#359-"Try Corralling a Lightening Bolt"--Week of April 6, 2026

This week marks a significant shift as Mars moves from Pisces into Aries, activating the early degrees of the Saturn–Neptune conjunction at 0° Aries.

The last six weeks of Mars in Pisces has brought a sense of diffusion, uncertainty, and emotional saturation. You may have felt unclear about how to act or where to direct your energy. This has been mirrored in the collective field as well, where confusion and intensity are moving together in very real ways, including the ongoing escalation of war and global instability.

This week begins to shift that field.

On Wednesday, April 8, Mars in Pisces sextiles Uranus at 29° Taurus. 

This is one of two potent personal planet activations of Uranus completing its journey in Taurus before it moves into Gemini later this month. Since 2018, Uranus has been disrupting our relationship to values, resources, the body, and the Earth itself. This Mars-Uranus aspect may bring insight, completion, or a deeper recognition of what is no longer sustainable.

On Thursday, April 9, Mars enters Aries, where it is at home.

This marks a transition from water to fire, from uncertainty to direction. As Mars crosses into Aries, it begins activating the Saturn–Neptune conjunction, a defining cycle of this new era.

We may see intensification in the collective field, including geopolitical tensions. Mars in Aries can move quickly and decisively. The invitation is to discern between reactivity and aligned action.

As the fog begins to clear, there is an opportunity for clean, individual courage. This may look like taking a stand, making a decision, or acting on a truth that has been forming beneath the surface.

On Sunday, April 12, Mars conjuncts Neptune in Aries. 

This brings together action and vision, but also the potential for confusion or projection. This aspect asks for discernment and a willingness to act from a deeper alignment rather than impulse alone.

Looking ahead, the personal planet Venus approaches her final conjunction with Uranus at 29° Taurus later this month, just before entering Gemini. This marks a threshold moment as Uranus prepares to leave Taurus after years of radical change. You may already be feeing this shift.

This cycle has reshaped our relationship to values, money, the body, the Earth, and the feminine. Venus meeting Uranus at this final degree invites reflection on what has changed over the past eight years and what is now complete.

Reflection Questions:

• Where has confusion been present, and what is beginning to come into clearer focus?
• What truth is asking for action or a clear stand?
• Where might you be reacting rather than responding from alignment?

Podcast poem: "Allow" by Danna Faulds

If you’d like support in orienting to where you are in your own cycle of change, you can take the free Elemental Spiral Quiz on my website. It’s a simple way to locate yourself within the deeper pattern you’re moving through.

Transcript

0:07

Hello, welcome to Astrology Alchemy. I'm Sheila Bellagio, your host for this podcast. Alchemy is defined as a seemingly magical process of transformation. Spiritual alchemy is the process of pursuing the gold of your true nature. By transmuting the unrefined limiting parts of yourself. In this podcast, I'll offer you inspiring insights from current astrology cycles that support your path of turning your personal lead into gold. More resources are available at the website on the edges of change.com. Hello, and welcome to episode number 359 of the Astrology Alchemy Podcast. This is for the week of April 6th, 2026. I'm your host in guide, Sheila Alce. Here's a phrase from this week's podcast poem. Try corralling a lightning bolt. Welcome in. As always, this is a potent threshold week. We have many of them right now. Can you tell? We are watching one of the key personal planets, Mars, the Warrior, the advocate cross from the waters of Pisces into the fires of Aries, activating the very beginning of this new Saturn Neptune era at zero degrees of Aries. And you may already be feeling it. Because Mars has been moving through Pisces where action is less direct, more diffuse, emotional, and at times confusing. There may have been a sense of not quite knowing what to do with the intensity that is moving through. And of course, we're not just feeling this personally. We are living in a moment of profound collective tension and consequence. The escalation of war, including the deeply troubling actions unfolding with the United States and Iran reflects this same field where confusion, projection, and immense force are moving together. This is not abstract. This is about human lives. It's about the web of life, and so the cycles this week asks, asks something of us not to turn away, not to collapse into overwhelm, and not to bypass what is real, but to stay present and to track what is awakening within us. So let's walk through the key cycles of this week on Wednesday, April 8th, Mars in Pisces makes a sextile to Uranus in Taurus at 29 degrees. This is a final activation point, the last degree of both signs of Pisces and Tous, Uranus, the Maverick, has been working through Tous since 2018, disrupting our relationship to the earth, to resources, to values, to the body. And here Mars at the end of Pisces offers a last moment of contact while still in the waters. With this cycle, you may notice flashes of insight, a sense of something completing or an intuitive knowing about what is no longer sustainable, but it may still feel like it's not fully formed yet. And then on Thursday, April 9th, Mars enters Aries. This is a shift. Mars comes home to its core Zodiac sign of Aries, from water to fire, from diffusion to direction. From uncertainty to impulse, and as Mars crosses into Aries, it begins activating the Saturn Neptune conjunction point. This is where things get real, because Saturn, Neptune conjoining at zero degrees Aries earlier this year is not just a personal cycle. It is a defining cycle of a new era, and Mars here brings ignition action, sometimes conflict, sometimes courage, and often and often, both at the same time. We will probably see intensification in the collective field. Situations that were already volatile may sharpen, including geopolitical tensions such as war Mars and Aries does not hesitate. So part of the big invitation here is discernment because Mars and Aries can express as reactivity, impulsive, aggressive. Or as clean aligned action. One is driven by survival identity. The other impulse begins to align with something deeper, and this is where your agency matters. As the fog of my Mars being in Pisces begins to clear. There is an opportunity for each of us to take a stand, not necessarily loudly, not necessarily publicly, but clearly to name what is true for you to act where action is yours to take. To make the changes that you already know are needed, Mars and Aries can support a clean, a kind of clean courage where action and truth begin to come back into alignment. Then on Sunday, April 12th, Mars conjuncts Neptune in Aries. Next week it will connect with Saturn. This cycle is a very unusual meeting. Mars, the force of action meets Neptune, the force of dissolution, vision, and sometimes illusion right at the beginning of Aries. So we have fire infused with mist action. Infused with Dream Clarity mixed with uncertainty, and this all can go in very different directions. On the more unconscious end, it can bring confusion, misdirection, or acting on projection rather than truth. On the more conscious end. It can bring inspired action, courage guided by something beyond the ego, a willingness to act in alignment with the deeper vision, even when the path forward is not fully clear. So this is not a simple week. We are all moving from water to fire. From the dissolving of old identities into the necessity of new action, and this is happening both personally and collectively. So here are a few reflections to be with this week. First, where have I been in a fog? And what is beginning to come into clearer focus now and what truth feels strong enough in me that is asking for action or a stand. And finally, where might I be reacting rather than responding from a deeper alignment? And I wanna give you a little look ahead that's coming in a couple of weeks. That also involves the planet, Uranus. Another personal planet. Venus is approaching her final conjunction with Uranus, and that will happen at 29 degrees of Taurus, the very end of that sign. This happens later this month just before Venus enters Gemini. And this is not just another transit. This is a potent threshold moment. Uranus, the great disruptor, is preparing to leave Taurus after years of radical change in how we relate to values, resources, the body, the earth, and the feminine. Venus meets Uranus right at that edge, at that threshold of change. The planet that's connected to the divine feminine, the goddess meets the maverick at the threshold, the very end of this eight year journey of deep disruption disruption before both of them. Almost simultaneously cross into the new sign of Gemini. So there is something here about completion and awakening, and I'm looking ahead with you because most of my people who listen to the podcast are deeply sensitive. You are, I think, possibly already feeling this, this big threshold move. You may begin to sense what these past eight years have been reshaping in your life, in how you relate, in what you value, in what you will no longer compromise. And collectively, we are seeing this too in the rising voices of women. In the reconfiguration of power, even though it doesn't look like it on the surface, in the demand for values that are more life honoring, this is not subtle work and it is not finished by any means. In future podcasts coming up, I'll speak more about Venus and Uranus at the threshold, the end of Taurus. But for this week, I wanna give you the podcast poem, and it came to me as a deep support for this paradox. Of Mars, the action taking archetype moving into Aries fire. But then the first thing it does is connect with Neptune, the dreamer, the mystic, the one that dissolves. So action and dissolution, agency and surrender. The poem is called Allow by Danna Falls. There is no controlling life. Try corralling a lightning bolt containing a tornado. Damn a stream and it will create a new channel. Resist and the tide will sweep you off. Your feet allow and grace will carry you to higher ground. The only safety lies in letting it all in the wild with the weak. Fear fantasies, failures and success. When loss rips off the doors of the heart or sadness, veils your vision with despair, practice becomes simply bearing the truth in the choice to let go of your known way of being. The whole world is revealed to your new eyes. It takes immense courage to just surrender to what is and to be simply bearing the truth, the courage to let go of your known way of being. Allow by Donna Falls. So dear ones, for now, stay close to yourself. Stay grounded at what is real. And remember, courage here is not just force. It is the willingness to act in alignment with truth, even in the midst of uncertainty. If you're noticing those tides of change, the big shifting in you. And you want a little more orientation for where you are in these larger cycles of change, I invite you to take the free elemental spiral quiz on my website. It's a simple quiz to help you to begin to locate yourself within the deeper pattern of change you're moving through and to understand which elemental spiral may be guiding you right now. You'll find the link on my homepage on the edges of change.com. Go take the free elemental spiral quiz and connect with the element that's supporting you now. Thank you for being here, and thank each of you for meeting this moment, this precious, profound moment in your own way. You have been listening to the Astrology Alchemy Podcast with your host, Sheila Lange. Resources are available at the website on the edges of change.com. Thank you for listening. Bless your alchemical journey to embrace the gold of your true nature.