Music To My Ears

Many of you may not know this but way back when (circa 2008), before I became an astrologer, I was a part of the indie art scene here in NYC for a few years. I wrote poetry, I dabbled in filmmaking, I performed onstage and at open mics, I went to all the underground art shows and indie concerts. And then somewhere along the line, I kind of fell out of love with the scene and gave that part of myself up as I moved on to pursuing a new direction in my life and career.

Then, about two months ago, I received an email from a very talented musician and composer, Marquis Hill. Marquis had the idea to do an astrology themed album and invited me to collaborate with him on it. I jumped at the opportunity. Not only did I love Marquis’ work and thought it would be cool to be a part of this project, but I knew that doing this would help me tap back into a part of myself that I’d been disconnected from for a very long time. Turns out my intuition was right.

Download Soul Sign by Marquis Hill.

Trumpeter, Composer and Producer, Marquis Hill releases a 12 track cosmic musical journey through the zodiacs in the form of a spoken word infused beat tape.

“ A yearning to learn more about the Zodiac - types and celestial influence for The Good - I’ve been inspired toward a fresh project. In its place, this extended spiritual knowledge of self is crucial in our lifetime. Collaborating with astrologers Mecca Woods and Boro the Lucky Libra - both hailing from the Bronx - we developed tracks that musically impressionize each Zodiac sign.

Here, jazz, spoken word and hip hop orbits and dances together. Each track is quite different, consistent with the often vast differences among the Zodiac signs and their types. Recorded during quarantine life, in Boston, NYC, and Chicago, this project underscores resilient elementals, energies in terms of fire, water, air, and earth”

Cocoa Butter and Scorpio Season

Did you see my latest video for Cocoa Butter? It’s all about Scorpio!

Next up…Sagittarius!

Jupiter In Scorpio: Finding The Light In The Darkness

photo: RKTKN, unsplash.com

I think Scorpio is one of the signs that most often gets a bad rap when it comes to astrology, because Scorpio is not usually known for being a soft, sunny, and gentle kind of energy. Being ruled by aggressive, hot-headed Mars and power-hungry Pluto, Scorpio is not a sign for the faint of heart. Experiences marked by Scorpio or Pluto transits usually coincide with times in our lives when we must face and grapple with our demons, on a personal and collective level. Scorpionic or Plutonic themes (sex, death, loss, rebirth) often deal with dark night of the soul experiences where we are emotionally split open, transformed, and healed. 

Deeply intuitive and motivated by instinct, Scorpio has the uncanny ability of finding our wounds and sinking its teeth into them until we bleed. But it doesn’t do this for purposes of torture. See, Scorpio has already felt those same wounds too. Scorpio wants us to delve deep into the places that hurt, because only there is where the true healing can take place. By facing our pain head-on, through the blood, sweat, and tears; we are reminded of just how powerful and resilient we really are. Scorpio is not for skimming the surface or pretending the problem, the pain, will go away on its own. 

As we move into Scorpio season (October 23 - November 22), these themes will become stronger, especially as Jupiter – the planet of growth and abundance – enters Scorpio for a thirteen-month stay on October 10th. Jupiter in Scorpio’s job is to show us just how much opportunity there is for growth through the process of rebirth and transformation. Though in order for us to be reborn, it means that something in our lives has to die first. For some this may mean a relationship, for others it could be a career, or in some cases dealing with actual death itself (and no, this doesn’t mean you’re going to die) but it could mean dealing with the loss. But do know that however that death may show up, it's OK to grieve. It's OK to rage, to cry, to completely come undone. Rebirth is not a pretty process. Sometimes it takes many "deaths" to get where we need to be. 

As we move further into the autumn and the veil between the spirit world and the living world gets thinner, Jupiter's trip through the underworld will challenge us to find the light in the darkness, as this is the kind of transit that may feel at times like we're stumbling through the dark; trying to avoid the ghosts and the monsters. Though the power in Scorpio rests on our ability to reach down deep and confront the things that scare us, backs to the wall, knife in hand. It also depends on our ability to trust our instincts and intuition too. 

Though not everything will be dark, ugly, and intense. There's a beauty in Scorpio that pushes us to form and nurture our most deepest, loving bonds; as sometimes it's through the strength and support of another that we can stand on our own. Sometimes it takes the experience of cracking open with another to fully access all that exists within ourselves, and sometimes in healing another we heal ourselves too. 

One last thing to note - if your birth chart is Scorpio heavy or predominately made up of water (Pisces, Cancer) or earth (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn), you'll find this Jupiter transit to be much easier to handle than others. In your case, the shedding and re-birthing process won't feel as emotionally heavy. Try to hold space for others that may not be where you are. 

Full Moon In Capricorn: Finding A New Method To The Madness

Artwork: Esao Andrews, House of Mystery Vol 8.

When I was in my teens, my mother had this affirmation taped to the wall in our bathroom. It read: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” I’m not sure who it was that first coined this phrase, but it was a quote that had been popular among those in the Narcotics Anonymous fellowship, to which my mother belonged. I used to read these words to myself day after day, wondering if insanity was indeed like the hamster wheel this statement, up on our wall, had made it out to be. Having watched my mom hit the tortuous loop between addiction and wanting freedom from that addiction, I figured that in many ways this was true. While I’ve since grown up to understand addiction as extending beyond the narrow and ableist connotations of the term insanity, I do think there is something to be said about wanting change yet engaging compulsive or habitual behavior that changes…nothing.

Enter the Full Moon in Capricorn (July 19).

By nature, Capricorn loves habit. In habit, there is logic and there is order, there is security and the familiar, there is a sense of practice that makes perfect, there is structure and there is method. Through Capricorn, we learn how persistence, planning, and application creates the kind of foundation that empires and legacies are built on. Wherever Capricorn shows up in our lives, we are called to follow the due process that brings achievement and success. But what happens when we’ve outgrown the process? What happens when we’ve hit the point of no one size fits all portion of the program and we realize that we can’t get to where we want by following in the footsteps of someone else? Or better still, what happens when we have the kind of goals and ambitions to change our lives as we know them but continue on with the beliefs and habits that keep things the same? We have to be willing to try something new.

This Moon in Capricorn is being opposed by the Sun in Cancer (which makes it a Full Moon) and both will sit in a harsh angle to Uranus in Aries. Uranus, being the planet of breakthrough, instability, and radical change (transiting a headstrong and impulsive sign like Aries), means that there’s going to be an unsettling kind of energy that’s coming in with this moon. While Cancer is Capricorn’s astrological opposite, the two of these signs still share a need for security and stability. For Capricorn it’s material stability, for Cancer it’s emotional security. Though, like Capricorn, Cancer can instinctively fall back on habit and comfort when its security is threatened as a means to keep things as they are—stable. And this is where the real work comes in, kiddos. How are we supposed to remain stable when the world around us is crumbling to bits? The answer is that in some ways we must crumble along with it. We must be willing to release the dead, decayed, and outworn structures in our lives so that we can build new ones that can better support the “I” and the “We” that we are becoming. As astrologer Howard Sasportas writes in his book The Twelve Houses:

“The desire to become something greater than we are must be accompanied by the capacity to envision new and different possibilities. More than any other species, the large human brain and evolved cerebral cortex endows human beings to imagine a wide range of alternatives, choices, and outcomes…In this context, it is helpful to remember that the more clearly we can imagine a possibility, the closer we bring it to actualization. Encouraging positive visions of the future aids the process of moving in a more positive direction.”

In other words, we can’t continue to do the same thing over and over, expecting different results.

Luckily, that’s where Mars in Scorpio comes in, offering a bit of a release valve or a way out of the madness we may find ourselves in. Through the fearlessness, dedication, and laser focus of Mars in Scorpio, we are encouraged to strike out on a new path towards what we want. Are you ready? Life is changing as we know it. We must be able to change with it.

What To Do When You Don't Identify With Your Zodiac Sign

Photo: Getty Images Stock

Recently, I shared an article on Facebook, which described the work ethic of each zodiac sign. One of my Facebook friends commented on the post that "I'm always confused when I read Libra descriptions though because I don't seem to fit the bill.” I responded to her comment by asking if she had ever had her birth chart done. She said she hadn’t, which I of course figured out was the case, but it was my gentle way of informing her that astrology is a bit deeper than the pop culture or Sun sign astrology that we usually come across in newspapers and magazines. Not that there’s anything wrong with Sun sign astrology, as it is the Sun that symbolizes the core of who we are, our style of self-expression, when it comes to astrological interpretation. In fact, astrologer Jessica Adams wrote a really good piece a while back about the importance of Sun sign astrology and how folks (mainly professional astrologers) need to stop looking down on it. Here's the link if interested: http://www.astro.com/astrology/aa_article141231_e.htm

But I digress.

While I know that my Facebook friend meant no offense with her comment (and no offense was taken) it did make me think about the many other occasions when I’ve seen people post or speak about how astrology doesn’t resonate with them because they can’t relate to the traits assigned to their Sun sign or the horoscopes that they come across in popular media. Now while I’m no astrology fundamentalist (I recognize and respect that it’s not everyone’s cup of tea), I do suggest that people do a little research with it before they decide to write astrology off entirely. That said, here’s a couple of suggestions on what to do when your zodiac sign doesn’t ring true for you:

1.  Read more than one horoscope. There are tons of astrologers out there who write horoscopes; some for mainstream publication, some for their own website or following, which means there are a variety of styles, voices, and content to choose from for keeping current with the cosmos. I often recommend to astrology beginners to pick 2-3 astrologers they really dig and make a habit out of reading their forecasts. Sometimes you need to have options in order to find something that resonates with you.

2.   Look up your birth chart. A birth chart is kind of like having your own cosmic map or blueprint. If you know the hour and location of your birth, you can go to a website like astro.com, where you can pull up your chart for free and take a look around. If you’re feeling really brave, you can Google around a bit to try to interpret it first all on your own. However, no advice really compares to my last point:

3.    Get a reading. This tip is probably the most important advice that I can give you as even a horoscope won’t be able to go into full detail with you about your birth chart. In a reading, a reputable astrologer would not only show you, for example, that you’re an Aries Sun, Cancer Moon, and Taurus Rising, but they would also show you how these three pieces (and more) work together to fuel your greatness and how they can sometimes trip you up.

So, that’s it. That’s my approach. It’s actually the path I took before I became a professional astrologer. Try it out and let me know how it goes. And of course, if you ever need a reading, get atcha girl.

Mars In Sagittarius in 2016

Photo: footloosenomad.com

Mars enters expansive and adventurous Sagittarius (March 5th) to make an extended stay from now until September (taking a brief dip back into Scorpio from April to July). Under this influence we're passionately motivated by distant travels, international causes, the bigger picture, heated debates, the mission for truth and justice and of course, good old fashioned debauchery. Though with Jupiter in Virgo (details), Saturn in Sagittarius (responsibility), and Neptune in Pisces (intuition) flanking Mars, we'll need to have a clear aim/strategy before taking off for territory unknown.