AUTHOR’S NOTE: I haven’t done one of these in quite a while. These readings are normally based on the titles for the eight lunar sub-phases from astrologer Dane Rudhyar’s Lunation Cycle, but this time I’m using astronomical notation. Each sub-phase lasts approximately 3.5 days. There are no other position meanings, it is mainly a timing device for events and circumstances as indicated by the cards.

New Moon in Aries, April 17
Waxing Crescent in Gemini, April 20
First Quarter in Leo, April 23
Waxing Gibbous in Virgo, April 27
Full Moon in Scorpio, May 1
Waning Gibbous in Sagittarius, May 5
Last Quarter in Aquarius, May 9
Waning Crescent in Aries, May 13

The “Monthly Theme” card for this lunation cycle is the Emperor (4+1+7+2+0+2+6=22; 2+2=4). This period is prime time for Spring yard-work in New England.

The Emperor as the monthly theme for the cycle could not be more appropriate since it corresponds to the sign of Aries.

The Knight of Swords on the New Moon is full of “piss-and-vinegar,” but I will be wearing that down to a nub over the next few days. I would say it signifies a vigorous “pruning session,” but my wife does that.

The Queen of Cups at the Waxing Crescent sub-phase looks like “rest-and-rehabilitation” to me.

The 5 of Disks (“Worry”) at the First Quarter spells unrest in physical terms. It could be showing the effect of overwork during the initial sub-phase that wasn’t fully assuaged by the tender mercies of the Queen of Cups.

The 4 of Swords (“Truce”) at the Waxing Gibbous sub-phase settles down again into a mentally stable but rather slack state of mind.

The Universe reversed on the Full Moon presents a “double dose” of delay, first from its correspondence to Saturn and then from the fact of its reversal. If I’m expecting something to occur or arrive at that time, I probably shouldn’t hold my breath.

The 7 of Cups (“Debauch”) at the Waning Gibbous sub-phase seems to be a low point for productive activity during early May. I quarrel with Crowley’s title for this card due to its sexual connotation. I don’t know why he couldn’t have picked “Degradation,” which is broader in its applicability. I may be suffering malaise because of what should have happened but didn’t on the Full Moon.

The 5 of Wands (“Strife”) at the Last Quarter is another card of disruption, this time suggesting a disagreeable lack of cooperation.

With the 6 of Wands (“Victory”) at the Waning Crescent, all is forgiven as the Emperor once again exerts his dominion in Aries.

Overall, this is not a high-energy forecast and, with the exception of some stress at the two quarters and dull episodes leading up to and following the Full Moon, I believe it should pass uneventfully and end on a positive note with the 6 of Wands going into the next New Moon on May 16 (even if it does look like I will be “snatching victory from the jaws of defeat” after being pursued by an angry mob).

As an interesting aside, this reading seems to have generated a dream sequence last night that demonstrates the accuracy of the cards:

I’m in the center of Boston with a business associate and we’re trying to conduct a quality-assurance audit (a former career I left eighteen years ago that is perfectly described by the Knight of Swords).

But we’ve mistaken the location and are now making our way to a less-hectic outlying area of the city (Queen of Cups).

We’re on foot, having left our cars downtown, and we’re being relentlessly harassed by an apparently homeless man who just doesn’t like our looks (5 of Disks).

He’s difficult to get my hands on, but after I brutally drive him away we’re spending the night on top of a giant stone monument (4 of Swords).

It’s probably for the best that I awoke before we got to the reversed Universe because I was trying to relate the scene to a film with giant stone monuments (by Universal Studios?) but the name escaped me. Then I was thinking about a verse from the Bob Dylan song Tombstone Blues:

“Now I wish I could give Brother Bill his great thrill
I would set him in chains at the top of the hill
Then send out for some pillars and Cecil B. DeMille
He could die happily ever after”