TRANSCRIPT Ep. 305 | Venus Leo’s Big Week: Shadows in Your Champagne!

TRANSCRIPT Ep. 305 | Venus Leo’s Big Week: Shadows in Your Champagne! (08.25.25)

Hello, invisible friend. April here, and the date today is August 25th, 2025. Welcome to Episode 305 of the Big Sky Astrology Podcast. This week, Venus enters the glamorous sign of Leo and makes inspiring aspects to Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, plus a highly charged opposition to Pluto. Uranus and Neptune connect in their first major aspect since 1993, and the Sagittarius First Quarter Moon focuses on teaching and moving forward into the future.

Coming up next week, the 6^th Annual Podathon! Every weekday, beginning September 1^st, there will be daily episodes of the podcast, featuring the astrological news of the week, as well as interviews with five wonderful astrologers, each to talk about their particular astrological specialty. Patrick Watson will talk about Hellenistic astrology, Dabney Lawless about Evolutionary Astrology, Margaret Gray about psychological astrology, Kenneth Miller about Vedic astrology, and Ronnie Gale Dreyer will talk about Astro*carto*graphy. And of course, you will have an opportunity to donate to the podcast and be entered in a drawing for a chance to win a reading or other prize! That is all coming up next week!

Venus enters Leo (Aug. 5, 2025, 9:27 am PDT)

Venus enters Leo on Monday, August 25th at 9:27 AM Pacific Time. It will be in this exuberant sign through September 19th. Venus transits let us examine what it is that we value. What in the physical world brings us pleasure? Who are the people we treasure? What makes a relationship successful in our eyes?

When Venus is in Leo, the litmus test is whether something or someone makes us feel valuable, attractive, and respected. We will adorn ourselves in clothing that makes us feel this way. Go out with romantic partners we’re proud to be seen with. Party ‘til dawn and demand royal treatment.

While Venus is in Leo, we are called to share our hearts, hospitality and generosity, often through big gestures. Venus in Leo wants to pick up her closest friends in a limo, treat them to dinner at a fancy restaurant, complete with champagne. It is a sunny, life affirming position for Venus. But it will make a lot of important aspects this week to heavy planets, which brings some shadows to Venus in Leo’s sunshine.

Venus trine Saturn (Aug. 25, 2025, 5:56 pm PDT)

On Monday, August 25th at 5:56 PM Pacific Time, Venus trines Saturn at 0º 25’ Leo and Aries. Venus in Leo, as I said, can be extravagant. It can be prone to spending big or indulging in big romantic gestures, but Saturn’s influence generally helps temper these tendencies. Saturn’s message is clear. He wants us to feel good about ourselves, but also to have a plan, a financial goal, a vision. This is a time to recognize that you are the one in the driver’s seat in whatever parts of your chart that this transit is touching. Let’s give up pretending that we’re destined to have toxic love affairs or to be chronically broke. No more using money to create distance in relationships. Instead, Saturn with Venus asks us just to make a plan to manage what we have in a prudent way and to take real steps forward when it comes to relationship. This is about acknowledging our responsibility, our authority in choosing partners and cultivating the relationship.

Remember, there is no shame in asking for help along the way. Venus in Leo does not like to ask for help, but one possible benefit of this transit, especially if it’s connecting with planets in your own birth chart that are in early Leo, early Aries – is that people in authority in your life, Saturn figures, may notice you and give you positive recognition, so don’t be afraid to ask the people who can help for the help that you need.

Venus sextile Uranus (Aug. 26, 2025, 1:58 pm PDT)
Venus trine Neptune (Aug. 26, 2025, 3:18 pm PDT)
Venus opposed Pluto (Aug. 26, 2025, 10:54 pm PDT)

Venus makes three aspects on Tuesday, August 26th. It makes a sextile aspect to Uranus in Gemini at 1:58 PM Pacific Time, a trine to Neptune at 3:18 PM Pacific Time, and an opposition to Pluto at 10:54 PM Pacific Time.

Uranus and Neptune are getting ready for their first exact sextile aspect this week, and on the way Venus in Leo steps up to give each of them a little kiss on the cheek. Whenever Venus connects with Uranus in a harmonious aspect like the sextile, it can feel like there’s this sudden fresh breeze blowing through your life. New ideas can appear, especially related to money, values, or relationship, the kinds of insights that can shift your perspective in just an instant. These are also times when new people may enter the picture and shake you out of your routines, reminding you that love and friendship can take many exciting forms, and that when we experience changes in relationship, that can mean that they’re just being revitalized.

Then Venus turns toward Neptune with a flowing aspect, a trine. And this is an aspect that invites us to see the beauty in others, to look at the world with a little more tenderness and optimism. I mean, we don’t wanna get carried away and lose touch with reality completely. But there is a gift in choosing to focus on the good in those people that we love.

Neptune also elevates Venus’s qualities of creativity with inspiration, even a touch of spirituality. If you are a writer, an artist, a musician, or just somebody who loves to create, this is a beautiful window of opportunity to let your imagination flow freely.

Together, these two aspects, Venus’ sextile to Uranus and trine to Neptune remind us that love, beauty, and creativity are at their richest when they open doors to inspiration and into connection with others.

Venus opposed Pluto on August 26th at 10:54 PM pulls together two very different experiences. Venus symbolizes enjoyment of life, its pleasures, its beauty, our connections with other people. But Pluto, on the other hand, reminds us that nothing lasts forever. It is the planet of endings, transformation and doing the tough work of letting go.

When these two planets are standing opposite each other as they are now, we’re challenged to keep loving life and the people around us even though we know that everything eventually changes. This transit can be a teacher. It shows us how to grieve our losses without losing our appreciation for what is good and meaningful.

It can bring some financial stress as well, because Venus is a financial planet. But Pluto encourages us to separate our true sense of security and self-worth from temporary things like possessions or beauty or money. The invitation here is to find value in what cannot be taken away – resilience, depth of feeling, and the courage to keep loving in the face of impermanence.

This is a short transit, but especially if it is connecting with planets in your chart at early degrees of Leo and Aquarius, it can trigger almost obsessive interest in people or in past times of all kind. So the 26th could be a pretty intense day, and what I like to encourage people when it’s a brief transit like this, because Venus moves very quickly, so we only really experience this for a day or two, and it’s not to make permanent decisions as a reaction to things that could be temporary. Don’t do things that you can’t undo. It’s only one day, and by tomorrow, things could look quite different.

Uranus sextile Neptune (Aug. 28, 2025, 5:14 pm PDT)

On Thursday, August 28th at 5:14 PM Pacific Time, Uranus sextiles Neptune at 1º 26’ Gemini and Aries. This is the first of five exact sextiles that will be formed between Uranus and Neptune between now and June 2027.

Uranus last made a major aspect to Neptune in 1993, when it made a conjunction at 18º 48’ Capricorn. That was on February 2nd, August 20th and October 24th, 1993. But of course, we would have felt the effects of this conjunction throughout the year.

This is the first major aspect that has happened between them since that conjunction. 1993 feels like quite a long time ago, but this series of sextiles should bring insights or new applications, maybe, for things that began back then.

Just to take us back in time to think about 1993 a little bit, that was when the worldwide web went public. It became accessible beyond academia and the military, which were the original uses for it. With the advent of internet forums and email lists, it made it possible for like-minded people to organize globally. We saw a rise in digital art and electronic music, blending technology, which is the Uranian part, with art and imagination, symbolized by Neptune. New age ideas surged thanks to the ability to connect worldwide. Spiritual exploration, symbolized by Neptune, became intertwined with technology and global communication.

Uranus in Gemini sextile Neptune in Aries blends inventive thinking with visionary drive. Uranus in Gemini symbolizes fast ideas, curiosity, new ways of communicating, while Neptune in Aries is bringing a pioneering spirit to dreams, ideals, spiritual quests. Together, these two will encourage us to be thinking outside the box, not just for the sake of novelty, but to serve an inspired vision of the future.

This sextile sparks imaginative breakthroughs. It makes it easier to translate abstract or spiritual concepts into language, technology, or activism that really moves people. It can open the door to communities that are united by shared ideals or to creative projects that combine intellect with intuition.

The risk with this combination is getting carried away with impractical dreams, but if we are grounded, this energy is brilliant for innovation in art, spirituality, social reform, and can help us envision a bold new world and take the first steps towards making it real. Because things are changing so much this year with all the outer planets changing sign, and now they will begin going retrograde into the old signs.

It’s a little hard sometimes to envision the future. We don’t really know what that will look like, what it will be based on, because everything is shifting and ever moving, and I think there’s a real opportunity with this sextile aspect, which again is about opportunities, new ideas coming up for us to come up with that vision and then invent the technologies to serve us to get there.

Sagittarius First Quarter Moon (Aug. 30, 2025, 11:25 pm PDT)

And now for the Moon report. And we begin, as always, with the week’s major lunation this week. That is the Sagittarius First Quarter Moon on Saturday, August 30th at 11:25 PM Pacific Time. That will be at 08º 07’ Sagittarius and Virgo.

The Sagittarius First Quarter Moon is our first action point following that first Virgo New Moon on August 22nd. Of course, we will have a second Virgo New Moon as well on September 21st. Virgo energy is wonderful for making a solid and practical plan. It loves details, preparation, making sure everything is in order. But if Virgo has a fault, which I am not prepared to concede, it’s that it can get a little too cautious, hesitating to take that first step out of the fear of making a mistake.

That’s where the Sagittarius First Quarter Moon comes in. This is a sign that is enthusiastic. It has an adventurous spirit that brings a much-needed boost of confidence, optimism, and momentum. This is the moment to take those Virgo New Moon goals off the drawing board and set them in motion.

Sagittarius reminds us that we don’t have to have everything figured out before we begin, just start the journey and trust that the road will open as you go.

The Sabian symbol for this First Quarter Moon is 9 Sagittarius, A mother with her children on the stairs. I love it as a symbol of how we can be guided, taught, and trained in order to move forward. And the Sabian symbol for the Sun is 9 Virgo, A man makes a futuristic drawing. So again, we’re back to this idea of what is the future going to look like? And this First Quarter Moon represents taking that first step, perhaps with the guidance of somebody who is a mentor or otherwise helpful to us, and begin to draft our future.

Lunar Phase Family Cycle

This is the First Quarter in a lunar phase family cycle that began with the New Moon in Sagittarius on November 30th, 2024. That was at 9º32’ . This First Quarter is our opportunity to take bold steps in the direction of the Sagittarius New Moon goals that we devised for ourselves at that time.

Then in nine months, the Full Moon on May 31st, 2026 at 9º 55’ Sagittarius will give us a much wider perspective of where things stand in what we started at that New Moon, because at a New Moon, we rarely have an exact vision of what we’re going to do, where we’re going to go, and how it’s all going to work out. By the Full Moon, everything is illuminated and it’s much easier to see where we stand and where we can go from there.

And nine months after that, the Last Quarter phase in this cycle is on February 27th, 2027 at 9º 22’ Sagittarius, when we take a leap of faith, a final action step. In completing what we began at that New Moon in November, 2024.

Void-of-Course Moon Periods

Let’s look at the Void-of-Course Moon periods for this week. On Monday, August 25th, the Moon in Virgo sextiles Venus at 6:53 AM Pacific Time. It’s Void-of-Course for only 15 minutes, and then enters Libra at 7:08 AM. The Moon in Virgo and Venus in Cancer can be a bit food centric as a combination. Cancer likes comfort food, and Virgo likes efficient and healthy nutrition. This Void-of-Course Moon Period begins around breakfast time on the west coast of the United States, so this is a great day to start a new ritual of eating a really delicious and nutritious breakfast. It is a meal a lot of people skip because we’re in such a hurry, but this combination of Virgo and Cancer explicitly describes the need to put the right kinds of things into our stomach so that it can be held and processed in the best way possible.

On Tuesday, August 26th, the Moon in Libra sextiles Mercury at 7:06 PM Pacific Time. It’s Void-of-Course, for a nice long 23 hours and 21 minutes, and then enters Scorpio on Wednesday, August 27th at 6:27 PM. Mercury in Leo gives voice to the desire for balance and equality. That’s what the Moon in Libra craves. Maybe you’ve been working on a creative project and it could use a little bit of pizazz, some sparkly finishing touches. Maybe there is a group or a charity that’s associated with finding justice for those in need, and maybe you’ve been thinking about contributing to society through these groups. That is a great passion of Libra. Mercury in Leo can help you express your feelings and thoughts effectively. Use this Void-of-Course Moon period, to create a habit of making decisions by using equal parts mind and heart.

On Friday, August 29th, the Moon in Scorpio squares Mercury at 5:47 PM Pacific Time. It’s Void-of-Course for 13 hours, 17 minutes, and enters Sagittarius on Saturday, August 30th at 7:04 AM. The Moon in Scorpio can pack a powerful sting when we feel provoked. Mercury in Leo is basically a megaphone. When you combine the two, arguments can erupt, feelings can be hurt, and it can be hard to keep our thoughts to ourselves. If someone gets under your skin during this Void-of-Course Moon period. Try very hard to keep hurtful feelings to yourself. Funnel your anger into some other enterprise, maybe vigorous exercise habits like that can help keep the drama at bay and keep your body very strong.

Listener Questions returning soon

Well, this was kind of a full week, so I didn’t get a chance to include a listener question, and next week, as I said, we have the Podathon coming. Some of these interviews are kind of lengthy and I didn’t wanna cut them too much because there’s so much great information. So, we probably will not have a listener question next week, but certainly the week after that we will be returning to them.

So if you have a burning astrological question that you would like me to answer on a future episode, I really want to hear it. Leave a voicemail of one minute or less at speakpipe.com/ bigskyastrologypodcast, or email it 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 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’s shown support for the podcast over the past year, and especially during last September’s Podathon. On each episode, I’ve been thanking some of my financial donors by name. This week, let’s give a Big Sky Astrology Podcast shoutout to Liga Sirona, and monthly donor Colleen Moffett!

Colleen and Liga, thank you so much for listening to the podcast and for supporting the show with your donations.

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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!