and Venus’s’ stationing at the end of the week.
There are four planets retrograding together this week. That’s pretty amazing! I can’t remember the last time this happened. In general, all of us need to:

1. Re-evaluate things you’re committed to.
2. Re-examine your VALUES and adjust if necessary. What’s most important?
3. Start with getting grounded; take each day as it comes.
4. Don’t expand into future worries – but deal with what’s in front of you right now.
5. Be in the present.

The great RE-VALUE is here.

Joseph Campbell and Right Livelihood (finding the right job!)

I believe in this statement below with all my heart. And since Virgo is the sign of work and service, it fits nicely in today's New Moon in Virgo:

"I think a person who takes a job in order to live––that is to say, for the money––has turned himself into a slave. WORK begins when you don't like what you're doing. There's a wise saying: make your hobby your source of income. Then there's no such thing as work, and there's no such thing as getting tired. That's been my experience. I did just what I wanted to do. It takes a little courage at first, because who the hell wants you to do just what you want to do; they've all got a lot of plans for you. But you can make it happen. I think it's very important for a young person to have the courage to do what seems to him significant in his life, and not just take a job in order to make money. But this takes a bit of prudence and very careful planning, and may delay financial achievement and comfortable living. But the ultimate result will be very much to his pleasure."

Joseph Campbell, An Open Life (with Michael Toms)

"How do you find the divine power in yourself? The word enthusiasm means 'filled with a god,' so what makes you enthusiastic? Follow it. That's been my advice to young people who ask me, 'What shall I do?' I taught once in a boys' prep school. That's the moment for young boys––or it used to be; I don't know what's going on now––when they had to decide their life courses. You know, where are they going? And they're caught with excitement. This one wants to study art, this one poetry, this one anthropology. But dad says study law; that's where the money is. OK, that's the decision. And you know what my answer would be––where your enthusiasm is. So I have a little word: follow your bliss. The bliss is the message of God to yourself. That's where your life is."

Joseph Campbell, interviewed by Jeffrey Mishlove ("Thinking Allowed: Understanding Mythology")

 

Dharma Wheel

"The dharma represents the teachings of the Buddha.This mandala represents "The Four Noble Truths" and the eightfold path of right view, right intention, right action, right speech, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration."