The Astrology Podcast
Transcript of Episode 32, titled:
Astrology Forecast and Elections for June 2015
With Chris Brennan and guest Kelly Surtees
Episode originally released on June 2, 2015
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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 August 28th, 2024
Copyright © 2024 TheAstrologyPodcast.com
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CHRIS BRENNAN: Hi, my name is Chris Brennan, and you’re listening to The Astrology Podcast. You can find the show at theastrologypodcast.com. For more information on subscribing to the show, please visit theastrologypodcast.com/subscribe. Today is Monday, June 1, 2015, at approximately 3:12 PM in Denver, Colorado, and this is the 32nd episode of the show. In this episode, I’m gonna be talking with Kelly Surtees about some major astrological alignments occurring this month in June of 2015, as well as highlighting some of the most auspicious electional charts for starting different types of ventures. For more information about Kelly, see her website at kellysastrology.com. Kelly, welcome back to the show.
KELLY SURTEES: Thanks, Chris. It’s always a lot of fun to be here.
CB: All right. Well, I’m excited. So this is gonna be a new, experimental sort of thing for us. Both of us just got back from the Northwest Astrology Conference last weekend and we had a conversation. I really like this column—and I’ve been reading it for the past few months—that you’ve been doing for The Mountain Astrologer where you basically write out what the major astrological alignments and aspects are each month. And I thought it would make for an interesting thing to try doing that in a podcast format once a month, at the beginning of each month—just talking about the major aspects and astrological alignments in the given month over then next four weeks—and maybe interspersing that with some of the work that I do in my bi-monthly column in The Mountain Astrologer as well, which is, what are the best electional charts in a given month for the next four weeks. Yeah, so this will be our first time doing that. How long have you been doing that column, again?
KS: I think this is my third month. I think we started back in April. And, yeah, it’s been getting a huge amount of great feedback. I don’t know how it’s translating in terms of, say, traffic for The Mountain Astrologer, but we’re getting some lovely comments from people. And it seems to be maybe filling a little bit of a void in the astrological space where it’s not your typical horoscope column, sign by sign, but more of that sort of astrological weather for the month ahead. And I won’t try and cover every aspect because sometimes there are just too many. So I kind of just use a pretty practical process to come up with what I think might be the little standout or feature aspects for the month ahead. How long have you been doing your electional column for TMA?
CB: I’ve been doing mine for about two years now.
KS: Fantastic. And have you started to get some good feedback from people as well about that?
CB: Yeah. It’s like at first I didn’t know if people were reading it, and I was just sort of putting it out each month for a year. And I wasn’t sure if anybody even noticed it, cause it’s kind of hidden back there in the forecast section, sort of in between the late Jeff Jawer’s awesome column and another column. Eventually, though, people started coming up to me at conferences or when I would give talks and would thank me for writing the column, or would say that they’re using that election I picked out next month for a wedding or for starting a business or something like that. And that’s become more and more frequent to the extent that I realize a lot of people are reading the column now and using some of those charts that I’ve picked out for different types of elections each month.
KS: Yeah, it’s a really practical column. So I can imagine that you get people commenting for sure.
CB: Yeah. So I thought it would be a good sort of complementary thing to merge those two, just once a month. And it’s a little different for my listeners, just cause the nature of the show has been very different so far—and that’s not really changing. But I wanted to find different ways to expand the scope of the show and draw in more listeners while still doing it in a way that’s respectable or doing sort of intermediate-to-high-level astrology. That’s what excited me about your column. So let’s give this a shot and see how it goes. And if people like it, then please write in and let us know and we’ll keep doing it.
KS: Yeah.
CB: We’ll do sort of a test-run over the next few months and see how it goes.
KS: Perfect.
CB: All right, so let’s start with June. What’s our starting point for the forecast?
KS: Actually it’s a nice month to start because one of the feature aspects this June is a really ‘electric’ trine or supportive aspect, if you like, between Jupiter in Leo and Uranus in Aries. And Uranus can be a planet that creates a bit of chaos for sure, not gonna deny that, but when it’s enhanced by Jupiter, we get this really sparky, ‘bright ideas and breakthrough’ combination. And this aspect doesn’t actually peak or come into its exact fullness until the end of the month, between June 21 and June 27. But because Jupiter and Uranus are two of those slightly slower-moving planets—certainly Uranus is—this aspect is already starting to build. And so, basically, we’re gonna feel it over the next few weeks just getting stronger as we get close to the end of the month. So I don’t know if you—sorry, yeah, what were you gonna say?
CB: And this will be the final trine between Jupiter and Uranus. Because Jupiter’s on its way out of Leo, right?
KS: Exactly. Exactly. Yeah, so this aspect or configuration between Jupiter in Leo and Uranus in Aries began back in September 2014, and that was sort of the first hit or the first time these two planets made this particular configuration. So for a lot of people, June 2015 has got this feeling of either closure and completion around plans and projects that started back in September, about nine months ago. But it also has this feeling of if there’s a breakthrough or a change that you’ve been trying to make in your life since September 2014, you might find that you can really cut ties, if that’s what you’re trying to do, or you can really make progress, if that’s what you’re looking to do. Cause that’s kind of the nature of having that. It’s the third repetition of a three-part process, so it does have that kind of ‘wrapping up’ or ‘getting it done’ quality to it.
CB: Sure. That makes sense, and that’ll go exact. I see now June 1, Jupiter’s at 16 Leo and Uranus is at 19 Aries. What’s the final degrees that they’re at by the time they go exact? Like 20 or 21?
KS: Yeah, it is exact at 20 Aries to 20 Leo. So Uranus just has to move one more degree and then Jupiter has to move, yeah, four more degrees to get there. So the hotspots, if you like, in Aries and Leo—this aspect first started in September 2014, and it also was activated or repeated in late February and early March of 2015. So we’ve had September 2014, late-Feb/early March 2015, and the third and final in June of 2015. The first two hits or phases were between 14° and 15° of Aries and Leo and now we’re at that sort of 20° mark. So if you know your chart, and you do know that you’ve got planets around those degrees in Aries and Leo, then this is gonna be particularly potent or exciting or energizing for you. One of the great things about this combination of planets is they’re both in fire signs, which the fire signs kind of demand action or movement. It’s a call to action. They’re not gonna sit around and wait for things to happen. Time to do something. And Jupiter, by nature, has sort of some airy quality that’s got a bit of a connection to the energy of spring. So, again, we get that freshness. And Uranus is very energizing. So this combination of planets, Jupiter and Uranus, in the fire signs—it does have this mobilization quality that can raise you up or inspire you. Might even encourage you to push your boundaries or to go beyond your comfort zone in a way that really opens new doors.
CB: So this is like the primary aspect that you’re focused on this month as one of the primary signatures?
KS: Yes, it is. Yeah, that’s good to put that into context—the biggest aspect, if you like, being formed by some of the more major or outer planets. So there are smaller configurations or configurations that involve, say, Venus or Mars or Mercury. But in terms of the theme for the month, this Jupiter-Uranus aspect will definitely be the dominating thing.
CB: Got it. All right, well, let’s get into some of the shorter-term stuff. I know we’re starting off the month, and it’s kind of dominated in the first-half by the Mercury retrograde, which is I think just past the halfway point right now, right?
KS: Yes, it is. Thank God, I’m sure everyone is saying. Yeah, so of course we can’t even consider June without noting that trickster Mercury is going backwards, and that I think has a big impact on some of the election dates that you picked. Mercury is retrograde until about the 11th of June, I believe. 11th or 12th when it’ll station direct in Gemini at 4°. So coming almost right back to the start.
CB: Yeah. That was one of the major issues I had this month with elections—Mercury being retrograde for the first-half of the month. And it’s in Gemini, its own sign. I would like to use that because usually, in electional astrology, you’re supposed to find a planet that’s well-placed by sign—for example, being in its own domicile or being in its own exaltation—and then make that planet the ruler of the ascendant. But that’s very hard to do if the planet is retrograde, or it’s not usually highly recommended to do if the planet is retrograde. But in the second-half of the month, once Mercury stations direct on June 11, that opens up just this several weeks of just amazing Mercury elections, where Mercury is in its own sign, it’s moving direct finally, and it’s otherwise relatively well-placed, applying to sextiles with Venus and Jupiter in Leo for most of the month. The only sort of thing that creates some problems for that—one of them is removed pretty early on: It’s that Saturn is still in early Gemini. So it’s opposing Mercury within a few degrees. Or, sorry, Saturn is in early Sagittarius. But it retrogrades out of Sagittarius and falls back into Scorpio by I think the 14th.
KS: Yeah, basically, mid-month.
CB: Mid-month. Yeah, so at that point that’s when the excellent Mercury elections fully open up. Because then at least Saturn is no longer opposing Mercury by sign and it’s a few degrees off by degree, and it keeps increasing as Mercury starts moving forward again. And then the only other problem is that for most of the month, Mars is in Gemini with Mercury, which typically then makes it hard to make Mercury the ruler of the ascendant. Because then if you have, let’s say, Gemini rising, then you’re gonna be putting Mars in the 1st house along with Mercury. But the way to mitigate this, I found, is just to make it so that the ascendant is very early in Gemini, so that it’s still a night chart. And if you make it a night chart then Mars—what’s called in Hellenistic astrology—becomes ‘of the sect in favor’, because Mars is a nocturnal planet that prefers to be in a nocturnal chart. And when it’s in a night chart, it’s much more constructive and its negative significations are restrained or suppressed. So, basically, most of the auspicious Mercury elections I’m recommending this month take place after June 14 with early Gemini rising, about an hour or so before sunrise, with Mercury right on the degree of the ascendant.
KS: Wow. And that’s a really good point to make too, isn’t it? That one way to kind of mitigate the energy of Mars as a malefic is just to have that night chart and put it in its sect, basically.
CB: Yeah, exactly. Malefic planets really are not that huge of a deal. They’re more like surmountable difficulties when they are in a chart that matches their preferred sect status. So Mars in a night chart or Saturn in a day chart. So the first Mercury election that I really highlight occurs on June 15 around 4:25 in the morning local time. So that should be approximately accurate no matter what your location is. Basically, you just want to make sure that the ascendant is around 5° of Gemini, which is about where Mercury will be, at 5 Gemini. So you have Gemini rising, Mercury in Gemini, right on the ascendant. The Moon is also in Gemini, separating from a sextile with Mercury, and probably Venus, and then applying to a sextile with Jupiter. Mars and the Sun are also in the 1st house in Gemini, but the Sun is far enough below the ascendant that it’s still a night chart. So this would be an excellent election for all types of mercurial-related activities pertaining to communication or writing or speaking and things of that nature.
KS: Fantastic. That sounds like a really juicy one. And certainly having Venus and Jupiter together in the 11th is very positive too, isn’t it?
CB: 3rd house, yeah.
KS: Oh, beg your pardon, 3rd house. I’ve got it backwards. Mercury got me.
CB: So it’s Gemini rising and then Cancer on the 2nd and Leo on the—
KS: Of course.
CB: —third whole sign house. Although the IC—depending on your location—is probably hovering around that location with Venus and Jupiter sort of conjunct the IC, basically.
KS: Fantastic. So then of course the 3rd house emphasis kind of reinvigorates all the ‘Mercury’ things with the Gemini rising as well.
CB: Yeah. Exactly. The other themes pertaining to communication and other 3rd house matters become emphasized even more by placing both of the benefics in the third whole sign house.
KS: Fantastic. And so, with that, if we then think about, say, that Jupiter-Uranus aspect that we were talking about before, Jupiter belongs to the day sect. So that aspect has got a little bit more juice in it perhaps if you’re doing something during the daytime. That’s a very general theme.
CB: Yeah, just generally speaking, people, for example, with day charts will probably respond much more positively perhaps to that Jupiter-Uranus trine than perhaps people with night charts, where Venus is gonna be more auspicious. Although it’s interesting that Venus eventually will catch up to and trine Uranus around the same degrees I think as well, right?
KS: Yeah, at the very end. Yeah, one of the other interesting things, if you like, and one of the reasons to emphasize that Jupiter-Uranus aspect this June is that it’s triggered by three other planets throughout the course of the month. So we’ve got Mars early in the month, the Sun—Mars and the Sun relatively early in the month. And then, yeah, at the very end of June, we’ve got Venus catching up to Uranus—sorry, catching up to Jupiter in Leo and making that trine back to Uranus. So it’s kind of a juicy energy that is then triggered, or it’s constantly activated throughout the month.
CB: Okay. Perfect. And the last thing I wanted to mention just before we move off the Mercury elections, there’s just several of these that you can use throughout the course of the month. One of the issues though of course that especially modern astrologers will note right from the start is that Mercury is squaring Neptune—
KS: Yeah.
CB: —for most of the month. And that’s a little bit tricky. Although this election is very strong for communication and Mercury-related activities and 3rd house activities, that square with Neptune does add some potential for confusion to the mix. At least as long as that’s still applying, which it is until, unfortunately, I think later in the month. Mercury doesn’t stop squaring Neptune until—
KS: Half of 23rd or the 24th, I don’t think.
CB: Yeah, that sounds about right. About the 23rd. I mean, there’s different ways that you could use that positively. There’s the potential for some challenges or some lack of clarity in one’s communication if you’re using this election for Mercury-related activities. Although I’m sure there’s ways that you could use that to good effect still in a positive way.
KS: For sure. For sure. And sometimes just being mindful of that is part of what’s helpful. Just to know to be a bit more alert, or that you might have that confusing energy as part of the process.
CB: Right. And perhaps using it sort of actively as part of your goal or part of what you’re trying to accomplish rather than just having it happen to you sort of passively.
KS: Yes. Yeah, sometimes when there’s a bit of a tricky thing, I like to remediate it consciously. Like with Neptune, I might play particular kinds of music or have a big bath before I do something. Or even just get a second opinion. Cause with Neptune that confusion energy is sometimes a bit vague.
CB: Sure. Yeah. And, I mean, sometimes it can just be useful if you’re trying to not sell, but trying to get forward something that requires maybe building something up to be a little bit more elaborate and a little bit more fantastic than it really is. But somehow adding that additional sense of mystique to something in your presentation of it can sometimes be useful, even if it isn’t fully representative of what you’re actually trying to do.
KS: So you can almost consciously draw on that energy of the illusion of Neptune and bring it into something where you want to create a bit of a fantasy or enhance.
CB: Yeah. It’s like I’m trying to be careful about—I don’t want to tell people to—
KS: Go and be deceptive.
CB: Yeah, yeah, this is a great election for being deceptive. I don’t necessarily want to recommend that necessarily, but if there’s some way to do that along those lines—I mean, I always think of Alan White, the late astrologer Alan White who was into Hellenistic astrology and was a Project Hindsight supporter, and he always used this analogy with Neptune around the time of its discovery. He said that photography was starting to become really big at that point and that there were pictures coming back from the Civil War that were being printed in the newspaper. And he made this sort of analogy where people would look at the newspaper and they would point at a picture of a battlefield that was printed in the newspaper, and they would be like, “Look. This is the event. It’s like we’re looking right at, or we’re looking right at this scene.” But, in fact, they’re not looking at the scene at all. What they’re looking at is ink that’s been splattered on a piece of paper in just such a way that it recreates and gives a sort of false impression that you’re looking at that scene because it sort of recreates it, but there’s something inherently sort of deceptive about that in and of itself. And that always seemed like a good analogy for Neptune to me, and perhaps relevant in the way that sometimes you can present something in a way that looks more real than it actually is. And sometimes that can be useful in a positive or constructive fashion and sometimes that can be deception or something more negative.
KS: For sure. For sure. And it also then highlights really the medium through which something is expressed, doesn’t it? Because that picture is the ink on the paper, which creates the magic of the picture, I guess.
CB: Yeah. And I think film is commonly associated with Neptune by modern astrologers. I think there’s probably good reasons for that just in terms of that sense of going to the movies and the immersion, especially lately. I think of things like Avatar, when Avatar came out in 2009. And people talk about how the movie itself or the script wasn’t that amazing cause it was sort of derided as being Pocahontas with blue aliens.
KS: With blue people.
CB: Yeah, with blue people or something like that if you weren’t there. But the actual immersion or being immersed or having this feeling of being immersed in this weird, 3D environment was something new and sort of innovative because of that feeling that was ultimately deceptive in a sense. Cause you’re not actually there and you’re not actually being immersed in any environment, it’s a fake or sort of fabricated environment. But the perception that you are immersed in it was something that was fascinating to people.
KS: Yeah. I mean, it’s a great conversation to have because ultimately we are going to have that extended Mercury square Neptune aspect in play. I mean, you’ve talked about how it’s gonna be difficult to just create an edge, if you like, around some of those elections. But because Mercury’s moving so slowly, it’s kind of this background thing, isn’t it, for June?
CB: Yeah, it’ll be interesting to see in the news if we can identify any things like that. I mean, one of the things that obviously comes to mind, at least in the US, is the political campaign. Election season is gonna start ramping up pretty soon here and that might provide us with some interesting examples of this. We’re talking about communication that’s being put out there that’s strong or relatively well-placed due to Mercury being in its own sign, but then having this other element, which is this not quite realistic element coming from Neptune.
KS: Yeah. It is going to be something for people to keep an eye out for, I guess. The idea of fabrication and truth versus what’s being promoted and whether there’s a bit of a distance between truth and the image or perception.
CB: Sure. All right, yeah, so that’s one of the Mercury elections and there’s several other ones that you can use at different points. Just find dates in which the Moon is in a good sign and then make it so that early Gemini is rising and Mercury is the ruler of the ascendant and it’s a night chart. And then find another date in which the Moon is preferably applying to benefics or something like that, like when it’s in Leo, around June 20, for example. But let’s go back. What are some of the other trends and other major things that you were looking at this month?
KS: Yeah. So the dates for those triggers to the Jupiter-Uranus trine, we’ve got the Mars and the Sun kind of almost back to back, June 5, June 8, June9, and June 10. Because Mars and the Sun are so close together in Gemini right now, they are both going to make sextiles to Jupiter and to Uranus within a couple of days of each other. And at that point early in the month, Jupiter and Uranus aren’t technically exact, but they’re sort of close enough that we’re getting this feeling building. One of the days that I didn’t put in my column—but that I had kind of made a note of just cause I’m like, “Oh, that looks gorgeous”—I think it is that date around the 20th of June, where the Moon is in Leo with Venus and Jupiter, so with the two benefics. And I think that date deserves a shoutout just because there’s so much positivity coming out of that. Very good. There’s a magnetic quality of Venus and Jupiter. They’re sort of enhanced by the Moon. The Moon’s gonna be in a lovely sextile—sorry, a crescent phase. Like it’s just coming out of that sextile from the Gemini New Moon. So there’s this sense of blossoming or emerging that will be really sweet. And it’s right around the solstice, so that’s definitely a date to keep in mind for this month.
We talked about the only big problem date that I had was that Mercury-Neptune square, when that comes back to exactitude on the 23rd of June, and that is around 9°-10° Gemini-Pisces. And then the other big event to note for June of course is that Saturn is going to retrograde back into Scorpio. And that’s really interesting cause we basically have one more season, if you like. It’s gonna be summer for us in the northern hemisphere, and for my friends and family back in Australia, it’s gonna be winter. June 15 to about September 15, we’ve got Saturn just in the tail-end of Scorpio again. So, again, we’ve got this idea of dealing with unfinished business and particular events that have been big things from perhaps 2013 and 2014 when Saturn was primarily moving through Scorpio. So that’s an interesting influence. There’s no super big aspects to that Saturn at the end of Scorpio in June, but it is just a change in energy mid-month that I think everybody’s gonna notice.
CB: Oh, yeah, that’s huge. For people, like myself, with Saturn in Scorpio, that’s the last tail-end of our Saturn returns for three months, from June 15 until I think approximately September 15, when Saturn leaves Scorpio for the final time for the next two or three decades. So it’s like Saturn leaving Sagittarius is some of the ‘Sagittarius’ people or Saturn in Sagittarius or people with heavy mutable placements getting a bit of a reprieve for the summer and sort of taking the summer off from that Saturn transit that’s just started to get going over the past few months, since late December, when Saturn first moved into Sagittarius. But then any of the people with heavy fixed sign placements or with heavy Scorpio placements have one last reminder of what that two-or-three-year Saturn transit has really been about since October of 2012, and one last chance, over the next three months, to sort of get things in order—in order to finish starting that new 30-year cycle of Saturn moving through the signs, starting from Scorpio—and fixing up or getting together whatever it is that you need to get together to get prepared for that 30-year cycle.
KS: Absolutely. And I think you make a really good point there that when a planet like Saturn changes signs, it’s not just the signs that it’s moving into or out of that are triggered, it’s the signs that are kind of ‘cousins’ to those signs, especially by the modalities. So we have had Saturn in Scorpio, a fixed sign, since October 2012. And so, the fixed signs—Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius—have all been dealing with some kind of pretty potent Saturn in Scorpio theme or events. And Saturn going into Sagittarius—which is one of the mutable or movable signs—is really gonna shift that focus on not just Sag but all the mutable signs, which includes Gemini, Virgo, Sag, and Pisces. And I think that’s important for people to know, it’s not just the two signs that it’s going into and out of.
CB: Yeah, definitely. And that’s been a huge thing for me, and I think I talked with Leisa about that a little bit a few episodes ago on the Saturn return podcast episode. Yeah, as you’ve said, anytime Saturn goes into a new sign, it’s not just activating that sign, but it’s also activating the other three signs that it’s aspecting by hard aspect, by square or opposition. And that really includes, also, the houses, or at least from my perspective, the whole sign houses that are angular to that as well. So that becomes pretty huge. I don’t know if Saturn is—well, I guess I could use my chart as an example. I don’t want to focus on it too much, but, for example, Saturn’s going through my 10th house, because Scorpio is my tenth whole sign house. But then you really do see an activation of Aquarius, which is my 1st house, Taurus, which is my 4th house, and Leo, which is my 7th house. And you’ll see similar things for everybody else. Basically, as soon as Saturn goes into a new whole sign house, you see all four of the houses angular from that becoming activated and the topics associated with those houses really coming more to the forefront in the person’s life in some way, for better or worse.
KS: Absolutely. And one thing I’ve noticed on that topic is that the houses are also grouped. We, astrologers, love to put things into groups. And so, yeah, for someone like yourself, with a fixed sign on the midheaven—or, sorry, the tenth whole sign—if you’ve got a fixed sign there, then all of your angular houses are being triggered by Saturn through Scorpio. And those houses are sort of the more dramatic or influential or active houses. So that particular transit of Saturn through your angular houses, it can be in the 4th and making those hard aspects to the 1st, 7th, and 10th. It might be that Saturn in Scorpio is your 7th and making those hard aspects to the other angular houses. And that can be a little bit more dramatic than, say, if Saturn is moving through your cadent houses—which would be 3, 6, 9, and 12—just because planets there are a little bit more muted or less obvious perhaps in their manifestation.
CB: Right. Yeah, definitely.
KS: Yeah. So there’s so many rabbit holes we could go down, but you’re gonna keep us on track, Chris.
CB: Sure. Yeah, so Saturn in Scorpio, it’ll station sometime in July. I think you’re working on a book on Saturn in Sagittarius. So hopefully we’ll be able to come back to that topic actually later, in a few months, right?
KS: Yes, I would love to do that. I did an ebook for Saturn in Scorpio, which people seemed to really enjoy enough to buy it which was good. And so, yes, the Saturn in Sag ebook is being ‘birthed’ at this time. It’s in its gestation phase. So, yeah, we’ll definitely come to that topic probably in September when it ingresses back into Sag, and then we’re going to get at least two solid years of Saturn in Sag, which will be a whole different feel. But it’s Saturn in Scorpio for the northern summer and for the southern winter, one last hurrah.
CB: All right, awesome. Let’s see, so what else is going on? So we covered Mercury direct, Saturn in Scorpio. The other thing I guess that’s starting to develop and it’s less of a theme this month—but it’s Venus slowing down and getting ready to turn retrograde towards the end of July. But by June, it’s already moved into its shadow I think at some point.
KS: Absolutely. Yeah, so it’s big news that does kick off next month. But as of—I’m just getting the date here—again, right after the solstice. As of June 21, Venus is technically in her shadow period. So coming up a little later this year, over the next couple of months, we’ve got a Venus retrograde, which is going to start at 0 Virgo around the 24th of July. And Venus will retrograde from that very early Virgo, all the way back to 14 Leo, and she’ll station direct at 14 Leo on the 5th of September. So it’s quite a big influence that is going to flavor, again, this same season, if you like, where Saturn is back in Scorpio, but really kicking in towards the end of the month.
CB: And that’s so wild that it’s, again, June 21, around the time of that pile-up of the Moon, Venus, and Jupiter in Leo. That’s when Venus passes 14° of Leo, which is the degree that she’ll later retrograde back to and station direct at.
KS: Yes. And, again, it’s right around the solstice too. So there’s obviously sort of an energetic shift or flavor that’s really kind of emphasizing that time. And lovely in some ways that the Moon is with Venus as she crosses into that shadow period, like a helper as she crosses that threshold.
CB: Sure. Yeah, that’s brilliant. I mean, one of the things that I noticed months ago that’s funny—and maybe it’ll become more relevant when we do a full episode on this—but it’s like we have Venus and Jupiter and the Moon there in Leo now when the shadow period begins—when the Venus retrograde shadow begins. But then when you switch it out a few months later, when Venus is stationing direct, Jupiter gets sort of switched out for Mars, because by that point Mars is in Leo sort of taking his place. Which is gonna be interesting how that works out in terms of tying those two periods together in different people’s lives once we get to that point.
KS: Yeah. Absolutely. And Mars and Jupiter, I mean, very different energies, very different connotations really. So, yeah, I hadn’t noticed that. So clever you for picking that up already.
CB: Sure. Well, yeah, I’m just paying attention to it, cause I remember this retrograde. So this is the retrograde from eight years ago, in July—
KS: 2007.
CB: Yeah, 2007. Because Venus goes retrograde in approximately the same spot in the zodiac every eight years, minus 2°. It moves backwards about 2° every eight years. So, for some people, if this is an important retrograde for you, all you have to do is think back into your life about what was happening around late July, in the summer of 2007, and that’ll sort of give you some idea of this retrograde and what themes might be connected to it.
KS: Absolutely. Yeah, I’m gonna just open the trusty ephemeris. So in 2007, Venus dipped into Leo around the 5th of June and was there, again, until early October. So her retrograde occurs within that timeframe, and that’s exactly what we’ve got a repeat of coming up over the next few months.
CB: Excellent. And then that brings me back to the other auspicious election that I wanted to point out this month, which is right around that time period, around June 20. That auspicious pile-up of the Moon, Venus, and Jupiter can be used for two different types of elections. One of them is just another excellent Mercury election. On June 20, around, let’s say 4:15 in the morning, 4:15 AM—wherever you are, with about 7° or 8° of Gemini rising—Mercury will be right at 7° of Gemini. So you’ll make Mercury the ruler of the ascendant, putting it right on the ascendant. It’ll be a night chart. And then the Moon will be sort of sandwiched between or besieged or enclosed between (whatever term you want to use) Venus and Jupiter in Leo. So Venus will be at 13° of Leo and the Moon will be separating from a conjunction with it at 14° Leo, and then applying to a conjunction with Jupiter at 19° Leo. So it’s like some of the other Mercury charts, or the Gemini rising charts with Mercury as the ruler of the ascendant. But then putting the Moon in Leo, with the benefics, just emphasizes those 3rd house placements even more and makes it even more auspicious.
KS: Yeah, it’s like a ‘benefic’ sandwich.
CB: Yeah. Exactly. And then there’s one more that you can use later that day that has a slightly different feel, and there’s a few of these available as well. They’re the Libra rising elections. It’s one of the only other electional rising signs that’s halfway decent during this period. But this is my favorite one. It’s on June 20 at about 1:45 PM, with let’s say about 7° of Libra rising. So Libra’s rising, Venus is the ruler of the ascendant, and it’s located at 13° of Leo in the eleventh whole sign house. So the ruler of the ascendant’s in the 11th house and the Moon is separating from a conjunction with Venus and applying to a conjunction with Jupiter in Leo in the 11th house. So this election is just incredibly good for 11th house matters that pertain to friends and groups and alliances and social movements and other sorts of 11th house topics. Because it’s not only focused on the 11th house—with the ruler of the ascendant being placed there—but you have the most positive planets in the chart also placed there and forming pretty favorable aspects.
KS: Yeah, that’s the chart that I tripped myself up on earlier. Because it really is such a good chart, isn’t it? I mean, both the angular rulers—because the midheaven and the 10th house are in Cancer are ruled by the Moon. So it’s just juicy. Start something then, everyone.
CB: Yeah. Exactly. It’s really funny cause I’ve heard several people are going to use that election. I think Nick Dagan Best is using it for something. I’m using it to give a workshop in New York.
KS: Oh, you are? Of course, yeah.
CB: Yeah, on zodiacal releasing. There’s a lot of people that are gonna be using that election. And I’ve also seen a few that are just using it naturally for certain things, not really knowing that it was a great election, but they just happened to schedule a wedding or something for that day.
KS: That would be a nice chart for a wedding. Well, the only challenge with the wedding at that time, well, that particular time—but the triple line-up of those three planets in Leo is just beautiful.
CB: Yeah. I mean, the only challenge that you might have with 7th house elections is just having Uranus in the 7th house.
KS: I was like I didn’t want to terrify anyone who’s getting married at that time.
CB: Right. Well, yeah, it’s not terrible. I mean, it’s definitely doable. And maybe just having an early Libra rising ascendant, so that Uranus is not exactly on the degree—
KS: The descendant point.
CB: Yeah. And there’s other positive things. I mean, Uranus is trining Venus and Jupiter. So there’s some ways in which some of the more positive Uranian qualities might be integrated into the election rather than having the worst-case scenario happen.
KS: For sure. I mean, that is a good thing at the very start. That’s when that beautiful Jupiter-Uranus trine is really kicking in. And there’s just so much juicy goodness there that I’m sure any little unpredictable element of a Uranian nature—there’d be resources to help overcome. It would easily be dealt with, I would imagine.
CB: Sure. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, so that one. And there’s a few other ones like that I think that you can use around that time, if you want to use an early Libra rising chart with Venus as the ruler of the ascendant placed in the eleventh whole sign house. And then just find a good position for the Moon, either a few days earlier, for example, in Cancer as a possibility, or maybe a few days later with the Moon in Libra. Of course the only problem that you run into with any cardinal placements during this time is just that they’re gonna hit Uranus and they’re gonna hit Pluto by hard aspect. So you’ve kind of gotta be willing to take the risk with those placements.
KS: For sure. But if you can get the applying aspect between, say, the Moon and Venus or the Moon and Jupiter that can be helpful to a certain extent.
CB: Yeah. And that would make it probably worth it to sort of take the risk by putting the Moon in those signs. Well, there’s a few different options, but one is June 24, when the Moon is in early Libra and it’s applying sort of widely to Venus and Jupiter. And then there’s another on the 25th, which is when Venus is later, around 18° of Libra, applying closely to the sextile with Venus and Jupiter. Although, again, at that point the trine between Jupiter and Uranus that’s so positive is very close, but then the Moon also by extension is applying very closely, within 2°, to an opposition with Uranus, which might be a little bit destabilizing.
KS: Yes, yes.
CB: So better off going with probably one of the earlier charts, like on the 20th, with the Moon in Leo, where it’s got only flowing trines with Uranus rather than the hard aspects.
KS: Well, yes. And also then the Moon is in a fixed sign, which just creates a little bit of stability even as it engages with Uranus.
CB: Definitely.
KS: Yeah. So that’s some juicy elections for June.
CB: Yeah, those are actually some really good charts. They’re probably some of the better, if not the best charts of the year. Certainly from a Mercury standpoint, I think those are definitely some of the best Mercury elections I can find this year. But even that 11th house election, I don’t think there’s anything comparable to that later in the year, where you get Venus and Jupiter and the Moon all sort of piled up that closely in Leo, and otherwise not afflicted by hard aspects from other difficult planets. It’s a pretty unique alignment.
KS: It is. It really is. And it’s good for people probably to understand too that sometimes those really juicy good things are quite rare, and if it means you get something else a little bit oddball in the chart, you kind of take it. Because that goodness or that positive configuration, you want to make use of it when it does come along.
CB: Yeah, definitely. There’s this famous story that James Holden talks about that’s attributed to Bonatti. And who knows? It sounds like it might just be a legend, the story of him making a talisman. He made a talisman for somebody out of clay or something like that at this alignment of planets, and he made it for a patron of his who was not doing very well, and he made it during this auspicious alignment of planets. And then the client, the patron, supposedly became wealthy suddenly immediately after that, and he started making all of this money. But then he felt guilty about it and he felt bad about it, and he told his pastor or something like that; he told a church official. And the church official said, “You’re playing with magic. You need to destroy that immediately.” And so, the guy goes home and he crushes the talisman, and then, a week later, he loses his entire fortune. And he goes back to Bonatti and he’s destitute at this point. He says, “Would you please make me another one of those talismans?” And Bonatti yells at him and he says, “You fool. That alignment will only occur once in a century. There’s no way to make it again.”
KS: Exactly. They’re so rare. I love that story.
CB: Yeah, it’s probably totally made up, but it’s a funny story that conveys some truism about astrology and doing elections.
KS: For sure. For sure. And it is good to keep in mind that it’s always balancing. And as I look at this chart, I mean, I’m looking at that 20th of June Moon in Leo with Venus and Jupiter. I think I’ll make that my screensaver or something this month. But it also reminded me I guess of really the final point about the aspects of the planets in June—they do occupy a lot of the yang signs. We’ve got three planets going through Gemini for most of the month—Mercury, Mars, and the Sun—and we’ve got Venus and Jupiter in Leo, plus Uranus in Aries. So there is this sort of general feeling of perhaps movement or action or progress that kind of comes out just with that yang emphasis.
CB: Sure. That makes sense. Yeah, and that’s a huge emphasis. I mean, there’s almost no planets—well, not no planets. But there’s very few planets that are feminine signs.
KS: Absolutely. And two of those are the outer planets, which we would kind of judge in a slightly different way anyway. Really, Saturn is the only visible planet that has got half the month in a feminine or yin sign. Venus has got the first couple of days of the month in Cancer, Saturn in Scorpio at the second-half, and then just the Moon, as she moves about. But it means, of the seven original planets, we’ve got five of them, for most of the month, in those masculine or yang signs. So definitely just an interesting theme.
CB: Yeah. I mean, I think that reinforces the theme and sort of brings us full circle to what you were talking about at the beginning of the month in terms of Jupiter and Uranus being part of the signature of the month, and this theme of things that are more outgoing or active, with many events taking place, rather than a more low-key month or what have you.
KS: Absolutely, absolutely. And then we’re gonna get plenty of low-key months later in the year. So for those of you who think, “Oh, my God, this all just sounds too busy,” just go with it for now. It will change.
CB: Right.
KS: It won’t stay like this. And for those of you who get bored easily, enjoy June.
CB: Right. All right, well, I think that kind of brings us to—I think we’re at a good time. We’ve been talking for about 45 minutes, and I think this is a good first show. Did you have any other points that you meant to mention in terms of the forecast or the weather for the month?
KS: No, I think that was everything that I wanted to share with our listeners. So, yeah, it’s gone really well. Hopefully, they think so too.
CB: Yeah, I hope. People should send us emails or post comments on the page and let us know if you like the show or what you’d like to see us do in the future. And depending on the feedback, maybe we’ll keep doing it and make this more of a permanent thing. We’re definitely gonna do the next couple of months through the summer and see how things go. And you actually write these columns and post them on TMA’s blog each month. Do you know what the address is for that?
KS: Yeah. Okay, so let me grab it. So it’s MountainAstrologer.com/TMA. And then you can find “June-Astrology-Aspects.”
CB: Okay.
KS: Yeah. And we can probably include that link.
CB: Yeah. I’ll include a direct link to that on the description page for this episode of the podcast. So people can check that out and then just subscribe to their blog, so that you can get that written report each time it’s posted.
KS: Yes.
CB: And then we’ll do another one of these on June—or July 1. Oh, yeah, the elections article, if anyone wants to read that, that’s published in—
KS: In the hard copy, isn’t it?
CB: Yeah. You’ve got to either pick up a copy of The Mountain Astrologer magazine at fine local bookstore, or subscribe to The Mountain Astrologer, and then you’ll find my list of auspicious elections, where I list at least four or five of these auspicious elections each month towards the back of each of those issues.
KS: Yes. So you can have us in your heads or you can have us on the page. However you like.
CB: Yeah. Well, I think this worked out pretty well. So I’m excited and I’m looking forward to doing it again next month.
KS: Yes. It’ll be great to catch up with you about July then.
CB: All right, excellent. All right, well, thanks everyone for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a good rating on iTunes and make sure to subscribe to the podcast. And Kelly and I will see you next time.