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.

Welcome back to Ghost of a Podcast. This week, we're going to look at the astrology of May 18th through the 24th. There's kind of a lot going on, so we're going to dive into it pretty quickly. But I want to kind of give you a heads-up about the episode I'm going to be dropping on Wednesday, the 21st. Instead of a reading, which is what I usually drop on my midweek episodes, this is going to be a special episode in a couple of ways. The first is that it's my first video podcast episode. So, if you're interested in pairing the meat suit to the voice, you can check out that episode for that reason alone.

But significantly more excitingly, I am having journalist, activist, and author Anne-christine d'Adesky on the podcast to discuss Project 2025. This episode will actually be pretty inspiring, and if you've been feeling helpless or hopeless, if you've been feeling like you don't know what to do, then definitely tune in. In this episode, they share a ton of resources, links, information, insight, and perspectives. So tune in to that episode. Again, it drops on the 21st.

And as I record this, we are still very much in the energy of the Mercury square Mars and the Sun conjunction to Uranus, the transits that were exact on the 17th. And those transits kicked up a lot. You may have acted in ways that were defensive, reactive, unexpected, or you may have had to deal with somebody else who is acting in any one of those ways. So, in case it's helpful, I'll just remind you that if you missed my class on forgiveness, then you can find it on the shop page of my website because whether you need to forgive yourself or someone else, forgiveness is a practice, not of letting yourself or others off the hook, but instead of taking that hook out of your damn heart so you can learn from whatever it is that happened and take those lessons with you as you move on.

Okay. As promised, let's dive into this horoscope. This week starts off with an exact sextile between Jupiter and Chiron on Sunday, the 18th. So, at 6:45 a.m. Pacific Time, Jupiter will be at 35 degrees of Gemini and 2 minutes, forming an exact sextile to Chiron at the exact same degrees of Aries. Now, this transit comes with a great deal of potential, as actually a lot of the transits—the bulk of the transits—that are happening this week are really supportive. There is, of course, some shit to watch out for, and this is the week that Saturn moves into Aries, which I will talk more about, of course. But this is Jupiter sextile to Chiron.

So Jupiter is kind of associated with luck and growth and benevolence, and Chiron is your core wounding. And so, when these two planets sit at a sextile, which is 60 degrees apart—which is a spark, a dynamic connection of energy—there is great opportunities for growth spurts, for expanding past old wounds that have kept you stuck or that you've been stuck around. This is a great time for changing your mind, for expanding your beliefs, learning more about the world, having experiences with the world. And having those experiences, the exposure to different ideas, help you to shift your relationship to insecurities, self-worth issues, etc.

On a social level, this transit is fucking excellent and very well timed because it can represent a time where groups of people come together to create reform, repair, and justice. Now, of course, this doesn't happen, necessarily, in the snap of a finger, and it doesn't necessarily happen all at once. But these are the transits we want to look out for. These are the transits we want to embrace and make use of. This is a great time for connecting with community and groups of people who inspire you, expand your worldview, help you to heal.

Sometimes, honestly, the best way to access that is by connecting with people you don't agree with, being present with contrast. In this algorithm-heavy world that we live in, it can be all too easy to either agree with people or fight with people. But there's something so powerful, so moving, about sitting in the discomfort of different ideas or approaches and exploring how you can hold old beliefs and ideas, even habits, in new ways. And a transit like Jupiter sextile to Chiron is really helpful for facilitating that.

Jupiter is a planet associated with making noise, advocating, exploring, educating, experiencing things. And again, Chiron is where we struggle. It's where we metabolize or get stuck with restrictive, limiting self-beliefs and a kind of cascade of beliefs, behaviors, attitudes, defenses that emerge as a result of those. And so this transit is an opportunity to break through, evolve, and change. Jupiter is not just about a lateral change. Jupiter is about an improvement. So don't shy way from difficult conversations, whether they're with yourself, your therapist, your journal, your bestie, your partner—whatever it is. Show up, and try to really listen to other people's perspectives. Maybe it'll strengthen your own. Maybe it'll help you to change your mind. I don't know. I don't know your situation. But it is worth being present and open because Jupiter really helps to facilitate growth and healing from a place of presence and openness.

Jupiter wants you to experience life, and part of life is Chiron, which is struggles, wounding, insecurity, self-worth issues. And so this is an opportunity to explore and experience so that you can expand, evolve, and grow. And you can apply this to your self-care journey. You can apply this to your relationships or towards activism and engagement with the world. As with all transits, you would want to look at where these transiting planets fall in your birth chart to get a sense of what parts of your life are getting activated by this transit.

Okay. Now, that brings us to Tuesday, May 20th, at 2:38 a.m., when the Sun at its anaretic degree of Taurus—29 degrees and 38 minutes—forms an exact sextile to Saturn at the same degrees of Pisces. Now, later this day, at 11:55 a.m., we enter into Gemini Season—hello, Gemini. Happy birthday. You are lovely. Now, back to the sun sextile to Saturn.

Sun sextile Saturn is a great transit. It is stabilizing. It's fortifying. It can help to lend confidence and intentionality to your identity. This is a great time for approaching basically anything that's important to you with intention, patience, follow-through, and clarity of purpose. When the Sun forms a sextile to Saturn, you can work really hard, get things done, make decisions, or cultivate greater clarity about what it is that you do and don't want to do.

As you can imagine, the overlapping between the Jupiter/Chiron sextile and the Sun/Saturn sextile is fucking lovely because the Sun/Saturn sextile further stabilizes and personalizes the growth opportunities of the Jupiter/Chiron sextile. This is a great time for showing up. Saturn stabilizes. It helps you to fortify your foundations, to be clear about the path you want to take or that you feel called to take. And the Sun is so personal. It's your sense of self and your will. And so get shit done. Follow through. Show up. That's what the Sun sextile to Saturn is helpful for.

And to be clear, sometimes the best way to do those things is to rest and digest. And sometimes it's to empty your inbox or follow through with a goal or whatever it is. There's not just one way to be accountable. Your job as an individual adult human person is to be mindful enough and intentional enough to assess what is most called for here and to be willing to make a call because, truly, when we hedge on making a decision, so many times, it's because of our fear of failure. Now, sometimes we hedge on making decisions because we're not ready to make decisions. But other times, it's really an avoidance of the risk of failure.

And the truth is in life that failure is unavoidable. It's unavoidable. When a transit like this one shows up—Sun sextile to Saturn—it makes it easier to take that risk, to navigate fears or insecurities around failure or missteps with greater intention and courage. Now, that brings us to Thursday, May 22nd, where we have not one but two abso-fucking-lutely lovely transits. It's really nice to have such supportive transits happening this week.

So, 12:42 a.m. Pacific Time, Venus will be at exactly 16 degrees of Aries, forming an exact trine to Mars at exactly 16 degrees of Leo. A couple hours later, at 5:40 a.m. Pacific Time, the Sun will be at 1 degree of Gemini and 40 minutes, forming an exact sextile to Neptune at the same degrees of Aries. High-level, the overlap of these two transits is absolutely lovely. They indicate that this is a great time for connecting with others because, thanks to the Sun sextile to Neptune, you're in a more empathetic, humanitarian, generous, and compassionate frame of mind. And thanks to the Venus trine to Mars, this is not going to be in any way related to martyrdom.

Your willingness and ability to show up with care and love is not an act of self-sacrifice. It's an act of showing up in a way that reflects what's important to you. That's the potential of these two transits. It's a great time for socializing, for artistic work, for spiritual work, for immersing yourself in the arts, in nature, and exploring your connections with people—with people, with ideas, with trees, with pigs—whatever it is.

Venus trine to Mars specifically—it's just great for socializing, connecting with other people. Venus is diplomacy and compromise. It's also your values. And Mars is assertion and ambition, and it's also your motivations. And when these two planets form a beautiful, flowing trine to each other, what we have is equilibrium between what you need and what you want, what you care about and what you feel activated to do or engage with. This can be a great time for flirting and hooking up and dating and all that kind of good stuff, but it's also a really good time for engaging with your values system on purpose, for engaging with creativity on whatever level that resonates for you actively. So it's active and also tender. It's great transits, absolutely lovely.

And then the sun sextile to Neptune activates your sensitivities, both spiritual, empathetic, creative. Sun sextile to Neptune is great for meditation on all levels. There are so many levels on which we can meditate, whether it's meditating on a thing or actually sitting and meditating. It's a great time for meditation because it connects you to all that is. Neptune is inherently humanistic, empathetic, and caring. And therefore, when the Sun—your will and identity—form this spark to Neptune, a.k.a. a sextile, what we have is authentic connection with caring, a willingness to share, empathy, and the exploration of what is possible in this world, whether it's within you or in the world at-large. That's really powerful.

This is not a great time to isolate yourself. Now, listen. If you want to be alone, be alone. But there is a meaningful difference between isolating yourself and choosing to be alone. This is not a great time for isolating yourself, okay? And that is because of the beauty and potential that these transits suggest are possible in your connections to other people.

On a slightly different level, Venus is our values, and Neptune is our ideals. And the Sun is the will, and Mars is the ego. There's this really lovely thing happening this week in general, and certainly on this day, where if you are working on identifying what your values are, what your ideals are, and how to actually orient yourself in real time, day by day, in regards to your values and ideals, these transits are here for you. So, whether you're doing deep spiritual work or psychological work, whether you're having meaningful connections with friends or you're just fucking chilling out and enjoying yourself, these transits are just what the doctor ordered.

Now, that brings us to the busiest day of the week astrologically speaking, which will be Saturday, May 24th. On this day, at 8:55 a.m., the Sun will be at 3 degrees and 44 minutes of Gemini, and so will Pluto, except for it's of Aquarius. So here we have a trine between the Sun and Pluto. Later that afternoon, at 4:15 p.m., Mercury will be at 27 degrees of Taurus and 42 minutes, sitting directly on top of Uranus at the exact same degrees, 27 degrees of Taurus and 42 minutes. And then, later that night, at 8:36 p.m. Pacific Time, Saturn enters into Aries.

Now, Sun trine Pluto— beautiful transit, very supportive. It is fortifying. It helps you to engage with deep and meaningful content, whether it's challenging or not, in a way that doesn't shrink your sense of self. This transit helps you to stay present with intensity and depth, and that is why this is a great transit for transformation, in-depth self-work, connecting in a meaningful way with other people or the world around you.

Pluto is related to power, and power is not inherently good or bad. Power is not inherently corrupting. Power is energy, and energy can be used wisely or misused. It can be abused or used for healing. And when a transit like Sun trine to Pluto occurs, there tends to be a good use of power, or at least the potential. And so, if there are people or situations that you're needing to navigate where there's sticky, tricky power dynamics, this transit is technically really helpful. Now, the Mercury/Uranus transit that I'm about to tell you about kind of throws in some curveballs, but technically speaking, this is a great transit for helping you out with that.

This is also a time where, if you need to process with people, again, having a deep and meaningful conversation, Sun trine Pluto is really helpful for it. That Mercury/Uranus transit is going to upset everything, but technically speaking—given the context of everything else that's happening this day, let me tell you what this transit is especially good for. It's for staying curious. It's for exploring and adapting. This is a powerful transit for being willing to grow, to go deep, and to stay present. And that is my greatest wish for you, that you practice staying present and not abandoning yourself when things get a little heavy, a little intense. And that's what Pluto does. It gets heavy and intense. It confronts you with your flight, fight, or fawn mechanisms.

The astrology of this week is really meaningful. It absolutely can help you to connect or reconnect with yourself in a meaningful way and make progress with things that you've been struggling with. And I know I say this a lot, but it deserves to be repeated a million more times: progress is progress. A little bit of progress is still progress. A tiny amount of progress is fucking progress. And it's so important that you validate, sit with, take in, own, and let your whole system metabolize any amount of progress that you make.

Now, this Mercury conjunction to Uranus—last week, the last transit of the week was also a Sun conjunction to Uranus. And there is some overlaps with these two transits in that they bring about the unexpected. They can be kind of agitating. Mercury is your mind, and Uranus is your nervous system. And so, when these two plants sit on top of each other, what happens is your nervous system can get a little rattled. Your mind can get super stimulated. Depending on how this hits your birth chart, depending on your nature, what's going on in your life, this can be very fucking exciting, where your mind opens and you are able to perceive new approaches, new ways forward where you explore and expand. Or it can make you feel really restless and distracted and where your nervous system kind of comes online too hard, and then you have anxiety and nervous tension and that kind of stuff.

This is a great transit to remember to breathe. This is a great transit to remember that you are probably not in an actual race. You can pace yourself. When Mercury and Uranus meet, the potential for understanding things from a new perspective is huge. It's a great time for exploring ideas and potentialities, for changing up your relationships or taking risks and chances with people and ideas.

But what's really hard for a lot of people about this transit is that we tend to get curveballs. Things come out of left field, and you're just like, "The fuck am I supposed to do with this?" You may have an interaction with somebody that really takes you by surprise, and that surprise may be lovely, and it may be just straight-up upsetting. You might not be really happy about it.

And a really great way of engaging with the unpredictability of this transit is by being curious, being curious about, "Well, what are my assumptions about this person or situation? Did I act in a way that maybe triggered something that I just wasn't thinking?" Be open. Adapt. What comes up now is not inherently reliable or stable. That's not the nature of Uranus. The nature of Uranus is electric and unpredictable. It's lightning-bolty, earth-quaky, electric-shocky energy.

When we go through a transit like this, you often have to be agile in your responses because things happen quick, and they kind of require you to respond. It reveals something to you of yourself, and that may be a thing you are happy to learn, and it may be a thing you're not so happy to learn. But judging is not very helpful. Using discernment to assess, "Oh shit. Okay. I just learned something about myself that I'm not stoked about. What do I want to do from here?"—that's discernment. Judgment is, "I learned something about myself that is bad. What the fuck is wrong with me? Why am I bad?"

And you can see how discernment is really helpful. It helps to assist your evolution and your growth and your accountability to yourself and others, whereas judgment—yeah, it keeps you stuck, makes you feel like shit and it keeps you stuck. So this is a great transit for being mindful about the difference between discernment and judgment.

This transit in general can coincide with a breaking new situation that's not completely reliable; we don't really know what it means. Maybe there is even misreporting because somebody reported too quickly. Just make sure, if you're consuming any kind of news, whether we're talking about gossip in your social circle or reporting on social media or some news source, just keep your thinking cap on. Keep your critical thoughts on.

If you find that something triggers  a really strong reaction in you, do your best to be like, "Huh. Okay. I'm having a strong reaction. What is that really about? How do I want to navigate this reaction?" unless of course it's a major emergency, in which case do your thing.

This transit is inherently unpredictable. And within surprises, which Uranus tends to bring, we have potential for something that you didn't envision, you didn't plan for, but is potentially better or at least wonderful. And so I don't want you to hear the unpredictability of this transit and think that's a negative thing. It's not inherently negative at all. Change isn't good or bad. Change is change. And sometimes it feels good, but that doesn't mean it's good for you. And other times, it feels bad, but it's the best fucking thing for you. So, instead of losing track of yourself in judgment, do your best to stay open and curious this Mercury conjunction to Uranus. And that, my friends, brings us to the final and very fucking important transit of Saturn entering into Aries.

The last time that Saturn was in Aries was in 1996 through 1999. It will remain in Aries until 2028, so from 2025 till 2028, with a slight exception of September 1st of 2025 through Valentine's Day of 2026; it retrogrades back into Pisces. But other than that, we are in Aries. There are a lot of things to say about Saturn in Aries, and I have talked about it a fair amount so far.

But let me say, on a social level—we're going to talk about the personal level in just one second. But on a social level, Saturn in Aries is often associated with war, conflicts, battles. And those conflicts or battles can exist between groups—groups of people or communities—or between empires. The Saturnian drive to prove oneself—"This is what I am. This is what I deserve"—paired with the anger, defensiveness, and entitlement of Aries can be a serious fucking problem. And this is why, historically, Saturn in Aries can be associated with conflicts and wars. There are a lot of other things happening astrologically that kind of reinforce the threat of this.

Now, on a more personal level, these social conditions force the question, who are you? Who are you when push comes to shove? Who do you choose to be? Saturn is all about accountability, responsibility, and obligation, which are really just kind of different angles of the same concept. And Aries is all about me. Aries is energy connected with ego and your selfhood. And so, when Saturn moves into Aries, the major theme that gets activated inside of you as a person is needing to take responsibility for who you are, for the choices that you make, to understand that your actions in many ways define you as a person. And having an adult, up-to-date sense of understanding of your own motivations is—it's your job to do that. That's that personal accountability piece of Saturn paired with your motivations—Aries.

Saturn in Aries activates individuality. The timing of this with Pluto in Aquarius, which is also a major transit that activates individuality in a really different way—in an Aquarian way versus an Aries way, but I mean, you know, they're happening together, so we want to pay attention to that. Taking responsibility for what activates you and for what you do and what you don't do—that's your job. It's your responsibility. And this can be something that makes you feel like your freedom of action is curtailed, like you can't do what you want, like there are too many impediments, and those impediments may be societal. They may be obligations that you must fulfill to others or that you feel that you must fulfill to others. And it also may be about accomplishments, about pulling together your energy and using it to move through and mobilize, one way or another, towards the things that are important to you.

This is a transit that tests your accountability. So, when you give your word, do you honor it? If you make a promise, do you keep it? This transit can kick up insecurities and limitations, but it can just as easily kick up your accomplishments, your willingness and ability to set goals and meet those goals, to learn from your lived experience and to embody the wisdom that you have picked up over the years.

Wisdom is really different than knowing. Knowing is in your head. It's like you might know better than to date that person who's just embodiment of your pattern, but wisdom is knowing better and also doing better. Whether you encounter, over the course of this transit, limitations or opportunities, I want to say that they are equal in that they both help you to clarify who and what you are, what your motivations are, how your energy functions, and what's important to you to do or not do.

Contrast is uncomfortable, but it's also revealing. And so, as you engage with contrast—and when I'm talking about contrast in this context, I'm talking about Saturn. I'm talking about things that are different or sit in opposition to you that emphasize difference, that helps you to clarify meaning—what is meaningful to you, and why? Saturn is always kind of a pain in the ass. It's lessons hard won. But it's also so rewarding.

Saturn, unlike most of the other planets, is pretty fucking linear. So it's not a machine; neither are you. But it's one of those planets that you can actually plan around, which is kind of cool, right? So what you can do is look at where Saturn in Aries falls in your birth chart. And with most house systems, it'll fall in one house for a little while and then maybe another house or a couple other houses over the course of the full 30 degrees of the zodiac sign of Aries. But when you track the house that it falls in, you start to have more understanding of the part of your nature, of your psyche, of your life, that is getting activated. And that's really helpful.

The things that's really important about Saturn entering into Aries is it enters into an almost conjunction right away with Neptune, because Neptune is hanging out in the first degree of Aries. And this transit of Saturn conjunction to Neptune—it begs the questions, "What is real? And can I handle this?" With Saturn and Neptune in Aries, what's real becomes really confusing and uncertain. This happens on a lot of different levels. So, whether we're thinking about propaganda, AI, or exploring the boundaries between the spiritual and the material—whatever it is, the question of what is real is going to be a big part of these couple of years of Saturn in Aries, even beyond when Saturn and Neptune are conjoined to each other.

And then this other, in some ways much more personal, question of, "Can I handle this?"—I'm guessing most people are really feeling this already. Saturn governs reality, and Neptune governs fantasy and escapism. And when these two planets sit on top of each other, it is a strain on the mental health, or at least it can be. It can be a strain on the spiritual health. And those two things can really tax your other levels of health because it's hard. The question, "Can I handle this?" is one that can be asked from a state of anxiety or a state of presence and groundedness. And my guess is that most of us will ask that question from multiple angles before these transits are done.

Part of the astrology that we're in is demanding—not asking, but demanding—that you identify what you're willing to fight for, that you identify where you are accountable, what you are accountable to. Saturn and Neptune sitting on top of each other in Aries can be dream-crushing, but it can just as easily be a transit that helps you to build towards your dreams, whether it's your individual dreams or shared dreams of a society or a group of people.

Asking your question, "What is real, and what can I handle? How can I show up and handle what I believe is real and what I believe is important?"—these questions are very human questions, and they're challenging ones to engage with. And I want to remind you that you are not alone in struggling with these questions. That's the assignment for humanity at this time.

Saturn—oh, it's so reputation-oriented. It can be such a perfectionistic, goal-oriented planet. And Aries is all about me. It's, "I'm going to do it. I have to figure it out. It's on me, for better and for worse." And so this transit can coincide with a kind of defensive, egotistical form of toxic individualism. So it's important to be mindful of that, mindful of when that starts to activate inside of you and why it's activating inside of you, because it's going to activate inside of each and every one of us in one way or another over the course of these transits. And I say "these transits"—I'm talking about Saturn in Aries as well as Saturn conjunct Neptune in Aries. And a tip of the hat, a little nod, towards Pluto in Aquarius while we're at it.

Life does not occur in a straight line. The most successful people on any level have had major setbacks and failures. The people who are the embodiment of the greatest integrity and personal accountability have fucked up, shirked their responsibilities, and done things to hurt other people. What I'm trying to say is you don't have to be perfect. You don't have to start anywhere except for where you're at.

The key is to show up for the assignment, which is to take greater accountability for who you are, for who you want to be, and who you are actively choosing to be. And in order to really do that, to truly do that, you have to honor your circumstances, honor your past and your present, and also be accountable to the choices you make in the here and now because you can't change your past, and you can't control your future. But you can show up here and now. And if the people around you are not doing that, that's their problem to navigate.

All you need to navigate is your own accountability, understanding, of course, that navigating your accountability is not a thing that happens in a vacuum. So, again, "What is real? What are the boundaries of my individuality? What are the boundaries of my personal responsibilities? And what can I handle right now?"

Neptune governs anxiety, and Saturn governs depression. And so there's kind of a heavy, damp fog associated with Saturn's entry into Aries, which is not typical of Saturn in Aries, but here we are because Neptune is hanging out so close to Saturn. Now, you might not really notice this. This might not be something that's impacting you personally. To you I say huzzah. But a lot of people are going to be feeling this. And you might not be feeling it, but the people around you might be feeling it. And so, again, the question becomes, "How do I want to navigate this? What's important to me, and how am I going to show up in ways that reflect this is important to me?" That is the assignment.

I'm going to run through these transits one more time. Visit my website for the transcript of this episode and every episode, and that's over at lovelanyadoo.com. And there's always lots of links in my show notes.

Okay. This week is rich with sextiles and trines. On the 18th, Jupiter forms an exact sextile to Chiron. On the 20th, the Sun forms an exact sextile to Saturn. On the 22nd, the Sun forms an exact sextile to Neptune, and then Venus forms a trine to Mars. On the 24th, the Sun forms a trine to Pluto, and Mercury sits on top of Uranus in Taurus. And then, finally, Saturn enters into Aries on that same day.

Thanks so much for tuning in to Ghost of a Podcast, and make sure that you are subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts so you never miss an episode. I will talk to you in just a couple of days. Buh-bye.