Skip to the content

Highlights for Sep. 7-13, 2020: The Wind at Your Back

The Wind at Your Back

Dates and times are given for U.S. Pacific Time zone. Click them to see the date and time where you are.

What lights us up

While the Sun is moving through a sign each month, it describes the activities or approach that will light us up. While it’s in Virgo, we’ll get that energetic boost from organizing, taking care of neglecting tasks, enjoying nature, and making lists. And as the Sun in Virgo meets Jupiter in a flowing trine aspect (Sep. 9, 2020, 9:04 am PDT), we’ll find our reward in a life that is not only tidier, but which perfectly supports us in the Big Picture pursuits represented by Jupiter in Capricorn. Particularly for those with the Sun, Moon, Ascendant, or other key points in the birth chart in Leo (ruled by the Sun), this week the wind is truly at your back.

Patience and conviction

Mars’ current journey through its home sign of Aries provides a good example of why planets in their rulership may not bring entirely happy results. When a testy planet like Mars is given full reign in its own sign, it’s like an energetic toddler with no discipline or restraints. And this particular Mars has collided head-on with a handful of planets in Capricorn that are determined to make him put on the brakes. This week, Mars turns retrograde (Sep. 9, 2020, 3:22 pm PDT), which gives the illusion that the faster we run, the more behind we’re getting. In fact, we’re headed straight for Saturn and Pluto again!

The message: Don’t give up on the things you’re trying to accomplish that are really important to you. But realize that your progress won’t be straightforward or even easy to see, at least until after Mars turns direct (Nov. 13). This is especially true for those of us with key planets in the Mars-ruled signs of Aries or Scorpio, or with Mars strongly placed near the angles of the birth chart. And it won’t be a walk in the park for Cancer, Libra, or Capricorn planets, either! Just try to have patience and be guided by your greatest convictions.

Lunar rewards

A listener to the podcast recently introduced me to Lunar Phase families. Beginning with a New Moon, the next major phase in the lunar cycle will occur at roughly the New Moon’s degree and sign every nine months. Astrologer Dietrech Pessin examines this concept in his article The Lunar Gestation cycle, available at Frank Clifford’s website.

At this week’s Last Quarter Moon at 18.07 Gemini (Sep. 10, 2020, 2:25 am PDT), we review and bring closure to matters that began at the most recent New Moon on August 18. But this Last Quarter is also related to a lunar phase family that began at the June 13, 2018 New Moon at 22.44 Gemini, took flight at the March 14, 2019 First Quarter Moon (23.33 Gemini), revealed the fullness of its expression at the Dec. 11, 2019 Full Moon (at 19.51 Gemini), and now reaches its concluding chapter.

If you can, think back to ideas, activities, or personal connections that were conceived in mid-June 2018. You may find they gathered more momentum around mid-March 2019 and fully developed around mid-December, 2019. Now, you should see the rewards of this 27 month cycle of Gemini learning, listening, writing, or traveling. And it’s time to begin to close down or transition what began at the beginning of this cycle.

Fathoms

A s the Sun engages in an opposition with Neptune (Sep. 11, 2020, 1:25 pm), longing is emotion that springs to mind. What are you longing for these days? A road trip? A simple meal with family and friends? Both are evoked by the Sabian symbols at this opposition, with the Sun on 20 Virgo, An automobile caravan and Pisces on 20 Pisces, A table set for an evening meal.

There’s a longing quality to Neptune, and also the quality of an emotional undertow that can suck us under if we’re not careful. This aspect reminds me of the Nietzsche quote: “He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.” Neptune represents those fathomless depths in us, sadness that never really goes away, nostalgia (a word whose root means something like homesickness), an aching to return to the old ways, and the haunting awareness that we don’t really know what happens after we’re gone. On one hand, we have to be willing to look at all these things and to understand about our own hidden fathoms. But on the other side of this aspect is the Sun – and the Sun is the way out of the abyss, through love, fun, creative expression, games, storytelling around the fire.

Flying the flag

Jupiter turned retrograde on May 14, just a couple of days after Venus began her retrograde journey into the underworld. My thought about planetary retrogrades is that they point us inward to find our own answers about the matters related to those planets. In the case of Jupiter, the inward journey has led each of us to rally around our individual moral compass. That’s healthy – unless we refuse to pay attention to information or ideas that contradict those beliefs. Jupiter is a societal planet, and there are some beliefs that codified within a society.

As Jupiter turns direct this week (Sep. 12, 2020, 5:40 pm PDT), it’s at 17.24 Capricorn on a very fitting Sabian Symbol: 18 Capricorn, A union jack. I don’t read this symbol as having anything particular to do with the United Kingdom or any other country. Rather, it’s about anything we feel strongly enough about to “fly the flag” for it, whether it’s a bumper sticker on our car or a social media post. As Jupiter turns direct through next June, it’s time to share those beliefs, and to test them against opposing viewpoints.

Writing and collages © 2020 April Elliott Kent

Join Jen and me for our first annual PODATHON!
Daily episodes Sep. 7-11, 2020, beginning with:

42 | It’s Our Moonday Episode!

Helpful things…

5 comments to " Highlights for Sep. 7-13, 2020: The Wind at Your Back "

  • Jayne

    The Sun will be conjunct my natal Virgo Venus on September 11th. It is a fitting placement as I will be celebrating my two-year anniversary with my SO this Friday. The day will have a dreamy, nostalgic quality to it (Neptune) as we will be returning to our first meeting place for dinner.

  • Jana Moreno

    I enjoyed the forecast in every way, but especially in the way April presents it. With her special gifts of creative writing and the artistic nature of the presentations; I appreciate you April! Thank you for sharing your gifts and btw your new kitten is likely the cutest cat I’ve ever seen!! Congratulations to you on your newest family addition💝

  • Paula

    Thank you! I enjoyed it and learned. You are a great writer.

  • This has been a wild ride. With a natal triple conjunction in Cancer (Jupiter 19, Mars 13, Venus 11) placed on my MC (20) sextile my Pluto and Uranus at 16 and 17 Virgo trining natal Neptune and South Node at 19 Scorpio along with my natal moon at 29 Capricorn sextile natal Saturn at 29 Pisces. Basically every planet I have is making a trine, sextile, conjunction or opposition with each other at the same time, all on the degrees that are so in the news currently. Among the many things that have become manifest in my life in recent years one stands out as an example of the Lunar Gestation cycle. I pitched my book mid June 2018, submitted the finished manuscript March 2019, publication date was December 15, 2019. As for closing down or transitioning, the publisher announced a couple months ago that they were closing shop. They will stop actively promoting the book after August 2021, so I guess that fits the cycle pretty well.
    Also, I am not sure if the flag has emerged elsewhere as a proud symbol of a Trump supporter but here where I live it is so. I mention this because of the connection to the Sabian symbol, but also to note that Trump’s birthday is the same day as flag day, June 14, and I find the symbology interesting.

Leave a Comment