The Astrology Podcast
Transcript of Episode 154, titled:
Astrology Forecast for May 2018
With Chris Brennan and guests Austin Coppock and Kelly Surtees
Episode originally released on April 29, 2018
Original episode URL:
https://theastrologypodcast.com/2018/04/29/astrology-forecast-for-may-2018-uranus-enters-taurus/
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Note: This is a transcript of a spoken word podcast. If possible, we encourage you to listen to the audio or video version, since they include inflections that may not translate well when written out. Our transcripts are created by human transcribers, and the text may contain errors and differences from the spoken audio. If you find any errors then please send them to us by email: theastrologypodcast@gmail.com
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Transcribed by Andrea Johnson
Transcription released November 14th, 2025
Copyright © 2025 TheAstrologyPodcast.com
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CHRIS BRENNAN: Hi, my name is Chris Brennan, and you’re listening to The Astrology Podcast. This episode was recorded on Monday, April 23, 2018, starting at 4:14 PM in Denver, Colorado, and this will be the 154th episode of the show. For more information about how to subscribe to the podcast and help support the production of future episodes by becoming a patron, please visit theastrologypodcast.com/subscribe. In this episode, I’m gonna be talking with Austin Coppock and Kelly Surtees about the astrological forecast for May of 2018. Hey, guys, welcome back to the show.
AUSTIN COPPOCK: Hey, Chris.
KELLY SURTEES: Hey, guys.
CB: Hey. So where are you both coming from? Kelly, are on the road right now visiting Australia, right?
KS: Yes, I’m here in Sydney in my old childhood bedroom, I realized as I was prepping this morning. And, yeah, one of my sisters is due to have a baby any day now. We thought she might come before Duchess Catherine, but the Duchess has got her baby out. We’re still waiting on ours. Yeah, so I’m on the road, but excited to be here with you guys as always. Such a nice check-in each month.
CB: Right. That’s a funny ‘time-twins’ thing where your sister’s gonna have a baby like right around the same time as the royal baby that was just born earlier this morning.
KS: Yes. Yeah, it is an interesting thing. It’ll just depend on how close my sister goes. My sister, she’s due now. But as we’re all learning babies come when they’re ready, so it could still be a couple of days.
CB: Okay. Well, we’ll look at the chart for that later, for the royal baby.
KS: Yes.
CB: Austin, how are you doing? You’re at home in Oregon?
AC: Yeah, I’m in my office here in Ashland.
CB: Awesome. And we’re all getting ready. I guess we’re a month away now from the United Astrology Conference. And that’s the next big thing looming where the three of us are actually gonna meet up in person here in just a few weeks.
KS: Yeah. It’s been years since we’ve all been at a conference together—I think those NORWAC conferences a couple of years ago—so it’s gonna be exciting.
AC: Actually I think it was the ISAR conference.
KS: Oh, I beg your pardon. Austin, you’re right, in California.
AC: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
KS: Yeah.
CB: Oh, yeah. That was when I won the award for the podcast, and we were altogether that night—
KS: That’s right.
CB: —with a nice picture of all of us from that award show. All right, so we’re gonna be talking today about the astrological forecast and the major alignments for May of 2018. We’ve got a few pieces of news and announcements to get to first before we get there. Kelly, what do you have going on in terms of that?
KS: So, look, the big focus for me—like I know for many of us—is the UAC conference, but I will be running, of course, my subscription service Stellar Insights for May as usual. And because we do have a pretty big event—Uranus moving into Taurus this month—I’m including a ‘Uranus in Taurus’ extra in the subscriber package. So for people who are subscribed, you’re gonna get that free. And if you’re interested or thinking about signing up, there are a couple of extra bonuses to help you with Uranus in Taurus coming up for this month. So if you are interested, you can find out via my homepage.
CB: Awesome. And your website is kellysastrology.com?
KS: Yes. Yes, thank you.
CB: Okay, brilliant. And, Austin, what do you have going on?
AC: Well, I’ll be teaching the second month of my fundamentals of astrology course, which focuses on the construction and function of the zodiac. And even though that’s a month-long module in a larger series, people who are not taking the larger series may enroll and just do that little bit. I’m also teaching a webinar on Uranus in Taurus. I actually scheduled it for the day of the ingress. So we’ll be talking about it less than 24 hours after the ingress. And I’ll be doing history and then going through what the transits might look like to individual houses and planets within the chart. That’ll be fun. And then that anthology of essays on astrological magic, The Celestial Art, will finally be in print at some point during the second half of May. Hopefully by UAC, fingers crossed and prayers said.
CB: That’s really exciting. And I’m actually really excited about that, that you have a new book coming out.
AC: Yeah, me too, me too. You know, having gone through the final edit process where you read everything over several times, I’m really happy with all of the contributions. It’s a solid lineup.
CB: Definitely. And your voice is sounding particularly silky smooth today for some reason. Why is that?
AC: Oh, I started gargling with vinegar. No, I got a new microphone.
CB: Yeah. So you are on a new, top-of-the-line microphone. We upgraded your setup, and you’re sounding pretty good now.
AC: All right, well, good.
CB: Good. All right.
AC: So I hope it was worth it. As you know, and some people know, the more sophisticated and higher quality the audio equipment gets, the more tiny problems, which create big problems, there are. It’s touchy stuff.
CB: Yeah, change is always difficult. But I appreciate you sticking with it, and it sounds good, and I think it’ll be good in the long term.
AC: Well, I’ve been told that this will be the final upgrade. And so, an end to upgrades sounds nice. This’ll be the end of the line.
CB: I mean, this is the microphone that Michael Jackson used to record Thriller. So you can’t really get any higher than that. I mean, that’s pretty much the end of the line.
AC: It’s also very popular with metal vocalists.
CB: Okay. Well, there you go.
KS: Well, some of our listeners will be thrilled to hear that.
CB: Right. Okay, so news and announcements. My only piece of news and announcements—
KS: Yeah, you’ve got something going on.
CB: Yeah. So my main thing is just every once in a while—I don’t do it very often—but I decided this month to do a discount on my Hellenistic astrology course and all of the other courses that I offer. So it’s a 15% discount that’s good through the end of April. So it expires, actually, May 1. But if you’re listening to this over the next week or so, after I release this episode, and you’re interested or you’ve been meaning to sign up for one of my courses—like my Hellenistic or my electional astrology course—all you have to do is use the promo code ‘JUPITER’. Just type in ‘JUPITER’ in the promo code field when you sign up for the course and you’ll get a 15% discount. So, yeah, I’m excited about it. About a year ago, I switched to a new course site, and it’s finally at a place where it feels really stable and it feels really well-rounded. So I’m excited to bring some new students in for the spring and for the next few months of basically teaching, and to sort of show it off and get some new people going through the program. So you can find out more information about the courses at theastrologyschool.com. And the promo code again is ‘JUPITER’.
KS: That’s a clever promo code.
CB: Yeah, I was thinking of good promo codes earlier today, and I was coming up with overly-complicated ones. And I was just, “Well, ‘JUPITER’, that’s good.”
KS: That’s perfect.
AC: Like ‘Apotelesmatics’?
CB: Yeah, that was the name of my first blog.
KS: What?
CB: That was literally the name of my first website, Apotelesmatics Astrology Blog. But then it’s funny, cuz then you can see my progression—if you go through my websites—to increasingly less, and more straightforward, keyword targeting. Like then it became The Horoscopic Astrology Blog, then turned out that nobody knew what horoscopic astrology really was.
KS: Yeah, that’s a fancy, technical term.
CB: I was hosting Traditional Astrology Radio, but then that was overly-restricted on traditional astrology.
KS: Traditional.
CB: And now I’m doing The Astrology Podcast—and that just, yeah.
AC: You know, I used to call my weekly column Abyssal Epistles.
CB: Nice. I like that.
KS: So one of the first bits of advice I got way back in the day when I started writing astrology—if you want to be able to connect with a lot of people about your stuff, you’re writing for ‘the girl on the bus’. Now that was very light—I was doing some work for women’s magazines at the time—but it really reminded me of how important it was to keep things as simple and clear. The other thing we have in ‘writing and editing land’ is the idea of don’t use a ‘two-dollar’ word when a ‘penny’ word will do. Like use the most simple word you possibly can to communicate what you’re saying.
AC: Right. And so, that’s exactly the opposite of what I do.
KS: Yeah. Is that the opposite of what you do, Austin? Cuz you have beautiful imagery that is very accessible.
AC: I write the astrology column that I would like to read, or at least as close as I can. Yeah, if I write for the lowest common denominator, I will hate my audience and myself.
KS: Right.
AC: You know, half of my sentences have like eight commas in them and are compound, complex. And I will use whatever word I think is most evocative and beautiful, which is usually not a ‘two-penny’ word.
KS: Yeah. The writing—I think it’s good to do what you’re doing, Austin. It’s more when you’ve got a headline or like a blog title, for instance. Like the name of the website you want to be accessible or easily understood. The whole content doesn’t have to be that. It’s just the URL, for instance.
AC: Yeah. You know, I feel like to a certain degree I can do things the way that I want to do them.
KS: We all can, cuz we’re self-employed.
AC: Well, yeah. But because some people are doing more accessible work, there’s plenty of room for me to do whatever speaks to my artistic sensibilities.
CB: I mean, I see this tension, I see this playing out all the time. There’s a tension between people wanting to pick a poetic title for something—like a book, let’s say—versus a purely descriptive one. And the issue I always have is the question, do you want it to be found? Like a poetic title is nice, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re gonna find it. So that’s why I titled my book Hellenistic Astrology, because that’s what it’s on. And then you have the subtitle, whatever, The Study of Fate and Fortune. But if you do the poetic title first, then sometimes what you’re putting out there is harder to find. And that’s one of the tricky things about that debate, even though I can kinda see both sides.
AC: Yeah. Well—go ahead, Kelly.
KS: Oh, I was just gonna say, yeah, I don’t want us to be saying we should be writing for the lowest common denominator. Because, Austin, I actually do something similar to you, where I think it’s important to be a little bit more nuanced and a little bit more detailed. I mean, your style and my style are different, but we both go beyond the most accessible version, if you like. But I think the point you’re making, Chris, it’s almost like the titles and the headings are the gateways. You don’t want them to misrepresent, but you do want them to be found. And there is some tension in there around how you find that balance.
CB: Yeah, like obscuring what you’re trying to present. Accidentally obscuring it or making it harder to find versus something too simple or where it’s too obvious that you’re just focusing on keywords and figuring out the balance between those two.
KS: Yeah.
AC: Yeah. And then there’s also the question of who is the book or blog—whatever the piece of writing is—who is that intended for? If you’ve written it to appeal to millions of people, then it should have a title that is that accessible. Like when I wrote my book on the decans, 36 Faces, that’s not for everybody. A lot of people don’t care about an obscure division of the zodiac that has Egyptian roots, right? I was like, “You know what? This isn’t a New York Times bestseller. This isn’t a pot boiler.” But for what I figured is for the people whom it was for, they’d be like, “Oh, great. There’s finally a book on the decans.” And so, what I decided to do title-wise was a somewhat evocative, mysterious title, 36 Faces. To me at least that’s an intriguing, but kind of creepy image. That’s a lot of faces looking at you. And then the literal subtitle, The History, Astrology, and Magic of the Decans.
CB: Right.
KS: It’s perfect.
CB: Yeah. Anyway, so it’s a funny tension. Cuz Adam and Eugenia and I talked about that earlier this month, because my podcast came up and that’s one of the reasons I switched names. I knew it would come up when somebody searches for ‘astrology podcast’ in iTunes.
KS: Basically it’s a combination of the two keywords.
CB: Right. If you name it something else that just sounds good and poetic but it doesn’t have any of those keywords like ‘stellar explorations’ or something like that, nobody’s gonna search for that when they’re searching for an astrology podcast. So it’s just an interesting thing as you get into doing things as a professional astrologer, where sometimes you’re met with questions like that, about whether to go with something poetic or go with something descriptive. Anyway, so that’s a weird digression.
KS: This is a total ‘word nerd’ debate, which with Saturn in Virgo I love. I love these ‘word nerd’ debates.
AC: I think it’s relevant to astrology as a whole. Because the question of how technical to get in your descriptions, how much of your work do you show versus how much do you just say what you think the result will be is a constant challenge and is another version of this ‘approach-ability versus nuance’ thing. And I think it’s actually a pretty core tension that astrologers struggle with.
KS: I think that’s a beautiful point, Austin. It’s like, do I give you the whole recipe, or do I just show you the cake that I baked? Like do I just give you a piece of the cake, or do I say, “These are all the steps that I got there?” And I find that too with my own writing. How much of the process that I follow to get to this do I share or show in the piece? Sometimes there’s a word-count factor. Sometimes there’s a time where you think, “I just want to put a 500-word blog up,” or “I’m going for gold; I’ve got 3,000 words; I’m putting everything in.” And there is a different time, different circumstances—or some things are better suited to the shorter, less in-depth or less backstory and others are more deserving of that detailed treatment. And because we do work for ourselves, we can often decide that based on our preferences.
CB: Definitely. All right, so we’re still in the ‘news and announcements’ section, so let’s crank the rest of those out really quickly. One other major announcement we needed to make is since UAC—the United Astrology Conference—is happening in Chicago next month at the end of May, we’re actually doing a meetup with listeners of the podcast, which is gonna take place on Saturday, May 26, 2018, from 7:00 to 8:30 PM, in the Halsted Foyer, on the fourth floor, of the hotel that the United Astrology Conference is taking place at. So this is gonna be like a meet-and-greet with listeners. And Austin and Kelly and I are actually gonna record a brief, like 45-minute or maybe an hour-long Q&A where we’re gonna answer some questions and basically record a live podcast episode right there at UAC with an audience, which we’ve never done before, but should be a fun experiment. And if it goes terribly wrong, there is gonna be a bar. So we can get some drinks afterwards and laugh about it if it’s a big disaster.
KS: I like that you have a contingency plan, Chris.
CB: Yeah, always have a backup plan, that’s my thing. Anyway, it’s gonna be fun. I know a ton of people are gonna be there at the conference next month, and I think we have a big enough room to hold a lot of people. So if it’s your first conference, it’s like one of the reasons I wanted to do that at the very least, not just to record an episode. But also, for a lot of people this is gonna be their first conference, and I wanted to be able to connect other podcast listeners with each other. Because sometimes that’s like the most important thing about conferences, or that’s a very important element, just connecting with other like-minded people who are studying the same thing. And if you already have some point of similarity—which is that you both listen to this podcast—then that already gives you something that you have in common. So, yeah, everybody should join us that night. It’s totally free. Just show up there at seven o’clock and we’ll play it by ear and see how it goes.
KS: It’ll be great. It’s good to have those chances just to meet with like-minded people, or meet with people you’ve got something in common. Because that’s just an icebreaker and then who knows where things can go.
CB: Yeah, exactly. And I’m gonna be signing copies of my book at some point, or I can sign copies. Austin’s gonna be signing copies of his new book.
AC: Well, if it arrives. Fingers crossed on that. No promises. It might arrive in print the day after UAC. It might be the day before. So let’s not jinx it. Hopefully, hopefully, there will be copies of the new book.
KS: Very exciting.
CB: Austin will be signing something, whether it’s like babies or body parts or what have you.
AC: I’ll sign your cast if you got a broken wing.
CB: All right, so that’s next month. Last ‘news and announcements’ thing is I’m giving away three books. So every month we give away a few books to patrons of The Astrology Podcast to thank them for supporting my work with the podcast over the previous month. This month, I’ve got three books to give away. One of them is a copy of Jung on Astrology by Safron Rossi and Keiron Le Grice, which I interviewed both of them over the past few months. So the book contains a collection of excerpts of Jung’s statements, largely from his collected works and from his writings about astrology. You can listen to the past episodes of the podcast for more information about that. The second book I’m giving away is Astrology and the Authentic Self by Demetra George, which is a nice intermediate-level astrology book that provides a synthesis of modern and traditional astrology. So that’s highly recommended. And then the third one is actually a copy of Liz Greene’s new book that I just did an episode on, which is titled Jung’s Studies in Astrology, Volume 1: Prophecy, Magic, and the Qualities of Time. So I actually ordered volume two from Amazon, but they sent me a book that has the cover for volume two. But when you open it up, it’s actually volume one. So I got a misprint, so I’m gonna give that away. So whoever wins this one will get a rare, special edition copy of volume two that has the wrong cover, that’s actually volume one. All right, so those are our giveaways this month. To be part of the giveaway, just sign up to become a patron of the show through our page on Patreon, and then you’ll be eligible for that in the future.
All right, so transitioning out of news and announcements, we were gonna have some early discussions. Usually we have a discussion topic about something that’s going on before we get into the forecast. So there’s one discussion topic that came up over the past month where there’s a student from a university in the UK—and she’s doing a research project as part of Nick Campion’s program—where she’s researching the concept of Mercury retrograde and the question of how did it become such a popular and increasingly almost mainstream astrological concept that people are aware of over the past few decades, under the premise that it wasn’t always such a popular concept, but it seems like it’s become more popular recently. And she actually, in her email to me—cuz she wanted to do an interview with me to see what I thought about this, which we’re supposed to do tomorrow—she cited Nick Campion who evidently argued that he thought it might be partially a side effect of the rise of traditional astrology from the 1980s forward and its increasing focus on sometimes stark or sometimes negative delineations or something like that. And that was his speculation and that was one of the things she was gonna look into. So I didn’t actually think that that sounded like the answer necessarily to that question. I felt like the answer to why Mercury retrograde’s become more prominent is that it probably has to do with the rise of more advanced mainstream astrological columns—especially blogs and other things that are being written online—where the astrologers are not just talking about Sun signs, but sometimes they are having more ability to have recourse to more general concepts. And Mercury retrograde is one of those things that happens so frequently that it’s something that astrologers do end up talking about like every few months just because Mercury goes retrograde three times a year. So that seemed like a more likely component to me than the other thing. What do you guys think, though? First, do you accept the premise that Mercury retrograde has become more common or popular as a phenomenon? And if you do, why do you think that is?
KS: You go, Austin. You go.
AC: Okay. One, do I accept the premise that Mercury retrograde is discussed more often and more publicly? Yes, yes I do. As far as the recent rise in the popularity of astrology, or the amount of the public discourse that it takes up, I think Mercury retrograde and Saturn return are like the two things that people become aware of. And I think, one, with Mercury retrograde, it happens enough that you can recognize it, and it doesn’t require—well, I was gonna say it doesn’t require too much nuance. It actually does, and it’s often talked about in not-nuanced way. I would not agree that it is the result of traditional astrology, because none of the typical delineations of Mercury retrograde have anything to do with most traditional takes on it. It’s not like William Lilly was all about that Mercury retrograde. You know what I mean?
CB: Sure. And I should pull up that email, so I make sure that I’m quoting it correctly. I forgot to add also that the other part of my answer was that it’s not just the increasing proliferation of astrological columns and the increasing popularity of astrology, especially among Millennials, which I’m becoming even more and more accepting that that’s actually happening. Like I’ve overheard like three ‘astrology’ conversations in the coffee shop that I went to over the past week. And I realized that that’s anecdotal, but it’s really weird to just be sitting there and hear in the distance some 20- and 30-year-old talking about their rising signs, or to go to a Barnes & Noble a few weeks ago and see a couple reading a synastry book together for relationship analysis. And I don’t feel like I’ve seen that until recently. I feel like that’s becoming a little bit more common. So the other thing I was gonna say is I feel like the rise of the importance of technology in our lives may have added an additional feature in terms of making Mercury retrograde a little bit more relevant or a little bit more immediately tangible for many of us than it might have been in previous decades as well.
AC: I think that’s a great observation. You know, when you’ve got a bunch of audio devices and video devices, and you’ve got the internet, you’ve got a phone that you can drop in the toilet, there’s a lot more room for Mercury to play, whereas if you had a phone in 1985, it plugged into the wall. You could not drop it in the toilet. You could not accidentally step on it. You couldn’t lose it. It didn’t need internet access.
CB: Right.
AC: I think that’s a really good point, Chris.
KS: That was actually my response. I agree too that Mercury retrograde is definitely talked about more often, and I often gauge these things by my sisters. I mean, those of you who’ve listened for a while know that I’m from a big family. And my younger sisters—who are in their late 20’s and early 30’s—they know about Mercury retrograde, and their friends know about it. Which surprises me because other than my astrological friends that knew about it when I was that age, nobody talked about it. It wasn’t something that just literally ‘the girl on the bus’ talked about, but they do now. And I think I do disagree with Nicholas Campion. There’s isn’t a lot in the traditional literature on Mercury retrograde. It’s not like the number one thing that came out of the Medieval or the Hellenistic era. I think it’s more to do with technology. I think that there is more astrology information being disseminated to a wider audience because of the internet and blogs and video and podcasts. Even podcasts. People are learning astrology now just by listening to podcast information and following videos on YouTube. So I think there’s that sort of general increase that’s going on. I do think it’s talked about more and more. And, Austin, I agree with you completely. I think the other thing that’s talked about a lot more is the Saturn return.
CB: Yeah, definitely. So the researcher, the woman who’s doing this, is working on her MA in cultural astronomy and astrology at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David—her name’s Joanna Martin. So I’m excited. I’m gonna interview her, I’m hoping, at some point, once her research project is finished and she’s drawn her own conclusions and done all the research and all the interviews with other astrologers about this topic. But just so I don’t misstate what she said Nick’s hypothesis was, she said: “Nick has hypothesized that the current popularity of Mercury retrograde has its roots in the traditional revival that occurred in the 1980s, and argues that until this point there was little attention paid to Mercury retrograde outside of horary astrology. Most astrology books before the 1980s mentioned planetary retrogrades, but only a little attention was paid to natal retrograde planets, which were mostly just seen as less effective.”
KS: It’s interesting to me. I mean, Nick is an incredibly well-educated, well-researched guy. So a part of me is like, what does he have access to? What is he looking at that tells him that? Because even within the horary tradition—which you guys would know more about than me—a retrograde planet is important in the nature of a horary chart, but it’s not like that really talks a lot about Mercury retrograde either.
CB: Yeah. I mean, I think there’s just an issue where, on the one hand, we don’t have the perspective he does. Cuz he would be older, so he would have seen that transition from—
KS: That’s true.
CB: —what are astrologers talking about in the 1970s and ‘80s versus now, whereas our reference point is just the past couple of decades. But on the other hand, there were probably overlapping things that were happening. Yes, there was a revival of traditional astrology in the 1980s and 1990s, but at the same time that’s when the internet and personal computers also came about. And that’s also when astrology—like advanced forms of astrology—started to go more mainstream. So you had concepts like Saturn return going mainstream and Mercury retrograde mainstream, and astrologers not being restricted to just talking about Sun sign columns. Because one of the things the internet allowed astrologers to do was start to integrate more advanced forms of astrology into their discussion of general weekly and monthly forecasts, and I think that’s probably the primary way that it made it more into the mainstream. Basically from forecasts just like this one, where if some astrologer’s putting out a forecast regularly—whether it’s daily or monthly or weekly—they have to talk about what’s going on in the astrological weather. And Mercury going retrograde—because it happens three times a year—is just naturally one of those things that they’re gonna return to and mention over and over again, and it’s that frequency or that repetition of mentioning it that probably plays a major role.
KS: Totally. And I think Nick’s right on the timeframe, but I agree with you that it may have been other things going on. Cuz the traditional revival was happening in the ‘80s and ‘90s. But whether that is linked to this, yeah, it’s really interesting to think about. Austin? You were gonna add something?
AC: No. I think I’m very happy with everything we’ve said so far. I don’t feel like I see any missing pieces.
CB: Cool. Okay. Let’s see, other general topics. So one of them, Kelly, you mentioned the new royal baby that was just born this morning.
KS: Yes, yes. I don’t know. I mean, I’ve probably discussed my obsession with royals in the past. You know, I’m very interested in the astrology of Harry and Meghan’s wedding coming up, which is also in early May. But, yeah, William and Kate just had their third baby just a few hours ago, which is another boy. And this is a groundbreaking experience from a ‘line of succession’ thing because between William and Kate having their first baby George—who is now in the direct line of succession—they had a girl. They had a baby Charlotte. And between George and Charlotte being born, the rules were changed in England that would allow a female child to inherit the throne above her younger brother. So for the first time in British history there is an older female sibling who is higher in the line of succession than her younger brother. Prior to this law being changed—which was just in the last few years—what would have happened? We’ve got George and Charlotte and this new baby boy. What would have happened prior to this rule change? If it’s a boy, it would have hopscotched over the girl in the line of succession. So now the natural birth order in the family is preserved as part of the line of succession, which is a new thing coming out of England. So that’s sort of a little bit of a ‘history nerd’ side piece. But, yeah, there’s a new royal baby. There’s gonna be a lot talked about it. Jessica Adams—who’s another Australian astrologer, who’s got strong ties to Britain—has already put a little post up on her website. News websites are already talking about astrologers—with incredibly far-off names that I’ve never heard of—promising things for the royal baby. So it is a bit of an exciting thing. Not necessarily saying that the royal family is amazing, but it’s just an interesting cultural thing that we still have this royal family that has a lot of power in Britain, and there’s a new member for that family that’s just been born.
CB: Yeah. Well, and it’s cool to see the traditional stuff happening with it. There’s like an official town crier that came out and announced the birth.
KS: It’s phenomenal the ritual that has obviously been around for such a long time. The town crier comes out to announce the birth. There is sort of a scroll that is unrolled and displayed out the front of Buckingham Palace. And what I noticed on that scroll is there is a printed section of information, and the only piece that was handwritten—it basically says something like, “The Duchess of Cambridge was safely delivered of a baby boy at ‘blank’ time.” So they knew they were having a boy in advance, because this pre-prepped printed document had ‘boy’ printed on, and then they had just written the birth time in at 11:01 AM, on the 23rd of April, 2018, in London. There’s a lot of pomp and circumstance around it. It’s interesting to watch.
CB: Definitely. And of course the other thing interesting about that is anytime you throw out like a date and a time astrologers are immediately going to look at the chart and just see what it has, or see what the chart looks like.
KS: Totally. It is one of the reasons I do enjoy working with royal family charts, because the time is publicly announced, so it tends to be a well-documented thing.
CB: Sure. So I’m gonna share the chart really quick then for people watching the video version of this podcast. So the data is April 23, 2018, at 11:01 AM, in Buckingham Palace, United Kingdom. So the chart—for the ‘audio’ people—that we’re looking at, it has 27° of Cancer rising. The Moon is the ruler of the ascendant, and it’s at 9° of Leo in the second whole sign house. It’s separating from a trine with Mercury at 7° of Aries, which is conjunct the degree of the MC at 1° of Aries. And the Moon is actually applying. Its next aspect is actually a square with Jupiter at 20° of Scorpio in the fifth whole sign house.
KS: Yes. And it’s on the North Node there in Leo as well. One of the interesting things, from a family signature perspective, is that this baby has the Venus conjunct Algol aspect. Which Algol is quite significant in the royal family, because Algol is the degree of Queen Elizabeth’s IC. So 24°-26° of Taurus is the degree of Queen Elizabeth’s IC. Princess Diana and Prince William all have Venus conjunct Algol in this latter part of Taurus. So it’s an interesting, sort of weird family thread. Not every member of the family has it, but Queen Elizabeth, Princess Di, Prince William, and now this third child of Prince William’s.
CB: Interesting. So a prominent fixed star showing up in a family chart. And you see that sometimes with families, just repeating themes that cross generations of having the same placement or the same signature of some sort.
KS: You do, even without it being a royal family. I mean, if you’ve got charts of your grandparents or your parents and siblings, or nieces and nephews, you do often see not always a planet/fixed star placement, but you often see things that repeat.
CB: Sure, sure. What do you think, Austin? Do you look at royal charts?
AC: No. Their existence kind of annoys me. I mean, I guess it’s cool. If a country wants to have pampered mascots then that’s their business.
KS: I love it. I mean, culturally and historically, I’m from a country that has a more, I don’t want to say ‘positive’, but has maybe a stronger relationship to the British royal family. I know the British royal family, when you look at history with the US and Britain, is a little bit more fractured.
AC: Yeah. My ancestors on both sides left mostly Britain like 300 years ago, and I totally get it.
KS: Yeah. So they left before the revolution, okay.
AC: The ‘hierarchy’ thing I don’t like personally.
CB: I mean, the thing that I immediately noticed about this chart was it was almost like a twinge of sadness, seeing that pileup of stuff in Capricorn of Mars and Saturn and Pluto all falls in the seventh whole sign house, especially cuz a lot of those planets have been stationing recently. Like Pluto is stationary right now. Saturn just stationed retrograde I think like five days ago, so it’s still practically stationary. And then Mars is there in Capricorn in a day chart, in the seventh whole sign house. So it really puts a lot of focus on some of the more challenging planets in the sector for relationships in the chart, but there were some positive mitigating things going on there, which I was happy to see. Like Saturn is in its own domicile, Mars is in its exaltation, and Jupiter is actually overcoming both of those. It’s earlier in zodiacal order, so it has a superior sextile over both Saturn and Mars in a day chart. So it’s able to sort of restrain them and make them a little bit more positive than they would otherwise be. And that’s doubly true for Mars in this case, because there’s also reception where Mars is actually applying to a degree-based sextile with Jupiter. So Mars is at 19 Capricorn, and it’s applying to Jupiter at 20 Scorpio, while Jupiter is in Scorpio, in Mars’ domicile. Which means that Mars is actually receiving Jupiter in its home basically, which creates a greater sense of affinity between those two planets and allows Jupiter to restrain Mars and to sort of clean it up a little bit more than it would otherwise. So it still means that with all those planets in the 7th house that things are gonna be localized there in terms of some of the greatest challenges or obstacles pertaining to relationships or partnership. But there’s also some heavy mitigations there, which is a really positive thing to see in terms of it not being the worst-case scenario, but instead there still being some very good things as well.
KS: Yeah, I was happy to see that the Moon is not making an aspect to all of those Capricorn planets, too. I know there is definitely a ‘7th house’ emphasis, but at least it’s not connected to the ruler of the 1st. So we can have a little bit of space, or there can be other topics that might come in that will be maybe more fulfilling potentially.
CB: Yeah, definitely, with the ruler of the 1st sometimes indicating body and physical vitality, so that it’s not necessarily something that pertains to that. But instead that seems to be somewhat strong or decent with the ruler of the ascendant at least not being afflicted, but instead applying to a benefic. It’s just this other sector of ‘the other’ in the chart, or other people or close personal relationships with the 7th house.
KS: Yeah. I mean, one thing that occurred to me just on that, from an interpretive perspective, is given the potential diplomatic nature of this person’s role later in life—because they do have a public profile for whatever reason and the overcoming factor there of the Jupiter sextile, sorry—whether there may be some skill or strength in helping negotiate with difficult partners or allies that have turned bad, that maybe this could then be something that this person could go in and try and use that Jupiter around. I’m not sure. Maybe I’m kind of taking that down the wrong path.
CB: No, I like that. Cuz Mars is also the ruler of the 10th house. It’s the ruler of both the meridian midheaven, the MC, as well as the tenth whole sign house. And it’s there in the 7th house, and it’s Mars in a day chart. So that’s to some extent the one that the person will struggle with the most on some level, that Mars. But at the same time being tied to the midheaven brings it partially in a career context.
KS: Yeah. They sometimes see that as a manifestation of a planet that is the out-of-sect malefic, for instance, or a planet that is otherwise a little bit problematic, particularly when it can be tied to the 10th. You know, this is one of the things we’ve talked about from an interpretive perspective. Is that a problem that the person deals with, or is it a barrier they have to overcome? Or do they then go into a field where they’re actually working to overcome problems of that nature, for instance?
CB: Right.
KS: So that could be one way, especially given the strong-and-tight-applying Mars-Jupiter sextile.
CB: Definitely. And that comes up really prominently. I just had a client contact me in the past couple of days. It was a follow-up to a consultation I had, where in the zodiacal releasing periods, she had a major career transition coming up and it was a few years away at this point. But now it’s a few years in retrospect, or at least it just ended. And she ended up getting out of one field and going into the medical field, which was like an entirely different field than what she had been in previously. And it was interesting because another prominent client that I had—who I actually used as an example in my book—had the same signature, where she had the ruler of the ascendant and ruler of the 10th house in the 6th house of illness. But it wasn’t that she herself was ill, but instead her work revolved around that general area of health and illness.
KS: Yes. So she wasn’t sick herself, but her focus was basically the manifestation of that potentially problematic planet in other people or in other situations.
CB: Right. Yeah, definitely.
KS: Yeah. Any thoughts on the chart, Austin? Or are you just kind of like, “I don’t like royals?”
AC: Oh, no. I mean, the first thing I saw was what Chris mentioned. Boy, that’s not the easiest 7th house. Jupiter helps a little bit. I think that it’s a pretty moderate level of mediation. I don’t know. You know, it might smooth a few things, but I don’t think Jupiter in Scorpio can stand in the way of the combined light of Mars and Pluto and Saturn. It’s also interesting to note both the Venus and Uranus. And Venus is at 28° Taurus and Uranus is at 28° Aries. Both of them are configured to the ascendant/descendant axis, which is 27 Cancer/27 Capricorn. And so, you have that very public 11th house Venus informing the person’s appearance, etc., etc., and that’s good for what you said earlier, Kelly, potential diplomacy. But Uranus squaring that axis, I don’t know, that’s pretty dramatic.
KS: Very.
AC: I was just like, “Okay, so Uranus in Aries.” That’s not the zenith point. But the literal ‘middle’ midheaven—but not what people refer to as the midheaven—is 27 Aries, and Uranus is right there. And then, I don’t know, definitely public drama. You know, it’s a Leo Moon conjunct the North Node.
KS: It will be public. We will see it.
AC: Yeah, yeah.
CB: Yeah, that’s a really good point, cuz that Uranus is so tightly squared the ascendant/descendant axis. And that’s always an interesting aspect because you don’t know if it’s gonna manifest more in the 1st house or if it’s gonna manifest more in the 7th house. And obviously sometimes it’s often a bit of both. But the difference is sometimes striking between, let’s say, Uranus in the 1st house—where there’s something unique or sometimes weird or something rebellious about the person themselves and their personality that stands out, or they stand out in a unique way as a result of that—versus Uranus in the 7th house and there’s something unique or kind of weird or out of the ordinary about the person’s relationships in some way. And Uranus being there sort of between those two, and squaring both of those angles, brings an interesting component to both the personality, as well as the person’s relationships.
AC: Yeah. And it destabilizes both.
KS: Yes.
CB: Yeah.
AC: Stability is not necessarily ‘good’ and instability ‘bad’, but you do have that ‘Uranian quick shift, sudden change of state and situation’ thing apply to both the 1st and 7th there.
KS: Absolutely.
CB: Sure.
KS: It would certainly talk about the variety factor or the chopping and changing, that there’s a lot more movement. We’re talking about a cardinal axis squared by Uranus within a degree. So this wouldn’t be someone necessarily that you might say settles down early into a stable relationship that is long-lasting.
AC: No.
KS: We would give a firm ‘no’ there.
CB: Yeah. All right, well, we don’t have to dwell on this too long, but it’s an interesting chart to look at. And it’s interesting because all of us—or at least my eye was first drawn to where that Mars-Saturn-Pluto conjunction fell in the chart, and it falling the seventh whole sign house. But it’s interesting because whoever is born at this time is gonna have that lineup of planets fall somewhere in the chart. So it’s not like there’s a better really or a worse place to have it, but you’re gonna have it somewhere and it’s gonna tend to ‘focalize’ some of the challenges that the person might experience in life in a particular area of the chart. So it’s an interesting question to think about for charts that are just coming into existence right now.
KS: It’s a really great point, Chris. Anyone born at the moment, right through until mid-May, when Uranus—sorry, Mars leaves Cap is gonna have this triple lineup. And it just depends on the time of day as to which house and which part of the chart it’s going to be, which part of the life it’s gonna have the most impact on.
CB: Right. And have you guys noticed—I’ve been noticing with Saturn stationing over the past week, a lot of people who are having their Saturn returns right now, who have Saturn in the early degrees of Capricorn, it’s been hitting them. And it’s been interesting seeing that, like a planetary station as an intensification of the planet at that time; an intensifying, and again, ‘focaling’, or creating a focal point for whatever that transit is about. In that case, it’s the Saturn return. Have you guys noticed that as well with the station over the past week?
AC: I haven’t noticed exactly that. But in general a station indicating a key point—sometimes a turning point—in an ongoing story, which is told by that transiting planet is something, yeah, I’ve seen hundreds of times.
CB: Yeah. It’s just been interesting seeing some of the Saturn return stories come to a head sometimes unexpectedly during those times, like the musician who died just a few days ago.
KS: Oh, yeah, Avicii.
CB: Yeah, who was going through his first Saturn return. And he had Saturn around those early degrees of Capricorn, and it was like in a T-square with Jupiter and Mercury and Neptune and a few other planets. Anyway, let’s move onto something else. I think those are all of the pre-show discussions that I had lined up. Should we jump right into the forecast?
KS: Let’s do it. There’s a lot to talk about this month. All of this fun stuff maybe. Maybe it’ll be fun.
CB: All right, so let’s start out at the beginning of May, May 1. What do we open with? Cuz the notes that I wrote down—
KS: There’s nothing.
CB: There’s not specific things going on until a little bit later in the month, right?
KS: Yeah. I mean, the first aspect that I can see, like there’s literally no planetary aspects—like the Moon will obviously be doing its thing—until the 6th of May, when we have the Sun sextile Neptune. I don’t necessarily think that that’s the main signature of May, but it’s just the first time we have some sort of ‘planet’ planet that’s not the Moon. I don’t know. I don’t know about you, Austin, but I almost feel like we can just skip right to the middle of the month. There’s one thing on the 13th that I would talk about. But do you have anything before then?
AC: No, but I think that the lack of action provides its own quality. You know, people might enjoy not having new, dramatic stuff happening.
KS: And they have a chance to catch their breath.
AC: Because we’ll have just done the Mars-Pluto conjunction and the Mars-ruled Scorpio Moon and all that at the end of April. And so, it’s kind of nice there’s nothing new on the plate really for most of the first week of May. Exactly what I would like to be served is nothing.
KS: Yeah.
CB: And I think that’s a really important point. Cuz even though there’s a lot that goes exact in the first part of May, it’s like we are coming off of some pretty big stuff. I mean, that Scorpio Full Moon that you mentioned just happens at the end of April, on like April 29. Saturn stationed retrograded here relatively recently. Pluto stationed retrograde relatively recently with Mars, conjoining it around that time in Capricorn.
KS: Mercury squared Saturn in that last week of April, too, so, yeah.
CB: Finally. Yeah, that was like the longest Mercury retrograde ever, because it was just like grinding back and forth over all of those Capricorn planets in a square. It was really interesting to watch, the difference between a Mercury retrograde where it’s trining Jupiter and sextiling Venus versus Mercury stationing retrograde, passing a square with Saturn and Mars, and then retrograding backwards and squaring them again, and then stationing and then going back over them again a third time. It’s been interesting to say the least.
AC: It’s been relentless.
CB: Relentless.
KS: That is the word, Austin, isn’t it? It has been unending. The pressure has not lifted.
AC: No, no. Yeah, I think about—what was it, last month, or maybe even the month before where we were discussing this. We were talking about it like a marathon, but like a marathon where you are going to be expected to sprint for most of the time.
KS: Yes.
AC: And I think that, experientially, that was pretty bang on. So now I get to have a water break, right?
KS: Yeah, it’s half-time.
AC: You know, somebody might spritz you from the sidelines, but there was no, like, “Okay, let’s take it easy for a couple of days.”
KS: Yeah. So that’s really the start of May, isn’t it? Just taking it easy, the plate is empty just for a moment.
AC: Or at least it’s not getting filled with more stuff. You know, we got served quite a bit over the last month-and-a-half. And so, I’ll still be gnawing on the bones of April for the first week of May. But I think it’s a chance to re-moderate your pace, which is something I associate very strongly with Taurus in general, figuring out what pace is sustainable, right? Which isn’t the same thing as slow, but there’s that Venusian question of balance, right? So, okay, the balance between effort and repose.
KS: Not that I’m sort of necessarily done yet, but I have noticed a change of pace since the Sun moved into Taurus—just coming out of that sign-based square from all the Capricorn planets—but we’ve still got that measured energy, if you like. But that’s one of the gifts of Taurus, I think. I like the word ‘sustainable’, Austin. What can be maintained today and tomorrow and into next week, and that steadiness, I guess. I mean, the first thing that I sort of have got my eye on is the Mercury-Uranus conjunction around the 13th of May, which is almost like a bit of a last message or a last something from Uranus in Aries. This is sort of the last ‘other planet’ trigger to Uranus before it changes signs. So that’s sort of the start of what I think is ‘the’ week in May, which is the week starting the 14th, or from the 13th, which is when we’re gonna get most of our astrological events happening. Oh, and the Moon is at 2. I didn’t realize that, Chris.
CB: It’s like the Moon catches up with Mercury as it’s conjoining Uranus at 29 Aries. And the other thing that’s really crucial is that Mercury has just completed the final square, the third square, I believe, with Mars, which is now at 28 Capricorn. Cuz that’s the weird thing of course that everyone who’s been paying attention to the Uranus ingress knows. When it first goes into Taurus, as it switches signs and moves into Taurus, that’s basically the same time that Mars switches signs and moves into Aquarius. So you get this weird double-ingress and this square between Mars and Uranus that I’m sure we’ll talk about later. But one of the consequent things of that is that Mercury squares Uranus—or squares Mars right before it conjoins Uranus. Right around it looks like the 27th—sorry, not the 27th. Around the 11th, 12th, and 13th.
KS: Yeah, I’ve got Mercury square Mars on the 12th, and then Mercury conjunct Uranus on the 13th. They will be Eastern times, but it’s that weekend, basically.
CB: Yeah. So that seems to pack a lot of action. Having Mercury hit Uranus would be notable in and of itself. But having Mars squaring those two at the same time and having the Moon coming up and then conjoining those planets in late Aries at the same time is pretty notable.
AC: Yeah, it’s one last download. Yeah, one last download from Uranus in Aries. It’s Mercury handing the microphone to Uranus just before the ingress which is interesting.
KS: Yeah, that’s a beautiful image, Austin, the idea of Mercury handing Uranus the microphone. What do you wanna say from this point, last gasp or something?
AC: Yeah. Uranus is like, “Well, I’ve really enjoyed my time here in Aries. I’ve destabilized a lot of governments.”
CB: Right.
AC: “People in general distrust authority far more than they did. You know, I’m really proud of my work here. I hope you realize that you are a sovereign and divine being. That you have the freedom to make whatever choices you like.” Etc., etc.
CB: Right. Which was not the lesson that Pluto gave everyone while simultaneously squaring it over the past decade.
AC: Yeah. They got into a bit of an argument. Uranus is like, “You know, I might not have achieved everything I hoped for, but I gave Pluto a black eye. You know, I think when we look at the number of punches landed I did pretty well, even if I didn’t win the decision.”
CB: Yeah. Well, it’ll be really interesting to see. Will we live to see it? I guess we will at some point when Uranus gets to the other square, where it’s in the superior position overcoming Pluto, and if a similar situation comes up, but then the tables get reversed, where the more revolutionary parts represented by Uranus get the upper hand and kind of win the battle, in like, what, 40 years or something like that?
AC: I don’t think that we’re gonna get there.
KS: Cuz it might be a little longer than—
CB: Oh, right, cuz it’s tracking. It’s not actually exact, cuz it’s not gonna stay fixed. So how long would that be?
KS: Well, I think Brian is actually saying 2045—our research assistant in the chatbox, which is great. I mean, the next thing that’s gonna happen will be the opposition.
AC: Yeah.
CB: Right.
AC: The opposition is in 2045. And so, then it’s gonna be like another 30-40 years after that when we get the next square.
CB: Yeah.
AC: We might do it. My dreams of Taoist immortality and unnatural lifespan are, I think, gonna have to come true to get there, but I’m working on making them come true.
KS: We’ll definitely get the opposition.
CB: That was one of the first weird lessons that I had to learn as an astrologer when I first bought an ephemeris, like seeing all these cool transits like way off in the future that you’ll never get to experience. It’s like a weird process learning that or having that realization at some point when you first start learning astrology.
KS: It’s very cool.
CB: Speaking of that actually, Kelly, I’ve had like a dozen people say that after hearing us chiding people about not having an ephemeris on our progressions episode that a bunch of people went out and bought ephemerises. So I think we were successful in that.
KS: In ‘guilting’ people into it. It is, honestly, an essential tool. It doesn’t matter what kind of astrology you’re practicing or what techniques you’re doing, you need to know where the planets are. I mean, I left it at home—when I went to a conference recently—by mistake. I cleaned my office and then packed my bag, which was my mistake, and the ephemeris was back on the shelf. And, yeah, it’s so critical. So that’s good. I’m pleased to hear.
CB: Definitely.
KS: So we get the last message of Uranus in Aries. I mean, Uranus is gonna come back to Aries for a few months, late 2018/early 2019. There’ll be other little transits and things that happen then, but it is interesting just in the context of this mid-May period. Yeah, the Mercury square Mars, then Uranus—that’s a pretty intellectually-stimulated/volatile weekend, May 12th and 13th.
CB: Right. That’s one of the interesting things about how ancient authors always treated Mercury; Mercury was always the planet that would typically amplify whatever other planets it was with. At least, traditionally, that was part of its role—amplifying, to some extent, whatever their natural tendency is. So it’s interesting then seeing that with something like Uranus. What does an amplified Uranus look like as it’s getting ready to depart this sign that it’s been in for a greater part of a decade? And it is probably like Austin said, which is like one last hurrah before heading out of the sign.
KS: Yes. Which is interesting because then we do get the ingress, and we get the Mars square Uranus, which is building on this weekend, but technically happens once both Mars and Uranus have changed signs. Mars into Aquarius, Uranus into Taurus, and I’ve got May 16 for that. It’s so interesting to me that we get this dramatic square from Mars to Uranus not even 24 hours in the new sign. That’s almost like a first broadcast. You know, what does Uranus in Taurus want to say? And we’re getting some immediate sense or expression of that in a very dramatic, volatile way, because it’s coming via a Mars square. And I know you’ve got your eye on this aspect, too, Austin.
AC: Oh, yeah, I think everyone does. Go ahead, Chris.
CB: Just the date. So this is May 15 we’re talking about. The New Moon in Taurus has just taken place at 24 Taurus I think on this date, or a little bit before, and Uranus has just ingressed into Taurus on May 15. And then a few hours later—literally just hours later—Mars goes into Aquarius, and it’s firmly there by the end of the 15th, or definitely by the 16th.
AC: Yeah. So there’s a lot here. First, of course, we have Uranus entering the sign that it’s going to spend most of the next seven years in. We get a brief retreat at the end of 2018 and then the first two months of 2019, but Uranus is basically going to be in Taurus until the middle of the next decade. And so, when we’re looking at Uranus, we’re looking at the cycle of revolutions and disruptions. I think that was all very clear during the time that Uranus has been in Aries. And the sign that Uranus is in will tell us about what it would like to disrupt. Or I would say Uranus brings breakdowns and breakthroughs to the area that it’s visiting. And so, on that day that is the introduction to that. And as I believe both of you said or alluded to, Mars being perfectly square to Uranus on that day will certainly make clear what Uranus would like to disrupt. Mars also likes disrupting things. And what’s interesting about Mars is that Mars’ ingress into Aquarius is also a portentous event. It speaks to the future. Not a seven-year future, but it speaks to the astrology of virtually the entire third quarter of 2018, because the first decan of Aquarius—where the South Node is right now—is where Mars is going to station retrograde. And so, there’s a lot of both ‘medium-term’ this year, as well as ‘longer-term, next seven years’ stuff configured right there, configured right there in the middle of May.
CB: Right.
KS: Yeah. And that’s something you had said in our pre-show chat, Austin. You know, this is really where we get a sense of what the next few months are going to be about. Because it’s not just Mars changing signs. It’s not a regular change of signs by Mars. It’s gonna spend five months in Aquarius for the rest of this year, and the bulk of that time is actually spent in that first decan, or those first 10° of Aquarius. So we’re getting an activation or a stirring up of zodiacal territory in whatever associated life events or topics for each of us individually and collectively. That is now being stirred. That is just going to continue to be shaken and twisted and turned upside-down right through until the end of August.
CB: Right. And this is the first square between Mars and Uranus, but it’s the first of three. And that’s part of the reason why it characterizes the next quarter, basically, because that’s the opening, the first square. And we’re gonna get two more over the course of the next few months, which is unique and doesn’t usually happen, because Mars is gonna go retrograde in early Aquarius and then start moving backwards.
KS: And the other point that Austin had made was that there’s three squares to Uranus, but there’s also three conjunctions to the South Node from Mars in early Aquarius, cuz the South Node is there, too. So all of those features—Mars, Uranus, and the South Node—whether it’s modern or traditional or what have you, each of those features has a destabilizing quality. They have a stirring up. You know, when I learned modern astrology—which was the first introduction to astrology—I learned that Mars and Uranus were like the higher—or, no, Mars and Pluto, I guess. Sorry, I beg your pardon. Let me rephrase. Mars and Pluto are often linked together in modern astrology, but traditionally the nature of Mars has a little bit more of that destabilizing, unpredictable energy of Uranus. Mercury had a bit of it, too. So it’s interesting that three things to do with destabilization are working so tightly together in the next few months.
CB: Yeah, let’s talk about that and break that down a little bit. Because that’s an interesting point that Austin first made and then you brought it up again, which is that ‘destabilization’ is one of our primary keywords and ‘revolution’ is one of our primary keywords for Uranus, or ‘instability’, but Mars also has a destabilizing influence. And part of the reason for that is Mars—one of its primary, core, underlying or overarching keywords is ‘severing things’ or ‘separating things’. Like it cuts things apart or it can cut things in two or break them up. And that can sometimes be necessary. But oftentimes, subjectively, when you have something severed in your life or cut up or broken apart, that can be experienced in a negative sense. Like severing or separating a relationship, like if you got a divorce. Or a severing or separation from your job, and so you get fired or something like that. So when you’re bringing that ‘severing and separating’ thing together with Uranus, you get a sort of expanding of both of those significations in that you get an even bigger destabilization. Or you get an unexpected severing or an unexpected separation that comes up and they kind of magnify each other in that way.
AC: Yeah, we’re on the same page. I was thinking exactly the same thing. And also that Uranus separates. It destabilizes, but also it separates. Uranus can have an isolating effect, which can be useful. Like, “I don’t want to hang out with you guys anymore, you’re impeding my freedom,” right? Uranus seeks separation socially so as to create a situation of freedom, right? And when we think of archetypally Uranian figures they’re often isolated. Like the ‘mad scientist’ is not an integrated part of the community, but stands outside of the community.
CB: Right. Well, it’s like, “I don’t need your approval, and I’m gonna do my own thing.” That’s Uranus, whereas Mars gives you the middle finger and tells you to “Go eff yourself.” And that’s why it ends up being sort of separate from the group, because it’s—‘disruptive’ isn’t the word I want to use. It’s disruptive in an antagonistic-type sense. Because it severs and separates as its natural function, that sometimes makes it so that it can’t cohere or it can’t unify with other people, and therefore, it ends up standing more on its own.
AC: Mm-hmm.
KS: Totally. I always think about the dryness. The nature of Mars is that extreme dryness, which is separative. It pulls apart. I think we’ve talked about this before. And, yeah, it’s hard for dry things to cohere, to bond. That’s not the point of dry things. And I think you made a good point, both of you, around the cutting and the severing and the separating. And sometimes that can be sad if something is cut away that you don’t want to be cut away. But the flip side of that could be that there may be a situation that could be causing a lot of stress or a lot of drama and choosing to step back or remove yourself to put some space there can be a productive way of managing that situation with these types of influences.
CB: Yeah, definitely. So what is this setting us up for, though, if this is like the first of three squares? Like what does a sequence of Mars-Uranus squares look like? Is that like an ongoing series of events for some people? If this is hitting crucial parts of their chart, there’s gonna be, in some instances, maybe an intense desire or need or push to—I don’t think ‘individuate’ is the right term, cuz that has other connotations. But to separate one’s self unexpectedly from groups or from some part of the life in a way that might feel disruptive, for some people that’s gonna be a conscious choice, but for other people it might be something that happens in their environment, that pushes them in that direction somewhat unexpectedly. I mean, is this setting up a sequence? Or are we looking at more isolated events?
AC: Go ahead.
KS: You go, Austin.
AC: Yeah, for some people it’s definitely gonna be a sequence. You know, sometimes with cycles like this—where you have one of three—the first one is the introduction, the middle one is the heart of the story where the conflicts have developed and there’s tension, there’s dramatic, narrative tension, and then the third often marks the conclusion or outcome of that; especially if Mars is perfected, for example, or if this is happening on top of natal planets. So Mars is ‘action’, right, and Uranus is ‘quick change’. And so, “Oh, now we need to do this. Because the situation has changed we better do this really fast in order to adapt to it.” And the situation might change again and the story might change a third time. And so, one of the things I get from thinking about this is if this sequence ends up describing one of your stories to not assume that the first call to action is going to characterize the way things are gonna go, right? Cuz whenever you have a retrograde planet like Mars—and this is setting up the retrograde—‘retrograde’ stories are crooked and circumambulatory. They spiral rather than going in a straight line. And so, remembering that if this presents a challenge—if it looks like a straight line now, it’s probably not gonna end up being one. One example I see is just like, “Oh, my God, this happened, we’ve gotta do this,” and running in a panic, acting in a panic in one direction. And then it turns out that you actually ran in the wrong direction, and then that switches and you’re like, “Oh, no, I need to go this way. Oh, no, I need to go that way.” With Mars, there’s always the potential for being ‘over-adrenalized’ and thinking tactically but not strategically, if that makes sense. Does that make sense, Kelly?
KS: Yeah, it does. Because what you’re alluding to there is the idea that you’re thinking about the tactics in the moment or in the short term, but you’re not considering how that feeds into the larger strategy or maybe the bigger picture. It’s the ‘battle versus the war’ kind of analogy, I guess.
CB: And it’s more like impulsive or instinctual—like what is your instinctual response to this stimulus or this situation that you’ve been thrown in, and not what is your stepping outside of it and looking at it from a bird’s eye view, but just initial impulse.
KS: Totally. And there are the two words that I kept thinking as you were talking, Austin—the idea of operating from impulse or impulsively, which can be a bit of a reaction, and then sometimes operating on instinct, which can be like a genuine responsiveness. But, yeah, I think the point you make around making a major decision mid-May is only the first act in what’s going to be a three-act play. So don’t think that whatever happens then is going to be the resolution or the outcome, because we get a second activation of this Mars-Uranus. That’s gonna be in the first half of August, the second square with Mars retrograde square Uranus. And the third square doesn’t actually happen till the second half of September. So it’s quite a long lead time. The first square is happening mid-May. And I think this is the point, maybe, Austin, when we were having our pre-show chat. You were like, “It’s not just about what’s happening in May, but it’s about how that sets up what we’re gonna experience through the middle of the year.” You know, the idea of operating on instinct, it’s one of the things that I find can be a positive thing with ‘Mars-Uranus’ stuff. Sometimes when we do get into that place of instant clarity or choice in our mind, it’s very genuine and it’s very authentic. We’ve somehow circumvented the overly-analytical/worried part of our mind. We kind of go, “Oh, this is how I need to tackle this situation.” It’s just a bit of a caution, because we are coming into the ‘Mars retrograde’ loop. That may be how you think you need to deal with it mid-May, but let’s maybe pause before we put that plan into action. Or take a couple of steps before doing the final piece to see how this moving situation continues to unfold.
CB: Yeah. And I think all that is good advice, but then at the same time I’m realizing Uranus changing signs—and if that’s going into a prominent position in somebody’s chart—there may be sudden radical change in some people’s lives that sets in very soon after that ingress.
KS: That is true. Yeah, you may have the luxury of taking time.
CB: Right, right.
AC: Right. I think with the Mars retrograde being configured to it suggests if Uranus is a swift change of circumstance in some area of the life, in order to adapt to a changed circumstance, part of that is what is your plan of action? What are your actions, your ‘Mars-ness’? How do you adapt Mars to that, right? And then it’s worth noting that Mars is in such a position that it’s gonna take a while, right? Mars is setting up for a slow movement and then a retreat and then a third hit. And so, part of what that’s saying is your first battle plan is probably not going to be the right one. It’s gonna take some time to get it figured out. And it’s worth noting that the Venus retrograde—which happens at the beginning of the fourth quarter of the year—is also very tightly configured to Uranus. And so, one way to look at it is that Mars and Venus are kind of gonna be trying to figure out—or excuse me, spending a lot of time on how to adapt to different areas of life to this change.
KS: And the nature of change, with Uranus coming into a fixed sign. I remember this when Uranus was in Aquarius—going back a few years, the last time Uranus was in another fixed sign—I remember thinking about dramatic experiences clients would have when they were having Uranus transits. Because the nature of Uranus is to stir things up, to encourage you to look for options that give you more freedom, but the nature of a fixed sign is to resist the need to make a change for as long as possible. And I kept coming back to this phrase about ‘it’s better to bend a little than it is to break’, and that’s something that keeps coming up for me as I think about Uranus coming into fixed signs. A rigid part of our charts or lives, or a rigid part of our symbolism is being asked to adapt and to move more quickly than it really wants to. You know, the big change can be the break, and sometimes that happens as a point of having resisted smaller changes, which might be about the bending part, just to use that symbolism of ‘bending versus breaking’. You know, whether it’s something that breaks open from an awareness perspective, or some sort of structural thing externally kind of breaks or shifts in a way that is a permanent change, that may be the largest set of this piece with Uranus changing signs. And the Mars component could be, “What do we need to do about that?” for instance.
AC: Yeah, I 100% agree. So another angle on this that I think is worth discussing—
CB: Really quickly, if you’re gonna change subjects—
AC: No, no, no. I’m gonna continue talking about Uranus and Mars.
CB: Okay. I was just gonna say it’s really funny, cuz we’re all used to talking about this in a consultation setting. And so, you guys are talking very philosophically about how to deal with changes and how to plan stuff out. And I’m just imagining some of the scenarios where somebody’s like, “No, look, my house is literally on fire right now,” after the ingress takes place. Or they’re like, “My cat was electrocuted,” or something like that. Like where they have a very literal manifestation that’s like a one-time thing that just suddenly changes or disrupts their life. And while in some instances there’s gonna be people where they’re gonna be going through broader changes, or it’s gonna be like an ongoing thing, for other people it’s sometimes just sudden, unexpected disruption that happens in some localized part of the life.
AC: Yeah. Well, and I think that you can bridge those two angles very easily. You know, one thing, for example, could be, oh, you’re getting evicted at the end of May, right? You find out on the 15th you have to live somewhere else, or you’re getting foreclosed on or whatever. That’s a big, very physical, literal thing, but at the same time you’re gonna have an adrenal response to that because that’s shelter. But not just running to the first open door, or if you don’t have a lot of options, finding a lily pad—not getting scared into committing to a situation that’ll sour over the course of the Mars retrograde. You know, you might lose stability, but then you have to find another place to be. And so, if you’re gonna do that, locking yourself into something while the changes are still unfolding is unwise, right?
KS: Totally.
AC: And, I mean, if your cat dies, then your cat dies. That’s not going to be a three-month-long process, or a four-month-long process.
KS: Well—
AC: Go ahead.
KS: The cat itself dying is not gonna be a three-month-long process. If your cat gets electrocuted, I would cry for you, cuz I would cry if it happened to me. You know, if there is a fire—if the house is on fire—you will operate from instinct. You will just operate without thinking and there’s no doubt about that. But if your cat dies, the larger story that that plays into is what kind of a different life do you have without the demands of a daily pet, for instance, or how that shifts your thinking. Maybe that opens an opportunity that is short term, that you wouldn’t have had otherwise. Not that I want to be too ‘Pollyanna’ about it, but I think even an immediate upheaval or chaotic event that happens in this mid-month is going to play out in changes in circumstances or changes in mindset. That means you kind of settle into or choose for yourself a different way by the time this sort of all unfolds. And I love you’re talking, Austin, about the short term. And you’re right, Chris. Obviously our background is talking to people all the time about this. And one of the things I often say to people when we’ve got high Uranus activity is think short term, not long term. Figure out what is gonna get you through the next two to fourth months and then reassess at that point. Because we will have so many other shifts that come in that any decision you make now will not be the right decision 12 months from now. So give yourself the flexibility to re-choose again down the track.
AC: Yeah. One phrase for that sort of strategy is ‘prioritizing optionality’. So wherever you go next, you have two or three possible moves rather than backing yourself into a corner so if things change again, you have only one more option or no options. So what I was gonna say that Uranus and the South Node have in common is Mars is gonna be intersecting with the South Node for months and months. And in the shadowy background of this both Uranus and the South Node have the quality of bringing what was latent into manifestation. One of my favorite things that I’ve heard that somebody said about Uranus was something Rick Levine said two years ago, and he said that Uranus makes it impossible to repress anything. It’s hard to like keep things in their boxes. And the South Node also has some quality of that. The South Node will often bring up old stuff. You know, it brings the poison to the surface sometimes. And so, I think one thing we’ll see—on both the collective and individual level, and Mars certainly gets things moving—is we’ll see things where they’ve been there for a long time, but they weren’t necessarily active. You know, things rise to the surface. I have a hard time not seeing this in the economic forecast for the United States. There’s a lot of—yeah, I think that the cycle will correspond with economic events.
KS: Yeah, I think the ‘South Node’ piece is interesting. I think you’ve done a beautiful job there, Austin. The only thing I wanted to throw in was the timing. Just that this is also prepping or setting us up for the eclipse at the end of July, which is just another one of those windows where we will be coming back to these situations. It’s gonna be interesting. I like what you said about how they both bring latent things to light. It’s like the buried stuff inside us or inside society that doesn’t get a look in sometimes.
AC: Yeah, yeah.
KS: I don’t know. I don’t want to necessarily talk about the two of us personally, but you and I straddle the late degree of cardinal versus early degree of fixed with some of the stuff in our chart. And it’s gonna be interesting as to how that plays out. And that’s a clue to listeners as well. If you do have late degrees of cardinal, early degrees of fixed, this Uranus transition, and then this Mars interplay with the South Node—I mean, they’re the degrees in the zodiac that are being hit by this.
AC: Yeah, I’ve got the ruler of my 4th at 2° of Aquarius. And so, I already know that this is gonna be stuff about living situation.
KS: Yeah, interesting, interesting. So you’re anticipating maybe having to move or take a short-term placement somewhere?
AC: Yes. Actually just within the last couple of days the possibility of maybe buying a little piece of land, maybe moving, maybe not. You know, sudden acquisition of living space, as well as sudden disappearance of living space, both of those options I can see from here over the next quarter.
KS: That’s super interesting. So that can be how if people are listening and thinking, “Oh, my God, that is me.” Cuz one thing I like about ‘Uranus’ triggers is I like what it brings to the surface. It’s that wild thing that you’re like, “I didn’t think I was ready for this for another four or five years, but actually some opportunity is coming up now. Can we do it in a way that’s gonna be sustainable or manageable?” I guess.
CB: Could we do that, run through that really quickly? Like Uranus going into each of the houses and just like throw out a few keywords for what that might coincide with? I mean, Uranus going into the 4th house is like a sudden destabilization of your living situation or your home, right? That’s what you guys were just talking about?
KS: Yeah. Austin was saying the ruler of his 4th is at 2 Aquarius. So with the ‘Uranus’ activation, we were talking about how this pattern is triggering late cardinal and early fixed placements in the chart specifically over the next few months.
CB: Okay. And you guys are both doing webinars on this actually pretty soon, right?
KS: Yes.
AC: Yeah, we’re probably gonna do this.
KS: I think we’re gonna do that in our webinars.
CB: Okay, well, let’s not do that then.
KS: Also, that will probably take us about another 40 minutes to do each of the houses. Because a couple of words from each of us three will not be 30 seconds, probably.
CB: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, no problem.
KS: Sorry, Brian.
CB: One of our live patrons who’s in the audience—Brian Stuppy, who’s been helping us with some of the statements—says it’s going through his 9th house. So you’ll have to attend Austin’s webinar, or Kelly’s webinar.
AC: Let’s do a teaser.
KS: We can do a teaser.
AC: Let’s just do Brian, because he’s been very helpful.
KS: Yeah.
AC: Just one house? You guys okay with that?
KS: Totally, totally.
CB: I mean, ironically, Adam Sommer and Eugenia—when we talked about Uranus in Taurus—I think we actually did an example of somebody with it going through their 9th house.
KS: So why don’t you just change the chart, Chris, to a Virgo rising. Will that throw the Taurus in the 9th? Yeah, on the display, and then we can just pretend. There we go. Beautiful.
CB: Okay, so let’s do it. So quick keywords for Uranus 9th house transit.
AC: Shakeup in one’s belief system.
CB: Definitely.
KS: A sudden opportunity to travel for work or pleasure internationally.
CB: An eccentric teacher who disrupts your life.
KS: Brilliant. I love this. This is like astrology on the 20 questions.
CB: Right.
KS: Eccentric teacher. An out-of-the-blue opportunity to teach or present or even publish one’s writing or ‘wisdom’ stuff.
AC: A reversal in regard to one’s relationship to higher education. The university professor leaves their post suddenly. Or someone who’s never really seen much value in higher education suddenly decides later in life that they want to get on the road to obtaining a PhD.
KS: That’s fantastic. I like the ‘sudden’ bit. So you change your opinion about it. You change your point of view.
CB: Yeah, definitely. All right, let’s cut it off there, cuz we’re gonna go through all of them really quickly, I think.
KS: The other thing I would say with an outer planet changing signs like this, it’s how it changes the house it’s leaving, too. So the unexpected upheaval around finance or around income or a tax matter settling down or being resolved to the point that it becomes more manageable.
CB: Because it’s moving out of his 8th house?
KS: Correct.
CB: Okay.
KS: Cuz that’s a longer eight-year trend that’s ending. So I would talk about that, too.
CB: So universally everyone should think about what whole sign house Uranus has been transiting through over the course of the past decade since, what? 2010-2011.
KS: 2010 was the first ingress, I think, into Aries.
CB: Okay. And then that coming to an end, whatever that phase of your life has been of Uranus going through that house or that sector of your chart and the part of your life that that pertains to, and then Uranus moving into this new area of your life and what whole sign house it’s moving into as being an area of your life that you could experience change or disruption or some of the other keywords that we’ve been using here today. All right, so that’s obviously the big thing that happens this month. And it’s right in the middle of the month, right around the time of the New Moon in Taurus on the 15th. Right before that, on the 13th, Mercury ingresses into Taurus, which is nice. Cuz then it’s finally fully out of its retrograde cycle that it had been going through in Aries for most of this month, for April.
KS: Well, actually, on the ‘Mercury’ piece, this is an interesting feature for May. Mercury’s been in Aries since early March.
CB: Right.
KS: And in May, Mercury goes through Taurus in two weeks. So Mercury actually ingresses into two new signs in May. Mercury goes into Taurus on the 13th, and by the 29th of May, it’s going into Gemini. So it’s just an interesting observation, that for nearly two months we’ve had Mercury just in Aries, really deep-diving ‘Aries’ stuff. And now Mercury is obviously moving quite quickly and back up to boot-scooting through the sky. So we do get more movement from Mercury.
CB: Yeah, definitely. So Mercury is really cruising. Because at the end of May, it gets into Gemini, and then not too long after that it conjoins the Sun in early June. And that’s always when Mercury is moving the fastest, when it’s around the conjunction with the Sun.
AC: Mm-hmm. As a side note, Kelly, can you use the term ‘boot-scooting’ more often in the podcast? I really enjoyed that.
KS: Sorry. I have such weird turns of phrase.
AC: I like it. I like it. I think it’s hilarious.
KS: Even as a kid, I used to say I was ‘brooming the floor’, not ‘sweeping’, and ‘hang-a-coats’ or ‘coat hangers’. I don’t even now know what it’s supposed to be, if it’s ‘coat hanger’ or a ‘hang-a-coat’, but I used to use whatever the odd one was. Yeah, ‘boot-scooting’ along, when Mercury’s going really quickly. It’ll be like 2° a day. That’s fast.
CB: Definitely. And before we move onto the rest of the month, basically, I forgot the election for this month, the auspicious election that was found by Leisa. We went with a chart earlier in the month for the very reason that we were focusing on at the beginning of this month, which is that there’s not that much going on in the first week or two of May, and it’s not until the middle part of May—and then especially the second half—that things start going a little crazy with the simultaneous Uranus and Mars ingress. So about a week before that is the main auspicious electional chart that we want to highlight for the month, and it takes place on May 7, 2018, at about 12:23 PM local time, whatever city you’re in in the world. What you want to do is set the chart for about 17° of Leo rising or so, give or take. So whatever your city is, just figure out what time about 17° of Leo rising will be, and then you’ll approximately have the same chart that I have here. So this chart has Leo rising, and the Sun is the ruler of the ascendant, and it’s placed in Taurus in the tenth whole sign house. And the Sun at 17 Taurus is applying to an opposition with Jupiter, which is at 18° of Scorpio. So one of the things that it features is basically the ruler of the ascendant in a relatively good house and a good sign applying to an exact aspect with a benefic. The Moon is in Aquarius in the seventh whole sign house at 13° of Aquarius, and it’s applying to a few things. Its next aspect is actually a trine with Venus at 15° of Gemini, which is up in the 11th house. And eventually it will square the Sun and square Jupiter in Scorpio at 18° of Scorpio. So, basically, part of the purpose of this chart is that both the ruler of the ascendant and the Moon—which are the two most important planets in any electional chart—are both applying to benefic planets. And the major fundamental premise of electional astrology is that separating aspects indicate the past and applying aspects indicate the future. Therefore you want to, to whatever extent you can, make sure that the two most important planets are applying to benefics, which they are in this chart. So the only thing that’s a little iffy—that unfortunately we couldn’t account for—is Mercury is up at 21° of Aries, and it’s pretty closely square Pluto at 21 Capricorn, and it’s applying to that conjunction with Uranus at 29 Aries and the square with Mars at 26 Capricorn. This is just something that we couldn’t avoid, or you can’t really get rid of in the first half of the month. Like you’re gonna have that no matter what. But if Mercury is not otherwise a very prominent planet in the chart—like by not making it the ruler of the ascendant—then it’s not necessarily a deal-breaker.
KS: Totally. I mean, you’ve kind of followed like the unspoken—or maybe it’s spoken—electional tenet, which is that if you’ve got something tricky, stick it into some cadent houses and don’t give it rulership over an angle.
CB: Yeah, don’t make it the ruler of the ascendant, like Virgo rising, for example. If somebody messed up the time on this and did Virgo rising, that would be problematic. Because then you would make Mercury the ruler of the ascendant and it would be applying to a square with Mars in a day chart. It would have a little bit of mitigation, because Mercury is actually in Aries. And I’ve seen that that did help in some of the elections this past month, when Mercury was retrograde in Aries and squaring Mars. It did seem to take the edge off a little bit, the reception, but not completely.
KS: Cool.
CB: Yeah. So that’s pretty much it. I mean, that’s the electional chart for this month. Use it, and hopefully it’ll work out well for you. Leisa found three or four other auspicious electional charts for different points in the month. Not all of them are as good as this one, but they’re serviceable. So we’re gonna talk about that in the Auspicious Elections Podcast that we’re gonna actually record, I believe, tomorrow, and then we’re gonna release it for patrons who are signed up on the $5 and $10 tiers through our page on Patreon. So you can find out more information on theastrologypodcast.com website, where I have a page set up for finding out more information about the Auspicious Elections Podcast. All right, so that’s early in the month. So back to, basically, the second half of the month, which is what we were talking about earlier. Once we get away from the very middle of the month—like the 15th and 16th, with the Mars and Uranus ingress and square—what is the next major thing? Is there anything else comparable or next down the line?
KS: There’s nothing comparable, I don’t think. But the only thing, my ‘enclosure’ piece, my final bracket to that middle week of May is the Venus ingress into Cancer on May 19 for a few reasons, but it also sextiles Uranus. Like this is the second of two aspects to Uranus within a few days of it changing signs. But obviously Venus in Cancer sextile Uranus in Taurus—I mean, I was thinking about this. Normally, I love sextiles between Venus in Cancer and a planet in Taurus, because there’s often a lot of reception, or it’s a really stabilizing, nurturing kind of pair. It’s a reminder to me that not only is the Moon in Taurus not gonna be quite as stable going forward with Uranus in Taurus, but even planets in Cancer are going to get this stirring up or unstable quality. But I kind of thought it’s Venus sextile Uranus, okay, it’s not stable, but it’s a sextile from Venus. There is some ‘palatability’ or some—I don’t want to use positive potential, because that’s too strong, but there is some sort of ease. Okay, now we’ve had the problem, and here is one possible short-term solution, potentially. Something that could just grease the wheels a little bit at the end of that week, just from that particular aspect. I don’t know what you guys think about that, though.
AC: I think that’s possible.
CB: Definitely.
AC: I think Venus is pretty uncomfortable for the first week that it’s in Cancer, which will be from the 18th through the 25th. Because Venus first sextiles Uranus, and Uranus’ significations marry very awkwardly with Venus’.
KS: They’re kind of opposite, aren’t they?
AC: Yeah. So Venus is the ruler of Taurus. And so, Uranus getting to zap the sign ruler I would say allows it to enact its own significations. So I would actually probably see that as more of a shakeup, another little aftershock. And then Venus moves from aspecting Uranus to opposing Saturn for that next week, and that’s not very comfortable for Venus. Usually I really enjoy Venus in Cancer, I think it’s a nice position. And Venus rules that first decan of Cancer. But in many ways I think that Venus in Cancer—instead of indicating comfort will probably indicate discomfort because of the configuration with both Saturn and Uranus. But it does clear the opposition to Saturn by the 26th. So the last week of the month will have Venus applying to Jupiter, which we like. Applying to a grand trine actually with Jupiter and Neptune in water signs.
KS: Yeah.
CB: Yeah, that’s really nice. What’s funny about that is that’s actually one of the issues when they were picking out electional charts for UAC. Cuz UAC is gonna open with that Venus-Saturn opposition still forming, and depending on what chart they end up going with for the opening may or may not end up being important in the electional chart for the opening of the conference.
KS: It’s a tough aspect. I mean, it is one of those aspects that when you see it in charts, I mean, I always want to give the person a big hug and say, “You’re worth more than you think.” Because one of the common manifestations in an individual of a Venus-Saturn is some of the self-worth and the not being good enough, or “I’m only valuable through effort,” basically. So I totally agree, Austin. I think that particularly the period around the 26th of May—when that opposition peaks—people are gonna be dealing with maybe questions of value or worth or the limits around enjoyment, the limits around pleasure. And sometimes with a Venus-Saturn aspect—from a collective or a transitory manifestation—it’s that idea that there are external circumstances that are blocking or inhibiting the pleasure factor or the enjoyment principle. And it’s like, “I don’t want to do this, but I kind of have to, and then I can’t do this fun thing instead.”
CB: Right. I like that. That’s a good keyword for Venus-Saturn. Like the ‘inhibiting of pleasure’.
KS: Yeah. From what I’ve observed Saturn doesn’t go well with Venus or the Moon. I mean, Venus is wet and Saturn is dry. Like they just have completely opposing priorities or principles. And of course Saturn is gonna have the override power in any aspect with Venus.
CB: Sure. Yeah, especially in a case like this where Venus is like applying to an opposition with Saturn.
KS: Do you have any more on that, Austin? I’m curious.
AC: No, not really.
KS: Okay.
AC: You know, Saturn inhibits Venus, right? Venus is like, “Oh, I just want to hang out and decompress,” and Saturn’s like, “Nope.”
KS: Get back to work.
AC: Your favorite food is not on the menu, and we need you to stay a couple of hours long. We need you to work over the weekend.
KS: Yeah. But not only is your favorite food not on the menu, you can’t have it cuz it’s making you sick.
AC: That’s quite possible. It’s worth noting of course that shortly after Venus’ ingress into Cancer on the 18th, we have the Sun moving into Gemini, right? And that’s a shift. You know, the Sun, I don’t know, provides the stage lighting and backdrop for everything else.
KS: Kinda significant.
AC: Yeah. And the difference between Taurus and Gemini is probably most fundamentally one of speed.
KS: Yes. Isn’t that difference from Taurus to everything?
AC: Well, no, not necessarily. Like Virgo and Taurus don’t have a massive difference in speed—and Cancer.
KS: That’s true. Scorpio and Taurus.
AC: You know, Gemini is basically the most swift-moving of the signs, or signifies those events which are really fast. And they may not be significant events, right, but just the pace of things and the number of conversations, etc., etc., picks up when things go into Gemini. I want to talk about the Full Moon a little bit.
KS: Yes.
AC: But we should probably just mention the Mercury opposition to Jupiter, which occurs on the 22nd.
KS: Yes.
AC: Do you have any thoughts on that, Kelly?
KS: Well, yeah. Actually the one other opposition we didn’t talk about earlier in the month was the Sun opposite Jupiter, which comes in on the 8th of May. I mean, Mercury-Jupiter—I like it. You know, it’s a stretching of the mind, yes, if you do mercurial-type things like writing or teaching or what have you; there can be an excess of that to do. But in some ways one of the gifts, I think, of any major Mercury aspect is this broadening or opening of the mindset, which is actually the precursor to any kind of progress or shift or change. I think there’s a little caution here of saying ‘yes’ to things that will be unreasonable or expected to be delivered in an unmanageable timeframe. But, yeah, what are your thoughts on this, Austin? Or Chris? If you have thoughts. Austin, do you have thoughts? Chris, you’re giving me a funny look.
CB: Well, whenever I think of Mercury-Jupiter, I often go back to Mercury in Sagittarius, cuz it often gives me a ‘Mercury in Sagittarius’ vibe. Cuz it’s the primary access point that I have for understanding Mercury in Sagittarius, it’s like Mercury being a domicile of Jupiter and sometimes Mercury going overboard or like having a tendency to be discursive and very expansive about the way that it talks and communicates. I can think of an astrologer I know. He’s often very characterized for going on these very long tangents and lectures with this Mercury in Sagittarius placement. And that’s often what I think of when I think of Mercury-Jupiter hard aspects, like sometimes the tendency to go overboard in one’s communication style as a tendency.
AC: Yeah, I think that’s true. I think this isn’t gonna move the needle very much, because they’re both in signs that really have nothing to do with Mercury or Jupiter. And there’s no reception. I think there’ll be maybe a short rash of positive thinking or appreciating growth you’ve done this year, or what you’ve learned. You know, it’s good for learning things and for thinking a little bit more positively. But both of those planets are so out of place in those signs that I think it was worth mentioning, but it’s just not that big a deal.
KS: Yeah. I mean, the other aspect on that date that is of interest—or that had popped up on my radar—is the Sun trine Mars, just as a little bit of an activation in the ‘Mars’ story, not necessarily a major one. I mean, yeah, on that day, the Sun-Mars aspect is the one that really caught my eye.
CB: Yeah, definitely. And you mentioned the Sun-Jupiter opposition earlier. And that was the aspect that we tried to capture in the electional chart.
KS: Oh, in your electional chart. Okay, got it.
CB: That’s why it was like Leo rising, with the Sun applying to the opposition with Jupiter, basically.
KS: Got it. Got it.
CB: Okay, so we get towards the end of the month. There’s actually a major outer planet alignment, and it’s not like a big notable one to write home about. But Jupiter does trine Neptune exactly by, I think, about May 25, right?
KS: Yes, May 25.
CB: Okay.
KS: And this is the second or third—second hit, maybe? Second hit.
CB: This is the second, cuz now Jupiter is retrograde.
KS: That’s right. Yeah, the first hit was December 2017. But it is. It’s two outer planets coming together. I don’t know, I’d like to watch this. Maybe I’m biased because it’s in the water signs.
CB: Right. Yeah, I mean, it’s an easy aspect. And one of the problems with those is sometimes not being that dynamic. There’s not a lot to say about them, cuz they tend to be a little bit more subtle.
KS: Yeah. The one thing—and this occurred to me after you guys were speaking more on the Mercury-Jupiter. I just wonder if it’s a little bit of a download or a pulling out of whatever Jupiter in Scorpio is about. The Mercury-Jupiter opposition—it’s almost like giving a voice to maybe your personal experience of Jupiter in Scorpio based on the house it’s in in your chart, or something collectively that is tied to that theme. And because Mercury-Jupiter happens just a couple of days before Jupiter-Neptune, it’s sort of part of maybe that same pattern.
CB: Right.
AC: Yeah. So when we’re looking at Jupiter in Scorpio, some of that water is maybe a little dirty.
KS: At least a little dirty.
AC: Right. And maybe Jupiter is trying to clean that.
KS: Yeah.
AC: But Neptune in Pisces—it’s sort of like pouring in a little liquid fairy dust into that process. Like, “No, it’s going great. You’re growing, expanding as a person.” You know, I think it’s just gonna kind of blur the edges a little bit in whatever process that is. As far as a background influence it’s very connective. It’ll make it easier to ignore what’s not great.
KS: I mean, the thing that just popped into my head was the ‘fake news’ stuff. You know, the idea of, is this the fact? Is this someone’s spin on it? Is it real? Is it not real? And it’s okay to kind of just disconnect a little bit from reality for a while, but don’t be in that mindset while you’re filing your taxes or signing an important document, for instance. Just maybe set that to the side.
AC: Yeah, we’re gonna do that while we’re at UAC, right? We’ll just be like, “Oh, this is nice.”
KS: Okay, so actually that Jupiter-Neptune trine—of course that’s the UAC. That’s the Friday. I wonder if that’s about the gathering of like minds. I mean, it is obviously in the ‘UAC’ sense, but whether other people might experience that sense. It’s an alternate reality. Going to a conference, going to an astrology conference is not real life, but you get to do a lot of fun, enjoyable things outside your normal boundaries. Because we’re usually up much later than normal, and we’re often drinking a little bit more than we normally do. And there’s that sense of inspiration that comes from bringing down some of those rigid barriers. You know, all those schedules or routines or responsibilities that we are normally very focused on.
AC: Yeah, totally.
KS: Cool.
CB: Yeah. This is actually the aspect that’s going exact the day before our podcast meetup on the 26th. So this is like, what, the 25th. So this is gonna be one of the primary things active for that day.
KS: Yes. The other one is the Venus-Saturn.
CB: Right.
KS: I was like, “I don’t want to pop a bubble here.” I mean, the 25th of May is Jupiter-Neptune and the 26th of May is Venus-Saturn. Which I think is interesting, because there’s two distinctly different, but still very influential aspects running over that same two-day period.
CB: Yeah, that’s always interesting. I remember going to past conferences—like one a few years ago—where there were like certain aspects that were forming in the first half of the week, and then they go exact and then pass, and then there’s like other aspects happening in the second half of the week. It’s interesting always to watch those energy shifts during the course of a week, and sometimes it can be very obvious or very distinctive.
KS: And then that’s gonna bring us to the end of the month, which I know Austin wants to talk about the Full Moon.
AC: Yeah, it’s a very interesting Full Moon. So, Chris, can you bring up the chart? Well, I guess most of our listeners can’t see it anyway.
CB: Yeah.
AC: The Full Moon—let’s see, what are the degrees? Is it 8?
KS: It’s 8 Sag.
AC: So what’s really interesting is that both the Sun and the Moon at 8 Gemini and 8 Sagittarius are both closely conjunct very important fixed stars.
KS: Okay, so we thought it was important for the same reason.
AC: Okay, yeah. The Sun will be conjunct Aldebaran and the Moon will be conjunct Antares. And these are not just kind of important. These are two of the four ‘royal’ stars. You know, they’re kind of a big deal. And so, it lends a modicum of ‘stellar’ oomph to what would already be important because it’s a Full Moon.
KS: A modicum of ‘stellar’ oomph. Are we understating there because of the significance? I mean, it’s two of the four ‘royal’ stars. They are the two that are in the tightest opposition aspects. So this pair of that 8 Gemini/8 Sag is a very powerful part of the sky. And Antares is the star associated with autumn, the heart of the Scorpio, if you like. When I first learned about Antares, it was like the deepest, Scorpio part of the sky, and it’s interesting to me that we’re having a Full Moon coming to that space.
AC: Yeah. I mean, it’s probably the most ‘martial’ star.
KS: Cuz it is associated with wars and things ending.
AC: Yeah. Well, and just friction and conflict. I see it initiating a lot of stuff. I don’t see it ending that much.
KS: Okay. So stirring up tension or bringing tension out to the surface kind of thing.
AC: I guess I think of it more in terms of friction and struggle. And that can be positive. You know, you’re like, “No, I’m gonna do this. This is on.” But you also get people who are like, “Nope, that will not stand. I’m gonna have to take a stand against that.” And so, in general, thinking about the fixed stars, I was reading the other day. I was rereading a portion of The Picatrix, and it was talking about what fixed stars do when they’re conjoined a planet for a talisman. And what The Picatrix stated was that the stars have a more lasting and immobile light, whereas the planets’ light is constantly changing and their position is constantly changing. And so, by placing a fixed star behind a planet, you lend whatever the nature of that talisman is, whatever it’s supposed to do—you lend it endurance, and you lend it the ability to make a lasting impact. And so, if we were to consider a lunation like this on the same principles, it would be that there will be events that have a lasting impact that occur around this time, rather than those which simply arrive and then dissipate within a week or two.
KS: Yeah, that’s a beautiful point that I remember being really struck by when I learned about fixed stars. Because they generate their own light, they’re significantly more powerful in terms of generating energy or force of energy than the planets are. And so, when we get these alignments that pull in the power of a fixed star, it is significantly more impactful. The potential impact is much greater than just its regular Full Moon in Sagittarius, for instance.
AC: Yeah, exactly.
KS: And it is only, what, every 18 or every 19 years that we would have a Full Moon around these specific degrees in Sag.
AC: That would be very interesting to research.
KS: Yeah. Yeah, it’s a much more significant thing. So that’s good to just let people know to keep an eye on it.
CB: Yeah. And I hate to keep mentioning the conference for those that won’t be there, but it’s just interesting. This falls on the very last day of the conference. So this Full Moon—it happens that morning. So it’s like the last day, having a Full Moon happen then, and having sort of like the culmination of the conference. And I’m sure the closing ceremony taking place will be really interesting, witnessing it.
AC: Oh, it’ll look mighty full the night before, right?
KS: And that’s the Regulus Awards banquet, the Monday night.
CB: Right. Actually, is it? Is it that Monday night? Yeah, that’s even more interesting.
KS: It’s not Sunday. It’s not a weekend night at this conference. It’s the Monday night.
CB: Okay, then, yeah.
KS: So we’ll be going into that ‘awards’ thing under the energy of this Full Moon.
CB: Yeah, it’ll already be in Sag..
KS: Exactly. And you’re right, Austin. Because the Full Moon looks big and energetically or experientially full for more than just the moment. You know, it’s a couple of nights. Like night before and night after.
CB: Cool. Well, that’s exciting. All right, well, I’m excited about it.
KS: Especially if one had something in their chart near the early part of Sagittarius, one might be in the spotlight for something at that time.
CB: Right. Up for an award or something.
KS: You know, I’ve seen this happen when people win the US Tennis Open. What’s the Aussie tennis player? She beat Serena. Sam Stosur. She has Venus in Pisces. And this particular US Open tournament a few years ago, the Full Moon was on her Venus in Pisces, and she managed to beat Serena Williams and win the title, which was a significant feat in women’s sports. So Full Moons, there you go.
CB: Interesting. All right, well, we’ll see what happens. I think we’ll all be sitting together at dinner that night, so it should be a good time.
KS: That’s true. We won’t have our cutoff time, so we can be up for hours.
CB: Right. That’s dangerous. I think we’re gonna have to have somebody keep an eye on us during the course of that week.
KS: But no one has to speak the next day, I don’t think. You guys aren’t speaking on the 29th.
AC: No.
CB: Well, I have to give a workshop on the 30th.
KS: That means you can recover on the night before.
CB: Yeah, we’ll see. We’ll see what happens. So I guess that brings us to the end of the month.
KS: That is literally the end of the month. I don’t know if you guys saw anything else, but it’s the only thing in the last week of May that is going on, but it is quite something.
AC: Well, there’s Mercury’s ingress into Gemini.
KS: Oh, beg your pardon, same day.
AC: Yeah, later the same day.
KS: Yeah.
AC: As I said before, it has the same quality of picking up the pace that Sun’s movement from Taurus into Gemini did.
CB: Yeah. So Mercury goes in later that evening or that afternoon on May 29 into Gemini, the Full Moon happens in Sagittarius right at the end of the month, and then that pretty much closes out May and takes us into June.
KS: Yeah. And we’ll talk about that next time.
CB: Yeah, we’re still establishing when exactly we’re gonna record and release the next forecast episode. But we’re either gonna do it right before UAC or I have no idea what the other option is, but we’ll see. We’ll see what happens. All right, guys, well I think that’s the end of this episode. So thanks a lot for joining me, and I’m looking forward to seeing both of you in person in just a few weeks here.
KS: Yes, that’s gonna be amazing.
AC: Yeah, thanks for having us. It’s always interesting to take apart the month with y’all.
CB: Yeah. I mean, some months are more interesting than others, but it’s always interesting to get a different perspective on it and to try to anticipate. You know, just coming off of this month, we’re only halfway through—I guess we’re more than halfway through April. It’s always interesting to have these discussions with you guys ahead of time and then to see that stuff play out over the next few weeks, and sometimes how literal it is, and other times how metaphorically some of those alignments work out, but still the symbolism plays out in different people’s lives in these really striking ways. So I really appreciate each month having these conversations with you, cuz it gives me—personally as an astrologer—a nice heads-up about some of the stuff to pay attention to.
KS: Oh, totally. I learn a lot from them, which I know our listeners do, too. But it’s great to have that kind of pooled insight.
CB: Definitely.
AC: It’s useful to compare notes, definitely.
KS: Yeah.
CB: Sure. All right, cool. Well, I think then that’s it for this month. So thank you to everybody for listening. Of course be sure to subscribe to The Astrology Podcast through theastrologypodcast.com/subscribe. There’s like five different ways that you can do it, so just pick one and sign up to follow, to get news and updates. You can find out more information about Austin at austincoppock.com, more information about Kelly at kellysastrology.com. And for me, just go to theastrologypodcast.com and you’ll find the links there. So if you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to give it a good rating on iTunes, since that helps other people to find us. Thanks to all of our patrons who supported The Astrology Podcast this month, since it helps us to do different things and have different guests on and send people mics and everything else. And, yeah, so thanks for your support. All right, I think that’s it for this episode. So thanks everyone for listening, and we’ll see you next time.