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, my loves. This week, we don't have too much happening astrologically, which is such a godsend because last week was B-A-N-A-N-A-S. That's bananas. There was so much going on, some of which we're still feeling. And before I break down the specifics of this week's transits and talk a little bit more about the Venus Retrograde, I want to just take a moment to acknowledge that when challenging transits like the ones we've been going through occur, it's not like the transit happens, and then when it's over, everything is over; it's completely divorced from the rest of your life. Not at all.

Astrology teaches us interconnection and cycles. And I will say that what we have been going through astrologically not only is likely to have kicked up drama, which can be trauma but doesn't have to be trauma at all⁠—right? Drama does not equal trauma. This is something I've been talking about on Instagram. The idea that just because it brings up really activated feelings inside of us, just because there's some sort of interpersonal exchange and it is dramatic⁠, it doesn't have to traumatize you, and you don't have to traumatize others. Let's just throw that in the mix.

But anyways, all the stuff that we've been going through, all the stuff that comes up, is an opportunity for us to show up in new ways and to learn⁠—to learn about ourselves, others, our relationships, the world, what have you. Outside of all the productive parts where we can grow and heal and stop ourselves from going on the wrong path, all that kind of great stuff that is hard but good, I want to just acknowledge that you may be feeling exhausted. You may be feeling kind of a hangover from the emotions or dynamics you've been going through.

And if you're feeling that way, the best thing to do is to honor the needs of your system. So maybe your nervous system is overstimulated, and you just need a little break. Maybe it's time for you to step out of reactiveness and step into the present, whatever that means. It is really hard to feel emotions and not be able to do something about it, not be able to attach it to a narrative, not be able to give it meaning, "I feel bad because…" or, "I am suffering because…" It's really just hard to feel bad. And a lot of times, the way we use spirituality and astrology is a way to make sense of our bad feelings. And you know I'm all about that, trying to make sense of what we're going through. But sometimes you just feel like shit, and there's nothing to do than to sit around feeling like some kind of shit. And that is just demoralizing, and it's a bummer, and you may look around you and be like, "Other people don't feel this way. Other people are doing x, y, or z."

But you just kind of gotta be in your body. You gotta be in your feelings. And as challenging as that is, it's the assignment. It's the human condition. Finding ways, small or big, that you can tolerate that or, better, nurture yourself through that⁠—that's where real maturity happens. That's where growth happens. And the thing about wisdom is you don't have to be a magician to be wise. You simply have to learn from experience.

And so, as challenging as things have been, I really do hope that you create the space and take the time to do some reflecting on what you did, how you did it, why you did it, what you engaged in, how you engaged in what you engaged in. By bringing your attention and your intention towards how you engage with your own agency, what you choose to do in situations, whether they're shitty situations or glorious situations⁠—how you show up, how you participate, and the motivations that underpin your participation, that stuff is all really important for you to be able to check in with and own.

And if you don't like what you understand of yourself, if you don't like what you see, then it's a fucking Venus Retrograde; it's time to make some changes. And there's nothing wrong with realizing that you fucked up, that you maybe didn't fuck up but certainly didn't do what you wish you had done. There's nothing wrong with being an imperfect human on a damn path. And I want to just make sure that you remember that, that you are allowed to do it partially right and partially wrong, or totally wrong, or totally right. And so is everyone else.

We're all allowed to make mistakes. And the thing about mistakes, the thing about failure, is it's really just an opportunity to grow and learn. I know it's easier said than done, but this is where we're at. We're at kind of a tricky, challenging time in terms of our personal development and evolution but also our collective evolution. I don't know if you've looked around lately, but shit is on fire. And that's going to trigger a lot of feelings. Even if you don't really know what's happening⁠—you haven't noticed the climate crisis, you hadn't noticed COVID, you haven't noticed all the things that are happening in the world⁠—you're still affected by it, and you're still participating in it. And so, again, returning to the self, taking stock of your own participation, your own motivation, how you are receiving and how you are outputting⁠—that's really powerful stuff for your own evolution and for your participation in the world around you.

Now, as I said, I want to talk a little bit more about this fancy Venus Retrograde that we're going through. As you know, Venus went Retrograde on the 22nd of July, and I talked about it a lot in Episode 342, so you should definitely check that out. But I want to bring it in a little bit more and talk about this Retrograde just a little bit more. And we'll talk about it more as time goes on. If you're on my Patreon, you know I'm going to be answering a ton of your questions about it in the coming weeks. And if that's something that you want, if you want access to my noodle and you want to be able to ask me questions about Venus Retrograde, join us over on Patreon, and we'll get astrological. We'll get woo. That's what we do.

So I want to talk about Venus and love, which maybe I don't do enough, and I don't do it enough because I feel like astrology on the internet is primarily about Venus and love. But I want to just take a moment to acknowledge how Venus is the planet that people generally or typically associate with love and intimacy. And it is a planet that is very much associated with those things. I mean, the Moon, technically speaking, is our feelings. It's our emotions. It's the heart. And Venus is more about how we relate to others. So it is both physical and mental, so Libra and Taurus, right, for mental and physical? The physical and mental components of how we show up in love and how we receive love and what we need in terms of the pacing of love⁠—some people need a gentle love. Some people need a fast and furious love. And all love is good love if it's good love, if you know what I mean.

But when it comes to Venus Retrograde, and Venus Retrograde in fixed fire sign Leo, we can expect to get really triggered. And this is because, in no small part, Venus Retrograde is challenging us to look back on the value that we place on love. And when it comes to Venus in general, but certainly Venus in Leo, there is a risk that we confuse love and attention. Leo loves attention. Everybody knows Leo wants to be the center of attention. Leo wants to be validated and a crown to be placed upon its head.

And when it comes to Venus in Leo, the risk is that you misunderstand attention and feeding of the ego or the pride with actual love and intimacy. Sometimes compliments are an earnest expression of care or value, and sometimes they're just a way to grease the pan, if you will, and they're not necessarily that earnest. When we are looking at Venus, we have to consider that there are strong superficial components of Venus. And when we're talking about Leo, there is the pridefulness, the kind of neediness that can come up with Leo. It's like Leo does need a lot of energy to reinforce it. And I'm not talking about people who have the Sun in Leo, necessarily. I'm talking about the zodiac sign of Leo and how it functions, just for clarity here. So you may resonate with this if you are a Leo, but this is not about Leos per se, just to be clear.

What we're looking for with a Venus in Leo⁠—love and care from Venus and Leo⁠—is appreciation. We're looking for affirmation. We're looking for shared values. We're looking for a depth of reciprocity that comes from depth of feeling. We talk about Leo; we're talking about courageousness. That's bravery of the heart. And that is not always easy. It's not always palatable. But it's big, and it's brave, and it's strong.

So what this period of Venus Retrograde in Leo is calling upon us to do is to explore what is authentic for ourselves. And that means potentially coming face to face with your self-esteem issues. If your self-worth is kind of in the shitter, then this Retrograde is an opportunity for you to acknowledge and accept where you're starting from so you can start to revisit some of the values that you're holding and reshape your internal dialogue, your priorities, whatever it is, so that you are aligned with what is most important to you instead of what scratches the itch of low self-esteem or loneliness or insecurity or pridefulness or whatever the fuck.

Venus Retrograde, sometimes called season of the ex, sometimes will have relationships of our past revisited. And that may look like people that you dated or that you used to have crushes on or whatever coming back into your life or just back into your consciousness. The reason why this happens is so that we make sure that we are reevaluating whether or not the things that ended the relationship in the past are actually different, whether we are different, they're different, the circumstances are different. We are not meant to say, "OMG. This person came back into my life. It must mean something. It's fated." And I think a lot of people get into this kind of twin flames kind of attitude of, "It's painful and it's dramatic and it's not healthy, and it doesn't work, but it's meant to be because I can't pull myself away."

I am not a fan of love hurting. Now, listen. All relationships hurt sometimes. We all hurt each other. We hurt ourselves. We're messy humans. But if someone that you love and that is supposed to love you back⁠—the relationship that you have with them is primarily about hurting each other, like cycles and waves of consistently causing harm to each other, then I would encourage you to really reflect on what is love, what is the value of love in your life, because if the loves of your life⁠—romantic, platonic, whatever⁠—don't help you to become better aligned with yourself, to become healthier and better adjusted, then what is the point of fucking love?

Now, that's not the most romantic take on love in the world, but then again, I'm a triple Capricorn, so what are you going to do? All to say do not allow distractions, do not allow your ego, do not allow society and all of its bullshit pressure on us to be in relationships, to look a certain way, to get a certain kind of validation from the people who love us⁠—don't let that shit run your life. Life is really too short for that. Instead, identify for yourself what feels like love. What are the characteristics of love? How do you love yourself? How do you show yourself that you value yourself? How do you show up and perform acts of love for others?

And when I say acts of love, I mean that may be sitting in silence and just being present with someone. It doesn't have to be a capitalistic action. I'm talking about the expression and the embodiment of care. How do you do it? What does it feel like when others do it to you or don't? Because at the end of the day, there are so many things that are important when it comes to our love relationships. And one really big one is having shared values about what feels like love. We don't have to be the same as our partner, but we certainly need our partner to enjoy showing love in ways that make us feel loved. And when we don't have that, relationships become very hard to sustain over the course of time.

And again, this goes for friends. This goes for romantic partners. This goes for all intimate relationships. And because we're dealing with fixed fire energy, there is a risk that we will prize loyalty and attention and the aesthetics of love, like the performance of love, over the reality of actually feeling loved. And that's not something we want to do. We want to step into the best parts of Leo energy. We want to step into the best parts of Venus by being brave enough to explore what is truly important and then championing that, being loyal to that.

The reason why Venus Retrograde happens is so that we do this work. Venus Retrograde is⁠—some people really love them. Some people really struggle with them. Many of us don't really notice them that much. But however it feels, this is a powerful opportunity to do a meaningful check-in with your values and with your relationships. And if you find yourself fixated on what other people are saying and what other people are doing in your relationships and not on what you're feeling and what you're doing, if you're fixated on the other person, you've lost the thread.

The Retrogrades are not to review and reflect on other people's behavior. It's to review and reflect upon your own, what you're consenting to, what you're letting in, how you're participating, how you're showing up. That's what this Venus Retrograde is about. And as always, go ahead and send me questions through the contact form on my website if you want a reading about⁠—I don't know⁠—love, self-love, love of others, love of art, love of love⁠—all of it.

And on that topic, I will remind you that there's still time to register for my August 6th cosmic virtual gathering with my loves Sonya Renee Taylor and Adrienne Maree Brown. If you would like a little amuse-bouche, a little taste test of what our conversation is going to be like, you can visit our Instagrams. The three of us did an Instagram Live on July 21st. We posted it to our feeds, so you can go ahead and find it there to get a sense of what the event will be like on the 6th. It's called Joy in the Time of Apocalypse. The link to register is in show notes and on my website.

And the conversation we're having is really about how to live through these deeply transitional times that can feel so threatening on so many levels, and not to just survive it, but to thrive through it. What does it mean to thrive at a time when collective conditions are crumbling? What does it mean to be evolving through so much trauma and drama? We're going to get spiritual. We're going to get emo. We're going to get brass-tacksy. It's going to be a great conversation. And if you are not aware of Sonya or Adrienne's work, you are in for a damn treat because they are both powerful, magical, inspiring humans that you're going to want to know.

The new book Healing Justice Lineages: Dreaming at the Crossroads of Liberation, Collective Care, and Safety, is one that I'll be returning to time and again. It includes collective stories, testimonials, and incantations for renewing political and spiritual liberation. It's grounded in Black, Indigenous, People of Color, Queer, Trans, and feminist healing justice practices. If you love Bell Hooks, Adrienne Maree Brown, Audre Lorde, and others who push beyond commodified self-care to uplift a vision of self-determination and collective care, then this book is definitely for you. It calls forth the ancestral medicines and healing practices that have sustained communities under attack and radically imagines what comes next. In the words of editors Cara Page and Erica Woodland, "We reclaim the power, resilience, and innovation of our ancestors through this book. To embody their wisdom across centuries and generations is to continue their legacy of liberation and healing." Get 20 percent off, plus free shipping, at northatlanticbooks.com with code "healing20" through the end of 2023. That's northatlanticbooks.com, and use the code "healing20."

Let's talk about the astrology of July 23rd through the 29th of 2023. So, this week, as I said, not a lot of transits going on. The first one is a Mercury square to Uranus. Now, Mercury square to Uranus is exact on the 23rd at 2:39 p.m. Pacific Time. It's happening between Mercury in Leo square to Uranus in Taurus at 22 degrees, 32 minutes. This is a fixed-sign square, so it's going to be real edgy. The effects of this square on the 23rd are overlapping with the Sun opposition to Pluto just after the Mars opposition to Saturn, the fucking New Moon that everyone really, really, really felt. So it's a lot. We haven't yet had a pause from all of the intense and driving energy of last week's astrology.

Mercury square to Uranus shakes things up. That's what it's meant to do. Mercury and Uranus are the two planets associated with our nervous system and our mind. So, when these two bad boys form a square to each other, we are likely to feel a lot of nervous tension, anxiety, restlessness, that kind of stuff. This transit can just as easily bring up excitement, innovation, and openness, adaptability. But the thing is that we're dealing with fixed-sign energies, so it's going to be a little bit harder than we might like to adapt. Plans change. Things go sideways, and it can feel like a personal affront, like, "Why is this person or this situation against me?" instead of, "Oh, things changed, and I'm experiencing upset. And it's not because somebody is harming me or something is harming me; it's because I was attached to how things were supposed to go or my expectations," what have you.

Mercury square to Uranus tends to coincide with misunderstandings, jumping to conclusion⁠—can be related to misinformation. It's usually not disinformation, although we are living in a time where propaganda is just happening on so many levels in so many ways. And so I kind of am curious if a Mercury square to Uranus might trigger AI to act up, or it may coincide with more vigilante journalists putting down news before it is properly vetted or having lots of mixed information out in the world.

The thing about astrology is that it is really fucking old. Astrology is very, very old. And so it is important, as society and technology and science evolves, that we adapt our understanding and use of astrology. So a Mercury square to Uranus five years ago might actually show up quite differently than it does now that we're living in such radically different times between technological and societal issues.

It is wise during this transit's influence to triple-check your plans. Before you send that email, reread it. AutoCorrect probably going to fuck with you, probably going to make some damn mistakes. This is just a time where things can be messy. It's inadvisable to sign contracts during a Mercury square Uranus simply because things are likely to be unclear; mistakes are likely to be made. I mean, you gotta do what you gotta do. But if you can avoid it, it's a good thing to avoid.

Mercury square Uranus is also just a terrible time to try to make things permanent or secure. So, again, back to Venus, and it's Retrograde. Venus is related to security and stability. So is the zodiac sign of Taurus, and Uranus is in Taurus involved in the square. We often want to make things secure and stable because we are uncertain, we are anxious, we are upset, and not because we're actually ready to make things secure and stable, not because we actually want things to be secure and stable.

And this is where you need to be mindful that sometimes upsets and anxiety actually help us to not fall into a rut. And if we can tolerate the feelings and the thoughts that come up when we're activated, then we can start being curious about what's happening. We can nurture our feelings, our thoughts, our needs, and then from that place of dealing with our activation⁠—"I am activated. That's what's happening"⁠—then we can go in with curiosity, and that's when we can make the most of transits like this.

So use your dear diary. If you have a bestie, a friend who you can vent to do, this is a time for doing that. But don't try to make things permanent. Don't try to come to a conclusion. If you have to work things out with somebody, try to have a conversation where you agree you're going to share your thoughts, share your feelings, explore options, but not come to a final decision. Okay? Okay. Okay.

Now, another thing about this Mercury square to Uranus, which I kind of mentioned already, is anxiety. And so, if you're an herby witch, please pull out those nervines. Get them at the ready because anything you can do to support your nervous system is going to be really helpful. If you know that drinking that third coffee fucks your nervous system, don't do it. Just don't do it. If you know that a particular friend you happen to have plans with always makes you feel a little anxious, yeah, reschedule. It's cool. Reschedule. We want to work with the energy, not against it. We want to use this information to support ourselves. So do whatever you can. Put whatever you can in place to support your system as we go through this transit. It's not the end of the world, but it can really throw a person off their center.

Finally, I will say Uranus is associated with accidents. So, when Mercury is square to Uranus, especially if it's hitting your birth chart⁠—so that would be anything in your birth chart that is around 22 degrees, especially of a fixed sign, so that's Taurus and Leo, Aquarius and Scorpio⁠—yeah, this can make you a little accident prone. And this could be literally just walking around your neighborhood, riding your little bicycle, or just doing shit around your house. The reason why Uranus is associated with accidents is because it's associated with things happening suddenly, things that are unplanned, but on a more internal level, it's because our attention is affixed to our own thoughts or the future instead of the present and what we're actually doing. So, if you find yourself really distracted, don't just put on your bike helmet; put on your knee pads and your elbow pads. I don't know if you actually have those, but you know what I mean. Just do your best to protect yourself from your own self if you can tell that you're thrown off.

And actually, this is the last thing I'm going to say. Don't talk shit. Mercury square to Uranus⁠—you may say shit you don't mean to say. It can be a little bit of a foot-in-the-mouth kind of transit. You may shit-talk other people without really even meaning it; you're just trying to bond with the person you're talking to, and then you just kind of say things that are more negative than you meant or more critical than you meant about someone else. Yeah, don't do that, because it's going to make you feel anxious. It's going to make you feel off-kilter. And also, it may come back at you. While we often will receive surprising or upsetting news⁠—a.k.a. can hear shit-talk⁠—it also stands to reason that Mercury square Uranus is going to mean that the shit you say gets leaked. So don't talk shit. That's all. Don't talk shit.

Okay. And that brings us to the next transit of this week, which is much more gentle. This is exact on the 27th, which basically means on the 25th, 26th. We're going to have Moon transits because Moon transits happen almost every day, but there's not going to be any other major planetary action. And what this means is that there's nothing extra rattling your cage or anybody else's. Things might feel a little easier, or you might actually feel the feelings that you were too activated to really process through and feel over the last week and a half.

So, back to the transit that's exact on the 27th, we have a Mercury conjunction to Venus Retrograde. So both planets are at 28 degrees of Leo because Venus is just sitting around at 28 degrees for a hot minute from the station to the Retrograde moments. And Mercury conjunction to Venus is actually a kind of lovely transit. It's one that I don't typically pay a great deal of attention to because Mercury and Venus tend to be really close to each other, and it's kind of like this lovely, light transit where what you think and how you relate to people are in unison; those two impulses are in unison for you and for everyone.

So it increases the likelihood of having social interactions, moving through your world and being able to connect to people, or to navigate avoiding connecting to people if that's your jam. It's a great transit in that way, but it's not fireworksy. What has grabbed my attention is that it is the first transit of the Venus Retrograde. This transit is really good for bringing Mercury into Venus, in other words, putting words to how you feel and what you value, being able to express to others the care you hold for them, being able to actually⁠—if you're somebody who's super avoidant with reaching out to people you care about, this transit can really help you to just send that text, make that call, whatever.

Mercury kind of mobilizes Venus, which can in some ways be a bit passive. Having these two planets in Leo can really support us in coming into greater mental clarity about who we care about, how we care about them, why we care about them, and express that clarity verbally. So, when I say verbally, I mean it can be via the written word, the audio stuff, whatever, just any kind of word-based communication.

This transit makes it easier for us to come together. It makes it easier for us to come together with other people but also have our values coming to greater mental clarity. It's pretty good, right? Right on time, wouldn't you say? It's a nice transit to have as the first transit over this whole Venus Retrograde. If you are a creative person⁠—and when I say that, I mean any kind of creativity⁠—this transit's really helpful for that, for kind of bringing your attention and your energy to creative projects or enterprises, creative concepts that you're trying to explore or cultivate.

This is just a really lovely transit. And with transits like this, a lot of times what happens is we don't really notice them because it's just a little bit of assistance to what we organically naturally want, which is to feel okay, to feel okay in our own skin, to feel okay around other people. And this transit really supports us in doing that. So, again, it's not necessarily fireworks, but it's certainly a transit to pay attention to, especially if you have anything in your birth chart in these late degrees, around 28 degrees, of a fixed sign.

Now, that's it for the transits. But I just want to take a moment to acknowledge how much activated fixed-sign energy we have this week. And when we are talking about fixed-sign energy, we are talking about, of course, energy that is kind of like, "This is how it gets done. This is how I'm going to do things." So it can bring up issues where we feel a little stubborn. But the thing that we want to focus on making the most of with all this fixed-sign energy is follow-through. Fixed-sign energy is really good at following through, on getting shit done, on doing all the steps.

And so, if there are things that really need your attention and care and consistency, there's support there. Even with the Mercury square Uranus, which is upsetting and kind of destabilizing, this fixed-sign energy can really help us to stay with the topic, stay with the challenge, stay with a passion, whatever it is. So, again, the more we are clear about the energies at play, sometimes that can really help us to align ourselves with those energies and make the most of them.

So that is your horoscope. Also, if you missed it, the most recent reading that I dropped a couple days ago⁠, it was with a damn bearded dragon and two cats. A bearded dragon and two cats. I mean, I think it's worth a listen. I think it will bring joy to your heart.

Keep on showing up with love in your heart this Venus Retrograde time, and I'll talk to you in just a couple of days. All right. Buh-bye.