It’s a light, vacationy week in the big sky, with no major lunation and only two planetary aspects of note: the Sun's stimulating sextile to Jupiter, and retrograde Mercury revisiting a conjunction to Venus; what did we overlook last week, when Mercury was at this degree? And in honor of April’s birthday today, a mini-lesson about the basics of Solar Return charts! Plus: An epic VOC Moon, sunshine after a storm, and the calendar of the Sun!

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Timestamps:

[1:12 ] The Sun sextiles Jupiter (Aug. 7, 6:37 am PDT) at 15º32’ Leo-Gemini. The Sabian symbol for the Sun is 16 Leo, Sunshine just after a storm. This is a great aspect for taking chances, doing new things and going to new places.

[3:56 ] On Aug. 7 (8:12 pm PDT), Mercury, still retrograde, conjuncts Venus at 03º43’ Virgo. Express what’s important to you regarding financial and relationship matters.

[5:38 ] Moon Report! There are no major lunations this week so we are going to focus on the Void-of-Course (VOC) Moon periods. On Aug. 5 (8:16 am PDT), the Moon in Leo squares Uranus. It's VOC for about 6 hours and then enters Virgo (2:17 pm PDT). It's time to open our minds and consider different ways of being in the world.

[7:08 ] On Aug. 8 (1:40 am PDT), the Moon in Virgo opposes Neptune. It’s VOC for 50 minutes before it enters Libra (2:31 am PDT). Look for ways to balance the rational and imaginative qualities that are present in your life.

[8:51 ] On Aug. 9 (2:45 pm PDT), the Moon in Libra sextiles the Sun in Leo. It’s VOC for 25 hours (!!!) before it enters Scorpio on Aug. 10 (3:34 pm PDT). Establish positive patterns of collaborating with others.

[10:08 ] Happy Solar Return to our Leonine host, April!!! A mini-lesson on Solar Returns. Check out Mary Shea’s Solar Return report and her book Planets in Solar Returns. You can also calculate your Solar Return on astro.com and on astrology software such as Solar Fire and AstroGold for Mac. You may want to review listener questions about Solar Return locations, in Episode 155 and Episode 201.

[22:39 ] If you’d like to have a question answered on a future episode, leave a message of one minute or less at speakpipe.com/bigskyastrologypodcast or email april(at)bigskyastrology(dot)com; put “Podcast Question” in the subject line.

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[23:42 ] A tribute to this week’s donors! If you’d like to support the show, please go to bigskyastropod.com where you can make a one-time donation in any amount or become an ongoing monthly contributor! Donate $5 or more to receive access to April’s Cancer Solstice episode.