TRANSCRIPT Ep. 190 (Aug. 7, 2023)
Hello, invisible friend, April here, and the date today is August 7th, 2023. Welcome to episode 190 of the Big Sky Astrology Podcast.
Before we get started today, I wanted to let you know that the fourth annual Podathon will begin on September 4! I have a week of special episodes coming your way, and I would love to hear some of your voices on the show too. So I invite everyone listening to leave a voicemail telling me how you found the show, how long you’ve been listening, anything you’d like to share about your relationship with the Big Sky Astrology Podcast! Just leave a message of one minute or less at speakpipe.com/big Sky Astrology podcast.
This week: Finishing up the lunar cycle that began at the July 17th Cancer New Moon; Venus is in the spotlight as she makes her conjunction with the Sun and a powerful aspect of Uranus; and I answer a listener question about what I’ll call a Venus retrograde loophole: can we happily buy used or sale items while Venus is retrograde?
Taurus Last Quarter Moon (Aug. 8, 2023, 3:28 am PDT)
The week begins with the Moon Report and a Taurus Last Quarter Moon on August 8th at 3:28 AM Pacific Time, at 15º38’ Taurus and Leo. The Moon in this Last Quarter chart is in a conjunction with Jupiter and Uranus, and all of them are in a square to Sun and Venus and trine Mars. Looking at that Moon and Taurus sitting right between Jupiter and Uranus speaks of the discomfort that can come with growth and expansion.
Anytime we look at aspects to Jupiter, we have a tendency to think that everything is going to be coming up roses, everything will be easy and upbeat and simple. I don’t think it’s always necessarily that way. And Jupiter in this chart, as we see it starting to approach Uranus… Now, that conjunction won’t be exact until next spring, but Jupiter is an outsized planet with an outsized influence. And for that reason, I think we begin to feel its orb of influence well before it makes an exact aspect to another planet. So we have the Moon sitting there between the two of them, and Jupiter does symbolize the desire to expand our horizons, to make our lives bigger in some way.
Uranus is somewhat unpredictable and I find that each of us has a very particular kind of relationship with this planet. For some of us, we see it as a great liberator. For others, we find it very disconcerting because it’s hard to predict exactly what it will bring our way. So as Jupiter begins its approach to this exact conjunction next year, when we have something like this Last Quarter Moon, that is uniting them, this will give us a little bit of a sneak peek perhaps about what we can look forward to next spring. That conjunction will be exact on April 20th, 2024, and it’ll be at 21º49’ Taurus.
Meanwhile, the Sabian symbol for this Last Quarter Moon is 16 Taurus Old man attempting vainly to reveal the mysteries. It’s one I’ve talked about before, and one that grows closer and closer to my heart as I start to identify in age a little bit more with that old man. And the difficulty we have if we’re trying to share hard won knowledge with those who are younger than us or maybe just have a little less experience in something that we know really well. And as we know, that doesn’t normally go that well because everybody has to learn by making their own mistakes.
Every now and again, though, there is an elder in our lives whom we really respect and who has a way of sharing their advice in a way that doesn’t make us so resistant. Maybe that’s the vision for us to hold onto at this Last Quarter Moon, whether we’re the person trying to share knowledge or whether we’re the person who needs to learn – and that can happen at any age.
Lunar Phase Family Cycle
This Last Quarter Moon is the last critical point in a Lunar Phase Family cycle that began at the May 11th, 2021 New Moon at 21º17’ Taurus. I’ve talked about these lunar phase family cycles before, and in fact, during the Podathon I’m going to devote an episode to them. But what it means is each New Moon begins a new three-year cycle. Nine months after the New Moon, there is a First Quarter Moon that’s close to the same degree as that New Moon. Nine months after that, there’s a Full Moon at close to the same degree of the same sign as that New Moon, and then the Last Quarter is nine months later, also close to that same New Moon degree. That period then extends for nine more months of that Last Quarter Phase cycle.
So that’s where we are now. We’re ending a cycle, we’re closing something down, and it’s not only the New Moon cycle that began on July 17th of this year. This is the Last Quarter Phase in that cycle as well. But this is also the Last Quarter Moon in a longer cycle that began back in May 2021.
I found that these family cycles can be really interesting. You might be able to go back and using your calendars, your schedules, your personal journals, sometimes it’s possible to remember what it was that you began at the New Moon, or that you wanted to begin, or that maybe you thought you were beginning. And as this cycle has unfolded, maybe you found that what you really planted at that time is growing into something quite different than you expected. So go back to May 11th, 2021, and then the First Quarter at February 8th, 2022, and the Full Moon of November 8th, 2022 at 16 Taurus. That was a lunar eclipse as well. So that was a particularly interesting phase in this lunar phase family cycle.
Void-of-Course Moon periods
Let’s look at the Void-of-Course Moon periods for this week. We only have two. One is on August 9th when the Moon and Taurus trines Pluto at 3:38 AM Pacific Time. It’s Void-of-Course for about an hour and a half, and then enters Gemini at 6:05 AM.
Let’s take this Void-of-Course Moon period, which again, these are times to consider and hopefully release or rework habits and especially emotional habits because it’s the Moon. During this Void-of-Course Moon period, we can ask ourselves whether we now feel secure enough to expand our reach into other and more powerful connections.
The Moon in Taurus really is preoccupied with security and with having the things that we need to have for our daily survival. The trine usually indicates that there is some comfort, that we don’t feel we’re striving so hard. And Pluto puts us in touch with bigger questions than simply our own personal survival.
Pluto is still at the very end of Capricorn, a sign whose concern is taking the things that we have and doing something with them that can ensure even greater prosperity for us down the road. Pluto is a financial planet, and Taurus is a financial sign. So this might be a good Void-of-Course Moon period for thinking about how you want to allocate your resources moving forward so that they can be of greater benefit to you and perhaps to others.
On August 11th, the Moon in Gemini squares Neptune at 10:27 AM Pacific Time. It’s Void-of-Course for about five and a half hours, then enters cancer at 3:52 PM. If you have a habit of juggling many things at the same time, talking a lot, taking in lots of media, this is a good Void-of-Course Moon period to shut things off for a little while. This is a Friday, so maybe it’s possible to take a little time off in the afternoon, get out in nature. If you live near water, go and watch the waves or feed the ducks, maybe read a book and generally let your mind unwind a little bit and see if you can get off that treadmill of taking in endless information, even if only for an afternoon.
Venus square Uranus (Aug. 9, 2023, 4:08 am PDT)
On August 9th at 4:08 AM Pacific Time, Venus squares Uranus. It’s the second of three squares between Venus and Uranus. The first was on July 2nd when it was moving direct. Now this one on August 9th, when it’s retrograde, then it will station direct again on, I think it’s September 3rd, and you will have one more square between Venus and Uranus on September 29.
I suppose if I had to boil Venus square Uranus down into a single phrase, it might be something like all that glitters is not gold. Venus retrograde has been awakening us to what we truly value and what’s really important to us and about us. As it makes these squares to Uranus, there’s a little bit of awakening that happens.
Retrograde times for Venus are when we’re looking within to find our own value instead of hoping to have it validated from outside of us. And when it squares Uranus, maybe we have a little bit of an “aha” moment, if you will. Something falls into place for us, something that we have never noticed before, perhaps in the way we are treated by others, in the way we regard ourselves, and suddenly we wake up and are able to see that pattern. And the powerful thing, of course, about seeing a pattern is then we’re in a much better position to change it.
The Sabian symbol for Uranus at this square is, A jewelry shop. We’ve talked about that one a few times over the last couple of weeks, and to me it’s a symbol of riches being revealed. Not necessarily things that are valuable in the sense that we normally think of them, literally jewels in a jewelry shop, but instead the inner qualities of us that really shine if given half a chance.
Mercury trine Jupiter (Aug. 9, 5:47 pm PDT)
Also on August 9th at 5:47 PM Pacific Time, Mercury trines Jupiter at 14º31’ Virgo and Taurus. The Sabian symbol for Mercury is 15 Virgo, An ornamental handkerchief. And for Jupiter 15 Taurus, A man muffled up with a rakish silk hat. The interesting thing to me is that both of these symbols are about dressing up practical items.
So with an ornamental handkerchief, it’s not necessarily something like my dad and my uncle used to carry around in their pockets to blow their noses throughout the day. This is a handkerchief with beautiful embroidery on it. Maybe it’s a pocket handkerchief. It really is much more ornamental than it is practical and useful.
Then the man muffled up with a rakish silk hat, which I think I talked about last week. He’s wearing a very debonair chapeau, but he’s also muffled up very practically against the elements. So I like that these symbols have that in common, and Mercury is in a trine with Jupiter, which speaks of that kind of harmony.
In the things that you are working on this week or things that you’re communicating about, because Mercury definitely is about communicating, start out making these things as useful and practical and easy to understand as possible. Very basic and very clear. Then you can embellish them. You can embroider them, make them more eye-catching. Make the very basic things very useful, and then elegant and lovely.
Sun conjunction with Venus (Aug. 13, 2023, 4:15 am PDT)
On August 13th at 4:15 AM Pacific Time, the Sun and Venus come together in a beautiful conjunction at 20º28’ Leo. The exact moment of the conjunction between another planet and the Sun is called cazimi. And when a planet is in that condition, it is extraordinarily strong. It shines with brilliance.
This is a moment in Venus’ cycle when the heart of the Sun combines with the beauty of Venus. This is also called the Venus Star Point, and I’ll put a link in the show notes for a couple of resources about this. Very interesting point in Venus’ cycle. I love the Sabian symbol for this conjunction 21 Leo, Chickens intoxicated, and it speaks to me of just being out of our minds intoxicated with love.
With Venus being retrograde in Leo, it’s kind of an invitation to fall in love with ourselves all over again. I was listening to an interview with Arielle Gutman, who is a specialist in the Venus Star Point. She said the first 20 days after Venus turns retrograde – and for us, this was back on July 22 0 is about emptying out what has been collected over the last Venus phase since she was last retrograde.
So this would be letting go of, I think in particular with Venus being in Leo, about negative inner chatter and the ways we criticize ourselves and tell ourselves that we’re not worthy or we’re not lovable. It’s letting go of that kind of negative internal dialogue. Then as she put it, the cazimi moment, the conjunction of Venus and the Sun initiates this shift before the next phase begins.
Take a look at the house in your birth chart where 20º28’ Leo falls. That tells us the area of your life where you are doing this process of self-examination and of letting go of what is not loving, so that you can make room for the things that you can really appreciate and that will fill your life with love.
The conjunction of the Sun and Venus repeats near the same degree of the same sign about every eight years. So the last time we had Sun conjunct Venus, near this degree was August 15th, 2015 at 22º39’ Leo. This tells us there is possibly some connection for you now to that period of time, or maybe you are learning a different facet of a similar lesson.
Listener Question: Venus retrograde loopholes?
in this week’s Listener question. Listener. Dora asks Via SpeakPipe:
Dora: Hello, April. Here’s a question about Venus retrograde. Now, supposedly one shouldn’t make big buys during this period. How about buying things on sale or secondhand? Would the retrograde mean that once Venus moves forward, again, whatever you bought might not turn out be as good as you once thought it was. Since it’s supposed to be a good time for people to have a garage sale or unload things they don’t need anymore, couldn’t that someone take advantage of that and buy things that would prove to be like great buys.
April: Thanks again, Dora. Thank you for that question. I want to begin with just a little bit of a recap about Venus retrograde and why we advise against making important purchases at these times.
I think that when a planet is retrograde, it’s not that there is anything inherently negative about it, but what it does mean is we may not have all of the information about things related to that planet. Among other things, Venus rules money and purchases. So if you’re purchasing something, it could mean that there’s something about it that is going to end up making it not exactly appropriate for your use, or in fact, even defective.
So that’s why we generally advise against making important purchases when Venus is retrograde. If it’s something small, if it’s something inexpensive, what the heck? If you need it, you need it. This is more about really large, important, expensive purchases like a house or a car, or renovating your house.
Now some people think that we can sort of circumvent this advice if we’re buying something that has been used before or replacing something that we already have. There might be something to that, although I’m not 100% convinced. But if there is something that you need just for a short time when you don’t need to pay for the very best, well, maybe this is a good time to use something for a short while instead of it ending up in a landfill somewhere. Something that’s discounted just in and of itself, doesn’t necessarily fit all of the symbolism of Venus retrograde; only if its new price more accurately reflects its value because that’s the idea of the Venus retrograde phase as I understand it, is to make price and value a little more congruent.
Again, my thought about Venus retrograde is that it’s a difficult time for purchases because we might overlook something about what we’re buying. So you might buy something that’s heavily discounted that you can’t return, and then find that it truly just doesn’t work that well, or it isn’t right for your uses, or it has some defect that you didn’t notice.
My classic example is a friend of mine who bought a condo while Venus was retrograde, despite my most strenuous admonishments. It was an apartment conversion and within a year or two, I think, he discovered a horrible mold problem. And in fact, the entire apartment complex, condo complex, ended up having to be shut down. They couldn’t really remediate the mold, uh, sufficiently. So that’s just an example of buying something while Venus is retrograde that has perhaps something going on with it that you don’t know about. There’s no way they could have known about that, the people that bought those condos. So, but that’s why for a really big investment, it really isn’t the best time to make a purchase.
Now, something that you buy at a yard sale maybe ends up being something that you don’t like or doesn’t work well for its purpose. The worst that can happen is maybe it ends up in your own yard sale pile later, or you donate it to charity or whatever you might do. I would say it’s unlikely that you’ll be any happier with a purchase that is made from a secondhand source or on sale, but you certainly have less to lose.
So still, my recommendation would be to do your very best to make do with what you’ve already got. Venus will be direct on September 3rd. It’s not that far away now, so if there is something inexpensive that you really need to have before that, sure, go ahead and look for it on sale. Look for it in a charity shop or a yard sale. Just don’t expect it to necessarily be something that you will want to hold onto forever.
Thank you, Dora, again for that question. I hope the answer was helpful.
And if you invisible, friend, have a question that you would like me to answer on a future episode, just leave a message of one minute or less at speakpipe.com/bigskyastrologypodcast, or email me at April(at)bigskyastrology(dot)com and put podcast question in the subject line.
Donor Thanks
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