April is all about moving forward in your authenticity.
It’s the month for moving closer to your authenticity.
Uncertainty requires the development of specific truths that will hold you accountable to your values.
Who do you want to be?
Who are you currently being, aka what are your actions, behaviors, habits, and energy expressing about who you are?
Eclipse season starts this month, with the Mercury retrograde coinciding with a Solar Eclipse. Shake-ups and shake-downs abound. Get weird or stay weird—strangeness is what change requires.

April’s theme is Vehicles for Transformation.
A vehicle helps us get from one place to another, helping us to travel in all ways. You’re moving forward, and just about everything that happens this month is fuel for growth.
What vehicles currently support your healing?
What does it look like to go beyond what you had dreamed?
What does it look like to move with integrity?

— Excerpt is from the 2023 Many Moons Lunar Planner. Order your digital copy of Many Moons here! Order your copy of the second, benefit-edition of Many Moons from LULU.com. 

This month's Tarotscopes were channeled and written by meditating on each archetype and pulling a Tarot card for them. Read for whatever sign you feel called to: your Sun, rising, Moon, or a placement that is particularly loud right now.*

April is an action-packed month at the Moon Studio, with the 2nd session of Protection Magic.
Learn about grounding, safety, energetic hygiene, and yes, magic to secure more vitality in all aspects of your life.

If you are curious about what we do, and what it’s like to be in session with Sarah, sign up for the Moon Studio’s upcoming Energy Session on April 9th. You’ll learn practical techniques for energetic transformation.

April 2023 Tarotscopes by Sarah Faith Gottesdiener  

Aries
The Star


April marks the halfway point of your season, and with it, a Solar Eclipse in your sign promises to jumpstart some dormant energy. New ways of being and new ways of seeing are more available now. Pay attention to the insights that arise in those moments you label as “failures.” They are micro and they are many. It’s not a “failure” to be 5 minutes late, and it’s certainly not a failure when someone or something doesn’t line up with your expectations. An attachment to an inaccurate label triggers shutdowns, flight responses, malaise, or a familiar but out-of-date neural pathway.


Labels are often the first lines in a story, and a story repeated 1,000 times a day becomes a trap, an identity, a reason why you can’t ever or why something quite luscious and also quite possible can’t ever be. Find ways to clear and rewrite those habitual stories. Healing occurs when one is brave enough to bring the tangle of emotions and beliefs out into the present consciousness, hold space for them with compassion, and relate to them differently. Keeping aspects of yourself invisible served a purpose, but now it’s time to materialize. 


How you treat yourself when nothing is clear, nothing is promised, and nobody is watching is how you become the best thing that has ever happened to you. 

Suggested spell ingredients: Ritual baths with yarrow leaves and salt, Tara Brach’s books, Protection Magic, messages from river stones, and soft determination.

Taurus
3 of Cups

You’ve been through a lot, this last while, Taurus. The betrayals have been real and the setbacks have felt never-ending. Let yourself grieve and create the closure you need. Understand that we often do not get external closure: closure is something we create through ceremony. It’s time to celebrate all you have achieved and how you grew, even under adverse conditions. You’re ready to learn lessons through joy and play.

Focus on preparation in the first few weeks of April so that you’ll feel fully renewed when Taurus season officially hits, and Jupiter moves into your sign. As much as possible, get it together. Do the hard, boring, or confronting tasks you’ve been putting off. The more you get the foundations and organization in place, the more space you’ll have to connect and create.

The trick to transformation is to take action with different energy and a generous mindset. At every moment there is the opportunity to react from the past, project onto the future, or connect to the neutrality, and alive-ness, of the present. That choice creates possibilities. Be willing to surprise yourself. It is the secret, sacred third thing that beckons. Move towards that with the anticipation that some of the best moments are just around the corner —  because they are. 

Suggested spell ingredients: Emotional support beverages, amethyst, conscious connections with people who inspire, and Protection Magic. 

Gemini
4 of Wands

Gentle Gemini, for all the tropes about your social butterfly ways, you are a master of hiding your loneliness. Despite what you project, sometimes you feel most alone surrounded by people celebrating you. There's a distinct pang you’ve experienced often: the sensation of being squarely on the outside, looking in. The current global climate may be exacerbating those lonely cries of your heart: loss, grief, and anguish have become the sharp corners of our everyday lives.

One opportunity that the 4 of Wands holds for you this spring is to heal the shadow of this loneliness. Feeling lonely isn’t a harmful pattern, it is normal. But feeling like you must hide your hurt cuts you off from connection. Now is the time to learn that silence doesn’t shield those closest to you. Others want to help you, so let them.

To share your authentic self with others is to break up rock-hard soil. To let another witness your tears is to soften that soil with salt. To communicate your very real, very human condition is to plant the seeds of community in ways that create strong roots.

Suggested spell ingredients: A love letter to your inner child, selenite, seeds, a local organization to volunteer at, potted plants that you name and talk to, and Protection Magic.

Cancer
The Sun

You are an ecosystem that influences the greater whole. Your special talent is careful and compassionate movement. But sometimes, that deep understanding that we are all connected, and that what we do really matters, makes you a little too cautious, and so, you don’t do anything. The sidelines are safe, but they aren’t where you are meant to stay. 

Moonchild, step into the light. Turn towards the Sun. Prioritize warmth in exchanges, eye contact, and morning visualizations. Moonchild, dress up in different clothes, switch up your hairstyle, and be mindful of the words that come out of your mouth. Create moments every day that support a ventral vagal state. Challenge yourself to move more toward what you want, instead of unconsciously repeating what you don’t. Let all of your parts know that it is safe to try, it is time to take risks. 

The word transcendent is derived from the words: “To climb beyond.” This month, rebirth is facilitated by going beyond some self-imposed limit. Sometimes, in order to transcend, we’ve got to get grounded even more deeply in our roots, in what we know will usher us through the narrow corridors and out into the meadow. Ignore the “monkey mind”: she’ll always be there, distracted and distorted and making up nasty false stories. Allow inspiration to strike by making your vessel a safe place to hold it all.

Suggested spell ingredients: Polyvagal Exercises for Safety and Connection: 50 Client-Centered Practices by Deb Dana, a Rise Magic Candle for rebirth, mirror magic, day trips to wildflower fields, and Protection Magic.

Leo
The Tower, 6 of Swords

Eclipse season starts mid-month, and with it comes some shake-ups that could bruise your ego. The more adaptive you remain, the better: this month is a time of gathering information, not jumping to conclusions. Stay open to realizations that help you move on from certain patterns, or move away from relationships that are less than reciprocal. The messages received this month eventually will help you expand.

Chaos often forces us to prioritize peace. Sometimes, you hang on a little longer than is healthy because you see the potential of everything and everyone. Sometimes, your beautiful loyalty becomes overextension and over-giving. April is a month of taking stock and reflecting on reciprocity. Does what you believe in believe in you? Does what—or who—you pour your energy and time into give you an equal return? 

Answer those questions honestly and without self-blame. It isn’t shameful to care, it isn’t embarrassing to keep trying in one place when it might be time to try somewhere else. Maybe it felt easier, maybe it was an old pattern. Clarify what beliefs need to be edited or updated. Reach a place of neutrality or even gratitude for certain lessons, and get one step closer to your inner compass.  

Suggested spell ingredients: A social media break, black tourmaline, Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit, mushrooms, and Protection Magic.  

Virgo
2 of Swords

Virgo, this is not a drill! April is a month to go beyond surface-level interactions. You mustn’t take situations, perceptions, or people lightly. Have important conversations with loved ones and be patient. Give contracts, exchanges, and emails a second look. If there is anywhere where you’ve been on auto-pilot for any reason, reassess, and reengage.  

Use your personal autonomy so that your days feel more like your own. Examine where you invest your time, your emotions, and your energy. How much of your hours are spent in alignment with who you truly know yourself to be? How many of your life’s containers support your authentic self? Some habits that began out of fear, or in reaction to circumstances that have long since passed, are ready to be phased out. 

This won’t be easy. Decisions that are a long time coming are never made without some resistance. No revelatory process arrives without some discomfort. Grant yourself grace as you continue to step into your intuitive power. 

Suggested spell ingredients: The right questions at the right time, rose petals in your bath water, rose tincture in your seltzer, rose quartz palm stones, and Protection Magic. 

Libra
Queen of Cups

Throughout April, whether you feel elated or decidedly meh, you will be a conduit and a channel. Find a place to record dreams, prophecies, and all the super cool ideas that flow forth from your brain and beyond. Stay spiritually hydrated: keep your imagination vibrant and use prayer as a daily practice. Stuff is bound to come up; don’t take your feelings personally. Becoming a better friend means befriending yourself during rain and thunderstorms, too.   

Sometimes, you do all the meditating and medicating and you still feel like crap. It’s annoying when all the work™ isn’t working and the tools™ aren’t tooling, isn’t it, Libra? Don’t force, don’t push anything down, but do see what it’s like to notice and name harder emotions without getting completely flooded.

You know more than most that feelings are temporary; they aren’t always a reflection of reality.  What if those tears meant your body simply felt safe enough to process ancient pain? Find ways to release any weight that feel lifetimes old. You aren’t afraid of others’ depths, so find ways to embrace your own. Once you’re clearer, you’ll be able to decipher what emotions are messengers, and what was simply energy that needed to find a vessel to pass through. Do not make important decisions based on fleeting feelings or unregulated emotions. 

Suggested spell ingredients: Tears, green opal palm stones, cold plunges, forgiveness, and Protection Magic. 

Scorpio
Ace of Swords

April continues to help you sort and separate everything you are officially done doing. Mars in your 9th house (for all you Scorpio risings) could activate some larger dreams, hopes, and how you share what you know. The ironic part of wisdom gained is once you know better, regret can sometimes rush in. As best as you can, apply what you do know better this month. Yes, motivation is low, so it’s hard to summon your energy. This is a classic chicken or egg situation around motivation and action. The mindset/belief/clearer brain will follow after you’ve taken action around some priorities for a while. If it feels like a slog, that’s because it might be for a while. Please, don’t give up. 

To a certain point, it is your thoughts, beliefs, and philosophies that create your reality. They influence your behaviors which create habits, and habits can become the shape of your life. And also, it is also the state of your nervous system that contributes to unconscious patterns. There’s an oft-repeated adage that story follows state. Your nervous system baselines, gut health, and even your breathing patterns can all contribute to how your experiences. Take the state of your nervous system as seriously as any affirmation. 

It isn’t too late and you aren’t running out of time. Begin, and most importantly — keep going. 

Suggested spell ingredients: Meditations, morning hums, carnelian, future self visioning, and Protection Magic. 

Sagittarius
9 of Pentacles

Sweet Sag, April brings an overflow of opportunities to reimagine what life can be. As of late, you may have felt a lot of resistance in sourcing your classic tenacity and optimism, let alone finding the spaciousness to dream big. But this month, you are ready to make vastly different, better choices.

The invitation for the rest of spring is to design a lifestyle that resembles your dreams, purpose, and pleasure. This will require focus and discipline around what your non-negotiables are: spirituality, self-care, mental and physical health, intellectual pursuits, fun, joy, and purpose. It’s up to you to define what is worth living for. Prioritize, then take action. 


The good life isn’t somewhere outside of you, lived by those who are somehow more deserving than you, or who appear more together. It’s all inside of you, easily accessed with mindfulness, scheduling, and repetition. The good life isn’t something that happens far off in the future, it’s what is instigated daily through behaviors and embodiment. The weeks add up into months, the months into years. You’re ripe. So is life. Go be, now.

Suggested spell ingredients: Citrus fruits, irises, labradorite, a new sex toy, morning routines, and Protection Magic.  

Capricorn
The Empress

How have you learned to get your needs met, Capricorn? Did your caretakers teach you it wasn’t ok to be vulnerable, or to receive certain forms of care? With Pluto moving into your 2nd house of resources, it’s a great time to rework notions of transactionalism, internalized capitalism, toxic productivity, and “enoughness.” 

This all affects our relationships: how we show up for ourselves is often how we show up for one another. April is a prime month for some relationship calibration. If several intimate relationships haven’t been worked on in a while—or ever—make a date for some communication sessions. Get to the root of where certain things need to change, and be brave enough to note where you must change too. 

Eclipse season moves through the areas of life that address the personal and the private. If you’ve been putting most of your attention on your career or public appearance, how you appear publicly, divert some of that into your home, health, and the relationships that support the external. If it’s been a while since you volunteered, or have been of service, get back into it. 

Through all of this, structure will be your friend. Schedule in some self-pleasure and relaxation. It may seem counterintuitive to plan a bestie heart-to-heart, a day picking up garbage by the river, or a night romancing yourself, but after a month of doing so consistently, you’ll be beyond glad you did.

Suggested spell ingredients: Volunteer time, foot baths, forest baths, vulnerability, and Protection Magic. 

Aquarius
7 of Pentacles

Aquarius, April is not the time for “all or nothing” thinking. The changes you want are so sweeping, so vast, that overwhelm threatens to shut down your imagination. Regret, or guilt, muddles up the subconscious and results in mixed signals to the Universe. A new life or lifestyle has beckoned for some time. Simultaneously, you’re grateful for everything you have and all the bounty that currently flows through your days. Both can exist at the same time: it’s ok to want something different, and appreciate all you have.

So all the work you’ve done these last 7 years hasn’t quite amounted to exactly what you had expected. Now is the time to get clear on what you *did* expect. More time? More opportunities? More ease? American culture often rewards hard work with… well, more work. Recognize where you can make things easier, or where you can navigate toward what you already have. You are much, much closer than you think. 

April marks the crossroads of the year for you: this month is a turning point around what you spend your time and energy on. Decide to move forward in a different way. Name what to put on hold, or what to quit, what to organize, what to stabilize, and where to dive in wholeheartedly. Stay grateful for where you’ve been, and where you are going. 

Suggested spell ingredients: Binaural beats for brain support, violet leaf, lavender, an afternoon spent revisiting old journals/projects/plans/dreams, and Protection Magic. 

Pisces
King of Cups 

This month, and this Eclipse season, is bringing you affirmation of your emotional mastery. This year, you’ve already learned something deeply important about your ability to hold space for yourself and to hold space for others without taking it on. The emotional reprogramming you are working through is a priceless gift. You’ve become, or are becoming, the surfer of emotions. A great weight has been lifted whenever you remember that it was never about you, that it was never your fault. You are free to examine what you feel, what you need, and why. You are free to think bigger, with a more spiritual, heart-centered perspective.

Cultivating friendships, based on your present evolved self, will, over time, become a web of safety: a source of the truest mirrors there could be. If you need to reach out, reach out. Who is your community? Who loves you? Who do you need? Who do you need to be?

Sweet Pisces, you’ve got a lot on the horizon. Some of it involves injecting more of your own unique art into your life or career. Upgrades, shake-ups, and tweaks to how you experience your every day must be made. You know what parts of your creativity are ready to be expressed. Following your intuition is always the right choice. Sail into your own waves of trust, and stay there for long enough to feel safe.

Suggested spell ingredients: Water, waves, seasides, emotional surfing, videos of turtles, ocean jasper, and Protection Magic.

*Please note: If you don’t know if you are allergic to a specific herb or plant, use caution or consult with your herbalist or doctor before ingesting. Never leave a lit candle or flame of any kind unattended.

These Tarotscopes are not intended as an alternative to medical or psychiatric health services and should not be interpreted or used as such.