Welcome to Ghost of a Podcast. I'm your host, Jessica Lanyadoo. I'm an astrologer, psychic medium, and animal communicator, and I'm going to give you your weekly horoscope and no-bullshit, mystical advice for living your very best life.

Hello, my loves. This week, I'm doing another episode where I answer a bunch of questions instead of doing one in-depth reading. It's just because I have so many questions, so many questions from you, and I want to answer as many as I can. So here we go. But next week, you're going to get another in-depth reading.

So the first question I have is from Eclipse Hijinks, and she says, "I'm an avid listener of your podcast and tried to prepare myself for the current Eclipse Season and get Zen, but damn if that first Eclipse didn't get the better of me. Can you help me prepare for what may be lying in wait around the corner after I fell for the Eclipse drama bait? I realize that I also created the Eclipse drama for other people close to me by providing my resignation in the middle of this hot mess, but I honestly felt like my hand was forced." And then Eclipse Hijinks actually shares a lot of very important context for this question, but because of time, I'm not going to read it, and I'm going to give the answer that I would give anyways in context of all the details to say this.

Eclipses are dramatic. They are emotional. They are chaotic. And they bring up so much feeling, and that's not a problem. I mean, it's not fun for most of us, but it's not like a maladjusted response to the energy, just like being cold isn't a maladjusted response to zero-degree weather. The problem occurs during Eclipse Season when we act dramatically, when we act out out of vindictiveness, fear, or when we abandon our values for comfort. That's when we are engaged in an unhealthy response to Eclipse drama. Sometimes we need drama, my friend. We need drama in order to get our lives on the right path, or it takes a dramatic move, so making a bold and dramatic statement⁠—quitting a damn job that is not right for you in a situation that is not healthy for you⁠—in order to be in alignment with your values, to be on the right path.

And when we are going through Eclipse Season, we often can't see what's around the corner, what will come on the other side of our choices or our actions. And that's as it should be because it's a Lunar transit. It's a transit that impacts our hearts, and therefore, it's a transit that we're supposed to be present for and not fixated on, "If I do this, then I'll get that," which is not a bad way of thinking; it's just not a way that's going to work out during this transit.

So, while I cannot predict for you or anyone what will happen during an Eclipse⁠—Eclipses are just very unpredictable⁠—what I can say is that if you made a choice, no matter how dramatic it is, because of your values, because of what you believe to be right and what you know to be right for yourself, then bring on the drama. It's okay. We don't want to demonize things being chaotic, because sometimes chaos is the best possible medicine for our lives.

Now I have another question, and this one's about drugs. It comes from DBL Aquarius, and she says, "I've always felt very in touch with my spirituality ever since I was a young child. After my first encounter with mind-altering substances, I realized that my spirituality was so much broader than the Christian perspective allowed me to explore. Now, every once in a while, when I partake in a veil-thinning substance, I am launched into a psychic experience.  This is where I feel most at home. But I don't understand how I get there without the use of substances or if I even belong in that space in the first place. Hoping my chart has something to say about it. Thanks for all you do." And Aquarius was born on February 1st, 1984, at 10:48 a.m. in San Francisco, California.

So, when you bring up the topic of spirituality and drugs, the first place my mind goes is Jupiter and Neptune. And truly, you have a Neptune/Jupiter conjunction in your birth chart, and with Venus kind of close by. And this aspect is in your eighth house. And so it makes sense that you would find the greatest ease of access to spiritual or psychic experiences when you have imbibed a substance. Now, that doesn't mean it's the only way you can do it. It's just the easiest way you can do it. You also have a Saturn/Mars conjunction in your birth chart, and that conjunction is square to your Sun.

And so what your birth chart tells me is that you have a really hard time letting go. You can be really uptight in your body and have a hard time allowing yourself to let go of control, let go of, maybe, hypervigilance, and just really be. So, when you imbibe a substance, it allows your body to release attachments to paying attention to everything, tracking everything, and you're able to tap into your Jupiter/Neptune. You're able to tap into your spiritual and interconnected self. So that doesn't mean, therefore, do drugs every time you want to have a psychic experience. That's a terrible idea. And it's certainly not great to only feel the most at home when you're doing drugs. Drugs are vacation; they're not home, hopefully.

And so here's the answer to your question. Find ways of achieving these and presence in your body and working on being less hypervigilant when you're sober. And do this for a while. Do this for six months. Do this for a year. Do this for a while. And then, when you get habitual around it⁠—because we're dealing with Saturn, Saturn conjunct Mars, Saturn square the Sun⁠—once you get habitual around it, then, my friend, you will start to have greater access to your psychic body because your psychic body requires presence and openness⁠—Jupiter and Neptune.

And the truth is your system probably isn't allowing for psychic experiences because you're scared on some level, and when you do drugs, it takes away that inhibition. Just because a drug works doesn't mean it's your home. And again, I'm not talking about prescription drugs here. I'm talking about recreational drugs. So that is something to really work with, finding a way to take the lessons that you learn when you've imbibed a substance and to apply it to your sober waking life. This is something that we can do. It's a practice. It takes time. It's slow, whereas taking drugs is really quick and easy in that way. But it's absolutely worth doing so that you have more access to the whole of your nature and of your mind.

Now, my next question is also pretty spiritual, and it comes from Jamie. Jamie says, "I haven't kept up a relationship with my father, who passed 22 years ago when I was ten years old. Does that mean he's no longer with me spiritually or energetically?" And Jamie shares her birth information, but it's not necessary for this particular question.

The truth is that whether or not you're keeping up with your lost loved one, whether or not you can feel them, doesn't mean that they're not in relationship with you and that they're not there for you. The truth of the matter is that they can be there with us through everything, and we might not know it. We might not feel it. And that's not just because not everyone is a medium, but even for myself as a medium, I'm not always aware of my own lost loved ones because when you're living your life, you're coping. You're busy. You're focused on things. Right? You're focused on things. And that means we're not always receptive to what's happening on a more spiritual level.

So, if you haven't been keeping up a relationship with your father, if you haven't been talking to him or trying to connect with him spiritually, you have nothing to worry about. That in no way suggests to me that he would no longer be with you or that it would hurt his feelings. And this is something I've heard in my client consultations a great deal, where people are scared that having negative thoughts about their lost loved one or not making an effort to connect with them would somehow harm them or hurt their feelings. But I have never encountered that to be the case.

When somebody dies, they die. And when you're living, you've got to find a way to cope. You've got to find a way to live. And for many people, that means not trying to keep up a spiritual relationship. And especially for somebody like you who lost your father when you were so young, it's important that you give yourself the grace you need to say, "That's not something I've done." And you can try to open up to him, but you don't have to. How we grieve and how we relate to our lost loved ones is individual. There aren't really rules. And it's not our job to manage the lives or welfare of the dead. It's our job to grieve. It's our job to live.

In my experience, when a parent passes, they usually stick around regardless of how the child as an adult or even as an old person⁠—how the child relates to them. Not always, but generally. And I hope that helps.

Rachel says, "I have always been afraid to drive. I no longer live in a big city, and I really need to be able to drive myself to be independent. Unfortunately, my fear of driving has gotten worse in recent years, and I'm pretty anxious to even be a passenger in a car at this point, especially on highways. Can you please offer any insight into how I tackle this phobia?"

So, the second I read this question, I thought, "Oh, this person has Mars in the twelfth house," because having Mars in the twelfth house can give us fears of knives, fears of fire, and fears of driving. Mars governs all those things. It can make us really scared of those things. And essentially, what it does is it makes us scared of our own power, our own ambition, and directing our lives. And before I get into this chart, I'll share Rachel was born May 23rd, 1985, 9:05 a.m., in Rhinebeck, New York.

So I did pull up this chart, and of course, Mars is in the twelfth house. And it's in Gemini, which just so happens to be that Mars is retrograding in Gemini right now. And so this is a great time for you to be asking this question, and it's kind of an inevitable time for you to be dealing with this. Now, in your birth chart, you don't only have Mars in the twelfth house, but you have Mars opposite Uranus. And the truth is having Mars opposite Uranus in the birth chart can make a person a bit accident-prone. And it's not because you're destined to be in accidents. It's because you can often act out of impulse and emotion instead of consideration and care.

So I think it's great that you're cautious as a driver, but cautious and phobic are radically different things. Now, if you have a real phobia, I recommend that you find a phobia specialist to work with on this because phobias are not rational. They're emotional. And there are absolutely ways of coping with them, but toughening up and getting over it is not usually one of those ways. Okay, that's sometimes how we can handle fears, but not phobias. Phobias are different than fears.

Now, that said, the astrological background of a fear or phobia of driving is related to a fear or phobia of taking control of your life, of being in charge of your life, a fear that if you assert yourself, if you take charge of the direction of your own life, that you'll make a mistake, that you'll cause harm to yourself or others. And it can be much easier to be in a passive position with this placement than to be the one at fault. That's kind of the underpinning of having Mars in the twelfth house. And so, oftentimes, people who have this placement are very frightened of being too much, of being too aggressive. And what is more aggressive than sitting in a machine that barrels through space and can harm all manner of things? Cars are kind of violent in one way of thinking of them.

And so, depending on your resources and availability, I would recommend looking up a driving instructor who works with people who've had neurological damage. There are driving instructors like this who help people who've had strokes or other brain injuries relearn how to drive. Those kinds of driving instructors have special tools to be able to help people who really have a hard time with focus. I'm not saying you have had a stroke or a brain injury or anything like that, but I am not aware of driving instructors that specifically work with driving phobias. But if you find somebody who has a specialty in working with people who have a really hard time with learning how to drive, you're going to get the level of support that would make you feel a lot more comfortable.

And that's really key, is how you learn to drive can make you feel a lot more competent or not. So phobia specialist and also a specialized driving instructor. Even if you already know how to drive, I think that would really help. And then there's the astrological underpinning of how it came to be. It's not that all people who have planets, or in particular Mars, in the twelfth house will end up with phobias or intense fears, but oftentimes, there is that overlap. So, this season, as Mars retrogrades in Gemini through your twelfth house, you are likely to be really dealing with this. And again, it's right on time.

Okay. I've got another question for you here, and this one is called Bad Transits Overload. And it starts off by saying, "I appreciate everything you do and how you communicate." Thank you. "I am going to relocate to a different country early next year. I've gone through a pretty emotionally tough start to my Saturn Return, plus Pluto square my Moon, this year, although I did have support from some positive transits. Looking at my astrology for the next year, I see a lot of tough transits. And what scares me the most is that it looks like I will not have any positive transits to support me for some time. I find it extremely hard to trust anyone, as in a therapist, enough to ask for help. I would love your take on it." Okay. And they were born October 2nd, 1993, 2:15 p.m. in Soriano Calabro, Italy.

Okay. So there's a couple things I want to say about this. The first thing is that we do not need supportive transits to happen alongside our challenging transits in order to thrive and in order to do well. And I can understand why you would think that, because I will often frame it in the weekly horoscope that way, but what we have is our birth chart. So, for instance, if you have been going through a Pluto square to the Moon⁠—not a chill transit⁠—you might think to yourself, "Well, I'm also going through this lovely trine, and that can help me." But what you can do is tap into the strength of your Moon, the strength of your birth chart⁠—in other words, the strength of your nature, of the life you've built, of the person you are, the relationships you have, the spiritual tools you have, etc.⁠—in order to cope.

We don't need to be going through positive transits alongside negative transits in order to have good outcomes. Okay? So that's a starting point. Now, the other thing is I actually do see some nice transits next year, so I don't know what you're talking about. So, in 2023, Uranus will be sitting opposite your Midheaven, which will often coincide with an international move, so good on you. You're right on time. You got your Saturn Return at 24 degrees of Aquarius, and then you've got Pluto conjoining your Ascendant and squaring your Moon. That's a lot.

But at the same time, we're going to have Jupiter in Aries. Now, Jupiter oppositions⁠—you will have Jupiter opposite your Sun and then Jupiter opposite Jupiter⁠—are not bad transits. They're very supportive transits. I mean, they can be a little fast and furious. It can be a little wild. But we're not scared of Jupiter transits. Most of them are really quite lovely. So those are positive transits.

The other thing is Neptune will be forming a trine to your natal Pluto, which is beautiful. It's a great transit, very exciting and very supportive. And in 2023, Jupiter is going to enter into Taurus. That's going to happen in the late spring/early summer. And when it does that, it's going to oppose your Mercury, your Mars, and then eventually your Midheaven, and then form a trine to a bunch of planets. Basically, Jupiter is going to be lighting up your birth chart all of 2023. And sometimes that's going to be through oppositions, and sometimes it's going to be through trines.

So you actually do have really great supportive transits happening, but I want to say even if you didn't, I wouldn't be worried for you because the transits that you're going through are triggering something within you that has been active your whole life because you have a Moon/Pluto square⁠ anyways, because you have Pluto conjunct your Midheaven anyways. So things that are triggering those important points in your chart are things that you're ready for.

So I'm basically giving you a two-part answer here, my friend. Part one is you don't need an easy transit to ease your path with a hard transit. That's actually not necessary. And the other thing is you got great transits going on in 2023. So learn more about Jupiter. Tap more into Jupiter if you are feeling, really, a need to hold on to those transits, but don't do it as a distraction from the stuff happening with Pluto and Saturn.

Now, I guess I'll say one last thing, which is you have Saturn in the first house in Aquarius, and it's intercept. And you're going through your Saturn Return, so it makes sense that you're focusing on the worst, and it makes sense that you missed out on Jupiter, and it makes sense that you're kind of trying to plan for everything and get ahead of everything as a way to protect yourself⁠—very Saturnian. Very Saturn in Aquarius. But it's not really how it works. It's like learning how to be present and cope with things as they come, to have a sense of, "Okay, here's the weather report. This is what I'm likely to be dealing with, but I just need to keep on being present and making the most of what I got based on where I'm at. That's the damn move, my friend. That's the damn move.

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Okay. Buckle up. We got a lot to talk about, just a lot to talk about today. This week, we have the Eclipse and a bunch of other important transits. I want to just say very briefly that when we are going through Eclipses, all of the transits that we are going through that are not, per se, the Eclipse but are happening days before or days after are going to be impacted by the Eclipse. So kind of think of it this way. You're sitting⁠—I don't know⁠—in a café. You're sitting somewhere, and there's really loud music playing. It's going to affect whatever it is that you're trying to do in that café. Maybe you went there to write in your dear diary or get through your emails or just zone off.

If there's really loud music playing in the background, it's going to affect your concentration, your feelings, your sense of presence. That's just kind of how that works. And it's similar⁠—I mean, it's maybe a little bit of a weak metaphor, but hopefully it's enough to communicate that when we are going through Eclipses, they affect the transits around them. And so we're going to be feeling some potentially atypical or extra-ness with all the transits that we're going through, really, this whole Eclipse season and certainly this week. So I want to just acknowledge that.

And before I get into all the details of this week's horoscope, of which there are many, I want to let you know that on Patreon right now, we're doing something that I fucking love. I just love my patrons. If you're a patron, thank you. But right now, we're having this kind of ongoing conversation about the difference between birth chart aspects or birth chart placements versus transits, so both global transits and transits to your individual birth chart. We're having that conversation on Patreon. So, of course, if you want to learn more with me, you can always go to the Shop page on my website and get a webinar, but also, you can join me over on Patreon at the puppies level or the kittens level to learn more with me. If you want to get astrological and a little woo, I'm your guy.

Okay. We are looking this week at November 6th through the 12th of 2022. On the 6th, we have an exact transit called Venus square to Saturn, but we are still very much under the effects of the Venus opposition to Uranus that I talked to you about in Episode 283 last week. Venus square to Saturn is kind of a stressful transit, and the reason why is obvi Saturn, the international boner killer of the zodiac. So Venus is related to our sense of connection to other people, our sense of belonging with other people. It's related to our sense impressions in general, so how we feel sensually in our bodies and in our lives.

This is also related to aesthetics. It's related to how we feel about the way we look, about our clothes, about your stuff. Venus governs your possessions, the stuff you own. And if you look around your bedroom or your house and you're like, "Oh. It's beauty. It's beauty everywhere," and it uplifts you, that's Venus. And if you look around your house or your bedroom or your stuff and you're like, "Ew. It's just things I have to manage, things I have to take care of," that's also Venus. And then, of course, Venus is related to intimacy, interpersonal intimacy, so certainly romantic intimacy, but not exclusively romantic intimacy⁠. Lots of friendships or coworker relationships or whatever have kind of a romantic, playful, flirtatious dynamic to them. That's all Venus, thank you very much.

And of course, kind of, I think, central to all of those things is your values. It is what you value, and in a very deep way, because Venus is in Scorpio. And when that happens, we are dealing with deep and messy stuff. Scorpio is a fixed water sign, and so it's our deep emotions and our deep emotional responses, feelings, needs, but not necessarily the stuff that we show other people, not necessarily the stuff that's on the surface. So it can get really messy when any planet is in the zodiac sign of Scorpio. And people have a negative association with mess, but mess is necessary. Mess is healthy. Mess is part of life. If any of us want to achieve healing, wholeness, whatever it is, we need to get messy sometimes. We need to acknowledge that we are inherently messy. Perfection? It's for stories. Messiness, that's for real people.

So Venus is square to Saturn. Saturn⁠—not a fan of mess. Saturn is currently in Aquarius. Again, it's a fixed sign, but it's an air sign. So Saturn wants order. Saturn wants, of course, as always, to adult and to deal with responsibilities, get things going, that kind of stuff. And so Saturn is an international boner killer. We all knew that. We knew that. But Venus in Scorpio is not going to be a huge fan of that. And so this particular Venus square to Saturn may be especially uncomfortable as we clash with others, in particular other people who either have more power than us or that we feel have more power than us, or maybe just are bigger bowls in the china shop of life, around our values, around what we hold dear.

Venus square to Saturn can be a very sad transit because a lot of people feel lonely, even when you're surrounded by people that you're actually technically close to. This transit can kick up for you the ways in which your relationships are not working, and that sucks. If it's true, it's worth dealing with, even if dealing with it means being in a mess⁠—and it will. Venus is still opposite to Uranus, so things are happening fast and furious. They're happening kind of quicker or differently than you may have planned or you may have imagined. You may say some shit or do some shit you weren't planning on, or someone else may. And the key is to stay aligned with those values, to remember your integrity⁠—Saturn⁠—to act in accordance with it, to not let other people or circumstances tell you what's right or wrong when you have your own firmly held convictions. And if you don't, if you don't know what's right or wrong, if you don't have firmly held convictions, this is a great time for being open. Not an easy time, I should say, because again, we're dealing with fixed energy. But it is a good time for being open.

And things are going to change. If you've got planets around the middle of any of the fixed signs⁠—so the middle of a zodiac sign is around 15 degrees, and a fixed sign is Scorpio, Taurus, Aquarius, and Leo. So, if your chart has anything around those degrees of those signs, you're likely to feel this stuff. And the key is to not, as the expression goes, cut off your nose to spite your face. Don't let pride or stubbornness get in the way of aligning or adjusting to be in accordance with your values, to live in accordance with your values. And that might mean recognizing you feel lonely in your relationships because your relationships aren't working. That sucks, but that's a very common thing to experience during a Venus square to Saturn.

So the key here is to be willing to engage authentically⁠—Venus⁠—with what's real⁠—Saturn⁠—even when it's hard, 90-degree angle, a.k.a. a square. That's how that works. And because Venus is opposite Uranus, again, things are going to come out weird. They're going to be surprising. The energy is going to feel pretty electric, and that may be kind of upsetting. And also, because there's an Eclipse overlapping with this transit, emotions are going to be running high, which means it could be really dramatic. And that's scary. It's upsetting for a lot of people, but it is what it is what it is. So let's be with what it is.

Acceptance, my loves. Acceptance is foundational for so many things in life, and being able and willing to accept what you're feeling, where you're at, where your relationships are at, who other people are, how you look, what you've got, what you've done, where you're at⁠—back to where you're at, right? This acceptance⁠—it's not consent. It's not giving up. It's just self-awareness, and it's presence. It's a state of neutrality where you're at, where things are at. That's acceptance. It is very hard to achieve acceptance in general, and especially during very emotionally dramatic Eclipse times. But it's a great goal to have. It's a great direction to be pointed in.

And that brings us to the 8th. On the 8th, we have Election Day in the United States of America. But that's not the only thing I'm talking about here. I'm talking about the Lunar Eclipse in Taurus. We have a Lunar Eclipse in Taurus at 3:02 a.m. Pacific Time. As always, if you're a student of astrology or an astrologer and you want to track the transits in your own time zone or just know what the hell is happening and when it's happening, subscribe to my astrologer's pro tool, Astrology For Days. It is what I use for all of the transit astrology I do, and you can find it on my website or at astrologyfordays.com.

Okay. So, for those who don't know, Lunar Eclipses happen always during Full Moons. So Solar Eclipse is a New Moon; Lunar Eclipse is a Full Moon. We know that that means the Sun and Moon are exactly opposite to each other by sign and degree, to the damn minute. And here we have a Moon at exactly 16 degrees of Taurus and the Sun at 16 degrees of Scorpio. I'm going to unpack this; don't worry. But I'm going to tell you that we have two other transits exact on this day. We have a Sun conjunction to Mercury⁠—they're exact on the same day⁠—as well as Mercury opposite Uranus. That's a lot.

First, I'm going to focus on the Eclipse straightforward. But I am going to talk about it in the context of the midterm elections happening in the U.S. We want to keep in mind that the United States is going through its Pluto Return. Having an Eclipse election is a very big deal globally because when a nation goes through a Pluto Return, especially a nation like the United States that has its hands in the governments and the governance of so many nations over such a long course of time, what happens here doesn't just stay here. This is a really important Eclipse politically and socially. This would be true whether or not we were having Election Day because this Eclipse is implicating Uranus. We have, of course, the North Node and the Moon conjunct to Uranus, Uranus in Taurus on this date, within one degree. So it's not exact, but it's very damn close.

Uranus, as I've been talking to you about for years, is a planet we're watching out for in relationship to world war. When I say world war, what I am talking about is global destabilization, and global destabilization in response to many things, including the pandemic, including climate crisis. But certainly, we have the rise of strong men, people with fascistic leanings leading nations and doing so by vilifying certain groups of people, scapegoating certain groups of people, mistreating, abusing, or straight-up harming/oppressing groups of people. This is something we see with Uranus in Taurus, and it's something we are seeing in the world right now.

And this Eclipse, the Moon is conjunct Uranus. This Eclipse, Mercury, the South Node, and Venus are all opposite to Uranus. All of these planets I've just named are forming a T-square to Saturn. And so the global stage is likely to be lit up by this Lunar Eclipse. We're already seeing it. It's already happening. But certainly, we can expect some major stuff to happen within the world in response to this Eclipse. And as you know, the effects of an Eclipse last for about six months. So whatever it is comes up on or around this date, we want to pay very close attention to, because it will have meaningful social implications. Those implications will not be fully understood or felt for about six months.

I'm going to come back to that stuff in a moment. I want to focus on it more personally. So Full Moons/Lunar Eclipses are powerful for letting go. However, what so many people try to do during Lunar Eclipses his hold on. We try to hold on because things are changing so quickly, emotions are running so high, and it feels chaotic, so chaotic. Many people's dreams or sleep gets really interrupted around Full Moons in general, but certainly Eclipses. Many people feel like their mental health is really struggling during this Eclipse Season, and that's kind of a normal response to the Eclipse. It's not a fun one, but it's a normal one. And it's normal because emotions are bubbling to the surface. Things that you don't know how to deal with or you don't want to deal with are bubbling to the surface, needing to be acknowledged and dealt with. And again, accept it so that you can acknowledge them, so that you can deal with them. And that tends to interrupt our sleep because our sleep is where our subconscious processes things and tries to communicate with our conscious mind.

So you may be feeling just stressed, stretched thin. You may be having a rough time, in particular in your interpersonal life, because we're dealing with so many personal planets. We've got the Sun/the Moon, of course, but we also have Mercury and Venus, and then we have good old Uranus and Saturn doing their thing. But it's likely to really bring up interpersonal drama and power struggles because Saturn's involved⁠. A feeling of being trapped or feeling obliged, like there isn't enough room or freedom for you to be who you are or do what you want to do, may be active. Or you may feel that you need to burn it all to the damn ground in order to go where you need to go. And that is fair. All of that is fair.

The thing we want to make sure that we're not doing is acting or reacting out of fear, out of pridefulness or a desire to control, contain, or seek vengeance on others, and we want to make sure that what we're doing is not antithetical to our values. Now, you yourself⁠—your chart might not be really that impacted by this Eclipse. So you might be like, "Well, that doesn't sound like me. That's not me." And again, you might not have a hard time. This might not be for you. Of course, not every human on the planet is going to experience these transits in the same way. But if you are not the one who is going through this, you can have confidence that someone in your life is.

And so you might be able to show up for someone else and be a shoulder for them to cry on if need be, or just listen to them vent. You might be able to show up for the world in some way that is good for everyone, or you might just take this time to be like, "Okay. Everyone's busy on their bullshit, and I'm going to eat popcorn and watch a movie." You can do whatever you want. If this isn't hard for you, that is wonderful. But this is a pretty intense Lunar Eclipse, so many of you are for sure going to be feeling this.

At the same time, of course, Mars is Retrograde. Mars is Retrograde, forming a square to Neptune and Jupiter, making it hard to know what to do because Mars is Retrograde. So it becomes hard to know, "What action am I meant to take? Which of my ambitions, which of my passions, should I center?" And because of the square to Jupiter, it feels like, "I gotta figure it out now." It gives us a restlessness. But Jupiter is conjunct Neptune, and Mars is square to Neptune. And that creates confusion and uncertainty and exhaustion, physical exhaustion.

Mars is about being embodied. It's about the body. So it's a real physical exhaustion. And that can make it so that we act without really properly thinking things through, or we react, so we get defensive. We get caught up in situations where we turn ourselves into a martyr. So maybe you told someone to fuck off because that's what you meant and that's what you felt and that's what you needed. And then you⁠—instead of owning that you said anything and you did anything and there's consequences, you're focusing on what they do and what they said and how you had no choice but to tell them to fuck off.

So it's important this Eclipse Season, but in particular this season of Mars being Retrograde and square to Jupiter and Neptune, that we acknowledge our own agency, our own actions, our own choices, and that we maybe don't like all the consequences, but that doesn't mean we didn't make choices. It doesn't mean that we don't have a role to play, that we aren't an active participant in our lives. And this is especially important during this Eclipse because all that Scorpio energy is just like deep, roiling emotion. And all that Taurus energy is saying, "Hey, I just want things to be nice. I want things to be okay. Why aren't things just nice and okay?" And the answer to that, my friends, is because sometimes they aren't. And they shouldn't always be.

Sometimes, like this time, we have to find ourselves in the messiness. We have to find ourselves in the unregulated, unsorted, deep and intense emotions that we have and maybe that have been with us for a very long time. To locate ourselves within that can be uncomfortable, and it can be scary. But again, if that's what it is, there's no value in trying to push it away or ignore it or pretend it isn't. It's a lot of Scorpio energies we're dealing with. And the Uranus conjunction to the Moon and the Uranus opposition to Mercury, the Sun, and Venus, strengthens our ability to be authentic, to really acknowledge and own, "These are my fucking values. This is who I am. This is what I want. And I don't know where it's going to take me, and I don't know what it means, necessarily. But this is the truth of where I'm at and what I am." Uranus is great for that.

And of course, Saturn forming a T-square to all these planets is saying, "Okay, but now what? What are you going to do about it? If you say something today, it's written in stone tomorrow." And that's not the truth. The truth is what you do or what you don't do on the Eclipse and around the Eclipse will be consequential⁠—absolutely, it will be consequential⁠—but it's not written in stone. Very little in life is. Consequence must be owned up to and dealt with. I know. It's kind of a boner killer, but here we are. On a personal level, we call that growing up, maturing, adulting.

So this Eclipse is bringing up all of that, and it's not easy. It's not supposed to be easy, but it is powerful, and it can be instructive. And we need that. Because Uranus is opposite to Mercury, it can create kind of chaotic, distracted, innovative, creative thinking⁠—any of those things/all of those things. Uranus governs the nervous system, and in a much lesser way, Mercury does, too. And when they're opposite each other by transit, yeah, it can be really like a distracting, hard-to-focus kind of vibe. Yeah. This is going to be a hard-to-focus kind of day, and that can be taxing for the mental health. But it can also be exactly what we need to get out of our own way, to interrupt our assumptions or our narratives, which are usually linked to limiting beliefs. We can interrupt that shit.

And so, again, if you're experiencing drama in your life or inside of you, that's not a signal something's wrong. That's right on time. The problem isn't drama. Drama is not inherently bad. Drama for bullshit reasons is bad. Yeah. But when you think about nature, she's so dramatic. If you think about the apple tree, it's this big, beautiful tree, and it loses all its leaves in the winter. And then, in the spring, it has these spectacular flowers, and they bloom into apples. I mean, I'm a fan of apples. They can be quite delicious⁠—that's if you pick them and you eat them. If you don't, eventually the tree will drop them, and they'll rot and they will fertilize the soil and do all manner of other things. There is this cycle of life that is beautiful and abundant and messy and chaotic, and some of the things we are really aware of and some of the things are outside of our conscious awareness. And they're all valuable.

And that is similar to our individual growth, our individual healing. Sometimes it's messy. Sometimes we don't understand how things are interconnected. Do right by yourself and others by staying aligned with your values, my loves, and not resisting messiness just because it's hard to be emotionally present with, but instead locating your truth within the messiness, within the drama. That's the move. I'm making sure, again, that you're not prioritizing things being easy and okay on the surface. This is a tricky Lunar Eclipse.

Now, as I mentioned, I want to talk about this in the context of global events and in particular the midterm election here in the U.S. Listen. On a social and global stage, I expect we will see more of what we have been seeing: oppression and repression from religious extremists, and in particular, we're seeing a lot of gender-based oppression and repression. And when we see that, we generally see that males are oppressing and repressing everyone who's not a cis male. Power protects power. Right? That's how that goes. And so we are going to continue to see this on a global stage. We are going to continue to see major power struggles and the potential for revolution led by the people for the people. But it takes the people⁠—it takes us⁠—being engaged, being involved, not turning away, finding a way to participate.

Now, in the United States, we have a midterm election. It's a very fucking big deal. And I'm casting this chart⁠—in case you are an astrology student or an astrologer and you want to look along with me⁠—for 12:00 noon on November 8th of 2022 in Washington, D.C. And this chart, the chart of the election, is pretty much the same chart as the chart of the Eclipse. The Eclipse is happening very early in the morning. Now, I want to say that predicting what's going to happen during an Eclipse is, as you may have heard me say before, like trying to style your hair in a windstorm. It's not real smart. Best of luck. Things are too messy. Things are too dramatic. It's not likely to work out.

In this election, we have so many things on the ballot, including the right to vote and free and fair elections, but also abortion and body autonomy for everyone who is not a cis man. Cis men? Body autonomy? Not on the ballot. Everyone else? On the ballot. This is, of course, motivated by religious extremism and misinformation and disinformation. And where do we find that in astrology? People who have been listening to Ghost of a Podcast for many years know that I've been talking about this for many years: the need to protect a free press and the need to conscientiously engage with misinformation and disinformation.

But here we have in this Eclipse chart that Mars square to Neptune and Jupiter. And that articulates, again, the religious extremism, the misinformation, and the disinformation⁠—not fun, but here it is. The good thing about this is also, maybe, the scary thing about this: that T-square between Venus/Mercury/Sun and North Node/Uranus/Moon all squaring to Saturn, it really puts a lot of energy and focus on Saturn in Aquarius. Now, I've talked about Saturn in Aquarius a lot, although not a lot recently. And Saturn in Aquarius is a transit that happens once every 29 years. When it happens, both the system seeks to oppress and repress the people, but also, people come together for each other.

These are transits where we often see major advances for civil rights. We often see major advances for collective good, for collective social good. But this does take collective participation. So, while I have great concerns about there not being a good voter turnout this election, while I have great concerns about elections not being safe and fair here in the U.S., there's this wild card that the Eclipse brings where people may really turn out, and if we do, then the power of the people united is unlikely to be defeated. But it depends on us. So much depends on us. And if all the people do the thing of voting, which is not the only thing, obviously, to do⁠—and not everyone can vote, for a number of reasons. But if we can vote and we do vote for collective good, then it opens up these pathways for more activism, more engagement, to create a better world for the most of us and not just the most wealthy of us or those who already have the most power.

Now, I want to kind of come back to something I said at the very start here, which is we are still very much in the Pluto Return of the United States. And what we do or don't do as a nation will have a meaningful impact on the rest of the world because the U.S. is involved in so much of the rest of the world. And so it's important to remember that we as a collective here in the U.S. are grappling with our long and deep shadow of racism, ableism, violence, genocide. And our collective willingness and ability to deal with these things on an individual level, on a social level together, on a legislative level, is on. This is a massive theme of what is happening now. Whether or not it's what you personally are thinking about, that is what's happening now.

And so this midterm election happening on a fucking Eclipse⁠—this is a big deal in the bigger picture of things. So make sure when you do go to vote, if you vote in person⁠—if you can't vote by mail wherever you are⁠—you mask up, making it a safe place for people who are immune compromised. Do research into what is on the ballot wherever you live, and vote with your conscience and for the betterment of the most vulnerable amongst us. That is so important wherever you are, and to understand that what we do or do not do now will have a powerful effect on what is yet to come within this transit of the Pluto Return of the United States.

Now, I could talk about this for hours more, but we've got more to get to on your horoscope. So I will leave it just about there, but there's one more thing I'll say, which is, because the Sun is conjunct Mercury on this day, because Mercury is opposite Uranus on this day, and of course Mars is square to Neptune and Jupiter, I expect reporting to be all over the damn place. So projections, predictions⁠—you know how the news likes to keep you glued and is like minute-by-minute reporting on what's happening with the blah, blah, blah race⁠—yeah. We're likely to have misinformation. We're likely to have disinformation. And we're likely to have curveballs, unexpected things.

And so, when the results are in, the results are in. If you are not personally a part of coming up with the results, then don't let it sap your energy, because there's likely to be just too much noise, not enough substance. It's just the astrology of the day. So, if you deeply care about the election, as I hope you do, find ways of managing self-care, of engaging with the world, that are not obsessing on things that are out of your control.

So that brings us to the 9th. And on the 9th, we have got a couple transits which I've already been talking about. We've got the Sun opposition to Uranus is exact, and Mercury square to Saturn is exact. These transits I've been talking about because they're in the Lunar Eclipse chart, a.k.a. also the election chart. But I will talk about these in a more personal context.

So Sun opposite Uranus is equal parts exciting and upsetting⁠—fucking Uranus. That's how it does things. So the Sun is your identity. It's your will. In some ways, it's related to your capacity for joy. And Uranus comes through with the unexpected. Uranus is related to innovation and freedom and independence. And so a lot of people start feeling trapped under this transit. And it's not like you're all of a sudden feeling trapped. It's that you've been feeling trapped, and this transit comes and intensifies those feelings. So now you can't ignore them.

So a lot of people will feel a sense of, "What do I need to do to have more autonomy, to be more free, to have my life be more authentic and true?" And that's a great series of questions to be asking yourself. The key is to not go from emotion into impulsive reaction, because we want to make sure that your actions are reflective of some measure of self-awareness instead of discomfort because when we act only out of discomfort instead of self-awareness⁠—eh. It's not the best.

This transit can bring about rebellion. So, on a social level, that can go any kind of way. It is certainly possible that this Lunar Eclipse will light the spark of civil war here in the U.S., as things are so tense already and there's just so much electric and rebellious energy with the Eclipse and certainly with this Sun opposition to Uranus. So that is possible, unfortunately. But on a more personal level, you may be feeling anxious, restless, distracted. Uranus can do that. Again, it engages your nervous system. And so, if you can do things that soothe your nerves so that you can more efficiently and effectively manage your energy, that's great.

The good part of this transit is really worth working with because it kind of uproots things in such a way that we can become more adaptable and that we can adapt or be flexible in deference to what's more true, in deference to what's more authentic. And so, yes, this can be an upsetting time, but those upsets can bring us towards greater independence, presence, authenticity, which is fucking great. This transit can also bring about exciting opportunities. Now, this is a little mitigated by the fact that we also have a Mercury square to Saturn on the same day. That transit is not so much with the exciting possibilities. But it can bring exciting possibilities your way. Again, you want to just make sure that you're not just reacting but instead enacting. That's the work. Are you enacting? That might simply mean checking in with yourself, really being present with your emotions.

Now, this is not a Moon transit, but again, it's Eclipse times. So your emotions are going to be a big part of all of this. When it comes to Uranus transits, it's often easy come, easy go. So something might come into your life and be a big, surprising change and then leave kind of quickly. And that is not inherently good or bad, but it's something to be on the lookout for. And so, essentially, this can be a time where things shift in a way that is unexpected, and we have the opportunity to respond in different ways than we typically do or than we were planning on.

The fact that Mercury is square to Saturn on the same day⁠—there's pros and cons. On the one hand, this Mercury square to Saturn will make us a little bit more conservative, a little bit more contemplative, and that can help, especially if you're the kind of person who's really impulsive and restless and has a hard time with sorting through your options. Mercury square to Saturn can really help with that. But Saturn⁠—boner killer⁠—is also about sitting on things, really just being so perfectionistic and exacting that it's hard to adapt; it's hard to work with opportunity, especially if your nature tends to be heavily contemplative in that way.

Mercury square to Saturn is an excellent transit for editing, for sorting through things, for cleaning⁠—really mundane tasks that require some measure of concentration and critical thinking. Really anything that requires critical thinking, Mercury square Saturn is pretty good at it because Saturn's real critical. The thing that's hard is that this transit can make us focused on scarcity, on what isn't working, on our fears. Being in that kind of a negative or scarcity-based frame of mind can be straight-up depressing. Saturn rules over depression, and Mercury is your mind. It can shift our attitudes to a more fear-based place. You can see how this would be bad for the world. You can see how this would be bad for you.

So, if we are able and willing to be helped by the Sun opposition to Uranus, to perceive limitations in our thinking, and to be aware of our own negativity or scarcity-based mindset, then really exciting changes can happen. But that might not happen for you. You may just be in a negative frame of mind and feel really batted around by people or circumstances. And in that case, you may react very negatively towards yourself or others. You may shut down. That's a real possibility. And in those cases, what I want to encourage you to do is take care of yourself to the best of your ability because this is a tough couple of transits to the mental health.

As you've heard me talk about a lot if you've been listening to Ghost of a Podcast for a long time, the Saturn/Uranus square that we've been going through all 2021 and off and on throughout 2022 is very testing to the mental health because it's hard to know what's real/what's not real, what needs your attention/what doesn't need your attention. It's very stressful, and I think a lot of people have been struggling mental-health-wise in this period. So this Eclipse and these transits that are exact on the 9th but very much active during the Eclipse are only going to kind of highlight those dynamics, bring them to the surface.

So, while this can be a constructive time and a time where you innovate and find new solutions⁠—yay⁠—it can also be a time where you feel flattened or squashed and just fucking down. In any case, or if it's some sort of combo platter of all those things, the thing to do is not allow scarcity-based thinking or self-imposed limitations to become your only reality. That's one way of looking at things. Seek other ways of looking at things. As I was saying earlier with other transits, if you're not feeling this way, you're likely to be dealing with other people who are feeling this way, and they may just be weird or off their game. Don't take it personally. These transits are a lot.

Now, I got three more transits to tell you about. I told you it was a long week. So, on the 10th, we have a Venus trine to Neptune. On the 12th, Mercury is trine to Neptune. And in the middle of those two things, on the 11th, the Sun is square to Saturn. And I'm giving you the dates when these things are exact. The transits' effect is longer than the days that they're exact. In this situation, all of these transits are overlapping each other, and I'm going to interpret them kind of as a trio because it's just not realistic to separate them.

And this is where I want to just kind of pull back for a moment to say, in astrology, as in life, nothing happens in a vacuum. So, if you're going through one particular transit and then another one happens, the way that they will play out is relative to what's going on around it. As an example, I might tell you it's raining outside, and I don't know what you're thinking, but I can tell you this. If it's raining in Hawaii and it's beautiful and it's warm and there's a rainbow, that's really different than raining in Montréal in March and it's freezing, and it's just like now the ground is made of ice and the sky is darkness. You know what I mean? 514, right?

So rain is information. It's important information. Context to the rain is essential information to know what the rain feels like, what the rain is doing, what kind of rain it is. So here we go. Let me give you some context. Venus trine Neptune⁠—beautiful transit. Thank you, Universe, for dropping us some nice trines to Neptune. Venus trine Neptune is a time where we are in a more generous frame of mind, where we are more capable of tapping into our values, our affections, to receive or to give affection to ourselves or others. This is a great transit for beauty, for losing yourself in art or nature or spirituality⁠—gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. But this is not like a beautiful rain on a warm summer's day with a rainbow, because it's overlapping with the Sun opposition to Uranus, the Mercury square to Saturn, and the Sun square to Saturn.

So what I imagine we're going to be experiencing is a little bit of wind beneath your wings. This transit is there and worth tapping into because it can be a great support. And what it's there to do is to connect us to our humanity, connect us to our willingness and ability to be generous, to be empathetic, not just in our feels but in our actions. To rest, to relax, to kind of tap out and to tap into what feels good⁠—this is a great transit for that.

If there has been interpersonal drama and you need to use a little balm to soothe it over, this transit is excellent for that. And that might mean you need to soothe things over for yourself or for someone who's gone through some shit that you love, that you're like, "Oh shit. You've had a terrible week. Here. Let me love up on you." Or it may be that you need to show up with empathy, kindness, patience to someone you've had conflict with. Might not be, but it may be. So this is a really great transit for all of those things, which is great because this week is full of really sharp, emotional, provocative transits. And the Venus trine to Neptune is there to bring a little tenderness into the mix, bring a little bit of ease into the mix.

Also, if you've been going really hard, this transit can help you to just take a damn break, like an actual break that makes you feel a little bit of spaciousness inside of you. The Mercury trine to Neptune would do something similar. It shifts your thinking to a more empathetic and generous place. It's, again, an excellent time for shifting your thinking to nature, spirituality, and the arts. And doing so isn't going to magically fix anything, but it will ease so much of the heaviness that Uranus and Saturn is bringing us this week, along with, of course, the Eclipse, because in between the Mercury trines is a Sun square to Saturn.

Now, Sun square to Saturn is depressing. It makes us feel, again, really connected to scarcity, limitations, what isn't working. It sucks in that way. It's a great transit for coping with things, for getting organized. But ultimately, this transit occurs to challenge us and to test our sense of self, and that testing may play out in a lot of ways. But whenever the Sun and Saturn are in conversation with each other, it's essentially a test of your integrity, your character. And this is difficult, especially because we're going through such a rough moment astrologically.

Luckily, these trines to Neptune are incredibly supportive for us to be empathetic, to be a little gentle with ourselves, to have a little grace with ourselves, to have a little grace with others. You may deal with a great deal of pressure either coming from within or from outside of you during a Sun square to Saturn. You may feel like people who have more power than you⁠—so we're talking about⁠—can be archetypes, like the government, the cops. It can be the landlord. It can also be just somebody who is a know-it-all in your life or somebody who has more power in a relationship dynamic. You may feel pressured or cornered by a person like that or a dynamic like that, and you've got to find a way to engage.

Because we are dealing with Scorpio and Aquarius energies, what we are dealing with is the need to show up in a way that's authentic to you and to do so while also feeling chaotic emotions and like there's a lot of possibilities and there's a lot of potential, and it's hard to choose one way of being. But you've kind of got to when the Sun is square to Saturn. There's often a need to engage with your responsibilities and work within constriction or confinement somehow. Again, it's reality stuff. It's adulting stuff.

But the thing about the Sun and Saturn being square to each other is it is part of a much larger pattern of the Sun and Saturn squaring each other, sextiling each other, opposing each other, trining each other, yada, yada, yada⁠—conjoining each other. This is a larger cycle. And we need the square. The square is really helpful for us because what isn't working during a Sun square to Saturn wasn't working before the transit happened; you just weren't dealing with it. And so whatever it is that comes up during this transit we would really benefit from dealing with. And of course, this can be applied on a social level, on a political level, and on a personal level.

What we can also apply on all the levels is Venus and Mercury trining Neptune on either side of this transit is there to support us. It's there to offer a little grace. And so tapping into our spiritual tool kit⁠—whatever that means for you, from the very religious to the very woo to the "Music helps me remember who I am," or whoever you are in this, these transits are here to support us in aligning in the best possible way.

Those are all of the exact transits of this week, and I'm going to give you a little spoiler alert here. There are kinder transits coming. There is ease coming. But here we are for now, and putting your head in the sand, going to evasion, avoidance, or shutdown mode sometimes cannot be avoided. Sometimes that's the best you can do, and you gotta respect that. And sometimes it's not the best we can do. I want to tell you that this is a worthwhile week to show up for yourself, for others, and in the world if you can. And again, I know I'm talking to a lot of people at once. Not everyone can. Everyone's circumstances are unique, individual. You gotta use your best judgment, your common sense, with this horoscope, as with all horoscopes.

Now, I'm going to run through the transits one more time here. On the 6th, we have an exact square between Venus and Saturn, and we're still under the effects of the Venus opposition to Uranus. On the 8th, we have a Lunar Eclipse at 16 degrees of Taurus, and it is exact at 3:02 a.m. Pacific Time. On the same day, we have an exact Sun conjunction to Mercury and exact Mercury opposition to Uranus. On the 9th, the Sun is exactly opposite to Uranus, and Mercury is exactly square to Saturn. On the 10th, Venus is exactly trine to Neptune. The Sun is exactly square to Saturn on the 11th. And then, the 12th, Mercury is exactly trine to Neptune.

My loves, thank you for joining me for this week's horoscope, as every week I thank you for joining me. If you get value from this podcast, I ask that you hit Subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts. It does really make a difference for a small, independent podcast like this one. And whatever it is that you do this week, wherever it is that you're at, I want to encourage you find ways to help you help yourself, to support yourself through whatever it is you're going through, and to be patient with your feelings and the feelings of others because there's a lot of feelings going around town this week, and that's likely to be messy.

All right, my loves. Thank you so much for joining me, and I will talk to you next week. Buh-bye.