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.

Hello, and welcome back to Ghost of a Podcast. This week's episode is going to be a little short and sweet because we only have two transits to talk about. Now, I'm going to give you this context, which is that whenever we have transits going on, whether we have a really busy week in the stars like we did last week or we have a more mellow astrology for the forecast, there are always larger transits playing out in the collective. And sometimes, when there's less going on, we notice those more.

In addition, there's also whatever's happening in your own birth chart. In my experience, things can be felt more acutely when you actually slow down enough to feel your feelings. And so whatever it is that emerges for you this week in the aftermath of last week's astrology and in the context of the larger themes happening in the world and in your own birth chart very personally, you want to just do your best to show up and to show up with one thing very clear in mind: it's Mercury Retrograde season, okay?

So we're looking at the astrology of November 9th through the 15th of 2025. And the first exact transit that is occurring this week is at 11:02 a.m. Pacific Time on Sunday, the 9th. Mercury goes Retrograde. If you are looking along on the video version of this podcast—which is available on YouTube and the link is in the show notes, or you can catch it on the public page of my Patreon—then you can see the chart that I'm looking at for the Mercury Retrograde.

So Mercury goes Retrograde on the 9th through the 29th of November. This is just three weeks. It's a little bit of a shorty, but I don't know if it's going to be a cutie because Mercury goes Retrograde in Sagittarius. But it does retrograde all the way back to Scorpio.

The thing about Mercury Retrograde is it is always a time for following what I call the rule of re's: reflection, reassessing, recalibrating. Mercury is your mind. It's how you think. It's what you think. It's your attitudes. It's your beliefs. It's your friends and your pals. It's how you listen. And so, when we're dealing with a Retrograde, there is a turn inward that we're supposed to make. Now, the reason why Mercury Retrograde happens theoretically is so that you change your mind. It's so that you review your own beliefs and attitudes; you make sure that you're not just kind of running forward into an idea that has no basis in reality or isn't aligned for you or whatever.

The way that Mercury functions on a more practical level, though, is that it creates miscommunications, technical difficulties, misunderstandings, mental confusion or misdirects. A really common thing that will happen during a Mercury Retrograde is you think you hit Send, but it hangs out in your Draft folder, so you think that you communicated and you're waiting for a response. But you didn't communicate, and the other person is like, "What happened?"

Mercury Retrograde is more complicated now than it used to be because we live in a much more Mercurial world. Communication is a much bigger deal now than it's ever been in human history because we have so many ways that we are connected and communicating with each other, keeping in mind that a huge amount of your lived experience with communication may be taking in data and information through social media, podcasts, and other things. And in that case, how you process data, how you listen, what you listen to—those things are worthy of your introspection and reflection this Mercury Retrograde and in general in life.

This Mercury Retrograde features an important aspect. We've got Mercury close to conjoined to Mars in this chart, and that transit will be exact this week. Now, this transit may sound familiar to you, and that's because we went through it on October 20th when Mercury was getting retroshady. Mercury conjoined to Mars is an important transit in this Mercury Retrograde chart because it speaks to the heat of this particular transit.

So Mercury is retrograding in a fire sign, Sagittarius. But also, its proximity to Mars suggests that we're really going to have a bit of a reactive and fast-paced Mercury Retrograde. This is going to really test your ability to listen in an embodied way—listen, Mercury; embodied, Mars. So, when you are agitated, when you're annoyed, when somebody else is snapping or yelling or being aggressive in some way, it's hard to listen, right? And the reason why it's hard to listen—or be listened to, if you're the one who's being aggressive—is because when you "see red," when you get agitated and activated, your feelings become so overwhelming that it's hard to stay in your body and stay present. When you're not present, where are you? You're somewhere else. And therefore, it's really hard to really listen. And the truth is it's challenging to communicate effectively if you're not listening to the people around you.

This Mercury Retrograde brings with it an opportunity to get to know yourself when you're activated, to better understand your own thought process and communication style—which, again, when I say communication style, I am including listening—when you are activated, whether that's through passion and excitement, defensiveness, aggression, irritation, impatience, burnout—Mars, Mars, Mars, Mars, Mars. I'm using a lot of Mars words on you.

So this Mercury/Mars conjunction is a really important part of our Mercury Retrograde chart, and it speaks to this larger process of reckoning with strong emotions and strong and defensive thoughts. Again, Mercury Retrograde is challenging, and it's challenging because it creates communication issues. Your challenge, whether you choose to accept it or not, is likely to be dealing with your own impulsivity and/or the impulsivity of others because when you're really impulsive, sometimes amazing things happen. Sometimes that's where the magic lives. And sometimes, it means you're not listening. Sometimes it means you come across as bullying or aggressive in ways that you actually weren't trying to be.

The more reflection that you can embody, the better your rising to the occasion of this Mercury Retrograde. Now, in this Mercury Retrograde chart, we also have that Venus/Pluto square. That transit was exact on the 7th, which was Friday of last week, and we're still very much in it. Within that is the data that the strong, compulsive feelings that Venus square to Pluto kicks up are part of our Mercury Retrograde process.

This further suggests that this is a very interpersonal and relational Mercury Retrograde. In other words, your relationships are going to be activated, and in particular your personal relationships or the personal side of your relationships. Now, when I say the personal side, you might have coworkers who you're not exactly in a personal relationship with, but it's that personal side, the friendship/comrade side, that's getting activated by this Mercury Retrograde.

And Pluto and Mars are two planets in the zodiac that are associated with fighting, with combat, in a major way. And so my best advice to you is to reflect on your own relationship to rage, anger, toxicity in yourself and in others. How you relate to those things is not a factual thing; it's a reflection on who you are, when you are. And I say "when you are" because who you were when you were 12 is different than who you are when you're 22, which is different than who you are at 42 and 72—hopefully, right?

So holding space for the intensity and strength of your reactions, and even your attachment to your reactions, can be really fruitful this Mercury Retrograde. Mercury Retrograde doesn't happen to harm you or to mess things up. It happens so that you reflect, so that through the process of reflection, you don't go too far in the wrong direction, so that you continue to grow and evolve.

Mercury is about learning. It's kind of your learning style. Your Mercury in your birth chart is your learning style. And so challenge yourself to learn something this Mercury Retrograde, whether you are learning something about yourself, you are learning something about the world or in the world, or you're learning something about the people you're connected to.

The last thing I'll say about this transit is the good, old-fashioned advice: this is a bad time for making permanent decisions. It's a bad time for signing contracts and making major purchases. It's a bad time for any kind of contractual negotiation. And this is because miscommunications are likely. And, that said, you gotta live. You gotta live. So don't be bananas about it. If you are like, "Oh shit. I have an opportunity to take a new job," "I need to sign a contract on a lease"—whatever it is, go for it. But because Mercury is Retrograde, know that you want to triple-check the contract. You really want to make sure that whatever you're signing is what you want to be signing.

Knowing that miscommunications and misunderstandings are likely empowers you to better protect yourself, not to stop living. We don't want to use astrology to get superstitious and weird. We want to use it to make our lives appreciably better.

That brings us to the second and last exact transit of this week. On Wednesday, November the 12th, we have our first Mercury Retrograde transit. Mercury Retrograde, at 6 degrees of Sagittarius and 4 minutes, will sit directly on top of Mars, the same degrees, same sign—so 6 degrees Sagittarius at exactly 3:15 p.m. Pacific Time.

What does it mean? First of all, it is important that it is the first Mercury Retrograde transit of the cycle. I have already been talking about this aspect because it really does feature heavily in the Mercury Retrograde chart and does meaningfully color our Mercury Retrograde experience. This transit intensifies impulsiveness. This is a really important transit during which to think before you speak or you hit Send. Think before you hit Send. It's so much easier to type things than what you would say to somebody's face sometimes. So that's why I'm doubling down on the "think before you send" thing.

This transit can kind of speed up your thoughts. It can also speed up the tempo of your day. You may have had some shit go down around the 20th of October the last time that this transit was active that kind of is either like a follow-up of what happened—so it might be the same people, the same situation—or it may be the same pattern inside of your thinking, your communication, or your behavior because Mars is what you do, and Mercury is what you say, broadly speaking.

First of all, you may have to deal with some shit you said or did or how you engaged with what somebody else said or did during the last time this transit occurred. Again, the Retrograde wants us to reflect. So take a minute. Reflect. And know this: because of Mars's involvement, it's going to be hard to sit with your body, to sit with the feelings and sensations inside of your body. So do what you can. Breath work helps a lot of people for cultivating presence and a willingness to hang out with challenging feelings. It doesn't work for everyone.

You know that you have resources. If you're listening to this podcast, you have access to a lot of resources. Don't forget to use them. Don't forget to tap into them. Again, Mercury Retrograde is one of those transits that helps you to remember to not just collect resources and tools, but to actually reflect on them, to use them, to practice them.

Now, Mars governs policing. It's cops. And so, because Mercury is conjunct Mars in Sadge, we may see impulsive, defensive, bullying behavior from people who are already empowered to police. This information is important for you to protect yourself and others. If you are engaging in any kind of on-the-ground live and active situation, do not make it worse with your impulsivity. And I say this because sometimes your impulsivity is exactly what's needed, but the thing about this transit is it can kick up provocation and, like I said, bullying and intimidation and anger and defensiveness and violence.

Do your best to tap into the Mercury Retrograde, to reflect: what is the energy that is needed in this moment? Take a beat because this transit inclines everyone—not just you, not just me, but everyone—to not take a beat, to just go and to go hard. So taking a moment to assess the situation before you engage so that your engagement facilitates progress is useful, helpful, appropriate to the situation. That is a really good strategy.

Your day may be really busy. This week may be really busy because Mercury/Mars often means that things come at you quick. Again, how you stay with your body or not when you feel activated is a huge part of what's up with this transit and this week in general. And the potential of this is really strong. The potential here is that you cultivate self-awareness about and through your body, this sweet little meat suit you live in, this ship that stewards your spirit throughout this lifetime.

The body is with you from the very beginning till the very end, and it holds your memories, your greatest joys, and your greatest suffering. Your body is a meaningful part of you that gives you feedback all the time that you are meant to listen to and support and engage with as conscientiously as you can because your body and you—you're supposed to be friends, theoretically.

So, when a transit like this comes up, your self-awareness will intensify. Now, listen. Self-awareness may mean you get more information, and then you shove it down or you ignore it. Or it may mean that you use that information. That's where your free will comes in. You will get information. So my advice to you is to listen. Listen to yourself. Listen to your body. This transit can kick up other Martian things related to the act or acts of sex or, in general, your sexuality, your relationship to anger—how you experience, how you process it. And let's not demonize anger. It is a healthy human feeling. Anger is not bad. Anger, when it is appropriate and when it is metabolized and handled well, is empowering. It's connected to feelings of justice and boundaries.

Similarly, Mars governs the ego. The ego gets a bad rap. When your ego is too small or too big, it gives you and everyone around you problems. The goal is not to not have an ego but instead to have a healthy relationship with and to your ego. A transit like this will actually facilitate that—now, not through ease, necessarily, not through everything going your way. But understanding your own ego helps you to relate to it in a healthy way. And that's the fucking assignment here.

This transit does not give you a great deal of concentration or focus. We've got Mercury and Mars both in Sagittarius, a mutable fire sign—moves quick. And Mercury and Mars are really restless when they come together. So, if you have to really focus or concentrate, that might be a pain in your ass. You may have to deal with a lot of interruptions. You may just feel too stimulated and activated to really focus up. But if that agitates you, if that bothers you, know that your adaptability is being engaged. How can you meet the moment? How can you adapt as needed based on the circumstances you find yourself in and how you feel about them?

Self-awareness is not consent. Self-awareness is not giving yourself carte blanche to just do whatever you want. Self-awareness is a foundation upon which you can build a healthy relationship to yourself, to other people, to your circumstances. It empowers you to do better because you know better.

And that, my friends, is your horoscope. That's all the astrology of this week. As always, join me over on my Patreon if you would like to continue the conversation and the learning with me. I've got a ton of content over there for you to sort through and dropping more stuff all the damn time. And in case somehow you missed it, I have a couple of books, actually. I've got a book called Astrology for Real Relationships, and it is a little unusual because it goes through all of the planets, through the signs and the houses in the context of different kinds of relationships. I think it's a great resource for learning, and you may, too. So you can go check that out wherever books are sold. And I have an audiobook called Meditations for Your Sign. It is available only on Audible. It's literally just that. It's meditations for your sign, and it's free with a subscription. So that's some shit you can look into if you're into getting more astrology and woo content from yours truly.

Okay. I hope you take really good care of yourself and others, and I will talk to you in just a couple of days. Bye.