TRANSCRIPT Ep. 112 (Feb. 28, 2022)
Pisces New Moon & the Lunar Nodes: Endings, Suspicion, and Hedonism (Juicy!)
April: Hello, invisible friends, this is April. And the date today is February 28th, 2022. Welcome to Episode 112 of The Big Sky Astrology Podcast. This week we’re going to talk about a very exciting New Moon in Pisces with a lot of activity going on for Venus and Mars. Plus, I’ll answer a listener question about death, suspicion and hedonism. Juicy!
I find myself in recent weeks since Jupiter has gone into Pisces and is approaching its conjunction with Neptune, which happens exactly in April, I find myself talking to many of my clients about Pisces in Neptune and what the assignment is when we have a lot of things in the sky picking up these energies, and what happens when that sign or that planet are really making their presence known in the sky.
The way Pisces seems to work and Neptune is that it doesn’t necessarily reward a linear approach to things. If you’re a person who takes great comfort in checklists and plans and strategies, Neptune, and the sign of Pisces, aren’t necessarily going to be your best friends. In times of Pisces when Neptune is strong, we have to some extent surrender to the journey that we’re on. So, it’s okay to make plans and to have objectives say for this new year, but at some point we have to acknowledge and accept that things come up.
I mean, the pandemic is a great case in point. We’re coming up on the second anniversary of this pandemic being declared and things being shut down, at least here in the United States, and of course, normal life and routines, as we knew them completely dissolved almost overnight. We had to learn a new way of moving through the world. Probably, some of us have done a little more elegant job of this than others. Those of us with a whole lot of planets in the fixed signs – Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius – might have struggled a little bit more. And maybe those of us with more planets in mutable signs – Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces – might have found it just a little easier to pivot during these times and go with the flow, take things as they come and work with them as we’re able.
For this episode, I had planned to bring you an interview with my oldest and dearest friend who is a Pisces with lots of planets in his chart in Pisces. And as we’re moving through this Pisces season, I thought, “Wow, wouldn’t it be fun to have an interview with a card-carrying member of the Pisces tribe and get a little bit of an insight into that sign in that way”. But, oh my gosh, we have had the hardest time trying to record this interview! It wasn’t the content, he’s wonderful and articulate and bright and it was a lot of fun has always to chat with him, but the technology has just been fighting us every step of the way. And so, I just had to at some point step back and accept that, okay, this isn’t the time for this interview. And I think if I just kind of step back and relax about it a little bit, at some point the technology will fall into place and we’ll be able to do this for you.
But I thought it’s such a good example of what happens during a Pisces season and a Pisces time. You know, we can’t rush into it with all kinds of plans and things that have to work in exactly a particular way. Instead, through March 20th while the Sun is in Pisces, it makes a lot more sense to let ourselves relax, go with the flow and let things unfold the way they’re meant to.
The Sun sextile Uranus (March 1)
The Sun makes a sextile aspect to Uranus this week on March 1st at 09:05 PM Pacific Time at 11° 35’ of Pisces and Taurus. This is the last major in the Sun/Uranus cycle that began back on April 30th, 2021 when they met in a conjunction. Last month, we had a Sun/Uranus square, which was a critical final moment in this cycle, a cycle of change and growth and personal inspiration. And now this week, this aspect, the sextile, I think, is the opportunity to integrate or to share insights that you might have had about last month’s breakthroughs. The square aspect between these two, I think was on January 30th just after Venus had gone direct. And, it’s worth thinking back to that time and think, “Did you make any big decisions, any big moves?”
With the Sun, it is of the nature of one’s personal will, and we might say one’s personal identity. And Uranus is about how to change that up. We can get really stale in the persona that we built for ourselves. And when the Sun comes together with Uranus, it is this opportunity to liberate ourselves, however briefly, from that sense of who we are and who we have to be.
I saw something over the last couple of days in the news headlines about the singer Kelly Clarkson, who has decided to legally change her name. And often, I’ll associate name changes with Mercury as well. But I really like this idea of it coming at a time when the Sun is making a sextile aspect to Uranus. She said, “This name just better represents who she is”. And, it’s a sextile aspect. She doesn’t have to make this change. It’s of the nature of the sextile, which is “Here is an opportunity, here’s something I can do or not do. It wouldn’t really make a difference either way”. She’s just taking an opportunity to better align her persona with her authentic self, who she really feels like on the inside. And Uranus is a great planet to assist us in doing that because he’s willing to change old patterns.
So, look for opportunities this week as the Sun is sextile Uranus, and think about, what is it in the way that you are projecting your image out into the world or your personality that might no longer be exactly congruent with the person that you really know yourself to be? And what sort of changes, big or small, can you make to bring them into better alignment?
The Moon Report for the week of Feb. 28
And now for the Moon report and that lovely New Moon in Pisces, on March 2nd at 09:35 AM Pacific Time, 12° 6’ Pisces. This falls on the Sabian symbol, 13 Pisces, “A Sword In A Museum”. It’s a fascinating symbol for a Sun like Pisces, which we don’t think of as particularly warlike, but it is in a museum. It says, reflecting maybe on old fights, on old quarrels, on a feeling that we might have had in the past of really needing to defend ourselves. And that perhaps at this New Moon, where the Sun and the Moon are both in a conjunction with Jupiter, maybe what we’re feeling is there’s less of a need to fall back on weaponry of that kind, that again, this is the season for retreat, surrender.
So, as I said, the Sun and the Moon at this New Moon are in a pretty close conjunction with Jupiter, which is at 14° of Pisces. Jupiter is considered the greater benefic. He is supposed to be the jolliest, happiest and luckiest of all the planets.
Now, that may or may not have been your particular experience of Jupiter, but the way I’ve experienced it has often been that with Jupiter, things always end up for the best, but they don’t always begin that way. You know, you may see a Jupiter transit coming in your chart thinking, oh, that’s going to be great. All of my wishes will be fulfilled! And then something instead comes along that really kind of knocks you on your keister, and you say, wow, I thought Jupiter was supposed to be a good guy. Well, I think he is ultimately, but sometimes he has to first get our attention.
The other really arresting feature of this New Moon chart is the combination of Venus with Mars and Pluto. And we’ll be talking about that trio of planets later in the episode because Venus and Mars are up to quite a lot this week. But having them together so closely in a New Moon chart, of course has consequences as this New Moon cycle continues to unfold, both over the next 28 days, the next six months and the next two-and-a-half years.
The New Moon, as we always say is about conceiving of something new, planting the seeds for a new idea, a new project, a new stage of life even. And what is Pisces about? Well, if you look at the Pisces house or houses in your chart, the ones with Pisces on the cusp, you can start to get a pretty good idea of the area of your life where you’re planting something new.
Now, Pisces is the last sign of the Zodiac, it is the last sign on the horoscopic wheel. And so, we associate it with endings, we associate it with clearing out, with lightening our load, with retreating from the workaday world and looking within, clearing the decks for something new because the Aries Equinox is now just around the corner, and that will require a lot of energy and a lot of initiation on our part. So, Pisces is the season and especially the Pisces New Moon, when we say, where in my life am I called now to lighten the load and to simplify my life so that I can engage in introspection and what we might say, the things of the spirit. Think of it as the New Moon season for contemplation, for meditation and for healing. We begin to see the first shoots and leaves of what was planted at the New Moon at the next Full Moon, on March 18th at 27°40’ Virgo. We’ll see a little bit more at the Pisces Full Moon on September 10th. And of course, this New Moon initiates a new lunar phase family. The First Quarter of this lunar phase family will be on November 30th, 2022, then the Full Moon on August 30th, 2023, and finally a Last Quarter on May 30th, 2024.
So, those are three different timeframes, at least,wherein we can consider the influence for this Pisces New Moon up until March 18th, up until actually the next New Moon, which is on March 31st in Aries, then until the Pisces Full Moon in September, when we really begin to see evidence of what was planted now, and then throughout the next two and a half years, at nine month intervals as this lunar phase family unfolds.
Void-of-course Moon periods
This week we have several void-of-course Moon periods, times for changing habits, times when a forward trajectory is not necessarily the best use of the time. So, in a lot of ways, it’s kind of like a mini Pisces period. So, on February 28th, the Moon in Aquarius makes it conjunction with Saturn at 06:01 PM and then it moves into Pisces on March 1st at 12:59 PM Pacific Time. So, the Moon’s last aspect as we talked about last at episode is very important because it tells us the mood of the void-of-course, period. And this one carries the temper of the Moon conjunct Saturn. This is about a six, seven-hour void-of-course, period. So, what’s the Moon with Saturn? It feels heavy. It feels perhaps as if we’ve encountered some blockage that we’re gonna have to push through and overcome.
On March 3rd, the Moon in Pisces makes a sextile to Mars at 01:45 PM Pacific Time, and then it moves into Aries at 04:52 PM, so, we have about out a three-hour void period on that day. And then, on March 5th, the Moon in Aries makes a square to Pluto 08:01 PM Pacific Time and enters Taurus at midnight on March 6th for a very intense four-hour void-of-course Moon period as Moon is still gestating on and contemplating and working through that final square from the Moon to Pluto. The Moon in Aries is restless and impatient, and it wants to do things and it wants to do them now, and it wants to do a new thing. But the square to Pluto says “Not so fast, because you haven’t really finished up something else that you had started”. So, I think the square to Pluto kind of slows down this energy that we were building up on that two-day period that the Moon is in Aries.
Venus, Mars, and Pluto
Next up on March 3rd, just after midnight at 12:43 AM Pacific Time, Mars makes a conjunction with Pluto, and that’s followed at 09:56 AM Pacific Time with Venus making the last of three conjunctions with Pluto. The previous two were on December 11th and December 25th, and of course, Venus also had that retrograde period between December 19th and January 29th. So, I see her kind of limping to the finish line with this final conjunction with Pluto. And I’m really happy she has Mars there holding hands with her, keeping her company.
So, Mars coming together with Pluto is pretty significant. It is the beginning of a Mars/Pluto cycle that will expand out over the next couple of years. And these are both pretty formidable planets. Just think about the fact that one of them is the modern, one is the traditional, ruler of the sign of Scorpio. Mars is the traditional ruler and Pluto, the modern one. And you know what an intense sign that is. So, think about Mars and Pluto coming together as being sort of a concentrated, Scorpionic feeling.
Mars is about the way we assert ourselves in the world about how we respond to perceived threats, how we defend those close to us, and Pluto represents the immovable object, the forces beyond our control. So, what’s difficult about this is Mars is the way in which we feel we have the ability to act and to make things happen. And Pluto represents the large, impersonal external forces that say “Not so fast. There’s only so much that you’re actually in control of”. So, you can see this can be a pretty frustrating and even somewhat demoralizing combination of planets, demoralizing for Mars more than Pluto. But Venus is also there to keep Mars company and Venus has been going through a series of interactions with Pluto and has fresh, recent experience about how to deal with it. So, what this is basically saying, I think with Venus and Mars is especially for relationships because Venus and Mars are both very relationship oriented and as they come together with Pluto, they’re finishing a kind of a long, extended period in which we’ve been evaluating various relationships.
They could be personal relationships, romantic family, business, all kinds of relationships have had kind of a moment of truth sometime over the last couple of months where we’ve had to say, well, look, this is what I need, this is how I see it – and Pluto doesn’t normally do that super gently. So, it has had consequences, and I’m hearing about a lot of those consequences from my clients that I’ve been talking to. So, this is the final resolution of a lot of interpersonal friction, and also a process of clarity of getting more authentic about what we need in relationships that’s been going on for a while
Now, on March 5th, we have many things happening, including the resolution of this Venus-Mars-Pluto tension. So, I would say that Venus and Mars after their conjunctions with Pluto on March 3rd are sitting there feeling a little bit like a void-of-course Moon, where they’re kind of spinning their wheels and where they’re just sitting with Pluto and sitting with the feelings that have arisen and the various frustrations or disappointments.
Then on March 5th, Mars will enter Aquarius at 10:23 PM Pacific Time, Venus will enter Aquarius seven minutes later, and then at 11:12 PM Pacific Time, Venus and Mars come together in a beautiful conjunction at 0° 01’ of Aquarius. So, to back up a little bit, the Sun makes its conjunction with Jupiter, its annual conjunction with Jupiter on this same day, on March 5th at 06:06 AM Pacific Time. So, we begin the day with a sense of optimism and renewal, a feeling of wanting to tackle new things. And then, by nightfall, you know, late into the evening, we’re getting this Venus and Mars transition to the sign of Aquarius. For me, things going from Capricorn to Aquarius are very much like the scene in the Wizard of Oz where Dorothy walks out of her house that has landed in Oz. And it goes from black and white to color. Aquarius is technicolor.
And where Venus and Mars, especially with Pluto have been kind of dragging themselves along a little bit, I see this shift into Aquarius as highly energizing. So, this means perhaps new relationships or a new chapter in existing relationships, an opportunity for new kinds of work, with Mars, or new approach to work, possibly literally a new job. And Venus coming together with Mars, beginning another cycle, Venus-Mars cycle, also gives this refreshing new start.
Now, there was a Venus-Mars conjunction in Capricorn on February 16th, which was very earthy, very physical, very sexy. Venus coming together with Mars in Aquarius, an air sign, is a little more evocative to me of the relationships we form with people who are going to help us achieve future goals that are important to us because it’s Aquarius. They come together on the same degree of the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction that we had in 2020, I think in December of 2020. At that time, there was so much written about the conjunction, so much excitement about it, and it was very beautiful to observe in the night sky. But Jupiter and Saturn are large societal symbols in our system of astrology. And I think, this is really a moment with Venus and Mars, much closer to us and representative of more intimate forces, that talks about forming relationships with people, alliances with people, that will help us perhaps to move more decisively in the direction of that great promise, those wonderful dreams and goals from the Jupiter Saturn conjunction.
Question from listener Dora
This week, I have a question from listener Dora, who wrote, “I’ve been thinking of the Gemini-Sagittarius nodes in terms of restrictions imposed by COVID long gone are long travels, and neighborhood outings for some fresh air and or perspective became the norm. Could the Taurus-Scorpio nodal access signify or return to more comfort and security while leaving behind fears of death and darker thoughts and suspicions?”
And I think, “Yes”. I mean, this is the first part of Dora’s question and I agree with it entirely. I think, as we’ve been talking about this shift of the lunar nodes into Taurus and Scorpio, it is a point that I’ve been trying to make and maybe haven’t done a great job of which is the south node in Scorpio, tells us what we are supposed to release related that sign. And of course, we’re not going to release the great things about Scorpio, right? The loyalty, the perception, the ability to go deep and see what’s really going on, we’re not gonna let go of any of that. But certainly, there is a dark element to that sign is there is to any sign. And with Scorpio, it’s about the ways in which we as a society have been letting dark thoughts and suspicion get the better of us throughout the pandemic, and the challenge of course to move ahead and out of that is to embrace the Taurus qualities of taking things as they come and taking things at face value. And what I’ve been saying to clients is, pretend everything’s going to be okay. Even if you don’t believe that everything’s going to be okay, there is about Taurus, this wonderful, sensible down to earth approach to things. In the face of even the most horrific things, Taurus will see what can be done in the present, using whatever is around us to cope with what’s happening.
The second part of Dora’s question was “I recently came across a book called ‘Apollos Arrow’ written by a renowned scientist, who mentioned that as far as times of struggle and their next phases go, we should expect a period of excessive hedonism as a reaction to COVID times around the year 2024. Which made me wonder, can we see in the astrology of that year signs of such behavior? Does astrology agree with that kind of prediction?”
Dora, what I see is that year, Jupiter will be in Taurus and it will make a conjunction with Uranus in April of 2024. Now, Jupiter is a planet that amplifies whatever it comes in contact with and Taurus is a sign that likes to enjoy life’s sensual pleasures. So, you put those two images together and you have, yes, that’s probably a little hedonistic. You bring those two symbols together with Uranus, which is a planet that refuses to be constrained and is the planet that says, “Well, I’m going to do what I want to do”. So, I think there is a reasonable astrological case to be made that 2024 does carry some of this promise that was described in the book that Dora talks about.
Thanks to donors, and how to support the show
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That’s it for this episode. Please join me again, bright and early next Monday. And until then, keep your feet on the ground and your eyes on the stars.
© 2022 April Elliott Kent