TRANSCRIPT Ep. 221 | Peak Aquarius: Venus and Mars Join the Glitterati!

TRANSCRIPT Ep. 221 | Peak Aquarius: Venus and Mars Join the Glitterati! (Feb. 12, 2024)

Hello Invisible Friend, April here, and the date today is February 12th, 2024. Welcome to Episode 221 of the Big Sky Astrology Podcast. for listening to the Big Sky Astrology Podcast.

This week, we enter peak Aquarius as Venus and Mars join the Sun, Mercury and Pluto in that sign, and immediately make conjunctions with Pluto; a feisty Taurus First Quarter Moon; Mercury squares Uranus; and the week ends with the beginning of the Sun’s Pisces season. Plus, I answer a listener question about how to reconcile conflicting information about which house of the chart a planet is in.

Mars enters Aquarius (Feb. 12, 2024, 10:05 pm PST)

Mars enters Aquarius on February 12th at 10:05 pm Pacific Time. It’ll be in that sign through March 22nd. Transits of Mars show us how and what to work and fight for. While it’s an Aquarius, don’t be afraid to be a little bit shocking or controversial. Take your work, which is ruled by Mars, in a new direction. Speak up about your convictions.

There are so many interesting and important individuals who were born with Mars in this sign. Chess champion Bobby Fischer, Giuseppe Verde, John Belushi, John Cleese, astrologer Stephen Forrest, Tennessee Williams, Maya Angelou. And those people who are a little bit shocking or scandalous: Hugh Hefner, Truman Capote. Aquarius is often a very political sign, and those with Mars in Aquarius can really get people upset. Jane Fonda, Michelle Obama, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh. It’s also an extremely charismatic combination, and think only of celebrities Cary Grant and Farrah Fawcett, born with Mars in this sign.

Aquarius is distinctive and unusual. It’s not like anybody else. And when Mars is in this sign, freedom, equality, and independence are among the things that we really want to work toward and fight for. Take some inspiration from some of these Mars in Aquarius individuals. And I think what they all share in common is a distinctive individuality and in many cases, being unafraid to ruffle feathers in order to get their point across.

Mars conjunct Pluto (Feb. 13, 2024, 10:06 pm PST)

Almost exactly 24 hours later, Mars makes a conjunction with Pluto in Aquarius, on February 13th at 10:06 pm Pacific Time, at 0º46’ Aquarius, on the Sabian symbol, An old adobe mission. When Mars comes together with Pluto, it’s the irresistible force meeting the immovable object. Our most radical impulses are fired up, and we really have to resist trying to impose our opinions onto others. It’s a fine line between fighting for what we think is important and trying to force others to believe the same things. It’s a warning, as I’ve said before, of this particular Sabian symbol. While it’s a beautiful image in many ways, an old adobe mission, the mission system here in California, and similar systems, I’m sure, around the world, were based on taking religion to native people and forcing them to let go of their own beliefs, their native beliefs, and adopting a new religion.

Now if what you’re fighting for is in tune with the zeitgeist, if the whole world seems to be shouting in unison a similar message to yours, Pluto can help you move mountains, but we have to be so careful with this combination. It’s like walking around with plutonium, and our efforts, if they are not for the highest good of all, can backfire on us.

Mars is such a physical planet, too, that when it’s in combination with Pluto, I like to recommend a lot of physical exercise. And being a little bit careful not to overdo it, because when any planet is together with Pluto, there’s a tendency to overdo it. But Mars needs some kind of way to express itself so that it doesn’t implode from this pressure of Pluto.

Taurus First Quarter Moon (Feb. 16, 2024, 7:01 am PST)

And now for the Moon Report and it begins with the Taurus First Quarter Moon, on February 16th at 7:01 am Pacific Time at 27º25’ Taurus and Aquarius. The First Quarter Phase is the moment in the Lunar Cycle where action is called for. If there is something that you envisioned at the Aquarius New Moon, this is the moment in the lunar cycle where you’re called to take some kind of step in the direction of reaching for that goal.

The Sabian symbol for this First Quarter Moon is, A woman pursued by mature romance. It makes me think of a woman in her later years who’s living happily alone, enjoying her life, but along comes a very passionate and committed suitor. It sounds kind of lovely, this opportunity for love and companionship later in life, but it would also mean risking the harmony of her contented single life. So many planets in Aquarius this week point to an opportunity for change. But this First Quarter Moon in Taurus symbolizes the inertia and desire for comfort that we have to overcome in order to take advantage of these opportunities.

Lunar Phase Family Cycle

This is the First Quarter Moon in a Lunar Phase Family Cycle that began on May 19th, 2023, at the New Moon at 28º25’ Taurus. That New Moon point was in good relationship to Mars, Neptune, and Pluto. The Sabian symbol for the New Moon point was 29 Taurus, Two cobblers working at a table. And the beginning of this Lunar Phase Family Cycle seems to promise a three-year journey of learning to work with others who do similar work that we do. And that furthermore, this can bring terrific opportunities to do more work, to be more inspired, and to connect with something larger than ourselves.

This is the First Quarter in that larger Lunar Phase Family Cycle. This is a time to reach out, to collaborate, or just to connect with other people who do the same things you do. The Full Moon in this Lunar Phase Family Cycle on November 15th, 2024, is a time we begin to see, get a better and clearer picture, of the possibilities that were set into motion at that May 2023 New Moon. And then at the Last Quarter in this cycle, on August 15th, 2025, we decide whether we can continue on with this collaboration, or whether it’s really gone as far as we need it to go.

Void-of-Course Moon Periods

Let’s look at the Void-of-Course Moon periods for this week.

On February 12th, the Moon in Pisces makes a sextile aspect to Mars in Capricorn at 4:31 am Pacific Time. It’s void-of-course for just about one hour and then enters Aries at 5:26 am. Sextile aspects bring an opportunity and the opportunity here is to put our imagination to work and to make our dreams a reality. The Moon in Pisces is good at imagining things. Mars in Capricorn is good at getting things done. But here we have a chance to bring those two together. Som if you have a habit of focusing exclusively on either that imaginative side of things, dreaming what could be, or just working really hard over and over, almost like a hamster on a wheel – here is the chance, during the short Void-of-Course period, to think about ways that you can make a new habit of combining these two.

On February 14th, Valentine’s Day, we have a Moon in Aries square Venus in Capricorn, at 2:20 am Pacific Time. It’s Void-of-Course then for just under 5 hours, then enters Taurus at 7:02 am. There is a conflict when we see a square and here, we should look at any relationship patterns where our tendency to be rash, impulsive, and maybe even quarrelsome, are in conflict, having a serious and stable relationship.

On February 16th, the Moon in Taurus squares the Sun in Aquarius at 7:01 am Pacific Time. It’s Void-of-Course for about four and a half hours and then enters Gemini at 11:39 am. The conflict in this square, it’s the Last Quarter Moon, and it’s ushering in a Void-of-Course period that’s really good for reviewing how your need for security and stability may be holding you back from creating a future that you would really like to see for yourself.

And on February 18th, the Moon in Gemini trines the Sun at 7:21 pm Pacific Time, Void-of-Course for only four minutes before it enters Cancer at 7:25 pm. This is a reward aspect. I wish it could be a little longer than four minutes, but it is a tiny little Void-of-Course period, but it’s long enough to pause and make an intention about staying flexible and open-minded. And if you are in the habit of holding fast to your ideas and not being willing to listen to other points of view, that’s a good habit to get rid of and to start to cultivate more open-mindedness.

Venus enters Aquarius (Feb. 16, 2024, 8:05 am PST)

On February 16th at 8:05 am Pacific Time, Venus enters Aquarius. It’ll be in the sign through March 11th, and this begins a kind of super Aquarius period when we have five planets in Aquarius through February 18th.

Planets in Aquarius have a shine to them. If you have a planet or planets in Aquarius in your birth chart, you’re probably unusually talented in the ways of that planet and also a little bit rebellious. And Aquarius is also a sign that will tend to get us noticed. While Venus is in Aquarius, put extra resources – Venus – behind your artistic gifts and your humanitarian values and see if you can bring the two together. If you are an artist, this is a terrific time to be talking about the causes dear to your heart. Think of the individuals who have shown such brilliance in the arts who were born with Venus in Aquarius: Mozart, Cezanne, Matisse, Ansel Adams, Phil Spector, Elton John, Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin, James Joyce, it goes on and on. It’s a fascinating and very charismatic sign for Venus. So, during this period, this short period between February 16th and March 11th, we might not all be blessed with the charisma of those born with Venus in Aquarius, but we can reach up and grab a little bit of its stardust, and in the ways that we pursue our livelihood, in the ways we reach out to others to form personal relationships and connections. This is a time when we might be able to stand out and be noticed.

Mercury square Uranus (Feb. 16, 2024, 7:52 pm PST)

On February 16th at 7:52 pm Pacific Time, Mercury squares Uranus, at 19º16’ Aquarius and Taurus. These are the same degrees as the Sun’s square to Uranus last week. The Sun-Uranus story is always about the ways in which we are willing to change, to break out of these self-imposed constrictions of personality that make us believe we are one thing and can only ever be one thing.

But the Sun coming together with Uranus, of course, changes our image of ourselves to a great degree. While Mercury is square Uranus, here’s the opportunity to tell a different story about who we are, to kind of go public with the changes that we foresee for ourselves. Mercury is sometimes associated with titles and names, so you might find yourself inheriting a different title in your work or through a relationship in your life, becoming a parent or a grandparent or an uncle or an aunt. It can also be a time that if you don’t really resonate with the name that you were given, that you might play around with other ways of naming yourself. Sometimes this is just something like an online handle on social media. It doesn’t have to be a legal change of your name, but it might be, if you feel that who you are is very much at odds with the thing that people call you.

Venus conjunct Pluto (Feb. 17, 2024, 00:48 am PST)

Venus makes a conjunction with Pluto on February 17th at 12:48 am Pacific Time at 0º51’ Aquarius, and this brings tremendous pressure in relationships. It is only a one-day transit, three if we call in the day before and the day after. A couple of years ago at the end of the year, we had Venus in a conjunction with Pluto three times because Venus was retrograde during that period, and I saw that make a lot of really profound changes for people in their relationships.

This one goes much more quickly and it’s in Aquarius, so the issues that may be coming up are about your individual freedom and identity versus the intensity, control, and sometimes jealousy or possessiveness that we can see with Pluto. This can also be an aspect that refers to financial pressure, and when we feel under a lot of pressure financially, we can have impulses that are a little bit all-or-nothing.

Venus in a conjunction with Pluto can also bring a feeling that we want to divest ourselves of things. We want to get rid of possessions. We want to declutter our homes. We want to get rid of all our old texts and emails. And it’s a good time to get rid of things that we don’t need, but the only advice that I would offer while Venus is conjunct Pluto is be absolutely sure that you don’t need something before you get rid of it.

Pluto can bring extremity, and in our financial decisions, and our relationship decisions, this can be an aspect that can encourage us to make very extreme and permanent decisions that we might later regret.

Sun enters Pisces (Feb. 18, 2024, 8:13 pm PST)

Then on February 18th at 8:13 pm Pacific Time, the Sun enters Pisces. It’ll be in this sign through March 19th at the Aries equinox. The Sun’s Pisces season is the time of year when we rest, reflect, and heal. It’s a bit like the waning crescent or balsamic lunar phase, except for the Sun. It is the time to rest up and heal physically as well as emotionally and spiritually so that we have plenty of energy for the Aries equinox, which is kind of the starting gate for the new year, energetically speaking.

And we’re going to want to have the energy to take on the new challenges that begin to call to us at the equinox. As a sign, Pisces is not terribly interested in succeeding in an earthly sense. It doesn’t have that focused ambition of Capricorn or even the determination to touch the future that Aquarius has. The Sun in Pisces makes us want to feel as though we are reaching our spiritual potential. That we have a strong sense of purpose for our place in the world and what we think happens after this world. It’s a wonderful time for a vacation or a retreat if you can manage it, just a time to be alone with your thoughts, and maybe no thoughts at all.

I always associate Pisces with dreaming, whether it’s the dreaming we do when we’re asleep or daydreams – where you find yourself just sitting and looking out a window, and you realize you’ve been doing that for a while and you haven’t been thinking of anything in particular, but your mind during those times is making interesting connections and helping you sort through the debris that we collect in our unconscious as we go through each day. Pisces is the season for beginning to let go of all of that, of what’s not really necessary, of what’s weighing us down.

Listener Question: What House is My Moon In?

In this week’s listener question, listener Amanda O. asks, via Speakpipe:

: I just have a question about my Moon and what house it actually is in. I’m following a popular astrology app. I’m also doing their workbook and one of the Full Moon reflections was to look where Leo lies in your chart. Well, my Moon is Leo at the 3rd degree.

Some charts say it’s in the 8th house, some say it’s in the 9th house. I’m just wondering if you can help me decipher, as an indecisive Libra Sun, how to better navigate looking at different astrology programs and the houses to decide where my Moon truly lies. I feel as though it’s more in the 8th house, especially just what I went through, but it’s at the 3rd degree.

So, just wondering what your thoughts are and if you could just kind of elaborate more on different astrology techniques on deciding what house you actually are for a certain planet. Thank you so much. I love your show.

April: Amanda, thank you so much for your question. The reason your Moon ends up in different houses depending on which app or website or astrology program you’re using has to do with the house system that’s being used. And each app, each website, each astrology program will tend to have a different default house system.

So which is the right one? I’m going to disappoint you and say that, in my opinion, there is no right one. Look up into the sky, you will not see lines separating the sky into sections, other than the line of the horizon.

Nevertheless, astrologers love to debate what house system to use and house systems are just different methods for dividing up the sky, and depending on the system that’s used, planets might end up in one house as opposed to another.

I’ve gone over this issue in a couple of previous episodes, but I get variations on this question often enough that I feel it’s a good one to recap. And besides, Amanda left her message on SpeakPipe, and I love it when listeners do that! So I definitely wanted to answer her question.

In Episode 129, I answered a question from listener Angela, who wondered why the Sun in her chart shows up in various different houses of the chart. It’s somewhat related to Amanda’s question. I made a little video to go along with that question. And we’ll link to both the episode and the video in the show notes. Amanda, here was my answer to Angela with a slight adaptation for your example.

Let’s say that the app that you’re using is using the Placidus house system by default to calculate your chart. There’s probably a place in the settings for the app that will let you change this house system if you want to. But if you go in and find that, it’ll tell you what system’s being used. Placidus is the default house system on astro.com and various other websites. Let’s say that your 9th house cusp begins at 5 degrees Leo. Then the Moon at 3 degrees Leo, which of course is before that, would be in the previous house, the 8th house. Let’s say you use a system like Whole Signs, and that system begins each house at zero degrees on the cusp. In that system, your 9th house would have 0 Leo on the cusp, and so 3 Leo, Moon, would fall in the 9th house.

This can be a little confusing, maybe, to understand if you’re just listening to it, so that’s why I made that video, to help you follow along in a more visual way.

In a related note, in Episode 208, Listener Sandra wondered whether it’s okay to use more than one house system when you’re learning about your chart. So that’s a good episode to revisit, too. My advice to Sandra was this: that there’s room to experiment with a variety of house systems, and I really encourage people to do that. However, it’s a little dangerous to choose a house system based on your subjective experience of your own chart. What you might perceive as a more accurate interpretation of something like, say, the Moon in the 8th house in one house system versus the 9th house in another could just as easily be because of other placements or aspects in your chart.

For example, if you had the Moon in aspect to Pluto, this might feel a little similar to the Moon in the 8th house. Or, if the Moon’s in a close aspect to Jupiter, that might feel a little bit more like the ninth house.

Some astrologers, including those I really respect, suggest that a planet that’s very close to the boundary between two houses should be interpreted as sort of operating in both houses. Now, I think maybe it’s just my Saturn in Capricorn which likes strong boundaries, but I figure if you have chosen a house system that you trust, then it’s important to rely on it to show you that the planet is in one house and not the other, and that it chose that house for a very good reason.

So, as I said, I’m all for experimenting with different house systems. But here is what I suggest to my students. When you’re first getting started in astrology, I think it’s most helpful to pick one house system and just stick with it for some arbitrary amount of time, let’s say for a couple of years, and then watch as transits, especially fast-moving transits of the Sun, Moon, Mercury, and Venus move through the houses of your chart as calculated in that house system.

Try to set aside, to some extent, the personality profile of a planet in one sign or the other, and maybe focus on those transits. And I think that they’ll pretty quickly tell the story of which system really resonates with your chart.

Amanda, I certainly hope that that helps.

And 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 put “Podcast Question” in the subject line.

Donor Thanks

That is everything 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, please be sure to subscribe or follow the show in your app of choice. I’d 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.

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That’s it for this episode. Join me again bright and early next Monday morning. And until then, keep your feet on the ground and your eyes on the stars!