Big Sky Astrology Podcast Ep 323 (12.1.25)
Gemini Full Moon: the Book of Mercury!
Hello Invisible Friend, April here, and the date today is December 1st, 2025. Welcome to Episode 323 of the Big Sky Astrology Podcast.
This week, Venus makes a sizzling sextile to Pluto, the Gemini Full Moon is relatively quiet, but the Sun’s square to the nodes tells us that we’re at the midway point between eclipses. Mercury ends the week with trines to Jupiter and Saturn and shows us how to write a book. Plus, I answer a listener question about Saturn transits – why does it seem that we have the same Saturn lessons over and over again?
Venus sextile Pluto (Dec. 2, 2025, 1:07 am PST)
Venus sextiles Pluto on Tuesday, December 2nd at 1:07 a.m. Pacific Time at 1º55’ Sagittarius and Aquarius. Venus in Sagittarius loves a journey by planes, trains, automobiles, and boat. Sagittarius represents what we aspire to that is unfamiliar but within our realm of knowledge and experience. But when Venus in this sign connects with Pluto in Aquarius, they open up possibilities that are outside our realm of knowledge. It’s not like going to a new country or eating a new food. It takes us into the realm of science fiction, of a Star Trek landscape.
But this is a sextile aspect, so these are only possibilities that are opening up to us. We can choose to contain our adventuring only to the possibilities of earth and sea and at most the stratosphere. To just expand our known limits. Or we can choose to put on a spacesuit and climb into a spaceship, sip our Tang, and step outside of our human earthly experiences.
Gemini Full Moon (Dec. 4, 2025, 3:14 pm PST)
And now it’s time for the Moon Report, and we begin as always with the week’s major lunation. This week, that’s the Gemini Full Moon on Thursday, December 4th at 3:14 p.m. Pacific Time at 13º03’ Gemini and Sagittarius.
At this Full Moon, the Sun is also close to its square with the lunar nodes. That will be exact on Friday, December 5th at 4:22 a.m. Pacific Time. But it’s still very close in this Full Moon chart.
The Full Moon in Gemini is answering to the Gemini New Moon back on May 26th. That was a Full Moon that had many planets in Gemini and several of them in aspect to Saturn, Neptune, and Pluto. And when I say it answers to that New Moon, it means that the ideas that we were germinating at that New Moon, the lessons we wanted to learn, the conversations we wanted to have with it being a Gemini New Moon, were set into motion at that New Moon.
And now we’re at the Full Moon six months later and able to see what it was that has actually come to pass as a result of what we put into play at that Gemini New Moon. This Full Moon is a quiet one. It only makes a square to the lunar nodes in terms of a close major aspect.
But beyond that, there really isn’t much going on with this Full Moon other than the fact that Full Moons generally are a little bit dramatic. Everything is revealed, and especially in the realm of relationship, we begin to see some things we maybe weren’t able to see before.
This Full Moon and the Sun and Moon being in an aspect with the nodes ties this Full Moon chart to two eclipses. One was the total Lunar Eclipse on September 7th, 2025, at 15º22’ Pisces. And there is a total Lunar Eclipse that is coming up next March on March 3rd, 2026, at 12º53’ Virgo. So even though this chart itself is pretty mild, not a whole lot going on other than the fact that it is a Full Moon, but it’s connecting these two eclipses that are fairly important.
If you look back to September and the Lunar Eclipse we had then, I remember that one surprised me because the chart of it didn’t look all that dramatic, but a lot of people had very strong reactions, turning points. That’s what we associate eclipses with – those times when we have gone as far as we can in a particular direction and then we have to turn around and go the other way or come up with another course of action.
The September Lunar Eclipse was in Pisces and closer to the transiting North Node. The one coming up in March will be closer to the South Node in Virgo. When eclipses are close to the North Node of the Moon, we feel that even though there are changes and turning points, it might actually feel like a critical time for you in some way, especially in the Pisces house of your chart.
But it generally points in a good direction since it’s close to the North Node. They are changes that are moving you in a new and positive direction. Eclipses that fall closer to the South Node, as the March 3rd, 2026 eclipse, we say that they are disengaging you, detaching you a bit from South Node behaviors that are really not working for you.
The story I’ve been telling about this opposition of the lunar nodes in Pisces and Virgo is the South Node in Virgo points to the need to let go of excessive criticism, being a perfectionist, being a workaholic, and married to specific schedules and routines in order that we can move more in the direction of what’s symbolized by the Pisces North Node. And this is taking things in a little more easy and even casual way of not feeling we have to pursue exactly the same direction in a very prescribed way and instead to kind of go with the flow. If we do that, we can discover things that we can’t necessarily discover by sticking close to a prescribed way of doing things.
Lunar Phase Family Cycle
This is the Full Moon in a Lunar Phase Family Cycle that began on June 6th, 2024, with a New Moon at 16º17’ Gemini. The way the Lunar Phase Family Cycle works is that each New Moon carries its degree and sign forward over a three-year period, with major lunations happening every nine months.
The cycle begins at a New Moon at a particular degree and sign, and I think the most helpful way to work with this is to see where that degree and sign falls in your birth chart by house, and also if it’s making a strong aspect to important planets in your chart, the Sun, the Moon, the ascendant, for example. And then over the next three years, the qualities of that New Moon unfold. So, the New Moon is when we contemplate what it is we want to pursue, what our goals are going to be. Nine months later, there will be a First Quarter Moon near that degree. In this case, it was on March 6th, 2025, at 16º21’ Gemini. That is when we are to take some kind of step forward toward the goals of that New Moon.
Now it’s the Full Moon, and at the Full Moon in a lunar cycle, we can really see what it was we planted at the New Moon. Not what we intended to plant or what we hope to plant, but what actually was set into motion at that New Moon. Six months from now, there’s a Last Quarter Moon on September 4th, 2026, at 11º48’ Gemini. That is the final action point in the Lunar Phase Family Cycle.
Void-of-Course Moon periods
Let’s look at the Void-of-Course Moon periods for this week. On Monday, December 1st, the Moon in Aries squares Jupiter in Cancer at 10:14 a.m. Pacific Time. Then it’s Void-of-Course for 8 hours 59 minutes and enters Taurus at 7:13 p.m.
When a Void-of-Course Moon begins on a square to another planet, we often see there is some kind of conflict that we’re going to try to resolve. These could be issues around what you personally want and what your community, particularly your family, might want for you. We have to be a little bit careful about getting so focused on getting our own way in life that we are not showing enough consideration about what those close to us need or want or how our actions impact them.
I always think the Void-of-Course Moon periods are terrific for changing negative habits and maybe forming new habits. This is a Void-of-Course Moon period to get in the habit of checking in with other people close to us before we take action towards some particular personal goal. How is that going to affect the other people who are in particular living in your home with you?
On Wednesday, December 3rd, the Moon in Taurus sextiles Neptune at 5:50 p.m. Pacific Time. It’s Void-of-Course for 58 minutes and then enters Gemini at 6:48 p.m.
The Moon, making a sextile aspect to another planet as it goes Void-of-Course, brings us an opportunity or an invitation. I love this combination of signs, Taurus and Pisces. They complement each other because Taurus is practical, down-to-earth, and focused. It guides us in a practical direction. And Neptune in Pisces is a lot more about the ways – as the North Node has been encouraging us – we just go with the flow and let things be what they are. I do think that there are a lot of nice things about that, but what’s great about the Moon in Taurus is it kind of provides a canal, a riverbed for all of that Neptune and Pisces energy to flow in a constructive way.
Pisces can bring some irrigation to Taurus’ soil and Taurus is providing guidance for Pisces. This is a very nice sextile and a Void-of-Course Moon period to get in the habit of appreciating how our practical side and our intuitive, and we could say spiritual side, can really work well together. They are very complementary.
On Friday, December 5th, the Moon in Gemini squares Neptune in Pisces at 4:55 p.m. Pacific Time. It’s Void-of-Course for 59 minutes and then enters Cancer at 5:54 p.m. A square is an aspect of conflict and we know, during this Void-of-Course Moon period, we particularly have an opportunity to break old habits. Squares are of the nature of breaking, cutting, discontinuing, and pushing us in a new direction.
The Moon in Gemini is communicative. It is very curious. It wants to be doing a lot of things at one time, and it’s devoted to the things of the mind. And what Neptune needs is quite different, especially in Pisces. It’s the need to step outside the things of the mind and to move deeply into the things of the spirit. Not just what do things mean, but how do we feel about them? Those two don’t necessarily merge really easily together, but each of them has something to teach the other. At this square, at this Void-of-Course Moon, I think we do well to focus on the ways in which the Moon in Gemini can help us express the qualities of Neptune.
In Neptune and Pisces, we get into such a feeling place, such an intuitive place, that it can be very hard to express what we’re feeling with others. Moon in Gemini forces us. It isn’t always easy to use our words to express what’s going on inside. Neptune’s very much about those things that are hard to put into language. That’s why Neptune is closely associated with art. The arts are a way in which we try to express those things that are not necessarily easy to put into words.
On Sunday, December 7th, the Moon in Cancer trines Neptune at 5:45 p.m. Pacific Time. It’s Void-of-Course for one hour and then enters Leo at 6:48 p.m. Pacific Time. Finally, here we see the Moon in a trine aspect as it goes Void-of-Course. That brings us a kind of a gift or a reward. There can be a strong desire to withdraw from the world and to sit with yourself and your feelings, or even just the people who are closest to you, or with your pets.
The Cancer Moon’s natural instinct is to care for those who are close to us. That is a beautiful thing. It can be a little bit emotionally draining, however. Think of this Void-of-Course Moon as a chance to learn to give yourself some moments of me-time to recharge your batteries.
Mercury trine Jupiter (Dec. 6, 2025, 5:05 am PST)
Mercury trine Saturn (Dec. 7, 2025, 8:58 am PST)
Mercury makes a couple of important trines at the end of the week. One is a trine to Jupiter on Saturday, December 6th at 5:05 a.m. Pacific Time. That’s at 24°08′ Scorpio and Cancer. And the next day, Mercury trines Saturn on Sunday, December 7th at 8:58 a.m. Pacific Time at 25°14′ Scorpio and Pisces.
These are the last in a series of trine aspects from Mercury to Jupiter and to Saturn. The first were on October 24th and 25th, and the second were on November 22nd while Mercury was retrograde.
I tell you this because astrological wisdom tells us these time frames are connected, like pearls on a necklace. Here’s an example of what we might have been learning from these repeated aspects of Mercury with Jupiter and Saturn.
I’ve written a few books, and let me tell you something, I have learned from those processes. A book begins as a big, Jupiterian dream. A big, comprehensive story. And every writer has their own way of turning that story into something that other people can read.
Plenty of people have a book they would love to write, and they really have something important that they want to get down on paper. But it can often remain a pleasant dream. What is the difference between those people and the ones who turn that dream into a book? Saturn.
Saturn is the one that makes us sit down and make a plan. Sure, you can just sit down and start writing. Start at the point that most interests you. See where that takes you. But with Saturn on your side, you begin on a stronger footing, with an outline. For each chapter, you know what needs to be told.
For a novel, it can be plot developments, details about the characters. And once you have built this scaffolding, you’re off to the races. You have something that you can nail your big dream onto. And you’re a lot less likely to overlook something important. Of course, this is not just about writing a book. I’m using that metaphorically here.
But anything that you may have been wanting to try since the end of October…something of the nature of Mercury. Planning a trip, maybe. Organizing your thoughts for some other kind of mental project that you want to do. And you are finally coming to a point, after about a month, that you are really ready to sit down and start doing the work.
Listener Question: Transits and the same lessons over and over
In this week’s listener question, listener Charlene writes, “Why do I keep having the same Saturn transit lessons over and over? The same problems, the same obstacles, the same fears. And just when I think I’m starting to make progress with them, they come back as strong as ever.”
Oh, Charlene, you have my sympathies.
This is very much the nature, really, of all transits. Astrology is about the cycles of our lives. And each planet has a cycle. Even the lunar cycle, it’s only 29 days, but it’s still a pretty important cycle.
So, this is true of all transits. We keep having the same lessons over and over, based on the condition of the transiting planet in our birth chart. But Saturn, Saturn is the great boss, the parent, the authority. It’s about the rules that we follow, and ultimately, the rules that we establish for ourselves. It’s the scaffolding that we build for our big dreams.
Saturn transits are hard because they can feel like we’re getting chewed out by somebody we really look up to, because Saturn is an authority figure. And that is a lot harder to deal with than, say, having a happy, jolly, avuncular figure like Jupiter come to visit.
Saturn makes important, hard aspects to something in the chart at seven-year increments. It has this 29-year cycle around the zodiac, and that cycle divides the typical lifespan into about three major sections, separated by Saturn returns.
Within those individual cycles, there’s something that’s kind of like a lunar cycle, where you have a conjunction, a Saturn return. Then you have a square from transiting Saturn to natal Saturn, which is like a First Quarter Moon. Then you have the opposition, which is like a Full Moon. And finally, a Last Quarter, where you have a separating square from transiting Saturn to natal Saturn. So, it’s comforting in some ways to know that this is cyclical, to know that you’re attacking basically the same issues each time you have an important Saturn transit. There is some comfort to that.
What’s difficult, I think, especially with Saturn transits, as distinct from almost any other transit, is that it does feel as if you’ve been Sisyphus and you’ve been pushing a boulder up the side of a mountain, and just when you think you’ve made a little bit of progress, it rolls back down on you. It always feels with Saturn as if we don’t ever quite completely learn the lesson. And so we are stuck in this cycle of tackling it over and over again, and trying to get better at it.
As a person who has had my second Saturn return some years ago, I have a little bit of a different perspective these days on Saturn transits. I think we just get tired of our own lessons over time. We feel as though, can’t I get past this particular issue? And the Saturn transits really feel that way to me, much more than any other transits.
Sure, Pluto transits are tough, but we don’t have them that often. Saturn, we have like clockwork every seven years. There’s something going on of the nature of Saturn where we get a chance to review our progress and say, how am I doing with this? How am I doing with this Saturn in the second house and the issues about money and self-worth? How am I doing with these relationship issues with Saturn in the seventh house? And they just seem to be the same lessons again and again.
But I will tell you this. It starts to get easier, and not only easier, but our attitude towards it becomes much more amused – because you have to laugh or you’d cry. You have to laugh about how difficult it can be to move the needle just a little bit on these fundamental Saturn issues that are so important to us, so critical.
They’re the ones that are going to make us feel that we’re grown up, that we are the authorities in our lives, that we are the author of our own story, and that’s why they can be very frustrating and very discouraging.
But I think at the end of the day, it’s not just about the Saturn lessons associated with its sign and aspects and house in our chart. It’s also about what we learn about that process, how we learn to handle it with grace and patience, and to appreciate the progress that we have made in our lives, even when sometimes it feels as if we are not making any progress at all.
Oh, Charlene, I hope that helps. I actually do love Saturn. I do appreciate him – about how he’s trying to make us stronger and better versions of ourselves.
If you have a question you would like me to answer on a future episode of the podcast, please leave a voicemail of one minute or less at SpeakPipe.com / bigskyastrologypodcast. Or, of course, you can send an email, as Charlene did, to April at BigSkyAstrology.com, and please be sure to put “Podcast Question” in the subject line.
Donor Thanks
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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!
Writing and images © 2017-25 by April Elliott Kent
For more on this week’s planetary news, read my column!
