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TRANSCRIPT Ep. 75 | Mercury in Aries: Gluten Tag, Y’all!

Transcript for Ep. 75 (March 29, 2021)
Mercury in Aries: Gluten tag, y’all!

Read the show notes and listen to the episode 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 March 29th, 2021. And here with me is my friend – who almost never loafs around – astrologer April Elliott Kent. Gluten tag, April.

April: Stop it!

April: Oh, you’ve killed me. I’m dead. Hello, Jen. Thank you for that warm introduction.

Jen: You’re so welcome.

April: I suspect I know where you’re going with that introduction.

Jen: April 1st is National Sourdough Bread Day, my friend.

April: It is, absolutely.

Jen: And who do I know who loves to bake sourdough bread?

April: I do love to bake my sourdough bread. I love that it’s on April 1st.

Jen: Sure.

April: That’s so much of a nicer thing for somebody named April than the “April’s a Fool day.”

Jen: I can see why you would say that.

April: It just makes it a much happier holiday for me. Yes, National Sourdough Bread Day. Well, this is something that I tried to do for a lot of years and it fell flat so to speak.

Jen: Ha, ha…

April: But now, I’m going on two years with the same beautiful sourdough starter. It’s very healthy and robust. I make beautiful loafs of sourdough bread each week.

Jen: You do. I can attest to that.

April: That’s right. I sent you one for your birthday.

Jen: You did. And it was delicious.

April: Thank you. And my husband, of course roasts coffee, so we have this beautiful freshly roasted coffee and wonderful sourdough bread.

Jen: You could start a cafe.

April: Absolutely could. Except that, then… people, you know? We would have to deal with people. Many of them who have not had their coffee yet and they’re not so great to deal with. So, I think we’ll pass. Yes. So, we will be celebrating National Sourdough Bread Day.

Jen: Sure. It is good to have your coffee in the morning and have it with a slice of sourdough toast, maybe. Huh?

April: Oh, yes. Sourdough French toast. How come I haven’t made that up to now?

Jen: Come on. You’ve never made that?

April: Yes. It sounds absolutely fantastic. Well, also this week we’re celebrating a couple of holidays. Tell us about them.

Jen: We do have a couple of other holidays this week. Passover happens March 27 through April 4th.

April: Nice.

Jen: And Easter is April 4th.

April: Yes.

Jen: You and I grew up going to Catholic grade school, April.

April: We did.

Jen: Do you have any Easter memories that you want to share with our friends?

April: I do. They’re less about that period of life of going to Catholic grade school. It was earlier than that and getting up in the morning and having an Easter basket, right?

Jen: Yes.

April: So, the Easter bunny in quotes had brought us a wonderful Easter basket. It had that wonderful multi-colored plastic grass in it.

Jen: I do know exactly what you’re talking about.

April: And those zingingly sweet jelly beans, and always a big chocolate rabbit. And, we wore matching dresses, my sister and I, to go to church. They were always very little Easter dresses complete with the hats and the gloves and the whole thing. So, what about you? What did you do for Easter?

Jen: Well, we would always go to church. And I remember that the Easter bunny would come when I was a kid, would hide the Easter baskets. And I don’t remember specific places where my Easter basket was hidden. I was the youngest of three. But I do remember my brother’s basket being hidden in a couple of difficult to find places. One year, it was in the toilet tank, covered in plastic, water was gone, hidden in the toilet tank.

April: Oh my gosh. That’s diabolical.

Jen: Another year it was hidden in the closet, inside a long coat and hanging from the hanger. But the coat was around it, so you couldn’t see the Easter basket.

April: Oh my gosh.

Jen: But it was very fun, and we always got very excited to try to find the Easter baskets.

April: Well, I don’t remember us ever having to hunt for our Easter baskets.

Jen: Really?

April: We did Easter egg hunts outside. And I have distinct memories of that.

Jen: Your Easter basket was just out?

April: Yes, it was just at the foot of the bed just ready to be partake… Oh, and there was always a fluffy stuffed bunny or something with it.

Jen: Yes. That’s nice.

April: And now that I think about, it must have been very sad for those little fluffy bunnies to watch us munch the head off of their chocolate brethren, but I have fond memories of Easter.

Jen: I do too. Yes.

April: Yes. The little pagan symbols of it. Now, when we moved to California and we started going to Catholic church and all that, of course, yes, we went to mass on Easter. It was a holy day of obligation. You had to be there. I can remember that as being part of the day. But I don’t remember that nearly as distinctly as I remember the chocolate bunnies, which were fabulous. Very good memories.

Jen: Yes.

April: Yes. Nice holiday. Well, we hope everybody this year gets to celebrate in some lovely way, this feast and festival that is such a springy holiday, about the rebirth and the regeneration and really wonderful. Whatever you’re celebrating this week, whether it be Sourdough Bread Day or Passover or Easter, we celebrate with you.

Jen: Yes, absolutely.

April: Well, what do you think? Well, should we take a look at what we have going on astrologically this week?

Jen: I think we should pull out the show sheet and we should kick it off here.

April: Oh, yes.

Jen: How about if we kick it off with Mercury joining up with Neptune, on March 29th at 08:24 PM Pacific time, 21° and 20 minutes of Pisces. What do we need to know about this?

April: It’s as good a place to start as any. We always start with Mercury it seems on these things.

Jen: Mercury is doing things.

April: Yes. Pull out your bingo cards! But we know every time two planets come together in a conjunction that they’re beginning a new synodic cycle. A new cycle with each other that is going to then unfold in the weeks and months ahead. Mercury coming together with the Neptune is a new cycle of learning, which is Mercury’s function, truth, understanding, all of these things, are qualities that we can associate with both Mercury and Neptune in their own ways. They’re both planets that are concerned with truth. Like “What is really going on?” Mercury tries to ascertain this by gathering a lot of objective facts. And Neptune goes into an, a little more intuitive way, a little more spiritual way and says, “What is really the truth beyond what I’m being told? What the accepted narrative is about things?” Neptune is a little more finds its way into it intuitively.

Now, on a practical level, Mercury coming together with Neptune can be a little bit difficult for Mercury functions, such as rational thought, organizing things. Hopefully you got your taxes done last week. I did not, but this would not be a great week. So, the stereotype of Mercury coming together with Neptune is that it leads to our thoughts being very cloudy. You can probably attest to this, Jen. You’ve been having Neptune opposing your Mars, getting ready to oppose Mercury?

Jen: It is opposing my Mercury. And it was opposing my Mars prior to that. So, I am having a very, very long, drawn-out Neptune transit. And as I said on one episode, I think it’s not always the best transit for clear-headedness and that sort of thing. So, I can relate.

April: Yes. Because, Neptune’s trying to take us into reality and into truth through another method. It’s trying to help us get to the truth that doesn’t appear on the printed page. And that isn’t about facts and figures per se, it’s a deeper level of truth. It’s like when Mercury’s retrograde and we try to shoe horn our minds into a particular way of working and thinking when we’re really focused on taking a clear linear path and getting to a particular prescribed outcome, Neptune really works against us because Neptune doesn’t work that way.

So, when we have a week that Mercury’s coming together with Neptune, it’s time to let your mind go a little bit, release your attachment to quite so much of a particular process and outcome and things that you’re doing. Great week for taking naps. Great week for listening to music. We’re both busily building our eighties play lists that we’re going to share with people in our episodes that begin with an eight, coming up soon.

Jen: That is very Neptunian… music.

April: Yes. Working with artistic projects, enjoying movies that you enjoy, reading books, especially fiction. These are all great for this week, as Mercury is making a conjunction with Neptune.

Jen: Creative things.

April: Yes. Imaginative things, I think I would say.

Jen: Imaginative… okay.

April: Imagination is really good word for Neptune.

Jen: Yes.

April: What would the world be like if you were re-imagining it from scratch?

Jen: Now, I did notice that on Episode 72, which was “Pisces New Moon: Kitchen Cats and Angular Houses,” that was the week that the Sun and then Venus came through and joined up with Neptune. So, it might be helpful for folks to go back and listen to that episode because… I don’t know, something might connect from that time. Wouldn’t you say?

April: Perhaps. I think that’s good advice.

Jen: Alright. Now, next up. Saturn is getting a couple of aspects first from Venus and then from the Sun. Venus is sextiling Saturn on March 30th at 08:47 AM Pacific Time, at 11°, 16 minutes Aries. Of course, Saturn’s in Aquarius on the same degree. And then the Sun comes along on March 31st at 02:04 PM Pacific Time, at 11°, 21 minutes Aries and makes that same sextile to Saturn. The Sun is now following in Venus’s footsteps. And the last couple of weeks, it has been the other way around.

April: Yes. She moves faster. And of course they came together in a conjunction last week or so. So, yes, Venus is starting to speed ahead of the Sun. But they’re still moving pretty close together after last week’s conjunction. So, they’re making roughly the same aspects to other planets of roughly the same time. This week, as you say, they both make sextiles to Saturn at pretty much the same degrees. As always, sextile aspects are about opportunity, about information coming in. Saturn is about discipline, maturity, structures, hard work and authority. All of these things coming together with Saturn. Venus with Saturn is kind of chalk and cheese. Venus is about pleasure. Saturn is about playing by the rules and maybe denying ourselves some things that we might like. It’s like lent, basically.

And the Sabian symbols for the Sun in Venus, and then Saturn are “A Flock of White Geese” and “People on Stairs, Graduating Upwards.” Blain Bovee points out about these symbols, that the flock of white geese has a way of softening the Aries tendency, because the Sun and Venus are still in Aries. And that is a sign that really likes to do things on its own. But that this symbol, the flock of white geese talks about cooperation. It’s a flock of geese working together in a formation. And in this case, cooperation to create helpful structures, Saturn, to nurture what it is that we’re planting now that it’s springtime.

Jen: I like that a lot, especially with Venus. Because Venus is about relationships and working together. And I like what Blain Bovee says about that.

April: Yes. I mean, I think this is why Venus struggles a little bit in Aries because Venus is about awareness of the other and cooperation and partnership.

Jen: Yes.

April: And Aries is about doing things on your own.

Jen: Pioneering.

April: Yes. The sextile with Saturn says, well look, there is something to be said for that pioneering impulse of Aries. And there is something to be said for cooperation and knowing when to bring other people into the equation. Because both of those are required for really building something of substance, which is what Saturn wants. So, we have that opportunity a couple of different times this week.

Jen: Nice. And if folks want to go back and listen to Episode 16, “Let’s talk about Sextiles.” That might be helpful just to review what the sextile aspect is about. We go into it quite a bit in that episode.

April: At extensive length and with much enthusiasm, as I recall.

Jen: As per usual.

April: Well, Mercury also this week is going to make a sextile aspect to Pluto while we’re talking about sextiles. That happens on April 1st, otherwise known as National Sourdough Bread Day.

Jen: Exactly.

April: 11:04 PM Pacific Time.

Jen: Hey, April?

April: Yes.

Jen: You’re not a crummy friend.

April: Oh, I love that. Well, thank you Jen. I do appreciate that.

Jen: You’re welcome.

April: I’m not so sour.

Jen: Back to Mercury though.

April: Yes, back to Mercury. Already a progress. Well, the Sun and Venus when they were in Pisces made a sextile with Pluto on these exact same degrees on March 16th and 18th. And we talked about this in Episode 73, “The Aries Equinox: De-funkify Yourself.” The Sabian symbols for Mercury and Pluto during this sextile are 27 Pisces, “A Harvest Moon” and 27 Capricorn, “A Mountain Pilgrimage.” And we did explore those degrees quite a lot in that episode. Mercury brings additional understandings. I think what we thought at that time when we were looking at Sun and Venus, connecting with Pluto on those degrees is how it was about going deep and figuring out who we wanted to be going forward. What was really essential to us, what was really important. And I think Mercury brings additional understanding to those deep insights that might’ve come to us then and can help you begin to process them, incorporate them, internalize them, and then express them. It’s a very helpful Mercury for cutting through that Neptune fog from two days earlier, because Pluto is very incisive. And it says “Okay, you’ve been napping and daydreaming long enough. Let’s figure out what’s really going on.” And kept moving.

Jen: Or read a mystery novel.

April: Oh, mystery novels. You must love mystery novels, with Scorpio rising?

Jen: Oh, I do.

April: Oh yes.

Jen: I sure do.

April: Very sleuthy.

Jen: Yes. Next up. Mercury enters the sign of Aries on April 3rd at 08:41 PM. Pacific Time. Mercury will be there through April 19th. So, Mercury is moving from a water sign into a fire sign. From the last sign of the Zodiac into the first sign of the Zodiac. From a mutable sign into a cardinal sign. That gives us some clues about how Mercury will act in Aries. Say more about this April, won’t you?

April: So, Mercury is how we express ourselves. As it’s transiting through a particular sign we will see that the approach that we take in communicating with others will take on some of the flavor of the sign that Mercury is moving through. Mercury, when it’s in Aries, thinks fast, talks fast, moves fast. It’s in a hurry. It’s impatient. And I think my best tips for communicating while Mercury is in areas are, number one, get to the point. Number two, keep it brief. Number three, count to 10 before you get into an argument.

Mercury and Mars are in what we call Mutual Reception during this period when each is in the sign that the other rules, because Mars is currently in Gemini, which is ruled by Mercury, which is in Aries, which is ruled by Mars. And this just means it’s really good for getting a lot done if not real thoroughly, because neither Gemini nor Aries are known for really crossing the T’s and dotting the I’s. But it means, we really can make fast progress in anything that we want to do, especially anything of a mental or intellectual nature. Drive carefully, I would say while Mercury is in Aries.

Jen: Always good advice, but especially now.

April: Always good advice, yes, between Mars being in Gemini and Mercury being in Aries and both Mercury and Mars having some connection with travel and driving and this sort of thing. And, I’ve noticed with the people that I know who have Mercury in Aries for instance, that if I email them, I have to put all of the really critical information in the very first line of the email, because they will not read any of the rest of it. It’s like “Too long, didn’t read.” That’s why I say get to the point and put it all up front. Front load your communications with the most essential information and keep it very concise. Like I have not done in this description of Mercury entering Aries.

April: What can I say, I’ve got Mercury in Leo; it opposes Jupiter. I’ve got things to say. So, I struggle a bit with this. Do you have any thoughts about this, Jen?

Jen: I actually went back… because I know that we had talked about mutual reception in an earlier episode. So, I was curious. And I found that the first time we talked about mutual reception was on Episode Four, “The Capricorn Solstice is Frequently Sunny in Minneapolis.”

April: Nice.

Jen: And we described it with a housesitting analogy. So, I will link that in the show notes.

April: Oh, I remember that analogy. It was a bit torturous. I think we got there in the end. We had fun getting there as I recall.

Jen: Yes. Yes.

April: Jen, do you know what time it is?

Jen: Hang on. Let me grab my watch. Oh, I think it’s in the other room. What time is it?

April: It’s Moonwatch…

Jen: Moonwatch…

April: Play it!

April: Yes, It’s Moonwatch. And this week we have a Capricorn Last Quarter Moon on April 4th at 03:02 AM Pacific Time, at 14° and 51 minutes of Capricorn and Aries.

Jen: What would be helpful for folks to know about a Last Quarter Moon in general?

April: Last Quarter Moon in general is the last critical moment in an overall cycle, in this case, the lunar cycle. It occurs when the Moon is square the Sun, and it is the moment in the cycle when we are asked to look back. We need to act, but we need to do it based on previous experience and what we have learned from those previous experiences. So, it is still a time to act. It’s like the last moment in the cycle where you can really put the pedal to the metal and accomplish what you set out to do. This Last Quarter Moon specifically brings to conclusion the things we initiated at the March 13th Pisces New Moon. In this chart, the Sun and Venus are actually in really nice aspect. They are in good aspect to Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, lots of good flow. The Moon is just separating from a trine to Uranus. It’s approaching a sextile to Neptune.

So, there’s a lot of really good flowing energy, even though this is by nature, a chart that pushes us because the Sun and the Moon are square each other. This Last Quarter also belongs to a lunar phase family or gestation cycle as it’s sometimes called, that began with a New Moon solar eclipse on January 5th, 2019. Then we hit the first critical moment in this cycle where action was required on the thing we conceived back at that solar eclipse. We hit the First Quarter on October 5th, 2019, and the Full Moon of this lunar phase family cycle on July 4th, 2020, which was a lunar eclipse.

So, we know that this Last Quarter Moon has a little extra oomph to it because it is part of a critical cycle that’s involved two eclipses. So, if you have something in your chart between say, I don’t know, 12° and 15° of Cardinal signs in particular, this is probably a pretty important Last Quarter Moon for you to watch because you’re being asked to make a decision to take some action in response to the Full Moon of July 4th, 2020, and what was revealed then. So, this is a last moment to correct your course, if you need to and to not mess around anymore and just get things done,

Capricorn and Aries, both are pretty decisive signs. So, this is the kind of Last Quarter Moon where we will tend to feel okay, we’ve been patient long enough. We have come up with all kinds of various excuses to not do a thing that we want to do. And now we just have to finally push ahead and get it done.

Jen: One last go.

April: Exactly.

Jen: Can you tell us what the Cardinal signs are, April?

April: The Cardinal signs are Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn.

Jen: And why are those the important ones for this one?

April: Because the points of the Last Quarter Moon are in Cardinal signs. The Moon is at 15° of Capricorn, the Sun is at 15° of Aries. And they are triggering those past eclipse points in January, 2019 and July of 2020, that were eclipse points. Those are still kind of sensitive points in our charts. If we had anything close to those degrees. They’re still tingling a little bit from those eclipses and some important things that might’ve changed around then.

Jen: This Last Quarter Moon is ruled by Saturn in Aquarius. Will it have a Saturnian feel to it? A kind of stern, school principal feel to it?

April: I like that.

Jen: Get your work done, young lady!

April: Yes. Yes. This Last Quarter Moon brought to you by Saturn. By cruel overlord Saturn.

Jen: No, no… kindly school principal Saturn.

April: I think so. I mean, I have to admit to a bias in favor of Saturn. I think a little Saturn is always a good thing.

Jen: Said the woman who called him a cruel overlord!

April: He is a cruel overlord, but in a good way! He wants what’s right for us. Well, it’s to push us to do our very best. And Saturn is in the future oriented sign of Aquarius, so it’s the kind of influence that says, “If you do this right now, it’s really going to reward you in the future. It may not be the happiest thing in this particular moment, but you will thank me later.” It’s like, if we look back to our younger selves and said, “Please don’t drink all that soda. You will thank me later when you’re not having to pay huge dentist bills and sit in the dentist chair for hours on end.,” But at the time it’s like, “No, I really want the Pepsi.” You know? That is how I read Saturn in this instance. It’s saying, “Make this decision. You’ve been needing to make it for a long time. Do it. Because you’re not going to get to the future that you want, unless you make the sacrifices and apply the effort that’s required unless you do that now. So, dare!”

Jen: Awesome. That’s very good.

April: Well, what do you think, Jen? That seems to be everything on our show sheet for a change. Have we done it?

Jen: We’ve done it. Episode 75. That’s three quarters of the way to a hundred.

April: Yes. That’s kind of stunning to think of. Isn’t it? And before you know it, it’s going to be episodes with the 80’s…

Jen: And here come 80’s songs!

April: Just wait folks, you’re going to love it.

Jen: Yes.

April: Well, thanks to all of you for listening to The Big Sky Astrology Podcast. If you like, what you’re hearing, be sure to subscribe or follow the podcast wherever you listen to your podcasts. Leave us a rating or a review. And we actually have a little page in the website where we explain how you can do that. So, we will link that in the show notes, and we hope that you’ll spread the word. Just tell a friend about the podcast. That means so much. You can read show notes and full transcripts and leave your comments about each episode at our website, bigskyastropod.com.

Jen: We’re so grateful to everyone who showed support during our Podathon last fall. Each week, we 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 Stephanie Frogge, Michelle Cavallaro and Alina Walser.

April: We do know Stephanie. I’ll give her a little extra shout out because she is my much-adored assistant. She helps me with some things in Big Sky Astrology and my business, and she is an adorable person and we love her. And we thank her very much.

Jen: Hi, Stephanie!

April: Yes. Hi Stephanie. And Michelle and Alina, I wished that we knew you better and could say similar, wonderful things about you, but we will say, you have fantastic taste in podcasts and thank you so much. We appreciate you. And seriously, we want to thank you for listening to the podcast and especially for supporting us during our September Podathon.

Jen: Absolutely. Thanks to all three of you. 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. If you donate $5 or more, we’ll invite you to our special episodes for the Equinoxes and Solstices. It’s not too late to grab up our Equinox episode.

April: So, grab it up, along with the bingo card that we’re going to send you.

Jen: The bingo card, for sure.

April: Alright. Well, that is it for us this week. 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.

That’s all for today. If you like what you’re listening to, please take a moment to rate and review this podcast and hit subscribe to stay current with new episodes.

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Thanks again for joining us, and we’ll catch you next time!

© 2021 by April Elliott Kent & Jennifer Braun

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