Psychic Tip of the Day

Tarot.com is Part of the Daily Insight Group ©2018

If You Were Born Today, April 4:

You expect to work for what you want in life and are always aware of your responsibilities. Nevertheless, you are playful and sometimes mischievous. You are straightforward in your dealings with others, and sometimes quite blunt! You value honesty and integrity in others as well. A confident and friendly manner sometimes hides a tendency to worry a lot about your future. You are an independent thinker. Famous people born today: Robert Downey Jr., Heath Ledger, Maya Angelou, Anthony Perkins, David Blaine.

Your Birthday Year Forecast:

With the Sun and Moon in harmony in your Solar Return chart, the year ahead should be satisfying and balanced overall. You are in comfortable demand and personally popular, and you are able to achieve a decent balance between work and play; personal and professional life. For the most part, you are on top of your game this year, and positive connections with others can be made fairly easily. With the ability to handle your emotions successfully, there is less stress on both your mind and body. Your self-confidence and positive attitude will reward you!

Personal magnetism is tremendous this year. You are playfully competitive and might win a major competition, if applicable. This is a good period for creative projects and joining with others in pursuing a common goal.

Certain elements of your social life and financial life are stabilized, secured, and more reliable this year. You may solidify a romantic relationship or become involved with a mature partner. Circumstances may be such that you need to handle money more carefully this year, or this may simply come naturally to you now. Support from older people or authority figures may come by way of solid advice or more tangible help. Renewed ties to old friends are possible, or a new sense of responsibility in existing friendships, are also highly likely.

Saturn transits square to your Sun from January 2019 forward and this can encourage you to straighten out neglected areas of your life. You’ll be working hard at disciplining yourself. You are likely to have new or increased responsibilities, and it might take some time to get adjusted to them. The need to re-structure and re-organize your life will be apparent at some point during this period. Much can be accomplished. Although you may not always see immediate results for your efforts, important groundwork can be laid for the future.

The year ahead can be an ambitious time and a supportive period for reaching your goals. You might solve a long-standing problem, or capitalize upon a resource that was previously hidden.

This is an excellent year in which to advance projects revolving around communications – writing, speaking, selling, and so forth. Your reputation may be enhanced through word of mouth. Making new contacts through learning and mental pursuits figures strongly as well.

With Mars conjunct Saturn in your Solar Return chart, you are more determined and hard-working than usual. This is an excellent time to get organized and to stick with projects through to the end. When you face obstacles to your goals, which is a likely scenario this year, you are likely to just keep on pushing. Progress may be slow, but it’s steady and solid. What you accomplish now will benefit you for years to come. You may be called to task for a responsibility that you’ve avoided in the past.

Jupiter forms a trine to your Sun from January 2019 forward, and you have a stronger than usual desire to improve, grow, and learn. This is a fortunate aspect that helps boost optimism and confidence, and you are able to attract fortunate circumstances into your life as a result. Problems are easier to resolve. Matters related to universities, higher education, religion, publishing, legal affairs, and/or foreign interests can be especially strong. It’s an excellent time to further your education. You are likely to enjoy a larger perspective on matters that keeps you from getting lost in details or overly frustrated by everyday stresses during the course of the month.

This is a year for solving problems and getting your life in order in significant ways. You receive plenty of cosmic support for making big improvements or lifestyle changes, although hard work is necessary. This can be a wonderful time for meeting new people or more thoroughly enjoying your current friendships.

2018 is a Number One year for you. Ruled by the Sun. This is a year of action. The seeds you plant now, you will reap later. Others might find you less sociable, as you are busier than ever and you focus on your activities and your needs. Still, you are outgoing and your initiative is stronger than ever. Advice – Stand alone, take action, start fresh, express independence.

2019 will be a Number Two year for you. Ruled by the Moon. This is a year of potential companionship. It is a quiet, gentle, and mostly harmonious year that is less active than other years. Instead, you are more responsive to the needs of others. If you are patient and open yourself up in a gentle manner, you will attract both things and people. This is an excellent year in which to build and develop for the future. Advice – be patient, be receptive, enjoy the peace, collect.

Source

Cafe Astrology

Amazing April is here!

There is much to celebrate this month. LOVE and PASSION will be the focus throughout April.

In numerology, April 2018 is a 6 Universal Month (4 + 2+0+1+8 = 15, 1+5 = 6).

The number 6 is associated with all matters of the heart – relationships, beauty, harmony, and love. Your relationships will be center stage this month, including how you relate to yourself so you can create more self-love and harmony in your life.

A little love from above

Mars and Venus, the lovers of the zodiac, will be sharing the skies and helping you define who and what you feel passionate about. If you’ve been questioning yourself, or wondering why you haven’t been feeling confident, fear not! There’s some potent celestial energy brewing that will help you integrate your heart and your mind so you can pursue your passions with joy and courage!

April 2018 Energy Report

a message from Jennifer Hoffman

To read more of Jennifer’s insight, please visit her website, Jennifer Hoffman, Life Re-Vibed

For once we have a ‘normal’ month as far as energy movement goes. Since January we have been off-balance energetically and we have seen that with the roller coaster ups and downs in personal and global events. April’s themes are indulgence and resurrection, so we’ll have opportunities for ‘me’ time as well as bringing our hopes and dreams out of the dark closets we have put them into. This is a month where we celebrate spring and new growth cycles, it’s another call to shine brightly and we have much energetic support to take aligned, inspired action, which begins with us. Everything we do in April has to be centered on taking care of our needs first, being true to ourselves, engaging in self-support, and that is how we will make the best use of April’s expansive energy.

April begins with two big events, the full moon of March 31 in Aries and Easter, which is April 1 (on April Fool’s Day). So the month starts out with the bright full moon lighting the dark night sky and the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection. The word resurrect means ‘to bring back to life’. What can be resurrected in your life now, starting with how much energy you are putting into creating your own life and the reality you live in? If you’re always putting others’ needs first and your dreams have been left behind, you can resurrect them this month.

Another big aspect in April is the movement of Venus into Taurus, the first sign it rules. This brings forward the theme of ‘indulgence’ to the forefront – how we take care of ourselves and give our needs the attention they require. If you’re tired, worn out, and run down, April’s energy will encourage you to rest, relax, and give yourself the same level of care and attention you give others.

What is the difference between being indulgent and wasting time and energy? Are we being wasteful when we take a nap because we’re tired instead of cleaning house, doing the dishes, or running an errand for someone? We can indulge our need for a nap because we’re tired and then assess whether we want to do the other things. We’ll need to define that difference for ourselves now because this is about creating self value, energetic balance and using our energy resources wisely, ensuring that we are part of the group that is on the receiving end of our energetic attention.

Venus in Taurus also signifies value – what you value and what is valuable to you. How do you set your value priorities? Do you compromise them to be liked or valued by others?

And with Mercury retrograde until April 16th, being indulgent and resurrecting things from the past will also figure prominently. Have you ever rushed out the door with a full list of things to do only to find you left your wallet at home or, as happened to me once, you see that your car has a flat tire and that changes all of your plans? Sometimes the Universe reminds us that we need to slow down, take care of ourselves and fill our own energy tank on a regular basis. Mercury retro is good for release, review, refresh, re-think, re-consider, renew, resolve, and rest.

Many ascension cycles are going to be ending in April and in May so that new ones can begin. While we believe that ascension happens in a straight line, a one-shot journey from A to B, it does not happen that way (which is why we can feel like we are not making any progress). Instead, we move through ascension in energetic cycles and once we have completion and closure with the one we’re in, the next one begins. That’s why I highlight them, note when they will happen in the monthly energy reports, email you as they are occurring, and post about them on social media because these cycles follow each other – as one ends, we step into the next one.

Let’s look at the current cycles for a minute. Uranus entered Aries in March 2011 during a major awakening phase that was crucial to this ascension cycle. Uranus is the great disruptor and we can thank it, and its close journey with Eris, for the dis-integration of the 3D paradigms of greed, control, power over, and domination. As it finishes its transit of Aries, the sign of the pioneer and the first zodiac sign, it has created an awakening of the concept of the individual’s place in the community (Uranus symbolizes the collective).

The previous Uranus in Aries cycle began in 1934 – the rise of Nazi Germany and fascism in the world, as well as a devastating world war. What are we seeing today? The awakening of humanity to these agendas and the resistance to the destruction of personal and national sovereignty. And the 7 years of Uranus in Aries has brought us together as a community through technology (and Uranus rules both community and technology) in ways that were unimaginable in 1934.

One more powerful energy aspect this month is the Mars/Saturn conjunction, active the first week of April. This is building the energy for the epic January 2020 Saturn/Pluto conjunction in Capricorn – the previous one happened in 1517. This is a powerhouse of energy so know that it’s available to you and use it well.

‘Power to the people’ is more than a Beatles song; it’s the new paradigm for all of us.

We are each a unique spark of divine light but we are also members of the community of light which includes all of humanity. What we do in our own lives we add it to the banquet of transformation potential that is available to all of humanity.  This community spirit has intensified during the last 8 years and our awareness of this inter-connection has made us realize that whatever evil in the world can be overcome with the collective’s desire for a higher frequency that includes peace, joy, love, and prosperity for all.

In these final weeks of Uranus’ Aries transit we can focus on expanding and strengthening that community spirit because in Taurus, Uranus will show us the value of being the family of humanity and how we can use the power of common intention to transform the world.

The middle of the month is very busy too, with a new moon on the 15th that is going to do plenty of energy resurrecting because it’s activating Uranus in Aries and Eris for one parting blast. Not a lot is written about Eris, the goddess of chaos and strife but she and Uranus have been quite a pair in the last 3 years as they have been creating a lot of chaos. They play a big role in the dis-integration of the 3D paradigms. Eris entered Aries in March 1925, it leaves in May 2045, so its influence will be around for a while.

This new moon is the final highlight of Uranus in Aries, which won’t happen for another 84 years. In the next 3 weeks, we have closure as Uranus moves out of its June 2017 shadow retrograde and it winds up it’s Aries presence which began in March 2011. Then it hits the final degrees of Aries and goes into Taurus on May 15.

For the first time since December 2017 we have a normal lunar month in April, with only a new and full moon. Since January we have had unusual moon activity, with multiple or no full moons, and that has dragged us through an intense realization of the power of our emotional energy. We use our emotions to filter energy. So if you have been noticing how your emotions impact your energy field, especially dense emotions like anger, grief, sadness, resentment, regret, guilt, and shame, this passage has done its work.

There is more to this topic, see the video below for additional insights into April’s energy. And the best way to use this month’s energy is to indulge yourself, slow down, pay attention to your body – it is the vessel for spiritual energy.

You receive and share energy through the body and is an important part of your ascension journey. Give it the care and attention it needs now. We have been through a lot and that journey is not over yet.

April starts with resurrection – what can you resurrect in your life now? Review your dreams, hopes, and desires. Are any of them still valid for you? Is it time for some energetic house cleaning to remove the density that is clogging the drains of your dreams? April has lots of energy to fill your tank and make your dreams a reality.  Have a wonderful month.

©2012 Pepper Lewis and The Peaceful Planet.  All of the information presented is for your reading and enjoyment. It can be shared in whole or in part with others who may find it of value as long as it is for personal use. In so doing, we ask that you always include the copyright notice located at the bottom of each document. This ensures our ability to make this information available to those who do not have access to the Internet. All other reprints including electronic transmissions designed for commercial use must receive permission from the author. Publications and websites interested in carrying this information as monthly columns or special features are encouraged to do so. If the material must be shortened in length, please clearly state that it is an edited version and refer the readers to the original full-length version.

Weekly Forecast: April 1 – 7, 2018

a message from Kelly M. Beard

To read more of Kelly’s insight, please visit her website, www.KarmicTools.com

The Karmic Tools Weekly Forecast covers the current planetary transits which affect people in different ways and to various degrees of intensity. Take notice when it is a Personal planet (Sun / Moon / Mercury / Venus / Mars) interacting with a Social (Jupiter/Saturn) or Collective planet (Uranus / Neptune/Pluto). And pay extremely close attention when it is a Social planet interacting with a Collective planet because that means something *big* is brewing that will move large groups of people along their evolutionary paths. Tuning in to the energy and rhythm of the planets can serve as a useful *guide* as you move along your Individual Path. It also helps to understand your place within the context of the larger Social & Collective Story. Below, you will find out how these energies tend to manifest, as well as guidance and direction.

*NOTE*  There are some days when there are NO CONTACTS (besides the Moon), please note that there are no missing entries, we just list the actual Activations of each week + the day they happen. 

Weekly Forecast:  April 1 – 7, 2018

4/1 ~ Mercury (communication & self-expression) ~conjunct~ Sun (core essential Self):

This energy will compel you to express yourself on many levels. Communication will be a focus, just make sure it is reciprocated. You will have access to some powerful energy that can (and probably will) make quite an impression on others (if you need to). This is a good time to travel if possible too. However, if not physically, then mentally and certainly within your own area, you will take in more information per square inch than usual. Pay attention! You may even gain the much-deserved recognition from others that you have worked so hard for.

4/2 ~ Mars (energy, desire & action) ~conjunct~ Saturn (structure, responsibility & timing): 

Any conjunction is an initiation and Mars rules ‘who you are’ and ‘what you want’, while Saturn rules your definition of reality and your physical limits. If you are feeling frustrated, you may need to clarify your desires more, than take tangible, practical steps toward them. Anytime Saturn is involved, it will depend on your personal nature, as some thrive on structure & good boundaries, while others buck the system and want to do it their own way (which causes its own types of conflicts in the world). Sometimes this energy manifests as action being restricted and the anger that follows. You can either be angry and feel restricted, limited and unable to move … or you can see this energy as an opportunity to define the right actions to take and strategically plan to take them when the Universe is more supportive. This energy requires us to slow down and double check The Plan (Saturn). If you proceed consciously, your plan has a better chance of success than if you were reckless & impatient (Mars). You may experience a blockage of some sort, whether internal or external. You feel this tremendous urge to move forward in your life but seem to find blockages and limitations with every effort. That is likely your perception rather than reality, so ask your Self if you feel inadequate to the task at hand or if you are dealing with some personal fears around this issue. Remember that fear is:  False Evidence Appearing Real – so try to release the fear and reclaim your inner authority to create/lead your own life. If you don’t, your outer circumstance only becomes a reflection of your inner belief. You will attract criticism & delays and repel support & protection. Take your grand vision and figure out three small steps you can take, even on this restricted level, that will still take you in the direction of your goal. Mars links up with Saturn every 2-years or so, so even though it is an initiation, you may be better supported for cultivating, planning, working behind the scenes, doing the detail work and foundational (grunt) work that is NECESSARY to support the grand vision when the time comes to fully express it.

4/4 ~ Mercury (ideas, thoughts & concepts) ~square~ Mars (desire & actions):

This activation can be a tough one for some. If your beliefs are out of alignment with your actions, if you are not self-aware or act-out unconsciously, being selfish or childish, then watch out, because squares test you to grow and change in some way. Often, this also means that you are suppressing your nature in some way, which is never really a good idea. When you suppress your Soul, it can make your human more sensitive or defensive, taking things personally as a threat or challenge. If you catch your Self feeling irritable for no apparent reason, try to step back and gain some perspective before responding to your own thoughts or another’s words. Mercury & Mars getting together, in this challenging way, can provoke debates and, in some people, actual fights, so be careful. The deeper aspect of this activation is that some part of you wants to express, perhaps in a new way, and your monkey-mind has got you all off track. Mars demands that you know who you are and what you want, and is the Divine Masculine part of you, which is supposed to hold good boundaries, protect you and negotiate on your behalf in the world. If you know something that you are not acting on, this can be frustrating. If you are acting in ways that are not allowing you to think things through, this too can cause accidents, problems and delays. It is best to pull in until you are clear. And also keep in mind, you may not be out of alignment in the above ways, but those around you may be and will likely have no context for what they are feeling and therefore, become indiscriminate with their choices & actions.

4/5 ~ Mercury (communication/expression) ~square~ Saturn (limits/reality):

(2 of 3:  3/11 ~ 4/5 ~ 4/25)

This energy is good for deep thinking rather than negotiating with others as it is more of a solitary energy making communications with others a little harder than usual. You may feel like people don’t understand what you’re trying to convey or that you’re coming across more negative than positive. This is not a good energy for business negotiations unless every detail is very clear to all involved. This energy makes you most critical of your Self, but it could trickle over onto others as well. Beware of a tendency toward apathy, pessimism and/or depression, that’s Saturn & Mercury, which makes it more mental than literal. Try to stay focused on all the blessings that you do have and all that you have accomplished instead of what’s still on the list of things to do (in life). This energy is not intended to make you feel bad about all the things left yet to do, but encourage you to begin the necessary steps and be okay with small measures of progress for now. This energy just makes you focus on the practical side of manifesting. Clear the mental & emotional debris, and begin to lay a new, clean, solid foundation beneath your goals and strategize about the details of bringing it to fruition.

4/7 ~ Venus (values & priorities) ~trine~ Saturn (stability & endurance):

This is a smooth, easy energy that you can work with consciously and yield incredible, even tangible, results. It’s a good time to define your terms where relationships are concerned because you are clear about your values & priorities. Based on your past choices & efforts, positive benefits & rewards are forthcoming. If you’ve avoided responsibility in your own relationships (public or private), then this energy can help get you back on track, with less pain & suffering than usual (when Saturn’s involved). If you can be practical about your own limits and realistic about what others bring to the table, then this energy also supports discussing forward movement, development or spiraling to a new, higher level in some way, as a team. Strategizing about the future, clarifying the vision of what will support & protect all involved and honoring the essence of life that runs throughout is deeply supported by these two getting together in an easy angle. Venus is also the energy of love & money, so it’s a good time to be objective and somewhat conservative where both your relationships & finances are concerned. With this interaction with Saturn, I would suggest outlining a reasonable relationship or financial goals for the next 3 – 6 – 12 months.

Calendar of the Moon
4 Fearn/Elaphebolion

Alder Tree Month

Color: Crimson
Element: Fire
Altar: Upon cloth of crimson set a flaming brazier filled with charcoal and incense.
Offerings: Purification. Write what has been dragging your down, and place it in the fire.
Daily Meal: Hot, nourishing food.

Fearn Invocation

Call: Now is the time of the warming of Earth.
Response: Now is the time of the Sun’s first warmth.
Call: Now is the time when the waters of Spring are banished.
Response: Now is the time when fire dries the flood.
Call: Now is the time when the heat rises within us.
Response: Now is the time when our tears are dried.
Call: Now is the time when our inner floods give way.
Response: Now is the time when our inner fields are greening.
Call: Like the birds who build their nests in the Spring….
Response: Like the creatures of the woods who brave the open fields…
Call: As they brave the world….
Response: So we now brave the world.
Call: As they seek sustenance of the body….
Response: So we seek sustenance of the soul.
Call: As they are driven forth by need and the cycle of life…..
Response: So we are driven forth by need and the cycle of life.
Call: No house can contain our souls….
Response: As no house contains the foundation on which it is built.
Call: We will be the piles that lift the house from the water….
Response: And we will lift our spirits from the winter’s flood.
Call: We will be the island in the river….
Response: The islands where the future is told…
Call: And we will see that future running like the current….
Response: Knowing not where it will lead….
Call: Save by the grace of the gods.
Response: Save by the grace of the Gods.

Chant:
We gather at the river
We bring fire to the water
Our fire burns within us
The river parts before us

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Calendar of the Sun

Aequinoctium Vernum

Colors: Yellow and light green
Element: Earth
Altar: Upon cloth of yellow and light green set a pitcher of rainwater, small dishes of seeds (as many as there are people), a vase of budding branches, and a single green candle.
Offerings: Seeds to be planted in the garden.
Daily Meal: Vegetarian

Aequinoctium Vernum Invocation

Earth, you begin your awakening
To the touch of the life-giving Sun
Whose rays stroke you like a lover.
Earth, your joy in awakening
Springs forth first golden
And then the green of life.
We awaken to your new life
And your new season,
And you help us to believe
That no matter how long the winter,
Spring will always come again.
We stand in the time of the year’s morning
And, like all living things,
We reach upwards for the sky.

Chant:
We open Earth and
Earth receives you
She gives you life and
We believe in you

(Each takes a pot of seeds and goes to the garden, and hoes or otherwise prepares a space for planting, and then plants their seeds, chanting while doing so. The pitcher of rainwater is carried out and ritually poured onto the seeds.)

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Welcome to the Witches Astronomy Journal for Wednesday, April 4th

I, Witch

I am many things,
I am a Daughter, a Lover, and a Friend.
I am a Teacher, a Student, and a Woman.
I am many things,
Wear many costumes,
And act in many ways.
Yet beneath each mask I wear,
I am a Witch.

I am a Priestess,
I follow the Path,
I follow the Old Tradition,
I follow the Ways of the Wise Ones.
I seek to know the God,
I seek to know the Goddess,
I seek to know myself.
I am a Witch.

Though I may only dress up,
For eight sabbats a year,
And thirteen esbats in turn,
I am always a Witch.
Though I may not always dress in black,
Or leave my hair wild and free,
I am still a Witch.

I do not worship Satan,
I’ve never even met him,
Yet many see me as evil,
And magick as a sin.
I do what comes natural,
What the Gods have taught me,
And although it does not conform,
I am still a Witch.

The Goddess shows me beauty,
The God has shown me life,
And Earth, and Air,
And Fire, and Water,
Teach me what is right.
And Spirit in its mystic ways,
Teaches me about myself.
That I am a Witch.

—Lady Amhranai, Author
Originally published on Pagan Library

Your Daily Sun & Moon Data for Wednesday, April 4

The Sun
Sun Direction: ↑ 85.85° E
Sun Altitude: 4.28°
Sun Distance: 92.968 million mi
Next Solstice: Jun 21, 2018 5:07 am (Summer)
Sunrise Today: 6:35 am↑ 82° East
Sunset Today: 7:19 pm↑ 278° West
Length of Daylight: 12 hours, 43 minutes

The Moon
Moon Direction: ↑ 225.67° SW
Moon Altitude: 22.32°
Moon Distance: 246011 mi
Next New Moon: Apr 15, 20188:57 pm
Next Full Moon: Apr 29, 20187:58 pm
Next Moonset: Today9:22 am
Moon Phase: Waning Gibbous
Illumination: 83.4%

Source

timeanddate.com

Astrology of Today – Wednesday, April 4, 2018

The Moon is in Scorpio until 2:54 AM, after which the Moon is in Sagittarius.
The Moon is void until 2:54 AM (since 12:05 PM yesterday).
The Moon is waning and in its Full Moon phase until 1:46 AM, after which the Moon is in its Waning Gibbous phase.
The Full Moon occurred on March 31st in the sign of Libra. The Last Quarter Moon will occur on April 8th.
Mercury is retrograde (Mercury is retrograde from March 22nd to April 15th).

Moon in Sagittarius

The Moon is traveling through Sagittarius. The grass looks greener on the other side during this time. Jump ship. Learn a new language. Tell it like it is. Make people laugh.

The Moon is at her most optimistic and upbeat in Sagittarius. We are motivated by a need to seek the truth, and we are ready to pursue a new vision. We are not interested in details just now. Instead, we focus on the big picture. New experiences and adventures satisfy a deep emotional need. Spontaneity is the key. We may also be inclined toward overdoing and overstating. We don’t want to plan ahead, and prefer to “wing it”.

The Moon in Sagittarius generally favors the following activities: Adventurous activities that involve “winging it”, travel, higher education, starting publishing projects, advertising, sports, physical activity.

Daily Overview of Your Sky for Wednesday, April 4th

The Moon’s entry into Sagittarius shortly into the day can pull us out of our shells and inspire new visions of the future, although we can also feel a little restless until we have a mission of some kind. This Moon transit stimulates a desire for more than ordinary experiences.

Even so, we may need to deal with the mundane now due to Mercury’s challenging aspects. Early today, retrograde Mercury perfects its square to Mars and then heads towards a square to Saturn, exact early in the day tomorrow. We can be temperamental and sensitive, yet also given to criticizing. Communication blocks or challenges are possible. Competitions are unlikely to be friendly for long. We may be dealing with the consequences of guarded, delayed, or contrary communications, especially as the day advances. It’s difficult to trust our instincts, and our thoughts or conversations don’t flow very naturally under this influence. Past problems may crop up for review or further attention.

The Moon is void until it enters Sagittarius today at 2:56 AM EDT.

The sky this week for April 4 to April 8

The Full Moon returns, Mercury reaches inferior conjunction, and Mars and Saturn rise together, all in the sky this week.
By Richard Talcott

Wednesday, April 4

Although the calendar may say it is spring, the so-called Winter Hexagon remains prominent on April evenings. One of the sky’s largest asterisms — a recognizable pattern of stars separate from a constellation’s form — the hexagon stands out in the western sky after darkness falls. To trace the asterism, start with southern Orion’s luminary, Rigel. From there, the hexagon makes a clockwise loop. The second stop is brilliant Sirius in Canis Major. Next, pick up Procyon in the faint constellation Canis Minor, then the twins Castor and Pollux in Gemini, followed by Capella in Auriga, Aldebaran in Taurus, and finally back to Rigel.

Thursday, April 5

Brilliant Venus appears low in evening twilight all week. Look for the blazing point of light about 10° above the western horizon 45 minutes after sunset. The planet shines at magnitude –3.9 and is by far the brightest object in the night sky after the Moon. A look at Venus through a telescope shows an almost fully illuminated disk that spans 11″.

Friday, April 6

One of the spring sky’s finest deep-sky objects, the Beehive star cluster (M44) in the constellation Cancer the Crab, lies high in the south after darkness falls. With naked eyes under a dark sky, you should be able to spot this star group as a faint cloud. But the Beehive explodes into dozens of stars through binoculars or a small telescope.

Saturday, April 7

The waning gibbous Moon joins forces with Mars and Saturn this morning. From mid-northern latitudes, the Moon rises first, at around 1:40 a.m. local daylight time. Saturn follows about 15 minutes behind Luna and Mars 15 minutes after the ringed planet. All three lie against the backdrop of northern Sagittarius, though the Moon’s bright light drowns out most of the constellation’s deep-sky wonders. Notice how the gap between the two planets has grown in the five days since their conjunction. This morning, Mars lies 3° east of Saturn.

Sunday, April 8

Last Quarter Moon occurs at 3:18 a.m. EDT. You can find the half-lit orb rising in the east with the background stars of northeastern Sagittarius around 2:30 a.m. local daylight time; it hangs relatively low in the southeast as twilight begins. The Moon also reaches apogee today, at 1:31 a.m. EDT, when its orbit carries it farthest from Earth for the month. It then lies 251,123 miles (404,144 kilometers) from us.

Source

The Astronomy Magazine

Your Cosmic Calendar for Wednesday, April 14th

The arrival of the moon’s presence in Sagittarius each month is often a major boost for reaching important goals on the literary, educational, publishing and athletic horizons.

While the Sun parallel Mercury (8:38am), the moon trine productivity-maven Ceres (10:54am), the moon parallel King of the Gods Jupiter (3:12pm), and the moon trine to Mercury (5:52pm) can be feathered arrows in your quiver, Mercury squaring off with Mars (12:06am) has the ability to send you to the back of the class with a dunce cap on your head.

Do your best to tweak a square between Venus and Ceres (12:43pm) away from exacerbating emotional tensions and in the direction of nurturing elders and children in your family circle.

[Note to readers: All times are now calculated for Pacific Daylight Time. Be sure to adjust all times according to your own local time so the alignments noted above will be exact for your location.]

Source

Astrology.com

The Witches Current Moon Phase for Wednesday, April 4th

Waning Gibbous
Illumination: 83%

The Moon today is in a Waning Gibbous Phase. This is the first phase after the Full Moon occurs. It lasts roughly 7 days with the Moon’s illumination growing smaller each day until the Moon becomes a Last Quarter Moon with a illumination of 50%. The average Moon rise for this phase is between 9am and Midnight depending on the age of the phase. The moon rises later and later each night setting after sunrise in the morning. During this phase the Moon can also be seen in the early morning daylight hours on the western horizon.

PHASE DETAILS FOR – WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 2018

Phase: Waning Gibbous
Illumination: 83%
Moon Age: 18.70 days
Moon Angle: 0.50
Moon Distance: 398,898.14 km
Sun Angle: 0.53
Sun Distance: 149,647,536.68 km

Source

MoonGiant.com

April–The Month of Venus

This month of April has only thirty days, which is the number said to have been given to it by Romulus. The king who came after him gave it only twenty-nine, but Caesar, when he altered the calendar, gave it thirty again.

The name April comes from the Latin word aperire, which means “to open”, and the month was no doubt so named because it is during April that the earth, which has been bound by the sharp frosts of winter, once again opens beneath the warm rays of the sun; the withered sheaths fall away from the ripened buds, which, opening out, disclose to our eyes their long hidden treasures of beautiful colour.

We find that the month was sacred to Venus, the Roman Goddess of Beauty, and some people think for this reason that the name April comes not from aperire, but from Aphrilis, which in turn comes from Aphrodite, the name given to the Goddess of Beauty by the Greeks.

Venus is said to have sprung from the foam of the sea, and to have made her way to Mount Olympus, the home of the gods, where, because of her wonderful beauty and grace, she was welcomed as the Goddess of Love and Beauty. All the gods fell in love with her, but she scorned them all, and Jupiter, to punish her for her pride, ordered her to marry Vulcan, the God of Fire, who was deformed and very rough in his manner. He had been thrown from the top of Mount Olympus by Jupiter in a fit of anger. Had he not been a god, he would, of course, have been killed by the fall, but he escaped with a broken leg which made him lame for the rest of his life. He now lived on the earth, and spent his time at the forge making many wonderful and useful things from the metals which he found buried in the mountains. He built gorgeous palaces of gold for the gods, which he decorated with precious stones, forged the terrible thunderbolts used by Jupiter, and also made the arrows used by Venus’s son, Cupid. Vulcan was naturally worshiped by all blacksmiths and workers in metal, and a great festival called the Vulcanalia was held in his honour.

Cupid, whom we have just mentioned, was the God of Love; he never grew up, but remained a little chubby boy, with beautiful wings. He always carried a bow, and with his arrows pierced the hearts of young men and maidens in order to make them fall in love with one another.

Another son of Venus was Aeneas, the great hero who was supposed to have been the founder of the Roman race. He escaped from Troy, when at the end of ten years’ siege it fell into the hands of the Greeks, and after many adventures reached a part of Italy, called Latium, where in later times his descendants, Romulus and Remus, founded the city of Rome.

The story of Aeneas has been wonderfully told by the Roman poet Virgil in his great work called the Aeneid. In this book Virgil wishes to show that Augustus, the emperor of his time, being a descendant of Aeneas, was also descended from the gods, since Aeneas was said to be the son of Venus.

Part of the story of Troy, or Ilium, is told in the Iliad of Homer, the great Greek poet. We read there of the fierce struggles which took place before the walls of the city, of deeds of strength and valour, and particularly of the final combat between the great heroes Hector the Trojan and Achilles the Greek, in which the Trojan was killed. In spite of many successes in the field, the Greeks were unable to gain an entry into the city, nor were the Trojans able to drive the Greeks from the shore, and it seemed as if neither side would ever secure the victory.

At last Ulysses, a Greek prince who was renowned for his cunning, formed a plan for entering the city and thus finally bringing to an end the war that had lasted for ten years. The Greeks built a wooden horse of such size that a number of men could be hidden within its hollow sides. This horse, filled with fighting men led by Ulysses, was left on the shore, while the army embarked in their ships and sailed away as if tired of the endless struggle. The Greeks also left behind a cunning slave, named Sinon, who was to play an important part in the plot. The Trojans, overjoyed at the departure of the Greeks, flocked down to the shore and crowded round the enormous wooden horse, full of wonderment at its strangeness. Many wished to drag it into the city at once, while some were filled with suspicion and urged their companions to distrust anything made by their enemies. Sinon, when questioned by the Trojans, pretended that he had been ill-treated by the Greeks, and spoke with hatred and anger against them. He explained that the horse was an offering to the sea god, Neptune, whose help the Greeks would need on their journey home, and he advised the Trojans to seize it and take it into the city. In spite even of those who suggested that armed men might be hidden in the horse, the Trojans dragged it into the city with great triumph, pulling down part of the wall to admit it, since it was too large to go through the gates.

Then followed a night of feast and revelry; the Trojans in their excitement laid aside their armour and their weapons, and gave themselves up to wild merrymaking. The smoky flare of the torches lit up a scene of mad delight. Suddenly shouts of alarm arose on every side, followed by the clash of weapons. Armed men poured in on the astonished Trojans, and in a short time Troy was in the hands of the Greeks. Under cover of the darkness and the noise Ulysses and his companions had crept from their hiding-place, had overpowered the careless sentries, and opened the gates for the Greek army, whose ships had returned in the night. Thus, through the help of the clever Ulysses, the Greeks overcame the army that had so often beaten them in the field, and by a trick brought to a victorious end the great Trojan war, for which the Goddess Venus had been responsible, as we shall read in a later chapter.

The Old English name for the month of April was Oster-monath or Easter-monath, because it was the month sacred to Eastre, or Ostara, the Goddess of Spring; the same name is still kept by the Germans, who call it Ostermonath. The time of year known as Easter is named after this goddess, and though Easter is now a Christian festival, it was in the first place a feast held by the Saxons in honour of their goddess Eastre. It was the custom for the people to give one another presents of coloured eggs, because the egg is supposed to represent the beginning of life, and the feast was held in the spring-time, when Nature awakes to a new life from the death of winter. The custom, which we still have, of sending Easter eggs to our friends, is therefore a very, very old one indeed.

April In History

Light the Signal!

In April 1775, it became apparent that the British in Boston were planning a campaign to seize arms, ammunition, and other stores stockpiled by American patriots in Concord, Massachusetts, and possibly, to arrest members of the illegal Provincial Congress. The question was, Which route would the British take from Boston to Concord?

In mid-April, Paul Revere, as a member of the Sons of Liberty Committee of Safety, arranged with the sexton of Boston’s Old North Church, Robert Newman, for a simple system of signals: the number of lanterns lit in the belfry would indicate how the British would be advancing toward Concord. One lantern would signify that the British would come by land, via Boston Neck; two lanterns, that they would come by water, by first crossing the Charles River to Cambridge.

On the evening of April 18, 1775, Dr. Joseph Warren summoned Revere and told him that the British planned to move that night, going by way of the Charles River. He asked Revere to travel to Lexington to warn leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock that their imminent arrest was likely.

After the meeting, Revere set plans in motion for two lanterns to be lit in the Old North Church. (Robert Newman and vestryman Captain John Pulling carried the lanterns to the steeple while Thomas Bernard stood watch outside.) Then, after a brief stop at home to dress appropriately, Revere was rowed across the Charles River, after which he traveled to Charlestown to meet with the Sons of Liberty to ensure that they saw the signal. He next borrowed a horse and headed off to Lexington, on his famous “midnight ride.”

Other patriots, including William Dawes and Samuel Prescott, spread the news along other routes.

Paul Revere’s Ride

The 1861 poem “Paul Revere’s Ride” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, which begins with Listen, my children, and you shall hear / Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, contains historical inaccuracies. For example, Revere did not cry out his alarm through the nighttime ride, but spread the news as quietly as possible. He was on a secret mission and had to avoid British patrols.

Although he narrowly avoided several encounters, his luck ran out when he, William Dawes, and Dr. Samuel Prescott traveled to Concord to ensure that the military stores there had been hidden. Along the way, they were stopped by a patrol. Dawes, and later Prescott, escaped, but Revere was recaptured and questioned, often at gunpoint, for hours; he never made it to Concord. Prescott did, however, alerting the militia there.

On April 19, in the wee hours of the morning, Revere, along with a few other prisoners, was returned to Lexington and released. He then went over to another part of town to assist Adams and Hancock in their relocation. He was helping to move a trunk of Hancock’s that contained papers when the sound of gunshots between British troops and minutemen came from the town green. He did not know who had fired first.

Source

The Old Farmers Almanac

Ten Facts You Didn’t Know About the Month of April

Does April Make You Feel Foolish?

In the northern hemisphere April is a most confusing month; rainy and wet one day, the next full of a warm promise of green growth to come. Besides the weather, the month is full of surprises and contradictions, prized for rebirth and endings, and a birth month to amazing geniuses and crazed despots both, making fun of astrological predictions.

You must love April. It is just like life.

1. April Is Named for Aphrodite
April is named after the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite. In the Roman calendar, the fourth month April is spelled Aprilis, meaning “to open.” Festivals which were planned for April included Parrilla, a day celebrating the founding of Rome.

The name Aprilis, then, fits April, because in so many places in the northern hemisphere April is the month when trees and flowers begin to bloom and go on to flower.

2. April’s Zodiac Signs Are Four-Legged Hooved Creatures
Two signs in the traditional Zodiac calendar fall in April, both of which are domestic animals, quadrupeds with cloven hoofs. People born in the first part of the month between March 21st and April 19th are said to be born under the sign of Aries the Ram, a Sun sign which is ruled by the planet and the Roman god of War, Mars. Those born from April 20th to May 20th are born under Taurus the Bull, an Earth sign who is ruled by the planet and the Roman goddess of love, Venus. No wonder people born on the cusp (between April 19th and 20th) are just confused.

3. April’s Honorary Flowers are Daisies and Sweet Peas
Two flowers signify the month of April: the daisy and the sweet pea. The daisy symbolizes innocence, loyal love, and purity; but it also means “I’ll never tell!” The oldest daisy on record is the Bellis perennis, known as Daeges eage (or Day’s eye) in the Middle Ages because its petals close at night to cover the yellow center.

Today there are more than 90 varieties of flowers that are called daisies and they come in red, yellow, purple, orange, blue, and pink colored petals, and vary widely in size. But they are, as director/writer Nora Ephron once wrote, “the friendliest flower.”

The sweat pea signifies blissful pleasure, and are used to say goodbye. Sweet peas may be a pretty flower, but they are also one of the oldest food crops on our planet, domesticated by humans about 11,000 years ago.

4. The Diamond Is April’s Birth Stone
The birthstone for people born in April is the diamond, one of the hardest substances on earth, and one that formed deep in the earth, even if we don’t know how long ago that happened. The word diamond comes from the early Greek word adamas, meaning untamable and related to our word adamant. That’s because the Greeks knew a tough customer when they saw one. Among the earliest historical mentions of diamonds is found in the book of Exodus, where diamond (jahalom in Hebrew) is mentioned as one of twelve engraved precious stones set in the breastplate of the high priest.

Diamonds are said to bring all kinds of benefits to their owners, supposedly leading the wearer to experience better relationships and an increase in inner strength. They are supposed to bring balance, clarity, and abundance, and it is symbolic of eternal love and the bringer of wealth to six centuries of the diamond trade.

5. Poet William Wordsworth Was Born in April
The English poet William Wordsworth was born April 7, 1770, and one of his best-known poems is perfect for April in the northern hemisphere: “I wandered lonely as a cloud,” which he first published in 1807. Here’s a little snippet for an April day:
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

6. Noah Webster Copyrighted the First Edition of His Dictionary in April
The famous language expert Noah Webster was a bit of an April fool: one of his dearest wishes was to reform English spelling for Americans, to make it simpler and more obvious. While millions of school children could definitely go for that; Webster’s proposals included removing all double vowels. Bread would be spelled bred, friend would become frend; tuf for tuf, laf for laugh, kee for key, and speek for speak. He also wanted us to spell machine masheen and pique peek.

His successes included changing plough for plow and draught for draft; but if you’re a poor speller, you might just peek your frends and attribute that to your fondness for April’s Noah Webster.

7. Leonardo da Vinci Was Born in April
What can you possibly say about Leonardo in 100 words? He was a painter, a scientist who painted many pieces of religious art, he was fascinated by the flight of birds and the mechanisms of guns. He was a Renaissance genius for his and any other time, capable of turning his hand to anything. And he was born in April.

8. William Shakespeare Born and Died in April
The Elizabethan playwright William Shakespeare was another April genius, born on April 23, 1564, and died on or about his April birthday at the age of 52 in England in 1616. He may have stolen whole plots and plot twists from his fellow playwrights and ancient history, but his prose and poetic output is unmatched for originality and complexity, and still revered today.

9. Adolf Hitler Was Born in April
The Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names now contains 4.5 million names of Holocaust
Just in case you were thinking that only marvelously talented people and gifted people were born in April, Adolf Hitler, surely one of the most depraved leaders ever, was born in Austria on April 20th, 1889. His brand of crazy involved world domination and extreme mass murder that makes you wish there was a better word than “mass murder.” Maybe it was that “cusp” thing.

10. A Snippet of a Poem for April by Sara Teasdale

There are so many different poems written for April that it’s hard to pick. Here’s one from Sara Teasdale, called April Song.

Willow, in your April gown
Delicate and gleaming,
Do you mind in years gone by
All my dreaming?
Spring was like a call to me
That I could not answer,
I was chained to loneliness,
I, the dancer.
Willow, twinkling in the sun,
Still your leaves and hear me,
I can answer spring at last,
Love is near me!

Source

Dixie Allan
Published on ThoughtCo

The witches are firm believers in reincarnation, and they say that ‘once a witch always a witch.’

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