Weekly Astrology Forecast: April 10 - April 16

Mercury's Retrograde Shadow - "Turn! Turn! Turn!"

Last week's tendency towards independent isolation breaks down this week and we have to acknowledge that we need to communicate with others in order to make progress. Although Mercury in Taurus would be more comfortable sticking with a clear set of traditional beliefs, we are forced to open up to a myriad of challenges as we begin to seek a way to connect with others and share our own unique perspective. This week begins with a tangible, distinct break with the past, leading to the feeling that we have entered an entirely new dimension. Monday brings a number of distractions and unexpected developments. Heightened intuition comes into play on Tuesday, helping us to navigate the razor's edge of potential on what seems to be a rapidly narrowing path forward. As Mercury enters retrograde territory on Wednesday, we get a glimpse of the Big Picture and feel an encouraging spark of energy to investigate the details. Thursday brings an increasing awareness that we are crossing a bridge — or turning a blind corner — and there is little chance of going back. Even though communication seems difficult and dangerous, there is no denying that it is important that we speak up and say what we believe. Friday provides increasing courage, enhanced by a more diplomatic presentation of the message we seem to be compelled to deliver. By Saturday, the stakes are clearly laid out before us, ahead of next Thursday's definitive Full Moon (10:32 PM PDT 2° Scorpio/Taurus). We'll need to face the fact that if we don't stake out our own position, someone else is likely to make a decision for us.

This week sets the table for many of the issues we will be reviewing, revisiting and chewing on throughout the summer. Mercury enters retrograde territory this week. As well, Mars has slowed to a crawl ahead of its retrograde period, starting next week (April 18th - June 30th). Pluto also stations to go retrograde on April 18th. Saturn just turned retrograde near the end of March and Jupiter has been retrograde since the beginning of the year. Once Mercury actually goes retrograde on April 27th, a total of 5 planets will be reviewing their past progress, which is somewhat unusual (5 retrograde planets are only found in about 4% of birth charts). Once Mars turns retrograde, moving back from Sagittarius to Scorpio, the arc seems to travel from becoming increasingly uncertain about what we want or believe to believing that we can't get what we want because everyone's against us. The Virgo/Sagittarius/Pisces axis will bear much of this weight over the next few months, producing a highly contentious struggle between differing beliefs, culminating near the end of August when Mars conjuncts Saturn, exactly squaring Neptune in Pisces.

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