here, there and everywhere

after an entire month of writing about grief, i need to take a break to digest my words. my process with depressive phases relies on writing and sitting with those emotions. so i spent the majority of august in isolation, recuperating and planning my next steps. i know i can’t always eat, pray, love my way out of uncomfortable situations. so here i am, admitting and laying out my truths for you.

a lot of exciting and fun things are in store. i’m not sure if i can announce them yet, but i’m sure i’ll mention it in another post when i am allowed. i’ll be a part-time student, but also continuing my practice as a part-time astrologer, and maybe part-time other things as well. longer form essays will be delayed as i develop and refine content in the future. i know that’s vague, but as soon as it’s cleared, you’ll all be the first to know.

embodied living amongst the cosmos

for many of my peers, over-astrologising our lives has become the norm. it’s a trap that a lot of us fall in when we start seeing clients and learn to be more conscious of transits. since professionals work a lot with timing, it makes sense that we plan our lives down to the very second. we elect the most beneficial times for our elections even if the circumstances tell us otherwise. planets are loud. they demand our attention to teach us lessons, but aren’t given enough room if astrologers are breathing down their figurative necks.

one of my early teachers, amelia quint, encourages beginning astrologers to track their transits with a journal. novices learn to contextualise their circumstances in alignment with the planetary movements. for professionals, the transcendent jason holley, urges us to sit with our clients speech to discern which one of their placements is loudest at any point of the consultation. my mentor, amaya, is an animist who taught me how to engage with the planets as spirits, to live in concert with them as we travel along our journey. all these people are proficient (if not experts) in timing and predictive techniques. but what their practices suggest to me is that they take consideration of the present, heavenly spheres and our relationship to them.

astrologers often say that time moves in cycles. it isn’t linear. because it isn’t. this isn’t a strictly western phenomenon either— the Chinese have the concept of the dynastic cycle in order to explain changes of power. for myself: this explains a lot. it helps me contextualise the ups and downs of a life worth living. it also helps me to live through my transits instead of planning everything down to a t.

retrogrades serve a similar purpose. i could go into more technical jargon, but to sum it up: it’s okay to slow down and reevaluate things. it’s okay to wrap up that project— in fact, it’s the perfect time to do that (given mercury retrograde is happening in virgo and libra this fa September.)

unexpected shit happens. i can’t even fathom astrologising every single traumatic thing that happens to me in the moment. i’m too focused on living through it. when I’ve processed things, i allow myself to look at the chart and see what planets spoke loudest at that point in time.

i know others won’t agree with me, but part of life is to experience the highs and lows— even when the stars destined it to be so. and yes, I have enough free will to make my choices, but it’s helpful to reframe predictive techniques as tools in my kit.

consumerism!

to end this, I’m going to end with a couple things I’ve enjoyed over the last month or so.

• bee & puppycat (netflix, out now)- it’s back and more chaotic than ever. while this is sort of season two for people familiar with the series— it does act as a stand-alone and many of the original episode storylines are repeated or mashed up in some way in its Netflix iteration. now I want a puppycat tattoo…

• libby (libbyapp.com)- I’ve recommended it multiple times, but it’s a wonderful way to borrow ebooks and audiobooks from your local libraries. multiple libraries are supported, so go get it!