Planet Waves Monthly for April by Eric Francis
Aries (March 20-April 19) — Neptune enters your sign this month for the first time since April 13, 1861. This is visionary, and you are the one to whom the vision will be coming. Yet you might not quite notice the presence of Neptune except for the sound of your ears popping and the pressure relief as it exits your 12th solar house. More noticeable is that you have two inner planets retrograde in your sign — Mercury and Venus — and you may be struggling to understand your feelings. That’s the whole point. Retrogrades are a minor irritant that calls your attention inward. They present special challenges here in the digital age since there is barely such a thing as “within” — meaning inner awareness. The effect of digital is to turn people inside out, to void and nullify any notion of privacy, and to turn the world into a kaleidoscopic mirror that nobody knows is a mirror. So tune in. Visit your inner life. Do things to encourage the establishment of interior space. Read a book and write on paper. Find places where you can be truly alone and leave your digital devices elsewhere. Do things that you don’t tell anyone about. Eat by yourself in a restaurant where nobody knows you — or anything to emphasize your feeling of being alone and anonymous. None of this is going to solve big problems. But experiments like these will point you toward yourself, and once you’re there, you will make potentially helpful discoveries. You will remember things about yourself that you left in the distant past. These inner planet retrogrades are preparation for major movements by Saturn, Chiron, Neptune and Eris that will be arising over the next two months. When these transits come, inner awareness will not be a luxury. It will be entirely necessary as a means of navigating your life and staying grounded in your personal reality — rather than a dream or fantasy.
Taurus (April 19-May 20) — You may feel like you’re walking with one foot on either side of a canyon. One side of the canyon is supposed to be the familiar you that you know, though you can’t find that person anywhere. On the other side is an inner world that you knew you contained, but had no idea the depth and intensity of your private cosmos. If you want to experience the potential and the beauty of the moment, I suggest you drop any notion that people might think you’re weird. This is one of your usual phobias, which is why you dress so impeccably for every occasion and maintain the image of total integrity. Fuck it. That’s a brittle container for the kind of inner fire that you’re pumping right now, and that fire has the power to burn, melt or evaporate every thought and judgment that ever held you back. However, you can pretend that this is about ‘other people’ by concerning yourself with what they might think about you. Said another way, you burn a lot of energy when you guard your image — and this is supporting an illusion at the expense of your reality. Yet the time is long gone when you can hide from yourself. You have had clues of this over and over and it’s high time you give up this ridiculous effort to pretend you are not who you rather boldly are. Get out of your own way. You are joyfully beyond any need to impress anyone with your purity and innocence.
Gemini (May 20-June 21) — There is an old expression about how it’s not what you know, but rather who you know that determines your success, and for you that is likely to be true. Your life is now populated with people you never imagined existed, or thought you would get anywhere near. All you have to do is be sincere and remain present for every conversation. Some who you meet are likely to become partners in your success, and you will become partners in theirs. Yet possessing real knowledge is essential, as is knowing where you lack a grasp of a situation. I suggest you never, ever pretend to know something that you do not. You might think that someone presumes a lack of intelligence when a person asks them questions. That is not true. Asking questions, when necessary, is a sign of intelligence and curiosity. If you say, “I’m not following you,” most people will graciously explain in a different way. People want to be understood, especially those of any influence and moral worth. Engaging in a conversation on level terms is also practice in being respectful at the same time you’re not intimidated. Being observant of what people say and do also counts, and — as you know — there is no substitute for this. Therefore, maintain situational awareness in social environments. Pay attention to who notices you; to who is looking at you; to who wants to get your attention. Those are signs of curiosity and invitations for engagement.
Cancer (June 21-July 22) — Your charts are describing a series of breakthrough moments for you in your vocation or profession. What happens through the month of April will reveal this to you. It’s more important that you get a good start than it is that you drive anything to some expected conclusion. All of this is described by activity in Aries, which is where you boldly express yourself in the sphere of worldly business, leadership and reputation. There’s a lot of fire there now, and you must make focused, refined moves that utilize what you know and what you know about yourself. Yet you might use as your mantra, “There is no rush, even if it feels like you must.” Over the next month or so, you will make the transition from one stage to the next as planets gather and do some fancy maneuvers at the very top of your solar chart. Yet this astrology sustains itself over more than a year between now and the summer of 2026. So this is why I am suggesting you get a good start rather than trying to get to the end; and by the way, though you have one, you cannot see the destination now. And you don’t want to — that will take away the fun of exploration. I must add that the exploration only seems to be happening in the world. Rather, you are learning about yourself, finding out what you know and giving yourself opportunities to grow in ways you had not imagined before.
Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — You stand at the brink of a religious conversion. And which religion would that be? Well, if one of the stock cosmologies, I would say Buddhist. However, I am really talking about the Barely Extant First Church of Self-Actualization. By this I mean a radical commitment to growth and maturity; or said another way, a spiritual path based on a relationship to your deep inner being and its quest on the planet at this time. I don’t mean self-improvement. I mean some fusion of self-discovery and self-realization. This implies that you are discovering and realizing something that already exists and that you do not have to make or create; you were born this way. The teacher known as Yogananda said it well: “You do not have to struggle to reach God, but you do have to struggle to tear away the self-created veil that hides Him from you.” So you may count on unlearning and undoing being the plow-point of this process, and the rare fusion of Chiron and Eris will help you. Part of what you will be discovering or rediscovering is the inner being that has not been shaped, conditioned or concealed by digital technology. This is your core being that knows who you are and what you came here to do as an unwavering inner truth. External validation tends to favor what has already been done or found out. So you can’t count on that, though if you proceed with sincerity, you will be ably guided by your inner light.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — For too long, getting serious about your money situation has evaded your grasp. You might think it’s not in your nature to focus on prosperity. Yet as a Virgo, one of your most important necessities is to align yourself with developing resources in ways that are aligned with your values. And once you know what means the most to you, you can do something about it — and that’s what’s happening now. What you’re learning about yourself is revealing possibilities that otherwise seemed unrealistic or unnecessary. Just remember the order of operations: from self-discovery to activity that is in line with what you know to be true about yourself. Once again, you must not be daunted by the views of others — such as their idea about what is the right thing for you. What is popular or relevant at the moment does not matter; that’s never an indication of what will be relevant in the future. Trust yourself enough to be a visionary; and once you can see what you aspire to, be bold enough to take the first steps toward making it real. I know it may seem elusive; you know there are no guarantees. Yet in this process you will discover the drive and the discipline to create something entirely new and worthwhile. And this will be based on an understanding that only you possess. Don’t worry about winning people over. Focus on your own commitment and determination until what you are building takes on a life of its own.
Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — You may have experiences in your intimate relationships this month unlike anything before. And it’s important that you not pre-judge them as good or bad, meaningful or not. Careful observation is required, and that calls for patience. Sit with your feelings without deciding much. These developments are about your own growth, which means how you respond to your experiences. Remember that your environment is changing; the environment of the world is changing — and I don’t mean global warming. I mean the rising tide of the digital environment is imposing changes on individuals, couples, groups, organizations, and societies. Yet the core influence is on every individual’s idea of what it means to be a person. The sad truth is, it means less and less — to the people currently running the world. I am here to remind you that you are human. Your experiences in your relationships are about being human. That means seeking understanding, growth, connection, happiness, pain and loss: all of the above. The appeal of the digital world is that it will save us from those things, and clean up the untidy or really messy parts of our lives. The message of the AI and the digital environment is that they will save you from being human. Need I say that this is something you don’t want? Yet you may be seduced; there are many ways to get lured out of your personhood before you have even claimed yourself fully and before you know what is even happening. Whatever occurs over the next five or six weeks, treasure your humanity every day, and preferably every hour of the day.
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — It would be too easy to lose yourself in work when your spirit is calling for devotion to your healing process. Healing from what? All that ails you; all that worries you; all that you know hinders you. These are not separate problems or situations. They all have one thing in common, which is you. And the most essential element of you is how you perceive your circumstances and your experiences. This takes time, devotion and patience; and in your life even more than most other people, there is always something to do, always some new battlefront, always some new challenge. I suggest you lay that aside for a while, to the extent that you can, and focus on your human necessities. Your chart contains a few double-edged swords, and one of them is the way that external effort and the daily grind can consume the bandwidth of your inner growth. Yes, this happens to a lot of people — though you have a special situation: an easy escape hatch (your opposite sign Taurus has something similar, by the way, which suggests that the issue is easy to entrench in your relationships). We also live in a time when few people care about growth; a system upgrade is all you need. Just get the shot or take the pill and you won’t need to take care of yourself. But none of that is true. You must take care of yourself, and by that I mean focusing on your original instructions and your inner universe. These are your only assurances of sanity and peace.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — Your astrology describes the perfect blend of elements needed for a personal rebirth. The world is getting old and it is tired. Many people are exhausted but are still clinging to a shred of hope. Yet amidst the dull expectations that may surround you — and at times seem to overtake you — you have the potential to dive deep into personal recreation. This may feel like a stretch, especially if you’ve been living through an insecure and disillusioning phase. Notice when you experience a more tangible sense of yourself. From that experience look back and recognize the marsh that you’ve been trying to get across, potentially for years. It would be worthwhile to ask yourself how many of your decisions in these years have been made on the basis of security and not on happiness. This would be an excellent time to recognize that there is a bold difference between the two. Some of the best times of your life have also been the most uncertain. Seeking firm certainty is usually a creative downer. It’s not like you need to go searching for confusion or situations that make you nervous. The world is serving up plenty of that right now. Yet you are building the confidence to find yourself in the present moment. Enlightenment may amount to recognizing that to truly meet existence consciously is nothing more or less than a bold creative experiment. But you can easily hide this under some expectation of what you have to do with your entire day. You have more flexibility than you imagine, if you would only dare.
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — Few want to acknowledge that all the world’s problems have their roots in sexual hangups. Every last human encounter distills down to the essential moment where life is created, where companionship is sought, and where our most basic biological and emotional needs seek fulfillment. And when this goes wrong, it disguises itself as crisis in many forms, from divorce to various forms of cruelty to massive greed to the devastation of the natural environment. This is not a reductionist view; without sex there is no life, and it’s not a far stretch to say there is no meaning to life. Yet millennia of various supreme authorities using sex as a weapon and control device has cloaked the issue. So, too, have endless tomes and screeds about the evils of sexuality that go back as far as the printing press. On top of this we may add a wide diversity of abuses and traumas that make the whole matter unappealing, though which underscore its urgency. If you want to begin to free yourself from this labyrinth, start with one basic fact: you were fucked into existence. Try saying it out loud: “I was fucked into existence.” Say it into the mirror. Say it to someone you are intimate with. Say it about your children: You, Johnny, were fucked into existence. Yes, your mom/dad and I got naked and had sex and therefore, you were born. Then consider this equation: how you feel about sex is how you feel about the fact that you’re alive.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — The recent eclipses and current planetary retrogrades may have you in a mental scramble. Yet you must wake up to the nature of the transitions that are dawning in your life, even as the world itself seems to be spinning off its axis. Nobody seems to be asking how or why this is happening. It’s not that nobody is noticing the chaos. But it’s clear that nearly nobody is considering the source, and at the same time, proposing all kinds of solutions to problems that are not what they seem. What is being called “artificial intelligence” — a total misnomer — is the latest and most powerful wave front in a scenario that goes back about 85 years. Only now is it surfacing that the goal is to relieve humans of the supposed burden of thinking for themselves. But this is not relief from anything; it is actually enslavement and the total submission to authority for its own sake. If you are blessed with one thing, it’s the ability to have your own ideas. This includes the potential to run your mind in a way contrary to what others believe. However, you can get swept up in the status quo and you may believe that technology is a beautiful thing. Well, now is the time to stop and think — for yourself. This will surely apply to specific situations in your life, and also to the big picture of what is happening to our society — and what your relationship to it is.
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — The more seriously you take the money thing, the more of it you will have; this in turn will give you more options to do what you both want and need. By ‘take seriously’, I mean honoring the principle that money flows toward structure. This spans everything from planned purchases to budgeting; from bank accounts to business organization. Pay attention to questions of efficiency. Know how much you value your time. These are all basic matters of functioning within an economy where you’re probably offering not just your labor and effort but your ideas. What is more challenging is understanding your own principles, if you even know what they are. Intense, really unbelievably strong activity in Aries from now through the spring of 2026 suggests a few things. One is that you’re figuring out how different your priorities are than those of the people around you. These have their roots in your values. The key to happiness and sanity for anyone with Pisces prominent in their chart is living in accord with their values. When people use the term ‘sell out’, what they mean is selling out what they value and what they hold to be true. That comes back to one’s purpose, one’s deepest motivations, and ultimately to your agreement or commitment related to why you came into this life at all. It’s way too easy to sell that out for a paycheck unrelated to what you actually care about — or directly contradicting it. Yet every cell in your body is encouraging you to step up to your truth and to your promises to yourself — now and not later.