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TRANSCRIPT Ep. 160 | Mars Turns Direct: Points on the Scoreboard!

TRANSCRIPT EPISODE 160 | Mars Turns Direct: Points on the Scoreboard! (Jan. 9, 2023)

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April: Hello, invisible friend, April here, And the date today is Jan. 9, 2023. Welcome to Episode 160 of The Big Sky Astrology Podcast.

This week, a very busy Venus makes an agreeable trine aspect with Mars, activates the Lunar Nodes and squares Uranus. Mars finally turns direct, and the Sun in Capricorn finds opportunities to be more sociable. Plus, a powerful Last Quarter Moon in Libra wraps up a Lunar Phase Family that began in late 2020.

Venus trine Mars (Jan. 9, 2023, 7:22 am PST)

The week begins with Venus’ trine to Mars on Jan. 9, 2023 at 7:22 AM Pacific Time. Venus and Mars came together in a conjunction on March 5, 2022 at 0°1’ Aquarius. Then they squared each other on September 16th, had an opposition on November 30th, and now they are relaxing into a trine aspect with one another.

Venus and Mars symbolize how we balance the ability to attract what we want to us versus our ability to go after what we want. They also symbolize the ability to collaborate with others versus our need and ability to be self-starters and to do things independently. And finally, they represent the desire to get along with others versus the need to assert what it is that we want.

When Venus and Mars are trine, we are able to find an agreeable relationship between these two very different planets. Their differences actually complement each other. Mars keeps Venus from being too complacent, too eager to placate others, and Venus can prevent Mars from being overly antagonistic. If you have, say, been experiencing some difficulty in a close relationship, a day either side of this aspect could be really positive for getting things sorted out. This would be a good time to schedule some time together, doing something that emphasizes fun and pleasure, maybe some physical activities. It might be enough to rekindle the warm feelings and help you understand why you formed a relationship in the first place.

Venus is up to a lot this week, and the other aspects that she’s making are a little more challenging. So, this is an opportunity to get Venus and Mars working together, so Venus has an ally, if nothing else.

Venus square the Lunar Nodes (Jan. 10, 2023, 11:51 pm PST)

On Jan. 10 at 11:51 PM, Venus squares the Lunar Nodes. Venus is at 10°18’ minutes of Aquarius, the North Node is at 10°18’ Taurus, and of course that puts the South Node of the Moon at 10°18’ Scorpio. Venus is squaring the Nodes at the point of an Eclipse that we had on April 30th, 2022 at 10° Taurus. This is also going to be a wide square from Venus to the Lunar Eclipse that’s coming up on May 5, 2023 at 14°58’ minutes of Scorpio.

Planets that are square the Nodal axis show that there are forces that are putting tension on the innate battle to integrate the nodes. Venus will be at the North Bending, which means it’s activating the North Node in Taurus where we’re tending to the future. I like the Sabian symbol for 11 Taurus, which is the degree of the North Node. It’s A woman sprinkling flower. The entire time that the Lunar Nodes have been in Scorpio and Taurus, what we’ve been asked to do is to let go of, leave behind the negative qualities represented by the South Node in Scorpio, and these would be things like fear and suspicion. Versus Taurus, where the North Node is and it says, hey, the path forward to really grow and to become happier lies in Taurus’s magical quality to take life as it comes, to accept others as they are and to just enjoy things.

So, as Venus is squaring these Nodes, it’s giving us another opportunity to, through our relationships, through our collaborations with others, through pursuing the things that we enjoy, which are represented by Venus. It’s an opportunity, one more opportunity to let go of the negative pull of that Scorpio South Node, which doesn’t necessarily show a lot of trust in others, and instead to move in the direction of, you know, maybe I can trust people. Maybe it’s the simple as giving people the benefit of the doubt and accepting them as they are.

Mars stations direct (Jan. 12, 2023, 12:56 pm PST)

On Jan. 12 at 12:56 PM Pacific Time, Mars turns direct at 8°7’ Gemini. Mars has been in Gemini a long time already. It entered the sign on August 20, 2022. It turned retrograde on October 30, and it will enter Cancer on March 25, 2023. Now, Mars isn’t at its strongest in Cancer, in fact, it’s a sign that it really struggles in. But I find myself looking forward to Mars going into Cancer, nevertheless, because it’s time in Gemini has felt very much like a protracted and especially aggravating Mercury retrograde, because Gemini is assigned rule by Mercury. So especially, during the weeks that Mercury has been retrograded at the same time Mars is finishing up its retrograde, it’s been like Mercury retrograde on steroids.

And before it enters Cancer on March 25, Mars will make one more important aspect, a square to Neptune on March 14. We’ll talk about that more as we get closer to that date, but know that as Mars is moving towards the end of this, especially long journey in Gemini, the tension has come from these periodic aspects to Neptune or getting close to aspects to Neptune. And that means there’s a little bit of tension between Mars in Gemini, which is very rational and wants to move forward with all due haste in the direction that makes sense intellectually. But Neptune of course represents the parts of life that aren’t necessarily obvious to the senses or to the intellect.

As Mars is squaring Neptune, we are asked to consider how kindness and compassion fit into the mental algebra that Mars in Gemini has been working its way through. Is it enough to follow the path that makes sense rationally or do we have to also incorporate some of these Neptune qualities? No matter how much we plan, no matter how much we’ve thought things through, there are forces at work that are humming along under the consciousness and they’re important too. So, as we come to the end of this long Mars in Gemini period, especially now with this turning direct and we just kind of want to move forward, Mars has felt like it’s been on a leash ever since it turned retrograde on October 30th. And it’s natural, especially at the beginning of the year, to just want to hit the ground running and start getting some stuff done, get some points on the scoreboard.

But Mars squaring Neptune just before it enters Cancer reminds us that that’s not the whole story. That we always have to balance what we perceive and what we surmise intellectually with the things that our heart and our subconscious tell us, are also important and true. And so much of this has to do with how we are using our Mars energy to help others and to make the world a better place.

Sun sextile Neptune (Jan. 11, 2023, 6:11 am PST)

On Jan. 13th at 6:11 AM Pacific Time, the Sun in Capricorn makes a sextile to Neptune at 23°6’ Capricorn and Pisces. The Sabian symbol for the Sun, 24 Capricorn, is one that always sort of makes me smile. It’s A woman entering a convent. And I think the reason it makes me smile is because of a little collage that I created around this Sabian symbol and the woman shown entering the convent is very young and perky and has a big cheesy grin. And you could see, she’s bringing a lively new energy into this convent.

The Sabian symbol for Neptune is 24 Pisces, An inhabited isle. So, taking these two symbols together, and the symbolism of the Sun and Neptune, kind of makes me think that being on our own in solitary contemplation is a wonderful goal, but there is an opportunity here to blend that with immersion in the company of others.

Now, often we think of a woman entering a convent, maybe we think of a monastery where that the women aren’t really speaking and not really getting out into the community and working. But there are all kinds of convents, and some of them are teaching convents and some of them are really active out in the church community. And, this Sabian symbol for 24 Pisces, An inhabited isle, gives us the same kind of picture. It emphasizes the ways in which we are connected to one another in a sense that the whole world is an aisle and we are all inhabiting it together.

So, the sextile between the Sun and Neptune says, here is a chance to experience both, that lovely solitary, contemplative impulse of the Sun in Capricorn, but also that it doesn’t mean that we completely leave society. What this does mean though is we’ll have to accept the invitation to be more involved socially. Now, we don’t have to, always with a sextile, it’s more or less optional. We can go into our convent, we can spend time alone and not really force ourselves to get out and engage with others. Capricorn can be a fairly solitary sign, but here is the opportunity this week to let ourselves also become immersed in the company of others and to be a little bit more involved socially.

Venus square Uranus (Jan. 14, 2023, 5:22 pm PST)

Venus makes a square aspect to Uranus on Jan. 14 at 5:22 PM at 14°58’ Aquarius and Taurus. After Venus’ respite with that trine to Mars earlier in the week, now it makes the square to Uranus. If we are too attached to things that make us fearful or unhappy, here is an opportunity to leave for greener pastures. A square between Venus and Uranus says often that some situation, often a relationship, sometimes the way in which we earn our money, sometimes just being involved in something that in the past has brought us pleasure, at the square we feel as though it’s kind of run its course, at least in its current incarnation. So, if we’re going to stay in this situation, we have to find a way to feel more free within it. And that is the message of Uranus.

Uranus doesn’t always break up a relationship when it comes together with Venus, even by square, but what it does do is say things have gotten stale and you can’t keep going the way you’re going. And again, this is true also if it’s a job a way you’re making money, a hobby that you have, an organization you’re giving time to maybe because Venus is in Aquarius that rules that kind of thing. So, this is kind of a make it or break at time. The Sabian symbol for Venus here is 15 Aquarius, Two love birds sitting on a fence. So, there is the possibility that this is about intimate relationships. Again, Venus is busy this week. She made her trine with Mars, she interacted with the Lunar Nodes, and a lot of things feel as if they’ve gotten to the point that we have to really reconsider them and decide which direction we’re going to go next.

Libra Last Quarter Moon (Jan. 14, 2023, 6:10 pm PST)

And now for the Moon Report for the week of Jan. 9. It begins with the Last Quarter Moon in Libra on Jan. 14 at 6:10 PM Pacific time, at 24°38’ Libra. In the chart for this Last Quarter Moon, the Moon is square the Sun in a conjunction with Pluto in Capricorn. And what’s interesting about this is it echoes the New Moon in this Lunar Phase Family that is finishing up. It began with the New Moon on October 16, 2020 at 23°53’ Libra, and that was a heck of a New Moon. The New Moon was opposed Mars, retrograde in Aries, and they were all square Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto in Capricorn. So, we have been working our way through that Phase Family since October, 2020.

We had a First Quarter Moon in this series on July 17, 2021 at 25°3’ Libra, and then the Full Moon, the revelation point in the Lunar Phase Cycle on April 16, 2022 at 26°45’ Libra. Libra is always about how we are getting along with others in our most important relationships. And, if this degree somewhere around 24° Libra is close to an important planet in your birth chart, like your Sun, Moon, Ascendant, the last couple of years have probably been pretty interesting for you in the relationship department. That’s pretty hard for Libra, who is very relationship oriented. And now that we’ve gotten to the Last Quarter, it’s interesting, we have the Sun conjunct Pluto, so we’ve still got that heavy Pluto emphasis, which is about, how are you changing at a fundamental level? And the Moon is squaring that.

The rest of the chart’s a lot milder though than that New Moon chart, but Venus is square Uranus in this chart, which we just talked about. So, if you have been in a long-term relationship that’s had some ups and downs, perhaps let’s say throughout the pandemic, the New Moon that started this Lunar Phase Family was in October of 2020, so about seven months into the pandemic. And it’s been a trying time for relationships. People have been spending a lot more time together than they’re used to with a lot fewer opportunities to do things on their own. There have been disagreements within families about things related to the pandemic and all of this. So it’s been been a trying time, and we’re just at the last action point in this Lunar Phase Family here and deciding what we can still fix, what we may need to just let go.

Void-of-Course Moon periods

Let’s look at the Void-of-Course Moon periods for this week. On Jan. 9, the Moon in Leo makes an opposition to Saturn at 5:52 PM Pacific Time. It’s void-of-course for a long time, 13, 13 and a half hours, before it enters Virgo on Jan. 10 at 7:15 AM. This can be about feeling overlooked or unappreciated, lonely, that’s very much the feeling of the Moon in opposition to Saturn. But I like to think that this is a Void-of-Course period that can help us stand alone and not rely on approval from others, because that is often what trips Moon in Leo up, is this great need for recognition and being noticed and approval. Now, this can also mean that this is an opportunity, this Void-of-Course period to use alone time to work on creative projects, because you’ll be a lot more likely to be creating from your heart instead of just trying to please others.

On Jan. 12, the Moon in Virgo makes a trine to Pluto at 3:06 PM Pacific Time, it’s void-of-course for about four hours before it enters Libra at 6:56 PM. This is a Thursday afternoon and evening here in the US, and it’s a good time for any kind of research or analysis. This would be a great time to start pulling together information for your taxes, maybe balance your bank accounts, prioritize work tasks for the new year. This is also the day Mars turns direct in the early afternoon, so it might be hard to settle down and just let yourself fall into this Void-of-Course Moon groove and work on such a deep and detailed level, because Mars is there like a little kid jumping from one foot to the other, excited to get outside and play. But I think give it a try, because in the long run, I think, this particular Void-of-Course Moon, with this analytical Moon in Virgo connecting in a really nice way with Pluto, which also likes to dig deep and figure out what’s going on under the surface. So, use this in a productive way.

On Jan. 15, the Moon in Libra squares Pluto at 12:39 AM Pacific Time, it’s void-of-course for only about three and a half hours, and then enters Scorpio at 4:08 AM. Now, this is a Void-of-Course period that falls in the middle of the night and the early morning here where I’m at in the US. But, if you’re in say Great Britain or Europe, about eight or nine hours ahead of US specific time, then this is one that will be happening kind of in the middle of the day for you on Sunday. It’s a short Void-of-Course period, but it can feel kind of intense, because we’ll be reviewing the past few days of the Moon in Libra, relationships with those close to us. It’s, you know, again, a very volatile week for Venus and relationships.

And, in particular, thinking about parents, bosses, anyone who is or feels they are in a superior position to us, because that’s the nature of this conflict between the Moon in Libra with Pluto in Capricorn. Moon in Libra is oriented towards equal relationships, but Pluto in Capricorn says, “No, there’s a boss, and it’s me.” So, that’s a little bit of the tension of this Void-of-Course Moon period where you might find yourself feeling kind of criticized or overwhelmed by another person in your life. Just remember Eleanor Roosevelt’s famous quote, “No one can make you feel inferior without your permission.”

Listener Question: When the New Moon Skips Houses

In this week’s Listener Question, Listener Luisa writes, “My name is Luisa from Portugal. My question is about the Moon themes. So, if I want to develop my values and finances, I would look for the 2nd House to know which moon cycle would be best to work on it. However, the New Moon in April falls at 29° and 50 minutes of Aries, and the following one in May is at 28° and 25 minutes of Taurus. My 2nd House is from 4°, 24 Taurus to 21° and 17 Taurus, which of course falls between these two New Moons.

Which New Moon would I consider? Or, should I go for equal house system or whole sign houses, otherwise, there are themes that will have no Moon cycle in it?”. So she means the houses representing these themes.

And Louisa, that is a really good question. You have got a really small second house if we use what we call the quadrant-based house systems, say Placidus or Koch or Porphyry. Your second house is only 17°, which means of course the 8th House is only 17° as well, because it’s opposite that. This is important when it comes to all kinds of transits, all of which are going to spend less time than normal in your 2nd and 8th Houses. Having a couple of very small houses also suggests there are probably at least a couple of very large houses, which will get more time with each transit and maybe even more than one New Moon in a year. This happens often when someone is born at a pretty high or pretty low latitude, then you’ll get these sort of distorted house sizes in the chart. So, it’s not unusual, but yours is pretty extreme. That’s a pretty small 2nd house.

Now, working with New Moon cycles has a very strong magical element to it really. These cycles offer a way of working through each month of the year in a way that helps you get aligned with a particular area of your life represented by the houses of your chart. Now, I mean we could argue I guess that because of the way your chart is built, maybe there’s some cosmic logic to New Moons skipping or doubling up on houses that may be for you more or less work is required for you in these various houses of the chart.

But I’m going to cut right to the chase and say that, for the purposes of working with things like the New Moon and its cycle, I would just use the Equal or Whole Sign House Systems to calculate your chart and then follow the New Moons through that chart. You know, this is a magical symbolic system. I don’t think we need to really shoehorn it into a house system with very rigid boundaries. To me, from a magical energetic perspective, using an Equal House system makes a lot of sense because that way you’re going to give energy and magic and intention to each area of your life in turn throughout the year and make sure no area gets short shrift while others get possibly multiple New Moons.

If any other listeners have very small or very large pairs of houses in their birth chart, when they calculate their chart using Placidus or Koch or Porphyry, and I will say, if you are calculating your charts at astro.com, unless you go in and change the house system you’re using, your chart will be calculated in Placidus by default. Nothing wrong with that. However, if you would like to experiment with looking at your chart in one of these other systems like Whole Sign Houses or Equal Houses, which makes every house in your chart the exact same size, I have a little video on YouTube and I will link to it in the show notes that shows you how to go into astro.com and change that house system so you can calculate your chart and print it out and play around and look at it in different house systems. It can be interesting.

My personal preference when it comes to Equal House Systems, and by Equal House, I mean systems in which each house is exactly 30°, my preference leans a little bit more towards Equal House System, since in that system at least we maintain the association with the natural Ascendant. But I know lots of people who get really satisfying results using the Whole Sign System, which is very popular. And what we do in that system is take the Natural Ascendant and put 0° of that sign on the 1st house Cusp, and then 0° of the subsequent signs throughout the rest of the houses in the chart.

In Equal House, what you do is you take the degree of the natural Ascendant and you put that degree around each house Cusp in the subsequent signs. So, if you have 14° of Taurus rising, then you would have 14° of Gemini on the 2nd house Cusp, 14° of Cancer on the 3rd house Cusp and so on.

So, they’re similar systems, they’re interesting, and I just think that while my personal preference is, I use Koch House System is my preference, but I think that for something like you’re talking about, Luisa, where the intention of working with New Moons and their cycles is to step through the seasons of the year sequentially and give them some energy and intention, . I hope that that helps, Louisa!

If you have a question that you would like me to answer on a future episode, please leave a message of one minute or less at speakpipe.com/bigskyastrologypodcast. Or you can email me at April(at)bigskyastrology(dot)com and be sure to put “Podcast Question” in the subject line.

Donor Thanks

Well, that is everything I have on my show sheet, so I’m going to wrap this one up. Thank you for listening to The Big Sky Astrology Podcast. If you like what you’re hearing, I sure hope you’ll subscribe or follow the show in your app of choice. Ratings and reviews are most welcome, and I would love it if you would help spread the word by telling an astrology loving friend about the show. You can read show notes in full transcripts and leave your comments about each episode at bigskyastropod.com.

Thanks very much to everyone who’s shown support for the podcast over the past year, including during the Podathon. Each week, I’m thanking some of you by name. This week let’s give a Big Sky Astrology Podcast shout out to Katherine Silvester and Alex Anderson!

April: Katherine and Alex, thank you so much for listening to the show and for supporting me with your donations.

If you enjoy the show and would like to make a donation, and if you’d like to receive my recent bonus “Donors Only” episode for the December 21st Capricorn Solstice, as well as the upcoming Aries Equinox and Cancer Solstice, please go to bigskyastropod.com and donate $10 or more.

That’s 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!

© 2023 April Elliott Kent. May be posted only at BigSkyAstrology.com.

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