Podcast appearances and mentions of dena decastro

Are you feeling stuck? Are you feeling a surge in energy? Are you feeling creative and playful? Are you making plans to manifest to change your life and create your dream job or dream life? Maybe you just feel like you need a little bit of oomph just to get through your day. Understanding the cycles of energy is very helpful!  Our resident astrologer, Dena DeCastro, stops by for another enlightening conversation about what is happening in the stars at this very moment. Great stuff at play right now. Jupiter conjunct Mars can get some movement where you may have felt stuck. Saturn square this conjunction of Jupiter and Mars is also another factor in setting us up with the synchronicities that remind us to do our due diligence where we may have felt stuck before. We all have moments where we feel burn out or in a rut with regard to our dreams and aspirations. Maybe we just don't know which direction to turn or what is next on our to do list. But Jupiter and Mars in Gemini is a big energetic BANG that sets us up with the energy to not take everything so seriously and have fun with it again! Find out about Dena's Astrology Mentorship Program HERE and apply for the program HERE Dena DeCastro Astrologer + Guide 503-890-4531 EMAIL: dena@denadecastro.com Dena's Website 5-star reviewed on Google! “Dena's innate intuition and depth of knowledge is astounding.” - Michelle W, Client

Dena DeCastro is back to discuss the powerful aspects of synchronicity taking place within the planetary alignments. Jupiter (planet of expansion, growth, luck and success) is transiting into Gemini. What does this mean for us and how should we consciously work with this energy? Dena's Website Dena's Waitlist

Join hosts Katie Sloan and Dena DeCastro on Episode 56 of "Let's Get Real Astrology" as they delve into the intricate dynamics of love through astrology's lens, exploring the significance of the 5th, 7th, and 8th houses. Unpacking the complexities of relationships, they decode the unique energies these houses embody, shedding light on matters of romance, partnership, and intimacy. With insightful analysis and practical advice, Katie and Dena share the astrological influences shaping their love lives, offering invaluable perspectives on navigating the dance of attraction and connection. Tune in for an illuminating discussion that invites you to deepen your understanding of love's astrological roadmap.RELATED EPISODES:“Do you like me now?” Libra, Codependency and Self-AcceptanceVenus: What's Your Love Language?The Houses If you have a topic idea for a future episode, you can reach out to us:Katie on IG: @sparkthesunDena on IG: @denadecastroFollow the "Let's Get Real Astrology" podcast on IG: @letsgetrealastrologyPlease support the show: like, subscribe, follow, and review us on your favorite podcast app! Please share an episode of this show with anyone you think would be interested!

Join me with my special return guest, Astrologist Dena DeCastro, for some a fun, inspiring and introspective conversation about astrology and the best times for projects and work this year of 2024. On January 17th, 2024, Dena joined me on my Livestream on YouTube, FB, Instagram and LinkedIn. We discussed how to work with astrology to more effectively plan our year ahead. There is some great information within this episode. Great nuggets of truth to help us utilite the power of the cosmos to our advantage and when to know that it's time to step back, observe and chill. Many of us start the year out with New Years Resonolutions only to realize that we forgot what those resoloutions even were by the time February hits. We look at our year and we have intentions, goals and aspirations we'd like to aim for and this BONUS Episode is for you.  Ever wonder how to use astrology to plan your year? If you listen in, you'll get access to a very special offering Dena created just for our listeners – an in-depth, step-by-step eBook guide that will help you plan your year using the wisdom of the planets. The eBook includes key dates for 2024, their significations, and questions for reflection. Link for FREE E-book Dena's Website  

  Astrologer Dena DeCastro returns to tell us how we can take advantage of two upcoming October eclipses to benefit our lives. In this interview, we learn that eclipses are not rare. We also learn why an eclipse is such a great device to use in Hollywood. According to Dena, “There is a spooky, supernatural quality to the whole idea of an eclipse. Something is literally being interrupted [in] the natural order, and it's a moment of pause. And you can look at that and be kind of spooked out, or you can look at it and say, ‘Wow! Isn't that the coolest thing ever, and I'm going to ride with that energy and do something productive with it.'” Visit BigSeance.com/232 for more info. Other Listening Options Direct Download Link   In this episode: Intro :00 Dena DeCastro is an astrologer and author in Portland, Oregon. She has been a counseling astrologer for over twenty years and has been teaching astrology since the mid 2000s. She received her astrological training through Steven Forrest's Apprenticeship Program, and holds two Master's Degrees. Her articles have been featured in The Mountain Astrologer magazine, and she has appeared on many podcasts and local radio shows over the years. She also hosted The Sirius Astrology Podcast (2007-2014), one of the first astrology podcasts. In 2021, Dena and fellow astrologer Katie Sloan created the Let's Get Real Astrology podcast, which they co-host. She currently provides individual readings, as well as mentorship for those who want to learn astrology. Her new book, Foundations of Astrology: A Workbook for Beginners is available on Amazon and via her website denadecastro.com. :51 The last time Dena was on the show, Patrick pushed her into appearing LIVE for the first time. Has she been LIVE since? 2:42 Looking back on Dena's forecast for 2022, and a reminder that she does not predict the future in her astrology work! 5:05 A discussion on the unusual 1980 Horror/Fantasy Disney film, The Watcher in the Woods, starring Bette Davis, which features some really fascinating and dramatic eclipse themes. 7:20 Let's talk about eclipses! They occur in pairs, two weeks apart, about every six months. We have two eclipses coming up in October, on the 14th and the 28th! The current series of eclipses is in the Aries/Libra polarity, which began in April. We have a final Taurus/Scorpio polarity eclipse on October 28th. When an eclipse falls in the sign of the north node, it is calling us to aspire to move toward the positive aspects of that sign. This was the case with April's eclipse in Aries: the calling was to integrate the high side of Aries, because that is also the sign of the transiting north node. In contrast, on the upcoming eclipse of October 14th, the shadow side of Libra is more likely to show up. The invitation is to become aware of our own Libra shadow behaviors, and to release them. 9:17 Solar Eclipse and Lunar Eclipse 10:26 Patrick reflects on seeing and experiencing a solar eclipse in 2017 with an entire student body of a middle school! 11:53 The astrology of an eclipse and the transiting nodes. 13:20 The south node is where the shadow material coming up for the collective resides. 15:25 The upcoming October 14th solar eclipse will bring up an awareness and an opportunity to work through and to set intentions around doing good work with the Libra shadow. 16:06 Two weeks before and two weeks after the eclipse is the most potent window, and Dena likes to call the intensified period between two eclipses, the “Eclipse Portal.” Before October 14th — “What do you want to let go of around old relationship patterns?” “What new things do you want to invite in in your relationship life?” 16:50 The October 28th lunar eclipse. Wrap up things you've been working on regarding security, money, safety, and staying grounded. Acknowledge the work and progress you've made and release. 20:53 Purging and letting go. Dena uses Patrick, who is an Aries, as an example of how you can apply the astrology of eclipses in your life. “Were there any significant changes in the spring regarding vitality, health, creativity, or sense of self?” 22:40 Dena continues using Patrick as an example, looking at the Libra qualities in him (as that is the opposite of his sun sign). “Looking at the balance of your relationships, how is it supporting the new things that you've kicked off and started?” 26:25 Dena has succeeded at a daily meditation practice and is seeing the benefits! 29:24 We have even more eclipses coming up! Consider having a new or full moon ritual, or meeting with an eclipse group. 32:43 “There is a spooky, supernatural quality to the whole idea of an eclipse. Something is literally being interrupted [in] the natural order, and it's a moment of pause. And you can look at that and be kind of spooked out, or you can look at it and say, ‘Wow! Isn't that the coolest thing ever?', and ‘I'm going to ride with that energy and do something productive with it.'” 34:57  The eclipse in the 1985 film, Ladyhawke. 36:54 “Eclipses are not rare. They're a regular, cyclic phenomenon that we can all use and enjoy in our lives.” 40:01 Dena's great blog posts, and a recent Let's Get Real Astrology episode, that you can use as a resource! 42:50 Do you struggle to read or understand your basic natal chart? Dena does readings, has a mentorship program, and you can check out her book, Foundations of Astrology: A Workbook for Beginners. 44:35 Outro 47:45 A special THANK YOU to Patreon supporters at the Super Paranerd and Parlor Guest level! 49:05   For more on Dena DeCastro DenaDeCastro.com Blog Posts: The Eclipses of Fall 2023 The Eclipses of Spring 2023 Let's Get Real Astrology Podcast Facebook Instagram Twitter Previous Big Seance Podcast episodes with Dena: 53, 61, 65, 112, 134, 166, and 203.     The Big Seance Podcast can be found right here, on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Pandora, Spotify, TuneIn Radio, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio. Please subscribe and share with a fellow paranerd! Do you have any comments or feedback? Please contact me at Patrick@BigSeance.com. Consider recording your voice feedback directly from your device on my SpeakPipe page! You can also call the show and leave feedback at (775) 583-5563 (or 7755-TELL-ME). I would love to include your voice feedback in a future show. The candles are already lit, so come on in and join the séance!    

  Patrick catches up with the audience before welcoming back psychic medium Jeffrey Peck! Jeffrey has had exciting changes in his life, including the addition of Something Super Spiritual, his new podcast and YouTube show! This episode's discussion topics include giving readings with a group of mediums, Schumann Resonance, the aura, treating anxiety and depression, long distance readings, staying grounded, Spirits manipulating the physical environment, and Patrick's plans for retirement! Visit BigSeance.com/224 for more info! Other Listening Options Direct Download Link   In this episode:  Intro :00 **tap tap** Is this thing on? Patrick's back! And he's retired now! Here's an update! :46 The previously recorded LIVE conversation Patrick had with psychic medium, Jeffrey Peck, on July 12, 2023 8:17 Since his last appearance on the show, Jeffrey Peck has released a podcast called, Something Super Spiritual. He's also been led to taking his content to YouTube! 11:15 Jeffrey has been combining efforts with Kevin Lewis and Travis Holp! Check out this amazing LIVE broadcast where all 3 mediums give viewers readings! 13:47 Jeffrey's takeaways from giving readings with two or more mediums together. 17:28 The Spiritualist community, Lily Dale, and Inspiration Stump 19:17 Jeffrey put serious thought, time, research, and effort into his podcast, for a whole year, before releasing episode one! 20:30 Notable guests that have appeared on Something Super Spiritual include Toni Reilly, Chris Wilson, Tawney Lewis, and friend of the Big Seance and Queen of Astrology, Dena DeCastro. 23:10 Jeffrey recommends checking out his recent episode about Schumann Resonance. 26:25  The aura with Dominic Zenden 27:41 What Jeffrey has learned from jumping into the podcasting and YouTube spaces! 31:38 Jeffrey and Patrick answer a viewer question regarding changes in the air, in terms of Spirit. Plus Patrick adjusts to being retired with some seriously crazy dreams! And how will he stay busy in retirement? 32:22 More discussion on mental health and ketamine therapy as treatment for anxiety/depression 39:10 What's more difficult? Long distance readings or in-person readings? 42:30 We are all starting to wake up to spiritual knowledge. 45:48 The need to be grounded when spending so much time in spiritual mode. 47:33 Patrick remembers the overwhelming early days of his spiritual shift when he insisted on trying to learn all things at the same time. 49:25 Is your physical environment ever manipulated while giving a reading? 51:20 Final thoughts from Jeffrey Peck. Find him on YouTube, for sure! 55:58 Outro 57:50 A special THANK YOU to Patreon supporters at the Super Paranerd and Parlor Guest level! 59:09   For more on Jeffrey Peck JeffreyPeck.com The Something Super Spiritual Podcast YouTube: @JeffreyPeckMedium Facebook: @JeffreyPeckMedium Instagram: @JeffreyPeckMedium     The Big Seance Podcast can be found right here, on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Pandora, Spotify, TuneIn Radio, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio. Please subscribe and share with a fellow paranerd! Do you have any comments or feedback? Please contact me at Patrick@BigSeance.com. Consider recording your voice feedback directly from your device on my SpeakPipe page! You can also call the show and leave feedback at (775) 583-5563 (or 7755-TELL-ME). I would love to include your voice feedback in a future show. The candles are already lit, so come on in and join the séance!  

Katie and Dena review Mercury Retrograde in Taurus and its epiphanies. Dena shares a big insight from a recurring dream. Katie shares some exciting news. They also reflect on the power of going into each Mercury Retrograde with awareness and intention.If you have a topic idea for a future episode, you can reach out to us:Katie on IG: @sparkthesunDena on IG: @denadecastroFollow the "Let's Get Real Astrology" podcast on IG: @letsgetrealastrologyPlease support the show: like, subscribe, follow, and review us on your favorite podcast app!

Pluto shifting into Aquarius. Saturn shifting into Pisces. What does all of this mean? What are the energetic patterns that are showing up within the outer lying planets? Dena DeCastro, our favorite local astrologer, has the answers for us. Empowering us with information, Dena provides down to Earth astrological advice as we move forward. Large potential shifts in technology and within the collective, as in all of us.  Dena DeCastro, Astrologer + Guide, has been a professional astrologer since 1998. She provides one-on-one readings, as well as mentorship for those who want to learn astrology. She holds a double master's degree in English and Spiritual Traditions. Her astrology articles have been featured in The Mountain Astrologer magazine, and she publishes regular posts on current events in astrology at her website. Dena enjoys exploring the ways that astrology can help us in our daily lives and offers grounded and practical information in her readings and teachings. 1:31 - Dena discusses her newly published astrology book "Foundations of Astrology: A Workbook For Beginners" - Dena DeCastro 7:21 - Dena discusses Pluto shifting into Aquarius for nearly 20 years and what it means for us individually, collectively and globally. 21:41 Dena discusses Saturn shifting into Pisces for two and a half years and what this energy can mean for us individually, collectively and globally. 33:16 Dena discusses another biggie taking place at the moment... the United States currently experiencing it's Pluto Return and what this could potentially mean for the country, its people and worldly. Dena's Mentorship Dena's Website Dena's Facebook Dena's Instagram Let's Get Real Astrology Podcast

  Dena DeCastro, Astrologer + Guide, has been a professional astrologer since 1998. She provies one-on-one readings, as well as mentorship for those who want to lear astrology. She holds a double master's degree in English and Spiritual Traditions. Her astrology articles have been featured in The Mountain Astrologer magazine, and she publishes regular posts on current events in astrology at her website, DenaDeCastro.com. Dena enjoys exploring the ways that astrology can help us in our daily lives and offers grounded and practical information in her readings and teachings. Our conversation revolves around how evolutionary astrology can help us understand who we are, why we are here and where we are going. Dena is able to explain the challenges we individually face on our journey in this lifetime along with the opportunity periods. Her delivery assists us in reframing our experience and empowering our own selves for the changes we inevitably face. Dena's FREE E-Book! "The Nodes in your Chart: Your Karmic Past and Your Life Purpose" Dena DeCastro's Website Dena DeCastro Mentorship Dena DeCastro Astrology Readings Let's Get Real Astrology Podcast with Dena DeCastro and Katie Sloan

  After most recently giving us the whopping "WTF" forecast for the Summer of 2020, our favorite astrologer Dena DeCastro prepares us for what every one of us wants to know - the astrology for 2022! Will the year bring relief? What do the planets have to say about the year ahead? Other topics include "The Great Resignation", Mercury/Venus/Mars Retrogrades, avoiding escapism, new beginnings, leaps of faith, the shadow, relationships, the economy, and the US Pluto Return! Visit BigSeance.com/203 for more info.   Other Listening Options Direct Download Link   In this episode: Episode Teaser :00 Intro :38 Would you consider sharing an episode of the Big Seance with a friend? 1:19 Dena DeCastro's Bio 2:30 Forecast for 2016, Summer of 2016, 2018, 2019, and the “WTF” forecast for the Summer of 2020. 3:20 Something about the Venus Retrograde wants to follow us when Dena visits! 4:21 Dena took a “brave leap into the unknown” for this episode! 5:45 An “Astrological Traffic Jam in Capricorn.” 2020 and 2021 were years with lots of astrological weather going on. Astrologers knew something major was going to happen, but no one could have predicted a worldwide pandemic. 7:14 2021 brought friction with themes of unrest, government structure, rules, and rebellion, leading us to January 6th, 2021 in the US, for example. 8:55 But what does astrology have to say about the year ahead? 10:03 The ripples in the pond. 10:30 Jupiter/Neptune Conjunction coming up in April. Work on empathy and compassion. 11:40 “We received a collective trauma in 2020. We're still having various levels of PTSD from it.” 14:08 Avoid Escapism 15:57 A listener question about astrology and depression. 18:30 More on escapism and Patrick's addiction to food. 21:18 Jupiter, new beginnings, and taking risks or leaps of faith. 23:44 The shadow side of Aries. 26:23 Pisces, endings, and “The Great Resignation” 28:04 Right now is not exactly the time to launch your new thing, but planning for it is okay. 30:05 Uh oh! What happens if you just started a new job? 30:50 Mercury Retrogrades happening this year. Learn more at DenaDeCastro.com. 32:35 “Stop buying into all the hype.” Some of us create our own static during Mercury Retrogrades. 35:28 Venus Retrograde, getting serious about finances, and reconnecting. 37:34 Some of us are introverts and have enjoyed the lockdown and slowing down. 40:04 Is this a good time for new relationships? 41:49 The United States Pluto Return and the economy. 43:20 Rest and Retreat. Mars Retrograde coming up at the end of the year. 48:00 A summary. 50:03 Check out The Inner Sky by Steven Forrest, Everyone Has What it Takes by William Kenower, and the podcast, This Jungian Life. 50:43 What's coming up on the Let's Get Real Astrology podcast? 53:15 A special THANK YOU to Patreon supporters at the Super Paranerd and Parlor Guest level! 55:29 Outro 57:40   For more on Dena DeCastro DenaDeCastro.com Dena's Blog Post: The Astrology of 2022 Let's Get Real Astrology Podcast Facebook: Dena DeCastro Astrology Twitter: @DenaDeCastro Previous Big Seance Podcast episodes with Dena: 53, 61, 65, 112, 134, and 166.     The Big Seance Podcast can be found right here, on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Pandora, Spotify, TuneIn Radio, Stitcher, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio. Please subscribe and share with a fellow paranerd! Do you have any comments or feedback? Please contact me at Patrick@BigSeance.com. Consider recording your voice feedback directly from your device on my SpeakPipe page! You can also call the show and leave feedback at (775) 583-5563 (or 7755-TELL-ME). I would love to include your voice feedback in a future show. The candles are already lit, so come on in and join the séance!  

Follow this podcast on IG @letsgetrealastrologyFollow Katie on IG @sparkthesunFollow Dena on IG @denadecastro 

Pluto signs by years:Pluto in Leo: 1938-58Pluto in Virgo: 1957-72Pluto in Libra: 1972-84Pluto in Scorpio: 1984-95Pluto in Sagittarius: 1995-2008Books mentioned:Will I Ever Be Good Enough?: Healing the Daughters of Narcissistic Mothers by Karyl McBrideChildhood Disrupted by Donna Jackson NakazawaFollow this podcast on IG @letsgetrealastrologyFollow Katie on IG @sparkthesunFollow Dena on IG @denadecastro 

Dena DeCastro talks about what the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction means for us astrologically, as well as the highlights and headlines of the New Year 2021.We also have a bit of a conceptual chat about how astrology "works," from the magic of it to how we can use it a tool of personal empowerment. DENA DECASTRO ASTROLOGY denadecastro.com SLADE ROBERSONSlade's Books & CoursesGet an intuitive reading with SladeAutomatic IntuitionBECOME A PATRONhttps://www.patreon.com/shiftyourspiritsEdit your pledge on Patreon

I’m sharing an interview with our resident astrologer Dena DeCastro looking into the birth chart of the United States of America.Our discussion was originally recorded in 2019, a year before and a world away from the alternate universe in which we now find ourselves in the US in 2020.I’ve been thinking a lot about this conversation in light of current events. I'm curious about what it reveals in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement, the racial justice protests, and of course this disastrous presidency.This is the closest thing to an entertaining and enjoyable New Age political discussion you are likely to hear, and as she does with personal charts, Dena finds some optimism and an opportunity for empowerment in her reading.We have some upcoming opportunities to change the world in big ways.MENTIONED ON THE SHOWThe National Chart of the United States interpretationActual Natal Chart of the USAGUEST LINKS - DENA DECASTROdenadecastro.comDeCastro Astrology on FacebookHOST LINKS - SLADE ROBERSONSlade's Books & CoursesGet an intuitive reading with SladeAutomatic IntuitionFACEBOOK GROUPShift Your Spirits CommunityBECOME A PATRONpatreon.com/shiftyourspiritsEdit your pledge on Patreon

  What in the world is going on, right? Astrologer Dena DeCastro returns to give us a heads up for the Astrology of Summer 2020! Along with answering the WTF question that seems to be on everyone's mind, Dena gives readings to two listeners in this episode! Visit BigSeance.com/166 for more info.   Other Listening Options Direct Download Link   In this episode Episode Teaser :00 Intro :36 Something that must be said. You matter to me! #BlackLivesMatter 1:19 Pouring the Tea 4:34 Dena DeCastro’s Bio 4:47 The “WTF” forecast for Summer 2020! What is going on?! 6:10 Venus Retrograde in Gemini 9:09 Communication Skills and Listening 10:32 Mercury Retrograde Overlapping the Venus Retrograde 14:05 Reset! Three eclipses in a row! Plus, did Dena see the pandemic coming? 19:52 The sign of Cancer, social unrest and shedding old baggage 24:15 The moon in Sagittarius 25:35 A reprieve is coming in August! 27:00 Chris gets a reading from Dena! 28:29   Carrie gets her reading! 38:06   Final thoughts from Dena and where to find her! 49:38 A special THANK YOU to Patreon supporters at the Super Paranerd and Parlor Guest level! 50:54 Outro 52:48   For more on the Astrology of Summer 2020, visit the following two links from Dena DeCastro.com. http://www.denadecastro.com/post/venus-retrograde-in-gemini-2020 http://www.denadecastro.com/post/gemini-medicine   Where to find Dena DeCastro DenaDeCastro.com Twitter: @siriusastrology Previous Big Seance Podcast episodes with Dena: 53, 61, 65, 112, and 134.   The Big Seance Podcast can be found right here, on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Pandora, Spotify, TuneIn Radio, Stitcher, and iHeart Radio. Please subscribe, submit a rating, or share with a fellow paranerd! Do you have any comments or feedback? Please contact me at Patrick@BigSeance.com. Consider recording your voice feedback directly from your device on my SpeakPipe page! You can also call the show and leave feedback at (775) 583-5563 (or 7755-TELL-ME). I would love to include your voice feedback in a future show. The candles are already lit, so come on in and join the séance!             

Dena DeCastro shares an overview of the astrology for 2020, as well as general strategies for planning your creative projects according to the cycles of nature ... no matter the year or your sign or even if you know anything about astrology. GUEST LINKS - DENA DECASTRO denadecastro.com Dena's Notes - Overview of 2020 SLADE ROBERSONSlade's Books & CoursesGet an intuitive reading with SladeAutomatic IntuitionFACEBOOK GROUPShift Your Spirits CommunityBECOME A PATRONhttps://www.patreon.com/shiftyourspiritsEdit your pledge on Patreon

Spoiler alert: I'm healthy, but a little heartbroken. HOST LINKS - SLADE ROBERSONSlade's Books & Courses Get an intuitive reading with Slade Automatic Intuition FACEBOOK GROUPShift Your Spirits Community BECOME A PATRONpatreon.com/shiftyourspirits Edit your pledge on Patreon TRANSCRIPT For years now, my friend Seth has had a ringtone assigned to my phone number, which is the theme music from Bewitched. So whenever I call, that's what he hears. And he just mentioned that it's from the very beginning of that track so there's this swirly anticipation that just precedes the awareness that I'm calling. And then there's the Bewitched music. It's one of the greatest compliments I've ever received and it makes me incredibly happy every time I think about it. I think I'm gonna have to reverse assign the same music to his calls, just so that I can experience it more often. I just never get around to it. I'm sort of lazy about my tech. Sidebar: for years now, I've wanted to write something about what I call the Cherry Pie principle. It reveals something about the magical system in the Bewitched world that's never actually explicitly explained to us in the TV show, that I know of. So what happens is, there is an episode, you've probably seen it because we've all seen them a million times, and it may actually happen more than once. But I know for certain there is at least one episode where Darren is having some clients over last minute and Samantha's trying to throw together a meal like the good housewife that she is and she doesn't have anything for dessert. She's like, "Oh crap, I gotta come up with a dessert quick." She's running into the kitchen and looking around, like, what can I do? And then she finally breaks down and has to use her magic. She manifests, attracts, a cherry pie. But right in the moment before it shows it appearing in her hands, there is a brief shot of the cherry pie sitting on someone else's window sill, cooling. And it's either right before it appears to Samantha, or right after, that we see that shot. But there's a very clear moment when I realized, it's kind of stealing. She's not manifesting particles out of the air in order to make something new. But she was actually using her magic to move something from somewhere else to her. Right? So nothing is either created or destroyed I guess, but she's not creating something necessarily. She's taking it. And in order for her to have it, someone else misses it. I thought, oh isn't that fascinating? For all his moral objections to his wife working magic, why doesn't Darren just prosecute THAT principle? I’m sure you also identify with Samantha, if you're listening to this show, so it’s probably likely that, like me, you somewhat expect to have a muggle husband. We probably expected that for most of our lives. I actually consciously and intentionally prefer to date a muggle. I don't want to work when I'm not working. I don't need to have "deep conversations" all the time about what I'm talking about on this podcast. I always cringe a little bit when people assume that I love to have those kinds of interactions ALL the time, because it's kind of exhausting. And I promise you, if you're friends with me or you have any kind of relationship with me, we are bound to have deep and thoughtful magical conversations. It's gonna happen, but we don't have to schedule it. You don't have to say, "Let's go have coffee and have a deep conversation tomorrow at 2." Okay. It's kind of like a slot on my calendar. What I need in a relationship is a very similar kind of support to what I get from my immediate family members. They're proud of my success. They love that I love what I do and I'm getting to do it, and they're not necessarily the audience for it. And they're not required to hang on my every word or listen to everything I put out there, and that's okay for everyone involved, including me. I don't need that particular validation. I have that covered. You'r'e giving it to me right now. I have somebody listening to this stuff that I like to talk about. So at the end of the day, I don't need a client or a fan as a partner. Now, a creative collaborator or business partner is definitely a possibility… I think that’s probably a unicorn, but I wouldn’t turn it down. Like, if I had a partner who wanted to work with me and manage the business side of things while I manage the content creation side of things. That would be awesome. Mr. Moon, the Shoot the Moon guy, is a very talented graphic designer but successful in more of a corporate big business marketing world. There is enough overlap for at least speaking meaningfully about his work, like he can talk to me about it, I know what's involved in that kind of process, and I do branding and marketing all the time so I can talk about those aspects of my work and it would be meaningful and interesting to him, and he would have input. I even had some branding projects I would have loved his direct opinion about, because I really like his taste. Last week, when I posted the news that my ultrasound results were good, I put it in the intro of my episode with Dena DeCastro about the birth chart of the United States, if you haven't heard that yet. So if you haven't heard about this whole health scare thing that I was going through, you can listen to the two episodes before this, Bye Felicia, and the Natal Chart of the United States episode. But after I put that news out there in the Facebook community as well, so many of you who have been following along with my love life this year and the Love Curse series, commented or wrote me privately and said, “YAY! Now you can go and have that amazing weekend in Dallas.” He canceled 4 days before the flight. It felt a little bit like telling your kids that there wasn’t going to be any Christmas this year. That was almost really the worst part. It crossed my mind it should be humiliating to have to share this sad news on a podcast, in a Facebook group, in public, about my dreams getting crushed after this big set up. The overwhelming emotion I have about doing this episode is not being able to give you guys a Happily Ever After. I wanted to represent for anyone else who's out there hoping for something similar to happen to them, and I haven't given up on that. But I would've really liked to have given you something really sweet to chew on. I discovered a problem with dating a Muggle. They don’t cope well when shit hits the fan. They don’t have the same tools or the same perspective as we might. The same night I found my lump, Mr Moon got a DUI. That was the tail end of a full moon, by the way. I think it was Monday going in to a Tuesday. Here is another potential REALLY BIG hole I found in long distance relationships. And online relationships. Both of which I have been wary of and somewhat closed to. —it’s easy to hide something like alcoholism. How could I know that behaviour was taking place? Even living in the same city and dating, he might have been able to hide it. I had a DUI in my 20s, so I’m not quick to judge anyone that finds themselves in that specific situation. I always did think it was a little ironic considering I had been a designated driver my entire 20s for all of my friends who really did like to drink. I never have been much of a drinker, and it was even proven by some of the other people’s attorneys that had been arrested that night, that the machine that they used to do the breathalyzers was defective. It was actually sent back to the manufacturer. But I was still convicted just based on the officer testimony. And if you really want to know the truth, because my parents and I couldn’t afford an attorney. Not the kind that gets you off. I was humiliated and so upset that that could happen to me... I didn’t go anywhere near a situation like that ever again. I suppose the punishment was effective for me. Because I did not drink alcohol for close to 10 years. I still don’t drive at night very much or in the areas where cops are looking for DUI quotas. Even when I'm sober. I pretty much never went to a bar or nightclub ever again. Which, you know, these days we have Uber and Lyft and for god's sake, please use them. If I was still in that phase of my life, still in my 20s and going out a lot, I would take advantage of that. I've kind of outgrown that whole thing so it's not as much of an issue. When Mr. Moon was arrested, he had panic attacks while he was being held. That caused them to isolate him, to hold him even longer than normal without releasing him. That whole scenario traumatized him even more. It was a vicious circle. He was in there for almost two days and probably time served with a good attorney on that case. But Mr. Moon’s response to being in jail for DUI and being completely traumatized when he got out was to go out 48 hours later to a birthday party at a bar. I was watching that on his Instagram. He’s a little bit of an oversharer. It’s not hard to keep tabs on where he goes. He does check-in’s and he posts locations. For the next five days in a row after being released from the initial DUI arrest, he went to a bar. Every day for five days in a row. And he railed at me angrily about the luck that had befallen him. That's what he kept referring to - this awful luck. There was no conscious acknowledgment of how much he was going out before or after this happened but it actually increased afterwards. The behaviour ramped up instead of being squashed. It was like he said “Oh well, the worst has happened. Why even try to pretend I’m not getting loaded every day?” But the only thing that he wanted to talk about was the pain of the money that he had to pay an attorney who is known for getting people out of this. I have to say that filled me with a little bit of rage to think that I sort of got the book thrown at me for something in my 20s where I really was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and here was this man 53 years old, obviously this behaviour catching up with him. And he's talking about this horrible misfortune, lightning striking, and how his world is destroyed by how much money it's going to cost to get out of it. It started to wear on my compassion a little bit, but I was already half in love with this person so I I challenged him — gently — but I did confront him about going to the bars every day. His justification — I have to admit, he sort of seemed like he had the case ready to argue — he went to bars after work in the late afternoons or early evenings, never at night, usually for birthday parties or to have beers with his boss and prospective clients. Now looking back, I remember a few months ago there was a string of birthday parties that he went to, in broad daylight as he said, after work, where it kind of made me think, because we were talking about the possibility of him moving here. It kind of crossed my mind, god, he's got so many friends though. I mean, look at all these people who invite him to their birthday party. He would miss all these people if he's that good friends with them. And then, as we were having this bit of a confrontation about, dude, you know, you're going to bars a lot. He told me something he never mentioned to me before — his last relationship, which had lasted for 10 years, had ended because his partner was upset that he left work every day and always went somewhere to have a few beers before he came home. He told me he would never be in a relationship again where he couldn’t go have a beer after work before he came home. I was like, okay, well this is news to me. In all the conversations that we had FOR TWO YEARS talking about what we want in a relationship, this was an item supposedly he claims is at the very top of his priority list. But he just never mentioned it. At that point in the exchange, I finally just broke down and asked him, "Look, do you still want me to come?" I was prepared at that point for him to say no. For him to back out. He was unraveling right in front of me, every time we spoke. I just sort of summarized our conversations for you but I have to say, these were long, teeth gnashing, crying, emotional breakdowns and I just siphoned the actual information out of it to you. He was really losing it. Right in front of me. But he assured me that he absolutely did want me to come, that it was probably going to be a little bit of a different trip as far as what he might need from me attention wise and sort of the mood that he was in. But that he definitely needed me there. Possibly even more so. I said, "Okay. I’m not gonna abandon you over this. I’ve been there. I know some answer to the uncertainty of the details you’re freaking out about being in this particular situation. I don't want to come at you with lecture and advice. So why don't you ask me for help." Or ask me, you know, what did you do about your driving permit to inform work? What did you do about this and that aspect of the court case? I just laid it out there, like, okay, when you calm down and when you catch your breath, or even when we're together, if you want to talk about it, I'm willing to tell you anything that I can to help but I'm not gonna push it on you. And he was like, very grateful for that but he didn't take me up on it. As a matter of fact, he ghosted me after that conversation. After, "Yes, please come. I still need you here." He went drinking every day for the next five days. He put it all on Instagram. All birthday parties! At bars at supper time in the daylight, so it doesn't count, according to his delusion. As I'm looking every day for a message from him, or what's going on with him, he even kind of implied, Oh, I'm just gonna go for a run and lock myself in my apartment and cry, and read and just be quiet and kind of internal. I thought, that's good. You need to go do some self care. I'll leave you alone. And there he was, every day, at a bar and not talking to me. Not texting me. Not contacting me at all. And this was all, to his credit, he didn't know, but this was all happening while I was waiting to find out what the deal was with my lump. See, I forgot to mention — I didn’t tell him about this whole cancer scare that I was going through. It happened the same night as his DUI. When I found the lump, I went to text him to see if he was maybe still up. It was a little late. And that's when he came back with the message, "I just got out of jail." So while he's going to bars and whining about how much that attorney is going to cost him to get him out of the DUI, I am just silently waiting through my experience. Alone. With you guys, yes. Thank you. But not with him. I chose not to tell him because I didn’t want to put something else on his plate. He really was losing his shit. The panic attacks were real. One of my good friends in college had panic attacks. I've been around people who have them I intended to wait and tell him in person when I saw him and also hope that I would have good news by the time I even got there. And I would have had that by the way, so it could have been an unnecessary worry to throw at someone. I don’t regret not telling him. It was the right thing to do. He was in no position to comfort or support me, anyway, best case scenario. But this is all kind of what I meant about Muggles not have the tools — Because of my spiritual inner dialogue, my maybe having cancer was less of an existential crisis than someone of no faith having a legal issue. Of course you guys held space for this. You do it all the time in our community. You know that whatever worries are going on with you, it doesn’t necessarily take energy to hold someone in your mind and heart and send them some thoughts when they're going through something. It is exhausting to be in a state of helplessness when you're watching someone you care about suffer, but the fact I could not share any of that burden with him in the moment was kind of an instinct, a telling one, in and of itself. I sound a little more bitter and angry telling the story now. At the time, when he told me he didn’t want me to come after all, which by the way, I just got out of the blue after 5 days of NOTHING, I got this huge, big long text: I'm so sorry. I can't do it. I'm so sorry. Blahblahblah... It was just like word vomit and it was 4 days before my flight. After 5 days of ghosting me and going and getting hammered, while I sat waiting to find out if I have cancer. I thought, what the hell with this whole situation? I put this in the prayer bowl. I gave this to Mary. She should handle this and protect me from all of this. What I meant when I had those kind of bratty thoughts is that she should have protected the trip. She should have protected my ideals and my desires and this thing that I had my hopes on. But when I asked for protection, I got it. My guides came in like a seal team and extracted my ass at the 11th hour from going any further with this relationship. It's pretty amazing when you think about just how quickly it was all snatched away. Can you imagine what would’ve happened had we gone several more months, another year into this relationship, rearranged our lives in order to live together and then once all the newness and the movement kind of settled down into something more routine... there would be this alcoholism waiting like a time bomb in the middle of my home and my life and my heart and my family. Can you imagine how much damage that could’ve done? I am safe. I am protected. I am fine. Everything is always working out for me. It is nearly impossible to discern when it's yourself in a romantic connection with someone else whether the early intuition of NO is about a sense of warning or sense of fear. Because of course fear is going to tell you NO, it’s not gonna work out, don’t do this, don’t go this way. Of course it is. I’m pretty confident any other psychic will testify their abilities to recognize patterns for others, to pick up on foreboding, to hear whispers of danger, for other people, is all fine and dandy and in working order, but that when it is your own love life, that all gets a little bit muted and muddled. Believe it or not I think it was Sylvia Browne in one of her earlier books, way before she kind of lost some of her credibility being on the Montel Williams show. Sylvia talked about how relationships are the one way that we all learn our lessons so psychics have to learn those lessons too. They don’t get to cheat. They don’t get short cuts. They don't get get crib notes from heaven. That would defeat the whole purpose of being here and learning the lessons that we do through loving others. Make no mistake I am extremely disappointed. A part of me was absolutely devastated and when people ask, "Why have you been single for so long?” I want to scream “This. THIS is why!” One thing I can say though is that this time I didn’t do anything wrong. I did a lot of work this year to clear out a lot of stuff before I tried this and I didn’t bring any of that shit into this situation. Nothing. So I’m not going to beat myself up about being cursed. I wasn’t cursed. I'm not cursed. It's just part of the series title. It had to kind of follow through in order for you to stay with the thread. I just happen to have become connected with someone who is in an active phase of denial and self sabotage, over an addiction, and hopefully this all leads to some milestone healing for him. I found a thing that was missing from my big list. Seth suggested that I add it immediately: no active addiction issues. But I am not cursed. I am open and I’m brave and even though I did this big scary thing and said YES to it — and even shared it in pubic — and followed it through, I'm fine. The world didn’t end. It didn't impact my work. I didn’t lose any friendships over it. No one got killed. I won’t say that in those first few days — and you have to remember he cancelled the trip the same day that I went that doctors appointment just to get a referral for the ultrasound — I won't say that, in that state of fear and self-preservation I didn’t immediately think, see I’m not doing this shit anymore, we’re done, it's back to the tower. My first impulse was definitely to retreat back into the place that I’ve been in for the last 18 years. But as I turned to walk back and raise the drawbridge I thought, wait a minute why would I impose a sentence on myself for someone else’s crimes and bad behavior. I’m not going to do penance for someone else’s sabotaging addiction. That’s some co-dependent shit. I have a Venus in Gemini. I don’t think we stick around for co-dependence very much. So you may remember that I made that huge list when Dena suggested it was a good time in my life to ask for everything I want. To really shoot the moon. And I honestly hadn’t done that since I was a teenager. My heart was broken in college. I didn’t even aim at the moon. Mr Moon in Dallas checked absolutely every single box on that list with the exception of location and proximity. This long distance thing still is something that remains a difficult prospect for me. I know people who have made long-distance relationships work. And I do often think about the fact that it’s unrealistic to think that in all the globe the perfect match for you, this soulmate scenario, is just going to show up within a 25 mile radius of your house. Odds are really great that they’re going to be somewhere else and you’re gonna have to figure out how to close that distance. Makes me a little weary and it makes me a little wary, but I don’t know if I need to write that into the list. I mean it is supposed to be shoot the moon. So if the universe can move the guy to town, that would be great. Drop him off on my doorstep please. Even I think that that's shooting beyond the moon and I'm not sure about asking for that. Maybe I’ll just sort of make it an asterisk *optional item. But no active addiction and alcoholism - that's going on the list. This great time period for me isn’t over by the way. This transit that I’m in. I've still got a long way to go with it. Well into the beginning of 2020. And they were these tent poles in the middle of the transit, the one in May, when I made my plane tickets. Remember that? Obviously that was a turning point event, because I lost money on those flight tickets. Something else peaks in August. That's the other tent pole and I’m curious to see what form that takes. Can it please not be something bad or expensive? The thing about all this astrology stuff and I’ve been learning astrology since I was literally a little kid. I don’t know how it works. I don’t know how I so I often want to dismiss it. For it just to not be true just to take it off the table. For it to be one thing that I don’t have to think about. And maybe one day we’ll get one of our astrologer friends on the show to explain how it all does work. What is the philosophy behind the reality of how this stuff affects us? Shout out to Asa my partner early in this series of episodes. Just yesterday she was talking about something, a big decision point that came up in her life and it was so exactly what Dena had posted about the new moon eclipse in Cancer. I just assumed Asa had read it. She said she didn't normally pay a lot of attention to astrology so I sent her the link. And of course she came back and she was like, "Oh crap, that's like some crazy accurate stuff." I said I know. Astrology always has a way of doing that to me. I think I’m going to intellectually fake it out somehow and I never pull it off. It has the last word. So, my big weekend never happened. It was so blissful getting close to it. Planning it. Counting down the days But... The launch was aborted. I am not cursed. Just the opposite. I am safe. I am protected. I am fine. I am guided. I am open. And in the words of Molly Shannon’s immortal Sally O’Mally: I’m 50. I’m 50 years old!

Dena DeCastro interprets the birth chart of the United States of America. We discuss how current and near future transits are manifesting in our country at this time. MENTIONED ON THE SHOW The National Chart of the United States interpretation Actual Natal Chart of the USA GUEST LINKS - DENA DECASTRO denadecastro.com DeCastro Astrology on Facebook HOST LINKS - SLADE ROBERSONSlade's Books & Courses Get an intuitive reading with Slade Automatic Intuition FACEBOOK GROUPShift Your Spirits Community BECOME A PATRONpatreon.com/shiftyourspirits Edit your pledge on Patreon

"Curse" may no longer be an appropriate word for this story. This update is for those of you who wrote to me predicting I would meet someone special. Guess what has happened ... Listen to the Love Curse series in order to get the most out of this episode. Love Curse: Part 1 Love Curse: Part 2 - Reversing the Spell with Åsa Poeche Love Curse: Part 3 - Retrieving a Piece of My Soul MENTIONED ON THE SHOW Carrie Bradshaw Veep HOST LINKS - SLADE ROBERSONSlade's Books & Courses Get an intuitive reading with Slade Automatic Intuition FACEBOOK GROUPShift Your Spirits Community BECOME A PATRON patreon.com/shiftyourspirits Edit your pledge on Patreon TRANSCRIPT I tried all week to record a solo episode. Just one decent episode. Two would’ve been great, as I’m trying to catch up after losing three weeks to jury duty. But I would be thrilled with one. It’s Saturday. I’m usually putting an intro on the episode going live, and editing the one coming up the week after that. I’ve never gone this close to a deadline with nothing in the can. Yesterday, I tried my fourth attempt at a half-hearted topic, and it was so lack luster and passion free I wanted to cry. I kept thinking “Shit. Am I burned out? Do I have nothing left to say about anything?” How can that be. I’ve been blogging for 13 years. I’ve recorded over a hundred of these shows. Why can’t I just share what’s on my heart, like I usually do? I decided to sleep on it, and work out on it this morning, and see if something floated to the surface of my consciousness before the afternoon. I can steal an hour or two to put something out, even if it’s a heartfelt confession about being blocked. An apology. Sorry guys. Granted, life circumstances have put me behind … But what’s really on my heart and on my mind is a subject SO TABOO it’s even more vulnerable than the sharing of the love curse story. My happiness. My happiness in love. I have so many conflicting thoughts — ethical, magical, personal, professional … All those lines are a bit blurred by this, and to tell the truth, there has never been a moment in my personal life that I have felt more terrified about sharing. I kept it from my best friends for months. The guy showed up. The partner in the astrological prophecy. The Transit man. Mr. Shoot the Moon. Remember how Carrie Bradshaw had Mr. Big? OMG, I am so Sex and the City right now. I have never felt so Carrie. I binged the entire Sex and the City series on DVD when I was recovering from my stroke in 2003. I’m stalling. Sorry. So, according to my chart, this Love transit, that inspired me to fix my love curse, started a long time ago, last fall maybe — it was already going on before I heard about at the end of 2018. Dena DeCastro told me it would last into 2020. It would ramp up and then peak in the summer of 2019. There are two “tent poles” to this transit peak — one in May 2019, and one in August 2019. Now, the first one is exact May 16 - and I remember that because it’s my dad’s birthday. It is May 11, 2019 as I record this. I don’t know if there’s a oracle at the end of this show yet or not. I’m really down to the wire, recording this on the fly. Maybe I’ll pull a card, live, in the moment for us. At the end, after the credits. Because this is almost live. It’s a high wire act. I thought NO WAY am I telling anyone. I don’t want to jinx it. And then I thought — That’s some superstitious curse mentality bullshit. I am not the same person. Check out my springy colorful new profile pic on social media. Proof of my glow. Some of you guys told me you're binging the curse … how could I not share the biggest development? And how could I chicken out and try to manipulate the outcome before sharing? The spirit of this story is vulnerability and confession and maybe some good old fashioned sensationalized exhibitionism. Always good for infotainment. As you can imagine, the last few months, I’m glancing at the calendar thinking “Okay … Is something going to happen?” No, I can’t look. I can’t try to make it happen. If I pay attention am I going to mess up the magic. As I’ve found before with astrology — it is uncanny and no I can’t explain it and I wish i knew the secret to how these transits are true — but they always happen. And they don’t happen the way you’d imagine. They surprise you with their innovation, but they are always, in hindsight, kind of inevitable. Now, knowing all that could mess with your head. And a lot of you very sweetly wrote me and predicted that now I would be meeting someone. It was going to happen for me. And being in the familiar curse mindset I was in for 30 years, I was both crossing my fingers and preparing to be disappointed. But I wasn’t going to show it. I would have laughed it off. Oh, please. We knew Slade wasn’t going to have some Romance Novel worthy love story pop up out of nowhere. That’s not real life. That’s a dense thicket of hearts and flowers. Well … so, be warned. Spoiler alert. This episode is pretty rich with hearts and flowers. Now, ethically, I am not sharing his name. Because he has no idea he’s part of this prophecy or this on-going reality show series. He doesn’t listen to this show, so that’s not the issue. I don’t want him to, because I don’t want him to be psyched out. But he’s not going to be listening to this. However, I did not get his permission. And it’s well … I think I can tell this in a way that will protect his identity. I’m actually pretty confident that one day should I mention these episodes, he’ll think it’s really rad. He won’t be angry. This is me talking to my girlfriends. He’s doing it too. He’s admitted as much. Just not with a few thousand people like I am. Am I going to F this up? Well, now that is exactly the kind of thinking I am working to release. No. No I’m not going to F this up. I’m going to live my best life. I’m working to stay present, stay happy, stay in the joy, bask in the results of my hard work. I’m excited. You have witnessed that I am going into this with a very fresh perspective. Let’s see what happens. Stay tuned. Oh, yeah, and one other disclaimer, before I tell you about Mr. Moon. I always try to make these personal stories applicable to your own life in some way. I’m not sure I come to this episode as prepared to make this a teachable moment. So, you have a few options: You can find the wisdom here and apply it as you will. Or you can simply hold space for me. And support me in finding some joy. Or you can listen to this juicy gossip because you’re part of my girlfriend tribe. The guy. The man. Dare we say the One? He showed up. He freaking showed up. On schedule. He’s here. About two years ago this man messaged me on a hook up app. One that will remain nameless, because I don’t need y’all going looking for my profile. I honestly thought Wow. This guy is kind of out of my league. We started flirting, sharing pics, sexting, the whole thing for like a few weeks … You know how it goes. It starts on the app, and moves to texting if there’s something there. Now, you may not know this about me, but, as a writer, I like to think my sexting is championship level. My love life has been dirty talking with virtual strangers for many years now. I’ve never met anyone from a hook up app in real life. I usually keep all that at arm’s length. Very compartmentalized. And for the record, i have no shame about my sexuality. It’s very much a part of my spirituality, and I would do shows about it more, if it was something you could do A show about. I kind of feel like the only thing I could do is ask every single interview guest to share their thoughts on the subject. And I may do that at some point. We both have iPhones. We were soon messaging every night. A little bit of FaceTime. We mostly did little audio clips back and forth. He is very funny and smart, clever, creative, intellectual, but also a big kid and a music lover. And then we started texting back and forth during the day, like I do with most of my closet friends. Not sexting anymore. Long text conversations. He’s super communicative as I am. We eventually started talking on the phone a little, although, as with all my closest friends, we actually prefer texting. This went on for a few months. Several months. and then he started talking about meeting me in real life. He lives in Dallas. Which honestly is one of the only boxes on my shoot the moon list that he doesn’t tick. But then, most of my closest relationships are long distance. Most of my platonic relationships and all of my professional relationships begin and live long distance in the virtual realm. You know what a big deal I make of it when I get to meet my peeps in real life. Although I have never turned away a client or a friend or a work collaborator because they were long distance. I do do that to guys that want to date me. I had some sad experiences with long distance relationships. And when he started to ask me all the time when we were going to meet I finally told him about this man I was involved with long distance who lived in Kansas City. I invested two years in that relationship going back and forth, and when it came time for me to relocate, I left him at the altar so to speak. I backed out just days before I was supposed to pack up and go for good. I broke his heart. and pissed him off. There was another one, who only lived a few hours away, but … None of them ended well. They became chapters in my curse. A pattern. So I was very reluctant to meet my Texan because of the distance. Or I blamed it on the distance. I was very pessimistic. Scared of being disappointed. The truth is … I always adored him. From the very first message. But it is painful being away from someone you love like that. Long distance relationships for me have been hard. And I didn’t trust they were worth it. He was very open with his feelings. He wanted to do the whole thing, meet, see if the chemistry was all there in real life, if so … Try to do the long distance thing for awhile and figure out a way to be together. He kept saying that “We’ll figure it out. Don’t worry about it so much. We’ll figure it out." I was like “We’ll figure it out is not exactly a plan.” He was like “We’re the real thing. I know we are, so we’ll figure it out.” He’s a Sagittarius. Which is my ideal Sun Sign for a partner … I love Sag men. Most of my straight male friends over the course of my life have been Sagittarius and I’ve always been on the lookout for a Sag on my team. BUT this a very Sagittarian “plan.” I joke that a Sagittarius birthday party is “Meet me at this address on a random corner” and then you just go from there. And you have a great time. And everybody wakes up somewhere the next day and thinks Well, shit that was fun. After about a year of wanting to meet me, and having me shut him down because we didn’t have a plan, he started to get upset with me. He was also between jobs and stressed about all that, which didn’t help He told me the feelings were real for him, we spending almost every day together on the phone. Every night. He gave me an ultimatum and said if we weren’t going to meet and try to take our relationship off line, then he couldn’t do it anymore. He said he was really emotionally invested and it was hurting his feelings that I was keeping us in limbo. I wondered how much I was compounding his stress because he was in limbo with his job too. I didn’t want it to end. I was afraid to take it further. I was really blowing it with him, I knew he was about to stop contacting me ... And then, … his DAD DIED. Unexpectedly. Out of nowhere. …. ….. It was so awkward and weird. and horrible. I didn’t know whether to keep texting him and calling him to try to be there for him, or just leave him alone ... I felt so guilty. But I also felt like maybe the Universe stepped in, you know? I found him on Facebook and Instagram and sent him a friend request. We’d weirdly never connected those parts of our lives. I kind of intended it as a way to say I’m still your friend, I care what happens to you. I don’t want to *not know what happened to you. And I’m not abandoning you but I’m leaving you with as many options to reach out to me as you want. If you want. I thought he might be pissed, but he accepted my friend request. And that was the end of our contact. I watched all the stuff about his dad from a distance … Just sending heart emojis and staying silent. He would like my pics sometimes — he actually always likes a pic of me — but he never commented or messaged me privately. I would scroll through and check to see if you saw my pics on Instagram. And he always liked. them. He posts a lot on Instagram. He’s a graphic designer, so his pics are cool, and I always like seeing his cool Texas Sky pics. Some of the things he would post — especially about what he was reading or watching on TV — I wanted to write him a fucking book because they were always so meaningful to me, we had so much in common. It was freaky. I fell in love with him even more as a real person, in his real normal FB life without me, from this distance. That all happened about a year ago. For the past year, we kept liking each other’s stuff. He’s not that interested in my spirituality stuff - thinks my job is cool, and he’s supportive but not invested in consumption of New Age stuff - but he does always like my pics of my fur babes and anything that has a pic of me, he always gives a “heart.” It became kind of bittersweet, and when Beto was running for Ted Cruz’s seat, we did end messaging a little and we found that the one thing we could safely talk about — ironically — was politics. Like, that was our safe non-personal thing we could still go back and forth about. So, the weekend of April 14, about a month ago, he posted asking if any of his friends automatically watch every episode of Veep twice - once to get the plot, a second time to go back and get all the little nuances you miss the first time. Well, shit, I JUST POSTED THAT IN A PRIVATE MESSAGE to a friend of mine with the same time stamp. It was such a synchronicity and I was so excited that without over thinking it I screen shot it, and sent it to him. He immediately messaged me. We started right back where we were, texting, talking, every day, all day, every night… He told me right away our relationship is not over for him. it is either us, or he’s single. End of story. He’s that sure. No amount of time and distance has changed his mind. We tried to forget it, let it go, etc etcetera. It didn’t work. He looked me right in the eye (via iPad screen) and said “I am the one for you. I KNOW I am. Please, give this a chance. Let’s meet in person. Just come and spend one weekend with me." If it isn’t there, we’ll know it. We can get it out of our system, and go our separate ways once and for all. We don’t have to take it any further. I told him “FUCK. If I meet you, I’m going to fall in love with you and we are going to be in a long distance relationship before we even get out of the Dallas airport.” That’s just gonna happen. We both know it is. So — I asked him if it comes down to it, do you see yourself moving to be with me. He says yes. ... This isn’t my first time meeting someone online. A large percentage of relationships start this way. Some of you even wrote to suggest I use dating apps as a way of opening up the possibilities. In the past, I just had this arbitrary red line about it … In an attempt to heal myself, I am releasing all old protocols. They no longer serve. In order to be a new person, enter a new phase, I have to BE that new person. Between you and me I am already in love with this man, I have been for a really long time — for two years. I was scared and wounded … but this is a second chance. I just cannot picture myself with anyone else. So, I’m going to fly to Dallas and have this honeymoon scenario with him next month. I don’t see any other way around this. If there is SOME chance there is something about him — or me — that is just terrible and awful and we’ve made a huge mistake here. Okay. So be it. Won’t be the first. I can live with that. But I can’t live with the thought that this is my Person and I let it go without giving it a real chance. Long distance relationships can suck. It may be an inconvenience. I’m imagining I’ll be doing some pining away. But he says he’s certain we’ll figure out. He’s optimistic and willing and filled with joy about this. And I’m finally ready to get on board with some joy. Oh! And one little thing that just happened today. And it’s kind of the reason I tipped over into saying “Okay, I need to share this.” Remember May 16 - the tent pole in the astrological transit. So, I texted him that I need to get on the phone with him this week so we can confirm our schedules, and look at flight times, and finally make this trip official. I asked when is the best night for him to do all that? Because we both have workout schedules and busy lives … He texted back — Not to put it off, but is it okay if we wait until Thursday? I said Sure, even thought I thought, I’ll be doing stuff with my family for my dad’s birthday. And immediately realized, duh — my dad’s birthday — Thursday is May 16.

Evolutionary astrologer Dena DeCastro returns to the show to teach us all about Chiron, Chiron Return, and what the move into Chiron in Aries means for each of us. HOW TO FIND YOUR CHIRON SIGN: Google the year you were born + Chiron example: “1969 Chiron” or visit Chiron Sign Tables at Cafe Astrology MENTIONED ON THE SHOW Chiron Sign Tables Cafe Astrology The National Chart of the United States interpretation Actual Natal Chart of the USA GUEST LINKS - DENA DECASTRO Chiron in Aries and You Chiron in Aries: Fight for the Right to Be You denadecastro.com DeCastro Astrology on Facebook HOST LINKS - SLADE ROBERSON Slade's Books & Courses Get an intuitive reading with Slade Automatic Intuition FACEBOOK GROUP Shift Your Spirits Community BECOME A PATRON https://www.patreon.com/shiftyourspirits TRANSCRIPT Slade: I love having a returning guest/in-house astrologer, and welcoming all other astrologers to come on the show too. So one of the things that you and I have been doing in these sort of serial conversation is focusing on more evergreen kind of topics in astrology, not the day-to-day transits of what's going on. But the thing that's interesting about Chiron which we're talking about today is it kind of falls in the middle ground, right? Because it's going to be an effect for this long period of time. It's shifting signs. It's going to be there for seven years so this is one of those things that I feel like we still want to discuss and it will be relevant for several years if people listen to this conversation, right? Dena: Yeah. It's right in that middle ground where this is, when the slower moving bodies, such as Uranus, Neptune or Pluto, which are the outer planets, and Chiron, which happens to orbit between Uranus and Saturn. When those things are moving into a new sign, it will be there for a long time, generally, Pluto being the longest where it could be 15 years-ish in a sign. So yeah, we're not exactly Evergreen but it's a long time, right? Slade: Right. Dena: So for Chiron, it's going to be in total about eight years in Aries, and it dipped in last year, and it's gonna go through 2027, a little in and out at the end, you know, where it goes forward and backward, but... Slade: When was it last year that it dipped in? I'm just curious. Dena: Let's see. It was, I believe, April. I'm going to look at my notes on that, but yeah, I think it was April through September. Yes. Of 2018. And then it retrograded back into Pisces to finish up business there. We can talk a little about that. And then it moved fully into Aries February of last month. I believe it was the 18th that it moved into Aries. Slade: So I just have to say really quickly, I really didn't know anything about Chiron until very recently. In the last few months when I started seeing all this press about the change into Aries, and people who had Chiron in Pisces were celebrating that something was going to change. And I've had people talk to me about my chart since I was a little kid and this never came up. So tell us, first of all, what IS Chiron? As an astronomical body and then astrologically what it is. Dena: So it was first classified as an asteroid and it's orbiting between the asteroid belt and the Kuiper belt is that final belt of objects beyond Pluto. And so it's orbit goes in and out between Uranus' orbit and Saturn's orbit. So it can go a little bit outside of Uranus and come back in and inside of Saturn's orbit and go back out. So it goes between them. It doesn't have a completely round orbit. It's elliptical and irregular. Therefore it spends a longer time in some signs than others. And it happens to be that Aries and Libra are the two signs that it spends the longest amount of time in. So it's about an eight year time frame that it will be spending in those. Now it's being classified as possibly a minor planet which could be a combination of, is it a comet or is it a dwarf planet? What is it? But it's basically a small body that regularly orbits the sun, which is now classified as centaur or minor planet. It was discovered in 1977 so it is very new in terms of what astrologers have been looking at and developing theories about and we're still continuing to develop a meaning for what Chiron is. Slade: That's so cool. We think of all this stuff as being so ancient, you know, like Greek astronomers gazing at the sky... Dena: Yeah. Slade: So the idea that modern astrologers are actually incorporating something new into the lexicon is really fascinating. So how does it happen and what do people think it's about and what do you know about it? Dena: Yeah, well like any of the planets that have been discovered in recent history, for example, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, are new basically to our astrological understanding, relatively speaking. We started with discovery of Uranus in the late 18th century, discovery of Neptune in the mid 19th century, and discovery of Pluto in about 1930. So this is recent history in terms of the scheme of things. And so astrologers work to develop some sense of, what does that planet's presence mean in a birth chart? Through experience. Through reality testing. Through looking at a person's chart and seeing how it plays out in their life. So it's a science in that we're correlating data. We're observing data and how it plays out in reality. So we're doing the same with Chiron. I think it received the moniker, the archetype of the Wounded Healer, as it was named for Chiron, and the myth of Chiron is about a centaur that was born of the mating of Saturn, Kronus, and a nymph named Philyra. So that story is about a being who was born with a deformity, being rejected by his mother. You know, she split the scene when this baby was born. It's a very sad story in its beginnings, but then it works out well in the Greek myth for Chiron because he is adopted by Apollo who's really super cool. Apollo shares with him all the skills that he has and he becomes then a master healer astrologer himself. Astrology is actually in the myth and a person who then mentors others and teaches others, or being who mentors and teaches others. So he's kind of this half-mortal, half not-mortal being who is brought into the world and has to figure out, like, how am I going to survive? But then he receives some help and mentoring from one of the gods. So it's a pretty incredible story. And then what astrologers do is they take the synchronicity of that body being named for that Greek myth and say, how then does that shed light on the meaning of this body in a person's chart? And we've done that with all of the planets, from names of the Greek gods or the Roman gods. So yeah, I mean, and then it's a process, right? It's a process of looking at this over and over again in people's charts. And to be honest, I didn't use Chiron for probably the first 10 years of practicing astrology. And I've been doing it for about 20. And what led me to really looking at it myself and practicing with it in charts is, in my own chart, I saw how it had been and seemed to shed light on my story. And it is prominent on my chart. And so I think that's a factor too. If it's prominent in a person's chart, then it will have more of an impact as this asteroid or minor body. But as astrologers, we can only really work from experiential, experience and data, to figure out what does this actually mean? Slade: So what's the theme then? What does it bring to our chart or is there a certain part of our life experience that it impacts? Talk a little bit about that. Dena: I believe it has to do with inner child issues, things that happened to us when we were children, that continue to affect us throughout our life. And we may be very aware of those things. But it's like the thing that keeps hanging us up. That insecurity, that feeling of lack, that feeling of less than, that we all carry around, that stems from something in the childhood. Some of us have more or less awareness of what is that, what is that wound? What happened there? Let's say, for example, someone, one of their parents left when they were a child. Going right back to the Chiron story, they might have abandonment issues, right? And they might be very aware of the cause of that. "My father left when I was three and so therefore I have daddy issues or abandonment issues." What Chiron can help with is then pointing in a chart to - can you find the healing for that? What is its medicine, by it's sign and house placement? What do you need to go into? What do you need to embrace? What qualities do you need to embody in order to heal from that particular childhood issue. And then use that healing in service. That is part of the healing too. Using that awareness of your own childhood wound in service in some way to others in your life on a broader scale. Slade: Okay, so this is bringing together a lot of threads of stories for me personally, which we'll come back to later on when we talk about the Chiron return. Let's make sure and tell everybody since, for instance, I don't think when you do your chart on astro.com that it lists Chiron as one of the planets and tells you what sign it's in. So if you want to look this up and just find out what your Chiron sign is, how do you find out that information? Dena: Well, for any asteroid or minor body, you can usually find it by typing in that planetary body's name plus the word "ephemeris" or "ephemerides". That will bring up a list of different resources, either to find a table that shows when the planet was where. Or it will go to an ephemeris that shows that. And some people cannot read an ephemeris, so that's a tricky thing. I do happen to know with Chiron, CafeAstrology has a good signs table for Chiron which is easy to read. It says, here's the date and here's the date it entered Cancer for example and here's the date that it left Cancer and entered Leo. And so you can find, within that list of dates, where your natal Chiron is. So that's fairly easy. You'll put a link to that in the notes. Slade: Absolutely. We'll have links to all these resources so you can look this stuff up, and links to some of your resources as well. Well this is really interesting because I do kind of see this theme emerging around the whole wounded healer, wounded child archetype stuff. I also had an epiphany about the centaurs in Harry Potter and the magicians. Dena: Oh, the magicians! Slade: Yes! Which are famously healers who studied the stars as well and I assume that that came from mythology but you just tied it all together for me. I get my mythology through fantasy most of the time. Dena: Me too. Slade: So what has... for instance, one of the things that brought this to my awareness were all the people who recently were posting on Facebook that they were Chiron in Pisces people and that this was nearing a shift for them. And it seemed as if they were like glad to see this change coming. What is that story about? Dena: Well, and I don't tend to look at things as wholly positive or negative, right? You know that about me by now. As an evolutionary astrologer, I don't think, as my teacher Steve puts it, don't just plug your nose through the transit of something and say, "Oh phew, that's done!" Slade: Yeah. Dena: To work with it consciously and with intention would be the aim, right? I'm not shaming those people because believe me, I've definitely been like, PHEW! after a few Pluto transits in my life. "Glad that's done!" But Chiron can bring definitely a hyper awareness of that childhood stuff that still haunts us. And if Chiron's in Pisces, then those people who are going through Pisces return in the past several years, right? Which means they were turning 50 at some point in there. 50 is, I would say, already an interesting birthday right, in this culture? I mean, you and I are both turning 50 this year, so we're coming up on Chiron return and we'll talk more about that. But for those people with Chiron in Pisces, that have just gone through it, maybe there were other challenges in their life as well surrounding turning 50, surrounding all the things that go with being middle aged in this culture. Slade: Plus it was a water sign. Dena: It was a water sign, yeah. With Pisces, there is already a feeling of heightened sensitivity, vulnerability, deep empathy and perhaps the challenges of Chiron return in Pisces were about feeling things even more deeply which, the past few years would've been a very challenging place to be, for sure. Everything that's going on in this country, lots of processing of deep and intense emotions in general, and then having that heightened awareness of everything that's going on around you, and feeling everybody's feelings, I would guess that that was a challenging sign to have Chiron return in. Slade: And I'm observing that conversation from our peers, people who are already intuitives or spiritual teachers. They're very much involved in their spirituality and healing things, their personal issues. As you said, turning that into something that they do for other people. And predominantly a lot of women in our community. So I was seeing all this back and forth and I was like, "Gosh, you guys, I'm so sorry. What happened?" It sounded really intense but it also makes sense why they are kind of having a voice within our community at large, right? Why they're on these Facebook groups talking about the things that they're talking about, it did make a kind of sense. And I was kind of excited to hear that I have another dose of fire to work with. Because I am a fire sign, I'm a Leo, but I have a lot of Scorpio in my chart. So I kind of feel more like a water sign moving through the world a lot of the times than I do the Leo energy. So to have some Aries coming in somewhere, yeah, bring it on! Sounds good. Dena: Yeah, you and me both. I don't have a lot of fire in my chart at all. I have one fire planet, Mars in Sag and that's it. So I'm like, okay! Good little boost here, some fire energy and then Chiron will be connecting. If you're a fire sign, particularly if you have early fire sign planets, Chiron will be connecting with that via a trine or conjunction. Either one. One or the other. So it will reconnect you with that fire principle, for sure. Slade: So with Chiron moving into Aries for everyone, what kinds of things does that generally do to the mood and environment and what we're experiencing collectively? Dena: You know, Chiron being in Aries for the collective, it's taking us back to square one in many ways. Aries is the first sign. It is the 'I Am' principle and just being. Absolutely 100% who I am, who I am born as, and Chiron is illuminating the wound that blocks us from being 100% who we are and who we were born as. That's intense, for sure. I mean, we can say Chiron in Pisces was intense in different ways but there's an intensity to this as well. It has to do with confronting what blocks access from being, 100% accepting and comfortable with who we are. No apologies. That's very Aries energy by the way. No apologies. Not apologizing for who I am, what I'm doing and what I want! And desire. Desire is also a component of Aries. Chiron is illuminating right now as it moves through Aries, what is blocking us from having what we want? It will show us when we get in our own way, where we let other people get in our way, but the onus of power does come back to us because that's what Aries is about, owning your personal power, your will, your desire, and the direction YOU want to take. One of the themes I can see coming of that is realizing exactly how we get in our own way, and to remove that tendency to want to blame that person, that situation. There's always an excuse I can make about why I'm not getting to where I want to go. But ultimately the buck stops with me. And that's a very Aries principle as well. So owning personal power will be, how to get to that, is through understanding the ways that we let our past, our childhood stuff, our old baggage of childhood, continue to hang us up in our movements toward where we want to go. And so, as with any transit, there's some inner work involved in figuring that out and healing that. Slade: Well, one of the things that I love about the way you speak about these things, you touched on that idea, it's not always good or bad. You're gonna get a little bit of both with anything in astrology. And one of the things that you like to do with that is say, given that this situation is occurring, or given that we've got these ingredients to work with, how can we make the best of that? What should we be looking to work on? I mean, obviously, childhood issues, things from the past that maybe are still holding us back in some way, making us timid... Am I in the ballpark? Dena: Yeah. I think you cued in on something there with the word 'timid'. That Aries is a sign of bravery and courage. And so we're being, all of us, called to become more brave in some area of our lives, depending on where that Chiron transit is happening. Whether that Chiron be touching a planet in your chart, whether that Chiron be moving through a house, well it will always be moving through a house, but what house is it moving through in your chart? It's going to point to that area being key and the need for you to develop courage, to be bold, to take steps forward in that area. And also to face the fears that are rooted in something that happened when you were a kid. That's still getting in your way. Slade: Well this is freaking me out because, not to make it all about me... Dena: I love it when you talk about you. Slade: Since it's my show and you're my astrologer, and I've already aired a bunch of laundry that you and I have talked about, the whole thing with some of the romantic stuff going on in my chart right now, which we had a conversation about. That sort of opened some doors for me that I ended up doing this episode a few weeks ago about how I had put this curse on myself when I was younger and I then did a follow up episode with Åsa Poeche about the concept of using shamanic principles to reverse or to retrieve some of those lost pieces. And so behind the scenes, I mean I'll come back and talk about this on it's own show, but one of the things that I found really quickly after talking to her was that the incidents that I was talking about and speaking about it as if it was the beginning of this curse really weren't. There were other events that led up to them and I started just to sort of jump back in time all the way back to something that happened when I was four. So I have had this big 'Aha' moment that what I perceived as some kind of issue that I had placed on myself or whatever, was actually something that happened to me at a really early age and I responded to it in such a way that that emotional wound then defined how I defended myself in a lot of areas going forward, that were connected with that. And then the whole idea of like, why do I feel the impulse to suddenly talk about all this publicly, and one of my reasons intellectually for doing that was, one of the components of a shamanic ritual is to have the tribe present when somebody's being healed. So one of the things we talked about was the fact that this community of people who listen to this show, we're kind of holding that space and so I am actually asking for my community to hold space for me while I heal this. Consequently, hopefully they will get some kind of information that they can use for themselves. But as you're talking about this idea of bravery, I feel lately, and I mean I'm kind of a brave person in some areas of my life but I do feel this sense of being more brave suddenly about things that are really deep in the closet. Like I've got a whole other layer back into storage now, you know what I mean? So I'm wondering if maybe that's what I'm experiencing. Dena: And you and I are both going through Chiron return so we can talk a little bit about that and how just Chiron return in general because anybody with Chiron in Aries is going to be experiencing Chiron return some time between now and 2027. So let me just quickly note the dates for that. So Chiron is in Aries from now through to June 19 of 2026. Dips into Taurus for awhile and then comes back into Aries from September 17th, 2026 through June 14th of 2027. So really about 8 years more, right? With a little dip into Taurus in between. So Chiron return, it only happens once in your life unless you live to be about 100, which some of us do. But at that point I don't know how much work we'll be doing. Slade: Who cares, at that point. Dena: Yeah. At that point I'm just sipping my margarita on the porch. At 50 is when most people are experiencing it, either a year either side of that, could be when it starts for you and it lasts about a year and a half to two years. This transit, this Chiron return, it prompts us to revisit the very core wound, okay, of childhood. So when you say, the thing that happened when you were four, I have a suspicion that that is a key. And interestingly enough, the Chiron glyph looks like a key. Slade: gasp Dena: I know. Cool synchronicity, eh? That that's the key to unlocking your courage, your strength, your power, now. Slade: Wow. Dena: And this is why you're feeling braver, more courageous, more able to take risks. I'm experiencing some of the same. Feeling... and I think this in part comes with being 50 as well, or becoming 50, is you start to care less what other people think. You start to really own that this is just who I am. No apologies, right? Aries energy. No apologies and for better for worse, I may make enemies. I may have people not like me. These are also very Aries themes. I may make enemies. Not everybody has to like me. And that is so freeing and so healing. Slade: Yes. Dena: Big time, right? So that's the theme in this Chiron in Aries return. Slade: Would you be comfortable talking about maybe an example of how that's showing up for you? What kind of parts of your life are you seeing that in? Dena: Doing this podcast. Seriously. I mean I'm joking a little bit. I mean, doing things like this, putting myself out there and speaking to larger groups of people, because I think the core, one of the core wounds for me was standing out, being made to feel it was not safe to stand out, or to be visible because of themes of my childhood, you know, of having narcissistic parents that made it feel like, no, you're not supposed to stand out. We're supposed to be the show! So yeah. So that core wound about, I have to blend in, I have to hide my needs, I have to hide my vulnerabilities, that is what I am working through at this time. And what I'm finding is that, there's this voice that's guiding me. I feel like it's one of my guides that's probably overseeing this whole Chiron return for me, that's saying, "You go, you go girl. Do it. Just do it. And it'll be fine. We got you, but you just gotta keep pushing yourself here. I know it's scary. I know it's not fun sometimes, but there will be gains for you on the other side of this." So yeah. It's writing more. Being in front of people more. Sharing more of what I have to say. And that Chiron in my chart happens to be connected to my Mercury. It's squaring my Mercury so for people who know a little about astrology, natally, it's squaring my Mercury and then by transit, because of this return, it's squaring my Mercury. So it's really the use of the voice for me that's showing up in a big way. Slade: That's so much something that I associate with you too. Both technically, you have great sound and audio. Your sound is always really good and you have a great radio voice and it's something that I definitely associate with your persona. So I love to be one of the people who's like holding your hand and jumping off the cliff with this energy a little bit. And, you know, I have to say that, the weird thing is that I feel strangely kind of elated by it, even though it's terrifying, and normally maybe if you picked another time period, and you'd come knocking and wanted to talk to me about some of this stuff, I'd be like, I'm not talking to anybody about that. Maybe in a therapy session or something. But the idea of, there's almost this weird kind of giddy excitement that goes along with being vulnerable in this context. Because, and I appreciate you sharing how that plays out in your life because, I guarantee you, someone else heard what you just said and really identified with it. And that's their story too. And it's so crazy how you can do something that feels like, well this is really specific to me. And you talk about something so personal and yet people are able to identify with the energy of that and to automatically mirror that in some way and it really touches people emotionally and they have this response to it that, to tell you the truth, I only know that from having blogged for a decade and felt like every time I felt really hesitant about publishing something that was too personal, I always kinda had to grip my teeth and do it, and then feedback that I would see on the other side encourages me that it's probably going to be okay if I do it. Like, I should say yes to that more. But what is different for me in this moment is I feel a little bit excited about embracing that more. Dena: Yes. Exactly. I think that's the gift and the medicine, that we're feeling the effects of the medicine, basically. We're taking our medicine. We're doing this healing work and it's like, oh, that is bringing a shift in me. And the core of that Aries message itself is really self-acceptance. There's some of that with Pisces as well. Like, accepting oneself as one is, but also embracing with Aries who I am without apology, without caveats, without anything to say, I'm making an excuse for myself. So yeah. There is a major shift going on for those people with Chiron return happening, and that shift will continue for people with Chiron in Aries for the next several years. Slade: So generally it's a little bit of this energy for everyone, but for the people who are 50, or turning 50 during this period, it's like an intensified front and centre activity in our world right now, right? Am I explaining that right? Dena: That makes sense. Slade: And you know what, it kind of takes me back a little bit to all the solar eclipse stuff that happened in Leo a few years ago, right? Because there was that whole like, Leo-Aquarius message about who am I? What's my light? How am I a star? And then the flip side of that, who's receiving it? I feel like this is like, in a way, that was a version of this type of work. That was a little bit painful to revisit, or to kind of have laid bare for awhile. Because I am a Leo, and I think it was extra hot for the Leos, but I kind of feel like this is maybe a more active version of that introspective experience. Like I felt like that was a lot of soul searching. Let's just use that term. I did a lot of soul searching about what the hell am I doing here? And then this feels a little bit more like, "Oh! There's actually something to do, and a way of processing this energy, and on the other side of it, something that's been lingering for a lifetime may have a new role in my life. It may become a source of power as opposed to a source of a hamstring or whatever." Dena: Right. I mean, Chiron in Aries, one of the themes of Aries is taking action, right? So it's about putting those realizations and those insights that you have now into action. It's about doing. And so, for the collective, as well, it's about taking action on the insights and the healing work that you're doing. It's not about keeping it locked away in the 'I'll deal with that later' file. Or I'll think about that later. It's now time to act. We've all got our marching orders, I think, to use a military metaphor. With Aries' à propos to go forth and do, based on the healing work that we're doing. Slade: How do you think this is going to affect the United States as a nation. Actually there's a lot of nations that are going through identity crisis right now. Do you think this is playing into those stories at all? Dena: Dude, yeah. I was just thinking about that this morning. You read my mind and I was wanting to look at the United States' chart which I'm actually going to do right now. Maybe you could put this chart in the Show Notes as well. So the United States actually has a natal chart, the Sibley chart. It's cast for July 4, 1776 date, as you know, the birthday of the nation at 5:10pm, which I think was the signing of the declaration of independence, around when they estimate that is. This chart seems to be accurate and where that Chiron in Aries falls in this chart will be, in its entirety, really, in the fourth house of home and family, which is, in terms of a nation, like the homeland, the homeland identity, our connection to each other as a family of Americans. That's what the fourth house represents in terms of the U.S. chart. So Chiron is illuminating, bringing to the surface, the wounds that are core to our national identity and what we were founded on. 'Foundation' is another word that I would associate with the fourth house. So what that takes me to is, what's the origin story of the United States? We're built out of rebellion. We were built out of seeking our religious freedom and freedom from persecution. We were built on breaking away from an oppressive, tyrannical order as our first forefathers perceived it so that we can have more freedom, right? More independence. Very Aries word. Independence. So it is bringing up, how do we define ourselves now? Who are we as a family of Americans and what needs to be healed so we can continue to be a family or not? This is what's at stake. It seems pretty big to me. And I'm not just saying that. If I were to look at this in some alternate universe where Trump wasn't president, which I would want to go live there right now if that were the case... Slade: Yes, me too. Dena: Even if Trump weren't president, I would be looking at this and saying, these are the issues that we're facing next. How can we continue to be a family of Americans? How can we continue with that sense of unity when there are different factions that are wanting to break off and splinter off and be independent and rebel? So we're heading into a, yeah, a rough time. And we've been in a rough time for awhile. There have been other transits in this chart that have awoken the beast, so to speak. Slade: This is so interesting. We should do a whole show about "America - the Chart" at some point. Without going too far down that road, we'll save some of that conversation, but it occurs to me that the childhood wound for the foundation of the United States was slavery. It was a big wound, the whole concept of "all men are created equal" blahblahblah, which we have seen repeatedly bubbling up and coming to light over and over again, and the whole idea of nationalism versus being the melting pot. There's a lot of mixed messages in America's identity that are playing out right now in a very... Yeah, so... Well that's an idea for our next show! Maybe we'll do that for summer when it's like, near the birthday of the United States. Dena: That sounds great, yeah. I could look at all the transits for the United States. It'd be a good check in. Slade: Let's do that. Alright, so just to let everyone know, we've got some resources. You've already written and prepared some articles on your blog, two links that I'm going to put in the Show Notes. Tell everybody what those are. Dena: Great. So the first one is a post about Chiron in Aries just in general for the collective. So, what does it mean? The symbolism of Chiron in Aries, and in that post, I also share a personal story about my having Chiron in Aries natally to illustrate what that energy might be like for the collective. And then in the following post, it's specifically about Chiron in Aries as its affecting each sun sign, so if you know your sun sign, you can get some good information about how is this time of Chiron in Aries going to be affecting you personally as that sun sign? So that kind of astrology, sun sign astrology, it can be somewhat specific but not entirely specific. So of course, if you really want to know how Chiron is laying in your person chart, definitely feel free to reach out to me for a reading, or to another astrologer for a reading, because you really need that specificity of birth time in the chart to know where it is by house and by aspect to your natal planets. But hopefully in that post, there's some good information for you in terms of your sun sign as it's affected by this. Slade: Very cool. Everybody can go to DenaDeCastro.com if they want to get a reading with you and we'll put those longer, more specific links specifically to those articles in the Show Notes and they'll also be on my blog and I think I shared them on Facebook as well if anybody has recently seen those. Dena, thank you so much. This was a really cool conversation. Dena: Thank you, Slade. As always, it was totally my pleasure.

In this special listener feedback episode, Patrick digs into listener emails, Apple Podcast reviews, PLUS discussion on past lives and reincarnation with Simon Bown and Claire Broad, and your 2019 astrological forecast with Dena DeCastro! Visit BigSeance.com/134 for more info. Other Android OptionsListen in Spotify Listen in Stitcher Listen in iHeart Radio Direct Download Link   In this episode: Intro :00 A voicemail and a question from Meredith. “If death is an illusion, how do you explain reincarnation?” :45 Hypnotherapist and host of the Past Lives Podcast, Simon Bown shares his take on Meredith’s question. 1:55 Psychic medium and former guest Claire Broad responds to the same question as well. 3:15 An interesting email from “Girl from Minnesota”, a great storyteller. She has a question about reincarnation/past lives and spirit guides. 9:47 A message from Veronica 18:48 Sharon asks about the Patreon for Big Seance Podcast! Check out Patreon.com/BigSeance. 20:29 Lorna from Australia on astral travel 21:21 Peggy Hagan writes in. (PonderingWithPeg.blogspot.com) 23:14 Don responds to the episode with Joshua Black on grief dreams. 24:40 Connecting a listener named Patric with the Big Seance Parlor community. 30:11 A funny and spooky story about scout camp from Pat. 31:28 Christopher Kohler with feedback on the Triangle Table episode with Slade Roberson and Ash Riley. This episode is still sparking some great discussion. 33:37 Dolly has a question about the voiceover lady in early episodes of the Big Seance Podcast. 35:43 More paranerds that I’ve heard from recently, including Sam Haynes with his new album! 37:30 Apple Podcast and iTunes Reviews! 39:54 One last email from Patty, who from the future let us know how Dena DeCastro’s Astrological Forecast for 2018 turned out! 41:29 Our 2019 Astrological Forecast with Dena DeCastro! 44:19 A special THANK YOU to Patreon supporters at the Super Paranerd and Parlor Guest level! 1:08:05 Outro 1:10:11   Fore more on Dena DeCastro DenaDeCastro.com Twitter: @siriusastrology Sirius Astrology Podcast Previous Big Seance Podcast episodes with Dena: 53, 61, 65, and 112.   The Big Seance Podcast can be found right here, on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn Radio, Stitcher, and iHeart Radio. Please subscribe, submit a rating, or share with a fellow paranerd! Do you have any comments or feedback? Please contact me at Patrick@BigSeance.com. Consider recording your voice feedback directly from your device on my SpeakPipe page! You can also call the show and leave feedback at (775) 583-5563 (or 7755-TELL-ME). I would love to include your voice feedback in a future show. The candles are already lit, so come on in and join the séance!

A special astrology workshop with recurring guest and evolutionary astrologer Dena DeCastro. We're taking a deep dive into Venus placement in your natal chart. Venus affects not only your love life but also other partnerships — including your relationship with money. Learn about the strengths and challenges associated with your Venus sign. *Each and every sign is explained. MENTIONED ON THE SHOW Ep 40 - Love & Money Personified with Morgana Rae Ep - 74 - Astrology & Past-Lives: Karmic Patterns in the Birth Chart with Dena DeCastro GUEST LINKS - DENA DECASTRO denadecastro.com DeCastro Astrology on Facebook HOST LINKS - SLADE ROBERSON Slade's Books & Courses Get an intuitive reading with Slade Automatic Intuition FACEBOOK GROUP Shift Your Spirits Community BECOME A PATRON https://www.patreon.com/shiftyourspirits Edit your pledge on Patreon TRANSCRIPT Let’s set you up for this astrology workshop as well as any others we do in the future ... If you know a lot about your natal chart, you may know some of these planets and signs without having to look them up. Feel free to go ahead and listen along right now. For those of you who are beginners or who want to reference your chart and take notes — we are going to explore additional areas of your chart on future episodes, so you may want to start a document or a notebook — the site I most use and recommend is: astro.com There’s quite a bit you can do with a free account. There are a lot of places where you can cast your natal chart online—and I don’t get any kind of kickback for referring astro.com —the reason I prefer Astro is you can store up to 100 profiles with a free account. That’s helpful if you have clients you’re casting charts for, BUT even more importantly, you may want to store the charts of people you’re in relationships with. There’s a partner report in astro you may want to explore for spouses, people you’re dating, family members, coworkers, people you’re in business with … that person you’re about to marry! After you sign up for a user name and password, you’ll be asked to enter your exact birth information. Under the Free horoscopes tab, you’ll find a daily personal horoscope that’s pretty good for computer generated, but for the purposes of our workshops here, you’ll want to look under the Free Horoscopes tab, in the Short Horoscopes list is Personal Portrait. The personal portrait is what astro calls the Natal chart or the birth chart. Now, on that Personal Portrait page, they will offer some highlights from your chart, but that is nowhere close to everything. They may or may not interpret your Venus placement, I’m not sure how their algorithm works. But if you scroll down to the bottom, you will find a list called planetary positions of every planet in your chart and what sign it is in. For this episode, you’ll want to know what sign your Venus is in. You may also want to find the Venus placement of your significant others Of course, if you have an astrology site you like, or a natal chart that was professionally prepared for you, by all means use those. Find your Venus, we’ll jump right in to this conversation and let Dena tell you what it means and what you can do with this information in terms of Love and Money. Dena: So evolutionary astrology is a branch of astrology that focuses on past life and karmic patterns as part of the reading of the natal chart. We look at that through something in the chart called the nodes, the south node representing that past life or karmic pattern situation and then the north node representing what it is in this life that we're here to learn, that we have not experienced in past lives, that we've not mastered. And so we're here learning about that thing which is foreign to us. So it's much more... it's less predictive than some other branches of astrology. In fact, it's not predictive at all. It is more of a personal development kind of astrology, where in the reading, I'm offering people a way to look at themselves differently, not only from this life's perspective but from a soul level perspective. With that knowledge, I'm giving them suggestions about how to best live in alignment with their soul's plan coming into this life. And how ultimately, to live a more fulfilling, content and happy life. So that's the aim of it. So it's not meant for prediction. It is more meant for personal development and for growth. Slade: I actually really like that, because it's a little bit more woo woo and yet, also the personal development aspect of it really brings it down to earth. So, of course I'll link to the show that we did earlier so everyone can listen to that and find out about their node astrology, but what you told me on that show about my own south node in Virgo, has been really impactful going forward from that moment. It explained a lot of things about the way that I operate. It also explained a lot of my relationships with Virgos. Dena: Oh totally. I'm with you on that one. Slade: So anyway, I really love that piece of information. And one of the things that I noticed, talking to you the very first time that we ever spoke, which is that conversation by the way, and the reason why I wanted you back on the show is, well, first I'd love any excuse to talk to you, but... One of the things I found myself recommending to my friends and my clients about your readings is, astrology I've often noticed can have this really, really old, like old testament doom and gloom kind of quality to it sometimes... Dena: Yeah. Slade: Especially if you're looking at things that are computer-generated sometimes, I often tell people, Okay, you need to dial back the negative a little bit. Dena: Dial that back! Slade: And you have a way of speaking about astrology that feels kind of more hopeful and more positive and enthusiastic to me. And I was wondering if you are aware of what I'm talking about and if you get a sense of that as well. Dena: Yeah, you know, I think that in the astrological community, one of the viewpoints is that evolutionary astrologers are too much Pollyanna perhaps, or positive, compared to some others, which will tell you more of the doom and gloom aspects, like if you have an afflicted Venus, that your love life is going to be challenged for your whole life. Some branches of astrology are more deterministic, I will say that. And I am not coming from an, evolutionary astrology is not coming from a deterministic perspective. We embrace the idea of free will as being the prime mover and that once we have self-knowledge, we can make better choices. That's the whole point. We can, the reading itself changes what you can do with your future. It's not telling you that this is the future that's laid out for you. That this is what's going to happen because Saturn squared your Venus and it's gonna suck. Slade: Right. Dena: That it's a... it's saying, here are some choices. I will say though, that it is not all love and light. Anybody whose gotten a reading from me will tell you that we go into the shadow stuff. We go into what is, what are the lower possibilities for you? What are the things that can trip you up or the places where you can get tangled up in old patterns and get stuck. But in knowing that, then you can more likely avoid those places, right? Slade: Yeah, like, to explain what I meant by how that information for me impacted me going forward, what it did was, it just identified a certain thought process or where something's coming from in the way that I think and react to things. And knowing to look for that and to be aware when it popped it's head, I'd be like, Ooo... that's totally my south node in Virgo! And then having a polar companion opposite of like, Okay well so in order to balance out that energy that idea is to move towards this more Piscean way of looking at things. So when I say it's impactful to me, you're right. It's not like, Oh, it's just going to be this way and I'm just screwed to be that way. Dena: Right. Slade: What it does is it allows me to say, Oh, there's my tendency to do THAT, now I'm going to make a willful conscious decision to lean this other way in order to kind of balance that out, or to move away from it. So yeah, I'd like that. I definitely don't want to... I don't want information that I can't change or manipulate in some way. Dena: Right. And I said this on another podcast recently, that I'm always thinking, as I do a reading, how can I empower the client, not how can I disempower the client. Or to be careful not to say things that are going to disempower the client. That's super important to me. It really guides everything that I say as I go through a reading. Slade: Mmm... Well you're doing a good job of it. Dena: Thank you. Slade: So there is some great astrology content obviously online, on social media... Dena: Yeah! Slade: A lot of astrologers do time sensitive current posts about what's going on in the skies and you do a little of that as well. But when you and I were brainstorming astrological topics that we could explore on the show, I talked about how much I try to create evergreen content, meaning, whenever someone comes along and they find this show, even if it's two years from now, I want the information to still be relevant to them. Aspects of the natal chart, or birth chart, are those items that aren't as time sensitive, so I'd love for you to explain to us the difference between transits and our natal or birth chart elements. Dena: Yeah, so the natal chart is the birth chart that you're born with. It is the permanent chart. It's not going to change. However, how you respond to that chart can change. YOU can grow and change. But that chart doesn't change. So when I do a reading that's focused mainly on the natal chart, we're really looking at those lifelong themes and patterns, not the things that are happening now. The transits and progressions and solar arcs, those are three things, three tools that astrologers use. And there are more tools, but those are the three common ones. They tell us what is happening right now in this person's chart. What are the things moving through, that transits from the outside, the cosmic weather. For example, let's say Neptune is currently in Pisces and it may be connecting with something in your chart. It may be trining your moon or, I think it is trining your moon, I'm not sure... Maybe soon.. That is its own set of meaning about what's happening now or in this coming year, or maybe for the next two years. A Neptune transit is two years long, for example. So that's time and that's forecasting. That's not prediction. That's like saying, "Here is the cosmic weather that is around you. How can you best navigate it?" Progressions and solar arcs are a little bit different. They're something that unfolds from the chart itself and I won't get into a technical discussion of those, but they're just other tools that we use to look at this moment in time, but also what's coming down the road, maybe the next year, two years for somebody. To say, what are the lessons that are on your plate right now, what are the themes that are up in your life? And it can be really helpful, particularly if you're going through a challenging time, to understand that there are forces at play that may be affecting you, that are causing this to be a challenging time and there is something you can do about it. There are things that you can do to better work with those energies than if you didn't know about it. Slade: I like your weather metaphor because it's kind of like, if you know a hurricane's coming, then you can close the shutters and go underground. You can respond to those conditions in a different way. Another thing that I do think that astrological transits are good for, and I was just talking to a friend of mine who is going through a really rough life transition, and I said, "One of the things I like about astrology is, it's not a psychic reading. It's actually external, you know? It's like, here's a spreadsheet about stuff in your life." It has a little bit of a disconnect from being so much in our own heads a little bit. It's something that also can give you a sense of... Like if you are really going through something, and you're thinking, gawd, when is this ever gonna end?? I find it really helpful for someone to say, "Well, you know, April something is totally gonna shift." And just having a sense of, oh, okay. I may feel like I'm smack in the middle of it, and then I get a reading with you and you talk about some transits, and you're like, "Oh actually, it's been going on for a long time but you're almost done." That can be the difference between being in a really dark hole in the ground and having a little sense of, okay, I can go for two more months or whatever. Dena: Right. Slade: I love the emphasis on it not being so much about prediction as about conditions, like weather conditions and sort of windows of time as opposed to specific moments. Dena: Yeah. Slade: Well just to get back to the birth chart stuff. So we decided we wanted to do some shows where we focus on some of the bigger elements in birth charts. I feel like for people who are new to astrology, it makes sense for them to study their birth chart or their natal chart first, as a way of learning about this vocabulary and these concepts and how it relates to what they're working with in this lifetime. Dena: Yeah. Slade: So one of those big elements in our birth chart is our Venus. So teach us about Venus. Dena: Haha... So Venus is a planet that most people correlate to love because it's the goddess of love. It is a planet that has to do with connection and relationship. It is also, though, a planet that has to do with money and finances. And so a lightbulb went on for me recently when I was listening to your episode with Morgana Rae about love and money, and I was like, Oh! [unintelligible] Venus. That's the Venus energy coming through in those two things together. She's a very Venutian kind of person. And it just clicked in for me that so many people don't make THAT connection. The connection to money and resources, as well as love and romance associated with Venus. So I'll talk about both aspects, or both faces of Venus. So to begin with, Venus is the ruler of Libra, the sign of Libra, and Taurus. So it's the ruler of two signs. And Libra is a relationship sign. It's about connection and want to connect and wanting to come into balance with a significant other or a significant friend or a significant client. It's about the relationship of the one to the one. And about balance and harmony between those two things. On another level, Venus too is about our aesthetic sensibilities, our creativity, as Libra holds the archetype of the Artist, that which makes beauty. And as we think of Venus also of the goddess of beauty, and Aphrodite. So it's the part of us that wants to make beauty in the world, to bring beauty into our surroundings. The part of us that wants to experience beauty. That can come through creating, through artistry, and it can also come through being in love and through romance and connecting that way. That's all an experience of beauty. And it all brings us that sense of sigh, that sigh of the romantic quality of life. So that's Venus as it's the ruler of Libra. But Venus is also the ruler of Taurus. And Taurus is a sign that is connected to stability, resources, and a feeling of security, and that comes often through having enough resources, you know, that sense of stability and security. So hence Venus' connection to money. And so the Venus in our chart can tell us many things more than just what kind of people are we attracted to and what kind of people we tend to attract. I mean, that's all true and that's something I'll talk more about. But also it tells us, what is our relationship to resources, how do we create more resources for ourselves, how do we find our sense of security, how do we find a sense of stability and a foothold in the world. So really, there's those two dimensions of Venus, particularly love and money, that I want to focus on. Slade: Let me say something really quick about Morgana Rae. Of course I'll link to Morgana's interview when she was on the show as well. Some people know her. I reference her in The Money Shift. She was very influential in my relationship with abundance as an archetype. I just have to say, it's really interesting because if you hear Morgana talk about her story, she started working with abundance and money and financial programming and all those relationships that we have with resources. She discovered this while being a relationship coach. What she found was that people have the same issues with money that they have in their romantic partnerships and that was the connection she made. So anyway, I hope she gets to hear this and discover that there's an astrological basis for her observing that connection. Dena: Yeah. I would love that and I really enjoyed what she had to say in that episode. And I found so much personal value and had some really individual revelations about my own relationship to love and money through that episode. So it connected for me directly back to astrology and what I know there. So I think what I'll do is, I'll walk through some of the sign placements and maybe we will get through all 12. Slade: Okay! Dena: I'll do a little bit on each one if I can. Slade: Let's try, yeah. Dena: Yeah we'll try. So if you know your Venus placement, you can listen to each one and you might be able to find the Venus placements of your friends and family members and partner and be able to also get some pieces out of this. So Venus in Aries. Venus, again, as being correlated to who we are attracted to, what kinds of people we're attracted to and who we attract in. But also the relationship style. So Aries is a spontaneous fiery energy, right? And that's how Venus in Aries people tend to like it in a relationship. They tend to like things spicy and need them a little spicy and spontaneous and passionate, right? And so there needs to be that excitement. This is where we get into differences and preferences. As you know, some people like things more calm and easygoing in relationship, while you see others that's like, oh, they've always got so much relationship drama going on. But that's how some people actually like it. If you need it, right? So Venus in Aries is that energy. And as it relates to money and resources, Venus in Aries is really connected to needing to take on challenges in terms of one's work and financial goals, and being able to do things that feel fresh and new all the time. So there can be a... The shadow aspect of that the tendency to get bored quickly, like have a passionate attachment to an idea or project and then it can kind of fizzle. So that's the challenge for Venus in Aries. In both relationship and money, things can start off real hot and heavy, then go tzzzzz (fizzling down). So that's something to think about with all these Venus placements. It's always the positive and the shadow expression of each, things to be careful of. Venus in Taurus. Venus in the sign that it rules really craves stability, sensual or physical, tactile connection in relationship. A feeling of security and has an intensely loyal component and requires loyalty from the other. So that kind of slow and easy and comfortable style to a relationship is more what suits the Venus in Taurus type. Venus in Taurus regarding money. Again, you know, security and having a sense of stability is primary. So this type of person would more benefit from a job where they feel like, okay I know where my paycheck is coming from, it's pretty predictable. They're not as likely to be your freelancer unless there's a steady stream of abundance that they can count on coming from that. Venus in Taurus types really need that sense of I know I have all my ducks in a row financially all the time. The shadow side of that placement is getting too stuck in routines. Like getting too stuck in things always needing to be nice and comfortable, both in love and money. That we can get in routines as partners or we get kind of bored with each other. Try to keep things too nice, too easy, can be its own downfall. And the same with the approach to money. It's like you can keep yourself a little too small because you're afraid to take the risk of stepping out and doing something bigger. So that's Venus in Taurus. Venus in Gemini, which I think we both have. Slade: Yeeeees. This is me. I'm taking notes. Dena: Okay. Get your pen out. Venus in Gemini. Gemini's an air sign and it's about curiosity and wanting to learn new things all the time. Slade: Uh oh. Dena: There needs to be a huge amount of intellectual engagement with one's partner and/or friends. They have to be someone that you can talk to and have that mental connection with. Mental connection is primary. It's like you have to be on that level with the person where it's like, we can talk easily and I think, my husband, he's a Gemini rising, and so am I. So we're just non-stop chatterboxes with each other. Slade: Oh that's cool. Dena: Which is cool. And we like that. For some people it might drive them a little nuts. But as a Venus in Gemini person, I really like to be able to just chatter chatter with him. I need my quiet time too. But I think that Venus in Gemini also needs to be constantly, have something to be curious about. So that goes for love and for money. And the money aspect, we can easily make money through the word, through teaching, through writing, through speaking and also through learning new things and then repackaging what we learn and giving it back out through teaching. That's part of the Gemini archetype. Teaching and talking. Slade: That's us! Dena: That's you and me! I guess we're doing our Venus. Slade: Right. Dena: So the shadow stuff of Venus in Gemini is going from thing to thing without settling on one thing. With having trouble committing to one thing. That can come up in love or money, and I have to say, I had more trouble with the love part of that when I was much younger and not anymore, but I see that in myself for Venus in Gemini, of the next shiny object that comes by. I'm gonna follow that. And that can happen with money as well. That oh, maybe I should make money doing this! No, wait. I could be that! I'm gonna be a writer this week and then teacher next week and a, this or that. So there could be a difficulty in settling. I do think that abates with age. With Venus in Gemini as we grow up and kind of get our big boy, big girl pants on. And yet some people might not grow out of it as quickly. Slade: Well, and I have to say for myself, the way that that came down is, once I found the right context in which to work, I have a job that allows me to be a lot of different things, from, one day I'm an accountant, another day I'm doing web design, another day I'm interviewing people on a podcast. That variety I think is the reason why the entrepreneurial stuff works for me so well, is because I have it built in to this one thing I do is like a cluster of a whole lot of things. Dena: So true and same with me as well. I never get bored because every reading you do is a different deal. There are no two readings that are alike. So that keeps me constantly engaged. That's super important for those Venus in Gemini people out there to think about is, what will keep you constantly engaged with your mind? What will keep you constantly curious? Because you can get bored really easily with anything that's just even a little bit repetitive or redundant. So alright. With that, we're going on to Venus in Cancer. Venus in Cancer has some similarities to Venus in Taurus. There is a need for commitment and a feeling of emotional safety in relationship and as relates to money. So Venus in Cancer types really need to feel safe in order to connect emotionally with their significant other, with friends. So they're attracted to people who can provide that sense of comfort and safety and a feeling of they're not going anywhere. That significant other is there for the long haul. And so they're drawn to relationships that can provide that. As far as Venus in Cancer money-wise, there's a need for emotional safety in terms of how they make and bring in money. And that again, similarly to Taurus, requires a structure and a certain comfort level with their job or what they're doing to bring in money. I don't mean to make that sound at all boring. It's just that those two signs, Taurus and Cancer in particular, as we go on we'll get to Capricorn as well I see in this way, that they really do need a little more regularity of routine and comfort level in their relationship and work/money-wise. And that is okay. Part of what I like to always get across is we're all wired differently and part of what I like to bring to people is that accepting and validating that wiring is really important. And you can push a little bit against the edges of that, knowing that that is your want, you know? Sometimes you can get a little too comfortable. So here we have Venus in Cancer, the shadow element of it can be going too much into caregiving and nurturing of the other, too much into worrying about, I've got to show up for my work at the expense of myself, you know, sometimes forgetting to take care of oneself because the job or the money coming in means more than taking care of oneself. It's that over-focus on caregiving to the other that can go awry. So that's something for Venus in Cancer to watch. Then we have Venus in Leo. Colourful fire sign. The second fire sign we've come across. Leo is a creative, spontaneous energy. It craves adoration. It craves being appreciated. So own it, if you've got some Leo in your chart, which I know you do. That there is that need for being appreciated, particularly in partnership if you have Venus in Leo, to have the other person do the kind of traditional hearts and flowers aspects of romance with you, and to treat you a little bit like a god or goddess sometimes, you know? It's not something to be shy about. There is that need. And that you can do that for the other person as well. You may have a very romantic quality in the way that you approach relationship and with money. I will say that there's often a creative streak that wants to come through in how you make money. You could easily be an artist or creator of some type that brings in money through your creative drive. So that's something to look at. If you're not doing that and you're a Venus in Leo and you're thinking, Where is my creative career?? You can be doing that as a side line or a hobby. But there is some creative outlet is extremely important for you to have to get that Venus need met. You know, to have that sense of pleasure in life that we get from our Venus placement. And then the shadow side is that, what I mentioned in the beginning and be turned up to a little too high and Venus in Leo people can get too demanding of other people's attention, like, Look at me! It's that I need to be the centre of your universe attitude. And so we have to watch that with Venus in Leo. And know that, okay, it needs to be balanced. That there's two people in a relationship and that there's two people that need equal amounts of attention. So it's just that awareness can be helpful. Venus in Virgo. Another earth sign. It's similar to Taurus but Virgo is about having very high standards and being able to look at a relationship and at how we bring in money as practice, as constant work. Again, that doesn't sound glamourous, but we need Venus in Virgo people. We need people who understand that a relationship IS work. A relationship IS something that takes constant tending. And it's also sometimes about compromise and helping another person as much as it is helping ourselves. So Venus in Virgo people do have high standards for relationships in that they want the other person to work on it as hard as they are working on it. That's important for Venus in Virgo to consider when they're pairing up with someone is, is the partner someone who is able to do this work with me? And to look at it as a constant practice, the conscious practice of relationship because Venus in Virgo is interested in doing that work. As far as it relates to money, is service-oriented profession when you feel you're making a tangible difference in people's lives, where you can see the results. See, touch, feel the results of your work and how it's affecting people. That's going to be extremely important for Venus in Virgo. The shadow of Venus in Virgo is that perfectionism, you know, as we've talked about with south node in Virgo, can be applied to relationship and to one's work, so that it can be paralyzing. In relationship, it could be having too high of standards with the other person, to the point where nothing they do is right. Or I can't find the right person because I'm just too damn picky. That Venus in Virgo as it relates to money is about the, sometimes the Virgo Paralysis, I call it, needing to have things SO neat and tidy and perfect that no risks are taken. You'll notice that theme popping up from the earth signs, that the Taurus and Virgo and as we get to Capricorn, there's a tendency to, in the shadow, be risk-averse to the point where life becomes very confined. So that's a danger to watch for there. Venus in Libra, in the second sign that it rules, is definitely interested in having harmony and calm and peace in relationship. This is the opposite sign of Aries, the sign that we started with, and it's, I talked about the theme of Aries needing things kind of hot and drama, a little bit of drama is okay. Not Venus in Libra. Venus in Libra is opposite of that. There's a need for just a sweetness, a romantic peaceful tone in the relationships. As it relates to money, again, a creative career, an artistic career can be fulfilling for Venus in Libra, but also careers in which you are required to really work closely one on one with people. So with Venus in Libra, there can be some natural counselling abilities, the ability to mentor or work closely with a person on a daily basis, one on one, to have clients, for example. And that that could bring in resources. There's an ability that Venus in Libra people have to pick up on the needs of others and to connect with them very immediately and closely. To be sensitive to the needs of others. And that can be a gift. It can also be the shadow, in that Venus in Libra can get over-concerned with other's needs at the expense of oneself so it's that theme of getting lost in the relationship at the expense of one's own needs, and that can be the classic codependent kind of expression of that. And that can happen when Venus is triggered there. That's the Venus shadow to watch out for. Venus in Scorpio. Another water sign like Cancer. Scorpios are a very different sign from Cancer interestingly, being a water sign too. Venus in Scorpio really craves intensity, passion, Scorpio's ruled by Mars, just as Aries is ruled by Mars, and so there is this need for close, deep connection with the other. It could be 'I wanna be in every aspect of your life and I want you in every aspect of mine'. There can be almost that possessive quality to the relationship and that can make it sound a little unhealthy, and it could certainly go there in its shadow. But Venus in Scorpio really does need someone who can show up as an authentic person and handle going into the deep and difficult areas of relationship. They thrive on that. They thrive on having the hard discussions, the going for the raw truth in the relationship, and talking about what's going on underneath the surface. And so that's something to consider for Venus in Scorpio as they think about partnerships, like, can the other person match me there? Are they gonna be able to go deep? Are they going to be able to go really deep and to handle the intensity of what I want to do in relationship. And then Venus in Scorpio money-wise, again there needs to be that passionate engagement with one's career and often the career can involve confronting or looking at things other people don't want to look at. For example, I have a friend with Venus in Scorpio who is a hospice worker. She deals with people passing regularly. And so that actually something some people might go, Ooo gawd, I don't know if I could handle that, a Venus in Scorpio person can handle that, as far as this is what we're doing to bring in an income, and this is also what they feel drawn to do because they can. They can handle it. So that Scorpio element is really strong there and the shadow of it, again, is that possessiveness that can creep in, the jealousy, the lack of objectivity, being way too subjective and getting even a little paranoid in relationship. That can happen and so it behooves Venus in Scorpio to be aware of that tendency and to watch your thoughts and how they might be going that direction. And to say, okay, maybe I need to take a step back here and get some objectivity or talk to a friend about this or get another viewpoint before I go down that road in my head. Venus in Sagittarius. It's another fire sign. It's the last of our fire signs. The word spontaneity creeps in to every fire sign that I talk about. I think that having spontaneity in relationship is probably the most important for Venus in Sagittarius. There needs to be a huge amount of freedom and space for Venus in Sag people. This doesn't necessarily mean they can't be in a committed relationship. Not at all. Of course many Venus in Sag people are married, right? And you'll hear similar things about Venus in Gemini, like, oh, we can't commit, but I think of course they can and it depends on the whole chart. But within that relationship for Venus in Sag, they need to have a sense that they have a great amount of independence and space within the partnership. And to have room to breathe. Fire signs need room to breathe. Mark that down in your notes, people. Fire needs room to breathe just like the element. So it doesn't mean no commitment. It just means being able to have that dance with somebody where it's like, Oh, you're gonna go out tonight? Okay well I'm going to stay home and do my thing. And KNOW that it doesn't have to mean the relationship's going south. You know, that Venus in Sag person might need to go out more than a person who's got Venus in Taurus, right? Doesn't mean they can't have a relationship. It means they have to understand each other's needs. Venus in Sag also needs to feel like things are always an adventure, like they're on a quest. This is an adventure and there's that sense of looking toward the future with Venus. And so having plans for travel and adventures together as a partnership, that's gonna help them in any of their close relationships. Venus in Sag as relates to money really does need, again, that sense of, almost like Gemini, enlists challenge, excitement, curiosity, being fulfilled. So variety is hugely important for Venus in Sag people. They need to have variety in their work. They could be a freelancer, but they could also have a job that provides that kind of constant challenge and constant variety served up. And then the shadow, of course, is being noncommittal to the point of, they run away from every commitment. That could be the shadow Venus in Sag type is, I'm so averse to getting cornered that then I forget to have a relationship. That can definitely happen with Venus in Sag. Venus in Sag may be perfectly content out there in the wilderness on their own for awhile. They could also end up feeling very lonely later on if they realize, wow, I just really haven't made those close connections because I've been so protective of my freedom. So that's the shadow road for Venus in Sag. Venus in Capricorn is a sign that, again, the last earth sign. It has to do with creating things that last a long time and doing the hard work of creating them. And so in relationship, a Venus in Capricorn appreciates commitment, appreciates structure and stability, just like Taurus. Also takes pride in the accomplishments of having a long term relationship. And this applies to close friendships as well. You know, having those long term close relationships. That's an extremely important priority for Venus in Capricorn. There can also be the high standards element that we talked about with Virgo. There's that willingness to work on relationship and to be committed, that Venus in Capricorn has that is there too with the other earth signs. And then in work and money, Venus in Capricorn is the willingness to do the long haul with things, to be committed, to be enduring in one's work, in one's approach to work. And the desire to create something lasting. The desire to create something that took a long time to make and take pride in that creation. So the shadow road for Venus in Capricorn is too much work and no play. It's over-work. It's workaholism. It's the abdication of pleasure at the expense of relationships sometimes and at the expense of money. It's like I'm just gonna work til I drop kind of attitude, or I'm just gonna treat this relationship like it's a job and business-like. And it can get too business-like, and so that's one of the shadows of all three of the earth sign Venus is a tendancy to make relationship into kind of a business, or too business-like. To the point where it gets boring and all the life gets sucked out of it. And that's something, if you're aware of, can avoid by injecting some of the positive qualities into it, and also tap into other areas of your chart to bring in more spontaneity and breath of air. So then Venus in Aquarius really delights in relationship. In having, again, space, freedom, those are two key words that are common with Aquarius and with Sag. And then also having a sense of, perhaps more distance in their romantic relationships and they often can have quite a lot of friends and have, again, not necessarily just the close besties, but have a broad spectrum of friends of all different walks of life. In relationship, romantic relationship, they need things to be changed up quite a lot. They can also get bored very easily. So the partner would need to be someone who challenges the mind and the intellect. That's the air sign quality. And then also provides a lot of variety and ability for room to breathe. And then Venus in Aquarius as it relates to money is needing to making money through something that they feel is affecting the world for the better in some way. That can sound a little grandiose, but it's that humanitarian urge that Aquarius has to make things better for the next generation, or the next group of people coming up. And so when they turn their attention toward humanitarian things, they're more able to bring in the resources that they need. The shadow road for Venus in Aquarius is aloofness or disconnection. Getting too much in the head, forgetting to connect to the heart. So that's what they have to watch in relationships and in work. It's like they don't feel, they can get disconnected from what they're doing. That can be to the detriment, to both money and to love. And then finally, Pisces. Venus in Pisces, the last water sign. Pisces is an empathic sensitive and very compassionate sign. In relationship, they thrive with someone who is also sensitive because they could pick up on the other person's feelings quite easily, and always be aware of the other person's feelings. So it's important that they be with someone who does not take advantage of that. Who doesn't tap too much into their empathy and sensitivity and use it for the worst. That can be the shadow road. Venus in Pisces is, as a partner, someone who thrives on emotional connection and being able to have a deep spiritual connection with a partner. There needs to be that soul connection, that spark there that feels like we've known each other for lifetimes. That kind of connection. And then with work, Pisces is another sign, because of it's compassion and sensitivity, that works well with being able to do something that helps others. Working on behalf of the underdog, working on behalf of those who need help, that draws Venus in Pisces tyoes and that can be a way to bring in finances. And then the shadow side of Venus in Pisces again is that over-developed sensitivity that can then be taken advantage of. You know, if they're in a relationship with someone who is toxic or not healthy, that they can get too influenced by that and be taken down a dark road themselves. And how they can pull themselves out of that, though, is to, again, remember my needs to have to come first, actually. You know, that I can't lose myself in this. And that comes into play in their work as well. So that is Venus through all the signs. Of course, that was a really brief description of each but I encourage people, if you know your Venus sign, don't just go by the Venus sign. Also think about, if you know a little about astrology, other things in your chart as they might relate to that Venus. Because we don't just have a Venus. We have all the other planets as well and they can help to balance out certain things with the Venus that we might need to. Slade: Yeah! I was gonna point out that, like say for instance you have a Venus in a particular sign. I'll use mine as an example, Gemini. What I might look for in a potential partner, they could have a significant Gemini placement anywhere in their chart and be a little more likely to provide some of those elements, say someone with a sun or a moon or rising sign in Gemini, would still be able to sort of provide some of that energy, right? Like they don't have to have a perfectly matched Venus to Venus kind of situation. Dena: Right, right. So that's another thing that I'll point to here with compatibility and, you know, I often get the question, can you do a compatibility chart for me and my partner? And I don't think of it that way. I don't think that it is a situation where you're either compatible or you're not. You know? Via astrology, for one thing, and that there are so many things involved in each person's chart that you can't do it based on sun sign, or just Venus signs, any of that. It's the whole picture versus the whole picture. So a couple's reading is very complex in that we do consider all of the elements of each person's chart plus the composite chart, which is where you bring two charts together, so it's not just about Venus, for sure. Venus, like any of the planets that you take in isolation, can point you in a certain direction or help you understand a huge amount about yourself but it's not the whole picture. I want people to definitely be aware of that. Slade: Yes, and also knowing that, in keeping with your theory that understanding what you have in your chart then allows you to respond or balance those elements or bring them in, or understand why someone else might need certain things that are different from yours. You could have "Venuses that are not in the same realm as one another" and just by understanding that, well, I have this certain situation in my chart, and my partner has a different requirement, what that can do is then allow you to maybe make more conscious decisions to provide that in the relationship. Or to remember, it's not that this person doesn't want to spend time with me, but they like to go out and do things with their friends and have an independent kind of social life. And just knowing that and being aware of, that that's one of the ingredients you're working with, can allow you to, like you said, use your free will to modify how that's impacting you. Dena: Absolutely. And it is about self-understanding and it's about understanding the other and that's where a couple's reading can be helpful is understanding each other's Venus style can be hugely helpful but then understanding the whole chart as well, and saying, Okay, we just have these certain differences. We have these things that are more in harmony, and how can we maximize the things that work well together and how can we work on the things that are really quite different. And in almost any couple's reading I've ever done, nobody's perfectly lined up and the same. I mean that's just not the way it works. We're attracted to people who tend to make us work on ourselves. Slade: Mmm... Interesting point. Dena: That's why I think we're attracted to them, is like, Ooo, there's a challenge here and something I need to learn and that's why we're drawn to each other at a particular moment. Slade: Or they may have something that you're trying to bring in into your own life, so it's an opportunity for you to study or model that dynamic. Dena: Yes. Slade: And how can I be more like this? Dena: Right. Slade: I have to ask you, I hope it's not too much off topic, but it comes up so much in relationship-oriented readings, like with clients that I do and it probably comes up for you when you do relationship astrological readings. Soulmates. Twin flames. Talk to me about... Is there an astrological basis for these concepts? How do you describe and define those concepts? Dena: And I am probably gonna tick some people off with my answer to this. Slade: Do it! Dena: I'm gonna do it! Because it's what I think. I don't believe that we have one soulmate. And I don't... I just don't have enough knowledge about the concept of twin flames to understand it, really. It's not something that resonates with me particularly. There isn't an astrological basis for those terms as far as I know. But we do... Meaning it isn't, astrology doesn't prove that we have soulmates or twin flames. One way or the other. It doesn't disprove either. We do use the term "soulmate" in astrology at times, particularly as relating to the 8th House, in evolutionary astrology, that is a term associated with the 8th House, that it's the house of soulmates where we do the deep soul work. I emphasize soulmates plural. It's not The One. It's not the one in the sky that's gonna come down and like, we're gonna be happy together forever and walk off into the sunset. It's the one who I am going to do deep soul work with. And there may be, and will likely be, many in a lifetime, including friends that are like soulmate friends. I don't confine it to romantic quality. So my perception of soulmates, and as I have seen it play out in people's lives and in their charts, is that soulmates are people we're here to do deep work with. That the sign and planets in the 8th House can tell us more about what kinds of people that we can do that deep soul work with. That is another topic. It might be fun for another time to go deeper into THAT. But knowing your 8th House and 8th House planets can help understand like, this is the kind of person with whom I can do that deep soul work. So I'm not saying there's no soulmates. I'm saying my perspective on them is that it's not the happy ever after one. It is, okay we have people that come and go in our lives that we have unfinished business with perhaps, from past lives, and so there's that charge when we meet them. Like, okay, this is someone I need to do some work with and we have stuff from before. Maybe it needs to be finished up. But the thing that's challenging I think for a lot of people in considering soulmates and twin flames in the way that I do is, you know, nothing lasts forever. And even if you stay together 'til death, it's not gonna last forever. Relationships do come and go and particularly as we're evolving as a species, it seems like relationships have sometimes a faster burn rate than they used to. Slade: Really?! Dena: In terms of friendships and partnerships that, well, the whole phenomenon of serial monogamy, you know, is a good example of this. Just like we are growing and developing very quickly, and sometimes we outgrow people. And then we go on to the next person. And that used to be considered a failure. Oh, you can't settle down. You just can't be with one... I just see it as, in different phases of our lives we may be with different people and have different needs for growth and that's just what may happen. Now at the same time, I'm married and I intend to be married for the rest of my life. So there's that. It's hard for people to understand how those two things can coexist. How can one believe in marriage at all and still hold the beliefs that we have different soulmates and different needs at different points of our lives. I think it is a choice. We can choose to be with someone as long as we're doing good growth together. And as long as we're both consciously working on the relationship and becoming new to each other. Because we're always changing. As soon as we try to put ourselves in a box and say, Okay, you're my soulmate. This is going to last forever, you're the One, then its doomed pretty much. Slade: Well it's like the concept of a company or an entity that exists over long periods of time. Maybe there is the need for renovation or rebranding or you know, like, it seems like couples who have been together for long, long periods of time have phases within their relationship that they can point to. So, I mean, and I'm saying this to you as someone who is not married, so my opinion about how to be married is very limited, but I would hope that what that means is an ability to recognize that there are phases and changes and different acts in life. Or like movie franchises, there's gonna be a sequel, and then there'll be a part 3. My whole feeling or hope is that, well if I go into it with that expectation, maybe that will allow me the fluidity and the creativity to remake it or to change it as necessary. Dena: Yeah. Slade: Because the commitment is to the person. It's not necessarily to the time period that you met in, or whatever. Dena: Right. Yeah, I like that. And, just recalling, I was listening to an interview with Michelle Obama on Oprah's podcast recently and she was talking about their marriage and how there were some really hard times, which you don't think about when you see Barack and Michelle Obama. You just see, Oh, they're just total soulmates and they just belong together and they have this perfect relationship. She's like, No. There were some very hard years and she's like, If you've been married for 50 years and you have 20 years that are bad, you're doing pretty good, is what she said. And people are like, What?? Yeah! There's gonna be some hard times and some years that really suck and where you're going through either individual things that are tough or as a couple, and any long term relationship that lasts is going to have those different phases. And I think, who knows what the success of a marriage depends on. I don't have the answer but I suspect that a lot of it has to do with what you're saying is that flexibility and fluidity to go through these different phases together and the acceptance of that's going to happen. Slade: it's interesting that you mention the fact that our culture seems to be moving to a place where we're more accepting of the idea that there are different relationships for different time periods in your life because we also see that happening in career, the concept that people have multiple careers in their lifetime has become much more of an acceptable, intentional way of thinking about it. Gone are the days when you picked your major at 19 and you picked a job and you work there from 25 to 65, end of story. There are some professions that do allow for that but the expectation that you're failing if you don't do that is pretty gone from popular belief now. I mean, it still haunts us. But there is at least in the culture a recognition that, you know what, it's an admirable thing to decide, I'm going back to school at 40 and I'm changing my career! We applaud people who do that and so I think that may exist in parallel with... I don't know what it is. Maybe it's a fundamentalist thing. It's a fear-based thing that we're gonna lock everything down and it's just going to be this way forever. Dena: Right. Slade: We're moving as a species into a place where we recognize that things are evolving and changing. We are learning how to be more that way, right? Dena: Yeah. I would agree. I would say those two things are very connected. Slade: Oh, Dena, I could talk to you all day long. There are so many aspects of astrology that we can explore like this. Thank you so much for doing this deep dive and going through, at least speaking to everyone out there a little bit, giving them a taste of what they're working with. I will absolutely invite you back for other chats and we will do some other focused topic areas in this way. Tell everyone where they can go to find you online if they want to follow you or get a reading with you. Dena: Yeah! So you can find me at DenaDeCastro.com and there you can sign up for my list there. I do have a really cool free gift of the nodes in your chart, if you didn't hear about it from the last episode. It's still there for you if you do sign up for my list. I also will more regularly be posting things on Facebook as we go forward, and I have a Facebook, it's DeCastroAstrology. I say that because I just started back on Facebook after nine years away, so it's like getting back up to snuff on that has been interesting. But yeah I'm enjoying getting back into that community and also being part of the Shift Your Spirits community as well. And you can find me there too. I pop in if you have questions about this episode and what have you. Slade: Absolutely. We'll have a comment discussion in the group available for anyone who wants to ask you some good follow up questions. That was great, Dena. Thank you for coming back on the show again. Dena: Thank you. It's always my pleasure.

The complexity and simplicity of astrology. The wisdom of the moons waxing and waning patterns. The connection between the moon and menstruation. The divine feminine as medicine for the hyper-masculine dysfunction. How this is related to hormones. The information in this podcast is not meant to be medical advice. The opinion of the guest is not necessarily Dr. Danielle's opinion. The intent of this podcast is to present a variety of information based on a variety of opinions and sources. If you need help with a specific medical issue, please see your practitioners directly and do your own research. (Please always listen to both your instincts and multiple sources!) Special Guest: Dena DeCastro.

What if there was a reason behind how you were made and innately wired? What if everything that you are served a spiritual purpose? Today, evolutionary astrologer Dena Decastro and I explore those questions as we look at life through the lens of evolutionary astrology. Evolutionary astrology takes the view point that everything in your chart is divinely inspired and created to help you grow and achieve as a spirit. Knowing our birth chart can help us understand not only who we are, but why we are. Using yearly charts and learning key professions can help us understand what energies are available to us, what paths we have in front of us, and how to make the most out of any life challenge. Dena has been working in this field for nearly 20 years and has a wealth of information to share with us. I absolutely loved this conversation AND the reading I had with her three weeks before. Take a listen to hear about my South and North nodes and get a peek at my life purpose! Find Dena at: www.denadecastro.com On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/decastroastrology Join Dena's Mentorship Program: http://www.denadecastro.com/mentorship Patrons who support the show get a free download on working with the moon! Support this podcast: www.patreon.com/sensitivityuncensored My website: www.sensitivityuncensored.com Book a reading with me: www.sensitivityuncensored.com/work-together Enrollment for my Spiritual Hygiene energy management course is now open! Learn more and register at www.sensitivityuncensored.com/school-sacred-rebellion/spiritual-hygiene

Aubrey Mast is an Intuitive, Health Coach, Herbalist, and Wellness Chef dedicated to helping people root into their bodies and into their sovereign self. She has helped thousands come back into their bodies with nutrition, self-care, and intuitive practices. Aubrey Mast and Susan Grace co-host the rapidly growing, internationally followed Be the Evidence podcast available now at http://betheevidencepodcast.com/ and all platforms where podcasts are streaming. We’re talking about bringing astrology into your daily life, bringing it back down to earth, and, as is Aubrey’s expertise, bringing it into the body. GUEST LINKS - AUBREY MAST betheevidencepodcast.com podcast betheevidence.live platform | community aubreycara.co Root Rising podcast HOST LINKS - SLADE ROBERSON Slade's Books & Courses Get an intuitive reading with Slade Automatic Intuition FACEBOOK GROUP Shift Your Spirits Community BECOME A PATRON https://www.patreon.com/shiftyourspirits Edit your pledge on Patreon TRANSCRIPT Slade: People will have heard you and I speak before on your podcast, Root Rising. But you have a new podcast with Susan Grace. Tell us about that podcast. Aubrey: Yeah, so we have a brand new podcast that's called Be the Evidence. We just pushed out our 20th episode this morning and it is a blend of my strengths with working with clairvoyance and clairsentience, clairaudience. I'm able to hear and see images come to me and they typically are in relationship to the body and a lot of times colours. And then I meet that with Susan Grace, who's an amazing astrologer. The way that we look at it is, this is a beautiful way we blend the conversation about the mind and coming into the body. So it's very stars to root feeling. The podcast is all centred around this theme of being that evidence. I think for us, that means walking the talk. Like, if we are all in this movement towards collective consciousness, and doing our work, and showing up more embodied and more as infinite as liberated individuals, not only for ourselves but for society. There's some level of evidence that we have to walk on our day to day being. And so, this is a podcast where we explore those conversations in a very real talk way, like you just stumbled into our living room and Susan and I are having this really raw conversation of like, Oh, yeah, things have been really hard and this is how I'm moving through them. So you'll get pieces of astrology that's real time, and you'll definitely get pieces of wellness information within it. Slade: Tell me a little bit about your background. You're working on a Ph.D. I kind of want everyone to know where you're coming from and how seriously you take this mind-body connection. Aubrey: Yeah, so my Ph.D is in mind-body medicine. So far, it looks as if I'm going to be focused on the gut microbiome and how it relates to psycho-neuroimmunology, which is really a beautiful way of saying how the bacteria that is found all over our bodies, and in our environment, impacts the energies that we're exposed to. And that plays a role in our consciousness but also in our thoughts that we have and our overall wellbeing. But beyond that, my master's was in Public Health. I focused on nutrition. My undergrad was in health and wellness promotion. I'm an herbalist. I am also a chef. I'm a holistic health coach. The last 15 years of my career has really been focused on healing the body. And it seems like within the last 2 or 3 years, especially since I was doing my work with you, that it's become more of this intuitive-based practice, where it's not just about physically healing the body. It's also about consciously healing the thoughts that we think, because they dictate how our cells react and respond in our bodies. They dictate how our genes respond. So I'm really viewing it from a holistic level of healing from cells-forward, if that makes sense. Slade: How did you hook up with Susan? Aubrey: In the age of social media, this is like, the complete thing. You and I have had this conversation before too, I think. Of like, all of a sudden, somebody recommends somebody, or somebody shares somebody's post. So, 3 years ago, somebody shared one of her posts and I had viewed it and I was like, Ohmygosh. This is really pertinent. Because she posts with a finger on the collective consciousness for the day. She does daily astrology readings that are specific to the collective consciousness. So I had followed her through Facebook, because every time I checked in to her posts, day by day, they were right on the mark with what was going on in my world. And then I ended up scheduling a reading with her and sat with her for an intensive. And every time I saw with her, I would have this conversation of like, I think you and I are supposed to work together. I'm not quite sure how it pieces out but we're gonna work together. And there was that little awkward laugh of like, Haha... yeah, we'll see......... And then this is how it panned out. Slade: I just want to say, like a quick shoutout to Susan by the way, because her ears are totally burning right now. We're talking about her, and, Susan, I've had recommendations to interview you, so now I feel like I need to immediately, as soon as this conversation is over, get in touch with Susan and have her come on and talk about astrology. Because astrology is definitely showing up as a theme this season for my interview guests. So tell me how you guys blend this astrology information with the wellness and lifestyle choices and healing information that you're working with. Aubrey: Yeah, I think that's really such an important question, honestly, in a sense that, for anybody that's new to astrology, it is its own language. I know you've experienced this in how you teach in Automatic Intuition. There's that section where you speak about astrology and how to make it more simplified. But it's its own language. And I remember coming out of my first reading with Susan and just being completely blown out of the water. Not only was she poignant in what she was talking about, but I was automatically exposed to this language I had no idea what the hell any of it meant. Grand trines and retrogrades and things like that... I had heard these terms thrown around but I did not understand how that applied to my day to day world. I knew that it was part of a subset of language that I was trying to grasp at. So Susan and I had had this conversation of, the information and where astrology is just so pertinent, because it's a visual element. It's a visual map of what is going on, moment by moment. The beautiful thing I think I found about it was that she was like, I don't know how to make it land. Sorry Slade, I'm being interrupted by my son. Slade: That's ok! Aubrey: Thank goodness you can edit this out. Slade: Oh sure! We could also just talk to him. He can be part of the interview if necessary. Aubrey: Honey, you want to say hello? You can say, Hi Mr. Slade! Son: Hi Mr. Slade! Slade: Hey! Aubrey: Sorry about that. Slade: No problem! I often say, I didn't do a lot of the pre-show stuff because I've talked to you before. But one of the things I was gonna say is, if anything happens, we can always cut the show or if we get disconnected, or whatever, and it's fine! I've had instances where my cat's beat the door down and I had to get up and be like, Excuse me for just one moment while I let the cat in. At this point, I'm almost thinking that we should just leave that stuff in. I may not or I may. If something ever really funny and interesting happens, I will absolutely just leave it in. Aubrey: I love it. Slade: Yeah. Because, I mean, the point of this show is really to kind of eavesdrop on the cool conversations that I have with people, and I was listening to Be the Evidence podcast that you do with Susan and it felt like that. It felt like I was sitting at a table at the cafe, next to an astrologist and her girlfriend who is super knowledgeable about wellness stuff, and you guys were breaking it down. Sort of what you were observing in your, what was happening in your life and she was talking about it thematically using astrology as a language. And I just want to say, this came up also in my recent interview with Dena DeCastro. We were really stressing that this is an archetypal vocabulary and it's very useful from that perspective. Even if you take out all the predictive stuff, and the forces in the sky and all that, I was even thinking about the fact that we can use the language of astrology just as any magazine does. You know? Magazines always have this sort of seasonal lifestyle kind of focus, right? Like we shift gears during certain times of year because of the seasons and we tend to focus on different types of activities or different things in our body, depending on what's going on in the environment around us. And so I'm completely okay with saying, You know what? You can debunk everything there is about astrology, which, then I'd want you to go get a reading and then realize it's kind of hard to do that. We could just take it out and say, This is an excuse or an intention for us to focus on this particular theme at this moment. And it would still be incredibly valuable just from that perspective. So give me an example, like I was listening to your show a couple of weeks ago about Virgo energy and how that impacts your daily life, like you said. So give me some examples of how you guys use the themes of what's going on astrologically and then apply that to the 3rd dimensional world. Aubrey: Yeah... I think that's a whole piece of, How do we make it land? I think from being in this field where it's intuitive, right? And I like to be in my Ph.D where it's mind body medicine and a lot of the stuff is not tangible. We can't see it in a lot of ways. How do you make it land and make it become tangible, is always the question of, how can you create a storyline so that people can see it resonating within their lives? So that I can see it resonating in my own life. We just recorded last night and it was a... we're in a lot of Scorpio energy right now, which, thankfully, or not thankfully, I don't know what way you want to look at it, Susan and I are both very, very much in our Scorpio energy, so we can come off as very intense. But for people that are not comfortable in that, it can come off as so intense that it's overwhelming. There's that deer in headlights look, like, I don't know what to do with this, this is a lot. It can look kind of chaotic. Right now the hurricane's hitting and it's sort of that feeling, right? The way that we explore this is to talk about, well, these are the ways that it's coming up in our world. And how do you make it land? So if we're dealing with lots of intensity and lots of chaos. And there's lots of transformation and liberation, that can feel like anxiety a lot of times, and stress a lot of times. So the way that I like to always take it back to the body is, how do we bring these bigger themes into our day to day lives? If we're experiencing lots of anxiety and lots of stress because we're also experiencing lots of intensity in our day to day lives, then it's important to recalibrate our bodies. It's important to calm our systems down. The other day I did a float tank and I got this download about how important it is to drink adaptogens right now, which help us manage stress. They help our body adapt to stressors. That's one of the ways that we explore... like, okay, if you're dealing with intensity and anxiety, this is one of the ways that we can calm our systems. We can also go out into the woods. We can sit and drink a cup of tea. We can have a beautiful conversation like you and I are having. That's very intentional. And to focus on those tactics while we're aware of these bigger themes as a way to land the information into our systems, but without coming from a place of reactivity. I think that's the bigger point for me with astrology. Astrology is almost shining a flashlight on what's happening, and then we get to choose, how do we respond to it? Slade: Mmm... yes. I love that. I have tons of Scorpio in my chart, by the way. Aubrey: That makes sense, why we get along. Slade: Yeah. I'm a Leo with a moon in Scorpio and a rising sun in Scorpio. So I do attract Scorpio energy and I always say, Scary people don't scare me as much as they do other people. I can handle the darkness. Bring your darkness! And you know what? It's crazy though, because I notice when things are really intense and kind of negative, I am much more likely to have good conversations with my Scorpio friends. They seem to have an ability to absorb that negativity, or to filter it in such a way that they don't hear it as like, Oh you're bitchin' and complainin'. You're bringing me down. You know what I mean? Like they almost settle in and resonate with it. I find myself feeling more liberated in venting to someone with that kind of energy. So I don't know if... it's like, it's an instinctive thing and one of the things that I think is kind of interesting about astrology is I often find myself reacting to some kind of vibe that's going on, trying to adjust, like you said, and make these changes that are intentional and healthy and all that kind of stuff. And then I'll find out, while it's going on, or even after the fact sometimes, that there was this astrological phenomenon that I go, Oh, okay! Well that makes sense. That's what that was about. One of the things I think is really fascinating is how little you have to pay attention to it to still kind of be in it, a little bit. Aubrey: I agree. The other day I had that and a little bit of a tiff, was feeling really worked up and stunned. My words being very reactive. And then I had reacted, completely. I was a human and I was just reactive, right? And then later on, was like, What?? What WAS that? Why was I so reactive and sharp with my words? And then I had gotten on Facebook and I had seen that Susan had posted a Happening Now, and it was, Don't fly off the handle. You're going to get real agitated right now. And had listed the placements in the astrological chart for that moment. And I was like, Oh! This is what was happening at that time! But it was playing out in my real world and I was not aware that it was like actually, it had correlations with the planets. Slade: Oh, I hate it when that happens. When you literally read the astrological post 12 hours after you should have seen it, and you're like, Oh no! I just did the very thing that they told me not to do. Aubrey: Exactly. Slade: I do that a lot. I also, though, I think one of the things that's interesting about the predictive stuff is, sometimes I'm more interested in what is happening now in astrology. Like if you say, You know what, we're in a new moon right now. Or we're in a certain kind of moon phase, or Mars just shifted, something like that. Rather than projecting too far down the road, because I think sometimes knowing that, Oh you're going to have challenges in your social life and your relationships in December, it's kind of like, Ugh, I don't want to manifest that or contribute to that in some way and make it true. Therefore I have this tendency to kind of blind myself from some of the predictive stuff sometimes, and I know that sounds weird, but it's like, I don't even want to know. Because I don't want to curse myself in any kind of way. Because I know that, it's not like by knowing that there's gonna be a certain phase happening astrologically, that you can somehow magically avoid that. It still happens and you still kind of have to deal with it in the moment. So I kind of keep my focus a little bit more narrow. But I am interested and aware and I do sometimes, like you guys saw me in the group, when we were launching the Shift Your Spirits community, and everything was in retrograde. And I was like, Okay, well this is not the time to launch. When does it all start to open up again? And I went and sort of looked at when everything kind of had a forward motion to it and picked a date accordingly. Now, for me, I often try to pick dates around moon phases, like start something with a new moon, so that I can be in those rhythms. But I also feel like, philosophically, it gives me a structure to something that might ordinarily be a little bit chaos. If you're running around, kind of wondering, when do I do this? When do I start this? I'm managing multiple platforms online and it can all feel a little bit like plate spinning. And you're just sort of running around like putting out fires. So, for me, sometimes I use the astrological calendar and events as a way of just kind of putting some bookends around things. It makes me feel like it's more organized. Like I have a sense of when something starts and when it comes to fruition. The cool thing, for me, about moon phases is, they constantly restart. It's like, every month is a new opportunity to kind of, Okay, try again. New thing. New project. Aubrey: Yeah. I think that's so important. Since I'm in the bodywork, right? That's also how our cells work too. Our skin cells slough off and then we have new skin cells replaced. We're constantly going through this ebbing and flowing, whether it be from the moon or whether it be from our bodies regenerating ourselves. So we constantly have this ability to come back and give ourselves a framework on which to move around within. And I think we all just choose varying tools to use. I agree astrology helps to give some framework, but I also tend to veer away from any of the predictive qualities. But I also think that's because of my background of where I'm like, Well if we're gonna all walk through it, I would rather walk through it completely unbiased, and see whatever exposes itself, whether it be good or bad. And try to show up with as much grace as I possibly can. It's really interesting for me, working with Susan in a sense that, I've been with her now, in some capacity, for years and it's almost like my brain doesn't quite want to wrap around the language of astrology. I can get the thematics of it but I have a hard time keeping up with the actual vocabulary. I feel like if I was ever given a vocabulary test on astrology, I would probably get a D. Like, I can't. Even though I sit with an astrologer every week, multiple times a week. Slade: Oh, I might get a C+ at best. Aubrey: It's just really intense. But then it's so fascinating to me that I can be intuitively aware of the energies that are going on. I just might not be able to vocalize, Oh, this is because this just clipped in to this degree. Or this is because there is a trine there. Like, I don't have those words, but I can sensationally and visually see and feel what is happening. And I find that really fascinating. Slade: Well that's what I got from listening to you guys. It's kind of like eavesdropping on a conversation where you are sort of observing and she is translating and offering suggestions. And then you are kind of taking that and then... I feel like you're kind of the one who's grounding it in the body a little bit, and she's the one who's giving us the kind of overview, the magical perspective. It's a really cool concept because if you listen to all that astrology vocabulary coming at you, and especially if you don't know what the heck they're saying and what they're talking about, it's like, What do I do with this? Aubrey: Yeah! Slade: I like the idea of having some place that we can go and listen to the astrological information. But you're there as the kind of the person who's representing, for those of us that are like, Okay, what the heck do I do with that? What kind of choices do I make? So you guys are kind of, you're not necessarily speaking specifically about your own personal astrology. It is a little bit more general, right? For the whole audience that's listening. Things that are affecting ALL of us. Aubrey: Yeah. Susan pulls up the chart for the collective. We don't ever pull up a chart for us personally. It's for the collective and that's how she always reads, until she's in private readings. And I think, I just think that piece is so important. Especially when I... I've had several people reach out to me that are like, I don't know how to begin on my intuitive journey. And I know this is part of the reason YOU do the work that you do. Because you've got these requests as well. Figuring out how people... The language that we respond to, for me, in my world is, the language of our body. Oh I feel tight. I feel inflamed. My stomach's upset. I'm craving pizza all day long. Or I'm so tired I can't get out of bed. That's the language that I respond to. And then behind that, I have lots of visuals that tell me things about what's going on. And so, to me, that's how I'm able to communicate to people. Like, this is how you cultivate intuition and to your point about, if you just listen to somebody do a whole astrology, you can easily get blown out of the water and not know how to make it pertinent. But I also think that's so much inundated in the spiritual community, as we get further out into the conversations about 5D realities, or 11D realities. People can get very easily lost. And if we're coming at it with a goal of, Let's just elevate consciousness collectively, let's just all figure out how to be living our optimal lives and elevate one another, then I think we have to figure out how to speak that language at a very intuitive, but basic, understanding. Slade: Almost every single person who does come into my practice asking questions about connecting better, feeling disconnected from their intuition, and how to hear their inner wisdom, all that kind of stuff. Also the people who are in a phase of their life right now where they're absorbing everything that we're putting out. They're in a real intake kind of moment. They're just gorging themselves on all this stuff and it's all coming in. And they're trying to make sense of it and figure out where to put it. It's interesting that you said, for you it always comes back to listening to your body because the advice that I find myself giving so much is about grounding. Every time someone comes to me with an upper level chakra freakout, and what I mean about that is, if you are in your intellect, if you are spiritually questing, if you're constantly practicing psychic techniques or trying to increase your intuition, all that kind of stuff, it's all happening heart chakra and above. So there's this real top-heavy energy that's going on. People come in and they look frazzled. Their energy, to me, looks like a tornado. It's literally very narrow at the bottom and wide up top. It's like spinning around. And that's what they feel like! They feel like they're literally inside a tornado. The thing that fixes that is always to ground. To go all the way to the bottom and then come back up again. It stumps a lot of people how, Okay, if I'm trying to turn on my third eye, I'm trying to turn on my clairaudience, I'm trying to hear my Higher Self, how does walking barefoot actually do that better than meditating or listening to a guided session or something like that. I just find that for me, the stuff that feeds and electrifies and powers the magical stuff is always these really, really simple, physical, real world things. And I am not going to be happy if I'm running around, having visions and hearing voices and all that all day long. Just like with the breath and the waves and the ocean, you have to have these moments of exhalation, you know what I mean? And there has to be pause in between. And so, for me, the one thing that I see everyone doing, as they're trying, trying, trying to be better, is, they are over-complicating it. It's okay to swing into that complexity and into that intellectual rabbit hole, like go there and listen to some crazy stuff, and wow man, get philosophical about it. But then come back to the body. There's gotta be rest. There's got to be a centre. You can't do all that work dehydrated with no sleep and lots of stress in your life. You just can't. Aubrey: No. You'll burn out and then you'll feel very untethered to the reality, which I think that that's probably for me, one of the biggest requests that we have when we're embodied in this life particularly, is how do we become intuitive, realize our intuition, realize our consciousness, evolve and elevate ourselves while equally grounding into this physical vessel that we are also carrying. Slade: What do you hope to contribute to the conversation about wellness and intuition and astrology? You obviously represent someone who is bridging a lot of magical concepts with physical concepts. What do you hope to teach everyone? Aubrey: I think sort of similar to what you just mentioned about people making intuition harder than it needs to be. That I truly hope to teach people that living optimally, whether that be mentally or physically or emotionally or spiritually or socially or financially, and you have these tenets of wellness, does not have to be unattainable. It is all within our reach. Does it require some pivoting and lifestyle changes? Absolutely. Does it require us to dig underneath our stuff and see where we have limitations and barriers? For sure. We have to look at a lot of places where we've held ourselves back, but that doesn't mean that we all don't have the ability or the right to feel optimally well in all areas of our lives, whether it just be from the food that we're eating, or the company that we're keeping, or the way that we're creating, or the work that we're doing in the world. My hope is to be the voice of, We all have this opportunity to be completely liberated in all aspects, and we don't have to succumb to not feeling well in our finances and our physical body, mentally, emotionally. There can be upsets, but we all have the capabilities of writing that in a different story line. Slade: Aubrey, this is so cool to talk to you about all this stuff. Thank you for taking the time to speak with me today. Tell everybody where they can go to find you online and to find this podcast that you're doing. Aubrey: Yeah, thank you, Slade. I love being with you. It always... It fills my cup up. It really, really fills my cup up. Always. Susan and I's podcast is on Be the Evidence, and we are on iTunes and we are on Spotify and Stitcher. So you can find us anywhere, but we also have BetheEvidencepodcast.com That has all of the podcast available on it, and we are in the process of launching a brand new platform for all of the things that I've spoken to you about today. That, hopefully, will be live in the next month. So that would be the best place to find us. And we're also on social media, so on Facebook and Instagram and all of those platforms for the time being. Slade: Awesome. Well tell Susan that I want her to come on and talk to us about astrology, since this astrology theme is going strong. Once again, thanks for being on the show. Aubrey: Absolutely. Thanks for having me, Slade.

Venus Retrograde is coming! Astrologer Dena DeCastro says it's time to turn inward for answers, and to reflect on things like the relationships, values, finances, and pleasures in your life. Find out what this means for you and the planet collectively. Visit BigSeance.com/128 for more info.  Other Android OptionsListen in Spotify Listen in Stitcher Listen in iHeart Radio Direct Download Link   In this episode:  Episode Teaser :00 Intro :55 Dr. Julia Mossbridge and Theresa Cheung, our guests from the last episode, have just announced that their Positive Precog Training link is LIVE! 1:30 Our favorite astrologer, Dena DeCastro returns! 2:34 Every time Patrick talks to Dena she is learning a new musical instrument. It turns out that now she is taking singing lessons! 4:29 Venus Retrograde (October 5 - November 16, 2018) is a time to turn inward for answers rather than outward. It’s a time to reflect on our relationships, values and finances, and comfort or pleasure in our lives. 5:50 Venus rules the signs of Taurus and Libra 10:35 Turning inward, plus issues in our relationships and partnerships coming to the surface 11:02 What to watch out for as Venus moves through Libra 16:25 What to watch for as Venus moves through Scorpio 20:53 What Venus retrograde means for our finances 28:05 A discussion about planning for retirement 32:08 If Venus retrograde isn't enough, right after the Venus Retrograde we move into Mercury Retrograde (November 16 - December 6, 2018)! 36:19 What can we expect collectively as a planet for Venus Retrograde? 38:35 Staying hopeful for the future 40:40 The collective conscious and the “quickening” 43:30 Can we predict the month or the astrological sign of our soul’s exit or death based on the astrological sign of our birth? 45:14 Having a scheduled birth has no bearing on a person’s natal chart. 47:55 Poor Pluto. But it’s still a powerful planet! 48:45 The 12th House! How can we view this constructively? 50:05 Dena’s final thoughts and where to find her 53:40 A special THANK YOU to Patreon Supporters at the Super Paranerd and Parlor Guest level! 56:57 Outro 58:30 #Paranerd Hashtag 1:00:08   For more on Dena DeCastro DenaDeCastro.com Twitter: @siriusastrology Facebook: Dena DeCastro Astrology Check out previous episodes with Dena: 53, 61, 65, and 112.    The Big Seance Podcast can be found right here, on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn Radio, Stitcher, Google Play Music, and iHeart Radio. Please subscribe, submit a rating, or share with a fellow paranerd! Do you have any comments or feedback? Please contact me at Patrick@BigSeance.com. Consider recording your voice feedback directly from your device on my SpeakPipe page! You can also call the show and leave feedback at (775) 583-5563 (or 7755-TELL-ME). I would love to include your voice feedback in a future show. The candles are already lit, so come on in and join the séance!

Dena DeCastro is a professional astrologer, writer, and teacher. She offers individual astrology readings and mentors those who wish to take their astrological knowledge to the next level. Dena teaches us what our north and south nodes can tell us about our karmic lessons and our life purpose. MENTIONED ON THE SHOW Linda Goodman's Sun Signs Jeane Dixon NORWAC The Mountain Astrologer GUEST LINKS - DENA DECASTRO denadecastro.com DeCastro Astrology on Facebook HOST LINKS - SLADE ROBERSON Slade's Books & Courses Get an intuitive reading with Slade Automatic Intuition FACEBOOK GROUP Shift Your Spirits Community BECOME A PATRON https://www.patreon.com/shiftyourspirits Edit your pledge on Patreon TRANSCRIPT Dena: So, when I was young in the '70s, my parents were both kind of hippie, you know, Bohemian, interested in all of that stuff. My dad actually read tarot cards, not for a living, but just as a hobby. My mom had a close friend who was an astrologer and they would sit at the dining room table and look at charts and dish on men and I was just fascinated, always. I would browse the books in the bookshelf. I was kind of an early reader, so I would just kind of nerd out on all the astrology books that my parents had. And so I just immediately, you know, I came from somewhere. I have a feeling I came from a past-life, probably. But this innate interest in astrology and the planets and even space and stars, was something that was just there when I was very little. I would say, starting at about 5. So I went on, throughout my teenage years, read a lot of the usual books. You know, Linda Goodman's 'Sun Signs' was one of them. That was like my bible when I was in junior high and I grew to be able to read charts, more about late high school age, college age, and I would practice on my friends and family. It just grew and it was always with me. Interesting side note, during that time when I was about 8 or 9, my mom became a born-again Christian, so she eschewed all of that. You know, tarot, astrology, all of that was out. And it was looked at as, you know, she said it's the dark arts. I don't think she used that word. That's more of a Harry Potter term actually. The Dark Arts. It was forbidden in our house and so I had to do it surreptitiously for awhile. But then she eventually switched back and became more open to, I would say, early New Age ideas or occult ideas. So there was a few years in there where it was like, on the sly, I had to do my astrology stuff. And then when I got into my late 20s, I had a friend of mine that suggested, 'You COULD do this for a living!' Could I? Could I really? So I put out my shingle and started charging for readings when I was right at my Saturn return, which is 28, 29 years old. And have been doing that ever since! Slade: Wow. So I have to ask you, you started way before we had computer software to do this stuff. Dena: Yeah. Slade: So at what point in your career did the technology come in and play a part? Or does it, at all? Dena: It did. Like, in the '90s, there were ways that you could order charts on, via the internet or mail order. That was kind of the way you did it. It's kind of funny. I learned to cast charts by hand in the late '90s finally. I had always had charts given to me so that was how I did it in the early days, like in my teenage years. Like, somebody already had a chart and I'd look at it. Slade: Oh, okay! Alright. So you're much more about the interpretation than the castings, even at that early age. Dena: Yes, right. Slade: Okay! I can relate to that. That would be true for me as well. I NEVER learned to cast a chart by hand, just for the record. Dena: It takes so long. It really is an onerous process. I know how to do it. If you had me do it today, gosh it's been maybe 18 years since I've actually cast a chart by hand. So it would be a tricky but it's good I think for astrologers to at least learn how to do. At least once. To get a sense of viscerally what's going on. Because the thing with technology now is that it detaches us from what the actual mechanics are of the solar system and the planets in relation to the earth. And for some reason, when you learn to cast a chart, you get more of a sense of, okay, the ascendant, for example, the rising sign, is the rising sign. Because that's what's actually rising on the Eastern horizon. So there's an example of that. That it's rooted to the physical world. With software, we can forget that sometimes and it just becomes a piece of paper in front of us. It's like, that's the glyph of Venus, but oh, there's a Venus in the sky as well. So that's a difference. But I think for time and for efficiency, you can't beat technology, for sure. Slade: No, definitely not. And I'm mostly just interested in, like if somebody can give me a list of what their planets are in and what houses everything's in, that's enough for me to work on. Dena: Yeah! Slade: I will say though, that I love the natal chart graphic - the cool geometric thing, and I think everybody's a little bit in love with that, right? There's a mystique about it. Dena: Yeah, certainly! The glyphs, the symbols, they're very beautiful. They're just aesthetically pleasing and it looks like something from the Renaissance, or it just has that kind of ancient feel and evokes that. So I do think there's the appeal of it. And I can, like you, if I just know somebody's birthday and they don't even have a time, I can look in ephemeris and say, 'Here's where all your planets were.' Maybe excepting the moon because it moves very fast but everything else I can pretty much know, that's where it was. Even with that I can get so much information. But having the visual of the chart works better for me. Just being able to see it laid out. Slade: That is so cool. I was very fascinated by that as a child. I had an aunt in the '70s who was friends with Jean Dickson. Dena: Oh wow! Slade: Do you remember her? Dena: Yeah, I do! Slade: She had - It's so funny when you were talking about your childhood experience of kind of going through the books in your parents' library. I used to go through HER books when I would visit. She lived in Florida. And when we would go down to visit, she had this library of '70s new age, feminist everything. And some of her books were astrology books that were autographed by Jean Dickson. And I always thought that was the most glamourous thing in the whole world, right? Dena: Very glamourous, for sure. She's probably one of THE most famous astrologers, at least from that era. She's a name that everybody knows. Slade: Right. And Linda Goodman's books. I remember those as well. So one of the things I'm really excited to talk to you about is kind of your niche of astrology, which is the connection between astrology and past lives. And also how the nodes play into that, and karmic patterns in the chart. I just would love to open up the floor and hear you talk about these relationships. Dena: You know, I'll start by saying, when I started practicing astrology, which was the late 1998, 1999, I really was doing the typical descriptive astrology. For example, your sun is in Aries. You are fiery, spontaneous, brash and bold. You know, something like that. That started to feel a little limiting to me. So I was searching... A few years into doing it, around 2002, 2001, 2002, I started to search for what more can I learn? I just felt this impulse that I needed to find a different approach, or another layer to my system. And so I went to an astrology conference here in the Northwest called NORWAC. It's the Northwest Astrology Conference. Steven Forrest was speaking there and he and Jeffrey Wolf Green are two astrologers that really founded this school of thought within astrology called Evolutionary Astrology. It's called 'evolutionary' because it is based on the premise that our souls do reincarnate and they move from lifetime to lifetime, learning lessons and evolving. The intention is evolution. And with that, the nodes, the south node represents the past life or karmic patterns, and north node represents what we are here to learn to become or to embrace. And the whole point of it is evolution. The whole point of it is growth and change. And it made so much more sense to me than the idea that we're just static. That we're born with this chart and that's just who we are for the rest of our lives. And the other main component, or the foundational belief in this type of astrology is the idea of free will. And that we make choices in our lifetimes that impact where we're going, the lessons we have to learn, and how we respond to those lessons with our free will really determines how we move along our path. How we move toward our Soul Purpose. So this all resonated with me. I had always believed in reincarnation. It's one of those beliefs that you can't really explain. It was a knowing. I just felt a knowing about it. I will say that, it's not that there isn't proof for reincarnation. There's a lot of good case studies out there and proof for reincarnation. But it is one of those things that people take on faith, and some people have a strong reaction one way or the other to that idea. But reincarnation is very much inherent in this niche of astrology that I practice. It's a foundational piece of it. That all being said, I went to study with Steven Forrest at his apprenticeship program. I did that for a few years and embraced this path within astrology, because it really resonated with what I already had felt and believed for most of my life. What it is that I think this kind of astrology offers that's a little different to some branches is the south node karmic patterns can point out: Here are the things in a past life that you experienced, and also that vexed you, or that upset you, or that's left unresolved at the time you left that life. And then when you came into this life as a soul, you carry some of that baggage with you. We call that 'karma', and that's a memory. An emotional memory of what went on. But we don't consciously remember that. So in this life, our work is to learn to release those old patterns and not to get stuck in repeating those karmic situations. But we're inclined to want to do so because we tend, as humans, to want to repeat what we've done before and what's comfortable. Even if it's painful. It can feel comfortable because it's familiar. So the north node points to, well what's the medicine for that? What can we do? That's where free will comes in. What can we do in THIS life to pull ourselves out of those old stuck patterns of the past? And the north node offers the medicine, the way, for us to move away from staying stuck and stagnant. So remember that the key point is growth. The key point is evolution. All of us, if we're born, we have karma. If we're born, we're also a living thing that needs to grow and evolve. If we stop doing that, if we stagnate on a soul level, we feel unfulfilled and bored and unhappy. So when clients come to me, what they're often looking for is, I'm kind of stuck. Or I'm in a place in my life where I'm trying to make a transition and I feel like I'm scared and I can't. What's blocking me? Or they're just, they have that general malaise. I just don't have the joy for life. I'm feeling like I'm not on my path but I can't really figure out what to do to get on it, or to get back to it. And so the nodes are very powerful to look at that and say, Okay, well here's what's in your way. Here's the karmic patterns of the past. Here is where you can get stuck very easily, repeating these patterns. And then here, the north node is what you're here to learn and to embrace. And the more you move TO that, even if it's scary, even if it feels challenging, which it will, the more you move toward that, the more you make choices in that direction, the more fulfillment and peace and joy for life you can gain back. So that's the overview with how I see it. Slade: So if I tell you what my north node is, can you tell me... Since I'm the one that's here talking to you, we'll use my chart as an example. Dena: Absolutely! Slade: I have a north node in Pisces. What can you tell me about that? Dena: Yes! Well I can speak to that because so do I! Slade: Oh, interesting! Dena: So let me just say about that too. The nodes go to a new sign about every year and a half. So you can know that if you're born within a close time frame to someone, that you very likely have the same nodes. They're are like these mini generations. 1.5 years of the same. And that pattern repeats every 18, 19 years. They will come back around to the same nodes. So yeah. So we have the same ones. I think we're both born in '69, right? Slade: Yes! July 23rd. Dena: Oh, gosh! Same month! Ohmygoodness. Slade: Wow. Dena: I'm July 8th. Slade: Okay. Dena: So I can speak to this pretty well. But just because we have the same nodes doesn't mean like I know everything about this, because I'm working with the same struggles, right? Slade: Okay. Dena: So if you have the north node in Pisces, that means you have the south node in Virgo. The nodes are always opposite signs to each other, always at 180 degrees. So once you know one, you can figure out the other. Let's start with the past-life karmic pattern for you. South node in Virgo is really attached in past lives to doing things perfectly because you may have had a job or a position which required you to have a certain level of perfection in what you did. For example, being a doctor. If you make a mistake being a doctor, something really disastrous could happen, right? Or even being an artist or a crafts person where you have to get all the details just right or else it's just a big mess. People aren't going to like it, right? There's this high level perfectionism that was instilled in you in a past life. The tendency with south node in Virgo is to beat yourself up for every mistake. That's the karmic baggage that comes in to this life with you is self-flagellation, tending to beat yourself up for every mistake, having higher standards for yourself than anyone else in your life. Resonating much? Slade: Yes. Dena: And Mercury is the planetary ruler here. So Mercury rules Virgo and Mercury is a planet of mind. So your intellectual abilities in this past life were over the top. Like you probably had great powers of analysis and the ability to understand what's wrong in every situation and know how to fix it, right? And so you bring that into this life. In a way there are some gifts there too. It's not that the south node is entirely negative. We bring in past life gifts. Like, okay, you come in with those intellectual skills. You come in with that ability to do things almost perfectly. You come in with that ability to analyze and fix situations. But if you stay there, if you stay there in this life, if you keep doing that and really go into that south node territory, you will feel anxiety and you will feel unfulfilled and you will feel like I'm never getting into where I want to be, because I can't be perfect, right? Slade: Mmm... Dena: None of us can be. So the fear with south node in Virgo and north node in Pisces is letting go of control. This is where we're starting to move toward Pisces because Pisces, north node in Pisces says, Well the medicine is to move toward the Pisces territory. So letting go of control. Allowing yourself to make mistakes and have compassion for those mistakes. And trusting in something beyond yourself. Having faith that there are powers greater than we that are taking care of things. And that we don't have to take care of it all. We don't have to micromanage every aspect of our lives. So speaking as a co-person with this set-up, I can say, this has guided me immensely in my life knowing this. Because, and for you, you can speak to this as well. I'd love to hear what you have to say about it. But just knowing that I'm here to develop compassion for myself and that I'm here learning to let more things go. I've been listening to your podcast, right? I've heard you speak about allowing yourself to make B+s, instead of... Slade: Yes! Dena: Like, Perfect! You're right on track! That's what I'm talking about. Slade: Yeaaaaah. Dena: It's a need for self-acceptance in a radical way. Like, not just 'Oh, I accept myself.' We can all say that from a head place. But the PRACTICE, the spiritual practice of self-compassion, self-acceptance and actually being able to spot when you are holding yourself up to that too-high standard, and then saying, Ok, I've gotta let that go. I've just gotta let that go. Slade: I have to give you some feedback around this because of course, my mentoring clients know how much I stress how important it is to get feedback from outside your own head about your readings. And so I just want everyone also listening to know how incredibly accurate that is for me, just from that one little thing I told you - my north node in Pisces. You were able to really nail a lot of the issues that I have. Perfectionism in particular with writing is a constant... like you said, it's both a gift and a curse. I have much higher standards for myself than I do for other people. The thing that was so liberating about blogging 13 years ago or whenever it was when I first started doing it was, it relaxed the expectation for writing. Dena: Yes. Slade: So much. It made it so accessible and it made the feedback immediate. And it allowed me to really grow as a writer, because instead of going off and, like you said, beating myself up and questioning myself and being alone in my own head bubble, you know, tearing myself to pieces and having this wizardly war with my own ego. And, you know, it's a hard creative process to live inside that. And so, one of the things that's so interesting about why I feel like Shift Your Spirits is so successful, out of all the other kinds of projects that I've written, is because it had such a low expectation going in. And that's not to say that I don't put myself into it. I just have a real relaxed attitude about it, that I don't about some other kinds of writing. I was like, 'Oh, it's a blog.' Dena: Yeah. Slade: And it's so funny because that blogging allowed me to build an audience, to write for people, to have a lot of iterations. So, eh, this week's kinda sucked. Next week's might be amazing. And you start to notice these patterns as a perfectionist. The things that people respond to the most are not necessarily the things that you put the most effort into or the ones that are your favourites. Sometimes, for example, the Money Shift is the best-selling piece of writing that I've ever put out into the world and I did it in three days. And it was just merely a 'oh, I just need to put this message out'. I'm repeating myself here in my readings. Let's just put it in a little tutorial. Dena: Right. Slade: And there's something about that lack of having high expectations that is extremely freeing and, you know, I stress this for other writers as well: Put out a lot of work. Blogs and social media allow us to really develop our voice and to test what people are responding to. At some point, when you have an audience, the biggest liberation of all is having you guys to talk to. And to write for. Dena: Right.. Slade: I'm just feeding you guys your toast and scrambled eggs every day. Dena: Yeah! Slade: There's something that feels liberating also as a perfectionist to be able to step back and to serve people. Dena: Yes. Slade: Which I think maybe getting to some of that Pisces energy that you're talking about. Not only turning it over to a higher power, but also realizing I am participating not just from my ego but I'm participating on behalf of these thousands of people who want me to do it. And so, it's a sense of duty and a sense of something bigger than me that I am both pulling from and also displaying to. Dena: Yeah. Slade: It's really cool. Interestingly, my mom has the same north node and I do run across people here and there that share that and, interesting synchronicity there, it would be you of all people! Dena: I know! Slade: That is an example of the kind of thing that people would get if they contact you for a session, right? Dena: That's true. And yes, you can get such an amazing amount of information just from knowing the nodes. Just like you said at the beginning, we were talking about knowing sun moon rising sign, we were talking earlier about that. That is a foundational piece - sun moon and rising sign. You can get so much information just from those three pieces. And then same with the nodes. If I know just THAT, I tell that to people and they're like, 'Ohmygod, you just spelled out my whole life.' Slade: Yes! Dena: So it's such a powerful tool. It's not a substitute for getting a full reading. And I want to say that because, looking at the chart wholistically will always give you the most depth of analysis and the most understanding. But having this piece as guidance is huge. So something I ... yeah, go ahead. Slade: I was just gonna say, I know that probably a lot of people listening DO know a lot about their chart. They have had their chart done and stuff. So one of the reasons why I really like what you you just did for me for example is, you went in and focused on and embellished a very specific area. So it actually refreshes my excitement in my chart and knowing that, 'Ohhh! There's all these little things that I can still deep dive into, that maybe I feel a little blasé about my chart. Now I'm like, 'Ooo wow!' It does kind of rekindle an interest to have something that is connected to Purpose. Because, like yourself, that is a question that a lot of my clients come with as well. Dena: Yes! And I think you feel excited because it's empowering. This kind of information is empowering. That's one thing I aim to do with the kind of readings that I do is to empower people with the tools to make good decisions for themselves and to take the reigns of their own life and to make their free will choices. That's what this information provides you with. It's like, 'Okay, I know I can move toward Pisces. I know sometimes it's going to be hard. Sometimes I'm going to resist it and want to stay stuck in the Virgo territory. The shadow Virgo. But I can choose differently. Slade: How does that manifest for you personally? Like, where does this Pisces/Virgo duality kind of play out in your world, and how do you combat that, or, you know, heal that? Dena: Well the first thing that comes to mind is writing, for sure. I'm a writer. I've done a blog for a lot of years. Astrology, I wrote some astrology articles for the Mountain Astrologer. I also began writing fiction. I've taken a few stabs at it and "failed" attempts of novels over the last dozen, 15 years. Recently, I finally finished a first draft of a novel. And what I had to do during the process of that, and to get through it and to actually get it done and put it into, actually get it to the place where I could pitch it at a writers' conference recently, which I did, was to constantly be talking to that Virgo part of myself by embodying the Pisces. And say, 'I hear you, inner critic. I hear that this isn't perfect. I hear that it sucks. All those voices.' I had to label that south node Virgo voice. Similar to how people use the inner critic, right? That 'Okay, you're the inner critic. I hear you. Go sit in the corner because I'm going to keep writing this book.' Every day. It was... I have to tell you, it was a bit of a fight. A lot of parts of it were very intense and very challenging. But I brought in the Pisces consciously and said, 'Okay, it's all good. You're doing great. No matter what you do, at least you're doing it. And what matters is that you like it.' And what matters is that YOU have fun with it. And that's a very Piscean kind of like, 'Hey, no big deal. Go with the flow.' It's THAT attitude. Slade: Mmm... I call this... It's so funny because I call that angel and devil the Flow Drafting Voice and the Editor. Dena: Yeah! Slade: And the Flow Drafting Voice is the same channel that my intuition rides alongside and so, when you are in a first-draft mode, you don't need to be, you don't need the Editor. It's like, You come back later. On a re-write. You come back when we start to take it apart and do re-writes and edits and polishing and all that. You've got plenty of work to do so sit down and shut up. Right now we're just flowing. We're just being a hippie chick here. Dena: Exactly. Slade: That's kind of how I see that Pisces flow voice as being this kind of bare-foot, flowers in her hair, creative type of energy, you know? Dena: Yeah! Slade: Gosh, we have a lot in common! Wow. Dena: Yeah. Well it's probably because we're born in the same month. Slade: That is so interesting! You know what? I don't meet a lot of people born... like, I rarely meet July Leos at all. Because there's just not a lot of us. There's just that one little week. And then I don't meet a lot of people born the same year. I've heard that we are one of the smallest populations that's alive right now. Yeah. The Gen-X population is REALLY small compared to the Boomers and then the ones that came after. We are greatly outnumbered. Dena: Yes. Yes. I would agree. I feel that. And I know something about that little mini-tribe of 1969 people that... There was quite a lot going on with the planets that summer. They were all lining up. You know where that little traffic jam of planets is in your chart, I'm sure. And it's right on the south node. So I'll speak to that real briefly here and say that in your chart, in an individual's chart, I'm just speaking generally, those nodes can be interacting with any combination of planets. It could be that the south node is conjunct, meaning it's right on other planets in your chart, Jupiter, Pluto, what have you. And so that will also add layers to the interpretation that I would do in an individual reading, to look at what is aspecting the nodes, what planets are conjunct, or square, mostly in hard aspects to the nodes is what I tend to look at. So that gives information to the story here. And I do draw a past life story. You know, I tell a story. Now it's not a literal past life reading and that's something that I want to make clear. I don't actually see if you were Benjamin Franklin in a past life. Slade: Right. Dena: That's not what this is. It is more about general themes. But I do weave it into a story because story telling is what I like to do. And it's a mode that works for people to try to understand something. So I'll say, I'll give that caveat to somebody and, okay, I'm going to tell you a story and it's not a literal story but it encapsulates an emotional truth or an emotional dynamic of what happened to you in a past life. That's how I approach reading that and then bringing in the other planets, that is to say, to inform the south node. Slade: Okay. So for someone maybe like myself, who does work with astrology a little bit, you have a mentorship program where you work with people taking astrology to the next level. Is that something that you do with more professional-type mindset? Tell me about the mentorship program. Dena: Yes! My mentorship program is to work one-on-one with those who want to learn more about astrolgoy. It could be even a beginner that really just wants to use it for their own edification, for their own purposes. Most of the clients that I work with are either astrologers or somebody about, on the verge to become a professional astrologer, and they're just a little hesitant about taking that leap, you know? They don't feel quite like they have all the... There are some missing pieces in what they know, or there's some insecurity there. And then there are also counsellors, therapists, psychologists. People who want to use this as part of their profession. And I've had a couple of those clients. And that's been really rewarding for me to work with those people. So I teach the basics but that's not what I really teach in the mentorship program. I'm more focused on, 'Let's go in to what do you feel are your missing pieces?' 'Where do you feel there are gaps in your knowledge?' And let's go into those. And then I also speak to things like, how to become a professional astrologer. What's the business end of it? What do I know from my experience about how to do this in a way that's going to be successful and in a way that is ethical. So we talk about the things that will help them to make it a business, if that's what they wish to do with it. Slade: I'm really excited about this because in my professional intuitive mentoring, I touch on astrology just in a very brief way. And like I said, I do tend to work with what I call, sort of, elemental astrology, which is the sacred elements, earth, air, fire, water, and I kind of speak symbolically to those dynamics. The people are often asking me about going deeper into the astrology component itself, and I always say to them, 'You know what? It needs it's own course.' I can't just kind of shoehorn that into a chapter or something. It's not gonna happen. Dena: Right. Slade: So I'm really excited to hear about what you do in that mentorship program, because it sounds like a lot of people listening right now are gonna be excited about it. I know you make ME want to be an astrologer now. I'm like, I could do this! Dena: You could do it! You probably have a lot more experience than you give yourself credit for. If you've been doing it since you were a kid, I'm sure it's probably really in your bones. Slade: Well I have a hard not using it. I have a hard time not speaking... I mean, in my family, if you're dating someone, you just say things like, 'Well he has a moon in cancer.' And you go, 'Ahh!' It's like, five pages of information just went running through their head. Dena: Totally, yeah. Slade: So we do have a tendency to use it, almost like a Jungian kind of psychoanalytical vocabulary, if you wanna be kind of high brow about it, which I do think that one of the attractions to me with astrology is it allows me to use that archetypal language that you also find in the tarot and that kind of thing. Dena: Yes. Slade: So I do play with that language a lot. I was considering no longer asking for birth data when I do my intuitive readings, because sometimes so many people don't know it, and they get stressed that somehow it's going to impact their reading. And I kind of backed away from that. But this kind of makes me want to leave it in a little bit. Dena: Oh yeah! Slade: Yeah. Because it's... you're making me really aware of how much I do love astrology and have always been interested in the nodes, because I have to tell you just really quickly, my mom... Sometimes I get a chart done for my birthday. And I think when I was about 15 years old, my mom had discovered this woman named Barbara Alexander, if she's still out there. And she was really excited to take me to Barbara, because Barbara was also a clinical psychotherapist. She had degrees and had a practice as a psychotherapist. When you would go to her office, it was very academic and official. It looked like what you would imagine a psychologist office would look like. She recorded the session, which was something I hadn't had happen before. She talked to me about the north node in Pisces and was the first person to put that in mind, that the north node was about, kind of, Purpose. And she also told me that my writing career would take off in my mid-to-late 30s, which was absolutely true. Dena: That's on! Yeah. Slade: I don't know if that's the same for you as well, if it worked out to be that same time period. Anyway, I'm curious to know, what do you hope to contribute to the greater conversation about astrology? What would you kind of like your legacy to be around this subject? Dena: I guess one of the big things I like to bust out there about misconceptions of astrology is that it's not fortune-telling. It's not future prediction, and some people do use it that way. What I want to contribute is the idea that astrology is a powerful tool for self-development, for self-understanding, and then also to give you the ability to choose what you do in your life, because you become more conscious of yourself and your patterns through this kind of awareness of the charts. Through evolutionary astrology. I'm not saying that evolutionary is the only path. There are so many different kinds of astrology and so many different branches. You'll know if you just go on the internet. What I really want to impart is a more empowered free will focused way of using astrology and that's what I hope to contribute. Slade: You have a free e-book people can download called Your Karmic Past and Your Life Purpose. Tell us about that. Dena: Yes. So if you go to my website, up in the upper right hand corner you'll see a little box that says exactly that. If you subscribe, you get a free gift: Your Karmic Past and Your Life Purpose. Within that, there is a table where you can look up your birth date and you'll be able to find your nodes sign. Just by looking up your birthday. So it really breaks it down very easily. I give some introductory information about the nodes, what they mean, what is karma... I go more deeply into that topic. And then for each sign of the north node south node combination, I lay out what is the karmic pattern, what are the big fears that block you, what is your growing edge, meaning what are you here to learn. And then I also give some affirmations. So for example, for Pisces north node, the affirmations are, I accept myself exactly as I am. That one sounds a little Stuart Smalley. But that's okay. And I trust that I am taken care of within the greater order of things. Another one is, I go with the flow of life. So that's an example of affirmations that can help that particular node combination. North node Pisces, south node Virgo. And then I, at the end of that document, you'll find frequently asked questions about the nodes. What about past lives? Does it mean... Can you see if I'm Benjamin Franklin in a past life? That kind of information. And then finally, in that document, there are resources for further reading, if you want to read about really good books about reincarnation and evolutionary astrology listed there. So yeah! You can find that at my website. Slade: Oh gosh. That's a great resources. Tell us where we can go to find you online. Dena: So I'm at www.denadecastro.com/ and I'm also on Facebook now. I just started back there after nine years away. And actually, Slade, you are part of the reason that I came back to Facebook. Slade: Yay! Dena: I really wanted to be part of your group. There are a couple of other groups too that I've just really wanted to participate in and I want to start a couple of groups there. So my Facebook is Dena DeCastro Astrology and you can find me that way too. Slade: Excellent. We'll put all those links in the show notes for everyone. And for those who joined the Shift Your Spirits community, they will be able to go online and ask you questions, and we'll have a post featuring this interview so you can interact and everyone can tag you and talk to you more about this subject. Dena, I am so excited to meet you. This was such a great conversation. Thank you so much for coming on the show. Dena: Thank you, Slade, for having me. It was great.

Astrologer Dena DeCastro returns to give us a forecast of what's ahead for 2018. Is synchronicity behind the sex scandals and other developing scandals and stories around the world? And two listeners receive their own readings! Visit BigSeance.com for more info!   Other Android OptionsListen in Spotify Listen in Stitcher Listen in iHeart Radio Direct Download Link   In this episode: Episode Teaser :00 Intro :55 Astrologer Extraordinaire, Dena DeCastro stops by the parlor!! 1:30 Pouring the tea! 3:16 Reflecting back on 2016. Check out Episode 53, where Dena gave us our first forecast for the year 2016. Will things get better this year? 3:30  Our 2018 general forecast! Big shifts from Saturn and Uranus. 5:39 Thanks to Saturn, it’s a real “You reap what you sew” kind of year. 8:50 Uranus leaving Aries and moves into Taurus 12:45 “This would be the time, over the next eight years, for science to take it to the next step… the next level.” Plus changes in currency, Brexit, Bitcoin. 15:22 What do we need to do on a practical level? Where can you create more freedom in your life? 17:46 Synchronicity in Astrology 20:13 When a forecast makes you worry, we can only make better individual choices. 21:50 The Harvey Weinstein sex scandals and Jupiter in Scorpio. How do you use power in the world and in relationships? 23:23 A great metaphor for understanding the movement of the planets and the teachings they give us! 27:35 Dena gives Sheena, a Paranerd and an Aries, her 2018 forecast! An interesting detail to note is that Sheena’s birth chart is very similar to your host, Patrick Keller. 30:12 Ready for another Paranerd Aries? Next up is a forecast for Sheree! 44:35 These listeners were chosen at random. Is the giant Aries Fest a coincidence or synchronicity? 56:47 Paranerd Jason submitted a great question for Dena regarding Pisces and old souls in their last incarnations. 1:00:10 So what’s going on with Dena DeCastro these days? And where can you find her? 1:05:07 An update on Dena and her mandolin lessons! 1:06:54 Outro 1:07:49 #Paranerd Hashtag 1:09:24   Fore more on Dena DeCastro DenaDeCastro.com Twitter: @siriusastrology Sirius Astrology Podcast Previous Big Seance Podcast episodes with Dena: 53, 61, and 65   Record your voice feedback directly from your device on my SpeakPipe page! Call the show at (775) 583-5563 (or 7755-TELL-ME). I would love to include your voice feedback in a future show. Visit BigSéance.com for more information. Please help The Big Séance Podcast by subscribing to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn Radio, Stitcher, Google Play Music, and iHeart Radio.  

What's in store for your summer and beyond? Dena DeCastro shares wisdom on Mars Retrograde, the Summer Solstice, the Saturn-Neptune Square, and the upcoming New and Full Moons! Also, Tim Prasil and Something Other than a Ghost. PLUS! Jason Hawes says no more Ghost Hunters on Syfy?! Visit BigSeance.com for more! Pssst... Want to leave voice feedback? Use the SpeakPipe Link!     In this episode:  Episode Preview :00 Intro 1:35 Thank you for your support with voting for The Big Séance Podcast at PodcastAwards.com. 2:09 Exciting discussion happening in the Big Séance Parlor on Facebook! Have you watched Houdini and Doyle on FOX? 3:28 Welcome back, Dena DeCastro! 6:45 Dena continues to study the mandolin! 10:15 Mars Retrograde continues until the end of June. 11:23 Challenged relationships and conflict 15:05 Are some of the aspects of astrology, like retrogrades, unfairly judged? Can they be beneficial? 16:30 The Summer Solstice and the difference between Astrology and Astronomy. 19:20 Belief and reality - More of the Saturn-Neptune Square  23:55Mentioned Blog Post: Saturn Square Neptune: Creating a Spiritual Practice Patrick's manic decision to research getting a Master’s degree in Parapsychology! Thanks, New Moon! 26:53 “How are we already living our dreams and we don’t even acknowledge it?” 29:28 New and Full Moons coming up! 31:33 Talismans, cleansing and charging crystals under the moon, and the power of ritual! 37:38 How often should you have your forecast read? 41:23 Can pareidolia or matrixing happen in astrology? 44:59 Upcoming projects and following Dena! 51:50   Spectral Edition with Tim Prasil (Something Other than a Ghost) 54:22 No more Ghost Hunters? According to Jason Hawes, Season 11 will be the last on Syfy. What’s the scoop? Plus! Amy Bruni and Adam Berry began production on their new show today! 59:55 Future episode on Being able to read in your dreams, the most popular post at BigSeance.com. 1:02:09 Outro 1:03:02   For More on Dena DeCastro: DenaDeCastro.com Mentioned Blog Post: Saturn Square Neptune: Creating a Spiritual Practice  Twitter:@siriusastrology Sirius Astrology Podcast   Record your voice feedback directly from your device on my SpeakPipe page! Call the show at (775) 583-5563 (or 7755-TELL-ME). I would love to include your voice feedback in a future show. Visit BigSéance.com for more information.   Please help The Big Séance Podcast by subscribing, rating, and reviewing the show on iTunes, TuneIn Radio, Stitcher, or Google Play Music.   

Has Mars Retrograde affected your productivity and inspiration? It has affected this podcaster this week! We talk to Dena DeCastro about the astrological side effects. Also, Tim Prasil tells the extra special story of A Failed Ghost Hunt. Visit BigSeance.com for more info!  Pssst... Want to leave voice feedback? Use the SpeakPipe Link!   In this episode: Intro :00 Have you ever just had one of those weeks where your creative energy and inspiration just can't be found? :37 Mars Retrograde and a clip from ShePodcats 2:20  Some help and advice with Internal Resistance, Mars Retrograde, and the upcoming Mercury Retrograde from astrologer, Dena DeCastro 4:36 I reached out to the Big Séance paranerd community for help! 10:32 Proposed Topics: A super cool and creepy tree An East London memorial statue Wrath Entities and crossing spirits over How to put on a proper seance Part 1 - Communicating with Great Pioneers through Séance Part 2 - Communicating with Great Pioneers through Séance Victorian Ghost Stories Child Spirits Troubling paranormal activity in your home? Woman of Ouija and exploring the myths of Ouija Maritime Hauntings and The Ghost Ship (Lyrics by Michael Perry) 16:48 Spirit Release, Shamanism, Ancestral Healing Lesley Flint and Dr. Julie Beishel Psychic Surgeons, Trance Mediumship Haunted Toys! Doppelgängers D. Scott Rogo and Telephone Calls from the Dead An extra special Spectral Edition from Tim Prasil (A Failed Ghost Hunt) 22:23 Will you consider nominating The Big Séance Podcast for the People's Choice Podcast Awards? 34:36  Nominations close on April 30th, 2016. We're shooting for the Science & Medicine category For the URL, please enter BigSeance.com New Outro! 37:51 YOU. ALL. ROCK.    Record your voice feedback directly from your device on my SpeakPipe page! Call the show at (775) 583-5563 (or 7755-TELL-ME). I would love to include your voice feedback in a future show. Visit BigSéance.com for more information.   Please help The Big Séance Podcast by subscribing, rating, and reviewing the show on iTunes, TuneIn Radio, Stitcher, or Google Play Music.   

What do Johnny Carson, my Bampa, and a peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwich have in common? Nostalgia. And can nostalgia be paranormal? Plus news about the brand new Big Séance Podcast #Paranerd Store! Visit BigSeance.com for more info! Pssst... Want to leave voice feedback? Use the SpeakPipe Link!   In this episode:  Intro :00 Nostalgia :38 Childhood memories of my Bamma and Bampa 1:42 Peanut Butter and Mayonnaise Sandwiches 2:40 Johnny Carson 3:13 Do you have similar experiences with nostalgia? Contact me! 6:38 My interview on X Zone Radio with Rob McConnell 7:15 Another Spectral Edition with Tim Prasil (Two from 1865) 8:18  The brand new #Paranerd Store! 13:05 Looking forward to Troy Taylor's Haunted America Conference this summer! 16:03 Thank you for the 5-Star iTunes review, rompotchris! 16:41 #Paranerd Hashtag 16:56 Outro 17:23   If you didn’t already know, I’m a very nostalgic person. I’m constantly being taken back to an earlier time by a smell, a taste, sometimes a sound, and sometimes at the most random times and places… and I love it. I don’t know if nostalgia is exactly the right term for this, but I think it is a gift to be grateful for. I don’t mean a gift like having psychic abilities, or playing an instrument, but I really love nostalgic moments and I’m always encouraging my senses to catch a ride and take advantage of them. But I’m so very grateful for them, because I was fortunate enough to have a great childhood with an amazing family, and I feel like life would be kind of sad without tiny little breaks for a road trip to the past to re-experience some of those great moments. When I was little, I used to spend quite a bit of time with my grandparents at their house. I called them Bamma and Bampa, and I still do. For a while, my Bamma had a fabric shop that I would also spend time in. I loved helping her clean things and organize merchandise, even though I’m not sure I was truly as much help as I thought I was. I can still hear the sound of Bamma’s sewing machine running and the soap operas on the TV in the background. It’s funny, but seeing older daytime TV commercials from that time period will put me right back in the fabric shop too. When I think of my time with Bamma and Bampa in their old house from that time, I think of holidays. I think of different ways my Bamma would entertain me and keep me busy. One of the funny and strange things I always think about is Peanut Butter and mayonnaise sandwiches. I know I know. Peanut Butter and Mayonnaise sandwiches. My Bampa, who died several years ago, would make them for me. Apparently he used to eat them as a kid, and I always assumed it was a German thing. I did learn to love them at the time, though the thought of eating one now makes my stomach turn. Well cut to a week or so ago. I discovered we have this channel on cable called Antenna TV! Apparently it has been around for a year or two and I had no clue. There are SO many shows and sitcoms from the 70s and 80s on this channel, and if you’re not careful, you can find yourself skipping a night’s sleep just to watch them. But that night I found myself sucked into an old episode of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson! I loved Johnny Carson growing up, probably only because it was a special moment to be able to stay up that late. I watched Johnny Carson at my own house growing up plenty of times, but for some reason the other night I was picking up serious nostalgia watching Johnny… and it took me back to Bamma and Bampa’s house. In this particular episode, Cass Elliott would make one of her last public appearances before her tragic death from a heart attack, and she was talking to Johnny about health issues she was having involving her heart, but she didn’t seem to be taking it too seriously. Such a haunting moment. But also on this episode, Johnny was interviewing the hilarious Buddy Hackett. Coming and going from commercial as the familiar theme song would play, I was taken back to my Bamma and Bampa’s house. And I was in my mom’s old bedroom trying to sleep. And in this memory I was hearing them watch Johnny Carson on the other side of the wall in the living room. Suddenly Johnny and Buddy Hackett make two references to Peanut Butter and Mayonnaise sandwiches, and how the mayonnaise helps the peanut butter go down easier. Amazing, right? How often do you hear someone bring up peanut butter and mayonnaise in the same sentence? So I’ve told myself that this moment of nostalgia was orchestrated by my Bampa… a Hello from the other side. An interesting side note to this story is that within the same week of having this experience, my mom saw a local psychic here in Missouri, one whose name I keep hearing about. Well my mom can’t stop talking about the connections and validations from this amazing reading… and one of the biggest messages that came through was from my Bampa. Another interesting side note goes back to the reading I received from Dena DeCastro in our first Astrology episode. Do you remember her saying that I’d be having more paranormal experiences soon? I know you all have to have had similar experiences. Some of you are highly intuitive, and some of you have abilities most of us don’t have, and so I’m sure there are lots of stories out there. Feel free to jump in the Big Séance Parlor on Facebook and share… or contact me! -----   Record your voice feedback directly from your device on my SpeakPipe page! Call the show at (775) 583-5563 (or 7755-TELL-ME). I would love to include your voice feedback in a future show. Visit BigSéance.com for more information.   Please help The Big Séance Podcast by subscribing, rating, and reviewing the show on iTunes, TuneIn Radio, or Stitcher!  

Astrologer Dena DeCastro clears up some of the misconceptions of astrology and talks Year Ahead Forecasts, including what’s written in the stars for all of us. Listen in as Dena delivers some powerful personal forecasts for both the host and a special listener! PLUS, information on this crazy Mercury Retrograde, the Saturn Neptune Square, and Mars Retrograde. Yes. That is apparently a thing! There’s great energy in this one, so come on into the parlor and have a listen! Visit BigSeance.com for more info! Pssst... Are you looking for the SpeakPipe Link?   In this episode:  Episode Preview :00 Intro 1:34 Bio and Introduction of Astrologer, Dena DeCastro 2:07 Dena’s connection with astrology goes back to her childhood. 5:34 She remembers growing up looking at astrology and tarot with a sense of wonder and fascination. 7:55 Bad PR and the misconceptions of Astrology. 9:38 Evolutionary Astrology — Personal and spiritual growth. 11:10 Using astrology to make choices. 12:35 Mercury Retrograde 13:50 Why technology problems during Mercury Retrograde? 15:53 The importance of free will and making better choices for your highest good. 17:22 Does Dena have intuitive or mediumistic abilities? 18:54 What are Dena’s thoughts and experiences with spirit communication? 20:20 What’s this stuff about forecasts and birth charts? 23:32 Dena gives ME (Patrick) my goose-bump-inducing Year Ahead Forecast! 25:12 My goose bumpy response to the forecast! 33:42 When skeptics say, “Well that could apply to anyone.” 36:05 The overall Year Ahead Forecast for everyone! 39:17 The Saturn Neptune Square 39:59 Jupiter is in the sign of Virgo — Dena has begun playing the mandolin. 42:35 Libra — Growth and expansion in partnerships and relationships. 44:52 Mars Retrograde 45:32 The end of the Uranus Pluto Square 48:10 Shoutout to Harry Duran of Podcast Junkies! Did you hear my interview? If not, find that episode here! 50:30  Dena gives Belle (a fabulous listener and supporter of the podcast) her Year Ahead Forecast! 53:10 Belle’s validating response to her forecast! 1:04:04 Saying goodbye to Dena, where you can find her, and more info! 1:06:55 Easter Eggs 1:11:00 #Paranerd Hashtag 1:11:31   For More on Dena DeCastro: DenaDeCastro.com Mentioned Blog Posts: Saturn Square Neptune: Creating a Spiritual Practice and Mercury Retrograde in Capricorn: Slowing Down.   Twitter:@siriusastrology  Sirius Astrology Podcast   Record your voice feedback directly from your device on my SpeakPipe page! Call the show at (775) 583-5563 (or 7755-TELL-ME). I would love to include your voice feedback in a future show. Visit BigSéance.com for more information.   Please help The Big Séance Podcast by subscribing, rating, and reviewing the show on iTunes, TuneIn Radio, or Stitcher!       

Jupiter and Tarot with Leisa ReFalo by Dena DeCastro

Join us for a conversation with Dena DeCastro about the total Solar eclipse in Cancer.

Sabian Symbols with Lynda Hill by Dena DeCastro