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. Because I never take a break from recording the podcast and I just have done the horoscope for years on end every damn week, it feels weird that the last episode you heard, I recorded it back-to-back with the week previous. So, basically, I had the experience of taking a week off of recording this podcast for you, and it feels so weird to come back after so much time has passed.

I am now a year older. I had a birthday. And I spent almost a week in Atlanta, Georgia, and it was really lovely⁠—really cold and really lovely. If you joined me at Charis Books for the live event that I had the honor of doing there, I want to thank you. It was such a good vibe. Atlanta, you are amazing. And it made me remember how much I love the South of the United States of America.

Speaking of the United States of America, I'm going to start off this episode really different than how I usually do. I mean, I guess I already have started it off really different than I usually do. I am shook. I am shook. I am, to the very depths of myself, frightened of the precipice that we stand upon. When I consider all that is happening in the world, certainly, and in the United States specifically, I'm quite frightened. I'm certain I'm not alone.

The astrology does not tell a different story. The astrology of 2025 is deeply concerning, and the astrology of this week is tumultuous, to say the least. If you are in LA and being touched in any way by the fires, but especially if you have lost your home, your livelihood, I don't have the words other than to say my thoughts and my heart are with you.

YK Hong is an anti-oppression activist, educator, and all-around inspiring person who I follow on social media. And you can follow them, too. I encourage you to, @YKreborn⁠—that's Y-K-R-E-B-O-R-N. And they have been posting a ton of resources for mutual aid and relief funds that you can donate to. I have gathered a bunch of those and put them in the show notes of this episode so you can support folks in the LA region who are impacted by these fires directly. So I have a bunch of links there, but please do give them a follow so that you can grace yourself with their wisdom, learn from them, and support them directly and also get more resources. I wasn't able to share all of them in the show notes. But if you've been struggling to figure out how to support folks on the ground who are dealing with the fires, that's a great place to start.

While we're on the topic of social media, I want to acknowledge the owner of Meta has announced that there will no longer be fact-checking. And we know what this means: that the Meta platforms are going to be much more toxic and dangerous environments. I have had a long-standing struggle with social media and how to show up on social media, on any platform, in a way that is ethical when there are such inherently problematic realities about those platforms at all and how they function and who they serve.

I have seen many calls for boycotts for the next several months of the Meta platform, and I think there's great wisdom to that because, as I've talked about on this podcast before, especially in the context of Pluto in Aquarius, where we give our attention reflects our intention⁠. In other words, where we give our attention is power. And so the more time we spend on platforms that ultimately serve to do society harm⁠, it's like investing in them.

So I, like probably many of you, are struggling to figure out how to engage in social media. And I'm going to do my best to post more on the free portion of my Patreon, so I want to again invite you to join me over on Patreon. If you want to become a supporter, great, but join on the free level, and I will do my level best to post way more over there so that I spend less time on social media platforms that are all wrapped up in some pretty ugly shit.

Now, one more thing I wanted to name, which is that if you're in the United States, beginning May 7th, you will not be able to travel between states if you don't have a Real ID⁠—it's like a thing called Real ID⁠—or a passport. And this is a brand-new thing. Now, Mercury goes Retrograde on March 14th. And so that actually means, if we want to avoid dealing with government paperwork stuff during a Mercury Retrograde, which is always advisable if it's possible, starting now is a good time to apply for a passport. Now, if you can't get a passport for some reason, there's always the Real ID. But I think this is a great time for me to remind you to get a passport. If you can't afford it or if you have a bunch of steps to take to do it, then maybe start saving the money or taking the steps now. Okay? Just a little hot tip.

Now, one last thing before we dive headfirst into this week's complex horoscope. February is Black Love Month on Ghost of a Podcast, a little bit in honor of Valentine's Day and a whole lot in honor of Black joy, Black abundance, Black resistance. This month, I invite you to send me questions for the podcast if you yourself are Black. Just send me your questions, and make sure to put the hashtag or the words "Black Love" in your question, and welcome to the front of the line for getting a meeting with me this month on the pod.

Okay. Let's dive into this week's horoscope. There is a lot going on, some very meaningful and, I would say, concerning transits and also a bunch of supportive ones. Before I get into the details, let me just give you some context. Challenging transits are really obvious when they happen. They tend to kick you in the buns, and when something or someone kicks you in the buns, you feel it, right? But think of all the times you've been walking around not kicked in the buns. Do you really think about it? The, quote unquote, "easy" transits, the positive transits, the supportive transits⁠—these are all synonyms for the same thing⁠—in other words, the sextiles and the trines, those transits⁠—they can kind of pass without a whole lot of attention from you. They can not really hit your radar as much.

In these trying times, these times of tumult and even fear, what it is really wise to do is to pay close attention to the positive, supportive transits, to really tap into the energy of those sextiles and trines, because they are there to support you, to help us to build community, to build resources, to build resiliency. To paraphrase the words of comic Ron Funches, it's easy to be positive and optimistic when things are going well. And the real challenge is to maintain optimism, positivity, joy, laughter when things aren't great.

Listen. I am a triple Capricorn⁠—Sun, Moon, and Rising all in Capricorn. Optimism and levity are not my natural state. But I want to remind you⁠—and for people who are wired a little bit more like me, challenge you⁠—to choose joy, to choose optimism, not sticking your head in the sand, not Pollyana shit, but to look for the possibilities and the potential for healing, for revolution, for building together, for protecting each other, especially when things are not going well. So, again, from an astrological viewpoint, that means put energy, attention, and care towards those sextiles and trines that I'm going to tell you about this week and every week, even when the more challenging transits are easier to focus on and are more obvious in their presentation.

Okay. Let's dive in. So, this week, we're looking at the astrology of January 19th through the 25th of 2025. The week begins with its first exact transit happening on Sunday, January 19th, at 8:32 a.m. Now, later in the day, at noon, it's Aquarius Season. So welcome, Aquarius Season⁠—more on that in just a moment. On the 19th, Mercury will be at 16 degrees and 41 minutes of Capricorn, forming an exact sextile to Venus at the same degrees of Pisces. So, if you have anything in your chart at around those degrees of a cardinal or a mutable sign, you're really going to feel this one.

Now, Mercury sextile to Venus is a lovely transit. Mercury is friends, and Venus is loves. And so it's a great time to be loving with your friends, to communicate with your lovers or the people you're flirting with. This is just a lovely time for connecting and relaxing. And on a personal level, this could just be a lovely time for socializing with folks, being able to truly relax in the presence of people you like and love. This can be a great time for tending to your nervous system, to really kind of rest, digest, connect, be kind. It's not necessarily the most spectacular of transits, but it is such a lovely one.

Now, on a social or political level, it's a great time for organizing. It's a great time for connecting with other people who share your values, other people being Mercury and your values being Venus. It's a great time for exploring what's possible in your connections to others, and there are so many levels on which this can happen. There are so many ways that this can happen. What it requires from you is simply a willingness and curiosity to explore potential, to explore possibility, and if needed, to tune up your attitude so that it is more authentic and generous.

When I say generous, I need to suggest be generous to others. It's so easy, especially with the astrology of this week, to slip into paranoia or defensiveness. Be generous in your assumptions, if you're going to be making assumptions. Be generous with yourself. Allow yourself the space you need to feel all of your emotions. That includes defensiveness, pettiness, resentments, fear, sadness, grief, as well as joy and resiliency and humor and excitement and all the lovely emotions that you're capable of feeling, too. Be generous with yourself as you allow yourself to have the full breadth of your own emotional reactions, responses, and experiences. This can be harder than it sounds, and a transit like Mercury sextile to Venus is supportive to that.

And then the last thing I'll say about this transit is reach out to a friend. Let them know you like them. Let them know you love them, if you in fact do. And this can be done in all manner of ways, but I will remind you that someone, somewhere invented emojis so that you didn't have to write a novella to let someone know you love them. That's why we have heart emojis. So just send them out. Try it out this week. It might make you feel better, as well as let others feel the love.

Okay. Now, that's Sunday. On January 20th, we don't have an exact transit, but we will absolutely be feeling the transits that are exact on the 21st. Now, January 20th is a really important date in the United States. It is Inauguration Day for the incoming president, and it is also Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I want to remind you that there is a currency to where you give your attention. The incoming president loves attention. If you're going to watch the inauguration, be mindful of what platform you watch it on. I personally will not be watching that shitshow. But I want to speak for a moment about the astrology of this inauguration.

Looking at the chart for the inauguration of the president, we cast this chart⁠—in case you are an astrology student or another astrologer, we cast the chart for January 20th of 2025 at 12:00 p.m. Eastern. That's when the swearing in is scheduled to begin. And that's in Washington, D.C. Now, this chart has a number of things to be concerned about, as you would expect. There is a Sun/Pluto conjunction. It will be exact on the 21st, and we will talk a lot more about this aspect in a moment. But the Sun/Pluto conjunction is also conjoined to the Midheaven for this chart, which is at 26 degrees of Cap. So it's out of sign, but it is in alignment with what you would expect.

This is a display of power and dominance, not just for the ego of this president, but also, it is a big declaration to the world because before Trump has even taken office, he has been threatening other nations with how he is going to govern and what he is going to try to take from them. I don't know how much you pay attention to the news in other countries. Other countries are taking this shit very seriously, as they should.

But as we look at the Sun/Pluto/Midheaven conjunction at the top of the inauguration chart, we see Mars sitting opposite to all three of those placements, which indicates any number of things. Certainly, we will see militaristic displays of power. We run the risk of violence. Now, as I'm recording this right now, on Saturday, January 18th, thousands of people are gathered in Washington to protest the incoming president's inauguration. And I imagine that that will continue as we come closer and closer to the inauguration itself.

In this chart, we have a Saturn/Venus conjunction in Pisces, which speaks to many things, including the sharply conservative turn that this country is taking with the election of this president. In this chart, we also have a Moon square to Mercury. And all of these aspects speak to dramatic, incendiary consequences. Trump's inauguration marks a sharp turn in a xenophobic, transphobic, homophobic, misogynist era, not just in American politics but in the world. And a lot of people are scared, as we should be.

I've said it before; I'll say again: it is healthy to be frightened of scary things. I don't think there is any spiritual value in pretending that everything is lovely when it is not. Feeling what many people will call shadow emotions⁠—I don't think it's a shadow emotion to feel fear or grief or anger. Feeling these feelings is a healthy thing. However, demoralization and terror is kind of the point. This Sun/Pluto conjunction to the Midheaven opposite Mars⁠—I mean, that indicates that there is a really powerful strategy for those in power to display their power violently and aggressively in efforts to impose their will upon the people.

And while we want to pay attention to it, and while it's impossible to not have an emotional reaction to it, it is essential that we remember that joy, that determination, that clarity of purpose and acts of resistance will empower us to sustain the long and potentially perilous road ahead. We cannot let the violence of this incoming administration pull us apart and scapegoat certain populations. We must protect each other⁠—protect ourselves, but not just ourselves⁠—protect each other. It is essential that we do this.

Now, my research is not total and extensive on this thing that I'm going to share. But as far as I can tell, we have not before seen a Sun conjunction to Pluto on an Inauguration Day. It is a very violent, threatening aspect to have and to have at the top of an Inauguration Day chart. It indicates a level of power and dominance that is inherently corrupting⁠—now, not inevitably corrupting, but inherently corrupting. And when we pair that with what we know of this man and his values and his allies and his actions, it is cause for meaningful concern

 And that concern may drive you to feel really scared and to start to lose yourself. And I want to encourage you to give yourself space to feel your feelings, but then to pull your energy together so that you may find the strength, the motivation, and the inspiration to resist tyranny, to resist fascism, and to do it all in the name of love and kindness because I gotta say love and kindness⁠—they are not passive energies. They are actions. Kindness is an action. Choose kindness. Choose love in all that you do, especially in the face of a fascistic government.

When and if this government does something that is in alignment with your goals and your desires, that's great. That's wonderful. Let's take all the wins we got, but don't confuse the action with the motivation. I'm going to do a deeper dive of looking at this chart on my Patreon, so you can join me over there to be engaged in a more in-depth conversation about this.

That points us to the two exact transits that are happening on January 21st that we are very much feeling on the 20th. On the 21st, which is Tuesday, the very same day that the Trump administration is planning to begin mass deportations⁠—his first full day of office, reportedly in Chicago. This is a violent, disgusting act from this government. It is reportedly set to begin on Tuesday, the 21st, when Mercury forms an exact square to Chiron. Mercury will be at 19 degrees of Capricorn and 14 minutes and Chiron at 19 degrees of Aries and 14 minutes. That transit will be exact at 12:06 a.m. Pacific Time.

The Sun conjunction to Pluto that I mentioned will be exact at 1 degree and 43 minutes of Aquarius. So, if you have anything around there in your chart, you're really going to feel this one. And that will be exact at 4:29 a.m. Pacific Time. These two transits are a very fucking big deal. Let us break it down.

When Mercury and Chiron form a square, there is tension between your ideas about who you are or what the world is and your insecurities, your core wounding. This may come up in a friendship where you have conflicts that, in order to work through them, you need to work through your own deepest insecurities. Another thing that's really classic of this transit is that you need to be clear about what you believe, what you perceive to be happening, and to speak on it. When I say speak on it, I mean that in every context of how we can communicate our ideas in the world⁠—so talk, type, etc.

You may not feel understood. You may feel threatened or like you are completely overwhelmed or confused about what is actually happening, what's being said, what's being communicated. As power struggles and abuses of power emerge, we will see that some people are all too quick to align with power instead of humanity and empathy. We will see that too many people are all too quick to hide their beliefs and convictions, to turn away from their neighbors instead of risk friction or danger, whether it's perceived or real.

Mercury square Chiron will confront you with what you believe and how you're willing to speak on it. It is really important that you listen well and that you communicate your message authentically. And the truth of the matter is you may not be understood. You may not be well received. The assignment here is to honor what's authentic to you instead of your fears and insecurities. And that's really hard in general and certainly under the effects of this transit.

Because apparently the Universe is not playing right now, we have an overlap with the Sun conjunction to Pluto. And honestly, this transit is really frightening in the context of this time we're living in. This transit kicks up power struggles. So the Sun is your identity. It's your will. It's also the part of you that wants to be seen and validated and even reassured. Pluto is your survival mechanisms. Pluto is transformation and destruction. It is the Phoenix, it is the fire, and it is the ashes. You see what I'm saying?

And so, when the Sun and Pluto come together, it is a powerful time. Now, a lot of people experience resentments, defensiveness, paranoia, a drive to prove oneself. You may feel like you really need to defend something that, actually, no one is attacking or defend yourself to someone who is not relevant to you, who does not have power over you. If you find yourself in that position, I want to encourage you to notice it and pull back. You have a finite amount of energy. We all do. Do not waste it on shadowboxing. Do not waste it trying to defend yourself or satiate petty fucking vendettas. It's not worth it because there are real battles at hand.

If you act in ways that are vengeful and petty and cruel, it'll come back to you because one thing about Pluto is that that planet functions as a boomerang. What you put out does come back at you, but it's not symmetrical. It's not like if you talk shit about a friend, that means that that friend will talk shit about you. Life is not symmetrical in that way. You talk shit about a friend, and then something completely unrelated but equally painful comes back at you. It will not seem connected, but in the larger tapestry of our spiritual path in this life, it is connected. It's just not neatly drawn up for you and me to see.

Now, you may feel that you are called to make a difference in some way, to assert your beliefs, to protect others, to share information, and generally speak truth to power. And in that case, do what you believe to be right. But again, choose your battles with wisdom, with forethought, instead of defensiveness and paranoia. You may find yourself deeply irritated and fighting with loved ones that are not actually your enemy. If that's the case, that means that you haven't created enough space to experience some of your more toxic-feeling emotions. And sometimes we simply need space to experience our emotions so that we don't leak them or project them out onto others who are actually our allies.

This is a terrible time for having a calm, easy conversation. Everybody is activated. Everybody is likely to feel dramatic and intense emotions. So, if conversations come up, if exchanges occur where you have to show up and you have to participate, all you can do is strive to manage your own feelings, your own behavior. You can't control other people. Don't try it. And remember what you say cannot be unsaid. What you do cannot be undone. Strive to be intentional, even if that means being slower and more careful than your instinct would have you be, because Mercury square to Chiron in Aries and the Sun and Pluto meeting in Aquarius can hasten the speediness⁠—we're talking about fire and air⁠—the speediness of what is happening. You may feel like you have to respond quickly, and you probably don't. So don't.

This transit can trigger addictive tendencies. So, when people hear me say addiction, often, they just think about substance abuse. Certainly, substance abuse is an important expression of addictive tendencies, but it's not the only one. We can be addictive on so many levels and in so many ways. And Sun conjunction to Pluto will trigger the core wounds that motivate addictive, ruminating, obsessive behaviors. Instead of dealing with the problem at hand when we get triggered by Pluto, we can often simply focus on creating a new problem that somehow seems, to our coping mechanisms, easier to deal with.

Because of the context of what's happening in the world, what's happening in this country, many people will unconsciously pick small fights in their worlds, things that are maybe truly awful for you on an individual level, but you understand it; it's in the realm of what you can handle instead of the existential threat of what a Trump presidency is going to mean for this country and for the world, for other nations and the planet itself.

Whenever we're dealing with transits to or from Pluto, we are meant to let go. Now, that doesn't mean let go of care, let go of intention, let go of empathy. It means let go of control. Let go of your impulse to drive things in a particular direction. Remaining open requires great emotional strength and resiliency. Do you have it? Do I have it? I don't fucking know. But we can practice, right?

Now, the energies of this Sun conjunction to Pluto⁠—as I said, you'll feel them the strongest on the 20th, the 21st, and the 22nd of January. In the context of this transit and, again, the Mercury square to Chiron, we are officially on high alert for misinformation and disinformation, and in particular disinformation. This is an important time to be mindful of the news you share and consume. Always look for sources. Always look for sources.

I wanted to share something that the reporter Jeremy Scahill tweeted. I think it's really important on many levels, but in particular in the context of this astrology. And he tweeted this on January 17th, 2025. He said, and I quote, "Israel says that its forces, not the Red Cross, will transport Palestinian prisoners released under the Gaza deal to ensure that Palestinians, quote, 'don't deviate from the strict security guidelines and refrain from any expression of joy within Israeli territory.'"

Remember, during the brief truce in November 2023, Israeli police visited the homes of freed Palestinians in East Jerusalem, warning them to, quote, "refrain from displaying any joy." I share this because it is really important for us to understand the barbarity of the governance of the State of Israel, and it is really important for us to have evidence of the power of joy, the power of people coming together and experiencing and expressing their own liberation, their own freedom and happiness. Joy is powerful. And it is important that when we come together for each other, that we do it with love. Now, listen. I'm not saying without rage. I'm just saying with love.

Expressions of joy are expressions of power. They are a connective tissue as powerful as hate. Hate is easier to rally people with because it gets us in our unconscious parts, in our Plutonian parts, our fear of annihilation, of isolation. So, this Sun conjunction to Pluto and in general at this time, I want to remind you of the power, the revolutionary power, of joy and of sharing our joy out loud together. And some days, that's going to be a lot harder than others, but it is a really good goal.

Now, that brings us to Thursday, January 23rd, and on this day, we have not one but three exact transits to talk about. At 7:07 a.m. Pacific Time, Mars will be at 23 degrees of Cancer and 17 minutes, forming an exact sextile to Uranus. And of course, Mars is still Retrograde, right? At 12:49 p.m. Pacific Time, Mercury will be at 23 degrees of Capricorn and 12 minutes, forming an exact opposition to Mars Retrograde at the same degrees of Cancer. And then, not long after that, Mercury will be at 23 degrees of Capricorn and 17 minutes, forming an exact trine to Uranus at the same degrees of Taurus. So Mars Retrograde and Mercury are both forming benefic transits, a.k.a. a sextile and a trine, to Uranus on the same day that Mercury and Mars are exactly opposite to each other.

So let's talk about the sextile and the trine first⁠—in other words, the bread of this Mercury/Mars/Uranus sandwich. Mars sextile to Uranus opens up doors. It is a transit that can empower you to explore possibility, to evolve your motivations, to feel strong, courageous, and resilient. Fuck yeah. Mars sextile Uranus can be super sexy. It can be super motivating. It can create an energetic spark in your body that you can apply towards your physical health, sports, and other fun, sweaty things that humans do⁠—wink, wink. It can help you to feel motivated and capable of getting shit done.

Now, Uranus is revolutionary. It's the planet the governs your nervous system and also your willingness and ability to explore what's possible. Uranus governs invention, technology, crystals. It's a little bit of outer space, man⁠—Uranus. So, when Mars forms an exact sextile to Uranus, it's a time to experiment, to reach in and find the motivation to move in the direction of progress, whether that is on a social or political level or it's moving something along in your own healing journey. It's trying new approaches to things you've always done. On a really micro level, if you typically drive to work in a particular way, take a new route. Nothing might happen, but something may shift.

If you are in a situation where you're trying to hook up with somebody or you're flirting with somebody, this transit can help you to be a lot more bold, a lot more willing to just put yourself out there. And luckily, this transit also makes the recipient of your affections potentially feeling more willing to take a risk. So that's not going to create chemistry and interest where there is none, but where there is some, it can create more excitement and fun. So fuck yeah to fun. Fuck yeah to the joy that fun can inspire.

Another thing this transit can do is move forward a revolution, move forward resistance to oppression. This is a really good transit for activists and people who are simply trying to be involved and do the right thing in the presence of abuses of power. So Mars sextile to Uranus is a really important transit for mobilizing towards freedom for yourself and for others. So I want to encourage you to grasp that with all your fingers and toes, with the bigness of your heart and the messiness of your guts.

Now, the other benefic⁠—a.k.a. easy, supportive⁠—transit that's happening on this day is a Mercury trine to Uranus. Now, Mercury trine to Uranus similarly expands possibility. Mercury is your mind. Uranus is your nervous system. And when these two planets are forming a trine to each other, it's supportive to the nervous system. It doesn't tend to tax the nervous system. And this can mean that you can juggle lots of ideas, lots of conversations, at once.

This transit opens you up so that you are able to more actively listen, more effectively communicate something that you've been kind of struggling to communicate. Uranus, as I said, is innovation and possibility and progress. And Mercury is your mind. It's your attitudes. It's your beliefs. It's the information you have access to and the information you're capable of communicating. So this can be a time where information is shared in such a way that it opens minds, opens doors. That's exciting, right?

This is a great time, again, for organizing, for resource-sharing. And as I'm probably going to remind you over and over again over the course of Pluto in Aquarius⁠—which is until 2044, so giddyap; get ready⁠—where you give your attention is currency. There is great power in where you give your attention. So be very mindful about where you get your information, whether we're talking about news or we're talking about gossip in your social circle.

Mercury trine to Uranus is a great time for reaching out to people, building coalition, building community, building friendship, revisiting ideas that maybe you jumped the gun before, and now you're more open to learning it in a different way or learning it from a different source. This is a great time for connecting with friends and community members. It's a great time for building ideas, sharing ideas, and exploring possibilities.

Now, I warned you that these are just the two slices of bread. Here's the meat. Here's the center transit that's happening, which is Mercury, of course, is opposite Mars. And why is it "of course" opposite? Because, as you know, Mercury is in Capricorn; Mars is in Cancer. So now they're opposite each other. These two lovely, supportive, expansive transits are occurring on this same day that Mercury is opposite to Mars. What does Mercury opposite Mars do? It makes you irritable. It makes you easily annoyed. It makes you impatient and restless. And guess what: it also makes you annoying.

When Mercury and Mars are opposite each other, we see evidence of something that, if you've taken classes with me, you've probably heard me talk about, which is that Mars governs the ego. Mars is the planet that rules over the ego. But I am convicted that in the modern world, Mercury is a secondary ruler of the ego because in this modern world, we use our Mercury⁠—in other words, we post and we state and we insist that we are x, y, or z. We use our minds and our words to insist that we are or are not a thing. And that is inherently egotistical.

Now, Mercury is really subjective. It's my ideas. It's my beliefs. And how intrinsic to who you are are your ideas and your beliefs? Pretty fucking intrinsic, I'm guessing, right? And so, when Mars and Mercury are opposite each other, the risk for ego battles is fucking massive. Now, it's not ego battles like with Pluto. Pluto is like my core survival mechanisms are at play, and they are driving me. With Mercury and Mars, it's quick to jump to conclusions. It's defensive. It's combative. So it can be a little bit more on the surface, but as I said before, cruel words, cruel tones of voice, cruel behavior cannot be taken back.

You may find yourself projecting, again, being defensive, being aggressive, or being passive-aggressive, which⁠—for the record, passive-aggressive behavior is not more ethical, kind, or generally acceptable then aggressive aggressive behavior. It's just a different style. This transit is one in which people tend to leap to conclusions. So, happily, we have these really supportive transits happening that can help you to listen better, to do your due diligence, to have a more balanced engagement with your own ego and with the egotistical behavior of others.

This transit may be supported by these other two really lovely transits that are happening at the same time, but that will only occur if you create the space inside of yourself to be curious about⁠—Mercury⁠—the motivations⁠—Mars⁠—of your thoughts and feelings. Uranus⁠—it governs space. And of course, I do mean space, like far out, man. It's aliens. It's space. But I also mean space inside of you. Space exists inside of you, inside of the universe of you. And if all you take is time and not space, then you're missing out on your own inner landscape and your own capabilities.

It is harder to sit with space because in space tend to be your emotions. And most of us have a really hard time sitting with our emotions. But in order to engage with transits like this one and the ones that are happening on the 21st, we need to be able to practice staying present within the space that exists inside of you. So do your best to be patient. Do your best to be curious. Do your best to act in ways that reflect your true beliefs instead of your reactions. You may need to defend yourself. You may need to defend someone else. In that case, this transit is really going to help you. But if you don't need to act in a defensive way, don't do it, okay? Save your very precious energy for worthy battles and not just easy targets.

Now, that brings us to the last exact transit of this week, and it's happening on Saturday, January 25th, at 3:54 p.m. Pacific Time. We have a Venus trine to Mars. Venus will be at 22 degrees of Pisces and 25 minutes, and Mars Retrograde will be at the same degrees of Cancer. This transit is another lovely one, very similar to the first transit of the week, the Mercury sextile to Venus. Venus trine Mars is a transit where what you want to give to others and what you want to get from them⁠—there's a harmony there. Your romantic desires and your sexual desires⁠—again, a sweet little harmony. Your values and your actions⁠—harmony.

Now, of course, this doesn't magically happen just because the transit is occurring. But the transit empowers you and me and everyone else to tap into this potential. Venus trine to Mars very generally is a good time for socializing, for flirting, for dating, for making art, for enjoying art. It's also, on a kind of deeper level, a really good time for acting⁠—Mars⁠—on your values⁠—Venus. If for some crazy reason you've had social conflict based on all the transits we've been going through, Venus trine Mars is a good time to make amends, to open the door for exploring what actually happened, why it happened, and the care that you hold for the other person or the other people.

Finding an outlet for your care, your creativity, and finding that outlet that is somewhat physical⁠—it empowers you to do something⁠—is a really good goal for this transit. This is a lovely transit which⁠—again, if you are engaged in activism, if you are organizing or trying to connect with communities of people, this transit is a really good resource and support for that, so⁠—wonderful.

Now, the astrology of this moment is a lot. And it is really hard to stay present and associated when things are scary, which⁠—some of these transits are scary, and certainly, some of what's happening in the world is scary. As woo humans, I want to remind you that we have the capacity, we have the skills, to tap in. And so what you may want to practice this week and in the coming weeks and months is returning to center.

A quick little thing⁠—and I may have shared this on the podcast many years ago, but a quick little action you can take to bring your energy back to you when you feel scattered and freaked out is to just take a moment, get silent, do your best to get present and feel whatever you feel, and then say your name out loud or out loud in your head three times. Just say your name three times with the intention of bringing your energy back to the center of your body, your solar plexus, your core⁠—to bring your energy and attention back to you because you are best defended, you are best resourced, when you have access to all of your energies, even the sticky and fucked-up ones.

Bring your energy back to yourself. Create a practice of returning to yourself so that you do not abandon yourself when you feel triggered or activated. That's not going to work for everyone, of course. If that doesn't work for you, ignore the advice. But if it does work for you, it's a really simple practice that you can return to again and again when you're feeling kind of off of center. And these days are likely to throw many of us off of center.

Now I'm going to do a quick run through of the transits of this week for your note-taking purposes. But of course, the transcript of each and every episode is available on my website over at ghostofapodcast.com. Okay. On the 19th of January, Mercury forms an exact sextile to Venus. On the 21st is when Mercury forms an exact square to Chiron and the Sun and Pluto meet. And on the day of this transit, to quote the late, great David Lynch, keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole. On the 23rd, Mars Retrograde will form a sextile to Uranus, Mercury will form an opposition to Mars Retrograde, and Mercury will form a trine to Uranus. And then, finally, on the 25th, Venus forms a trine to Mars Retrograde.

I am wishing you love and light, and I don't mean theoretical light. I mean each and every one of us has light that exists in the spaciousness of our internal universe, not because we're special, not because we're good, but because we're alive. I wish for you in these tumultuous times to cultivate access and relationship to your own inner light so that it may warm you, but also so that you may share that light and warmth with others because we are incredibly strong together, but divided we fall.

So how's that for a light ending to this week's Ghost of a Podcast? Whoop. Okay. I'll talk to you in just a couple of days. Buh-bye.