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It’s a big week in the cosmos with our first eclipse of the astrological year inviting change, purpose, clarity, and passion and our second Mercury retrograde asking us to reflect, reconsider, and realign before continuing forward. As the Sun shifts into Taurus, we are asked to slow down, bring pleasure into our days, and return to the magic that is our physical existence.
Aries New Moon Solar Eclipse
This week’s new Moon solar eclipse in Aries on April 20, 2023, is not only an astrological highlight of the week, but a major theme of April and a main astrological happening of the year, as eclipses always are.
A solar eclipse meets us approximately every six months when the Moon reaches the beginning of a new cycle—a new Moon—while sitting directly between the Sun and the Earth. This blocks the light from the Sun, casting a shadow onto the Earth.
It’s the energy of a new Moon, plus so much more. There is also communication between the Sun and Moon and the lunar nodes, which in astrology represent destiny, purpose, and soul alignment.
In astrology, eclipses signify openings and closings. They act as a moment in time in which we are invited to set new patterns and ways of being and also break free from expired ones. Eclipses invite a sense of awakening, alignment, and soul-informed movement. They support us in reaching greater clarity in where to go next and greater knowing in what to disengage from along our way.
Eclipses are the entire cycle of birth, death, and rebirth in concentrated form, piercing through any noise to ensure their influence is heard. Looking back through the chapters of our lives, we can often see important steps taken during eclipse seasons, ones that ripple out for years to come.
In true Aries style, there is an abundance of “new” energy under this lunation. So much so that the fire of passion, potential, courage, and purpose that this zodiac represents, and that lives within us, cannot be dimmed. It’s a bold invitation to leap into the transformation calling our name, the desires pulling us forward, and the dreams pulsing from within.
Taurus Season Begins
Taurus, ruled by Venus in astrology, invites us into pleasure. It reminds us of the beauty surrounding us in ways grand and small and asks us to enjoy all of it. Taurus calls us to inhabit our body with greater presence and awareness, bringing us down from our minds and grounding us into our physical form. It returns us to our senses and reminds us of the wonder that can be experienced through them. Taurus brings us home to our humanness.
Taurus season, which begins April 20 and continues until May 21, invites us to truly occupy our lives. It invites us to be present with what is real, meaningful, and what truly matters when we take away the noise. And it invites us to take the many ideas, passions, and desires of Aries season and begin to make them real.
As the Sun shifts from Aries into Taurus, the collective pace slows down. Here it is about moving, living, and creating in a sustainable way rather than existing in the quick and passionate bursts of fire that Aries represents.
Mercury Retrograde in Taurus
Mercury retrograde, like all astrological events, is filled with invitations and opportunities, wisdom and insights, if only we choose to see them.
Retrogrades in astrology represent “re-” words, such as review, rethink, realign, reconsider, reassess, recommit, and so on. They are the one step back that can propel us into the many steps forward, a moment in time to pause and integrate our actions taken, inviting greater insights, perspectives, and self-awareness that this pause in movement and doing allows. Only then, with all the wisdom gained from this pause, can we continue to move forward from a place of deeper self-knowing, intention, and purpose.
Mercury is the planet of our minds. It is our mental world representing thought, communication, processing, communication, and learning. Taurus is our sign of pleasure, building, persistence, and self-value. While Mercury retrogrades in Taurus from April 21 to May 15, we are invited to see the value of slow and steady creation, where the voice of sustained action is key.
It reminds us that we cannot force progress, growth, or creation. Rather, we must tend to our foundations first in order to bring a certain sturdiness, stability, security, and safety for our lives, selves, and creations to thrive and grow.
There is a focus on self-worth while we are in the land of Taurus. As the Sun shifts into this zodiac and Mercury begins its retrograde, there is an invitation to tend to yourself in a way that feeds your concept of self-worth.
Are you making decisions rooted in the truth of your worth? Is your life a beautiful reflection of your true value? What would look and feel different in your reality if you were truly embodying your worth?
Your Invitation
Mercury retrograde allows us to see the bigger picture, the puzzle pieces skipped past, the wisdom left behind, the awareness only found through reflection. It gifts us the very perspective that is needed for your path ahead, one that couldn’t be reached without this moment in time to pause and review.
Although many astrologers don’t encourage the initiation of new steps and changes throughout this transit, invite yourself to see the gift that is being presented here. As this week begins, it is a beautiful chapter to read. Take the fires and the desires born through this eclipse and new beginning and sit with all of it. Bring it into your body and review it. Allow more of the story to unfold before acting. Witness how it makes you feel, not just in your mind but through all your senses. Tend to the foundation required for it to thrive. And ensure it is rooted in your indistinguishable value given the human that you are.
The solar eclipse represents the beginning of a story that will continue to unfold throughout the next 18 months. Taurus season and Mercury retrograde ask you to really think before creating this new cycle, ensuring it is a path you can sustain, a path you truly desire, and a path that comes from your worth and nothing less.
Learn more about the influence of astrology in your life, including astrological events the Moon cycles, your Sun and Moon and rising signs, how journaling can help you connect with the current influences, and more with Jordane Maree at Girl and her Moon.
About Our Contributor
Jordane Maree is the founder of Girl and Her Moon, a platform and community exploring Soul through the lens of astrology, tarot, and energy healing. She is a writer, intuitive astrologer, energy and soul guide, and host of Girl and Her Moon, The Podcast. She is inspired, every single day, to be the mirror for you to see all that you truly are, you in all your infinite abilities, in total expansion, in infinite opportunity, and in love.
