The fog lifts: what to restart now

By Barry Rosen

Twelve days of holding your breath. That’s more or less what the Mars-Saturn window has asked of us. On April 28, Mars moves out of the 5 degree orb of Saturn and the pressure it has been putting on your chest since the middle of the month finally stops. What you do in the next seven days will determine how the rest of spring plays out.

How the sky has changed while we looked down

Let me take stock with you. Mars is now in Revati, still in sidereal Pisces but moving away from Saturn day by day. Mercury goes ahead of both and will leave Pisces to go to Aries on April 30. The Sun is exalted in Aries, gaining strength by the hour. Venus is in Taurus, her own sign, quietly doing the repair work we discussed last week. Rahu is still approximately 11 degrees from Aquarius. Jupiter is stable in late Gemini. The crowd has thinned. The water that was stagnant has begun to move.

You may not have consciously noticed the change. That’s normal. Astrological pressure releases the way a long storm ends, with a gradual flash of lightning rather than a dramatic break in the clouds. But if you wake up tomorrow and find yourself able to make a decision that you couldn’t make on Monday, heaven is right.

What to reboot first

The list, in order:

1. Your body. Whatever exercise, sleep, or eating discipline failed during the crash, restart it this week before it becomes a habit to let it go. It is necessary to tell the nervous system that the storm has passed.
2. The conversation you postponed. If you held back an important conversation during the Mars-Saturn window, now is the right time to have it. The listener’s ears work better this week than last week.
3. The financial decision you put off. With Mercury leaving the debilitation April 30 and entering Aries, the numbers regain their usual clarity. Reconcile, reread and sign the things you had. I continue to observe verbal and written fights with Mercury in the sign of Aries of Mars until May 29.
4. The creative project. Venus in Taurus supports the creation of beautiful things. If a job was half done, pick it up.
5. The habit you want to develop. The Sun in Aries is exalted until mid-May. Use that solar confidence for a small daily commitment. Not ten. One.

What not to restart yet

Three things still need another week or two before they merit a full reset. First of all, it is better to wait until after May 1, when the Mercury-Jupiter parivartana closes and communication is going smoothly, it is better to make big launches or public announcements. Second, new business partnerships, particularly those involving shared finances, want the Sun to move closer to Aries and Mars to move closer to Revati, which we will have in early May. Third, important medical decisions, if they can wait, are best made after May 5.

A different kind of drive

Here’s something worth pointing out. The reset after a Mars-Saturn conjunction has a different quality than a reset at any other time. You will find that the things you recover now have silently changed. You are not picking up the same project you left in mid-April. You are picking up a version that has been weighed and measured by Saturn and will now move forward with more gravity behind it. That’s what the conjunction was for.

If a project doesn’t feel right when you pick it up, trust that sign. It may be telling you that the project did not survive the weigh-in. The gift of Saturn, when we are willing to accept it, is the withdrawal of what we were doing out of habit rather than purpose.

By ascending sign, where the new energy lands

Aries ascendants have the Sun in the first house and Mars passing through the twelfth. Expect an increase in vitality balanced by a continued need for private rest. Taurus ascendants have Venus at home in the first house. This is a gentle personal rebirth that will occur over the next two weeks. Gemini ascendants find Mercury entering the eleventh, supporting income and friendships. Use the next ten days to make contacts who have been waiting. For all other rising signs, the general rule of thumb is this: wherever your twelfth house is, continue to let it rest. Wherever your first, fifth, or ninth house is, lean on it.

This week’s phrase

Start gently. Start anyway.

Barry Rosen has been practicing Vedic Astrology since 1988 and is the founder of Fortucast (1987) and Applied Vedic Astrology. He is the author of Finding Your Blind Spots and Signs of Life and teaches at the Sedona Vedic Astrology Conference.