THE BIG SKY ASTROLOGY PODCAST – EPISODE 176
Listen and read show notes hereApril: Hello, invisible friend, April here – and the date today is May 1st, 2023. Welcome to Episode 176 of The Big Sky Astrology Podcast.
This week, the big news is a Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Scorpio. Pluto stations retrograde, and Venus has a busy week making aspects to Jupiter and Neptune before entering Cancer. Plus, I answer a Listener Question about how to find your in-laws in your birth chart.
Pluto stations Retrograde (May 1, 2023, 10:08 am PDT)
As the week begins, Pluto stations retrograde on May 1st at 10:08 am PDT, at 0°, 21’ Aquarius. It’ll be retrograde through October 10th. It is one of those planets that’s retrograde for much of the year, I think it’s a little over five months out of every year. So, we notice Pluto being retrograde or being direct mostly around the days that its stations to change direction. So, say between about April 30th and May 2nd, Pluto will probably feel very powerful and very influential in the world around us. Look for struggles over control and power.
Anytime a planet is retrograde, I like to think that it’s a time for us to go within to find messages and wisdom and help related to that planet. So, when Pluto is moving retrograde, the time is to look within for the source of power and control in our lives, to cultivate self-empowerment or to look at ways of letting go of the idea of power and reconciling ourselves to the fact that there are many things we just don’t have much control over.
While Pluto is retrograde, it will re-enter Capricorn on June 10th and re-visit the last few degrees of that sign, where Pluto was doing all of its work towards the beginning of the year and up until it went into Aquarius on March 23rd. So, we’ll relive these degrees of Capricorn for a while before Pluto returns to Aquarius on January 20th, 2024. This is still not the last time that Pluto will visit these last degrees of Capricorn – there were evidently some very important lessons to be learned at those final degrees – and it might take a few times to reinforce them.
In particular, if you have any planets or important points in your chart near say, 25 through 29° of Capricorn or of the other Cardinal signs, Aries, Cancer and Libra, this could be an influential time for you as you’re being asked to finish up some very specific work related to those planets. Remember, Pluto brings lessons that are profound, and for that reason, they take a while to really get a handle on, and that will be especially true of Pluto re-entering these final degrees of Capricorn.
Mercury conjunct the Sun (May 1, 2023, 4:27 pm PDT)
Later the same day at 4:27 pm PDT on May 1st, the Sun comes together in a conjunction with Mercury at 11°19’ Taurus, on the Sabian symbol, 12 Taurus, Windows shoppers. This is the second of three Sun-Mercury conjunctions. The first was on March 27th, then this one on May 1st and the third will be on June 30th. The first and the last are when Mercury is direct, and this middle one is when Mercury is retrograde. So, think of it this way, if we use our example from the Sabian symbol of the Window shoppers, when the Sun and Mercury first came together on March 27th, imagine that you walked by a shop window and you saw something that caught your eye and you thought, “Oh, I really like that” – but you weren’t quite ready to buy. With the conjunction that has Mercury retrograde, you go, “Oh, there it is again. Am I ready yet to buy that?”
Then on June 30th, the final conjunction with Mercury direct…Ah, the time is now. And we go back to the shop and we finally buy the thing – or we let it go all together, we decide it never really was for us anyway. I think this conjunction’s an especially good one for thinking again about an idea that we had of something we might want to do, a place we might want to visit, somebody we might want to spend time with, and this is a time to kind of reconsider that. It’s not our last chance to make a decision, but this is the time to really consider what we will do going forward.
Venus square Neptune (May 4, 2023, 10:40 am PDT)
Venus makes a square aspect to Neptune on May 4th at 10:40 am PDT, at 26°50’ Gemini and Pisces. And when we have a hard aspect between Venus and Neptune, we have an awakening about something that we value. Is it what we thought it was? Is it worth what we are paying for it? Not necessarily financially, it can be in terms of emotion and time and energy. This can be a relationship, something we want to purchase, how much we think we’re worth. And, what happens really when Venus squares Neptune is, the veil falls from our eyes.
When Venus is in a pleasant aspect with Neptune, especially a trine, we are entranced and believe completely and wholeheartedly that the object of our affections is exactly right for us. And sometimes that’s true, but nobody is perfect, no job is perfect, no situation is as perfect as Neptune wants to tell us that it is. So, moments like these, with a square aspect, ask us to see things as they really are and decide based on that, whether it’s really worth the affection and time and investment that we’re making in it.
Venus sextile Jupiter (May 4, 2023, 9:03 pm PDT)
That evening, on May 4th at 9:03 pm PDT, Venus makes a sextile aspect to Jupiter, so, that’s our consolation prize after the Venus square to Neptune. This sextile takes place at 27°19’ Gemini and Aries. The Sabian symbol for Venus is 28 Gemini, A man declared bankrupt. And the Sabian symbol for Jupiter is 28 Aries, A large disappointed audience.
I actually really like that Bankrupt degree. And some interpretations of the symbols actually mention a forgiveness of the debt. But, one way or another, if you are bankrupt, you are starting over with a clean slate. And, that’s how I like to think of this degree and Venus here. Even if you, while Venus was square Neptune earlier in the day, decided you had to leave a situation or give up on some kind of dream or something that you enjoyed and didn’t really want to let go of, this might say that yes, in the end, you are going to make that decision to let go of something, but it’s for the best. It’s leaving you open for the thing that’s going to be really right for you.
And as Venus is sextile Jupiter, it’s about reaching out for something that’s larger, something more than you thought you were really capable of having. It’s an interesting Sabian symbol for Jupiter, A large disappointed audience. And the way I always like to think of that one is, just because an audience is disappointed doesn’t mean there was anything wrong with your performance or with what you were trying to offer them. A performer and an audience is a kind of a two-way interaction and you may have been giving your very best and the people who were receiving it just couldn’t appreciate it.
And that can be sometimes because we have outgrown a particular situation. So, we find ourselves at this Venus sextile to Jupiter starting from square one, in a position where we are asked to have faith in ourselves and our abilities, so that we’ll have the courage to reach out for something even larger and more rewarding.
Scorpio Full Moon/Lunar Eclipse (May 5, 2023, 10:34 am PDT)
And now, for the Moon Report for the week of May 1st. It begins with the Full Moon Lunar Eclipse on May 5th at 10:34 am PDT, at 14°58’ Scorpio. This is the last eclipse we’ll have in Scorpio until 2031. In the chart for this eclipse, the Moon is opposed the Sun, which is in a conjunction with Uranus. So, it’s another one of those very unsettling, Uranian eclipses. And as I think I said a couple of weeks ago, we’ve been having a lot of those while eclipses are in Taurus and Scorpio, which makes sense because Uranus has been moving through Taurus during this time.
It’s always helpful, I think, with eclipses to go back and think about when we had eclipses at this same degree. And the ones I’m finding most interesting are a Solar Eclipse on November 3rd, 2013, and then Lunar Eclipses on May 4th, 2004 and May 4th, 1985. So, it can be helpful I think, to go back into your own birth chart, look at where the degree, 14° Scorpio 58’ falls, and we will put a link in the show notes to remind you of this blog post I did and video to help you find that point in your own chart. And, go back to these years, because those were the years that really contain echoes of what might be happening in your life and in your chart during this eclipse.
This particular eclipse falls closer to the South Node of the Moon. This is an eclipse that’s especially important for releasing, for letting go of things that are really not doing us a lot of good in our lives. Always with the South Node, and eclipses there, we take into consideration the more negative qualities of the sign involved. And, with Scorpio we’re talking about things like bitterness or resentment, jealousy, holding a grudge, these kinds of feelings.
The North Node in Taurus is encouraging us to let go of those kinds of emotions and embrace what is right before our eyes and have trust in the world around us, which is hard in the Scorpio part of us.
This is the Full Moon in a Lunar Phase Family Cycle that began with a New Moon on November 4th, 2021 at 12°40’ Scorpio, that’s when this particular story began. So, you can go back to that point in your birth chart, 12°40’ Scorpio, and, what was the story? What was your intention at that New Moon? And, how well are you doing on your journey?
The First Quarter Moon in this cycle was on August 5th, 2022 at 13° Scorpio. Now, we have the Full Moon and we can see really where we began and where we have gotten in what we attempted back in November, 2021.
And then, the Last Quarter Phase in this cycle is on February 2nd, 2024. That’s the time we have our last opportunity to change course, to fine tune and to bring the ship into the harbor.
Void-of-Course Moon periods
Let’s look at the Void-of-Course Moon periods for this week. On May 1st, the Moon in Virgo opposes Neptune at 4:53 pm PDT. It’s void of course for a little over six hours, before it enters Libra at 11:09 pm. And this is a combination that’s about finding the balance. It’s an opposition aspect between the Virgo qualities of organization and logic and taking care of the little details, versus Neptune in Pisces and its qualities of inspiration, of faith and of drifting a little bit, so we can see possibilities that are out there for us that we might miss if we’re looking down at our spreadsheets all day. This is an opportunity, this Void-of-Course Moon period this evening to contemplate that, to meditate on that balance. Neither one is right and neither one is wrong. We need both the Virgo qualities and these Neptune Pisces qualities to live a full and balanced life.
On May 4th, the Moon in Libra opposes Jupiter in Aries at 2:17 am PDT, it’s void of course for little over five hours, before it enters Scorpio at 7:32 am. Now, that’s here on the West Coast where I’m at. If you are East of here, you’re going to be having this later in the morning, even into the afternoon or the evening, depending on where you are. But the Moon in Libra and the fact that it’s an opposition aspect, again emphasize the need to balance the qualities of Libra and Aries, which is the sign that Jupiter is still in. This is about the ability to maintain balance, to consider options before you act. And yet there are times when we need to be decisive and act in the moment and be brave and go after what we want, which is what’s represented by Jupiter in Aries. Of course, if we do that without doing the Libra part of considering and weighing the options, well, then we can go a little bit over the top and that comes with its own set of problems.
So again, here is a Void-of-Course Moon period about changing our way of thinking and our emotional habits around the need to consider and to keep balance, and on the other hand, to know when it’s important to push ourselves to go a little bit further and do something different.
And on May 6th, the Moon in Scorpio makes a trine aspect to Neptune at 7:38 am PDT. It’s void of course for about five and a half hours before it enters Sagittarius at 1:04 pm PDT. Here is an opportunity for healing and for forgiveness. After that intense Full Moon, this Moon in Scorpio ends up with this nice aspect to Neptune, the trine. So, this is, taking a nice bath, relaxing, listening to some lovely music, whatever it is that you like to do to make yourself feel better.
Then, in the afternoon, after the Moon has entered Sagittarius, we will be well rested and in a much better frame of mind.
Venus enters Cancer (May 7, 2023, 7:25 am PDT)
On May 7th at 7:25 am PDT, Venus enters Cancer. Venus will be in this sensitive and home-loving sign through June 6th. Then it’ll go into Leo, where it will spend a lot of time because it will have a retrograde period in there. So, let’s just relax and enjoy this period of Venus in Cancer. Venus always asks, What is it that we love? What gives us pleasure?
And during about a three-week period, normally, that Venus is moving through a sign of the zodiac, gives us a little bit of a clue about what we’re going to be particularly drawn to and enjoy. So, these will be Cancerian things. Cancer loves its home and its family, and these are the things that we will tend to spend money on while Venus is in Cancer, they are the things that will make us open our wallet, graduation gifts for the young people in the family, Mother’s Day gifts for the moms.
Venus also symbolizes how we will show affection and seek to be loved through comforting and nurturing one another, providing safety and lovely meals, especially – Cancer loves to feed people. So, if there is something you’ve been wanting to do to beautify your home or your garden, some new recipe that you’ve been wanting to try, if you see something while you’re window shopping in that Sabian symbol we talked about earlier in the podcast that makes you think of somebody you love in your life, this is the time to spend money and time and attention on those kinds of things. You’ll find it really satisfying and rewarding.
Listener Question: Finding Your In-Laws in Your Chart
In this week’s Listener Question, Listener Elliottt asked via SpeakPipe:
Listener Elliottt: Hello Big sky friends and dearest April, it is the question machine Elliottt returning yet again with a burning query that I cannot solve myself after months of wondering and wondering and reading things I don’t understand. I would like to know where on earth in one’s chart, one’s personal chart, the in-laws might be located?
This is a difficult question because everyone has different relationships with their in-laws. My personal theories could be the 6th House, key partnerships, a.k.a people that you’re bound to and basically stuck with. Or, the 12th House of Hidden Enemies, which, let’s face it.
I guess maybe you could think of it as the 4th, depending on how long you’ve known them and that’s the house of home and family, but I was just trying to figure out, you know, even if you have your in-law charts or your spouse or significant other charts, where are they located in yours, your personal chart, where are they?
Anyway, it’s just a weird question. I can’t find a straight answer and I wondered what you thought. Thanks so much.
April: Well Elliott, thank you very much for your question. And it gives me the opportunity to talk about one of my favorite techniques, which is called Derivative Houses.
The birth chart or any chart we’re looking at is a complete system. It reflects everything, every place and every person in your life. For example, we know that your spouse is symbolized in your birth chart by the 7th House. This means that planets in the 7th House, the planetary ruler of the sign on the 7th House, its aspects, all give us oodles of information about your spouse.
Your parents are symbolized in your birth chart by the 4th and 10th Houses. Now, there’s some disagreement about which of these Houses symbolizes your mother and which one symbolizes your father. But I think, all astrologers agree that parents are symbolized by the 4th and 10th Houses. If my client wants to talk about a parent, I can usually tell within about a minute of speaking with them whether that parent belongs to the 4th or the 10th house of their chart.
And I have to say in my experience, it is not 100% consistent as to whether the 4th House is their mother or the 10th House. The argument for the 4th House as symbolizing the mother, is that correlation with home and family and the domestic side of life. And the argument I’ve heard most for the 4th House as symbolizing your father, is that property was traditionally passed down through the paternal line and the 4th House is connected to property.
So, what about in-laws? Well, what are in-laws? They are the siblings, parents and so on of your spouse. Siblings are 3rd House relationships. If we want to find information about your brothers and sisters in your chart, we’ll look to your 3rd House.
So, to find a spouse’s siblings, you begin with the 7th House, because that symbolizes your spouse. And you count three Houses, begin with the 7th House, then the 8th, and then the 9th – that is the third House from the 7th. And so, the 9th House of your chart symbolizes your brothers and sisters-in-law. Now notice, it’s the opposite of the 3rd House which rules your own siblings, and that makes sense.
Now, how about your mother and father-in-law? Begin with the 7th House and count 4 Houses to find one of them – that’s your 10th House. And, begin with the 7th House and count 10 Houses to find the other parent; that is your 4th House.
Rex Bills’ Rulership Book – and we’ll put a link to that in the show notes, because they really like this rulership book. There’s another wonderful one by Lee Lehman as well. But I’ve had Rex Bills on my desk for years. This book specifically says the 10th House symbolizes a woman’s mother-in-law. So, it’s the 4th House from the 7th. And, the mother-in-law of a man is symbolized by the 4th House of his chart. And you would reverse that for a man’s chart or to find a woman’s father-in-law.
But basically, at the end of the day, your parents and your parents-in-law are all ruled by the 4th and 10th Houses. Let’s say that a person has a really problematic relationship with their mother-in-law and that in the 10th House of the person’s chart, which would symbolize their spouse’s 4th House, which could be their mother, you have some difficult planets, you have Pluto, you have Saturn, you have Uranus in a tough aspect to the Moon or something like that. And that would tell us pretty clearly that you might have to work a little bit to get along with this parent.
And again, it’s more or less the process I described of talking to a client about their parents, and then, it’s pretty easy to see which of the 4th or 10th Houses in their chart are really associated with each parent.
You can expand this system out to symbolize anybody in your life. Let’s say you want to locate your spouse’s coworkers. Coworkers are generally a 6th House relationship. So, you begin with the 7th House, because it’s your spouse and his coworkers we’re interested in – begin with the 7th House and count six Houses from that going counterclockwise. And, that means your 12th House will symbolize your spouse’s coworkers.
We can expand this system out infinitely. If you want to locate your brother’s best friend’s sister, you begin with your 3rd House, your brother. Best friends are a 7th House relationship, so start at the 3rd House and count 7 Houses to find your brother’s best friend and that is your 9th House. Then count 3 Houses from the 9th House to find the best friend’s sister, and that is your 11th House. So, you can look to your 11th House for information about this person.
It sounds confusing, but it really is understanding which House symbolizes what kind of relationship, and then, simple counting.
What’s great about this system for me is that it allows me to give helpful information to my client about these kinds of relationships without violating the other person’s privacy. Because, I have a policy that I never read a third party’s chart without their explicit written permission. My only exception is for the parent of a minor child, but even then, the focus is on my client. But being able to use this system, it helps me see how they see this person in their life and the relationship between them.
Anyway, Elliott, I hope you find this system as helpful and fascinating as I do. To read more about Derivative Houses, I really like Bill Herbst’s book “Houses of the Horoscope.” I also cover it very briefly in my book, “The Essential Guide to Practical Astrology,” at the end of Chapter 8.
If you have a question that you would like me to answer on a future episode of the podcast, please, leave a message of one minute or less at speakpipe.com/bigskyastrologypodcast or email me at april@bigskyastrology.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, be sure to subscribe or follow the show in your app of choice. I would love it if you left a rating or a review, and I hope that you’ll spread the word by telling an astrology loving friend about the podcast. You can read show notes and 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. On each episode, I’m thanking some of my financial donors by name. This week, let’s give a Big Sky Astrology Podcast shout out to Rachel Fletcher and Ragini Gurnani!
April: Rachel and Ragini, thank you so much for listening to the podcast and for supporting the show with your donations.
If you would like to support the show, please go to bigskyastropod.com. If you donate $5 or more, I will send you my recent bonus episode for the Aries Equinox as well as the Cancer Solstice episode that will come out in June.
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 by April Elliott Kent
