Transcript:
039 | Leo New Moon: A Rainbow at Daybreak
August 17, 2020
Full show notes and audio link here
Jen: Welcome to the Big Sky Astrology podcast, with April Elliott Kent and me, producer and cohost Jen Braun. Hey friends, Jen here. Today is August 17th, 2020. And – as always – here with me is my friend, who has a purrfect cattitude, astrologer April Elliott Kent. Are you feline good, April?
April: Oh, Jen. Jen, Jen, Jen…
Jen:
April: You are a punster extraordinaire… yes, my friend. And that happy buzzing sound that you might hear in the background is either my satisfaction or that of our newest family addition.
Jen: Do tell.
April: Well, she doesn’t quite have a name yet. We’re kicking around a few ideas. She came with a name, but we’re not quite sure that’s really her name. And so, we’re just waiting to see, but she is adorable. And people who are on my mailing list probably saw a picture of her last week when I sent it out. Because she is a sweet little girl.
Jen: Yes.
April: And of course, there’s another one coming on Tuesday. And he is a little terror.
Jen: You and Jonny will have your hands full.
April: We have fulfilled my fondest feline dreams. It was the most exciting part of my birthday, surpassing even the delicious carrot cake that my neighbor made for me. And yes, Jonny just gave me a little card, and in it, it said we could start looking for kitties. So we did.
Jen: All your birthday dreams came true.
April: All of them came true and more. Because, who wouldn’t have known something quite this sensational was out there. She’s sitting next to me right now. She’s the perfect little coworker. And I was telling you before, I think she wants to go into podcasting. She was climbing up here and really wanting to make herself known.
Jen: You’ll have to take a picture of her with headphones on if she’ll allow it. That would be really funny.
April: But how perfect could it be during the Leo season to get not one, but two new little kitties?
Jen: It’s very lionesque of you.
April: It is. So yes, that’s the big news here in San Diego. And we’re very happy.
Jen: And I’ve been pitching a few names to you.
April: Well, you have. And they were all lovely. Because, on the one hand, she seems like this very proper little lady. But she can really get in there, mix it up and play too. But none of them feel quite right when I say them. Because I had a few too, a couple of favorite names of mine, since I’m not going to have human children. I keep trying to affix some of these favorite names to her; it never works. It’s never right.
Jen: You’ll have fur babies instead.
April: Yes. You kind of have to get to know their personalities, you know?
Jen: It’s true.
April: And something about the relationship that you have with them, too, needs a particular name.
Jen: Naming is important.
April: It is. And it’s a very mercurial function. And I think that’s appropriate. Because Mercury is doing a lot this week. And Mercury is the naming planet. Mercury is the one that labels things and says, “Okay, you are this and you are that.”
Jen: Okay.
April: Naming things is very powerful. I think you do tell a person or a pet or whatever, something about what you expect of them or some quality you perceive in them. And it gets amplified through the naming process. I’m always fascinated by names and naming and how people got their names. Were you named for somebody in your family?
Jen: I was not. My mom had read a book prior to my birth that she really liked that had my name in the title, and that’s how I got named.
April: I remember now, it was the Portrait of Jennie.
Jen: Yes.
April: I remember now, yeah. So it’s a powerful thing. We’re taking our time and we’re getting to know her. But her new little brother has a name we very much enjoy; hopefully it will suit him. Because his name is Paris. He’s scrappy. He’s very scrappy.
Jen:
April: Wish me luck friends. Because I don’t know what I was thinking. I am very busy. I am working 24/7.
Jen: And now you have kittens!
April: When kittens come on board, you’ve got to stop things from time to time. I have to keep poor Jonny, my husband, from getting completely overwhelmed – since this was really my idea.
Jen: Clearly he must have been okay to go along with it.
April: He was. Greater love has no man. Because honestly, we take our relationship with our cats pretty seriously. And with our past cats, our last two cats, they had a lot of health problems. And when they were little, it was kind of hard to travel or do too much. And then as they got older, they had health problems that made that a little bit difficult. Because we both love to travel. And not only that, I married a man from the other side of the globe, so periodically we need to get on a plane and go to New Zealand.
Jen: Indeed.
April: So we were kind of thinking, “Oh, when we’re between cats, we’ll do all these travel things we’ve been wanting to do. Go spend a couple months in New Zealand.” Well, clearly that hasn’t been possible because of the pandemic. And as it is, I’ve been pretty patient for four months. And we figured it’s either do it now or put it off forever. So here we are.
Jen: Wow.
April: But I’ve talked about the cats on the podcast and our losses over the last year and things. It’s nice to be able to let people know.
Jen: Yes. I’m sure everyone’s rooting you on.
April: Well, I sure hope so. Like I said, we’re going to need it.
Jen: You’ll have your hands full.
April: Indeed. Well, the week begins astrologically with Mercury.
Jen: As it usually does.
April: As it almost always does. Mercury flitting around and doing his thing. So there’s a conjunction between the Sun and Mercury. And of course, we last had one when Mercury was retrograde and now we have got one on August 17th just after eight o’clock in the morning Pacific Time. And the Sabian symbol for the conjunction degree is a lovely one. It’s “A Rainbow.”
Jen: I really like that.
April: Yes. I do too. And it goes well with another symbol we’re going to reference a little later in the podcast. Always when we’ve talked about the Sun with Mercury, we talk about it as an important point in the cycle between those two planets and about how we are perhaps a little more prone to subjectivity at the exact conjunction. However, when Mercury is what we call cazimi, which I know we’ve talked about, because we have an episode with that in the name…
Jen: Yes.
April: …brilliant insights can come to us. And I like that with the Sabian symbol “a rainbow” too, because you’ll just be – I remember speaking of New Zealand. Driving along in New Zealand out on a highway and the horizon, very visible. And very suddenly here’s this rainbow.
Jen: Yes. That’s beautiful.
April: Yes. They do come upon us kind of suddenly sometimes. So think of the exact moment on August 17th in the morning, as a really good time for insights of that quality, insights into things that have even recently been quite obscured by other considerations and suddenly come into view.
Jen: Yes. And the symbol, a rainbow reminds me of possibility and potentiality. Oftentimes, it is associated with a pot of gold, which is sort of mysterious. And I also think about actually being gay… so I think about the rainbow flag, the symbol of my community, which is about social equality. Those are both symbols of potentiality to me, there’s some vision attached to it of what could be possible. And I like that. I like that about this symbol.
April: I do too. Did I tell you the name that’s the strongest contender for our little girl kitty here, as of today?
Jen: Indeed, you did. It reminds me of this symbol. Say it, April.
April: It’s Skittles. We’re thinking of Skittles. “Taste the rainbow.”
Jen: Yes.
April: I think it’s very apropos. Nothing but possibilities. And with her, because she’s a little skittish. And we always call cats that. I don’t know why. So yes, it fits in with the rainbow motif really well.
Jen: For sure.
April: What was the thing…? You wanted to talk about the yod?
Jen: Yes. So the other thing is: The Mercury/Sun point are going to be two planets on the apex of a yod. Or you call it a yod, I guess.
April: Yes. You can call it a yod; call it a yod. A lot of people do.
Jen: Would you describe a yod, please, April?
April: It is a configuration of planets. The Sun and the Mercury are both making difficult aspects to – on the one side – Neptune. And on the other side: Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto. But the nice thing is that Neptune in Pisces works really well with Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn.
Jen: Yes, that’s true.
April: Yes. So a yod is difficult because it combines two aspects we call quincunx, which are difficult because they bring together two planets that are in signs which have nothing in common. If you consider the Sun and Mercury together in Leo and think of their relationship to Neptune in Pisces… if you know anything about those two signs, you know they don’t have a lot of experiential overlap. One is a fire sign, one is a water sign. One is very ethereal and gentle, and one is very “of the world” and very expressive. And the two of them together… we could picture some scenario in which, if you shrink that lion down to the size of what sit next to me… and you get that in the vicinity of some fish… the cat’s going to get in there and start messing around with the fish. So they’re uneasy, it’s an uneasy relationship.
Jen: Sure.
April: And the same is somewhat true with Leo and Capricorn; although they have a little more in common because they’re both kind of ambitious and really want to make their mark, so they have that in common. But one is full of warmth and life force: Leo. And the other one – Capricorn – is a little more pragmatic… much more earthy and a little bit on the chilly side sometimes. Because it has to think pragmatically and not just expressively. So you can see you’ve got a lot of planets there that are kind of not jiving with each other. And what it means is we’re uncomfortable a lot of the time. We find ourselves uncomfortable in a number of situations. I mean, this is really just on that day, but we’re expanding on this a little bit in case this is a term you’ve heard of… unless you know you have a yod in your chart or whatever and what does that mean.
Jen: Right.
April: And the way it was explained to me is: You’ve got a whole lot of planets that are in difficult aspect to each other. They don’t quite get each other. But there are some planets in that configuration who work together really well. And that’s – as I said before – the ones in Pisces in this case and the ones in Capricorn. They can work together so they can help resolve the discomfort to some degree of the quincunx.
Jen: Nice.
April: So they can find ways to work around it. The difficult thing with the quincunx aspect is, one planet gets to be happy, kind of at the expense of the other. And then they sort of trade back and forth, but they never get to really be comfortable together at the same time. But with the planets working behind the scenes in sextile says, “Well yes, but here are some innovative solutions so you guys can make the best of that and work that out.”
It is referred to sometimes as the finger of God, and the joke amongst astrologers is, “And you know which finger we’re talking about.” Because on the one hand, it’s like the finger pointing to you and saying, “Yes, this is an important part of your destiny. This is something that through sacrifice and through some discomfort and some hard work, you can bring into fruition. And it can be part of your great life path.” But it often feels a little bit like that other finger. Just like, “Oh, wow, this is just so hard.”
Those are my thoughts about a yod. I don’t know if that helps.
Jen: Absolutely. There’s been a yod or two that I’ve talked about with people when I’ve done chart readings. The yod is always supported by other things that are going on in the chart. For example, if it’s pointing in this case to Sun and Mercury, and it means one thing, then usually there’s other stuff happening in the chart that supports that as well.
April: You’re right. Well, and the Sun… I mean, in this case it’s complicated because the Sun is always a major symbol of your life path and your purpose and why you’re here and all of this. I think having it as the point of a yod just means, “Well, that path is not going to be easily achieved.” And that we do get that element of sacrifice and of compromise that comes into it. And we know how much Leo loves to compromise. So yes, August 17th could be a little bit of an uncomfortable day.
There was something NASA-wise, I think, something astronomical that you wanted to mention.
Jen: Oh, I just wanted folks to know that this is going to be a superior conjunction, which means that Mercury is conjunct the Sun on the other side of the Sun from where the Earth is.
April: Right.
Jen: And that Mercury will be emerging from the morning sky and shifting into the evening sky from the glow of dusk on the Western horizon around August 29th.
April: Oh, the glow of dusk.
Jen: I’ll put a link to the NASA piece in the show notes.
April: I think you should. Well, I think while we’re on the subject of Mercury, although it happens a little later in the week, should we tackle Mercury entering Virgo this week?
Jen: We sure could. Yes. Go for it.
April: That’s on August 19th at 6:30 PM Pacific Time. And Mercury has been in Leo since August 4th. So that gives us a couple of weeks. It’s been moving pretty quickly. So it didn’t spend a ton of time in Leo, but it’s going into Virgo and it’s going from a sign in which it’s somewhat disadvantaged, Leo, for the reasons we talked about an episode or two ago, and it’s going into Virgo, which is one of the signs that it rules. So Mercury has two different dimensions. And we can see that in the signs that it rules. One is Gemini, which is the communicative processes, the acquisition of language, the encoding of information, the release of it through speech.
Jen: Learning.
April: Yes. Learning and all the rest. Virgo has a different quality and it shows us a different expression of Virgo, which is a little more of the earth, it’s a little more hands-on. And when I see people who have things in Virgo – and in particular Mercury – I think these are people who are good at acquiring skills. They’re good at actually doing things that are practical and observable and are really good at learning how to organize the world and separate the wheat from the chaff and all of the rest of it. What do you think? You happen to have Mercury in this esteemed sign, my friend.
Jen: I can totally relate to all of that. I do enjoy making a checklist. I enjoy being organized. I tend to think logically and practically. But because I have a lot of water planets as well, I can also be kind of intuitive. So, I think there’s some blend of that when it comes to me personally.
But I do think of the Virgo planets as sort of organized and very focused on practicality and doing things in a logical order that makes sense.
April: Yes. I agree with that for sure. And they’re generally big fans of things like The Container Store. I don’t know if that’s something you have in Minneapolis, but it’s big here.
Jen: Yes. There is something like that here.
April: There is a little plastic box just right for everything, is what Virgo thinks. But I like it.
Jen: “When you’re feeling bad, go clean a drawer,” as your mom would say. Right?
April: Exactly. Yes. She had the Moon in Virgo, so she knew a little bit about that. Yes, I think Gemini is really quick and loves acquiring little facts and information. But then Virgo is the quality that goes in there and kind of sorts them out and makes something. It’s why you’re a brilliant editor for the podcast as well.
Jen: Aww.
April: Because you have to dig through and take all these little scraps and pieces of things and clean it up and organize them and get them just so, so that they make some kind of sense. And the people listening are going, “What does it sound like when you don’t edit?” Well, you may get a chance to find that out soon!
Jen: Yes, you’ll find out!
April: Yes. We may have some news coming on that end. Anything else you think we should mention about Mercury in Virgo?
Jen: I thought of a story while you were talking earlier about Virgo, and I don’t know if this is Virgo or not. But one of my brothers-in-law had picked up juggling. He was very proud of the fact that he had learned how to juggle. And so, one day he sat us down, and he wanted to show Joanie and I his juggling skills. And he started throwing the three balls in the air, and I just watched him for a while, very carefully. And then I picked up the three balls and I started juggling.
April: And he must’ve wanted to throw something at you at that point! Yes!
Jen: He said, “You’ve done that before!”
April: That’s a perfect example.
Jen: I said, “I haven’t.”
April: Well, Mercury rules the hands. And we’ll often see people with Mercury that is strong or prominent in their chart, who are just naturally good at that. And I like that, because that means taking physical objects and moving them around. Whereas with Gemini, it’s more the wordplay. You’re perfectly good at that too, but it’s like a real sparkling kind of repartee thing.
Jen: I see.
April: Gemini people love throwing conversational bubbles into the air and watching them fly around. But yes, the Virgo thing… I think that’s a great story. I can imagine he wanted to kill you.
Jen:
April: Oh my gosh. So Mercury will be in this fine and logical and manually dexterous sign from August 19th, California time, to September 5th. Enjoy that. A lot of people right now are organizing their houses and cleaning out their cupboards and all of that kind of thing.
Jen: Clean out a drawer.
April: Indeed. So we also have a nice aspect between Venus and Uranus on August 18th at 12:27 PM Pacific Time. And it’s a nice sextile between them. We like our sextile aspects.
Jen: It’s always an opportunity.
April: Yes, it is. And I was telling you before we started recording that of all the planetary connections you can have between Venus and Uranus – who are kind of strange bedfellows – this is one that I like a lot. This sextile. It is a friendly kind of aspect. Venus is very sociable, of course. And Uranus tends to be friendly. At least it’s associated with Aquarius and Aquarius is friendly. I can’t say that we can really say that Uranus is friendly, but what’s suggested by this combination of the two is… because there’s some distance with Uranus. And Venus is like, “I want to be your friend.” And Uranus is like, “That’s great, but let’s just have some breathing room here.” And like, that’s fine for relationships that are breezy and fun and interesting. But what it generally means in terms of being a one-day aspect on August 18th is it’s an opportunity to meet people, in short.
Jen: Nice.
April: And these are difficult times for doing that. But if you have any kind of opportunity – if you want to follow up, somebody makes a post on a social media platform that you follow and you find it interesting, go ahead and respond to them as a way of connecting. I mean, my best friend met his husband on a Facebook thread. So you can meet people in these interesting kinds of ways. And that’s very Uranian, because there’s a distancing thing there.
Jen: That makes sense.
April: Just look for opportunities to get to know people a little better and have a little bit of fun in an interesting way on that day.
Jen: Okay.
April: Well, I am having my Venus return as we speak.
Jen: Today.
April: Yes. As we’re recording this. Venus in early Cancer.
Jen: Do you want to say something about what that means?
April: Well, as you said, we’re trying to collect a whole set of…
Jen: Collect the personal planets!
April: Yes. Personal planets, planetary returns. Well, we’ve talked a lot now about various kinds of returns. We did Saturn returns. We did lunar returns. Very recently, we talked about solar returns.
Jen: Indeed we did.
April: Yes. Everybody by now has the general idea of what a return is. It means a planet has completed a cycle around the Sun. And specifically, it refers to Venus in my birth chart, in this case, and the exact longitudinal degree and minute. When it gets back to that point, I have a Venus return, which is a little under a year between returns. Then you get a reset of the Venus cycle, the Venus principle in your life.
It’s a new cycle of pursuing the things that bring you pleasure, which will be of the nature of the sign that Venus was in at your birth. These are the things that tend to make you feel good and bring you pleasure and the places where you want to just kind of enjoy yourself and do a little shopping. I hate to shop. I just said this in something last week, I think, that I hate to shop. But I love to shop for my house. I have Venus in Cancer, so I will spend money on the place where I live.
It’s significant to some degree, but it’s not one of your big major returns to look at. But again, you can look at the chart for the moment that that return happens in the place where you’re living. And it’ll tell you a little something about the year ahead with regard to things like relationship and money and having a good time.
Jen: What’s been helpful for me when we think about return charts is something you said way early on. I don’t remember which episode it was, but it’s a Venus-focused chart.
April: Yes.
Jen: I mean, it seems very simple, but you maybe said that about Saturn returns or something. That it’s just a chart focused on that planet. So you look at the house that it’s in, and that gives you a lot of information about the focus of the period of time coming up until the next return happens. And I think that’s a really helpful way to think about it.
April: Yes. And you might look at it… For instance, I’ll go and look at that chart today, now that we’ve spoken about it, and it’s dawned on me.
Jen: Let me know what you find out.
April: Oh yes. Yes, maybe I want to look at that chart and see what I think about the year ahead. It’ll probably have little kittens in it, you know?
Jen: Right!
April: Instead of planetary glyphs…
Jen: Whisker’s coming out of the planet…
April: Exactly. Well, Jen, that brings us to…
Jen: Moonwatch.
April: Moonwatch. Play it!
Jen: That was a little bit more of a mellow song this time.
April: It really was. I’m feeling kitten mellow. And she looked up when I did that. She was not digging my soprano warblings.
Jen: No, maybe she loved it…
April: Maybe she did! Yes. I can’t quite see her face. Just her little fat belly here.
Jen: She was looking at you to say, “Thanks mom!”
April: Yes. And it is a New Moon in Leo. Leo!
Jen: Leo!
April:
Jen: What if I couldn’t sing?
April: Yes. What if you couldn’t? It’d be a whole different podcast. Wouldn’t it?
Jen: Everyone’s going, “You can’t sing, Jen. Just please stop.”
April: I know. They’re saying, “It would be exactly the same podcast if you two couldn’t sing.”
April: Alright. It’s a New Moon at 26° and 35 minutes of Leo on August 18th, the same day as the Venus Uranus sextile. But later that evening 7:42 PM. Pacific Time, so in most places it’s actually, it’d be August 19th. and it’s a beautiful Sabian symbol for this one.
Jen: It really is.
April: We love it. And it’s very simple. It’s just “Daybreak.” And we were musing about it before we started to record and thinking how lovely it was with that Sun/Mercury Sabian symbol, “the rainbow.”
Jen: Yes. There’s kind of a mystery to this symbol too.
April: Yes.
Jen: What is laid out before you is the unknown. There’s a sense of possibility.
April: Yes. It’s a new day ahead.
Jen: It holds so much potential.
April: Yes. Or, potential for happiness or for dread. It just depends on the day…
Jen: Oh, boy…
April: …we were talking about those difficult aspects from the Sun and everything. But no, it’s actually not a bad chart at all.
Jen: Oh good.
April: Yes. I love that symbol for daybreak, especially because it’s Leo. And Leo is ruled by the Sun.
Jen: Yes.
April: At its best – and I don’t meet this most days, but I have a strong Saturn in my chart – but a strong embodiment of Leo brings sunshine to the world, to the day, to those situations that they walk into. It’s a very warm, cheerful sign. And it’s everything that we would hope at the beginning of a day at daybreak… is to have that sense of warmth and possibility and joy as we begin the day. So the point of the New Moon, the Sun and the Moon together at 26 of Leo is making this lovely trine aspect to Mars and is sextile the North Node. There is this sense of the New Moon guiding our actions and our activities, which I like. Because Mars in this chart makes this difficult square to Saturn. So we’re still – it’s so frustrating to have Mars trying to speed its way through Aries and we’re just not able to make a lot of progress in a lot of things. Because we keep stumbling over things like a square to Pluto that we had last week or square to Saturn, which we’re having this week. Mars not playing right with Saturn is, a really hard one. Because it means no matter how hard you try and how much work you do, there’s something that keeps coming up and stopping you in your tracks.
And again, the challenge with an aspect like that one is to keep trying. Just keep putting one foot in front of another. If something doesn’t work, you’ve got to try to find the thing that will, and your resolve will be tested in the things you want to do. But what is so nice is this New Moon point that it is trine the Mars… that’s giving it hope and giving it warmth and cheer. And saying, “You know, I know things are tough right now. And this thing you’re trying to do feels really hopelss, but I’m here to tell you, it’s a new day and everything’s possible.”
Jen: That’s really nice.
April:. Yes. And the sextile to the North Node from the New Moon point, I think as well says, “You’re on the right track and you’re doing the right things. It’s just, the timing is such that it’s going to be harder.” And we don’t talk about it a lot every week now, but yeah, there is a stinking pandemic going on, and a lot of things are still closed down. And I think that is really being symbolized by that Mars square to all those Capricorn planets, while it’s trying to make its way through Aries.
It’s a nice New Moon. I think if we have been waiting for a moment to try to get a toehold in something new that we want to do, this is really hopeful time for that. And it won’t go completely smoothly. But also the way to work with Mars, with Saturn is to do kind of what you were talking about before Jen, which is you make lists, you get organized, you come up with a strategy and with a plan of action and that makes Saturn happy.
Jen: Saturn likes hard work.
April: Yes. It insists on it, in fact. So if he can see that Mars will settle down, and stop moving so fast, and come up with a plan… it’s like when your teacher used to say when you took an exam, “Show your work. You have to show your work.”
Jen: Your math teacher. Yes.
April: Yes. Saturn will say, “Okay Mars, show your work.” So that is our New Moon in Leo. And I sure liked the look of it.
Jen: Yes. It looks really lovely. And I like the way that you describe it all.
April: Yes. I want to mention to people that we are going to include a new little feature on our podcast webpage, which is at bigskyastropod.com. We are just going to include an extra little spot in there that will be a little news feed to show the latest articles. We have Jen contributing something for the Leo New Moon, which is a lovely essay that I hope you’ll all go over and read.
Jen: Oh, thanks April.
April: Yeah.
Jen: Yes, it’s an essay I wrote. The focus, just so folks know, is on my nephew who died unexpectedly last November. And I think that’s all I’ll say right now, except to say that it’s very appropriate for Leo because I did write it from the heart. And so, if folks want to read it, they can go to bigskyastropod.com and find it there. I’m guessing it’ll be posted around… what? The 17th or 18th probably, April?
April: Yes. Definitely. And then as time goes on, we’ll just be bringing you breaking news about various things that we’re doing or my latest articles or whatever. So be sure to go over and take a look at that.
Jen: Very nice.
April: Yes. And finally we have got the Sun going into Virgo on August 22nd at 8:45 AM.
Jen: Okay. More Virgo energy incoming!
April: Yay for Virgo! I love Virgo!
Jen: Oh, I do too…
April: I will hear nothing against our friend Virgo.
Jen: Hey, how many of my planets are in Virgo? About 10 of them!
April: A metric ton at least. And I’ve got Mars there and Pluto and the Midheaven. I’m a big fan. I love Virgo’s work.
Jen: Oh, yes.
April: So Sun entering Virgo brings us into the season of harvest. It’s kind of that time where you’ve planted all your things and you’ve tended them the best you could and you’ve hoped for the best. You’ve negotiated with the beasts and pests, “Just leave us a few tomatoes in our garden. That’s all we ask for. You can have the rest.” And you take everything inside and you’re kind of sorting through it and you’re washing it. And you’re saying, “Oh, this one, the bugs have gotten to this one. So we’re going to have to compost this one. Oh no, this is really beautiful.” And evaluating, if you have a whole section of tomatoes that did great and another section that did nothing. You’re like, “Well, what did I do differently in this section that then I could apply to this other one next time?
Virgo is very much about that task of separating the wheat from the chaff, separating what’s viable from what isn’t and figuring out what you can actually do, what adjustments you can make to make it work better next time. So Virgo is the season of adjustment. It is innately a quincunx sign. We started out today talking about the quincunx aspect, the 150° aspect. And Virgo is of the nature of a quincunx. Nothing is never quite right for Virgo. It’s easy and facile to say something like, “Oh, Virgo is so picky.” But it’s much deeper than that. Virgo has a vision for how it wants things ideally to be. And sometimes that isn’t possible. And that’s a heck of a way to live when you know that perfection is never completely possible. And you have to live with that tension between your ideal… Virgo is actually a very idealistic sign. We don’t often think of it that way. But it’s because it has the ideal of perfection. That perfection is something that you can shoot for and maybe on a good day attain, but it doesn’t always work that way. Right?
Jen: Right.
April: And it’s never going to be quite good enough. Virgo can always see the little thing that needs to be tweaked.
Jen: That there’s value in improvement. Right?
April: Yes. Absolutely. If we think of it in terms of – why we are here? If you’re a person who philosophically is inclined to think about concepts like reincarnation or living many lives, it would make a lot of sense to this Virgo idea of trying to improve oneself, getting better and better. It makes sense in this lifetime.
And it’s interesting this is the time of year too, here in the United States at least, that kids normally will go back to school in the Virgo season. And part of it’s exciting if you’re a good student; and part of it is kind of misery because you’ve been all free all summer. You haven’t had the same kind of constraints on your time and your same kind of routines. And suddenly, “Ah, yes I’m going to have to put my school clothes on and trudge off and sit in a classroom all day and focus on what people tell me to focus on.” And again, to learn, to become better and smarter, hopefully. So that’s the season of Virgo. What are your thoughts?
Jen: Although now, a lot of kids will be Zooming for school. Right? Because they won’t personally be gathering because of the pandemic. It’ll be a very different Virgo season for a lot of kids at school.
April: I mean, doesn’t it seem worse than a way? Because so many of us are doing so much Zooming these days.
Jen: Yeah, so true.
April: And you feel like you’re living your whole life in a little 10-inch square at best, as opposed to at least having the stimulation and input of all your fellow students.
You pointed out that in Episode 10 of this podcast, “Neptune and the Zen of Groundhog Day,” we chatted a little bit about that polarity of Virgo and Pisces.
Jen: We did. And the movie Groundhog Day, which we love.
April: Yes. We love that. So folks can go back and relisten to that if they want to hear a few more thoughts about this…
Jen: …Speaking of reincarnation.
April: Yes! Just go back and listen again and again and again. You’re doomed to listen to Episode 10 again and again!
Jen: Over and over!
April: But we welcome the Sun in Virgo. I mean, back on the farm, it was such a beautiful time of year and everything feels all golden and combines running and things.
Jen: It’s my favorite month.
April: Is it, really?
Jen: I love September in Minneapolis. It’s really beautiful here. The leaves start changing colors and it’s just gorgeous.
April: Already in September, huh?
Jen: Well, towards the end of September. But yes, and it starts getting cooler, weather-wise.
April: It must be nice.
Jen: The leaves start changing and it’s just beautiful.
April: Here, it’s the hottest month of the year usually. It’s hot and humid and dreadful. It’s just awful.
Jen: Ooh.
April: And then in October, we get Santa Ana winds, these really hot dry winds off the desert. And then we start getting brush fires. So September and October… traditionally, I love October. It’s my favorite season. Because if we get any kind of weather in San Diego, it’s going to start tail-end of October around Halloween.
Jen: October is beautiful too. I love October.
April: Yes. Where I grew up it really was pretty.
Jen: I’m going to pick September 15 through October 15th. That’s my favorite month right there!
April: well, that’s true. Nobody says it has to begin with a “one.”
Jen: Right!
April: Good for you! That’s very Sun/Uranus innovative of you, Jen.
Jen: Your Sun/Uranus pal.
April: Yes. Well, my friends that is everything on the show sheet, I believe. Have we done it?
Jen: We’ve done it! Episode 39!
April: Yes!
Jen: We’ve done it.
April: Well, thank you for listening to The Big Sky Astrology Podcast. If you like what you’re hearing, be sure to subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen to your podcasts and rate it and review it. And we hope that you’ll help us spread the word by telling a friend or sharing it on social media or the like. You can read show notes and full transcripts and leave your comments about each episode at our website, bigskyastropod.com.
Jen: If you enjoy our podcast, please consider making a contribution to support the show. Go to bigskyastropod.com, and you can help keep the podcast going for as little as a dollar.
April: Yes.
Jen: Or, hey, kick in $39. One for each episode.
April: Ooh. Big ask!
Jen: How about that?
April: Big ask! I think you’re very bold, Jennifer. You’re very bold.
Jen: I am nothing, if not bold!
April: Exactly! Well, join us again bright and early next Monday. And until then, keep your feet on the ground…
Jen: …and your eyes on the stars.
Thank you for listening. To learn more about April Elliott Kent, please check out her website, www.BigSkyAstrology.com, where you can sign up for her newsletter, read her thought-provoking weekly essays, purchase her books, sign up for a personal astrology reading, and more.
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© 2020 April Elliott Kent & Jennifer Braun
