TRANSCRIPT – EPISODE 114 (March 14, 2022)
Virgo Full Moon: Handling the Baggage, Clearing the Haze
Welcome to The Big Sky Astrology Podcast with your host, Astrologer and Author, April Elliott Kent.
April: Hello my friend, April here, and the date today is March 14th, 2022. Welcome to Episode 114 of The Big Sky Astrology Podcast. Well, the biggest astrological news of the week is undoubtedly the Sun’s ingress into Aries, marking the Vernal Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere and the Autumnal Equinox in the Southern Hemisphere. Also in this episode, we’ll look at the Sun’s aspect to Pluto, the Virgo Full Moon, Venus square Uranus, and whatever Mercury is up to this week. I’ll also answer a question from listener Patti about why the transits in her chart seem to be doubling up on her.
Mercury sextile Uranus
The week begins with a sextile from Mercury to Uranus on March 17th, 05:13 AM Pacific Time at 12° and 11 minutes of Pisces. So, here is our big aspect for St Patrick’s Day. Now, appropriately Mercury is a little bit unfocused as moves through Pisces, but Uranus can wake us up a little bit. As we talked about recently with Mercury moving into Pisces, Mercury is a little bit unfocused in this sign. So, the nice thing about it coming together in this sextile aspect is that Uranus can wake us up a little bit to the extent that we’re sleep walking through life a little bit with Mercury in Pisces. Uranus is sort of like stubbing our toe on something in the night when we get up to go to the bathroom and it definitely wakes us up.
Uranus at the time of the sextile is on the Sabian symbol 13 Taurus, “A Man Handling Baggage”. And it pretty much says to me, “We need to handle our stuff, our baggage”.
Recently, I sent a message to my mailing list subscribers, where I was talking about Pisces season as being that time of the year… and by year, I mean not the calendar year, but the energetic year, which begins at the Aries Equinox. And by the time the Sun is going through Pisces, it’s gone through your whole chart in the previous 11 months. And as it does, there tend to be things that we don’t quite attend to completely, and they begin to accumulate like clutter on your dining room table or a messy closet. So, this season that the Sun is going through Pisces, and now Mercury going through Pisces and Jupiter and Neptune, it means that this is a season for taking care of that clutter once and for all, for dealing with our baggage as this Sabian symbol suggests.
And especially with the Full Moon this week in Virgo, which is a Mercury-ruled sign, it’s kind of important to give Mercury a little goose here and there, even though Mercury in Pisces suggests that this is also an important time to give our minds a little bit of a rest. So, bringing all this together, I might say, hey, find a little time perhaps this week, when you can tackle one closet or one drawer, some little tiny manageable area of your life and see if you can be putting it into some kind of order while you’re also giving your Mercury mind a little bit of a rest, because you’re not looking at a screen, you’re not listening to anything or anybody, and you can really focus on taking care of some of this flotsam and some of this clutter accumulating in the last year.
The Moon Report
And now the Moon report for the week of March 14th. We have a Virgo Full Moon this week on March 18th, just after midnight Pacific Time, 12:17 AM at 27° and 40 minutes of Virgo. The Moon at this Virgo Full Moon is on the other side of the sky from everything else. We still have that condition where all of the planets other than the Moon are bound between the lunar nodes. So, they’re all collected in this fairly narrow part of the sky between the signs of Capricorn and late Taurus. The Moon at this moment of the month has broken away from all that. And the Moon in Virgo likes her own company, she doesn’t mind a little time on her own. At this Full Moon, she’s making trines to Pluto and to the North Node. So, this is a Full Moon that’s meant to reveal something about our power and also our destiny. And I would say that with Pluto also connecting with the North Node, this is a moment where powerful forces are focusing us perhaps in the direction of a thing that we’re really meant to be working on and doing something with over the next year and a half, as the nodes are in Taurus and Scorpio.
The Sun is together with Jupiter and Neptune of course at this Full Moon. And this is highlighting this combination, this planetary trio, as Jupiter and Neptune approach their conjunction that’s coming up on April 12th. It’s a good time to be looking ahead to the area of your chart, where Jupiter and Neptune will come together in this very important conjunction, which comes together at 23° and 58 minutes of Pisces, so just around 24° of Pisces.
As the Sun is very close to that point at this Full Moon, it’s just gone past it. And the Full Moon is such a time of illumination to say, “Oh, suddenly I see what this is going to be about for me”. We can start to get a little bit of a taste, I think, in our own particular birth charts about what this powerful planetary conjunction is going to be about. So, look at the house of the chart that it falls in, any planets that you have around 24° of Pisces or Gemini, Virgo or Sagittarius, because this is the area of your life and the planets that are going to swing into action and really have a strong response to that coming together of Jupiter, the planet of belief and Neptune, the planet faith. What is your faith, your sense about where the world is going and what your place is in that?
Void-of-Course Moon Periods
I’m feeling that during this Pisces time, this Pisces season, the void-of-course Moon times each week are a touchstone to this process of disengaging with daily life and rigorous schedules to try to be more contemplative and to approach our days with more intention. So, here are the void-of-course Moon periods for this week. And again, these are not times that you can’t do anything, but there are especially good times for were sitting with the power of the Moon’s last aspect in its sign, to see what you can glean from that before the Moon moves onto its next sign.
The first void-of-course Moon period this week begins on March 15th as the Moon in Leo makes its opposition to Saturn at 03:56 AM Pacific Time. It’ll be void-of-course for a good long time. It’ll be void-of-course for 18 hours, pretty much the whole day, until it enters Virgo on March 15th at 09:59 PM Pacific Time. So, we’re ending the Moon in Leo on an opposition to Saturn. And the Moon in Leo says, “I want to be noticed. I want to feel significant. I want to feel important”. And Saturn kind of holds up the palm and says, “No, I’m not going to give you that because you are supposed to look within yourself to find your value, to find your glorious Leo individuality. You’re not supposed to look outside yourself for that kind of approval”.
Then on March 18th, the Moon in Virgo makes a trine to Pluto at 01:11 AM Pacific Time. It’s void-of-course for just three hours until it enters Libra on March 18th at 04:26 AM Pacific Time. So, if you’re here on the west coast of the United States where I’m at, probably not a whole heck of a lot going to be happening for you during that void-of-course Moon period. Maybe some good deep sleep.
On March 20th, the Moon in Libra makes a square to Pluto at 05:40 AM Pacific Time, it’ll be void-of-course, for three hours until it enters Scorpio at 08:44 AM Pacific Time. Anytime the Moon is ending its transit through a sign on a difficult aspect of Pluto, we know that that void-of-course Moon period will not probably be the happiest. Our emotions are likely feeling stirred up and very strong, especially related to relationships – this is a Moon in Libra. And the square to Pluto however, gives us an opportunity during this void-of-course Moon period, to think about how we can change our emotional patterns, the habits that we get into about how we respond to things. We always have a choice in any situation about how we will view it and how we will respond to it. And that is some of the work that we might do or meditate on during this void-of-course Moon period.
Sun sextile Pluto
On March 18th, the Sun makes a sextile aspect to Pluto at 12:37 PM Pacific Time at 28° and 10 minutes of Pisces with Pluto on the same degree of Capricorn. Now, when the Sun is in Pisces, it can drift a little bit. Think about the Sun in the sky and how focused it’s light can be. Then it’s going through Pisces, it’s like the sun shining on a very hazy day. When I lived in Los Angeles for many years, many days had that beautiful hazy sunlight of the Sun working really hard to burn its way through the smog and other atmosphere of the Los Angeles basin. But there’s something kind of beautiful about that too. It’s similar to when the Sun rises in the morning and it’s burning off the dew and the moisture that’s settled on the grass overnight. And as it does, it creates sort of a beautiful haze.
So, that’s the haze that we’re in as the Sun is going through Pisces. And it’s kind of lovely. It’s not unpleasant. But as it makes the sextile aspect to Pluto, there can be empowerment that comes from being a little more organized, a little more disciplined, a little more focused, and that’s the Pluto in Capricorn influence. It’s nice to have combination of Pisces, which is imaginative and sensitive and empathetic, but then coming together with Pluto, which is a very focused planet, in Capricorn, which is a very pragmatic sign.
Now, this is actually the last major aspect that the Sun will make in Pisces before it moves on into Aries. So, it’s almost like having a void-of-course Sun, if we want to look at it that way. The Sun will make this aspect to Pluto, and then it’s pretty much floating along until it moves into Aries on the 20th, which we’ll talk about a little later in the episode. So, this is the moment to kind of tie up the Piscean loose ends to try to take all of the imaginings, all of the dreams that we’ve accumulated while the Sun is in Pisces and now actually do something with them that’s practical and productive, and that will improve our day-to-day lives.
Venus square Uranus
Next, on March 19th at 04:16 AM Pacific Time, Venus will make a square aspect to Uranus at 12° and 17 minutes of Aquarius and Taurus respectively. So, the goddess of pleasure and enjoyment meets up with the god of shocking disruption. Now, a little bit of a Uranian influence can be very good for Venus. It can keep us from getting too complacent or even a little bit lazy. But, there’s no question that the square aspect, the 90° aspect also indicates disruption. And when it’s connecting with Venus, this disruption is found in relationships, in finances and in our sense of our own value.
Now happily, for this square, Venus is in Aquarius, which actually enjoys a certain amount of disruption. Uranus is said to be the modern ruler of Aquarius, which simply means that the two symbols have a certain amount in common. If you run into problems in your relationships at this square, this is usually coming down to the issue of personal freedom. Is one person or the other feeling really constrained by the relationship, maybe wanting to spend a little more time on their own or with their own friends, and is that causing tension with the partner? This is a moment when long standing tensions around this kind of issue can really come to a head. Now, financially it’s a time when unexpected expenses might surface, but on the plus side, there can also be some kind of unexpected windfall.
Sun’s Ingress into Aries
So, the most exciting news of the week, as I said, is the Suns ingress into the sign of Aries, marking the Vernal Equinox in the Northern hemisphere and the Autumnal Equinox and the Southern Hemisphere. Basically, here where I live in the United States, we are on the verge of spring. The Equinox actually happens on March 20th at 08:33 AM Pacific Time. And I would say for astrologers, this is the beginning of a new year. We do pay homage to Chronos at the beginning of the calendar year. But, in terms of how we experience life here on earth, the Sun coming into the sign of Aries begins an entire new year. Aries rules metal among other things, the plow and the scythe made of metal with which we clear the field and then plow it, loosening the dirt to receive new seeds.
So, Aries is the time of planting at least here in the Northern hemisphere. And it means that this is like a New Moon writ large. We say each month at the New Moon that we are planting seeds of intention. And it’s the same thing really when the Sun goes into Aries, it’s planting time. And there is hard work involved with this planting. Because, traditionally, as I say, in this hemisphere, this is coming at the end of a long winter and the ground is very hard and it’s still very cold in a lot of places. And it’s hard work getting out there and tilling the soil and loosening it up and getting ready to plant.
This is the preparation for the new things that we want to accomplish in the coming 12 months, but we don’t necessarily see any success right away – because this is the preparation time and the planting time. And just like at the New Moon, we’re kind of acting on faith. We’re planting in the dark without a whole lot of a clear sense of what it’s going to grow up to be.
Mundane astrologers look at the charts for the moment that the Sun enters Aries in the capital city of a country to get a sense of the most important issues for that country in the year ahead. I’m not a mundane astrologer, so I’m not going to go a very long way down this road. But I will find at least one really solid article by a mundane astrologer addressing the major points of this Aries Ingres chart and I will link that for you in the show notes.
Mercury conjunct Jupiter
Now, the same day as the Equinox on March 20th at 11:06 PM Pacific Time, so it’s really March 21st every place else, Mercury comes together with Jupiter at 18°, 45 minutes of Pisces on the Sabian symbol, 19 Pisces, “A Master Instructing His Pupil”, which I love because this is literally the symbolism of Mercury, the pupil, coming together with a master, Jupiter. If there is a subject that you’ve been wanting to study or something that you have a lot of knowledge about that you’ve been wanting to teach, this is an excellent aspect for that. So, look at the entire week as Mercury is moving up towards the conjunction with Jupiter, and this is a good time perhaps to initiate that kind of project.
Also, if you’re interested in writing something, especially something comprehensive, like a book or a thesis, this is a really good time for that work because Mercury is a good researcher and its very fluid with language and finds writing pretty easy. The problem for Jupiter is that it has all these wonderful large ideas of immense complexity, and it can be very difficult to distill those large concepts down into language that most people can understand, and Mercury’s good at that. So, it is an excellent time for accomplishing those kinds of projects.
Listener Question
In this week’s listener question, listener Patti writes, “I’ve noticed that when one transiting planet is aspecting a natal planet in my chart, many times the same two planets are forming a similar transit. For example, I have Venus conjunct Mars in Cancer, and currently transiting Venus and Mars are forming a conjunction with each other and both are opposing my natal Venus and Mars.
“Another example is that transiting Mars right now is forming a trine with my natal Uranus, while transiting Uranus is sextile natal Mars. Also, three outer planets are moving into aspect with themselves in my chart. Transiting Jupiter is trine natal Jupiter, transiting Neptune is trine natal Neptune, transiting Uranus is trine Uranus. They kind of are like reciprocal connections and they happen often in my chart, both with inner and outer planet. Is there some extra significance to these double hits? And is this a common occurrence in all charts or is it because my natal chart forms so many connections?”
April: Well, Patti, let me start with the outer planet aspects to natal planets. A couple of episodes ago, I talked about planetary cycles, and as we saw then cycles of each planet mean that it will make aspects to its position in your birth chart at mostly predictable ages. Jupiter has a 12-year cycle. It makes two trines to its position in your birth chart during that cycle, about five and nine years after the Jupiter return. Uranus has an 84-year cycle and it makes trines to itself at about the ages of 28 and 56. So, these are important transits, but they do tend to happen for everyone at roughly the same ages.
Now reciprocal aspects, where say, as you said, transiting Mars is trine natal Uranus. And by the way, that will happen about every five to six months for all of us. While Uranus by transit is sextile natal Mars, which is more unusual. You’ll only have that aspect twice in your life, assuming you live into your early eighties. But you will have that aspect for up to three exact hits in about one year. And since Mars is trine natal Uranus about every five to six months, then we know that there is likely going to be a couple of opportunities during this larger Uranus-Mars aspect to also have Mars trine Uranus. So, it’s pretty common actually, but that doesn’t mean it is an important. What’s really important is the aspect from the very slow-moving Uranus to natal Mars, because it is relatively rare. But then what’s going to happen as Mars, which moves much more quickly connects with Uranus, it kind of signals an important moment in that larger aspect from Uranus to Mars, because the two planets involved are talking to each other overtime.
Now, as for the Venus and Mars example, when you have two planets in a conjunction in your birth chart, as Venus and Mars are for you, they’re going to get the same aspects from the same transiting planets at pretty much the same time. Transiting Venus and Mars make a conjunction about once a year, but their cycle is kind of funny. It’s a little bit irregular, but that means that they will come together on a pretty regular basis. And when they do, they’ll make some kind of aspect to your own Venus-Mars conjunction. Usually, we’ll pay closest attention to the major aspects, the conjunction, sextile, square, trine, and opposition. But, even when a transiting Venus-Mars conjunction is not making a major aspect to your own Venus and Mars, the thinking among some astrologers is that you will have a strong reaction to that transiting conjunction, because it mirrors your own personal Venus-Mars connection in your birth chart.
Here is something that I found from the late great Donna Cunningham, one of my earliest favorite astrologers. This is something that she wrote on her blog on this topic. And of course, I’ll post a link to this in the show notes. She wrote: “Each aspect in the natal chart contains a host of promises since even most difficult of combinations has gifts to bestow once we learn to use the energies of the two planets well. Throughout our lives, transits to a natal aspect represent windows of time when we’re challenged to make changes in how we are using that aspect. If we’re wise, we gradually learn to let go of self- defeating ways of expressing the energies of those planets, and instead to capitalize on their strengths. Never is that more true than during the periods when the natal aspect is echoed by the transit. That is when one of the planets involved natally is the transiting planet as well.
“For instance, suppose that Saturn is square Mars in the birth chart, and now transiting Saturn is opposite natal Mars. The aspect isn’t the same, but the pair of planets in the picture, Mars and Saturn are. What you may experience at that time is a reactivation of old issues and behavior patterns that you may have worked on for years. The transit gives you a chance to integrate those energies at a more mature level”.
Donna goes on to write about outer planet transits to their natal positions, which I was telling you about at the beginning. So, recently we’ve had two Venus-Mars conjunctions on February 16th in Capricorn, and then on March 5th, both in a close opposition to your own Venus-Mars, well actually more than one on February 16th. So, we would have expected that to stir up the Venus-Mars embers in your chart. But even if we go back to last summer, in July of 2021, there was a Venus-Mars conjunction at 19° of Leo, at most, that’s a semi sextile aspect to your natal Venus and Mars, which is not something that should create much of a stir. But, the symbolism of Venus and Mars coming together at any place in the sky triggers your own hardwired, Venus-Mars conjunction. Now, as I said, I’ll post the Donna’s full article in the show notes, and I’ll also post to a really excellent article by as Australian astrologer, Michele Finey about the cycle of Venus and Mars
How to support the podcast, and thanks to donors
Well that is everything I have on my show sheet for this very big week in The Big Sky, so I’m going to wrap this up. Thank you so much for listening to The Big Sky Astrology Podcast. If you like, what you’re hearing, be sure to subscribe or follow the show, maybe leave a rating or review, and I hope that you’ll spread the word by telling an astrology loving friend. You can read show notes and full transcripts and leave your comments about each episode at bigskyastropod.com.
Thank you so much to everyone who shows support during our September Podathon. And each week. I’m thanking some of you by name. This week, I’m giving a Big Sky Astrology Podcast shout out to Anna Kelly, Melissa Pearson, and Jack Daft.
April: Anna, Melissa, and Jack, thank you so much for listening to the podcast and for supporting the show with your donations.
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I’d also love to hear from any of you who have questions that you might want to hear answered on a future episode of the show. You can do that by going to speakpipe.com/bigskyastrologypodcast, and you can leave a message of up to one minute. But if you’re a little bit of a shy person, you can also send it to me in an email at April(at)bigskyastrology.com.
That is it for this episode. Join me again, bright and early next Monday. And until then, keep your feet on the ground and your eyes on the stars.
