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. This week, there are not a lot of transits, but emotions and anxieties are likely to be running pretty high. And we'll get into a little bit more of why that is astrologically in a moment, but also, we can just kind of look around the world and come up with some pretty quick theories.

Now, that said, before we get into the forecast, I want to just take a moment to talk about how to handle challenging emotions, how to tolerate being in a state of anxiety or dysregulation. And I'm not talking about this in the context of mental illness or disorders or anything like that because, of course, I am not a doctor or a therapist, and let's be exceptionally clear about that. But if you are, like so many others, experiencing anxiety in reaction to world events and the state of the world, the instability and the uncertainty of the world and inside of the world, that's kind of more of what I'm talking about.

The truth is that we must experience challenging emotions. Grief is a part of love. Stress is a part of caring about things and people. Upsets are inevitable. And I say this partially because—common sense, right? But then the other part is we have Saturn in astrology, and it teaches us that things are hard sometimes. We feel depressed. We feel stuck. We must work really hard and toil and deal with failures and all these things. Saturn teaches us that.

Neptune teaches us that we deal with anxieties, that uncertainty and a lack of control is a part of life, that we as humans have escapist and disassociative tendencies. And sometimes they help us, and sometimes they hurt us. Pluto teaches us that we go through transformations, we go through loss, that we grieve and we have resentments and pettiness inside of us and it is inside of others, that part of the human condition, for whatever the fucking reason it is, is about power struggles and conflict and hopefully transformation and conflict resolution. Pluto teaches us that trauma is a part of the human condition, but so is healing from trauma.

And then, of course, there's Uranus. And Uranus teaches us that things can change in an instant for the better, for the worse, and that sometimes things that seem like they're progress actually pull us back, and other things that seem like they're pulling us back facilitate progress. Uranus teaches us about our nervous system and how engaging with our nervous systems in healthy ways helps to create greater balance.

As an astrologer, this is my perspective, my view of how the human condition works and how to understand what we're going through, when, and why. And this tool I find to be very fucking helpful, and you may, as well, if you're here with me. I'm kind of starting here today with you as a way to acknowledge that messy, challenging feelings and experiences are a part of life. And in our personal lives, when we are curious about how our choices or our actions led to certain things, I think that can be really helpful.

When we're curious about the world at-large and we are inspired to learn about current events, about history, this is really powerful, and it does build on your ability to cope. But when we linger too long on the question why—"Why me? Why now? Why us? Why this?"—we can lose energy because it's essentially hanging out at the doorway of acceptance. When you are able to accept, "This is what it feels like now. These are all the uncertainties and potentials now"—when we can accept those things, then you lose less energy on details that aren't important, on questions that don't actually help to facilitate your ability to cope with whatever it is that's happening.

Now, when I look at the astrology of the world, I am increasingly concerned by the lack of geopolitical stability. I am increasingly concerned about wars, and there are so many things that are connected to that. As I study the astrology of these things, my concern deepens. I find that really scary. And I'll be really direct to say I'm talking about these things in very plain terms on my Patreon, and I'm referencing them here on the podcast. And at this moment, I'm trying to parse out how to talk about these things in public without blowing out your nervous system and creating a lot of stress.

So, on my Patreon, where I'm, again, posting for free and paid content—both—I am unpacking these topics more. And the people who are going there to consume my content on these topics are doing it because they really want to. So that's what I'm doing right now. I'm talking more about the big geopolitical stuff there for now. But within all of that, it has me thinking a ton about how to navigate ongoing chronic stress that comes from worldwide destabilization and uncertainty when you don't feel safe. And maybe you're not safe, right? How do you cope with that?

And so I wanted to share something that I hope will be easy for you to use, and then we'll just get into your horoscope from there, okay? I'm calling it the four Ns, super easy to remember. Four Ns. When you are overwhelmed with either acute or chronic dysregulation, stress, uncertainty, panic, anxiety, tap into these four simple Ns. You're going to note. You're going to name, number, and nurture.

So let me tell you what I mean. The first N is to note, to note what you feel. And that might be panicked or stressed or tired—whatever it is. But as you note how you feel, also note how you know you feel it. How do you know you feel what you feel? In order to answer that question, you must slow down, quiet the mind just a little bit at least, and really feel into what you're feeling. And that's quite powerful. It can be quite moving. So note or notice how you know what you feel and where you feel it. And if you catch yourself creating descriptions that are highly analytic instead of simply noticing where you feel what you feel, noticing your experience, then okay. Then you want to hang out at the first N for a little longer.

Now, let's say you notice you're stressed. You know you feel it because your thoughts are all over the place. You have a little tummy ache. You are having a hard time staying present with any one topic—whatever it is. Okay. So you're noticing it. Then you're going to name it. Name the emotions. You may have one emotion. You may have several emotions. Name the emotions. The process of naming things is really powerful. You may notice that when I'm doing readings for folks and I tap in psychically, I ask for a name. It's because names hold power. Words hold power.

And so naming an emotion allows you to tap into that power instead of only be the subject of it. And naming things serves the function—it's a very important function—of creating separation between you and the emotion. So, if you're feeling panic and grief and sadness and fear, you are not grief and panic and sadness and fear. You're feeling those feelings, but those feelings are not you. There is a central you that is able to name the feelings once you've noticed them. And that central you is a resource that you want to nurture and tap into.

So we've got the first N out of four is note or notice. The second one is name. The third is number. On a scale from one to ten or zero to ten—or you can use whatever numbers you like. I encourage you to keep it ten or smaller. On a scale from, let's say, zero to ten, how intense are the feelings? If you have named, let's say, one emotion or three emotions, for each of them, number on a scale from one to ten how intense is it? Are you feeling a nine? Are you feeling a three? Maybe some emotions are a lot stronger than others. Again, the process of numbering is a process of soothing your anxiety because you are taking it one further step outside of you. This emotion is not you. And being able to track the intensity of it can be really soothing. It can also not necessarily help, but it's a good step to take.

And that brings us to the final N, which is nurture. Nurturance requires acceptance. It requires patience and care. As you nurture your emotions, you may decide that you need a little nap. You may decide that you want to do something to support your body, maybe some form of stimming where you rock or hug yourself or something that soothes your body. Lots of people enjoy exercise as a way to soothe the emotions. There are lots and lots of ways of nurturing yourself when you're in a moment of need.

There are even more ways of numbing out, and that's not on the list of things I'm recommending here. When you numb out, you are distancing yourself from the emotion, but you're not nurturing yourself through the emotion. So, when you're no longer numb, the emotion is just waiting there for you. And it can be a lot more confusing because it's harder to track. So notice if the best you can do to nurture yourself is to numb out, and make assessments from there.

So, again, the four Ns are really simple. The first one is to note or notice. The second is to name it. The third is to number it, and the final is to nurture it. If this doesn't work or if you want something extra, throw a gratitude list into your daily practice first thing in the morning, right before bed. Just write a list of—I don't know—three things, five things that you're grateful for. It can be like, "I had a good hair day." It can be, "It was my favorite weather today." It doesn't have to be that deep. But cultivating a practice of acknowledging the things you do have to be grateful for can be really powerful. The process of looking around for something to be grateful for is a good process to be engaged in, especially in trying times.

So okay. A little bit of a shift from what I usually do on the podcast, but you know, it felt like it was the right time. Now we're going to look at the astrology of March 16th through the 22nd of 2025. This week, we are of course still recovering from the March 13th Eclipse. We've got both Venus and Mercury Retrograde. So it's confusing. It's all over the place. It's giving a call in to reflection.

On Wednesday, March 19th, our first exact transit is a Sun conjunction to Neptune. The Sun will be at 29 degrees of Pisces and 36 minutes, and so will Neptune at exactly 4:25 p.m. Pacific Time. This conjunction between the Sun and Neptune in Pisces is really important for a number of reasons. One of them is the ruling planet to Pisces is Neptune, so extra strong vibes here. And then the other thing is that we're in a vary anaretic moment of Pisces. So the last degree of a zodiac sign is a really powerful degree. So it's not like, "Oh, it's the last degree. It's kind of waning Pisces energies." No. It's that they're kind of peak Pisces energies.

The Sun conjunction to Neptune can be a transit that stimulates major confusion. And that confusion can be in response to anxiety, instability, uncertainty, or misinformation or disinformation. This transit requires boundaries. I cannot stress this enough—psychological boundaries as well as physical boundaries. Is it that you need to identify and honor your own  boundaries? Is it that you need to respect somebody else's boundaries? Do you need to follow through with your word, or do you need to accept that someone else is showing you that they themselves do not follow through with their word?

The Sun conjunction to Neptune increases sensitivity. It increases your permeability, which can make your intuition and other spiritual sensitivities stronger. It can have the effect of making you feel more empathetic and compassionate towards yourself and towards others. Unfortunately, it can just as easily have the impact of you just feeling just fucking overwhelmed, just like you are being inundated with too much feeling and need, and it has a dysregulating effect.

This is a transit that can make you feel pretty drained. But in this situation, with this transit, the antidote to anxiety is boundaries. It's boundaries. So that doesn't mean you won't have anxiety if you have healthy boundaries, but it does mean that healthy boundaries will help you to mitigate and navigate anxieties that come at you as a result of your sensitivities.

This transit makes a lot of people feel really escapist, really exhausted. And if your body or your psyche needs a break, I beg of you, give it a damn break. But again, note the difference between numbing out and nurturing yourself, because some breaks are really soothing and really restorative, and other breaks are just a distraction. And when a distraction isn't in any way soothing or nurturing or restorative, then you wake up the next day kind of feeling the same way. So that's just something to be mindful of.

When we go through transits that include a conjunction to the Sun, as this one is, there's an opportunity to know yourself better, to understand yourself more fully. And this transit is going to help you do that if you can stay associated enough to learn whatever it is that you're learning. Unfortunately, this transit can coincide with extremism, with being influenced by a cult-like figure—so, if you have a tendency towards that, pay attention. We may also see major shifts in the world that either feel completely bananas, like we're just like, "This makes no sense in the linear reality we all share," or it may be inspired, motivated, and upheld by some form of religious or spiritual extremism.

There are so many things that we have control over. There are so many that we do not. But coming to greater understanding by being informed is generally a good thing. It's not an easy thing under this transit, but it's generally a good thing. This is not a good time for meaningful spiritual work, and that's because Neptune creates too much confusion and uncertainty. It also is destabilizing. It makes you too porous. Especially if you're already an empath or a highly sensitive person or somebody who has some sort of substance abuse issue that's active in their lives at this time, you really would want to practice healthy boundaries and not do anything that opens you up too much. To this end, it's not a great time for any kind of consciousness-raising drugs if that's something that you would typically do on a Wednesday.

So, if you've got a lot of shit to do, if you have a really busy time at work, this transit may be just fucking exhausting because it's not known for encouraging focus and concentration, unfortunately. It might be really just a messy day. Add to that that Mercury is Retrograde—everything that can break will break, and people will have an anxiety response. That's the risk with this transit. If it happens, you can say to yourself, "Oh. Okay. I don't need to respond in panic. In fact, I need to slow down and get a little bit more centered so that I can engage with this because it's a messy situation. It's messy energy." And the best way to engage with mess is to not meet that energy with more mess.

Luckily, this transit only lasts for three days. This is the apex day and the center day, so it's a day before and a day after. Also, luckily, on Friday, the 21st, we have a really supportive transit. It will be a Venus sextile to Pluto with Venus at 3 degrees of Aries and 23 minutes—she is Retrograde, by the way—and Pluto at 3 degrees of Aquarius and 23 minutes. This transit will be exact at 2:32 p.m. Pacific Time.

Venus sextile Pluto is a lovely transit. It represents a moment where you are better connected to your values. And because Venus is Retrograde, of course, we want to pay attention to the larger process of identifying and connecting or reconnecting with your values. Pluto, when Venus is sextile to it, helps to deepen your ability to tap into your values, to care about your values, and to act in alignment with them. Similarly, this transit is really good for socializing and flirting and feeling good in how you look and playing with how you look.

Venus sextile Pluto on the heels of that Sun conjunction to Neptune is pretty fortifying. It can be quite strengthening because it's not the most meticulous transit in the world—it's not the deepest transit in the world—but it's pleasurable. And the power of pleasure and joy can't be overstated because pleasure and joy are life-affirming. They remind you who you are. They remind you of some of the sweetest parts of life. And this, my friends, we need. This transit can be a great time for hooking up, flirting, and having fun, sexy, romantic dynamics. The only thing you want to watch out for is, if you have a tendency to obsess or fixate on people, put them on a pedestal, cyberstalk them or whatever—yeah, don't do that, okay? That would be the best way to misuse the energies of this transit.

If there is a relationship that you're working on, whether it's between you, your therapist, and your dear diary or you and another person or other people, this transit can help to facilitate progress. It intensifies your willingness to transform, to heal, to stay present with the heavy shit and to do it in a loving and authentic way. So that's kind of cool, and you want to tap into that to the best of your ability.

And that brings us to the final exact transit of the week. On March 22nd, which is Saturday, the Sun will be at 2 degrees and 39 minutes meeting up with Venus Retrograde at the exact same degrees. This will be exact at 6:07 p.m. Pacific Time.

As always, if you want to be tracking the transits through the same tool that I use, then you can just subscribe to Astrology for Days over at astrologyfordays.com. It's just a simple transit-tracking tool that I use to track the transits. That's pretty much what it does. There's a space for writing notes. And it's easily available for you, should you be interested in such a thing.

Sun conjunction to Venus is a lovely transit. And to have it overlap with the Venus sextile to Pluto—it is a blessing upon your home, basically. Sun conjunction to Venus Retrograde brings your attention and energy to what you love, and that includes your values system. Now, if you find yourself particularly focused on money, then you may really, really care about money. If you find yourself particularly focused on community-building, you probably really, really love community. Pay attention to where your energy is really focused on and around this date because it will reveal to you what you are valuing, what you are highly identified with.

This transit—it's like there's really no downside to it, I guess, other than it's not one for industry. I mean, nothing that's happening astrologically this week is going to make you want to work extra hours. It's not going to help you focus and concentrate. The Sun conjunction to Venus can be a bit of a self-indulgent transit, a little hedonistic, but again, I say to you, do we not need pleasure and joy and ease? The stars certainly think so this week.

This transit can be one where you work on and with your self-esteem, you bolster your relationship to your self-worth and your ability and willingness to center alignment and authenticity, not just in yourself alone but also in relationships with others. This is a great time for navigating your finances with integrity, making sure that whatever you spend your money on or whatever you invest your money in, if you've got the money to invest, reflects your values system. So there's a lot of really great movements right now around boycotting brands and products that are not aligned with folks' values. Get into it. It couldn't be better timed astrologically with this Venus Retrograde.

In regards to your love life—and when I say love life, I am not exclusively talking about your sex and romance life, although get it if you can. I'm talking about love. And there are so many ways that we love people. There are so many levels upon which we love people, some of which are romantic, some of which are platonic, some of which are really personal and some of which are kind of more impersonal; they're like, "I love all cats." I genuinely love all cats. Love.

Sun conjunction to Venus is a great time to engage with your relationship to love and who you love and make sure you're embodying that through your actions, that you are aligning that with your thoughts. This is a really important moment for the Venus Retrograde transit. And so whatever it is that activates on and around this day you want to pay attention to because it's going to reveal a lot about you. It might reveal a lot about your relationships as well, but again, it's revealing a lot about you.

If you are an artist, this is a great transit. It is great for making art, for connecting to art, being moved by art. It's also a great time for flirting your buns off, hooking up, and all manner of passion, excitement, flirtation, and that kind of good stuff. If you really care about playing dress-up, shifting your look, anything like that—again, well starred. I think I mentioned last week that Venus Retrograde is not a great time for cutting your hair, and so I wouldn't encourage you to do that. But this transit in general is great for playing with the way you look and messing with different ways of presenting yourself and different colors and all that kind of stuff.

The truth of the matter is that if we don't play, we can't sustain the heavy stuff, the real stuff, the deep stuff. Make sure that you are centering play in a way that is life-affirming this week because these transits really want that for you. They want that for all of us. So, if you're working with people and they're bugging the shit out of you because they are clearly not taking work seriously and they are kind of fucking off, if possible, see if you can do a little bit of pleasure-seeking yourself because this is a week where, honestly, a lot of people are going to have a hard time with focus. That's just what this is.

Now, I just thought of one other thing that I would potentially warn you about with this transit, which is that Venus is known for being diplomatic, and the Sun and Venus Retrograde are both in Aries. So you may not plan on being very direct, but something might just pop out of you that is not quite as diplomatic as you prefer, or you may find yourself shaving off the edges of the truth. In both cases, it's not the best use of this transit. So, if you're going to be direct, be direct. Strive to be authentic in how you show up. That's the best-case scenario of this transit. And that might mean that you have to be willing to have kind of an edgy or confronting conversation with somebody. Don't shy away from it just because it's hard and it's not, quote unquote, "nice." It's better to be authentic while also, of course, being kind than it is to keep everything nicey-nice this week.

And that, my friends, is the astrology of this week. The very quick rundown is, on the 19th, the Sun and Neptune meet. On the 21st, Venus Retrograde forms a sextile to Pluto. And on the 22nd, the Sun forms a conjunction to Venus Retrograde.

As always, I hope you are taking really good care of yourself and others. And I'll talk to you in just a couple of days. Bye.