Humans have many of characteristics innate of all animals: we sleep, we breathe, we mate, we reproduce and we are inherently instinctual. We know, even unconsciously at the cellular level, when danger is approaching, though modern society tells us that hunches aren’t logical, that our gut sense can’t be trusted and that dreams are nothing but random electrical effluent in the brain.
Yet, when we are still, even more so, when we are cornered and made to be still, some flash of instinct, an augmented sense begins to emerge. In the best of all possible worlds, we wake up and act in favor of preservation, on our collective notion of globally conscious stewardship. In April, our capacity to grasp the enormity of our human circumstances, the global dangers that we all face is made manifest, not just by the headlines but deep in our genes, deep in our species memory. There is something we know in our bones which requires us to do something in response, simple as that.

Fate is what happens to us. Free will is how we respond to what happens to us.
-Rick Levine
April is an 8 month in a 4 year, where we are called to demonstrate the courage of our convictions. With 8 energy, much like Saturn, currently in Aquarius, there are no shortcuts. We are collectively being asked to hold ourselves not just personally accountable but locally, regionally, nationally and globally responsible to all other humans. We know innately that if we do not stay at home, do not actively work simultaneously on behalf of our own individual, familial, tribal, regional and global interests, the consequences are real and swift. In April, the distance between action and reaction is foreshortened. The results are staggering and precipitous for good or for ill.
It’s a weighty responsibility to be so straightforwardly connected to the rest of humanity, but the take-home point is that its only the rapidity in which consequences are linked back to action that distinguishes this moment. Right now, “La Merde” is hitting the fan, shockingly fast…we don’t have time to look away as our choices are impactful and significant not just to our species but all the rest of the flora and fauna on the planet. BUT, whether we consciously admit this or not, this fact has always been a thing.

-Chani Nicolas
“Life cares so little for our plans in the face of its own”.
In this eight month in a titular 4 year, cause and effect is overtly in play, meaningful now to the point of stark profundity. Clearly we all have a sense of this cumulatively. Clearly we know that much of what we do, how we go forward, how we represent sets our course for the future in very concrete and observable ways.
So in all things great and small, ask yourself these questions in April (and beyond):
- How can we set about grieving for what we know is lost now or will shortly be in the future (for tips see Ralfee Finn, the Aquariumage )?
- How will you (safely) listen to your instincts?
- How will you “pursue the changed dream” (thank you to Juiie Demoboski)?
The fates are at our backs waiting for us to evolve…for US ALL!
There’s nothing that does not act as a door, if I open it.
Pat Schneider, Founder , Amherst Writers and Artists
And finally, in preparation for our 9 month (May) here are a couple of passages to consider as we navigate new journeys, both singularly and collectively into the realms of our new communal solitude.
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