Your April 2024 Horoscope Brings Metamorphosis — And Some Hard Decisions

Mars may be the red planet, but when it comes to heat, it’s got nothing on Mercury. As the sun’s closest companion, Mercury hurls through space at 108,000 mph, its surface sizzling at a mean temperature of 760°. Hot, fast, intense, direct. When you’re a stone’s throw from the burning source of all life, you can’t be afraid to plunge into the inferno.

Winter and the dissociative scrim of Pisces season are long gone. Everything feels immediate and volatile. And so Mercury arrives in Aries, the sign of courage and confrontation, to teach us how to face the heat. The ram’s season pumps new blood into circulation, bringing a red flush to our skin and melting the frozen ice. From April 1–25, Mercury retrogrades in Aries, giving us more time to warm our hands by the fire — and wake up to what’s next. This is where you are going. This is what you want to do. These are the hard conversations that need to happen.

On April 8, a total solar eclipse in Aries brings the sign’s liberatory — and often destructive — forces to a head. Our way of relating to reality is changing. You are now the hero, the villain, and the maker of the story itself. With Venus entering Aries on April 5, followed by a sun-Mercury cazimi on April 11, you are called to choose your fighter and step into the center of this new big bang.

The eclipse is only the beginning. Taurus season begins on April 19, followed by a historic Jupiter-Uranus conjunction the next day in Taurus — a transit not seen since 1941. Our understandings of power and dignity are undergoing a revolution. But no matter how epochal the collective makeover, Mercury in Aries wants you to focus on the immediate: What can you bring to form in this moment? What can you do, rather than talk about? What do you want to make of this?

On April 23, a full moon lights up in Scorpio. Each of us is a battery of metamorphosis, an agent meant to transform the lives of those in our orbits. Take this moment to appreciate the scope of your influence and the legacy you’re leaving behind. You’re no longer a witness or a victim. You’re a part of the creative engine. What do you want to make now?

Though horoscopes apply to sun signs, we suggest reading those for your rising, too.

ARIES & ARIES RISING

Every action you take this month ripples far into the future. This doesn’t feel like the start of yet another repetitive cycle, but the chance to mark real change. The main event is the total solar eclipse in your home sign on April 8. It’s a system reboot: a few moments of total darkness, then a relaunch at quantum capacity. Take the Mercury retrograde in Aries, raging from April 1–25, to get clear on what definitive actions you can take to make these changes stick — even down to the most mundane of tasks. This is but the beginning of a brand new era. What do you need to go all the way?

TAURUS & TAURUS RISING

Since 2018, the change-bringer Uranus has been in your home sign, forever altering your personal direction. On April 20, it makes a historic conjunction with Jupiter, the planet of expansion. Something is being born after years of psychic gestation: some core awakening in your identity, your mission, your dreams. For all your Taurean desires for control, you’ll have to let these changes register — from your career to your relationships — and go from there. Uranus is the herald of the future. Trust that this will lead you beyond what you’ve known.

GEMINI & GEMINI RISING

Mars, the planet of drive, blasts through Pisces in your 10th house of career expansion for all of April. You’re close enough to your ambitions to smell blood. Two challengers will emerge to hone Mars’ mission: Saturn, planet of limits on April 10; and Neptune, lord of self-sabotage on April 29. Count on Saturn to take the form of an authority figure or gatekeeper holding you back from making it all happen. Neptune, meanwhile, is all you — and those behaviors that have a way of halting your progress. You know how this goes. You’re not in trouble, nor is there an ambush coming. If you can engage with these interior forces and avoid the same old story of missed opportunities and career crashes, your Mars can fire off unimpeded.

CANCER & CANCER RISING

When Mercury retrogrades in Aries, it commands a review of your 10th house of career ascendancy and public glory. What do you need to operate at your highest level, beyond caffeine and prayer? Aries is a sign of new beginnings, but what action is required to sustain your destined rise? With the total solar eclipse in Aries on April 8, and Mercury going cazimi with the sun (April 11) and Venus (April 19), there is no shortage of radioactive heat in your career. Siphon it well, so you don’t burn out.

LEO & LEO RISING

On April 8, a total solar eclipse opens a portal in Aries in your ninth house of expanding horizons. On April 20, Jupiter and Uranus align in Taurus in your 10th house of career. We are looking at two massive event horizons concerning your destiny and direction. These represent leaps into the unknown, involving technologies and opportunities which may not yet exist. A time of great change (and adventure) is upon you. Gather your inner circle close and ask for strength. You won’t know where you’re headed ‘til you get there, so pack what you need to feel bolstered.

VIRGO & VIRGO RISING

Come late May, Jupiter enters Gemini in your 10th house of public glory. You’re heading towards a career culmination. For now, the convergence of planets in Taurus lights up your ninth house of expanding horizons. It’s the right time to consider where you want to go and which experiences still await you. Take the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction on April 20 to think bigger than ever before. On April 23, a full moon in Scorpio lights up your third house of daily life, helping you bring these epic visions into your routine. This promises to be a climactic spring for you. Make room now for what’s heading your way.

LIBRA & LIBRA RISING

In March, we recommended fitness as a means of healing. Beyond the yoga mat, you’ll find catharsis in the bedroom. We know that eclipse season and Mercury retrograde are overloading your seventh house of others and redefining your sense of relationality. How you are seen and how you see yourself are undergoing seismic shifts for the better. Your best course of action while the tectonic plates shift is to embrace molten union and let your previously established sense of self burn away. Find a healthy way to get out of your head.

SCORPIO & SCORPIO RISING

Your sign’s calling is metamorphosis: incubation and expansion, interiority and expression. You’ve done enough processing these last few months. Now it’s time to sew up your patent-leather catsuit and stomp the town. April brings a surge of chaos magic to Aries and Taurus in your sixth house of the body and seventh house of relationships, respectively. Put yourself out there as never before, believe that every encounter or collaboration could be fated, and do whatever is necessary to shake away tired inner monologues. On April 23, a full moon in your home sign puts you definitively back in yourself. Don’t celebrate this alone.

SAGITTARIUS & SAGITTARIUS RISING

The presence of Mars in a water sign in your fourth house of home and roots often indicates repressed rage which you may have entombed long ago. As Mars burns through your family domain, it crosses paths with Saturn, the father archetype, and Neptune, god of intoxication. Something primal must be faced, processed, and released. If it takes a boxing class — or screaming in the ocean — it’s worth it. The firestorm of planets in Aries lights up your fifth house of creative expression. On the other side of this shut-in fury is inexhaustible power. Start moving the shmutz out. The results will be immediate.

CAPRICORN & CAPRICORN RISING

Aries rules your fourth house of home, which astrologers refer to as the “kitchen” of your chart. After Aries comes Taurus, ruling your fifth house of creative expression and embodiment. As the sun, Venus, and Mercury illuminate this area of your chart, you’re called to the primordial sources of your inspiration. From here, you can gather the fuel for the projects and sensations you wish to generate. With a Mercury retrograde (April 1–25) and a total solar eclipse on April 8, both in Aries, it’s likely that you’ll have to face those blocks which keep you from feeling safe. Bring peace to this part of your life so that it may be a creative incubator for your future.

AQUARIUS & AQUARIUS RISING

Taurus rules your fourth house of home and family, pulling you down from space and onto Earth’s fertile soil. Great and expansive change is upon you at the creative epicenter of your chart as Jupiter and Uranus make an epic conjunction here on April 20. As a fixed sign, great upheaval rarely feels pleasant for you. Trust that these changes are meant to lay the tracks for new possibilities. On April 23, a full moon lights up Scorpio in your 10th house of grand ambitions. You’ll begin to see how freeing up your home life can blast open what’s possible for your career. You’ll just need to have more faith than ever before.

PISCES & PISCES RISING

Mars is the planet of embodiment and personal fire — and it’s in your home sign all month. Meanwhile, Aries season lights up your second house of self-worth, inspiring confidence and even a stylistic reinvention. On April 10, Mars collides with Saturn, the planet of structure and self-definition. This is an opportunity to take total ownership. What has held you back from making a choice or declaring what you want? You’re crossing from Dollworld into reality, from shapelessness into form. What do you want to create in this new cycle?