I recently started reading ‘Atmoshpere’ by Taylor Jenkins Read. It is set in the early 1980s, following Joan, a physics and astronomy professor, and her journey to join NASA’s space shuttle program. It seemed appropriate given recent events, with the successful Artemis II lunar mission.
But stories of space exploration and adventures are for another time and feel particularly tied to Pluto in Aquarius. Did you know that the last time Pluto was in Aquarius, hot air balloons were used more widely and were even discussed as a sort of public transportation option? While this week is a unique concentration of six planets in Aries, a fire sign, including the Moon, Mercury, Sun, Mars, Saturn and Neptune, from April 15 to 18.
Symbolic fire: passion, impulse and transformation
Now it seems appropriate to explore all kinds of fire symbolism. This week could light a fire in your heart, inspiring and motivating you.
It is possible that a dream enlightens you, fills you with enthusiasm and encourages you to take the search for a passion further than before.
You may be willing to set fire to something that is ready to transform, as if you were open to seeing what might rise from the ashes of the past.
Rare and exceptional opportunities
There’s also a pun inspired by this week’s rare combination of six planets in Aries that might guide you.
If it is rare and exceptional astrologically, then it makes sense that rare and exceptional events, experiences and life decisions are likely.
You may have a unique opportunity to do something, say something, or change something.
A unique assembly
As six planets gather in Aries, you too may be able to create something out of the ordinary in your life, especially in relation to the themes of the Aries house and area of your life. I know I’ve said this before, but it’s worth repeating, especially in mid-April.
This could help you bring together a group of people, a collection of ideas, and even a sequence of actions that can lead to an exceptional experience or result.
This unusual closeness, especially involving Neptune, Mercury, Mars, and Saturn, creates emphasis and intensity, as if you too can harness an intense combination of forces, including your will and desire, around a specific goal or objective.
You could form a strategic alliance or join forces with other people who share similar goals and objectives. It remains to be seen whether this alliance will be short-term or long-lasting, whether it will be to achieve a specific result or to work together over time.
Since Mars and Saturn are in the mix, the intention to move toward something could also show the need to move away from someone or something.
Under the cover of darkness
I think it is also relevant to note that much of this assembly, maneuvering and positioning occurs under the cover of darkness, when the Moon touches each of these planets while it is in its balsamic or dark phase.
This phase of the Moon highlights what is hidden, themes of closure and ending, as well as gestation and private preparations for the next cycle.
You may instinctively feel the way forward or strategically decide to operate privately. This might look like playing your cards close to your chest or simply choosing to act without conveying your ultimate intention.
If all this sounds a bit like the coordination and preparation of a forceful military enterprise, well, that’s appropriate too. Given both….. world events and simply the symbolism of such a meeting of planets in Aries, as well as the potency of Sunday/Monday’s triple union of Mars, Mercury and Saturn. Of course, Mars and Aries are strongly associated with the army and battles.
This combination of maneuvers of the Dark Moon (Wednesday/Thursday) followed by the New Moon in Aries and then the Mars/Saturn/Mercury aspects feels like a beginning that takes place in private, with initial moves that occur in secret and then become public in the days after the New Moon. Personally and collectively.
Your mission: seek wisdom and choose your challenge
Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to clarify a brave goal. Identify a goal that can test your courage and challenge you to mature along the way.
It’s fair to say, given how rare this planet stacking in Aries* in mid-April is, that the next few days could bring a rare or unique opportunity. Do you dare to say yes? What are you willing to risk in pursuit of an audacious goal?
Chasing a bright dream, which lights an inner fire and makes you feel alive, cannot be achieved by sticking to what you know or playing it safe.
Can you tap into the fire within and find new ways to bring your light and passion into your life? What are you willing to eliminate to create progress?
*In April 2028, Mars and Mercury will return to Aries, with Saturn, Neptune and the Sun there too. While there is an echo of this time that might reverberate then, the intensity, the closeness of the planetary aspects peaks now, April 2026. In April 2028, there will be no New Moon in Aries while Mercury and Mars are there, and the rocket launch opportunity available to you in mid-April 2026 is a now or never vibe.
