Solar Eclipse & New Moon Horoscopes – April 20, 2023

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Whether it’s because we associate it with organizing or because the days are increasingly brighter and lighter, springtime feels like the perfect opportunity to free yourself from emotional baggage and toxic drama. As it turns out, the sun, the moon, and the planets are in perfect agreement.

The first change-bringing eclipse season of the year is now in full swing, and believe it or not, the intense astrological event has more in common with spring cleaning than you might realize. It’s wired to deliver a hefty dose of exhilarating change and to stoke your appetite for all things shiny, bold, and new.

On Wednesday, April 19, at 9:12 p.m. PT/Thursday, April 20, at 12:12 a.m. ET, an independence-bolstering, relationship-shifting new moon and solar eclipse, falls in Aries, the cardinal fire sign ruled by Mars, the planet of action, energy, and sex. As the first eclipse in a new series of lunar events that will last through 2025, this eclipse delivers breakthroughs, epiphanies, and the ability to make power moves that will create massive changes over the course of the next six months.

New moons — which happen when the vitality-bringing sun pairs up with the intuitive moon — generally offer the chance to gain clarity around a new chapter you want to write over the course of the next two weeks (up until the next full moon) and next six months (when the corresponding full moon occurs). And when a new moon is accompanied by a solar eclipse — which happens when the moon casts a shadow on the sun — a highly-charged moment is amplified. Emotions run high, and your actions might feel like they carry even more weight than usual because it feels like you’re on the brink of a whole new chapter.

Unlike regular new moons, this isn’t a moment for a vision and step-by-step action plan to manifest what you want to call in. Instead, a solar eclipse will lay the groundwork for a new beginning you’re called to step into. It’s an agent of change — especially when it connects with a crucial planet or point in your natal chart.

This eclipse is exceptionally eye-opening because it is occurring in Aries — a sign in which there hasn’t been an eclipse since September 2015. And because it is the first in a new series of lunar events that fall in Aries and its opposite sign, Libra, it also marks the beginning of a new narrative that will play out for you from now until 2025.

For a sense of what to expect not only in the days around this eclipse, look to themes associated with fiery Aries: courage, independence, and ambition. You could be inspired to use this moment as a launchpad for a new venture and to step even more strongly into a bolder, braver, authentic version of yourself. The sign of the Ram is also notorious for its competitive nature, so you can anticipate a burst of energy. And because the moon falls at 29 degrees Aries, which is the very last — and most intense — degree of the sign, fiery emotions will be especially magnified.