The Week Ahead Horoscope - Week 17, 2022

Happy Monday Everyone! Welcome to the 31st issue of the Astro Weather Forecast, showcasing the upcoming astrological alignments for the week ahead. This is Week 17 of 2022.
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Introduction

Welcome to the Week Ahead Horoscope. Sorry, this edition is late everyone! I’ve had a really rough Aquarius Moon transit at the end when the Moon was enclosed between Saturn and Mars, however, Eclipse Season is upon us folks. The first Solar Eclipse of the year is this week on Saturday, and you know what: it’s a really juicy one, it’s ruled by Venus at her Exaltation Degree, the single most degree in the zodiac where her fortune comes to the most exaggerated expression (27º Pisces), and there she finds her domicile lord Jupiter, and they are mutually received with each other. The House Taurus and Pisces rule in your chart will become very prominent this week. But we also have some important changes with Mercury, who enters Gemini this week, and Pluto stations Retrograde. Mercury enters Shadow on Tuesday, starting to open up events that will eventually need to be reviewed by the time May 10th arrives when Mercury station Retrograde. This is a jam-packed week so lets get into it.
Monday April 25th
[6:14 AM ET] INGRESS: The Moon enters Pisces
[4:08 PM ET] The Moon in Pisces sextiles The Sun at 05º35’ Taurus
[8:51 PM ET] The Moon conjoins Mars at 08º14’ Pisces
On Monday, the Moon will enter Pisces, where it will be moving towards a conjunction with Mars all day. The Moon will sextile the Sun today, which is always great for gaining respect, seeing eye to eye, being affirmed and validated. The Moon will cross over to conjoin Mars after which looks like the Moon is potentially conflicted on what action to take, or inconsistent in action, with the Moon in a mutable sign, but then once she conjoins Mars she is able to move forward with a game plan, with action, with enthusiasm, and energy. The Moon is a significator of the physical body, and Mars is a significator of illness and injury so be careful with getting into an accident or getting sick (from vulnerability and exposure in Pisces, ruled by Jupiter). Mars in water signs can be very literal and bring harm from water. Things can get tense today, because the Moon coming to conjoin and interact with Mars can indicate physical conflict and violence. When malefics show up in the day, it can highlight where we are at breaking points with stress, or something being pushed to the limit. If you chose to embody in your actions to contribute to making the situations worse, they will become worse, but another agent of the malefics is that they also represent defense against things that are malevolent. In the case of Mars, it indicates fires, but it can indicate people who fight against fires. Malefics are like one of your car lights in your dashboard going off: they let you know where something is wrong and there are issues. Monday can either be exciting and motivating, or it can bring challenges.
Tuesday April 26th
On Tuesday, the sky is relatively quiet. The Moon is swimming through Pisces during this time and won’t contact any other planet until early in the morning on Wednesday. When the sky is quiet, it is best to not start any major ventures or projects, as things might develop slowly, or nothing will even come about as a result of what you started. Just take it easy today, and if you have any major decisions to make, hold off on them until tomorrow.
In addition to this, something important does kind of happen today. At 1:05 AM ET: Mercury will enter its Pre-Retrograde shadow period, where it will now be moving over the degrees of the zodiac it will eventually Retrograde back over. Mercury’s shadow starts at 26º05’ Taurus and ranges to 04º51’ Gemini. If you have planets here, whatever they represent in your chart will be topics that will eventually need to be reviewed and re-looked at once Mercury stations Retrograde on May 10th, 2022. During the Pre-Retrograde shadow period, Mercury will open up
Wednesday April 27th
[12:49 AM ET] The Moon conjoins Venus at 23º47’ Pisces
[1:11 AM ET] Mercury in Taurus sextiles Jupiter at 27º11’ Pisces
[2:01 AM ET] The Moon conjoins Neptune at 24º27’ Pisces
[7:07 AM ET] The Moon conjoins Jupiter at 27º14’ Pisces
[7:34 AM ET] The Moon in Pisces sextiles Mercury at 27º29’ Taurus
[12:09 PM ET] INGRESS: The Moon enters Aries
[3:11 PM ET] Venus conjoins Neptune at 24º28’ Pisces
Wednesday is when the week really starts to kick in, because the Moon will conjoin Venus in Pisces (her exaltation) early in the morning. The Moon will conjoin a benefic planet, and moving forward through the day, she will apply to a conjunction with Jupiter. The Moon being enclosed between the benefics is a really auspicious omen. When dealing with Venus, this is great for making peace, making love, creating art, beautifying your place and space, being open and honest about how you feel, and expressing the depths of devotion of the soul. The Moon moving towards Jupiter brings wisdom, knowledge, understanding, compassion, rebuilding of trust, spiritual inclination & communication, devotion, and a great time for prayer. This is also a great day for seeing friends and coming together in harmony. The 2 benefics make Wednesday a beautiful day. Jupiter is a pretty important planet today because it is not only collecting the light from the Moon, but it collects the light from Mercury through a sextile. This will be the first time out of 3 times that Mercury will make a sextile to Jupiter. Their first interaction will be here in Taurus/Pisces, but both Mercury & Jupiter are getting ready to change signs (Mercury entering Gemini on Friday, and Jupiter enters Aries May 10th). There is some agreement and negotiations going on between Jupiter and Mercury over the next few weeks. Here are the dates to the 3 times they sextile these next 2 months:
April 27th
May 19th
June 20th
The Moon will also aspect both Mercury and Jupiter while in Pisces, so the Moon speeds up this interaction on Wednesday. By the end of the day the Moon will officially leave Pisces and enter the sign of Aries. The Moon in Aries won’t be aspecting any planets other than Saturn, so it might actually be a nice moment of pause or restraint before the Eclipse rolls in this weekend. The Moon is getting ready to go dark by this time period, so it will feel normal to have low energy over the next few days.
In addition to low energy, Venus, the heavenly, illustrious, laughing loving queen, conjoins Neptune on this day too, which can make relationships hazy and fuzzy, can talk about indulgence, sometimes overindulgence, but it can be really good for creative and artistic matters, just don’t get lost in the sauce. Moving forward, if there have been any blurry lines in your relationships & ambiguity, these things should clear up as Venus moves away from Neptune in the coming days.
Thursday April 28th
[8:04 AM ET] Mercury in Taurus trines Pluto at 28º35’ Capricorn
The only aspect for the day is Mercury who makes a trine to Pluto, which enables us to talk about power dynamics and articulate feelings we’ve kept buried inside of us. They come to the surface on Thursday, and conversations may be VERY intense. Take it easy and know when to take a break from immersing yourself in a discussion or topic. This is going to be a recurring theme tomorrow and for the next week too, as we get closer to Mercury stationing Retrograde.
Friday April 29th
[9:15 AM ET] The Moon in Aries sextile Saturn at 24º11’ Aquarius
[2:35 PM ET] STATION: Pluto stations Retrograde at 28º35’ Capricorn
[5:38 PM ET] The Moon in Aries square Pluto at 28º35’ Capricorn
[6:23 PM ET] INGRESS: Mercury enters Gemini
[8:18 PM ET] INGRESS: The Moon enters Taurus
Friday is another really important day because we have a LOT going on here. The first is that today is the day Pluto stations Retrograde, where it will be moving backward in the zodiac to review everything it has brought up since Jan 5, 2022. Pluto stations usually are important for understanding power dynamics, and control, where there is power and powerlessness. It feels worth mentioning that this will be the last Pluto Retrograde fully in Capricorn in our lifetime. Pluto will Retrograde from Aquarius to Capricorn in 2023-2024, but after this time, there will not be a full year of Pluto in Capricorn again. Pluto really is bringing the finale to the house that Capricorn rules in our chart, after being here since 2008. In many ways, this Pluto Retrograde (over the course of the next few months, into October) will be wrapping up whatever ongoing cycle of power dynamics, loss, & obsession would’ve been brought up since 2008.
But on top of that, we have two planetary ingresses today. First Mercury enters Gemini. By this point, Mercury is already in its shadow phase but now Mercury comes back home and regains strength after being in a relatively challenging position through most of the winter (since Mercury was in Virgo tbh). Mercury coming into Gemini may be quite nice coming up for the next few weeks, despite it being slow because where things may have been quite fuzzy in Taurus, Mercury is not fearful around exploring contradiction, communicating, and articulating thoughts here. I’ve talked about this Mercury Retrograde, with clients, and that it will be about learning how to articulate fear and give language to things that feel uncomfortable or challenging to talk about. Mercury entering Gemini gives us strength to communicate fear, when Mercury eventually retrogrades back into Taurus stationing on top of Algol, the star in the constellation Perseus representing the Eye of Medusa. Mercury has words and knows what to say in Gemini. This will be great for our communication because we’ll find the gears turning and things making sense. Also on the same day, the Moon will enter Taurus, where she will be getting ready to Eclipse the Sun. You should start feeling the effects of the Eclipse really throughout this week, but this weekend is when everything hits. Again, low energy is especially common leading up to the days of Eclipses (hence why this newsletter is a day late, I’m so sorry y'all).
Saturday April 30th
[4:28 PM ET] ECLIPSE: Solar Eclipse at 10º28’ Taurus
[5:13 PM ET] Venus conjoins Jupiter at 27º57’ Pisces
[7:23 PM ET] The Moon in Taurus sextile Mars at 11º58’ Pisces
Saturday is the star of the show, and really one of the stars of the year. This is our first Solar Eclipse in Taurus in the new Taurus/Scorpio Eclipse Cycle that opened up when the North and South Node entered Taurus and Scorpio.
The houses that Taurus and Scorpio rule in your chart will show what topics of your life are getting hit with some major changes, increases, and releases over the next 15 months. The North Node (representing ambition, increase, insatiable worldly desire) will be moving through the house Taurus rules in your chart, so new experiences are being invited into this house. Whereas the South Node (representing purification, release, decrease, spiritual desire) will be moving through the house Scorpio rules in your chart, so you’ll most likely be getting rid of stuff, ending cycles, and closing chapters out of your life in this house. Things are brought into the Taurus house, and things are released and let go from the Scorpio house in your chart.
Everyone’s already had a preview of what this Eclipse cycle will bring because on Nov 19, 2021 there was a Lunar Eclipse at 27º Taurus. There would’ve been something that would be brought to light & be revealed in terms of situations that need to change in the Taurus house of your chart. Eclipses usually take 6 months to play out, so you should’ve seen these topics already come up from November 2021 to April 2022.
Lunar Eclipses tend to talk about full culminations that happen, where something is brought to light, and then it causes revelations since a Lunar Eclipse looks like a Full Moon, while Solar Eclipses look like New Moons, and they tend to talk about things being purged, things ending, doors closing, and new ones beginning as a result.
While something may have been revealed or illuminated to you in November, you’ll have an opportunity to bring a new beginning in the house that Taurus rules in your chart from this Solar Eclipse. You may have even been feeling the effects of the Eclipse already! I personally think Eclipse Season starts on the previous alignment of the Sun and Moon before the Eclipse.
The Solar Eclipse in Taurus will be ruled by Venus and Jupiter in Pisces. Venus will actually be at her exaltation degree, which is the single most degree where she is exalted. Abu Ma'shar tells us in his Great Introduction that
“The meaning of the degree of the exaltation of a planet is the position within the sign in which its nature is displayed to an extreme degree and in which its indication of good fortune arrives at its extreme limit”
And Venus has management over this Eclipse, which is important, because typically Eclipses are malefic omens, because the essential function of the Sun and Moon (which is to shine a light) are purposefully and intentionally deprived of that very thing during an Eclipse, and they go dark. This is their inherent nature, but the ancient authors did say under certain conditions that Eclipses could be beneficial. If the benefics were present with the Eclipse, this was a major consideration, especially if the benefics ruled the Eclipse. For this Solar Eclipse, an exalted Venus is the ruler of the Eclipse, and she’s at the exaltation degree, and WHO DOES SHE MEET? Jupiter in Pisces, who is her domicile lord, and the planet that exalts here.
Part of me wants to believe that this Eclipse will seed a very fruitful new beginning that is prosperous in the house Taurus and Pisces rule in your chart. The motivations for the new beginnings started in the house Taurus rules will be because of opportunities that happen in the house Pisces rules in your chart. I am also aware Eclipses are malefic omens on their own, and Saturn does look at the Sun and Moon from a whole sign square, so it could indicate someone coming to intervene (the Venus/Jupiter conjunction) and try to help amongst a challenging situation the square to Saturn. So while there are great opportunities in the house Pisces rules, Saturn still shows challenges in the house Aquarius rules, that need to be dealt with very soon as Saturn gets ready to station Retrograde. With every good, there’s always a challenge, and that’s how it is with life, and the astro-weather.
In Book II of Ptolemy’s Tetrobiblos, when going through and explaining which it means if each planet governs over the Eclipse, this is what he says it indicates if Venus was the governor over the Eclipse.
Venus, when she becomes sole ruler of the event, in general brings about results similar to those of Jupiter, but with the addition of a certain agreeable quality; in particular, where men are concerned, she causes fame, honour, happiness, abundance, happy marriage, many children, satisfaction in every mutual relationship, the increase of property, a neat and well conducted manner of life, paying honour to those things which are to be revered; further, she is the cause of bodily health, alliances with the leaders, and elegance of rulers; as to the winds of the air, of temperateness and settled conditions of moist and very nourishing winds, of good air, clear weather, and generous showers of fertilizing waters; she brings about the fortunate sailing of fleets, successes, profits, and the full rising of rivers; of useful animals and the fruits of the earth she is the pre-eminent cause of abundance, good yields, and profit - Book II Tetrobiblos, Chapter 8.
There is a timing technique we can use to see when the events of this Eclipse will become activated, and it is when Mars gets to the degree of the Eclipse. The exact degree is 10º28’ Taurus so we need to see when Mars gets to this degree. Mars will get here on July 20th, 2022 at 7:28 AM ET. So within the time frame of April 30th to July 20th will be when you should feel the effects of this Eclipse manifest as situations, feelings, external circumstances, etc show up in your life.
Deborah Houlding cites William Lilly in indicating that Eclipses in Taurus represent
"Eclipses in Taurus affect business, trade, grand buildings, agriculture, and men such as solicitors and agents who negotiate in others’ affairs. They threaten high mortality for oxen, cows and horses. (Russia, Ireland, Switzerland, Cyprus and Persia)”
Because Venus is the ruler of the Eclipse, we can deduce that the outcome would be positive.
Eclipses always come in pairs of sometimes 2 or 3. This Eclipse Season we’re only going to have 2 Eclipses, and because this is technically the beginning of the lunation, our next syzygy will be the Lunar Eclipse (which is like a Full Moon) on May 16th. The entire month of May is Eclipse Season, so we’re already in here.
Because Eclipses happen every 6 months, events that come up during this time period will be connected to events that take place in 6 months from now during the next round of Eclipses in 2022 on Oct 25th with a Solar Eclipse at 2º Scorpio and Nov 8th with a Lunar Eclipse at 16º Taurus.
What I’ve noticed in my practice is that the Eclipses represent periods of endings and beginnings coming into the houses of the respective nodes, and that there is an element of volatility that gets the gears turning and brings necessary change to these house topics. Eclipses are like the beginning of chapters and ending of old ones within the existing narrative of how you engage with those experiences in your life. Eclipse Season can be very fruitful and bring much-needed change, and because this is a whole new Eclipse cycle, most of the events that will be taking place are new and fresh.
Sometimes they can be connected to previous Eclipse cycles in these signs. Think back to 2012-2013 and what events took place then. And even before that 2003-2004. These were the last times we had Eclipses in Taurus and Scorpio.
Ultimately, I think this Eclipse has the potential to bring really amazing blessings with Venus at her exaltation degree, conjoining her domicile lord, and being the ruler of the Eclipse. It’s like Venus is going to an extreme limit to bring justice, pleasure, and delight and the opportunity is EXPENSIVE.
Sunday May 1st
[12:24 AM ET] The Moon conjoins Uranus at 14º33’ Taurus
[6:37 AM ET] Venus in Pisces sextile Pluto Retrograde at 28º35’ Capricorn
[7:32 PM ET] The Moon in Taurus squares Saturn at 24º19’ Aquarius
Moving forward into Sunday, this can feel like a really slow and stagnant day as the Moon will be applying to a square with Saturn after conjoining Uranus at the beginning of the day. This Eclipse is already an interruption of routine and regular day-to-day functioning, but with Uranus conjoining the Moon right after, it looks like we’re extremely tired, wanting rest, and just wanting to FEEL good. The North Node in Taurus highlights our material needs for comfort and physical tenderness and affirmation of safety. This is a great day to rest and really go easy on yourself, because the Moon squaring Saturn looks like having to deal with a lot of weight, pressure, and delays. Things will be getting better because the Moon is now increasing in light, but we’re still in Eclipse Season. The tone is very serious for Sunday the 1st.
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