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.

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It's been a long time, but it's finally here: another episode of "How the Sausage is Made," which is a title to these episodes that makes really no sense at all, but I'm still really into it. It's when I answer as many of your questions as I can fit into a single episode.

So the first question is from Mask Anxiety, and she says: "I live in a large Midwestern city and have worn a mask while working with the public through the entire pandemic. They've recently lifted the mask mandate here. I feel like this is premature, but everyone around me is embracing it, living their lives like there's no pandemic. My mental health is spiraling, and I'm having massive anxiety because I have health issues. I feel like I'm alienating my coworkers by still wanting folks to wear masks. And while they're generally nice about it, they seem to think I'm just anxious and paranoid. I feel massive social pressure to not wear one, even though I will practically panic without one in an indoor space. I'm worried I've already destroyed my work relationships, and it's beginning to affect my effectiveness at my job. Is there anything in my chart that gives me insight into how to handle this situation? Love your show. The pandemic isn't over." And she was born March 9th, 1981, at 1:22 a.m. in St. Louis, Missouri.

This is such an important question, and I will say first and foremost it's not exclusive to you or your birth chart that you're going through this. I think a lot of people are going through this as a huge portion of the country is saying, "It's over," while objectively it's not endemic yet. It's still a pandemic. And whether or not you have health concerns, which you say you do, it is perfectly reasonable to want to be safe, because what is that expression? Rather be safe than sorry. And when it comes to a health issue that could affect your brain mass, yeah, it's a good idea to be safe.

Now, that all said, I did pull up your birth chart to see what this is about for you. And sure enough, there's an answer. It's that you are currently going through two Neptune transits. One of them is a Neptune conjunction to your Mars in Pisces, and the other one is your Neptune square to Neptune. Now, Neptune square to Neptune is one of the transits associated with the midlife crisis, and you're just at the beginning of it. And the Neptune conjunction to Mars is a once-in-a-lifetime event that does not happen to everyone.

The issue and lesson here is boundaries. It's not just about knowing your preferences, which you've clearly articulated in a very reasonable way in your question. It's about a sense of calm and clear entitlement to having boundaries. And that's where you're having a really difficult time because inevitably, when we have boundaries, even really healthy ones, they upset some people, people who don't want to honor our boundaries or they have different preferences and needs. And they're allowed to have their feelings, and you're allowed to have your boundaries.

Having healthy boundaries doesn't mean getting along well with everyone. It doesn't mean things go easily. It means you know yourself well enough to know what you need, and you do what you can to express those needs as well as you know how and to protect your calm and your peace. And right now, what's happening is your coworkers are respecting your boundaries. And instead of receiving that gift—even if it's a begrudged gift—as the gift that it is, you're stressing out. Some of that's inevitable because it's a pandemic, and some of that is specific to you because you are going through these two Neptune transits that are teaching you boundaries. And Neptune always teaches us boundaries by putting us in situations where we really need to have them.

So my advice to you here is to work on embodying the boundary and receiving the gift of other people respecting them when they do. Now, you know me. I think you're doing the right thing. I don't think we're out of this, and I think what you're doing is quite wise. And it's not just good for you; honestly, it's good for your coworkers. It's good for your community. So I wish you the best of luck with that.

Okay. My next question comes from Saneem, and she says: "Last year, I consulted with an astrologer, and she pointed out that the past New Moon in Pisces would be an interesting time career-wise because it was conjunct my Midheaven. And boy, was I hoping for some movement in this area. I'm an artist early in my career, and I care deeply about my work. Well, time passed, and of course nothing happened. The realist in me is judging the optimist in me for even entertaining the idea that a transit can propel my career. I guess I clung to this hope because I'm struggling between being playful and interested in life, and the absolutely discouraging heaviness of it all. Life is just not working out the way I want, or taking forever, or just being hard all the time. I hope to hear some of your wisdom on this. I love your podcast. Thanks for the things you do." And Saneem was born December 11th, 1988, at 6:03 p.m. in—and I might be saying this wrong—Ahlen, Germany.

Okay. So there's two things I'm going to say about this question. The first is, now, I don't know if the astrologer said this would be an interesting time as in you learn some from it/it's interesting, or if what they said was that it would somehow propel your career. So I can't tell from your question if you kind of put a little extra stank on that person's interpretation or if they just promised you more than what was realistic.

Now, when it comes to Moon transits, pretty much any Moon transit except for an Eclipse, a Full Moon, or a New Moon—any transit from the Moon is essentially a mood. That's why I don't talk about Moon transits in my horoscopes here on the podcast, because the Moon moves so fast that it's not doing a whole hell of a lot in a big-picture way. Now, because it's your moods/it's how you feel, it has a cumulative impact that's so important. But too much fixation on Moon transits can actually be kind of demoralizing because of exactly what you're describing. There was a New Moon. It conjoined your Midheaven, and nothing much happened.

This made me want to look at your birth chart, of course. And so I pull up your chart and see right away your Midheaven is in Pisces, and you've got a North Node conjunction to your Midheaven in Pisces. And you have got this huge concentration of planets in your sixth house in both Sagittarius and Capricorn in your birth chart. Now, contrary to popular belief, Capricorn is not a patient sign. So we can look at the course of an older Capricorn's life and be like, "Oh, wow. You exhibited a great deal of patience." But day to day, minute to minute, people with a lot of Capricorn placements tend to be very impatient.

So all to say your nature is that you want to work hard, and it's really frustrating for you when things move slowly because there's this part of you that believes, "If I build it, they should come. If I work hard, it should just work." But here's the thing. You've got this Pisces Midheaven, and that can be a bit passive. And when I say passive, I mean not that you don't work hard on work, because of course the Midheaven is related to your career and your conscious life objectives—but instead that you can wait for external circumstances to somehow propel you forward in your life. And that won't work. Okay? That will not work for you, as I'm sure you're experiencing.

Going with the flow, kind of letting the wind catch your sails and inspire you on where to go next—big yes. However, waiting for things to happen to you, at you, for you, not so much. So, while you're right that transits actually can provoke many things, including career developments and shifts, first of all, I wouldn't in general say a New Moon on its own would do that. Maybe an Eclipse, but not a New Moon. But a different astrologer may have a different take.

That said, when it comes to your Midheaven, when it comes to your conscious life objectives, my guess is a thing that you're meant to have learned from that New Moon in Pisces is how to develop healthier boundaries with your relationship to your own ambitions and your own ideals. The transition that you are likely to have undergone is not the one you wanted to, but it's still a valuable one. It's around how you emotionally relate to the things that are most important to you. So that is not to speak, per se, to your career and what will happen next as an artist, but it is to say that with a Pisces Midheaven, what you want to do is take your inspiration and your vision for what you want and pair it with action. And luckily, with a heavily stacked sixth house like you have, that's in your nature. It'll just take some time.

My next question is from Chart Challenged, and they say: "I've had at least three professional astrologers and a couple of astrology friends look at my chart, and the sentiment always seems to be that I have a particularly challenging chart with a lot of twelfth-house action and Saturn running the show. Sometimes this is said in nicer terms than others. I literally had an astrologer grimace when they saw my chart. The last six years have been particularly difficult and lonely, losing a lot of what's been most dear to me. And though I was told my chart indicated things would be more easeful this year and beyond, that doesn't seem to be happening. I feel particularly impeded or challenged in my work in the world, which on its own is very heavy, and building long-term romantic partnership. So my questions are, is there such a thing as a bad chart, and do I have a bad chart or a more difficult chart? And how can I make the most out of my particular chart given what's mapped out?" Chart Challenged was born on December 29th, 1982, at 9:32 a.m. in Denver, Colorado.

So, Chart Challenged, people drive me nuts. I gotta tell you I love your chart. I absolutely love your chart. Now, maybe that's a little wonky of me because I have a very similar birth chart as you: very twelfth-house heavy, very Saturnian. But I think your chart is lovely, and I would never look at it and think, "Oh, that's a bad chart." Now, is there such a thing as a bad chart? No, there's no such fucking thing as a bad chart. It doesn't exist.

That said, are there bad ways—which I'm not a fan of good/bad. We don't need to be like that, but I'm answering your question, and that's how you framed it. Are there bad ways of embodying a birth chart? Abso-fucking-lutely. That's a hell yes. Absolutely. And this is the thing. The birth chart describes so many things. It describes your nature. It describes your tendencies. It describes how you process information, so much about what you were born into, what you've experienced, and the resources and setbacks that are aligned with your nature.

But within that, you have free will, and the people around you have free will. How you choose to embody your chart is what defines your birth chart. This is part of how we explain twins and triplets. Multiple people can have the identical chart, but they are not the identical people—even identical twins who were raised in the same household with the same astrology. So, no, there is no such thing as a bad chart. There is such a thing as bad astrologers. And, yes, there are ways of embodying your chart that maximizes the worst and minimizes the best in you. Yes.

Now, to the other part of your question, which is about the last six years having been rough for you, part of this is because of the world. With all those twelfth-house planets, you're sensitive. You care. So, whether or not you care like you think about other people and you are considerate and you care, I don't know. But you are energetically sensitive. So you are for sure being impacted by the struggle and strife of the world.

But also, Pluto and Saturn have been in Capricorn. I mean, Pluto is still in Capricorn; Saturn is now no longer in Capricorn. But over the last six years, you've gone through a lot of very challenging transits. There's a reason why it's been a rough road for you. And now Saturn's in Aquarius, and it's still challenging you, and Uranus is forming squares to your birth chart as well. You're going through some rough stuff, but there's a reason why. It's because you're meant to grow and change.

The challenges that you're going through are helping you to heal. They're helping you to figure out what's actually important to you to have more insight into the parts of yourself that have been hiding in the shadows, that are yet unhealed or untapped. This is a difficult time. I don't mean to be idealistic at all or make light of your struggle. And also, there's a gift in it. And that gift is that you get to heal and change.

Now, I've probably said this on the podcast before, but whenever I'm going through challenging transits, at first I freak out and I worry and I wring my hands and I gnash my teeth, like everybody else. And then, halfway through the transit, when I realize, "Oh. Shit. There's only a year left," or, "There's only a month left"—whatever it is, I start to realize this is never going to happen again. And then I start to get worried that it's going to end too soon and that I won't have had the opportunity to make the most of it, even when it's shitty.

And I want to share that with you, because you've got all this Capricorn in your chart, and Aquarius. You know how to make the most of what you're going through. So this is the time to experiment. Lemon sorbet, lavender lemonade, lemonade with no sugar, lemonade with buckets of sugar—be brave. Don't be scared of being intense. If you've been feeling lonely, if you've been having a hard time at work, okay. Those are the parts of your life that need your love, bravery, care, structure, and attention. That's where you gotta point it.

There will be other periods of your life where you're not getting hammered by the universe. Those periods will be a lot easier than this one. This is a really exceptional time in the world and a really exceptional time for you, but it's not because you've got a bad chart, and it's not because you can't handle it.

Okay. The next question I've got comes from Brenda. And she says: "You've mentioned intergenerational trauma, and it's bringing up my dilemma. I know my mom experienced one particular traumatic incident in her childhood, and her anxiety and the legacy of this trauma affects me in different ways. She doesn't wish to talk about it, so I'm not 100 percent clear on what happened, though I've had clues. I'm not sure how to deal with this. Do I push my mom to tell me about it? Do I go to therapy and just try to deal with my issues in isolation from hers? Do I do nothing? Can astrology help? I am frozen by fear of finding out horrible things and hurting my mom, and indecision." And she was born on July 3rd, 1976, at 12:00 p.m. in Quebec City, Quebec.

So, to your questions immediately, do you push your mom to tell her about her trauma? No. Firm, emphatic, passionate, loud, bold no. No. Do you go to therapy and try to deal with these issues in isolation from hers? Emphatically, 100 percent, yes. Do you do nothing? No. Can astrology help? Ish is the answer—a little bit yes, a little bit no.

So let's pull back for a moment. Intergenerational trauma—every single one of us has it. Every single one of us has it. Some people have it a lot worse than others, much more traumatic or traumatizing than other people. But we all have intergenerational trauma because we are all one part of a generational line. I don't want to blow anyone's mind here, but life is really hard.  In some ways, it's easier than it's ever been. In some ways, it's harder than it's ever been. But there is no one amongst us who isn't related to people who perpetrated harm, and there's no one amongst us who isn't related to people who were the victims of harm.

So everyone has intergenerational trauma, and I think it's really important that I clarify that, because I don't want to encourage anyone to romanticize their intergenerational trauma. Now, we as individuals are not entitled to excavating our ancestors' pain, whether they're living or dead—so whether it's your living mom or your great-great-grandmother or whoever it is. From my perspective, this is a misunderstanding of what we are meant to do with intergenerational trauma.

When we have inherited something, we cannot change what that thing is. It already happened. It's in the past, and it did not happen to us. It already happened. What we can work on, what we can heal, is our own selves. We cannot heal someone else's pain, and it's hubris to try. It often comes from a very well-intended place, trying to heal your ancestors' pain. But it is, from my perspective, a terrible miscalculation.

When we heal ourselves, it has an intergenerational impact. So if you want to heal your ancestors, if you want to heal generations that are yet to be born, then focus on your own self and be the healthiest, best-adjusted version of yourself that you are capable of being in the here and now. That will have a ripple effect. But trying to make other people feel a certain kind of way, thinking that you can know someone else's story and in some way heal them—again, that's a misunderstanding of the work of intergenerational healing.

And I don't mean this just to you. I mean, this is a very common question I get. My recommendation for you is to not pursue the kind of talk therapy that requires you to know all of the details and the roots of your problems so that you can figure them out. There's a lot of talk therapy that's like that, and it can be really amazing for people. But that's not what we need when it comes to issues that are epigenetic, that are inherited and live and our bodies.

For those kinds of issues, from my perspective—and, obviously, I'm not a fucking therapist. I'm a huge fan of therapy, but I'm not a therapist myself. What I think would be more impactful for you is to find someone who can help you to locate where in your body you're experiencing whatever issues are getting triggered by your inherited issues so that you can work with your heart and your body to bring about healing. This would be an expansion for you.

You don't need to know where it came from in order to heal it—not in order for you to be healthy and right with yourself. And to be healthy and right with yourself doesn't mean you don't have problems, and it doesn't mean you don't have pain. You don't need to find out what happened to your mom. You only need to find out what's happening within you and to cultivate healthy coping mechanisms in response to it.

Our last question is from Laura, and she says: "I'm in the process of healing and clearing intergenerational trauma. My mother is working on it as well, and my eight-year-old son is coming along for the ride. I can feel that I've done a huge amount of work, but I'm still carrying what I consider to be the monster within me. I'm learning to treat that part of myself with compassion and kindness, but I'd really love to heal and release it fully. How can I do this? I'd love some help. Laura." And Laura was born May 20th, 1983, at 13:10—and please forgive me; I'm going to say this wrong—Launceston, Tasmania, Australia.

So, first of all, whenever someone refers to a monster within them, I think of Pluto. Whenever we think about our inner monster, we're generally talking about Pluto. And here's the thing: you never get to clear Pluto out of your birth chart. It's always going to be there. That doesn't mean we cannot heal, but what I am trying to get at is our inner "monsters"—they grow for a reason. Generally, they grow in response to trauma, fear, and difficult experiences.

So my advice to you is to not get rid of your monster. Instead, make friends with your monster. We are not kings and queens. We are not angels or devils. We're humans. We're bones and guts and contradictions and pain and love. And understanding the service that your inner monster once performed for you is really important—not idealizing yourself, idealizing your healing, or even demonizing the parts of yourself that feel monstrous.

Now, I want to pull back and say if what you're referring to as your inner monster is a part of you that actually perpetrates harm to people—and you are people, so I'm including you in that. If we're talking about doing monstrous things, that's a whole other conversation. That's not how I'm reading your question. The way I'm hearing your question is that you have monstrous thoughts and feelings and that you feel overtaken by them. That's how I hear your question, and the fact that you have a Pluto/Saturn conjunction in the first house—right on the cusp of the second, but in the first house—further iterates my interpretation.

But it's really important to recognize—so if we're just talking about a psychological and emotional inner monster—that our monsters come from somewhere. And at one point, they were there as a form of self-protection. We don't want to forget that Pluto governs our flight-or-fight mechanisms, our root chakra. So the best path forward is to be a good parent to yourself by accepting your parts so that you can be healthier in the ways in which you relate to them.

The work that you're doing by being compassionate and kind to yourself is really good work. It's the right work. But if you're doing that with the attachment of secretly kicking the monster out the door, and if your monster, as I am assuming here, is your survival mechanisms on some fundamental level—even if it's misplaced and unhealthy and maladjusted, it's still your survival mechanisms. When we try to do away with our survival mechanisms, even the most maladjusted of them, that's kind of a fool's errand because when you try to murder the part of you that tries to keep you alive, it just fights for its life. And it's you. It's you fighting you.

So it becomes very difficult to make that kind of a change. Instead of getting rid of it, find ways of transforming it. So, if it is made of shit, you can turn that into compost. This will inevitably take time and patience, and actually a fair amount of bravery from you, because staying present with the thoughts and feelings that you feel are monstrous within you is hard. It's really challenging. But if you can stay present and be interested in the function, the service, that these parts of you are trying to provide, you can start to create a more sustainable and healthy version of that survival mechanism so that eventually you can phase the monster out instead of destroying it and kicking it out, which is a lot harder to do.

Now, my loves, that is the last of the questions I'm answering here today. But I want you to note a couple of themes. One is a lot of Piscean energy because we are in some very Piscean times, and the other is intergenerational trauma. I want to just acknowledge that I pulled some real themed questions for you here today because we are going through such a tender time that is calling for greater empathy and care from all of us, both in how we relate to ourselves but also in how we relate to the world around us—spiritually, but also in our behavior.

That's especially difficult for every single one of us who is feeling triggered by all the scary, big things happening. So finding ways of acknowledging our inner monsters, acknowledging our fears and insecurities, is important. Finding ways of having healthy boundaries with ourselves and others is important, and understanding that we do not stand alone. This is an important time to reach out to others, whether it's personally or getting inspiration from other people, so that we are buoyed to do the work, to participate in the world in as generative and life-affirming ways as we can muster.

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Darlings, we've got lots to talk about in this week's horoscope, but first, let me just tell you to save the date because on April 10th at 11:00 a.m. PST, I'm teaming up with Rachel Budde of Fat and the Moon to offer another Plants and Planets talk. And I'm really excited about this one. It's about boundaries. We'll offer you really practical tools for having healthy boundaries on all the levels, from woo to behavioral, and also give you tools for working with the plant allies that can support us through this time, keeping in mind that self-care is not just about you and how you feel; it's about creating tools that help us to stay present and to be as healthy as possible so that we can step into the world in whatever way is appropriate for us in efforts to make the world a better place for everyone.

So there'll be more information soon, and the tickets are not on sale quite yet. Hopefully, within the week, they will be. But save the damn date. And if you're like, "Oh no. That date, April 10th, doesn't work for me," no problem. When you buy the class, you'll get the full download, so you can watch it as many times as you like whenever you like.

Okay. So we're going to talk about something else that's happening—I mean the world. I mean the world. There's so much going on, but I want to speak to something that's happening here in the U.S. I don't know if you remember in the year-ahead horoscope for 2022, I talked about Jupiter in Pisces and how it is related to the rise of religious extremism and also, unfortunately, the rise in people being really distracted and wanting to feel good kind of at all costs.

We now and for a little while to come have a lot of planets in Pisces. And as this is happening, and in particular having Jupiter and Neptune in the zodiac sign of Pisces, which hasn't happened for a very long time, we are seeing—unfortunately predictably—the rise of legislation coming from the far right and the far religious right to criminalize homosexuality and being Trans. And it's focused a lot on children, but not exclusively on children.

This week, the Idaho House of Representatives passed legislation to make it a crime punishable by life in prison for a parent to seek out gender-affirming healthcare for their child, for their Trans child. A parent or guardian would be found guilty of a felony if they left the state with their child for gender-affirming healthcare. They could face up to a life of imprisonment. This is real. This is actually happening. Laws in Texas and Florida require teachers and nurses to act like cops, reporting people.

And if you don't care about Queer people or Trans people, that sucks, but I will say this: make no mistake that this is directly linked to these same people's attempts, which are increasingly successful, to criminalize abortion. Let's be exceptionally clear here. Policing body autonomy from any direction for individuals—and when we say individuals, of course, we don't mean cis, heteronormative, straight men. Right? Everybody else, though. Everybody else is at risk here.

And this kind of stripping people of rights and punishment for people being who they are and not causing harm to others—this happens in authoritarian states, and it's happening here. It's absolutely happening here. And if anything I'm saying, you're like, "I haven't heard of that," then, my friends, may I introduce you to this machine called the internet? And upon it, you can go DuckDuckGo, as I do. You can use Google. There are so many ways to get the news.

And I gotta say we're only a couple weeks into the Pluto Return in its exactitude. So we've got a two-year process of this. We've got this Jupiter transit through Pisces, which will affect us throughout the year off and on. And it is really important—and I know I say this all the G-D time, but here we are. It's really important that you find news sources that you can rely on, that you trust, and that you stay aware, that you stay informed about what's happening in the world around you so that you can take steps in whatever way is appropriate and accessible to you to be a part of the world's solutions, to strive to make the world safer for all.

We can't do that as caring and empathetic and spiritual people if we don't know what the fuck is happening around us, right? And this is a time to make your voice heard, to not lose your energy on stupid social media dramas or things that don't actually matter. When, honestly, legislation that criminalizes abortion or being Trans or Queer or etc., etc.—these things actually really fucking matter. They're heavily consequential for a generation of people.

So I invite you to think about this, and especially if you live in one of those states and you are straight and you're cis. Yeah. And extra especially if you're straight and you're cis and you live in one of these states and you're part of a Christian community, make your voice heard. Show up. Be an ally. Talk to people in your communities. Email your legislators. Call them. Leave them voice messages. This is a time for allyship. That's the beautiful part of Jupiter in Pisces, is that it can increase our empathy and it can motivate us to care for others.

But if our care is limited to love and light and it doesn't cross into your actions, your words, then it doesn't really go very far. Jupiter is such a fiery planet, and Pisces is water. And what do you get when you put fire and water together? You can get a whole lot of steam if you're not careful. So we don't want that. We want to heat things up. We want to bring them to a boil. We want to create the best possible change.

Along those lines, I want to say support youth-led movements because in a lot of states, the youth are being targeted. Do what you can to support them, to get behind their movements in whatever ways you can. And then final word I'll say about this is if you don't think you know anyone gay—I mean, I don't know. It's 2022. You probably know lots of gay people, or at least one. But if you feel like you don't know anyone gay, I want to say, "Hi." You know me. I'm Queer as hell. I came out in the early 1990s, and you know what? It is one of my favorite parts about my life is my queerness. I love being Queer, and it has been such a wonderful part of my whole entire life. I mean, they call it gay for a reason. I'm real happy with it.

And if you feel like you don't know anyone Trans, I mean, you likely do. You likely do, and maybe you just don't know it. But, hey, you feel like you don't know anyone Trans? May I introduce you to my forever fiancé and the producer of this podcast. He's Trans. And, honestly, it is really horrifying that he and I, who are in our late 40s, are looking at laws that will make it harder for Queer and Trans kids than it was for us in the '80s and early '90s. That is shocking. And my partner as raised in Idaho, and to think that things will be harder for Trans kids in Idaho now than it was when he was growing up is truly, truly horrifying.

We are seeing a lot of aggressive legislation. We are seeing a lot of backlash to civil rights advances that have occurred over the last many years, and not just around sexuality and gender, but certainly there. And things are going to go in a real bad direction if we do not make some goddamn noise, if we don't try to interrupt it. So I just—it's a conversation worth having.

Okay. Okay. 

Preamble a fin. 

So this week we are going to get as astrological as we have ever gotten, and we're going to talk about the astrology of March 13th through the 19th of 2022. It starts off with the Sun conjunction to Neptune that I talked about a little bit at the end of last week's episode. So the reason why I talked about it is because we started to feel it on the 12th, and here we are. It is exact on the 13th. We will feel it on the 14th as well.

And the Sun conjunction to Neptune—it's exhausting. It can increase anxiety. It can make us feel disoriented, overwhelmed, and make it hard to resource ourselves or resource the things we have available to us. Now, the Sun conjunction to Neptune is a transit that can make us a lot more intuitive. It can kind of make us more aware of our instincts and any kind of latent sensitivities or psychicness. Sounds great, right? The problem is, if it's not part of your daily life and practice, or even if it is, it can feel really overwhelming, especially because the world is in a very difficult state.

We're living through a pandemic, but there's this weird cognitive dissonance where everyone's like, "It's over. Don't wear a mask," and there's new strains, and they're scarier than the existing strain. So it's a bonkers time. So, if you're able to feel more of the energies around you, that could end up making you feel really overwhelmed and really, again, on the side of anxious. And so, if that's the case, let me just give you some practical advice here.

Let's start with the simple stuff. Drink buckets and buckets of water. Make sure you're breathing. This is a terrible time for fasting, so make sure you're fortifying your body with healthy foods. I know it all sounds very simple, but when it comes to Neptune, Neptune and Pisces energies want us to take a simplified approach to fortifying our wellness. So that's a great starting point. Another important starting point is, if you have a friend who's kind of a frenemy and makes you feel funky every time you interact with them for whatever reason, yeah, maybe don't interact with them around this date.

Now, I'm not recommending that you evade and avoid unpleasantness or things that are difficult but of value to you. But I am encouraging you to be mindful of what you can do in a healthy way, how you can and cannot show up. You want to keep in mind we only have 48 hours of this thing left, so it's not about avoiding it forever. It's about recognizing when you feel strong enough to do a thing and when you don't, and having healthy boundaries in response to that.

Now, on the positive—because there is a positive side to this transit—as it increases our capacity to feel compassion, to feel empathy, to feel generosity, this transit can coincide with creativity, feeling really inspired if you are writing, in particular if you're writing something that is fiction or fantasy. If you are into any kind of cosplay, if you love music, if you're an actor—any kind of creative art, in particular, Neptune is all about glamor. So if you've got a record you love singing along to, if you've got a creative practice that gives you life, this is a great time to just hunker in and get creative because this transit can be an access point to feeling inspired and just flowing with that inspiration.

Now, on a spiritual tip, this can be a great time for spiritual work, but there's a caveat there. You want to make sure you're not giving away your power or idealizing yourself or others. This is not a great time for consciousness-raising drugs because you just don't need them under Neptune transits. That's when you want to tap into the energy that a consciousness-raising drug might stimulate on your own and see if you can. See how you can. We want to make sure that we're not dissociating or doing any kind of spiritual bypassing, which again is a risk under the influence of Neptune.

However, if these spiritual pitfalls can be avoided, this can be a time where you start doing energy work or you reconnect with an energy work practice. This can be a time that is really healing for you and that you are able to access some measure of peace or to share peace with others, with the planets. That's really powerful. Putting your own ego drives aside in favor of some kind of selflessness or service can be very well starred under a Sun conjunction to Neptune. Again, you just want to make sure it's coming from a healthy place, not a martyred place or a victim place, which is another risk with Neptune.

Whenever I see heavy transits to Neptune like this one—a Sun conjunction to Neptune I would characterize as kind of heavy—I always think, "Okay. Here's an opportunity to have boundaries." It's an opportunity to recognize how you haven't had boundaries, so that's uncomfortable but very helpful. It's an opportunity to identify your boundaries, unfortunately often by being in a situation where you're like, "Oh shit. This feels bad. I wish I had had boundaries," or, "I don't know how to have boundaries, but I can tell I really need them here."

Or for those who are lucky enough for it, it can be a time where you actually practice having healthy boundaries. And then you find it doesn't instantly feel good. Sometimes it does, but oftentimes, it doesn't. We want a feedback loop from our boundaries, right? We want to be like, "I have my boundary, and then the Universe kissed me on the forehead. Now I feel great." Sometimes you have healthy boundaries, and everyone around you is like, "Oh man. You're mean."

And so it's important that you stay centered within your own value system and your own self, and empathetic about how other people feel without taking it in and taking it on. The potential with this transit is that we experience greater love and connection. That's absolutely there. But just make sure you don't abandon yourself and your own needs and limits in order to get love and attention from others.

Okay. Okay. So that's the Sun conjunction to Neptune. On the 17th, we have an exact Mercury sextile to Uranus. This is a lovely transit. It's great for friendships. It's great for just connecting with people. If you're in the market for new friends, this is a great transit for meeting new people or forging connections. If you've lost track with people or you've just let certain relationships fall to the wayside, this is a great time to just take a risk and reach out to someone.

You know you got that little pocket computer, and it lets you communicate with just about anyone. Use it. Use it this week in general, and certainly around the 17th, because Mercury sextile to Uranus has got no downside. That doesn't mean everything you do will be golden or perfect, but it does mean that the energy is there for being open and having new experiences and having fun. So get on that if you can.

On a slightly more serious note, this can be a great time for expanding your horizons in your thinking and attitudes across the board. So that might mean seeking new news sources or educating yourself about something. Mercury sextile to Uranus is not about super deep focus, so it's about maybe spending 20 minutes looking at five different websites to see which ones you think are really reliable or looking at someone's social media online that you really trust and seeing what journalists they're following, where they get their news, and just being interested in the world around you and doing it through technology, because fucking Uranus—technology. Right? It's a great transit. Enjoy it. Have fun with it.

And that brings us to the 18th. On the 18th, we have a Full Moon in Virgo. We also have an exact Venus sextile to Chiron and an exact Sun sextile to Pluto. There is a lot going on with this Full Moon, so let's giddy-up. Okay. So, as a reminder, Full Moons occur generally once a month, and they happen when the Sun and Moon are opposite each other, not just by sign but by degree. And when Full Moons occur, the reason why so many people are so into Full Moons, even people who are not super into astrology, is because it's really evidential. Emotions rise to the surface. Things get intense, and they get emotional.

You want to remember that the Moon in astrology is related to our emotions, our feelings. And the Sun is our identity and our will. And so when our feelings and our will are opposite each other, as happens during a Full Moon, what also happens is we have to reconcile with that. Our emotions boil to the surface, demanding to be dealt with. That's what happens during a Full Moon.

Now, in a Full Moon between Pisces and Virgo—now, first of all, you can look to where those zodiac signs fall in your birth chart to have a sense of what aspect of your life is going to be directly impacted. And in particular, I should say this is late degrees of those signs. The Moon and Sun are at 27 degrees of Virgo and Pisces respectively, and 40 minutes. You can round it up to a 28-degree lunation. And the tension between Virgo and Pisces is the tension between what we need to do or what we feel called to do in terms of our day-to-day stuff, our habits around work, around how we are around the house—like what you do when you first wake up in the morning and all the way down to the end of the day—and how it does or doesn't serve you on a spiritual or mental health level.

So this is a very fertile time for looking at how you're actually living, what you're actually doing, and whether or not it serves you, whether or not it's sustainable, whether or not it reflects healthy boundaries and your self-knowledge. You may sleep with your phone in your bedroom and then grab it first thing in the morning even though it gives you terrible anxiety, and the science says sleeping with your phone in your room—bad idea. Not good for your health. Okay. Cool. If you identify something like that during the Full Moon, you might be like, "Hey. Shit. I can put my phone in the bathroom when I sleep. It can just be in another room, and I'm going to set the intention to wait 20 minutes before I look at my phone when I first wake up."

It doesn't have to be anything dramatic. It doesn't have to be anything huge in order to be life-altering, to be impactful. Again, when Full Moons occur, what we can expect is some sort of awareness emotionally to come to the surface so that we can deal with it. Now, in this Full Moon chart, we got a lot going on. First of all, we got four planets in Pisces. That doesn't happen that frequently. This is somewhat unusual to have four planets in Pisces. Two of them are outer planets.

So this is a really big deal. The Moon is opposite the Sun exactly, but it's also opposite to Neptune. And so, unfortunately, what this can coincide with is, again, anxiety. You just have to consider what I told you about the Sun conjunction to Neptune. We're still going to be influenced by that through the Full Moon because the lunation is going to intensify that transit, kind of drag it out a little bit.

So, if you're feeling anxious, remember the Moon is in Virgo. So consider what you're doing. What are you actually doing in the material world, and what small, subtle adjustments can you make—and you can also make big ones; Jupiter is involved in this Pisces stellium. But what adjustments can you make to support your mental and spiritual health? Now, this might be hard to do because you'll be in your emotions, or you'll be dealing with other people who are in their emotions and acting from an anxiety state.

When other people act out of an anxiety state around you or to you, it often provokes anxiety in you because it's confusing and it's disorienting. And if you're an empathetic or if you're a highly sensitive person, you're going to feel the confusing energy and not know what to make of it, and most people interpret other people's behavior towards them and around them as being about them, whether or not that's true.

So this can be really kind of like a great opportunity to identify where you need boundaries and to put things in place so that you adjust your behavior to support your internal needs. And this will in turn make you more effective in how you engage with the world as well as how you feel. So that's a lot of positive potential, even if it's through some uncomfortable dynamics.

Now, as I said, Venus is forming a sextile to Chiron during this Full Moon transit, and the Sun is sextile to Pluto. Both of these transits are really good for engaging with things that are actually quite frightening or difficult, but doing it from a place of not being overwhelmed by the difficulties or fear that you would otherwise experience. So that's really cool. This Full Moon has a great deal of positive potential associated with it. This is because we have the capacity here to identify what isn't working and to transform it.

A Full Moon transformation like we're all capable of here may simply be that you're in a situation that has always provoked a certain kind of response that you know isn't healthy and doesn't really serve you or the people around you. And this time, you catch it and you make a different choice. It doesn't have to be world-shattering in order for it to be meaningful. And in order for it to be powerful for you, progress, no matter how small, is progress. All we want is progress. And to the best of your ability, if you pursue progress without attachment to completion, then, now you're really in the best parts of what all this Piscean energy has to offer.

Now, additionally, in this chart, we have three planets in Aquarius, and two of them are Venus and Mars. And they're still conjoined to each other, and they're forming a square to Uranus. So those squares are not exact yet. The Venus square to Uranus will be exact the following day, so giddy-up. I'm going to tell you more about that in a second here. The Mars square to Uranus is going to be featured in early next week's horoscope. But we're already feeling these transits, and they are explosive. They're explosive.

This is not great portents in the context of war because Uranus square to Mars can absolutely be quite violent and, again, explosive. I am using that word very much on purpose. It can be related to combat and the use of explosive and fire, unfortunately. But it's also, in this context, about us kind of deciding who matters, what matters, and why because, again, Venus is not just related to relationships and intimacy and love, as much as the internet would like you to think so. It's also related to our values. And when we're looking at collective or mundane astrology, we know we're talking about who as societies we value and how we express that value.

So this can be connected to some of the stuff I talked about at the top of this segment. It can be connected to what we see happening on the global stage in response to the war in Ukraine. This can be seen in so many contexts, in so many contexts. But what I want to focus your energy on is your own conduct because when you get surprised—and Uranus governs surprises—when things come at you from left field—you weren't expecting it—when things are upsetting or jarring, because Uranus governs all of that, it tests our values. It tests how well we know ourselves. And it can often reveal what you really care about when shit hits the fan.

So this is an opportunity for you to really align yourself with your values, whether or not it's easy, whether or not it's convenient. Now, in the context of personal relationships, again, this Full Moon may bring about surprises. It may bring about upsets. And here's the bottom line: the truth is true whether you like it or not, whether you want to look at it or not, whether you want to accept it or not. So pursue the truth. Not knowing the truth is not actually you taking care of you.

So, just to recap before I move on to the next transit, this Full Moon may bring up anxiety, surprises, and upsets. Sure. But they're not likely to be super destructive. Instead, we can expect that this Full Moon will be an opportunity to come full circle to a level of self-awareness about our boundaries and how our actions are or are not supporting our mental health and our spiritual health. So astrology doesn't do the work for you; it just delineates the work that needs to be done. It doesn't even write the assignments. It's just a way we find out what the assignment is.

So do the homework. That's all. Do the homework. Moon's in Virgo. You can do some homework. And if you feel anxious, do not forget that the Full Moon in Virgo is a resource for you to be able to ground yourself into the here and now so that you can align your body and your behavior with habits that are healthy and sustainable.

Now, that brings us to the last exact transit of this week. On the 19th, we have an exact square from Venus to Uranus, and it is linked with the Mars square to Uranus that, again, will be exact on next Tuesday. And it's linked simply because Mars and Venus are conjoined to each other. They're quite tightly conjoined; they're not exactly conjoined. So they're influencing each other. What that's just going to do is kind of stretch out both of these transits.

Now, the Venus square to Uranus is exact on the 19th, and on a personal level, it can be upsetting. I personally really love this transit, but it can be quite upsetting for people because Venus wants security and stability, and Uranus wants change and autonomy. These two planets can be really at odds with each other about what they think is the right move to achieve happiness. That behaviorally can translate into relationships not going the way you want them to, you not getting the kind of validation that you would prefer, people behaving in ways that are just not what you want them to do, and being in a state of uncertainty, not knowing what's going to come next in a relationship dynamic.

All of these things are very uncomfortable. They're not bad, for the most part, but they're certainly uncomfortable. The work or opportunity of this transit is to experiment, to be present, and to be open. And given that this is happening immediately on the heels of a Full Moon, you might need to experiment with new ways of holding boundaries, new ways of engaging in preexisting relationships. Being open doesn't mean being open to doing things. It might be being open to not doing things. That's a possibility.

This energy can be really spontaneous and fun and playful. That's why I like it. You might be in contact with someone you haven't been in contact with forever. You might just be walking down the damn street, make eyes with an attractive stranger, and get a little juj to help you along your way. Venus square Uranus—it's fun. It's kind of easy come, easy go. It's a great time for—I don't know. Are carnivals a thing? I'm on the West Coast, so it's nice and warm here. But go to a carnival. Do something fun and weird.

Fun and weird is right up Venus square Uranus's alley. That might mean watching experimental films. It might mean choosing to go for a hike and get lost somewhere. It could mean a lot of different things. But whatever it means for you, be open to step outside of your comfort zone a little bit. Now, on a romantic tip, again, not a great time for creating stability. If you're trying to process with someone, if you want to make it official or whatever, don't do it right now. Just don't do it right now. Sit with your feelings. Sit with your impatience because Uranus can be very impatient. It's really fixated on the future.

But don't try to make things secure and stable right now, because it's just not what the energy of the day is about. And if somebody else is trying to do that with you and you're just not ready or there, instead of saying no—unless you're really clear about your no—I would encourage you to say, "Hey, let's talk about it this time next week," when the transit will not be felt. Just a little strategy for you.

So, my loves, my dears, my Ghost babies, that's your damn horoscope. I'm going to run through all of the transits again if you're a notetaker. But again, if you are a notetaker, hopefully you are using Astrology For Days, my astrology student and pro tool for tracking the transits and taking notes like a damn boss. That's over at astrologyfordays.com.

Okay. Going through the transits, on the 13th, the Sun is exactly conjoined to Neptune. On the 17th, Mercury forms an exact sextile to Uranus. On the 18th, we have a Full Moon in Virgo. I don't think I told you what time it was at. Let me do that now. It is exact at 12:17 a.m. Pacific Time on March 18th. And on that same date, we have a Venus sextile to Chiron and a Sun sextile to Pluto, both in exactitude. And then, finally, on the 19th, we have a Venus square to Uranus.

As always, if you get value from this podcast, please give it five stars wherever you listen to it, and write me a kind review. And if you want to learn more with me, get a little astrological, get a little woo, you can join me over on Patreon. It is linked on my website. It's also at patreon.com/jessicalanyadoo.

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