In the Belly of a Duck
At one long ago Taurus New Moon, I decided to perform the Venus Santeria ritual recommended by my friend Dana at Mooncircles.com. It sounded so simple – a piece of bread, a smallish candle, a nickel, a body of running water – but it took me the better part of an afternoon to collect the right size candle, the right shape roll. I created my offering, burned my candle, enjoyed some Venus time. Now, where to release my Venusian offering into the wild?
My husband remembered a spot down in the valley where we might surrender my cosmic muffin into the San Diego River. We found a spot where I perched carefully on a rock and hurled the bun. At first, it fell just at the edge of a drain and just sat there. I despaired of my little offering to Venus getting very far at all.
Then, an intervention: a group of ducks descended on the roll, pushed it into the river, and began eating it. “That’s… good, right?” I asked my husband. “I mean, nature participating in the ritual, and all.” “Well, think of it this way,” he pointed out. “That roll is going to get a lot further down the river in the stomach of that duck than it would have on its own.”
Well apparently, it found its way. Because two weeks later, at the Scorpio Full Moon, I got a contract to write my book “Astrological Transits.”
Among the Gods of mythology, Pluto–modern ruler of Scorpio–was known as “The Rich One.” That’s why this week’s Full Moon in Scorpio (May 12, 2025, 9:56 am PDT) is a good time to perform wealth-related ritual, to summon the answer to the Taurus New Moon’s call.
Prosperity is not a closed system; the money you hope to attract has to come from other people. The minute you show a willingness to accept help, the weight of earning a living is cut in half.
It’s important to prepare the Cosmic Bun, to do the work of finding the stream and releasing it on its way. But once you’ve done your part, it’s perfectly all right to let your offering be carried along downstream in the wind, or stuck to the bottom of a boat, or even in the belly of a duck – propelled by collective forces that can carry your wishes far beyond the limited reach of your own, small imagination.
Summoning
This week, Mercury connects with penetrating Pluto in a compelling square aspect (May 12, 2025, 10:23 am PDT, 3º48’ Taurus-Aquarius). Magician Claude Alexander Conlin, billed as “Alexander: The Man Who Knows,” was born with these two planets in aspect. Conlin was a popular stage mentalist of the early 20th century, offering private psychic readings and authoring self-help books with a spiritualist theme.
I was introduced to Alexander in an Ocean Beach consignment store, decades after his death. A print of one of his promotional posters, maybe five feet tall and featuring his trademark, penetrating gaze, stared down at me from the wall. Mesmerized, I almost took the poster home with me and was deterred only by the price tag and a lack of adequate wall space.
Such is the compelling power of Mercury with Pluto. Today, use this combination’s mesmerizing powers of focus, concentration, and persuasion to make long-awaited breakthroughs in your work, to summon what you want with magic, and to do anything else that requires determination.
The Spotlight
Actor Bryan Cranston had built a fine career as a character actor, but he wasn’t exactly a household name. Then, in 2007, he landed the role of a lifetime. On January 20, 2008, the television series Breaking Bad debuted with Cranston in the lead role of Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher who turns to making methamphetamine after a cancer diagnosis. At the time, transiting Uranus was making a conjunction to Cranston’s natal Sun.
The show became a phenomenon, and Cranston won 4 Emmy awards for the role. Always a respected journeyman actor, he was now, at age 51, a bona fide star.
Picture Uranus as an antenna, channeling signals; and when it comes together with the Sun, a lot of high-wattage attention is focused in one place, or in one person.
The annual conjunction of the Sun and Uranus (May 17, 2025, 4:32 pm PDT, 27º17’ Taurus) is a very quick transit with only a few days of influence. But if something in your birth chart resonates with that degree, this transit can open the portal to a potent moment in the spotlight. Get ready for your closeup!
The Bull Roars
As Mercury in self-assured Taurus squares Mars in rarely-humble Leo (May 17, 2025, 9:36 pm PDT, 13º53’ Taurus and Leo), the time has come for you to stand up for your right to be exactly, unapologetically yourself. Taurus has a famously long fuse, but when Mercury in that sign connects with Mars in Leo, that long fuse burns all the way down, and it’s time for even the bull to stand up and roar.
Try, though, to channel all that Leo firepower toward motivation rather than bombast. It’s an excellent planetary combination for speaking up for yourself and for handling situations that require the ability to make bold decisions. But watch your temper, and resist the urge to dominate every conversation. Use the commanding combination of Taurus’ quiet confidence and Leo’s powers of inspiration to move yourself – and others – in a braver direction.
Possibilities
As Jupiter heads into the final weeks of its yearlong transit through open-minded Gemini, I’m reminded of what the marvelous astrologer Caroline Casey says: “Believe nothing, entertain possibilities.” By now, perhaps we’ve released our vice-like grip on some of our lesser beliefs and gained a new appreciation for learning, curiosity, and intellectual flexibility.
This week, Jupiter squares the axis of North Node in Pisces and South Node in Virgo (May 18, 2025, 11:46 am PDT) and introduces a new line of questioning: What is your dream?
Prepare to let go of what you believe and even the enticing whispers of possibility. The South Node in Virgo celebrates the comfort of the knowable, the quantifiable; but the North Node in Pisces takes a broader view of truth and potential. In what do you place your faith? How do you wish to elevate discourse? What’s the bigger story to be told, unbound by mere belief and propelled by the heart?
Writing and images © 2017-25 by April Elliott Kent
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