TRANSCRIPT Ep. 140 | Podathon Day #2: Hey Baby, What’s Your Sign? with Maressa Brown! (Sep. 6, 2022)
Listen and read the show notes here
April: Hello, and welcome to DAY TWO of the third annual Big Sky Astrology Podathon!
What is a Podathon, you might ask? And I’m glad you did! This is the week each year when I bring you five daily episodes – complete with FIVE very special guests, prizes, and a raffle – and not coincidentally, it’s when I make my appeal for contributions, which helps me cover the costs of producing the podcast. You know, some podcasts are funded by Patreon accounts, which are great. This is a similar process, but I focus all my fundraising efforts on a single week of the year!
But first, I really do need to take a moment to say ‘thank you’ to those of you who helped support the show over the past year! I absolutely couldn’t make this podcast without you, and I truly appreciate your support.
I also want to thank the merry band who help me make the show possible, because your support helps them, too! A big thank you to my editor, Angela, my transcriptionist Joel, and Sarah, who helps with shownotes! They’re all wonderful and available for hire – I’ll link to them in the shownotes.
And because this podcast is audience-funded, of course I hope to continue to earn your support this year as well. I love to shout out my donors names at the end of each regular episode for your support over the year. (And don’t worry if you don’t want your name called out – I have a workaround for those podpals who prefer to remain anonymous!)
Anyway, to encourage your contributions, here are this year’s fantastic giveaways!
First, everyone who donates $25 or more (as well as our ongoing, monthly podpal-contributors) will be entered in a drawing to win one of these five cool prizes:
One grand prize winner will win a 90-minute reading with April…a $269 value! One lucky listener will win a 60-minute personal astrology reading with April… a $210 value! Another lucky donor will win free enrollment in one of my upcoming courses, a $249 value! My intermediate class begins in late September and my advanced class on progressions in transits will be starting in February. And one more will receive a beautiful astrology podcaster donated by Patrick Blasa of the Elegant Universe! These are currently unavailable from his website, but we have an extra one that he donated last year – it is gorgeous!
Now, to be entered in the drawing, you must make your donation of $25 or more no later than Monday, Sep. 12, 2022, at 11:59 pm Pacific time.
“But April,” you ask. “My power bill has doubled in two years! What if I can’t contribute that much?”
I’m so glad you asked! I’m also inviting donors of only $10 or more to my special episodes for the equinoxes and solstices. My September Equinox episode will be released on the 22nd and will give you a comprehensive look ahead at the upcoming 3 months!
I also want to say: I know that not everyone can contribute financially, which is okay – don’t worry, I get it! I still love you! Here are a few easy, free ways to help increase visibility.
If you like the show, please SUBSCRIBE or FOLLOW The Big Sky Astrology Podcast on your app of choice! This is the very best way you can support the show and help it get seen by other listeners!
You could leave a 5-star rating or write a happy review either on Apple Podcasts or any of the other platforms that allow comments! These make my day!
You can join the conversation on my website and leave us a comment on bigskyastropod.com – just click on whichever episode you want to comment on!
Finally, recommend the show to an astrology-loving friend!
And now for today’s show!
Today’s Moon in Capricorn
As longtime listeners know, Podathon is the week when I can really give the Moon a little extra attention, because there are days during the week that not a lot else is happening other than the Moon sign changing or the Moon’s aspects to other planets are Void-of-Course periods. The days Moon sign describes the tempo and pace of the day and our way of coping with things emotionally.
Today, the Moon finishes up its journey through Capricorn with trine aspect to Uranus at 02:23 AM a sextile to Neptune at 11:21 AM, and then it finishes up with a conjunction to Pluto at 02:43 PM, it’s then Void-of-Course for six hours before entering Aquarius at 08:41 PM Pacific Time.
So, early on this day, it’s a pretty helpful environment for adapting to change, especially in your work and career plans, and also for giving in a little bit more to your intuition than a Moon in Capricorn might normally do. As we know, Void-of-Course Moons that are colored by aspects to Pluto can be a little more challenging emotionally, but they also provide important moments to contemplate emotional patterns and habits and to examine routines that may need to be reworked. The Moon will enter Aquarius, and that will flavor most of the next two days. So, I’ll go into that a little bit more tomorrow and tell you what to expect from the Aquarius Moon.
Interview with Maressa Brown
This week, I’m featuring interviews with five wonderful astrologers who I invited to come on the show and talk about the Moon, since we’re doing this Mooncentric Paton. My guest today is Maressa Brown. Maressa is a journalist, author and astrology with nearly two decades of professional experience, writing, reporting, and editing lifestyle content. If you’ve read an astrology related article in Parents Magazine, In Style Magazine or Shape, it was almost certainly written by Maressa! She’s based in Los Angeles and her first book “Raising Baby by the Stars: A New Parent’s Guide To Astrology”, will be published by Artisan Books in February of 2023. And let me tell you, I’ve had a sneak peek, and it is as gorgeous and helpful as you would expect from an author with the Sun and Moon in Virgo, but also Venus Mars and the Ascendant in Leo. Here is our conversation.
April: My dear friend, Maressa, it is so wonderful to have you on The Big Sky Astrology Podcast.
Maressa: It’s so lovely to be here. I’m so happy to be here with you, April.
April: Now, the reason I specifically wanted you to be on the podcast this week is I’m doing a very Mooncentric week for the Podathon, and you are sort of a Moon specialist. And I wanted to ask you a couple of questions because you do have this wonderful book coming up that has to do with using astrology to help you as a parent. And, I wondered what you think about one’s Moon sign and what it says about your parenting style. You can use yourself as an example, if you like for what you think your parenting style will be like with your Moon sign?
Maressa: Oh, sure. Well, so I kind of look to how I parent my cat currently…
April: Oh, Annie…
Maressa: … for insight on my mom style, my parenting style, but I’ve also definitely paid attention to friends and family members who had welcomed little ones. And I feel like, yes, the Moon is so wonderful to look at. And when people are only familiar with their Sun sign and their beginners with astrology, it’s so fun to introduce them perhaps as a next step to their Moon sign, also their rising of course. But, as a parent, especially to their Moon sign, because it’s how they nurture and how they want to be nurtured. And I feel like, in the parent child relationship, that’s a two-way street, that you can really use your Moon and your child’s Moon to understand that give and take, nurturing relationship.
My parenting style and my Moon is in early Virgo, and I feel like I am very cerebral but also very thoughtful and sensitive to details. I’m very aware of when say, like with my kitty, for instance, her water hasn’t been changed over, you know, in enough time, I’m like, “Ooh, I got to fix that”, and of course, acts of service very much a way to nurture for me, helping and researching and figuring out “What’s best for the health?” Basic health stuff, very sixth house stuff. “What’s best for the health of somebody I love? How can I help promote their wellbeing?” And actually, the book gets into how parents can support their little one’s wellbeing and their own wellbeing. That was very important to me to include in the book.
April: My mom had the Moon in Virgo. One thing that I always remember about my mom is when I would get real upset or wound around the axle, as I like to say, her advice was always very practical. It was “Go to your bedroom and clean one drawer”. And, because she really was attuned to the fact that that would give me that little sense of control and I was putting things together. So, I always think of that when I think about the Moon in Virgo and how it does focus on what to do in the here and now that’s really practical and can really make you feel beloved and then taken care of. You’re going to be a lovely mom with that Moon sign, I think.
Maressa: Oh, thanks.
April: Well, and on the child’s side, how can a parent really think about the child’s Moon sign to help them understand things about their moods or their needs? Can you give a couple of examples of that?
Maressa: Absolutely. Well, so I talk about in the book about how I love to think of the Moon as the emotional compass. I think we kind of talk about that in our lessons as well. And so, that’s a good way to kind of encapsulate it and think about it as your little one’s emotional compass. It’s a very crucial puzzle piece of your child’s personality and it helps shape how they express emotion, relate to others. You want to look at their Venus sign a little bit in regard to that as well but I think that there’s moon stuff to look at as far as relating, again, nurturing and feel a sense of security, which I think speaks to, kind of you were talking about your mom and also experience instincts and intuition. So, those are a couple of more little ethereal things to look at, I think, in regard to the Moon sign for your child.
A couple of quick examples. I was just thinking about what I had talked about in the book, in regard to say, a Moon in Libra child might feel very nurtured by beautiful surroundings and doing something artistic or taking in something artistic because they’re ruled by Venus. I know this, for beginners it can feel a little overwhelming, like, “Oh, we were talking about Moon over here and now you’re talking about Venus, but we’re talking…” don’t worry, in the book I lay it all out in a way that’s not very confusing.
April: Absolutely. Well, and the sign is just the way you will perform that planet. So, if it’s the Moon, what is the style of all the Moon stuff, all the caring, all the nurturing, the need for security and all those.
Maressa: Right. And Aries Moon baby might really love connecting with you over high energy activity, even competing, which feels counter to…. I remember I might have had a note from an editor like “That doesn’t seem nurturing. That seems counter to what we’re talking about here.” And it’s like, “ou kind of got to hold both things in mind, especially when it’s a sign like Aries on the Moon. Like, you know, that might not feel intuitive necessarily that they want to connect with you by arguing with you.
April: But, they do. They do. But I mean, that’s true, isn’t it? We contain multitudes, people are contradictory and the chart shows that as well. And it can be helpful I think when you’re getting into trying to learn about any person, whether it’s a partner or a child or whoever it is about learning to hold those two things in mind. Of on the one hand, what does it mean when someone’s whole emotional nature and the things it’s a symbol of safety and feeling secure, but Aries really thrives on being kind of unsafe and sort of insecure of doing the new things. So, it’s a funny way to think about it. But I think that would be really helpful for any parent of a little Moon in Aries child to know
Maressa: You’re right, they’re little trailblazers, pioneers, give them something to check out something new. And oh, in the book, I spoke to a couple parenting experts who I love working with in my journalism work and they offered some wonderful tips on how to hold space for and nurture Cardinal signs, Fixed signs and Mutable signs, no matter where the placement. So say you have a child who’s predominantly one or the other, but you can go look at those tips if you know their moon is in Aries, the Cardinal sign. And regard to the Cardinal sign tip, there was one tip that was like, you want to give them something shiny, you know, something shiny and new, but you want to keep them on track, like “Not everything is new forever. It’s not going to be new at some point.”
So, if you’ve got a chart, for instance, you’re working with them on potty training or something like that, maybe there’s different stickers, different colors, different textures or something like that. And then they can always find, “Oh, there’s a new sticker, but I’m still on track with this chart.”
April: I love that idea. Aries does love that, the novelty and the stimulation and all of that, of the new things. That’s such a great idea.
I know in talking to you a little bit about the book that it’s focused on the child, but also the parents, because it’s a relationship. And, is there anything that you can think of that the Moon really would tell us to guide someone through the whole process of conception, pregnancy, bringing a new child into the family? What might the Moon tell us about that?
Maressa: Well, I guess I’ve been thinking about Eclipse season because I’ve been writing about the Fall, I actually have an Autumn Fall refresh horoscope coming out in the digital issue of InStyle coming up soon. I mean, that’s just opening a whole new chapter and creating a lot of change. And I could imagine that for some people, Eclipse season brings up like, “Okay, we’re ready to try”, or, “Oh my gosh, we’re here”. So, that could just be like a big moment perhaps in that journey.
April: Yes, Eclipses are very much about change, so we’ll often see them affecting the chart in a very specific way at the time we’re having some big change. So it would make sense as you say, a time to change your course when it comes to having children and what might be involved in doing that, and change is not always the most soothing thing. But if you do have an Eclipse involved with, say, the Moon in either of your birth charts, it would make a lot of sense that, “Oh, here’s this new situation that’s going to require me to step outta my comfort zone when it comes to taking care of another little person.
Maressa: And I noticed that my partner has kind of a similar thing, not Eclipse, but he has Pluto coming up on his Moon. So, that I read is also a sign of parenthood.
April: Pluto makes a lot of sense with his Moon because Pluto is also that planet of huge changes and turning your life basically upside down. And of course, you two are planning a wedding and that’s also a really big rite of passage.
Maressa: Yes. Planning a wedding, thankfully.
April: Oh, you’re doing it all girl. I know Maressa has her first book coming out and she’s planning a wedding and it’s a whole thing and raising this rambunctious little cat that you’ve got as well. So, you really have got your hands full trying to do it all just so, I’m sure.
Tell the listeners about other things you have coming up other than planning a wedding and the book. You were mentioning something about a big guide InStyle that’s coming out in the Fall. What other things do you have coming up, and when can we look for this book?
Maressa: Oh, sure. So, yes, the Fall Horoscope in InStyle, that’s available, I believe, it’ll be on Apple News. I don’t have an exact date on that just now, but it’s a Fall Horoscope, so we’re taking a look at the fact that when the Equinox hits, we’re going to be in the midst of Mercury retrograde and then Eclipse season comes up. And it’s kind of funny, I had this conversation with my editor about like, we’re trying to spin it as hitting the reset button, the Fall feels like a way to begin a new season, but with crunchy astrological weather things happening. It might not feel so much that way but I pride myself on coming up with a positive spin for even the most stressful astrological transits. And that’s something that I very much admire that you do, and that I feel that you’ve helped me kind of work on. And so, I talk about, it’s out with the old and in with the new. Like you said, Eclipse season is about change and Mercury retrograde lets us tie up loose ends and release things that we might not need anymore and need to move forward from. So, I’ll cover all of that in your Fall Horoscope in InStyle. I have monthly Horoscopes still in InStyle as well that you can check out, upcoming, and then the book comes out February of next year.
April: Nice. It’s such a long road, isn’t it with a book from the time you pitch it and conceive of it, to when it finally comes out? I think a lot of people don’t quite understand, it’s a very long process.
Maressa: It is. And I remember, I think you and I had talked about it a while back and I had a book proposal for another concept that perhaps I will do down the road. But I was kind of “Eh”, on it. And you said, “Well, if you’re ‘Eh’ on it, this might be a sign that you don’t want to pursue it necessarily because you are going to be spending so much time in the weeds on this subject matter that you better be head over heels in love with it.” And I am so grateful that I do feel that way about this book coming out in February, my parenting astrology book. Because, at the core of it is whether you’re looking at your baby’s Moon sign or their whole chart and your own Moon sign and whole chart, I emphasize the importance of both of those things in the book. I really hope that it can serve as a tool for people to get to know themselves and their little one through this lens that can make – it’s just easier for you to accept who you are and accept who they are for who they are, and what a difference that would make, if people had a little help in that regard, I think.
April: Well, I love that perspective and I think you’re just the right person to have written this book. Because that’s such a warmth to you and such that celebration of the brightness and joyful part of life that we would expect from someone. Do you want to tell people about your Leo points in your chart?
Maressa: Oh yes. I have Leo Rising, Leo Venus, Leo Mars, and yes. So, even though I always like to say when people say, “What’s your sign?” And I’m like, “Well, I have a Virgo Sun, Moon, Mercury”. However, the other half of my big six are all Leo, so…
April: That’s right.
Maressa: And, yes.
April: All right. Well, I am so delighted that you are able to join us today. I want to say to people that the reason we haven’t really referred to the book by name is the publisher isn’t quite ready for that at the time that we’re recording this, because we’re recording a little bit in advance. So hopefully by the time I’m recording the rest of the episode, I will be telling you the title of the book. And at the very least tell, people how they can find you.
Maressa: Sure. So, my website is Maressabrown.com. You’ll find all the information about the book there when it’s go time. And the book is available everywhere you can buy a book. And please pre-order it before it comes out as well.
April: Pre-ordering makes a big difference. The publisher’s very happy and impressed when you have a lot of pre-orders for your book. So, let’s help Maressa out with that. Thank you so much, my dear.
Maressa: Thank you.
End of interview
April: Isn’t she an absolute delight? Again, the title of the book is “Raising Baby by The Stars. A New Parent’s Guide to Astrology”. It’s coming out in February, 2023, but it’s currently available for pre-order on amazon.com. So, take a look and maybe this is a good time to help her out by putting in that pre-order.
Make your donation to the podcast!
Well, friends, that is everything on my show sheet, so I’m going to wrap this one up. Thank you so much for listening to The Big Sky Astrology Podcast and for joining me for this Third Annual Podathon. This weekly podcast is audience-funded and your generous donations help me keep the podcast coming to you. To make your donation, please go to bigskyastropod.com, and remember anyone who donates $10 or more will receive access to my upcoming special episodes for the Equinoxes and Solstices. And, if you donate $25 or more, you’ll be automatically entered for a chance to win one of the great prizes that I’m offering: a beautiful astrology poster compliments of Patrick Blasa and Tha Elegant Universe, a registration in one of my upcoming courses, a 60 minute reading with me or a 90 minute reading with me. Now, to be entered in the drawing, you must make your donation of $25 or more no later than Monday, Sep. 12, 2022, at 11:59 pm Pacific time.
If you’re a regular listener, you know that I like to thank everyone on the air over the coming year. If you don’t want me to mention your name as a donor, please just drop me an email april@bigskyastrology.com. And, if you think I will struggle with pronouncing your name, always a distinct possibility, help me out if you would, with a phonetic spelling or just leave your name at speakpipe.com/bigskyastrologypodcast.
That is it for today. Join me again bright and early tomorrow morning for another episode in this Podathon celebration, when I’ll be welcoming my guest, the wonderful Celeste Brooks of Astrology by Celeste. And until then, keep your feet on the ground and your eyes on the stars.
© 2022 by April Elliott Kent
