TRANSCRIPT Ep. 248 | Aquarius Full Moon: Finding the Escape Hatch
Hello, invisible friend, April here, and the date today is August 19th, 2024. Welcome to Episode 248 of the Big Sky Astrology Podcast. During this busy week, Venus opposes Saturn and squares Mars. Jupiter makes an important aspect with Saturn. The Sun squares Uranus and then enters meticulous, service-oriented Virgo. An incredibly busy Full Moon in Aquarius. Illuminates issues surrounding the collective and the individual. Opportunities for passionate communications arise when Mercury meets Mars. And I answer a listener question about the mysterious 8th house of the chart.
Aquarius Full Moon (Aug. 19, 2024, 11:26 am PDT)
We begin the week with the Moon Report and the Aquarius Full Moon on August 19th at 11:26 AM Pacific Time. It’s at 27Ò15’ Aquarius. The Sun and the Moon at this Full Moon form a T square configuration with Uranus, which means the Sun and Moon are opposed to each other, of course, as they always are at the Full Moon, but in addition, each of them makes a square aspect to Uranus – the planet of rebellion, of change, and of the unexpected. When we get planets together like this in a T-square configuration, it produces incredible stress. This can be helpful, because stress can also motivate us to do things that maybe we’ve been putting off, or to make the kinds of changes that we’ve been needing to make. Maybe we’ve been a bit stuck during the Sun’s Leo season. It is a fixed sign and we do tend to fall into patterns of doing the same things in more or less the same ways. So when the Sun and Moon come together with Uranus, it shakes us up a little bit. But it is also a little bit stressful, especially with Uranus involved.
A T-square generally occurs when three planets are in signs of the same modality, cardinal, fixed, or mutable. In the case of a T-square, we look to the fourth sign in that modality, which does not have a planet represented, does not have a dog in the fight. And we look to that sign as a little bit of an escape hatch to deal with all of the volatility and anxiety of this Full Moon.
In this case, that sign is Scorpio. So look to the Scorpio house of your chart. And that can give you a little bit of an idea of the sort of things you might want to do to escape some of this tension.
Always at a Full Moon, the Sun and the Moon are in opposite signs of the zodiac. In this case, the Sun is still in Leo, the sign of individuality and personal creative self-expression, while the Moon is in Aquarius, a sign of collectivism, of society, and the way we pull our creative talents together to produce something that one individual can’t do on their own. This is the tension then of this Full Moon, finding a way to honor both of those needs.
Sun square Uranus (Aug. 19, 2024, 9:45 am PDT)
And this tension is also reflected in the Sun’s square to Uranus, which is exact on this day at 9:45 am Pacific Time. In the course of each year, we see a major aspect from the transiting Sun to transiting Uranus eight times. There will be a conjunction, two sextiles, two squares, two trines, and an opposition.
Any time the Sun comes together in a dialogue with Uranus, there is a basic challenge, regardless of the nature of the aspect. Sometimes it goes a little more smoothly depending on the aspect, but the Sun is about our sovereignty as individuals, about our perceived mission in the world and the path that we’re taking.
To get there, the Sun generally is a symbol of constancy and consistency. It’s how we nurture those particular qualities and characteristics that we feel define us and tell the world who and what we are. But we can tend to get a little stuck in our chosen persona. And when the Sun meets up with Uranus, it is the signal that we need to get unstuck and to make some changes.
And particularly with a square, as this aspect is this week, we don’t really get a lot of choice in the matter. Something comes along often outside of us that insists that we make a change, whether we want to or not, whether we feel we are ready to. In the Full Moon chart, this really does reflect the tension between Leo and Aquarius.
Leo is ruled by the Sun, and the modern ruler of Aquarius is Uranus. So, we see it both ways. We see the Sun and Moon in these signs of opposition, and also, their rulers are in conflict with each other. So, I guess what I want to say is this really is a Full Moon of more than usual tension. And, in the case of a Full Moon, this often is expressed in the relationships we have with people around us.
Venus opposed Saturn (Aug. 19, 2024, 1:29 am PDT)
This is especially true at this Full Moon, when Venus in Virgo makes an opposition to Saturn on the same day as this lunation on August 19th at 1:29 am Pacific Time at 17º29’ Virgo and Pisces. Now, in a positive sense, Venus and Saturn coming together in a planetary dialogue can indicate that you’re at a stage in your relationship where you want to get more serious or enter into the phase of your relationship that represents longevity.
However, Venus and Saturn are very different planets. And on the not so positive side, we can see a stagnation – Saturn – in financial matters – ruled by Venus – and in relationship conflicts, where each side gets entrenched in their own point of view. and become a little bit intractable. The promise always of an opposition, though, is to see clearly where the other side is coming from and for both sides to try to move forward to a central and shared purpose.
This Venus and Saturn are also involved with a conjunction between Mars and Jupiter, which is happening in Gemini, and brings extra tension, impatience, temper, possibly, into these scenarios. So again, that can clear the air. Sometimes we do need to have difficult conversations with the people in our lives, but it doesn’t always feel great. And it’s good to have a heads up going into this Full Moon to know that thinking twice before we say anything is not the worst idea.
Jupiter square Saturn (Aug. 19, 2024, 2:46 pm PDT)
Also on this Full Moon day, Jupiter and Saturn come together in a square at 2:46 pm. We’ve reached the first dynamic challenge in the 20-year Jupiter Saturn cycle that began at the December 2020 Jupiter Saturn conjunction, which was at zero Aquarius. This is the first of three squares Jupiter and Saturn will make. The second will be on Christmas Eve, December 24th of this year. And the last one is on June 15th, 2025.
So this is more of a process and a story that happens over the next year, than it is one discrete aspect. The Jupiter-Saturn 20-year cycle is one where we seek regulation of the principles of expansion, symbolized by Jupiter, and contraction, which is symbolized by Saturn.
When the two come together in a square, there is tremendous tension because they want very different things. If you imagine you’re driving a car, and you go for a long time with one foot pressed down on the accelerator, and then all of the sudden, you have to use the other foot to press down really hard on the brakes.
And that’s what it’s like a bit when Jupiter and Saturn are square each other. They both get to have their voice heard, but that doesn’t go along very smoothly because the voices are very different and the planets want very different things. But it’s an important economic cycle, Jupiter with Saturn. And this is a time when we’re talking a lot and thinking a lot about inflation – symbolized by Jupiter – and Saturn would be the principle that comes along and says we need to be more austere. We need stricter regulations or rules to govern various areas of our lives, especially financial ones. So, just know that this is an important time. I’m not a financial astrologer. You could look to someone like Ray Merriman, who is a wonderful financial astrologer, for more insights into that side of things.
But generally speaking, a square between the two planets that symbolize growth and contraction means that the anxiety that people have been having around the economy. We’ll probably hear a lot about that in the news.
Lunar Phase Family Cycle
This week’s Full Moon is the Full Moon in a lunar phase family cycle that began at a New Moon on February 19th, 2023. That was actually in the first degree of Pisces. And then the First Quarter in this cycle was on November 20th, 2023 at 27º50’ Aquarius.
So now we’re at the Full Moon in this lunar phase family cycle. And as I always suggest that we do in looking at this cycle, go back to that New Moon, the general area around mid-February 2023, particularly in the house of your chart that contains the first degree of Pisces and think about what your big hopes and dreams and wishes were for that New Moon at the First Quarter in November, 2023, perhaps there was some action that you took or that took place around you that amplified those New Moon wishes and either made them feel more or less possible now with the Full Moon.
We have more perspective and we can see what we really were undertaking at that time and how we want to go forward during the rest of this cycle. And the Last Quarter in this cycle comes along on May 20th, 2025 at 29º43’ Aquarius. So there is a great sense at that time of wrapping things up.
Void-of-Course Moon periods
Let’s look at the Void-of-Course Moon periods for this week. On August 19th, the Moon opposes the Sun at 11:26 am Pacific Time. This is the Aquarius Full Moon. And that is the Moon’s last aspect, is the opposition to the Sun. It will then be Void-of-Course for four hours, 26 minutes before it enters Pisces at 3:51 pm Pacific time.
When the Moon begins a Void-of-Course period on an opposition to another planet, there’s an opportunity for insight or awareness. And, in this case, it could be, how are we feeling about the things that we want to do on our own and how they may be impacting our ability to make a contribution or to belong to groups or nurture our friendships.
All of these can be a little bit challenging when we’re in a Sun in Leo season. That encourages us to do our own thing in our own way.
On August 21st, the Moon makes a conjunction with Neptune at 2:53 pm Pacific Time. It’s Void-of-Course for one hour and nine minutes, and then enters Aries at 4:01 pm. When we have a conjunction from the Moon to another planet before it goes Void-of-Course. The Void-of-Course period then becomes very much about assimilating the qualities of that planet that it last aspects. In the case of Neptune, it is about getting clear, it is about dealing with the possibility of feeling emotionally overwhelmed, especially because of a lack of clarity.
The things that we can do during the Void-of-Course period to make this a little bit easier – it’s not a real long Void-of-Course period, but it’s not a bad idea to drink a lot of water, go take a walk on the beach. Get your special bathing accoutrement and have a soak in the tub. It’s all about bringing in and using Neptune’s energy, which is one of sensitivity, of empathy, and of seeking clarity.
During the Void-of-Course periods, what we are ideally doing is breaking old habits that are not super helpful and hopefully creating new ones. So the difficult things to release when the Moon is conjunct Neptune have to do with not practicing good spiritual hygiene, is the way I like to put it, where we’re saying yes to too many things, our boundaries are not very strong, and we’re just soaking in a lot of emotion from the people around us. This is a time to initiate better boundaries and better habits related to those things.
On August 23rd, the Moon trines Mercury at 5:44 am Pacific Time, it’s Void-of-Course for 11 hours and 16 minutes and then enters Taurus at 5 pm. The Moon trine a planet as it goes Void-of-Course brings a gift. And here it is a gift of ease of communicating feelings and emotion, not always easy to do.
But Mercury in Leo is quite expressive anyway, and the Moon’s trine to that Mercury does give us a little more courage because the Moon’s in Aries, so it gives us even a little more courage to talk about what’s important to us. If you got into a tiff with somebody during that Aquarius Full Moon, this is a really good time to clear the air and make things right.
And on August 25th, the Moon sextiles Neptune at 6:40 pm, is Void-of-Course for 1 hour and 23 minutes, and then enters Gemini at 8:03 pm. Sextiles are invitation aspects, so when the Moon begins a void period on a sextile to another planet, there is some kind of invitation or opportunity that can come our way during that period. This transit occurs on a Sunday evening in the United States, so this could be an invitation and opportunity to wash your worries away as you’re beginning to start a new week. T
he Moon here is at 29 degrees Taurus and Neptune is at 29 Pisces. Those are pretty intense degrees of the zodiac, so I don’t think this is necessarily an easygoing Void-of-Course period.
But there is an opportunity there. It can be dealing with the sadness that we sometimes see with the 29th degree of Taurus and the opportunity here to maybe shed a few tears, maybe do a little singing to make you feel better, to release some emotions. The point of this Void-of-Course Moon period, perhaps, is to look at the ways in which we’ve gotten into the habit of not expressing our feelings, or being incredibly overwhelmed by them, and finding some tips and routines. To help us bring those into a better balance.
Sun enters Virgo (Aug. 22, 2024, 7:55 am PDT)
On August 22nd at 7:55 am (through September 22nd), the Sun enters Virgo. During Virgo season, there are several things we tend to think about or focus on more than usual. One would be health. This is a great time of year to get your annual medical checkup if that’s something you do. It can be a great time to do the same for your pets. Pets are associated with Virgo, so spending extra time and attention with our pets and focusing on their wellbeing as well as our own.
This is a good season for deep cleaning the house or garden in preparation for the fall harvest, and as we’re moving towards the cooler seasons of the year. Try your hand at fixing something that’s broken instead of just tossing it out. Virgo is good with its hands, and even if you are not personally, it favors trying to remedy a situation rather than abandoning it. And repairing things in our lives has kind of fallen out of fashion. Some things are more difficult to fix for ourselves than they used to be, such as our automobiles. But it can also be we look at it and we think, oh, it’s so inexpensive to just buy a replacement.
But there is something very satisfying about bringing something broken back to life. And it’s probably not the worst thing for the environment as well.
Now, Virgo’s ruling planet Mercury is still retrograde. And that means that during this season, Until Mercury turns direct, things from the past could reemerge. Communications can be a little bit muddled. There can be breakdowns with communicative tools like your computer or the software that you use. But it is a great time to go back and research something that might have caught your attention in the past. But the timing wasn’t quite right to look into it. Now might be that good time.
Venus square Mars (Aug. 22, 2024, 8:20 pm PDT)
On the same day at 8:20 pm Pacific Time, Venus squares Mars at 22º8’ Virgo. When Venus and Mars are in conflict, we see those conflicts in relationships especially, in matters related to values, often, or finances. Venus is on a very interesting Sabian symbol, 23 Virgo, An animal trainer, and quite apart from the imagery of a lion tamer in the zoo or whatever it might be, I always think with this Sabian symbol that it’s about keeping our animal nature in check. Virgo has a temper. We don’t often realize that, but it is an Earth sign, and when it gets angry, it can really blow its top. So this might be a little bit about training our impulses. And since it’s Venus, it can also be the impulse to maybe spend a little too much or to get especially overextended.
Now Mars is in Gemini still. And although they are both ruled by Mercury, Virgo and Gemini, they come from very different points on the Mercury continuum. Virgo has a great attention to detail, wants to do things very carefully. Gemini is distractible and is interested in looking at and experiencing as many possibilities as it can.
So that is where some of the tension comes from at this square. Are we going to dig in and really work on one thing at a time? Are we going to let ourselves be distracted and move in a lot of different directions at the same time?
Listener Question: The 8th House
In this week’s listener question, listener Jolene writes, “Hi April, a few weeks ago you answered a question about the 12th house. It got me wondering about the 8th house of the chart, which also has a kind of a dubious reputation. It’s all about sex, death, and taxes. Where does that leave those of us with planets in this house? How do you talk about this house when you’re doing a reading for someone? Grateful for any perspective.”
Well, Jolene, thank you for that question. Yes, the 8th house is a tricky one to talk about. On the one hand, it has very practical dimensions. Sex, death, and taxes are a very real part of life, and they have to fall someplace in the chart.
Why the 8th house? Sex and taxes are surprisingly connected here. The 8th house is opposite the 2nd house. And that’s the house of one’s own physical body and possessions, one’s self confidence and security, as well as the individual’s income. And the eighth house comes right after the seventh, the house of other people, making it the house of sharing another’s physical body, money, and possessions.
The second house is where we support ourselves. The eighth house is the support that we get from others. And so the 8th house is also associated with big pots of money, where nearly everyone’s resources are pulled together, insurance and pensions and government programs. The 8th house is where we merge and share in an intimate way with others.
And that is sexy, but it’s also a little scary, because those are some of the areas of life. Being sexually intimate, sharing resources with someone, where we are very vulnerable. But how does death get caught up in the 8th house? I’ve always imagined that it’s because the second house, its opposite house, points to our own physical self, grounded in the corporal, the physical experience, whereas the eighth house describes invisible forces, things that we can feel are there, but we can’t necessarily experience them with our senses. It’s a house of psychology, a house of mysteries.
And death is the ultimate mystery, isn’t it? What happens when we become no longer physical? It is the ultimate merging, death, it is merging with the cosmos.
So we have this weird collection of things that all get grouped together in the 8th house, and some of them don’t seem that connected at first glance, but along with the grief that might come after we’ve lost a loved one to death there come also the very practical elements of death – wills, trusts, and probate, burial, cremation, going through a loved one’s possessions, and deciding what to do with them. And so in the eighth house, we find estate attorneys and undertakers, as well as therapists who can help us through the grieving process.
All of these matters take on heightened importance when you’re born with even a single planet in this house. And if there are several planets there, you might find yourself in a profession that’s related to death, other people’s resources, struggling to reconcile earthly matters with what comes after this world.
In speaking with clients about the 8th house, I’ll often begin with the less sensitive possibilities. Is their profession related to these 8th house matters? Are they accountants spending their days counting other people’s money? Are they therapists? These are very common 8th house professions. And then, what are the planets that are in the 8th house?
With Venus or Jupiter, they may have always had a little bit of luck, with others coming to their financial assistance. If Mars is there, maybe they’ve had to battle to get support. Or to get their inheritance, for example, with Saturn. They may have never felt that they were really supported by anyone, feeling that everything falls on their shoulders.
There are as many interpretations of this fascinating house as there are individuals and their birth charts. Just as with the 12th house and also the 4th house, which we might find ourselves talking about on another episode, the 8th house is rich and fascinating, but it also needs to be approached gently and with sensitivity.
Jolene, I hope that that gave you a little perspective.
Now 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 be sure to put podcast question in the subject line.
Donor Thanks
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