TRANSCRIPT Ep. 191 (Aug. 14, 2023)
Announcer: Welcome to the Big Sky Astrology podcast, with your host, astrologer and author April Elliott Kent.
April: Hello, invisible friend. April here, and the date today is August 14th, 2023. Welcome to Eepisode 191 of the Big Sky Astrology Podcast.
Before I get going with today’s episode, I wanted to give you a heads up that the fourth annual Podathon begins on September 4! I’ll have a week of special episodes for you, and I would love to hear some of your voices on the shows, 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 would 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. I look forward to hearing from you!
This week, a glorious Leo New Moon finds us entirely engrossed in something brilliant. The Sun and Mars make energizing aspects to Uranus. And I answer a listener question about solar houses.
Sun square Uranus (Aug. 15, 2023, 7:34 pm PDT)
The week begins with the Sun’s square aspect to Uranus on August 15 at 7:34 PM Pacific time, at 23º degrees Leo and Taurus. This square occurs on the same degrees as last week’s Venus-Uranus square, so there is some connection possibly to the events of last week.
The Sun shines very brightly in Leo, and it is a time to celebrate exactly who and what we are. At the same time, the square to Uranus suggests that we may have been underestimating everything we could be. Uranus is a planet of change and of rebellion, and when the Sun is in a hard aspect to Uranus, what we’re rebelling against is ourselves. So if there are patterns of behavior or a way that you feel you have to put yourself out there in the world that is completely static and cannot be changed, this is one of two times in the year when the Sun is square Uranus and gives us an opportunity to shake things up a little bit in our concept of who we are and the path that we might be wanting to take forward. I’ll be talking in a few minutes about the Leo New Moon and this generally, the Leo time of year, is when, regardless of the sign that the Sun was in when you were born, the Sun at this time of year as a symbol is especially strengthened in our consciousness.
So whatever it is that you are, you may not have a Leo kind of personality, but whatever personality you do have, whatever your core sense is of who you are, why you’re here, and what you would like to become, that is subject to examination and possibly to alteration during this week. Uranus is still on the Sabian symbol 23 Taurus, A jewelry shop. What I’ve been thinking about the symbol for the last two or three weeks that Uranus has been on this Sabian symbol is that it’s promising us change that will make us happier. So as the Sun squares Uranus, there’s an opportunity to sparkle even more brightly than we normally would as we get closer and closer to our true identity, rather than the one that we have been playing like a role for a very long time.
Leo New Moon (Aug. 16, 2023, 2:38 am PDT)
And now for the Moon Report and the New Moon in Leo on August 16th at 2:38 AM Pacific Time. This New Moon is at 23º17’ Leo on the Sabian symbol 24 Leo, An untidy, unkempt man. I’ll get back to that symbol in just a moment, but we’ll begin by noting that the Sun and Moon in this New Moon chart are in a conjunction with Venus and they are all in an exact square to Uranus. Leo is one of the fixed signs, which means that it doesn’t particularly love change. It likes to have its routines. If you live with a house cat, you know that a cat loves its routines and patterns. It has almost an internal alarm clock that goes off at various times during the day that says, it’s time now to do this thing, and then this thing. And they move around the house as the Sun does during the day. when Leo planets come together in aspect to Uranus, which is a planet that insists on change, you can imagine how happy we feel. We’re a little bit like – what’s the old saying? A cat in a room full of rocking chairs, where our usual routines are being upset a little bit.
Now the good part of this is that with Venus implicated here with the Sun and Moon, with Venus having been retrograde in Leo now since the 22nd of July, we’ve been doing a lot of introspective work, if we’ve been on the right track with Venus. It is a time to really examine our wort, the things that are important to us, how we value ourselves, and how that matches up with how the outside world values us as well.
This is the opportunity to begin to make some changes around those concepts. If you have found, since Venus’ retrograde, that you are discovering you need to ask for more compensation, for example, for the work that you’re doing; if you need to demand better and more equitable treatment from people that you are in relationships with – Venus is generally about these questions of relationship and of self-worth.
As the New Moon point, and Venus, square Uranus, it is definitely a time to begin to shake up those patterns and to start to move in a new direction with Venus. One that makes us feel not only better about ourselves, but better about the way we’re being treated in the world.
Leo is the sign of creation and of recreation. During the New Moon in Leo season each year we’re asked, what do you want to create in the year ahead in the coming 12 months? The Leo New Moon season is the time to really think about that. And it is also this year, because of this connection with Uranus, a time of better than usual inspiration. Because when we’re not in our old routines doing the same things in the same way, that’s when inspiration can appear and get through to us.
The Sabian symbol for the New Moon, as I said, 24 Leo, An untidy, unkempt man. And at first, that sounds like a sort of a disturbing image, and we think it’s very much not in keeping with Leo. But the way I’m imagining this symbol is that untidiness, the unkempt that befalls us when we are spending every waking minute engrossed in something – something about our work that’s very compelling or a hobby or a game, or maybe you have a new baby, whatever it is that has you so engrossed that you forget to even comb your hair in the morning.
Together with the New Moon’s square to Uranus, I get this image of somebody like Albert Einstein, whose hair always looked a little bit wild. And famously there was a photograph of his office that was published after his death, and it was a complete mess, just stacks of paper everywhere. But this was a brilliant person with an unconventional mind. And sometimes when you see someone that looks a little distracted, maybe they’re wearing yesterday’s shirt, maybe there’s a coffee stain on the lapel, their hair is a little bit wild looking. You can look at them and think, ah, that could be a genius at work. And that’s also what we could discover during this Leo New Moon season.
This New Moon chart also has Mars at 22º53’ Virgo, and it’s in a grand trine configuration with Uranus in Taurus and Pluto in Capricorn. All of them, of course, in earth signs. This gives us a rare opportunity during this New Moon cycle to really get something done and get it done in a very precise and inspired way, and a way that actually has the potential to be helpful to a large group of people, not just a few.
Lunar Phase Family Cycle
Let’s talk about the Lunar Phase Family cycle because that’s where we will see these influences expand out from just the next month to the next three years. This begins a lunar phase family at 23º17’ Leo. Nine months from now, there’s a First Quarter Moon at the same degree pretty much, very close, on May 15th, 2024 at 25º08’ Leo. That is a moment when we must take action or where some kind of action will take place related to something that we’re conceiving of at this New Moon. The nine months between now and then is sort of an incubation period. Then that is when we begin to take some action.
Nine months after that, there’s a Full Moon on February 12th, 2025 at 24º06’ Leo. That is when we begin to really see what we put into action at this New Moon, it may take that long to really see what it is that we have set into motion. We go into these new moons with a sense and intention of what we would like to initiate, but it doesn’t always end up looking that way. It’s always good, I think, to make some kind of intention or promise to ourselves. It’s a good idea to look at where this degree of the New Moon falls in your birth chart. What house contains 23º17’ Leo? Because that can help guide you in what you are trying to initiate and conceive at this New Moon. You really begin to see it at that Full Moon in February, 2025. It sounds so far away, doesn’t it?
Nine months later, there’s a Last Quarter Moon phase on November 11th, 2025 at 20º04’ Leo. And that is the last critical moment in this lunar phase family cycle. And that is the time we get to tweak and fine tune what it was that we saw at the Full Moon, to see how we really want to bring this New Moon’s promise to completion. And then that continues through for nine months.
Void-of-Course Moon Periods
Let’s look at the Void-of-Course Moon periods for this week. On August 14th, the Moon in Cancer opposes Pluto at 12:46 AM Pacific Time. It’s Void-of-Course for about three hours and then enters Leo at 3:36 AM. This is a Void-of-Course Moon period to see if we can make some change in our emotional habits, particularly related to power, control and safety. This echoes the July 17th Cancer New Moon, which was opposed Pluto. That was a little bit of a rough New Moon. So this is a time to take stock and say one month later, how are things looking? Have you managed to make some of the important changes that were called for around that time, or are you at least beginning to change some habits and some emotional patterns related to these things?
On August 16th, the Moon in Leo makes a conjunction to the Sun. That’s the New Moon, at 2:38 AM Pacific Time. It’ll be Void-of-Course for about an hour and a half before it enters Virgo at 4:14 PM. So we get to really sit with this beautiful New Moon in Leo for about an hour and a half while the Moon is void.
A Void-of-Course Moon is a shift in conditioning or patterning. Coming right after the New Moon, which is a beginning point, this is a Void-of-Course Moon that invites us to think about how are we becoming new? How do we shine in the world? How can we change the role that we have been playing to make it reflect who we are even more authentically?
On August 19th, the Moon in Virgo trines Pluto at 1:51 AM Pacific Time. It will be Void-of-Course for about three hours before it enters Libra at 4:53 AM. So what is the new pattern promised at this Void-of-Course Moon? It’s about, I think, exalting your day-to-day work. Using it toward large and important work, and nobody gets to decide but you, what constitutes larger and more important work.
The Moon in Virgo is a craftsman. It’s very concerned with details and when it connects with Pluto, that is a moment sometimes in the Moon cycle where Virgo gets its notice. When it’s in this good trine with Pluto, because Pluto can represent powerful people, powerful forces, and it’s the moment when a humble worker who is just coming in and trying to do their very best work every day finally gets acknowledgement.
Mars trine Uranus (Aug. 16, 2023, 6:53 am PDT)
Also on August 16, at 6:53 AM Pacific Time, Mars trines Uranus at 23º Virgo and Taurus. Mars is on the Sabian symbol 23 Virgo, An animal trainer, and Uranus is on 23 Taurus, A jewelry shop. I have Mars in my birth chart at this position on the position of the animal trainer. What I’ve found for me with Mars at this point is it’s been very much about training my least desirable Mars characteristics, like anger. I have a bit of a hot temper, and I’ve really had to learn to discipline that over the years. So it is like being an animal trainer, but the animal I’m training is me! I think that that is true perhaps for all of us as Mars is on this degree. Are you really training your Mars impulses?
Now, there are positive Mars qualities as well, so this is about being able to work very hard to have the self-discipline necessary to get a lot of work done, and since it’s trine Uranus, there’s an opportunity for our work to connect to real genius. I’ve often been asked by people who want to write, what is the secret of becoming a writer? I tell them that, for me, it simply has been a matter of…writing! It’s been a matter of showing up every day, even when I don’t feel inspired to do my work, and then if the muse happens to visit me, then I’m already where I need to be to capture it and to make inspired work. We will go weeks, sometimes, months at a time in our day-to-day work, not feeling particularly inspired, maybe even feeling a little frustrated that we can’t seem to produce something brilliant. But it’s aspects like these – and this Mars trine to Uranus influences much of this week – and is one of those opportunities where if you have worked hard, you have shown self-discipline, and most importantly, you have shown up for work, this is the time that the Muse should visit. You should be able to connect with something really brilliant.
Listener Question: Solar Houses
In this week’s Listener question. Listener Elodie asks:
Elodie: Hi, April. I was gifted Lewellyn’s 2023 Sun Sign Book last year, which makes monthly predictions by sun sign. I was flipping through it today and surprised by its accuracy in places.
The book constantly refers to solar houses, but doesn’t describe what this is. I gathered that this type of chart simply plunks El Sol into house one, and then uses whole sign houses. But when I tried to make my own, things got a little confusing. I confess I had been a little snobby. How could a Sun-based prediction written for everyone be worth a fuss? But whoop! – there it was, and it was pretty good, to my surprise.
If I wanna make my own solar house natal chart just to poke around, what are the steps, especially if birth time is known. I’m using Astro.com. It seems like this may also be a nice way to make some version of a natal chart when the time can’t be researched or guessed, rather than using the dreaded 12 noon faker birth time. I also just love looking at chart variations to get another lens on the big picture. Love the podcast. Thank you.
April: Well, Elodie, the system you chanced upon, I think, is actually pretty good. It’s more or less the system that an astrologer uses to write horoscopes. For each sign, you put each sign on the first house using whole signs with zero degree cusps, and then you toss the rest of the planets into the appropriate houses, and then you can write a delineation for that sign.
So, for example, if you’re listening to my podcast and this week I’m talking about the Mars trine to Uranus and say, you are a person who was born with a Sun in Cancer. We would put zero degrees Cancer on the first house, place your Sun in there, then zero degrees Leo would be on the second house cusp, zero degrees Virgo on the third, and so forth.
Using this kind of method, we would end up seeing Mars falling in your solar third house, three houses away from Cancer, and we would see Uranus in the 11th house in Taurus, and that would personalize my delineation of that for you and your chart. Now a proper solar house chart, as I learned it, would use the degree of the natal Sun as the starting point on the cusp of the first house, and then that same degree of each Sun in turn around the other houses.
So if your Sun is at 12º13’ Cancer, that would go on the first house cusp. Then 12º13’ Leo on the second house, and so forth. So it is still an equal house system because each house will be exactly 30 degrees, but instead of zero degrees on the cusp as you have it in whole sign houses, or the degree of the Ascendant on each house cusp as it appears in the actual Equal House system, it is the sun’s degree and minute on each house cusp.
If you don’t know the birth time, then you would use the degree and minute of the Sun at sunrise on each of the house cusps.
I’ve looked at astro.com and I haven’t actually found a way of calculating a true solar house chart, but you could look up the time of sunrise in that location and use that as the birth time if you’ve got a chart where the birth time is unknown. You won’t technically have solar houses, but you’ll have a chart that accomplishes something similar.
Now, if you are using software, and one of the really popular programs is Solar Fire, when you select your house system that you want to use for the chart, just select the house system that’s called “Sun on first.” It’s putting the Sun’s degree on the first house cusp and then generates those other house cusps with the Sun’s degree.
Let’s address your other concern though about the efficacy of this chart and why does it work at all, and like you, I find that it kind of does, in the same way a Sun sign based horoscope, when it’s written by a really good astrologer, can sometimes hit the mark. And it’s because it’s based on the Sun, which is arguably the most powerful symbol of the chart, as it begins the most powerful half of its daily cycle.
Well, I am like you, Elodie. I like to look at all different house systems because as you suggest, they really are like lenses on a camera, and each of them is going to give you a slightly different perspective on the chart and make particular things pop.
I hope this has helped and I hope that you have fun with it, but I’m afraid it is a little difficult to achieve this at astro.com as far as I could tell.
If you, invisible friend, have a question you’d 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 be sure to put podcast question in the subject line.
Donor Thanks
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That is 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!
Announcer: Thank you for listening. To learn more about April Elliott Kent, visit her website Big Sky is astrology.com, where you can sign up for her newsletter, read her thoughtful essays, find out more about her books and classes, or book a personal astrology reading. That’s all for today. If you are enjoying the podcast, please take a moment to follow or subscribe to stay current with new episodes, and please leave a rating or review. You can follow @BigSkyAstrology on Facebook or Twitter and @BigSkyAstrologyApril on Instagram. Thanks again for being here, and we hope you’ll join us next time.
Writing and images © 2017-23 by April Elliott Kent
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