Transcript
Episode 79 | Scorpio Full Moon: Bust Out Your Cape!
(April 26, 2021)
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 April 26th, 2021. And here with me to help us ring in the month of May, is my friend, astrologer April Elliott Kent. Happy May, April.
April: {Ring} Happy May, Jen.
Jen: Thank you.
April: Gosh!
Jen: Can you believe it?
April: No. It’s a little hard to believe for sure. But May, what a lovely month.
Jen: Yes. One of my favorites.
April: Mine too. It’s that lovely Taurus month with the Sun in Taurus and Venus now, and a bunch of other things. And it just has that lovely, easy fragrant vibe going for it. So, nice with all the beautiful flowers and grass and trees and leaves. And just the whole thing is quite pleasing.
Jen: Yes. We’ve been seeing some daffodils here in Minneapolis. And there are tulips that are coming up. It’s very exciting.
April: Oh, that is nice.
Jen: Yes.
April: I always associate daffodils with the month of April. Because, when I was a kid, I was in a school presentation. So, it’s first time I remember getting on stage….
Jen: Okay.
April: And we were reciting this poem called “Lady April”, so, of course I got to be Lady April.
Jen: Your name paid off for once!
April: It did for once, in a springy little frock. And it said something about, “Lady April is in town, in a green and yellow gown. As she walks across the field, she picks a bunch of daffodils,” or something.
Jen: Nice.
April: Yes. So, I have good associations with that. And I remember after feeling like such a star, just feeling so famous…
Jen: And all of your Leo stuff loved that.
April: Oh, man! It leaped to life. I didn’t know. I didn’t know there was this whole other world out there waiting for me to perform.
Jen: Totally.
April: Here in the Northern Hemisphere, May brings Beltane season, which marks the midpoint between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice. And traditionally it was considered actually the beginning of summer, which is funny to think of. I think it was considered that by people who didn’t live in Minneapolis, probably.
Jen: Probably. I would put money on that.
April: Yes. Or in San Diego where, you want to see summer weather? We’ll show you summer weather. Come back in September.
Jen: Yes. Right.
April: Beltane’s traditionally celebrated with bonfires and rituals that are related to cleansing and purifying, as well as fertility and wishes for fruitful year.
Jen: Lovely.
April: It is lovely. Doesn’t that sound Taurean?
Jen: Yes. It sure does. Because Taurus is very much about the Earth and things that you can touch and smell and taste. And of course, that is very bullish…
April: We’re bullish on May! And we will wish a happy Solar Return to all of our listeners who are born during this lovely month, our Taurus, and in later part of the month, Gemini listeners.
Jen: Happy solar return to our dear Taureans.
April: Yes. Well, my friend, we have a pretty full show sheet today.
Jen: Let’s kick it off. What should we start with, April?
April: Jen?
Jen: Yes?
April: I have an idea about where to start. Do you know what time it is?
Jen: What time is it?
April: It’s Moonwatch…
Jen: Moonwatch…
April: Play it!
April: Yes, it is Moonwatch. And this week we have a Full Moon to kick off the week on April 26th at 08:31 PM Pacific Time, at 7° and six minutes of Scorpio. And the Sun of course is at the same degree of Taurus. The Sabian symbol for the Moon at eight Scorpio is “The Moon Shining Across A Lake.” Very evocative. And the Sabian symbol for the Sun at eight Taurus is “A Sleigh Without Snow,” which is always a little bit baffling. It’s a pretty dramatic looking Full Moon chart.
Jen: How do you mean?
April: Well, the Full Moon itself, 7° of Scorpio, is in a T-square, of course, it’s opposing the Sun and Uranus, and they are all square Saturn. And I think we could probably pull Venus into that as well because Venus is at 15° of Taurus. So, we have what we call a T-square. And that means a lot of high tension – and it is possible to parlay that into some motivation and getting some things done. And it can also be a lot of conflict in that sort of friction.
The Sun square Saturn is one of my least favorite aspects. If you have it in your chart, it doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. It just, it’s a frustrating aspect. I think we’ve talked about this before. As the Sun is leading up to its square to Saturn twice each year, it is a hard time for things to gain purchase and to actually flourish. And that will be a little bit, I think, the story of this Full Moon for us. Saturn is just like hard compacted soil, if you think of it that way. And the Sun is the wonderful seed of life and creativity that wants to flourish and blue. So, it’s a little bit hard for it to do that sort of thing. It brings a little more heaviness to this part of the Taurus season.
Now, the Full Moon in Scorpio, which happens each year, some point when the Sun is in Taurus, is a sign in which the Moon is considered to be a little difficult. The Moon is about comfort, security, protection. And Scorpio, because it’s ruled by Mars is a sign where we can feel a little bit under threat or like we have to defend ourselves in some way. So, the Moon in Scorpio, this particular Full Moon can be one where a lot of secrets are exposed. We find out something about somebody, maybe somebody close to us, even that we didn’t was there. That can be hard. And it can also be, I think because of the aspect with Saturn, it can be a time when either we’re not able to be with the people we’re close to, which has been the case for most of us for about a year, or it can be that we feel emotionally cut off, maybe from some people close to us. That’s why I say it’s a little bit of a tough Full Moon. It is the continuation of the revelation part really of a New Moon from October 27th, 2019. That’s actually a time that you and I were beginning our podcasting journey, so we remember that period.
Jen: We certainly were.
April: We remember that period pretty well. We both had a couple of difficult things that happened around that time. That was the New Moon at 4° of Scorpio. Where we’re at now… in this cycle, in the lunar phase family that we sometimes talk about, it’s a cycle of two and a half years that begins at a New Moon. And then there is a crisis point, if you will, every nine months in that cycle.
Jen: What does that mean?
April: In this cycle, you’ll see the normal lunar cycle unfold. First, you have a New Moon at a particular degree, like the one that we had at four degrees of Scorpio. Nine months later, you’ll have a First Quarter Moon around that same degree. And we did: we had a First Quarter Moon at the end of July, 2020, when the Sun was in Leo. So, of course the Quarter Moon would have been in Scorpio, it would around the same degree. And now we’re at the Full Moon nine months later, that is also at that degree. So, what you’re doing is really kind of following a particular degree of the Zodiac over the course of two and a half years with a different event every nine months. So now, we’re at the Full Moon part of that as the revelation. It’s the, “What can we now see is the consequence of what started back in late October, 2019.”
Jen: To say it another way: It’s possible, depending on how the New Moon in Scorpio in late October 2019 was in your chart – your own personal chart – some kind of a story began. We saw the opening act at the end of July last year, and now we’re at that midpoint where we see more clearly what’s going on with everything.
April: Yes.
Jen: And this is also connected of course to the New Moon from two weeks ago, as well.
April: Right. That began in Aries. Whenever we have several planets in a T-square formation as we have here, where two of them are in opposition to each other and then both of them together square a third planet, so, in this case, the Sun and Uranus with Moon and Saturn, there will be a point, what we’ll call a release point, where the other sign in this modality, a fixed sign, is now represented by a planet. Because the Moon’s in Scorpio, fixed sign. Sun and Uranus are in Taurus, fixed sign. Saturn’s in Aquarius, fixed sign. So, the fixed sign that is missing from all of this is Leo…
Jen: Leo…
April: So, if things start to feel a little crazy, it feels a little bit – I don’t know, with both of these and Saturn, it’s kind of hard because you can feel that everything is impossible and you’re just not getting anywhere. The place to get away from it all and retreat and regroup is in Leo things. So it would be creative projects, having fun with friends, spending time with pets or with the children in your life perhaps. Or doing as Jen and I are going to do and picking out our favorite songs from the 1980s, which we’re going to start talking to you about our next episode. That’s a Leo thing as well.
Jen: That’s excellent. And what a good point about the eighties songs. I think the hard thing about this New Moon is – with Uranus involved – Uranus, typically in astrology, is seen as the unexpected and the unknown, and it brings that flavor to this Moon. And so, there is some element to the unknown about what’s coming, and so it is really important to be thinking about that Leo release point and how you can be creative… doing something creative, some kind of a healthy self-expression, would be great.
April: Absolutely. Because what’s happening when the Sun is square Saturn in particular is that we feel we don’t matter, sometimes. And the way to get in touch with the way we do matter is to do something fun that we love, that’s creative, that’s expressive, it tells the world who we are. There was a point that you made before when we were looking at this chart, Jen, about the Moon and Mars at this Full Moon being in mutual reception, which is a state we’ve talked about before were each is in the sign the other rules. And it’s kind of significant here because each of them is in the sign of their fall, the sign that they really are considered disadvantaged in, Mars in Cancer, Moon in Scorpio.
What’s nice about them being in mutual reception is that it’s sort of like each of them can make the conscious decision to be in the sign that they rule. The Moon can flip over to where Mars is, and it’s like it’s in Cancer. Mars can flip over to where Scorpio is and it is in its rulership as well. Basically, what it means is they can work together and be a lot stronger together at this Full Moon than we would ordinarily think with them in these signs. So, they’re in mutual reception and they’re in a good aspect to each other. They’re in trine aspect, so they’re able to work together.
And it can give us kind of a pleasant stimulation that isn’t overwhelming emotionally. Because usually when you get the Moon and Mars together, it’s sort of like your emotions were on a slow boil and eventually began to threaten boiling over. But with this, it moderates the heat level maybe a little bit. And it’s nice.
Jen: This is also a Supermoon, which just means that it’s extra close to Earth. And so, it can appear up to 30% brighter than a regular Full Moon. So, go look out the window or get yourself outside and take a look at this Full Moon if you’re able, because I think it will be very beautiful.
April: It’ll look lovely. And here in the United States, we’ll definitely be able to see it. So, go out and see the supermoon!
Jen: Supermoon! Doo-doo-doo-dooooooo!
April: Does it have a cape?
Jen: Yes!
April: Fabulous!
Jen: Well, the other thing that I noticed about this Full Moon is what we’re going to talk about next, April, which is that Pluto actually – in this chart – is not connecting to any other planets. And it’s holding still in the sky, it’s what is called stationing. Pluto actually turns retrograde the next day, April 27th at 01:01 PM Pacific Time at 26°, 48 minutes of Capricorn. What does this mean for the Full Moon? And then, just what does it mean in general?
April: The fact that Pluto is sitting there stationary at the Full Moon…
Jen: Yes. And unaspected by other planets…
April: Yes. It really gives it some prominence. I was thinking when a planet is unaspected that it’s like your cellphone is switched on and it’s looking for a signal somewhere….
Jen: That’s a really good analogy.
April: …That it’s not necessarily finding. And then it starts to lose its power and your battery gets drained. Having it stationary in the chart just means it is particularly powerful. And of course, in terms of modern rulerships, Pluto is connected with Scorpio, which is the sign of the Full Moon. It definitely seems significant, and it means Pluto’s sitting there just kind of pulsing in the background looking for something to do. And that’s a little bit dangerous. We want Pluto to be happily occupied with something productive, and he is really kind of not, in this. So, he turns retrograde on April 27th.
We previously talked about Pluto retrograde in Episode 22, “Taurus New Moon and Venus Gone Wild.” Definitely, it just for the couple of days, either side of a station for a big slow planet like that. Well, it really does show up in your environment in a pretty noticeable way. We’ll hear things about control, about power struggles, about possibly environmental pollution or contaminants, about people being caught doing pretty terrible things. These are all possible expressions of Pluto. And so, you’ll see it in the news, you’ll hear it in the conversations around you. This is the kind of stuff that’s coming up. And that’s not unusual with the Full Moon in Scorpio anyway, because again, it’s a Moon that is very connected to what’s going on underneath the surface.
What I thought about this one particular, it’s like, how do you deal with downturns and reversals? Which is what a retrograde station is. It’s turning backwards. How do you deal with reversals in your life after you’ve been working really hard to build something up? And that is a theme that I think we’re going to see with this Pluto turning retrograde of, it could have ramifications even for financial things. The Scorpio Full Moon is one of the two Full Moons in a year where I do a certain amount of ritual around money, because Taurus and Scorpio are considered financial signs; and this New Moon, of course, places them opposite each other – and they’re square Saturn. Putting that together with Pluto, which is also a little related to finance, especially big finances like banks and the stock market, makes me think we’ll see something a little interesting possibly around this Full Moon about the economy. So, what we want to do is go within and any kind of observances or rituals that you feel are helpful and appropriate at a Full Moon, releasing, letting go of things that are toxic or not serving us is probably a good way to go at this Full Moon and the Pluto turning retrograde.
Jen: Yes. And Pluto will actually be at this point for another for another week or so.
April: Oh, yes. He’s not moving off that Sabian symbol anytime soon, “A Mountain Pilgrimage.”
Jen: Yes.
April: Well, what do we have coming up next, pal?
Jen: Next up we have Mercury and Venus traveling closely together. And they are both making a sextile to Neptune just a few days apart from each other. First up, we have Mercury sextile Neptune on April 29th, at 07:26 PM Pacific Time. Mercury is at 22°, 21 minutes of Taurus, and Neptune is at the same degree of Pisces. Venus then sextiles Neptune on May 2nd at 03:38 PM Pacific Time. Venus is just a little farther along at 22°, 26 minutes, Taurus… Neptune in Pisces of course. What should folks know about this, April?
April: Well, with sextiles, we always see opportunities, new information coming in and specifically opportunities for our strongest talents and skills, which I was associate with Mercury, and our most valuable and attractive resources, which is symbolized by Taurus, all to be used in the service of others. That’s what Neptune wants to do. It is very empathetic. It’s the way in which we feel we are one with everybody else. And that is how I’m reading this one.
Jen: I like that. And part of being in the service towards other people is just very much Pisces as well. Isn’t it?
April: Yes. I also like the Sabian symbol for Neptune here, 23 Pisces, is “A Spiritist Phenomena.”
Jen: What do you make of that?
April: I don’t know. I like it. It’s sort of like a seance or somebody reading a Oija board or something like that, or scrying. And it also brings in that intuitive lovely dimension of Neptune that enhances anything that we might try to create in writing or art, those kinds of things, represented by Mercury and Venus. And having that sextile to Neptune, is just really nice for inspiration, I think. The spirit is coming to us in some kind of interesting way. The muse is with us perhaps, April 29th and May 2nd.
But, in between those two, the Sun will make its annual conjunction to Uranus on April 30th, 12:54 PM Pacific Time, at 10°, 40 minutes Taurus. And this is an exciting combination of planets. It really can be energizing. Uranus has that dimension to it where it’s exciting, something new is happening, something kind of revolutionary. So, having the Sun together with that, can be fun. But just be a little careful. The Sabian symbol for this is, 11 tourists, “A Woman Sprinkling Flowers To Apply Some Water.” And we want to make sure that this woman who’s sprinkling the flowers doesn’t cause an unpleasant shock, I would say.
Jen: Or maybe the flowers are unusual or rare.
April: Ah, I like that. It’s beautiful. It’s a time for creative breakthroughs as well, potentially, with the Sun and Uranus together. But mostly, it’s just the ways in which we want to change things up a little bit. We’re probably tired of doing things in the same old way, even though the Sun and Uranus are both in Taurus, which does like to just stay the course and do pretty much the same things. But when the Sun comes together with Uranus in the sign, it’s a little bit like little earthquake or something, a little earth tremor. Just something to shake us loose a little bit from the routines that might have gotten a little stale. It’s a particularly nice aspect or influential one, anyway, I would say for Leos, because they’re ruled by the Sun. So, if you’re a Leo person, get yourself grounded for all this Uranian energy coming in.
Jen: Good point. Next up we have Mercury trining Pluto on May 2nd at 02:19 AM Pacific Time. Mercury is in Taurus at 26°, 48 minutes… and Pluto, as we said, is in Capricorn. A trine aspect is seen as something not unpleasant. Right, April?
April: It’s seen as two influences that are flowing and in sync. If they’re unpleasant planets or doing unpleasant things in your chart, then the fact that they’re getting along so well, it’s maybe not that great. But we’re going to see this one as a positive one though. Yes.
Jen: Okay.
April: So, the Sabian symbol for Mercury here on 27 Taurus is “An Indian Woman Selling Beads.” And the Sabian symbol earlier for Mercury and Venus with Neptune was 23 Taurus, “A Jewelry Shop.” And I just sort of was caught by the contrast between those two symbols. The “Jewelry Shop” 23 Taurus. Probably, the Indian woman selling the beads is making a fairly modest amount of money doing it. There isn’t a prestige of a jewelry shop. But Mercury is the God of commerce. And at these two symbols this week, it tells us that doing business with people is essentially the same – and it doesn’t really matter if you’re selling something at Walmart or by the side of the road, or if you’re selling something at Neiman Marcus. I think the woman who is selling her beads, it’s like all of us who do work that’s made up of a lot, like contractors, who do things that are made up of many small parts, but at the end they kind of add up to something more.
And I think the woman in the Sabian symbol is working super hard. It’s trine Pluto on a mountain pilgrimage. If you’re in a place right now where you’re doing work that seems a little below your abilities, still keep doing it with diligence and integrity because the trine to Pluto from Mercury implies that what you’re doing is contributing to something important and it may eventually connect you with powerful people or make an important contribution to a cause that’s really important.
Mercury moves pretty quickly, so, none of these aspects that it makes are all that lasting, but they do have a way of triggering off larger aspects. And Pluto was really active this week, because it’s turning retrograde. So, Mercury connected with Pluto. If you have been just steadily and diligently selling your small things, making your seemingly small contributions, is part of a bigger picture. And it may actually that picture might start to come together a little bit towards the end of this week as Mercury trine Pluto.
Jen: Yes, I guess if you’re on your mountain pilgrimage, those beads might come in handy.
April: I wish she were selling beans, and it’d be like magic beans.
April: Because, who knows how helpful those could be on a mountain pilgrimage. That would be so great.
Jen: We could definitely use some magic beans!
April: Oh, that we could my friend. That we could. Well, Jen, we’ve made it to the end of another show sheet. What do you think? Have we done it?
Jen: Episode 79 is successfully completed.
April: Huzzah for the podcast!
Jen: Yes.
April: Thanks for listening to The Big Sky Astrology Podcast. And if you like what you’re hearing, be sure to subscribe or follow the show, rate or review. And we hope that you will help us spread the word, tell a friend about it. You can read show notes and full transcripts for each episode and leave your comments 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, pal?
April: This week, we want to give a Big Sky Astrology Podcast shout out to Christine Marsden, Henrietta Winston and James Brophy.
April: Well, Christine, Henrietta and James, who I also know as Jimmy, we really do appreciate you. And we thank you so much for listening to the podcast and for supporting us during our September Podathon.
Jen: We’re so grateful to all three of you. Thank 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.
April: 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.
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