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.

Welcome back to Ghost of a Podcast. This week, we're going to be looking at the astrology of December 17th through the 23rd of 2023. And I only get to say that for a couple more episodes, and then it's going to be 2024. I don't know; it's a big change for me as a little astrologer.

Anyways, before we get into the details of the horoscope, I have exciting news, which is that I am teaching a class⁠—I'm co-teaching a class. So this one is all about the astrology of 2024. I'm going to break down the major transits that we can expect in the new year, and I am co-facilitating with Anna Bario, who's a gemstone specialist and a jewelry designer. And she is going to share the corresponding crystals and gemstones that are aligned with coping with these energies. And so she's going to share what the gemstones are and how to use them.

And so this class is called Constellations and Crystals: Tools for 2024. The link to register for the class is going to be in the episode description and on my website over at ghostofapodcast.com or lovelanyadoo.com. So you can sign up there. It's happening live on December 30th, but as with each and every one of my classes, you never have to wonder: you will get the replay emailed to you in your little inbox. So, if you can't show up live, that's not a problem because you can watch the class afterwards. And if you can show up live but you just want to be able to absorb it all but use the reference later, I've got you covered. So hopefully you'll join me for Constellations and Crystals on December 30th, 2023.

And while you're on my website, in case you haven't gone there before, first of all, it's super cute, if I may say so. So you should definitely visit my website. But I also have a free weekly horoscope. If you like Sun sign horoscopes, I have got you covered. You can check out my free weekly horoscope there, and I have lots of other classes for sale and a couple cute swag items if you're into Ghost of a Podcast swag. So please do explore my little corner of the internet at lovelanyadoo.com.

Okay. Now let's dive headfirst into this Mercury Retrograde horoscope. This week has a lot of activity to and from Mercury. And so, because we know that Mercury is Retrograde, I just want to kind of give you this overview and perspective about the horoscope that you're about to hear, which is that we are meant to follow the rule of re's. We are being reflective. We are being willing to reconsider our perspective, our relationships, our beliefs, our attitudes. We are in a state of recalibration.

And that is super annoying, yes. Mercury Retrograde is often very annoying. It gives us technological problems. It gives us miscommunications. I have already, this Mercury Retrograde, spent a just ridiculous amount of time with customer service in multiple situations. It's a Mercury Retrograde; it's annoying. But it's also a time for reflection. And as I said last week, it is a gift. It is a gift when Mercury Retrograde happens because it stops us from going too far and too long in the wrong direction.

It gives us the opportunity to return to things⁠—to return to our ideas, our plans, our relationships, what have you⁠—to return to them with a refreshed perspective, to bring a new level of reflection to our plans, ideas, relationships. Mercury governs those three things: plans, ideas, relationships. So keep that as a perspective as you hear me talking about Mercury, which you will do for almost all the transits that we're going through this week, okay? So we're having a really activated Mercury Retrograde. It's activating lessons. And as good students of astrology, we like to know what the lesson is so that we can work with the energies.

So this week, as I said, begins on December 17th. Now, we don't have any exact transits on this day. But on the 16th of December, the Sun square Neptune was exact, and this means that we will be feeling the effects of this transit on the 17th all day long. And as a quick refresher, Sun square to Neptune kicks up anxiety. It can make you feel really exhausted. It can make you feel dreamy. It can incline us to misunderstanding things, being gullible, and just basically being overwhelmed by what we don't know. So, if you're feeling off on the 17th, yeah, you're right on time.

And what the Sun square to Neptune wants from us⁠—it wants us to be more nurturing to our systems, so to be nurturing to your physical and psychological systems, to fortify and strengthen those things. That might be through having better boundaries or just being more considerate and supportive to your physical body. It's a terrible time for a fast. It's not a great time for a cleanse. It's a time for nourishing the system.

Now, what it wants for us is to let go of attachment to knowing what comes next, let go of control, to cultivate greater connection to our guidance, to our spiritual systems. This is not a good time for spiritual work because it does make us more porous, and it makes us more vulnerable. So, with this information, I would simply say treat it as a good time to nourish yourself and become more aware of what sparks anxiety in you and what sparks connection in you. And don't push yourself too hard, basically. Now, the transit's over by the 18th, so I won't say much more than that. And if you're really feeling it as you listen to me talk about it, you can always return to last week's episode, Episode 384, or you can read the transcript on my website.

Now, on the 18th, we've got an exact transit between Mercury and Jupiter. So Mercury Retrograde at 6:28 a.m. Pacific Time⁠—Mercury Retrograde will be at 5 degrees and 51 minutes of Capricorn, and Jupiter will be at the exact same degrees of Taurus. They will be forming a glorious trine. Now, this transit may sound familiar to you, and that's because this transit occurred on December 7th. And this is what happens during a Retrograde, right? As Mercury moves backwards through the zodiacal degrees, we will revisit transits that happened recently.

Mercury trine to Jupiter is a lovely transit. It is worth your while to look back at what was going on on and around the 7th of December to get a sense of what you can expect from this hit of the Mercury trine to Jupiter transit. This transit is lovely. It is really good for socializing and connecting with people and having it be warm and positive, like a positive experience for everybody. Mercury trine to Jupiter makes us feel a little more resilient, a little more generous and good. And therefore, it's just generally good for engaging with coworkers, neighbors, friends, siblings⁠—all the things that Mercury governs.

It's also good for study. And the reason why it's good for study is because it's good for expanding your consciousness. So it's not like a Mercury/Saturn aspect, although⁠⁠—hold tight⁠—we got one of those this week as well. Mercury/Saturn is good for⁠—it's good for your concentration, so it's good for buckling down and studying. With Mercury trine to Jupiter, it puts you in a frame of mind where you are open to learning. So, if you come across information that has the potential to expand your world or shift your worldview, yeah, get in there and get some if you can because Mercury trine Jupiter is really lovely that way.

In general, this transit's good for making plans. And the reason why it's good for making plans is because Mercury is the details, and Jupiter is the big picture. So having a nice, benefic aspect like a trine empowers us to consider both the big picture and the little details in harmony, which, as you can imagine, is really good for making plans. Now, Mercury is Retrograde, so the general wisdom is we don't make major plans. We don't sign contracts. We don't make major decisions during a Mercury Retrograde. But if you gotta this Mercury Retrograde, this transit is a good moment to do so.

Now, here's the thing. COVID is currently spiking, and we don't know the long-term effects on our body. But we do know that the immune compromised amongst us, the elderly, the kids, are really vulnerable. And so this transit⁠—it's great for socializing. It's the holiday season. A lot of people are in cold climates where you have to be indoors in order to connect with people. So I just want to invite you, if you have someone in your life that is immune compromised, to make sure that you are showing them your love by protecting them.

That said, if you get a social invitation on this day or around this day, take it. Maybe you were planning on hanging out in your PJs, but a Mercury trine to Jupiter⁠—social engagement is likely to be quite fun. So put yourself out there if you have the chance. I mean, Mercury is Retrograde, so it kind of shakes up all that positive potential, but it doesn't harm it. It just means that it might be one of the things where I'm like, "Okay, it'll be a great social experience," and then it's great in that you learn a lot about yourself or others as opposed to it being the funnest thing you ever did in your life. But it's still worth it. Mercury trine Jupiter is a lovely transit, and we want to do whatever we can to tap into those energies.

The next transit that we're going through is happening on the 20th of December, the last day of Sagittarius Season. And on this date, have a Venus opposition to Uranus. This transit is exact at 11:04 p.m. Pacific Time. And we have Venus at 19 degrees of Scorpio and 39 minutes and Uranus 19 degrees of Taurus and 39 minutes. So they're sitting opposite each other. Now, Venus opposite Uranus is an inherently destructive transit. That's what it's meant to do. And Venus is the planet that, more than any other, loves security and stability while Uranus is a planet, more than any other, that loves upsets, unpredictable things, uprisings, revolution. So Venus opposition to Uranus is a transit that can be unpleasant at times.

Now, on a personal level, this is not a great time for making your love life or any of your relationships secure. If you've been trying to figure out what the person you're hanging out with really feels about you or what their intentions are with you, don't ask them. Don't ask them. Don't ask them today. I would avoid asking them this week, even though there are some really great transits for that, technically speaking. I would just get away from the Venus opposition to Uranus. It's not the time for creating stability.

It's the time for things coming out of left field. It's the time for surprises. It's the time for trying new things. So it's a great time for changing shit up⁠—changing shit up in your love life, in how you relate to others, kind of especially romantically but not exclusively romantically. It's a great time for changing the way you dress. If you've been thinking about making an aesthetic change, especially if you have any planets or important points in your birth chart at around 20 degrees of a fixed sign⁠—and those fixed signs are Taurus, Scorpio, Aquarius, and Leo⁠—this is a really great transit for that, for playing with your aesthetic. Don't do anything permanent, though. That's the thing.

Uranus is about trying things out. It's not about committing. Because of this, this transit can kick up problems. It doesn't create problems; it kicks up problems because the things that Venus is willing to sit on⁠—Venus is all about diplomacy. The things that Venus is willing to sit on Uranus is not. Uranus is like, "I gotta be me at all fucking costs," and Venus is like, "Me is better if we are okay." Uranus is not about that. So Venus opposite Uranus can really spontaneously kick up tensions that already exist in your relationships, and in particular around compromise because Venus is super compromising and Uranus is zero percent compromising.

So, if shit comes up in your relationships where you're like, "Oh, this person is driving me bananas," it's probably been a dynamic for a while now, but you're just really feeling it. This is a good time, if you do find yourself really activated in your relationships, to explore what it means about yourself as much as what it means about the relationship and what it means about the other person. Don't allow yourself to just focus on what it means about the other person or, depending on your nature, what it means about you. Explore all three levels.

And if it feels like, "Okay. I'm ready and clear, and I want to process this with someone," great. But if it just feels like, "I feel so activated I have to process this with someone," don't. This is when you call your bestie. You call your shrink. You call your mom⁠—whatever it is that works for you. This transit⁠—what it is meant to do⁠—and Mercury Retrograde is kind of adding to this noise. What it's meant to do is make us more aware by shifting our perspective and creating surprises. And when we rush to convert our thoughts and feelings into certainty, when we're rushing our awareness to be more mature than it is, we end up creating more problems than we solve.

So be open. Be curious this Venus opposition to Uranus. And if you get a chance to flirt with somebody, go ahead. This can be a really fun transit for meeting someone new and hooking up or flirting. So, if you're in a relationship, this might not be especially helpful for you. But if you're single and looking to mingle, this is a fun time for having moments with people. It's not a time for meeting the one, if that's what you're looking for. But it is a fun time for having moments. And sometimes a moment⁠—it gives you a boost. And I feel like we could all use a boost.

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Now, back to the way you look. Venus opposite Uranus⁠—if you are somebody who has anxiety about the way you look, it can kind of kick that up. And to that end, what I would advise is to focus on the values component of Venus, to try to sort through whatever emotions you're having about how you look, and ask yourself what it reflects to you about your values and whether or not your fixations, your thoughts, your feelings are actually in alignment with your values.

We never want to forget that Venus governs values. It's not just romance. It's not just aesthetics. It's values. And at the core of our relationship to our meat suit, to the way we look, to how we present ourselves, and at the core of our relationships to others, lives our values⁠—what we value, how we prioritize and hold our values, and whether or not we live in accordance to them. So, whenever we're going through transits to or from Venus, it's time to reflect on our values.

Now, a couple other things I'll say about this transit. One is a Venus opposition to Uranus can often bring about unexpected expenses, which, depending on your finances, could be pretty terrible news or just annoying news. So don't make major purchases unless you were already planning on doing it during this transit. And if you have to deal with unexpected expenses, just say to yourself, "Astrology. It works," and do what you gotta do.

The other thing I want to say about this transit is that Venus opposite Uranus can mark major developments with women's rights or the rights of Nonbinary and Trans folks. Major developments is not good, and it's not bad. It's developments. Uranus specifically governs upsets. So, when we think about repressive and restrictive systems that exist to subjugate women, Nonbinary folks, and Trans people, upsets are exactly what we want. And sometimes uprisings are what we need. And Uranus governs both.

So that can be a very positive expression of an upset. It can also go in the opposite direction, though. I mean, when we think about what is good and what is bad for society, we must consider whose perspective we are thinking about it from. And so the thing to know is that there may be some sort of social or political development that we don't quite expect that isn't preplanned around women's rights and the rights of basically everyone who's not a cis male.

The next exact transit of this week happens on the 21st, and that is the day when we move into Capricorn Season. The winter solstice is upon us, and that happens at exactly 7:27 p.m. Pacific Time. I do think it's always valuable to pay attention to the shifting of the seasons, which the transition into each of the cardinal signs always marks. So here we are, Capricorn being a cardinal sign. We are shifting into a new season. And I think it's a great time to turn inwards and take stock of what that means in our lives, what this season is for us and how we want to engage with it. And Capricorn is so practical and pragmatic, so it's a good time to pay attention to that stuff.

The other thing that's happening on the 21st is, at 4:33 a.m. Pacific Time, we have a Mercury Retrograde sextile to Saturn. So Mercury has now retrograded back to 2 degrees of Capricorn and 23 minutes, and Saturn is at the same degrees of Pisces. So, when Mercury and Saturn have such a lovely synergistic conversation as they do during a sextile, we know that communication gets more dynamic and more effective, which is very helpful during a Mercury Retrograde.

As I mentioned before, Mercury sextile to Saturn is good for concentration. It's good for learning new things, cultivating a skill, and figuring out the nitty-gritty of a situation. Mercury is the details, and Saturn is structure. So getting into the details of the comprehensive picture is really well suited to this Mercury sextile to Saturn transit.

This transit can help us to pay better attention, to be a bit more present, to negotiate our needs, whether that's through work stuff or in a project, or just figuring out who's going to drive first on a road trip. You know what I mean? It makes it easier to communicate what you got, what you need, what you want to offer, and to really properly listen to other people as they express themselves in their own ways. The best thing you can do with this transit is to be honest with yourself and others.

Now, Mercury is Retrograde, so we are reflecting. Maybe we're returning to old plans, old ideas, old relationships, and we are bringing kind of new intentions or new clarity around intentions. Like I said, this Mercury Retrograde week⁠, it's got a lot of really supportive energy for us making use of this Mercury Retrograde, which is awesome. And when you consider the fact that Mercury is Retrograde in Capricorn, it kind of is doubly useful if we choose to make use of it.

If we tap into this opportunity, again, it can be quite pragmatic. So do your best to really listen to others, to people in your life, to ideas that you come across that may be new or different or more nuanced than the ones that you have been exposed to before. This is a great time to put yourself out there. If you are somebody who is working on a project, if you are building a business, if you are trying to develop a practice, if you are an activist⁠—any of these kinds of things⁠—this transit, much like the Mercury trine to Jupiter, is so helpful because it helps you to get your ideas across, and it also helps you to be receptive to others, to their ideas, to their plans.

And the truth of the matter is it is not just about being a good communicator. It is also about being a good listener. It's not just about having great plans. It's about being receptive to the plans and goals of others. Mercury sextile to Saturn is really helpful for that, actually, especially because of the Mercury Retrograde because the Retrograde helps us to follow that rule of re's and do the reflection and to be open to the recalibration that Mercury wants us to be engaging in this Mercury Retrograde. So Mercury Retrograde in Capricorn forming a sextile to Saturn in Pisces on the same day as we move into Capricorn Season seems like a great day to get shit done. So work with that if you can.

And then that brings us to the last transit of this week, and it is a Sun conjunction to Mercury. The Sun conjunction to Mercury is the first transit of Capricorn Season. And of course, we've got the Sun and Mercury both in Capricorn at exactly 0 degrees and 39 minutes at 10:54 a.m. Pacific Time. Mercury will retrograde back into Sagittarius at 10:17 p.m. Pacific Time, so about 12 hours later. The Mercury conjunction to the Sun is a really powerful transit, and it's powerful because it places two planets that are really concerned with identity⁠—the Sun and Mercury⁠—in the exact same place.

We may be highly identified with whatever it is that's happening at this time, and that is not inherently good or bad. It's just a lot of energy because the Sun is your identity and your will. It is your vitality. It's your sense of self, and it's how you want other people to perceive you, whereas Mercury are your ideas, including your ideas about yourself. It's your attitudes. It's your beliefs. It's how you listen. It's how you verbally communicate. It's how you communicate in writing. In this modern day, it is one of the two planets that primarily governs how you engage online with other humans and with ideas that you encounter. So it is related to our media literacy, which is just increasingly more important every damn day.

So, when the Sun conjoins Mercury, there's a heavy emphasis on your thinking and how it impacts or reflects on you. It's a heavy emphasis on your identity and how you are or are not able to communicate that to other people, how you do feel understood or you don't feel understood by other people. This transit can reveal ways that your identity and your ideas are actually not aligned. And if you come to realize that, it'll probably be in contrast to something or someone. So, when I say in contrast, what I mean is through disruptions with other people.

This transit⁠—it makes us all feel highly identified with our ideas, and this can be a problem. When our identity and ideas are too enmeshed, we are not particularly objective. We are not particularly open-minded, because we need our ideas to be validated by others. Otherwise, we don't feel seen. This transit can show up when we are really struggling because we are not being perceived the way we want to be perceived or the way we expect to be perceived, or we are not finding our place in the world of others⁠—of other people and of ideas⁠—in the way we expected to, the way we wanted to.

So the most important thing I can tell you this Sun conjunction to Mercury is to remain curious, to remain open-minded, to be willing to explore yourself, others, ideas, to revisit your plans and revisit the stories you tell yourself about yourself, because it is through the practice of being curious, the practice of revisiting and refining our ideas about ourself, our understanding about the world and how we fit into it⁠—it is by exploring those things that we adapt and grow with an ever-changing world, with ever-changing relationships. And luckily, Mercury is all about adaptability. So, while it is true that Capricorn is not the most adaptable sign in the zodiac, this transit is still really good for adaptability. But it takes your willingness.

Now, on the other side of things, a Sun conjunction to Mercury may kind of quicken the tempo of your daily life so that you've got a lot of plans, and things happen last minute, and it's kind of exciting. And you just get to be more engaged in your daily life. This can be a time where you really get to enjoy your connections with other people and other people's ideas, your ideas, and how they kind of come together and inspire you or expand your sense of self or your worldview. In this case, which is a lovely case, again, the key is to be open-minded, adaptable, and curious.

The final thing I'll say about this transit is that it can inspire you to be more curious about your purpose, or it may spark an event that reveals or helps you to better understand your self-worth or your purpose. And that's lovely. But because Mercury is Retrograde, it will require reflection, being willing to refer back to the self and recalibrate, realign. So, again, these wonderful transits get a lot better when you do the work that they want you to do. If you put a little effort into it, it'll go a lot further.

Now, I'm going to run through the transits of this week. On the 17th, we're feeling the final day's effects of the Sun square to Neptune. On the 18th, Mercury Retrograde forms a exact trine to Jupiter, and the last time that transit happened was real recently. It was on December 7th. On the 20th of December, Venus forms an exact opposition to Uranus. And on the 21st, we enter into Capricorn Season, and Mercury retrogrades into a sextile with Saturn. On the 22nd, the Sun forms an exact conjunction to Mercury in Capricorn, and of course, that's Mercury Retrograde. And it will stay Retrograde until January 1st.

I want to thank you so much for joining me here this week and every week twice a week for Ghost of a Podcast. If you get value from this show, please consider writing a kind review or hitting that Subscribe or Follow button wherever you listen to podcasts because it really does make a difference for all podcasts, but certainly for DIY shows like this one.

I hope you're taking really good care of yourself and others and showing up in ways that help you stay aligned and right with yourself. All right. I'll talk to you in just a couple of days. Buh-bye.