Chase your eclipse hangover with a medicinal shot of Mars and Saturn conjunct.
And in case it was ever a question, April of 2024 is absolutely one of the craziest astrological months we've had in recent memory.
What is happening?!
We only just had our retinas burned to take in the tragedy and glory of a total solar eclipse in Aries, and now we have a Mars/Saturn conjunction to navigate as well as a Mercury cazimi in retrograde, all of which are prequels to the rare and powerful Jupiter/Uranus conjunction happening next week. There is so much happening here that it can be difficult to follow, but a very simple breakdown of the current week looks like this:
Eclipse hangover du siecle - Those of us affected by the occultation of our sun were very affected, especially anyone with a rising cardinal sign in their natal chart. We were weepy, manic messes in the week leading up to the big day and will likely remain unhinged over the course of the next week or so…as will everyone else. Many rational segments of the population who regularly pooh-pooh astrology are just as red-eyed, touchy, and annoyed as I am post-eclipse; not because they believe things in the sky influence human behavior, but because the rest of us wouldn’t shut up about it and now the entire working world has to play catch up. (See…we told you the planets affect you, too.)
Saturn and Mars conjoin in Pisces - If you notice a martial, stubborn, or even fatalist quality to interactions this week, you can thank Saturn and Mars. These dour malefic planets may influence people to re-commit to difficult or dogmatic paths, despite the repeated appearance of opposition and off-ramps. There could be a sense of resigned frustration permeating our interactions and endeavors this week, as though we already anticipate the uphill slog in front of us when it comes to making progress - however, this will calcify many people’s intentions instead of weakening them. Unenjoyable tasks that require hard work and a religious devotion to the long game might be accomplished better and faster this week, particularly on Wednesday and Thursday. Newer, weirder approaches to old problems could make their way to public consciousness as different factions double-down on their objectives, and that might look as varied as professional obstinance, entrenchment of friends and acquaintances on one side of a conflict, or the introduction of ultimatums into conflict negotiation.
Mercury Cazimi in Aries - The busy trickster planet is still in retrograde for most of April, subjecting us to delays in news, travel, and downloads. Take extra time for everything, back-up every file you make as soon as you make it, keep your exes blocked, blah, blah, blah, said every astrologer EVER. I personally think this week will allow people to get things off their chests that they have wanted to release for years, given the nature of both zodiacal Aries transits and retrogrades. We get a brief break in the clouds, you see, when Mercury conjoins the sun and kicks off a new, refreshed synodic cycle whilst traveling in the house of The Ram. This newly restored Mercury will still be giving us a replay of past mistakes, but with an eye toward action and improvement instead of angry bickering - which means people might spill troublesome tea from the past that sheds new, transformative light on the present. Finally, something to look forward to!
Why would this affect me?
Aside from my typical warnings about natal chart nuances and internal versus external ideation, various factors determine how astrology is going to show up in our everyday experience. When April kicked off, many astrologers were quick to warn about the rare dynamism of spring 2024 astrology (myself included) and since then global citizens have been able to publicly observe:
Two different earthquakes in major city centers, as well as the hysterical calls for a group Rapture from some public officials, disturbed personalities on social media, and disingenuous talking heads
Continued humanitarian horrors being committed in the name of repressive dogma in places like Sudan, Palestine, Ukraine, and many other countries, happening simultaneously with volatile electoral campaigns in multiple regions and countries
Increasingly tense communication on public and global channels, resulting in messy statements of rash militarism followed by sheepish retractions (or, they would be sheepish if any of the ruling class possessed a modicum of shame or self-awareness, but, alas! The shame was bred out of the bloodlines of these moneyed ghouls several centuries past.)
Lest we conclude that everything is horrible, we also got Beyonce’s country album.
So. Without resorting to hysteria, our major players for the week have paired off and could exert influence over us in the following ways:
Saturn/Mars - A conjunction with the stern grandpa of the zodiac and his wily warmonger of a grandson essentially blends their two personalities into one, resulting in a constrained use of force in order to get what we want. These two are meeting up in Pisces, which dampens their more bloodthirsty qualities and turns up their ability to strategize, commit, and make moves behind the scenes. In situations wracked by volatility, individuals sensitive to this conjunction may lean into harsh ultimatums in order to regain narrative control; a common tendency when dealmaker Saturn is invigorated with the bravery of Mars.
Sun/Mercury - Mercury in Aries is already blunt, foolhardy, and without shame, so it behooves us to channel the remaining Pisces transits and slowly review all communication before we release it into the wild. Foot-in-mouth syndrome is REAL when Mercury is in any fire sign, and we can hurt people without intending it. (Have you ever spoken with an Aries or Sagittarius? We have no fucking filter.) A cazimi with the sun will amplify everything Mercury is already going through, and this busy bee is still in retrograde. All of this indicates that communication is about to get loud, clear, and it may include references to the past that people didn’t feel safe revealing previously. I’ll go put the teapot on.
When do I have to deal with this?
Eclipse effects actually wax and wane for 6 months to a year, because it takes a full 2.5 years for the lunar nodes to tell their zodiacal story…and the major plot twists are revealed around the time of each seasonal equinox. This spring is but one chapter in the story of Aries and Libra, and we will discover the next plot twist in October, immediately prior the U.S. elections. Fun!
Saturn and Mars perfect their conjunction on April 10th, so Wednesday and Thursday are the days we will feel that restricted, martial influence. Thursday, April 11th also kicks off the Mercury cazimi, so we have until April 25th (when Mercury stations direct) to revel in rash, blunt messaging while excavating our past. For anyone needing to get business deals signed, speeches delivered, or negotiations completed, I highly recommend using the harmonious cazimi energy on the 11th to do it if waiting until April 25th is not an option. If that isn’t possible, don’t sweat it - Mercury goes retrograde more often than any other planet, and the effects are rather trivial when compared to the rest of the insane April transits. Just carry some fluorite and call it a day.
Cool, what does the Tarot say about this?
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week focus our attention to practical matters via the suit of pentacles, meaning that security is top of mind post Aries eclipse.
The Ace of Spheres rightly underscored new ideas on Monday that promote prosperity, which jives with the supercharged new moon. The 10 of Coins reversed pulled focus on Tuesday to notions of financial and practical legacy and raises a decent point; if we destroy the world via violence in pursuit of wealth, on what plane do we think any human legacy will remain? For Wednesday, i.e. the beginning of Mars and Saturn bear hugging each other, the 6 of Coins brings some relief in the form of resource sharing and harmonizing wealth between neighbors and family, possibly in response to the revelations we downloaded on Tuesday about our own impermanence.
Thursday, 4.11 reminds us yet again that if we try to do too much, we could end up achieving nothing, sinking beneath the weight of our own task list via the 10 of Wands reversed. We must take the lesson to heart, though, because Friday, 4.12 brings much needed clarity about the state of the world and our own places within, much like The World reveals a universe larger than we ever though possible. Saturday, 4.13 is for both personal creative projects and ‘the streets’, as the kids say, as oracle card Wolpertinger asks us to diversify both our interests and our preferred company. Finally, on Friday, 4.14, a perversion of Justice is made public and internalized in ways that will almost certainly affect the following week.
Visit @alectochaos on IG for the full, wordy breakdown and video of each card pull. If you are into that sort of thing.
Lagniappe
I had planned to deliver this newsletter earlier in the week, but had a moment of self-doubt when some unsettling reports became public on Tuesday night of people engaging in harm due to astrological eclipse mumblings. As darkly tongue-in-cheek as I am when compiling my metaphysical bullshit, I would never want anyone to take my musings with anything but an enormous grain of salt. The modern world is an unsettling place that fascinates me, so when regional conflicts, social trends, and political fuckery align with ancient astrological math, I connect the dots and wonder about them. Not because I wish to scare people, (that is a lie and I do wish to scare people, just not those who kindly read my missives without emailing death threats) but because finding historical parallels can be thought provoking and reassuring.
I do not believe astrology caused these things, and we definitely shouldn’t order our lives around divinatory fears. I would argue that these kinds of events happen pretty frequently regardless of celestial alignment, supporting the naysayer complaint that astrology only ‘works’ because of confirmation bias. To be clear, I also believe that confirmation bias has a huge amount to do with astrology, because I do not approach astrology as if it were a science.
Astrology and other woo-woo shit is not supposed to ‘work’ in the way rationalists expect things to work, i.e tangibly and externally. For myself and many other readers of Plato, Carl Jung, Alan Watts, etc., astrology is just another oracular tool that happens to be very good at extrapolating the psychology of human behavior and broadcasting it to our superegos. Psychology isn’t very tangible! You can’t take your brain out and see the results of a therapy session, and those of you lucky enough to not need therapy will have to trust the rest of us on this. Divinatory practices like tarot and astrology are tools, much like Rorschach and psychoanalysis and Dungeons and Dragons, that help us to examine our unique consciousness in the same way we might examine a mole on our dermis. We are looking to know ourselves, our habits, and yes, our confirmation bias so that we can approach the future armed with lessons that only deep self-reflection provides. No one can tell anybody else if therapy, or astrology, or a medieval ritual involving dice with 8 million sides is ‘working’ for them, just like no one can prove the existence of any higher power. Belief isn’t about proving anything to anyone else - it exists in our own minds, untouchable by others, and the only thing it proves is that human beings have cool imaginations and an unlimited capacity for hope. Remember that, and never do anything rash because of things some idiot with a laptop jabbered about - I don’t care if Mercury is tap-dancing backwards in the nude with a venomous snake, just stay calm. He’ll get dressed and go direct, eventually.
No guarantee on the snake thing, though.