Written and published exclusively for Chatelaine. Read the French version here. Illustration, Kiki Ljung.

April is quite magical and intense. The first half of the month features the coming-together of planets in Pisces. Venus enters Pisces on April 5. Mars follows on April 14, but before that, Jupiter perfects its long-awaited conjunction with Neptune in Pisces on April 12. These transits in particular are the reason we are more inclined to have a more colourful imagination, full of hope and idealism.

Mercury moves into Taurus on April 10, which brings our sensibilities to a more grounded and sensorial vibe. A full moon in Libra takes place on April 16, culminating what has been growing since October 2021. Taurus season officially begins on April 19 as the sun enters Taurus, solidifying spring in the north. Mercury enters its home sign Gemini, where it will stay for an extended period due to its upcoming retrograde (but more on that next month.

And finally, the intense end of the month is courtesy of the partial solar eclipse in Taurus on April 30 which will only be visible to the southwest of South America, as well as parts of the Pacific, the Atlantic and Antarctica. November 2021 was when the eclipses in Taurus (and soon Scorpio) commenced. This part of your chart will be undergoing overdue shifts and new beginnings. Read your horoscopes for more insights.

I highly recommend that you primarily read the horoscopes for your rising sign. If you don’t know your rising sign, you can read for your sun sign (born during the day) and/or moon sign (born at night). Read it all if you like, and take what resonates. To figure out these placements, enter your birth date, location and precise birth time into an astrology app like Time Nomad or online at astro.com. For more guidance on how all of these play together, visit charmastrology.com.

Aries: The first half of April offers you a soft bed of flowers to drop your tired body on. Please take your sweet time and stop rushing for a change. If you’re zoning out and nodding off for an unexpected nap, let yourself rest. The second half of the month ahead signals a potent new beginning in the financial area of your life. Your ways of being independent and autonomous call for a change in direction and strategy.

Taurus: April showers you with the kind of love that feels like coming home. Intimacy is not always about close IRL contact. Sometimes it takes the form of feeling wholly and deeply understood. Hopefully, this kind of mutual reciprocity comes to you in droves. Since November 2021, you’ve probably been feeling a relentless itch under your skin. There is a new you waiting to be born.

Gemini: Please have your palms and heart open and ready to receive the honour and recognition you deserve. If it’s uncomfortable to imagine doing, then it’s even more critical that you let it wash over you. Be brave and lust after your own excellence. Stop downplaying yourself. This kind of visibility will also inspire you to retreat. But do so with intention because there are heaps of internal storms to tend to. Do this so you can show up firmer in your own power.

Cancer: Finding meaning is labour intensive. Doing the work of seeking truths usually reinitiates you towards a path of clarity, especially around your purpose. Now more than ever, you’re inclined to explore the grass that’s greener on the other side. Find out if that unfamiliar landscape can take the shape of your future. This is also crucial so you can integrate your past. Have conversations with people you disagree with. They might show you how you’ve been narrowing your frame of reference all this time.

Leo: Oh, to be alive, what a time! April feels wrought with reminders of your softness but also of your resilience. They go together like your inhales and exhales. Life is but a poem, striking where it hurts. But also where you can be free―freedom that feels like peace with being human. Not fighting against the fullness of it all, grappling for false cures. Don’t hide who you’re meant to be. Let yourself be seen so you can be ready for when your wishes come true.

Virgo: Isn’t it intense? Receiving a generous outpouring of affection from others? It can throw you off balance, especially if you’ve been particularly stingy with yourself. Sometimes empathy is so much easier to extend outwards. But this time, try to give yourself more room to flail about, to be cringey and careless. Loosen your tight grip and let mistakes happen. This kind of flow can open up new possibilities for you when you debunk your own myths.

Libra: When someone asks you to give more of your time, support and labour, say yes only when you feel excitement and joy. Don’t settle for a neutral affirmation for situations where you are afforded choice. Look forward to things. There’s already enough dread, enough losses to grieve. Give your heart room for some thrill and delight, even if it’s about your work and responsibilities. Your attention is your most important resource.

Scorpio: April proposes a climactic peak for all the creative, juicy and pleasurable possibilities you can offer yourself. Truly, use this month to your advantage and indulge in ecstatic and delicious experiences. You know that Fisher-Price slogan, “Play. Laugh. Grow”? Embody that tagline. Your insistence on what’s authentic and real for you will cause ripples in your relationships. Keep going.

Sagittarius: The feeling of coming home can get complicated as you get older. Perhaps more specifically, beyond age is the sense of disconnection that develops over time and distance. The question of belonging lingers as you experience more loss in life, as you change and evolve. There’s a lot of work to do, lots to take responsibility for. This is a month for you to reinterrogate what it means to feel at home somewhere, with someone, with yourself, with the ancestral lines you come from.

Capricorn: Delight in the sweetness of being alive. Make it so that every day hums like good music that cradles you when you need an outlet for your inarticulable emotions. The smaller days comprise your bigger life. This is important to remember. Don’t let your bigger goals undermine the quality of your days. More desire and hunger for joy will have you taking risks you never thought you would. Lean into it.

Aquarius: May abundance and contentment flow through you. May you be ready to receive the overflow of opulence. Be primed to take responsibility for your desires. Do not be timid in pursuing stability and prosperity. Have the courage to ask for what you want. To want is to be daring, especially in the face of devastation. Do the inner work to help you create the life you are willing to work hard for.

Pisces: Sometimes it’s a chore, and sometimes it’s a treat to have a body. Here’s hoping that you’re experiencing more sweetness and enchantment with your embodied life. May you heal the wounds and pain of carrying your scars. May you feel more at peace with yourself. Write a letter to the old you, when you were hurting, and also when you were content. How old were you? Loving yourself is hard work but you’ll be glad to commit to doing so anyway.