TRANSCRIPT Ep. 224 (March 4, 2024): Draining Our Brains!
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Hello Invisible Friend, April here, and the date today is March 4th, 2024. Welcome to Episode 224 of the Big Sky Astrology Podcast.
This week, busy Mercury aspects Uranus and Neptune, then enters energetic Aries and aspects Pluto. The Sun and Mars aspect Uranus within six minutes of each other, and the Pisces New Moon initiates a new cycle that combines Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. And I answer a listener question about how to become a professional astrologer.
Mercury sextile Uranus (March 4, 2024, 12:24 pm PST)
Mercury sextiles Uranus on March 4th at 12:24 pm Pacific Time at 19º41’ Pisces and Taurus.
Ever since Mercury has been in Pisces, our minds have worked best if we’ve given them plenty of time to dream and to imagine, and shown kindness and patience in our communication with the people close to us. Inspiration and imagination in communication are the watchword for Mercury in Pisces, and it’s a very productive time for writers, artists, and anyone who needs imaginative breakthroughs in whatever they’re doing.
When Mercury’s connecting with Uranus, ideas seem to come from nowhere, and often they’re very innovative and take us in completely new directions. That can be fun and exciting. It doesn’t mean that you have to throw out your usual way of doing things, or any ideas that you’ve had that are a little more conventional, but this just widens the scope of your influence a little bit more and wakes you up in a new way.
If you were a writer, you would find yourself making different choices in words. If you’re an artist, you might want to work in a different medium for a change. Whatever it is that you do, whether it’s in your creative life or in your job, Mercury in aspect to Uranus always shows you a new and exciting way of doing it.
Mercury conjunct Neptune (March 8, 2024, 7:06 am PST)
A few days later, on March 8th at 7:06 am Pacific Time, Mercury makes a conjunction with Neptune at 27º01’ Pisces, on the Sabian symbol 28 Pisces, A fertile garden under a New Moon. So while we’re on the subject of Mercury, as it makes a conjunction with Neptune on this beautiful Sabian symbol, I wanted to tell you about something I recently learned about the brain and sleep.
It seems sleep plays a crucial role in supporting the brain’s lymphatic drainage system through a process called the glymphatic system. The glymphatic system is a waste clearance system in the brain that functions primarily during sleep. Sleep promotes the restoration of cognitive function, including memory and emotional regulation.
So basically, while we sleep, our brain is cleaning itself. We absolutely cannot skimp on sleep and expect our brains to work their best. I think that’s a good thing to remember while Mercury is conjunct Neptune in Pisces. Because this is a combination of dreaming, of imagination, of letting your brain off the leash and going in different kinds of directions and musing and imagining. Just make sure you take plenty of time to drain your brain.
Mars square Uranus (March 9, 2024, 2:55 pm PST)
Sun sextile Uranus (March 9, 2024, 3:01 pm PST)
Mars squares Uranus on March 9th at 2:55 pm Pacific Time, followed only 6 minutes later by the Sun sextile Uranus. All of this takes place at 19º51’ Pisces and Taurus.
Mars square Uranus is one of the more combustible aspects. Mars is the planet that represents action, haste, speed – as we see in the Sabian symbol for Uranus here, 20 Taurus, Wind clouds and haste. And when it’s an aspect with Uranus generally, it tends to move a little more erratically and unpredictably. So, this is a time period, say, between about March 7th and March 10th, when we really need to curb our tendency to move too quickly and to speak or act too impulsively and even provocatively. Accidents and arguments can be a manifestation of this planetary aspect.
On the plus side, the Sun is in this nice sextile aspect to Uranus, which represents an opportunity to change habits and patterns, and to activate our creativity and individuality. Sextiles always present opportunities, but as the Sun sextiles Uranus, we need to choose wisely from those opportunities. If you’re presented with an opportunity that’s a little bit on the dangerous side, for example, it is okay, and even advisable, to pass on it.
Mercury enters Aries (March 9, 2024, 8:03 pm PST)
On March 9th at 8:03 pm Pacific Time, Mercury enters Aries. It’ll be in this sign through May 15th, which is an especially long transit in one sign, because it will be retrograde in Aries between April 1st -that’s a great April Fools! -and April 25th. It’ll station retrograde at 27º13’ Aries on April 1st and back all the way to 15º58’ Aries on the 25th. So it’s between that span of degrees in Aries that will be influenced most by this Mercury retrograde.
Now nothing, no planet, loves to be retrograde when it is in Aries. Because this is a sign that wants to move forward and at great speed. So the closer Mercury gets to its station on April 1st – station just means moving forward or moving backward – the closer Mercury gets to this station, the more communications will tend to slow down, and that can be frustrating when Mercury is in Aries.
And in particular, if you’re planning to travel for that big eclipse on April 8th, that will be during this retrograde. So be sure to have backup plans. It’s a funny time of year to be traveling. Here in the United States, the weather is quite changeable in April. And there’s no telling, really, if you’ll even be able to see the event, where you go. A lot of people will be traveling, especially when you get to the point where you’re about 15 miles out from the site where you’re gonna go watch it. Things can really get congested, so just really think it through in advance and have backup plans.
Mercury sextile Pluto (March 10, 2024, 3:20 pm PDT)
Mercury sextiles Pluto on March 10th at 3:20 pm Pacific Time at 1º27’ Aries and Aquarius. Mercury is on the Sabian symbol 2 Aries, A comedian entertaining a group, and Pluto is on 2 Aquarius, An unexpected thunderstorm.
I like the image here of attempting to entertain others, keep communication light and fast, which Mercury in Aries is very good at. But you might find that you get an even better reaction from people if you throw in something unexpected, because it’s connecting with Pluto in Aquarius. It can mean talking about things that are a little bit taboo, because that is the kind of thing that Pluto is really interested in. So we have an opportunity – this is a sextile – and the opportunity here is to use our minds in an especially focused and constructive way. And, in particular, this has to do with planning for the future, with Pluto being in Aquarius.
Pisces New Moon (March 10, 2024, 1 am PST)
And now for the Moon Report. It begins with the Pisces New Moon on March 10th at 1 am PST at 20º16’ minutes Pisces on the Sabian symbol 21 Pisces, Little white lamb, child, and Chinese servant. In the chart for this New Moon, the Sun and the Moon are in a conjunction with Saturn on one side, Neptune on the other, and also in a sextile aspect to Uranus.
This begins a new cycle in the Pisces house of your chart where 20º16’ minutes Pisces falls. I’ll link to a blog post and video about how to find that, if you find it kind of confusing. This is a New Moon chart that shows hard work and discipline on one side, Saturn, and a more casual and intuitive approach on the other, Neptune. Put these together, and perhaps it’s something about working hard to define your dreams, creating the infrastructure to support your efforts. And, to be willing to kind of roll with anything unexpected that comes up along the way.
The Sabian symbol for this one is a little bit odd. I often like to go back in my mind to the age when these symbols were intuited by psychic Elsie Wheeler. This was in 1925, and this was an era in the United States where she lived, and particularly on the West Coast, where Chinese domestic servants were very prominent in wealthy households. Chinese immigrants at this time faced discrimination and limited job opportunities due to racial prejudice, and also restrictive immigration laws.
Consequently, many Chinese immigrants turned to domestic service as a means of earning a living and this included child care. The crux of this symbol, if we’re to assume a connection between them, is that this is the child of a wealthy family, who has this beautiful pet lamb and has a servant in charge of their well-being. For this New Moon, I think we should also keep our eyes and ears open in the news, in the media for conversations about race and status. Race is often associated with Neptune, and this New Moon degree is very close to Neptune. And status, of course, is associated with Saturn, on the other side of the New Moon point.
Lunar Phase Family Cycle
This New Moon, like every New Moon, initiates a three-year Lunar Phase Family Cycle, as well as the 28-and-a-half-day lunar cycle that we’re used to. The Lunar Phase Family takes the energy and the magic of each New Moon and extrapolates it out over a much longer period. So that the 28-day lunar cycle that begins at each New Moon is kind of a taste of things to come. It’s where we identify some kind of goal, or some kind of intention, and we work through the initial phases of imagining what that could look like. Then, nine months later, there’s a transiting First Quarter Moon on December 8th, 2024, that is near the same degree as this New Moon, so close to 20º Pisces. Nine months after that, there is a Full Moon close to that same degree point on September 7th, 2025. And then nine months after that, the Last Quarter phase close to this degree. And that’s on June 8th, 2026.
What I’m encouraging people to do is to keep a kind of a lunar journal. Note what is happening for you around the time of this New Moon, especially if you know how to identify the New Moon point in your birth chart, because that tells the location where things in your life are being influenced by this New Moon and where this story, this message will carry through for the coming three years.
I think the most important theme of a Pisces New Moon has to do with exploring our spiritual path and also for healing and forgiveness. If there are people in your life toward whom you are carrying some kind of grievance or grudge, this is a time to see if you can begin to let that go. Because you can’t really heal from the damage until you have let go of that strong connection.
It might be a time also that you want to commit to some kind of spiritual practice or spiritual path. You might decide to attend regular services at a church, you might decide to do daily meditation or ritual. Whatever it is, Pisces is the sign that reminds us there is so much beyond this world, beyond the things of the earth and the flesh that we can see and experience with our senses, and this is a New Moon period for exploring that realm.
Void-of-Course Moon periods
Let’s look at the Void-of-Course Moon periods for this week.
On March 4th, the Moon in Sagittarius squares Neptune at 7:41 am Pacific time. It’s Void-of-Course for just about five and a half hours, and then enters Capricorn at 1:15 pm Pacific time. A square aspect refers to a conflict, and I think the conflict between the Moon in Sagittarius and Neptune in Pisces has to do with Sagittarius’ fiery optimism versus the gentle dreaming and sometimes a little bit of confusion that we see with Neptune. The story with this Void-of-Course period is: what is, which is represented by Sagittarius, what we believe, can get in the way of what could be, and that is what Neptune in Pisces wants us to examine. So, this is a Void-of-Course Moon period when we’re asked to let go of some of our need to be sure about what is what and what we believe, and to be willing to open ourselves up to not necessarily knowing and just experiencing the journey.
On March 6th, the Moon in Capricorn sextiles Neptune at 11:35 am Pacific Time is void-of-course for just about 5 hours, then enters Aquarius at 4:38 pm. There’s always an opportunity in a sextile aspect, and the opportunity here is to use our wonderful qualities of Capricorn ambition and perseverance in the service of helping others. That’s the Neptune part. If your ambitions are only for yourself, then your habits can be a little bit heartless and self-serving. Now if you don’t have a clear direction and that purposeful quality we see with Capricorn, well, then your Neptune good intentions for the world won’t necessarily go anywhere during this Void-of-Course Moon. The opportunity is to figure out how to bring those two into a better balance in your life.
On March 8th, the Moon in Aquarius makes a conjunction with Venus at 10:55 am Pacific Time. It’s Void-of-Course for just a little over six hours before it enters Pisces at 5:03 pm. There’s a pressure that comes with a conjunction. The Aquarius love of freedom can get a little bit uncomfortable sometimes in relationships. How are these two needs coexisting in your life, the need for freedom and the need to connect intimately with others, and how can you create new habits that give both of them some space in your life?
And finally, on March 10th, the Moon in Pisces makes a conjunction with Neptune at 12:45 pm Pacific Daylight Time. It’s Void-of-Course for a little over four and a half hours, and then enters Aries at 5:19 pm. In the United States, we’re fortunate in that this is a Sunday. We can try to reserve time for relaxing, napping, daydreaming, listening to music, reading a novel, communing with spirit, and see how we can begin to make these things more of a part of our daily routine.
Listener Question: Advice for an Aspiring Astrologer
In this week’s listener question, listener Jean writes, “Hi April, I admire your career in astrology. I’ve thought about becoming an astrologer myself, and I’m curious about the path you took to establish yourself in the field. What advice would you give to a relatively new astrologer who’d like to someday be a professional astrologer? It seems there are so many people out there doing it, and I have no idea how I could make myself noticed.”
April: Thank you so much for that question, Jean. It does seem like astrology is a very crowded field these days, and I think we can chalk that up to technology, which has made it much, much easier for new astrologers to calculate their charts and also to connect with a potential audience online.
I’m afraid that in many ways, the path that I took to being a professional astrologer might not be all that relevant to somebody starting out today. It was way back in 1989 that I met my first teacher and began studying in her class. And I absolutely do think that is the first and most important step to prepare yourself to be eventually a professional astrologer, and that is to study with somebody who is a really good astrologer and a really good teacher. It’s great if you can do that in the area where you live and go to an in-person class. But you have the option today to study with virtually any astrology teacher anywhere in the world. So, definitely do that first.
And so, after studying with my teacher for a couple of years, I became a professional astrologer in 1991. In the days before that, I did teach myself how to calculate charts by hand, because there really weren’t programs for personal computers at that time, let alone apps to do all of that for you. I think it was probably in about 1992 that I got my first software program that did astrology, and it was a real game changer.
In the early days, I taught small classes in my neighborhood. I built up a small clientele, mostly by advertising in a local free newspaper. When I moved to a new city in 1993, I pretty much lost all of that, and I had to start from scratch. I loved to write. So, I submitted an article to the Mountain Astrologer magazine in 1994 that got published and I got a lot of clients from that.
It was always a little hard for me to get local clients, so I focused on writing for magazines, I wrote for a local newspaper to try to expand my reach. But it really was kind of slow going for me, until I started my website, Big Sky Astrology, in the summer of 1999, and then I registered the name in June 2000. And suddenly, I was able to write anything I wanted, with no deadline, with no editorial interference, and find an audience, and it was absolutely amazing.
I began attracting followers with my writing. And eventually my work was seen by an editor with a major metaphysical publisher. I wrote articles for them, then a book. And then eventually I was referred to a book agent for a project with Penguin Publishing. That resulted in my book, The Essential Guide to Practical Astrology. And then a few years later, the same agent connected me with another publisher and I wrote Astrological Transits for them. And the whole time I was writing essays for my website, I applied to speak for astrology groups and conferences and gradually built a name for myself.
I’ve been on social media, first Facebook, then Instagram for many years, and I began this podcast in 2019. But I have made myself sufficiently busy with my weekly column, my podcast, my clients, my other gigs, that it’s really hard for me to find the time and motivation to add video to my bag of tricks, and I do think that that is absolutely necessary these days to get your work noticed.
Anyway, that’s how I got to where I am. If I were starting out today, I think I would probably just be completely overwhelmed by all of it. But here is the part of my journey that I think is still pretty relevant today. I consider writing my chief skill, and I managed to jump into the field of astrology at a time when you could make a name for yourself with your writing. Along the way I began delving into digital artwork to accompany my articles, and of course the podcast has brought a whole new audience.
When I talk to coaching clients who are planning, as you are, to become an astrologer, I tell them a working astrologer has to be competent at many things. They should be able to teach, lecture, counsel, write, do video, do audio, do all of it.
But you mustn’t lose sight of what you have to offer that is special. And to focus on the medium where you absolutely shine. If you are amazing on camera, well then do videos. If you are a better writer than anything else, blog your little heart out. And if you love using your voice, you can be a lecturer or hey, start a podcast.
And then it’s a question of time and perseverance. And remember, that no matter how many astrologers there are out there, you have something that no one else can offer, and that is you.
Jean, I 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 you can just email me at april@bigskyastrology.com and put “Podcast Question” in the subject line.
Donor Thanks
That is everything I have on my show sheet, so I’m gonna 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. Leave a rating or a review, and I hope 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.
Thank you very much to everyone who has shown support for the podcast over the years and during my September Podathon. 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 one of my oldest friends, a very special Pisces who, in fact, is celebrating a milestone birthday this week, Tim Tormey and thanks to Sarah Jane Williamson, who has donated to the Podathon every single year!
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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!
Writing and images © 2017-24 by April Elliott Kent
For more on this week’s planetary news, read my weekly column!
