(00:30) Randee: Hello and welcome to the Dark Moon Cafe. We are your hosts. My name is Randee. (Khasanti: And I’m Khasanti) And each Dark Moon we will be inviting you in for a monthly conversation about astrology and other adjacent topics. Each episode we will compare notes on how the monthly transits have been showing up for us, followed by a deeper dive into a specific topic, which for tonight’s episode is extra special because it is all about a big happy birthday to us. You can find transcripts of each episode on our website, Darkmooncafe.com. We hope this podcast offers a cozy space to settle in and explore with us how we live our lives through the lens of astrology. So hey Khasanti, happy anniversary birthday. How are you and what are you drinking tonight?

(01:32) Khasanti: Hello, my friend Randee. I am so delighted to be here with you in our beloved little cafe tonight. And of course I’m drinking champagne (Randee: Of course) because how could I be drinking anything otherwise? Yeah. So cheersing to us and our little pod.

(02:00) Randee: Yes. Yes. I can’t believe we have been doing this for a year already.

(02:07) Khasanti: I know. Yeah, it’s pretty amazing. (Randee: Yes) So what do you have in your glass tonight?

(02:16) Randee: Same here of course. (Khasanti: Oh good) Champagne, ’cause we are in a celebratory mode. (Khasanti: Yes) So cheers to you, friend. (Khasanti: Yes, absolutely) Happy Birthday. (both laughter) So how’s the month’s sky been treating you?

(02:38) Khasanti: Well, you know, it’s been interesting. It’s been interesting times. I yeah, since well in fact since before our last episode, I’ve been you know, we touched on this a little bit, talking about how the nodes have shifted into Aquarius and Leo and how that is on a on a kind of world scale, sort of pulling emphasis away from celebrities, big famous teachers, people who we tend to put on a pedestal and sort of bringing all of that energy and power more into like community spaces, collective work, that kind of thing. And a kind of funny side effect of the whole Steven Forrest fiasco we’ll just call it is that I ended up getting back on threads. (Randee: Oh) Around the time that that was all happening because it kind of became clear to me that that was like where all the discourse was was happening. Now, I used to be one of the Astro Twitter people back in the I guess it would be like the early twenty twenties. Yeah.

(04:25) Randee: Yes, the mythical Astro Twitter. (Khasanti: Exactly) Yes. (both laughter)

(04:30) Khasanti: It’s where I made a lot of the connections that I still have to this day. And you know, I met I met a bunch of people there who I then met in person at NORWAC. And then, you know, when Twitter went through like various kind of incarnations of just kind of getting more and more hellish and I think finally when when Musk took it over and turned it into X and I don’t know, whatever. Some kind of it became clear that it was no longer a place that I really felt comfortable kind of giving my giving my life force to. We won’t speak about the fact that threads is like not exactly any place that one really wants to be giving one’s life force to either, but you know, I think it at least is within the astrological community, it seems to be kind of where all of the how do I say this politely? It’s kind of the opposite of the Facebook astrology space that I spoke about last episode where everybody’s kind of tending to be a bit more conservative and you know, all of the all of the cool kids seem to be on threads, basically. (both laughter) So I was like, there’s like a bunch of faces and usernames here that I feel like I haven’t seen in a few years. And so I just find that kind of cool and fascinating that like even though the catalyst for me getting back there was this this kind of shitty thing that happened in the community, actually how that has ended up kind of manifesting for me is like I’ve kind of got my at least one area of my community back. (Randee: Got it) And there’s yeah, lots of really interesting conversations happening and yeah. I have to watch myself with it a little bit ’cause it’s pretty addictive. It’s got the kind of endless scroll situation and, you know, lots of hot takes and so anyway, it that I’d say that’s been kind that was the main thing I could pull out of the astrology of the last month that felt like it was like it was notable and yeah.

(07:23) Randee: I feel like you’re saying a lot of Aquarius sort of keywords there, right? (Khasanti: Right, right) Like where is power centralized? Like if we’re thinking that Leo Aquarius axis. How do we build community? How do we take care of ourselves? You know, how do we experience marginalization like so Aquarian in so many ways. (Khasanti: Yeah, yeah, absolutely, absolutely)

(07:57) Khasanti: So yeah, it’s been cool I was happy about it. Yeah yeah. (Randee: Awesome) How about you Randee, what’s been going on for you in the last few weeks?

(08:08) Randee: Right. Venus. Let’s just say that. (both laughter) Can we just talk about Venus and its little foray in Scorpio? (both laughter)

(08:23) Khasanti: Oh it would be my pleasure. How has that been showing up for you?

(08:28) Randee: You know, like not in the ways I would have wanted it to. You know, as I was sort of thinking this through, Venus ingressed into Scorpio on September 10th with Mars in Cancer. Now Mars is only in Cancer until the 27th of September. And also Venus squared Pluto on the 15th of September. So just to zoom out, you know, we have Venus, Scorpio, Cancer, Pluto, just all rolling around together in bed together. Yeah.

(09:14) Khasanti: Yeah, just some light hearted little placements. Nothing to see here.

(09:20) Randee: Nothing to see here. (both laughter) And you know, there’s a Venus retrograde coming up. (Khasanti: Yeah) It’s it’s gonna go all the way back into Libra, it’s gonna station direct in November, then it’s gonna move back into Scorpio in December, and it’s gonna be there until early 2027. So we’ve got more Venus in Scorpio that we will be unpacking. So the unpacking isn’t done. But if I’m pulling in themes from, you know, all of those placements that we just outlined, there has been a real emphasis lately for me on a real depth of interpersonal conversations, conversations with family where we’re processing deep issues. And you know, maybe we’re not unearthing new things, but we’re unearthing deep things. (Khasanti: Yeah, wow) And the conversations have been positive. So I have a night chart. Venus is my benefic of sect. And so these conversations have been very fruitful and have actually served to bring me to a point of feeling closer with these individuals having sort of had time to process some like old family dynamic stuff and like even like larger family system stuff. (Khasanti: Wow) But I I just I have like had my eye on that Venus prize because ever since it went into Scorpio, I have just felt a real depth of interpersonal entanglements that have been fruitful and meaningful in all of the beautiful Scorpio ways. (Khasanti: Yeah) But, you know, kind of ruled by that Mars in Cancer, which really brings in, I think, a lot of themes of the family, our home, our roots, our ancestry, and just it just kind of brings that into the picture. (Khasanti: Mmm hmm) So as much as, you know, we could fantasize about Venus in Scorpio, I think that this is sort of one way that it you know, it sort of reflects what we experience during these transits. So yeah, that’s kind of that was top of my mind when thinking about what’s been going on in the sky for me. So Yeah.

(12:11) Khasanti: Wow. Yeah, that sounds really kind of really cool in a certain way, but probably not necessarily like super light and fluffy.

(12:25) Randee: Exactly. Exactly. Right.

(12:30) Khasanti: Yeah. Venus is in her full goth garb in Scorpio, (Randee: Yes (laughter)) like ready to stay up all night in the club and have those those deep conversations. (Both laughter)

(12:48) Randee: Oh so right. I love that. I love that. With like a photo book out of family, like old family pictures. And like, you know, who knows what you’re gonna do to those pictures.

(13:00) Khasanti: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m also kind of kind of picturing you like sort of part of your part of your goth outfit as like some sort of vintage cardigan from some old family member or something and you’re like picking up the vibes and like, I I you know, now I’m getting deep deep insights from this cardigan into like my maternal family line or what have you.

(13:31) Randee: I love that, wow. (Both laughter) Oh gosh. But you know, let’s come back to why we are celebrating tonight. (Khasanti: Let’s do it) It is our birthday. Yeah.

(13:52) Khasanti: It’s so exciting. So yeah, obviously we wanted to do a celebratory episode for this. So this episode will air on the 10th of October, and our actual solar return isn’t until October 20th. So we yeah, we decided that one of the ways that we’re gonna celebrate this is by doing a little giveaway (Randee: Ohh) for our beloved, beautiful, amazing listeners who’ve been so just so delightful and so committed to supporting us over the past year. So we are (drumroll sound effect) we’re gonna be doing a giveaway of two not one but two mini chart readings. But Randee and I are each gonna take one winner and give you a written Sun Moon Rising reading. (Randee: Mm-hmm) And it’s gonna be awesome. (Randee: Mm-hmm. So excited, yes) So when are we l how are we doing it? Let’s let’s talk logistics so people know how they can enter.

(15:27) Randee: Yeah, so you know, be sure to follow us on Instagram. That’s where we’ll I think primarily or mostly be promoting this. (Khasanti: yes ) We’ll be announcing sort of the drawing or the raffle, I guess you’d call it, on October fifteenth and then we will announce the two winners on the twentieth. And that is our actual solar return date. (Khasanti: Right) We will reach out to you, we will let you know that you were a selected winner. And if you’re interested, we will then ask of you your birth data information and then we’ll send you a written mini sun, moon, rising reading.

(16:24) Khasanti: I love it. I’m so excited to do this. And yeah, we just wanted to do something celebratory and do something that would be a gift of our gratitude to you, our lovely listeners. So yeah. So make sure you’re you’re following us on Instagram if you’re not already. If you’re like vehemently against being on Instagram for whatever reason, then you’re welcome to send us an email at letters at darkmooncafe.com and we’ll enter you into the into the raffle that way. But yeah, let’s talk a little bit about what it’s like to be turning one as a podcast. (Both laughter) Are we are we sleeping through the night yet or…

(17:24) Randee: Oh no, we are not. (Both laughter) Oh my gosh. But we are entering our second house profection year (Khasanti: We are) so that’s pretty cool.

(17:36) Khasanti: It is pretty cool. We’ve spent a year like figuring out who we are. And Yeah. I mean, I gotta say, it’s been really a wonderful year for me. I don’t know that either of us really knew where this was gonna go when we started it. And we’re gonna talk a little bit in a little bit about the you know, how we came up with this idea and share some of the charts for various points along the along the storyline. But yeah, I was gonna be pretty happy if we got like, I don’t know, twenty, twenty five listeners or something. And I don’t know if it’s if this is something one is supposed to do as a podcast, but I feel okay about sharing that we you know, on average we’re getting like between eighty and ninety downloads per episode, which yeah is honestly way beyond my expectations. And we you know, we get a good amount of feedback from folks and it seems like this is really becoming part of your lives in a really sweet way. I don’t know, it just makes me it makes me feel really happy.

(19:04) Randee: Yes. Yes. You know, I heard recently someone talking about the eleventh house as the house of social media and podcasting. (Khasanti: Mmm hmm) I was like, okay, that’s an interesting kind of take on it. (Khasanti: Yeah) But just thinking about like my own birth chart, I have so much emphasis in the fifth-eleventh axis. This podcast has been such a wonderful creative outlet for me. (Khasanti: Yeah) And it’s really just something I look forward to doing every month. It’s a great excuse to talk with you as much as we do. (Khasanti: I know) If for no other reason start a podcast with someone you love talking to and then (Khasanti: Yeah) you’ll always have a reason to text them and call them. But yeah, it’s just been wonderful. And yeah, so as Khasanti said, we had the idea of talking about our sort of well, our first initial text that we shared about doing this, and then we explored as any good astrologer does, the chart of our first meeting about doing the podcast. (Khasanti: Mmm hmm) Then we have a chart that we’ve planned some analysis around of the airing of our first episode, which we are calling our birth chart. (Khasanti: Right) And then we have generated a solar return chart to just have fun exploring what that might say about our year coming up, but to also offer our listeners some kind of tangible interpretive ways to utilize a solar return chart and you know, I hope that’ll be both informative and enjoyable to kind of listen to our process. Yeah.

(21:12) Khasanti: Yeah. So shall we shall we time travel back to that first text then? (Randee: Let’s do it) Do you have it handy?

(21:23) Randee: Yes I do. Yes, I do. Okay. So the first text. Now I just want to say that I really do feel this way. Ever since I met you, I was like, I want to do something with that person. Like I wanna I wanna do something creative, whether it’s writing, whether it’s I don’t care what it is. (Khasanti: laughter) I just wanna do something creative with this person. So I feel like I was just like waiting for this text. (Khasanti: Mmm hmm) And then lo and behold, on June 19th, 2025, I get a little text from Khasanti that says, “spoiler alert, I am reading a book about podcasting, and once again thinking about whether we could do one together.” (Both laughter) Well, that’s all I needed to hear. And my immediate response was “yes, yes, yes, kissy face, stellar stars” and here we are. (Khasanti: Yeah) (Both laughter)

(22:37) Khasanti: It was yeah, it was so great to and I think, you know, I think I knew we it was it wasn’t the first time that we’d kind of floated the idea (Randee: Sure) of possibly doing this, but you know, bandwidth issues and whatnot and so yeah, I wasn’t like totally surprised to get such a positive response, but it was it was really affirming and I think we went ahead and had our first call about it pretty soon after that, right?

(23:11) Randee: Yes, yes we did. (Khasanti: Let me see) We actually talked about it six days later.

(23:21) Khasanti: Mm-hmm. Yeah, June twenty fifth, 2025. So shall we should we have a little look at that chart? (Randee: Yeah let’s do it) ‘Cause obviously we pulled the chart up. We had so we had a conversation and it became clear that we both that this was gonna be a thing that was that we thought was gonna actually happen. So we pulled the chart up as we were talking and kind of used the chart actually as a little bit of a guide or a divination, if you like, on what I mean we had some ideas about what we wanted the vibe to be, but I think the name definitely came from looking at the chart, if I remember correctly.

(24:14) Randee: Yeah, yeah. And also just our shared love for the dark moon phase of things.

(24:23) Khasanti: Yeah. Yeah, totally. And we’ll share all of these charts on our website. So for those of you that are more visual, you know, this is the one downside of being an audio only astrology podcast is that it’s harder to like screen share. But but yeah, so the chart of that conversation is pretty cool and interesting. The most notable thing about it is that we have four inner planets in Cancer on that particular date. We’ve got Jupiter, the Sun, the Moon, and Mercury all in various degrees of Cancer, which is the moon’s home sign. (Randee: yeah) And it was just past a new moon, like I think it was technically still in the new yeah, very technically still in the new moon phase. Like we’ve got the sun at four degrees and the moon at twelve degrees of cancer. So the new moon would have been like earlier that day or the day before. (Randee: Mm-hmm) So we you know, the moon is still I’m always a little kind of not completely sure on what the exactly correct definition of a dark moon is. But for me, I just I like to just think at least this is what I use when I’m figuring out when to post our episodes is like as long as the moon is not yet visible, because it hasn’t yet emerged from the light of the sun. I kind of consider that to be, at least for the purposes of this podcast, a dark moon. (Randee: Yeah) So using that terminology, the podcast was conceived under a dark moon.

(26:31) Randee: Yes, it was. And fresh on the heels of a of a Jupiter cazimi.

(26:38) Khasanti: Yes. (Randee: Yeah) So we got Jupiter at three degrees of cancer and the moon at four, so we’re just one degree off. And in fact the if you use the some people there’s a there’s a bit of debate around how to define a cazimi. Some people say that the planets have to be like on the same degree number as each other, and then others say that they have to be like within a degree of each other. And we’re just like one arc minute away from Jupiter and the Sun being within a degree of each other. So (Randee: Mmm-hmm. Mm-hmm) Yeah.

(27:25) Randee: I remember when we met that felt special to us. (Khasanti: Yeah) That felt sparkly to us.

(27:31) Khasanti: It did. It did. Even if Jupiter’s technically combust in this chart we’re feeling the vibes of the cazimi were still very much kind of in the air when we had that conversation. So so yeah, I mean for I think we’ve probably mentioned cazimis before, but for the uninitiated a cazimi is the term for when a planet spends time in the heart of the sun and it seemed to be like a very powerful rebirth moment for that planet. So so yeah, Jupiter the planet of meaning and teachers and teachings and higher learning, that kind of thing is, yeah, it feels like it’s meaningful to have that be part of the the conception chart of our little pod.

(28:37) Randee: I agree, I agree. I know that with all of that cancer energy we really were feeling it. Like we were feeling we want this podcast to be cozy and intimate and approachable and as safe of a space as possible that was really important to us from the outset. (Khasanti: Yeah, yeah, Mm-hmm) And one thing I noticed about this chart was sextile to all of that fun stuff in the ninth house is Mars, which is the chart ruler with Scorpio rising. And we have Mars in the eleventh house in Virgo. So I was kind of thinking about that, like precise action, the house of shared goals and community building house. (Khasanti: Mm-hmm) It’s like action in a very earthy sign that is attentive to care and details. And so I loved that. And I also noticed that Venus in Taurus in the seventh house so lovely for like a business partnership.

(29:57) Khasanti: Yeah, absolutely. And it’s kind of on the descendant actually now that I notice it. So that’s that’s a pretty angular Venus, which when we get to the chart of our actual first episode, it will be revealed that you could barely imagine a more Venus heavy chart. (Randee: Yes, yes) (both laughter) The one that we selected for our first episode. So yeah, but one of the things I also remember about that first conversation is like how easy it was to find our name. (Randee: yeah) Like it was literally the first thing we thought of, I think. Which is almost unheard of for like any time I’ve ever tried to name anything, whether it’s like a blog or a business or I don’t know. Whatever kind of… it takes me forever. Like I’m herniating for days and weeks and months over like what I wanna call this damn thing. (Randee: laughter) And we just like as soon as we heard it, we were like, well, that’s the one to beat. And then, you know, we had a few little text conversations back and forth after that about like, you know, how about this, how about that? But I think we both knew in our hearts really that it was gonna be the Dark Moon Cafe.

(31:23) Randee: Hundred percent. Hundred percent. Yeah. yeah. I feel like as soon as we landed on that, we were like, okay, well that’s it. Let’s move on now. Yeah. (Both laughter)

(31:37) Khasanti: Totally.

(31:38) Randee: Yeah, but just even looking back at my notes, it’s so it’s it’s just has cancer written all over it. Like we wanted it to feel nurturing, we wanted it to feel supportive. But we also wanted it to feel fun and inspiring. And I feel like that’s where the Sun Jupiter stuff comes in, right? This sort of inspirational place where we can let our thoughts and our mind and our creativity go and we can be weird and it’s okay.

(32:14) Khasanti: Yeah. Yeah, totally. And I feel like that Scorpio rising chart as well is kind of I feel like that that speaks to a little bit of the weirdness, maybe. Like as well as the dark moonness. It’s sort of like, yeah, we’re not gonna be afraid to to plumb some of the depths of this weird human experience. (Randee: laughter, yes) And I also noticed something that I thought was kind of cool is that when we get on our spoiler alert. Our podcast is a Libra rising podcast, which is your rising sign, Randee. (Randee: Yup, yup) And I kind of love the conception chart is a Scorpio rising chart, which is my rising sign. So it’s kind of like we’ve we’ve incorporated both of ourselves into this podcast that’s obviously very much made up of our own two nativities.

(33:29) Randee: Yes. I love that. Yeah. I love that.

(33:33) Khasanti: So I just wanna see if I had any other notes about the conception chart. Not really, other than just the mention I think we already mentioned the stellium being in the ninth house of kind of meaning and so forth. And the sun also being in its joy in the ninth house, so that’s really nice.

(33:59) Randee: Yeah, it’s a sparkly one.

(34:01) Khasanti: Yeah. (Randee: Yeah. All right) So yeah, shall we move on to our actual birth chart then?

(34:08) Randee: Yes, yes. So our birth chart, October twentieth, twenty twenty five.

(34:22) Khasanti: And this so this chart is one that I actually elected, meaning that I sat down with the astrology of I mean, I think we had like some parameter. We we weren’t gonna wait like ten years to start this podcast (Randee: laughter) until the perfect election. So, you know, which anyone who’s ever attempted election astrology will know there’s no perfect chart. Every chart like has the malefics in it somewhere and so so yeah, within whatever parameters we’d decided, like you know, maybe like within a few weeks or a month or something, this was what I determined was the best chart that we could launch the podcast on. And yeah. I’m not a super experienced electional astrologer, put it that way, but I like the look of this chart. It fit pretty much all of the, there’s like one little thing in there that I could maybe wish wasn’t there, but for the most part, so it’s a it’s a Libra rising chart with Venus in her home sign of Libra, right on the ascendant at eight degrees. We’ve got the moon in Libra at sixteen degrees. We’ve got the sun in Libra at twenty seven degrees. And Yeah, so again it’s a what I would deem a dark moon, except this time the moon is applying to the sun, so it’s a little bit before a new moon, but it’s still in that dark phase. And my God, such a Venusia Venusian chart. Like, you know, in electional astrology, the main things that you’re looking for is that the ruler of the first house is in good condition and that the moon is in good condition. So you’re typically looking for sort of looking in the time span that that you wanna have the event happen, and you’re looking at well which of the planets are well dignified? And then you when you find one or more of them, you try and make them, that planet the ruler of the first house. So I could obviously see that Venus was in Libra and Jupiter was in Cancer, so that would have been so Jupiter exalts in Cancer. That would have been another option to have either a Sag or a Pisces rising chart. But for whatever reason I chose this one. And yeah, it’s like all roads lead back to Libra. Like where’s the moon? In Libra. Where’s the ascendant ruler? In Libra. Who rules the first house? Venus in Libra. Where’s the sun? In Libra. So Yeah. I it’s yeah, it’s a I think I feel like it’s a really good chart for what we what we’re about.

(37:57) Randee: Yeah. And knowing very little about electional astrology, it’s just a beautiful chart. I mean, the malefics are averse to the first house. (Khasanti: Mm-hmm) And yeah, we just have that beautiful Jupiter in Cancer in the tenth, just really shining high up in the sky and (Khasanti: Yeah) Yeah, quite lovely. And, you know, Libra, right? We’re of course of course I have to say Saturn in every episode.

(38:39) Khasanti: Of course, it’s your contractual obligation.

(38:42) Randee: As one does. You know, I think that there’s like a discipline to Libra that, you know, the sign where Saturn exalts. And creating a podcast does require a fair amount of discipline, you know, a fair amount of structure, a fair amount of, I mean, for you and I, it’s it just comes so easy, but I imagine that in other, you know, iterations of a podcast with two different people, there would be a lot of negotiation, which is very Libra. And you know, thinking about what’s fair and what’s just and what’s harmonious (Khasanti: Yeah) You know, just all of those wonderful Libran things and yeah.

(39:43) Khasanti: Yeah, totally. I also love that that Libra is an air sign, so it’s Venus’ airy home. (Randee: yeah) And, you know, the two of us of as we’ve mentioned are both quite airy individuals. (Randee: Yeah) So I yeah, I feel like it’s a really good chart for two airy people talking about their love of astrology. You’ve got the you got Jupiter, the teacher up there in exalted in Cancer in the most visible place in the chart, but then the identity of our podcast is really, you know, it’s to do with love, harmony, beauty, justice, and ideas and shared yeah, a shared love of ideas. (Randee: Mmm hmm, mmm hmm) Yeah. And then the other thing that I also noted, so like, a lot of the times when I do when I do a natal consultation with somebody, and I think you you do this as well, Randee, we kind of we talk about the the sun as being the the life path, the narrative of the life story and then the moon being the environment in which the story takes place. And so, for our little pod, having both of those planets and our ascendant ruler who represents like the identity of the of the pod, having those all kind of in the same sign and in some cases being the same planet, that kind of that speaks to a real harmony and resonance between who we are, what we’re doing and the place that we’re doing it.

(41:53) Randee: Mmm. I love that delineation. Yeah. Yeah. Cohesiveness was a word that just came into my mind as well.

(42:00) Khasanti: Yeah. Yeah, and I feel that. Like I feel like we don’t have a lot of problems with we don’t really disagree about anything, really.

(42:17) Randee: We’re like one of those couples that are like, No, we never fight.

(42:20) Khasanti: Never argue. I know, it’s kind of nauseating but true. (Both laughter) (Randee: I know, I know)

(42:26) Khasanti: But yeah, it’s always kind of astonishingly easy when we have our meetings about what are we gonna talk about. Like it just comes together really easily. We’re just so on the same page, on the same wavelength. It’s yeah, it’s pretty great.

(42:43) Randee: Yeah. Yeah. I agree. And and you know, we’ve got Saturn in the sixth, right? So it I think that also lends itself to like the positive side of how we could interpret that. Lends itself to again that sort of disciplined approach that is methodical and thoughtful. And so I you know, I think that that’s kind of a cool just little little added sprinkle there is that we’ve got all this sort of Venusian, Libran, harmonious energy, but it takes work. (Khasanti: yeah) Like you know, and we’re doing the work, you know. It’s just it just feels really fun though. It’s like fun work. (Both laughter)

(43:36) Khasanti: Yeah. Yeah, we’re not we’re not here to give you our sob story about kind of what what a terrible sixth house pain in the ass this is. It’s like it’s one of the most fun things that I’ve ever done. But yeah, it does it does take it takes time and it yeah. It takes commitment. So yeah.

(44:02) Randee: For sure, for sure.

(44:05) Khasanti: And then, you know, the other thing that I thought was interesting, well there’s a couple of things. So the sun is in its fall in Libra. So that in a way you could say that that’s a a little bit of a less fortunate sun position. But it’s mitigated by an overcoming square from that lovely exalted Jupiter. So I feel like, you know, not only is the sun also mitigated by having its ruler Venus in the same house as it. It’s also just kind of getting these lovely blessings from Jupiter. So and it made me kind of think about how neither of us are really very kind of solar people. You know, you have your sun in Aquarius, I have mine in the eighth house. We’re not real kind of you know Ooh, lovely, let’s have the spotlight be on me. (Randee: Yes, yeah) Kind of folks. So I kinda wonder a little bit about whether that that fallen sun in Libra speaks a little bit to that, but then the beneficence of Venus and Jupiter are both kind of helping helping us to just overcome those you know, whatever that sort of sense of like it not being our most comfy place. We’ve kind of we’ve found a way to make a comfy place here and get more comfortable with being seen and being heard. So thank you, Venus and Jupiter.

(45:57) Randee: Yeah. Yes.

(46:03) Khasanti: And then I also love that, you know, if you’re gonna look at well, which would be the most challenging house in this, and therefore the most challenging life area in this chart, you look at where the out of sect malefic is located, which in this case would be Mars in the second house, which I just think is kind of funny ’cause it’s like, you know, I highly doubt either of us is gonna make a lot of money from doing this pod. The second house is, you know, often connected with money and resources and so you know, I don’t think that’s not at all why we’re doing this. And so that’s why one of the reasons why I felt comfortable putting Mars in the second house. Like if I were if we were electing something for a venture that really needed to make money, then you might want to put Mars somewhere other than the second house, but…

(47:02) Randee: Right, right. That makes sense. Yeah. Well, beautiful election and obviously you elected well because we’ve made it a whole year.

(47:15) Khasanti: We have. (Randee: Yeah) We’ve made it out of our first house profection and into the into the second. So it’d be interesting to see if we if we get any out of sect malefic action this this coming year, not to like invite that or anything, but right you know, we could we could maybe see something on the horizon that might be a little bit pokey in some way, but I feel like we’re well equipped to handle whatever that might be.

(47:48) Randee: Absolutely. Absolutely. Maybe that’s a good segue into our solar return chart.

(47:56) Khasanti: I think it might be. I think it might be. So why don’t you do you feel comfortable telling folks what in the world is a solar return chart and why it matters?

(48:09) Randee: Sure, sure. So a solar return chart is where you cast a chart that basically is like the birth chart of the year ahead. So you cast a chart for…you place the sun at the exact degree and the exact sign that it was at the birth chart, and you place it there again for the coming year. And then you read that chart as kind of a stand, you can read it as like a stand alone chart for kind of predicting things for the year ahead. You can also kind of put it side by side with the birth chart to glean a little more insight into the birth chart or vice versa. And there’s some, you know, different sort of techniques that you can apply to the solar return chart. But basically it’s when the sun returns to the same degree that it was at when you were born. And so you cast that as its own separate chart. So yeah.

(49:20) Khasanti: Beautiful. And you know, a lot of the time you’ll find that your solar return falls on your birthday, but occasionally it might happen like late the the night before or in the early hours of the morning following. So it’s not always synonymous with the birthday, but it’s always close.

(49:48) Randee: So yeah, our solar return chart…you know, there was a lot to kind of take in with the solar return chart. And one of the places I tend to start when I’m looking at a solar return chart is I will go to the rising sign and then I will identify the chart ruler and where that chart ruler is. And I will then kind of think about, you know, that placement as maybe a point of emphasis for the year ahead. I will kind of analyze, which I didn’t necessarily do all of this for for this interpretation, but I might kind of analyze transits to that ruling planet that might kind of forecast periods of, you know, difficulty or periods of challenge or periods of ease or change. (Khasanti: Mm-hmm) A lot of times folks will say, you know, tell me what the year ahead’s gonna look like for me (Khasanti: Right) or am I gonna do well financially this year? Or how’s my new relationship gonna look this year? And so you can kind of zero in on the different houses topically. (Khasanti: Uh-huh) But for ours, you know, the first thing I saw was its Sagittarius rising chart with Jupiter conjunct Mars in the ninth house in Leo. (Khasanti: Mm-hmm) So, you know, I immediately go to the house of meaning making. Again, we’re sort of looking at that ninth house, the house of higher truths. This phrase came to my mind when I saw that Jupiter and Mars there in Leo: “reaching from the heart with a sword in hand.” (Khasanti: Ooh. Wow) Yeah. So I just kind of feel like I love this placement. I’m I’ve never been afraid of Mars. Maybe it’s because I have a night chart. But for me this, you know, maybe this could forecast a bit for us leaning into you know, some of those ideas around justice or the ideas around how astrology can be a source of advocacy or yeah, just you know preaching from the heart with a sword in hand.

(52:30) Khasanti: Ugh. Love that. That’s such a beautiful image. (Randee: Mm-hmm) Yeah. Wow.

(52:39) Randee: And then the sun, of course, we’re looking, where’s the sun, right? Of course, it’s at 27 degrees, Libra. But in the solar return chart, it’s in the 11th house. So again, we have this house of community, shared goals. Now, this is where it got a little dicey for me because that sun in the solar return chart is ruled by Venus in Scorpio in the 12th. So I was like, ooh, that’s interesting. (Khasanti: yeah) And so that kind of made me think about how does this platform help connect us or our audience, our community with that that with that which is difficult to see you know, or the shadow. (Khasanti: Mmm hmm) Kind of along those lines, and then I’ll stop, because I was like on a train of thought with this. So Jupiter, again, that’s sort of the chart ruler, is gonna be ingressing into Virgo at the end of July of twenty twenty-seven. So that to me would be like something I would do in like a consultation. I would look at is what’s happening with that chart ruler and is it gonna be changing sign at some point? So, you know, in July of next year, we have this shift from a more sort of fiery outward Leo energy thing to a more introspective, refined, detail oriented sign. And I’m wondering if this might forecast for us that, you know, maybe ideas we’ll have a lot of ideas, but they may not come as easily and they may require a little bit more preparedness and a little more work around the details. (Khasanti: yes) That was something that kind of stood out to me, and that tracks with the sun’s ruler, again, Venus being tucked away in that twelfth house along with Mercury in the sign of Scorpio. These ideas around being more reflective, speaking to marginalization. Some of the questions that came up for me as I looked ahead for us is, you know, questions about who is our audience? What parts of ourselves are we accessing through this podcast that could otherwise be invisible to us? And then this was just sort of cheeky. Like, is this podcast healing us? So that’s sort of how I was integrating all that twelfth house stuff. ‘Cause there’s a lot of twelfth house stuff in this solar return chart. Yeah.

(55:34) Khasanti: Oh yeah. That’s gorgeous. I love love all of those delineations. (Randee: Nice) Yeah. I also noticed that did you mention that Venus is retrograde? (Randee: I did not) And that she’s also combust. So she’s really dinged up in this chart. (Both laughter)

(55:55) Randee: She’s she’s beat up a little bit. Yeah.

(55:58) Khasanti: Yeah. So, you know, she’s she’s very much on her kind of underworld journey and this is something that we’re all gonna be going through to an extent as we ’cause we we’re all gonna be going through this Venus retrograde that’s that’s coming up very shortly. In fact very likely by the time this episode drops we’ll already be into it, I think. So yeah, it’s like that something about that Venus retrograde journey is gonna be baked into the chart of our podcast’s coming year. (Randee: Such a good point) So that’s just interesting. And you know, for us with it being in our twelfth house, that just adds even more testimony to it being you know, a little bit hidden, a little bit hard to see what’s going on. So yeah, it’s gonna be it’s gonna be interesting. (Randee: Mm-hmm) So the other thing that I noticed was that and I haven’t really like thought a ton about like what this might mean, but like our ascendant ruler Jupiter is opposite the moon, so we’ve got an Aquarius moon that’s applying to that Jupiter in Leo, and both of the and that opposition is squaring the Mercury at twenty degrees of Scorpio. So that is what the modern astrologers would call a T square. We don’t really…

(57:48) Randee: A T what? (Both laughter)

(57:52) Khasanti: So yeah, it’s like what I’m thinking about as I’m looking at it is all of the stuff that we’ve been talking about over the last two episodes about the the nodes being across that the Leo Aquarius axis. It’s kind of yeah, it what it makes me think of in this moment is that we’re, with the moon in Aquarius, we’re kind of we’re getting more comfy in that more I mean, I think we’re both pretty comfy in the Aquarian space anyway, but it sort of suggests getting nourishment from more community spaces, more collective spaces. Yeah, so getting nourishment from there and also that that is gonna be more of the sort of environment that we’re that we’re hanging out in. So but then with our ascendant ruler being in Leo, which is kind of where the South Node currently is, and Leo being the sign that is more about being visible and being more individualistic. I just I think that’s gonna be maybe an interesting an interesting tension for us in the coming year of like how do we how do we do this thing which by definition is kind of centering us and our voices in a way that does feel kind of growth oriented for the two of us with our tendency to be more aquarian. And yet how do we how do we kind of hold that that platform responsibly in a way that continues to be to take care of the collective, I guess. And then with Mercury square to that, it’s in Scorpio it’s kind of it makes me wonder whether there might be more more kind of speaking out about problems in the community or issues affecting marginalized folks or yeah, just kind of speaking some somewhat uncomfortable truths in you know, yeah. So that that’s kind of what comes up for me when I see those those placements.

(01:00:46) Randee: Yeah, beautiful. I really resonate with everything you were saying. And the moon in her place of rejoicing as well (Khasanti: Oh yeah) in the third. Every time I see a chart with the moon and the third, I always like feel this incredible potential for a grounding effect for everything that lies above. Like and so like, you know, I also like if this was a person, and not about a podcast, I would I would wonder about adding grounding rituals into someone’s life in a kind of a twelfth housey sort of way, like retreats, taking time alone, adding depth to the internal kind of world. But but also like also there’s a lot of community-ish stuff in this chart too, like third house, eleventh house. So yeah, the like you highlighted, there’s potential points of tension and and finding of balance. And yeah, yeah, like you said, might we be speaking more to twelfth housey sort of topics. (Khasanti: Right) I could see that. I could definitely see that, you know. How that will emerge, who knows? But yeah.

(01:02:30) Khasanti: Yeah. Well stay tuned, folks. (Randee: Stay tuned) We’ll have to when we get towards the end of this next year. Maybe we can review this this kind of (Randee: That would be fun) yeah, forecast that we’ve given ourselves and see how much of it came to pass. (Randee: Yes) It’d be really cool. This has been so fun.

(01:02:57) Randee: So much fun. Just wanna offer like a thank you to you, Khasanti, for being just such an amazing podcast partner and friend. And such a shout out to our listeners and our friends, our acquaintances, or the strangers that are listening to our stuff. It’s just it means a lot to us. So thank you.

(01:03:21) Khasanti: Absolutely. Hundred percent echo all of that. And just a reminder to follow us on Instagram if you don’t already and keep an eye out for that that giveaway that we’re gonna be announcing. And yeah, I think I think that’s everything that we had to had to share tonight. So we have loved hanging out with you at the Dark Moon Cafe tonight and we hope you enjoyed your time with us. It would mean so much to us if you would subscribe to the pod in your podcatcher of choice and leave us a stellar review. You can book a session with one of us if you’d like to talk more about your own chart. Maybe we could pull up a solar return for you and see what what’s in store. And we love getting your feedback. You can now write to us directly at letters@darkmooncafe.com. And yeah, we’re just wishing you the very best for the coming month and we look forward to seeing you again next dark moon.