TRANSCRIPT EPISODE 70 (Feb. 22, 2021)
Episode 70 | Virgo Full Moon: The Future is Now!
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 February 22nd, 2021. And here with me is my friend – who will make some notes for us about the week ahead – astrologer April Elliott Kent. Hi, April.
April: Hello Jen. Happy Monday.
Jen: Happy Monday to you.
April: Well, we do want to remind people at the top of the show here that each week we prepare very robust and beefy show notes that take you through the points of the episode and ask reflective questions and give helpful links to articles or explanations of things or inside jokes or lines for movies or whatever it is that we’ve mentioned in the podcast that we might want to call your attention to, to get more information about.
Jen: Indeed.
April: And Jen, do you want to tell people where they can find the show notes?
Jen: Absolutely. Go to bigskyastropod.com. On that website, we have each individual episode, and you can find all of the show notes, plus we have transcripts for every episode. If you’re wondering, “What did they say? I want to go back and look at those dates or whatever.” You can go and see the show notes. You can see the transcripts.
April: We give you much reading material.
Jen: Totally.
April: It’s astrology for your eyes, as well as your ears that we’re giving you here each week. The other place you can see the show notes, if you’re on Apple podcast app, if you go to the description of the episode and you just keep scrolling down, all of the show notes are actually in there. And I don’t know what it’s like in other apps, but it might be similar. But it’s still good to go to the website because as Jen said, we have the transcript there as well and anything you might want to catch and give a special listen to. And they have timestamps. So you’re thinking “I wanted to listen again to that thing they said about whatever.” And it will actually say the time in the episode, when we talked about that. It’s an excellent resource.
Jen: Do check it out again, bigskyastropod.com. You can always find them there.
April: There you go.
Jen: So, what do we have first up on the show sheet this week, pal? We do have another busy week.
April: We do. And this is the first in our future show notes, is this item about Mars trine Pluto on February 24th, 05:51 PM Pacific Time, at 25° and 55 minutes of Taurus and Capricorn respectively. This is a trine in a cycle that began actually back on March 22nd, 2020, a timeframe we all remember very well, which happened at 24° and 43 minutes of Capricorn. That was the conjunction. And that is where the cycle began between Mars and Pluto. There were three squares then back in August, October, and then on December 23rd.
With the trine, now this is particularly true if you have earth sign planets that are near this degree, so either in Taurus, Virgo, or Capricorn. The trine between Mars and Pluto this time, because it’s in the last degrees of an earth sign, can bring your work to the attention of powerful or influential people. What I tell people is this is a really good aspect and a really good week for applying for a job, for example, or applying for promotion, especially if you have, as I said, planets towards the end of earth sign, this can actually be a really powerful combination.
Now, what we always say is – when we have trine aspects between quote unquote, difficult planets like Mars and Pluto – there is nothing to block them from uniting to use their force and power for ill. They’re like a couple of really, rather than superheroes they’re like the villains in a superhero comic or movie. And the trine just means there’s nothing to impede their progress in doing whatever it is they want to do.
Jen: Because it’s an easy flow?
April: Exactly. Between the two. In particular, if you have planets around 26° of Fixed or Cardinal signs, I would say this is one to look out for a little bit.
Jen: Which are what? Will you tell folks what those are?
April: Sure. The Fixed signs are Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius, and the Cardinal signs are Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn. So around 26° of those are places to look out. And I say that because Mars is going through a Fixed sign, Pluto is going through a Cardinal sign. All those signs are aspect in and resonating with this Mars Pluto trine.
Unless… look at it in a positive way. I mean, I think I may have mentioned another time. I had a really wonderful little boost in my public persona at a time when Mars trine Pluto work aspect in my Mars in Virgo in the 10th house. And I got put on a list of best astrology books on Oprah magazine, which really lifted my profile in a very positive way. Because, always remember, Pluto can be powerful people. No one’s more powerful than Oprah in entertainment, and as an influencer! It really was very powerful. So, that’ll be an interesting one.
Jen: I’ll link that in the show notes pal, because you were also on her list this past year. You made that list two years in a row of best astrology books. So I tip my hat to you.
April: Oh, thank you. Quite an honor and in very esteemed company as well. So that’ll be a nice list for people to look at for if they already have my book, “The Essential Guide To Practical Astrology” and are absorbing it and enjoying it but want some other ideas, this is a great list. There are some books on there I really like. So yes, we will link it in the show notes, as we like to say. There’s one for your Bingo card.
Jen: And now, people know how to find the show notes if they’re not sure. So that’s always good.
April: That’s right. Well, my friend, what do we have up next?
Jen: Next, we have Venus sashaying into Pisces on February 25th at 05:11 AM Pacific Time. Venus will be in Pisces through March 21st. What can you tell us this? What’s going on with her?
April: Yes. So she’s sashaying.
Jen: Yes. What do you think of that?
April: I think that’s really good. There is this sort of swishy, like, taffeta swishing around kind of vibe with Venus in Pisces.
Jen: Yes.
April: Well, what Venus shows us as it transits through the Zodiac in a year, roughly a year, it shows us in any given month the sign the Venus is in says, “This is what will bring you pleasure. And sometimes also financial gain.” So it’s also about things that we enjoy consuming or buying or things we like doing for pleasure and recreation. In Pisces, I think we enjoy music, giving ourselves over to the muses, music, dance, poetry, literature. I don’t know about you, but I’ve stacked up a few really big books that I’m really interested in. I don’t get enough time for reading anymore. When you’re on the internet all the time, you are looking social media, it’s easy to just fritter that time away and not read. But this is a really good month for that, for just getting yourself lost in… especially in fiction rather than non-fiction, and poetry and those kinds of things,
Jen: Or a book that uplifts you spiritually, maybe?
April: Absolutely. Yes.
Jen: That would be very Pisces.
April: Very Piscean indeed. Venus is a planet of the divine feminine. We don’t have a lot of explicitly feminine symbols in our usual lineup of planets that we look at. It’s really just the Moon and Venus. Venus is the goddess archetype and the divine feminine. And when I was looking into that, I was thinking about when I thought this thing about musing, of just kind of letting your mind get a little less focus, get into a little bit more of that… is it right-brain thinking?
Jen: Right-brain thinking is the more creative, sort of artistic.
April: Yes. I was thinking about the muses in Greek myth, the goddesses of music and dance and all of the rest of it. And I ran across a word that surprised me, which was… the mother of the muses was the goddess of memory. And the name of the goddess is Mnemosyne. And that word is from the same source as the word mnemonic. You use mnemonic exercises to try to remember things. She was the daughter of Uranus and the mother of the nine muses. And she was the goddess of memory. And this was the thing that was interesting to me because we think of Pisces as a sign and a time of year when we want to check out. And there was a Hellenistic mystery religion that believed that the newly dead who drank from the river Lethe, which is related to the word lethargy, and it was specifically about forgetfulness. And if they drank from that river, they would lose all memory of their past existence.
And it’s always, the question comes up if you start thinking about reincarnation, and think, “Wow, wow. If I’ve lived all these different lives, why don’t I really remember any of them?” And in this myth it would be “Well because you drank from the river Lethe and you forgot everything about your past life.” Well initiates in this mystery religion we’re taught to seek instead the river of memory, which was associated with Mnemosyne and that would end the cycle of reincarnation. Because you would have all those memories back. To me, it’s almost like those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it, that familiar saying.
Jen: Sure, I’ve heard that.
April: Or as in the myth of Lethe, doomed to get reincarnated again and again.
So I always think with Pisces, it is about that tension between remembering and forgetting because Pisces wants to just, “Oh, who would I be if I didn’t know who I was?” And kind of forgetting all of those constrictions of personality that tie us to our current lives. But Pisces and Neptune, both to me are very much about trying to get the clarity, trying to wake up, have the spiritual awakenings, especially. Venus is associated with aesthetics, with the things we find beautiful that we want to touch that are good to eat, that are wonderful to listen to. And Neptune is associated with anesthetic, with anesthesia. The things that put us to sleep, that kill our senses or take us out of our senses. So I think that while Venus is in Pisces, we can use aesthetic. We can use the enjoyment of the senses to fight that lethargy that can come with Neptune and sometimes with Pisces, the sign we associate it with.
As we said at the beginning, good time to really enjoy the arts and reading and perhaps the meditation, perhaps taking new pleasure in a spiritual practice. You know?
Jen: Yes.
April: Venus is the pleasure principle. And that’s what will lead us this month into these Piscean thoughts and ideas about the meaning of life, about our spiritual destination and all of those kinds of things.
Jen: Well, here’s a question for you. I know that Jupiter will be entering Pisces in mid-May. Of course, the Sun is already in Pisces, entered a few days ago. Venus is now in Pisces. Is this a little bit of an appetizer for when Jupiter will be in Pisces for about six weeks from mid-May through the end of July?
April: Certainly, it’s the same territory and that territory is now being awakened in your chart through these faster moving planets of the Sun and Venus, soon we’ll have Mercury. And these planets have kind of different functions, different psychological profiles. As they awaken a sign in your chart, a territory in your chart, you’re just getting more keyed into it, especially if it’s a house of your horoscope and we’ll post to a blog post that I wrote about how to find this. But that house of your chart and the affairs associated with it… Let’s say it’s the fifth house and that’s creativity and children and pets and those kinds of things. And if you have that space starting to get activated, sensitized, awakened with each planet that goes into it, there’s a little more energy around those matters. It’s like we were talking about a couple of weeks ago with everything stampeding to Aquarius, same idea. That house of your chart right now will just be almost exhausted from all that’s been going on in there.
So yes, the Sun was the function of finding ourselves within the archetypes of Pisces. Venus is about finding pleasure in them. Mercury will be about how we start to let our minds become yet even a little more unfocused in that Piscean way and more receptive to new ideas. And then Jupiter going into it will be a really big story. We’ll talk about quite a lot this year.
Jen: Nice.
April: Yes. So short answer, yes.
Jen: I always prefer the long answer.
April: Well, it’s a good thing. Or we probably wouldn’t be doing this together or be friends. But there you go.
Jen: It works out well for both of us that way then.
April: Everybody’s getting something out of this situation for sure. Well, we also, this week have the Sun making a sextile aspect to Uranus on February 25th at 01:13 PM Pacific Time, at 7° and 29 minutes of Pisces and Taurus. Sextiles, we did a whole episode where we talked quite a lot about sextiles.
Jen: We did. “Let’s talk about sextiles” was the name of the episode.
April: Yes.
Jen: And I’ll link that in show notes.
April: Yes. Because, it’s a really fun aspect. It separates two planets by 60 degrees. Its symbol looks like a little star. If you see that on your chart, you know, you’ve got a sextile aspect going on and it’s an opportunity aspect. It says these two planets have an opportunity to work together in some way. And you can take that opportunity or not. It’s kind of up to you. Then we talked earlier in this episode about Mars trine Pluto and how that can really put you into a position where you’re noticed sometimes by very influential people. And the sextile between the Sun, which is again about how we get noticed, combined with Uranus, to me says that letting yourself get noticed can bring unexpected opportunities.
And the Sun in Pisces is not always so much about wanting to get noticed, but if you will let yourself get the notice, get the recognition that comes your way, then again, some opportunities might arise and some of them, you might not be quite ready for. The Sabian symbol for Uranus at this aspect is “A Sleigh Without Snow.” So it says, “Yes, the sleigh is there, it’s beautiful, it’s all ready to go, but we’re missing one thing.”
Jen: You can’t use it though!
April: Exactly. You have to move to Minneapolis, and only you could use it there. So that was just some of the thoughts I had about this aspect.
Jen: Great. Next up we Jupiter trining the North Node of the Moon on February 26th at 02:57 PM Pacific time. Jupiter in Aquarius, of course at 16°, eight minutes, the North Node at the same degree, but in Gemini. What can you tell us about this?
April: Jupiter in Aquarius? I think part of what’s happening with Jupiter in Aquarius is trying to shake us free from our conventions so that we can pursue the new ideas and experiences that we see in the North Node in Gemini with a truly open mind. It can be a very revolutionary sign and putting Jupiter… because Jupiter, again, is one of these planets of society, of the rules and laws of society. So you put it in a sign like Aquarius and we go, “Oh, well maybe those laws need some changing.” And I’m not talking just about laws in a civil sense, but in the sense of the rules that we’ve set up for our lives. That, “Yes, we don’t have necessarily do it just like that.”
The Sabian symbol for Jupiter is “A Watchdog Standing Guard.” A little Bear or Jack.
Jen: Right.
April: Who’s the watchdog between those two?
Jen: Well, it depends if we’re talking about watching people or watching squirrels.
April: Who did the squirrels have to be afraid of?
Jen: Bear. Definitely.
April: Oh, Bear. Well, Jack has a big impressive woof though. So I think he would be a good watch dog. Yes.
Jen: He does. Yes. He is a good boy. He’s a good watch dog.
April: So that Sabian symbol to me suggests that you need a strong watchdog, a strong sense in other words of what is really true and just, and not just change for change’s sake. Or we can get really overwhelmed with a multitude of details and pieces of information and all of that. The Sabian symbol for the North Node at this trine is “The Head of a Robust Youth changes Into That of a Mature Thinker.”
Jen: We’ve talked about that odd one before.
April: Yes. If we just take the idea of maturity and of our ideas growing more sophisticated and more mature, perhaps. I think Gemini is a puerile sign. It’s youthful. It’s where we’re supposed to be headed at the moment. We’re not necessarily supposed to be experts in everything. We’re supposed to be in that youth space. This says that, yey, you know, this Jupiter in Aquarius that’s opening us up and letting us listen to new things. Aquarius is the last of the air signs and therefore more experienced, more mature. So I think of that Jupiter in Aquarius actually giving a good support to that North Node, because as much as we’ve been talking this year about how great it is that the North Node is in Gemini and we need to keep open minds and learn new things. If you just leave the door completely open and it’s a hot day, you get fruit flies all over the place. So it’s not necessarily that you want every single thought to come into your life and take hold in the long term. And I think this Jupiter in Aquarius is just a little bit wiser in that sense and a good watchdog. And you can say, “Well, okay, go ahead and listen to all of that. That’s good. But maybe we want to set this one to one side for further scrutiny down the line.” So I see Jupiter is helpful to the North Node journey in that way.
Jen: Yes, that’s a good point.
April: Jen, do you know what time it is?
Jen: What time is it?
April: Moonwatch…
Jen: Moonwatch…
April: Play it!
April: This Moonwatch segment is brought to you by our new non-imaginary sponsor, Tenth House Creative!
April: Now, Jen, do you have any planets in your 10th house? The 10th house of your chart?
Jen: I do. I have my Mercury and my Mars there. How about you?
April: Yes, I have Mars. So we both have Mars in 10th house people. My Mars is pretty close to the Midheaven, so it’s pretty prominent.
Jen: Yes.
April: The 10th house, just from an astrological point of view in case people don’t know is the house of career, of reputation, of recognition in the world. It describes the things that people first notice about you. The way it was described to me by my teacher, I think many years ago, was the Midheaven and the 10th house is what people see about you before they even meet you. Across a crowded room, or if you’re a celebrity and they read about you or whatever it is.
Jen: Okay.
April: Whereas the ascendant, is what people get about you as soon as you actually meet them. So if you shake hands with somebody or exchange names or whatever, that becomes a first house, an ascendant experience.
Jen: I see. So the 10th house is more about a societal view of you?
April: Yes. It’s about especially reputation. And so we say it’s a house of career.
Jen: Yes.
April: If you have planets in the 10th house, those are the planets that are moving you forward, they tend to be the qualities you are recognized for before people really know you personally. So we have Mars and Virgo there, and we’re both known as the ones who are super, super into the details and quality of what we do and being a little bit zealous about it, perhaps sometimes. In the 10th house, nothing is hidden.
Jen: That makes sense. Because it’s at the top of your chart and everyone can see the top of your chart.
April: Right. And the 10th house is associated with the Sun’s position in the middle of the day where it’s shining the strongest.
Jen: Yes.
April: I know that creative and spiritually based business owners can really struggle with presenting their business in a way that’s engaging and clear, that points at what their gifts are and their talents, helps them connect with their audience. Because frankly, a lot of times they feel that. “Oh, that’s kind of tacky to do that. And I don’t want to be somebody out there wearing a sandwich board, standing out on the street, all of that.” Because, really, what you want to do is get the people who are really aligned with what you’re offering with you and what you have to give them.
So that is where Mina Habibi comes in. Mina is the creatrix behind Tenth House Creative. What her company does is create branding, design, and photography for art-centered businesses, she says, which I love, entrepreneurial impacts and small mission-driven nonprofits. And these are our people.
Jen: Yes. For sure.
April: So Mina uses her intuitive vision, her strategic reflection to boost your visibility so that you can play big and shine bright, which is perfect for the 10th house.
Jen: Tenth House Creative works with heart-centered businesses and can help you with logos, website, marketing, graphics, photos, you name it, they’ve created it. They help with strategy and processes and empower their clients around their brand.
Of course, alert listeners know that years ago I co-founded and co-lead a nonprofit. And I know from my own experience that this stuff can be really hard to figure out on your own, because when you’re so focused on the programming of your business and doing the day-to-day work, some of this other stuff – like websites and marketing and logos – it can all kind of get lost. And this is where Mina and Tenth House Creative comes in.
April: Yes. It’s a different skill set usually from what people are normally trying to offer. And what Tenth House Creative does is do it in a really intuitive and strategic way. And the other thing is, you don’t always have perspective on what you do. And that’s why it can really be helpful to have someone like Tenth House Creative come in and help you get a little bit of outside perspective on that. So if you’re a yoga or meditation teacher, a therapist, a life coach, a holistic and wellness professional, a spiritual mentor, an astrologer or other esoteric arts entrepreneur, or if you’re a part of a grassroots nonprofit, Tenth House Creative just might be for you.
Now, Tenth House Creative does have a special course offering that starts on February 23rd, 2021. It’s called Practical Magic for Heart-Centered Entrepreneurs. And what it’s going to do is guide folks through a four-week, do-it-yourself to a soulful business and brand helping you get clarity and create your visual presence. You can go to their website, https://www.tenthhousecreative.com/practical-magic. And we just want to point out it’s “Tenth” spelled out.
Jen: To learn more about Mina and find out about working with her to help your business shine, visit her website tenthhousecreative.com. Follow her on Instagram @TenthHouseCreative. And as April said, just make sure that you spell it out with tenth spelled out… and there are actually two H’s in it… www.tenthhousecreative.com
April: So check them out.
Jen: Yes.
April: Alright. Back to the Moonwatch segment already in progress!
Jen: Yes. Moonwatch.
April: So, the Full Moon is in Virgo and the two signs, Aquarius and Virgo seem really kind of to be at odds with each other. And of course, there have been so many planets in Aquarius. There’s been a lot of emphasis on the future, on future thinking, about where we’re going as people, as a society. And of course now the Sun has moved into Pisces and that’s how we get a Full Moon in Virgo. But Virgo feels like such a different energy and character than all of that Aquarius forward-thinking. Virgo habits are ones that we cultivate in the here and now. Whereas Aquarius is way off in the wild blue yonder of the future. And I thought, “Well, how do these meet? How do they come together?” And it’s really that the future is now. I mean, what you do today is really going to tell the story of where you’re going to be 15 years from now, to a great extent. The habits that we cultivate and the things that we pursue and our discipline with those, all those little Virgo qualities, Virgo is what we do most of each day. It’s the brass tacks of making a life work. If you’re washing your dishes, if you’re paying your bills, if you’re walking the dog, those are Virgo kinds of habits. But if you don’t do those things, then you suffer the consequences in the future.
I just like that vision of the Virgo, the here and now, the small things, the little steps as being where to begin. We can get overwhelmed if we think about Aquarius’s vision. If we want our life to look radically different than it does right now, wow, how do we even know where to start? And it’s with small things, little details, small steps, I think that’s the message of this Full Moon.
The Sun’s Sabian symbol at this Full Moon is 9 Pisces “A Jockey.” And that is a symbol that’s usually associated with urgency and speed and really getting going, and also a competitive factor. But also being a little bit rash, maybe going after things before we’re really quite ready for them. Mars is emphasized in the Full Moon chart because it’s very close to the end of its sign. It’s around 27 and a half degrees of Taurus or something. And it’s just past this aspect to Pluto.
Jen: I see. This Full Moon is ruled by Mercury. And Mercury just turned direct about a week ago. Do you think Mercury is still kind of slow right now, April?
April: Yes, it’s definitely slow. And it’s the different face of Mercury than we have really been thinking about.
Jen: How so?
April: Well, because Mercury has been in Aquarius, which is an air sign and we’ve also seen Mercury ruling the North Node, in Gemini. And Mercury is exalted in Aquarius, which means it’s very strong there, and it also rules Gemini. Those are the airy expressions of Mercury. Ideas, speaking, perceiving things that are written or things that we hear.
Virgo is more physical. So it’s the physical expression of Mercury. The ability to build things, create things, troubleshoot things, it’s more of a mechanic or craftsperson and a little more deliberate, a little slower. Mercury in Aquarius has given us these great flashes of inspiration, maybe. Gemini is very excited to explore new things, new ideas, talk to different people. Virgo is quieter. It tends to be more solitary. And where it excels is putting together ideas and concepts and creating something tangible from them.
Jen: Well, that’s helpful to have that information about Mercury. Because it’s always important to look at which planet is ruling the lunation. Isn’t that true?
April: Oh, I think so. Yes. Alright, my friend. Well, believe it or not, we’ve made it to the end of another show sheet. Have we done it?
Jen: 70 episodes! We’ve done it! Can you believe?
April: I kind of can.
Jen: Because it seems like we just did 60 to me.
April: I know.
Jen: That’s really amazing.
April: Well, thank you for listening to The Big Sky Astrology Podcast. If you like what you’re hearing here, be sure to subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen to your podcasts and leave us a rating or review. And we have given you a blog post to tell you how to do that. Because I know some of you were having a hard time figuring out how to leave a review. And we hope that you will spread the word by telling a friend. You can read the show notes and full transcripts, as we said, as well as leaving your comments about each episode at our website, bigskyastropod.com.
Jen: We say this every week, but we’re so grateful to everyone who showed support during our Podathon last Fall. Each week, of course, we do thank some of you by name. Who do we have this week, April?
April: This week, we want to give a Big Sky Astrology Podcast shout out to Beck Paffrath, Courtney Neidetcher, and Kathy Joseph.
Jen: Yay… Woohoo…
April: Yay… Woohoo…
April: I just feel I stepped in it with at least a couple of those pronunciations. But Beck, Courtney and Kathy, we truly appreciate you and we thank you very much for listening to the podcast and for supporting us as well during our Podathon.
Jen: If you’re a listener who didn’t get a chance to support us during our Podathon, you can always make a contribution at our website, bigskyastropod.com. And if you donate $5 or more, we’ll invite you to our special episodes for the Equinoxes and Solstices. We have an Equinox coming up in about a month. It’s sneaking up on us.
April: That’s right. So you can all look forward to that as we do. Well, that is it for us for this week. So 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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