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juniper stokes 6/23/25 juniper stokes 6/23/25

Jupiter Cazimi in Cancer: A Portal to Blessings, Belonging & Earth as Home

On June 24th, Jupiter enters the heart of the Sun in the watery sign of Cancer. In astrology, we call this moment a "cazimi" — when a planet is so close to the Sun that it's bathed in its light and empowered with divine clarity. This is a rare, sacred moment of alignment — like a planetary prayer — and it ripples with potential.

Jupiter, the great benefic, is the planet of growth, wisdom, meaning, faith, and blessing. It wants us to expand — but not just outward. Jupiter calls us to grow in understanding, to align with our deepest values, and to orient toward something larger than ourselves.

The Sun is the great source — the animating center of life, of consciousness, of sovereignty. When Jupiter meets the Sun in cazimi, the two conspire to renew our vision and vitality, to illuminate a path forward that is both inspired and life-giving.

And in Cancer, we’re reminded that this path begins in the heart and soil.

Cancer: Cosmic Nourishment & Soul Home

Cancer is the sign of home, roots, belonging, memory, mothering, nurture, and emotional security. It’s deeply personal — but also collective. Cancer is the primal matrix — the way we hold and are held. It speaks to ancestral memory and the invisible bonds between people, places, and lineages. It is the sacred container of life.

During my Hellenistic astrology training, which is largely rooted in ancient Egyptian astrology, I remember seeing the Earth’s birth chart for the first time. And guess which sign was found in the first house, marking the ascendant — or driving force — of the Earth? Cancer.

And how beautiful that Cancer, a watery sign known for nurturing and caregiving, is the rising sign of our Earth, a rare planet filled with the waters that make life possible.

In the archetypal language of the Zodiac, Cancer is the great nourisher, often looked at as embodying the energy of the Divine Mother — she who tends her family and home with protective, unconditional love.

This type of unconditional love is a beautiful gift we can extend to ourselves and our own loved ones this season, regardless of where Cancer falls in your chart.

Cazimi Brings the higher octave

Yet there’s a higher octave to working with Cancer energies — nurturing not just your own family but all beings as your kin. And being nourished by the Earth herself in return.

This season, allow yourself to receive the love of the Earth. The beauty of wild flowers, the abundance of a farmer’s market, a cold lake on a hot day.

When Jupiter is in Cancer, it’s exalted — meaning it functions with particular grace and power here.

When Jupiter is cazimi in Cancer, we receive a potent, potentially life-changing call to step into that higher octave of Cancer.

To open to abundance through belonging.
To trust the wisdom of the waters — our emotions, our intuition, our ancestral dreams.
To root our growth in connection vs conquest.
To remember that you are of the Earth, loved by the Earth, and need to share your loving heart with the Earth.

Yes, the world is burning. Life has gotten increasingly challenging surprisingly quickly for a lot of people. Violence and greed fill every news outlet — from the old mainstream ones to new influencers creating online communities (cults?).

Turning towards what is good and nourishing isn’t bypassing the grief we may feel. It is the medicine we need to be fully present with the radical changes our world is experiencing.

Invite the vast goodness of the world to fill you up. Then allow your own cup to overflow into unconditional love and care for all beings. This is how you attune to the higher frequencies of Cancer Season.

Just as Cancer is associated with the waters of the womb, the oceans, the rains, and the moon, so too is Earth’s well-being woven into this cosmic current. This is a potent time to:

Bless your home, land, or body of water you live near
Tend to your ancestors and lineage
Renew your relationship with place and planet
Ask yourself how your gifts can nurture the world

When we grow in harmony with the Earth, Jupiter’s blessings become not just personal gains, but communal healing.

Jupiter Cazimi Ritual: Home as Blessing Bowl

Here is a simple ritual to align with this rare and beautiful moment:

Materials:

A small bowl of clean water
A candle (white or gold if you have one)
A symbol of home (a photo, key, stone from your land, or anything meaningful)
A small offering for the Earth (flowers, herbs, honey)

Steps:

Create Sacred Space — Find a quiet place. Light the candle and take a few deep breaths. Imagine Jupiter and the Sun shining directly into your heart.
Water Blessing — Hold the bowl of water and speak your intentions into it. What do you wish to grow in your life and in the world? Name blessings for your home, your family (chosen or biological), your body, your community, the Earth.
Bring in Home — Place your symbol of home next to the bowl. Say aloud: “May my growth bless the place that holds me. May I remember that I am never separate from the Earth, nor from my people.”
Earth Offering — If you like, pour the water onto the Earth, along with your offering. As you do, feel yourself planting a seed of belonging and care.
Close with Gratitude — Thank the Sun and Jupiter for their light. Thank the Earth for holding you. Blow out the candle and take one small action today that nourishes something you love.

The world needs those who are willing to bless, to protect, to mother what matters. Let this moment remind you: you belong, your story matters, and the Earth is part of your becoming.

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Juniper Stokes is a certified coach, mythoanimist guide, alchemist & artist.

juniper stokes 4/11/25 juniper stokes 4/11/25

Astro Guidance for the Libra Full Moon in Aries

Today, the cosmos bring us a Libra full moon right in the middle of our Aries sun season. This is one of my favorite celestial moments…

Ruled by Mars, Aries season is all about individuality and action.

With the emergence of spring, our spirits are refreshed and ready for the passions of the summer to come. The wild and wonderful Ram of Aries helps us focus on our own needs and desires, following the callings of our heart towards adventures that will fuel our soul.

Ruled by Venus, this Libra moon is all about relationship and beauty.

Lover of the arts and high culture, Libra carries the scales of balance and sword of justice — because Libra knows that the ultimate expression of divine beauty on Earth is fairness and harmony. At her heart, Libra believes that what is best for the collective is best for the individual.

The Libra full moon in the midst of Aries season invites us to take a pause and check in with the goals and desires we are so energetically pursuing.

This is a moment to ask yourself who or what your actions are in service of. Are you contributing beauty to the collective as you fill your own cup? Or do your intentions perhaps need a wee adjustment to come into more balance?

I love this moon because Libra and Aries, sitting on opposite sides of the zodiac, need each other.

Without Aries, Libra can become self-sacrificing. An unbalanced attempt at balance leaves Libra unable to take action for fear of hurting others. Yet without Libra, Aries storms ahead in pursuit of personal benefit, forgetting that we are all connected and here to contribute to an ecosystem of goodness for all beings.

Resistance to this partnership can show up as aggression, unhealthy competition, hoarding of resources, depletion and self-sacrifice, nonsensical decision-making, and either over-attachment or complete lack of boundaries around self and chosen tribe vs other and diverse collectives. (Seeing any of this in our world?)

Yet when the two merge in healthy partnership, we remember that both approaches to life are true: we need to take care of ourselves and prioritize our joy, and our joy so often comes in celebrating our ability to be of service to the world around us.

My favorite plant ally combo for this celestial event? Rose & Nettle

Rose, the blossom of Venus, blesses us with beauty inside and out. It opens our hearts to the needs of others in boundaried and compassionate ways.
Nettle, our prickly healer, is one of the first spring greens to awaken during Aries season, filled with nutrients to revitalize our systems after long, dormant winters. This Mars-ruled green stings us into action and protects what is ours to keep.

A combination of Rose & Nettle flower essences can be energetically supportive this full moon. Personally, I love sipping an herbal tea featuring these allies. You could just combine rose and nettle, steep, and sip. But I find the following more tasty:

Aries-Libra Harmonizing Tea

1 part nettle
1 part lemonbalm
1/2 part mint
Pinch of rose petals

Steep about 1T/cup water for 5-10 minutes and enjoy 🙂

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Cosmic evolution (a prophecy)

Nothing on this site has been written by AI.

My man and I have been together for 9 years. I feel so grateful that we really support each other in being who we are. We’re both independent in our ways yet love connecting and have more fun together than apart.

99.9% of the time Mike supports me in just being myself. But he does have one limiting rule: Astrology talk is limited to 5 minutes a day. 😂😂😂

Obviously not a real rule, but I get it. My girlfriends and I can go down some serious rabbit holes, and Mike just doesn’t need to pass everything through the same astro filter. ⭐🤷‍♀️

I know my friends and I are not alone though. Social channels are filled with memes for 2025, all pointing to the idea that this is the pivotal year we’ve been preparing for…

2025 really does look like it might be a lot astrologically — but are the times we live in really that unique? Haven’t people been dealing with these massive alignments and planetary shifts since time immemorial?

History is filled with revolutions and revelations that change the course of human evolution. Massive leaps in consciousness and communication, and massive losses of plagues and more, have shifted our ways of living and beliefs around spiritual practice many times over.

Each time, some of our ancestors survived. The world went on. 2012 didn’t end the world as we know it. The “apocalypse” never came…

…at least to the Western culture birthed in Sumeria and still spreading throughout the world today. I’m sure many native peoples, from many continents, would call a lot of history pretty damn apocalyptic.

I think this is important to remember: Time and again throughout history, entire peoples, cultures, and ways of life have been nearly or totally wiped out for a variety of reasons.

Are we, those of us living generally modern lifestyles today, pretty much anywhere in the world, really so special that we won’t experience what might feel like an apocalyptic shift in our lifestyles?

On Collapse.

Back on the Saturn-Jupiter conjunction of 2020 (more on this below), I sat with a small group of consciousness explorers and creative thinkers. In the midst of the pandemic, we spent a day in quiet darkness, meditating, chanting, and imagining what changes might be coming with the pandemic.

The question of collapse naturally arose. Not so much saying that we wanted collapse, or that it was inevitable — more that the concept felt closer to reality than it had in our lives up to that point.

In these youthful, intellectual discussions, fueled by rage and frustrations with the systems that run our lives as they are, collapse can take on a somewhat romantic color. We must release the old so the new can be born, right?

I don’t often get political here, but I do see this as driving a lot of the last US presidential election results. So many people are rightfully so fed up with the toxicities of our current systems that they are more inclined to throw everything out the window in favor of starting over.

Unfortunately, I don’t think I can point to a time in history when true collapse occurred — from revolution, environmental factors, or other forces — where the aftermath was utopia. It’s been almost the opposite, really. In the void of what came before, humans be humaning again. Grabbing power, othering others, and getting swindled into giving up their prosperity of mind, spirit, and material wellness.

Romanticism, Realism, and Hope

This type of questioning — collapse, societal change, collective evolution — seems to be in the zeitgeist. At least in my algorithmic world.

And I see two pretty different narratives going on.

One is that of radical change. The idea that this is a totally unique time in human history, for better or worse. We are either actively creating a utopia and the total destruction of life as we know it is a good thing overall, or we are all about to live through the biggest hellscape humans have ever seen.

The other is that this time isn’t as special as we think it is. Humanity has gone through huge initiations before. Things will keep changing, but we’ll be okay, because we always have been.

I tend towards the middle way.

A lot is the same for us as it was for our ancestors. And, even in the face of total cataclysm we might not be all that special in the longer term view of human evolution — are we repeating the same cycles and choices that led to the downfall of Atlantis or other ancient civilizations?

Yet when I look at known human history to this point and tune into the wisdom of the Earth and my own spiritual guardians, a few pieces stand out as feeling pretty unique for those of us alive at this time.

This vision takes me back to the microcosm and macrocosm: In our personal lives, we spiral through cycles, often repeating the same lessons but with previous learning that allows us to go deeper and grow stronger each time.

Ever reread a book from your past? We never really read the same book twice, do we? We are different people, and the material meets us in such different ways that even the same book becomes a new experience.

This is much like our collective cycles of learning and growth. We are facing the type of vast economic and technological changes that have occurred many times throughout history. And, we’re meeting these changes in new ways.

We must really be ready for depth and growth by the looks of the global changes we’re facing ;)

I’m not a futurist, economist, scientist, nor any other -ist that has already spoken on these changes extensively, so I’m not going to rehash AI and climate change and everything else.

Rather, I’m sitting with the spiritual impacts of these changes and cycles.

What does this time in history mean for, or require of, human consciousness? Is consciousness truly evolving and changing at a mass level?

I like to think that it is. Though I’ll admit — our collective evolution seems to be lagging behind the destructive timelines before us.

(I hope I don’t sound overly negative here because I don’t actually feel that negative. It is a spiritual skill to sit with both the pain and joys of our reality and hold a higher vision for the possibilities before us.)

For now, let’s explore just a few of the unique elements of these times in relation to our spiritual evolution.

Information overload is real — and it’s making people cray (for those born circa 1980) and delulu (for the Zs).

The obvious shadow side of this is the rampant conspiracy theories that so easily spread online; the algorithms that take perfectly sane folks down rabbit holes that reprogram their minds to serve the needs of the global elite.

(Do you like how I just took down conspiracies with another conspiracy??? 😈 But really. Every conspiracy is threaded with truth…and twisted for various agendas.)

But again, that’s the obvious bit. And, humans have been taking wild conspiracy-esque rides since long before the internet came online.

What I find especially interesting is that we have access to more esoteric knowledge than at any other time in history.

Ancient mystery teachings that were shrouded in secrecy for millenia are now available with an internet search. Or discussed in 15-second video clips. Even shared via memes.

Regardless of whether you see this as good or bad overall (I see a lot of gifts and shadows in this — another article coming up on that soon), you have to admit that it is different. We are being asked to engage with spiritual teachings in a way that is actually pretty unique to this time in human history.

As many dangers as this might unleash, I trust that this is happening now because human consciousness is ready for it. I hope. 😬

(But seriously — there’s a whole thing with gatekeeping, power, control, integrity, harm, economics, practitioner programs and certifications…I started writing more here and realized this topic needs its own article. Stay tuned.)

Our permeability needs a different sort of tending.

This one is a biggie, and one that I don’t see folks talking about quite as much.
Right now, there is more foreign energy on this planet than at any other time in history (that I know of).

This makes sense when you think about it:

Foreign energy is simply energy that is lost or out of place. It can include random forms of energy, and it can include conscious energies, such as humans who have left their bodies but not fully crossed into their next soul stage (yeah, that’s a ghost 👻).

A lot of foreign energy is generated by humans. And right now, there are more humans on this planet than ever before.

When you look at how much history has taken place on this planet, all the energies left behind from all the traumas over thousands of years, and all the humans and their unconscious emotional bursts of energy, and all the non-corporeal beings who are attracted to Earth for a variety of reasons — we are definitely dealing with a shit-ton of foreign energies.

And we can see this reflected in the actual physical clutter of our world. The microplastics that are in just about everything we eat. The pollutants in our airs, waters, and soil. Clutter does not happen in isolation.

Microcosm-macrocosm, y’all.

Why does this matter when it comes to spiritual practice?

When the Earth realms were generally clearer, our bodies had more bandwidth for processing strong energy without being overwhelmed. And we could generally stay more open and empathic to the many benevolent frequencies all around us because there wasn’t so much painful clutter to sift through all the time.

As a result, many of our ancestral healers processed the pain and trauma of others through their own bodies. Folks from all walks of life were more energetically open on a daily basis, listening to the whispers of nature spirits and communicating empathically as a natural way of being in the world.

Many people who are drawn to spiritual work and earth-based healing carry this resonance and memory within their energetic systems. Empaths by nature, we feel so much of the pain and joys of the world around us. If we work in the healing arts, we take in the pain of others to transmute it, as we’ve done throughout our lifetimes.

But times have changed, and most often, this way of being in the world leads to illness — mental fragmentation that can make it challenging to stay both connected to spirit and grounded in this reality, and physical illness that arises as our bodies process more energy than they were ever designed to.

I’ll share more about how to deal with this in another article. For now —just know that this is different.

There are different protocols and protections we must work with to stay healthy. We have the opportunity to learn different ways of being in our bodies or interacting with unseen forces in these times. But this takes effort, and it means we need to find new ways to engage with ancient spiritual practices.

I’m sharing one of my absolute most favorite, effective protective rituals at our angel workshop this Thursday. Join live or watch the replay! Paid members can attend for free (visit the Monthly Gift section), or anyone can just sign up for this workshop here.
If you feel sensitive to all the energies in our world right now, this is for you!

Technology is getting pretty interesting (A Prophecy)

I mean, we are in the Age of Aquarius, after all. When Saturn and Jupiter danced around in the earth sign of Capricorn, we saw massive changes in the physical nature of technology — think of the industrial revolution. Now, with these two bigguns doing the cha cha into air sign Aquarius (where they will dance for the next 240 years) we can expect some more ethereal upheavals.

We’re seeing this with AI — which will absolutely change everything about how we live in the coming years. And it will likely affect our understanding of consciousness itself.

But even if our power grids fail, the internet is gone, and life as we know it collapses, I don’t see our technological advancements disappearing in favor of completely old-school, off-grid communities. Too much knowledge has already been gained. Unless we experience another great flood event that wipes out most human culture, we aren’t going back to pre-tech times.

Rather, over the next 240 years, we will see an increasing merging of spirituality and technology. And this will influence everything.

I have a confession: Much of what I’m going to share in this section is channeled information. I know, channeling sounds pretty woo — but I mean, do you know me? Woo is my middle name. 🔮

Around the last Jupiter-Saturn conjunction on December 21, 2020, I was sitting down to write when I was overcome with prophecy. It felt as if my benevolent ancestors and descendants were gathering to help me channel important visions through automatic writing.

I only shared these visions with a small circle at the time. (Because do you remember how absolutely on edge and insane everyone got during the pandemic? You couldn’t say anything without being attacked. Actually, you could encourage people to attack each other. That was about it.)

Anyway, my vision.

I was shown paradise.

Or, what would seem like a utopian paradise to us, but felt pretty much like normal life to the descents living at that time.

And I saw it as being what felt like 200-300 years in the future. At the time, I had no idea about the astrological cycles that support this timeline (which feels very cool and confirming).

I also saw a much smaller population — about a 10th of what we have on the Earth now.

You can probably see where this is going…something wipes out most of our population.

Maybe it’s war. More pandemics. Climate catastrophe. Fertility crises. Alien invasion. Probably some combo of everything (except the alien invasion — they’re out there but too sneaky to outright invade 👽).

If you’re a brave soul who wants a more detailed version of what I channeled, let me know. There’s a lot on the timelines and the essence of the new world itself that I think are quite beautiful — but my guidance is that some of what I saw is not for me to share with the general populace at this time.

Here’s the thing with prophecy: It can change. It’s a potentiality, a glimpse at a possible future that some resonance already within us opens the way for us to see. (More on shifting these potentialities below.)

If you’ve read this far: Congratulations on being one of the brave souls who came here to experience and participate in such interesting times ;)

But let’s jump ahead over the challenging times to where this all might lead.

In this future utopia, a few things stuck out to me:

Again, we have a population of about a billion people (ouch, but great by the end…)
Humanity has a new relationship with life and death (which makes sense based on the first point)
Bloodlines are less important than we perceive them to be at this time in history (yes JD, even childless cat ladies are capable of caring about future generations)
Spirituality and technology are merged in ways it’s hard to fathom now (crystals! or whatever…I don’t actually know)
Humans generally have a more cosmic understanding of our place in the universe (get ready for hours of astrology talk, Mike)

I’m going to be honest. Some of the nuances in the first three bullet points will rub folks the wrong way. They won’t totally understand the vision, and they’ll be taken further from a grounded, helpful understanding of this time in history. So I’m not going to go into details. Just know that we will continue to experience major shifts in consciousness in these areas.

What I do want to circle back to, however, is the complete coherence of technology and spirituality. In this new era, they are in many ways one and the same.

This vision runs counter to a current narrative gaining strength: That life as we know it will dissolve in disaster and only those who know ancestral skills will survive. That returning to ancestral living will save us.

In my visions, I do see that ancestral skills are key to our survival over the coming decades. There is so much wisdom still waiting to be reclaimed.

🧚 Especially when it comes to reclaiming our ability to communicate with the natural world and spiritual allies who support us. This is the real ancestral medicine, folks. 🧚

Yet of equal importance is the understanding that we are not returning to a previous version of life. We are creating a new version. And this new version is possible because of technological innovations that are far beyond what most of us can even comprehend.

Many people are already there. They’ve had these inventions and innovations for decades. But they have not been allowed to make the impacts we need yet because of darker forces at play. Fortunately, this does not last forever. These technologies do come to light, along with many more that emerge as humanity taps into its creative potential to celebrate life.

The following is a bit of the unedited channeling:

“As spirit infuses into new tech, this tech reflects more dimensions of reality than you are currently aware of. This is the quantum field many speak of, yet even those speaking on it now are limited in their understanding. Magic might be a more appropriate term for your minds at this time. Yet in the future, this magic is reality. It is harmonious with life. Every technological advance supports life.”

Insert happy sigh here. How lovely to think of a world where the creative spark of life is valued above greed and power.

With this comes the final piece of the prophecy: There is a return to reverence of the Earth, for she is life. And reverence for the stars, for they are life.

We have a much better idea of our place in the cosmos.. We are not a solo intelligence on a solo planet — we are part of a cosmic ecosystem beyond our comprehension. We care for ourselves, our Earth, and our cosmos with holy reverence.

This probably sounds like some utopic vision that will never really come to pass. But it doesn’t feel utopic to those who are living at this time.

After all, we are still humans.

Humans of this era continue to experience frustrations, challenges, obstacles, loss, fear, doubt, and all the hardships we face today. Yet when I feel into this time, there is a greater capacity to be with challenge. There is more flow and grace and freedom and support in meeting challenge.

It’s human, and it’s different.

What does all this mean for us humans who are here now?

If things feel confusing or contradictory, it’s a good sign that you’re engaging with the exact questions you need to asking.

Awareness that things are legitimately different, that we’re not simply repeating the past though we can learn from it, invites us to more fully embrace our own spiritual evolution at this time.

Awakening consciousness in these times asks how we can…

Integrate seemly diverse and contradictory yet also resonant and helpful spiritual teachings into a coherent whole
Cultivate greater discernment in a world with so many distractions
Remain open and permeable to spirit without losing our sense of self and grounding in reality
Connect with spiritual beings and energies without overwhelming our sensitive systems
Tend our animal bodies and nervous systems in the face of so many pollutants and the artificial pace of modern life
Return to partnership with the natural world while knowing this way of life will look different than it did to our ancestors
Stay connected to hope, love, and unity in the face of ongoing division and distraction
Remember who we really are, and what we’re truly capable of as spirits on Earth

Tap into the unified field where all matter originates

Perhaps the most important skill we can cultivate is to face what is true while holding and co-creating our most inspired visions for the future.

A lot of folks angry or resistant when I share some of the darker awareness I have. They think I’m being overly pessimistic or putting too much attention on what I don’t want instead of what I do.

For me, ignoring what’s true, including the darkness, isn’t helpful. Our bodies know when we’re lying to ourselves, and it’s not good for us. But maybe that’s just my Scorpio talking.

Because at the same time, these Pollyannas are not wrong: We need to keep visioning the most vibrant, life-giving future possibilities we can.

Our minds hold incredible power. When we align our energy with our focus and invite the divine to support us, we are able to tap into the unified field of energy from which all creation is birthed.

Being alive at this time is an invitation to create something beautiful.

Remember: In all of the changes and challenges, prophecies and possibilities, we are not alone. We are multidimensional beings in a multidimensional universe. The physical threats we see with our eyes are one small piece of a much greater reality.

You are here because the unique challenges and opportunities we face right now seemed so damn exciting to your soul. You wanted to come into this wild world to experience just this craziness!

You trusted that you would remember your true spiritual nature and make these wild times a bit more loving and healing for all of us.

So thank you. Thank you for being here and being you. You can do this.

Remember how I mentioned me and my girls chatting for hours about astrology? Well I forgot to mention that I listened to Mike’s entire 3-hour podcast on Ancient Rome while we were on a roadtrip. (This video sums up everything…watch until the end if you haven’t already.)

Double click to interact with video

Another civilization with an interesting trajectory…I guess we both process these crazy times in our own ways ;)

This amazing, in-depth article is totally free to read! You know why? Because of the subscribers like you who like, share, comment, and just generally let me know that this publication is appreciated. Thank you!

This is why I’m hoping you might like to meet me in person this year :)

This April I’m sharing what might be my only in-person workshop of the year! As I right this, there are only 4 spots left. It takes place in Sisters, Oregon and will be an immersive weekend filled with creating community. With each other, our spirit guides, and the land itself.

Feel the call? Learn more and register here:

Spiritual Rewilding Weekend Immersion

In May, I’m joining several amazing teachers and authors for a 3-day immersive experience in Sedona, AZ. Everyone is welcome! Those who go year after year keep coming back for the community this event brings together. Here’s a link to learn more:

Join Me in Sedona

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This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius…

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The Astrology of 2025

Nothing on this site has been written by AI.

Around this time of year, it can seem as if every astrologer is talking about how major the changes to come will be.

It gets old, I know.

And…2025 really is a bit wild. So let’s look at just a few select highlights.

Take a deep breath — I’m not going to bombard you with a bunch of astro terms and a million dates to remember. I am going to highlight a few things that I think you’ll find helpful :)

North Node to Pisces 1/11

First, our collective North Node is shifting into Pisces on 1/11.

The North Node represents our collective evolutionary path, pointing toward what we are being called to embrace and integrate. In Pisces, this brings themes of spiritual growth, emotional healing, compassion, and surrender.

Of course, the shadow side of this can be the tendency to blur the boundaries between fantasy and reality. Spiritual illusions can distract from Truth, and addictive tendencies — especially those that pull us into altered states of consciousness — can gain power.

Overall, I’m feeling hopeful and ready for this shift. It feels like the perfect energy to hold the Wild Alchemy Apprenticeship.

I’m guessing that a lot more folks will find an interest and access in plant medicine too (if you’re headed down this path, please connect with me about psychedelic preparation and integration programs).

What to expect with the North Node in Pisces

Spiritual Awakening & Intuition

This is the time for your intuition to lead the way. If you feel called to expand your spiritual studies, live a more mystical life, and cultivate your intuitive practices — the cosmos support you! Dreams, omens, and synchronicities will be speaking to your soul, guiding you home to yourself.

More Compassion & Empathy

I don’t know about you, but I’m really ready for this. The cancel culture, info wars, and public shaming of recent years have left us divided and downtrodden, both with each other and within ourselves. It’s time to heal.

Let yourself be drawn to serve the causes that live in your heart. Be vulnerable. Trust your sensitivity. And soften the hard boundaries that cause more harm than healing.

Where can you let go and surrender? Trust the flow of life just a bit more?

As old structures dissolve, remember that they allow something beautiful and new to emerge.

Creativity & Imagination

Everyone is a creator. If we truly are a reflection of the divine, then it is in our nature to create from the heart. What beauty do you want to birth into the world?

Whether you are drawn to expressing yourself through art, poetry, music, film, or food; creative problem solving; or visioning a radically healed and whole future for our planet — let your imagination lead the way.

Escapism & Confusion

The world of spirit can be both enticing and confusing. Primary themes in the shadow of this era include: addiction and avoidance; blurring of healthy or needed boundaries; falling into collective fear, paranoia, and conspiracy theories; getting lost in illusion, including those that take you into martyrdom; and letting those dreams and visions take on unrealistic agendas that set you up for distraction or failure.

Support for Making the Most of this Transit

For years, I’ve specialized in working with clients who have become overwhelmed, hijacked, or disillusioned by the Wild West of modern spirituality. This feels like really important preparation for the times to come…

Which is why one of the primary intentions for the Wild Alchemy Apprenticeship is to support you in cultivating and clarifying a truly healthy and integrated spiritual practice. One that is perfect for you — not based on trying to merge a million well-intended spiritual teachers idea into one nonsensical whole.

Registration will open soon, so grab a spot on the waitlist here.

I also will continue to offer this support in my 1:1 sessions, though there are limited spots available. These sessions support your personal spiritual path through deep inner alchemy.

Psychedelics can play an essential role in our awakening this transit — but this world is also a place where the shadow side of Pisces gets really big. If you head down this path, please reach out. Through sacred preparation and ritual integration, you will revolutionize your psychedelic experience.

The Generational Planets Are Shifting

The other major astro influence this year is that our two outer planets are both changing signs. In astrology, “outer planets” are known as generational planets. Every generation has its own vibes, and these planets point us to what those vibes might be.

This year, we’re kicking off a period of dynamic transformation, innovation, and a fiery drive toward idealism and change. New cultural, intellectual, and spiritual eras are upon us — bringing themes of imagination, rebellion, and courage. Buckle up…

Neptune in Aries

On 3/30, Neptune enters Aries, where it will stay until 2039. This brings some Aries fire and initiative to Neptune’s dreamy and spiritual focus.

Spiritual breakthroughs, visionary and creative inspiration, and radical compassion are on the horizon.

But so is the growth of the spiritual ego — think of a messiah complex and spiritual bypassing to the extreme. (Thought Bali-ponytail-tantric-healer-man was cringe? Just wait…) Watch out for this in the teachers and leaders you encounter with in the coming years (and check yourself too!).

What to expect with Neptune in Aries

Here comes the growth of spiritual leadership — for better and worse.

This transit invites us to connect with our internal spiritual leadership, shedding old programing and awakening to what is true and right for us. It might inspire you to live more in alignment with your values and even take real world action to create a world that better matches your spiritual visions.

Unfortunately, when spiritual leadership arises within a competitive, capitalist, survival-of-the-fittest society…it can easily become a performative money grabbing scheme at best and can perpetuate messiah-guru driven spiritual abuse at worst.

Pretty please keep your wits about you when it comes to charismatic spiritual teachers or movements that promise salvation, revolution, or utopian visions with creepy undertones. Please.

Hopefully, radical compassion will help with this.

When Aries is in service, it’s an unstoppable spiritual warrior. Rather than simply feeling empathy, Aries helps Neptune put compassion in action.

This should offer a nice counter to the collective service of this Aquarian age. While Aquarius wants what’s best for the collective, it doesn’t care too much about individual feelings. This transit reminds us to really feel for the experiences of individuals while keeping a higher vision in place.

Enjoy the creative vibes and dreamy visions that will arise.

I love that North Node Pisces is kicking off this Neptune era. In modern astrology systems, Neptune is the ruler of Pisces, so we get a super-charged dose of all things watery, dreamy, emotional, visioning, and creative.

We might see the arts become more poignant or provocative, impacting the rest of culture more prominently. With this, utopian dreams may arise. If we can let these visions inspire us without pulling us into fantasy land, we’ll be doing our world a great service.

Uranus in Gemini

On 7/7, Uranus enters Gemini, where it will stay until 2033. Uranus is the great disruptor, and Gemini is all about higher learning and communication. So…expect some major revolutions in how we think and connect with each other.

If you’re thinking about AI right now, you’re on the right track. You don’t need astrology to tell you that we’re only beginning to see the impacts of this tech…but it’s pretty cool how it all lines up ;)

What to expect with Uranus in Gemini

Think intellectual, communication, technological revolution. Rather than go into all the areas of society this might influence — I’m just going to invite your imagination to go wild. You know what’s coming…AI, crypto, transportation, youth uprising, media overwhelm…it’s all already started.

While there’s a lot of good here, there are some definite things to watch out for. Information overload could go next level — especially misinformation and weaponized ideologies.

Remember what’s true and real. Do a digital detox often. Connect with the Earth.

Neptune in Aries + Uranus in Gemini: The Big Picture

All together, we can expect an era that continues to redefine what it is to be human. What is consciousness? What is animate and alive? What is real?

I imagine we’ll see radical new creations arise out of the merging of art, spirituality, and technology.

And we’ll probably see some backlash to the big changes upon us.

I hope we’ll see GenX in more leadership roles across the board. There is something about that generation that knows how to balance Piscean and Aries energy — I think this generation is perhaps the most primed to offer a bridge from the old era to the new, neither clinging to the past nor burning it all down. That’s just me though…what do you all think?

And there’s a lot more happening this year

Overall, the first half of the year looks a little rough…but the second half looks awesome. We’ll see. Lots of fiery Aries energy, nurturing Cancer blessed by Jupiter, eclipses, retrogrades…all the things! Keep tuning in for more as each new astro season is upon us :)

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This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius…

Serket & Scorpions

5 Essential Oils for Mercury Retrograde (and how to use them)

This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius…🎶

Are cosmic peace and harmony really on their way? Or have we only had a sweet little preview of the hivemind to come? Also, can we talk about the 5th Dimension??? 🤯

Are cosmic peace and harmony really on their way? Or have we only had a sweet little preview of the hivemind to come? Also, can we talk about the 5th Dimension??? 🤯

In my mind, the Age of Aquarius will always be associated with the song from Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical.

Yes, that’s the full name — an American tribal love-rock musical. Amazing.

Though to be fair, I’m pretty sure it was mostly the 5th Dimension’s version playing in our house as I grew up.

Yes, “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” was recorded by a band called the 5th Dimension.

original cast of Hair & The 5th Dimension

Is it any wonder I was 60s obsessed in my youth? ☮

(I’m generation “Oregon Trail” for those who are wondering how far off I was born from my soul decade, hehe.)

On January 20th, we’re entering a new phase in the age of Aquarius for reals.

This is a very big deal in the astro world…and I’ll share a bit more about the astrological reasons why in a minute.

But it feels like a big deal to me because of the song.

Decades ago, this song and the tribal love rock hippies who sang it promised me a better world! I mean, look at these lyrics:

When the moon is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars
This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius…
Harmony and understanding
Sympathy and trust abounding
No more falsehoods or derisions
Golden living dreams of visions
Mystic crystal revelation
And the mind's true liberation
Aquarius…

Peace, love, and spiritual awareness…I couldn’t wait for the Age of Aquarius to fix our broken world!

Oh my sweet innocence. 🤦‍♀️

Welcome to the Real Aquarian Vibes

First thing is first: We don’t actually know when the official “Age of Aquarius” is.

An astrological “age” is a massive amount of years — 2,160, based on the Earth’s processional rotations and equinox locations. And no one really agrees on when the transition between ages has or is or will happen.

So let’s release ourselves from being in a specific “Age of Aquarius” and focus on the fact that astrologically, there is significantly more Aquarian energy in our collective than usual.

Will Aquarius bring us cosmic peace and liberation as promised?

To answer this question, it helps to look at what Aquarius is all about — the collective.

Aquarians serve the greater good — but not from some heartfelt love of humanity, and not by getting their own hands dirty.

This is because Aquarians don’t live in the emotional or physical realms. Their world is mental, one of philosophical ideas and higher mind perspectives.

They see the potential for Heaven on Earth and will pursue this vision from a more detached position…and they aren’t really bothered if your individual feelings are hurt along the way.

My parter is an Aquarius Sun, and it shows. I love his ability to see the greatest possible solutions to our collective problems. And, I’ve heard his complaints about the “tragedy of the commons” more than once.

For those who need a review, the tragedy of the commons is an economic theory that refers to a state where individuals deplete public resources for their own benefit, which ultimately depletes everyone’s ability to benefit from those same resources. You can probably see just a *few* examples in our modern world…

And this is the total opposite of Aquarian energy. They would never prioritize a single individual over the collective good.

With this in mind, let’s look at the first big shift into more Aquarian energy that happened back on December 21, 2020, when Jupiter and Saturn conjoined in Aquarius.

Yeah, I said it. 2020.

The year we had a masterclass in the tragedy of the commons via toilet paper.

men fighting over toilet paper — this is what AI thinks it looked like

This initiation into Aquarian energy showed us the potential for coming together in challenging times…and gave us some glimpses into the shadows around mob mentality.

And it hinted that the transition from a society rooted in competition to one rooted in cooperation might be just a wee bit stormy, with just a wee bit of backlash...

The next phase of Aquarian influence kicks off on January 20th, when Pluto forms a Cazimi — a super powerful perfect alignment with the Sun — in the very last degree of Capricorn before sauntering into Aquarius for the next 20ish years.

This, as I mentioned earlier, is a very big deal.

If one more person tells me Pluto is about “transformation”…🤮

Pluto is what’s known as a “generational” planet — which means that it stays in a single zodiac for about 12 - 30 years, giving a whole generation a particular vibe. With Pluto moving into Aquarius, a new vibe begins.

To understand what this means, let’s take a quick look at the areas of life ruled by Pluto, our “great transformer”.

Here’s the thing. A lot of planets are transformational. What does this even mean?

We need to know Pluto’s unique transformational flavor…

Spoiler: It’s rough.

Pluto is a shadowy planet. It rules the things we try to keep hidden — violence, addiction, coercion. It heralds transformation so great it can feel like a crisis. Death and rebirth. Power and surrender. These are the themes of Pluto.

Pluto is also a planet of will — not our individual will, but our collective will. It’s one thing to make up your mind and work towards what you want. It’s another world to swim upstream against a collective that wants something else entirely. My guess? This is going to be a time of re-calibrating how your will and the collective will can best co-exist.

And, Pluto is not a fan of sweeping our shadows under the rug. It wants to pull them out and eradicate them for the greater good. I like how Astrobutterfly puts this:

Pluto’s role is to keep the engine of the universe going by eliminating what can no longer sustain life. If something is rotten, Pluto will eliminate it to leave space for healthy growth.
Knowing what’s rotten is a good thing. If your tooth rots, you go to the dentist and fix the problem…and save your other teeth. If you want your tree to grow healthy, you trim the dead branches.

When Pluto brings transformation, it comes in the form of the Tower card of the Tarot. Things topple. There’s usually some kind of shock involved, a shock that shakes us out of our slumber and wakes us up to a new way of understanding the world and our place within it.

As a reminder here — Pluto is always somewhere. Some area of life is always undergoing collective transformation in pretty disruptive ways. This is part of how we evolve and grow.

Pluto, meet Aquarius. I think you’ll have fun together 😵‍💫

How interesting that Aquarius, the hivemind sign of the zodiac, is going to be home to Pluto, the planet of really challenging collective transformations.

I’m thinking this era might not be the love and light land I’d hoped for…

Aquarius and Pluto are both focused on the collective good, equality, and innovation in service of all. This is a vibe that we could definitely use more of, and one that goes quite well with our Age of Aquarius theme song.

But Pluto just won’t nicely walk us over into lala land. Pluto strikes the Tower down, forcing us to cultivate resilience as we grow into the people who can build our Aquarian society.

Pluto in Aquarius heralds a return of power to the people. Expect to see tyrannies of all types topple and crumble like the Tower itself — from oppressive political regimes to spiritual cults and cult-like corporations.

Yes, power to the people.

But have you seen people lately? 😬

The mob mentality and cancel culture we’ve witnessed in the last couple of years is likely a sweet little preview of what’s to come.

Whereas in the past, radicalization was a major concern…I’m a bit more worried about righteousization (totally made that word up) in the coming era.

Righteous anger. Righteous rage. Righteous power. Righteous spirituality.

All under the guise of serving the collective good.

Righteousness is group-think meets nervous system activation.

You believe you have the power of the collective behind you, your adrenaline kicks in, and you become part of the earthquake that shakes the Tower.

That’s not my vibe. I’m all for radical change, but it’s going to be rough enough without righteous zombies adding to the chaos.

This is your opportunity to become a vessel of integrity and clarity in an era of change and confusion.

Learn how to distinguish your intuition from an adrenaline rush. Cultivate skills that help you regulate your nervous system. Stay open to change and align yourself with service. Keep checking in with your heartfelt knowing of what is truth and what is group-think.

We are co-creating a new world together, and you are here to play an invaluable role. One that is unique to you and needed by us all.

A few more winks at the future 👽

And to wrap up, here are a few more areas we can expect to see Pluto in Aquarius impact…

Aquarius rules technology, communication, markets, and the circulation of resources. It takes an interest in the policies and infrastructure that affect society as a whole. It’s the group energy in life — executive boards, congress, friend groups, communities. And it rules the skies.

You can probably guess from here — changes to our economy, how information is shared, where power falls in our political systems, and whatever is going to happen with AI, to name a few.

Oh, and UFOs. Definitely expect more on aliens and UFOs. 😉

For those who want more, here are a few resources to keep exploring this upcoming Pluto-Aquarius party:

Adam Elenbaas of Nightlight Astrology goes into a pretty thorough deep dive here and provides a fun overview of how this will affect each sign here.
Astrobutterfly has a great, easy-to-read article on the whole thing here.
Rebecca Gordon adds some lovely nuance here.
Chris Brennan has a couple of 2024 overview episodes of The Astrology Podcast, which you can explore here.
And I always love a good Chani article.

What do you think about all this incoming astro weather? I’d love to hear what you think we can expect in the comments.

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juniper stokes 1/11/24 juniper stokes 1/11/24

Just Say No to Bro Goals

Learn to work with the moon for intuitive healing

Just say no to bro goals.

Unless that works for you. But I'm taking a more feminine approach this year.

The cult of self help has a particular flavor in the podcast realms…

A lot of the habit-tracking and goal-setting info that makes it's way around the bro-podcast circuits just doesn't work for me.

I like the idea of 5am wake ups, cold showers every day, and pushing through discomfort to see change...

But ultimately, so much of the advice out there separates me further from body and intuition.

I'm cyclical. My energy levels are not the same throughout the month, or the seasons. I need the freedom to create space for my authentic needs without having my mind crowded over with "shoulds".

A lot of women suffer from the idea that we can hack our way to health and force ourselves into productivity…

Which brings me to an observation during a recent meeting of my weekly astrology class.

It’s an advanced class with just a small group of pretty badass women. We were practicing reading each others' charts, and a theme emerged…

We had all burned out. Hard. Enough so that half of us had quit our full time jobs for the sake of our health.

As above, so below.

I think a lot of us were drawn to astrology as part of our recovery.

There’s something incredibly comforting about seeing our human experiences reflected in the cosmos.

I have the fixed star Sirius conjunct my moon. Sothis to the Egyptians, many refer to Sirius as our spiritual sun—a portal to divine wisdom. Makes sense for me as my entire life has been a deep dive into mystical realms.

But Sirius is also known as “the Icarus star”. It blesses us with great inspiration and success…yet this success is almost always followed with a painful crash and burn.

Fortunately, rather than deciding my fate, this cosmic knowledge reminds me that I need to be extra intentional with my self care and energy levels.

AND it helps to not pretend that I will magically create consistent equilibrium in my life. My authentic blueprint inherently has cycles of success and burnout.

The question becomes, how can I work with these cycles instead of pretending they don’t exist?

For me, this means knowing that I will need periods of deep rest between creative projects. If I’m launching a new perfume or writing a hefty Substack series for example, I’ll need to put a few days of self care and rest into my calendar.

How Mama Moon Saved Me

To heal from the extreme burnout I experienced (by extreme I mean total adrenal fatigue, no cortisol spike at all, inability to digest food, horrible skin, and crying all the time and unable to get out of bed), I knew I needed to start taking more exquisite care of myself than I ever had before.

This meant resisting the pull of mainstream messages about endless productivity and growth and sinking into a slower, earthier way of being.

But here's the challenge: Committing to exquisite self care is one thing—actually doing the self care is another.

Because being totally depleted makes it really, really hard to take care of yourself in even the most basic ways.

As much as bro-hacking doesn’t work for me, I do need some accountability to keep myself healthy. I will absolutely slip into later and later bedtimes, skip vitamins, and put off meditating until "tomorrow" if left completely to my own devices.

I needed help. So I turned to the moon.

In Hellenistic astrology, the Moon is considered to be the closest ally of our human experience. Her cycles directly affect our physical bodies and energy levels.

This is why consciously tuning into the Moon’s cycles can have a profound impact on our well-being.

So I made myself my own cyclical, nature-based habit tracking calendars.

These trackers are based on our monthly calendar system because that's the time my mind lives in. But they incorporate moon cycles because that's the time my body lives in.

Rather than rigid to-do lists that reinforce a mind-over-matter mentality, these lunar calendars help me track and plan according to my authentic cycles.

I’ve used these sheets to become more aware of my own energy levels and natural tendencies with the cycles of the moon, and I was better able to cultivate more sustainable habits on my journey back to health as a result.

I still plan and track goals like taking cold showers in the morning, getting sunlight on my skin within the first 10 minutes of waking, morning movement, pranayama, yoga, vitamins, etc.

But I also plan on skipping cold showers during the first days of my cycle. I put in the best days for certain foods or supplements. I mark the weeks when I'll likely have the most energy to go on long hikes, as well as the weeks when I know I'll need more rest and a hot bath.

I used these sheets all last year and love them.

So I packaged them up into a lovely little set that I can share! This set includes:

🌝 two types of tracking sheets — one for intentions/planning and one for tracking/measuring
🌝 a 20-page moon-syncing guidebook
🌝 a moon cycle wall calendar for fun

You can get yours here.

Using these sheets helped me:

🌚 cultivate more sustainable and nourishing habits, from drinking more water to recommitting to my pranayama practice
🌑 plan ahead for different types of self-care activities (saltwater baths at the new moon, socializing at the waxing moon, long solo hikes near the full moon)
🌒 align my schedule with my natural energy levels—sometimes I just won't be as naturally productive and that's ok
🌓 use different herbal tea blends and eat different foods as my body's needs change throughout each month
🌔 become so in touch with my body that I can more easily spot the first signs that I'm heading towards illness or imbalance, which helps course correct before its too late
🌕 get way happier!!!

And…here are pictures!

Here’s the link to get your moon magic:

2024 Moon Magic Guide

May your new year be filled with a balance of productivity and rest that perfectly meets your uniqueness. Many blessings!

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juniper stokes 11/10/23 juniper stokes 11/10/23

Serket & Scorpions

The Egyptian goddess Serket, also known as Selket or Selqet, is a goddess of protection, the afterlife, medicine, and magic. Like the scorpion, she can heal…and she can destroy.

The scorpion goddess came to me during Scorpio season.

The Egyptian goddess Serket, also known as Selket or Selqet, is not as well-known as many of her counterparts these days — though this certainly wasn’t always the case.

Serket is a very ancient goddess and was much more popular in earlier Egyptian dynasties — a patron of pharaohs, priests, and physicians; a central character in key myths; and depicted on royal tombs and protective amulets throughout the land. Overtime, many of this goddess’s attributes were absorbed by Auset (Isis), which is partially why we don’t hear about her quite so often today.

But we’re at a time when reclaiming Serket’s feminine, transformative, and powerful scorpion medicine is greatly needed.

It’s time to shed a bit of light on this dark goddess.

Meet Serket: Protection, Afterlife, Magic, and Medicine

The Egyptian goddess Serket is a scorpion deity of protection, the afterlife, medicine, and magic. Like the scorpion, she can heal…and she can destroy.

Call on Serket for:

Protection — from outside influences, for upcoming medical procedures, from lower vibration energies, for children
Shadow Work — face and transmute inner toxins and poisons
Sexual Energy & Fertility — awaken the creative forces of nature within your own being
Transmutation — a powerful ally for working with spiritual healing techniques
Magic — she’s one of the oldest and most powerful deities of early Egypt, a patron of many priests and magical practices
Healing — access the right dose of the right medicine at the right time
Breathwork — for transmutation, healing, ascension, and increasing life force energy

As is true for many Egyptian deities, Serket appears in both human and animal form. As a human goddess, she is most often depicted with a scorpion raising its tail upon her head. In her animal appearance, she is the scorpion herself.

The scorpion was both feared and revered in ancient Egypt (much like many people’s love-hate relationship with the Scorpio of our zodiac). This is because scorpions (and Scorpios for that matter!) are intensely powerful — and this power can be used to harm or heal.

A small but mighty beast that can take down a creature many times its size with its sting, the scorpion can deliver great pain. Yet its presence in your favor offers great protection. The same is true of Serket.

Protection & Healing with the Goddess of Scorpions

As a primary protective and funerary goddess in ancient Egypt, Serket stood alongside Isis, Nepthys, and Neith to guard the deceased on their journey through the afterlife. In the Pyramid Texts, she joins these goddesses to protect the deceased king, who speaks:

“My mother is Isis, my nurse is Nepthys…Neith is behind me, and Serket is before me.” (PT 1375).1

Serket’s presence in front of the king as he traverses the afterlife realms signifies the power of her guardianship.

Just as Serket protects us from the external demons of the afterlife, she offers her protection as we face the internal demons of our psyche.

Think about the energy of Scorpio. This Zodia can sting us at the deepest levels, crawling into the crevasses of our soul to ignite our emotional wounds with its fiery venom.

If you’ve been around here awhile, you know my thoughts on this: The dose makes the poison.

The venom that can kill can also heal. Scorpio helps us illuminate and transform our hidden shadows so they no longer rule us from their subconscious thrones.

And here, we see Serket as the keeper of magic and healing.

It is only through the act of facing a poison that we can transmute it. And it is through this transmutation that we can heal.

She Who Causes the Throat to Breathe

Serket’s full Egyptian name is Serket hetyt, meaning “she who causes the throat to breathe” — and if she can cause the throat to breathe, she can stop it from breathing, too.

This makes Serket a powerful ally for working with the breath to transmute our poisons, the negative energies or thoughts that keep us from actualizing our true potential.

This is energetic healing — not the deep dive into shadow work that Scorpio can offer, but a clearing and refreshing of our energy on the most foundational level. Serket reminds us of what can shift simply from working on energetic levels, without all the stories our Western minds love to process.

Some believe that this constricting of the breath is where much of Serket’s association with scorpions comes from: Egypt is home to some of the world’s deadliest scorpions, who can cause anaphylactic reactions with their venom…in other words, they can stop the breath.

Yet there’s another powerful association this goddess has with scorpions…the water scorpion.

Is the water scorprion the true origin of Serket & Scorpio?

The water scorpion isn’t in the same species as the scorpion we all know and love, but it looks similar, and its bite can pack a punch. Plus, the water scorpion expands and contracts as it breathes underwater, once again pointing to the breath as a key significator of Serket’s gifts.

Unlike the potentially fatal outcome of encountering a scorpion on the land, water scorpions are not deadly — which may be a better fit with Serket as a benevolent goddess.

The water scorpion also bring much of what we know about Scorpio full circle — and yes, the ancient Egyptians absolutely recognized this astrological constellation and season.

The Zodia Scorpio, confuses many people because it’s a water sign symbolized by what we tend to think of as fiery, desert-dwelling animal.

Yet what if Scorpio was always associated with the water scorpion? Water represents our emotional nature, the feminine darkness, and the mystery of the void. This is where Scorpio’s gifts lie — we travel into the darkest regions of our shadows to face our inner poisons, transmuting and transforming them again and again.

Scorpio is the season for finding and facing our subconscious drives, and Serket is the goddess who can help us do so.

Serket and the Seven Scorpions

One of the most well-known stories of Egyptian mythology is that of Osiris’s resurrection: In short, his brother Seth chops him up and Isis puts him back together, and then they conceive the great god Horus.

What’s not so well-known, however, is the role Serket plays in this tale. Though there are many different versions, the general theme is that Serket sends Seven Scorpions to protect Isis and her divine child while they search for the peices of Osiris’s corpse.

In one version, Serket herself guards baby Horus while Isis travels to a village in search of food. Serket’s seven scorpions surround Isis, offering her protection: Petet, Tjetet, and Matet go before her; Mesetet and Mesetetef flank her sides, and Tefen and Befen, the fiercest scorpions, guard her from behind.

Isis first approaches the door of a noble family, yet when the woman who answers sees the scorpions, she turns Isis away in fear. (But no worries — a kind peasant woman sees this happen and takes Isis in instead.)

Serket’s scorpions are not the forgive-and-forget type (and neither is Scorpio!). Seeking vengeance for this slight, they send all of their collective poison into Tefen for a most powerful sting, and he kills the baby boy of the noble family.

Of course, Serket and Isis are like…um, no. We don’t kill innocent babies. So, Serket — because she has power over the poisons she wields — heals the boy and brings him back to life.

Our greatest challenges and most potent pains are often where we hold the greatest potential for mastery.

Serket neither fears the scorpion’s venom nor lets it consume her. She embraces that this poison is part of her unique medicine, and uses her magic and power for healing and protection.

What are the greatest internal challenges you’ve been struggling with? What are the thoughts that poison your well-being?

Serket teaches us that within each poison is the medicine you need most.

If you’d like to explore the hidden gifts and healing available within your shadow, parts work can be especially effective — take a look at the process here.

Ecstatic Healing with Scorpion Medicine

The following meditation was given to me by Serket. It’s energetic. It’s ecstatic. And surprisingly sexual…though I suppose this shouldn’t have surprised me since sexuality is part of Scorpio and scorpion’s medicine.

Serket doesn’t want us to overlay this meditation with mental stories. We’re not pulling up toxic beliefs, analyzing our thoughts, or focusing on our pain here.

Instead, we’re somatically experiencing the ecstasy of receiving the perfectly right dose of “poison”.

This is an energetic healing. Allow yourself to feel the shift in your being. And don’t worry about what anything “means”.

Before you begin, set sacred space. Affirm that you are only open to working the most benevolent form of Serket and scorpion medicine.

Take a deep breath and come into your body. Allow your mind to travel to an ancient Egyptian desert.

The goddess Serket meets you here. She is tall and radiant. She carries an ankh, symbolizing life, in one hand and a was sceptre, symbolizing power, in the other.

Seven scorpions emerge from behind the goddess and surround you.

Notice your response to these scorpions. Some fear, or excitement even, is natural. You might begin to feel a tingling sensation.

When you are ready, invite these beings to share their medicine with you. You may like to check in with the goddess first, asking her if now is the appropriate time for this healing.

One by one, they come with their stings.

Feel the effects of each sting within your body. Pleasure and pain. Exhilaration and release. Sexual energy fills your being — not with the need to procreate, but with the innate life force healing it connects you with.

Notice any resistance that arises. This type of intense pleasurable energy can feel frightening, like it might overwhelm your system or cause pain. This is natural, but if it begins to feel like too much, ask the goddess to titrate the effects on your system.

Sit with the scorpions’ medicine as long as it feels good. Remember not to analyze your experience. Just feel it.

When you sense the healing is complete, offer your thanks to Serket and her seven scorpions. Bring your awareness back into the present and return completely to your body in the here and now.

I would love to hear about your experience if you do this meditation — drop me a comment!

Want more reflections on Egyptian mysticism? Be sure to subscribe below…much more to come ;)

If you found this interesting, please consider sharing it with your communities. Every share means the world to me!

1 Wilkinson, R.H. The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson, 2003.

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healing with serket egyptian scorpion goddess

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5 Essential Oils for Mercury Retrograde (and how to use them)

What are retrogrades and why are they important? And, how can we navigate them with the support of plant allies? Let’s take a brief look at retrogrades from the perspective of ancient and enlivened astrology and five essentials oils for support during these times.

Mercury Retrograde has a bit of a bad reputation…but there are ways you can make any retrograde season work for you! In this article, we’ll take a brief look at what retrogrades are and how they function. Then, drawing from my personal anointing practice, which is based on decades of spirit work and botanical alchemy, I’ll share my five favorite oils for support during Mercury Retrograde. And stick around to the end — I’ve included a magical practice to do with the oils!

Why Retrogrades Matter

I’m not one to let any sort of system dictate my life, and I have no interest in freaking out about this convergence of retrogrades. I do, however, believe that responding appropriately to the movements in our skies is important…

As humans, we’re part of a larger web not just of life, but of cosmic energy. And, the universe has been so kind as to give us literal maps of the energies at play in our lives — the maps found in the skies.

In the ancient astrology I practice, the planets are not just energies, nor are they simply archetypes — they are gods. Inspirited, wise, and powerful, these gods rule different areas of our lives.

When the planets appear to move backward during a retrograde, there is a significant shift in how their energies are received and perceived upon our Earth: forward momentum in their areas of rulership slows and old cycles and patterns come up for review.

Retrogrades in general are a time for all things “re”: remember, review, reflect, release, and relax.

These astrological periods offer us natural, healthy cycles to enter into throughout our lives —- yet modern life doesn’t typically allow for a lot of wiggle room during these retrogrades as we constantly push forward. And this is where we run into trouble.

When we resist the nature of reality, obstacles arise. When we push against the natural flow of energies, everything feels more challenging and frustrating.

When we do what we can to go with the flow, to give ourselves space, and to accept whatever arises with equanimity, then we can receive the gifts of the retrogrades.

Understanding Mercury Retrograde

Mercury is often best known as the planet of communication and the mind — travel, technology, contracts, speaking, writing, and our thinking all fall under his rulership.

Yet Mercury is also the planet of magic. Spellcasting, manifesting, and influencing the subtle realms around you also fall under Mercury’s rulership.

This is why during a Mercury Retrograde, so many things can appear to go wrong. Travel can see a bit more obstacles, launching new ideas or projects can have more hiccups, and miscommunications can abound.

But remember — difficulties during retrogrades are not set in stone. By working with the energy of Mercury Retrograde, gifts arise: You might discover important details on past projects you’d previously overlooked. You might glean new layers of insight about yourself during reflective activities. You might even enjoy a surprise detour if you buffer your travels with plenty of extra time.

Essential Oils for Mercury Retrograde

Just as we find helpful maps in the skies, we find supportive allies here on Earth — especially with the plants.

As both a shamanic practitioner and clinically certified aromatherapist, I love working with essential oils for support — every oil contains the alchemical distillation of a plant’s most potent gifts.

This includes the mental and emotional benefits many people associate with aromatherapy, as well as the physical benefits that arise when each oil’s chemistry meets our own. And these benefits include wisdom, blessings, and energetic healing from the plant spirit that overlights each oil.

Here are a just a few of my favorite oils for Mercury Retrograde:

1. Rosemary: Untangling Cosmic Confusion

Rosemary is my top pick for Mercury Retrograde. Invigorating and opening, rosemary has an affinity for our third eye chakra, helping us see the truth and organize our thoughts with greater clarity — very supportive at a time when thinking can feel scattered.

Rosemary is also the embodiment of graceful memory. Several studies have even shown promising results for using rosemary with Alzheimer's patients. Yet rosemary isn’t just about remembering our day-to-day tasks: It’s about recalling deep wisdom and memories hidden within our lineages and past lives.

You can use rosemary anytime you need to think clearly, increase insight, boost concentration, and improve memory during this retrograde.

2. Clary Sage: Bringing Balanced Wisdom

Clary sage is a beautifully harmonizing essential oil. Both relaxing and uplifting, it physically balances our hormones and promotes emotional balance — something we might need a bit of extra support with during Mercury Retrograde. Clary sage is also my favorite oil for activating insight and intuition by clearing the pathways to divine wisdom.

This Mercury Retrograde, let clary sage be a cosmic hug that helps you navigate uncertainties with calm and clarity.

3. Blue Tansy: Joyful Expression

Blue tansy has a playful energy that brings greater flow and ease to our lives. Sweet and nourishing, blue tansy tends our inner child so we can feel safe to play and trust in all life brings.

And, with its natural bright blue color, blue tansy also has an affinity for the throat chakra. At a time when communication mishaps might be common, blue tansy brings welcome relief.

Use blue tansy to encourage feelings of joy and trust, as well as to support communication, this Mercury Retrograde.

4. May Chang: Positivity Booster

If you find negativity creeping in during this time, casting shadows on your plans and aspirations, may chang is a lovely ally. With its uplifting and refreshing aroma, may chang acts as a natural mood enhancer.

May chang is especially helpful for those feel “tired and wired” during Mercury Retrograde — it uplifts our mood by calming our nervous systems, which in turn actually leads to more sustainable energy.

You can use May change to help maintain a positive outlook and embrace the cosmic twists and turns with optimism.

5. Vetiver: Grounding and Stability

Get grounded and stay present with the support of vetiver. A restorative oil, vetiver is perfect for those times when you’re feeling hypersensitive or distracted. With its deep, earthy, almost smokey scent, vetiver anchors us to both the Earth and the present moment, offering stability amidst the cosmic chaos. Its calming effects can help alleviate stress and encourage a sense of security.

Turn to vetiver when you need to calm down, get present, and come from a place of inner power during challenging times.

How to Use Essential Oils During Mercury Retrograde

There are two simple yet powerful ways you can use these oils to support your flow during this retrograde season.

First, you can diffuse the oils. If you already have an essential oil diffuser, this is a lovely way to receive the benefits of these oils while blessing your entire space.

Simply add 4-6 drops of any of these oils to your favorite diffuser. You can choose one oil, or combine a few different ones. R

Anointing with the oils is especially powerful. An anointing practice can be done as part of a daily meditation, before journaling, or in preparation of Mercury-related activities to harmonize the energy (for example, you might like to anoint yourself with rosemary before reading an important document or blue tansy before a big conversation).

Quick Tip – Make Your Own Anointing Oil
Anointing can be done neat* — meaning with the pure, undiluted essential oil — or with a dilution of about 10% essential oil in a carrier oil.
If you’re making your own anointing oil this way, use about 10 drops per teaspoon of oil. The olive oil in your kitchen is great and has been traditionally used for centuries. Jojoba is a good modern choice, as it has an especially long shelf life.
*Some oils can cause irritation when used neat, including many citrus and spice oils, so in general, it’s a good idea to use diluted oils for your anointing practices.

How to Apply Your Anointing Oil

To apply your anointing oil, place one drop on your finger and then gently rub into selected points on the body. Hold your finger on the point for one to three minutes — until you feel a soft energetic shift. Chakra points are a nice place to start your anointing practice.

I also like to hold two key acupuncture points, as taught by Tiffany Carole, to receive the blessings of the oils: DU-2, located at the sacrum, and DU-20, located at the top of the head. (You can find charts to help with exact locations online.) Simply place one drop of oil on your index fingers, and then hold one index finger on each acupuncture for 1 - 3 minutes.

As we navigate Mercury retrograde, remember that essential oils are more than just pleasant scents – they are alchemical allies that can support our journeys of self-discovery and growth. So choose your oil, take a deep breath, and let the plant spirit guide you through these cosmic waves.

Psst…buying high quality essential oils can feel like a landmine. I wrote this peice to help.

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A Complete Guide to Magical & Ritual Anointing Oils

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juniper stokes 8/22/23 juniper stokes 8/22/23

Your Guide to Virgo Season

Tomorrow, we leave the fiery, fun realm of Leo for the grounded, earthy energy of Virgo (August 23rd to Sept 23rd this year). This is the perfect time to find more balance in your daily routines, care for your health in practical and sustainable ways, and tend to the details that will support bringing your bigger projects to life. But this Virgo Season isn’t just about Virgo energy…it’s about retrograde energy. And actually, I think the two vibes go together quite well. With that, here’s your guide to make the most of Virgo - Retro Season!

This is what happens when the virgin meets the magician...plus retrogrades. So many retrogrades.

But this Virgo Season isn’t just about Virgo energy…it’s about retrograde energy. And actually, I think the two vibes go together quite well.

With that, here’s your guide to make the most of Virgo - Retro Season!

A Cosmic Look at Virgo

Virgos have a reputation for being meticulous and organized. They get things done and they get things done right. And they do it the first time. And, whatever they do usually benefits everyone.

Perhaps this is why a keyword for Virgo Season is care. Virgos care — about themselves and others. Self-improvement is balanced with service here, and quite often, the two are connected.

The Virgo Party

One of my favorite ways to feel into each Zodia is to imagine a dinner party hosted in the spirit of the sign.

Virgo’s, of course, would be meticulously planned: The cuisine both delicious and healthy, each course arriving in perfect timing. Seating arrangements carefully thought out in advance to ensure interesting conversation and benefic encounters. And, I have no doubt that coversation cards or other somewhat structured social activities would be in place, ensuring that no one is left out and all are taken care of.

How do you feel about attending this party? Do you feel yourself relax, knowing that all your needs will be cared for? Or do you feel tense, worried that you’ll be bored to death without a bit more freedom? Your reflections might illuminate a bit of your relationship with your own inner Virgo.

Virgo the Virgin

Virgo is symbolized by the Virgin, which might not sound that exciting, but is actually an amazing archetype.

The Virgin is not about sexuality but about sovereignty — it’s about feeling whole and complete in and of yourself.

In Goddesses in Everywoman, Jungian analyst Jean Shinoda Bolen describes the virgin goddesses as free and whole. They live their own lives, focus on their personal development, and cultivate great self-reliance.

Virginity also refers to purity here — but not the warped idea of sexual purity often associated with the word today. Rather, the virgin archetype offers us the purity of “original form”. Virgo asks us to reflect on our own true nature: Who are you at your core? What is your true spiritual nature?

Mother Mary, the primary virgin archetype of the West, is a model of this: her heart so pure, her divinity so intact, that she could birth — literally and metaphorically — the infinite love of Christ upon the Earth.

In this way, Virgo Season invites us to reconnect with our true self and sovereign nature, those parts of us that are whole, divine, and free from unhealthy cultural conditioning.

This is the ultimate aim of the personal growth aspect of this Zodia. We cultivate discipline, inquiry, and right effort on our path to self-realization.

Mercury: Magic, Messages, and Mind

Virgo is ruled by Mercury — the planet of magic, messages, and the mind.

In modern astrology, Mercury is most immediately connected with the mind and messenger archetypes. We tend to immediately think of our thought processes and everything related to communication — technology, language, travel, contracts, and more.

And, Mercury is known for its retrogrades. As one of the fastest moving planets, Mercury goes retrograde relatively often, which tends to put a pause on all the communication issues mentioned above.

Yet what’s often left out here is that Mercury also contains the archetype of the Magician.

In Hellenistic astrology, Mercury holds the unique position of not being part of other planetary groups (to put it simply) — Mercury is a free agent that travels between the realms of dark and light, the individual and the collective, and spirit and matter.

And this is how magic happens.
Spirit meets matter, and the mind directs the outcome.

When the Virgin Meets the Magician: Deities for Virgo Season

Virgo shows us that when purity of mind meets the limitless capacity of spirit, true magic becomes possible.

What do you most wish to accomplish? What desires arise from the most authentic place within? And, what is the next small step that will take you in the right direction?

Partnering with the deities that express and model Virgoan qualities can enhance our practices of self-development and magic during this time:

One place to begin your inquiry here is by looking at your relationship with the Virgin goddesses — Artemis, Hestia, and Athena — as well as Mother Mary. I’ve written a full article on these virgin goddesses here.

The other area to look at is the realm of three Mercurial gods — Hermes, Thoth, and Odin.

A Brief Detour into the Mercurial Gods…
In classical astrology, each day of the week is given a planetary lord — and Mercury’s day is Wednesday. Wednesday, from the Old English word Wōdnesdæg, means day of Woden or day of Odin. And in the Norse allfather Odin, we see a god of wisdom, communication, and magic, an apt expression of Mercury.
As an aside, I’ve created an all-natural, magically-infused perfume dedicated to Odin. It’s smokey and mysterious. Sweet, spicey, and sultry all at the same time. And filled with magical botanicals to awaken your connection with this powerful god. See Odin’s natural and magical perfume here.
In the West’s classical lineage, Mercury was known as Mercurius to the Romans and Hermes to the Greeks. Hermes — the god of messages and magic. The starting point of Hermeticism. And the incarnation of the Egyptian god Thoth — a primary deity of magic, writing, and wisdom. Both Hermes and Thoth are powerful Mercurial allies.

Which deities do you feel a resonance with at this time, and what might this say about the life themes and lessons arising for you? What support can you find in these gods and goddesses?

One of my absolute favorite deities for working with these energies is that of the goddess Diana, who embodies both the Virgin and the Magician.

Diana is the Roman name for the Greek goddess mentioned above, Artemis, and both goddesses model independence, freedom, personal development, and sovereignty. As a protector of women, this goddess embodies the Virgoan trait of being of service, as well.

Yet Diana specifically brings in the realms of magic. This form of the goddess was kept alive in sacred women’s circles, underground and hidden from the Church, for hundreds of years beyond the fall of the Roman Empire. She is a patron saint of witches to this day. A goddess of true magic.

I have a long standing relationship with this goddess and have created many offerings to her over the years. If you’re interested in learning more, take a look at this goddess workshop dedicated to her. Or, if you’d like to simply receive her blessings, my Artemis-Diana botanical perfume is infused with her energy — it smells of a wild and sweet forest filled with rain and moonlight, and is one of my personal favorites.

The 6th House: Bringing Sovereignty and Magic to Our Daily Lives

Virgo rules the 6th house in astrology, which is associated with our daily routines, health, and service — all areas of focus for Virgo.

Here, we see all the themes of Virgo Season come together:
The virgin’s quest for personal development, the mind’s acuity and focus, and the magician’s gifts in making things happen — all in the realms of our day-to-day lives.

During Virgo Season, let yourself find pleasure in the details. Find joy in giving to others. Make small, sustainable lifestyle changes that will add up to big results over time. And know that your health, happiness, and hopes are worth committing to.

This season supports us in committing to our most important goals, making an organized plan, and following through. Then, we can bring our dreams to life…almost as if with magic ;)

Coming Up In The Cosmos

An astrological season is never just about the ruling Zodia — there are myriad cosmic events that influence us, so let’s take a look at some of the bigger ones we’ll see during Virgo season this year:

Mercury Retrograde — Yes, the dreaded Mercury Retrograde is back from August 23 - September 15th this year. But have no fear! Mercury Retrograde in Virgo helps us review the details of past projects, make tweaks, and then be prepared to move forward once the retrograde is over.

Uranus Retrograde — Another retrograde! Innovative and eccentric Uranus goes retrograde on August 28th, and will stay that way until January, 2024. When such a rebellious planet enters a retrograde phase, it asks us to be a bit more conservative when it comes to making major life changes.

Full Blue Supermoon in Pisces — On August 30th, we’re blessed with a second full moon this August, and it’s a supermoon, meaning it will look big and beautiful over the horizon. Happening in the sign of Pisces, this just might be a time for your dreams to come true.

Venus Goes Direct — On September 3rd, you can take a sign of relief as Venus stations direct once again. Areas of relationships, beauty and aesthetics, values, and more should now feel a bit more easeful.

Jupiter Retrograde — Yeah…there are a lot of retrogrades this month. A planet of luck and spiritual expansion, Jupiter retrograde asks us to travel our inner worlds. This is a time to reflect on our beliefs and blessings, refining them to be more aligned with who we are now.

Extra Long Void Moon — Void moons are an astrological phenomenon that’s almost like a mini “everything is retrograde” period. It’s a time to focus on self-care, meditation, and simple activities like cleaning the house. Void moons happen all the time but usually don’t last for more than an hour or two, so we rarely notice them. On September 12th, we’ll have an extra long void moon — meaning that it will last pretty much all day. Rest and relax as much as you can.

New Moon in Virgo — Thia is a time for setting earthy, practical goals. What do you want your day-to-day life to look like? Set your intentions under the Virgo New Moon on September 14th.

Tips for Virgo Season (and all those retrogrades…)

Does this seem like a lot of retrogrades? It is! Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto will all be retrograde from August 23rd to September 3rd.

What does this mean for you?

Retrogrades in general are a time for all things “re”: reflect, review, remember, and relax.

I actually think Virgo Season could be a lovely time for all these retrogrades to take place. We’re naturally more focused on details, want to clean up and organize a bit, and might prioritize our health. You can use these retrogrades to your advantage by going back and cleaning up areas you’ve been meaning to get to, reviewing and editing past projects for even greater clarity or meaning, and refining your daily routine to better support your wellness.

And remember: Revisiting past dreams, projects, relationships, and struggles can be both tender and liberating. Set the to-do list aside on occasion and create space for self care.

Psst: Here’s how to support yourself during retrogrades with plant allies.

More Tips for Virgo Season:

Refine Your Daily Routines: Virgo thrives on structure, so now is the perfect time to take a detailed look at your day-to-day. What’s working, and what’s not? Make the small, sustainable changes that will lead to your goals.

Make Self-Care a Priority: The transition of seasons, back to school energy, attention to detail, and emphasis on service during this season can feel a bit stressful if not balanced with self care. Commit to one act of true care for yourself each day, no matter how small.

Declutter and Organize: Virgo energy reminds us that an organized environment soothes the nervous system and calms the mind. Whether it’s your home, office, or even digital environment, take time to declutter and tidy up the spaces where you spend the most time.

Embrace Personal Growth: This season is all about self-reflection and self-improvement. Take some time to look back on your achievements, acknowledge your progress, and express gratitude for what you have. From this place of fullness, you can begin to look at where you want to commit to growing even more..

Be of Service: Virgo isn’t just about getting organized and taking care of yourself — it’s about serving others, too, especially in ways that create greater health and well-being. What gifts can you share with your family and community this season?

Make Offerings to Mercury: Mercury energy is strong during Virgo season, making this a wonderful time to add offerings and symbols for this planetary god to your altar and rituals. A few traditional associations from the Picatrix include:

Herbs and Aromas — rue, lemongrass, dill, elemi, mastic, sandalwood, and galbanum
Foods and Beverages — hoppy beer, black and mint teas, walnuts, and dried fruits
Stones — marcasite, agates, malachite, opal, and labradorite

The world needs Virgos and their deep desire to be of service, natural flair for organization, and ability to take care of business. This season, may we all enjoy these cosmic gifts.

You might also like:

The Venusian Mysteries: Awakening the Sacred Feminine

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Lion’s Gate Portal 8/8: Ancient Origins, Portal Openers, and the Key to Manifestation

During the Lion’s Gate Portal, the Earth, Sirius, the constellation Orion, and our Sun (in Leo the lion), all come into alignment. Though the energy lasts for around two weeks, it’s said to peak on 8/8, bringing in the numerological blessings of this day. Yet long before modern mystics named the Lion’s Gate Portal, ancient Egyptians were celebrating their new year right around the same time…

You’ll likely be hearing a lot about the Lion’s Gate Portal right around now — I even saw an article in Glamour about manifesting with the energy of this day (sometimes the changes I’ve witnessed in our collective consciousness just within my lifetime astound me).

These articles are helpful — but they are not the full story. Here’s what you might not know about the Lion’s Gate Portal…

Sirius — A Portal to Spiritual Wisdom

Sirius is the brightest star in our skies and has played an important role in spiritual traditions throughout the world…and Sirius is the key to opening the Lion’s Gate Portal.

Sirius is the brightest star visible in Earth's night sky and has been revered by various civilizations throughout history. Modern mystics will often refer to Sirius as “The Great Central Sun” — a luminous portal to divine wisdom.

The name "Sirius" is derived from the Greek word "Seirios," meaning "glowing" or "scorcher," which highlights its brilliance — it’s one of the closest stars to the Earth and its luminosity is about 25 times that of our own Sun.

Fun fact: Sirius is a binary star system, meaning that it consists of two stars — a brighter one and smaller white dwarf companion.

In ancient Egypt: Sirius was deified as the goddess Sopdet (Sothis in Greek) and appears as a woman with a five-pointed star upon her head. Sopdet is said to be a form of the goddess Isis, which emphasizes the importance of the stellar being.

Sopdet’s consort was the god Sah — who deified the constellation Orion. Just as Sopdet as associated with Isis, Sah was associated with her consort, Osiris.

Note: Osiris is a god of death and rebirth, transformation and regeneration — something that will become important to remember in the next bit…

The Lion’s Gate Portal 8/8

During the Lion’s Gate Portal, the Earth, Sirius, the constellation Orion, and our Sun (in the sign of Leo, the lion), all come into alignment.

In new thought spiritual communities, this cosmic event is said to activate a celestial portal that allows our manifestations to take form more quickly. It’s a time of collective evolution and an invitation to focus your intentions, connect with spirit, and bring your desires to life.

Though the energy of the Lion’s Gate lasts for around two weeks, it’s said to peak on August 8th (8/8, and next summer will be quite potent at 8/8/8 - 2+0+2+4), bringing in the numerological blessings of this day.

8 is a potent number associated with power, sex, and money, as well as death and rebirth.

(So both the constellation Orion and the number 8 add themes of death and rebirth to this sacred day!)

In astrology, the 8th house is ruled by Mars (in Hellenistic astrology) and Pluto (in modern astrology), and is home to Scorpio, making it our place of deep transformation — we delve into the depths of our psyches to let the old die and regenerate into greater versions of ourselves.

The 8th house is also where we access resources from outside ourselves, including gifts that arrive from others, the earth, and spirit.

With this 8th house energy of transformation and outside gifts, the Lion’s Gate Portal invites us to evolve into the person who is worthy and capable of receiving what we intend to manifest.

And guess what? The 8th card in the Tarot’s major arcana is Strength, a radiant, solar card which, in the traditional Rider-Waite Tarot, features a lion!

The True Mystical Origins of the Lion’s Gate Portal

But let’s be real here. The date 8/8 is a relatively modern invention — the current Gregorian calendar wasn’t established until the 16th century.

This calendar absolutely does add an important energetic signature, and our understanding of the numerological energy of 8 goes back thousands of years, but it’s important to understand that the true origins of the Lion’s Gate Portal are rooted much further in history.

Long before modern mystics named the Lion’s Gate Portal what it is today, ancient Egyptians were celebrating their new year right around the same time.

Sirius's heliacal rising — the first time it becomes visible in the morning sky before sunrise — was associated with the annual flooding of the Nile River, which was a critical event for the region's agriculture and marked the arrival of the Egyptian New Year. (I have an entire article on this celestial event and the Egyptian holy days it portends — if you missed it, you can still read it here.)

Though the celestial gods and their seasons have shifted over time, it’s generally thought that the heliacal rising of Sirius occurs in late July. Late July is of course the start of Leo season and opens the energetic portal of the Lion’s Gate.

So, while we might say this portal peaks on August 8th, the true origins of the Lion’s Gate Portal can be found in the ancient Egyptian New Year.

For me, this makes the Lion’s Gate Portal and powerful time for working with the gods of Egypt. (I’m actually finalizing a set of all-natural Egyptian perfumes, though they won’t be ready for release until the fall.)

Now is the perfect time to work with these rituals and connect with the gods of Egypt.

Portal Openers

I love partnering with plant allies — as herbs, flower essences, essential oils, and of course living plants. They provide us with food and medicine, wisdom and protection, and endless support on our human journeys.

One of my most personally sacred ways of working with the plants is through anointing oils. Spiritual traditions throughout the world have use anointing rituals for blessing, initiation, and protection.

In my own spiritual practice, I work with sacred oils as portal openers.

When I create an alchemical oil or anointing balm, both the energetic signature of the oils used and the ritual transmission of energy I infuse into the oil synergize into a uniquely potent blend.

This unique synergy speaks the language of energy and spirit, opening the way for deeper communication with the spirit world. I often anoint my heart when doing ritual work, as this attunes my own vibration with that of my intentions, opening a portal for greater healing and manifestation.

Whether you feel called to engage with the ritual guide above, or plan on doing your own manifestation practices, I highly recommend working with sacred oils for added potency.

The oils you choose will depend on your intentions. A few of my favorites:

Rose — for love
Basil — for wealth
Helichrysum — for healing
Clove — for protection
Neroli — for spiritual connection

If you make your own oil, be sure to dilute any pure essential oils in a carrier oil — olive oil works wonderfully (aim for about a 5% dilution — this is an energetic blend, so stronger isn’t better).

I’ve created a wealth of potent oils available in the Alchemessence Apothecary. Here are two that are especially potent for Egyptian magick:

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Sacred Scarab Anointing Oil

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Scarab Anointing Oil

I created my new Scarab Anointing Oil specifically for working with Egyptian magic — with true blue lotus absolute, sacred myrrh resin, and many more precious essences to connect you with ancient Egypt. Anointing oils are potent portal activators, and Scarab will help open sacred pathways of communication with the Egyptian deities.

Psst: I have an entire article on the magic of Scarabs here!

You might also like:

The Venusian Mysteries: Awakening the Sacred Feminine

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The Heliacal Rise of Sirius, the Five Sacred Epagomenal Days, and the Egyptian New Year

Though the date varies year over year, mid July generally marks both the Egyptian new year and the preceding Epagomenal Days.

Happy New Year to my fellow practitioners of ancient Egyptian magick.

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Sacred Scarab Anointing Oil

$30.00

Though the date varies year over year, mid July generally marks both the Egyptian new year and the preceding Epagomenal Days. To celebrate, I’m offering a very special Scarab Anointing Oil — which you can read more about, and purchase if you’d like, here:

The Heliacal Rise of Sirius

The ancient Egyptian New Year, known as Wepet Renpet or "Opening of the Year," was celebrated with the annual flooding of the Nile. The inundation of waters after long, dry seasons brought rebirth and fertility to the land, symbolically and literally. Only when the Nile waters returned, could the agriculture that would assure survival take place.

This time of year also marks the heliacal rising of the star Sirius: The first visible appearance of the star in the eastern horizon just before sunrise coincided with the annual flooding of the Nile.

A Nurturing Note on Cancer Season, the Earth’s Birth Chart, and the Egyptian New Year
During my Hermetic Astrology training, which is rooted in ancient Egyptian astrology, I remember seeing the Earth’s birth chart for the first time. And guess which sign was found in the first house, marking the ascendant of the Earth? Cancer.
How beautiful that the watery sign of Cancer welcomed the flooding of the Nile. And how beautiful that Cancer, known to be the sign of nurturing and caregiving, is the rising sign of our Earth, a rare planet filled with the waters that make life possible.

Sirius held great importance in ancient Egyptian cosmology and was considered one of the most significant celestial bodies that traversed the skies.

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This was in part because of the star’s association with the great mother goddess Isis — the stellar goddess Sothis, also known as Sopdet, that personified Sirius was considered a manifestation of Isis (or Auset). The threads of meaning continue to weave a divine tapestry here, as Isis contains the Cancerian and life-giving qualities of motherhood and fertility (in addition to many more aspects, of course).

And it was in part because of the spiritual significance of Sirius for the afterlife — the journey of the deceased through Duat, the realm of the dead, was often depicted as a boat sailing towards Sirius, a destination of spiritual transformation and eternal life.

The Epagomenal Days

The Egyptian epagomenal days, also known as the "Intercalary Days" or Heru-renpet, refer to five days added to the end of the Egyptian solar calendar. The solar calendar consisted of 12 months of 30 days each, resulting in a 360-day year. To align the calendar with the solar year, five extra days were inserted between the end of the old year and beginning of the new.

On each of these days, a great god or goddess was born — product of the union between the sky goddess Nut and earth god Geb (yes, the sky was the cosmic feminine and the earth the fertile masculine in ancient Egypt — a topic for another time!). Celebrations occurred throughout Egypt on every epagomenal day except for the third, which belongs to the unfortunate god Seth. The following is the traditional order:

Day 1: Osiris (also known as Ausar or Wesir)
Day 2: Horus the Elder (also known as Heru-ur)
Day 3: Seth (also known as Set)
Day 4: Isis (also known as Auset)
Day 5: Nephthys (also known as Nebthet)

In Feasts of Light, Normandi Ellis further explores the significance of each day, offering that Osiris’s day was considered a good day to be born, while those born on the day of Horus the Elder would long to return to the skies and their lives on Earth might be short-lived. (While Horus is usually the son of Isis and Osiris, in his ancient form of Horus the Elder, he is son of Nut and Geb.)

The day of Seth was considered to be extremely unlucky — shops were closed and people were warned not to leave their houses. (While I tend take a non-dual approach to deities, Egyptians found the god Seth to be so terrible — i.e., “He Who Makes Terror” — that he is the one primary Egyptian deity I’ve resisted creating a perfume for. What do you think? Would a Seth perfume be healing or harmful? Let me know in the comments, please!)

The birthday of Isis was the most fortunate day of the entire year, a time of beauty, celebration, and the greatest festivities.

The final epagomenal day belongs to the enigmatic goddess Nepthys. Sister to Isis, wife of Seth, Nepthys is associated with mourning and the afterlife, playing a major role in funerary rites. How fitting then, that she marks the final day, the last release of what came before as a year begins anew.

Celebrating the Epagomenal Days with Ritual & Reflection

Here in the West, we celebrate the turning of the year near the winter solstice, welcoming the official start on January 1st. Yet the Egyptian epagomenal days are part of the West’s cultural inheritance, as well, and the gods and goddesses of this pantheon are always available to us.

As we are roughly halfway through our Western year, these five days offer us a beautiful invitation to reflect on our experiences so far as we prepare for what’s to come. The following rituals are designed to help you work with the energy of these sacred days.

*A note on the timing of these days:
Many people like to celebrate the five epagomenal days in July, as that is likely when they took place in ancient Egypt. I like to focus on the days leading up to and around the feast of Mary Magdalene on July 22nd, as she is closely related to Isis and potentially shares a feast day — here, the day of Osiris would fall on July 19th and Nepthys would close the festivities on the 23rd. For those who wish to be more astrologically accurate, the actual Heliacal rising of Sirius will take place between July 24th and September 3rd, depending on your location (source).

Day 1: Osiris

Osiris is a unique god in that he is known for both fertility (his green color associating him with the fertile green earth) and death (he was torn to pieces by his brother Seth). And isn’t death necessary for life, providing compost and nutrients that nourish new forms into being?

Today, meditate on the gifts you’ve received so far this year. Notice what you have needed to let die, and what has been born in its place. Feel the ever-present life force of spirit in and around you — in form, unformed, and changing form all the time.

You may like to ritually release any thoughts, beliefs, projects, patterns, and attachments at this time, so the energy that once kept them alive may become fertile compost for the new delights awaiting you.

Day 2: Horus the Elder

It is said that Horus is twice-born — once of the heavens and once through his mother Isis’s womb. Either way, this falcon god helps us soar to higher perspectives, illuminating divine wisdom through his connection with the sun. Associated with the pharaohs and rulership, Horus invites us to gain new perspectives so we may be better leaders of our own lives.

This day, meditate with the sun. Breathe in sunlight and feel every cell lighting up with solar blessings.

You may like to journal after your meditation, when your mind and heart are clear: What do you most wish to create in the coming part of the year? Where do you need to embody your leadership even more? How can you remind yourself of your divine worthiness to be this leader and receive these blessings?

Day 3: Seth

Seth is the harbinger of death, and while considered an unlucky god, he is given one of the five epagomenal days for a reason — life isn’t all rainbows and unicorns, and the more we accept that there are things in life we don’t like, the more unshakable inner peace we can cultivate.

Nondual meditation is a significant part of my personal spiritual practice. I also practice unity meditations, where I become one with Source and feel the oneness of all existence. These practices are immensely fortifying for my spirit, helping me cultivate embodied resilience, compassion, and presence.

And, as a human, I have preferences. There are some things I like, and some things I don’t like. Can you relate?

Rather than resisting what we don’t like — or trying to push away or transmute our feelings of dislike — we can build psychological health by simply accepting and acknowledging what is.

This is where Seth comes in. We don’t like suffering. We don’t like unfortunate events. Loss, harm, destruction, and cruelty are not things we generally want to experience or witness. Yet when we fully face them, they begin to lose some of their power over us. This is the transformative alchemy of shadow work.

Today, allow yourself to feel all the feelings you’ve pushed away this year. The grief, frustration, shame…Bring the following questions into your meditation: How can you experience these challenging emotions without judging them as bad? What internal shifts do you experience if you allow yourself to dislike these emotions, yet also accept that they’re a normal part of life? See if you can feel a lessening of pressure or tension as you sink deeper into the truth of your experiences.

Any sort of shadow work such as this can be difficult and tender. Fortify yourself with loving kindness before and after this practice. Breathe in the unconditional love of the universe. Remind yourself that your true nature is always whole, loving, and loved.

Day 4: Isis

Isis is a goddess of many dimensions. Fertility and motherhood, magic and wisdom, beauty and shapeshifting, royalty and self worth, earthly and celestial realms… Isis is the goddess of many names.

What names do you bear? Parent. Child. Lover. Teacher. Healer. Creative. Scholar. Warrior. Guide. Advocate. Wisdomkeeper. Human.

You are all of these words and, like Isis, you are more.

Today, take time to celebrate the roles you’ve played or still play in this life. Allow the gifts and blessings, those given and received, to arise within your consciousness.

Then ask yourself, what else? What areas of your being remain untapped? What names have you been afraid to own, and where does that resistance originate?

In today’s meditation, imagine yourself in a giant sphere of energy or light. See all the names you’ve taken on to fill this space. Then expand your sphere even more — notice the new space this creates. What might arise when given room? What new names long to be born through your time, energy, and intention? And what ever-present name lies at the heart of the sphere, representing your most authentic, whole self?

Day 5: Nepthys

Nepthys rules the dreamworld, guiding us into what is unseen, just beyond the veils of perception. As a goddess of sorrow, she has no fear of looking into the dark, for she has already faced the sadness of life and still walks forth with a heart filled with love.

If you’ve tended to your daily meditations and rituals so far, you have acknowledged and released what no longer serves. You have embraced your true self worth. You have faced the dark sides of life and emerged with love. You have expanded your understanding of who you truly are.

Now, the groundwork is in place for you, like Nepthys, to see beyond your past veils of perception.

In today’s meditation, ask what may I now see that has previously been hidden? Depending on your heart’s subtle intentions, this might reveal insights into your purpose, the answers to problems you’ve been struggling with, inspiration for your next move, or even a peek into your future. Trust that whatever arises is perfect for right now.

Want these ceremonies in a beautiful, full-color PDF you can download and keep? Well here you go!

How to Work with the Shadow Work Portal

We are in a potent gateway for shadow work right now, with layers upon layers of celestial support for our integration.

Beginning with our transit into Scorpio on October 22nd, and continuing into a 2-week eclipse window from October 25th to November 8th, you’re invited to illuminate and integrate any shadows that are preventing you from stepping into your full authenticity, wholeness, and power.

Let’s take a look at some key dates and themes…

how to work with the 2022 shadow work portal - new moon scorpio, venus alignment, eclipse season

We are in a potent gateway for shadow work right now, with layers upon layers of celestial support for our integration.

Let’s take a look at some key dates and themes…

🖤 On October 22nd, our Sun entered the sign of Scorpio—the sign most aligned with diving deep into our unconscious and not just facing, but embracing, our shadows.

Hidden motives; so-called “darker” impulses; unseen power dynamics; sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll…Scorpio guides into the midnight waters of our inner worlds so we can free ourselves from shame, see truths that have been hidden, and embrace the unfiltered fullness of who we really are.

🖤 Also on October 22nd, we saw the rebirth of Venus as the Evening Star. In her Morning Star phase, Venus guides us on a descent into the underworld—the Venusian goddess Inanna’s journey to her dark sister. Now, in her Evening Star phase, Venus ascends—Inanna has integrated her shadows and emerges fully in her sovereign power.

This date is a tipping point for us. If you’ve been doing the work, the final pieces will now come into completion during our current shadow gateway.

🖤 Venus is in Libra for this turn of her journey, as well—a homecoming to her ruling planet. This auspicious alignment softens and beautifies our shadowy integration, though it may not feel so lovely when you’re in the thick of it. A full cleansing of the heart chakra is possible here.

🖤 On October 25th, we experience the New Moon in Scorpio AND a Solar Eclipse The dark moon, in Scorprio’s shadows, with the light of the Sun also dimmed…The cosmos are making it as clear as possible that we have universal support for shadow integration at this time. Take advantage of the magic.

🖤 The Celtic New Year invites us to release the old and begin anew. Samhain, what we commonly call Halloween, marks the New Year for the indigenous people of Europe.

Not so much a single day, the New Year is a short seasonal window when the veils between worlds are thin. Our ancestors are more present (hello Dia de Los Muertos) and the fae can more easily communicate with us. With proper protection in place, these spirit helpers can be powerful allies in seeing what has previously been hidden.

Whether through meditation, journaling, sacred ceremony and ritual, you have support for deep inner work right now. Let’s collectively release our shame and feelings of unworthiness. Let’s collectively remember our wholeness and power. And let’s collectively bring our full selves to our soul purposes.

I’ve curated a few of my favorite allies for shadow work below. May they bring you support on your journey!

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Inanna

from $45.00

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Poison Plant Essence Set

$90.00

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The Venusian Mysteries: Awakening the Sacred Feminine

The only planet named for a female deity, Venus is a loving and bright ally in restoring the sacred feminine to cosmic balance.

I awoke before dawn, set the kettle for tea, and gazed out my windows into the still dark sky, just a soft glow on the horizon suggested the light was returning.

As I peered between the giant evergreen bows that reach across my yard, I was greeted by the most beautiful sight—Venus. Rising in her morning star phase, Venus lit up like a beacon in the lapiz sky, calling my soul to recognize her presence.

venus as morning star — my morning view of Venus

Venus is a planet but also a celestial deity, and her gifts for humanity lie in helping us come into cosmic balance with the sacred feminine qualities of beauty, love, relationships, sensuality, and pleasure.

Venus is a planet of beauty—symbolically and literally. Her presence shines brightest from our vantage upon the earth, and her trajectory creates a magnificent, symmetrical pattern.

The only planet named for a female deity, Venus is a loving and bright ally in restoring the sacred feminine to cosmic balance.

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Restoring the Feminine to Cosmic Balance with Beauty and Astrology

Anyone who’s gazed at Venus in her bright morning star phase can understand why the ancients associated this planet with beauty. I wonder if they also knew her trajectory through our skies is the most symmetrical of all the planets: Over an 8-year period, Venus makes 13 orbits around the sun and has 5 conjunctions with the earth. Visually, this creates a beautiful mandala based on the golden ratio—a pentagram of petals—which you can see in the image below.

The 13 orbits that bring Venus back to her place of origin in our skies tie this planet to the feminine—13 has long been associated with women because of how we cycle and bleed with the 13 moons of the year.

Even the symbol for the planet Venus is the same as that which commonly represents the feminine—a circle sitting upon a cross: ♀ If we see the circle as the infinite cycle and wholeness, and the cross as representing the four elements and four directions—that which makes our material reality—we can see this symbol as also calling forth the intersection of spirit and earth.

In this symbol, we can see how Venus helps us bring spirit into manifest form—just as women bring spirit into form through the birthing process.

In astrology, Venus rules both Taurus and its home, the 2nd house, along with Libra and its home, the 7th house. Together, these elements celebrate the many qualities of Venus — the earthy, sensuality of Taurus, the values and emotions and sexiness of the 2nd house, the high culture and beauty of Libra, and the love and partnership of the 7th house.

Here, not only are the sacred qualities of the feminine celebrated, but they once again symbolize the harmonization of earth and spirit. Anytime we’re able to ground into the beauty of nature and the present moment, we experience Venusian blessings.

The Venusian Deities

Though Venus is represented through a few male deities in different cultures (see below!), the vast majority of Venusian deities are female, especially within the cultures that have most influenced my own Western heritage.

The Greek goddess Aphrodite is perhaps the most well-known Venusian deity for many of us, as she even carried the name Venus to the Romans. Yet if we trace the evolution of Aphrodite through time, we find that she may well have been born from earlier goddesses—Isis, or Auset, in Egypt, and Inanna, also known as Ishtar and Astarte, in Sumeria. All three goddesses carry the mantle of being Venusian goddesses of the ancient world.

Psst: You can get a free booklet filled with rituals to connect with Isis and other Egyptian deities here.

Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, unknown artist, Burney Relief

“Freyja and the Necklace” by James Doyle Penrose (1890)

In the Norse worlds, we see both Freya and Frigg associated with Venus. Both goddesses embody qualities of love, romance, fertility, and sacred sexuality, though Freya is more independent in her expression and Frigg, as the wife of Odin, is more matrimonial (many sources also conflate the goddesses into one). Interestingly, Friday is named for Frigg, and guess which planet rules Friday? Venus.

Frigg by José-Patricio Aguirre — *art by José-Patricio Aguirre*

Now, let’s get a bit heretical…Do you know what the Roman word for Venus was? Lucifera. Yup. The very same word co-opted by Christans to describe the devil. Lucifera was used almost as suffix to many goddesses and sacred women’s names—Diana Lucifera most famously, but also Mary Magdalene, who was sometimes referred to as Mary Lucifera.

Sex & Resurrection

Saint Mary Magdalene by Bernardino Luini

From what we know of Mary Magdalene, it’s likely she was not only a consort of Jesus but also a priestess in her own right. At the time, the art of sacred sexuality was practiced in the temples for communion and healing. And sex, in this sacred sense, is as Venusian as it gets—the sensuality, the romance, and harmony between masculine and feminine, and the fertile outcomes once again bringing spirit into material form.

And while we’re looking at sacred sexuality in this Venusian context, it’s interesting to note the parallels between Isis bringing Osiris back to life and immediately consummating with him (which led to not only the birth of Horus but brought fertility to the land), and Mary Magdalene being the first to witness the resurrection of Jesus. I wonder if the way in which she anointed him before death, loved him beyond life, and cried tears of power into the earth, contributed to the magic that brought him back to life like Osiris.

As a note on the theme of resurrection, we also see another Venusian goddess Aphrodite bring Adonis back to life through her pleas after he was killed by a wild boar.

It seems the Venusian power so naturally held by women—the power to commune with spirit, enjoy sensual pursuits, and bring life into being through the force of love—was a bit too threatening for the Church…

These tales of resurrection are also reflected in Venus’s orbit, as the planet cycles towards and away from the sun, symbolizing a natural cycle of birth and death.

The tale of the Venusian goddesses Inanna offers us a good reflection of how women can embody this cycle within themselves. Unlike the goddesses who resurrect their lovers to bring fertility to themselves and the land, Inanna is the one resurrected in her tale, modeling the feminine drive to face our shadows and integrate into wholeness. (Interestingly, she is hung on a cross before becomming resurrected…sound familiar?)

modern interpretation of Quetzalcoatl by BenArtsStudio on DeviantArt

The Venusian Masculine

Back to the male Venusian dieties…by far the most well-known masculine Venusian deity in modern days is Quetzalcoatl, a meso-American god. Quetzalcoatl was known as a feathered-serpent deity who brought fertile growth to the land. Again, we see the liminal meeting of spirit and earth in bird and snake, as well as sacred sexuality and fertility. In many ways, Quetzalcoatl offers us a model for how those in men’s bodies can embody the much-needed gifts of Venusian blessings, reminding us that we all have sacred masculine and feminine qualities within.

It’s time to allow Venus to upgrade our hearts.

As a planet that reminds us of the power of love, Venus could not be more important for us to connect with right now.

I am, like I’m sure many of you are, an empath.

Being an empath is not only a gift but is also the natural state of all humans, the state we are born into before culture and trauma cuts our hearts away from our innate ways of knowing.

But being a really strong empath during times of mass hysteria, conflict, and trauma can be rough, even with the knowledge and skills to navigate these times.

I find the vitriol, judgment, and especially righteousness I see online and in social media pressure cookers to be acutely painful. Just about all news—from left to right and mainstream to alt—has become a web of incendiary propaganda. When I turn into certain locations, I can energetically sense oppressive webs of fear hijacking people’s sovereignty.

In all of these examples, I think what I find most heartbreaking is that people are being pulled off their path of spiritual evolution and heart-centered living. They are losing touch with what will actually help humanity survive the changes upon us: love and connection, with each other and the earth.

Venus is a powerful ally in coming back into our hearts and allowing the wisdom of love to lead the way.

Right now, Venus is in her heliacal rise toward the sun, allowing her divine beauty to be strengthened with solar blessings. Now it’s time to let the light of Venus and the Sun illuminate and strengthen the love within all of us.

A PRACTICE

If possible, locate Venus in the sky — depending on her movements, dawn or dusk will be the best time.
Anoint your heart center with a sacred oil, preferably one containing rose — one of Venus’s favorite flowers. (The perfumes below are perfect for this practice.)
See the fragrant oil or perfume open a portal into your heart, a protected one that can only be entered by Venus herself.
Inhale, and feel Venusian blessings flow into your heart center.
When this practice feels complete, see the portal in your heart seal safely and give thanks to Venus.
As you go about your day, notice feelings of love and being loved fill your being. Practice seeing the world through a gaze of appreciation and gratitude for the beauty of life. Delight in the sensual experience of being embodied. Remember your true value and worth.

The Sensual Delight of Venusian Perfume

What could be more Venusian than a perfume dedicated to the goddess?

As a triple Libra, Venus is my ruling planet — meaning she’s especially influential in my life. It’s no wonder beauty is my core life code (you can read my artist statement here, just scroll down a bit). While I’ve always been an artist and experiment with many mediums, when I create perfumes I know they come straight from my soul.

Many of the perfumes I’ve designed are dedicated to Venusian goddesses — so many, in fact, that I’ve decided to offer them all in a single discovery set.

The Venusians Discovery Set includes six 1ml samples in glass vials, each perfume is all-natural (I’ve studied with the preeminent natural perfumers of today) and infused with the Venusian energy of goddesses from around the world

If you’re inspired to try these alchemical perfumes, please enjoy 10% off as my thanks for reading here :) Good now through the end of Venus’s retrograde on September 3rd, 2023. Use VENUSRX at checkout.

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The Age of Aquarius & Psychic Protection

As we collectively shift into the Age of Aquarius, the vibrational density of our planet is changing. Our own density is changing. It’s becoming easier for us to connect with various realms of the multidimensional world we live in―and the many beings who inhabit those realms. What does this mean, and what additional protection might be needed?

Have you felt extra sensitive or emotional lately? Has your intuition felt super on point? Maybe there seems to be more strange phenomena happening around you? Or maybe you’ve even had weird health issues pop up?

This phenomena is impacting all of our lives in a few interesting ways:

⭐️Even people who haven’t felt especially “psychic” in the past are finding that their empathic abilities are increasing, which can feel really disconcerting if you’re not used to it

⭐️The thoughts we have, and words we speak, tend to manifest and take form more quickly than in the past

⭐️Gurus and any teachers who need their students to be dependent upon them for spiritual wisdom will continue to fall (find teachers who empower you to find your own answers!)

⭐️Many people’s spiritual lights are shining brighter, and the various spiritual beings around us recognize this

⭐️For those who know how to keep their energy clear and align with soul, this will continue to be a powerful time of joy, purpose, and service

⭐️It’s easier to get hijacked by other people’s (and other being’s) energy unless you up your protection skills

There is a lot more going on that meets the eye, and all of us are affected by this energy whether we realize it or not.

But this isn’t something to be scared of! It’s actually very empowering to recognize the energetic influences at play in our lives, and to know we have the power to keep our own energy protected and clear.

Each month I offer a virtual shamanic journey circle, and this month, we’ll explore psychic protection.

I was recently taught a new protection practice from my helping spirits, and while it borrows elements from Western Magick and Egyptian Mysticism, as far as I know, it’s a unique practice that is perfect for the times we live in. I’m honored to be the messenger that gets to share this practice with you.

If you’d like to join us, be sure to sign up below!

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Materials:

Steps:

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On Collapse.

Romanticism, Realism, and Hope

Information overload is real — and it’s making people cray (for those born circa 1980) and delulu (for the Zs).

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As above, so below.

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Call on Serket for:

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Download Your FREE Guide to Flower Essences