TRANSCRIPT Ep. 353 | Aquarius Full Moon: An Aquarius-Leo See-Saw!

TRANSCRIPT Ep 353 | Aquarius Full Moon: An Aquarius-Leo See-Saw! (7.27.26)

Hello, Invisible Friends. April here, and the date today is July 27th, 2026. Welcome to Episode 353 of the Big Sky Astrology Podcast. This is another two-week episode while I finish up my vacation. So, we are covering a lot of ground while leaving out a certain amount of stuff like the Void-of-Course Moon periods, so I hope that you’ll forgive me while I take a look at the Suntrine Neptune, sextile Uranus, conjunct Jupiter, and trine Saturn; Venus square Mars; the Aquarius Full Moon; Venus entering Libra; and Mercury entering Leo! It is a lot, as I say, so buckle up for the ride!

Sun trine Neptune (July 27, 2026, 12:36 am PDT)
Sun sextile Uranus (July 27, 2026, 2:36 pm PDT)

On Monday, July 27th, the Sun trines Neptune at 1236 AM Pacific Time at 4°18′ Leo and Aries, and sextiles Uranus on the same day at 2:36 PM Pacific Time at 4°52′ Leo and Gemini.

The Sun is on the Sabian symbol 5 Leo, Rock formations at the edge of a precipice. Neptune is at 5 Aries, A triangle with wings, and Uranus is at 5 Gemini, A radical magazine. These are the degrees of last week’s basket configuration, and the Sun aspecting them from Leo places an exclamation mark at the end of them, as sure as rock formations at the edge of a precipice.

It stabilizes Neptune in Aries, which is already fairly stable at 5 Aries. It’s symbolized by a triangle with wings, an inherently stable shape that is suddenly capable of flight. Because we’re stabilized, we can fly.

The Sun in Leo generally knows who and what it is. When it connects with Neptune, that rock-solid self-knowledge can get a little squishy, but not here. Here, all that stuff about Leo being creative actually becomes real and true and airborne.

This Sun sextiles Uranus on the Sabian symbol 5 Gemini, A radical magazine.

If you’re not on solid ground, Uranus can be extremely destabilizing. Think about being 20 or 21, whenever you got your first square from transiting Uranus to natal Uranus. You didn’t necessarily know who you were yet. At most, you knew what and who you didn’t want to be. Here, the Sun in Leo is on that stabilizing symbol about rock formations at the edge of a precipice, and that offers us the strength and confidence to get a little bit radical to break the rules. Here is a day when we get to be rock-solid Sun in Leo, and standing in that confidence to shake off the confines of predictability and to lift off.

Venus square Mars (July 29, 2026, 12:10 am PDT)

Venus squares Mars on Wednesday, July 29th at 12:10 am Pacific time at 21 degrees 14 minutes Virgo and Gemini. Venus is on the Sabian symbol 22 Virgo, A royal coat of arms, and Mars is at 22 Gemini, the delightful A barn dance. Venus is telling you who she comes from, what her forefathers fought for, essentially her brand. That’s what a royal coat of arms shows us. And Mars is at a barn dance looking to just link arms with her and swing her around. They’re both ruled by Mercury, at least. That is the part of Venus on this degree that is caught up in semiotics, how to label herself and how she expects others to treat her. But Mars is inhabiting the other side of Mercury, the jaunty and irreverent Gemini who doesn’t mind breaking the rules if it means having a little bit of fun. He’s the bad boy who doesn’t care where Venus came from or what her brand is. He just loves that he can spin her around and make her laugh, and she finds it exciting and irresistible.

Sun conjunct Jupiter (July 29, 2026, 5:18 am PDT)
Aquarius Full Moon (July 29, 2026, 7:36 am PDT)

And now it’s time for the Moon Report, and we begin as always with our major lunation of the week, the Aquarius Full Moon on Wednesday, July 29th at 7:36 a.m. Pacific Time at 6 degrees 30 minutes Aquarius and Leo. And it comes just two hours after the Sun’s conjunction with Jupiter in Leo at 5:18 a.m. Pacific Time.

And that’s half of the major seesaw that dominates this Full Moon chart. The Moon is in a conjunction with Pluto in Aquarius, and they are both opposed the Sunand Jupiter. The Moon in conjunction with Pluto brings a lot more raw emotion to the party than we would normally expect with Aquarius. And they’re going head-to-head with the Sun and Jupiter in their annual conjunction, their first in Leo. That’s an awful lot of ego.

But I would put the Moon and Pluto up against them anytime. As the Moon’s south node settles into Leo, the message is strongly in favor of leaning into Leo’s joy and talent, but keeping the ego stuff in check. And Aquarius is more than capable of this, especially Pluto in that sign.

The Full Moon has taken us to the summit of the mountain that we began climbing at the Cancer New Moon on July 14th. That was a New Moon of family, clan, and home, and whatever those things mean to us.

It was also a New Moon that was square Saturn, so there has been a certain expectation of hard work since that New Moon. From this Full Moon, we see where we started from. We see everything it’s taken us to get to the top, and we see the entire daunting task ahead of us as we begin our descent.

This 29-day New Moon cycle doesn’t give us much time to complete anything of substance, but let’s call it the beginning of the beginning, where we begin to understand something about the Cancer areas of our lives. This Full Moon looks back not only at that Cancer New Moon, but back to the New Moon in Aquarius, this Full Moon sign, which was back on February 17th. That New Moon, my friends, was a solar eclipse, the first eclipse in Aquarius since August 2016.

And at the time of that eclipse, Mars was approaching a square aspect to Uranus in the chart, and this was a New Moon and an eclipse that was bound to shake things up. In the world, it certainly did. Now in your life, well, take a look at the Aquarius and Taurus houses. What looks different now than it did back in February?

Lunar Phase Family Cycle

And finally, this is the Full Moon in a lunar phase family cycle that started on January 29th, 2025 at 9 degrees 51 minutes Aquarius, and it hit its first action point at the First Quarter Moon on October 29th, 2025 at 6 degrees 30 minutes Aquarius. We look down now from this frosty Aquarius Full Moon peak and consider the desires of that New Moon. And at the Last Quarter Moon on April 28th, 2027, we’ll come to some kind of understanding with that New Moon.

It was a rather gentle New Moon chart, really. It was on the symbol 10 Aquarius, A popularity that proves ephemeral. And maybe that’s what we’re coming to grips with during this lunar phase family cycle. That fame is fleeting. Popularity doesn’t necessarily last forever. And they are never the North Star that we should be setting our sights on.

Venus enters Libra (Aug. 6, 2026, 12:13 pm PDT)

Venus enters Libra on Thursday, August 6th at 12:13 p.m. Pacific time, and it will be in this sign until September 10th.

Here’s the thing that we forget about Libra. It’s the only sign of the zodiac that’s symbolized by a machine, the scales. And this image is an instructive one. We often think of Libra as though it were Taurus with its love of the physical world, its songs, its foods, sumptuous fabrics, and dancing. But Venus rules two signs, Libra and Taurus, and that is the Taurus side.

Libra is in love with the way things work. Part of the way things work is how they’re put together. Libra’s connected with relationships, and good ones begin with putting together the right people, the ones who are complementary pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.

You still have to learn from each other. It’s not enough to join up with someone who’s good at the things that you are not and then outsource half of your life to them. You need to learn from them how to complete yourself.

Another part of Libra’s genius about the way things work is that they have a gift for figuring out how to fix them, including relationships that have fallen out of plumb and are no longer bringing pleasure. What is it in each person that’s broken?

While Venus is in Libra, take a closer look at the people you’ve chosen to teach you within the realm of an important relationship. Don’t keep repeating the same vexing lessons again and again. Stop trying to fix your partner. You’ve chosen them in order to learn, so learn. If you step on the scales and you don’t like the number that’s looking back at you, you know what you need to do to bring them into balance.

Taurus Last Quarter Moon (Aug. 5, 2026, 7:21 pm)

And because we’re covering two weeks on this episode, we have a second lunation, and that comes on Wednesday, August 5th at 7:21 p.m. Pacific time, and it is the Last Quarter Moon in Taurus. The Last Quarter Moon asks us to contend with what we began at the New Moon, and again that was the New Moon in Cancer on July 14th. So that New Moon had very much to do with how are we coping with our families, and perhaps we’ve had more than the usual number of family obligations that we’ve had to deal with during this New Moon cycle so far.

So the Last Quarter Moon being in Taurus says there is a practical resolution to anything that we set into motion on the Cancer New Moon. It’s not going to be something esoteric or philosophical or difficult to come to grips with. It will be what is it that you’re having to do for your family or to your home, for example, that needs to be brought to completion or understood in some new way, and it is going to be of a practical nature.

What is it that you can actually do for this family member? Not just listen to their problems or pat them on their back, but what practical show of support can you give? Sometimes the very last thing we want to do for people in our lives who are in need or are suffering is to put ourselves out to make the long drive, to make the visit in the hospital, to help someone move out after a relationship has failed. These are tangible, practical ways of showing support, and if there is something like that that comes your way that you’re called upon to do at this Last Quarter Moon, take that opportunity.

Sun trine Saturn (Aug. 6, 2026, 7:44 pm PDT)

The Sun trine Saturn on Thursday, August 6th at 744 p.m. Pacific time at 14 degrees 38 minutes, Leo and Aries.

The Sabian symbol for the Sun is 15 Leo, a pageant, and it strikes me as Leo at its most leonine. It’s like a little kid who gets to march in a parade, or ride a float, and generally just feels incredible about it. “Everyone is looking at me!” Leo never feels more alive than when it’s the object of attention.

It’s not enough, of course. It’s trine to Saturn at 14 degrees 38 minutes Aries and the symbol An Indian weaving a basket is a reminder of this. I mean, it’s an image of someone creating something, and whatever it’s used for, it could potentially at least be something useful.

Look, pageants are fun, and as I say, Leo feels great when it’s being noticed. It’s great that it shines and it shows the world that it’s okay to stand out and to be noticed. But as I said before, we talk about how creative Leo is, and we throw it in like part of a laundry list of Leo traits that never seem to go along with the other ones we think of. So, what does it mean? It means that there’s a part of you that is Leo’s territory, and that it knows how to use its skills and its talents to make something.

Mercury enters Leo (Aug. 9, 2026, 9:28 am PDT)

On Sunday, August 9th, Mercury moves from Cancer, one of its so-called mute signs, and roars into Leo at 9:28 a.m. Pacific time, and it’s in this sign until August 25th. So why does a lion roar? It roars to establish its territory, to communicate with the other members of the pride, and to intimidate its rivals. That tells you a lot of what you need to know about Mercury in this sign.

It’s about show business. It is the way we use Mercury to promote ourselves and our ideas. So, Mercury in Leo has a lot of options in how to express the power of its voice. And one is to roar, to scare people off, to be feared in some way. And some of it’s kind of self-serving, is to make sure that others are noticing you in some way. But there is something about Mercury in Leo which lends itself to this creative quality that I’ve been talking about.

And Mercury is the magician. If you look at the tarot card of the Magician, you see him standing there in front of a table with all of the tools of magic at his disposal. And when you put that symbol into Leo, which brings with it not only skill, not only manual skill, verbal skill, but also warmth, the warmth of fire and the desire to communicate something very specific, you have what is really a wonderful sign for Mercury.

Now it isn’t always, and this can be a sign for Mercury where somebody decides that they are the only interesting topic of conversation, and they want to dominate that conversation and make sure everybody’s paying attention to them. This is not every Mercury in Leo and it’s certainly not the highest use of this particular transit, but it is something that can happen. So, while Mercury is moving through Leo, it behooves each of us to invite others into the conversation and to be that figure of inspiration to others that says, “Hey, what do you have to say? It’s okay to talk. It’s okay to talk about yourself and to be an example of how to do that and how to do it gracefully and warmly.”

Listener Question: Types of Astrology

Well, I guess I was a little more efficient this week than I expected to be because we actually have time for a listener question!

In this week’s listener question, listener Sousa asks, “I hear you and others say things like, ‘I’m a medical astrologer, not a mundane astrologer,’ and I’m curious what types of astrology there are. I know about modern versus traditional, but what other kinds of niches or specific astrology study paths are there?”

What an excellent question! And I will share with you some of the different schools or types or thoughts of astrology that I wrote about in my book, The Essential Guide to Practical Astrology.

The first and probably most common would be just natal astrology. That refers to astrology of the birth chart and it basically talks about your characteristics and tendencies based on the day, year, exact time, and location of your birth. Newspaper horoscopes and coffee mugs with descriptions of your Sun sign as well as in-depth readings by a trained astrologer are all examples of natal astrology.

Then there’s relationship astrology, and that can help you sort out compatibility and challenges between you and somebody else based on the day, year, exact time, and location of your respective births. One tool that a relationship astrologer will use is called synastry, and this compares the position of the planets in one person’s birth chart with the planetary positions in another person’s birth chart. They also use something called composite charts, and these are charts that are derived from a combination of the planetary placements in two birth charts.

Electional astrology is the process of choosing or “electing” the best time to do something, such as getting married or starting a business, and it’s best to really save electional astrology for important actions with far-reaching consequences.

Horary astrology – the name comes from the Latin for “hour.” It answers a question based on the moment the astrologer receives and understands it. If you need a simple answer to a burning question, or a yes or no answer, you pose the question to a horary astrology specialist who glances at their watch and they cast a chart for the moment and then deliver a yes or no answer or otherwise an answer to a very clear-cut question.

Mundane astrology, which you mentioned, studies world affairs and events, so the outcomes of political elections, monarchy ascending to the throne, corporations being formed or dissolving, countries picking fights with each other. This was the early astrologer’s bread and butter, predicting wars, famine and plagues and this kind of thing. There are still mundane astrologers around. In a troubled world, theirs is a nerve-wracking profession.

Financial astrology relies on planetary cycles to predict gain and loss in the financial markets and the commercial marketplace. After the natal astrologer tells you that you’re entering a difficult time financially, a financial astrologer can talk you down with detailed advice about buying low and selling high and diversifying your portfolio and that kind of thing.

And there are medical astrologers. Medical astrology studies the correlation between planetary symbolism and cycles and the health and illness of individuals. The signs and planets are associated with parts of the body and by analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of these in your birth chart, a medical astrologer can help you navigate whatever physical illnesses or maladies you have.

So that’s just a few of the different niches that people will pursue. I’m not saying those are the only ones by any means, but a good deal of astrologers tend to fall into one of a few camps. One would be, are they a modern astrologer or are they a Hellenistic or medieval or otherwise traditional astrologer? And the other would be, what do they specialize in? And some don’t specialize really in anything in particular, but some of the things that I mentioned are probably some of the most popular specialties.

Sousa, thank you so much for your question. I will have some astrologers talking about these particular specialties during the Podathon coming up Labor Day week. I will have Dorothy Oja talking about relationship astrology, Kira Sutherland talking about health and medical astrology, Donna Stellhorn will talk about financial astrology – she talks more about personal finance – Sam Reynolds is going to talk to us about career astrology, and Linea Van Horn is going to talk to us about finding the signs for moving house in a chart. So I hope that you find all of those discussions as interesting as I did!

If you have a burning question you would like me to answer about astrology on an upcoming episode, please leave a voicemail of one minute or less at speakpipe.com / bigskyastrologypodcast, or just send me an email: April (at) bigskyastrology (dot)com.

Donor Thanks

Well, that is everything I have on my show sheet, so I’m going to wrap this one up. Thank you for listening to the Big Sky Astrology Podcast. If you like what you’re hearing, please be sure to subscribe or follow the show in your app of choice. Leave a rating or a review, and I hope that you’ll help spread the word by telling an astrology-loving friend about the podcast. You can read show notes and full transcripts and leave your comments about each episode at bigskyastropod.com.

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That’s it for this episode. I’m still on vacation, but join me again for our next episode, which will be on Monday, August 10th. And until then, keep your feet on the ground and your eyes on the stars!