TRANSCRIPT Ep. 173 | Sun Meets Jupiter: The Big Adventure! (Apr. 10, 2023)
Listen and read show notes hereApril: Hello, invisible friend, April here, and the date today is April 10th, 2023. Welcome to Episode 173 of The Big Sky Astrology Podcast.
This week, that big boom you’re hearing is the annual conjunction of the Sun and Jupiter. Venus has a big week, entering Gemini and aspecting Saturn and Pluto. And the Last Quarter Moon in Capricorn urges contemplation. Plus, I invite my friend, astrologer Gaye Nelson to answer a Listener Question about Almuten: What is it? What does it represent in the chart? And, how is it used?
Venus enters Gemini (April 10, 2023, 9:47 pm PDT)
On April 10th at 9:47 pm PDT, Venus enters Gemini. It will be in this sign through May 6th. Venus symbolizes what we enjoy, what brings us pleasure. And during the time that it’s traveling through a sign, which is a little under a month, we might find ourselves especially drawn to things that are associated with that sign. For Venus in Gemini, you might imagine yourself in your favorite aisle of your favorite bookstore browsing through the books. What are the covers that beckon to you, that have beautiful images that feel lovely to the touch? It isn’t quite the same thing to order books online, is it? I mean, I do it myself. It is a handy way to order books if you know exactly what you want, but it’s not that same sensuous experience of exploration that you get going to an actual bookstore.
Gemini is also one of the signs that likes to acquire multiples of the same thing. I recently discovered a sweater that I like and I know beyond a doubt that if I try to buy it again ever, I won’t be able to find just the same one. So, I bought several of them in different colors. There’s my Gemini Moon, the ruler of my Venus in Cancer! Gemini also rules siblings. And if you have siblings and you like them, this is a very nice transit for making a special effort to spend more time with them.
Venus trine Pluto (April 11, 2023, 3:14 am PDT
The next morning, on April 11th at 3:14 am PDT, Venus makes a trine to Pluto. Now, because Pluto right now is at 0°15’ Aquarius, anytime a planet moves into a new sign, its first aspect is going to be some kind of aspect to Pluto. Connecting with Pluto takes Venus in Gemini to a deeper realm than it would normally go. Gemini is designed to move us from thing to thing, from one person to the next, but when Venus in Gemini connects with Pluto, we find ourselves stopping a little bit longer at this flower than at the next, perhaps. It is a time for looking deeper. Even the Sabian symbol for Venus at this trine is 1 Gemini, A glass bottomed boat in still water. How perfect is that? The boat has a completely clear floor so we can look right down into the water very clearly and see everything that’s beneath the surface.
And of course, anytime any planet connects with Pluto, that’s just what we want to do. With Venus, this has to do with investigating our relationships at a deeper level and to give a lot of thought, not just to money, but to what money represents to us. Venus does rule income and money, and when it connects with Pluto, the question is, Am I getting value for my money, or for my life energy that I am exchanging for money? If we want to extend the bookstore metaphor that we used for Venus moving into Gemini, this would be a day when you find yourself in the true crime aisle of the bookstore or looking at detective novels or psychology or self-help, even metaphysical books, anything that is connected to ideas and matters that a lot of people don’t want to look at.
Sun conjoins Jupiter (April 11, 2023, 3:07 pm PDT)
April 11th turns out to be a busy day. That afternoon at 3:07 pm PDT, the Sun makes its annual conjunction with Jupiter, at 21°45’ Aries, on the Sabian symbol 22 Aries The gate to the garden of desire. Well, what a spectacular conjunction on a delicious Sabian symbol. The Sun sign tells the story of what will light us up during a given month, what will give us energy, the story of what qualities we should cultivate. Aries is a sign of courage, which is not the lack of fear, but rather the refusal to let fear stop us or define us. Aries loves to tackle something new, it loves to be a pioneer, to be the first to do something. Jupiter, on the other hand, is the symbol of where we want to expand our horizons and carve out a bigger life for ourselves. So, put the Sun and Jupiter together, and what we’ve got is a hankering for a really big, bold adventure that requires great courage.
I’ve always thought that Star Trek’s Captain Kirk was a classic Aries, and his character sums up this particular transit really well. “I want a huge, tremendous adventure. I want to boldly go where no one has gone before.” And as this Sabian symbol says, the key to knowing what to tackle at this big conjunction is to think about “What it is that you desire?” We’re now at the gate that separates us from that which we desire. We just have to have the courage to open up the gate or maybe even knock it down if necessary.
Capricorn Last Quarter Moon (April 13, 2023, 2:11 am)
And now for the Moon Report, and it begins with a Last Quarter Moon at 23°, 11 minutes Capricorn on April 13th at 2:11 am PDT. This is a little bit similar to the Full Moon that we had last week, because again, the Moon is in aspect to the Sun and Jupiter. In this case, it’s the Moon in Capricorn square the Sun-Jupiter conjunction. Now, Capricorn has the potential to bring a much more controlled influence to that Sun and Jupiter in Aries, to give that passion and energy some focus and structure so that we can use it to actually accomplish something.
The Sabian symbol for the Moon is 24° Capricorn, A woman entering a convent. And this describes a much more inward facing adventure than we would expect from the Sun and Jupiter still in this conjunction in Aries, which is very outward focused. At the Last Quarter Phase, we always pull back to contemplate what’s been going on since the New Moon, in this case, the Aries New Moon on March 21st. And this is as we’re approaching the second Aries New Moon, a Solar Eclipse on April 19th.
But the Sun Sabian symbol, which is 24 Aries, An open window and a net curtain blowing into a cornucopia, this symbol talks about new spirit, new information coming in. We’re taking a deep breath as we always do at the Last Quarter Moon, and figuring out what it is we need to adjust before we move ahead into this next New Moon’s Solar Eclipse chapter.
This is the Last Quarter Moon in a Lunar Phase Family that began on January 12th, 2021, when the Sun and Moon at 24° Capricorn were in a conjunction with Pluto. I think a lot of us can readily remember here in the United States, at least what was going on about a week before that New Moon that is still reverberating and an entire story that has been unfolding since then. So, I think we could probably expect to see some more developments in that story around the time of this Last Quarter Moon.
Void-of-Course Moon Periods
Let’s look at the Void-of-Course Moon periods for this week. This week doesn’t have the extremely long or very short Void-of-Course Moon periods that we’ve been seeing in recent weeks, but they are long enough to give us time to meditate on their messages, which is what I really like the Void-of-Course Moon period four. It’s a time to take the Moon, which moves very quickly and makes aspects to planets over a very short two-hour window of time, and it freezes them in time and lets us really think about them. I’m going to be making a presentation to the San Francisco Astrological Society, an online meeting later this month on April 27th, about the Void-of-Course Moon. I invite you all to check it out and hopefully join us. I will put a link in the episode description.
On April 11th, the Moon in Sagittarius squares Neptune at 3:48 am PDT, it’s void of course for about 6 3/4 hours before it enters Capricorn at 10:33 am. Now, the Moon in Sagittarius tends to provide a fairly cheerful and optimistic environment. It’s one of our happier, bouncier Moon signs. But, making a square to Neptune can bring a little bit of fog and gray skies and tone down that cheerful quality a bit
Sagittarius likes for its arrows to be able to hit their target, and that is really hard to do when you can’t see the dart board. So, this Void-of-Course Moon period might be about the adventures we haven’t taken and figuring out which ones we should let go of because they’re no longer really something we’re interested in or because the circumstances of our lives are such that they really aren’t feasible.
On April 13th, the Moon in Capricorn sextiles Neptune at 7:14 am PDT. I’s void of course for about six and a half hours before it enters Aquarius at 1:42 pm. So here we have the Moon in Capricorn circling back to Neptune, and this time we’ve got a sextile aspect. I think we are able to see the opportunities that can come from Neptune, which really are about depth of feeling and about imagination. It’s a nice combination actually, Capricorn with Pisces. Neptune is in Pisces, and that’s a nice combination with the Moon in Capricorn, because Capricorn can be very literal and very chronological and have its blinders on a little bit to possibilities outside the mainstream. But when it connects with Neptune, Neptune sort of takes those blinders off and expands our vision.
And then, on April 15th, the Moon in Aquarius makes a sextile to the Sun at 8:16 am PDT, it’s void of course for about 7 3/4r hours, before it enters Pisces at 3:57 pm PDT. Here we have the Moon in future-thinking Aquarius entering its void of course period on this sextile to the Sun in Aries, that Sun that is still reverberating from its conjunction with Jupiter earlier in the week. This is a nice long Saturday to explore innovative ways to reach those Aries goals that we began to glimpse at the Sun and Jupiter conjunction in Aries. What is the adventure we’re going on? What is the new journey that we’re about to take?
Venus square Saturn (April 14, 2023, 9:38 am PDT)
On April 14th at 9:38 am PDT, Venus square Saturn at 4°03’ Gemini and Pisces. Venus’s Sabian symbol is 5 Gemini, A radical magazine and the Sabian symbol for Saturn at 5 Pisces is A church bazaar. It’s interesting, I think that these Sabian symbols are both about collections of things, but as the square between Venus and Saturn suggests, they’re very different collections. One is of the nature of Gemini, A magazine pulling together ideas. And the other is of the nature of Pisces, it’s related to A church and A bazaar is about much more than making money for the congregation, it’s much more about the sense of fellowship that we get from gathering together with people.
The nature of Venus and Saturn in a square aspect to each other, an aspect of conflict, is that some effort has to be made whether in a relationship or any kind of pursuit, if we are going to get serious and if we are going to get results. And in both of these cases, the focus really is on something other than money, which is very often a concern for Venus. When it comes to relationships, Venus square Saturn can mean that some relationships are at a crossroads where there are discussions about how serious the relationship is going to get. What is the level of commitment? And you may not come to an immediate decision about that, but this is a natural point to have those perhaps difficult discussions about the future.
Listener Question: Almuten
Well, today I have a special treat for you. I don’t often have other astrologers on the show being interviewed, but today my good friend Gaye Nelson is here to talk to us about a question that came in via Facebook from Listener Mariana who asked “Almuten, what is it?” And I had to reply very honestly to her that I didn’t know anything about it. I had seen the word and that was about it. But Gaye very luckily piped in on that thread and said, “Oh, I use it all the time.”
Interview With Gaye Nelson
April: So, I have Gaye here with me today. And Gaye, I’m going to turn this over to you and let you tell us first of all, what is this mysterious Almuten, and secondly, how do you use it in your readings and your practice?
Gaye Nelson: Oh great, thanks for having me. Yes, it’s funny that I just happened to see that of all things. And, I learned astrology when I was 17 years old and I am almost 71, so that’s a long time ago. And, I’ve been a professional for 35 years. So, in all that time of over 50 years of doing astrology and you know, studying and reading and all the things, I never heard of this. Somebody taught a class on it at NCGR LA of which I’m now president, which is the National Council for Geocosmic Research, and this was a few years ago before the pandemic and I was like, “Huh, that’s interesting.” And so, he showed us how you find it on Solar Fire, and so, I started putting it in all my charts.
Almuten comes from an Arabic word, ‘Amateen.’ It is said to mean “The firm one or strong in power.” So, technically what the Almuten is, is it’s considered to be the most dignified planet in the chart. There is a way to figure it out manually, but who wants to? And I guess depending whatever planets you include, because each person has different things they use. So, it calculates what is the most dignified planet. So then, in my charts, I just kind of write it on the upper right of the chart ‘Almuten’ and I write what it is.
And it’s been fascinating to use. So, I probably used it for three or four years, maybe like four years. And, I call it ‘The Guardian Angel of the Chart.’ So, that’s just my thing that I put on it. How I describe it is, if you were going to build an altar to a planet and offer it fruit and flowers and candles, you would want to do that to your Almuten. And, the way that I’ve described it to people and everybody seems to really relate to it, is that, I call it The Guardian Angel because you really can get blessings if you put a little extra emphasis on whatever planet that is. Right?
And, it could be also your chart ruler or same planet could figure prominently in some other way. In fact, it usually would, right? That would make sense if it’s the most dignified planet.
For example, you would think if we’re calling it The Guardian Angel and that it’s a source of blessings that for most people like the Moon or Venus or Jupiter, you know, you would think like a happy planet would be the best Almuten, but it depends on who you are.
So, yesterday, I had a client whom I haven’t seen for 20 years, so that was fun because I wasn’t using the Almuten obviously then, and so I explained it to her. She’s in her sixties, she’s a very accomplished data analyst, you know, has had a spectacular career, always very successful, works for big corporations, you know, very Saturnian kind of person. She’s an Aquarian, but her Almuten is Saturn and Scorpio in the 5th. And she also, interestingly, has South Node in Cancer North Node in Capricorn, so her Almuten is also the ruler of her North Node. And, with the South Node in Cancer, we were talking a lot about how she always knew from a young age that she didn’t want children, like she didn’t want to put her energy into children. And especially with the Capricorn North Node, the career was just so important to her to be successful, to work. So, that’s even interesting with it in the 5th, her passionate desire to limit the power or the energy that went into children and Saturn in Scorpio to not get pregnant.
Now, you could have somebody with that who wanted to and worked very hard to, right? That could be somebody that went through maybe an infertility thing and was successful if they really wanted it, right? So, it depends. But I thought that was interesting because she had really made a very conscious choice that she wanted her energy to go into her professional success. And she lost her job a few months ago just because the project she was on, which was a contract was moved a year forward, so it was nothing about her talent or anything like that. And she’s older so it’s a little bit harder to find work. Although she said she hasn’t experienced much ageism, which I thought was interesting because she’s so skilled.
So, she said… She really is a very upbeat person. She said, “I was really depressed and I was kind of in a tailspin for a while because I want to work, I want to work hard.” And she said “I didn’t know what to do without structure to my time” – which is so Saturn – “and a structure in which to use the powers of my talents” – which would be Saturn in Scorpio in the 5th. So, I thought that was really intriguing. And she does have three cats, so those are kind of her children, but that doesn’t take as much energy as like three human children, you know? And so I,..
April: Well, it depends on the cats, but at least you don’t have to send them to college, which is what we always say.
(laughter)
Gaye Nelson: That’s true. If you think about Scorpio with the money too, that she makes a lot of money and that’s great, you know, with her work. And she said something interesting, and she said, you know, she has a lot of savings, she’s managed her money well you know, at this stage, so she’s like, “You know, I’m not going to die if I don’t have a job. I have savings.” However, she said, “I don’t like not having the energy of the money coming in because it’s power.”
April: Oh yes.
Gaye Nelson: I thought that was really interesting and that just all kind of fits with that. And also, her South Node’s in the second , North Node in the 8th, right? So, the natural flow of money, like when that’s happening, makes her feel, you know, especially when she can take her paycheck, which I call the 2nd House and invest it the 8th House, from her work, which is ruled by her Almuten, then she feels more comfortable. And, what I’m saying is, you have to honor your Almuten and then you look at that in her case, it also rules her point of destiny that makes so much sense. And that she also didn’t feel as comfortable not being able to use her talents, which I also see the 5th House as. So, she felt less empowered not having structure to her time and not being able to use her talent. So, I learned something from that too.
It’s easier to understand when it’s something simpler. Like, I’m a double Gemini and I have a lot of planets in Gemini and a lot of air and my Almuten is Mercury in Gemini in the 12th House, conjunct the Sun and Venus and my Ascendant, so that’s not surprising, right? So, my life’s all about some reading, writing, talking and et cetera. Like, that’s an obvious Almuten for me. It makes perfect sense.
I have found now having used it for a while, that it will usually reflect the general tone of the chart. That would make sense. But it is different as all planets are depending on the character of that Almuten. So, that’s what it is.
And I really find it helpful because it seems to really validate for people when I explain it to them, “Oh yes.” You know, if it’s Mercury, “Oh yes, I need to read and study.” And if it’s Mars, “I need to be physically active or I need to be passionate about things.” Or, you know, just the usual keywords that we would use for any planet, but it’s actually really interesting when it’s a more challenging planet. Especially, if you think of Saturn as the Almuten, it’s also knowing your limitations. “When do I say no? And, when do I not take something else on?”
April: So, when you use it, do you pay particular attention to the Almuten say by transit, either something transiting that planet, or even if say Saturn were your Almuten, would you pay particular attention to transits of Saturn generally?
Gaye Nelson: I would. I’m trying to think…. I think it was last week, there was somebody, I want to say, I think the Moon, it was like the Moon in Taurus, maybe in the 2nd House, I think that’s what it was, was the Almuten, but it also is the handle of a fan pattern, so, it’s a very pivotal planet for other reasons. And then, Jupiter is getting ready to transit that, so that would be significant just because it’s the handle of the fan, but that’s a good question then, because it’s also the Almuten. Then you go, “Oh, okay.” And it’s got this extra weight because it’s prominent anyway. And if we never heard of the Almuten, we’d still know that a transit to the Moon is important and to the handle of the fan is even more important, but then it’s also the Almuten.
So then, I’m sure what I said to her was, “So, you know, you really want to…” because it’s the Moon, and it’s in Taurus, like over the next few months, maybe really? I said, “Eat comfort food or –“ you know, very Taurean. “Or get out your comfy blankets or be sure that you’re really comfortable in your clothes and everything over this period of time,” which I would probably say anyway, but you want to extra honor the Moon because of both of those things. And then, that’s going to buy you being extra comfortable and hopefully that’s also going to then allow you to access the energy and the rest of your chart more effectively. Plus of course, in that case it’s a once in 12-year thing, setting off whatever it’s going to be, you know?
And then, it’s in the 2nd House, so then it’s financial. And also then, that would be someone who’s, I believe she’s then Aries rising, so then it’s in Taurus in the 2nd House, so it’s even stronger because it’s in its natural placement.
And then, if you had a Stellium or something, you would look at that because then I would think… well, I haven’t. My Almuten is in a Stellium with Venus and the Sun and then right by my Ascendants, so it’s really strong. And I mean, that’s like descriptive of me for sure.
April: For sure.
Gaye Nelson: Yes, handcrafts and reading, and I’m learning four languages right now all at the same time and you know, all kinds of stuff like that, so I am a Gemini embodied, you know?
April: You are the quintessential Gemini! Well Gaye, thank you so much. This was really interesting.
Gaye Nelson: Yes.
April: This was always just a word I ran across and just kept running, and I think that my listeners will be really interested to hear this. So, thank you very much. Tell people very quickly how they can find you.
Gaye Nelson: Yes, thanks for asking. It’s just gayenelson.com and everything’s there. And then, my email is my name gayenelson@gayenelson.com.
Interview ends
April: Well, I just found that so interesting. I hope you did too. I am going to leave some links in the show notes to some articles that give you a little bit of background about how the Almuten is actually calculated. It is a very complicated process. Now, it is easy if you have software like Solar Fire, which is what I use, that just gives you the Almuten already calculated. But as I said, I will give you some resources in the episode notes to be able to look up your own Almuten and play around with it in your chart.
Donor Thanks
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© 2023 by April Elliott Kent
