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, where we get into astrology and make it appliable to your real life. This week, there are a couple things happening. I mean, it's kind of a lot and kind of not a lot. I don't know. I'll let you decide. But one important theme that I think is happening for a lot of people, based on the kind of big picture of what we're going through astrologically, is feelings are coming up. You've got all these feelings coming up, and you may be trying to make sense of them, or you may be trying to apply your logic to them. And it may or may not be working.

So what I want to kind of start this episode off by saying is that cognitive intelligence, like your ability to analyze, process, and understand information, is not the same thing as your emotional intelligence, your ability to stay present with and feel what you're feeling and then sort through your emotions and come to a place that reflects not just what you feel but what you feel plus emotional maturity, which is really just responsibility for the self. And what is responsibility but simply the ability to respond? So being able to respond to our own emotions and to emotional stuff in our lives with integrity requires self-awareness. It's a practice, and it's not one that anyone is magically naturally excellent at all the time.

There's just so much piling up astrologically, some of which I am absolutely going to talk about in greater astrological detail in a moment. But there's so much piling up that I think that it is likely to be confronting you or the people around you with some things that you just can't process yet; they don't completely make sense, or they technically make sense but you don't quite know what to do with. And I just want to validate that that's a very normal and even a healthy state of development, and it requires patience with yourself or others. It requires empathy and grace to be able to stay with emotions that feel unpleasant or challenging or you don't know what to do with. Also, knowing what the right answer is doesn't mean that you're emotionally embodied and integrated around what you think is the right answer.

All to say have empathy for yourself. Have empathy for others. There are certain things that you're really good at, and there's others that you're pretty terrible at. And the same is true for everyone else on the planet. So show yourself grace for where you're struggling. Show others grace for where they're struggling, even if you think they shouldn't be struggling in that way or you yourself don't struggle in that way. I hope that that offers you just a little bit of help or support because these are some really emo, intense times.

All of that said, we are going to look at the astrology for July 30th through August 5th of 2023, which⁠—it just kind of fucking blows my mind that we're already eight months into this year, but here we are. Welcome. Let's get into the astrology of this week.

On August 1st, we have a Full Moon. It's not the only thing we have going on, but I just want to say on the 1st and also on the 30th of August, we have Full Moons. So we've got two Full Moons at the very start and the very end of the month, and that's just⁠—it just gives us a sense of what an emotional month we are poised to have. Now, if you want to hear my month-ahead forecast, you can do so on the kittens level of my Patreon because you can be a puppy or kitten. And I don't know. I'm a cat person, so come on. Be a kitten. But you can listen to my month-ahead forecast there where I kind of give you a sense of really, day by day, what to expect.

But again, big picture, this is an emotional month. And we want to keep in mind that Full Moons are when our emotions rise to the surface and demand to be dealt with, which is why people act out and shit just really comes up around the Full Moon, because our emotions don't bend to our thoughts as readily during a Full Moon. So we want to really understand that this month has a lot of emotions in it just straight out the damn gate.

Now, on the 1st, we have this Full Moon in Aquarius at 11:32 a.m. Pacific Time. The Moon will be at 9 degrees and 16 minutes of Aquarius, which means the Sun will be at 9 degrees and 16 minutes of Leo. We also, of course, have Venus Retrograde in Leo. But on the same day, we have an exact trine between Mars and Jupiter, Mars at 13 degrees and 46 minutes of Virgo and Jupiter at the same degrees of Taurus. And, less excitingly, we have an exact opposition between Mercury at 5 degrees and 39 minutes of Virgo opposite Saturn at those same degrees of Pisces. And that's exact at 7:18 p.m.

So there's a lot of really intense energy with this Full Moon. And we're going to be feeling the Mars and Mercury transits building for a couple days. So it's not just that you'll feel these transits on the 1st; you're going to be feeling them through the end of July. That's just how this is going to go. So let me talk about the Full Moon, and then I'll kind of dig a little bit more into these other transits as we go.

Okay. So, as I said, we have the Sun and Moon at nine degrees. And broadly speaking, a Full Moon in Aquarius is related to collective energies. Aquarius is a zodiac sign that is related to collective energies, our sense of connection within community, finding our place within community, and also our individuality. And it may in some ways seem contradictory to talk about both individuality and our place within community, but ideally speaking, being a part of a collective or community is something that helps us to be more true to ourselves, to align more wholly with ourselves. And Aquarian energies are very much related to that ability, our ability to kind of align ourselves with others without losing track of ourselves, without compromising ourselves.

The Full Moon in Aquarius is actually a time where our friendships, our sense of connection and community with others, is likely to be up, and not in a cognitive way but in an emo way. So that can end up making you feel all kinds of feelings about whether or not you belong and where you belong. And while that can be really awesome if you have a great sense of connection and community and yourself within your friend circle or your communities, for a lot of people, it's going to bring up loneliness. It's going to bring up some rough feelings.

Now, Aquarius is a zodiac sign that is governed by the planet Uranus. But before Uranus was discovered, it was co-ruled by Saturn. So you want to keep in mind that Aquarius is very much a forward-thinking, dynamic air sign, but it can have a little bit of that Eeyore vibe that Saturn alone can bring, can bring to the earth sign Capricorn but also the air sign Aquarius.

The key with a Full Moon in Aquarius is to be open to change, and not just any change⁠: self-directed change that emboldens us to be more authentic and aligned with who we are. And as we all know, Venus is Retrograde in Leo. We've got the Sun in Leo. We're in Leo Season. And so this can be something that feels really big and really dramatic. Whether or not it actually is, it can feel big and dramatic.

Now, a Moon in Aquarius is not known, per se, for drama. But the Sun and Moon are both forming a square, which makes it a T-square, to Jupiter. Jupiter is at 13 degrees Taurus and 45 minutes. So it is not a precise T-square, but it is a T-square we want to pay attention to. Now, what Jupiter can do is make everything bigger. It makes our feelings bigger. It makes our situations bigger. It's not necessarily drama, but it's certainly expansive.

And a lot of astrology texts that you read and astrologers that you listen to will tell you that Jupiter is luck. Jupiter can be related to luck, but I actually think Jupiter is more related to growth and expansion. And the thing we all need to keep in mind is that not all growth and expansion is good. You don't want everything to grow. You want the good stuff to grow. And a lot of the times, a lot of us will make bold or rash decisions. We will act in spontaneous ways out of our strongest impulses, which we know are not reliably our wisest ones.

This Venus Retrograde Season⁠—but I would say especially this Aquarius Full Moon, which is pointing itself towards Jupiter⁠—is a good time to remember that a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. We all know that, right? But we also know that too much sugar can make you sick. So we want to be mindful about the proportion that we place on things⁠—our reactions, our actions, our situations, whatever⁠—so that we don't go big when what we need to be doing is going within. Remember a Full Moon is all about tapping into what we're feeling. It's really valuable because Lunar cycles encourage us to tap into our feelings, to make sure that we are staying an active part of our own emotional development.

Now, we know that Jupiter has to do with growth and expansion. The way that we can make the most use of this energy is by being willing to tap into our emotions and to tap into our emotions in a way that is truly open-minded. Now, that may be a little extra challenging because of the Mercury opposition to Saturn that is, again, exact on the same day. And the reason for that is because when Mercury opposes Saturn, our perspective tends to shrink up because Saturn governs scarcity and fearfulness and insecurity, and Mercury is your attitudes, your beliefs, your sense of connection⁠—friendships are governed by Mercury⁠—and in general just your ability to process information and also communicate information. So we're talking about listening and putting your own thoughts and perspectives out there.

And because of this Mercury opposition to Saturn, it can put us in a little bit of a fear-based, insecure, scarcity-minded, or defensive frame of mind. And because this is a Full Moon with big feelings and because it's pointing towards Jupiter, which is, again, likely to have us reacting in big ways or having big reveals or big news happen in our lives or in the world around us, we want to be really mindful about our own ability to hold the details and the big picture at the same time. And you may feel that the details are kind of a boner and the big picture is a little more exciting, but that doesn't mean you should ignore the details.

This Full Moon is going to require some measure of intentionality and balance, which is not going to come completely easily. And as I say every time I'm talking about a transit, this all may really affect you, and it also may not be super strong for you. But if it isn't super strong for you, that doesn't mean it isn't super strong for the people in your dance class or that you live in the same building as or your bestie or your family member. It's in the air.

Now, to add a little more complexity here, we have Venus Retrograde forming a square to Uranus. It's not exact yet, but it is active during this chart. And Venus Retrograde square to Uranus is really calling upon us to revisit our values and our relationships. It can be about money for you. It depends on where it lands in your chart. But this kind of call to revisit things that we know to be central to Venus Retrograde is intensified by Uranus forming a 90-degree angle to Venus. And that is because Uranus wants us to be autonomous and independent. It is a rebellious planet. And so it's not about bending to convention. It is instead about figuring out what is true for you.

Because Venus is forming a square to Uranus at the same time that we have a Full Moon, at the same time that Mercury is opposite Saturn, what we may end up experiencing is some messy shit in our relationships. And so I want to remind you of something that I talked about in the year-ahead horoscope that I dropped at the very start of 2023 and that I've probably mentioned a couple times since, that this year has so much to do with paradox, our ability and willingness to acknowledge and stay present with paradoxical truths⁠—"I'm super annoyed by this person, and also, I value them in my life and I am able to see their perspective." All these things can be true at once. And I think what a lot of us seek is simple or singular truths. Sometimes those are really lovely, but they're often lacking in nuance.

It is very likely that the things you want or need at this time are not perfectly clean and perfectly clear. And that doesn't mean that they're wrong. So we can expect this Full Moon to bring up some messy or sticky relationship issues, and the best you can do in response to that is really to make sure that what you're saying with your actions as well as your words reflects your values, reflects what is authentic and true for you, and reflects your care and drive for connection and belonging, the work that you're willing to do to invest in creating a world that is better than the one you're in now. And this can take place on a really personal micro-level, or it can be more societal and macro. It could be all of it; it could be only one part or the other for you. Again, there are so many ways that we can experience this energy. But make no mistake: this is the energy.

There's still more happening in this chart. As I mentioned, we have an exact trine between Mars and Jupiter in earth signs. This is a lovely aspect to have. In general, it really empowers us to be resilient and to work through things in a material way. And when I say material, I don't mean financial. I mean Mars is about embodiment. It's about being in the body, being on the Earth. When Mars forms a trine to Jupiter, especially in earth signs, we have the ability to make progress with our goals around our health or to be embodied around our spiritual values and evolution. It can even be, because Jupiter is associated with higher learning and education, that you really like a concept that you've been studying clicks. You feel it in your core. You feel in your muscles.

So there's a lot of different ways this can play out, but the Mars trine to Jupiter is a lovely transit. But we want to keep it in context to the Full Moon. The only downside we want to look out for is Mars trine Jupiter can egg that Jupiter on, that focal planet to the T-square between the Full Moon and Jupiter. So we, again, want to be really mindful of, if we are going to act, if we are really ruminating and we're feeling things in our bodies, we want to make sure that we're not acting reactively in a way that basically just indulges our impulses instead of our beliefs, our convictions, our hopes.

Jupiter is related to optimism. You know I've been talking about this class called Fascism 101. I just watched the third installment out of eight. If you have not tuned in to these classes, they're free. They're amazing. They're inspiring. These speakers are just brilliant, and I can't recommend it enough. If you're interested in it, the link is in the show notes of the last several episodes. But Ash-Lee Henderson said something that really struck a chord with me, which is, "The discipline of hope is a practice of faith."

As a Capricorn, I'm really touched by this idea that hope is not just some airy-fairy concept, although no disrespect to airy-fairy concepts, because we love a good airy-fairy. But it's also a discipline. It's a practice. And so being able to make a loving and heartfelt commitment to optimism, to hope, is a practice of faith. It's not just based on evidence. This is an insight that I will be applying to my own life this Full Moon. I want to encourage you to apply it to yours, but not just to our individual lives but to how we engage with the world, the world that is in such a bananas place.

Now, I'm going to talk a little bit more about the Mercury opposition to Saturn a little bit out of context of the Full Moon. But before I do that, I feel like I would be remiss if I didn't talk about the revelations we're having in the U.S. around UFOs and extraterrestrials. It's all over the news in the States. And I know people are super into aliens. I'm super not, personally, for a lot of reasons, which I talk about on my Patreon whenever people ask me about it. But I do want to say, from an astrological perspective, we're talking about an Aquarius Full Moon, so this is definitely a moment where it's not shocking as we've been leading up to this Aquarius Full Moon we've had all these revelations about UFOs and aliens.

But in a broader context, it's also not unexpected because the transit of Pluto in Aquarius is likely to make our place in the solar system a much bigger and potentially existential topic, or not necessarily existential but more material topic. I mean, my guess is both. And while Pluto is currently in Capricorn, it's in Capricorn sandwiched between its two moments in Aquarius. And so, again, it's not shocking that we're talking about this. And because Pluto is actually in Capricorn now but also because because, it is important that we keep our head on our damn shoulders.

There are countless people on social media posting what seem like really authoritative posts about aliens and different theories about aliens, and there's two things I want to say about this. The first thing I want to say is that there is a very, very big, well-greased pipeline, little chutes and ladders⁠—there is a big chute or pipeline of New Age spirituality that is very enthusiastic about aliens and white supremacy and white supremacist ideals. There are a lot of very anti-Semitic and racist tropes around aliens that are really just racist shit. And we have to be mindful of that.

I want to encourage you to be really careful, if you find yourself excited about aliens and UFOs and spending a lot of time on social media about that, to be mindful about the content you're consuming and the intention behind the content that you're consuming. Now, the other thing I want to say is the United States government is not telling us stuff about aliens so that we are educated about the universe. I mean, it's a distraction. And it may be a fun distraction. It may be a distraction that has elements of truth to it. But it's still a distraction.

When Pluto is in fucking Capricorn, I want to remind you, while Saturn and Neptune are both in Pisces, which can really have us losing our energy by giving our attention to things that are not material⁠, which⁠—not material on its own is not a bad thing. But there is a real risk with the Saturn in Pisces and Neptune in Pisces vibes that we can just lose ourselves in theories⁠—conspiracy theories, spiritual theories, whatever⁠—that don't actually improve our lives, that are escapist in nature. And then Pluto in Capricorn, of course, is more about ingrained systems of oppression doubling down on their own power.

We want to remember all of this stuff so we don't lose energy and take our eyes off the prize. And when I say the prize, I don't know what the prize is. Venus is fucking Retrograde, and that means that we are meant to revisit what we value⁠—what we value in ourselves, in our lives, in the world⁠—and how we are or are not living in a way that reflects that value. And really, at the end of the day, we have this mortal coil. We have this finite period that we are here in our meat suits on this Earth. And living with respect and in accordance with your values, I can promise you very little, but I can promise you this: it is a really big component to your sense of satisfaction and happiness in this life. It's not the only thing, but it's a biggie.

So do with that what you will. I mean, it's a little bit about aliens. It's a little bit about the attention we place on things. It's a little bit about both. Now, that said, let's get back into Mercury opposite Saturn.

Mercury opposite Saturn⁠—I've already said a bunch about it, but I will say that it can put us in a really negative frame of mind. It can make us feel depressive, and that's no fun. Now, luckily, that Full Moon points to Jupiter, which can make us feel optimistic. But this is a depressive transit. So, for some people, you might get bad news. You may end up having to deal with a relationship dynamic that just is like⁠—nobody emerges feeling good about it.

But I want to just tell you that this transit⁠—it challenges us to sort through our thinking and to sort through our communication and, within that, of course, how we listen as well as how we articulate what's real for us. And it's a time where we're supposed to really get clearer about what is and isn't working. Because it's an opposition to Saturn, it's likely to make you more aware of what isn't working and what is. However, there is value to that.

The key is to not lose yourself in depressive or fatalistic thinking. And that can easily happen, unfortunately, with this transit. And fatalistic thinking is just like, "I haven't fixed this problem," or, "I haven't done x already; therefore, I never will." It's really about giving too much authority to what has been at the expense of your own ability to imagine or plan or strategize what can be. What has been is factual. You can look at the past and be like, "This factually happened," or, "This factually didn't happen." But that doesn't mean it's what will always be. We want to be open to imagining what is possible. And honestly, Mercury opposite Saturn is not a great time for imagination. A Full Moon pointing to Jupiter can be supportive, but these things are happening at the same time.

A good way to harness this energy is by being pragmatic in your thinking. Avoid making major decisions if you can, especially about your relationships. Avoid having definitive conversations with people that are important to you if you can. And you might not be able to avoid it, but if you can. What we want to be able to do is to explore and evaluate and to keep in mind that this transit kicks up negative thinking. So we don't necessarily have the most clear-minded perspective. We just want to keep that in mind.

Now, we're going to be feeling the effects of this transit pretty much throughout the week. It's going to get, every day, weaker. The effects are going to be lesser. But it's throughout the whole week. So be gentle. Be gentle, and use this energy to do pragmatic investigations, to make lists, to make plans, to take stock of what is and isn't working. Or if you do feel that the depressive side of this transit is really up for you or that you're really in a negative frame of mind, ask somebody who you trust, somebody who's older than you, somebody who's more experienced than you, somebody who's just super Saturnian, to help you cultivate perspective because that's the positive potential of this transit. And gaining perspective based on reality can sometimes not be fun, but it is usually pretty helpful. So point yourself in that direction.

Now, the last transit that is exact this week happens on the 3rd. Mercury goes Retroshade on the 3rd of August and then steps into its Retrograde on the 23rd. Mercury will be Retrograde August 23 through September 15th. We are in the Retroshady period as of the 3rd. We're not in a Retrograde. You can still sign your contracts. You can still communicate with ease and glee. However, we start to feel the beginnings of that Retrograde energy. So, sometimes, the Retroshade⁠—honestly, you don't notice it that much. And then, other times, you're like, "Oh shit. I can really feel this." And it's just something to be aware of. You don't need to panic.

But we will have an overlapping Venus and Mercury Retrograde. And I've already seen people on my Patreon, where I'm answering a bunch of questions about Venus Retrograde⁠—I've already seen a lot of people panicking about having a Mercury and a Venus Retrograde at the same time. First of all, Retrogrades can be challenging, but there's nothing you need to do to "survive the Retrograde." I'm doing air quotes because I feel like I've already seen lots of articles titled that. It's not a risk to your survival. And you know I am totally happy to tell you when things are bad and when transits are fucking terrible. Please gently refer back to the Mercury opposition to Saturn⁠—very challenging transit.

These Retrogrades from Venus and Mercury are simply a time to visit the rule of re's. And the reason why they're a pain in the ass is because of how much of our habitual lives, both internal lives and external lives, are about being pointed outward instead of inward. Mercury is currently in Virgo and will retrograde in the zodiac sign of Virgo. It's going to stay throughout its Retrograde in Virgo; it is in Virgo now. And Venus is Retrograde in Leo.

And so this is actually not a bad combo platter, I don't think, because Venus Retrograde in Leo is really about stepping into our passions and our values and kind of making adjustments as needed. Mercury is very comfortable in Virgo. It co-rules Virgo in Gemini. And Virgo is a mutable earth sign, so it's grounded and it's adaptable. This is a great Mercury Retrograde. Listen. I mean, it's not perfect or anything, and I'm sure I'm going to look at the chart of it and be like, "Well, let me tell you all the things that are hard about it."

But I just want to kind of place it in your mind that when we are dealing with Mercury in an earth mutable sign, we have the capacity to not only be adaptable as we do our rule of re's and we reflect and review, but also to apply those things ritualistically in a grounded way to our lives. And when you add in the whole values stuff and dealing with relationships and our finances and all that kind of good stuff, that can be really helpful. So don't worry about these Retrogrades. Work with the energy of these Retrogrades. On hot days, you're adjusting your behavior in deference to the heat, and on cold days, you're doing the damn same. What I'm trying to say is you check out the weather report and you adjust your expectations, your energies, and your behavior accordingly. And that's what we want to do with astrology.

I will say one more thing, which is that I am truly, truly excited about the conversation I'm about to have with Adrienne Maree Brown and Sonya Renee Taylor on August 6th. You have only one week left to register. And if you do register but you can't make it, you're going to get the replay afterwards, so no pressure there. The event is called Joy in the Time of Apocalypse, and we are going to be talking about how to really tangibly live through these challenging times. Sonya and Adrienne are both brilliant, and I'm so looking forward to this conversation. I think it's going to be really helpful, and I hope you join us there. You can go to my Instagram or either of their Instagrams to watch the Instagram Live that the three of us did to get a little sense of what you can expect.

I want to thank you so much for joining me here at Ghost this week and every week. As always, if you have feedback or if you want to get a reading with me for the midweek episode, you can go ahead and email me through the contact form on my website at ghostofapodcast.com. And if you get value from the show, please do write a little five-star review. I really appreciate all the feedback that I get. And I appreciate you taking the time to join me week after week not only to just talk about astrology but also to really explore how to live, how to build upon our wins and to take our struggles in stride, to learn from the struggles that we have so that they're not a waste of energy.

Wherever you're at, I hope you take good care of yourself and others. And carve out space for some big emotions this week. All right. I'll talk to you again in just a couple of days.