Transcript for Ep. 119 | The Sun enters Taurus: A Clear Mountain Stream (April 18, 2022)
Listen and read show notes hereWelcome to The Big Sky Astrology Podcast, with your host, Astrologer and Author, April Elliott Kent.
April: Hello, invisible friend, April here, and the date today is April 18th, 2022. Welcome to Episode 119 of The Big Sky Astrology Podcast.
This week, the Sun makes a powerful square to Pluto and enters Taurus. The Aquarius Last Quarter Moon is ripe for contemplating the relationship between abundance and spiritual right0mindedness. Venus makes a sparkling aspect to Uranus and as usual, Mercury does some stuff. Plus, I am answering a listener question about what happens when a big planetary transit becomes personal in your birth chart.
Free Eclipse Webinar
But before I get started, I wanted to tell you that Eclipse season is near upon us, and I will be offering a free eclipse webinar on Saturday, April 23rd at 11:00 AM Pacific Time. You can find out more about it and register by following the link in the show notes.
Venus sextile Uranus (April 18, 2022, 12:15 am PDT)
As the week begins, Venus makes a sextile aspect to Uranus on April 18th at 12:15 AM Pacific Time, at 13°49′ of Pisces and Taurus respectively. Venus is the planet of plenty, of pleasure, of leisure, and the kind of affectionate relationships that just make us feel good. As it comes together in any kind of aspect with Uranus, we see an opening for some kind of a wake-up call or something new or unexpected coming along either in the realm of our relationships, of finances, the things that bring us pleasure and happiness day to day. So, we can always see Uranus as a chance to try is something new, and we may not come to that willingly, but it is something that is available to us.
Now, the fact that the aspect between the two of them is a sextile means, this is an opportunity that comes our way, an invitation, a meeting, an introduction, perhaps that comes from an unexpected source or in an unexpected way. Think of being introduced by one friend to another. Maybe something about them is a little different than what you’re used to, a little startling even. And there is an opportunity to either get to know this person a little bit better, even though they’re not what you’re exactly used to, or to say, “Nah, I don’t think I’m really going to go there”.
The Sabian symbols for this combination are 14 Pisces for Venus, “A Lady in a Fox Fur” – This is a one who’s very comfortable. She’s doing just fine, thank you. She doesn’t really need anything else new in her life. And Uranus is on the Sabian symbol, 14 Taurus, “Shellfish Groping and Children Playing”. So, the Uranian element in this particular transit is offering either something that we need, as symbolized by the ‘Shellfish Groping’ – so, something this prosperous lady needs that she didn’t even realize she was lacking. Or, just an opportunity for something fun; that’s the ‘Children Playing’. So, there is an opportunity here to open up to new pleasures, new ways of getting what we want and what we need.
Sun square Pluto (April 18, 2022, 8:14 am PDT)
Later on the morning of April 18th at 08:14 AM Pacific Time, the Sun makes a square aspect to Pluto on 28° and 30 minutes of Aries and Capricorn. The Sabian symbol for the Sun is 29 Aries, A Celestial Choir Singing, and the Sabian symbol, 29 Capricorn for Pluto is A Woman Reading Tea Leaves. This is one you’re going to be hearing a lot about, because Pluto will be at this 29th degree of Capricorn for weeks.
Look for stories of power around this day. As we finish up this energetic and very passionate Aries season, are you feeling empowered or powerless? The Sun symbolizes our sense of ourselves as unique and important, but Pluto reminds us that there is only so much that’s within our personal control. The potency of spring and of new beginnings is clashing at this aspect with the decay and endings at the other end of life’s spectrum. We see the power of the great beyond in these Sabian symbols: An otherworldly choir singing, and A Woman Is Reading Tea Leaves and tapping into messages from beyond. Pluto is associated with what comes after this world with mortality, and to some degree with our sense of power or personal power and empowerment. The “Celestial Choir’ reminds us of what comes after this world, and the “Woman Reading Tea Leave” seems to be a reminder that there is a structure to life, something we might call fate that can be seen in a cup of tea leaves.
A few days ago, as the Moon approach its opposition to Pluto, we laid to rest my favorite little Aries. Our tabby cat, Spike. died two years ago, and I had not been able to bring myself to even open the bag with his cremains. So, it was kind of fitting on that second anniversary of losing this little friend that we buried his ashes underneath our lemon tree in the backyard. On the last couple of months of his life, we used to let him outside because he couldn’t walk very well, so he couldn’t escape. And he loved just sitting under that tree in the afternoon sun. When the Sun comes together with Pluto, it’s easy to dwell on the endings of things and how painful that can be, but it’s also a time to focus on the other end of that equation and how much we can love and how joyfully during the time that we experience life as symbolized by the Sun.
Sun enters Taurus (April 19, 2022, 7:24 pm PDT)
Speaking of the Sun, the Sun enters Taurus on April 19th at 07:24 PM Pacific Time, on the Sabian symbol, 1 Taurus, A Clear Mountain Stream. This Sabian symbol always welcomes the Sun’s entry into Taurus, and it is a time of year of cleansing, refreshment, sometimes even baptism. So, the Sun entering Taurus, and in two weeks we reach the point that’s exactly between the Aries Equinox and the Cancer Solstice. It goes really fast, doesn’t it?
After all of the movement and the fast pace of the Sun moving through Aries, the Taurus season is a time to rest and relax, kind of throw ourselves onto the bank of the river and lie in sweet grass in the afternoon Sun and enjoy just being on the Earth at its most beautiful. I’m not saying that there won’t be snow flurries in some parts of the world when the Sun goes into Taurus, but things are usually beginning to thaw, the world is starting to wake up, and we’re beginning to see flowers and birds and all of those wonderful things.
So, the Taurus season is about enjoying what we have. You know, Aries is the great scramble to get what we want or what we need. And then, when the Sun is in Taurus, we go, this is pretty nice. I can relax a little bit now. In particular, take a look at the house of your chart with Taurus on the cusp, any planet you might have in Taurus, and think, ah, this is where I go to rest and relax and enjoy life and what it has given me.
Last Quarter Moon in Aquarius (April 23, 2022, 4:56 am PDT)
And now, for the Moon report for the week of April 18th. This week, we have a Last Quarter Moon in Aquarius on April 23rd at 04:56 AM Pacific Time, at 3° 18’ minutes of Aquarius, with the Sun at 3° 18’ minutes of Taurus. The Sabian symbol for 4 Aquarius is A Hindu Healer, and the Sabian symbol for Taurus, The Rainbow’s Pot Of Gold.
The “Hindu Healer” symbol brought to mind, Paramahansa Yogananda. In 1920, Yogananda established an International Center for the Self Realization Fellowship, and his centers continue to this day, including a couple here in San Diego. His teachings emphasized purification of the mind through plain living, including yoga, higher thought. And like Elsie Wheeler, the psychic who intuited the Sabian symbols in about the same era, he had a strong connection with San Diego.
So, the Sabian symbol for 4 Taurus is, as I said, The Rainbow’s Pot Of Gold. Abundance, beauty and imagination, which I think is the rainbow part of the Sabian symbol, something beautiful and ethereal in the sky. Both of these symbols have a touch of spiritual sensitivity and high mindedness about them. And, in the chart for this Last Quarter Moon, we see Venus in Pisces drawing close to Jupiter and Neptune, which of course were recently in a conjunction with each other. So, as we meditate on what we’ve accomplished since the Aries New Moon, we can contemplate the relationship between abundance, spiritual right-mindedness, and the urge towards self-realization and perfection.
Void-of-course Moon periods
Here are the void-of-course Moon periods for the week. And again, the void-of-course Moon periods are those times when the Moon has made the last of its major specs in its sign, and until it moves into the next sign, these are good times for contemplation and for assimilating the lessons of the Moon’s final aspect in the sign.
On April 18th, the Moon in Scorpio makes a sextile aspect to Pluto at 04:55 PM Pacific Time, and is void-of-course for just a little over two hours before it enters Sagittarius at 07:16 PM Pacific Time on April 18th. The Moon being in Scorpio has kind of a kinship with Pluto, and the two of them are in a good aspect. This is a couple of hours when we can really reflect on how we’re doing with emotional commitments and emotional patterns and think about what may have come our way in the previous couple of days with the Moon in Scorpio, that if we change the way that we’re doing things on a daily basis might actually result in a little more of a sense of empowerment, and that’s the Pluto part.
On April 20th, the Moon in Sagittarius makes a square aspect to Jupiter at 01:56 PM Pacific Time. It’s then void-of-course for eight hours. So, here on the west coast, that’s pretty much the entire late afternoon into the evening, before it enters Capricorn at 08:52 PM Pacific Time. A Moon in Sagittarius is sort of a bouncy, happy, resilient Moon. And when it makes a square to Jupiter, we can then reflect back on the last couple of days and see where we might have bitten off a little more than we can chew. A square to Jupiter is still – if you have to have a square, squares to Jupiter are the way to go, but it’s still a square. And when Jupiter and Sagittarius for that matter are involved, we do have a little bit of a tendency to get in over our heads. to overcommit, overindulge, and just generally overdo it.
On April 22nd, the Moon in the somewhat more restrained sign of Capricorn makes a conjunction with Pluto at 08:53 PM Pacific Time, then it is void-of-course for about two and a half hours before entering Aquarius at 11:17 PM Pacific Time. So, that’s April 22nd where I’m at, probably April 23rd where you are. This is another one of those evening conjunctions or strong aspects to Pluto that warns us to take in information that is positive. Where the Moon is, we’re very sensitive, so when it’s in a conjunction with Pluto, we’re especially sensitive to anything that’s kind of a shock to the system. So, watching movies or television shows that are extremely violent or very psychologically fraught, these are things we might want to avoid on that evening. I tend to fall asleep, listening to podcasts, to be honest with you. So, I will know on that evening, it’s good to dial in on one that’s probably not going to cover a lot of heavy topics.
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Mercury square Saturn (April 24, 2022, 6:50 am PDT)
Mercury makes a square to Saturn on April 24th at 06:50 AM Pacific Time at 23° 53’ minutes of Taurus and Aquarius. This is an aspect about training one’s mind. Mercury’s about the way we take in, process, and disseminate information. And Saturn is of course, the great taskmaster of patience and perseverance. Having an aspect between Mercury and Saturn is a very good signature for writers because it speaks of the discipline to sit down and actually do the work of writing and putting together your or thoughts, but the square between Mercury and Saturn means, this does not go smoothly. So, probably the day before through the day after, so April 23rd, through April 25th, it can be a struggle to focus to get all of your information organized and get all of your little ducks in a row.
Mercury is still in Taurus, a sign that is pretty good about slowing down and applying itself, so, it may not do quite as badly with a square to Saturn as say, Mercury in Aries would have. Taurus has a slow fuse, but when it gets frustrated, a planet in Taurus can eventually blow. And Mercury square Saturn speaks to blockages and delays in information or getting things done or logistics. That can be frustrating. So basically, this is a day to practice, focus and patience, know that there will be delays and be diligent in getting your work done, but don’t expect quick results.
Mercury sextile Neptune (April 24, 2022, 3:37 pm PDT)
Later that afternoon, on April 24th, Mercury makes a sextile to Neptune at 03:37 PM Pacific Time at 24° 22’ minutes of Taurus and Pisces. So here, Mercury having settled down and done its work, gets to play a little bit with Neptune. Neptune’s the planet of imagination. Mercury activities on this day are sort of the equivalent of eating all of your vegetables at dinner so that now you get to sit down and your dessert. Mercury’s square to Saturn speaks of working through the difficult, knotty problems and troubleshooting that you’ve been putting off. And now you get to relax and maybe read a book, give your mind a little bit of time off and a little bit of a vacation, a mini-vacation, the kind where you’re just sitting on your front porch and staring off into the distance and letting your mind play and relax. Now, this is a sextile aspect, again, you might find that you’re too busy and you don’t really have the time or want to take the time to sit and let your mind play for a while. But if you do have this opportunity in the late afternoon to just make a cup of tea, sit down with the cat, and let your mind float for a little while.
Listener Question: Getting personal with Jupiter and Neptune
This week’s listener question is from Rachel L, who left the following lovely message on SpeakPipe. “Hi April. So, I was excited to see that this Jupiter Neptune conjunction in Pisces is happening at 22°. My natal Jupiter is in Pisces at 22°. I was wondering if there’s any additional significance of this return happening in my exact degree, and if it is beneficent, how long can expect that window to last?”
April: Well, thank you so much for that question, Rachel. I mean, just to be clear, the conjunction of Jupiter and Neptune was at 23° 58’ of Pisces, but that is still very close to your natal Jupiter. So, you’re wondering if the fact that Jupiter and Neptune are together so close to your Jupiter Return has a particular significance for you and how long that will last.
Well, for one thing, I do believe that this will set the tone for the next 12 years of your Jupiter return period, because Jupiter has a 12-year cycle and you are now having your Jupiter return and won’t have another one for 12 years. The Jupiter Return coming every 12 years marks moments where we make some kind of advance in what we might see is our life’s work. Jupiter is the planet of adventure and of expanding the boundaries of our own little-known universe.
So, what I would invite you to do, Rachel, is go back to the age of 12, 24, 36, I don’t know how old you are now, and note what big changes in your life came about then, where you pushed the envelope a little bit, where you tried something new, went to a new place, studied a new subject, because that is the work of the Jupiter Return. I can’t tell you how many students I speak with who begin by saying, “I discovered astrology about the age of 12”. And that’s when I really started getting interested in it in a serious way as well, because that’s the age of the first Jupiter Return, and we’re looking for a bigger window on the world, which astrology among other subjects certainly provides. So, the next 12 years of your life will be colored by this Jupiter Return.
We work with the Jupiter Return just as we might with a Solar Return or Saturn Return. All of the planets have some kind of return when they come back to the place they were when you were born. And what we do is, or rather what my computer does is find the precise moment that Jupiter in this case returns to its exact longitude at the time of your birth. And then we calculate a chart based on that moment, and that chart will tell us a lot about the whole next 12-year period of your life. So, it’s very significant that Jupiter and Neptune are together in your Jupiter Return chart.
We consider Jupiter a happy influence, as I think I’ve said previously on the podcast. But as I said, just earlier in this episode, Jupiter can also be a little bit much. It’s where in attempting to expand our boundaries, we might go just a little bit overboard. Having Neptune together with Jupiter in your Jupiter Return chart, to me says, this is going to be a fairly long period of your life of letting go of what no longer fits and works in your life, so that you can be a bigger version of yourself, have a bigger version of your life.
Now, as I said in an essay that I wrote recently – and I’ll link to in the show notes, I think I did last time – there is a little bit of melancholy, a little bit of a sadness that we often see with Neptune. It speaks of letting things go; and we don’t always like to let things go, but sometimes it’s the only way to move forward. We might think perhaps of a young person born in a small place who decides that the only way that they’re going to realize their potential is to leave their family and the smaller place where they’ve grown up and go to a big city, maybe, to make their fortune. So, that is the Jupiter part that, “Ooh, I have this vision of this thing I really want to do. That’s going to be very exciting”. But the Neptune part is “Yes, but it means I leave behind the people I love and the things that are comfortable”.
So, I would say, Rachel that, you, like all of us, are embarking on a journey at this Jupiter-Neptune conjunction. For you though, it’s tied in very much with a long Jupiter cycle that we’ll see probably great adventure and broadening of your horizons. But at the same time, a period of your life that you’ll look back on and say, yes, I had to leave a lot of things behind at that particular point in my life. I hope that helps. And, I wish you the very happiest of Jupiter Returns, Rachel.
If you have a burning question about astrology and you would like me to try answering it on a future episode of the podcast, please leave a voicemail of one minute or less at speakpipe.com/bigskyastrologypodcast – we’ll link that in the show notes. Or, you can just send an email to me, April(at)bigskyastrology.com and be sure to put “Podcast Question” in the subject line.
Thanks to listeners and donors
Well, that is everything I have on my very busy show sheet, so I’m going to wrap this one up. Thanks 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 a review, and we 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.
I want to thank everybody who showed support for us during the September Podathon. Each week I’m thanking some of you by name. This week, let’s give a Big Sky Astrology Podcast shout-out to Susan Braun, and Laura Looney!
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That is 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 by April Elliott Kent
