Astrology of the Week Ahead with Chani Nicholas - The Week of April 7th, 2025: In our bag with the Full Moon in Libra

Episode Date: April 7, 2025

Episode 225In this podcast, New York Times best-selling author and astrologer Chani Nicholas discusses the astrology of the week and what it might mean for us all.The astrology of the week of April 7th, 2025, signals big shifts and bigger feelings. Venus and Saturn sync up, helping us give form to the beauty, pleasure, and connection we seek. And the Full Moon in Libra opposes a Chiron cazimi, spotlighting our wounds so that we can heal them. This period calls us to reflect on what hurts, what soothes, and what brings us together in the name of justice.Let’s get into it.This episode covers:Venus’ conjunction with Saturn on Monday, April 7thThe end of Mercury’s retrograde on Monday, April 7thVenus’ sextile to Uranus on Monday, April 7thMercury’s conjunction with the North Node on Thursday, April 10thThe Chiron cazimi on Saturday, April 12thThe Full Moon in Libra on Saturday, April 12thThe end of Venus’ retrograde on Saturday, April 12thMars’ square to the Moon on Sunday, April 13thThis episode was recorded on 3/18/2025.For more, check out your free daily horoscope on the homepage of the CHANI app — now on iOS and Android.The music featured in the podcast was created by Latashá

Hello and welcome. This is the astrology of the week ahead podcast. I'm your host, your Astro Bestie Channy Nicholas. In this podcast, we break down how the astrology of the week is going to impact us, how it might unfold, how we can best use it, no matter what is going on in the skies. We can make the most of it by knowing what is up. It's much like a weather report. Like, I can't stop the fact that it's raining, but I could take an umbrella and not be so grumpy about it.

You know what I mean? Like, whatever you're going to need for this weather is what I want you to bring to this week so that we know how to move through the moments. And do we have some moments this week? And I know I say that a lot. This year is really. monumental. And so this week does bring with it at least one significant moment for 2025. It is a standout moment for this year. And then it brings with it some other smaller pieces of astrology

that are big for the week, not necessarily big for the year, but I think they're important in terms of how they're tied into the rest of the year. So this is the deal. We have Venus and Mercury, both stationing direct this week, which is, in a sense, really positive, right? It is about a turning of a corner. It's not that retrogrades are negative. They make us do some very, very, very important reflective work. And a Venus retrograde is going to hopefully gather us and teach us about what brings us together, what unifies us, what the importance of all kinds of unions. structurally, individually, personally are in our life and how we can fortify our unions.

What does solidarity look like? What does it mean to have coalition with other people? What does it mean to build something together? Venus teaches us that and Venus is our access point to that. And then Mercury Station's Direct. Mercury Stations Direct at the very top of the week. So we're talking on Monday, Mercury is stationing direct. This is good and it's still kind of sticky because Mercury as it putters forward, it still means that communications are slow. There is something that's turning a corner, however. And we have to know that Mercury is stationing direct sitting right next to the North Node.

So this is what I think. I think that we're having very consequential conversations this week. I think the things that we're talking about are maybe something that feel like or are of a faded kind of nature. Like, wow, I can't believe I bumped into that person at this time because they want to do this thing. Or I was just so, I just so happened to be in this part of the city. at this time, and then I got to overhear this thing so that I knew to do A, B, and C.

There's something here about the conversations or the information that we're gathering, we're dispersing, and that we're also overhearing. I keep saying overhearing because there's something of a slippery nature to this Mercury Station Direct. It's in Pisces. So it feels like the mistakes that we make also seem of a fated nature. Like, I didn't mean to press send on that email that was half written and had stuff in it that I actually didn't want that other person to find out or I wouldn't have chose to say, but I did write it. Why did I not do it in a more safe kind of way? Anyways, the email gets sent. It's that kind of slippery thing. But because the email gets sent, it puts into motion a whole series of events that end up being like, well, that was a humiliating

mistake, but it actually ended up being something that was really important. There's a slippery trickiness to this moment. There's definitely a vibe of the trickster afoot. And we can say that always when Mercury is pronounced. But Mercury is so pronounced right now because it's stationing direct, so it's pulling focus, as is Venus. And Mercury is with the North node that exaggerates and exemplifies everything about this moment. So there is a tricky slipperiness because of the station direct and also because Mercury is in Pisces, which is a water sign, which is the two fish, which fish are really slippery. So part of the reason why I'm using that metaphor, but also because Mercury is in both its fall and its exile or detriment in this sign,

meaning it is absolutely not interested in being exact and precise. But it is very interested in doing the thing that goes against the grain and will most likely expose us in some kind of way or make us vulnerable to something like feelings, hopefully like the truth. But, you know, a girl can dream. Anyways, we are in this moment where it seems like there's a lot of mistakes that are happening. There's a lot of snafus that go on. There are many, many moments for the blooper real. So we just have to go into this week knowing that it's going to be us. It's going to be them.

It's going to be everyone that is probably going to make these blunders and mistakes and have these moments of like, wow, that was that was not what I intended. But here we are. And then also trusting the process, knowing that, okay, if there's a mistake, I can make amends, I can do the things. I'll try not to make the mistakes that I really don't want to make or I'll try to like secure my information in some way. It's a very good time to secure information if you need to. And also, I'm just going to walk into this week, move into this week with a great amount of humility knowing that I'm going to, I'm going to, you know, get egg on my face, pie on my face.

I don't know what the expression is, but all the things. I'm going to walk in the room and there will be things on my face. And I am going to be like, oh, wow, I wish I didn't show up like this, but I did. Okay. That's the mercury of it. And I also just think that there are some very important conversations that will probably be tied to something that's also happening in September, because that's the next time we're going to have a North Node eclipse in Pisces. and this Mercury stationing direct on that node is like, okay, we just went through eclipse season

and we'll have another eclipse season in September. And so there's something here that's brewing. Maybe you have a conversation this week that will lead to something that actually occurs in September, but there seems to be some kind of tie-in, I think, or it's talking about things that will occur in like five to six months. The other thing that happens on Monday is that Venus and Saturn, come together. And basically, they hang out together in very close proximity until like April 30th. So the next couple of weeks have this signature. And this is what we can do with it.

Venus is very good in Pisces. So Venus has, in a way, a tremendous amount of power here. And Venus wants us to enjoy life. Venus wants us to indulge in pleasures and love and relationship and again, connection and unity and beauty. So that is in a way heightened and of supreme importance when Venus is here. And because Venus is also stationing direct this week, it is also pulling focus. So all the themes of Venus and collective, collectivity, union, union building, all of that. Very heightened. this week. But because it's sitting with Saturn, there is this different tone to it. And again, Venus has the upper hand because it's exalted here. So in a way, it, the planet rules this moment.

But we have to contend with Saturn. Venus has to contend with Saturn. Meaning, we are hard-pressed to develop any kind of intimacy without understanding what type of commitment we have. are in. We don't have to have a traditional commitment. We don't have to have a commitment like so and so or like such and such. But we have to be clear about the container of the relationship that we are in in order for there to be intimacy and depth. And also, I would argue beauty, right? If it, like, say, let's use, like, human to human relationships. So if we are just in, like, a momentary situation and we're just going to have fun for the night, great. I want to be clear about that. If we are in a business partnership and we're going to try something for six months and then we're going to re-evaluate,

great, I want to be clear about that so I can go deep for these six months. If I'm in a long-term romantic relationship, I need to know what that means to you and you need to know what that means to meet. And we need to be clear about each and everybody's needs in every single relationship so that we can do the thing that we're supposed to do in the relationship. When there isn't clarity, then there isn't trust. And then there's no movement. There's no building. There's no beauty.

There's, it's harder to actually experience all of the pleasures that Venus wants to bring us. So again, I'm not saying that there's one type of commitment to have with anyone or anything in your life. It's about being clear. And let me tell you for the next couple of weeks until the very end of April, this is about being so clear in all of your relationships. Be they platonic, romantic, business, be they with acquaintances, be they with in your activism. I don't care where it is. Your job, my job, is to work on how to be clear in our connections, in our relationships.

Because that's the curriculum right now. It's also how to build structures with each other. But again, we can't do that unless we're clear with one another. Clarity is kindness. I mean, you still have to be like kind when you're delivering the clarity. But as a concept, we want to be kind to each other by being very clear about what we can and cannot do. because if we are muddy and murky about what we can and cannot do, then we aren't going to be able to show up.

And we're going to have to be dealing with all kinds of trust issues and all kinds of getting hurt and all kinds of things that we actually don't need to contend with if we're just clear from the onset. And if we keep clarifying. So as Venus stations direct this week, there is this need to be understanding the shape of our relationships, to be clarifying what we need in our relationships, to be clarifying what we can show up for in relationships, what we can give to our relationships, what we can't give to our relationships right now or maybe ever. But there's a need,

again, for us to be doing that inner clarity work and then doing that external work in our relationships. And there is something here to really build. The other thing that's really lovely about Venus and Saturn, which they're very different planets, because Saturn is a planet of structure and discipline and order and critique and separation. And Venus is a planet of beauty and pleasure and love and having a good time. But Venus and Saturn also share a sign where they do really well. Venus rules the sign Libra. Just stay with me.

Venus rules the sign Libra. And Saturn exalts in the sign of Libra. And so there's a love of like order and justice. And there's a love of symmetry and having things go in a certain way and that bringing some sort of peace and harmony or equilibrium or again, something that feels fair and balanced. And Saturn likes to do things over a slow, steady period of time. It's not a planet that does things quickly. And so it's about building out something that can eventually come into its own beauty and own sense of self.

And any great work of art or any kind of artistry, Venus, requires a lot of skill development and requires us a lot of dedication to build those skills. So Saturn and Venus do have a special relationship. It is about commitment. So commitment to our practice, commitment to our art, commitment to our relationships, commitment to ourselves, commitment to beauty, commitment to unions, commitment to all the ways in which we want to build worlds. So that's one of the main themes and vibes. And at the same time, on Monday, Venus also does make a sextal to Uranus because Saturn and Uranus are still doing their thing. So there's also like this need to be in a process of clarification and commitment, while being like, okay, we can do this our own way. We can do this a different way. We can experiment with how we are committing to one another or building something together. So Monday is Mercury Stationing Direct in a slippery trickster kind of way. Let's see how it goes. It's like what kind of leaks will

come out this week. I'm very interested to see. And also Venus starting to station direct, but sitting in that conjunction with Saturn that it'll be in until the end of April in that sextal to Uranus. So commitment and experimentation at the same time. Also being committed to experimenting is a gorgeous way to think about this. Then on Thursday, Mercury and the North Node come together. Again, there is a very important announcement or pronouncement or translation of something that comes out. Again, it has a trickster kind of vibe to it. And but also, one of the biggest things, things about this week. There's these three things that happen is the Venus, the Mercury, and then there's a full moon in Libra. And who rules Libra? Venus. When does Venus station direct

on Saturday? When is the full moon in Libra that Venus rules on Saturday? That is wild, you all, to have a full moon while the planet that rules the full moon is stationing direct, like at the same time. That feels exceptionally pivotal. They don't see each other because Pisces and Libra don't have like a traditional aspect to one another. But they're very interconnected. And again, Venus is sitting with Saturn.

So there's this discipline. There's this order. There is also possibly like a responsibility or a burden or a heaviness to the moment because of the Saturn of it. Saturn helps us to understand what is real and how to define something because that's literally what it does. That's its job. And the full moon in Libra is highlighting the scales, what is off balance, what's in balance, who are you, who am I, what is justice, what is fairness, what is equality. And Venus is highlighting this because it's stationing direct. So all these themes, are so loud this weekend. Not only that, at the same time as the full moon, the sun and

Chiron are coming together, making a Kazimi. Now, that's also a wild thing to happen at the moment of a full moon that there would be another planet sitting exactly with the sun. Because, of course, a full moon is when the sun and the moon are exactly opposing each other. Now, the moon moves really quickly. So for something to come along and make, that exact conjunction with the sun at the same time as the full moon is not an every month occurrence. We get a full moon every month, but like, you know, that's pretty spectacular. So we've got the ruler of this full moon stationing direct in a conjunction with Saturn. So we know the lessons are going to be hefty and they're going to be solidifying and they're

going to be really real, right? Saturn teaches us how to deal with reality. And there's also this other thing that's happening. The sun and Chiron. Chiron is a minor planet. It is the wounded healer. And it definitely brings us into what hurts. So that's also happening at the same time. What hurts, what is painful, what's a pain point,

and what the medicine we need to address that pain point is, is also a major player this weekend. One other thing to mention, Mars is sitting in cancer and is making a square to the sun and the moon. And that also feels like something that could hurt because Mars pokes at things and when Mars is in cancer, it pokes at our feelings. And Mars is sitting in the sign that the moon rules and the moon is sitting opposite the Kairan Kazimi. So it does also feel like there is something to contend with this weekend

that could possibly hurt our feelings or be about understanding the medicine that we need to apply to the wound. Because again, Saturn is sitting with Venus. Venus is sitting with Saturn as at Stations Direct making a lesson real. And we cannot address. what hurts. We cannot figure out what medicine we need until we understand the reality of our situation. What is it that is ailing me? How do I address that? And I just think that that theme or those themes are really pronounced this week. So the week is going to be a combination of things. It's not going to like hurt our feelings every single day. But you do think that the weekend, particularly on Saturday, there's just something really heightened in terms of our emotional

experience of something in terms of our, yes, feelings getting hurt, but also in terms of the wound and the medicine needed. And we are all, if we're adults, responsible for understanding where we hurt, what hurts, how we hurt, what that pain is, what it might mean, and how to try to get help, the help that we need, the medicine we need, connected to the healers, the doctors, the medicine people that we need in order to dress the wound or address the wound. And so that is one of the main themes of this weekend. And we might be doing that collectively. I'm sure we will be.

As Venus Stations Direct, it's going to bring this collective moment of like gathering ourselves and being like, this is what we've got to do. and then with that pain point being reached with the sun Kazimi at the time of the full moon, it just feels extraordinary. And I want us to remember that we actually need these moments of acuteness to help us become conscious and aware of what it is we can do, need to do. And this is, or at least a lot of this, is happening in cardinal signs. And cardinal signs spur us into action.

The sun, the moon, and Mars are all sitting in cardinal signs. That means there's going to be a lot of activity over the weekend for sure. Venus and Mercury are sitting in, I was going to say Neptune, basically. They're sitting in Pisces. Saturn is also in Pisces. As we know, Neptune is also moved into Ares by now. Okay. So that means that there is a feeling of, of,

Again, being messy, being in a transitional, liminal space when it comes to the Venus and the Mercury of the week, even though the Venus Saturn are giving us a reality check, it's still going to be with a little, like, dreamy side sauce added in. And but also because the full moon, because this full, you know, situation is happening in cardinal signs, there is a lot of activity that occurs. And so the acuteness of the moment again is, and I don't mean to be insensitive when I say this, something of a gift, right? If I know that there's something hurting me, then it draws my attention to it. Then I look and say like, oh my God, I've got a splinter. Like I've got to remove that. I've got to dress this. I need a band-aid. I need a something.

And so if something feels acute this weekend, collectively or personally, then know that there's medicine to help soothe it. And the important thing is to be motivated, to take action, to go discover the medicine, to go find it, to go bring it back, and to use it. All right, y'all, that is the reading for the week. Come back next week. We've got the first ever in our lifetime, a Mercury-Neptune conjunction in Ares. So I do think the conversations are going to continue to be wild and also very new as of next week. There's something really new that we're talking about. For now, though, I want to talk about a question that a lot of people write in to ask us. So welcome, if you've never been to this part of the show. This is the Ask Me Anything

segment of the show. Please let us know what your questions are. You can comment below if you're watching this on YouTube, or you can send us in a question. But a lot of people ask me what it means to have a Venus return. Now, Venus returns back to the same place every year. So every year, Venus will come back to exactly where it was when you were born. Now, just because Venus is in the same place as it was when you were born, doesn't mean that anything else in the sky is in the same place as it was when you were born. So there's two things I want us to think about here. When you have a Venus return, which again, you have every year, it's kind of like a Venus birthday. And a lot of astrologers use this as its own kind of chart.

Like there's a lot of work you can do just studying your Venus, what phase it was in. Like was it pre-retrograde, retrograde, post-retrograde, was it happening in a year where there was no retrograde? That's all important. What was the speed of the Venus? Obviously, what sign is it in? What house is it in? but there's a way in which astrologers can look at the chart of your Venus return. Some people do do that.

I personally don't because there's so many other things that I'm usually preoccupied looking at. But this is the thing. When you have a Venus return, which again, you have every year and it's just usually, unless it's a retrograde that year, it's usually just for like a couple of days. I usually find that all of my Venusian issues and gifts are very heightened. So because it's a planet of pleasure and love and connection, it's generally regarded as a good thing, right? Having your Venus come back to where it was when you were born is like a reunion or an affirmation of beauty and love and creative energy in your life. And but also.

the issues that we have, the relationship issues and our intimacy stuff and our feelings of, am I worth or worthy of being connected to and having a relationship and if I ever will, you know, meet someone who will blah, blah, blah, blah, all those things. I think all that stuff also has a possibility of coming up. If it's issues about friendships, if it's issues about friendships, if it's issues about. romantic partnerships, if it's issues about professional relationships or vocational relationships or any other kind of relationship that you're hoping to bring into your life, if you're really struggling through something, your Venus return, I think, will magnify all of that.

But not just to like drag you or troll you or harass you to help you. It's to help you locate what the thing is. And because Venus is the planet of Kinney, connection, we always want to look at the other side of it, right? We want to look at the side of Venus that tells us about loneliness and isolation. Because if we think of Venus as the myth of Inana and Ereshkegau, the planet Venus was associated with that myth in the ancient world in Sumer, then Ereschkegel was the sister, the dark side or the other side, the unconscious side of Inana that was alone in the underworld and moaning in pain and deeply in need of someone to come and witness her. And she calls on her sister and brings her down into the underworld

into her place of loneliness and isolation. And it's through that call that Ereshka-Gal finally gets witnessed and finally gets that experience of being told that her pain is real. And that changes everything in the myth. So I think that when we have a Venus return, yes, go have fun, buy yourself some flowers, get your hair done, refurbish something, like bejule, bad, do something that helps you to feel gorgeous and delight in art and in creativity and in friendships and in everything that is joyful and pleasurable. But I think it's also a beautiful invitation to say what part of me felt alone or still feels alone? What part of me is stuck in isolation

at times? What part of me gets hopeless or feels like, they all can do that, but I can't. What part of me feels envious or betrayed and feels like envy is the place where I need to pause and stop because I can't ever get that need met? And where can I get my like adult self on board to say like, oh, that's okay. If you're envy or jealous of somebody or something, that just means that I'm getting a cue and a clue for myself as to what I need to facilitate for myself. it's good if I feel envy or jealousy. It's not good if I stay there.

It's not good if I act on that. But if I use that as information for the next thing that I need to grow in my life or grow myself into so that I can receive in my life, that's a gift. If I feel lonely, if I feel isolated, that is real. That is obviously an epidemic. And that means that is information that I need to take seriously. and I need to like make some plans. I need to volunteer. I need to call my friends. I need to make a dinner date. I need to go to this thing I was invited to even though I'm a freighty cat and I don't

want to do it and I'd rather to stay home. But if I really don't want to feel isolated, I need to make an effort to get out into the world and be like, hey world, I'm here, even if I feel cringe about it. So all of that can also come up during a Venus return. It teaches us how we're in. relationship with ourselves, with our life, and with everybody else in it, as well as our relationship with beauty and art and pleasure. And it's really hard to feel pleasure when we feel alone. And it's really important for us to cultivate connection in our life for all the reasons. I mean, it's part of the reason why the world is in the state that it's in because we've been sold a lie by capitalism that we are individuals and we have lost our ability to understand

ourselves in context of a whole host of people, of our communities, right? We're taught to think of ourselves as singular. But we aren't. Nothing in nature is singular. Everything in nature is interconnected. We know this. Every time we study a new thing in nature, we're like, wow, all the trees are talking to each other and they're exchanging chemicals to warn each other about this incoming invasive species and all the fungi are talking to each other and all the mammal. Everything is talking. Everything exists within a full and complex ecosystem. We are no different.

We've been sold a lie that we're different. And so again, when you get your Venus return or when you experience a Venus return, it's such a beautiful moment to remember that and to be like, it's hard to detangle myself from that myth because the whole world is structured, basically, to remind me or to make me think or to make me buy into the delusion of being separate, but I'm not. So what action can I take to reaffirm my interconnectivity? All right, so keep writing in your questions. I love answering them. my pearls are jingling, jangling, speaking of Venus. So sorry about that.

Okay, so as Venus is stationing direct, we are also trying to remember all of this, right? Because what happens during our Venus return isn't the same as what happens during a Venus retrograde and a Venus stationing direct, but it's a major Venus moment. The Venus retrograde lasts for a long time. And as it pivots and stations direct, again, it's pulling focus, just like when we have a Venus return. So I want us to really embrace the parts of us that feel lonely, feel lost, feel hopeless sometimes. Because that part of us is just waiting for us to hear it, to listen to it, and to go down into our own internal underworlds and to be like, hey, I hear you. I'm right here with you. I love you. I've got you. You're safe. I'm here. I will never, ever, ever leave you. I see you. And that can change everything. At least it's worth a try. You can change everything internally. And then we can show up in the world as someone who feels witnessed. We need each other to do that for each other, but we also know. need to do it for ourselves. So during this full moon that has a Chiron Kazimi, remember to reach out

to the teachers and doctors and healers and medicine people and experts that know how to weave us back together again. We need each other. I am not my own astrologer. I go to somebody for a reading because I just love being able to be held and like receive. the information instead of doing it for myself. I have to go to all the healers in my life because I need somebody else to administer, hold space for, and give me the opportunity to receive. We need to be in balance. We can't just be putting out. And look, I know a lot of activists and artists listen to this podcast and love astrology. I love you so much. I cannot. Even describe how fulfilling it is to meet you in real life and to know that folks that are out there

in the world doing the hard work are also, you know, joining me here and joining us in the app. And I just want to use this moment to reaffirm. Like, you need the medicine too. If you are out in the world giving and dealing with some of the toughest, hardest, most complex, painful issues that we are facing right now and we are facing so many all the time, you also deserve and need the healing. You also deserve and need someone to hold space for you and to remember that you're more than just all of the things that you work so hard at every single day and that you build strategies around and build organizations around and that you foster in the world. you're all holding so much.

Please allow someone else during the course of this weekend, especially, to hold you. I love you. Thank you for joining. I cannot describe how much I appreciate this ongoing conversation because, you know, the astrology never sleeps, never ends. So I'm here until I'm not with this astrology. I'll see you back here next week. Bye for now. You know,