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 looking at the astrology of May 3rd through the 9th of 2026. And I've been thinking so much about this world that we live in. I've been thinking so much about the human condition. I am recording this the day before the last class of my five-week series on alignment, which has been so beautiful and moving, and it's been really an honor to teach this series, this content, to a really beautiful group of people.

So I've been really deep in the thought process and the energetics and the feelings of what it means to live in alignment with oneself, to practice tapping into the present moment, and using your agency, to use one's agency, in a way that helps you to live a life that is in alignment with what your truth is, with what your best possible self may be.

And the beautiful thing about being a person—there are so many beautiful things, but one of the beautiful things about being a person is choice. You can choose what kind of information you expose yourself to in this modern world. You can choose what you tend to think about, what you care about. You can choose how you engage with your inner world, what you prioritize, what you take in, what you ruminate on. These things directly impact your behavior and your choices.

These choices that you make, your behaviors—over time, they shape your life. That's what they do. They shape your life, and in turn, they shape the things you do, the projects you're a part of, or relationships—intimate and not—and the world at-large, because each of us has an impact on the world at-large. You definitely do. You might not always feel that way, but you definitely do. We all do.

And as we are living through some really exceptional times with, of course, really exceptional astrology to match it, I've been thinking so much about this Pluto in Aquarius out of bounds. We are seeing the effects of this transit already in massive ways, from the very racist and specifically anti-Black gutting of the Voting Rights Act in the United States this past week, as we are dealing with looming economic collapse, the rise of AI, and the environmental and humanitarian crisis that it promises to create, including the rise of just an inconceivable kind of surveillance culture. These are all Pluto in Aquarius, and in particular Pluto out of bounds in Aquarius, symptoms.

And what is the antidote? What is the cure? Because with Pluto in Aquarius, if we look at these social and political issues, which are really just humanitarian issues—if we look at these issues through the lens of astrology, then we know that the cure or the medicine for the ills of Pluto in Aquarius is masses of people coming together, masses of people coming together and for each other.

We may need to shift so much of our lives that are online to a more analog or offline way of living. We may need to seriously, meaningfully adapt our behavior as individuals and a community, and that kind of sweet spot between as individuals and a community is so Aquarius. And to do so, as a way to navigate the very real pressures of major powers—whether we're talking about billionaires and their tech and media companies or we're talking about governments and their wars and carceral and violent solutions to what they perceive to be problems—it's us coming together.

And at the same time as this Pluto in Aquarius out of bounds is creating all of these circumstances, we also have that Saturn/Neptune conjunction in Aries. And that transit creates a sense of burnout, exhaustion, just incredible overwhelm. And it can be felt, for a lot of people, very physically in your body. And so you might be experiencing just a level of fatigue or exhaustion or health issues, whether they're low grade or acute, that is hard to cope with.

And then, on top of it, Neptune being anxiety and Saturn being depression, it can feel really demoralizing to see things that are going wrong. And there are so many things that are going wrong. But there are, of course, also so many things that are going right, so many ways that people are coming together with and for each other, making progress, stopping atrocities from occurring on small scales and on really big ones. This is where we want to take our spiritual inspiration. And when I say spiritual, it's not just analytic. It's not just personal and emotional. It's kind of broader and encompassing of those things.

It is time for us to take our spiritual inspiration, not to bypass and only focus on our individual welfare—that's not the answer, although there is a time, a need, and a place for that—but to understand that unwell systems create unwell circumstances. And so we must, again, come together with new visions that—we want to point that newness, that innovation to Pluto in Aquarius. We want to look at, also, our brand-new transit of Uranus in Gemini.

This is a time where we can come up with so many innovations. But we must avoid infighting, power struggles, and a belief or a fear that if it's small, it's not worthy. What's that expression? Plant where you grow. It's time to plant where you grow. Now, I'm not saying don't think big. I'm not saying don't act globally. I'm saying, if those things don't vibe for you, if that's not your work, if that doesn't work for you, then plant where you grow. The astrology supports it. The astrology supports it, okay?

Now, something else that the Neptune/Saturn conjunction really teaches is that life is paradoxical. Life is paradoxical. Something can be true and untrue at the same time. And what this transit can make you feel like is, if something is paradoxical and it's true and untrue at the same time, then nothing is real. Nothing is reliable. Fuck it. Hands in the air.

And I want to say emphatically and with my whole heart, oftentimes, truth has nuance. Complexity has nuance. And the more that you can tolerate fixed opinions, messy emotions, and do the work of unlearning what needs to be unlearned, exposing yourself to new information, and creating space in your life to digest it—because figuring out that you thought something was true that is actually not true—it can be a little bit of a gut punch. This is really important. This is part of a life lived with wisdom and a life lived with meaning. I believe this. You don't have to, but I certainly fucking do.

I heard somebody on social media the other day—and I wish I hadn't scrolled by so quick—say we are taught that history is a series of dates, but it's not. It's a series of dominoes. And I think, a lot of times, what we think about is, "Oh, okay, so this event happened on this date, and that event happened on that date." But the truth is there are months or years leading up to big movements. For instance, what's happening in the Strait of Hormuz will have massive economic effects, which means social and humanitarian effects, even environmental effects, months after it first starts happening more than immediately for a lot of people and a lot of places, whereas the effects have already been felt in many other regions in the world.

Just because it's not happening exactly in a way that is identifiable to you at this time doesn't mean it's hot happening. It's like, should you only be concerned about your house catching fire when you're smelling smoke, when your neighbor's house is up in flames? Or if you believe that there's a risk of fire, should you not take precautions, invest in your welfare and in the welfare of your communities?

All of this to say this astrology is not going away anytime soon. We are in it. And we are in it for a reason. I don't know exactly what the reason is. Part of the assignment of being a human is finding a sense of meaning out of the things you do. It doesn't have to be like capital-P purpose, but a sense of meaning in the little things you do as well as the big things you do. So, if you have, share. If you can, do. And if you can't, no harm, no foul. But this is a time where crawling into your hidey-hole, which would be a very predictable, normal response to the stresses of the world—it's not well starred, not for you as an individual or us as a community.

And so I wanted to just name some of these things because you may be able to find yourself or your lived experience in them. And if you can practice orienting yourself around where you have choices and what kind of choices are best for you to make, then you will have a sense of meaning in the little things and the big things. And that helps you to stay on the path of practicing living a life that feels right for you to live, even if and when you are living in circumstances that you really wish you weren't, that are not what you would have chosen.

We can't always choose our circumstances. In fact, we usually can't choose our circumstances. But we can choose our response to them, how we choose to engage with them, how we navigate meaning from and within them. And that's your assignment. It's something to really think about this week, and if it's useful, take it with you and chew on it in the weeks and months ahead.

Okay. Now it's time. Let's dive into your horoscope. We're looking at the astrology of May 3rd through the 9th of 2026. And the two exact transits that we have this week are happening back-to-back to each other, so their effects are overlapping. We're going to talk about that in a minute. But my quickie TL;DR overview of the week ahead astrologically is to remember that your strongest impulses and the loudest of your instincts are not reliably your wisest.

So, on Monday, May 4th, I hate to say it, but may the fourth be with you. Okay. On Monday, May 4th, at exactly 7:08 p.m. Pacific Time, we've got Mars at 19 degrees of Aries and 30 minutes forming an exact square to Jupiter at the same degrees of Cancer. Mars in Aries in particular—Mars in general and Aries in particular—is like, "Go, go, go. This is what I want. This is how I want it. I'm going to make it happen." It is assertive, potentially aggressive energy.

Mars is related to fighting and fornicating. It's getting it done and getting it done with the body—Mars. And it's square, which is a challenging aspect to Jupiter. Now, Jupiter is, "Let's make it bigger." Jupiter loves to make things bigger. Jupiter is all about expansion, optimism, a sense of, "Of course I can do that. Why wouldn't I be able to do that? Of course we should try this." That's Jupiter.

So, when these two planets come together and they have a friction like a square, what ends up happening is impulsive actions, a sense of entitlement, a drive to take on too much, promise too much, overextend yourself. So that is a risk. Now, the positive of this square—and there's most usually a positive when we have a square to or from Jupiter, because—Jupiter. The positive of this square is that if you have something that you're working to recover, whether that's your physical health, a project, your energy, your juj, Mars square to Jupiter can give you that burst of energy that you need to shift gears, make progress, maybe meet your body or your project or somebody else's body in a way that is kind of with a different energy or a different vibe.

Now, this transit doesn't technically actually speak to difference, but what it does is it speaks to fresh bursts of energy. And a lot of times, if you take a nap, you sleep on it, you wake up—you've got this new energy. And with that new energy, you're capable of perceiving more or different possibilities. This transit absolutely can create that. Mars square to Jupiter is a transit that can be really fun, especially if you're going out and doing stuff or making stuff or, again, working on some sort of healing project because Jupiter loves to heal.

That said, my friends, that said, Mars square Jupiter can find you overestimating your capacity, maybe being combative with somebody else. Some people will take it upon themselves to try to tell everyone else how to do what they do. Please don't be that person. And if you have to deal with that person, it's going to be super annoying because Jupiter can be a bit of a know-it-all.

So Mars square to Jupiter is a mixed bag. There are some really great possibilities here, and there are some serious challenges. In the context of conflict—and there's a reason why I'm talking about the conflict. You'll see tomorrow's transit. In the context of conflict, whether it's the conflict you have inside of yourself about a choice you're trying to make or the conflict you have with another person or, if we're looking more at the conflicts happening in terms of war or political or social things, this transit, because it brings so much energy and it inclines some people to overdo it, overestimate, push too far too fast, things can go kind of sideways and in unpredictable ways.

Now, again, Jupiter and Mars don't technically govern the unpredictable. But when ego energy gets a bunch of power behind it, as Jupiter will do—and ego energy is the Mars—it's unpredictable what can happen because that's how humans work. When we act out of ego, it can be empowering. It can be activating in such a way where you're like, "Yes, I finally am taking up space or making this thing happen." And it can just as easily be defensive and reactive.

So self-awareness is the key. The more aware you are of your own motivations and the more willing you are to hang out with your uncertainties and the more willing you are to hang out in the messiness of the realities that you feel and experience, the better equipped you'll be to make choices that reflect your wisest parts instead of your strongest parts, your most insistent parts, your most defensive parts.

And that brings us, my friends, to Tuesday, May the 5th. At exactly 3:08 p.m. Pacific Time, we will have Mercury at 5 degrees of Taurus and 31 minutes forming an exact square to Pluto at the same degrees of Aquarius. This transit is challenging because Mercury is your mind, and Pluto is obsession and fixation and rumination. Pluto is, "That person is against me. This situation is designed to attack me." And Mercury is your beliefs and your attitudes. It's what you say. It's how you say it. And when I refer to saying, I'm talking about all forms of communication. So I'm talking about what you text, what you type. I'm talking about the energy with which you say a thing or you type a thing. I’m also talking about listening. I'm talking about the body language that you use. These things are all related to how you communicate what you communicate.

So Pluto is intensifying everything. This, on the positive, can be a time where, if you are focused on something really deep, like some sort of studies, or if you are deep into research, deep into any kind of self-care regime where you're really doing healing, this transit can mark a time of great progress. But it's not easy progress. It doesn't just flow. It's more like you're confronted and you're challenged, and through that confrontation and challenge, you expand and grow; you adapt. And Mercury is really good at adapting. Pluto—not so much.

But both of these planets are in fixed signs. We have Mars in Aries overlapping with this transit there with Saturn and Neptune in Aries, forming a square to Jupiter in Cancer—so emotional. How is poor little Jupiter handling all of this fixed energy and all of this Aries energy? Well, we will find out. But what I can say is this. Mercury square to Pluto will intensify your thinking, and that intensity may lead to rigidity, defensiveness, aggressiveness, and it may lead to you shutting down, feeling just completely like, "I can't, and I won't." It can have you feeling really rigid or thinking in ways that are really rigid and stuck.

This is not the week, and in particular around these two days, to start shit unless you really, really, really want to finish it. This is not the time. It is unlikely to go the way you plan, the way you expect, or to even necessarily be fair. If you feel that there is an injustice that you need to work on, and it's in particular like something happens and it's something on the newer side to you, this is a great time to plan. This is a great time to educate yourself. This is a great time to really explore what's happening and what you believe and what your intention, your plans, your strategies are. Excellent time for all those things.

But because of either of these transits, but certainly both of them together, there's a real risk that you will act in ways that create more problems than they solve. Sometimes the best thing to do is to listen, to let people and situations reveal themselves to you so that you can really mull on what is best done. Now, some situations, of course, require an instantaneous, urgent response. But we feel a sense of urgency, a lot of the times, that is really about our feelings and not about the necessity of the situation. Part of capitalism is creating this sense of urgency that we all participate in. And these transits—they're going to lean on that.

So, again, how you locate yourself is going to be really important, how you resource yourself, how you are willing to engage with this energy and your resistance to falling into old patterns of negative obsessions, cruelty to yourself or to others, or shutting down and going really rigid or kind of breaking open and taking in and on more than you can handle in a healthy way. It's a terrible time for doing consciousness-raising drugs or for any kind of big partying. The combo of these two transits is just—you don't want to mess with the energy. The energy is already messy enough.

This transit can stimulate problems in your friendships, and this is because Mercury governs friendships and Pluto is problematic. And so, if there is a trouble between you and somebody else, if you're having a problem in a relationship, a valuable thing to ask yourself is, "Have I actually been communicating directly?" The amount of times that I've given readings to people and have asked them, "Oh, have you told so-and-so what you're thinking, what you're feeling, what you're needing?" and they're like—they should know, but they don't actually say, "Yes, I've told them"—I mean, so many times. It's so many times.

This is a period for you to really ask yourself, "Have I communicated what I'm feeling, what I'm needing, what's going on for me?" because expecting your friends to psychic you is just—it's poor form. We need to communicate with the people we care about. This is one of those times where you might need to really reflect on, "Oh shit. Have I actually told this person what I need?" Mercury square to Pluto challenges your ideas. It challenges your thoughts, your beliefs, and your friendships. Makes sense—they're all kind of connected, right?

And so this is a great time to ask questions. Now, if you find yourself in a power struggle with a friend or with somebody and you kind of have to fight/you have to have a talk, ask yourself this question. "Is this person on my team? Are we teammates? Is this a friend? Is this a partner? Is this somebody that I actually trust? Are we on the same team?" If the answer is yes, if they're not an adversary, then do not approach them as an adversary. I know it sounds so simple. It's a really meaningful adjustment.

So many of the times when we don't get our needs met, when we're frustrated with somebody, we come at them in an adversarial way or they come at us in an adversarial way. And we end up fighting about tone and energy instead of content. This week's astrology, these two transits, are challenging you to go deeper, while your strongest instincts and emotions, your strongest defenses, are really loud. So oh well. This is where we're at.

Now, one last thing I'll say about this particular couple of transits is that with Mars square to Jupiter, things are moving fast. And that could mean that some development happens in the news or in the world or in your life really quickly. And you're not going to be able to completely trust the information that you have because of the Mercury square to Pluto. You want to give it a good 72 hours before you make committed assessments. I know we live in a world where it's like everybody is supposed to respond to everything immediately, but my question is why. Why not challenge ourselves to make sure we have the right information, challenge ourselves to take time to think through our responses, to think through, "What can I learn here? What is happening? What is actually not happening but I'm scared might happen?"

Give yourself space. Give yourself space. That Mars square to Jupiter can help the Mercury square to Pluto so that you have more growth experiences because you're feeling more resilient. And also, that Mercury square to Pluto may kind of make more defensive and aggressive the energy of the planet of ego and entitlement meeting up with the planet of making things bigger.

There are so many ways that this can play out in the world and in our lives. And what you want to pay attention to is what's coming up inside of you because what happens inside of you is your work. It's your assignment. It's yours to steward. And what other people are or aren't doing is theirs. It's their assignment, theirs to steward. And so do your best this week and as much as you can in life to not be controlling, but instead to be as healthy as you know how to be in the moment, in your circumstances. It's a way of thinking that creates a subtle shift that opens up the room for growth and accountability. And that's kind of what it's all about.

Now, this week, we just have two transits, so no need to run through them. As always, I want to invite you to send in your question to be considered for the podcast if you want a reading with me on the show. You can do that through the contact form on my website. If you get value from the show, please do make sure you hit that Subscribe button wherever you listen to podcasts. You can check out the video version of this and every episode over on the free page of my Patreon, on my YouTube, or on my website—it's kind of all over the place—or wherever you listen to podcasts that supports video episodes.

Take really good care of yourself and others this week, and I will talk to you in just a couple of days. Bye.