048 | The Libra Equinox and Mercury Goes Sleuthing
April & Jen welcome Libra season and the equinox! Diplomatic Mercury in Libra finds trouble on its way to intense, investigative Scorpio, the First Quarter Moon connects us to last December’s Solar Eclipse, and April & Jen hear from a listener in Latvia who might hold the key to the podcast’s popularity there. Plus: Podathon winners, hanging chads, and Dark Shadows! Sign up for April's mailing list for updates, a free monthly lunar workbook, AND an email tutorial on the Lunar Phases! To read April & Jen’s essays, or to join the podcast conversation and leave a comment, go to www.BigSkyAstroPod.com. Read more about this week’s astrology at the Big Sky Astrology website! Follow Big Sky Astrology on IG, Twitter, and FB @BigSkyAstrology Read a full transcript of this episode. Episode links: 00:30 – A big thank you to everyone who supported our first annual Podathon and the voodoo that we do so well! Winners, chosen by Toby and a surprisingly enthusiastic Violet, were announced to donors by email, so if you donated and didn’t receive that message let us know. . 04:09 – Mystery solved: listener Liga weighs in on one explanation for our popularity in Latvia! Liga’s dog might or might not be involved! . 06:09 – Our first special, exclusive, donors-only episode will debut tomorrow! Emails are going out on Sep. 21, 2020, to donors of $5 or more with instructions on accessing our episode about the Libra Equinox. If you donated and didn’t receive the message, please check your spam folder and, if it’s not there, email April(at)bigskyastrology.com. . 07:40 – It’s Libra season! Sun enters Libra on Sep. 22, 6:31 am PDT, marking autumn in the Northern Hemisphere and spring in the Southern Hemisphere. . 08:56 – Much love to listeners dealing with fires on the West Coast of the United States! (And since we recorded this, our friends on the East Coast are up against some scary hurricanes, so all be well!) . 09:51 – The Libra season highlights relating. Here in the Northern Hemisphere, it heralds the season when we celebrate the harvest, our ancestors, and thanksgiving. Farmer’s Almanac reminds us that the word equinox comes from the Latin for “equal” and “night.” At the equinoxes we have roughly equal day and night hours. It’s the season that emphasizes balance – equilibrium - in relationships and all matters. . 12:25 – Next episode: Jen’s solar return!! . 12:37 – Mercury enters the rocky part of its journey through Libra this week with a square to Saturn Sep. 23 at 3:38 am PDT, and tension between collaboration and top-down authority. This aspect continues a Mercury/Saturn cycle that began on Jan. 12, 2020, and is NOT, in fact, an opening square from Mercury to Saturn… . 15:31 - … as pointed out by Encyclopedia Braun, it is a closing square! Oops! But there is much worthwhile food for thought in here, anyway, so we left it all in. Look at April, growing as a person! . 15:55 – This is the first of 3 closing squares from Mercury to Saturn. The others are on November 1 (Mercury Rx) and November 6. . 16:08 – What is the difference between an opening and closing square? One urges us to simply action, the other prescribes reflection and action that’s based on experience. Look to the discussion of First Quarter and Last Quarter lunar phases in Episode 34, The 8 Lunar Phases: Have Them With a Salad, for helpful insights. . 17:43 – Mercury is now in the shadow period (September 23) of its next retrograde period (Oct. 14-Nov. 3), and Saturn is slowing to turn direct (Sep. 29) - an intractable-sounding scenario. As always, review Ep. 12: Mercury Retrograde: Where are my Pants? . 18:21 – The current cozy relationship between the Sun and Venus prompts an accidental discussion of mutual reception. Look back to Episode 4 | The Capricorn Solstice is Frequently Sunny in Minneapolis, for a protracted discussion of this condition in which two planets are in the sign ruled by the other. . 19:37 – Mercury opposes Mars (Sep 24 3:54 pm PDT), the halfwa