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 another episode of So Many Questions, where I do a quick roundup of a bunch of questions and answer them here on the pod for you. My first question for you is from KM, and they say, "My question is do you have any tips for connecting what's happening currently with the movement of the planets to a personal natal chart? As I study and continue to deepen my understanding of my own chart and current transits and planetary placements, I struggle to understand or find a good explanation of how to combine the two and delve into how my own unique astrology interacts with present astrology. Would love to be able to better understand how the two work together to live a more aligned life."

I love this question, and it's something that I've been asked on my Patreon a fair amount. So let me endeavor to make sense of it all. As you understand your birth chart, which is no small feat, if you're studying astrology or you're just getting into astrology and you're not exactly studying it but you're Googling shit, what you'll note is that the birth chart is really complicated. There is a ton to understand.

And if you're studying astrology in particular, it's really hard to synthesize all the information that is available to you. This is because, honestly, astrology is hard to learn. It's not hard to learn quickie facts about signs, but when you really get into your planetary placements, your natal aspects, we're getting into the complex and nuanced universe of astrology and universe of your own inner landscape, your own lived experiences, your epigenetics, your physical nature, your emotional nature, and on and on and on.

And so I want to just, first of all, say be patient with studying astrology because it takes time. It is, in fact, the study of time, so it stands to reason that it would take time. Once you start to understand your birth chart, what you're really understanding is your nature through the lens of astrology, which is more complicated than keywords and three-sentence descriptions or explanations.

So you work with your nature, and then you start to learn about transit astrology. And transit astrology describes how the planets, in moving through the sky real time, interact with planets frozen in time in your birth chart. And that describes your cycles and trends of experience. And sometimes those things are really complicated. You can be going through a really awesome Jupiter transit and also a really challenging Neptune transit at the same time. And so, in some ways, your life might be doing really well, and in other ways, you feel out of sorts and confused, and things aren't progressing at all in the way you expected.

Multiple things can happen at once. And when you strive to understand transits to your birth chart, it's important to know that those are going to be the most impactful things you can understand about what you're going through on a personal level. The timing of it, the texture of it, how long it'll last, what you're supposed to learn from the experience⁠—that can all be found in transit astrology.

And yet, every week on the podcast, I drop a horoscope where I describe the astrology of the world, global astrology. This is a different way of working with astrology because it's not specific to your birth chart; it's specific to the world. And so the astrology that is happening globally⁠—it will interact with your birth chart different than your mom's birth chart, different than your coworker's birth chart, and on and on it goes.

So, for instance, we may be all going through a Saturn/Mercury conjunction. That might be happening in the world. And so what you'd want to understand is how that affects the world, how that's affecting all the people of the world, which includes your world and you. But then you might look at how that transit is impacting your birth chart specifically.

That may mean that that Mercury/Saturn conjunction is forming a kind of supportive transit to something in your birth chart. It might be forming an extra challenging transit to something in your birth chart, or it might not be making any kind of an aspect. In other words, the math may not line up. And in that case, when the math doesn't line up, you would look at what house it's falling into in your birth chart to understand what part of your life is likely to be lit up by the transit that's happening.

So, if, let's say, Mercury is conjunct Saturn⁠—it's kind of a heavy transit⁠—it's going to be a lot more positive if it hits your chart in a supportive way than if it hits your chart in a challenging way. So that gives us a sense of how all of these things work together. And if you hear me say this and your head is spinning, trust you are not alone. Astrology is complicated. There is a lot of details and a lot to learn.

So, if you find that you're like, "Okay. I really want to better understand how to use astrology to live a more aligned life"⁠—which is a fantastic goal⁠—but at the end of the day, you're not yet at a place where you can synthesize the myriad of astrology data that is part of your birth chart or part of the transited astrology, then all that means is you want to keep on practicing. The practice of astrology is a practice.

So keep on practicing. And it's okay to adjust your expectations of the tool of astrology to fit your use of it, your competency with it at this time. As you're still learning astrology, it may not be the most effective tool for emotional development as your brain works with all layers of data. So that's why we want to have, ideally, lots of tools in our tool kit, so we don't over-rely on one.

Now, all that said, I'm going to try to simplify this if I can. When I or any other astrologer is talking about the horoscope for the week ahead, all the transits that are happening in a given period of time, what we're talking about is the astrological weather. The same weather is going to affect different people in different ways. I personally⁠—I love a warm and sunny day. I love a warm and sunny day. I am always happier when it's sunny out. I just love warmth and sun.

However, when I'm sick, when I'm going through an emotionally grueling time, when I am deep in the thick of something really challenging, I don't prefer a sunny and warm day at all. When I'm going through those kinds of experiences, I prefer it to be gray and uninviting outside. So there's a way that we understand our nature, a.k.a. the birth chart, and we understand the astrological weather outside, a.k.a. transits that are happening in the world. And then there's the interaction between where you're at⁠—that's your personal transits⁠—and what's happening in the world, the weather outside.

And what we're doing with astrology and with the birth chart and transits to you and to the world is we're just layering that data. We're just layering that data of how you feel about the weather, what the weather is, and how you feel about the weather given what you're going through right now.

My next question actually came to me all the way back in January 2024, but I still feel like it's a good question to check in on. So this is what it says. "I have a question about transits and life transitions. Pluto is currently in my tenth house of Aquarius, and I'm hearing all this stuff about me stepping into my path, power, leadership, and calling. This feels true and real and is accurate regarding the longings in my heart. And in real time, shit is horrible. I am still recovering from the worst year of my life that really destroyed me in lots of ways. I'm unemployed, living at home with my parents, and have never felt further from myself or my path in life. In many ways, I feel like I've lost my chance to have my true path, that I've lost myself, my soul, to the trauma of the past year.

"What can we do/what do you think about folks who feel like they're missing out on important transits? I wish I could embrace the power and potency of Pluto entering Aquarius and my tenth house. I wish I could step into the next phase, but I still feel like I'm being held back by the trauma and experience of the last year." This person was born June 23rd, 1990, in New York, New York, at 2:52 a.m.

So there's kind of two parts to this question. The first thing is it is good for you to know that the reason why things are hard is because you have a Midheaven at 28 degrees of Capricorn. And that means that Pluto has been sitting on top of your Midheaven. That transit's not over. And because that transit's not over, of course you're struggling and having a really hard time.

So, until December 30th of 2024, you're going to be in a Pluto conjunction to the Midheaven, which is a very challenging transit. That said, your core question is, what can a person do when you feel like you're missing out on an important transit, that you have read some things or been told things by an astrologer that promise you some sort of really positive life transition, and it's simply not your experience?

So there's a couple things. The first is Pluto is not easy in any house at any time. That's not a thing. It's Pluto. So I wonder, first of all, when people tell me that they're reading all kinds of things or they're hearing all kinds of things about a transit, what your source is because I can't imagine any reliable source saying that Pluto transiting through your tenth house is going to only involve stepping into your power and into leadership.

Pluto transiting through any house requires that we transform. It puts us in contact with our shadow. It is intense. It can be painful. Pluto often confronts us with shame and resentments and all kinds of other heavy, sticky stuff. It is really important⁠—and I can't say this emphatically enough⁠—when you're using astrology, when you feel vulnerable⁠—like you're feeling vulnerable about something and you're seeking out astrology⁠—that you vet your sources, that you don't just put a query in a search engine, whether it's on social media or on the internet or whatever, and just consume content without first assessing whether or not the writer or the creator of that content is a reliable and compatible source for you.

Any time you consume any kind of astrological, spiritual, psychological⁠—what have you⁠—content and a writer or creator isn't credited, then you shouldn't consume it at all. Don't trust it at all. And a hot tip with astrology stuff is, if you're feeling really vulnerable about something and you find a creator who you're like, "Oh, this person feels like a yes to me," start off by investigating their content on topics that aren't tender to you, that don't feel vulnerable to you, to see if it's an accurate, aligned connection because sometimes it just isn't. And sometimes the person's just not the one for you.

So I want to encourage critical thinking and the importance of doing your own due diligence because I would be really surprised by anyone saying that Pluto in any house is all about stepping into your power. The way that Pluto helps us to step into our power is by breaking us down. That's Pluto. What a jerk. Right?

And this brings me, again, back to the center of your question, which is many people write to me and say that they feel that they are missing out on a particular transit that they read or heard something about. And whatever it was that they were told promised them something lovely, and they're not experiencing that lovely thing, to which I say life is a series of transits. Sometimes you're going to make really good use of your transits. Sometimes you're going to fuck it up. So am I. We all are. That's life. That's life.

And so sometimes I honestly think the issue is you consumed bad astrology. You sought a very serious and meaningful answer from not a serious and meaningful source or something. Sometimes that's the answer, and sometimes the answer is something else was going on; you had another transit happening. For instance, this questioner, you are asking me about Pluto in the tenth house when what you really should be focused on is this incredibly challenging, once-in-a-lifetime experience of Pluto conjunct the Midheaven, which will be over, like I said, at the very end of 2024.

So sometimes there's just so much information out there about astrology that you don't know what you don't know, and therefore, you're like, "I'm missing out on my Jupiter Return," because you don't realize you're going through three hard Saturn transits at the same time. So sometimes there's that. And then sometimes you miss the transit; you fuck the transit up.

And here's the good news. Transits keep on happening. The sun sets every day, but it also rises every day. If you miss an opportunity, there will be other opportunities. It's important that we don't get so fixated on interpretations and predictions that we lose out on cultivating the ability to be present and accept what is in the here and now because if you accept where you're at, then you can work with where you're at.

And if you read a transit description or you hear one on social media or whatever, and it doesn't resonate for you/it doesn't match, then it doesn't resonate for you and it doesn't match. And you need to trust that for yourself.

My next questioner was born August 25th, 2000, at 11:09 a.m. in Cleveland, Ohio. And this is the question. "These last few years, the only years I've been seriously dating, I have assumed I was polyamorous. I've never been comfortable being tied down, and I never want to expect everything I need to come from one person. But within the past year, I have been feeling the urge to be partnered⁠—not just partnered, but intertwined and building a home with someone who is with me always in one way or another. I'm wondering if my urge to be polyamorous was just lowering my expectations of relationships or if my urge to be partnered is just a projection of internal solitude and grief."

So this is a really great question. And before I even look at the birth chart, I want to say this. It doesn't have to be either of these things that are both kind of shitty. It can simply be that in the year 2020, polyamory was it for you, and in the year 2021, nonmonogamy was it for you, and in the year 2022, you were feeling completely disinterested in sex and love, and in the year 2023, you were feeling all about monogamy.

In other words, you are allowed to change and evolve. You are allowed to have different preferences at different times. And sometimes what can happen is we get so fixated on an identity associated with relationship patterns that we can miss out on the opportunity of simply being present for what is authentic in this moment.

Now, my dear, you have a Mars/Uranus opposition in your birth chart. And that is not uncommon to see for people who are super into nonmonogamy or polyamory. You also have a Moon in Cancer and a Libra Rising. There's lots of other things in your chart, but let's just focus on those two. The Moon in Cancer, the Libra Rising⁠—they are very partnership-oriented. And they are placements that often incline a person to want to be really special to someone and to have someone who's really special to you.

So you have different parts of yourself. And different parts of yourself are going to be activated at different times in different ways. It is okay if you're craving conventional monogamous partnership or nonconventional monogamous partnership or whatever else. What I want to point you away from is somehow pathologizing the times in which you were feeling polyamorous. That didn't have to be a lowering of your expectations.

And the urge to be partnered in a more traditional nonmonogamous way doesn't have to be a projection of internal grief. It can simply be that at different times, you want different things; you're available for different things. If you can give yourself the freedom of evolving and changing, then you don't have to be fighting yourself while also fighting through the landmine that is interpersonal and romantic relationships.

Okay. My next question comes from PF, and they asked me to talk about the Jupiter Return. "I have a Jupiter Return coming and wanted to get a better understanding of how to connect with its energies. I've always had difficulty, since learning astrology, understanding Jupiter and how it shows up. And with a Return coming, I was hoping I could start this new cycle with a deeper understanding and hope it would help all your listeners understand how Jupiter works in their lives as well." And PF was born April 7th, 1989, at 9:42 p.m. in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Okay. The truth is I don't think I've talked a lot about the Jupiter Return on the podcast. And it is a meaningful transit, but it's not always the magic that the internet will often suggest that it is. So, first of all, whenever you want to know about a transit that is not a novel transit⁠—so it's not a transit that happens once in a lifetime, but it's one that happens cyclically, as basically all the transits do from the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn⁠—so they happen cyclically, right? You can always look back at the last time or multiple times that it's occurred for you.

The Jupiter Return first happens when you're 12 years old. The next time it happens is 12 years after that at 24. The next time it happens after that is 12 years after you're 24, which is right around the age you are, around 36. So you've already gone through not one but two Jupiter Returns.

Now, as I was saying in response to another question, oftentimes when we're going through something like a Jupiter Return, we're also going through other, more challenging transits. So the effects of the Jupiter Return become mitigated; they become less obvious or less spectacular. As a great example of that, right now, for you, PF, Chiron is sitting right on top of your Mercury. That's going to affect how you experience your Jupiter Return, not because it has anything to do with your Jupiter, but because it's a powerful transit that you're likely to be noticing in your life.

That said, to your question, what a Jupiter Return is is when Jupiter returns to the place it was at the moment of your birth. And so, when Jupiter conjuncts Jupiter, so when transiting Jupiter conjoins natal Jupiter, what happens is growth. Growth happens. You have the opportunity to really expand in your life, and it can be a beautiful thing. The Jupiter Return is a time when luck can bend your way. You may have opportunities. You may have advancements. You may have greater ease.

However, I know a lot of astrologers will promise you that this is the luckiest time in your life, and sunshine and rainbows will just shoot right out of your butt and everything's going to be glorious. I have rarely seen that. I've rarely experienced it. And I've rarely seen anyone else experience it. The Jupiter Return is a time where we check in with our natal Jupiter. And whatever it is that is happening around the themes and embodiment of our natal Jupiter experience expansion and growth. And it can be really wonderful. It can also be really subtle.

In your birth chart, PF, you've got Jupiter sitting in the seventh house, which is the house of your intimate one-on-one relationships. So we're talking about your bestie, your partner, your ex, any kind of close one-on-one relationship. Now, in your birth chart, Jupiter is unaspected. And that's why Jupiter throws you for a loop, because when a planet is unaspected in the birth chart, that means it's not having a conversation with the other planets in your birth chart.

Natal aspects, birth chart aspects⁠—what they are is basically the math that describes the tone and type of conversation that planets are having with each other. When a planet's unaspected, it's not talking to the other planets, and the other planets are not talking to it. And therefore, that planet can work in surprising and mysterious ways. It may function in such a way where it just takes over, and you may take huge risks and do wild things when Jupiter gets activated in your birth chart. At other times, you may be really closed off to optimism and not take a lot of chances and not be willing to have a lot of experiences in your relationships because it's the seventh house.

The Jupiter Return will be a transit that stimulates your Jupiter. And that will be a good pulse check of where you're at because, as I've said so many times before on this podcast, growth is not inherently good. We want to grow things that are healthy and life-affirming. Sometimes, though, Jupiter will come around and it'll grow things that are not really working for you, in which case it feels real bad. So this will be a great pulse check for where you're at in the embodiment of your natal Jupiter.

You may have a great relationship experience, and that may be something internal and psychological where you have an insight. It may be that you have a lovely connection with another person that makes you feel good for a short period of time, or it can be something more spectacular like the start of a new relationship. But again, I want to temper your expectations because, in my experience, the Jupiter Return does not set off fireworks most of the time for most people. Sometimes, but I wouldn't go around expecting it.

But wherever you're at in your life, a great way to get insight into what your Jupiter Return is likely to bring up is to look back at the last two⁠—or however many you've experienced, depending on how old you are⁠—your last Jupiter Returns because that'll tell you what happened last times and how you handled it. And if you do that research in advance like a good child of Saturn, not Jupiter, then you can get ahead and be intentional about how you work with the energies and what you do to try to bring about the best possible outcomes.

And now on to the last question. It comes from YM, and it says, "Does planning for a difficult transit actually help? Hi, Jessica. I'm pretty new to learning astrology. I like the idea of using astrology to prepare for difficult transits and have been tracking mine for a few months now. My question is, can we actually prepare for a difficult transit, or will it be difficult regardless or just manifest in a different way since we averted the most obvious problems? For example, if I were to apply it to my career, if I know a difficult transit is coming up so I decide it's a bad time to look for a new job even though mine is toxic, wouldn't that just make the toxic job potentially worse? I guess I'm just confused on how to approach difficult transits other than to emotionally brace myself for a rough patch."

So this is such a great question. And the answer is, yes, we can totally prepare for difficult transits. But the way you've described preparing for a difficult transit is not how it's done. I will say to you what my poor patrons have heard me say so many times because I answer questions like this on my Patreon a lot. Transit astrology is not beginning astrology. So, if you're pretty new to learning astrology and you're starting with transit astrology, then you're likely to be confused and kind of get misinformation and not really know how to apply it. And to be honest, most people start with transit astrology because it's the yummy, delicious stuff that we all want, right? We want predictive astrology.

So the way that we prepare for difficult transits is first through education, so finding a great resource. My favorite book for transit astrology is Planets in Transit by Robert Hand. It is the only book you need, as far as I'm concerned. This is not an ad. But I will say it is a great book, and it tracks all of the transits, including the transits of the planets through the houses. So it is the one to get. If you're going to spend money on a book on transits, which I hope you do⁠—support astrologers⁠—yeah, that's the one to get.

Okay. You can prepare, first with education. But you can prepare for different kinds of transits in different kinds of ways. Different transits require different kinds of preparation. Saturn likes actual preparation, like, "I know this is going to happen, and I'm going to plan for it." Jupiter wants you to be open. So does Neptune. Neptune teaches nonattachment. Pluto is transformation, and Uranus requires adaptability.

So the way we prepare for transits is going to be specific to the transit and also in consideration of our own nature. If you're a really rigid person by nature and you know you're going to be going through a transit that requires flexibility and adaptability, that's going to require a really different kind of preparation than if you're somebody who's all about change and all about adaptability.

So, in your question, you say, "If I know I have a difficult transit coming up that applies to my career"⁠—I have no idea what you would think is a difficult transit regarding your career. This very episode, somebody wrote in asking about Pluto transiting through their tenth house, when what was really going on is Pluto conjoining their Midheaven. What I'm trying to say is there is no transit that promises you difficulties with your career. There are many transits that promise change with career or a time of testing or a time of consequences with career, a time of striving with career. But that is not inherently going to be bad for all people, at all.

When we get too fixated on the three-paragraph description we read or the TikTok we heard or the podcast or whatever it is⁠—even the reading that we get. When we get too fixated on a singular interpretation, we lose sight of the big picture, which is that energy is energy is energy. And so let's say you know that there's a difficult transit coming up that's going to affect your career and that it's not the ideal time to look for a new job. Let's say it's not the ideal time to look for a new job. However, you're in a toxic situation. Oh well. It's not ideal, but you still gotta do it.

So it's about recognizing that you are not trapped by what you're learning with astrology. It's a weather report. So let's say you wanted to straighten your hair, just get a perfect blowout, and go to the park and have a picnic. But you found out that it's supposed to rain tomorrow. Well, maybe you won't get the blowout. Maybe you will say, "Fuck all the odds," and you will get the blowout. Okay. Fine. You'll probably wear a hat and use an umbrella. Maybe you won't go to the park and have a picnic, but you'll find a place to eat out that has an overhang and you can still sit outside in the rain but not really get wet.

You'll adapt. You'll adjust based on the information that you have. So at least you looked at the weather first to know that it was going to be raining so that you didn't get that blowout, pack up your bags, and go to the park expecting a lovely picnic. You work with the information. We don't want to become flattened by astrological information. We don't want to lose our agency with astrological information, but instead use it to support you to make the most informed choices you can.

If you're in a toxic situation, get out of there if you can, as soon as you can. But knowing that you're in a challenging transit might mean you ask yourself the question, "Is this a situation that I could adapt and learn from the lessons of the transit, learn whatever it is that's being triggered within this situation? Or do I need to get out in order to take care of myself? Is that the challenge of the transit itself?" Of course, this is fiction. I don't know what's happening for you.

But generally speaking, when we suffer in advance of something bad happening, it doesn't make that bad thing that eventually does or doesn't happen any easier to bear. Suffering in advance is not virtuous, and it's not practical. It's neither. So, if your use of transit astrology inspires you to suffer in advance, then you probably shouldn't be using transit astrology at this time or in the way that you're doing it. Bracing yourself is not the point. It's understanding that there's a certain energy that is running through your life, and you can work with that energy more intentionally if you know what it is.

Astrology is just a tool. It's not the only tool. I mean, it's a tool I love, but it may or may not be the best tool for you. Or it may be the perfect tool for you now and not later. You get what I'm saying, right? It's important that you use this tool, like every other tool, with as much intention and common sense as you can. I don't only use astrology; I'm one of those people who obsessively looks at my weather app. I want to know what the weather is going to be at all hours of the day. I'm that person.

And so, for me, astrology is really helpful because I like working with the weather. I like knowing what the weather is going to be so I can prepare for the weather. I will have 20 layers on me if I feel that that's the best thing to do. But for some people, that just makes them stress out or it makes them feel like they're living in the future. The point is if learning about something happening in your birth chart sparks suffering or makes you emotionally brace yourself, then you're not tapping into the energetics of the opportunity that each and every transit brings you. And that's really the work.

And if whatever it is that you've learned from whatever source you've learned it doesn't help you to understand what the opportunity is, then find a resource that does, because at least from a humanistic astrology perspective, there's always an explanation of what we can learn, how we can grow, how a transit can help us to evolve. None of it just happens for torture. But it can be hard to find the right data that resonates with you that is accessible to you in all the ways. Do your research. Do your due diligence so that you can use astrology to help you as much as possible.

And that's the end of this episode. I want to thank you for joining me. And please send me your questions to be considered for the podcast over at ghostofapodcast.com. Do make sure to read the little pro tips for getting your question answered. And if you want to learn more with me, join me over on Patreon, where I answer questions like these all the livelong day.

I hope you're taking really good care of yourself and others, and I will talk to you in just a couple of days. Buh-bye.