As you enter April, you may be still thinking of what happened over the full moon in your opposite sign of Libra on March 31, a mere one day prior to the start of April. If not much occurred at that full moon, you still might hear news in the first three days of April.

That full moon brought a partnership matter to fullness. You may have become engaged or wed, or heard news from your significant other that would affect you both. If you are not in a serious business or established romantic relationship, then it could be that a competitor came out of the shadows to challenge you or will within a day or two. That full moon was not easy – Mars and Saturn, currently based in your career house, was at odds with that full moon, making it more emotional than most.

If you do hear news from your partner, realize that your significant other may be feeling left out of your life – certainly your career is bringing you wide attention, and your climb upward professionally is nowhere near its peak. You have far to go! If you have not given your partner much attention, and the relationship is important to you, do your best to do something special on weekends.

Not all Aries felt these vibrations. Readers born on March 31 plus or minus four days will be most affected by that full moon. However, if you have a natal planet, or natal moon at 10 degrees Aries or Libra, you will also feel this feisty full moon.

Mars and Saturn are currently orbiting together in Capricorn and will conjoin on April 2. This will be a pairing of fire (Mars) and ice (Saturn). You may want to get a business project off the ground quickly, but Saturn will hold you back, so expect to encounter delays. This can initially feel frustrating, but Saturn is actually working in your favor, so be cheerful about taking things slow and easy.

Mercury is also retrograde, a holdover from last month when Mercury started retrograding March 22. It is never a good idea to forge forward when Mercury is out of phase. Mercury will finally go direct on April 15, so allow some space between that date and the date you initiate your actions.

Mars will tour your tenth house of fame and honors all month, a rare, once-in-two-year visit, so you would be wise to focus your full attention on making substantial career progress. Something you did or decided in mid-to-late January seems ready to be advanced and implemented.

One fantastic day for you will be April 23, the best day of the month, when your rising reputation and mounting career victories will result in more money for you. Active Mars will combine forces with good fortune Jupiter on this day, April 23, leading to a very productive, successful day for initiating action and generating profits. This would be a fine day to sign a contract, have an important business meeting, launch an advertising or publicity campaign, give a presentation, or do something else vital for your professional future.

Let’s rewind the tape for a moment and go back to an earlier day, April 2, when I wrote that Mars will conjunct Saturn. I need to flag this day for another reason – to protect your health. This is a classic aspect for possibly injury through falls. Don’t be worried needlessly – you can avoid a fall if you are careful and watch where you walk. Don’t race around, and you might want to avoid extreme sports. Because Mars is your ruler, and both Mars and Saturn are in Capricorn, the sign of bones and teeth, you need to protect those parts of your body. Do nothing out of the ordinary, and women readers, no walking in stilettos on cobblestone streets.

I had trouble 12 years ago with this same aspect when I was having a late day visit to a lady’s house in LA. I didn’t know her well and I had never been to her house. When I asked to be directed to the bathroom, she pointed to a door and said, “There is the bathroom – go through that door in the living room.” That seemed odd, a bathroom in the living room, but she insisted. She never told me a flight of stairs was beyond that door, so with no light and walking in total pitch blackness, I gingerly entered the space and I fell down the entire flight of stairs, breaking my left shoulder and all five metatarsals in my left foot. I had eight months of physical therapy and $8,000 in uncovered insurance expenses. The lady never called to find out how I was doing when I got back to New York the next day, and never sent a greeting card. To this day, years later, she remained radio silent. On the day of that fall, I had not remembered that Saturn was conjunct Mars.

Mercury will continue to retrograde in Aries until April 15. Being an Aries, you might feel this Mercury retrograde period more than most. Mercury retrograde can be annoying, but it’s not fatal. We become forgetful, so you might leave your phone at home instead of bringing it with you to work. We lose sunglasses, eyeglasses, gloves, and so forth, but most things can be replaced. If you love something dearly, keep it at home and use your backup item with you. Can you imagine how many tax returns will have faulty math with Mercury in retrograde? (In America, our individual tax returns are due April 17.) Don’t buy any new electronics until later in the month – I choose April 23.

Occasionally I will get a computer freeze – you know it – with the pinwheel going round and around with no end, and no way to save the document on your desktop? You have to do a force quit and suddenly you’ve lost a lot of your work. After I had one crash that I told readers about in social media, one male reader sent me an insulting (but probably well meaning) note: “Tell your assistant to show you how to save on Microsoft Word.” I have always had save every minute in preferences on all my written documents.

Microsoft knows it has a problem if the computer freezes. This could happen for a number of reasons. One could be due to a conflicting app, especially if you’ve recently upgraded to the most modern operating system (and the app in question isn’t ready). Microsoft has never done anything about this problem, certainly with Mac and I believe also with PC – I learned about that from dozens of followers on Twitter, and the chorus was loud.

Having an automatic one-minute save is a good idea (go into preferences) but gives us all a false sense of security. If you are vulnerable, you will find out during a Mercury retrograde period. The only remedy Microsoft Word suggests is to do a backup manuscript (a second Word document) every time you put the article away for the night – a perfect way to bloat your hard drive into oblivion. Investigate getting a real backup like Apple’s Time Machine or other superb back up product or service.

If you would like to learn more about Mercury retrograde, and why it is never wise to buy new electronic items during this phase, you might want to lo look at my article, “All You Need to Know About Mercury Retrograde” on the lower left hand side of my website of Astrology Zone. Here is the link: http://bit.ly/2ny6INl

If you are reading my forecast on my premium app, go to the menu, find Life Love + More, and then Susan’s Essays. You will find the same article with a different headline, “Mercury Retrograde and What It Means for You.”

Now let’s turn to the new moon April 15 (arriving on the same day as Mercury goes direct). On that day you will have a challenging new moon in Aries, 26 degrees. This new moon will set up tension and possibly make you feel torn between what you need to do to boost your career, and what you need to do to please yourself. You seem to want to express your individuality, but conditions will be such that you are either hesitant to do what your impulses are telling you to do, or you will be told that for now, it’s best to blend in (never a welcome message to give an individualistic Aries).

This inner conflict will be apparent in mid-to-late April. Because this is a new moon, it could take six months or more to fully sort out what is going on (perhaps politically at the office). This is a new moon in Aries, so we have to look at a full moon in Aries that will occur on September 24 of this year. That September full moon in hard angle to Saturn tells me it might take a little longer than that to fix, so the problem appears to be a complex one.

On this month’s new moon April 15, Uranus will be conjunct the new moon, creating a volatile aspect that can bring either great joy and surprise, or great nervousness. Pluto is not in a good position either, but fortunately is a bit far in aspect, in what astrologers call in wide (muted) position. Pluto will be somewhat in hard angle to the Sun (exact April 11), which could bring up an obstacle in your career. You may feel that the pressure on you from a person in authority is unfair – and you would be right.

You are lucky that Pluto and the Sun are in what astrologers call separating by the time of the new moon April 15. (A separating aspect is when two planets are moving away from each other rather than on the way to coming together.) In other words, a separating aspect means that the difficult square aspect is on its way out. You might want to fight City Hall this month, but that might not be way to handle things. Instead of locking horns, use your wits – you have an abundance of clever ideas. A square aspect gives an abundance of energy and resourcefulness. The universe never brings a challenge without giving you the tools to deal with it successfully.

You have some planets to help you mid-month too – Venus, ruling your money sector will be in ideal angle to Mars, to be exact on April 10, which is a comforting vibration. It seems your position is secure at work, and when it comes to making money, you have the Midas touch.

If your birthday falls April 13 to 19, you will feel this new moon more than other Aries you know. You might also notice its effects if you have a natal planet of natal moon in late degrees of Aries or Libra (24-29 degrees). With Uranus, the planet of unexpected reactions, on your Sun, you are likely to feel impulsive or do something out of character if anyone tries to hem you in. Uranus will give you rapid impulses. Mercury will turn direct on April 15 but when Mercury does, it is unstable. Take time to think, and then act on your best day, April 23.

By the time you get to month’s end, you get relief. The full moon in Scorpio on April 29 will have you thinking quite a bit about money. This is a friendly full moon. Saturn will be in the perfect position to stabilize your income and savings. You may be ready to open a savings or investment plan. If you need a financial advisor, ask family and friends to give you names of brokers who have fiduciary responsibility to you. Decisions you make will be long lasting.

If you would like to contribute to your savings or retirement account earlier in the month, do so just prior to the superb aspect between Jupiter and Pluto – April 14. This is a golden day! That’s a Saturday, but you will feel the glow all month. This is a blue-ribbon aspect, and because these two outer planets move slowly, you will feel the sparkles from these two planets, so you don’t have to act on April 13 – you can make your decisions with your financial advisor earlier if you like. Do your research, and think through your plans with care, and you should be just fine.

In terms of romance, this is a serious month centering on money and power, not love, but you will get a shot at fun once Venus visits Gemini from April 24 to May 19. Venus will lighten your schedule and make you want to leave the house – traveling near your base will be fun and give you a welcome change of scene. If you have no reason to stay home (such as to do taxes), you may love the weekend of April 14-15 for your trip. Your ruler, Mars, will contact Neptune, planet of unconditional love, and help you spin a dream of love.

Your career is blossoming beautifully, and you would be wise to focus all your attention there. Many of your stars are whispering to step up and vie for a seat at the table with the most important players. You have Mars in Capricorn now, touring your tenth house of fame and honors in a once-in-two-year advantage that started March 17 and will be in place until May 15. This is a vital time for career progress, so do all you can to get ahead now. Tell yourself that it’s now or never to grasp the gold ring! (That’s not quite true, but you should feel a bit of urgency to make career progress.) Money, power, and fame can be yours now, and it looks like not even the fiercest competitor could stop your rise to the top.

On April 2, Mars will conjunct Saturn, giving you a stop-go message. You will want to initiate a career action, but Saturn will caution you not to be impulsive. Think things out carefully before you put any new plan in motion. Another reason you need not to be impulsive is that Mercury will be retrograde in Aries this time, affecting you more than most, an aspect that started March 22 and will continue to April 15. Have patience.

Your recent career success seems to have caused your romantic partner to feel deficient, or jealous of your career successes. If you sense this is true, you will need to lavish more attention on your partner. This is indicated by aspects to Uranus, so if the relationship is important, take the time to reassure your partner that at home, love reigns supreme.

If you are not attached, it may be that you and your agent / manager/ headhunter / writing partner or other business collaborator will not see eye-to-eye with you regarding a specific career plan. Resentments or feeling of neglect may have begun to bubble up in either love or business at the full moon March 31, still strong in the first days of April. Encourage a conversation, even if you feel your partner’s concerns seem misguided or trivial to you.

Mid-month, you seem to be bent on asserting your individuality and opinions to VIPs in the days that follow the new moon in Aries on April 15. Your diplomacy is usually what others admire in you, but this aspect may have you come off too strident or critical. Do your best not to give this impression, for otherwise you may unwittingly distance yourself from the very people whose support you need to get approvals. The new moon in Aries will give you ideas, and some of them will be pure genius, so spotlight those, and you’ll stay on the right track to success.

If you are negotiating a new position this month (very likely), keep your eye on the chance to get lucrative benefits, especially if your salary requirements can’t be met. Your greatest gains will be in terms of perks. You may be offered an enviable health insurance policy, an annual bonus, a generous number of vacation days, matching tuition funds, or a fair commission policy, as examples of one or two points you may be given.

A perfect day for a financial negotiation – one of the best of all of April – will be when Mars and Jupiter combine forces on April 23. Keep the conversation going, for you will likely win many of your points by the full moon April 29.

You will need some fun and romance, and you will have a chance to enjoy both when Venus will tour Gemini from April 24 through May 19. Venus will make travel opportunities sparkle, too. Investigate options in nearby cities, towns, and resorts. While work will capture most of your attention throughout the month, opportunities to take a refreshing weekend trip will be there for you too. April 14-15 could be one of your favorite weekends to take a quick getaway. The transiting moon will be in Aries all weekend, and Mars will send a signal to glamorous Neptune to sprinkle stardust in your path.