TRANSCRIPT Ep. 360 |
Podathon Day 3: Health in the Birth Chart, with Kira Sutherland! (9.9.26)
It’s Podathon week on The Big Sky Astrology Podcast, and for five big days in a row, we are bringing you special episodes that put the fun in fundraising, including the week’s planetary news, a closer look at the Moon, and special Podathon surprises, plus your chance to win prizes, people. So many prizes! And now, here’s your host, astrologer and author, April Elliott Kent.
Hello, invisible friend. April here, and the date today is September 9th, 2026. Welcome to episode 360 and day three of the 7th Annual Big Sky Astrology Podathon.
Podathon is the week each year during Labor Day week when we bring you five daily episodes, complete with the big astrological news of the week and interviews with some of my favorite colleagues. You’re sure to love each and every one of them and the topics that we are discussing. Of course, this is also the week when I make my appeal for donations, which help me cover the costs of producing the podcast for the entire year.
But first, let me take a moment to say thank you to those of you who have helped the show over the past year, whether by making a donation, leaving a review, or, to be honest, just by tuning in. How wonderful it is to know that so many of you continue to listen and find value in the show a full seven years after we started. I really appreciate your support.
But while I do my best to keep expenses low, there are costs associated with producing this weekly show. I’m a big podcast listener myself, and so many of the shows that I listen to have turned to advertising in a big way. For me, that really interferes with the flow of the shows and my enjoyment of them, and I’m going to assume that many of you might feel the same way.
And so once a year, during Labor Day week, I bring you… Podathon.
I’m happy to say that six years running, this single week has paid for the rest of the year’s podcast expenses, and the rest of the year there is no talk of fundraising. How can you donate? Make a one-time donation in any amount or become a regular monthly contributor. Just go to bigskyastropod.com. And to encourage your contributions, here are this year’s fantastic giveaways.
First, everyone who donates $25 or more, as well as our ongoing monthly pod pal contributors, will be entered in a drawing for a chance to win one of these prizes. And by the way, a monthly donation of just $2 will get you entered in the drawing for only $24. Prize number one, one of three lucky donors will win a copy of my Followed by a Moon Shadow Eclipse Report, a $35 value. Last month we had a couple of eclipses, and this report will help you put those into context as well as get ready for next year’s eclipses.
Two lucky winners will win a 60-minute personal astrology reading with me, a $195 value. And one grand prize winner will win a 90-minute reading with me, a $245 value.
To be entered in the drawing, you need to make your $25 donation at bigskyastropod.com no later than midnight Pacific Time on Monday, September 14th. The drawing will be held on September 15th, and winners will be notified by email.
And if that’s more than you can afford right now, I’m also offering donors of only $10 or more a special bonus, a series of private Zoom calls and videos for donors only. This was something we tried for the first time last year, and since then, we’ve had Zoom meetings at every New Moon, going in depth into big planetary transits and the New Moon symbolism, and just having fun getting together and chatting about astrology.
And by the way, I know that not everyone can contribute financially at all. You are welcome and beloved nevertheless. Here are a few easy, free ways you can show your love and support for the podcast. If you like the show, please subscribe or follow the show on your app of choice. This is the very best way you can support the show and help it get noticed by new listeners. You could leave a five-star rating or write a nice review, either on Apple Podcasts or any of the other platforms that allow comments. Sometimes these inspire others to sample the show.
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And now for today’s episode.
Today’s Astrology
In this week’s special daily episodes, I’m interviewing some of my colleagues about topics my clients ask about most. Today’s interview is with Kira Sutherland, who talks about health in the birth chart, a fascinating topic and very popular among my clients. But first, let’s take a moment to look at today’s planetary news.
Today, the Moon in Leo is void-of-course from 11:57 AM Pacific Time until 12:35 PM, so not a very long Void-of-Course period, but it ends on a sextile to Venus in Libra. So as usual, I like to say that Void-of-Course Moon periods can be useful for implementing helpful habits because the fact that the Moon won’t make any other aspects while it’s in its sign indicates that there’s nothing symbolically to interrupt these habits.
With the sextile happening in Leo and Libra, think about the ways you can be a little more cooperative and collaborative with other people to get away from the Leo tendency to think of oneself first and to at least occasionally put others in the number one position.
The Moon enters Virgo then at 12:35 PM, entering the sign of tomorrow’s New Moon, and it makes a square aspect to Uranus at 10:21 PM Pacific Time. Virgo is a little susceptible to overwhelm, and that is the nature of a square involving Uranus in Gemini. So maybe before bed, you’ll want to have a cup of calming tea. Maybe do some gentle stretching exercises. You’ll need your sleep because tomorrow is a busy day in the sky.
Interview with Kira Sutherland: Health in Your Birth Chart
Well, as I said, during this Podathon week, I am bringing you interviews with five of my colleagues, each of whom will tell us how they might answer clients’ most asked questions on particular topics. Today’s interview in this series is with the sublime Kira Sutherland, who shares some very interesting thoughts about health in your birth chart. I am so excited to share this interview with you!
Kira is an award-winning naturopath, nutritionist, herbalist, and medical astrologer. She divides her time between clinical practice and writing and lecturing on these subjects. In fact, she shared with me that she is finishing up a book currently. And she’s known for her vibrant, straightforward teaching style. She’s lectured worldwide and combines her 30 years of clinical experience with her passion for medical astrology into a wonderful mix of mind-body medicine. You can catch up with Kira at astrologyofhealth.com. And here is our conversation.
April: I’m speaking today with the divine Kira Sutherland from Sydney, Australia. And she has a real niche with talking about medical astrology, health and astrology, and these kinds of things. So when I decided to cover this particular topic on the podcast, you were one of the first people I thought of. In fact, possibly the first person, but I know- Aw, she’s so busy. Will she have time to do this? So I’m really glad that you have made time. Thank you, Kira.
Kira: Aw. I love seeing you. We’ve only met a few times physically, but yes, always- Yeah … It’s fabulous. Yeah.
April: So today we are talking about your particular specialty. One of the questions I get on a regular basis, I would say, eight times out of 10 with a client is something about health. It’s not necessarily they’re having a serious health problem, although sometimes they are. Sometimes they’re just generally curious, so they’re wondering what to look out for, and if anything big is coming their way. How did you get into this area of astrology as a real interest?
Kira: Oh, yeah. I’m an Australian naturopath, not a US naturopath, so it’s actually an undergraduate degree, not post-grad. I then did post-grad in nutrition. So I’m a herbalist, a homeopath, a nutritionist, all those things. And we studied a lot of kind of the history of medicine, and we have the beautiful energetics of the temperaments, and the humors, and things like that in the history of healing. But I luckily was studying regular astrology at the same time, and then I actually realized there was medical astrology. I was like, “Oh, well, this is the perfect put together.”
So early 20s, it just gave me such a different lens to look at someone holistically. That’s kind of how I found it. This is pre-internet. I’m aging myself, dating myself. So learning was via books, and I couldn’t find a local teacher at the time. So pretty self-trained originally in medical, not…I had a teacher for regular astrology. So yeah, so I’ve kind of played around with it and how to use it as a practitioner is really how it’s evolved. Probably why I do it a little bit… I don’t break any rules, but I do it a little bit differently.
April: If someone comes to me, for instance, and is asking about health in a really general way, and sometimes it’s even just a young person who is, “What does my chart say about what I need to be careful about?” “What are my weak areas?” and stuff. How would you approach it? You probably don’t get questions like that, because people are coming to you for very specific reasons. But how would you advise someone like me, perhaps, to field that question?
Kira: Yeah. Where might I start? So probably the first thing is the Ascendant. As much as we’re all, you know… people newbie to astrology or seeing astrologers, it’s all about the Sun, and that’s… We do look at the Sun, and, you know, that’s the core of your vitality. But we often have a lot of strengths through our Sun medically.
It’s the Ascendant that I would really steer them to. If you could only do one thing for your chart medically, I would support the rising sign and anything in the First House, because the First House is literally your physical body. And the Ascendant is kind of how we, you know, the physical body experiences stress via that First House and the Ascendant. So really asking questions around that.
April: So you’re looking, uh, particularly there will be things associated with the sign on the Ascendant, with the ruling planet, with the aspects to the Ascendant?
Kira: Yeah, so definitely sign on the Ascendant. We’re gonna especially look at those body parts ruled or the systems, because they tend to be our weakness, our Achilles’ heel.
That’s where things kind of get to us a lot quicker, to our physical body. We wanna look at the state of the ruling planet of the Ascendant, but the Ascendant as an actual point of itself. So, like, when transits go across the Ascendant, we really wanna fortify there. Things transiting the First, but also anything within the First House.
Any planet sitting there, you really have to juggle with your physical body as well. So supporting that Ascendant, and also watching the triggers from the ruling planet of the Ascendant. But yeah, also aspects. All the normal stuff you would look at in regular astrology we do in medical, really. But yeah, that First House, the Ascendant, it’s really tends to be our weak spot. So when we get stressed, our body thinks we’re going into battle- It doesn’t know the difference between mental stress and being on a battlefield. And when we’re stressed, that’s our adrenals, which also have kind of an overlap of the first house, and we come into battle with our physical body with that ascendant sign.
April: Oh, interesting. I remember reading a lot or hearing a lot early on in my studies about the sixth and eighth houses with health. Do you take a look at those, and what part do they play?
Kira: Absolutely. So, you know, the physical body is that First, which is why I always look at that. Of course, we’re gonna look at Sun, Moon. You couldn’t not, you know, look at those big three. But the sixth house is what’s considered the house of illness or… I don’t wanna say disease. It’s – well, it’s the house of illness. But I would also say in modern times, it’s also the house of preventative health. It’s the house where if you put in the har- it’s literally the house of hard work, right? Of service to others, but service to our health.
So the sixth house tends to be a lot of weakness as well. So, sign on the cusp, ruler of the sixth, planet sitting in the sixth. You also really juggle within your health. You gotta look at transits. The sixth is also quincunx to the first, so it’s not a good aspect, which is why it’s a weaker house medically.
And then you jump to the eighth, which, I mean, people call it the house of death, but it’s also the house of surgery. It’s the house of genetics. It’s hidden things. So kind of what’s under the surface psychologically with your health as well. I see it a bit as a mind, body, mind, body, emotional links to the body, that underneath stuff that’s happening.
Also, the eighth has a lot to do with channels of excretion, so how we get rid of toxins in the body. So again, eighth quincunx to the First. So that’s why those two houses are kind of considered weaker health-wise, ’cause they’re not at a great aspect to your physical body.
April: You even look at the quincunx aspect, the symbol for it, and it looks so uncomfortable.
Kira: It does. It looks like someone fell- I always talk about it like someone fell over, right? It looks very unbalanced, and it looks like you’re kind of on shaky ground.
April: And I always think of the sixth when, you know, I’m talking to clients or things about, well, the stuff that you do on a day-to-day basis that is either supporting your health or undermining your health. But I had seen in some cases looking at forecasting work and seeing that if there was a connection, especially between the sixth house and eighth house, that that’s often when things seem to be a little more serious. Does that make sense?
Kira: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Well, you know, the eighth, genetics. So things, you know… genetics don’t rule our health, but they’re a good 20% influence in a bunch of different things. It’s not guaranteed. Even if you have inherited poor cardiovascular genetics, there’s things to do to prevent it.
But, um, eighth is surgery. It’s, you know- We talk about house of death, but it’s also we kind of say death and rebirth. It could be a big transformation through… you have to take some processes through your health.
But that sixth is that real, it’s not the strongest spot, but it is where we have to, you know… Health is hard work. It’s exhausting. Let’s be honest. Health is boring, right? Non-healthy things aren’t very fun and… It’s not a super sexy kind of house, but you know, it’s where you really have to put in the hard work. And, you know, health is literally routine. You know? It’s what you do on a daily basis that has the greatest impact. It’s not the random one-off things. And when they’re connected, whether it’s transit or aspect, yeah, influencing each other, there’s a lot of work between those two houses, right?
April: Right. How would the 12th house fit into that as being opposite the sixth?
Kira: So the sixth is considered acute health problems, so, like, happening right now, like you got a cold or a fever or whatever. Accidents. Whereas the 12th, traditional rulership, hospitals, institutions where we’re hidden away. I would also… Well, and the 12th is considered chronic illness. Again, it’s a weaker house. It’s being stuck in bed, being in hospital, being having to hide away and deal with things. It also is connected to mental health, like mental-emotional health. So it is considered quite a weaker spot physically, and if you, if you ignore– The way I explain it to clients, if you ignore the stuff happening in the 6th, like your acute health stuff, and you just keep taking anti-inflammatories, you ignore the symptoms that your body’s giving you from the 6th, you actually end up stuck in the 12th.
It’s harder to get out of the 12th. You’re stuck in bed. You’re stuck at a hospital, chronic. So they’re chatting to each other, and you don’t want to ignore the 6th to the 12th.
April: That’s what… I have actually used that example with people. You’ve got to take care of things on the day-to-day because we spend most of every hour of the day in the 6th house. You know? We’re doing our chores. We’re doing our work. We’re getting the kids ready for school the next day, whatever we’re doing, and to the extent that we’re not really paying attention to that, yeah, exactly, you end up-
Kira: Yeah … flat on your back. And in bed. “Oh, I should have done that sooner. I should have…”
You know? Or you just keep pushing, right? We have deadlines. Life is busy. Yeah. And, you know, sometimes, sometimes our higher self or whatever takes us out on purpose, so we sit still and really listen. And the 12th kind of has to put all those layers together of everything through the 12 houses.
And sometimes we get asked to stay still when we’re sick to kind of really integrate everything to start the next cycle.
April: So if I’m talking to someone, and I’m seeing they have a big transit of Pluto going into the 6th house or Neptune going over their ascendant, what are some of the things that you think are helpful to say to the client?
Kira: What I’m a fan of is not predicting ailments. You know, as a health practitioner, I mean, as a astrologer as well, we have ethical issues that we need to be really careful how we kind of put things together for clients. So I’m never gonna predict an actual ailment. I think that’s very dangerous for people to hold onto.
And we don’t know. You know, even illness isn’t always physical. It’s mental, emotional, spiritual. You know, we never… It’s like we never know. We know the energetics of a transit, but we don’t know how it’s gonna roll out, do we? So especially something going over the 1st, I am really gonna look at…
Oh my God, how do I say it to people? It really depends what it’s in or what’s going on for the person. But I’m just, you know, that caution of Neptune over the 1st. I mean, great intuitive time. Hopefully they’re working on stuff like that. But also it’s that mystery. You know, Neptune hides things, or it makes everything a bit of a mystery and hard to diagnose. You really do have to use your intuitive feel for what’s happening because it can make it really difficult for the regular medical profession to figure out what’s happening.
It’s also very draining on your energy. So, this is where I’ll have a big chat about not pushing your energy beyond your limits because then you really… Those outer transits last a long time in a house, so- Yes … really starting it in a beautiful way of meeting the planet coming into the house, rather than just letting it kind of do whatever it wants to do.
Does… did that make sense?
April: Yeah, that’s the helpful thing about hopefully talking to an astrologer or someone. And the outer planets are so slow, and it’s like you hear a distant thud of a herd of elephants in the distance. And it takes them a long time to get right up to the ascendant. I love that image, though, of kind of welcoming the planet and saying, “I am at your disposal. What is the work we’re gonna do together?”
Kira: Yeah. And doing something that really symbolizes the energetics of it entering, I think can bring a lot of magic to the beginning of that transit rather than fear over, you know, Pluto going across an ascendant. That’s pretty intense, right?
But that’s a slow burn as well. It’s not, like, sudden like Mars. So also, I’m a fan of kind of acknowledging the planets like the gods and asking it what it wants or you know, finding activities or things to study or work on. Mm-hmm. I don’t know. What do you do? I’m curious.
April: Well, I don’t really do anything, and I’m sitting here thinking of some of the big outer planet transits I’ve had on my ascendant. I had Pluto over the ascendant, and boy… and I was an astrologer then, and it still completely sideswiped me. It was a really difficult transit. But you must have… You said you have Pisces rising. Didn’t you have a couple of big planetary…
Kira: I’ve had a few transits over that point. Yeah. I’ve had a few big boys lately. Absolutely. Um, what did I do? I actually was running around, I had this mission to go to the western islands off of Scotland my whole life. And so I was running around when Neptune was coming across my ascendant and Saturn. Remember, was it last year? Neptune-Saturn kind of playing around with that last of Pisces, early Aries.
And I was running around ancient stone circles, making flower essences and doing all kinds of esoteric travelly stuff during that Neptune shift.
April: Was Neptune kind to you, do you think, as a result of doing some of that work?
Kira: It was. It was kind. I’ve had other times where Neptune was not kind. Definitely, like, Neptune square your own Mars, that’s a little draining medically. No energy. But yeah, it was really kind. But I didn’t purposely… You know, it’s funny, I… Maybe it’s Aries and I don’t think too far ahead, but I will often plan stuff, like travel, and then I look at the transits after I’ve planned it and go, “Oh my God.
April: Oh, isn’t that fascinating?” You know, like- Yeah … there’s the whole roll the dice and do the experience that you get, right? It’s– I’ve seen that with relocation too, that people will often, uh, be having a big outer planet transit in some important- Yeah … area of their life, and they move and then they look at their relocation chart.
After. And that planet is strongly angular or it’s doing something- Yeah … really strong in that chart. So that makes- Yeah … love that. Yeah. I love when there’s a little piece of, uh, practical information that listeners can take away with them if they see something like that, especially ’cause we do tend to get kind of anxious about those- Oh, yeah
Kira: outer planet transits coming to the Big Three or, or the sixth house. And health is scary, right? Like, there’s people have a lot of anxiety around health and health outcomes or what’s coming in the future, and we can’t predict it. You know, I mean, we can, but you know, ethically I’m so cautious about that.
You know, I spend at least two or three consults a year trying to convince people that a transit is not gonna be them getting cancer. Because you can’t know that. I’m sorry, but you can’t. It’s one of 50 outcomes, but- You know something’s happening, and you know the general timeline to give people. You know, some preparation time. But no, you don’t actually know. Yeah, and the meaning behind getting ill, we often get a little bit stuck on that as well. And often there… it just happens. Like, sometimes it happens just you stand still and you know, do a different focus. And this is, again, this is from 30, 40 years ago. But do you remember Carolyn Myss? I think she’s still around. Carolyn Myss, Myss, however I’m supposed to say her last name. She always talked about people getting stuck when they have to find meaning about why they’re sick. She’s like, “It’s actually better to not have to find the meaning. As you look back after, you can see the meaning and the pattern. But actually having to find the meaning while you’re sick,” she said, “is actually quite…” I don’t wanna say dangerous, but it gets you stuck there. Sometimes stuff just happens … level of coping that you probably don’t need to be focusing on when you’re trying to salvage your health in the middle of a crisis.
April: Now, I’m talking to a lot of women who are premenopausal…
Kira: Oh, yes … perimenopause.
April: …or going into menopause. What are some of the things that we can be looking at specifically in the chart that we can use to give them some kind of context or timing, or something?
Kira: You know, I keep getting asked that. I’m of that age as well. Um, and I really haven’t – which is a bit naughty of me – I haven’t overly focused on that transit-wise. You know, there’s a lot of old techniques that are like, “Oh, when your progressed Moon hits its third quarter,” or you know, there’s these estimates for when people are gonna hit menopause or perimenopause.
But the reality is, it’s so different for each person. Some people actually hit perimenopause in their late 30s, and they don’t… So for listeners that aren’t big on this, perimenopause is the beginning of symptoms of the loss of hormones. Menopause itself is actually the moment, it’s actually one day where it’s been a calendar year since their last bleed, and then you’re post-menopause after that.
So transit-wise, I’m uncertain because medically you can have symptoms anywhere from 38 to 60. Somebody else just did a talk on menopause, and I haven’t listened to it yet, so that reminds me to go listen to it today maybe. Um, my best advice is take care of that sixth house. You know? It’s boring, but you gotta take care of the basics, and the better health you get to perimenopause in, often a little bit gentler. If you’re absolutely stressed, and you’re ignoring the physical, and you’re not sleeping enough, and all that stuff, it can be rockier, but it’s also genetics. I don’t- it’s tricky.
I really need to get my head around astrologically what’s going on. But- you know, I think there are too many transits. I don’t know. What do you think?
April: I think Mars is implicated.
Kira: Oh, yeah, absolutely.
April: Yeah, because when women begin to menstruate, when they become sexually active, when they enter that phase of perimenopause, I do often see something’s going on with Mars. Which makes sense ’cause it’s such a reproductive planet, maybe.
Kira: It is. Hot flushes, prickly, stinging skin. And Mars rules what we think of as our more masculine hormones, but everybody has them, no matter gender, sex. And we do have a drop in testosterone and DHEA.
There’s definitely a dance with Mars and Venus there, Venus ruling more progesterone, estrogen. I really think we need to look at Saturn more with it, you know? Because something like 95% of people will be done with it by your second Saturn return. There’s a few people still going in the late 50s.
But yeah, I need to look at it more. And progressed moon. I’m gonna give it progressed moon, for sure. Yeah. But I don’t know how, because we’re all different there, right?
Well, Saturn’s really interesting, though, to think of it like that. Even if it’s not the return, if we’re thinking of, like, the final, the closing square before you… Saturn is kind of the boundary, isn’t it? Where it says- Yep, it’s that completion … like, “this is the end.” This far, no further.
Yeah, and actually, I guess I have been thinking about it. If you think, you know, a lot of girls or females or assigned female at birth, they’ve, the majority of people, something like 90% have got their period by 14, which will be your Saturn opposition.
It’s interesting you ask about it, because within naturopathy, I’ve been asked to do a lecture on the different phases of female life and then bring in some astrology to it, even in the naturopathic world that doesn’t really normally ask for that. But yeah, Mars and Saturn, for sure. And Saturn stops things, right? It’s the finish of things. Like you said, it’s the boundary. So yeah, the square, the closing square, definitely most people are kind of done by. Mm-hmm. But there is those final people still going…
April: And maybe, I don’t know, because I don’t really work with Chiron per se, but I know it does have…
Kira: Oh, I do. Yeah.
April: …does have some medical implications, right? And it has its return at the age of 50, so…
Kira: Yeah. I love Chiron in medical astro- Do you not use Chiron?
April: I’ve always been working with it with people that are getting at the return, BEcause I figure that’s important to talk about.
Kira: And that’s a real threshold, right, that Chiron return. And there is something about that space between the Chiron return and the Saturn return. I think there’s something very magical that happens in that space that we’re not quite talking about yet. But yeah, Chiron return is huge for people and medical astrology. I get a lot of clients coming around that time.
And again, threshold point, big shift into your next phase of life. Most people like to think of Chiron return as starting the second half of life, but most of us are not gonna make it to 100. I’m sorry.
April: Well, it’s, it’s a hopeful midlife!
Kira: It is a hopeful … actually, yeah, it is a hopeful. But the Chiron return, so powerful, and a lot of people I work with, once through it, just so much healing and learning about that first 50 years and where they felt weaker versus stronger on the other side of it.
But you see a lot of health stuff happen at the Chiron return. We say 50, but again, depending on your Chiron and its orbit. You know, those couple years can be a big dance with your health. And if we’re talking about females, it’s, that’s your real perimenopause, menopause age bracket as well. But a lot of people get taken to their knees for a couple years around that transit. Energy-wise or ailments or, yeah.
April: Well, and you were talking about the Progressed Moon before, too, and I think those phases, the progressed phases are really interesting. And maybe looking extra specially closely at Pluto going through certain houses, like the first and the sixth and the eighth, maybe the 12th. I know going through the 12th or when it’s in its Balsamic phase to the Progressed Sun, boy, talk about exhausting. Just really depleting.
Kira: Oh, yes … depleting. Progressed Moon through the 12th. Oh, gosh, yeah. And people, you know, Balsamic we always kind of talk about as that finishing of karma, tying things off for that start of that next cycle, but it’s also a resting phase. You’ve shed what you don’t need, and you’re cocooning down and resting. And there’s such beauty in rest, but our society doesn’t show you that, right? Taking time out and resting, distilling what you can into it for the future. There’s so much power in rest, but we don’t acknowledge it, right?
One of my favorite words in medicine or naturopathy is actually called convalescence. And to convalesce means to take time out and rest after a big period of illness or stress or just hard work. And there’s an art to convalescing and resting, and we don’t acknowledge that as being such a smart thing.
You know, going back hundreds of years, you were acutely sick- And then once you were over the danger, you actually went to the seaside to take the sun and the air and the waters. And you, we used to say, whatever your acute phase of sickness was, you need to triple that for your convalescence.
Now, I’m not saying do nothing, but, like, say you were really sick for one week, be gentle for the next three. It’s like that full cycle of whether it’s the Moon in 28 days or… It’s an interesting thought because we just get back out and push, right? Or we take drugs to keep going and, yeah.
April: This is the problem that I see again and again with clients in their progress Balsamic phase. Because we’re completely unsupported in the idea of rest and retreat. And especially depending the chronological age that you’re at, you can sort of get away with it a little bit more maybe when you’re 65 than when you’re 30, and every day you’re pushing and pushing and pushing.
Kira: And I think people just don’t get that. You know, the visual I get when you’re talking about it is, like, a piggy bank, and you can only withdraw so much before it starts chipping away at you physically when you have nothing left to give, and sometimes life circumstances put you in that position as well. We just need to be a bit kinder to ourselves is where it comes down to, doesn’t it?
April: A little gentler and a little slower. It’s not the end of the world to go a little more slowly sometimes during certain transits and progressions, for sure.
Kira: And sometimes people, when they’re not listening, they will… I’m not saying they manifest, like they chose to create it, but you end up ill to force you to slow down, right?
April: That’s right. A friend of mine, Dana Gerhardt, who works with the lunar phases a lot, is very brilliant. And she told me at the beginning of this Balsamic phase I’m in now, and she said, “You have about two-”
Kira: Oh, you’re Balsamic right now.
April: Yeah, for about two more weeks, and then I get the New Moon. I’m kind of excited about that, right? But she was saying, “You know, you’ve been here before, and if you don’t slow down and take care of yourself when you need to during this phase, your body will make you slow down.” It does. “You will get taken offline. Something will happen, may not be real serious, but there might be a few months that you’re just not at your peak, and you have to slow down.”
I just wanted to ask you quickly about Jupiter. Because everyone thinks Jupiter is Santa Claus, and he’s gonna come along, and he’s gonna bring you everything, and heal you, and do all of these things. What do you see as the, as the upside of Jupiter, and maybe the downside a little bit when it comes to medical things and health?
Kira: Yeah. Look, Jupiter, amazing. We call it, in medical astrology, it’s one of the benefics. You know, Venus and Jupiter are the bringers of good things. But Jupiter also rules body fat. It rules growth. So that’s great if you’re trying to grow taller or grow your hair. Not if you’re trying to not try to grow your waistline. Or, you know, it’s… Jupiter likes things in excess, so sometimes we go over the top, or we overindulge, overeat, overdrink.
I actually think Jupiter… And it can be great for health. It’s like a soothing emollient, right? It’s like a balm. Can really help things, give you the energetics to do something with your health. But I also find in modern society, where we have access to so much, you need to watch overdoing it where Jupiter is transiting. Jupiter through the 6th is an easy time to gain weight if you’re not aware of it.
Like being forewarned, and you can do things and use Jupiter differently rather than collecting body fat or liver issues.
April: What’s an example that you would give someone of something positive to do with Jupiter in the 6th to avoid those kinds of issues?
Kira: Yeah. So just being hyper aware of their diet. You know how you have phases where you’re, like, eating really healthy and focused and aware, and then other times where you just completely take your eye off the ball? Do not take your eye off the ball at the beginning of Jupiter into the 6th, right? You can also go do activities to do with your 6th that are a bit Jupiterian, uh, you know, depending on the sign.
Using it in other expressive ways so that it’s not using you. I’ll fortify people with the nutrients that are specific for blood sugar regulation and, you know, things like magnesium and chromium and zinc and working on liver, whether it’s liver herbs – obviously, if you’re on medication, be cautious what you take.
But I put one person on a high-fat, low-carb diet when Jupiter entered the 6th, and it was, like, the best thing that ever happened to them finally in weight loss. But we did, like, a Jupiter-style diet.
April: Yeah. I’m glad that you point out about the liver as well, because Jupiter is associated with the liver, correct?
Kira: Yeah. Jupiter is the true ruler of the liver. And the liver does so many things in our body, but one- it’s a big detoxification organ above all else. And yes, everyone thinks about excess alcohol affecting the liver, but actually too much sugar, too much carbohydrate, especially in the form of sugars and fructose in, like, sugary drinks, can actually cause also an accumulation of fat through the liver.
So just really focusing on healthy fats and healthy… Go big with your health. Go big, rather than go big in excess of indulgence.
April: That’s very good advice. Thank you. Is there anything that we haven’t talked about that you would like to really make sure people know about as they’re looking at their chart in this way?
Kira: I would just say really nourish that ascendant and that first house. Really focus on that. And the thing that keeps popping in my head is Mars. As much as Mars can be accidents, inflammation, illness, Mars is also kind of how we do our sport, how we get going, and our, our mojo. And looking at where your natal Mars is by sign and house gives you ideas for how to go do sport and movement because overall, movement is so important for health.
April: Yeah. And it’s something we just… talk about not being supported in our society and our culture. Everything works against the natural use of the body to just move to get things done.
Kira: Absolutely. Virgo often really likes yoga or Pilates, actually.
April: I did like yoga.
Kira: That exacting movement, using the body.
April: And it needs it, I think. With Virgo, it gets a little bit high stress.
Kira: And they need a strategy sport as well. Do you know who actually… I’m not telling you to go do this, but last year… So I used to do a lot of triathlon and bike riding, like my husband. And so we’re a big Tour de France family, Which is starting tonight, actually. And I downloaded last year, there’s 180 riders in the Tour de France. I downloaded everybody’s date of birth last year and started looking at all these famous bike riders’ charts. Phenomenal number of Virgo elite… I’m not asking you to bike ride, but it was amazing how many Virgos. And I never expected that. But people don’t realize bike riding, not just riding by yourself, but like the Tour de France, that is a chess game on wheels. There’s so much strategy and thinking and minute detail that makes the difference. I was like, “Okay, I get it.”
April: Makes sense. Well, and I associate it with Virgo as well as Gemini forms of transportation, so bicycle makes a certain amount of sense, so.
Kira: Yeah. All this makes sense. Although I often see it as very Sagittarian, right? Because it’s the bum and the thighs, and it’s fast and yeah.
April: What is this overlap between Virgo and Sagittarius? They seem so different, but there’s so much connection.
Kira: Yeah … they point to so much of the same stuff. I think it’s the mutable, right? The mutable signs. In medical astrology, often not talked about actually, the modes are huge for how ailments travel around the body. Like- Oh … we really are affected. You know, when you have an ailment in one part of the body, the mode, so the opposite and the squares, often also have issues with that part of the physiology. And so I think there’s a big connection between that Virgo and, and the…
I mean, Virgo to Pisces. You know, this is absorption, digestion, small intestines to the immune system, and we now know the immune system actually resides within our intestines. Right. Which is a match. But then we have that Virgo with Gemini with the nervous system, but then Sag is kind of neuromuscular comm- you know, how our nerves talk to our muscles.
And then we have Virgo, which I actually think is probably the vagus nerve, and that sympathetic, parasympathetic… So they’re all, the whole nervous system, there’s a whole communication going on with those signs.
April: That’s fascinating, though, to think about the modality and how they’re all connected with each other.
Kira: Oh, gosh, yeah. When something goes wrong with your thyroid, body part Taurus… some of the worst symptoms are usually in your reproductive system or your bowels. Opposite sign, Scorpio.
April: Very interesting. Oh, thank you for that insight. Opposition squares. Yeah. Well, Kira, tell people where they can find you and what you have coming up in the near future.
Kira: Sure. Website and Instagram is astrologyofhealth. There’s so many things you can do for free on my website, too. So many hours of podcasts, and there’s some free downloads and all kinds of stuff. Um, we’re gonna see each other really soon at UAC in September…
April: Yes! That’s really exciting.
Kira: It is exciting. Um, what am I doing? I’m trying to finish my first book during the Mercury retrograde. I’m hiding myself away to try to finish it. There’s always online offerings. I’m actually halfway through a really big course that I’m only doing once a month, um, where I’m deep diving into each sign, its ruling planet, and its traditional house ruler once a month.
So we just did Cancer. Mm. Um, and you can choose to do one-offs, or you can choose to do the whole thing ’cause it’s recorded. And I, very renegade, I started in January with Aquarius rather than in March with Aries, and that’s been really fun. It’s been kind of fun acknowledging everything happening in Aquarius at the moment. That’s actually been fun.
April: That sounds fascinating. So people can find that on your website.
Kira: Yeah. My website or my newsletter always has what I’m up to, and yeah.
April: Oh, thank you so much for being with us today. And for talking to us about this fascinating topic!
Kira: Oh, thank you for having me. Love it. It’s good to see you. Take care.
Oh my goodness, what a terrific conversation. Kira is such a sweetie. I really hope you enjoyed this interview, and if you’ve been interested in learning more about what your chart can tell you about improving and maintaining your health, I really hope this conversation helps.
Wrapping up
Well, that is everything on my show sheet, so I’m gonna wrap this one up. Thank you for listening to the Big Sky Astrology Podcast and joining me for the third episode of the 7th Annual Podathon. That’s a lot of math. This weekly podcast is audience-funded, and your generous donations help us keep the podcast coming to you ad-free.
To make your donation, please go to bigskyastropod.com. Anyone who donates $10 or more will receive access to a series of private videos throughout the year. And if you donate $25 or more, you will automatically be entered in my drawing for a chance to win one of three Moonshadow Eclipse reports, one of two 60-minute readings, or the grand prize of one 90-minute reading.
Well, thank you very much to all of you for joining me for the 7th Annual Podathon journey. Join me again bright and early tomorrow morning for another episode, including an interview with the wonderful Donna Stellhorn, who will talk about what your birth chart reveals about money. Exciting, yes? And until then, keep your feet on the ground and your eyes on the stars!
