Episode 279 (2.24.25)
New Moon in Pisces + Venus Enters Her Confinement!
Hello, Invisible Friend, April here, and the date today is February 24th, 2025. Welcome to Episode 279 of the Big Sky Astrology Podcast. This week, Mercury sails the turbulent Piscean seas, connecting with Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and the North Node, on the way to a high-flying Pisces New Moon. The Sun crosses paths with Jupiter in Gemini and wishes for a little peace and quiet. Venus stations for her 40-day retrograde period; I’ll tell you what that means. And I answer a listener question about minor aspects: What makes them so minor?
Mercury conjunct Saturn (Feb. 25, 2025, 4:02 am PST)
Mercury makes a conjunction with Saturn on February 25th at 4:02 am Pacific Time at 20º 15’ Pisces. And whenever Mercury comes together with Saturn, a reality check is in order. Are we telling the truth about ourselves? Our goals, our lives. This is an opportunity to revisit those old stories about ourselves, to gain a better perspective on our current ambitions, maturity, reputation.
These are insights that might come with the help of siblings or neighbors who are ruled by Mercury. It’s a chance really to take responsibility for our actions and our thoughts and that can lead our minds to sober or even depressing thoughts. But fortunately, this is a quick transit, so we don’t have a whole lot of time to get stuck in that negative mindset.
In a more practical sense. This is an aspect that brings focus, and honestly, that is something that Mercury in Pisces can find very helpful. This is a good day to get your income tax documents together to sort out your filing system, tidy up your art supplies, restring your guitar.
Mercury sextile Uranus (Feb. 27, 2025, 1:38 am PST)
And a couple of days later, on February 27th at 1:38 am Pacific Time, Mercury sextiles Uranus at 23º 35’ Pisces and Taurus. And when Mercury connects with Uranus, it will slough off the seriousness and extreme focus of its conjunction with Saturn and the mind awakens to new ideas, new possibilities. Especially with the sextile aspect, new ideas tend to arise in conversation, or in the classroom, in something you’re reading or listening to, or even watching television.
Pisces New Moon (Feb. 27, 2025, 4:45 pm PST)
And now it’s time for the Moon Report, and it begins with the Pisces New Moon, on February 27th at 4:45 pm Pacific Time, at 9º 40’ Pisces. And when I say Pisces New Moon, I mean, wow, a lot of Pisces. There is a big stellium of planets in Pisces at this New Moon – the Sun and Moon, of course, Mercury, Saturn, Neptune, and the North Node. If you ever wanted to really learn something about the Pisces experience, pay attention at this New Moon, because you could hardly get anything more Piscean than what is going on in this chart.
Pisces’ ruler, Jupiter, is squaring this New Moon so, expect some conflict between Pisces’ desire for peace and quiet and Jupiter in Gemini’s propensity to bring endless sources of chatter, noise, and distraction our way.
Pisces is a very sensitive sign and having so much planetary energy converging around this sign at the New Moon can maybe be a little exhausting. Pisces is a sign where we’re so sensitive to everything and everyone around us that we get burned out a little bit from all this exposure to other people’s thoughts and feelings. Take lots of naps if you need to.
The Pisces New Moon in terms of setting intentions or thinking ahead for the next months to what we might want to accomplish in the Pisces realm, this would have to do with our spiritual path, among other things. But there is a time and a place to contemplate that, and the Pisces time seems really appropriate.
I love the Sabian symbol for this New Moon degree, 10 Pisces, An aviator in the clouds. And there is in this symbol the wonderful feeling of freedom and expansiveness, of being up high above the ground in the clouds. But also importantly, it speaks of having a larger perspective of getting high above it all, taking the larger view of what it is that you’re doing in your life and how meaningful it feels or doesn’t feel.
And if you’re feeling a need for spiritual help, if you’ve been feeling down or disoriented or conflicted, this is a wonderful lunar cycle, actually, for trying to find your spiritual footing. It’s a really creative and artistic sign as well. And if you’ve been planning a creative project, or wanting to get together with people, especially in collaboration and brainstorming new creative projects or ideas, this is a wonderful cycle for that.
It’s also a cycle about forgiveness and healing, both emotionally and physically. If you have been under the weather, unwell, you know that there are these little nagging issues that you should take care of with your health. But it’s hard to make the time to do it. Pisces season is that time, and that’s true spiritually as well.
Lunar Phase Family Cycle
This is the New Moon in a lunar phase family cycle that will unfold over the next three years. The things that you initiate at this cycle, the new ideas or intentions or practices, can for the meantime remain in the realm of imagination. You’re trying to decide exactly what would scratch the particular itch that you’re feeling at this time? The yearning for something more, for a bigger vision in your life, perhaps.
A first action can be taken toward these goals at the First Quarter Moon on November 27th, 2025, when the First Quarter is at 06º17’ Pisces. Nine months later, at the Full Moon of August 27th, 2026. There is more clarity about what it was we set in place at this New Moon, and clarity is a really important word when we’re talking about Pisces, because it has many gifts, this sign, but clarity isn’t always among them, so that Full Moon on August 27th, 2026, is a moment of clarity.
Nine months after that, there’s the Last Quarter Moon on May 28th, 2027 at 07º01’ Pisces. By then, you have a pretty good idea of what this overall plan is going to look like. Maybe it’s a creative project, maybe it’s a spiritual path, but you have a much clearer picture of it after that Full Moon.
And then at the Last Quarter Moon, it is making one final action, one final big push in the direction of those goals.
Void-of-Course Moon periods
Let’s look at the Void-of-Course Moon periods for this week. On February 24th, the Moon in Capricorn sextiles Neptune at 7:28 pm Pacific Time. It’s Void-of-Course for 2 hours, 12 minutes, and then enters Aquarius at 9:40 pm. The Capricorn Moon is pragmatic, methodical. It gets down to brass tacks. But when it connects with Neptune, those practical qualities of getting things done are put into the service of something less practical, which is symbolized by Neptune. And if there is something that you’re wanting to accomplish on a Piscean or Neptunian level… let’s say you’ve decided that you’re going to attend a local yoga class every week and it’s been really hard for you to get yourself to go and make that happen. This Moon in Capricorn sextile Neptune will actually give you the get-up and go to go and make that a reality. And Void-of-Course Moon periods do that for us. They get us out of old habits and hopefully into new and helpful habits.
So, if you want to begin something new, going to a class every week, whatever it might be, this is a good Void-of-Course Moon time to implement that.
On February 26th, the Moon in Aquarius squares Uranus at 2:04 pm Pacific Time. It’s Void-of-Course for a good long time, 10 hours and 42 minutes, and then enters Pisces on February 27th at 12:46 am. The meaning behind this Void-of-Course Moon and the opportunity that’s available to us is to resolve a conflict that we have, around overcoming our own tendency towards stubbornness and to cultivate flexibility and the willingness to see things from another point of view.
On March 1st, the Moon in Pisces makes a conjunction with Neptune at 12:05 am Pacific Time. It’s Void-of-Course for 1 hour 47 minutes and then enters Aries at 1:52 am. This Void-of-Course Moon period concludes the rest of the Moon’s journey through Pisces following the New Moon.
Use this Void-of-Course Period to get in the habit of preparing for a better night’s sleep. We often don’t do the things we know that we should do to promote better sleep. So maybe turning off your devices a couple of hours before you go to bed, maybe just reading a little something before you drift off, having a soothing beverage, an herbal tea or something, listening to a guided meditation. A calming spiritual practice that can soothe your nerves, help you download the day’s events and get them out of your head, and really gets you ready for sleep, whether it’s just a few stretching exercises, maybe, or a practice of jotting down a few notes about what happened that day. I know a lot of people swear by gratitude journals, and this is an excellent time to go through that exercise as well.
Venus stations retrograde (March 1, 2025, 4:36 pm PST)
Venus in Aries stations to turn retrograde on March 1st at 4:36 pm Pacific time at 10º50’ Aries. It will station direct in Pisces on April 12th, 2025. Venus is beginning her retrograde confinement, is how I like to think of Venus retrograde, like when ladies used to retreat to their home, to their bedroom before giving birth.
And Venus is beginning this confinement in Aries, which is a very rowdy and headstrong sign. It’s the sign of Venus’s fall and it will turn direct in April in the sign of her exaltation. The way I read this is we will be better at loving and connecting by the time this retrograde period is over.
Retrograde periods, for all the planets, favor inner work over outer action in the matters that are ruled by the retrograde planet. So, in the case of Venus retrograde, we should try to avoid making major purchases and this is especially true of buying a house or a car or another big-ticket item. And as for what qualifies as big ticket, well, that’s pretty subjective and it depends on your resources and your spending habits.
I would also say while Venus is retrograde, it really is best to not make permanent relationship changes. If you can help it, I absolutely would not marry while Venus is retrograde, or for that matter, really, get divorced. And the reasoning is that you may not see the whole picture or be in possession of all the facts that you need to make such a serious decision.
I think Venus retrograde periods are for looking within to decide what we need to do to love ourselves, and to be the most lovable version of ourselves. Venus also rules the appearance, so this is not a great time to get cosmetic procedures done, like plastic surgery or tattoos. Things that are more or less permanent. Think twice before getting a really extreme haircut that will take a very long time to go back to the way it was, should you decide that you don’t like it.
Venus retrograde can be times when art, relationships, money matters go against the mainstream. This is a little bit of a rebellious Venus, and especially so being in Aries, which inevitably marches to the beat of its own drummer and always has to make some adjustments in order to be happy in a relationship.
Mercury conjunct Neptune (March 2, 2025, 8:22 am PST)
Mercury makes a conjunction with Neptune on March 2nd at 8:22 am Pacific Time at 28º57’ Pisces, on the Sabian symbol, 29 Pisces, A prism. Neptune is like a sponge, and Mercury is a happy little gatherer of words, images, experiences, and information. Be a little careful with what you take in around this conjunction, what you feed your mind, because it will become part of you. Take some time on this day to really indulge your imaginative pursuits or ideas.
Now, it’s a less productive day, if I’m honest, for applying ourselves to really logical and practical tasks. But intuition is especially strong during this aspect. The logical mind becomes one with the strongly imaginative mind, and this makes breakthroughs possible.
It’s also a good time for imagining, “what if.” What if you decided to get a different job or move to a different place or whatever the “what if” may be. Part of it, I think, is that the logical mind being kind of let off the leash gives us the opportunity to just explore other possibilities that maybe we hadn’t considered before.
If you’re a musician, artist, or writer in particular, anything that we think of as a conventionally artistic or creative, this is the day for the breakthroughs that have been holding you back from creating what is really in your heart.
Sun square Jupiter (March 2, 2025, 10:19 am PST)
And later that morning on March 2nd at 10:19 am Pacific Time, the Sun in Pisces squares Jupiter in Gemini. The Sun’s Sabian symbol at the square is 13 Pisces, A sword in a museum, and Jupiter’s Sabian symbol is 13 Gemini, A great musician at his piano. So, we have a couple of symbols that speak on the one hand of the sword in the museum, which I always imagine as a symbol of laying down our arms and no longer fighting, no longer engaging in conflict. But, also the great musician at his piano, beautiful and artistic.
This is a really good transit, always. We get this square twice a year and any aspect between the Sun and Jupiter is pretty great for putting ourselves out there and getting noticed, exploring our creativity, having some fun. Of course, with Jupiter, we have to be a little bit careful not to overdo things.
Good opportunities can present ourselves to you around this date, but we do have to use a little bit of caution before we say yes. A lot of the things that the Sun in Pisces wants us to do, like meditate, make music, enjoy our own thoughts, all of these things require peace and quiet and focus, but Jupiter in Gemini provides nothing but distractions.
So, we have to decide, I think, when we have this kind of square when we need to just push through all those distractions, and when we need to go ahead and take a little break and walk away from what we’re doing and engage in what’s around us. And then come back to our task, and usually then we’re refreshed. We have new ideas, new input that has come from that Jupiter in Gemini.
The other dimension of the Sun with Jupiter is that our tolerance for being told what to do, or especially what to believe, is extremely low during aspects like this. We really feel that nobody should be giving us any input into our behavior or ideas. This is a square where, in some way, we are asked to review whether we’re maybe just being a little bossy in general in our lives, if we’re just a little too attached to our particular beliefs, or whether it’s important for us to hold that line and hold those boundaries. So that we really know who we are and that can’t come from anybody else.
Listener Question: Why are Minor Aspects Minor?
In this week’s listener question, Listener Carmel asks, “Why are minor aspects considered minor? When a transiting planet is moving and we’re studying our natal chart, should we consider minor aspects as important as major aspects? Do we need to pay extra attention to minor aspects when an outer planet transit is happening?
Why do some astrologers include the quincunx sometimes, but never the semi-sextile? In your recent listener question about Saturn cycles, and when we look at Moon cycles, key aspects are 45º and 135º. When are the minor aspects important, and why?”
I love this question, Carmel. Thank you.
Let’s begin by first considering what are the major, or what we call Ptolemaic planetary aspects, as defined and used by Ptolemy in the first century AD. These are the conjunction, which if it’s exact, the planets are separated by zero degrees, the sextile, 60º; the square, 90º; the trine, 120º; or the opposition, 180º. These major aspects are those that are divisible by 10 and evenly divided in relation to the 360-degree wheel, with the exception of the semi-sextile.
In the birth chart, these aspects are considered to represent the biggest and most obvious dimensions of a person’s character and major life issues. They are big and shouty and very hard to overlook. If you get together in a group of astrologers and you ask people, “What is your most influential aspect?”, they’re probably going to name something that falls in the category of the major aspects.
Now, minor aspects tend to be, I think we would say, more subtle in their expression. Some of the most commonly used minor aspects, though there are many more, include the semi-sextile, which is 30º; the semi-square, 45º; the quintile aspect, 72º; the sesquiquadrant, 135º; and the quincunx, 150º.
They’re all pretty challenging, even the semi-sextile, which is not quite as pleasant as its name would imply. And other than the semi-sextile, which happens in adjacent signs, they’re all a little bit harder to learn to identify in a horoscope.
But by no means are they unimportant. One of my favorite quotes from my teacher was on the subject of the sesquiquadrant. She said, “It’s a square with a semi-square added to it. Does that sound minor to you?” And she was right! You know, if you’ve got one in your chart, you’ve got an upfront and personal view of something that can be really hard to deal with.
There are astrologers who work very closely with the minor aspects. Rick Levine comes to mind, Noel Tyl was a big proponent of the minor aspects, but I would say it’s more of a specialization than it is the norm. In a birth chart reading your average astrologer has their hands full with the major aspects and frankly rarely get to the minor ones unless you have a pet minor aspect that you always want to talk to people about. And I would say the quincunx is so miserable that we often find ourselves talking about that one as well.
When it comes to transits, most astrologers are probably only going to take them into consideration if it, as you mentioned, is a slow outer planet transit, making a minor aspect to a natal planet. But in secondary progressions, I use minor aspects actually quite a lot relative to other situations.
For example, the semi-sextile, 30º can be extremely powerful in this system where a natal planet can spend 30 years in the same sign, and then when it flips into the next sign, the semi-sextile, the experience can be really dramatic. Also interesting in secondary progressions is when a natal planet that is in, say, a trine to another planet in the birth chart progresses into a quincunx aspect to the planet, or a sesquiquadrate in the birth chart progresses into a trine. Then we really look at these minor aspects and begin to question, yeah, what is so minor about them? Because they seem really significant.
You mentioned the lunar cycle, which I have called a template for all other cycles and I used it in one episode, as you said, to describe the transiting Saturn cycle as being similar. That was in Episode 260, and we will link to that in the show notes. And yes, with the Moon cycle, we commonly use the eight phases of the cycle. The New Moon, which is the conjunction, the Crescent, which begins at 45º, the Quarter Moons, which are at the squares at 90º. The Gibbous Moons at the sesquiquadrate at 135, the Full Moon opposition at 180, and then another sesquiquadrate, square and crescent.
But more often, it really is just the four major lunar phases that are, say, marked on non-astrological calendars. You grab just about any calendar and they will have the New Moon, First Quarter, Full Moon, and Last Quarter phases marked – the big, obvious, shouty ones that punctuate the month in four easy-to-spot examples, one per week. The ones that stand out and make themselves seen and felt as turning points in the month with no misunderstandings.
Thank you so much for your question. I do hope my answer was helpful.
And if you have a question you’d like me to answer in a future episode of the podcast, please leave a message of one minute or less at speakpipe.com / bigskyastrologypodcast. I would love to hear more of your friendly voices. Or, you can send me an email at April at BigSkyAstrology. com, and please be sure to put “Podcast Question” in the subject line.
Donor Thanks
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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!
Writing and images © 2017-25 by April Elliott Kent
For more on this week’s planetary news, read my column!
