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 September 6th through the 12th of 2026, and your first exact transit of this week happens on the 10th. We've got two exact transits. They overlap with each other. They are both very important. And the first one is a Venus opposition to Chiron. The second is a New Moon in Virgo.

So I want to talk to you a little bit about the Venus opposition to Chiron because it happens chronologically first. It's exact at 0 degrees and 51 minutes, with Chiron sitting in Taurus and Venus in Scorpio. It's exact at 10:15 a.m. Pacific Time. So Venus opposite Chiron—Venus is your personal values. It's the way you do or don't value yourself. It's self-worth. It's self-care. It's diplomacy. It's sensuality. It's also related to the people you care about. So we're talking about loves and friends and crushes. We're talking about people you have affection for.

Venus is also related to your personal finances and your stuff, the things you own, whether they're things that exist for beauty or function. It's the possessions that you are the steward of. That is Venus. And you can see how these things—money and stuff—is related to your values system.

Now, Chiron is that wound that never fully heals. It's core insecurities. In a very different way from Venus, it is related to self-worth issues. And when we have an opposition between two planets—Chiron's not technically a planet, but we'll just, for ease, say that—between two planets, what occurs is some sort of confrontation, some sort of confrontation which can either be material, like between you and your stuff or you and your money or you and other people, or it can be more psychological, emotional, psychic, energetic, which is to say you're having a crisis, a crisis in confidence, a crisis of faith, a crisis of feeling.

However it shows up, this Venus opposition to Chiron is meant to activate a lot of really important stuff related to self-care and how and who you care for, what you care for. And that's hard because this transit may confront you with the tension between how you manage your relationships, how you show up with and for others, and what you need in order to heal or navigate your self-care.

This transit can also indicate self-worth issues in relationship to your relationships. So that could be like someone does something that activates really deep insecurities and you have to deal with that, or could be that you have made certain friends or cultivated certain relationships in your life predicated on core insecurities, core wounds.

And so the confrontation of this Venus opposition to Chiron may bring up in a really big way, "Wow. I have made myself small, made a lot of relationships with people based on me being small. And now that I'm trying to take up more space and be more present, there's actually—it's not a safe place for me because I've invested in relationships based on this old insecurity, this old wound."

Whatever it is that gets activated by this Venus opposition to Chiron, what we know is that it's an opportunity for healing. But the opportunity is a crisis. Oppositions usually are oppositional. They're not easy. They don't flow. It's a confrontation in some meaningful way. And so how you navigate this confrontation is incredibly important, and it's not easy. I mean, Chiron is never really easy, and Venus loves easy. Venus is obsessed with easy.

And so not only is there a self-worth/self-esteem issue activated, but there's also likely to be a feeling of, "If it's this hard, there's something inherently wrong with it." But I'm here to tell you that just because something is hard doesn't mean it's bad, and just because something is easy doesn't mean it's good. Just because it feels good doesn't mean it is good. Just because it feels bad doesn't mean it is bad.

What we feel is really important information, but it's not all of the information. And because this transit overlaps with a New Moon in Virgo—so the Sun and Moon are hanging out in the exact same degree of the zodiac sign of Virgo—we have this kind of perfectionistic, detail-oriented push to identify what's good, what's better, what's best, what's bad, what's terrible, what's the fucking worst.

And what you want to do is pull back from perfectionism or from collapse, and instead practice healthy discernment. Now, we'll get more to that Virgonian discernment in a moment. Sticking with the Venus opposition to Chiron, it's important for you to know that even if you don't really—this doesn't track for you, you don't really experience this this week in general—we're going to be feeling it exact, like I said, on the 10th, but we're going to be feeling it throughout the week before and after the 10th.

So maybe you're not really feeling this, but you might be dealing with someone who is. Maybe your partner is really struggling with stuff with someone at work, and it indirectly impacts you. That will then, therefore, be your version of the transit. So what you want to be mindful of this week, and certainly on and around this date, is not just self-worth issues, your relationship issues, even your relationship to money and things—because that's a big deal in this transit—but also, you want to pay attention to how you react to other people's complicated, messy, sticky reactions, emotions, and dynamics.

I want to encourage you to really notice how somebody being in a bad mood when you're in a good mood impacts you or vice versa because that says more about you than it does about the situation or the other person. And the more self-awareness we gather, when it's paired with emotional intelligence and emotional awareness, the better we can do in our lives.

Self-awareness on its own is not enough. You can be a self-awareness farmer. You can have so many self-help tools. You can know all about yourself and be stuck, stuck, stuck. And when that occurs, it's because that cognitive self-awareness is not paired with an integrated emotional self-awareness. When we're dealing with true progress and healing, it must include emotions.

So now let's look at our New Moon. And if you're watching the video version of this episode, which is available on most platforms where you get your podcasts—and I also publish it to my Patreon free page, and you can catch it on YouTube—then you will be able to look at the chart with me, which may be helpful if you're a visual learner.

Okay. So now we're looking at this New Moon. It's happening at 18 degrees of Virgo and 25 minutes, and it's exact at 8:27 p.m. Pacific Time. So a New Moon in Virgo is a really great time for planting seeds, for setting intentions, for showing up emotionally for what you need to do and what you have been doing. And I say doing because Virgo is associated with your habits, and habits are the things you do over and over and over again.

Habits are rituals. Now, you might not think of doomscrolling as a ritual. You might not think of doing your dishes or avoiding doing your dishes as a ritual. But that is exactly what ritual is. It's returning to an action over and over and over again. Ritual—it involves reverence. Now, habits tend to not be really reverent, right? We just kind of do them, often unconsciously. We don't really think them through. But over the course of a lifetime, they have the same impact as ritual does.

And so a New Moon in Virgo is a really powerful moment—it's a ripe moment—for you to become self-aware of what rituals you are participating in and to not be a jerk to yourself, to not be perfectionistic about, "Oh, I'm fucking up in this way. I'm not doing this, or I'm doing too much of that," but instead, use your discernment. Recognize, "Oh, wow. Okay. I'm doing this thing, and I'm doing it a lot. And it doesn't make me happy, and it's not really working for me. And I'm really emotional about it, and  I don't know what to do. And I'm going to give myself permission to be here and stay emotionally present"—right? It's a New Moon; Moons are emotions—emotionally present with that awareness for long enough for the intensity of the emotion to shift even just a little bit.

And then you can practice discernment. "Well, if this isn't working, what are realistic adjustments I can make in the short term that would make me a little happier or would make me a little less unhappy?" Sometimes it's not about happiness. Sometimes it's about being more impactful or effective, being healthier, being better at collaborating, being less accommodating. It can be any number of things.

And to get a sense of where this is likely to hit your birth chart specifically, you would look at where around 18 degrees of Virgo falls in your birth chart. And you probably know this, but I do have a free chart-drawing tool over on my website. It's super easy, super quick, and, I think, super cute. So you can go check out your chart there and determine where this New Moon is falling to know what's going to be impacted in your life.

But whatever area of your life is impacted, it's important to know that you have agency. This is the thing about discernment versus perfectionism. Perfectionism is inherently carceral. It's like the policing of yourself, right? Fuck that. We don't need that. Discernment, the gift of Virgo, is so much about assessment and awareness. When you assess what is and isn't working and you bring awareness—not judgment, but awareness—to that, then you have choice. You have choices about what you do.  And that is so much easier to bear than just being really mean and punishing towards yourself around what you discover.

Now, this New Moon is exact a few hours after our Venus/Chiron opposition is exact. So we know that the New Moon is going to be activated at the same time of this self-worth relationship, maybe money crisis gets activated. And that's really important information. What's additionally important information is that our Venus/Chiron opposition at 0 degrees of fixed signs forms a T-square to Pluto at 3 degrees of Aquarius.

Now, the fact that this T-square is active in our New Moon chart is really important because it speaks to a healing crisis. Now, Chiron always gives us a crisis already. Oppositions are inherently crisis-oriented. But Pluto, queen of crisis, being in the mix is really important data. You may need to let go of some attitude, of some belief, maybe of a relationship, maybe of a thing, a habit.

Let go of what no longer serves you. That's what Pluto always asks. Release attachments to what impedes growth or flow. Pluto never asks nice, right? Pluto is not a gentle force in astrology. Honestly, neither is Chiron. And so our New Moon, our beautiful, sweet, tender New Moon in Virgo, which does not have challenging aspects to it itself, is happening in the energy field of this T-square.

And so your assignment, whether you choose to accept it or not, is to be intentional about what habits, what material, emotional, intention-driven way you can meet the moment, whatever it is, instead of judging the moment, instead of trying to be perfectionistic about the moment, instead of trying to evade the moment by focusing on shoulds and shouldn'ts.

Whether or not it's fair, whether or not you believe it should or shouldn't be what it is, it is what it is when it is. I'm sorry. But it is what it is when it is. And you don't get to control what it is or when it is a lot of the times, but you do have agency around how you meet that moment. This New Moon is a time to meet the moment. We're out of Eclipse Season. This is no longer Eclipse Season shit. This is "meet the moment as it is right now" shit.

Now, there's a couple other things to tell you about this New Moon chart. Our New Moon, our Sun and Moon, sit sextile to Mars. Mars is at almost 20 degrees of Cancer, and that is a lovely aspect for our New Moon to have. It's the only aspect that our New Moon has. And this sextile motivates the New Moon. It creates passion, engagement, and confidence. And so you want to tap into that.

There's something inherently about being embodied or using your body or honoring your body as a way to engage the best parts of the New Moon energy. And so this may speak to material habits that you need to focus on, things that are important to you that you need to do. Or it may simply be about practicing embodiment, about noticing, "Oh, wow. When I'm nervous, I tend to get a stomachache," or, "I'm catching myself clenching my teeth when I think about something stressful."

Noticing how things run through your meat suit is really good information for you to have. It can be incredibly empowering. And it's especially empowering because another aspect worth noting in this New Moon chart is the Mercury opposition to Neptune. It will be exact in a minute, not today. But Mercury opposite Neptune is a troubling transit to be mindful of because what it does is—again, we have an opposition, right? But this opposition creates a lot of confusion. It creates confusion in your thinking—because Mercury. It creates confusion in your friendships—because Mercury.

And so it adds this layer of complexity where communication is not clear, your assessments—not clear. It kind of weakens your auric field. In other words, it makes you more porous. It makes you more susceptible or gullible. It therefore can trigger anxiety.

This New Moon chart is really asking you to focus on your emotions. Everything else in the chart is pretty activating, honestly. It's not super reliable. Your assessments are not super reliable if they are not emotionally informed. Reacting to situations and people or even to your thoughts and feelings in a strongly emotional way is not equal to emotional intelligence.

When we are practicing emotional intelligence, we are not just feeling our feelings. We are being accountable to our feelings, noticing, "Okay. Sometimes I get mad because I feel sad. Sometimes I get sad because I feel out of control. Okay. So, if I'm feeling sad, then the focus is not just on sad. It's also, oh, I'm feeling sad because I feel out of control. How can I acknowledge the ways in which I am not in control and tap into the ways and the places and the levels on which I do have agency? How can I center my relationship to agency, my grief or sadness around not being in control, and also keep on engaging in my life in a healthy way?" This is emotional intelligence.

This New Moon is chaotic, okay? It's chaotic, and there's a lot going on. But the Sun and Moon in Virgo sextile Mars in Cancer affirms that the more intentional you are about practicing healthy discernment and choosing the habits that you engage in with intention and care instead of perfectionism and self-policing, the better. That's what the assignment is for this New Moon.

Now, one last thing I'm going to say about the astrology of this moment. This Venus opposition to Chiron T-squaring Pluto that is active at this time may signal major economic crises in the world, major economic changes in the world. And they may be quite confrontational because Venus and Chiron are opposite each other and Pluto is involved. This may be major news, and it may be something that impacts you directly or is more of a societal or global thing. So we want to pay attention to what's happening in that regard.

Similar, because we're looking at Venus with Chiron and Pluto, we may see major issues in regards to the rights of women, Genderqueer people, Trans people, and Queer people, because in a patriarchy, if you're not a cis man, it's everyone but cis men, right? That's where Venus ends up holding the line in social conditions.

So we may see some sort of collapsing of rights or attack in some meaningful way that is systemic because Pluto is involved. So, again, we want to pay attention to these things and make sure that we are staying engaged in the word around us so that we can participate in the world around us.

And you know what? Hot take—speaking of participation, if you're in the U.S., voting is the least you can do. It's the least you can do. I'm a huge fan of voting. I do not think it's the end-all, be-all. I do not think it's a panacea. But I will tell you this. Republicans wouldn't work so hard to get people to not have the right to vote if it wasn't important. So please, please, I beg of you, if you can vote, do vote. Vote your conscience. You got nothing but shitty options? You still have options.

That said, let's go to our next exact transits. On Saturday, the 12th, we have two Mercury transits. At exactly 8:59 a.m. Pacific Time, we have Mercury trine to Pluto. And then, at 9:38 a.m. Pacific Time, Mercury is exactly opposite Neptune. We should not be surprised. We know the outer planets are so close to each other in their various signs that it's not surprising that when there's an exact transit to one of the outer planets, that very quickly, that same transit and planet—in this case, Mercury—would hit the next one.

So Mercury trine Pluto—didn't say much about it in the New Moon chart. This transit is really great. It's really great. It sharpens your thinking. It deepens your focus. It can make you more persuasive. It can make it easier for you to learn things, to listen in a meaningful way, to communicate in a clear way. This is a fucking great transit, and it's really supportive to have at the same time as our Mercury opposition to Neptune, which is pretty much the fucking opposite of all of those things.

Mercury opposite Neptune creates confusion. And one of the most common things that people experience is anxiety during this transit. You may feel anxious. You may feel panicked. You may feel uncertain. You may feel out of control. You also may feel tired, just like you want to hide under the blankets. You know what I mean?

This is a tricky transit because it does not make your thinking super reliable. It doesn't make communications particularly reliable. Your interpretation or understanding of what was communicated—not super reliable. And so, if you can avoid making major decisions or signing contracts during this period, do. If you can avoid having meaningful conversations with people, like important talks, do. And if you can't avoid those things, here is my hot tip for working with this transit.

Someone says to you, "Okay, I want you to meet me at the corner of 5th and Market, and I want you to wear a red carnation." Then what you say to them is, "Okay, cool. So, just to reiterate, 5th and Market, red carnation." Just double-check it. That's all. That's all you gotta do. It's not magic. Just double-check it.

Now, that's easy with something small like what I just said, and it's harder when you're having an emotionally important conversation or you're talking about something at work or in a project that has a lot of layers to it. And in those situations, it's all the more important that you are really practicing being clear. Do your best to simplify your message so that there's less room for misunderstanding. And if simplifying messages is not your forte, then it's even more important for you to be doing this.

Unfortunately, this transit can spark paranoia and, again, feelings of real insecurity. And so I want to encourage you to know that this is a moment of anxiety, and you can cope with anxiety. You have tools, right? You have tools.

This is another one of those transits where it's not a great time for any kind of deep spiritual work. And this is because both your channel isn't likely to be super clear, and also, this is just a time that makes you more porous, and it's hard to be well defended—which is important energetically and spiritually when you're doing any kind of spiritual work—under its influence. Again, it makes you more porous.

Things that are good to do under this transit—put your buns in nature. Sit your butt down. Take a chill walk amongst the trees. Put your body in water. Take a bath. Take a nice shower. Go swimming. This is a great time for immersing yourself in art that is transportive. And that, for you, may be classical music, and it may be punk rock. It doesn't matter what it is. It matters that it speaks to you emotionally and energetically. Listening to music, immersing yourself in art, immersing yourself in nature—these are really great practices. If you have a meditation practice or some sort of practice that helps you to self-regulate, this is your moment to shine.

This is a great time for slowing down and not doing so much and allowing yourself to practice non-attachment to your thoughts, your reactions, and even to the specifics of your moment. Practicing non-attachment does not mean not caring or not being invested. It means not seizing onto things and forming attachments to your theory about how things are or even the way you experience things in this moment.

This moment—this moment—is over. It's gone. That was gone. It's gone. Practicing non-attachment means practicing presence. And in this present moment, you are listening to my voice. You are doing—I don't know what you're doing. You're doing a damn thing. You're having your thoughts. You're having your feelings. The weather is what it is. Now that I've been talking, the moment has shifted. And maybe things are exactly the same where you are, and maybe they've shifted. Maybe how you feel has shifted.

Practicing non-attachment means you are not so attached to what you're feeling or experiencing or perceiving in this moment that you weave narratives that lock you into the moment, that keep you repeating that moment even if, for whatever reason or on whatever levels, you have the capacity to shift past it in whatever direction you do. Mercury opposite Neptune is a great transit for this practice, and your Mercury trine to Pluto is supportive to it as well.

And that's the astrology of this week. So your TL;DR for this week is meet your self-worth issues with a willingness to release what doesn't serve you. Be intentional with your actions. And practice healthy boundaries in your thinking and communications.

And that is it, you hosers. As always, I want to thank you for joining me here on Ghost. And if you get value from this show and from my work, please do make sure that you're subscribed or you've hit the Follow button wherever you listen to podcasts. And consider writing a review because it does make a big difference for the show, and it also feels really nice when I read nice reviews. So thank you so much to everyone who has done that.

And in case you have questions about any of the stuff I say in these episodes, whether it's the midweek episode or the horoscope, the only place where I really get into the comments section and have any kind of real conversations is over on my Patreon. So you can go ahead and join me there.

And hey, listen. It's a New Moon. It's time to be intentional, to tap into your feelings, and as good a time as ever to take good care of yourself and others. I'll talk to you in a couple days. Bye.