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.

Okay. Let's get into your horoscope for the week ahead. There is so much in this week's horoscope, including but not limited to the fact that it's Valentine's Day, which is a big day for a lot of people. It's super annoying and traumatic for many people, and it's tender and romantic and lovely for many others. And for some people, it's both. But it's a lot.

But before we get into the details of the horoscope, I want to speak to something that I get questioned about a lot off the podcast that I do on the podcast, and that's this: I'm really aware that lots of people do drugs⁠—recreational drugs, spiritual enhancement drugs⁠—around the lunations. I mean in general, obviously, but then in particular around Full Moons and New Moons. And so I will often, having that in mind, let you know when it's a particularly unsafe or destabilizing time to do drugs during Full Moons or New Moons.

And I've gotten questions from many people on my Patreon and some people on social media about why I do that and why I don't say when it's a good time to do drugs. So the thing is I'm not able in the podcast to give you individualized advice, and I'm certainly not giving you medical advice on an astrology podcast, right? We know that. And I mean, I'm not for or against recreational use of drugs in general or the use of consciousness-raising drugs in general. I'm really not for or against it for anyone but me. I have opinions about what works for me based on where I'm at in my life and what's going on with me, but I don't know your particulars and I do not have an opinion about it for or against your use.

However, because I have a medical astrology background and because I'm aware of the fact that lots of people use drugs around the New Moons and Full Moons, I'm in kind of a unique position to be able to speak to that as an astrologer who even considers such things. And so I just assume that anyone's going to do whatever they want whenever they want. However, if I see something happening astrologically that is a particularly destabilizing or risky time to do recreational drugs, and in particular to do consciousness-raising drugs, where you are, on purpose, pulling back the veils and opening yourself up to universal energies, then I'm going to warn you, "Hey, this is kind of a risky time to do that." And I'm going to do that because I'm your Capri-daddy, you know? That's just what I'm going to do.

But I'm not going to tell you when to do drugs because that's just not what I do. That's not who I am. That's not what I do, and it's not what this podcast is. So I hope that clarifies a little bit about why I do reference drug use in that particular way on the New Moons and Full Moons and why, when I reference it, it's only ever to say, "Hey, this isn't a great time to do these things."

I mention this because this week in particular, we are going through a couple of transits that make it a particularly risky time to do those kinds of substances. And that doesn't mean I have judgments about what you do or don't do in your own time, just to be clear. But there's a lot of very intense Plutonian energy shaping the energetics of this week. And so I want to⁠—before we get into any of the details, I want to equip you with whatever kind of tools I can equip you with around being present for the transformation that's inherent to what's happening in the stars this week and to know that because it's Plutonian energy, we are dealing with energy that cannot be controlled or contained. It must be worked with, and it requires as much presence as we are capable of in order to work with it in a healthy and sustainable way.

And so, before I jump into the details of this week's horoscope, I'm just going to give you a quick little cheat sheet that I give to my patrons all the time when they ask this question, which is, when there are challenging transits to Pluto or Neptune⁠—I'm talking about a conjunction, an opposition, or a square. So, when we're going through transits in general in the world, which is the kind of transits I talk about in your horoscope, or if you personally are going through transits to your birth chart that are challenging to Pluto or Neptune, that's when you want to be really cautious with substance use.

And there's complex reasons why, and we can talk about that more in depth if that's something that you all are interested in. But it's a little off topic of this week's horoscope, so I won't go too in depth into it other than to say if you ever wanted to predict when I'm going to tell you it is not a super healthy or safe time to do recreational drugs to facilitate healing or just to go out and party or whatever, I'm going to encourage you to be particularly conscientious about your self-care around your substance use whenever there are challenging transits to Neptune or Pluto. And again, I'm talking about a conjunction, a square, or an opposition. Okay?

So that's your quick little cheat sheet, and I hope it helps you if it's relevant to your life. But again, do what you're gonna do. 'Tis your life. And all that life is is choice, action and consequence, reaction⁠—which is its own form of action and consequence, right? That's life. And only you can make the choices that are right for you. And when we make choices that are not especially right for us, well, you learn. You learn. The only way to really fail at anything in life is to not learn from it.

So okay. Let's get into the astrology of February 11th through the 17th of 2024. So I'm going to break down the transits, but I want to just remind you that if you have a hard time keeping track of the exact degrees that I'm talking about, the details of the transits, or the dates that the transits are occurring on, at the end of each horoscope, I break it down. I give you a nice little list. And also, I have transcripts available on my website. Each episode is lovingly transcribed by a human person, and the transcript is available for you, usually within 24 to 48 hours of the podcast coming out. So, if you have a hard time keeping track of all the stuff I say⁠—because who are we kidding? I talk fast. I say a lot, and there's a lot to keep track of⁠—don't worry. I've got you covered in lots of ways, in lots of spots.

So, February 13th, we have got a Venus sextile to Neptune. It's exact at 5:36 a.m. Pacific Time with Venus at 26 degrees of Capricorn and Neptune at 26 degrees and 10 minutes of Pisces. And on the same day but exact at 10:06 p.m. Pacific Time, we've got Mars forming an exact conjunction to Pluto. This is not a fucking desirable transit, so bear with me. We'll get into it. But it's happening at 0 degrees and 46 minutes of Aquarius.

There's a lot to say here. Now, I want to let you know the scope of influence of that Mars conjunction to Pluto. We've been feeling this transit since about the 7th/8th, and up until the 23rd, we're going to be feeling its influence. Now, it's absolutely at its zenith, at its strongest, February 12th through the 16th. And again, it's exact at 10:00 Pacific Time on the 13th. So understanding the scope and influence of this transit is really important because of the intensity of this transit.

Like I said, first we talk about the Venus sextile to Neptune. This transit, honestly, is not going to be felt as strongly because of the intensity and power of the Mars/Pluto conjunction. That said, what it does is it gently stimulates our empathy, generosity, care, and consideration for others and ourselves.

This transit on its own is really good for a spark of romantic and sensual excitement and connection. This can happen through a romantic encounter with a person, which could be something that happens with someone you're hooking up with, or just walking by somebody and getting a little thrill as you make eye contact, and it's like a go. Nothing happens, but it's exciting. It can also happen through creativity, like making art, consuming art, being moved by art one way or another, or through shopping, honestly, especially if you're somebody who tends to shop for feelings, shop for that boost of dopamine.

Venus sextile to Neptune is a particularly good time to take pictures of yourself, actually, or have your photo taken, and to generally cutify the self. So there's a lot of really lovely things about this transit. Venus is our values; Neptune is our ideals. And when these two planets form a lovely dynamic transit like a sextile to each other, what happens is it is easier to embody our values and our ideals in a material way. And it helps that Venus is in Capricorn, a very material sign.

This transit, if it is hitting your birth chart specifically⁠—so if you have something in your chart that's at 26 degrees of a cardinal or a mutable sign⁠—it can coincide with having a kind of inspired romantic moment with someone. The thing about Venus sextile to Neptune is that it gives us romance. It gives us intrigue. It gives us vibes. But it doesn't necessarily give us sustainability⁠—not necessarily. It's the twinkling of a star, a little bit.

If Mars wasn't conjoining Pluto on the same day, I would have a lot more positive things to say. However, the way it's most likely to function under the influence of the Mars conjunction to Pluto, which is the reality of this round of Venus sextile to Neptune, is that it is a force of empathy and care and consideration, which we very much need during a Mars conjunction to Pluto.

Let me shift into talking to about the Mars conjunction to Pluto. Both of these planets govern violence, as we know. Mars is stab-stab, punch-punch, bang-bang. And Pluto is blow the whole fucking thing up. It's going nuclear. Mars conjunction to Pluto is an inherently violent transit, which does not mean that every time it occurs, everybody experiences physical violence or psychological or emotional violence. But what it does mean is that this transit, Mars conjunction to Pluto, triggers violence. And violence is an instinct that exists within most animals. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is a different conversation.

But it is really important to acknowledge our own rage, our own defensiveness, our own resentments, our own anger, and our impulse to prove ourselves, to have dominion over others or over situations, and to understand that that is not inherently wrong. Like⁠—I don't know⁠—if you're a sports person, you want to achieve some level of dominion over your own personal best. You want to compete and beat the other team, or maybe you're one of those people who's on a bicycle, that stationary bicycle, and then you see other people on a screen, and they're also on their stationary bicycles, and you're like, "Oh, I'm going to beat that person who's always getting ahead of me." And inherently, that's a Martian and a Plutonian impulse. It's not inherently bad.

But when these energies are out of balance, when there is too much entitlement, too much attachment, and not enough self-awareness, then these impulses can lead us towards cruel, harmful, and destructive actions, cruel, harmful, and destructive energies, towards ourselves or towards others.

So Mars conjunction to Pluto, at this time, is occurring in Aquarius. And Aquarius is a fixed air sign. It is known for being progressive, and it can be. But its energies are fixed. And so, when we are dealing with Aquarian energies, we are dealing with our ideas about what works and our tendencies to dig in our heels, to defend our beliefs about what works. So it's not a very adaptable zodiac sign. The way I often describe Aquarius is that it is the most adaptable zodiac sign about everything that it wants to be adaptable about and the least adaptable zodiac sign about literally everything else.

Here's the thing. When Mars and Pluto sit on top of each other, we have a risk of violence. So, when we consider what's happening in the world right now, whether we are considering the horrifying genocides that are occurring⁠—and in particular, we can look to Palestine and Gaza. We can look to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. And we don't even have to look abroad for violent atrocities. When we look at the mass incarceration of humans, but especially Black and Brown bodies, here in the United States, and the state of prison labor⁠, when we are looking at the war against body autonomy for AFAB people, for women, for Trans and Nonbinary people⁠—I mean, unfortunately, there are so many places where there is violence in this world.

And the Mars/Pluto conjunction can spark the ambitions of aggressors and the ambitions of those who wish to take a stand and fight back. And this can go in any fucking direction. Here's the thing⁠—in any direction. You may be feeling especially incensed at this time. What's important is to make sure that if you're going to fight, you're fighting for something and not just channeling your terrible feelings in a defensive direction.

If the Mars/Pluto conjunction triggers feelings of resentment and anger and rage and ambitions or ambitiousness crushed⁠—right? If it triggers selfishness inside of you and you don't like those feelings and you don't know what to do with those feelings, it is easy to look around the world and pick a topic and be like, "I'm going to be defensive about that. I'm going to channel all of my personal feelings about myself, about my life, about the world, into my rage towards this famous person not having said that I think they should have said or this very serious problem happening in the world."

And I'm not talking about this on a social level. I'm talking about this on a personal level. What it'll do is it'll fuck you up because the truth of the matter is the Mars conjunction to Pluto occurs so that we can get deeply connected to the root of our outrage, of our egos, of our resentments, of Mars and Pluto. This is not energy that is asking you for a fix. This is not energy that is asking you to control or contain it. It's about getting to know yourself more deeply. And part of what that requires is tolerating your feelings, figuring out how to tolerate that you have impulses that are fucked up, that you have impulses that you don't know how to process or what to do with. You do. I do. We all do.

And when we try to turn ourselves or others into cartoon villains or saviors, when we require ourselves or others to be perfect, beyond reproach, never making a mistake, never having a negative impulse, then we're kind of abandoning our humanity, in a way. Many people will act out⁠—will get triggered and act out on and around this day. On a spiritual/psychological level, it's important to recognize that healthy control over your ego and your least healthy or well-adjusted impulses is not containment. It's not smooshing it down and shoving it in a box. It's not containment. It's agency. It's free will. It's tolerating your own impulses, exploring your own feelings, your own impulses, and then making choices.

That's how we really control our least-well-adjusted parts is by recognizing that we have choice and that the only way to be able to make choices in the presence of our shadiest, shittiest impulses is by staying present with them, not abandoning ourselves, not projecting our shit onto others, whether it's people or situations. This is really hard work. Mars conjunction to Pluto is really hard.

Additionally, because this transit is likely to coincide with bad actors doing terrible things, it's likely to feel chaotic. And this is why I encourage you to avoid blowing out your energy boundaries with drug use⁠—recreational drug use or spiritual facilitator drug use. The energy is pretty dramatic and hard to handle in a healthy way. So I want to encourage you to really think about your boundaries around this Mars conjunction to Pluto.

Understand that the only way to have healthy boundaries within yourself is to also be respecting the boundaries of others. On social media, in public discourse, we talk about "my boundaries, my boundaries, my boundaries" all the time. We don't sufficiently enough talk about how we listen to others, how we respect other people's boundaries, even people that we disagree with, even people who we think are wrong. The truth is that the embodiment of a healthy, well-adjusted ego is not the abandonment of ego. The way to heal trauma is not to eradicate trauma, right? It's to shift your activation and your engagement in response to trauma. Ditto for your ego.

So, when transits like Mars conjunction to Pluto happen—and unfortunately, we're going to have another conjunction to Pluto later this week, so giddyap and get ready⁠—what needs to happen is we need to be able to experience our own toxicity and make healthy choices in reaction to it. And that includes experiencing other people's toxicity, potentially. This is all potential. It might not play this way for you, but it will for a lot of people.

To be able to make choices that reflect our wisest impulses instead of our strongest impulses⁠—that's always the challenge with Pluto. That's always the challenge with Pluto. You may feel really aggressive, really defensive. And again, what I want to encourage you to do is be interested in that energy, to explore what's possible, instead of react defensively to that energy. It's a lot easier said than done.

Another thing I'll say about this transit is it can coincide with bullying. So somebody may bully you, or you may act like a fucking bully. Nobody likes a bully. Don't be a bully. If you can avoid being a bully, please avoid being a bully. Sometimes you have shit to say, but it doesn't need to be said. Do your best to make that determination this week.

If you are dealing with somebody who is cruel and they don't actually have any real power over your life⁠—so I'm not talking about a situation where it's like your landlord is being a bully towards you. That's a whole other kind of situation. But I'm talking about somebody who doesn't have any power over your life, and they're being a dick. My best advice to you is to not engage because the way that people treat you is a reflection on them. If someone shows you their ass, all you gotta think to yourself is, "Oh, look. There's that person's ass," instead of, "How do I need to respond to it? What does it mean about me that they chose to do this?"

Mars conjunction to Pluto activates and triggers trauma responses, trauma responses around our egos, and challenges us around embodiment. Pluto is our flight-or-fight mechanisms. It's our survival mechanisms. Mars is around embodiment. It is so hard to stay in your body while your survival mechanisms are triggered. It is really incredibly challenging. And yet that is what this transit is helping us to learn. And I say helping us to learn; I mean it is not a gentle assistance kind of transit. It's more of a kick in the cooch kind of situation. But here we are.

Don't forget that you have agency, and don't forget to be interested in your own reactions, your own emotions, your own impulses, because those are a reflection on you. And you have choice⁠—not in how you react. You react how you react. But you have choice in how you respond to how you react.

Now, one last thing I'll say is that Mars governs sex. It governs chemistry. So this transit can coincide with having a really intense spark of chemistry with somebody that can lead to really fun sex, or create sexually unsafe situations if it's hitting your chart real specifically. So I want to encourage you to have safe, sane fun. Just make sure, whatever you're doing, if you're taking risks, that you're being safe around it.

And it is important for me to acknowledge that while this transit is exact on the 13th, we are very much going to be feeling it on the 14th, Valentine's Day. And so I say unto you, my sweet dears, this is a very intense Valentine's Day. It's not especially stable. If you're looking to meet the love of your life⁠—you know what I mean? Maybe not so much. Don't put that much pressure on things.

If you have ego issues around your lovability, your desirability, that kind of stuff, a Mars conjunction to Pluto is going to trigger that. It's going to trigger that. Just don't put so much pressure on Valentine's Day. It's really not that big a deal. I mean, whatever. I mean, maybe it is a big deal to you. I don't want to tell you what it is or isn't. But it is just a day. Try not to put too much pressure on it or on yourself or on your partner or partners, whatever you've got going on.

Families in Gaza are in need of your urgent support. Israeli warplanes are bombing Gaza right now, causing death, injury, and trauma. The organization MECA has staff and local partners in Gaza on the ground and ready to respond to the most urgent needs of children and families. Please give now to provide medical aid, clean water, food, psychological support, and more. Give what you can at mecaforpeace.org. That's M-E-C-A, F-O-R, P-E-A-C-E .org.

In honor of Valentine's Day and Black History Month, February is Black Love Month on Ghost of a Podcast. If you're Black and you've got questions about love of any kind⁠—I'm talking self-love, romantic, love for your job, family, the place you live, whatever it may be⁠—then send me your question through the contact form over at Ghost of a Podcast today. The midweek episodes all month long will feature selected Black love questions. Just make sure to use the hashtag #BlackLove in your question.

That brings us to February 15th. On the 15th of February, we have a Mercury sextile to Chiron, exact at 5:16 a.m., and it is occurring between Mercury at 16 degrees of Aquarius and Chiron at 16 degrees of Aries. It's 16:34. Mercury sextile to Chiron is a really supportive transit and one that is kind of well-timed between all the chaos that we're going to be going through this week.

So Mercury sextile to Chiron helps us to have a more empathetic, curious, and dynamic exploration of our core wounding. In other words, we can kind of figure things out, make connections, maybe find ourselves in situations where we're having kind of synergistic conversations with other people. We just happen to scroll up on a post that is like, "Oh my God. That completely speaks to my moment"⁠—that kind of thing.

Mercury sextile Chiron empowers us to be in a position where we find the right way to communicate our message, or we really are able to make sense of ideas or information in a way that involves and supports our core wounding. So it's particularly helpful in the context of literally everything, but also in the context of the Mars/Pluto conjunction and the Venus/Pluto conjunction that's coming⁠—that's actually happening now and is exact later this week.

So use your mind. When you are overwhelmed by that Mars/Pluto conjunction and you're feeling really activated in your body⁠—it's like you're seeing red or you're just not fucking feeling it⁠—don't forget to activate Mercury and the curiosity and the exploration that Mercury can help us to cultivate.

Now, on the 16th, we have another Mercury transit. And this one is a little less supportive. We've got Mercury at 19 degrees of Aquarius forming an exact square to Uranus, 19 degrees of Taurus, at exactly 7:53 p.m. Pacific Time. I should note that Venus moves into Aquarius earlier this morning.

Mercury forms a square to Uranus. Now, here's the thing. Mercury square to Uranus is inherently destabilizing. So, on its surface, this is like, "Oh shit. More destabilization," given the Mars/Pluto conjunction. But this is my take. When we are being activated around our trauma, when we are being activated around our core survival mechanisms, as Pluto is doing this week, it is really helpful to have Mercury forming a square to Uranus because what it does is it shakes things up so much that you are able to see things from a different perspective.

The gift of a Mercury square to Uranus is that it is associated with breakthroughs⁠—breakdowns, sure, because Mercury and Uranus are both associated with the nervous system or with our mind and our nerves. So it can really have you feeling rattled. It can have you feeling anxious. It can have you feeling irritable, for sure. But it can also help us to have the breakthroughs that can occur from seeing things from a different perspective, shaking up our narrative and our habits, and exploring possibility.

Mercury square to Uranus can bring up kind of unexpected meetings with people and expose us to information that we weren't expecting to be exposed to. So it might be that you hear something said in a way that you're just like, "Fuck. I never thought of it that way." Or it may be that you get information about a friend or a coworker that just blows your mind a little bit. The reason why a lot of people have a hard time with this transit is because it brings up the unexpected. And a lot of people have kind of an anxious, nervy response to this.

But the thing that I love about this transit is that it opens up unexpected doors to our understanding. It empowers us to shift our thinking and our perspective, and that's exactly what we need when our traumas are being engaged. If you are willing and able to shift your thinking, to open up to possibilities and to different pathways, then the opportunity for real healing to occur is really strong.

This isn't a great time for signing contracts or trying to make anything permanent. This isn't a great time for coming to⁠—all caps⁠—THE ANSWER. But it is a great time for some excitement, some change, some exploration, for trying on new ideas, maybe new identities, for exploring the narratives that you may have held for a long time, exploring your thinking, your attitudes, your beliefs, how you listen, whether or not you're doing enough listening⁠—all that kind of good stuff. And this can really help with embodiment. It can help with navigating old wounds, core wounds, and the defenses that you may or may not be aware of that you're holding on to.

In regards to movement work, any kind of social justice work, these transits are extremely challenging but really helpful and instructive because they can help us to shift our strategies to further our understanding of our movements and how they are or aren't working, and other people, because the truth of the matter is we must all know by now that you do not change people's minds by yelling facts at them. The internet is vast, and we are all exposed to algorithms that are tailored to our own beliefs and to the things that give us the most outrage. We all know this by now.

And so yelling facts at people, or what you believe to be facts at people⁠—it's not going to change hearts and minds. What changes hearts and minds is, in part, listening to other people and understanding what motivates them, and speaking to that. And the truth of the matter is this week, the astrology can really help us to understand what isn't working in our approach to⁠—whether I'm talking about⁠—right now, I'm talking about movement work, but our approach to anything, any kind of project or thing that we are really invested in the involves effectively communicating with people.

These transits are activating and destabilizing enough where great insight and advancements can be made. This can be such a powerful week for a shift in⁠—I don't know⁠. Maybe you're writing a book, and it's like the ideas come and the movement happens. This is just a powerful time for transformation and change. But it does require navigating your own impulses and activations and investigating your own beliefs, attitudes, the way you communicate, the way you listen. So it requires adaptability. It requires presence, which sounds a lot easier than it is. It's fucking hard. But it is kind of exciting.

There is a lot of powerful, positive potential. All you can do is participate in a way that reflects your convictions, that reflects your healthiest, most empathetic and embodied parts instead of your strongest, most defensive, and fear-based parts.

And that brings us to the last transit of the week. On February 17th, at 12:48 a.m. Pacific Time, Venus hits 0 degrees and 52 minutes of Aquarius, which is exactly where Pluto is. So we have a Venus/Pluto conjunction. Having Mars and Venus both conjoined each other at the same time⁠—so Mars is no longer exact, but it is still very strong⁠—is very relational. Mars is like chemistry and sex. Venus is connection and sensuality. Mars is how we aggress or assert ourselves with other people or towards other people. And Venus is how we smooth things over, how we get along with people.

So, when we're dealing with Mars and Venus in a heavy, deep way, as we are this week, we know it's going to kick up our relationship issues. We also know, on a social level, it's going to kick up gender issues in a really big way. So expect to see further abuses from men and other people in power who are trying to clamp down on traditional gender roles and oppress people for their gender, unfortunately. This is fucked-up shit, but here we are. This is the world we live in.

Now, let me talk about Veus conjunction to Pluto more specifically. Whenever Pluto is sitting on top of a planet, or a planet is sitting on top of Pluto⁠, what happens is that Pluto deepens and intensifies the drives of that planet. So this is true for transits. It's true for birth chart placements. But we're focusing on Venus conjunction to Pluto. This transit intensifies our drives and feelings around Venusian things. So that's love and romance, like our feelings about being loved or our lovability, our attractiveness, our feelings of love or attraction for other people.

It makes us want deeper connections and/or can intensify our compulsive thoughts and feelings about other people. So that could be about what they think about us or they feel about us or what we think about them or feel about them, or our projections into those themes. This transit intensifies our feelings for others and our feelings about others and ourselves, which can be a positive or a negative. It's intense. And I want to remind you about something I said in a recent episode, which is energy is energy. It's not good; it's not bad. It's energy.

And what we have this week, and in particular with this transit, is intense and driving energy. So what's important is to make sure that you're staying intimately connected to your values. By doing this, you can make sure that you're behaving in ways that reflect them, which is really important. And this transit can really kick up insecurities and trauma around the way we look, which a lot of us have. And so it's something to be aware of because even though it brings up kind of heavy, intense themes, it also gives us the energy with which to transform them. But again, you cannot transform something that you have not first accepted. That's the fucking⁠—the rub, right?

So, in order to bring about healing to anything, we must first accept what it is, where it is, how it is, when it is.  That's the first step.  And I think what a lot of us do is we try to change something before we fully understand it or change something before we have come into an acceptance of what it is and where it's starting from.  And I want to reiterate acceptance is not consent.  It is simply awareness.

So this transit may kick up your awareness of things that need transforming.  And with that, you can either act out in defensiveness and in your old habits and patterns, or you can find new ways of holding and responding to your impulses and your feelings and all dynamics and situations.  This transit can kick up power struggles, or power struggles in how you think about and relate to others.  So it may be kind of shadowboxing, or it may be actual dynamics with other people.

The key here is to maintain ownership of your shit, of how you choose to engage and what you choose to focus on.  This transit can really intensify obsessive feelings of jealousy, competitiveness, possessiveness, defensiveness, all that kind of shit.  And so what's really important is that you don't allow those feelings to drive your actions.  So don't cyberstalk people.  Don't indulge your negative or harmful obsessions if you can avoid it.  This is why it's an important week to kind of stay present and keep your wits about you, because our impulses are likely to be driven by our intense survival mechanisms, which are not always appropriate.

This can also be a time where addictive tendencies really come out.  Mars and Venus conjunct Pluto can really activate our addictive tendencies.  And so, in particular, Venus/Pluto conjunction can kick up addictive tendencies around social substance use or around shopping.  So, if you have a tendency towards being excessive in an unhealthy way in either of those realms, just try to be mindful of what your impulses are so that you have, again, more agency in how you respond to your impulses.

And the thing about having agency when we're triggered is the way to access that is by being able to inhabit the emotions, the impulses, the thoughts that are existing in this moment, to be able to stay present with it, to tap into your breath and your willingness to be receptive to what it is that's happening so that you can be interested in it and explore it.  That empowers you to have enough spaciousness within yourself so that you can see your options.

Because the Venus conjunction to Pluto intensifies our need for love and attention, it's important that you center self-care so that you don't just seek attention; you seek healthy and loving attention, because a lot of us unconsciously will seek attention at any cost when we're feeling really lonely or bereft as a kind of old habit around family trauma and not getting the kind of attention that felt like love.

And so, again, I want to bring your attention, as gently as possible, this week to the ways in which you are willing to endure, or maybe even invite in, unhealthy attention out of a fear of loneliness.  And I think all of this is exacerbated by fucking Valentine's Day this week. It's fucking bad timing.

Now, we're going to be feeling the effects of this transit from the 13th of February until the 22nd.  And it's going to be especially intense in the days before and after February 17th, like two days before, two days after.  But we're feeling the transit all of those days.  So, on the one hand, that's a lot to process.  But on the other hand, we have the space and time with which to process this stuff.

Now, people who have planets at around 1 degrees of a fixed sign⁠—so that's Aquarius, Leo, Scorpio, or Taurus⁠—are going to be hit the hardest by this transit.  But we're all going through it.  The astrology of this week is intense and triggering and has within it the potential for healing and transformation.  But the way we get to the healing and the transformation is by being willing and able⁠, which⁠—sometimes we're willing, but we're not able.  And that's okay.  But the way we get to transformation and healing is by being willing and able to sit with our shit and to bring it into consciousness, bring it into alignment.

That's how we step into healing.  And it's a process.  Every once in a while, it's like a moment.  It's a meteoric thing that just fucking comes together.  But most of the time, for most of us, it's a process. And I want to urge you to be gentle with yourself through whatever processes that come up this week because the astrology of this week is not gentle at all.  So be gentle with yourself.  Show yourself grace for where you're struggling, where you're stuck, where you're suffering, and extend that grace to others whenever/wherever you can, whenever and wherever it makes sense.

Now, as promised, I'm going to run through the transits that are happening this week. On the 13th, we have a Venus sextile to Neptune and a Mars conjunction to Pluto. Those two transits will be exact. On the 15th, Mercury forms and exact sextile to Chiron. On the 16th, Mercury forms and exact square to Uranus. And on the 17th, Venus forms an exact conjunction to Pluto.

I want to thank you so much for joining me this very intense week for Ghost of a Podcast. If you like learning with me and getting into the astrology and the woo with me, then I invite you to join me over on my Patreon, where we talk about spiritual and astrological issues in depth. And it's really a platform where I can answer questions and kind of get more into the details of things. So you can join me over there at patreon.com/jessicalanyadoo. The link is always in the episode description.

This is going to be an intense week, so do your best to take care of yourself and others. And I will talk to you in just a couple of days.