Episode 109 | Taurus First Quarter Moon: Flocking Together (Feb. 7, 2022)
Listen to the episode and read show notes hereApril: Hello, invisible friends, this is April, and the date today is February 7th, 2022. This is Episode 109 of The Big Sky Astrology Podcast. And, I want to thank all of you who sent me really lovely and encouraging messages about the new podcast format. It is a really different vibe, I know, and it’s really different for me as well. So, I was really happy to hear that for at least some of you, this seems to have been a satisfying experiment. So, I will keep going with this and we will again see how things unfold in the months and the episodes to come.
First Quarter Moon in Taurus
We’re beginning today with la bella luna: the First Quarter Moon in Taurus on February 8th at 05:50 AM Pacific Time. The First Quarter Moon is at 19° and 46 minutes of Taurus with the Sun at 19° and 46 minutes of Aquarius. The Sabian symbol for the Moon at this First Quarter is 20 Taurus, “A Finger Pointing In An Open Book”. And the Sabian symbol for the Sun at 20 Aquarius is “A Big White Dove, A Message Bearer”.
So, when I look at these two symbols together – and I know that their intention with one another, because the First Quarter Moon is a time of tension – the Moon is in a square aspect to the Sun. They began together at the same degree of the same sign a week earlier, and now the Moon has traveled along until it’s 90° ahead of the Sun. And that is an aspect of tension. So, the conflict between these two symbols is, first, we have a finger pointing in an open book, and this suggests to me, trying to cite a reference for the things that we’re asserting or the things that we believe. We say, “Well, it’s got to be true. It’s not so right here in this book or this magazine or this podcast I listened to, or this television show that I watched”.
But, the Sabian symbol for Aquarius, “A Big White Dove” is always evocative of peace, of trying to find accord, because the dove is our symbol of peace. So, when I look at these two together, I think, well, I guess at this First Quarter, one of the things we have to decide is, is it more important to be right? Or, is it more important to get your message across in a way that brings you closer to people instead of in more conflict or further apart? This is the opening square for the Moon, from the New Moon in Aquarius, that was on January 31st here on the Pacific coast of the United States, virtually everywhere else, it was February 1st. And that was a pretty tough New Moon. I talked about it quite a lot in Episode 108. Because, the Sun and the Moon were in a conjunction with Saturn and they were all square Uranus. So, it was the kind of New Moon that said, “Yes, we’re going to do our New Moon work of planting new seeds of intention. We might have conceived some interesting ideas”. But I remember thinking at the time and perhaps saying to you as well, “Go ahead and make your New Moon intentions by all means, but don’t expect these seeds to grow quickly or easily”. It’s like trying to grow them in a very compacted soil.
So, now with the First Quarter, the Moon is in a conjunction with Uranus, which speaks to me somewhat of emotional self-reliance, which is a nice thing. It can also talk a little bit about instability, sometimes because of things that have come from outside us that are unpredictable, and now the Sun is in a conjunction with Saturn. We still have a lot of that energy of Saturn and Uranus carried over from the New Moon now to this First Quarter. So, again, this conflict, this universal conflict between doing things in the traditional way, the way they’ve always been done, which is Saturn – or shaking things up a little bit, which is Uranus. It is again a feature of this lunation, of this First Quarter Moon. So, there’s a lot of energy and a lot of potential motivation at this First Quarter. It is also the opening square in the lunar phase family that began back on May 11th, 2021 with a New Moon at 21° of Taurus.
So, I invite you now at each New Moon to really think in terms of not just what you want to accomplish this month, but what is the greater work that you would like to bring to fruition over about the next two-and-a-half-year period? Because we’re gonna see – every nine months from each New Moon – a critical moment in that two-and-a-half year cycle, where we get to initiate action, review what we’ve done up to that point, and then to make one last push, to try to complete something.
So, this First Quarter goes back to that New Moon May 11th, 2021. And look at the Taurus house of your chart, the one that contains 21° of Taurus and give it a little bit of thought. If you’ve kept notes up to now on the New Moon… those of you who subscribe to my mailing list have the opportunity at each New Moon to download a workbook that I produce. The very last page of that workbook gives a little worksheet that says, “Here are the things I would like to accomplish in the next 28 days, in the next six months”. So, if you still have a copy of that workbook, maybe you can go back to the one from May and see what it was you were thinking about, what your intentions were. Because, here is an opportunity at this First Quarter Moon to take some kind of action, a leap of faith in the direction of those dreams and intentions.
Void-of-Course Moon periods
While we’re talking about the Moon today, I thought it would give you a heads up for the coming week a when the Moon will be void-of-course. We’ve talked about the void-of-course Moon before on the podcast, and definitely there was an episode I can think of that had void-of-course Moon in the title. I’ll look that up for you and link it in the show notes. And, I don’t think there’s anything terrible about void-of-course, Moon times, but they are times when things don’t necessarily go exactly according to plan. So, they’re not necessarily the ideal time to take action on new projects. Although, I have to say in my own life, I have occasionally seen that things that I began on the void-of-course, Moon ended up lasting and lasting and lasting. But, in any event I thought I would just give you the up and invite you to take notes of these dates and times, and just pay attention to what’s going on around you and see if there’s anything to this void-of-course Moon.
The first void-of-course Moon time, now these are Pacific Time, so you would need to convert it for your time zone. But the first one’s on February 8th at 08:48 PM through February 9th at 02:27 AM. So, it’s only about six hours. Then, on February 11th, the Moon goes void-of-course at just after midnight, 12:22 AM through 03:26 PM Pacific Time. So, February 11th is kind of a void-of-course day. That’s worth keeping in mind.
Mars trine Uranus
Next up, let’s talk about Mars, which this week is making a trine to Uranus, on February 8th at 06:57 AM Pacific Time on exactly 11° of Capricorn and Taurus. Mars is still out-of-bounds at the time of this trine. We talked about out-of-bounds, planets, I think in Episode 107, I might have touched on it in 108 as well. And, Mars entered its out-of-bounds period on January 12th and leaves on February 10th. So, this is at the very end of its out-of-bounds period. Generally speaking, a planet that’s out-of-bounds, it has this energy being unconstrained. This is kind of the truth with Mars anyway, so Mars is particularly erratic when it is out-of-bounds. But, during this period Mars is in Capricorn, which is a good sign for it because Capricorn restrains that unbridled energy of Mars and gives it some kind of structure and discipline. So, I think that that probably helps during this out-of-bounds Mars period, but having it come into connection with Uranus is a little bit of that wild card thing as well, and emphasizes, I think this out-of-bounds condition of Mars.
So basically, all bets are off and we can’t really say with any certainty exactly what Mars will be doing on this day, but we know that we are hopefully moving swiftly and surely in the direction of change and hopefully, progress. But I would keep an eye on this day, know it’s not a great day to be taking chances you don’t have to take. I’d be a little bit careful when you’re out on the roads. And I know it’s a trine aspect and trines are always supposed to be great. But what it really means is, the path between the two planets is wide open. And when you have two planets like Mars and Uranus, that are on the one hand kind of hasty and impulsive – Mars – and unpredictable in the case of Uranus, having them just flow together with no moderation between them, isn’t necessarily the best thing.
On the other hand, it’s a good day for inspiration in your work. So, if you’ve been feeling stymied and uninspired in something that you’re trying to accomplish, some major project, it doesn’t have to just be in your work. It could be some household project that you’ve been really having a hard time getting motivated to do. This might be a really good day for that. And really, we’re looking at a couple of days, either side of the exact aspect. So, maybe February 6th through February 9th or 10th,
Mercury conjunct Pluto
Next up, we have the last in a series of three conjunctions between Mercury and Pluto. This conjunction happens on February 11th, that 06:04 AM Pacific Time at 27° and 16 minutes of Capricorn. Usually, Mercury making an aspect is not that big a deal. It’s a little bit of a trigger aspect because Mercury moves so quickly. In and of itself, Mercury is rarely going to bring us anything really new and significant and long lasting in our lives. But I will say that anytime something happens several times in quick succession in astrology, I think it’s worth looking at.
The first conjunction in this series was on December 30th, then Mercury turned retrograde. We had the second conjunction on January 28th. And now that Mercury is direct again, we’re getting one last conjunction on February 11th. So, how have our thinking processes changed during that period from the very end of last year, to now, mid-February? The way that we are taking in information, processing it, and then releasing it back into the wild, has been undergoing a really profound change as Mercury makes these three conjunctions to Pluto. We’re probably less inclined lately to engage in small talk or gossip, or to be captivated by trivia. Mercury generally likes a rapid change of topic and to flit from thing to thing, but while it has been making these conjunctions and for that matter while it was retrograde has been this time to go a little deeper in things, things of the mind, how do we want to change our habits and the mindset that we go through the world with? Because mindset is so much. If we think we can do something, we have a much better chance of doing it than if we psych ourselves out and think that it can’t be done. Which is a little bit probably of what we’ve been dealing with during these conjunctions as well.
The Sabian symbol for this conjunction is 28 Capricorn, “A Large Aviary”. And this happens to also be the degree of the US Pluto. One of the problems in the US as we get closer and closer to our first Pluto return, and I think the first pass of that is on the 22nd – I think probably most people see it this way – is the fact that we’re very divided.
When I look at that Sabian symbol, “A Large Aviary”, it reminds me of the old saying “Birds of a feather flock together”. And there was a sense at one time, I think, I mean, there’ve always been disagreements among the citizens of this country, the United States and all countries, because we’re individuals and individuals see things differently, but there was a sense of feeling that we are all part of the same flock, the United States flock. And, more and more over the years have seen it dramatically over say the last 30 or 40 years is how much we have broken into our own little flocks, our own little factions based on what we believe and what we don’t believe. So, this has been an opportunity, I think, to look at that tendency since the end of the year. Are we all going to find a way to be part of one large flock in the aviary? Or, are we going to continue to narrow the size of our flocks ever smaller?
We’ve seen it throughout the pandemic, disagreements between people who have never disagreed about anything, friendships of many years, where people were pretty much on the same page and suddenly are bitterly divided on topics like vaccinations and masking and this sort of thing. So, I think we are coming to the end of a pretty fractious six-week period or so of trying to come to terms with some of these difficult issues and maybe find a way to have some of these difficult conversations.
Mercury trine the North Node
Finally, let’s talk about the other aspect that Mercury is making this week. And it’s a trine to the North Node of the Moon on February 11th at 10:38 PM Pacific Time. So, basically February 12th, everywhere else, 27° and 47 minutes of Capricorn. Mercury tends to symbolize that a message or a piece of information is coming into your environment. And in this case to point you in the direction of your North Node journey over the next year and a half as the North Node is moving through of Taurus, the South Node through Scorpio, and those signs are in a particular area of your chart. I think this is a tiny quick little aspect in a very light week, but it can be telling, and I would invite you to pay attention pretty much all day on February 11th and a little bit into the 12th, and look for the messages that come your way, especially the ones that relate to the house that late Taurus is in, in your chart. It could be an email that you receive, a text, something you listen to on a podcast, something you watch on television, something in the news that sparks some kind of interest in you and you find yourself drawn to know more about it or to follow it. And, it seems like a small minor thing, but it could be part of a larger pattern for the next year and a half of someplace where your interest carries you and an area of potential learning.
It could be something to do with work because Mercury is in Capricorn. And, it could be something about a new direction you might want to take in your occupation that could eventually lead you to a better reward, not just monetary reward, but a sense of satisfaction in the work that you’re doing.
Listener question!
I have a question from listener, Anna Marie, about how to work with Venus square Saturn in her birth chart. She submitted this question via SpeakPipe. And if you would like to have a question possibly answered on future episodes of the podcast, go to https://www.speakpipe.com/bigskyastrologypodcast – and we’ll link this in the show notes – and leave your message there. I think it can only be a maximum of one minute. But if there’s something specific about astrology in general, or some little bit of your chart, go ahead and leave your message. And if you’re kind of shy and don’t want to leave message, you can just shoot me an email april@bigskyastrology.com.
So, as I said, listener, Anna Marie left us this lovely message. And it sounded a little bit like this.
Message: “I have Venus square Saturn in my natal chart. And I was just wondering if you could give me some ideas about how I might work with this energy in such a way that would reduce the deleterious effects.”
April: Well, Anna Marie, first of all, thank you so much for leaving the message. And, I have to say your question was worded in exactly the right way, because you said, “How can I work with this?” And, that’s always the right question when we’re talking about Saturn. Saturn always calls us to work harder, to take responsibility and to accept ourselves as an authority in a particular area of our lives. But that call is usually not a warm one. And particularly early in life, any planet that’s connected to Saturn can be experienced as rejection, blocking, frustration, a lack. And when that planet is Venus, that’s often experienced in the realm of relationships, it’s about our sense of our own worthiness and also about money, and most of all I think, the ability to enjoy the physical world, Venus connecting with Saturn, Saturn in the second house, they’re kind of the same message, which is, is really hard to just relax and enjoy what’s pleasurable about the world, about being in a body, of having senses. Saturn wants us to work. He wants us to work through the blockages that arise in these areas.
And, we have a tendency, especially when we’re younger – it gets a little bit better I think as we get older, but not a whole lot – of feeling a little persecuted by Saturn. It’s like, well, everybody else has a nice relationship and makes good money and lives in a beautiful house. It just seems like everybody else is getting a break, and we are not. In whatever area of the chart that Saturn is in or aspects it makes to natal planets, it’s the same thing. But what Saturn really wants is for us to be really clear about what it is we want. So, Saturn with Venus will generally deny us if it feels we’re on the wrong track, or if it wants to test us and make sure that this is really truly what we want, that it’s consistent with our authentic values in the case of Venus. So, it is difficult to have relationships that don’t flow well, for sure. And Venus with Saturn can sometimes feel really cold, and it can be that you’re with somebody, that is your partner or even a really close friend, and you can sometimes feel rejected or hurt by the things they say, or if you show your vulnerability or in the case of Venus, trying to show affection in a particular way, that’s kind of rebuffed and it can be hurtful and it can be frustrating.
I think what Saturn is attempting to do in this sort of situation is to make you self=sufficient. And it doesn’t mean that you can’t have a relationship, but what it does mean is you have to love yourself first. And we know this. We know that the best way to have a good relationship is to be really alright with ourselves. And if you’re running into situations, particularly in relationships where you don’t feel appreciated, loved, valued, then, well, it can be one of two things. It can be, “Well, you’re in a relationship you shouldn’t be in, but then yes, well, how did you get in that relationship?” And it was because, well, that is what you thought you deserved. And Saturn wants to ask, “Well, really? Is that enough? Is that really what you want?” So, it’s a series of tests with Saturn. But, I always think that every planet is essentially on our side. And what Saturn tries to do for us is help us delineate proper boundaries and to respect ourselves and to get the things in life that really are aligned with our true and authentic selves.
Now, in a square, both planets need to be heard. And, Saturn will make himself heard. We don’t really have to worry about Saturn. But in your case, Anna Marie, maybe it’s a question of feeding your Venus a little more. You didn’t share what sign Venus is in, but think about the qualities of the sign, of your Venus sign and the things that it enjoys. Sometimes, when you have Venus and a hard aspect to Saturn, it’s hard to even know what you enjoy. I might ask somebody with a Venus Saturn square, “Well, what do you like to do?” And they might look at me sort of blankly and say “Work”, because you honestly probably like work with Venus and Saturn. Think about the ways in which you can feed your own Venus. It’s wonderful to have a partner or a friend or someone who just really sees you and knows what you would like and gives you really thoughtful gifts or whatever, that that’s really nice. But, be begin with what can you provide for yourself that is really, really delicious and satisfying and makes you feel good and do more of that. This doesn’t have to be spending a ton of money you don’t have or anything like that. It’s something as simple as “I feel really good when I get out in nature”. And maybe you go and you pack a picnic lunch and you go to a park, sit under a tree and eat it, something as simple as that, because Venus wants us to indulge in the beautiful things of the physical body and the physical world.
Well, I sure hope that has helped Anna Maria. I hope you’ll drop me online and follow up on this. And again, to those of you out there who might want to have a question answered on the podcast, go to speakpipe.com/bigskyastrologypodcast, or drop me a line.
Wrapping it Up
Well, that is everything I’ve got on my little show sheet. So, I’m going to wrap it up here. And, thank you so much to all of you for listening to The Big Sky Astrology Podcast. If you like what you’re hearing, please be sure to either follow or subscribe depending on what platform you’re on. It really does help more than anything else. If you love the show, I’d love a rating, I’d love a review. And please, spread the word, tell an astrology loving friend about the show. You can read show notes and full transcripts and leave your comments about each episode at bigskyastropod.com.
Thank you very much to everyone who showed support during our September Podathon. And of course, each week, I’m thinking some of you by name. This week, I’m giving a Big Sky Astrology Podcast shout out to Stella Von Thun, Carolina Cormack, and my dear friend, Maria Alexander!
April: Stella, Carolina, and Maria, thank you so much for listening to the podcast and for supporting the show with your donations. Now, if you missed the Podathon and would like to support the show too, please go to bigskyastropod.com, and there’s a big old link there that’ll tell you how to do that.
Well, that’s it for this episode. Join me again, bright early next Monday. And until then, keep your feet on the ground and your eyes on the stars.
© 2022 April Elliott Kent
