TRANSCRIPT Ep. 126
Virgo First Quarter Moon: Buckle Down!
Welcome to The Big Sky Astrology Podcast, with your host, Astrologer and Author, April Elliott Kent.
April: Hello, invisible friend, April here. And the date today is June 6th, 2022. Welcome to Episode 126 of The Big Sky Astrology Podcast. This is another fairly light week in the Big Sky, but we will be taking a look at the First Quarter Moon in Virgo. Mercury makes the last of three trine aspects to Pluto, and Venus makes a conjunction with Uranus. Plus, I answer a listener question about the depiction of astrologers in fiction.
Virgo First Quarter Moon (June 6, 2022, 7:40 am PDT)
We begin with the Moon Report for the week of June 6th and that Virgo First Quarter Moon that I mentioned, that’s on June 6th at 07:40 AM Pacific Time at 16° and 50 minutes of Virgo. This falls on the Sabian symbol, 17 Virgo, “A Volcanic Eruption”, which sounds kind of exciting. And I think we could probably see that in the chart for the First Quarter Moon as well, with Mars and Jupiter still in that separating conjunction in Aries. The First Quarter Moon is the moment in the Lunar Cycle when we first take action and initiate something related to an idea or conception that we were thinking about at the previous New Moon, in this case, that was the Gemini New Moon on May 30th.
Gemini is a sign that has a lot of ideas, and a lot of curiosity, loves variety and wants to go in a lot of different directions at the same time. Gemini has a little bit of trouble focusing in a particular direction. One week after the Gemini New Moon, we have the First Quarter, usually in Virgo, and that’s the case here. Virgo and Gemini have a lot in common in that they’re both ruled by Mercury. But Gemini and Virgo really show us two different sides of Mercury. Gemini is the purely mental dimensions of Mercury, how we think, how we process information and get it back out into the world and communicate it. Virgo on the other hand is much more physical because it’s an earth sign and it’s apt to take all the disparate elements that Mercury collects and find so interesting and then analyze them and put them together into something useful.
So, what we see at the First Quarter Moon in Virgo is that we are asked to take at least one of the ideas, the compelling ideas that came to us during the Gemini New Moon and buckled down in focus and really analyze it and think about what to do with it in a practical sense. At the First Quarter, we’re asked to take a leap of faith to take action, and leaps of faith are not normally something we associate with Virgo, which is a very practical down to earth sign. But it does actually take a certain amount of faith, if you will, of deciding which one of the many ideas or possibilities that presented themselves at the Gemini New Moon, which one is viable? Which one we should spend some time on?
In my profession, I do a lot of lecturing and I’ll come up with lots of different ideas for lectures that I might give. But, putting together lecture is pretty time consuming for me, so, it always is a little bit of a leap of faith when I choose one and decide to sit down and really drill down, do the research, collect examples, do all of that good Virgo work to make something of it. So, that’s the type of leap of faith that’s really called for at the Virgo First Quarter Moon.
I do like that Sabian symbol, “A Volcanic Eruption”, as it connects, not only with the Mars-Jupiter conjunction, but with Virgo itself. I think I’ve said on the podcast before that we overlook the physical dimension of Virgo. We tend to focus on the ways that Virgo is perfectionistic and mentally adept and a good researcher and all of that, but it’s an earth sign, it’s a physical sign. And Virgo is the kind of sign where agitation will build and build and build and it’s often around the frustration of not being able to get something quite right or to not be able to make it perfect. And that is what will make a Virgo temperament explode. So, we might see a bit of that at this Virgo First Quarter Moon, just being so frustrated and so agitated that we almost can’t help ourselves but to kind of lose our temper a bit.
The Sun is on the Sabian symbol, 17 Gemini, “The Head Of A Robust Youth Changes Into That Of A Mature Thinker”. So, I think that’s actually a really elegant picture for the Sun being in Gemini, which is the “robust youth ” and “The Mature Thinker”, which is the Moon in Virgo. So, that’s the tension here of having to choose just one path, one thing that we’re going to really give ourselves over to and that we need to do whatever it is that we normally do to try to have a release valve for the frustration that comes up. So, this is making sure we get exercise and enough sleep and all of those things that help keep the nervous system on an even keel.
Void-of-Course Moon periods
Let’s take a look at the Void-of-Course Moon periods for this week. The first is on June 8th when the Moon in Virgo ends on a trine aspect to Pluto at 5:09 AM Pacific Time. Then it’s void-of-course for about three hours, entering Libra at 08:23 AM Pacific Time. So, there’s probably more going on with this void-of-course period if you are east of the Pacific Time Zone, where I’m at. If you’re on the east coast, this will be happening between 8:09 AM and 11:23 AM, so that’s really your work morning.
The Moon making a trine to Pluto, especially the Moon in Virgo, I think is a wonderful void-of-course period for reinforcing new habits and in particular dietary habits, because the Moon in Virgo is very concerned with its nutrition, what it’s eating, how it’s feeling as a result of what it’s eaten. The Moon is very much related to food and nourishment. So, being in Virgo is a great time to take some little element of your diet that you’ve been thinking about or some other health routine, like exercise, and really commit to it, because the trine to Pluto gives the willpower and the determination to do what you need to do.
Then on June 10th, the Moon in Libra ends on a square to Pluto at 10:36 AM Pacific Time, it too is void-of-course for about three hours before going into Scorpio at 1:41 PM. So, this is kind of a doubly Plutonian feeling Moon because it’s square Pluto, so you sit for about three hours with this feeling of emotional turmoil. It’s a time when we tend towards self-doubt, “Why did I say that thing to that person? Was I rude? Could I have done more to meet that person halfway?” These are the kind of things that the Moon in Libra might be thinking about. And when the Moon is square Pluto, we do have this tendency to review our actions in a really unforgiving way, so don’t be quite so rough on yourself, and see if you can find some other way to occupy your mind for these three hours, so you’re not dwelling on what you have or haven’t done.
Now, we said that is kind of a doubly Plutonian Moon, because it next enters the sign of Scorpio. The modern planetary ruler of Scorpio is Pluto, so we see it has this Plutonian to dimension to it as well. So, after the Moon goes into Scorpio at 1:41 PM, we are going further down the path of emotional exploration, diving deep into what it is that we feel and what it is that we want.
On June 12th, that Moon in Scorpio makes an opposition to Mercury at 2:40 PM Pacific Time. It’ll be void-of-course for about an hour before it moves into Sagittarius at 3:31 PM. I would say this is a terrific void-of-course period to do a little bit of journaling, a little bit of writing about some things that you’ve been processing since that void-of-course moon on June 10th. Maybe you’ve come to some realizations about a conversation you need to have with somebody, that would also suit this symbolism or a letter or email that you are thinking about writing.
Mercury trine Pluto (June 10, 2022, 2:21 pm PDT)
On June 10th, Mercury makes the second of three trine aspects to Pluto. This happens at 2:21 PM Pacific Time, at one of the later degrees of Taurus, 28°12’, on the Sabian symbol, 29 Taurus, “Two Cobblers Working At A Table”. This is the last of three trine aspects that Mercury has made with Pluto. The first was on April 28th, then we had one on May 25th and then, this is the last one. And as I’ve said previously on the podcast, Mercury’s aspects are so fleeting that I won’t often give a ton of attention to them. But, when we have one of these situations where Mercury, because of its retrograde period is making a succession of aspects to the same planet, then I think it bears a little more scrutiny. So, this one, as I said, is on this nice Sabian symbol, “Two Cobblers Working at a Table”.
I can remember years ago, my first job, I worked at a local newspaper group. I was a – what they called at the time, a computer typesetter for legal ads. And, I worked with another young lady who became a good friend of mine, and we literally worked at the same desk. And this Sabian symbol always makes me think of that vision and how closely we worked and how friendly we became. And, it’s a very special kind of working relationship where you’re sitting side by side with somebody.
Working well together of course means being honest and telling the truth. And we always have to be a little bit careful with Mercury connecting with Pluto or in Scorpio, or maybe connecting with Mars, because it can mean that in the interest of being truthful, we can veer into being hurtful, whether or not that’s our intention. So, I think that perhaps this process, the succession of aspects between Mercury and Pluto since last April, has maybe been giving us the opportunity to perfect those particular communication skills, and in particular, it might be somebody that you work with because of the Sabian symbol, “The Two Cobblers Working Together”.
The Sabian symbol for Pluto here is 29 Capricorn, “A Woman Reading Tea Leaves”. That’s one, of course we’ve been looking at a lot while Pluto is sitting at the end of its sign, and this does talk about fate. And also, because of the intensity of Mercury with Pluto, it brings to mind this idea of astrologers or even therapists, anybody who works with people to uncover the truth about who they are and what they want, and that takes a particular kind of ability to drill down and to guide people toward a truth that might be a little bit difficult to look at. And I think that we get this image of “A Woman Reading Tea Leaves”, it’s a similar kind of idea. If you do the kind of work I do, you might be sitting with a person and listening to their story and looking at the symbols in their chart moving forward, which kind of suggest that they’re going to be going through this for a while. And it could be hard to figure out exactly what you want to say to people. And I think that the opportunity for us at the end of the succession of Mercury-Pluto aspects is to frame things in a really good, really positive way.
I was talking with a client a couple of days ago, who mentioned an astrologer named Pam Gregory. I know of her and her name, but I don’t know her personally. I know she’s a good astrologer. And what my client liked so much about Pam’s work is how uplifting it was. And, she said it’s not that didn’t talk about the fact that things could be difficult, but that she worked to find a positive light to put it in some way of working with the astrology that was empowering. And I think ultimately that is the greatest possibility with Mercury connecting with Pluto over this last month or so, is the ability to change how we look at things, how we frame difficult times.
Venus conjoins Uranus (June 11, 2022, 3:57 pm PDT)
On June 11th, Venus makes a conjunction with Uranus at 3:57 PM Pacific Time, at 16°52’ minutes of Taurus. The Moon at the time of this conjunction is at 15° of Scorpio, and that’s in a very close opposition to Venus and Uranus coming together. In many ways, it’s one of the more anxiety-producing conjunctions. Because, Venus rules what we like, being at leisure, being comfortable, our relationships that we depend on, our income that we depend on, all of the things that we rely upon. And, Uranus is a planet that wants to shake us up from what we’re comfortable with. A planet that says “You’ve been doing this for long enough in this particular way, and you need to change. Because, all of life really is about this wonderful balance between having what we like and what’s easy and what’s comfortable, but on the other hand, not getting too stale, having new adventures, having a fresh take on things.
So, when Venus comes together with Uranus, as it does once a year, it’s an opening to do things in a new way, it doesn’t have to be disastrous. But I think, the Moon being exactly opposed this Venus- Uranus, does have a little bit more of that feeling of wanting to hold on to what we have. That’s the nature of Scorpio and the Moon in Scorpio. It has trouble trusting things to work out the way we’d like. So, having that in opposition of Venus Uranus, makes us feel maybe a little more apprehensive than usual about changing things up.
But I think the Venus with Uranus conjunction is a good thing. It’s like opening a window in a stale room and in any kinds of relationships in your life where you’re kind of going on autopilot, as you do sometimes, when you’ve known someone for a long time. This is the kind of aspect… and again, it’s only really for a couple of days, we might feel this about June 10th, June 11th, a little bit on the 12th. It is some little moment that shakes things up and you can wake up and you can see the people close to you through new eyes. And maybe you get some kind of interesting insight too, about how to change your financial situation. Maybe, there is a new idea for the way you might want to earn money that comes up at this time. I know we’ve said on the podcast many times when Venus makes connections with Uranus, there can sometimes be unexpected expenses that come up too, especially when it comes to technology or your car, your washer and dryer or whatever the heck it is. On the plus side, Venus conjunct Uranus can also bring an unexpected windfall. So, we’ll just have to stay tuned and see exactly how this plays out.
Listener Question: Astrologers in Fiction
Listener Ursula sent the following question, writing, “In some ways, the public and the creators who entertain them have an uneasy fascination with tools and practices of a metaphysical or divinatory nature. Sometimes those elements appear to be introduced into novels, TV shows, or films only to accentuate the quirkiness or spookiness of a plot or a character. If you were contracted to speak at a writer’s workshop on the windswept peninsula of a small east coast seaside town complete with rustic cottages, boardwalk, amusements, and enticing antique shops, how would you counsel writers seeking to incorporate astrological themes into their fiction in ways that add richness and texture to the story and are not mere gimmicks?”
It is interesting you should ask me that, Ursula. Just the other night, I was re-watching an old episode of the British detective series, Midsomer Murders. There was an episode, I think it was called “Written In The Stars”, and it did have as one of its central figures and astrologer, or as they maddeningly called her, an “Astrologist”, which is not a term that I like. Let’s just put it that way. So, I think I’d begin there and say first, maybe as a writer of this kind of thing, maybe talk to an astrology about what astrology is. It’s not palmistry, tarot, ruins, crystal balls, it’s not any of that. And, I say that not disparaging any of those techniques. I like them all. I’ve used tarot a little bit, but it’s not astrology. And, I would really like to see a clearer emphasis on what an astrologer does.
Likewise, a word please about the astrologer’s wardrobe. I would say that for the most part, professional astrologers don’t wear turbines or diaphanous Stevie Nick’s costumes, any more than the general population, other than maybe bankers or something.
So, in this television show I was watching, the astrologer was played a bit for laughs in the way she was dressed, headbands and flowing garments and stuff like that. I’m not saying no astrologers dress that way or that there’s anything wrong with dressing that way, I’m just saying, don’t expect it. And, I remember the first time I went to see an astrologer, the thing that kind of impressed me was, she was dressed so normally, she looked like my aunt or something. And there was something really reassuring about that. Most of the astrologers that I know personally, and this might be a generational thing too, dress pretty much like any professional.
Another thing I would say is, don’t use astrology if you want to introduce a spooky element into this story. Have one of your characters consult an astrologer and then completely misconstrues their advice to mean something like, “Sure, go ahead and kill your stepmother to keep her from swiping your inheritance”. You know, instead show the astrologer being interviewed by detectives and rolling their eyes at how they were misquoted. “Look, I actually told that guy, with Saturn going through his 8th house, he’d need to draw boundaries and take responsibility for his own wellbeing, instead of depending on an inheritance.” Astrologers are misquoted all the time. People very often will hear through their own lens and they hear what they want to hear.
One of the best depictions of a psychic that I can remember, not an astrologer, but she was a psychic, was in an old episode of the TV series, Designing Women. One of the women in the design studio, Charlene, who is very sweet, but always came across as a little bit gullible, she announced that she was going to meet with a psychic to get some advice, and I think was on a relationship. And Julia Sugarbaker, who was the very formidable owner of the company was scoffing at this idea, telling Charlene that she was going to be taken advantage of. But then the psychic arrived, and she was a lovely, normally professionally dressed woman, very kind, began doing her reading for Charlene and Julia ended up being so impressed by this woman’s warmth and kindness, that she actually ended up paying for the reading herself. That’s a depiction I really like of people who do metaphysical work. Because, for the most part, that is what we try to do. We try to be kind and we try to be helpful.
So, another thing I would say to these writers at this workshop would be, please run it by a fact checking astrologer again, to avoid poor astrological grammar. For professional astrologers, one of these that really is bothersome to us is the term “Mercury is in retrograde”. That is something an astrologer would never say. The term that we would use as “Mercury is retrograde”. So, that’s just a little detail, but it would give some authenticity. Or they might say something like “My Virgo is in Venus”. This was an actual quote from that Midsummer Murders episode, “Mars is in the ascendant in the 8th house of Peter’s Zodiac”, which just makes no sense at all. Mars, the ascendant is completely different than the 8th house and correct term would be “Peter’s chart” rather than “His Zodiac”. So, it really is worth it.
And, as I said before, astrologist is a term… I remember Chris Brennan did – Chris and Leisa did an episode of The Astrology Podcast where they talked about this term “Astrologist versus astrologer”. They did a survey and it turned out that this minuscule percentage of professional astrologers used the term “Astrologist” for what they do. So, it’s not something that would be realistic in a TV show like that.
So, those are the kinds of things that I would recommend to writers. And I don’t think I would get very far, by the way, in discouraging them from representing an astrologer As kind of flighty and shown as a charlatan or an opportunist. Because, it’s a trope, it’s the way a lot of people unfortunately think about astrologers. So, it’s unfortunate and I think the best we can hope for is, often what they’ll try to do is – they know a lot of people really like astrology, so the way I often see it played is all of the main characters are rolling their eyes at how silly the astrologer is throughout the whole show. But then, at the very end, there is something that is shown to be accurate in what the astrologer said. So, they’re kind of trying to have it both ways, poke fun at astrology, but at the same time to kind of throw a bone to people who are interested in it.
Well, it’s a really good question. I hope I answered it for you. I think one other thing I might say at this writer’s workshop would be, “Can anybody get me a discount in one of those enticing antique shops that Ursula described?”
If you have a burning question about astrology that you’d like me to answer, please leave a voicemail of one minute or less at speakpipe.com/bigskyastrologypodcast, or send me an email, april(at)bigskyastrology(dot)com and be sure to put “Podcast Question” in the subject line.
Donor thanks
That is everything I have on my show sheet, so I’m going to wrap this one up. Thanks for listening to The Big Sky Astrology Podcast. If you like what you’re hearing, please subscribe or follow in your app of choice. Ratings and reviews are always welcome, and I’d really love it if you’d help spread the word by telling an astrology loving friend about the show. You can read show notes and full transcripts and leave your comments about each episode at bigskyastropod.com.
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That is it for this episode. Join me again, bright and early next Monday. And until then, keep your feet on the ground and your eyes on the stars.
© 2022 April Elliott Kent
