The Balsamic progressed Moon: The Oprah Winfrey Show — Rise to Success
Astrology has become way too fear-based – take the Balsamic progress Moon, you’re not meant to start anything during it because nothing really sticks, and it’s more likely that there’s a culmination of events.
Something typically ends; we’re meant to shed, to give things away.
It’s supposed to be a quiet inwards cycle.
The Balsamic Moon Phase is the final phase of the lunar cycle, occurring in the roughly 3–4 days before the New Moon (when the Moon is between about 315° and 360° ahead of the Sun in the zodiac).
It’s often described as a dark, introspective, and deeply mystical time, like the nesting phase.
The nesting phase is when parents-to-be prepare for a baby’s arrival, characterized by decorating, organizing, and stocking up on supplies.
This phase typically occurs in the third trimester and involves deep cleaning, setting up the nursery, and making other preparations.
The new cycle is being conceived under the surface.
A balsamic phase is like late pregnancy — you may or may not look active, but internally the new identity is forming.
Oprah Winfrey Show — Rise to Success
However, according to Astroseek.com, Oprah had her progressed Balsamic moon in the first house when she had a daily broadcast platform.
Oprah was 32 years old when she was offered national syndication for ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’.
She entered her balsamic phase on May 31, 1985, and stayed there until Oct 10, 1988.
So during syndication (1986), she was squarely in that Balsamic phase.
That’s two years past her Saturn Return
That means her progressed Moon (her emotional rhythm and instinctive expression) was moving through late Capricorn → early Aquarius, wrapping up a 29.5-year cycle.
The Secondary Progressed Balsamic Moon Phase
Anyway, the Secondary Progressed Balsamic Moon Phase (about 2½–3 years long) isn’t just “ending” — it’s about:
- Integrating the lessons of the entire 27–29-year cycle that came before,
- Letting go of an old identity, and
- Gestating (often unconsciously) what will emerge after the next progressed New Moon.
It’s an in-between zone — half spiritual composting, half creative incubation.
What Astrology would say
Most astrologers would have told Oprah-in-Chicago if they only looked at this one astrological event-
“Don’t go on TV in Balsamic—it’ll flop.”
…and they’d have been dead wrong.
New things can begin during this phase, just like endings can occur during the progressed new moon.
But the balsamic moon often brings a visible turning point that ends one era while seeding the next.
What looks like a breakout can actually be the culmination of a long internal process that’s finally ready to bloom externally.
Oprah’s Timeline
| Period | What was happening | Balsamic symbolism |
| 1984-1985 | She had already been in television for a decade as a news anchor and host and had faced setbacks (being fired and demoted). | The “release” of her old identity as a traditional newscaster letting go of formats that didn’t fit her. |
| 1984-1985 (A.M. Chicago) | Her personality-driven hosting style transforms a struggling local show into a hit. | The harvest of an entire previous cycle’s lessons. This is the balsamic “gift”—where wisdom crystallizes before rebirth. |
| 1986 | She offered national syndication; The Oprah Winfrey Show launches. | A visible success, but symbolically still an ending of the old life – she™s stepping out of local anonymity into the unknown. The seed of her next cycle is planted. |
| 1985-1988 | She begins to redefine daytime TV ” moving away from shock talk toward empathy and depth. | The “inner clearing” of the Balsamic phase happens through refining her message and purpose – shedding what’s not aligned. |
Why did she succeed (syndication)?
Firstly, she underwent her Saturn transit and grafted. Her hard work, ambition, and resilience during Saturn return are a testament to her ability to turn challenges into triumphs.”
Plus, Oprah’s visible success was the final flower of the previous 30-year cycle.
Her local Chicago years (1984–1985) were the harvest of everything she’d built since youth.
So, syndication wasn’t the “start” of her destiny—it was the final act of the old cycle’s story.
Simultaneously, Jupiter conjunct her Aquarius Sun (and other supportive transits) gave her public expansion and luck, turning an inner transition into a visible triumph.
In Balsamic terms, she was releasing her old self by sharing her gifts on a larger stage.
In a nutshell:
The Balsamic Moon phase is like the cosmic nesting phase — you’re quietly preparing, shedding, harvesting, ending, beginning (every ending leads to a beginning and every beginning starts from an ending), and integrating before the “birth” of a new chapter.
Outwardly, it can look calm, subtle, or even stagnant, but inside, the next cycle is forming, ready to explode when the progressed New Moon arrives.
But remember, you have a lot of other activity happening in your chart that can’t be seen unless you know how to read transits/your whole chart or you hire a professional.