Kiss My Astro: Your April Horoscope

April comes on loud and fast, like a happy hardcore DJ in a neon bunny costumebut the real lusciousness of this month is best savored slowly. Three retrograde planets this month play havoc with our momentum if we try to do too much too quickly. To keep the spark alive or to start a new romance, remember the cardinal rules for this time: 1) Slow dance whenever you can. Grinding is permitted. It’s all about building up that anticipation. 2) Have faith that something big can shift for you this month. Changes are going on behind the scenes. They may not be obvious yet. Just believe you deserve the kind of love you want, and that it starts with believing that’s possible. It is. And you’ll get there, step by step. You can find me for readings and romance advice this month at [flaxandgold.com](flaxandgold.com/readings). Good luck out there, y’all!

Aries

You’ve got that beautiful problem to havetoo many choices. Maybe you’re milkshake has brought all the boys to the yard, maybe you’re trying to choose the best path forward, but one thing you aren’t lacking right now is opportunities. How do you move forward, though? Slowly, and with a lot of breaks to focus on yourself and come back to center. Anything that falls away as you take your time wasn’t something you needed. Meanwhile, time alone will help you understand what you really do want. Let go of old identities, old ideas about relationships. This month can bring you a whole new worldjust make sure you’re moving toward the one you want.

Taurus

This month, you get to let go of anything you learned about love that doesn’t feel true for you anymore. You don’t have to settle, you don’t have to worry about missing out, you don’t have to worry that you aren’t hot enough. Instead, this month is all about choosing and calling in what you really need. Don’t let attachment to the past blind you from what’s right in front of you. Don’t let insecurity mess with your perspective on yourselfexactly are you are right now, you are a total catch. Choose the people who bring out the best in you, and let yourself be chosen.

Gemini

When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself what’s beautiful about your body. When you’re with a loversomeone brand new or long establishedtell him exactly what your body wants. It will keep shifting over time, from moment to moment and from year to year. Sense it, name it, and feel how sweet it is to get exactly what you want. This month is all about explicit communication, especially around pleasure and desire. It may feel silly at first, but saying something out loud can be powerfuleven if it’s something obvious, and especially if it’s something you’ve been afraid to say.

Cancer

Don’t make it harder than it needs to be right now. You can be angry, scared, disappointed, tirednone of this is a crisis! Blow off steam when you need to, ideally without aiming it too pointedly at anyone, and then see if you can make light of it. Be generousas long as you’re not putting up with real disrespect. And if you’re making a date with someone new, let all the awkwardness of it be a joke you get to share. Keep choosing joy, whenever you cannot by stifling your harder feelings, but by letting them boil up and then fade away. It might be easier than you realized.

Leo

You can shine at anything you really love doing. When you put in the effort, when it’s a joy instead of a chore, you’re able to channel pure magic. But when you’re facing obstaclesscarcity, heartbreak, rejection, insecurity, or whatever’s coming up for you right nowit takes a lot of faith to believe that you’ll come out on top again. Here’s the trick: start doing anything you love, as often as you can. Dance, write, cook pasta, flirt with strangers. Whatever helps you feel alive. This month will help you get your groove back, but you’ve got to take the first step. When you remember how exciting it is to be you, they’ll see how exciting it is to be with you.

Virgo

No one puts Virgo in a corner. At least, not this month. Most of the time, you may prefer watching from the corner. But right now you’re ready to take center stage, strut the catwalk, and crush the stifling stereotype that being interested in the wellbeing of others means you never get to be selfish. Sure, you like to feel needed. But this month you also need to feel adored. Worshipped. I’m talking jaws dropping when you walk in a room. Maybe that feels hard to engineer, but your job this month is to believe that you’re worth that response. The rest will follow.

Libra

We spend our adult lives trying to pretend we don’t still need the things we needed as kidscomfort, praise, attention, cuddlingand then feeling lonely in relationships where we don’t get enough of those things. Whether you had a full and happy childhood or you never got enough of certain kinds of live, this is a month when you get to receive all those sweet kinds of affection that will help you feel deeply cared for. There’s only one catch: You have to know what to ask for, and you have to ask for it. Take your time figuring each of those out if they feel daunting.

Scorpio

Repeat after me: It doesn’t gotta be this way. No more betrayal, no more heartbreak, no more isolation, no more suffering because you took a chance once and opened up to someone and lord knows you’ll never do that again. Whatever old wounds you’re still licking, now’s the time to slap a bandaid on them and go work what you’ve got despite them. You get to choose happiness, even if you have to swim through an ocean of tears to get there. Let the past pass and steer toward the future.

Sagittarius

You don’t need to know where you’re going yet. You don’t need to know the rest of your life this month, or this week, or this day. You’re still figuring out what you really want, and that’s changed in the last few years. Don’t get too depressed about what you don’t have yetthere’s a lot of drama out there you don’t need in your life. It’s okay to wait for the right timing, the right man, and your own inner sense of what feels right. You’ll feel it when it happens. Meanwhile, enjoy the process of discovery.

Capricorn

Remember when you hoped for more from people? Remember believing the best about anyone you met? Maybe you were never such a wide-eyed idealist, but this is a month when it will feel easier to give people the benefit of the doubt. If you’ve got any hatchets you’re ready to bury, now’s the time to do it in style. New romance can also bloom under this optimistic frame of mindlet yourself trust that what you really want is possible.

Aquarius

Which feels scarier to youa first date with someone brand new, or having a bad day around someone you’re already dating? Is it easier to make a good first impression than to let someone see you at your worst? This month helps you release that strain of always holding yourself back. You don’t have to be perfect, or stoic, or perfectly stoic to impress anyone. Relax into the knowledge that you can show your feelings and your flaws (which aren’t the same thing!), and we’ll still be impressed.

Pisces

For all the enchantment you can bring to romance, you’re also in danger of getting too swept awayat some point the dreamboat you’ve been pining for turns out to be just a regular human whose flaws are all the worse for you having seen them and chosen to ignore them for so long. This month, you get a chance to change that pattern! You’re learning what signs to look for when it’s time to pull back, slow down, or move on. Keep your eyes on the prize, and don’t fall too fast for anyone who hasn’t proven he’s worth it.