TRANSCRIPT Ep. 231 | Scorpio Full Moon: What’s Under the Surface?

TRANSCRIPT Ep. 231 | Scorpio Full Moon: What’s Under the Surface?

Hello, invisible friend, April here, and the date today is April 22, 2024. Welcome to Episode 231 of the Big Sky Astrology Podcast. This week, the Scorpio Full Moon digs under the surface and doesn’t shy away from what it finds; Mercury turns direct; Mars makes a conjunction with Neptune; and I answer a listener question about emerging techniques or tools by discussing my current favorite, which is not exactly emerging, but sure is useful.

Scorpio Full Moon (April 23, 2024, 4:49 pm PDT)

The week begins with the Moon Report and the Scorpio Full Moon on April 23rd at 4:49 pm PDT. It’s at 4º17’ Scorpio, and in this Full Moon chart, the Sun-Moon opposition are both square Pluto in a configuration we call a T-square, a configuration which implies a lot of tension and hopefully a lot of motivation.

Now the Sun in Taurus prefers to take things and people as they come, without looking for ulterior motives or problems under the hood. But the Scorpio Full Moon insists on looking at things straight in the eye. It’s a sign that digs under the surface for problems, and it doesn’t shy away from what shows up.

This Full Moon calls back to the Scorpio New Moon on November 13th, 2023. So, any of your New Moon intentions or thoughts or promises from that time are now in a position to be answered. The things that we see showing up at this Full Moon can be tracked back to some extent to that New Moon.

The thing about the Full Moon is it shows what is going on. The New Moon is a very dark time and we don’t always see exactly what’s happening, or even what it is that we’re planting. But at the Full Moon, all is revealed. And so at the Scorpio Full Moon, some of the things that we would prefer not be revealed, or that we prefer not to really look at or think about, are nevertheless becoming obvious.

During the Sun in Taurus season, the temptation, the tendency is to just take it easy, take things at face value, and don’t really worry too much about what might be going on under the surface. There are advantages and disadvantages to an approach like that, and what the Full Moon in any sign does is show and amplify the things about the New Moon that are a little bit of a blind spot for that Sun sign.

The Full Moon is also the time in the Lunar Phase Cycle when we begin to move from that waxing energy that began at the New Moon, which is a time of initiating, starting, exploring new things. And at the Full Moon, we pivot, and we start to move into the waning half of the lunar cycle and that’s a time for letting go.

So, at the Full Moon, we begin to see the things that have not necessarily been working out well for us in our lives and think about how we can begin to let them go. Unless we clear the decks for new things, we don’t have the space for appropriate things in our lives to grow.

Lunar Phase Family Cycle

This is also the Full Moon in a Lunar Phase Family Cycle that began on October 25th, 2022 with a New Moon Solar Eclipse at 2 Scorpio. Any Lunar Phase Family Cycle that begins on a Solar Eclipse generally tells a pretty important story over the 36 months that it unfolds. A Scorpio New Moon, and especially a Solar Eclipse, is focused on authenticity. Who are we really? Not what we would like the world to think we are, but what we really are and would like to express in the world. This wish was refined at the First Quarter Moon in this cycle on July 25th, 2023, when the Sun was in Leo and encouraging us to express ourselves and share ourselves out in the world. And now we’re at the Full Moon in Scorpio and the Last Quarter in this family cycle comes on January 21, 2025. So we’re at the halfway spot and this Full Moon is showing big messages to us about whether we are being truly ourselves and how we can refine the way we’re living our lives and what we have to get rid of in order to live a life that’s more authentic.

Void-of-Course Moon Periods

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

On April 22nd, the Moon in Libra opposes Venus in Aries at 4:24 pm Pacific Time. It’s Void-of-Course for a good long time, almost 16 hours, before it enters Scorpio on April 23rd at 8:20 am. Any Void-of-Course Moon period that begins with the Moon in opposition to another planet offers an insight. And here the insight is to find a balance between getting along with others, which is symbolized by the Moon in Libra, and unapologetically pursuing what it is that you personally want and value, symbolized by Venus in Aries. If you’ve gotten in a habit of doing one to the exclusion of the other, this is a Void-of-Course Moon period for ways to start to put that back into balance.

On April 25th, the Moon in Scorpio trines Neptune at 4:17 pm Pacific Time. It’s Void-of-Course for about two and one quarter hours, and then enters Sagittarius at 6:36 pm. Void-of-Course Moon periods that begin with the Moon trining another planet promise a reward and the reward here is the feeling that others cherish your Scorpio qualities of loyalty, steadfastness, and honesty. Moon in Scorpio doesn’t always feel appreciated, let alone cherished, for those qualities, especially of honesty. But this Void-of-Course Moon period is a time when you can begin to appreciate those qualities about yourself.

And on April 28th, the Moon in Sagittarius squares Neptune at 12:31 am Pacific Time. It’s Void-of-Course for just under three hours and then enters Capricorn at 2:37 am. The Moon square another planet usually symbolizes some kind of conflict. The conflict here is between the fiery optimism of the Moon in Sagittarius that wants to go out and take the world by storm with new adventures, versus Neptune in Pisces, and its gentle dreams, sometimes a little bit of confusion as well with Neptune. This is when the story of what we believe, symbolized by the Moon in Sagittarius, can prevent us from imagining what could be, as symbolized by Neptune in Pisces.

Mercury Stations Direct

On April 25th at 5:54 am PDT, Mercury stations Direct at 15º58’ Aries, on the Sabian symbol, 16 Aries, Brownies dancing in the setting Sun. Mercury turned retrograde on April 1st, and it has been a rather frustrating Mercury retrograde. I told someone the other day that I’m so tired of being angry! So many things go wrong on a daily basis, and it’s frustrating and agitating. Most of my aggravating Mercury retrograde problems have been a direct result of acting or moving too quickly. If you’re feeling like your brain is burned out, especially creatively, but there just hasn’t been time to back off and do nothing and give your brain a rest, let’s go ahead together and attribute that to Mercury retrograde in Aries.

I think as it makes the station begins to move forward, I’m celebrating this beautiful Sabian symbol of the brownies dancing in the setting Sun. Brownies are magical, mystical, little creatures. We’ll associate them with creativity and the replenishing thereof in our brains and dancing in the setting Sun. It’s such a lovely image.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with Mercury being in Aries, but as I think I said at the beginning of this retrograde, no planet enjoys being retrograde in Aries. Because it is so counter to Aries’ usual way of moving, which is straightforward and quickly and that really hasn’t worked well during this retrograde period. So I’m celebrating this particular one turning direct.

Look to the Aries house or houses of your chart to see where this retrograde has been perhaps causing a little problem or encouraging you to slow down. And if you haven’t been able to do so, you might now be suffering that little bit of burnout. Hopefully, within a week or so of Mercury turning direct, we should feel a little energized and ready to move forward.

Mars conjoined Neptune (April 28, 2024, 9:31 pm PDT)

Mars makes a conjunction with Neptune on April 28th at 9:31 pm Pacific Time at 28º52’ Pisces. It’s on the Sabian symbol 29 Pisces, The light passing through a prism. Now Mars in conjunction with Neptune is quite a lot like Mars in Pisces, which we have had for a little while now, and this conjunction is coming off the conjunction of Mars with Saturn in Pisces back on April 10th, which was the beginning, the inauguration of a two-year cycle of acting on our beliefs and fighting for our dreams.

Mars is a planet that’s always asking, what am I willing to fight for? And Mars in Pisces specifically, will fight for those who are not able to fight for themselves. The Sabian symbol, the light passing through a prism, shows us many colors and says that there are many ways of looking at things. This particular conjunction may begin with a little bit of confusion or a little difficulty focusing.

I don’t think that that’s quite as likely as it would have been had we not just had Mars in a conjunction with Saturn, which is a very realistic and grounding conjunction for Mars in Pisces. But this is a bit like Mars being in its balsamic phase while it’s in Pisces. It’s coming up just behind its home sign and this conjunction happens right at the end of Pisces.

We do still require a bit of rest and reflection, which is always the case when a planet is in the sign behind its home sign, because as soon as Mars goes into Aries on next Monday, April 30th, we feel that energy to hit the ground running, and that’s why we associate Pisces and to some extent Neptune and maybe the 12th house, the balsamic lunar phases – these are all symbols that we equate with needing to rest, needing to heal. And if we haven’t been doing that so much while Mars has been in Pisces, and it’s been hard, because we had a couple of eclipses, and we’ve had Mercury retrograde, and all of them are kind of connected with Mars. Because one of the eclipses was in Aries ruled by Mars, Mercury has been retrograde in Aries, and that Mars has not had the opportunity that we would like for it to have when it’s in Pisces of taking us offline a little bit and resting and letting our imaginations run freely.

So now we’re not necessarily in the best position as Mars is getting ready to go into Aries. We might be a little bit tired, a little bit frazzled. So, it might not be quite as productive as we sometimes see Mars in Aries as being.

A way to deal with this particular conjunction is often to throw yourself into some kind of spiritual practice such as meditation or attending some kind of services at a house of worship. It can also be a time of just letting yourself daydream and listen to music and it can also be a time when it is helpful to get into the water – so bubble baths or going swimming. Anything that combines action with water is a really good use for this conjunction of Mars and Neptune.

Listener Question: Emerging techniques

In this week’s listener question, listener Argyle asks, “A prominent astrological wunderkind has described success with zodiacal releasing from the Lot of Spirit and the Lot of Fortune while reminding listeners that there are plenty of other Hermetic lots to be investigated as techniques for the study of fate and fortune. In addition, some other Western astrologers have reported a good return on investment from incorporating Vedic or Eastern astrological methods into their practices. Finally, certain developers of astrological software have pioneered novel methods of illustrating the levels of support that planets will enjoy during their zodiacal sojourns.

When you cast your vigilant gaze to the future and frontiers of astrology, what emerging techniques or tools, whether they originate from papyrus or Objective-C, do you find most promising?”

Oh, dear listener Argyle, I’m afraid I’m not a huge fan of emerging techniques or tools. I’m a little bit of a party pooper, possibly a fuddy-duddy in that regard, so I don’t have a proper answer to your question as it is offered. I will take this moment though to do what politicians like to do, which when they are asked a question, they answer the question they wished they were asked. So I’m going to share a little bit about a technique that I use a lot in my client work and emerging or not, I just love this technique.

It’s called derivative houses. I use it mostly because my client might understandably want to know more about their relationships with various people in their lives, but I do not read the charts of third parties unless they give their written permission. I will make an exception in the case of minor children to their parents.

But if my client wants to talk about their spouse, or their adult children, or their third cousin once removed, it can put me at a little bit of a disadvantage because I feel strongly about respecting people’s astrological privacy. But of course, I also want to be helpful to my client.

Enter the system of derivative houses, which allows me to interpret issues related to any of these individuals and more by using only my client’s birth chart. Here’s how this magic works.

If I want to read matters related to my client’s partner, I would begin with my client’s seventh house. That is the house of partner. I can read a great deal about this person by considering the sign on the house cusp, the condition of the planet that rules that sign, especially its aspect with the ruler of the first house, which represents my client, and any planets that might be placed in that house.

If I want to know about this partner’s professional life, I’ll begin by pretending the seventh house is the first house and starting with that house, I count forward ten houses because the tenth is the house of career. That lands me in my client’s fourth house. So, if I look there, I can get a good idea of what’s going on with my client’s partner’s career.

Current transits affecting that house, especially, will give me a good idea of what might be happening for them professionally. I’ve also had really good success reading about my client’s children. For the eldest child, begin with the fifth house. Pretend that that’s the first house. And you can read about that specific child there.

Then you skip two houses for the next child. That brings us to the seventh house. The third child would be represented by the ninth house, and so on. Is your client feuding with a neighbor? You can go straight to their third house to see what’s going on there. If they’re upset with a co-worker, go to the sixth house. And while you’re there, you can see what’s going on at the workplace in general.

Now, why are these called derivative houses? It’s because they’re derived using the house that rules the matter as their starting point. In the individual’s birth chart, everything begins with them, at the first house, at the Ascendant.

But other people in their chart are ruled by other houses. So, to get answers about that person, we begin with that house. Take the spouse. The client’s second house symbolizes their own possessions, their earning power, their general financial security. The eighth house symbolizes the same for their spouse, because it’s the second house from the seventh.

The ninth house symbolizes the spouse’s siblings, because it’s the third house from the seventh. Those siblings’ children can be found by counting five houses from the ninth. So the client’s first house represents nieces and nephews by marriage in general.

Isn’t this neat? It’s an infinitely useful system, one that I’ve used regularly with a variety of clients over the years and always with good results.

I’m not sure it’s actually an emerging technique. It’s certainly not a new one. In astrology, it’s mentioned at least as far back as the second century in the work of Hellenistic superstar, Vettius Valens. It’s something I was taught by my teacher in the late 1980s. It really is useful and helpful

You can also derive houses from a planet. So when an astrologer writes a horoscope for general readership, they begin by placing the Sun’s sign on the first house. If you were a person born with the Sun in Sagittarius, then you would begin with the Sun on the first house for Sagittarius. Then you derive the houses in order from that. The second house would belong to Capricorn, the sign after Sagittarius. The third house, Aquarius, and so on.

If you’re writing about Taurus, you would place the Sun in Taurus on the first house. Then the second house is connected with Gemini, the third with Cancer, and so forth. So if we have something like we have this week, and Mars is in a conjunction with Neptune in the sky, in the sign of Pisces, for people who are born with the Sun in Taurus using this system, that combination falls in the 11th house for that sign.

So that’s the technique. Now, you still need to practice caution and discretion when you’re talking about people who are not in the room. I make it clear to my client that this information is based on their birth chart and it’s very much a reflection of their perspective on the situation. I keep things as positive as possible without being dishonest and keep the focus strictly on the specific matter at hand.

This is not for speculating about what another person might be thinking, or feeling, or doing behind another person’s back.

So, Argyle, I’m sorry that I can’t offer you a visionary view of the astrological future, but I’d be happy to tell you what’s going on with your brother’s neighbor’s pet pig, with or without the swine’s written permission.

Now, 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. com and be sure to put podcast question in the subject line. But I’ll tell you a little secret. If you want to move to the front of the line, the best way to do it is to leave that message at SpeakPipe. I really love to have feedback from my listeners and to include them in the podcast whenever possible.

Donor Thanks

Well, that’s everything I have on my show sheet. It’s a really light week, so I’m going to wrap this one up. Thank you for listening to the Big Sky Astrology Podcast, and 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 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 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!