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.

Hey there, Ghosties. In this episode, I'll deliver your astrological weather report for the week ahead. Every Sunday, I help you prepare to navigate through life's up and downs and provide you with practical insights for planning ahead and staying on top of your game. And don't forget to hit Subscribe whenever listening to this podcast, or just mark your calendars, because every Wednesday I'll be back with a live, in-depth reading with a listener. Maybe it'll be you. So sit back, relax, and get ready to get astrological.

My loves, how are you? The May 5th Eclipse was brilliant, and it knocked me straight on my ass. So I am a little sick today, but I'm not giving up on you. So I'm still here to give you your horoscope, but my voice is a little funky, so bear with me.

Okay. There's a lot to get into this week. I'm just going to very briefly, before we talk about the details of your horoscope, acknowledge that the World Health Organization on Friday declared an end to the public health emergency of international concern when it comes to COVID-19. So that happened on May 5th. But on April 26th, they also announced that an estimated one in ten infections of COVID-19 results in long COVID or post-COVID infection, suggesting that hundreds of millions of people will need longer-term care. That's a quote from the World Health Organization.

So, even though most people don't read past the headlines and most people don't read from original sources but instead read editorials on original sources⁠—because, often, original sources are little harder to find or a little more dry to read⁠—it is important to note that the virus is still changing, and it's capable of causing new waves of disease and death. Again, that's a quote from the World Health Organization. It's not over, okay? It's not over. And I really invite you⁠—in fact, implore you⁠—to mask up in indoor public spaces, especially if you're hosting things. Make sure that it's COVID safe for you and everyone else, especially people who are immune compromised or disabled. We always want to create inclusive spaces because if we're spiritual people but we don't act with empathy and compassion for the most vulnerable amongst us, what the hell are we doing?

Okay. So, as promised, we're going to jump right into your horoscope. May 7th through the 13th of 2023 is what we're looking at. We've got only a couple exact transits this week, and then we have something major happening the next week that I want to kind of give you a little update on. On the 9th, the first exact transit that we have is a Sun conjunction to Uranus at 19 degrees of Taurus. We will feel this transit on the 8th, 9th, and 10th. It's exact on the 9th.

A Sun conjunction to Uranus is kind of a mixed bag, depending on how it hits your chart and on your relationship to that which is unpredictable and a little destabilizing. This transit can be really exciting. In fact, Uranus governs excitement and innovation and experimentation, things that are really potentially fun. But it can also be really just destabilizing, where things come at you from left field. They surprise you. They are not what you expected, and they shake up your mood, your temperament, or your circumstances, all of which can be really uncomfortable, especially if it's hitting something in a fixed sign for you because, of course, this is happening in Taurus, which is a fixed earth sign. And so, if you have anything at around 19 degrees of a fixed sign, a.k.a. in Taurus, Scorpio, Aquarius, or Leo, you really want to pay attention to this transit.

What comes our way during a Sun/Uranus conjunction can be really exciting, really different than we expected, and it can increase our sense of freedom, our sense of liberation. Again, Uranus is exciting. But it's not inherently permanent. So what I recommend, whether you're feeling really excited by this transit or really destabilized by this transit, is to understand that it's not going to last more than 72 hours, see? And we won't know if whatever it is that's going on is permanent or temporary until a little while after that. This is not a forever thing.

And a lot of people under this transit feel really agitated. Because Uranus governs our nervous system, it really can make you feel easily rattled, highly strung, just kind of like you're being pulled in so many directions that you're starting to feel a little frayed⁠—I mean, especially if that's your nature anyways or if you're sensitive to those kinds of feelings. You want to be mindful about that this Sun/Uranus conjunction.

This transit can make us feel restless, which can incline us to behaving spontaneously, which can be yea or nay, depending, because when we are acting spontaneously, if it comes out of our impulse and our impulse to be free, to not feel burdened in any way, that can lend itself to toxic individualism. And it can lend itself to true and authentic freedom. And how do you know in the moment which is which? It takes being present, but a Sun conjunction to Uranus can have us in our heads so we're not super present.

You may feel like you're getting some sort of really strong psychic hit on something. And that may be true, but it really may not. So your best move during a Sun conjunction to Uranus is let things play out. Do not assume that your intuitive hit, that the information you've gotten, that the change in circumstances you're dealing with are permanent, because you just can't know when it comes to Uranus, the planet of the unpredictable. Now, you may want to take risks during this transit. And honestly, it's not a bad idea. It's a great time for risks. It's a great time for adaptability and a shift in perspective or position. But you want to make sure that you are considering all of the options. You want to make sure that you're considering other people's feelings and perspective.

This is not a time to be a troll. I'm going to guess that the trolls will be out. And it's easy to be a troll online when you think you're just airing your opinion or telling people how they should be. But really make sure that if you're going to make some noise in a noisy internet, then make sure it's adding something to the conversation and not just more clanging, if you know what I mean. And this takes slowing down and tolerating your own messy or overstimulated nerves in order to assess what needs to be said versus what you just want to get off your chest or throw at someone else.

Because this is happening in Taurus, a good way to cope is to ground into your body, into your sense impressions, and remember to act from a place of your values. If you're going to make changes, make them reflect your values more, not less. If you're going to be noisy, be noisy in a way that expresses your truly held values⁠—Sun conjunction to Uranus in Taurus.

Now, that brings us to the 12th. And on the 12th, we have not one but three exact transits. Mercury Retrograde is forming a sextile to Saturn as well as Venus, and Venus is forming a trine to Saturn. Now, I want to first acknowledge Mercury fucking Retrograde. Pain in the buns. This one's definitely brought up a lot of technical difficulties and communication snafus, and it's in large part because Uranus was conjunct to Mercury when it went Retrograde, and so was the Moon. And so technical difficulties dialed all the way up⁠—thanks, Uranus⁠—and then miscommunications or kind of communication snafus, because we're so in our feels that we're not always paying attention to the details, or we are paying attention to details but only the ones that are emotionally relevant to us personally⁠—thanks, Moon.

So it's a lot. And I want to just acknowledge that while Mercury being Retrograde is literally a Mercury transit, which means it is a mental transit⁠—it impacts our minds⁠—this particular Mercury Retrograde has been kind of heavy on the heart, and not just because it's been happening in Eclipse Season and overlapping with the May 5th Eclipse, but also because this particular Mercury Retrograde is emo. And we don't want to forget the rule of re's. You reflect so that you can reassess and then recalibrate. That's the move.

Now, to the transits of the 12th, Mercury forming a sextile to Venus and Saturn on the same day when Venus is exactly trine to Saturn⁠—it's not that bad. Let me tell you what. Venus trine Saturn is such a stabilizing transit. Venus and Saturn are the two planets, I would say, most concerned with security⁠—other than the Moon⁠—in the zodiac. When they form a trine to each other, it empowers us to get grounded in our values and our priorities and to make sure that we are embodying those things, whether it's around people or alone.

This transit can be excellent for relationships, not because it's going to bring you some magic love⁠—we know better than to expect that, right?⁠—but because it empowers us to show up authentically, to embody what's true for us. And that might mean you have the ability to really embody, "I am unhappy in this relationship. This is not working for me." And that might sound like a bad thing, but if it's what's true, it's a fucking great thing to be able to embody it not in a defensive way⁠, in a clear and clean way so that you can either work on it with your partner or partners, or you can start owning your own need to unwind whatever it is you're doing with a person.

Authenticity, especially when paired with kindness and humility and accountability, is always a good thing. It's always a good thing, even when it forces you to show up and participate in really challenging things. Because Mercury is Retrograde, we are meant to be really checking in with ourselves, like, "Is this working? Is this not?" And I imagine a lot of people are having some pretty rough relationship issues happen, and that might be with current relationships, or it may be that you're fixated on some past relationship. And even though this is not super comfy, it's really healthy. It's right on time.

Venus trine to Saturn is a good time for investing in the long term, and this absolutely applies to your relationships, but it's not exclusive to your relationships. It's also your finances, your plans, your home, and in general your relationship to beauty. Is your environment inspiring and safe? Is it beautiful and supportive? All of these things are related to the Venus trine to Saturn. And I want to remind you that while it is beautiful to be able to anchor yourself in relationships and in places, and it is a really, really supportive thing⁠—or it can be⁠—we don't want to do that to the exclusion of creating anchors within ourselves, having stability within ourselves, being able to access and to be present for our own beauty, our own capacity for stability, whatever that looks like, whatever that means.

And I'm not talking about beauty like pretty things/ugly things, pretty people/ugly people. I'm not talking about aesthetics in that particular way. I mean beauty⁠, because whatever your meat suit looks like, we all have beauty in us. We all have the capacity to experience and hold and embody beauty. And it's something that we as individuals should strive to be able to identify in ourselves and appreciate about ourselves, not just in regards to our meat suit, although sure, in regards to the meat suit, but I mean this in a deeper way.

Now, the Mercury Retrograde sextile to Saturn and Uranus are both great transits. So you want to keep in mind that Mercury is Retrograde, so the typical way that this would show up is going to be adjusted a little bit. Mercury wants us to return within. So, when Mercury Retrograde forms a sextile to Saturn, we are in a good position to get pragmatic in our thinking. You gotta write a list, you gotta get clear about⁠—I don't know⁠—something you're organizing, something you're trying to build, dealing with your taxes, your messy kitchen⁠—whatever it is, Mercury sextile Saturn is your buddy. This is a great time for getting organized. It's a great time for getting oriented. It's a great time for making plans or adjusting plans because, again, this transit supports us in being clear-headed in our vision.

Now, I should say this transit is happening at six degrees. Mercury is at six of Taurus, and Saturn is at six of Pisces. And it's exact at 1:42 a.m. And I should have told you, but again, I'm a little sick today, so bear with me: the Venus trine to Saturn is exact at 11:57 p.m. Pacific Time, so at the very end of the day on the 12th. So the Mercury sextile to Saturn strengthens our ability to sort through information, sort through⁠—whether it's data or personal information⁠—with a bit of a grounded approach.

This transit is really good for being humble, for being accountable. So, if you need to have a conversation with somebody where you own your part, Saturn is there to help you. Saturn murders zero boners today. Don't get used to it, because you know Saturn. But Saturn is here to help⁠—very grounding⁠—and can help us to learn with humility or to own our shit with humility. And because of this, a Mercury sextile to Saturn is a good transit for cultivating wisdom. Wisdom is not something you can go out of your way to be like, "I'm going to get some wisdom." It's something that we accumulate through lived experience, through time and practice. So tap on into that.

Now, the other thing that's happening on the same day is Mercury Retrograde sextile to Venus, same degrees. Mercury is at six degrees Taurus. Venus is at six degrees Cancer. This transit I find a lot less spectacular in its effects, and Mercury/Venus tend to be sextile to each other a fair amount. But let me say this is a lovely transit. There is not a single downside to it. It is great for socializing, making new connections, invigorating old connections. It's great for creativity and communication in general. This is a transit where you want to chill out, basically, and you want to enjoy yourself. And you just have a good hair day. Your pants fit you the way you want them to fit you⁠—that kind of small stuff that really makes a big impression.

So, while it's not spectacular, it's definitely a transit we want to tap into to the best of our ability because it can make a big difference, especially if you're coping with other more difficult things, as so many of us are right now.

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And that's it for this week's exact transits. But⁠—big "but" here⁠—I want to say a couple things. The first one is Mercury goes direct on the 14th of May, so this is it. For whatever stress Mercury Retrograde brings you this week, rest assured it is over on the 14th, which is Sunday of next week. So huzzah. I say to you huzzah.

But the other thing that's happening next week is that Jupiter is moving into Taurus, and I want to take a moment to discuss it with you, which is not something I usually do. I usually wait until the exact date of it. But next week we have a New Moon, so I just thought I'd kind of get ahead with you here and talk about this very important transit.

Now, Jupiter moves into Taurus for the first time in 12 years on May 16th, and it'll stay there until May 25th of 2024. And you want to remember that astrology is not just like, "How am I feeling? What will my love life be?" Astrology is a tool for understanding the world we live in. And we can understand our present, especially from a social and political perspective, by studying our past. And astrology is a resource that empowers us to not just see what was happening in history but understand the cycles and when they will repeat and why. It's a really great resource.

So the last two times that Jupiter was in Taurus were June 4th of 2011 through June 10th of 2012, and then June 29th of 1999 through June 30th of 2000. Those are just the last two. What gets special mention is that for the first time since 1941, Jupiter will be joining Uranus in Taurus. And this is really important news because what was happening in 1941, you may recall⁠—hopefully you do⁠—that there was this little thing called World War II. And there was this global rise of fascism. There was global conflict. There were major changes in the economy and the rights and roles of women in society.

As we approach Jupiter in Taurus, we are seeing these same things. We've been seeing them with Uranus in Taurus anyways, but now that Jupiter⁠—the planet that makes things bigger⁠—joins Uranus in Taurus, we can expect to see a lot of things happening very quickly. And when we talk about the rights and roles of women in society, you must understand⁠—I invite you to understand⁠—that Trans people and Nonbinary people across gender spectrums are included in that because, essentially, when we talk about the rights and role of women in society, what we're talking about is cis men and how they wield their power to subjugate people who are not them.

So, if you want to kind of have a sense of what's coming up in the next 12 months, take a peek into history. You know what I mean? One of the things that I find really interesting is that in the couple of weeks leading up to when Jupiter enters into Taurus, what we are having is all these major news publications referencing 2011 and the Occupy Wall Street movement, which, if you were too young to know or just⁠—I don't know⁠—are not a person who pays attention to the world, Occupy Wall Street was an extended protest against economic inequality and the corruption of corporate law. And it was centered in New York City, but it happened across the world, really⁠—certainly throughout the U.S. And it was very much related to banking and bank regulations, and we are having the same exact problems now⁠, same exact problems now. So it's definitely worth paying attention to what was happening then, what has changed since then, to understand not just what's happening now but how we can get activated and engaged to be a part of the changes that the world needs.

Now, another thing you can do is look back at these periods in your personal life to see what was activated. Now, there may be other mitigating factors like different transits that were happening in your life. You might be looking back at when you were a preteen or something, and that's hard to really extrapolate a whole lot of good data for you. But it can be really helpful to understand how Jupiter in Taurus lights up your birth chart.

We want to pay attention to the fact that so many of the developments that were happening during Jupiter in Aries, which is the start of a new Jupiter cycle through all the zodiac signs where things get kind of lit up and initiated⁠—now we're going to see them taking form because Taurus is such an earthy, material zodiac sign. So we are going to see things both in the world and in our personal lives start to take shape. And we want to remember that Jupiter makes things bigger. Jupiter makes us restless and willing to take chances, which can be really great or really not, depending.

But what we want to be able to do is tap into the potential for healing⁠—the potential for healing because that's the best that Jupiter has to offer us. Jupiter is a planet that is also related to higher education and religion, and in particular institutionalized religion. And because Jupiter is forming a square to Pluto⁠—it's not exact yet⁠—and will T-square Mars in May⁠—and I will talk more about this and in more depth soon⁠. When Jupiter forms a square to Pluto, as it's doing now⁠—again, it won't be exact for a minute, but when Jupiter forms a square to Pluto, major, big developments happen in the world and in our lives.

There is the potential to go way too far in the wrong direction or to go far in the right direction. And how do you know what's right or wrong? Well, you need to know what your morals are⁠—Jupiter. You need to be willing to excavate your own triggers and other shit⁠—Pluto. And that's hard work. And what makes it even harder is that this same month, Jupiter and Pluto will form a square to Mars, forming essentially a T-square between these three planets. And this will be felt May 10th through June 3rd. So we're in it, but it's not in exactitude yet.

And this brings up major issues with our ego, with our passions, with our willingness and capacity to change, to heal, and to be at the helm of our own wellness, to make sure that we are not telling ourselves a story that vilify or validate our ego and keep us from our own best interests. On a more global stage, unfortunately, this can be a time where we see a serious rise in fascism, where we see a serious rise in violence⁠—and there are so many ways that violence plays out: legislatively, physically, emotionally, socially, violence from men. When this happens on a social level, we're talking about the protection of patriarchy in all its forms. And because Jupiter is involved, we are dealing with religion. And because of Pluto being in Aquarius, it's fucking revolutionary, my loves. It's revolutionary.

So what I want to ground you into on a personal level is don't be scared to get messy. Don't be scared to sit with your ego, the ugly parts, the weak parts, the "I don't know" parts⁠—all the fucking parts. Sit with your ego, and strive to find what's authentic instead of to tell yourself a story that justifies your behavior or lack of behavior, whatever the case may be. In regards to the world, if you look around and see scary shit going down, don't tell yourself, "Oh, it can't get worse," because that's not reality. If we look back at the last time Jupiter joined Uranus in Taurus, we know it can always get worse. And I'm not saying that to scare you⁠—not at all. It's just fucking reality.

Wherever we find ourselves in life⁠—whenever we find ourselves, wherever we find ourselves, we're here for a reason. I don't know what that reason is, but the chances that you're you right now, right here⁠—I don't know⁠—they seem kind of miraculous. So what are we going to do about it? What are we going to do with this one precious life? What are we going to do with our time? What are we going to do in these really, truly remarkable times, these desperate times in many ways? Hopefully, we find motivation to come together because community, connection, solidarity, comradeship⁠—these things are so powerful, and they can change worlds.

So⁠—I don't know⁠—we'll talk about this more as it develops. But I wanted to just kind of give you a little amuse-bouche, if you will, about this movement of Jupiter into Taurus and what it's going to kick up this month and in general. There are so many beautiful things that can come from Jupiter, but one of the core lessons that Jupiter teaches us is proportion. What is⁠—I don't know⁠—enough pasta for dinner is going to be different on Monday than it might be on Friday, or it might be different for you when you're 20 than when you're 70⁠—I don't know⁠—or one mood versus another.

Proportion takes locating the self and making an assessment. What's too much? What's not enough? That assessment is very Jupiterian, or at least it can be, because Jupiter is always like, "More, more, more. Give me more." But ultimately, finding our point of satiety, our point of abundance versus having overdone it, is really healthy and really helpful not just for being well within your system but also for being able to share, having a sense of abundance, so that when your cup runneth over, you catch it and then you share. You share your overflow. When you got it, share it. Yeah? Yeah.

Okay. All right. I want to thank you for joining me this week and every damn week for Ghost of a Podcast. I love sharing astrology with you, and I hope you get value from it. If you do, don't be shy. Join me over on Patreon, where I like to get into astrology and woo, and it's just kind of my favorite place on the internet if I'm being honest. I love and appreciate my patrons so much, so thank you if you've already joined me there. And if you want to learn more with me, you can do that over on my website, lovelanyadoo.com. If you haven't already, hit that Subscribe button wherever you're listening to your podcasts, and to do give us a five-star review. It is always deeply appreciated and super helpful for this little independent podcast.

Take really good care of yourself and others, and I'll talk to you in just a couple of days. Buh-bye.