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. We are going to look at the last full week of astrology for 2025, and there's just a lot of consequential things happening in the stars. I want to invite you to a couple things I'm doing before the New Year and immediately after the New Year that I think you might enjoy. If you don't enjoy it, then go forth and ignore what I have to say.

As you know, on the New Moon in Capricorn on December 30th, I am going to be co-hosting a class called Facing 2025 Together: Astrology for Community Care and Resistance. This webinar is one where I am going to share the astrology of 2025, give you the breakdown on the major shifts occurring, what you can expect, and I'm co-presenting this with author and activist Dean Spade, who's going to share actionable, practical, accessible tools for community-building and mutual aid and human connection. This is going to be a powerful event. There will be time for questions. And so I hope you will join us there. The link to register is everywhere. It's on my website. It's in the episode description. It's in my Linktree on social media, so it will be very easy for you to find. We do have tickets available on a sliding scale, and 50 percent of the proceeds will be going to support families in Gaza. I really hope to see you there.

Now, listen. If you don't want to see me there, I got lots of other offerings. One of them is on my Patreon. On the Solstice, I dropped a Tarot reading that I created especially for my beloved patrons that you can either join me on Patreon to watch, or you can go to my Patreon and just purchase that if you don't want to deal with Patreon as a thing but you want access to that reading. It is a Tarot reading for releasing 2024 and stepping intentionally into 2025. And no matter what your Tarot-use level, it's a pretty accessible reading. As long as you have cards and a book, you can do it is what I'm trying to say.

And while you're at it, on the Patreon stuff, I just want to say, hey, listen. I know that a lot of people spend time with their family in this particular week that we have forthcoming. And for a lot of folks, our family of origin have radically different values and worldviews than us. So I have been dropping lots of resources for engaging with conflictual relationships both on my Patreon and also in the readings that I do in the midweek episode. We've been kind of going more deep into Mars Retrogrady topics and conflict and boundaries. I just want you to know that I have lots of resources available for you that you can access at your convenience, preference, and leisure.

And then, finally, I've got two 2025 announcements for you. The first one is that on January 2nd, I have an audiobook dropping called Meditations for Your Sign. It is available exclusively on Audible. Audible is a complicated platform. I want to acknowledge that. This book of guided meditations goes through each of the zodiac signs, and this is just a radically different way for me to share my love of astrology with you. What I do in each meditation is tap into its core and essential energies and help to activate them in you while also hopefully helping you to rest and release as needed. I'm really excited about this project. Again, it's something really different than what I have done before. You can find it exclusively on Audible. It's available on the 2nd of January, and I believe it's free with an Audible membership.

And then, finally, Atlanta, Georgia, I am coming to you on the 12th of January. I'm going to be at the iconic Charis Bookstore, and I will be speaking at a hybrid event. So I believe you can register on the internet from anywhere, or if you are local to ATL, you can join me there. And I hope you will. Link to register for this event is also going to be in the episode description, show notes, and in my Linktree. So giddyap on that, my friends.

And then the final thing I want to say before we dig deep into this damn horoscope is that the end of the year holds its own significance. Whether or not we make that up, whether or not it comes from artifice, or if there's something spiritual and real to it, I don't know. I don't even know if it matters. But I do want to say that when we place too much pressure on endings, beginnings, certain events or holidays, it tends to be a recipe for feeling bad because what it does is it takes you out of the present moment, and it has you kind of living in your expectations, which is a form of attachment that can get in the way of your own well-being and your own receptivity.

So I want to just kind of acknowledge that. I know that there's a lot of pressure on the holidays that happen at the end of the year, including New Years. Whatever it is that you do, however it is that you take stock of the year that is now coming to a close or you set intentions for what comes next, do it from the present moment. The truth is, if you look at the astrology, if you look at the news, there's a lot of scary stuff going on. And it is perfectly reasonable, maybe even healthy, to be scared. But how you hold the fear, where you place it, the power you give it⁠—that is really a reflection on you.

And the truth of the matter is it is really hard to experience anticipatory fear and to stay present, but that's really what is required of you and me and all of us, is to acknowledge the things that we're frightened of, that might happen, whether it's in the world or in your personal life, and to then say to yourself, "Okay. That's what I'm scared will happen. What's actually happening now? What are my conditions and my resources now? What can I do now to invest in, co-create, and participate in the future that I most want?" because you can't control things. You can't control your feelings. You can't control your circumstances, can't control world events, can't control the economy. But you can take steps. You can set intention. You can participate here and now.

And I want to remind you to do that, to remind you of your agency. And whether you're exercising your agency in full wooness by manifesting and setting intentions and doing spell work or whatever it is that is your vibe, or you're doing it through pragmatics⁠—you're taking actions in the material world, you're making plans, you're doing shit or not doing shit, as the case may be⁠—whatever it is, don't forget that you are co-creating. Whether your copilot is a person or an organization or a group of people or spirit, Universe, God, trees, grass, snow, whatever it is, you are not alone.

And when we tap into life itself, we have more energy. We're more resourceful. We're more resilient. And we are striving to be a part of the concert that is humanity. And the concert sometimes sounds terrible. Sometimes we are awful at playing together, but it is a concert nonetheless. Even if you're focused on your solo, keep in mind that your solo does not happen in a vacuum. We are moving into a time of great and swift change, and that makes it really easy to get in your head and stay in your head. That's not in your best interest because so much of life happens in your body, in your heart, in your spirit.

So striving for balance, tapping into all your parts⁠—that's the move. And these are all things I want to invite you to consider, to reflect on, to tap into at this end of a very important year and a step into what really does feel like a rapidly shifting tide in 2025. And with that said, my loves, let's dive headfirst into the week ahead.

This week's astrology begins on Monday, December 23rd, at exactly 4:46 p.m. Pacific Time. Venus will be at 19 degrees of Aquarius and 1 minute, forming an exact sextile to Chiron at the same degrees of Aries. Now, Venus Sextile to Chiron is quite a lovely transit. Have you ever seen the symbol for a sextile? It kind of looks like a star or an asterisk. It's a spark. It's a spark of connection. It's a spark of energy. And the spark of energy that occurs between Chiron and Venus can help you to be in greater alignment with your values, to just have things come into place, to shift.

And I've noticed recently, because I get lots of messages from lots of you and my engagement on Patreon, that a lot of people are having these really remarkable shifts where things come together, where they click. This is classic of the Venus/Chiron sextile. This transit can have you shift in your relationships. Something can just kind of come together or get clarified. And this clarification would be positive. It would be something that is affirming to the relationship. It can also be a time where you just move past or through⁠—even if it's a little bit⁠—some roadblock you have around your relationship to beauty or the way you look, your finances and the way that you, in a material way, engage with them.

This transit is usually related to having⁠—not a get out of jail free card, but a meaningful shift that isn't particularly painful around your blocks or inhibitions or issues related to relationships, love, beauty, or these themes in general. So this is definitely energy you want to be intentional about tapping into because on its own, things might happen, but with a little intention and effort, there can be really meaningful growth and shifts. But these things are going to be a lot easier if you're open to them.

One other thing I'll say about this is, if you are an artist or if you are more like somebody like me who's not an artist, but sometimes I will do kind of arty things in conjunction with my spiritual practice⁠—but whether or not you're a proper artist or you just like getting crafty in some way, this transit can help you to move through blocks, move through inhibitions, move through stuck feelings, to get to something that's meaningful, that helps you to access loving feelings inside of yourself or in your life in general. So it's something to fuck with. You know what I mean? It's something to fuck with.

Now, that brings us to December 24th, which I know is an important day for a lot of people. On the 24th, at exactly 2:00 p.m., Jupiter is going to be at 14 degrees and 1 minute of Gemini, and Saturn is going to get the exact same degrees of Pisces. So we have a square between Jupiter and Saturn, and this one has been building up for quite some time. And it's going to continue to have its effects felt into the new year.

Jupiter square Saturn is a very important transit. It's one that affects us very personally, and also, because it's two outer planets impacting each other, we know that it's going to affect us societally. Jupiter is expansion and growth. It's excitement and enthusiasm. And Saturn is restriction and constriction. It's responsibility and obligation. It can be associated with depression or depressiveness. So, when these two factors are at a 90-degree angle, a.k.a. a square, we tend to experience a sense of tension or struggle between these two forces.

So, in more practical terms, what's enough and what's not enough? Are the things that I have to do in order to meet my basic needs or fulfill my obligations⁠—are those things holding me back, or are they the very things I need to hold myself together? Are we too permissive? Are we too scattered as a society, as a movement, as a community? Or are we not expanding enough? Are we not imagining possibilities enough? Are we not exploring what's possible and taking enough risks? These are the kinds of questions that we are facing during this transit.

This transit is quite difficult because of all the things I just said, but there's something really important about the tension between follow-through and exploring potential, fulfilling your obligations and managing your 3D reality and exploring possibilities, taking risks, going your own way. This tension is one that each of us struggles with in our own way. It's part of the tension of living in a body and in a society and having relationships and a job and having to deal with money and all that kind of stuff. And so, as stressful as this transit can be⁠—and it can be very stressful⁠—it's also one that reflects back to you what is being centered in your life right now. Do you feel like it's just like work and dreg and responsibility, and there's no room for expansion? Do you feel like there's no room for possibility? Or is it the reverse, that you're having a hard time with follow-through or with a clear plan for your meat suit or your 3D reality?

Whatever it is that you struggle with during this transit⁠—and again, we've been feeling it for quite some time. It will continue to be felt. It is exact on this day. What this transit is meant to do is clarify what's not working and what needs attention so that you can adapt and adjust. Capisce?

This transit can really help you to shift your relationship to possibility and probability. And in this case, possibility would be Jupiter, and probability would be Saturn. When we slip into old family patterns, when we act in the ways that other people expect us to, when we were raised to believe we should act or we have no other choice but behaving, and we don't explore what's possible, we don't explore how big the world is and the options that we have in this big world, then we're in Saturn/Jupiter square shit.

When you have big ideas and big hopes and big dreams, but as soon as you start something, you lose your energy⁠—you don't know how to maintain the steps; you're having a hard time honoring your word and following through on the things that are important to you⁠—that's when you know you need to do a little more Saturn.

Now, listen. This is a challenging transit because adulting is hard, because having a balance between play and work is hard. But it's a worthy struggle. And I am really a firm believer that struggle, pain, and difficulty⁠—on its own, these are not bad things. It's just that not all struggles are equal. What is ideal is that we take on problems and struggles that help us to become more whole, more self-aware, better at participating in the world and in our lives. And this particular transit⁠—I'm a fan/not a fan. I'm a fan of what it does, not a fan of how it feels, because oftentimes, under the influence of this transit, you can feel like shit's not coming together for you. You're not catching a break. You don't have an opportunity that you can tap into. You may feel just really stuck. Saturn can be associated with ruts⁠—not routines. That's a healthy part. It's the rut where you're in a routine, and you don't like it, and you don't resonate with it, but you don't know how to get out of it, or you just don't have the juj to get out of it.

On a social level, this transit tends to show up where we're dealing with⁠—I don't know⁠—here in the States, a government shutdown, where you're dealing with a tension between what needs to get done and some sort of theory or philosophy of what should or could get done. When you're dealing with these energies, you're always being challenged, on some level or another, to consider or reconsider what you actually believe. Jupiter is associated with belief and philosophy and spirituality and religion. It's also associated with gambling and drinking too much and basically taking on too much and starting things and not finishing them. All the planets have their good and their bad.

So do you need more time around people? Do you need more time taking risks? Do you need more time playing? Or do you need to do a little wintry hibernating? Do you need to kind of take a step back and tend to the basics? Do you need to fortify your system? Are the projects that you're involved in⁠—do the things that matter to you, whether it's community-building or your work or hanging out with animals more⁠—whatever it is⁠—are you engaging with those things and those people in ways that reflect what is true for you? Are you engaging in ways that reflect your commitment and your investment?

These two planets, Jupiter and Saturn⁠, both want you to act on what you believe. But this transit where they're square to each other reflects to you the ways in which you're not, out of habit or otherwise. A lot of people will experience this transit around their finances. And so this can be a time where you have some sort of unexpected expense or you just become really very aware of what isn't working in your finances, how you may have overextended yourself or you just don't have a plan. You don't have the resources you need; you don't have a plan.

In that case, the thing to do is, well, a couple things. One is limit your spending, and the other is revisit your plan or lack thereof around how you engage with your finances. As you've heard me say in many contexts and in many ways over the course of time, you always have a choice. You may not always have good choices. You may not always have the choices you want or need. But you always have a choice. And so under a Jupiter square to Saturn is an important time for you to reflect on the choices you're making and the choices that you would rather make.

If you have unexpected expenses or you just are coming to grips with some financial problem, that is likely to be in part because this transit is hitting your birth chart directly. And again, this is happening at 14 degrees of mutable signs. So Jupiter is in Gemini, and Saturn is in Pisces. So, if you have anything right around the middle of a mutable sign, you're really going to feel this one. And I should say it's not inherently necessarily going to be a problem. If you have been managing your plans and your resources, your commitments and your hopes, in ways that accurately reflect who you are and a realistic appraisal of where you're at, then this can actually be a transit that reflects that back to you, that actively shows you, okay, you're doing it. You're doing it, and you're doing it well.

When we undergo transits like squares and oppositions, they're usually really challenging, but sometimes they're just fucking activating. They just actively show you what is and isn't working. And when things are working, you'll see it. You'll experience it in a square. So that's kind of exciting/challenging because for most of us, the themes of a Jupiter square Saturn are kind of chronically engaged. You might be, let's say, good at money but not great at managing your health or great at managing your health but not great at returning emails and texts. We all have that place inside of ourselves where we really struggle with follow-through, where we take on too much or we have a hard time taking on anything at all, where we are limited in our imagination or we feel stuck by our circumstances. This is part of being a human.

Instead of getting stuck in whatever emotions get triggered by this transit, I want to invite you to know these are the themes. This is the assignment. And there's so much value in engaging with these themes. The timing of this is kind of nice, right? It's a pain in the ass, but also, it's an important end-of-year reflection if you want to get New Years Evey about it.

That brings us to December 26th. On December 26th, we've got two important transits. Both of them are for Mercury. Mercury will oppose Jupiter at 2:48 p.m. Pacific Time with Mercury at 13 degrees and 47 minutes of Sagittarius and Jupiter at the same degrees of Gemini. And then, several hours later, at 11:29 p.m. Pacific Time, Mercury will be at 14 degrees of Sagittarius and 11 minutes⁠—zip, zip, zip, Mercury⁠—and it will form an exact square to Saturn at the same degrees of Pisces. So, again, if you have something mid-degree of a mutable sign, you're really going to feel this. And of course, those mutable signs are Sagittarius, Pisces, Gemini, and Virgo.

Okay. So these two transits may sound kind of familiar to you. They should, in fact, sound familiar to you because we're in the Mercury Retroshade period, a.k.a. the Mercury Retrograde shadow period. And so the last time we experienced these two transits was during the Mercury Retrograde on December 4th. And so you want to look back to what was going on in your life on December 4th. You may also want to look back at what was going on in the world, but we're sticking to you for now. What got activated in your life is going to be activated again. Now, that doesn't inherently mean that if you had a fight with your sister, you're going to have a fight with your sister again, or the very specific thing that you had a struggle about is going to get reactivated in your life. It doesn't necessarily mean that, although it can.

But it does mean that the themes that were activated in you⁠—so maybe you had a fight with your sister because you were irritable, and you took out your shit on your sister. Maybe you had a fight because of a real, authentic difference in beliefs or something else. It's that thing that is true for you that is at the core and under the surface of whatever it was that happened⁠—that's what is going to be repeated. That's what you're going to be feeling.

Mercury opposite Jupiter and Mercury square Saturn are very contradicting energies. Now, this makes sense. Jupiter and Saturn are square to each other, and Mercury has inserted itself. Don't forget Mercury is your friends. It's your ideas. It's your plans. It's your thoughts. It's your attitudes. It's your beliefs. It's your texts, your emails, your phone calls. Do you have phone calls? I love phone calls, just hopping on the phone, chatting with someone.

Mercury opposite Jupiter is a transit that can have you a little on the sloppy side. Mercury square Saturn has you exacting with the details. Do these two things cancel each other out? They might. But they may just as easily be just two very different parts of you taking up space in an uncomfortable way. What that might look like is the big plans and big thoughts of Mercury opposite Jupiter may be activated, while your little Mercury square Saturn moment may be that you fixate on certain details and ignore others.

This set of transits is activating the Jupiter square to Saturn. So what this means is how you think about your plans, how you communicate your plans, what you believe, what you say⁠—those things are being activated on and around this date. Both of these transits indicate that you're likely to be challenged. That might be your beliefs are challenged. It might be that you are thinking something but saying it a little different than you're thinking it. People are not going to react to your thoughts. They're going to react to what you say. If you made plans with someone and then you have a really great reason to have missed those plans, but you don't communicate it to the person, then the person's not going to care about this really great reason. They're going to care about the fact that you wasted their time, right?

When we are going through a kind of challenge between Jupiter and Saturn and then Mercury inserts itself, it tends to be that our beliefs and our thoughts are center stage and also that your friendships are implicated. So, whether we're talking about your actual friends friends or people in your community that you work alongside, that you build alongside, people at work⁠—Mercury governs your neighbors, your siblings, even your aunts and uncles. So we happen to be dealing with all of this energy during a holiday time for a ton of people.

And so, again, you might have some really challenging conversations with family members or old friends, friends from childhood that are not exactly the people you would choose to be friends with now. What you need to figure out is how you wish to engage. Where is the line between being open and betraying your own beliefs? Where is the line between speaking up and saying what you need to say, and stirring the pot and not letting it go? Where is the line between taking responsibility for your beliefs and your values and your life choices and allowing space for difference and making compromises? The line is ever changing. And also, sometimes the line needs to be a really fucking firm line that does not move.

In any case, these are the energies at play. These are the questions to be asking. And you, you personally⁠—you might not really feel this. This might not really come up for you, but it's coming up for people around you. I can assure you of that. So allow people to reveal themselves to you. Take responsibility for what your thoughts, what your behavior, what your engagement reveals to you about you. This is a confronting set of transits. So, instead of getting defensive or rushing to conclusions, try to be interested. Try to be open-minded.

That Mercury square to Saturn⁠—it can have you feeling guilty. But guilt⁠—it can be quite a waste of your energy. Instead of being guilty for things you may have done or things you may have said or whatever, try taking responsibility. Own your part and try to learn from it, and keep on moving. Accountability, amends⁠—those two things are so much more powerful than guilt and sorries. If you fuck up, if you make a mistake, just practice doing better. That's really what Saturn wants us to learn, how to practice doing better and being better, how to learn from our mistakes, not be a person who doesn't make them. That's unrealistic.

Mercury square Saturn can have you in a really kind of depressive, negative frame of mind. Mercury opposite Jupiter can have you in a really enthusiastic and excitable frame of mind. And again, it could be that one cancels the other out, depending on how it hits your birth chart or how it hits the people around you's birth charts. But for a lot of people, I imagine the way it's going to land is you're feeling kind of negative or lonely or down, you act like everything's fine, and you try your best to skip over the hard parts. And you know what? That might be the best move for you in a moment. And also, if you notice that in other people or in yourself, be curious. Is that a habit? Is that like a defense mechanism? Or is that actually a good idea? Is that appropriate in this moment?

Now, if you are bored of questions, then you're not going to like the last transit that I need to tell you about that's happening this week. On Friday, December 27th, at exactly 11:42 p.m. Pacific Time⁠—so, depending on where you are, this might be actually happening on the 28th⁠—we have a Venus square to Uranus. Venus will be at 23 degrees and 44 minutes of Aquarius, and Uranus will be at the same degrees of Taurus. So we have a very destabilizing transit happening here. And the timing of it may be really good or may be really bad for you, depending on your circumstances.

Venus square Uranus tends to be a time where relationships are tested. A lot of folks are with family right now, and I think a lot of people place a great deal of pressure on their loved ones⁠—on friends, on dates, on roommates, family members, whatever⁠—around having a good time on the holidays. And this pressure, these expectations, take us out of the present moment, and they tend to reflect our issues and our trauma much more than what's actually happening in the relationship. So it can get you into trouble.

Venus square Uranus is inherently destabilizing. Venus loves stability. Venus loves love. Venus loves getting along. Venus is your values. So that's the part of you that wants to feel valued, wants to show other people how you feel about them. And Uranus follows the beat of its own drum. Uranus is independent and unpredictable. Uranus transits always involve unpredictability and the unexpected. You may have, all of a sudden, feelings you didn't expect to have about someone. They can be lovely; they can be terrible. You may all of a sudden experience some sort of curveball in your relationships that just really surprise you and take you out of your habits of how you typically would engage with other people or how you would react.

Now, is this the worst thing in the world? It actually isn't. It's not. It can actually be really expansive. But it is particularly interesting to have this transit overlapping with our Jupiter/Saturn square and the Mercury mishigas because what it tells us is that engaging in old ways is not going to bring you what you want. This is the time to be present. This is the time to be honest, to stay aligned with your values. If the truth of the matter is you're having an argument with somebody, and you're just fighting, fighting, fighting them, but what's actually happening is that you just really love them and you want them to love you differently than they are, lead with that. Get to the heart of the matter. Get to the bottom of it instead of quibbling over bullshit.

We have this reiteration of getting to the truth, even when the truth is messy and unclear and your own participation in the things you want has been spotty. This transit is a bad time to make things stable. If you're doing any kind of intentional intention-setting work, it's helpful if you are willing and able to hold things lightly, to be open to what you can co-create with the Universe or your circumstances. It's a bad time if you're like, "I want a car and a house, and I want a person, they have to be just like this"⁠—if that's what you're going for, don't do any manifestation work on or around⁠—basically all week long, but especially on and around this date.

This transit reminds you to experiment, to try new things, to be adaptable, and not adaptable in a way that compromises your authenticity⁠—adaptable in a way where you meet surprises, you meet the unexpected, with your whole self in an honest, authentic way. And so, if that means you're like, "Ahh. I don't want to do this," that's great. If you don't want to do it, then don't do it. You know what I mean? Unless you tap in and you feel like, "Okay. Challenging myself and stepping out of my comfort zone is what I want, even though I ultimately don't want to do this thing." Right?

Experimentation is always risky. And Jupiter/Saturn square makes taking risks really confusing and really loaded. But again, here we are at the end of a loaded and confusing year, on the precipice of a year that promises to be much more loaded than the one previous. And so it stands to reason that the astrology would reflect all of that shit.

Venus square Uranus can be fun for partying, and I know a lot of people party on New Year's Eve proper or the weekend before or whatever. But this can be a fun time for partying, for meeting new people, all that kind of good stuff, as long as you stay open and are willing to play with circumstances. So that's kind of exciting. And the astrology of this week in general is not super sexy and romantic, but this particular transit can coincide with having a fun flirtation or meeting someone new. It doesn't particularly promise things will be stable or long term, but stable and long term are not always the best thing for a person. So, if you're going to play, play without attachment. And if you know that you can't play without attachment in flirtation or dating in a healthy and emotionally safe way, then don't fucking do it. Just give yourself permission to be who you are.

Okay. So let me run through the transits one more time. On Monday, the 23rd, Venus forms an exact sextile to Chiron. On the 24th, Jupiter forms an exact square to Saturn. On the 26th, busy little Retroshady Mercury forms an opposition to Jupiter and a square to Saturn. And⁠—quick reminder⁠—check out what was going on around the 4th of December because that was the last time both these transits happened. And then, finally, on Friday, the 27th of December, Venus forms an exact square to Saturn.

As always, I want to thank you for joining me for another week of my love letter to you, Ghost of a Podcast. If you get value from this show, please do hit the Follow or Subscribe button wherever you listen. I hope you take really good care of yourself and others this week and every week. I will talk to you in just a couple of days. Buh-bye.