TRANSCRIPT EP. 289 (05.05.25)
Mercury in Taurus: Slow Down and Focus!
Hello, Invisible Friend. April here and the date today is May 5th, 2025. Welcome to episode 289 of the Big Sky Astrology Podcast this week. Happy Cinco de Mayo! Apparently, the skies have run out of obstacles for us to leap over because this is the quietest week we’ve had in months, astrologically. There is no major lunation this week. We’ll have to wait till next Monday for the Full Moon. But Mercury joins up with Jupiter for some big conversations and important announcements, and then face plants into the lush aromatic fields of Taurus. Venus connects with Pluto, and I answer a listener question about the best way to work through those long, long transits of the outer planets.
Void-of-Course Moon periods
Let’s begin this week with a very small Moon report, because as I said in the opening, there is no New Moon, Full Moon or Quarter Moon this week. But we will talk about the Void-of-Course Moon periods.
On May 5th, the Moon in Leo squares Uranus at 6:03 am Pacific time. It’s Void-of-Course for six hours, 37 minutes, and then enters Virgo at 12:40 pm. When the Moon makes a square aspect to another planet as it’s going Void-of-Course, we say there is a conflict or some kind of obstacle that we’re trying to overcome. Leo is a fixed sign, which means the Moon in this sign tends to want to do the same kinds of things in the same way over and over again. Now, Leo is a very festive Moon sign. It’s not averse to having a little party or celebration, or just get together with friends for lunch. But it tends to like to invite the same people to its social gatherings and do similar things, go to similar restaurants. The Moon square Uranus brings a situation often where, say, somebody invites you to go do something, a lunch, or go to a museum or a park or something like that, that you’re not used to doing.
And the square is about whether you’re gonna overcome that resistance and try something new and possibly very fun, or if you are not. Use this Void-of-Course Moon period to get into a new habit – that’s what Void-of-Course Moons are especially good for disrupting old patterns, initiating new ones that will keep going.
So make sure at this Void-of-Course Moon period, you try something new and hopefully it will be something you really enjoy. But even if it isn’t, congratulate yourself on having tried something new.
On May 7th, the Moon in Virgo opposes Saturn at 9:11 pm Pacific Time. It’s Void-of-Course for 2 hours 55 minutes, then enters Libra on May 8th at just after midnight, 12:06 am.
The Moon opposed another planet as it goes Void-of-Course, indicates this will be a period of awareness. It can be easy to fall into a mental habit of feeling unappreciated and alone, but at this Void-of-Course Moon period, get in a new habit of using Virgo tactics to distract yourself from those demoralized sort of feelings.
Try organizing a dresser drawer or a shelf in your pantry. While you’re picking out your outfit for tomorrow, pull out a couple of extra items that you haven’t worn in years and add them to your donate box. There’s nothing quite as satisfying or soothing, especially to the Moon in Virgo, as tinkering away at an organizational project. And in this instance, it gives you the opportunity to stand outside yourself and get a different perspective.
And on May 9th, the Moon in Libra trines Jupiter at 11:17 pm Pacific Time. It’s Void-of-Course for a good long time, 13 hours and 41 minutes. It enters Scorpio on May 10th at 12:58 pm.
The Moon trine another planet, as it goes Void-of-Course, brings a gift or a reward, and talk about a gift! This beautiful flowing, trine aspect between two communicative and cerebral air signs, the Moon in Libra and Jupiter in Gemini.
Use this Void-of-Course Moon period to initiate a habit of focusing on the positive when you’re communicating. Normally, it’s hard to think of social media as representing anything positive these days. There’s an Instagram account that my friend Stephanie told me about, called @thatgoodnewsgirl, and she only posts positive, heartwarming content, including a really perfect post on the day of the April 25th Venus-Saturn conjunction. We will link it all for you in the show description.
Mercury sextile Jupiter (May 5, 2025, 10:21 am PDT)
On May 5th at 10:21 am Pacific Time, Mercury sextiles Jupiter at 22º19’ Aries and Gemini. This creates a powerful window for communication and especially for making major announcements. If there is something in your business or even in your personal life that you’ve been wanting to announce, this is a great transit for that.
Mercury brings a bold new message in Aries, and Jupiter in Gemini just sort of amplifies it out there like a bullhorn. So, this particular transit could bring some really attention-grabbing headlines in the news. Also, kind of a flood of information, and some of that will tend to be a little bit cherry-picked to support personal beliefs, so we have to be a little bit wary. Consider the source of all this information coming your way.
Mercury in Aries is ruled by Mars, and it’s still influenced by that intense opposition between Mars and Pluto. There’s plenty of depth and pressure going on beneath the surface of whatever news and announcements are coming our way. Meanwhile, Jupiter in Gemini is ruled by Mercury, so it’s kind of feeding back into a loop with Mercury and enhances the impact of what’s being said.
This transit that could bring some good news because Jupiter does have the reputation for being fairly fortunate and optimistic. Mercury is on the Sabian symbol 23 Aries, A woman in pastel colors carrying a heavy and valuable but veiled load. So, this also suggests, again, the feeling that there’s a little bit more going on underneath the surface that is serious than may be apparent on the surface and that there’s also a little bit of a sense of things being covered up and the full truth not necessarily being revealed.
Venus sextile Pluto (May 6, 2025, 2:31 pm PDT)
On May 6th, Venus sextiles Pluto at 2:31 pm Pacific Time, at 03º49’ Aries and Aquarius. Now, due to Venus’ recent retrograde period, we’re now having the third and final Venus-Pluto sextile aspect until December. The first time they made this aspect was on February 7th, and then the second time was on March 21st during Venus’ retrograde period.
So to get the full story of this week’s sextile, look back to those time periods and reflect on any potential threads or storylines that connect those earlier dates to the present. And this is especially in the realms of relationship and finance.
When the planet of love and money meets Pluto, the Lord of the underworld, deep transformations are often stirred. Questions can arise. How can we continue to love life and other people, knowing that everything inevitably changes? How do we honor our grief over loss in our lives without losing our capacity to appreciate life’s beauty? During this aspect time, you might confront financial challenges or uncovered desires that feel intense or taboo or socially unacceptable. It is a time to explore the emotional and psychological depth of what and who you value the most.
Mercury enters Taurus (May 10, 2025, 5:15 am PDT)
Mercury enters Taurus this week on May 10th at 5:15 am Pacific Time. The first degree of Taurus is on the Sabian symbol: A clear mountain stream. When Mercury moves away from Aries, which is very fast-moving and fiery, into Taurus, which is slower, more grounded, it’s like shifting from the speed of an Indy 500 race car to this steady pace of a horse and buggy hauling turnips.
This is a transition that slows down our mental processes and makes us less quick to notice everything, but far more focused on what does capture our attention. The way we communicate during this time with Mercury in Taurus will tend to be deliberate and well-paced, allowing others to have time to absorb our words more fully. If you’re trying to get people to listen to what you have to say, speak in a tone that is warm and calm.
It’s a really ideal Mercury period for tackling problems that require patience and persistence. For crafting sound, financial plans and strategies, all of our senses tend to be heightened when Mercury is in this sign.
And with Taurus’s strong ties to Venus and the throat, it’s probably not a coincidence that many well-known individuals with Mercury in Taurus are celebrated for their distinctive voices or musical talents – including Barbara Streisand, Cher Jack Nicholson, George Clooney, Clint Eastwood, and Katherine Hepburn, some of the most imitated voices around.
Listener Question: How to work with slow-moving transits
In this week’s Listener question, Listener William “the Wirebender” writes, “Besides qigong, box breathing, and lightly steamed cruciferous vegetables, what strategies might you recommend to weather slow-moving transits to one’s natal planets? Transiting Pluto in Aquarius is currently creeping up to my natal Venus. This semester I’ve found myself yearning to pause my feverish jewelry design coursework to pen Nicholas-Sparks-style odes to the triple-Leo beanstalk to my left AND ALSO to the Sagittarius Warrior Princess to the right of my jeweler’s bench. Doing so would place my grade-point average in its fall or detriment. Perhaps the prudent solution is to best understand the natures of the planets involved and implement practices to best harness their respective positive qualities. What say you? —Listener “William the Wirebender”
Well, you nailed it, William, the Wirebender! When a transiting planet is approaching an aspect to a natal planet, it is activating the nature of the natal planet using its own symbolism.
The rule of thumb is the slower the transiting planet, the more long lasting the nature of the transit. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, of course, are the slowest, and when one of these aspects something in your birth chart, it is about a one-year visit with multiple exact aspects. Saturn is faster and you might just get one exact aspect to the natal planet, or you might get a series of three, depending on Saturn’s retrograde positions.
So, you can really think of these planets as house guests and usually disruptive ones, bringing changes of all kinds to natal planets.
So, you say you’re getting this Pluto aspect to Venus. Pluto represents a force that affects your sense of power and control, and in this case, your power to control Venus, the relationship area of your life. It is provoking your own natal Venus. And if Pluto is currently making a conjunction there, it means natal Venus is in Aquarius, and it always walks that uneasy line between freedom and commitment.
The first time Pluto makes its exact conjunction to Venus, you might be presented with a truly irresistible romantic possibility that has the potential to upend your life in a serious way. You may feel as though you’re helpless to resist the strong pull of this new relationship, but pursuing it could destroy something stable in your life – a current relationship, could have financial ramifications or as you suggest, could undermine your GPA.
At the second conjunction, the die is probably cast and you’re in the middle of the new entanglement and you’re beginning to see the consequences. You have the chance to leave the situation, but you probably keep hoping that you’re going to have a happy conclusion, walk off into the sunset together.
By the third conjunction, you make the final choice as to whether you’re gonna stick in or you’re gonna leave. Whichever way you go, when Pluto impacts a planet in our charts, there is no going back. It’s a year-long process of really deliberating about a planet or more planets in your chart, and a lot of it has to do with understanding not only the nature of the planet that’s getting the transit, in this case, Venus, relationship and money, but its condition in your birth chart.
What house is it in? What houses does it rule? What other planets does it aspect? If you have a strong aspect in your chart between, say, Venus and Uranus, and it really accentuates that freedom-loving part of Venus and Aquarius, then Pluto coming along and leaning on Venus also aspects Uranus and really brings that particular natal quandary to the fore: How do I manage to commit to something important to me, when part of me always has one foot out the door?
You can be sure that transiting Pluto will bring circumstances and individuals into your life that help you find the answers to those questions and really understand your own relationship with Venus.
As for how to deal with these protracted transits from the slow-moving planets, I mean, I hate to sound wishy-washy, but it kind of depends. When I talk to clients about their transits, especially these kinds of transits, I hasten to tell them this is not about particular events that may happen in your life. This is about a process you’re going through. And remember, the process comes back to the natal planet that’s being impacted. It is receiving the teaching and tutorial from the transiting planet.
How comfortable are you in the Venus parts of your life, do you keep having the same kinds of relationship problems over and over in your life? Because Pluto has now arrived and says, look, this process might be a little bit difficult, but at the end of it all, you’re not going to make those same kinds of mistakes anymore because you’ll be much more aware of what’s going on inside of you that is acting the way you do in relationship and attracting the kinds of partners that you do.
Similarly, in the realm of money, which is also ruled by Venus, we might be enthralled to amassing huge amounts of money or property, or possessions in our lives. And by the time Pluto gets done with that Venus, you’ll know what you really need and what you don’t.
So, as far as how to deal with them, I think it’s doing as much conscious work as possible around that natal planet that is getting the aspects. That isn’t always easy, but it does involve any kind of process, any kind of process that works for you to bring awareness in this area of your life when Pluto is involved, because it’s really bringing up deep, often difficult issues.
I often tell people, if you’ve ever considered therapy, this is an excellent time to go through that process, and especially related to the relationships in your life.
If it’s a planet like Uranus, it still is a force of change that’s coming into your life. Let’s say, for example, that you have Uranus trine Venus, which would happen presumably in a couple of years for you, and that’s a different kind of disruption than Pluto. It’s about things that come out of the blue and suddenly lift the veil from your eyes, and in a moment, see things with the clarity that you didn’t have before. Pluto wants to make us authentic, but Uranus always wants to make us freer, and to the extent that we’ve been rejecting freedom in our own lives…
Say you’ve been in a relationship that really makes you feel as if you can’t truly be yourself, have your own friends, do the things you want to do. Uranus will find a way to free you from that. And it could be that you leave a relationship or a relationship leaves you, or you and your partner become really excited about each other all over again.
Again, a lot has to do with your Venus and your relationship in life with the whole principle of Uranus. Are you stimulated by change, or does it kind of terrify you?
I could probably talk for hours on this subject, William, because it constitutes so much of the work that I do with clients. I will refer listeners to my book, Astrological Transits, where I talk a lot about the specifics of what you might expect from particular transits to particular parts of your chart, and you might find that interesting.
Thank you very much for the question, William, and keep your eyes on that GPA!
If you have a question that you would like me to answer on a future episode of the show, please leave a voicemail of one minute or less at speakpipe.com/bigskyastrologypodcast. We haven’t had a voicemail question in a while, and I would love to hear some of your beautiful voices!
You can, of course, always email your question to me at April (at) bigskyastrology (dot)com and be sure to put “podcast question” in the subject line.
Donor Thanks
Well, 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, be sure to subscribe or follow the show in your app of choice. Leave a rating or review, and I hope that you’ll help 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.
Thanks so much to everyone who has continued to show support for the podcast, and especially 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 shoutout to Fotena Zirps and John Kerr!
John and Fotena, thank you so much for listening to the podcast and for supporting the show with your donations.
If you would like to support the show and receive access to my bonus video episodes for donors only, please go to BigSkyAstropod.com and make a contribution of $10 or more. You can make a one-time donation in any amount or become an ongoing monthly contributor.
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!
Writing and images © 2017-25 by April Elliott Kent
For more on this week’s planetary news, read my column!
