Welcome to Ghost of a Podcast. I'm your host, Jessica Lanyadoo. I'm an astrologer, psychic medium, and animal communicator, and I'm going to give you your weekly horoscope and no-bullshit mystical advice for living your very best life.

Hey there, Ghosties. In this episode, I'll be doing a live reading with one of my beloved listeners. Every Wednesday, listen in on an intimate conversation and get inspired as we explore perspectives on life, love, and the human condition. Along the way, we'll uncover valuable insights and practical lessons that you can apply to your own life. And don't forget to hit Subscribe or, at the very least, mark your calendars because every Sunday I'll be back with your weekly horoscope. And that you don't want to miss. Let's get started.

Welcome back to Ghost of a Podcast. This week, I'm answering a bunch of questions from a bunch of you because sometimes it's nice to just talk to as many people as possible. Okay. So we are going to start with a question from Nicole. And Nicole asks, "Due to my second/eighth-house interception, I have no Aquarius in my birth chart. How will Pluto moving into Aquarius affect me?"

So this is a very good question, and I have good news and instructions in response. The first thing is everybody has every zodiac sign in their birth chart. It's literally impossible to not have all 12 of the zodiac signs in your birth chart. You may have no planets in that zodiac sign, but you have the sign in your birth chart. And so, when we are looking at something like Pluto moving into Aquarius⁠—because that's the only outer planet ingression that we're looking at for 2024 other than Jupiter⁠—what we know is that the themes of that house will be activated by Pluto. So we're looking at Pluto moving into Aquarius activating the energies of that sign.

Now, if you have, let's say, Aquarius intercepted in a house, what that means is that Pluto was already in that house when it was in late degrees of Capricorn. So what it's going to do is continue to activate the themes of that house. Now, Nicole didn't share whether she has Aquarius in the second house or the eighth house, so I won't begin to try to delineate what that's going to mean. But whenever we're looking at understanding what a planet, whether it's a personal planet⁠—that's the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, or Mars⁠; those planets move super fast through the zodiacal degrees, which means they move pretty quickly through the houses in our birth chart⁠—or one of the outer planets that move much more slowly⁠—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto⁠—whenever we're looking at the effects that those planets are going to have on our birth chart, what we want to do is, first and foremost, understand the effects of the transiting planet through the particular house that it's in, and then layer on top of that the information of the zodiac sign that it's in.

So, for instance, with Nicole, Pluto was already in her second or eighth house, whichever house it's in, but now it's moving from Capricorn to Aquarius. So the energies are going to change. It's going to light up that interception. And then the next thing we want to do is look at transits and when the transits are going to be activated, because astrology is math, and so we need to know the degrees of a transiting planet in order to know when or if it is forming a transit to our birth charts. So I hope that helps to break it down just a little bit.

My next question is from S.B. And they say, "I'm a Black NB artist and massage therapist with a deep passion for astrology. I'm wondering if I should continue to my studies in astrology to do birth chart readings. I've struggled growing up in learning math, but the artistic/spiritual aspects of astrology come so naturally to me."

So this is a really great question, to which I want to say, just because the math doesn't come naturally to you doesn't mean you can't learn it. And just because the math doesn't come naturally to you doesn't mean you should ignore the math, which is a really foundational part of astrology. Me personally, I am not naturally inclined towards math even a little bit. I still use a calculator to figure out the tip. Yeah, I do that. And yet I have learned the math of astrology. I'm better at the math of astrology, personally, then I am with any other math that I use because of how frequently I use math in astrology.

I really want to say that there are certain things around our passions that we are naturally good at. There's always inevitably going to be parts of the things that we really love and care about and want to do with our lives that we are not very good at, that we need to take a lot of time, effort, and intention to learn. And that shouldn't stop us. And so I want to encourage you to learn the math of astrology and struggle through it. And know that just because we are not naturally good at something does not mean we cannot cultivate the skill to become good at it. And it also doesn't mean we should just throw it away and say, "I'm going to pretend astrology is an intuitive practice, and that's it," because astrology includes within it an intuitive practice, but it is a very old and systematic tool that requires a lot of book learning. If you want to be good at something, you gotta learn the thing.

And so my advice is to treat the things that you aren't naturally good at and you don't know, whether it's about astrology or anything that you are ambitious around, as an invitation⁠—an invitation to develop a skill that you don't already have, not an indication that you should turn away from your passion.

All right. My next question comes from C.C. And she asks, "Is Pluto going to kill me? Pluto is going to oppose my Sun around 2036. And ever since I saw this, I think I'm going to die in 2036. I have a long history of health issues, including mystery autoimmune stuff that's been going on for years. How can I face my health and not lose my sanity over the future?"

So this is a very real question. And I'm so sorry that you're scared, and I'm so sorry that you have health struggles. I want to say a couple things. The first thing is Pluto does not kill people. That's not a thing. That's just not a thing, and I want to be really clear about that. Pluto does govern death. In other words, it governs the process of things dying, of things decaying, things decomposing. It governs over grief and loss and the fear of grief and loss. But it doesn't tell us when we as individuals are going to die. That's not a thing.

Now, the one thing I do not do is predict death. It's specifically something that I've never tried to learn and I don't want to know in astrology, and that's partially because it's utterly useless information. It literally has no utility. The other thing is it is also deeply unknowable. No one is able to accurately predict death. There's no point in trying. Whether you're right or you're wrong, there's no point in it.

Now, that said, when we go through scary Pluto transits⁠—and I would be ridiculous if I said that Pluto transits aren't scary⁠—it is more likely that we will deal with an ego death or the loss of something big or a transformation that's challenging than we will deal with actual physical death. I have seen countless⁠—countless⁠—people over the course of my career go through Pluto oppositions to the Sun or other challenging transits like that, and very rarely have I seen death be a part of that transit. And when it is, it is usually the death of other people⁠—not to create a new fear for you, because it often is not the death of other people or the death of relationships or the death of an animal friend. It tends to be loss more than your own death.

And so this fear that you have of dying in 2036 is based on superstition as opposed to substantive astrological data. And this is where it's really important to make sure that you are not making life-altering decisions based on astrology if you don't have a really trusted resource, like an expert, a master of the craft that you trust, or you yourself are not at a stage of mastery. And I don't know a single astrologer that would predict death because someone is going through a Pluto opposition to Sun. That's not a thing.

And so this is where we get into the danger of having access to so much astrological knowledge, but not having the foundation of astrological knowledge, the danger of becoming superstitious and weird with astrology information. The truth is you cannot know the future of your autoimmune health. There's no astrologer and there's no doctor that can really make you promises around that. All you can do is practice, in the present moment, handling your health in the best way available to you⁠—and within that, even, what is the best way? I don't know. Certainly, on the worst-way list is obsessing on something so out of your control and also, honestly, fictional around your own death.

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The next question that I have is a shift of gears in a big way, and it's from TERF Trouble. And it goes like this: "I recently ended an important 28-year-long friendship with a woman much older than me. I know it was the right thing to do and a long time coming, but I'm still haunted by it. I did it because she was unable and unwilling to stop expressing anti-Trans sentiments and refused to use my teenager's pronouns. But truth be told, she'd been driving me up a tree for years, and I used this blatant transphobic behavior as my ticket out. That said, I still have residual distress. Are there any chart insights to ease the recovery from doing a necessary but painful thing?"

So I want to share this. We don't need to look at a birth chart in order to know that when you lose a friendship, even if you're perfectly clear that it's the right thing, even if that person has been driving you up a tree, even if you have no doubt that because of a difference in values, you cannot continue to invest in that person or be close to that person, it's still going to hurt. It's still going to hurt. And I think that we have this idea in life that if we're doing the right thing, it feels good. But the truth of the matter is, oftentimes, when we do the right thing, it feels complicated.

And if you've been intimate with somebody, if you've had somebody in your life for 28 years, they are a huge part of your life, and you're going to feel loss and distress when you lose them, even if it's the healthiest, wisest, best possible thing for you. And so what I want to speak to is the necessity for you to hold boundaries even when you're sad. That is a really challenging thing to do, but it is the thing to do.

All of that said, I will look at your birth chart. And I should say that TERF Trouble's birth data is June 3rd, 1972, 5:39 p.m. in Baltimore, Maryland. But I will say that you have a Pluto/Venus square in your birth chart. I mean, you've got lots of things going on in your birth chart, but importantly, you have a Pluto/Venus square. And that means that you form really intense bonds with people, very intense familial bonds with people. And for you, letting go is exceptionally painful. It's part of why you waited so long to let go of the relationship.

And the reason why you finally let go of the relationship kind of as a way to support someone else that you love is because you have a Moon/Neptune square in your birth chart. The Moon/Neptune square makes it hard for you to stand up for yourself but a lot easier for you to stand up for others. And so, while we could talk about these things a lot, and they are very real and they're very personal to you, the truth remains the same that having healthy boundaries based on shared values around how to treat people, on how to be as a human with other humans, is hard. It's hard.

It's hard to have healthy boundaries with people, but it's really important. And when you determine that someone that you've loved that has been in your life for so long is just not on the same page around basic decency conduct stuff, then you let them go. And that doesn't mean you don't hurt. It doesn't mean that you aren't aware of the ways in which this person was valuable to you, the ways in which this person was important to you, the ways in which you have shared love and life with this person.

Feeling pain is not an indication that you've done something wrong⁠—not always, anyways. Feeling pain is often, and certainly in this situation, an indication of how much you've cared about this person or/and how habituated you are around them. And in terms of how to recover, the best way to recover is through time. And the truth is you may feel sad about the loss of this friendship or the end of this friendship for years to come, and that's okay because that sadness, that grief⁠—it's the shit side of love. And just because you have the ability to love someone doesn't mean they're healthy for you to keep in your life.

Okay. So my next question comes from Leah, who has a question about dating people who have not yet had their Saturn Return. Leah says, "I am almost 32, and I feel this karmic connection with people younger than me, typically those born in 1997 who are about 26 or 27, both as friends and lovers. My recent heartbreak was with someone in this age group, and I'm interested in dating a new person also born this year. Friends my age and older are all cautioning me against dating someone who hasn't had their Saturn Return. That feels unfair to me. What do you think? Is this setting me up for more heartache and disappointment?" Leah was born February 8th, 1992, 11:32 a.m. in Plantation, Florida.

No shade, Leah, but Florida. Florida. You don't even have one town called Plantation; you've got two. It's very fucked up. But okay. That's the name of the town nonetheless. So I've got lots to say about this. This is very broadly speaking because there's lots of ways for lots of different kinds of people to have lots of different kinds of relationships. But if you, Leah, are looking for a committed, long-term relationship that is stable, it doesn't make a ton of sense to date somebody who is pre-Saturn Return.

And we're not talking about somebody who's completely not in the phase of their Saturn Return. When somebody's at around 27 years old, they're in the buildup period to their Saturn Return. So what ends up happening is, when somebody is in that phase building up to the Saturn Return, whoever they date becomes a part of their Saturn Return. Now, do people get married during their Saturn Return? Yes, they do. But also, people have a lot of drama.

That said, Leah, you didn't share if you're dating to get married. There's a lot of reasons to date. Some people date because dating is fun. Some people date because dating is interesting. And some people date because it's a necessary step to partnering. I don't know what you want. You didn't share what you wanted. But I will say that what really interested me about this question is that you have a very specific thing for 1997.

So what I don't know is, are you interested in dating people when they're going through deeply transformational periods of their lives? Saturn Return is like an age-appropriate one that you are very close to, right? Because you're only 32. So somebody who's pre-Saturn Returning⁠—it makes sense. Or is it something specific to that year? Will you be 39 and being like, "Oh shit. I'm still wanting to date people who were born in 1997"?

So I pulled up your birth chart, and this is what I found. First of all, you have got Pluto opposite your Ascendant, a.k.a. conjunct your Descendant, which is to say you like intense relationships. You really, for better or worse, get engaged with people, and it can be quite dramatic and passionate and deep and intense. And that can play out⁠—and I'm kind of guessing this is your friends' take⁠—as dating people who are just clearly not ready for stability.

Now, it doesn't have to be this way, but that might be what you're doing. And if so, what I would suggest is moving slowly with people but not getting deep right away, so that you can figure out if the two of you are in a similar place and if the intensity and depth that you are cultivating with the people you date or become close friends with is rooted in passion and intensity and depth, or it's rooted in drama and tension and struggle. And the only way you can figure that out is by going slowly, staying present but moving slowly.

But the other thing is maybe you're just really into people born in 1997⁠—so specific. And I looked at, what would that be? And I should pull back and say I don't use synastry in general. In this kind of a context, I do. But if I'm looking at relationship charts, I wouldn't mess with synastry because, honestly, I find it to be too simplistic. It's not layered enough. That's when I go to composite charts. But again, I digress.

From a synastry perspective, people born in 1997⁠—all of them⁠—would have a Neptune that squares your Mars. And that can create a kind of fantastical connection where you feel this magical, idealistic vibe with someone. And it can be really spiritual, and that can be really sexy, depending on your nature and how things play out. But based on your chart, it can create more safety and pull around sex and sexuality. And it can feel like the realest thing in the world because you get each other before you know each other.

But then, inevitably, what happens when we have that synastry aspect⁠—which for you would be their Neptune sitting on top of your Mars⁠—what ends up happening is there's inherently dishonesty in it. That's not a great synastry aspect or a composite chart aspect, because it's not rooted in reality. And so what can happen is a serious crash and burn. You realize that the person wasn't what you thought they were or what they said they were, and they may feel that way about you. It can also just kind of peter out sexually, where there's actually not enough energy, because of Neptune, to sustain a physical connection if that's what you are looking for in the context of the people you date.

All to say I think your friends are onto something. I would encourage you to be wary about your 1997 fetish. But I will add one more word to this, which is about dating people pre-Saturn Return. I think when we have rules with astrology of, like, "Oh, I would never date a Gemini. I would never date somebody who's pre-Saturn Return. I would never date somebody who's going through a Neptune transit"⁠—that kind of shit⁠—it can be informed, but you don't want to let it rule your life, because again, that's when you're getting into superstition.

What is fair to do is to make an informed call, to be like, "All right. If I'm post-Saturn Return"⁠—which, Leah, you're not exactly what I would call post-Saturn Return. You haven't yet lived through your Christ year. So you're still in the phase of your Saturn Return, being only 32 years old. And you're not even 32; you're almost 32. But you're rounding up, like a winter baby, which I super love.

But anyways, having these kinds of rules⁠—I think it can reflect being informed about astrology, being informed by your own past experiences, and it helps you to nurture your common sense. But what we don't want to do is use those kinds of rules without staying present in the situation and saying, "Is this the moment where I break my rule?" because rules⁠—sometimes they're just made to be broken. They're good guides for us, but we don't want to make all of our decisions based on it.

So, for me as an astrologer, if I'm talking to somebody who's 35 years old or older, yeah, I would say do your best to not date somebody who's pre-Saturn Return. If you are 35 or older, what's happened is you've not just passed through your Saturn Return; you've gone through your first Saturn square. You are very post-Saturn Return. And at that point, it can be much more of a challenge to be on equal playing fields with somebody who is pre-Saturn Return.

Now, this is really different than just talking about age. This is talking about the maturizing transit that is the Saturn Return. It's when we become an adult. It's when we come into ownership of ourselves, whether we do it well or not. And so, because of that, there can be a major developmental issue between somebody who's really post-Saturn Return and somebody who's really pre-Saturn Return. So that's not really about age; it's more developmental. So use that as you will, but again, rules are made to be broken.

So, that all said, I will come back to, Leah, I'm afraid I'm probably with your friends on this one. But you gotta live your life and learn your lessons in your way, in your time.

That's it, my friends. If you have a question that you would like me to answer in one of these episodes, or more likely, if you would like to get a personal reading with me on the podcast, you can always send me a question through the contact form on my website over at ghostofapodcast.com. I'll talk to you in a couple days for your weekly horoscope. Buh-bye.