Read more

How are you faring in these wild times? I’m doing ok. Foundations are shifting in my life and probably yours too. I’m not a person who fears change, I welcome it, and am addicted to it honestly. But I know not everyone thrives in a state of destabilization. The good news is: starting with this weekend’s new moon in Taurus, we’re about to experience the best astrology of the year. While January brought hard resets, February shook things loose, and March and April felt relentless, May and June allow some space to breathe and take a big stretch. Things go off the rails again in late June/early July, but the next few weeks are very nice.

The best astrological dates coming up are: May 19 & 20 and June 8. Whatever inklings come out of the ether during this weekend’s new moon may turn into initiative on those dates. Or if you’re planning to put something out into the world, may I suggest those as a cute time?

Some notes before we get down to business:

• I’ll be opening my books for late May and June on the 20th, if you’d like to be on the waitlist/be notified about that, please sign up here

• Paid subscribers, mark your calendar for May 29 at 1 pm ET - more info to come, but this will be an (online) astro hang, AMA, impromptu chart reading, talk about the astro of the month ahead, etc. If you’re not a paid subscriber and want to join, become one today!

There’s a New Moon in Taurus on Saturday, May 16 at 4 pm ET. The Sun and Moon will meet in the sky at 25º Taurus. This New Moon happens at the degree of the fixed star, Algol.

Algol (from “Ras al Ghul” in Arabic which translates to “Head of the Demon”) is what’s called a binary star. It’s made up of two stars—one bright and one faint—revolving around each other. Every three days the fainter star passes in front of the brighter one and eclipses it. With this pas de deux, Algol gives the universe a wink.

The ancients associated Algol with Medusa, imagining it was an eye on the gorgon’s head. The eclipse was the demon laughing after making her kill. Algol is associated mythically with feminine rage. Not the second wave feminist kind, but one that remains on the outskirts, eschews the mainstream. Algol is the maligned idea of “losing one’s head” during battle or an “important meeting.”

Algol has long been a fascination of mine, partly because I have the planet Mars at the exact degree of the fixed star (26º Taurus) in my birth chart. Charlize Theron, who of course played the titular Monster, Aileen Wuornos, but who also played my favorite monstrous woman in the history of cinema, Mavis Gary in Young Adult, also has Mars on Algol. And so does Gabby Windey, reality television star, and IMO, the world’s last hope for performance art.

Gabby Windey started her public life on The Bachelor, a reality show created by a man, in which a group of women compete to receive attention and validation from one man. Once she was in the public eye, she quickly took her feminine narrative into her own hands. She was cast as The Bachelorette, where she was the one looking for love in a pool of desperate men, and her season was the first to feature two women at the helm rather than one (a binary star perhaps?). In 2023, after her Bachelor/Bachelorette-initiated relationships failed, she came out as a lesbian on The View, and less than two years later, married her partner, the queer comedian, Robby Hoffman.

Less than a decade ago, Gabby might have been written off as a “crazy girl” or “having a phase,” and shunned to the 15 minutes of fame graveyard. But her coming out, rejecting men, and being herself only increased her fame. She hosts a weekly podcast, Long Winded, which sometimes features guests, but often is just Gabby in her sunglasses, sitting on her couch, reciting spells about her mental health, her struggles to be productive as a depressed person during capitalism, and her biting takes on wealthy, famous men. Gabby’s popularity and continued rise signals that we’re at a turning point in how we tell stories of feminine rage. Are mythic figures like Medusa and Lilith really villains? Or is that just the story we’ve been told?

Despite the rising popularity of rageful, “monstrous” women, I wouldn’t say society has fully caught up. The government is still trying to crush reproductive rights, and J.D. Vance has written his wife into The Handmaid’s Tale. But I notice women shrinking into old narratives in sillier, more mundane places as well.

Like when I see alt-influencer Caroline Calloway aggressively posting to her Instagram stories about how her recent situationship fumbled her, a man who, per her telling of it, lived in a penthouse and was paying for her life while she did the household chores.

Or when a family member comments, offhanded yet upset, that my Gen Z nephew’s 21 year old girlfriend was expected to “split the bill” in her last relationship.

Or when I admit that a few years ago, I fell into a limerent obsession with my software engineer ex because I felt my only path to housing security was moving into his one bedroom apartment with bad light.

These little stories remind me that we’re still stuck in the narrative that women deserve to be “taken care of,” which comes from the story that women need to be tamed. Medusa, Lilith and Algol, these demons and gorgons and “man killers,” are characters written by what Riane Eisler calls a domination society, what has become known, ad nauseum, as “the patriarchy.” But humans haven’t always lived like this.

The matriarchal cultures of the past—called partnership societies by Eisler, which existed all over the world, before the Bronze Age and the rise of dominators—were in touch with lunar cycles of death and rebirth. In the patriarchal era, death, like feminine rage, has become something to fear. American culture is especially afraid of death, no better illustrated by Trump, an Emperor with no clothes, wearing nothing but his adult diapers. American gerontocracy reveals how little we care for our elders, as everyone is expected to be permanently performing their so-called crime. But it’s also becoming painfully obvious in 2026 that the dominator society is dying. The power is mutating.

Whether it’s a mutation back to the matriarchal, or toward something else entirely, we’re entering a time that may not cast Algol as a demon. Perhaps the winking star is meant to become blasé, normal. As normal as Gabby Windey starting each of her podcasts with an update on her current cocktail of psychiatric medication.

As this new moon in Taurus approaches, I’ve found that this theme of women who refuse to be tamed has come up over and over again in my reading and media consumption. Watching The Maintenance Artist at IFC last week, I learned about public artist Mierle Laderman Ukeles who made domestic labor into art to rebel against the purity test of being a male genius. Reading Alicia Kennedy’s memoir On Eating, I discovered the beautiful ways in which she used food and the art of feeding others to find herself rather than get lost in a void of thankless service. And then in Lena Dunham’s memoir Famesick—which I propulsively read in three days—I found horror (and recognition) in how Lena’s mantra-like stance to be a “good girl,” led her farther and farther astray.

Lena Dunham, fabulous writer, problematic public figure, and creator of the 2010s monocultural television series GIRLS, turned 40 this week. She was of course born with the Sun near the fixed star Algol. A recent New York Times interview feature with her was titled “Lena Dunham Is Still Trying to Figure Out Why People Hated Her So Much.” That title could only be written about someone with Algol (and Lilith) prominently featured in their birth chart. Though Dunham has done and said quite a few genuinely enraging things in her career, she’s maligned, mostly, for the crime of telling her own story.

I was struck reading Famesick by how her indie film inclinations were shaped for a mass HBO audience by Judd Apatow and Jenni Konner, two writers who know how to wrap a story up with a neat little bow. Two star students of success under capitalism. Which makes me wonder: is the most enraging thing about Lena her relentless self expression? Or is it how that self expression got packaged? Perhaps it’s based in the lie—that we all bought into throughout the 2010s and into the 2020s, and is only now starting to crack—that we all must be for everyone. Lena isn’t for everyone. Neither is Lilith. Nor is anyone.

From 2012 until 2024, Neptune—planet of our shared idealization—was in Pisces, and Pluto—planet of abuse, extremes, and decay—was in Capricorn. Capricorn wants high quality: diamonds and stone castles and guarantees. Pisces is burdened with seeing everything from everyone’s POV (except, often, their own): empathy for all is empathy for none.

But now, Neptune has moved into Aries, and Pluto has moved into Aquarius. Our shared ideals are shifting away from seeking the answer outside ourselves, and toward an idealization of grit and resilience. Our obsessive fixations are focused less on the material (Capricorn), and more on the ideological (Aquarius). Hoarding thoughts replaces hoarding wealth. Neither is good or bad. But it is different. The goal posts have shifted.

The world changes when people, as a collective, are willing to live differently, to worship idols differently (or not at all), and in this moment, that also requires freeing ourselves from left-over 20th century ideals of order and success. It’s about freeing ourselves of being a “good girl,” or being afraid of being “too much,” or sharing only what’s polite. This new moon is blunt and forceful in what it’s trying to say, but it’s not a hard birth.

Is it fear that comes along with that wink of rebellion? Or is it a sigh or relief?

Subscribe now

This weekend’s new moon in Taurus is part of a lunar phase family that connects it to these other points in time:

A last quarter moon in Taurus on August 16, 2025.

A full moon in Taurus on November 15, 2024.

A first quarter moon in Taurus on February 16, 2024.

A new moon in Taurus on May 19, 2023.

What stories were consuming your life during these moments? How would you like to rewrite that narrative now?

This is the first new moon in Taurus since 2018 (or even 2017 if you look at it a certain way) without Uranus—planet of disruption—in the sign of the bull too. Over the past eight years, you’ve likely experienced a lot of things that have made you extremely uncomfortable. But you’ve probably also gotten very comfortable with some of those things that once made you uncomfortable. You probably have some new superpowers. What are they? How can you put them to use?

UPDATES

• ICYMI, this newsletter is now called DESIRE LINES. Read about it here.

• Paid subscribers, save the date for May 29 at 12 pm ET for an (online) astro hang, etc.

• If you want to be on the waitlist for May/June readings, sign up here.

• I’m reading: as mentioned above, I read Alicia Kennedy’s On Eating this week. Now diving into Art Monsters…

• I’m listening to: don’t @ me, but Noah Kahan’s new album. When I found out he also has OCD, I went straight there.

• I’m watching: Hacks !!!

• I’m eating: Really been on a green cabbage kick these days. Strange for me. I’m usually much more into purple cabbage.

Listen, if you’re resisting something right now, I want to ask: why? I’m not asking because it’s a particularly auspicious time to begin something. It’s not. But the vibe right now is: you must follow what lights you up. There’s really no other choice.

As this hits your inbox, the Sun is joined by three planets in the cardinal fire sign of Aries: Mars, Saturn, and Neptune. On Tuesday April 14, Mercury will enter Aries. Then on April 15, the Moon will join the Aries party, making it six. On April 17, there is a new moon in Aries. That’s a lot of Aries. There have been at least three planets in Aries since March 5, and there will be at least three planets in Aries until May 18. Saturn and Neptune are both in Aries to stay for years. None of these calculations are even including Chiron—not a planet in the astrological sense, but definitely a presence—which has been in Aries since 2019. Ruled by Mars, Aries is a sign that initiates, that leads us into battle, and as Adele once sang, “sets fire to the rain.”

You don’t need an astrologer to tell you that all of this Aries is a pretty clear sign of war. On April 19, Mars will meet Saturn in the sky. Mercury meets up with both planets on the 19th and 20th. Mars cuts and severs while Saturn rejects and upholds. What’s interesting is that: Mars is at home in Aries, while Saturn—a planet that prefers maturity and longevity—feels miscast in the boyish sign. Mars is running up the mountain while Saturn is taking a circuitous path up the Sisyphean blaze of a hill. Mars-Saturn aspects can feel like a traffic jam, and this one is spiked with extra road rage.

In ancient times, Mars-Saturn conjunctions, which happen once every two years, were indicators of the coming war cycle. Would the enemy come by land or by sea? Would the kingdom burst into flames or be consumed by a flood?

In our personal lives, I find that Mars-Saturn conjunctions map onto cycles of conflict and challenge. Mapping a Mars-Saturn cycle onto your personal life often reveals a struggle. Plus strength and resilience.

Our last Mars-Saturn conjunction was on April 10, 2024 in Pisces. What conflicts or challenges were coming up for you at that time? What problem did you need to solve?

On August 16, 2024, Mars and Saturn came into a square aspect. What came to a turning point here? What remedies and fixes did you try? Did the problem get better or worse?

A year later, on August 8, 2025, Mars faced off with Saturn. At this time, both planets were in uncomfortable signs. Mars was in all-sides-considered Libra, and Saturn was in brutish Aries. Did you take a pause or did you keep going? What compromises did you make?

Finally on December 8, 2025, Mars and Saturn squared off again, and there was another turning point in this cycle. What Hail Marys came through or didn’t? What fix finally worked? What long game finally started paying off?

In the last few weeks as Mars and Aries came into contact with each other once again, you probably brushed up against a pain point or two. One last gasp of the old way. On April 19, a new Mars-Saturn cycle begins. At the Mars-Saturn conjunction, yes new problems begin, but old problems also come to an end. There’s frustration but also a little relief. You solved it. Now onto the next one.

///

The last Mars-Saturn cycle for me brought up a lot of issues around my health and my work-life balance. As someone who is usually very blessed when it comes to my physical health (thank you exalted Venus in my 6th house of dis-ease), I started this Mars-Saturn cycle with pneumonia that lasted four months. Getting sick like that forced me to take a break and evaluate my life, which had become totally unsustainable over the preceding years. My life was a delicate game of Jenga, and at the last Mars-Saturn conjunction in April 2024, the whole structure started to wobble. By the square in August 2024, it had fallen, and since then, I’ve been building a new structure. One that does not involve Jenga tiles.

As the Mars-Saturn conjunction approached over the past few weeks, I got sick again. It was only acutely bad for a few days. But as I lay feverish in bed on the worst day of it, I thought back to writing horoscopes and recording podcasts and sending emails through much worse back in 2024. This time, I did not push, I barely had the energy to watch House of Villains. I have new problems now, but my problem is no longer hustling through sickness and pretending I’m fine at all costs.

///

I did get some culture in during my 2026 viral palooza though. Per the suggestion of tastemaker (and my dear friend) Ryan Streit, I sat up in my sick bed to watch S1M0NE (2002), a movie that tells the story of washed-up film director Victor Tarransky (portrayed in a comedic fit by Al Pacino) and the titular Simone, the world’s first CGI actress. Tarransky creates Simone to save his career (and his marriage), but fails to anticipate that the entire world will fall in love with—and demand to meet— his AI girlfriend. Simone is nothing more than some good pre-sets and a pretty face, but it doesn’t take long for her to consume—and nearly ruin—Tarransky’s entire life.

S1M0NE was written by Andrew Niccol, who also wrote The Truman Show (1998). Having rewatched both recently, I couldn’t stop thinking about why these films from the turn of the millennium felt so prescient in 2026? At their core, both are about how a singular “artistic” “vision” is valued over authentic human connection in our culture. Both speak of the dangers of parasocial relationships and tech addiction. Something that is coming to a head in 2026 with Pluto in Aquarius and Uranus about to enter Gemini. Both movies also left me with some thoughts on the current state of Hollywood and “celebrity.” In 2002, icon of stage and screen, Al Pacino was the star of S1M0NE, a silly movie with a $10 million budget. I keep thinking about how Timothée Chalamet would never sign on to do a movie like that. Not even in his fifties. It wouldn’t be “serious” enough for him. End stage capitalism has made us all (read: mostly men) think it’s our god given right to be taken seriously. Even when the job is to entertain.

Aries is the home of Mars, and the exaltation of the Sun. The desire to be something and make something of oneself is the life force of Aries. Ambition is non-negotiable. It’s rare to find an Aries who lacks some kind of drive. If that energy doesn’t go inward, then it goes to someone else. Aries are the zodiac’s cheerleaders. But when Saturn is in Aries, we are not seeking traditional paths to power. We are paving alternative roads to success, and hopefully joy.

Saturn in Pisces exposed our disappointments in the system, and Saturn in Aries tasks us with finding a new way. As this Aries stellium gathers force, Lena Dunham is about to release her second memoir, Famesick. Lena is a Taurus but she has the North Node in Aries. The North Node represents what we’re hungry for in this life. Her first memoir, Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She’s Learned was released on September 30, 2014. It was a Libra book baby, highlighting Lena’s South Node in the sign of the eternal balancing act. Those born with the South Node in Libra are good at cleaning up and vibing through the mess. But with their North Node in Aries, they’re meant to grow into living by no one’s rules but their own. It’s funny that Lena’s second memoir, the one where she’s getting real about addiction and illness and the prison of fame, is being released under this massive Aries stellium. Sometimes it’s not worth dressing up or playing the game. Sometimes you have to go naked to the Met Gala, and clean up later.

This week calls for taking a messy approach, a loud, fast, and funny approach. Venus is in Taurus and Jupiter is in Cancer. Despite the struggle, there’s some beauty in the breakdown. Why wait for the right moment when the momentum is now?

UPDATES:

• ICYMI, this newsletter is now called DESIRE LINES. Read about it here.

• MY BOOKS ARE OPEN FOR DATES IN APRIL. I missed making a more official announcement about this because I was sick. You can book here.

• I’m reading: This excerpt (also linked above) of Lena Dunham’s new memoir, Famesick. We gotta give it to Lena. She’s an amazing writer. Some Jaime lore: I once had a Tumblr called “Lena Dunham Nightmares” on which I wrote Girls recaps and wrote wannabe Thought Catalog articles (tragically deleted by accident in 2018). I also made a show called Too Many Lenas.

• I’m watching: Jury Duty, the original season, because I was not on Planet Earth in 2023.

• I’m eating: What does everyone eat for breakfast? I have found that the only thing that truly makes me happy in the morning is yogurt + granola. This is what I ate everyday during the only time in my life when I had a full time office job (2018), and for some reason it signals “Time to get to work.” But I also feel like it has too much sugar. I should probably switch to morning miso soup.

That being said, I wanted to pop in and remind you all that CLASS STARTS MONDAY.

HOW TO WRITE A HOROSCOPE

Monday nights, 6-8 pm, March 30-April 20 with a closing class convening on Friday, April 24

at Abrons Arts Center via The School of Making Thinking

You can register here.

Tuition starts at $75!!!!!! A steal!!!!

Yes, that’s right. I’m teaching a 4-week IRL class via The School of Making Thinking. It’s called HOW TO WRITE A HOROSCOPE. Together, we will learn some Astro 101, dive into the history of horoscopic writing (did you know Sun Sign horoscopes were created by someone named Alan LEO), discuss our charts and those of our favorite public figures, and learn to write horoscopes like one learns to pluck out some chords on an acoustic guitar.

I don’t “believe” in astrology (it’s not something that requires “belief. Do you “believe” in Math??????), but I do believe that everyone can (and should) write their own horoscope.

As I dive into this class this month, it’s also the first month since July 2019 that I’m not writing consistent weekly and monthly horoscopes for an online magazine. I’ve written almost 500 horoscope columns (not counting any for this newsletter!!!) and I have a lot to say about the practice itself. Also thank you for your patience this month as I took a much needed break from astro writing. For the first time since 2019, I did not have constant awareness of the daily transits. And let me tell you: ignorance is bliss!!!

Other things I’m enjoying in the hellscape that is 2026:

• my Brick device

• the Clearspace app - most effective app blocker I’ve ever used

• karaoke?!

• Sunny’s bar in Red Hook on Saturday nights

• Survivor watch parties at Crystal Lake

Ok that’s all for now. I wrote this on the Substack app, and I don’t like that I can do that. But desperate (feverish) times call for desperate (inelegant) measures.

Let me know how your Aries season is going!

And if you’re in NYC, come to class!!

Saturn and Neptune at the first degree of Aries is the threshold of a new world. Societal collapse comes with joyful rebirth. Another apt title for this week might be what Hilary Duff called her first new album in 20 years, luck…or something.

As someone who watches patterns for a living, I can’t help but notice how loud the symbols and cycles are right now. Aries is not a subtle sign. These are not subtle times. I’ve been documenting what I’ve noticed so far in a Notes app doc:

My favorite of these stories right now is that of Alysa Liu who won gold in women’s figure skating at the Olympics on February 19. Alysa grew up a skating prodigy, winning two national championships in 2019 and 2020, at the ages of 13 and 14. After placing 6th at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, she announced on Instagram that she, at the age of 16, would be retiring from figure skating. Alysa took two years off from skating, and then in 2024, at the age of 18, she decided to make a comeback. This time, she would be skating on her own terms. She hired her own coaches, and picked her own costumes and music. She trained on her own schedule: ramping it up when it was necessary and pulling back when she was too exhausted. She prioritized her mental health and time with friends, and found the joy in expressing her natural talents. She declared that figure skating was her art.

Figure skating is not a sport known for comebacks. Because of what it demands from the body, women figure skaters usually reach their prime in their late teens, and from there, it’s diminishing returns. But Alysa’s return was anything but a flop. She quickly won a National and World Championship, and now, at the age of 20, has an Olympic Gold medal.

Liu’s free skate on February 19 was the encapsulation of pure joy. Dressed in a sparkly gold costume, she performed with flawless technique and an improvisational spirit to Donna Summer’s “MacArthur Park Suite.” The song “MacArthur Park,” which Summers is covering in the 17-minute sprawling disco track, is a surreal song about the collapse of a relationship, lyrically perfect for these Saturn-Neptune times:

MacArthur Park is melting in the dark
All the sweet, green icing flowing down
Someone left the cake out in the rain
I don’t think that I can take it
‘Cause it took so long to bake it
And I’ll never have that recipe again
Oh, no

The original “MacArthur Park” was written in 1967 and released in 1968, the last time Saturn was in Aries.

Another interesting cycle marker: Alysa Liu’s father, Arthur Liu, was a student leader in China’s Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. He left the country as a political refugee after the protests, and eventually ended up in the US. Alysa was his first child, born in 2005 via surrogate when Arthur was 40. Arthur Liu nurtured Alysa’s skating talent throughout her childhood, but she eventually needed to rebel against him, firing him from her team when she made her comeback in 2024. Alysa’s father was a radical during the last Saturn-Neptune conjunction, and during this one, she harnessed her own rebellion into victory.

As she left the camera after her free skate, Alysa Liu looked directly into the live broadcasting camera, and yelled “THAT’S WHAT I’M FUCKING TALKING ABOUT,” with a huge smile on her face.

These words, and the attitude behind them, are a battle cry for the next three years of Saturn in Aries and next 14 years of Neptune in Aries, and especially for this year of the Saturn-Neptune conjunction.

As personal time aligns with universal time, I can’t help but notice so many people in my periphery making big moves. My Instagram feed was filled with announcements this week: moving countries, breakups, job transitions, etc. A heartbreaking Saturn-Neptune reveal for me was that my favorite bookshop, Italian specialty grocery store, and cultural hub in Greenpoint—and possibly all of the world)—Archestratus, is closing. Owner Paige Lipari made the announcment on Friday, February 20, as the Saturn-Neptune conjunction went exact, and her post that is part eulogy, part bulletin, part brilliant essay of cultural and social critique, is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever read. The first post in the carousel is a collage slide with handwritten text that reads,

“Archestraus goes belly up!

And leaves behind a fertile RUIN…”

Paige goes on in her note,

“There is a phrase from the Italian philosopher Federico Campagna, the idea of leaving behind a ‘fertile ruin.’ His larger concept is that historical periods are like worlds unto themselves, and each has a beginning, middle, and end. Within each world, there is its own past, present, and future. So we are at the end of our future.

Everything is meant to go through this cycle. The hope is to leave behind a fertile enough ruin that the next world can be built upon it.”

Writing about a place as a feeling, a community vessel, a once-born-anew, now fertile ruin, I think Paige captures a pure essence of Saturn-Neptune. These are times of great floods. These are also times of breaking something down in order to build something better. Worlds are built on top of worlds. Dreams are built on top of dreams. Saturn-Neptune times are for beautiful endings, and long-held visions finding their most ideal form. A beautiful example of this is Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia, a basilica that’s been under construction since 1882. This past week, as workers put a glass cross in place at the very top of the structure, the construction was complete. The building of this cathedral began in March 1882, when Saturn and Neptune were conjunct in Taurus, a sign known for stubborn perfectionism. Especially about beautiful things. The ground was broken under one Saturn-Neptune conjunction, and under another, this monument finally finds its final form.

What vision are you giving a shape as we live through this wild astrology?

Some particularly resonant topics for each sign are:

Aries rising - personal identity collapse/rebuilding revealed through acknowledging your dreams

Taurus rising - mental and existential rewiring revealed through visibility breakthroughs

Gemini rising - collapse of a dream through accepting future horizons

Cancer rising - restructuring career and visibility through accepting future-proof shared resources

Leo rising - walking away from an institution with a commitment to new adventures

Virgo rising - collapsing of your roughest edges through accepting maintenance for your future

Libra rising - you never knew what you wanted in a relationship until you committed to your own joy

Scorpio rising - as routines and daily structures collapse, you’re building a future-proof foundation

Sagittarius rising - rewiring your desire requires taking a big leap out of your comfort zone

Capricorn rising - collapses and breakthroughs on a foundational level (home, family) come through self-love

Aquarius rising - a new era for your communication and immediate environment comes through embracing new forms of self expression

Pisces rising - your relationship to money dissolves and transforms as you accept the unknown

All of this might have been especially loud on Thursday, February 19, in the aftermath of the eclipse, as the moon crossed over the Saturn-Neptune threshold, putting a spotlight on what’s to come.

What synchronicities have you noticed this week?
What cakes were left out in the rain?
What visions are coming from within the collapse?

MORE UPDATES

• ICYMI, this newsletter is now called DESIRE LINES. Read about it here.

• I’m teaching a class! IRL in NYC. HOW TO WRITE A HOROSCOPE with The School of Making Thinking. Monday nights March 30-April 20, 6-8pm, at Abrons Arts Center. I’ve heard some cool kids are already signed up. Register here. Fee is sliding scale!!!

• I have a few appointments for readings available in mid-March (I accidentally left some availability up and someone booked, so now I will let a few other people book lol). You can do so here.

• I’m reading: Again, please be in touch if you have also read/are reading The Power Broker.

• I’m watching: Every figure skating clip that has ever been posted to Youtube

• I’m eating: Last night, I was compelled to go to Trader Joe’s for the first time in years, and get all of my favorite snacks as “storm prep.” So that’s what I’m eating. Spinach & Kale Greek Yogurt dip always hits.

That’s right, after almost 10 years of moon missives, this project is ready for a new name.

moon missives is dead / LONG LIVE DESIRE LINES

So what is (a) DESIRE LINE(S)?

To be basic/quote Webster’s Dictionary, a desire line is “an unplanned route or path (such as one worn into a grassy surface by repeated foot traffic) that is used by pedestrians in preference to or in the absence of a designated alternative (such as a paved pathway).”

Desire lines are shortcuts that defy planning.
Desire lines are intuitive, creative, and have authority issues. “Desire Lines” is also the title of my favorite song by Deerhunter.

This project started as a “fun, cool email” every new and full moon. It has become so much more than that. This will still be a place for astrology and art and culture. We will be delineating patterns, and making astrological events feel like “a birthday party for no one in particular.”1 But this is no longer just a cute little forecast/treat on the new and full moon. Maybe it never was. It’s a place for exploring astrological patterns, desire, mental health, spiritual obsessions, and the role of divination in culture and technology. We’re making connections, taking shortcuts, and honoring big hearts.

As I write this, I’m also about to move on from my weekly and monthly horoscope column at PureWow. After almost seven years of never missing a deadline, I deeply empathize with my fellow Pisces, Susan Miller, who can never get her ‘scopes out on time. Even though I dragged her to hell for it back in 2014. As easy as some people make it look, writing horoscopes is not easy. Though it might read as a puff piece, every little puff is made with care and a lot of data analysis. I’m honestly still burned out from the year and a half in 2023-24 when I was producing those horoscopes, writing monthly forecasts here, and doing my weekly forecast pod. Making the donuts for real. And that was a lot of donuts. Anyway, I know quite a few of you reading found me over on PureWow, and I would love to hear more of your thoughts on those ‘scopes as I hang up my apron.

Moving forward, the plan is to show up here on the regular. I want to be your Astro DJ with a regular weekly show2. Updates will be for everyone. Paid subscribers will get longer deep dives on astro transits, astro-cultural patterns, my harrowing and very entertaining personal stories, and sneak peeks of other things I’m working on. I also would like to start doing monthly informal meetups/journaling hangs with paid subscribers.

An update on this week’s eclipse, once-in-37-year Saturn-Neptune conjunction, Venus rising as an evening star, and much more will hit your inbox on Sunday, February 22.

It’s worth noting that I originally planned to announce this “rebrand” many months ago. In fact, my failure to launch tells a good story about how the best timing isn’t always for what you think it’s for. Also, please know, when I share a story about me, I’m inviting you to think about where you were on these dates too.

The title DESIRE LINES first came to me on April 2, 2025, while I was staring at the ducks in Prospect Park. Venus was retrograde in Pisces with Saturn, Neptune and the North Node. There was beautiful astrology that day. I was taking steps to pull myself out of my mind prison. That mind prison being an ongoing mental health spiral and extreme financial stress. All of which had taken over my life since the last time Venus was retrograde in Pisces: April 2017. I was looking at all my spending and debts with clear eyes, watching hours upon hours of YouTube videos about complex trauma (shoutout to my girlie, Heidi Priebe and the YouTube algorithm gods), in deep bureaucratic hell applying for a loan to cover my rental arrears (no shout out to the NYC Human Resources Administration), and taking a long break from Instagram. Creative ideas were coming to me, but I needed to pull myself out of the hole I was in first.

I decided that June 26, 2025—a healthy almost three months away, and a very auspicious date astrologically—would be the day I announced the rebrand. But still, other things needed to be taken care of first. Instead of launching the rebrand, I closed my case in housing court, and thanks to my amazing Gen Z lawyer, I got a small settlement from my landlords. Around the same time, I got a more-or-less official diagnosis of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I have suspected I have OCD since I was 143, over 20 years ago, but despite feeling seen by Hannah Horvath’s OCD meltdown arc on GIRLS, and often spending hours per day trapped in compulsive loops, I never thought it was “bad enough” to do anything about it. On June 26, 2025, I started a therapy workbook titled Breaking the Rules of OCD. Zohran Mamdani won the primary for New York City mayor. It was a lucky day in a different way.

After June came and went, I set my sights on a different date for the DESIRE LINES release: October 19, 2025, yet another cute astrology day. It was just before a new moon in Libra with Venus also in Libra, her stylish home sign. As this date approached though, once again, other things took priority. I met with a psych nurse and began taking Prozac— a drug that I used to think I wasn’t “sick enough” to try, and can now say has totally changed my life. Crazy that my thoughts don’t have to be spinning around like a ceiling fan all day. I also picked up not one, not two, but three new part time jobs to, ironically, give me more freedom to do what I actually want to do with this whole writing and astrology thing. Self employment can become its own kind of prison when you’re making choices out of survival instead of desire or energy or joy.

All of that was coming to a head on October 19, so I didn’t release DESIRE LINES. That day I took a nap, saw a lot of friends, and went to my friend Jared’s lovely Levain-cookie-filled birthday party. It was, again, a sweet day in a different way.

I plan to share more about all of this soon because, to be honest, my struggles over the last several years are a great astrological case study. Vedic astrologers call this the Sade Sati. In fact, after last year’s solar return reading with my personal astrologer, where we got into the weeds of my recent misfortunes, his follow up email included asking me if he could use my year as an example for an upcoming lecture. You see, the terrible things that befell me are what we call #astrologergood, or when something bad happens, but the astrology plays in perfect harmony. After giving him permission to tell my story on a Zoom filled with a bunch of astro nerds, I thought to myself, If he thinks my story is a good one, why don’t I? If he’s telling my story to a bunch of strangers, why don’t I?

This week, on February 17, 2026, there was a Solar Eclipse in Aquarius. I shared the first horoscopes I ever wrote on February 15, 2018—the last time there was a Solar Eclipse in Aquarius. If 2018’s eclipse was a contraction, today’s eclipse is an expansion. Back in 2018, I was focusing on something, and now I’m ready to branch out. Perhaps you are too.

Eclipse season is intuitive and creative. Eclipse season opens up portals and directs us to short cuts. Eclipse season is the time for desire lines.

TL;DR: this newsletter is now called DESIRE LINES! more regular writing is coming! mark your cal for Sunday 2/22! saying goodbye to my horoscope era <3

UPDATES:

• I’m teaching a class! IRL in NYC. HOW TO WRITE A HOROSCOPE with The School of Making Thinking. Monday nights March 30-April 20, 6-8pm, at Abrons Arts Center. I’ve heard some cool kids are already signed up. Register here. Fee is sliding scale!!!

• I’m reading: One Bad Mother by my friend, Ej Dickson!!! and I have also started The Power Broker. Please be in touch if you have also read/are reading The Power Broker.

• I’m watching: The Traitors (though, at this point, only to thirst over Rob Rausch, my Virgo king); also finally watched Sick of Myself (2023). Narcissism is IN for Saturn and Neptune in Aries, babes!

• I’m eating: Adding this update bullet because I have a Mars-Jupiter conjunction in Taurus, and there was a time in my life in which the main thing I shared online was poetry about vinaigrettes. And I’d like to get back to her vibe. Currently making a white bean, fennel, and cabbage soup. With lots of garlic and lemon. Yum.

Just before 3 pm ET on Sunday, January 18, 2026, we had our first new moon of 2026. The new moon in Capricorn went exact at 28º Capricorn, a mere 36 hours before the end of Capricorn season. This new moon is ruled by Saturn in Pisces. This is the last lunation that will be ruled by Saturn in Pisces for almost 30 years. Saturn is sitting with Neptune and the North Node in Pisces—a combination that, for the last year, has reflected a psychedelic experience of time. An experience filled with hope and grief.

On January 26, Neptune will enter Aries, where it was from March 30 through October 22, 2025. Then on February 14, Saturn will enter Aries, where it was from May 24 through September 1, 2025. What we previewed last spring and summer will soon go live. On February 20, Saturn and Neptune will form their once-in-37-year conjunction, last experienced in 1989. Saturn-Neptune periods are defined by dissolving boundaries, tearing down walls, dreaming utopias, collapsing promises, conspiracies, and false gods. Saturn-Neptune periods descend like a dark cloud of melancholy, despair, and disillusionment. Diffuse dichotomies. Social malaise. Everything means nothing and nothing means everything. Those who were born during these periods and those who thrive during these periods tend to be those who never had a reason to trust structure or authority in the first place, who were “raised by wolves,” or who had to raise themselves. Those who thrive in these times understand how bad it can get, but still trust that a better world is possible. As delusional as that may sound. It’s not easy being a dreamer, but someone’s gotta do it. Those who thrive in these times are activated when defeated. People who thrive in these times can’t go on and must go on.

The Saturn-Neptune era we are currently living through began in March 2023 when Saturn entered Pisces. Richard Tarnas, the godfather of planetary cycles, in Cosmos and Psyche, gives these periods a 15º orb. Using that marker, we fully entered the spiral around March 20, 2024. The next time Saturn will be more than 15º away from Neptune is April 29, 2027. 2024-2027 are our peak Saturn-Neptune years, or in English: now is the winter of our disillusionment/now is the spring of our utopia building. It’s all made here and it’s all lost here. We’ll be dealing with these consequences for a long time.Right now, we’re in the climax. Before this, Saturn and Neptune were closest in June and July 2025. The dreams that were coming together and the illusions that were falling apart last summer are now resonating.

But before we get to the Saturn-Neptune conjunction, before we get to eclipse season—which begins with a solar eclipse in Aquarius on February 17—we have this new moon in Capricorn. It’s the final new moon in Capricorn while Saturn is in Pisces. Sovereignty begins with imagining what’s possible.

Our previous Capricorn lunations with Saturn in Pisces have been*:

July 3, 2023 - Full Moon in Capricorn
January 11, 2024 - New Moon in Capricorn

June 21, 2024 - Full Moon in Capricorn
July 21, 2024 - Full Moon in Capricorn

December 30, 2024 - New Moon in Capricorn

*There was no new moon in Capricorn during the 2025 calendar year, and the 2025 full moon in Capricorn featured Saturn in Aries.

Consider what was happening on or around these dates, especially when it comes to this part of your life (read for your rising sign):

Aries - public image, career, culminations through the lens of mental health, institutions, letting go
Taurus - travel, education, expanding goals through the lens of community, dreams, friendships
Gemini - debts, shared resources, loss, collaborations through the lens of public image, career, culminations
Cancer - partnerships, contracts, agreements, reflections through the lens of travel, education, expanding goals
Leo - managing dis-ease, day jobs, maintenance, attention through the lens of debts, shared resources, loss, collaborations
Virgo - romance, creativity, sex, games, desires through the lens of partnerships, contracts, agreements, reflections
Libra - home, family, ancestry, the past, private life through the lens of managing dis-ease, day jobs, maintenance, attention

Scorpio - close friends, local community, neighbors, communication through the lens of romance, creativity, sex, games, desires
Sagittarius - resources, money, values, nourishment through the lens of home, family, ancestry, the past, private life
Capricorn - self image, style, health through the lens of close friends, local community, neighbors, communication
Aquarius - mental health, institutions, letting go through the lens of resources, money, values, nourishment
Pisces - community, dreams, friendships through the lens of self image, style, health

How did you view (this part of your life) through the lens of (this other part of your life) back in March of 2023? Or in July 2023? What hurt or was giving you grief?

How do you view those parts of your life now?


***

As this message hits your inbox, Capricorn season is fading into Aquarius season. The sun moves into Aquarius after 8 pm ET on January 19, 2026. The thing about the shift between Capricorn and Aquarius is that the season is changing, but the boss is still the same: Saturn. There’s many reasons to take things slow during this time of year. And of one of them is that anything that has to do with Saturn takes time.

****

Once more with feeling: I opened my books for very limited readings in late January and early February. You can book here. My books will be open on a much more limited basis in 2026. More to come on that soon.

ALSO NOTE: My books are closed. Starting in 2026, I will have much more limited availability for 1-on-1 astrology consultations, quarterly at most. More to come on this. I will open up some slots in January so if you’d like me to let you know when I do, let me know!

Now back to where I began: Who else is tired?

December has been a lot tougher than I expected, even though I should have known better. Sometimes, when you’re already burned out, understanding the quality of time isn’t that helpful. When I set out to write monthly horoscopes for December, as I’ve done every month since July 2019, I was relieved to see that compared to some other months in 2025, there weren’t that many planetary aspects. Sure Mars was squaring Saturn, and every other planet was squaring Saturn, and Mercury was just barely out of retrograde, and Neptune was stationing direct for the final time in Pisces, and all the planets were squaring Neptune too—and in simple terms, all this means is frustration and exhaustion—but at least it looked like a short story, rather than a meandering 5-hour film filled with plot holes. Though yes, the struggles of December have been brief, they’ve also been filled with grinding and hitting roadblocks and getting stuck in the mud. There’s awareness that things will eventually move forward. But the waiting is excruciating. Or the process is excruciating. Or the process brings up a lot of pain. December has felt like the not fun part or the fun part with caveats or the realization that having fun isn’t easy in our late-stage death-rattle capitalist hellscape.

And to put the cherry on top of all of this is: there’s a New Moon in Sagittarius today. The new moon goes exact at 8:43 pm ET at 28º of Sagittarius, the very end of the sign. The third decan of Sagittarius is associated with the 10 of Wands, a card referred to as Oppression by the Golden Dawn. Perhaps enough said.

The image? A person at the end of a long road, clutching 10 wands in their arms. The end is near but the weight is heavy. Still, they carry on.

Today’s new moon has the sun and the moon in a difficult square with Saturn and Neptune. Saturn—planet of discipline, responsibility, and limitations—is finishing up his time in Pisces where he’s been since March of 2023. Neptune—planet of our collective illusions, ecstasy and burnout—has been in Pisces since 2011. Both planets briefly dipped into Aries this year, where they will meet for their once-in-37-year conjunction in February. Saturn-Neptune conjunctions bring surges in both idealism and disillusionment. Fantasies are made material here, but structures also burn and crumble. Living in Saturn-Neptune times requires constant attention to one’s center and values. It’s easy to lose your way.

Neptune stationed direct at 29º Pisces on December 10. This is the final time in any of our lifetimes that Neptune will station direct in Pisces. Since 2011, Neptune in Pisces has created all kinds of collective illusions and modes of worship. It’s created the wellness industrial complex and doomscrolling brain rot, and “spirituality” as a trend. Pisces is the mutable water sign, a sign that tries to feel it all and contain it all and sacrifice personal ambition for collective compassion. Neptune in Pisces has been about the dissolution of media, and about Tiktok replacing journalism. It’s also been a period in which, for some reason, everything has to be for everyone. Everything will offend somebody so why say anything at all? It’s the beige-ification of reality. Many have lost the plot.

Or, when you try to be everything to everyone, you’re actually nothing at all.

Neptune’s final direct station in Pisces revealed the ways we’ve lost our color over the last 15 years. It also revealed the dreams that are still alive, even if they’re a little stuck in the mud right now.

Even if it feels like an ending, today’s new moon isn’t about defeat. Sagittarius always get a second or third of twelfth wind. If anything, today’s new moon is about acknowledging the roadblocks, and going on with it anyway.

If you need a pump up song, may I suggest:

(I think every member of this band is a Capricorn, btw)

(Also, this song was released on August 11, 1997 during a Saturn-Neptune square, with Mars involved — definitely resonant in our current times)

xoxo,
Jaime

also, see you at SOLSTICE RETROSPECTIVE

If you’ve been around here for a long time, you might know that I love winter. Perhaps because my IC (lowest heaven, home point, place of private life) is in the early degrees of Capricorn, the days around the solstice always feel like home to me, no matter where I am or who I’m with. If you know I love winter, you also probably know that I’m an obsessive diarist who gets high off reflection. Though one of my biggest challenges (in life, therapy, etc.) is to live in the moment and be more intentionally present, I do think that keeping a log is a fine art. I think the solstice is the ideal time to dust off the log book and take some notes. Which is why I’m inviting you to:

SOLSTICE RETROSPECTIVE - a gathering to collect notes on 2025
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 21
12 PM - 2 PM ET ONLINE
if you can’t attend live, there will be a recording
free for paid subscribers (code in email heading to claim your spot), or $20
RSVP HERE

SOLSTICE RETROSPECTIVE will be like a horoscope in reverse. I will take you through the key astrology of each month of 2025, inviting you to reflect and take notes on how these cosmic patterns played out in your life. Journaling prompts obvi included. We will of course also talk about culture, geopolitics, and try to find something to laugh about in these wild times. It will be VERY FUN.

& become a paid subscriber if you want to come for free (!!)

Subscribe now

OK back to today. The full moon in Gemini happens at 13º Gemini, in a part of the zodiac associated with Tarot’s 9 of Swords aka the card of molto anxiety. You know the one. A man sitting tortured and sleepless in his bed with nine swords hanging on his wall representing everything he has to worry about. This man is haunted by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future, plus at least six more. What catches my eye though is the quilt. The checkered pattern depicts flowers and astrological symbols. It’s this part of the card that I think is the most Gemini: a busy mind in a field of roses. The person in this card is suffering. The Golden Dawn called it Cruelty. But there’s also a hint that if they were to take their head out of their hands and look up at those swords—maybe dust them or name them—it wouldn’t be so scary. Maybe he could fall back asleep.

This full moon meets us in a similarly overwhelmed place. The retrogrades of Mercury and Saturn are now complete. Slowly, we are getting back to the timeline that was abandoned in the summer. We’re at the halfway point between eclipses. Fate is loud, and both the past and future are swirling. But what about the present? What about looking at the swords and simply noticing them? What if this moment is about welcoming the anxiety, making friends with what’s swirling, rather than avoiding it? What if there was nothing to hide from?

What if we all felt this way?

As the full moon goes exact, Mars in Sagittarius is in a harsh square aspect with Saturn in Pisces. Frustrations and exhaustion are high. Neptune is stationing direct one final time in Pisces. The illusions of the last 14 years are potent, and they’re also fading. Mercury—the ruler of this full moon—is in the final degrees of Scorpio, treading over terrain last visited in late October. Mercury in Scorpio pierces with brevity. Something is loud and obvious, but we’re also not saying much. What’s cutting through the static and stopping the noise?

In 36 Faces, Austin Coppock describes Gemini II as, “This is a decan of art and war. The capacity to live amidst the constant pull and play of dualities is here, as is the capacity to acknowledge both happiness and sadness. A devil and an angel share one’s shoulders while blessings and banes fly from hands right and left.”In this way, the message of Gemini II is why not both? Why not everything? Those born during this part of Gemini season (in the first 10 days or so of June) live through a constant expression of this duality. The goal here is to dance with the in-between, not to find a niche.

This full moon falls on the nodal bendings, marking the halfway point between eclipses. This full moon links what was bursting at the seams and falling apart in September with what’s still to come in late February and early March of 2026.

This full moon is also part of a lunar phase family that continues the story of something that was birthed at the new moon in Gemini on June 5, 2024, and then changed directions at the first quarter moon in Gemini on March 5, 2025. Now the results of those efforts are coming to light. Perhaps you’re reaching a fork in the road. We live in a time of aggressive binaries, and messaging that tells us we have to choose one path or the other, but, really: why not both???

Happy full moon & more to come soon <3

Hope to see a bunch of you at the SOLSTICE RETROSPECTIVE.

1. A missive on today/tomorrow’s new moon in Scorpio

2. Behind the paywall, for my beloved paid subscribers, a story about a house on the street where I grew up that is actually about the controlled burning/forest regrowth process we’ve all been in since late 2024.

3. Yes, in this section, there are choose your own adventure horoscopes for each rising sign.

4. I have some very limited 1-on-1 reading availability during the first week of December. Please grab one of those spots if you’ve been meaning to get on my books. Or respond to this email to be put on the waitlist for future openings :)

The new moon in Scorpio is on November 20 at 1:47 AM ET. Mere hours later, at 4:23 AM ET, Mercury is cazimi, marking the halfway point of Mercury retrograde. Mercury going into the heart of the sun brings a burst of clarity in what has been an overwhelming and chaotic time.

I know you don’t need an astrologer to tell you that things are getting wacky. It’s clear in the beyond messy reopening of the US government. The drop of a trove of Epstein’s emails implicating an unknown “Bubba.” The sudden Trump and Congressional about face re: releasing the Epstein files. Olivia Nuzzi Did It All For Love. Joyce Carol Oates roasting Elon Musk. Etc. etc. etc.

I woke up on Monday morning to discover someone had stolen my rent check and rewrote it to themselves, a scam that I thought we left in 2008. My scammer dotted her i’s with bubbles and hearts. Once I got my money back (thankfully very fast, even though the person at Chase Customer Service told me not to expect anything for at least 30 days), I found my scammer’s Instagram. The account is private, but she has an Anonymous AMA box. I’m tempted to write.

Things are painful and heavy and harrowing and confusing, but I guess we have to laugh.

Mercury has been retrograde since November 9, and through November 18, the communication planet was in Sagittarius, a sign where they have zero filter. Now Mercury is back in Scorpio, treading through the troubled waters they last visited from October 21-29. Mercury in Scorpio keeps their mouth shut. Things are felt not spoken. Privacy is of the utmost importance. But when Mercury is retrograde, secrets get revealed. Taboos get released. Curses get broken. A conversation from late October is meant to be revisited, with even more feeling this time.

The new moon in Scorpio falls in the final degrees of the fixed water sign, in a part of the zodiac associated with Tarot’s 7 of Cups. This is a place of both movie magic and maladaptive daydreaming. What visions are controlling your life? What “maybe” have you built a whole world around? What dream do you refuse to give up? With Mercury retrograde in the heart of the sun, fantasies become reality, or get returned to sender.

The new moon happens exactly opposite Uranus, planet of revolution and upheaval. At this new moon, the conversation pit is covered in radioactive sludge and we must get to higher ground. Yes, the upholstery is damaged but the goo left a dip-dye looking trail in its wake. Pretty chic.

As Mercury finishes up their retrograde through November 29, they will connect with Saturn in Pisces and Jupiter in Cancer. The emotional processing that’s happening here isn’t about what’s happening right now, it’s connecting the dots through months, years, lifetimes even of love and pain and wisdom. 2025 gave us a preview of the future. Here in late November, we’re working through threads of the past. It’s tender work to move through this. It probably feels awkward and embarrassing. But for whatever reason, we can’t move on without a visit to this place. Perhaps it’s not closure we’re seeking, but a newfound understanding or appreciation. Maybe it’s not about letting go, but about acknowledging we survived.

Now, I want to tell you a story about a house.

Read more

I’ve always found it hilarious that Election Day in the United States of America is during Scorpio season. Perhaps that’s why the day is so emotional for people. And also why it’s a breeding ground for conspiracies—from Trump’s “Stop the steal” to 2024’s collective psychosis on Tiktok with people coming out in droves to post about “the real reason why everyone woke up between 2-4 am on election night.”

What if we instead held elections during Libra season? There’d be plenty of slander, gossip etc, but the results would be tallied with gorgeous precision. There’d be more understanding for all possible outcomes. Or what if we held elections during Sagittarius season? There’d be pranks galore and too many philosophical debates, and we’d probably elect more people who quit mid-term. And honestly, maybe that would be a good thing. But in reality, we hold our elections during the season of the fixed water sign, when everyone is feeling extra defensive and protective of their special things.

If you want to dig into more of what the current astrology means for you, my books are open for November.

In thinking about Election Day as a Scorpio, I started thinking about how the full moon in Taurus is always colored by the election happening around that time. A few years ago, the 2022 midterm elections in the US fell on a full moon in Taurus that was exactly conjunct Uranus, planet of radical change. It was also a lunar eclipse. At the time, astrologers were predicting some major upset. But for the most part, congressional control stayed mostly the same. The instability came later though when the congress elected under that cycle caused a breakdown in the House of Representatives that eventually led to the ousting of Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House. Then last year’s full moon in Taurus came two weeks after the 2024 US Presidential election. I don’t think I need to remind you what happened then. Pluto was still in Capricorn and the empire was decaying rapidly. That full moon was also in an exact conjunction with Uranus. It asked: What happens when you’re ripped out of your comfort zone? The answer: not what you’d expect.

Uranus is Promethean fire. Uranus creates shockwaves. In Taurus, those shockwaves penetrate slowly and stubbornly. It is not a sign that ever wants to leave the safe space. And during last year’s full moon in Taurus, the vibe was: misery loves company. Who would’ve thought that one year later, at the next full moon in Taurus, New York City would elect Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist, as its 111th Mayor (I can’t get over the 111, the omens are omen-ing). With Taurus, progress feels like a Sisyphean task. Until one day the boulder just falls down the hill and smashes into a million pieces.

As much as Taurus resists change, so much can change in a year. How much can change is evident in Mamdani’s campaign itself. Back in November 2024, in the days surrounding the full moon in Taurus, Mamdani, who had just launched his campaign, interviewed voters on Fordham Rd. in the Bronx and Hillside Avenue in Queens. Most of the people he spoke to sounded defeated by the American Project. Many voted for Trump. Others didn’t vote at all, discouraged by the options. No one knew who Mamdani was back then. If there were polls, he was polling at less than 1%.

Now the entire world is watching the NYC Mayoral election. Mamdani’s campaign released a video of him returning to Fordham Road this week, a year later. At this year’s full moon in Taurus, he was greeted by a much more energized community. The same people who met him with hesitation last year are now ready to give him a bear hug. There’s of course a spin to both these videos, the campaign is showing us clips that match their agenda to make a point. But even in that spin lies the difference between last year’s full moon in Taurus and this year’s. It’s the difference between “Where do we go from here?” and “Look, I see a clearing.” Last year’s full moon wailed with grief. This year’s full moon is brimming with a nervous excitement for the future.

While taking a break from writing this, I took a walk in my neighborhood, tracking the same route as hundreds of other walks I’ve taken in the almost five years I’ve lived in this area. I remember taking a very similar walk break in the midst of writing a missive for the full moon in Taurus in 2023, and also taking one around the full moon in Taurus in 2021. When noting this synchronicity in 2023, I remember worrying that so little had changed in my life since 2021. Today, I was thrilled to realize that, though I’m still living in the same place, even though my material reality hasn’t really changed, my life feels very different than it did in November 2023. I hope yours does too.

A reason why today’s full moon feels so hopeful and bright is that it’s in conversation with both Venus and Jupiter. Taurus is ruled by Venus, and Venus is spending her final few days in Libra, the love and beauty planet’s other home sign. Taurus and Libra represent very different ends of the Venusian spectrum —Taurus being about things and Libra being about taste—and at this full moon, we’re able to enjoy all of it, even from the depths of Scorpio season.

After the full moon goes exact, it spends the rest of the day forming a supportive sextile with Jupiter in Cancer. Venus and Jupiter just completed a square, an aspect that brings treats, indulgence, and often over-spending. That sweetness was definitely palpable as the aspect went exact on November 1 and 2. But I also can’t stop thinking about the fact that as it did, and as we reach this full moon in Taurus, a sign of nourishment, 42 million Americans lost all or part of their SNAP benefits. Jupiter often acts as a magnifier and highlighter. And at this full moon what’s being highlighted is the disgusting disparity between the billionaires eating up the world’s resources like Pacman, and the ever-growing mass of those who are deeply in need. Amidst these terrifying circumstances, this full moon is also highlighting a surge in generosity and mutual aid—volunteer at your local food bank! Donate to local distribution sites! Bed Stuy Strong! City Harvest! Grow NYC! People In Need Inc!

Another astrological reason this full moon seems so different from last year’s is that—the outer planets are changing signs. For a large part of 2025, we were living fully in the future with Pluto in Aquarius, Neptune in Aries and Uranus in Gemini. But Neptune dipped back into Pisces on October 22, and two days from now, on November 7, Uranus will return to Taurus. From now through February 2026—and really until April 2026 when Uranus gives us one last shove out of our comfort zone in Taurus—it might feel like January 2025 all over again.

I’m calling the finale of 2025 the RETURN FROM OZ. Dorothy is back in Kansas. She’s back with Auntie Em and Uncle Henry, back in black and white after experiencing technicolor. But unlike in The Wizard of Oz, the chaos, the endings, and even the beautiful beginnings we experienced this year? Those were all real. Somehow. A twisted fever dream. But for right now, it might feel like you’re back where you were in January. Maybe you’re even gearing up to do the same thing you were doing then.

On November 9, Mercury stations retrograde in Sagittarius. The retrograde will begin on the same degree—6º of Sagittarius—that last year’s Mercury retrograde ended on December 15, 2024.

On November 11, Jupiter stations retrograde in Cancer. The exponential growth experienced from June until now reaches its integration stage. Jupiter will also traverse the same part of the sky that Mars did during its retrograde from December 2024 through February 2025, and will station direct in March 2026 at almost the same degree as Mars did. In the winter, the ground was torn to shreds, and in the summer, seeds were planted. Now we wait until next spring to see the real growth.

Today’s full moon in Taurus is generously revealing something that isn’t just a desire, but a need. It’s something that you maybe didn’t realize you needed or even wanted, not until you got to experience the future. Today’s full moon makes that desire into something material. Bottle it up and hang on.

REMINDER: My books are open for November :)

ALSO, yes today’s full moon is in his 10th house of leadership, public image and career

and yes, he is a Leo rising

ALSO ALSO, idk this song by Geese is also really just … today’s full moon:

I was so nostalgic as a teenager and in my early 20’s. Often for things I didn’t even experience. Past narratives I’d only heard about through a game of telephone. I wasn’t trying to relive my own youth. I was trying to retroactively incarnate into someone else’s timeline. When I was young, I was always trying to fit in with people older than me, to prove through association that I wasn’t susceptible to the mistakes of youth. But the older I get, the more I want to learn from friends who are younger than me. They say that old age comes when nostalgia outweighs curiosity. And I think you’re always as young as your youngest friend.

As this message hits your inbox, a New Moon in Libra is happening now (Tuesday, October 21 at 8:25 am ET to be exact). I’m currently deep in this year’s revisit of Mellon Collie… and I think my path of orbit is somewhere between “Tonight, Tonight” (hope) and “Bullet with the Butterfly Wings” (rage).

The Sun and Moon are meeting at 28º Libra, the very end of the cardinal air sign.

The Moon had quite a journey over the weekend—she entered Libra as Saturday turned into Sunday, and then joined up with Venus on Sunday afternoon. For the rest of the day Sunday and all through Monday, the Moon was headed to a square with Jupiter, exalted in Cancer, the planet of relief, expansive views and avoiding worst-case scenarios. The moon’s “benefic enclosure” as we call it in astro-speak, or “good day” as we would say in English, brought calm, easygoing energy. A nice walk in the neighborhood and a sweet hang with friends.

But at the same time, communication planet Mercury and conflict planet Mars were coming together in Scorpio, bringing harsh words, heavy truths, and covert operations. To give a too literal example, as all of these aspects we’re going exact, thieves disguised as museum workers entered the open-to-the-public Louvre in Paris, and in a less than ten minute raid, stole priceless French crown jewels and busted out of there fast. As I said in my group chat with some astrologer friends, “This was a perfect election for a robbery.” An easy heist was possible under these skies. Did you have anything stolen?

*

Living in 2025 requires some pretty intense spiritual and emotional hygiene. It requires diligence and constant adjusting of one’s mindset. Attention is a scarce resource. It’s easy to get caught in a negativity trap, and maybe even easier to get a little delulu with toxic positivity. But in my experience, what gets paid attention to grows and what gets ignored withers. While discussing this with my friend Jasmine recently, I came to the realization that, despite my belly aching about various failures, I’ve always gotten the things I “put my mind to,” whether it was intentional or not. Whether it was good for me or not. I don’t say this in a spiritual bypassing way, but in a way to say that: you really do manifest the things you can’t stop thinking about. Productive or destructive. Positive or negative. An ex lover from the past or someone who will actually walk with you into the future. Nostalgia or rage or hope.

Right now, with Mercury and Mars in Scorpio, words can build us up or knock us down. The power of this aspect is penetrating focus and deep concentration. Choose with intention.

*

Today’s New Moon falls in the third decan of Libra — a part of the zodiac tasked with holding equilibrium while the inertia of darkness (Scorpio season) becomes a threat. This part of the zodiac is associated with tarot’s 4 of Swords. The 4 of Swords depicts an effigy of a knight in his tomb. The soldier is in prayer, resting. Some say he’s dead. Others say he’s asleep. However you look at it, he’s sitting vigil: focused, concentrated, and holding space.

T. Susan Chang writes this about the card in 36 Secrets, her exploration of the tarot and its decanic imagery:

“When you draw the 4 of Swords, consider it a complex invitation (a) to take a break from the toiling and spinning imposed on us by the external world, and (b) to explore the rich landscape of the inner world. The keyword I use for 4’s is ‘gathering’—which makes the 4 of Swords quite literally the gathering of thoughts. Collecting your thoughts, inevitably, leads to a collected state of mind. [Ironically, it seems that the “collection” of thoughts leads to an “expansion” of worldview.]”

Revisiting Chang’s writing today, I was relieved to find this passage on the “gathering of thoughts.” I needed a good reminder that the first step is just seeing what’s there, and that intentions don’t have to be masterpieces of brevity. Sometimes seeing what’s there shows us that there’s more there than we previously knew.As this New Moon goes exact, during the last gasps of Libra season, take all the time you need to collect your thoughts. Intentions take shape once you know what’s there.

SKY HAPPENINGS FOR THE REST OF THIS WEEK

Wednesday 10/22: Neptune re-enters Pisces — after a respite from March 29 - now, Neptune is back in the mutable water sign to finish up a confounding story arc that’s been going on since 2011. I wrote a lot about Neptune in Pisces last spring here:

Wednesday 10/22: Scorpio season begins!

Thursday 10/23: Jupiter square Chiron — growth through healing

Friday 10/24: Sun square Pluto — confronting change

Mercury trine Jupiter — expanding emotional outlook

Saturday 10/25: Mercury trine Saturn — dedication and persistence in communication

My books are open through the end of the month — grab a spot if you want to talk intentions you’re setting under this new moon, the grand water trine pulling at everyone’s heart strings in October and November, or to start planning ahead for 2026. Scorpios! I’d love to see you for your Solar Return reading!

book a reading :)

Today’s full moon speaks to the confidence that comes with a beginner’s mindset. The kind of confidence that can sometimes rub others the wrong way. Sir Thomas More who wrote Utopia (which really means nowhere) was born with the moon at the exact degree of today’s full moon, flanked by Venus and Jupiter, in the fifth house of good fortune. You might say he was overconfident. This full moon is for writing our own little utopia, making somewhere out of nowhere, or believing, just for a day, that the impossible is possible. Not in a delusional way, just a confident one.

***

I want you to think back to what you were doing one month ago on September 8, 9 and 10, the last time the moon was in Aries. After the lunar eclipse in Pisces, emotions were high and eclipse season revelations were just beginning to unfold. Was there something making you angry? Did you have a moment of speaking out of turn? Through the eclipse hangover fog, what did you want to pursue? Take a moment and consider what’s changed in the past month (I have a feeling it’s a lot), and take note of what you’ve done to make that change happen.

The moon will be back in Aries November 2-4. A lot could happen between now and then.

****

Some other key dates to reflect upon for this full moon in Aries are:

January 6, 2025 - First Quarter Moon in Aries

and

April 8, 2024 - Solar Eclipse in Aries

Both these lunations are part of the same lunar phase family as today’s full moon. What’s culminating now was seeded at an eclipse. This means it was built on volatile ground, like a volcanic wine. The first quarter moon in January was a turning point that brought you from there to now. Bottled up and ready to pour.

****

Full moons are emotional. During the moon’s early phases, there’s not enough light to see the situation clearly. Or if you do see it clearly, it’s only for a moment before the truth gets obscured. Full moons make it so you can’t look away. If the tree is bearing fruit, it’s a party. But sometimes under the light of the moon, you realize that the tree is bare. There are no snacks on the table.

What’s hopeful about this full moon is that it’s applying to square Jupiter in Cancer. To me, this speaks to a reaching energy. What we want isn’t quite available, but it’s also not impossible. Aries is a very impatient sign so the big emotions here might be about feeling behind or like a dog that needs a good long run in the park. Others might see this enthusiasm as arrogance. But with everything happening in the world that would make anyone feel scared or hopeless, I think imagining a better future is a worthy cause.

***

My books are still open through the end of October — would love to gather with you this witchy season.

Can you feel it?

In part to get my own head in the game, I spent some time this week thinking about the Mars cycle and our current transit of Mars in Scorpio. Not to “make the most of it,” but to be aware of its generosity. I think my therapist calls this “reframing my negative thoughts.” I’ve compiled the Mars narrative, some key dates, and some reflections of sorts for paid subscribers below.

Before getting into that, I want to use this newsletter-based attention to remind you that my books are open through the end of October. Now’s a great time for a back to school type reading, really get your head in the game. Reflect on eclipse season and talk about what’s to come. We can discuss the best pockets of time for doing all kinds of things from launching a project to sending a scary email to throwing your holiday party.

book a reading

I’m also still selling A Field Guide to Eclipse Season. Though the “peak” or eclipse season has passed, it was made to be a reflective tool, and still works wonders in retrospect.

get yr guide

OK now let’s get into the generosity of October’s astrology:

Note: As I was about to send this letter, I did a routine search of public figures with astro charts that reflect the times. The last time we had Mars in Scorpio, Jupiter in Cancer and Saturn in Pisces was in February 1967. That month actually featured a similar water grand trine to what we have coming up in October and November, only with planets piling up in Pisces instead of Scorpio like they will this year. I’ve been calling the astrology of October and November 2025, “let’s all cry together.” Who was born in February 1967? Kurt Cobain. Of course. Born at the peak of this configuration with the Sun, Mercury and Venus in Pisces, and the Moon in Cancer too. Also learned through this search that Kurt Cobain and Benicio del Toro are time twins born one day apart?!?! Need to spend some time with that one. Anyway, this is all to say, maybe it’s a good month to listen to Nirvana.

The solar eclipse in Virgo on September 21 felt like doing a set of cathartic breath-of-fire exhales. So intense that you feel a little silly. Vulnerable too. Looking around the room at yoga class wondering “did anyone else feel that?” The equinox and commencement of Libra season on September 22 brought post-release inspiration. That moment of relaxation when everything feels possible. The world feels like an Ace card in the tarot these days. Which is to say: seeds of opportunity are scattered all around, just waiting to be lovingly planted.

On the day of the equinox, the sun moved into diplomatic—and often self-deprecating—Libra as Mars returned home to protective Scorpio.

When it comes to Mars, the energy has been off since June 8, 2024.

Read more

Some necessary promotion before we get into it:

A Field Guide to Eclipse Season is still available and will be up for sale on my website until Libra season begins on 9/22. Eclipse season isn’t really over until the end of the month (and in a way not fully until the New Moon in Libra on October 21) so you can still get a lot out of it, even if you’re starting “late.” I made this guide to be a companion but also to be used in retrospect. Field notes you take now will be very useful for the next eclipse season in February and March 2026.

If you’re looking for more guidance while we’re still in the eclipse portal, my books are open through the end of October. The equinox arrives on 9/22 with a major momentum shift and some (almost surprising) back to school energy (finally).

Hallo bb,

How are you feeling in these spiraling times? A lot happening to say the absolute least. Despair stock is up. Hope stock in decline. These are Saturn-Neptune times. There’s a solar eclipse at 29º Virgo coming on Sunday September 21, going exact at 3:54 pm ET. It’s a partial solar eclipse so even if it’s daytime where you are when it goes exact, the visual phenomenon won’t register. That being said, it’s a good day to lay low and avoid tempting fate and the luminaries. It’s a south node eclipse meant for release and shedding. It’s a new moon in conversation with Saturn: the vibes are not high, the lessons are hard, and what’s being let go feels permanent.

When I made A Field Guide to Eclipse Season, I came very close to making the title Finding Your Role in the Revolution. I made that the subtitle because it’s that serious. Now’s the time to find your role in the revolution.

Here’s an excerpt from the guide:

The North Node entered Pisces and the South Node entered Virgo on January 11, 2025, and will remain there until July 26, 2026. Eclipse cycles are imperfect, and often commence in a sign before the nodes arrive there. Our first lunar eclipse in Pisces was on September 17, 2024, and our final lunar eclipse in Virgo will be on February 20, 2027. Though other stories with other signs will be weaving their way through this same timeline, this eclipse cycle is a particularly long one.

Eclipses along the Pisces-Virgo axis:

challenge our ideas of attention (Virgo) and devotion (Pisces);

push us toward order (Virgo) and disintegration (Pisces);

complicate what it means to serve (Virgo) and transcend (Pisces).

Eclipse along the Pisces-Virgo axis make attention, devotion, order, disintegration into transcendent acts of service.

My friend and fellow astrologer Whitney Will describes Pisces and Virgo as the “essential workers” of the zodiac. As old systems and structures decay and burn, as events of struggle, chaos, war, genocide, famine, and administrative collapse pervade, we need our essential workers more than ever.

Mr. Rogers, a Pisces, always said, “Look for the helpers.”

What these eclipses in Pisces and Virgo are desperately, and somewhat chaotically, trying to communicate is:

THE HELPER IS YOU.

September’s eclipses are about finding our role in the revolution. I know that might sound heavy. But being a “helper” doesn’t mean being a political activist—though if that is you, go forth and make waves! Being a helper is about doing your part. Pisces and Virgo are mutable signs. The point is to stop being stubborn, get over forcing your own agenda, and to simply: meet the moment. Whether that’s as an organizer or an entertainer or a caregiver. And more likely: it’s all of it, everything at once.

-

To give an example of what finding one’s role in the revolution could look like, I want to talk about Ben & Jerry’s. Co-founder Jerry Greenfield resigned from the company this week over an ongoing dispute with their parent company, Unilever which bought Ben & Jerry’s in 2000. This is an eclipse story.

Ben & Jerry’s co-founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield were born 4 days apart on March 14 & 18, 1951. This makes Cohen and Greenfield both Pisces and thus main character in the current eclipse story. Both being born in March of 1951 is even more important to this story because then, like now, we were having eclipses across the Virgo-Pisces axis. The North Node was in Pisces and the South Node was in Virgo.

The nodal axis in one’s birth chart speaks to the two signs and archetypes that must constantly be reckoned with throughout life.The point isn’t to eschew one and claim the other, but to find balance between the two.

Someone born with the South Node in Virgo usually has natural talents in the Virgo area of life: finding order in chaos, material acts of service, putting things into a list or a shape or a container. On the other end of the spectrum, this same person has the North Node in Pisces, which speaks of someone who must learn to go with the flow, be a compassionate mess, and meet others in their moment. The South Node in Virgo is the bowl and the North Node in Pisces is the potion. Or in Ben and Jerry’s terms, the South Node in Virgo is the eco-conscious packaging and the North Node in Pisces is the Phish Food ice cream.

Ben & Jerry’s was founded in May 1978 during another eclipse cycle in Pisces and Virgo1. The childhood friends had initially planned to open a bagel store but the equipment was too expensive so they learned to make ice cream instead. After getting their Cherry Garcia millions, the two Pisces used their platform and wealth to advocate for progressive causes, and make their product as socially conscious as possible. When the company was sold to Unilever in 2000, a unique deal was struck that allowed the company to keep its social values while going big corporate.

This year’s eclipses in Pisces and Virgo are Ben and Jerry’s fourth nodal return. Just after the Lunar Eclipse in Virgo back in March, the founders filed a lawsuit against Unilever who had fired the company CEO for seemingly political reasons. In May 2025, Ben Cohen was arrested at a Senate hearing for protesting the genocide in Gaza. And now in September 2025, Jerry Greenfield is stepping down from the company.

He wrote in his resignation letter,

Love, equity, justice — they’re part of who Ben and I are, and they’ve always been the true foundation of Ben & Jerry’s. From the very beginning, Ben and I believed that our values and the pursuit of justice were more important than the company itself. If the company couldn’t stand up for the things we believed, then it wasn’t worth being a company at all.

I think there’s something here in this eclipse season about finding your role, knowing your role, and also knowing when it’s time to walk away. Things are overwhelming. Things are disappointing and demoralizing. All of this needs a shape. Sometimes we outgrow our old shape. Sometimes the work needs a different container and that’s OK.

There’s a lot of talk about eclipses being “portals.” This is because eclipses change the quality of time. The sun and moon’s orbits intersect close to the Earth. We can’t escape the pull of the luminaries.

If you want to go deeper with these eclipses, I created A Field Guide to Eclipse Season for you. Purchase includes 27-page digital guide + an invitation to an AMA/hang/eclipse support group on Friday, 9/12.

I’m also offering limited eclipse season download mini readings (30 mins/$75) next week on 9/10 and 9/11. I also have availability up for most of September for regular 30/60/90 min sessions :) You can book here.

Today’s eclipse is on the North Node, also known as Rahu—the fire-breathing head of the dragon—in Vedic astrology. The North Node represents our cravings; it’s what feels dangerous to pursue. We tip toward infinity at the North Node. We open cans of worms. This eclipse is made even stronger being in Pisces, the sign that already contains oceans of multitudes, and being ruled by Jupiter in Cancer—the juggernaut benefic with more enthusiasm than the Kool-Aid Man (OH YEAH!). There’s something bursting out of the ether at this eclipse. It’s a painful birthing, but a necessary one. Heart-opening. Compassionate. Wise.

This eclipse also happens with Saturn alongside the moon in Pisces. Saturn’s journey in Pisces began on March 7, 2023. For all of us, the Saturn in Pisces story has been a reality check. Neptune, the planet of illusions, addictions, idealism, haze, entered Pisces back in 2011. Neptune can be liquid courage, but it’s also delusion. Neptune speaks to our collective idealism and hero worship, and with Neptune in Pisces, there’s been an obsession not only with Erewhon smoothies and spiritual bypassing, but also with the idea that everything must be for everyone. Neptune in Pisces made everyone a believer (the pros and cons of that…), and also, I’ll say it, dissolved what was left of culture. Neptune distorted the Pisces part of all of our lives, and in 2023, Saturn came to clean up the mess.

Saturn was in Pisces from March 7, 2023 to May 25, 2025. Then we got a brief break as Saturn completed the first leg of its stay in Aries. On September 1, Saturn dipped back into Pisces. Neptune was in Pisces from 2011 until March 29, 2025, and coming up on October 22, it will dip back into Pisces for one last go-round. Today’s eclipse might feel like a splash of water to the face. You may be feeling pangs of regret about things lost in the Neptune in Pisces whirlpool and frustrations around the Saturn in Pisces cleanup. But this eclipse says a new timeline isn’t just possible, it’s inevitable.

What’s bubbling up to the surface for you?

(I was obsessed with this song the last time we were having eclipses in Virgo and Pisces (2016).)

*****

If you’re down a certain kind of spiritual influencer internet rabbit hole, you might have heard of timeline jumping. I’m in no way an expert in this practice, but I enjoy the term. Timeline Jump. It sounds fun, right? From what I understand, it’s a kind of hypnosis. Through a guided meditation and manifestation ritual with an expert guide, you can transcend linear circumstances and jump ahead on your desired path. Toward true love. Toward abundance. Toward a better job. Or a home in a new city.

I know practitioners who offer timeline jumps to individuals and also as memberships in group settings. Monthly timeline jumps. Quarterly timeline jumps. At the time of this writing, I’ve never done a private session, but I have taken part in one group ritual. Though I don’t think I transcended my current reality in any extreme way from participating, it definitely helped me notice how the future I desired was possible. Like any good meditation practice. A miraculous windfall didn’t arrive on my doorstep after the timeline jump, but I did find the energy to complete some necessary admin that improved my material reality in its own way. A lot of the magic I’ve done throughout my life has worked like this. I don’t get exactly what I want, but I do get what I need, within my given circumstances.

I’m not sure what the going rate for a private timeline jump is these days but last I checked it was something like $333 for a session. I know that’s a luxury in this economy. If you’re willing to slow down, pay attention, and convene with the universe during eclipse season though, you can often timeline jump on your own. Think of it like sneaking your own snacks into the movie theater. Risky but gets the job done.

***

Before I knew astrology like I do now and honestly, even after I was studying it in a more serious manner, I did something a lot of astrologers will tell you never to do: I initiated things on an eclipse. I launched projects during an eclipse. I moved cities during an eclipse. I started relationships during an eclipse. These are things that astrologers and even civilians in the ancient world would warn you not to do. But why? Well, it’s about light. The absence of it.

When the sun or the moon is eclipsed, the light that never goes out, goes out. The path forward isn’t clear. With that in mind, the guidance to be careful during eclipses is because, well, our vision is obscured. But in my personal experience, sometimes things just happen. We can’t help it. Fate takes the wheel.

An incomplete list of things I’ve done on the day of an eclipse:

• Moved across the country from New York to Los Angeles

• Met someone at a party who I later dated (not once, but twice)

• Released an album with my college theater/comedy group

• First kiss with someone I started dating a week later

• Launched the moon missives magazine project

• Shared my first ever horoscopes

• Officially launched my 1-on-1 astrology business

• Moved across the country from New York to Los Angeles (again)
  
  

These were whirlwind experiences and fated encounters. Both moves to Los Angeles were “planned” but the timing was mostly out of my control—the result of a bunch of coincidences and offers and cosmic winks from the universe. And yes, sure, the romantic stuff didn’t work out. Both moves were a hot mess. The moon missives magazine project was here for a good time, not for a long time. I didn’t get exactly what I wanted. I got what I needed. Within my given circumstances. But in most cases, I got out of a rut and jumped farther ahead on the timeline than I could’ve imagined months or even weeks before.

With September’s eclipses right around the corner, I’m not going to tell you not to do something on an eclipse. But whatever your best laid plans are, the universe might have something else in mind. Eclipses bring a change in the quality of time. If it’s your time to get moving, you’ll know. It might not make sense in the moment, but it will make sense in time.

***

I created A Field Guide to Eclipse Season to help you navigate these times. Grab yours here and come to the AMA/support group/hang on 9/12.

If you’re looking for more personalized guidance, you can book a reading with me. I just opened some availability for next week.

I’m SO excited to share that, at long last, A FIELD GUIDE TO ECLIPSE SEASON is here.

GRAB YR GUIDE

I created this guide to be your companion throughout September / Virgo season’s wavy spiralic times.

• The guide includes:
  a download on eclipses as astronomical events and astrological symbols

• a detailed breakdown of September 2025’s eclipse season

• journaling prompts

• ritual suggestions

• a time traveling reflective journey through past eclipse dates

• a “one line a day” style diary to keep notes on the season as it's happening

• eclipse season topics for each sign

• musings, inspirations

• and a full compendium of dates to peruse

+ an invitation to an AMA/eclipse support group/hang with me on Friday 9/12 at 11 AM ET.

You can get yours here: https://jaimewright.net/store/field-guide-to-eclipse-season

_________________

Working on this guide became my mission only a few weeks ago after I got an astrology reading that was supposed to be about making a plan for a different project. Something happened in that reading that reminded me that things don’t always have to be so hard, and sometimes the best projects are ones that pour out of us easily. This guide was a labor of devotion. And I hope you love it. I can’t wait to hear what you think!

The timing is very on point as it’s exactly 8 years since we launched the moon missives quarterly astro journal in August 2017 (if you were around for that, you are a REAL ONE). 8 years is a Venus cycle. What were you doing in Fall 2017 that’s coming back around now?

—

Much more on all of the wild astrology & cycles soon

xo, Jaime

A Field Guide to Eclipse Season is almost ready. Get on the waitlist here by EOD on 8/22 for early release + a discount.

Now some notes on the new moon in Virgo + a story from my flop era.

______

On Saturday August 23 at 2:06 AM ET, there’s a new moon at 0º Virgo. This year’s Virgo season is interesting not just because eclipses are coming, but also because there will be a second new moon in Virgo, a solar eclipse on September 21. Virgo season begins and ends with trickster initiations.

This first new moon in Virgo is almost an eclipse, but isn’t. At first glance, this new moon seems humble and suspiciously calm. But what’s unavoidable is a sharp square to Uranus—planet of upheaval—in Gemini, the zodiac’s other trickster sign. Austin Coppock calls the first decan of Virgo, “A Tree Bearing Fruit.” And this new moon shakes the apple tree, scattering the delicate harvest all over the ground, making a huge mess. Will we be able to gather the fruit before the animals come for these Venusian gifts? How much of this bounty must be sacrificed to the gods? This new moon is quietly explosive. It doesn’t destroy anything, but it does leave a mess. What’s helpful is that Virgo is great at sorting through a mess. That is when Virgo’s not making the mess. Or maybe it’s both. This new moon is a Pick Your Own apple farm the day after a storm. It’s organized chaos and organizing chaos and the chaos of organization. Is it a method to madness, or a madness to the method?

What I’m saying is: the rules don’t matter anymore so make your own.

****

If you asked me to pinpoint the moment I stopped trusting myself, I think it was January 2019. Within a week of my exact Saturn Return, I was also experiencing Neptune transiting my Sun. Someone wise had told me that during Neptune transits, the mantra is “VIBES NOT ACTIONS.” I heeded those words to the point that I put them on a poster and taped them to my bedroom wall. But still, mere months after receiving that advice, I moved to Los Angeles without an apartment, a job, or a plan. What I had was a 2010 Prius, dwindling funds in a checking account, a friend willing to drive cross country with me, and a few friends stoked I was coming on the other side. Within a week of my arrival in LA, I was lying awake in the middle of the night, on a couch in my friend’s spare room in Silver Lake, googling things like, “What should I do if I moved across the country last week and already want to move back?” Shockingly, Quora and WikiHow didn’t have the answers I was looking for.

The summer before all this, I reconnected with an old friend from high school. We hung out while he was visiting New York from LA. Over drinks at Zinc Bar, he told me about a Vipassana meditation retreat he’d done years before. How it changed his life. “You should do it sometime,” he enthusiastically insisted. I had just quit my full time job with no plan. I applied and was accepted to spend two weeks at a retreat center in the desert. But I didn’t take the offer. I needed meditation. I needed a vacation. But instead, I packed my entire life into the back of a Prius and drove it to LA.

I stayed in Los Angeles for eight months. I arrived on January 4, 2019, the day before a solar eclipse in Capricorn, and left on August 29, 2019, the day before a new moon in Virgo. I was in a Neptunian delusional state that whole time in LA. I was yearning. I was dissociating. I was on the brink of collapse. I wish my breakdown was at least sexy like the one in Miranda July’s All Fours. But I had no imaginary love affair. I was just crying with my blood oranges in the parking lot at Whole Foods.

The new moon in Virgo that aligned with my exit from LA, and subsequent drive up Highway 1 through Big Sur, was in the first decan of Virgo.

Austin Coppock writes in 36 Faces on this part of the zodiac, “in this face are seen images of humility before creation. The spirit watches, listens and tends, unwilling to impose itself rashly upon the order of being. The humble witness thereby perceives many great secrets about the processes of Nature.”

My solo road trip home to New York in August and September 2019 was probably the best experience of my life. I wasn’t at a Vipassana meditation center. But I was alone in a liminal state. I was in a state of “humility before creation.” I was on an adventure. I was on my own schedule. My job each day was to get myself from one place to another. I’m sure I would get sick of sleeping in random Airbnbs, but part of me feels like I could live my whole life like I was on that road trip.

On that road trip, for the first time in months, I wasn’t living in fear. I was having an experience. I was trying things again. It was so freeing to be a failure. It was exhilarating to admit defeat. When I stopped trying to cover up the mess and make it work, LA became its own experience. I couldn’t see it at the time, but that failure got me closer to what works.

Six years later, I’m still learning to trust myself again. For a long time, I was living in a clenched state. My life got smaller and smaller. I thought, OK, you made your big mistake, you can’t make another one. But as it goes, I kept making mistakes. Again and again. I just got better at hiding them. And as much as I fear each mistake will unravel everything, I’m learning that it’s only when I’m trying and failing that I’m actually living.

*****

I have availability for astro readings next week. You can book here. Paid subscribers can still use a code for 20% off (in the header of this email).

A Field Guide to Eclipse Season is almost ready. Get on the waitlist here by EOD on 8/22 for early release + a discount.

What I have to share today is part reflection, part digest, and most importantly, PART ANNOUNCEMENT.

Between the full moon in Aquarius, the opposition of bad boy planets Mars and Saturn, and the annual feast of a convergence between Venus and Jupiter, there was a lot to cry about, and also a lot to celebrate last year.

2025 is a strange year, an epoch marker for the collective, and when looking at the astrology, it’s divided into two distinct story arcs. The first played out from January until now, and the second one begins in a few weeks with eclipse season.

I’m VERY excited to share something that all these pivots have inspired for me:

I’m putting the finishing touches on A FIELD GUIDE TO ECLIPSE SEASON, a digital download guidebook for September’s eclipses in Pisces and Virgo.

You can get on the waitlist to be the first to know when it’s out here.

field guide wait list

On a personal level, I was born during eclipse season, and because of that, I think I’ve had more important life events than the average person occur on or around one. I believe that the weeks around eclipse seasons are when life happens fast, and time is not linear. One can avoid the whiplash that comes with wobbly times when willing to pay attention and listen to what the universe has to say.

I created A FIELD GUIDE TO ECLIPSE SEASON to be a steady ritual companion for tracking your own eclipse story. Whether it’s VERY LOUD or more subdued, whether what’s happening is about you or about someone you love, there’s undoubtedly something happening.

A FIELD GUIDE TO ECLIPSE SEASON includes:

• Important dates from the past, present and future to track the Pisces-Virgo eclipse cycle with reflective journaling prompts

• How to locate your own story and find your role in the revolution within these spiraling times

• Rituals for wobbly times, for “believers” and “non-believers” alike

• And for the beginner, enthusiast, or even the seasoned astrologer: a detailed guide to wtf an eclipse even is

• PLUS - Save the Date for 9/12 when we’ll gather for an AMA/debrief

FIELD GUIDE WAIT LIST

All written by me, an expert, aka someone born during eclipse season with her ascendant ruler conjunct the North Node. If you don’t know what that means now, you hopefully will by the time you’re done with the guide. (But you’ll also be MUCH MORE STOKED about what you’ve discovered about yourself.)

ANYWAY, lots of pivots right now. Lots of growing pains right now all around. I find it somewhat hilarious that I shared my And Just Like That… as societal omen piece hours (?!) before the show was unceremoniously cancelled. It definitely feels like one era is ending and another is beginning. And apparently, I don’t get to take my lobotomy-of-choice, AJLT, into the unknown future.

As the moon wanes toward next week’s New Moon in Virgo, if you’re interested in making some order out of chaos, and reviewing the astrology of the last two months, I wrote about it in extensive detail for paid subscribers here. If you’re not already subscribed, it costs less than a fancy coffee to get some perspective.

And if you’d like to review the events of this summer or start planning for eclipse season 1:1, I still have some availability in late August. You can book here. Discount code for paid subscribers is still active (and in the heading of this email).

book a reading

That’s all for now. If you’re reading this when it hits your inbox on Friday, August 15, I’ll leave you with the hot tip that the moon will be enclosed by benefics (aka going from a cute lunch date to an afternoon lounging at the Botanical Gardens) between 10:14 AM ET and 4:16 PM ET. I hope you have a beautiful day & a beautiful weekend.

<3 Jaime