Colin Bedell joins Vanessa Montgomery to chat about all things Sagittarius, classic Sagittarians Taylor Swift and AstroTwin Ophi Edut, PLUS the new and full Moon, Mars retrograde and out of bounds in Gemini, opportunity aspects, and this month’s main cosmic movements so you can plan your month ahead in alignment with the energies unfolding.
Our featured non-profit this month is https://www.humanesociety.org – Since 1954 across the U.S and around the world – the Humane Society fights the big fights to end suffering for all animals and, with your help, they’ll achieve the vision behind their name: a humane society. Join us in supporting them this month with a donation.
Be sure to check out Tony Howard’s webinar on Mars Retrograde in Gemini 2022 and the webinar Sagittarius in Myth and Psyche with Jason Holley.
Time stamps for the topics covered in this podcast:
0:00—38:20 Introduction to Sagittarius Season
38:20—40:39 Pitfalls of Sagittarius Season
40:39— 46:57 Things to do in Sagittarius Season
46:57—50:02 Classic Signs
50:02— 1:00:32 Monthly Moons
1:00:32— 1:17:07 Monthly Headlines
1:17:07— 1:20:01 Monthly Nonprofit
1:20:01— 1:24:14 Key Takeaways/Monthly Mantra/Coffee Table
1:24:14— 1:33:46 What’s Coming Up?
Transcript for The Cosmic Eye – Sagittarius Season Episode
Tony Howard: This is the Astrology University podcast, helping you find inspiration, insight and connection through the study of astrology. And I’m your host, Tony Howard.
Vanessa Montgomery: Hi and welcome back to the Cosmic Eye— Sagittarius season. I am your host Vanessa Montgomery of Astro All-Starz and we have rejoining us six months later on the Sag-Gemini polarity axis, Colin Bedell (ta-da!) from QueerCosmos for the Astrology University podcast. Welcome back, Colin!
Colin Bedell: Oh, Vanessa, thank you so much for having me. This feels so elliptical. I’m so excited. I can’t wait to just join forces with you. We began this conversation six months ago when Gemini season started. And here we are six months later, on the beginning of Sagittarius season. I love the elliptical.
Vanessa: That was the new moon and you put something on that new moon, which was yeah, I’ll come back. I’ll interview you, you be the Sag, I’ll ask the questions, etc. And I thought that was very mutable and very Gemini. Especially with all the crazy Mars in Gemini business.
Colin: Where we just like, infiltrate other people’s shows and go, “Let me on and I’ll interview you!”
Vanessa: I love that. And I’ve noticed Sagittarians often will turn it around and start interviewing the interviewer as well. Possibly a Gemini thing. Maybe it’s our axis.
Colin: I know it’s like how could we let this go by without us having a part two, six months later?
Vanessa: I love that. And I noticed Tony is very responsive as well when people put something forward and I’m thinking well, that’s a mutable thing, isn’t it? Okay, let’s change it up. Let’s suggest this, let’s tweak that.
Colin: Yes. And I was just meditating on that today of the healing energy of mutable signs and that when there’s transition, when there’s innovation, when there’s change, it just provides such completion, commencement. It’s incredible. It really is. I love being a mutable threshold guardian. I just love it. I love it.
Vanessa: I love being mutable as well. Let’s do the setup. In terms of Sagittarius, it is transpersonal mutable fire, it comes in at the end of autumn in the northern and of course, it wraps up the end of spring here in the southern hemisphere. So we’re on a polarity with our hemispheres as well. Symbolized by the centaur, which is a chimera. I love chimeras, like in Alice in Wonderland. It’s part this, part that—it’s not mixed. It’s two distinct things. Like the chimera in Alice in Wonderland, like the Mock Turtle. And you get chimeras in nature, the— Colin’s like what the?
Colin: No, I never knew that they were called chimeras!
Vanessa: Yeah, so that’s what a chimera is, and you get them in nature where the DNA is like, you know, sometimes you’ll get a cat that’s got two different color eyes, and it’s got two very different colors on it. And sometimes it’s actually a chimera, genetically, it’s very interesting. I’ve always been fascinated. And I’ve just realized that’s what my sign is as a Sagittarius representing today, five planets. And then you have Gemini in the opposition, which is all about paradox. And chimera is pretty paradoxical. That’s a key on this axis actually. And Gemini loves it.
Colin: We do. So does Sag, though, so does Sag. Just like, ooh, you can’t put me in one box? I love it.
Vanessa: Just try…. You’ll fail. I seek. Do you call the motto or do you say I seek with Sag? I seek the truth, I seek to understand?
Colin: I love that verb for them. Yeah, I could think of so many, but I actually think I seek might be the best one. And I think that’s why they can be so confronting, too, because they’re not claiming what is already theirs. They’re not possessing, they’re not providing a sense of certainty. They’re not giving a single right answer. They’re seeking for the unknown. And I think that could be why Sagittarius can be so provocative. They have my undivided attention.
Vanessa: And Gemini as well, I keep coming back to that axis. You know, it’s definitely not at one end or the other, it’s that axis, it’s the knowledge axis and seeking information. And it’s in a different way sometimes perhaps.
Colin: Yes. And I appreciate that. Like I always feel like Gemini comes to the professor Sagittarius with like journalistic kind of qualities, right? Like who what where when why, what’s the scoop? Here you go, right? And then passes it over to Sagittarius, the provider, the disseminator of information, for a sense of universal wisdom, too, like how do we make the personal, transpersonal?
Vanessa: How do we pull it all in together? Yes, Gemini is the scout.
Colin: Here’s the data. Here’s the metrics. Here’s the numbers. Here’s the percentages, right?
Vanessa: Just don’t shoot the messenger.
Colin: I know right? It’s true.
Vanessa: It is duality of mutable signs, except Virgo less of that duality there in the symbol, rules the thighs and of course that rump, very horsey pear shape types or very sporty. I had a couple of jokes actually.
Colin: Oh, that feels very Sag, go ahead, yeah, what’s the joke?
Vanessa: A bit silly, but here we go. So, Colin, what do you get when you cross a centaur with a human?
Colin: I don’t know.
Vanessa: A quarter-horse. One more. I might have said this on another episode. Oh, I love it. What did the jockey say to her horse when it didn’t place? Why the long face? Dad jokes.
Colin: I was hoping they were Sag dad jokes, or like puns. Sag loves a pun.
Vanessa: There’s a lot of horsey puns. There’s so many puns.
Colin: Give her the jokes, thank you thank you. Of course, we needed it. Levity, another beautiful Sagittarius energy, oh just laugh. It’s not that serious.
Vanessa: I just try to be silly, and then philosophical, and then it’s so confusing to people.
Colin: It really is. You know, there’s a word, it might have a different context in Australia, but in America, it may be it’s similar. It’s just like bimbo, like Sag feels very bimbo where they come in and they pretend they don’t take themselves really seriously. But they actually do
Vanessa: Do and don’t, like I think that’s the thing. And maybe Gemini is quite similar. Yeah, you don’t take yourself that seriously. Although the things you do take seriously are pretty serious. But it’s the style it’s delivered, isn’t it? It’s with humor.
Colin: Humor, levity. And just don’t forget to laugh. Yeah. My god. Yeah. And then another astrologer who I love her name’s Emmalea Russo. She’s a Virgo. She talks a lot about how Mercury as the usher of souls might provide people’s last laugh.
Vanessa: Oh my gosh, that’s awesome.
Colin: I know, she’s brilliant. She’s one of the most inspiring astrologers I have ever met. Yeah, Emmalea Russo. Yeah, Virgo girl. She’s an art historian and a poet. And so she’s looked at a lot of beautiful paintings of Hermes/Mercury messenger figures ushering the souls to the underworld and positioning Mercury as the provider of the last laugh. Like, in deep truth, you know, like the laugh in hell, it’s just, ugh—I could go on.
Vanessa: It’s interesting, isn’t it? To think of it like that is the Gemini giving me all these great things to think about? Like, yeah, it’s the contrast. It’s so serious. And then it’s so silly. Like, what are you going to do? You gotta have a laugh. It might be the last one. It might be the last time you see that person. What are you gonna do with that time?
Colin: Are you gonna be in fear and living in catastrophe or perceiving catastrophe? Or can you just lighten up.
Vanessa: And have a look at the bigger picture, which is the Sag gift, isn’t it? Zoom out.
Colin: And I always appreciate that the most from you. Because I think I told you, most of my best friends all have Sagittarius in their chart. I live in the polarity axis and the place where they really challenge me, and it’s not a place of conflict. But it is a place of like, Oh, you’re right, I got it. It’s just really zooming out and not getting caught in the weeds because it’s so easy for me to do that. And I just love how Sag is like, you’re not going to be thinking about this in two weeks.
Vanessa: Exactly, exactly. I’m just thinking about Sag sandwiched between Scorpio and Capricorn. Most gothic, emo signs I think. The king of goth, Edgar Allan Poe, I think he was a Capricorn with Scorpio Moon, of course he was freaking goth. You know, Sagittarius is the buoyancy between so deep and then you’ve got to go so high to balance it and then you’re going so serious with Capricorn. I love that up and down or like in and out breath, that sort of yin yang yin yang right through the zodiac. So here we are as deep as you go. You’ve got to go as light because it’s gonna get real serious.
Colin: That’s right, come December 21. Party’s over, everybody. Back to work, yeah. I love it. Hey, Saturn and Capricorn. Yeah, I just love Sag for so many reasons, but that one particularly to just how much fun I have with them, like when they walk in I feel the energy rays. I feel the temperature get hotter. I just have so much fun. Just constantly.
Vanessa: And you’re gonna go with it. You’ve got Leo Rising, too. Energy optimism comes from the northern and that’s just how it’s developed. So I’m thinking about in the solar cycle, the energy and optimism to sort of see through those coming winter months, you know, rather than being daunted by it. Yep. Let’s go and set things up how you need them, pile up your books or your courses to get you through the winter?
Colin: Yes, that feels Sag. Oh, that’s beautiful. Yeah, sense of optimism and hope before things get rather dark by just sunlight standards. Yeah. The last party! Absolutely. I can see that from them, beautifully expressed. Yep.
Vanessa: Freedom is everything. And as I have five planets in Sagittarius, all I ever wanted to do, my life ambitions, was travel and study. Go to school, learn things, boarding schools, I was with lots of friends, like the friendship thing. I didn’t get to go to boarding school, but that was my dream. To live at a school with lots of friends and no parents. And my mom said, “You’re such a fussy eater. You’d hate it.” I’m like, “I’ll just put that aside…”
Colin: I could see yeah, that would be Sag heaven on earth. Yeah.
Vanessa: I was an only child. So I was ready to have lots of friends and learn and have people— teachers there! Teaching us things.
Colin: My Sag friend just did that. And she’s so happy. She is so happy having done like an intensive yoga teacher training at the Kabbalah Center in America. And she was there for a month and just met all these wonderful friends and learned yoga. I’ve never seen her so happy in my whole life, ever.
Vanessa: Exactly, Sag life. I love being at school. I love University. I never miss a day, I’m that student. I’m always late, but I won’t miss the day.
Colin: Big Sag energy, yep.
Vanessa: Yeah. So Sag is like the Joker versus Gemini ruled by the Trickster.
Colin: Oooh, what’s the difference? How would you look at the difference?
Vanessa: Yeah, exactly. I was wondering that, I guess having a laugh. Sagittarius won’t play the tricks, it’s not really the trickster, whereas Gemini’s maybe… it’s like the Trickster is trying to flip things. I think bringing the paradox in is Gemini’s role or Mercury? Whereas Sagittarius is about proportion. So a lot of humor is about changing proportion and laughing at that.
Colin: Oh, wow. So exaggeration, distortion, that kind of thing?
Vanessa: Exaggerating, distorting it by exaggerating and minimizing and then comparing those whereas I think Gemini is more the tricky looking for paradox. What would you say? Does anything come to you about that?
Colin: Well, honestly, one of my favorite hobbies is scaring my friends.
Vanessa: Playing tricks on them.
Colin: If they’re deep in focus, or like not paying attention, I love to just scream really loud or come up behind them and like go, “Hey! what are you doing?” and like, they get so mad.
Vanessa: See, that’s straight up playing tricks.
Colin: Oh, my God, and I do it to my poor niece. She’s four years old. All she wants to do is play with her toys. And I’ll just walk right past and yank them from her.
Vanessa: I love that you’re the adult but being the immature one. And that’s how I often feel as well. I do have Moon in Aries, which is quite immature. And I just want to be silly. I just want to be silly and immature even though I’m really mature in some ways.
Colin: You absolutely are. And my niece is a Virgo with a Scorpio Moon so I get scolded by her. She’s like, “Uncle Colin, don’t be silly.”
Vanessa: But I just want to be silly.
Colin: I just want to tease you! No, thank God she can take a joke. So yeah, I could see us being big Trickster archetype. And then Sag just saying hysterically funny things. Oh, my God. So funny.
Vanessa: What a time to be a comedian because a lot of people have lost their sense of humor. It’s very difficult. I’ve seen so many comedians get in so much trouble. I would definitely be changing my day job for the time being. You notice that?
Colin: I have and you know what, I go back and forth with it. Right? Because I think that we do need to get creative around humor. That is not offensive. That is not based on tired, oppressive language.
Vanessa: Like reinforcing crappy stereotypes and things? For sure. Yeah.
Colin: And but then at the same time, humor is provocative. It’s subversive. It’s confronting, it’s not meant to make you feel comfortable. And I actually think that’s something that Australians— and I’m a New Yorker— what we have in common is we love to tease, and we love to make fun, and we love to take the piss, and it’s like, funny! So I look at that as affectionate. Whereas other cultures would not, they don’t think it’s funny. So yeah, it is certainly an interesting time to be in the comedic arts right now. I probably wouldn’t do it.
Vanessa: No, things are getting upturned. But there’s also that yeah, you’ve just got to be a bit more onto it. You can’t just be fast and loose with your humor at the moment.
Colin: No, but now I’m thinking of probably my favorite Sagittarius comedian, Rodney Dangerfield. He’s just like a New York wise guy. Just like New York wise guy, constantly making fun of himself, making fun of others though for sure. Not even in the most flattering lenses. But I think Richard Pryor was a Sagittarius. Yeah, we have a lot of Sag comedians. And Virgo too, by the way, I just want to say I think Virgo does not get the comedic credit they deserve, they crack me up. But yeah, I always laugh at Sagittarian metaphors, impersonations, oh God, they have me in stitches all the time.
Vanessa: I’ll agree with the Virgo, I think that their sense of humor is really sharp and it’s not always appreciated. People don’t think of Virgo and humor but they are really funny. They’re ruled by Mercury, they’ve got it, it’s just so dry.
Colin: I say it every time there’s an important Virgo transit, just don’t forget to laugh at yourself, like honestly, because they do, it’s the metaphor, the dry, the connection, they know exactly what to liken you to something as to make you remember something. They have me in stitches, and their linguistic impersonations. Nobody does it better.
Vanesa: They’re so sharply observant.
Colin: That’s what it is! And I think to be a comedian, you have to be observant. Yeah, and I think Sag does, too. Like I’ve watched a few of my Sag friends kind of have the squinty eyes, like trying to study and analyze and then boom, they can impersonate them later. But yeah, and now I’m thinking of just like comedy as a potentially mutable energy. And I like where this is taking me.
Vanessa: Yeah, that’s a good point, actually. Well, I do always check comedians’ charts and see if the Sag is in there. Just one of those things, ongoing observation. I know for me, seeking relentlessly, wanting to just move, not that respective of boundaries, you know, because Sag is a boundary buster. That’s its whole point. So at a time when we all talk about boundaries, I’m like poor Sagittarians. Poor mutable signs!
Colin: Yeah, the south node was in Sag when that topic was having a huge moment. And then like, of course, yeah.
Vanessa: That was interesting with the south node in Sag, actually. But yes, always seeking, the philosopher, love of philosophical questions, doesn’t have to be practical, just about understanding and broadening the mind and sparking the mind. If there’s no earth it will never be put into practice.
Colin: And now you helped me understand maybe another connection between Sagittarius and Capricorn is the Sagittarius provides awareness and then Capricorn provides enactment and closes the knowledge gap between action and awareness.
Vanessa: Sure does. Yeah, Capricorn monetizes Sagittarius. Pulls Sag back from some exotic place, basically. Puts it into a system and it makes sense, doesn’t it? Like Sag has got a lot of big ideas. It’s got a breadth of knowledge. And it’s going to take some something big to put all that together in some kind of big working system and Capricorn is empire. Capricorn is big systems. It makes so much sense. I really look to Capricorns for what they do with things because I don’t necessarily have that. I’m just all about big ideas and get on a plane.
Colin: Which we love, too! Where would Capricorn be without you getting that fire started? Come on.
Vanessa: Exactly. So speaking of getting on planes, I really liked this axis situation we’re doing here. So last time we spoke in Gemini season, you had a few cats in the bag and the cats out of the bag now. So you were going to Greece. You were filming a— was it an astrological dating program? Can you tell us a little bit about that? Because now you’re going to London to promote it. So six months later.
Colin: Correct, I just got chills hearing you say it, it’s so weird! Yes. So I when we last spoke, it was the day that I had to go to the Greek consulate to get a visa because I, in true Gemini fashion, extended my Schengen visa, so I was 90 days passed. And then I had to do this work assignment in Greece. And I would have violated that. So I was there trying to get a visa and I told you, “I don’t really know if it’s gonna happen!” and you were like, “Girl, relax, you have all these ninth house transits. You’re going.” Thank God I listen to you and I believed you. I felt so moved by that. And then just a few weeks later, I filmed with the help of two other English astrologers, Francesca Oddie and Michele Knight, we filmed an astrology dating experiment on Discovery+, and it’s called Written in the Stars and it’s hosted by BBC One journalist Clara Amfo. And it is so— honestly, I’m so proud of it. I was nervous because, you know, with reality television, I’m essentially taking one of the biggest risks of my career handing over the way that I’m portrayed to editors to all these different things that are completely out of my control. But I honestly felt so sure that it would be handled well, just by the nature of the production and who I was speaking to, and I was watching them just exhibit a lot of trustworthy behaviors. And so the trailer is going to drop on November 20. So this has been recorded November 13, in just a week, and then it comes out on Discovery+ on November 28. So right around — or just a few days after this new moon in Sag. And then every week, there’s going to be a new episode dropping. And again, I’m so happy with the way that this came out. The cast was diverse. They were so curious about behaviors that helped them operationalize astrology, as opposed to just talking about it. And there was just so much curiosity and there was a lot of beautiful conversations and I cannot wait for the world to see this. And then I don’t want to like speak it too optimistically, but, I just felt like something really special happened. At the wrap party, the production company, or the people on the production, frankly, came up to all of the astrologers and just couldn’t believe how moved they were by learning about spirituality, about relationships. They were going back to their marriages a little bit changed and different and clear on what they need to do better. And they were like, “We started..” (they’re like British working class, folks) “..so we started this not knowing anything about astrology. We didn’t care.” And then they just really want to apply it. So it was that moment when I was like, wow, I actually think we have something really special here. And yeah, I watched the trailer and I was like, oh, yeah, this is gonna be exactly what I want it to be.
Vanessa: Wow, that’s so exciting. And I love the new moon in Sag placement for setting out that it’s the first episode or the trailer? The trailer?
Colin: The first episode comes out on November 28. But the trailer comes out November 20. So just a few days before Sag season.
Vanessa: It’s starting on my birthday! Oh my god.
Colin: You know what? From you’re mouth to the universe’s ears, baby. Yeah, no, we even have this beautiful moment, like under the full moon in Sag. I can’t give anything away. But it was just like, it was so well done. I was nervous. Because I think astrologers, too, rightfully want to protect the system. They don’t want to translate it or minimize and overly simplify it for mainstream audiences. But that is not what I saw. It was just so integrity driven and heartwarming. And now we’re talking just before I have to go to London to promote the friggin’ thing.
Vanessa: So here we are. Maybe you’ll have to come back again on Gemini season to tell us what happened.
Colin: I know, Season Two, before Season Two gets filmed.
Vanessa. And it was in Greece, so of course it’s all international. You’ve got English, you’ve got Greece, you’ve got American. Wow.
Colin: I was the only American.
Vanessa: Are all the contestants English?
Colin: They’re international, actually. The vast majority are English. But they weren’t just English, which was nice. Yeah. So they were from many different countries within the UK, and then a few countries from elsewhere. But yeah, it was just beautiful to watch their curiosity around astrology. I kept having to wrap my mind around the fact that like in America, we say sun sign, they say star sign. The little cultural things. And the humor made me laugh and it was just, it was incredible. I’m so pleased. I’m so chuffed that this opportunity has connected me to a whole new country, a whole new audience. It’s incredible.
Vanessa: Congratulations, that is amazing. Yeah. And I also wanted, too, to talk about that too, because Sagittarius really, I think, is very connected to popular culture. Loves it, loves popular culture, can get bagged out for it, not just popular culture. But you know, this is translating this whole system and presenting it in a certain format for popular culture. This is a big show. I know, my books and your books are for the masses. It’s to translate to people. It’s like the gateway, you know, basically the gateway drug. And there’s Gemini on the threshold, come hither. I spoke to Ophira from the AstroTwins as well about theirs. And you know, we’re all serious in our own way, of course, and we understand the astrology but there’s a drive to share it and to welcome people in and it takes a certain— you have to be brave to do it. Because as you already felt, there are people that will for popular culture, just try to take the piss on astrologers and set ourselves up for bad. But then the times are changing and there’s a lot more people that really, genuinely, authentically want to know more about this. And I think, business-wise, they know the public wants it. So they’re taking it more seriously. And so how do we fit all this together? Mutable signs, Sagittarius, Gemini. It takes that to try to fit these things together. And it’s not necessarily easy. And I was really curious, watching, well how did the AstroTwins manage to do that? And I’m really looking forward to checking yours out and see how did these guys do that? Because it’s not easy.
Colin: And it wasn’t the whole time, right? Because at the same time, I’m learning wow, so this is how you communicate on television, right? So I’m in a new environment, in 95 degree heat, wearing a little too many layers of clothes, okay. And I’m like, I’m already hot. I’m just meeting these people for the first time. They don’t even know they’re on it. There were so many external factors, right. But you know, what I think makes Gemini and Sag united around the access of knowledge, is we do not believe that the more accessible something is, the less intelligent it becomes. I think that’s what we have in common. And thankfully, I received a master’s degree at Parsons, The New School for Design. And it encouraged me from a research point of view and a qualitative research point of view, to make sure that every single thing that I potentially wrote, spoke or published, was accessible, it thrived and prioritized accessibility. And let’s be very honest, as a culture astrologically, we don’t often situate accessibility as a core value. We don’t. It can be very complicated, very convoluted. And I could just see my dad asking to some of the things that astrologers teach, “What’s this got to do with the price of tea in China?” That’s the thing he would say. Yeah, he’s like, What actionable information is this? And what are you even saying?
Vanessa: I agree, and that’s what I actually say. Like, I ask myself yeah, what are you saying? Who’s gonna read that?
Colin: Hello, and who’s it for? If it’s just for you to wax and wane poetically, by all means, go ahead and do that. But the way I look at it is, we have this extraordinary proximity to divine understanding a spiritual system of relationality. And I will be god damned if anybody shames me from scaling or leveraging the power of media to provide into that listening something that can be helpful to change the quality of their relationships, which is the sole determiner of their life quality. No one’s going to shame me and no one’s going to stop me from doing that. And that’s what I think Gemini and Sag are really bound by because when you were saying popular culture, I was thinking of all of the famous Sagittarians in popular culture: Britney Spears, Nicki Minaj, Taylor Swift, right? There’s so many that the gays love. Okay. Yeah, they are not afraid to be out there and to be accessible. And I think that’s what makes them both incredibly visible and susceptible to tremendous criticism, and highly beloved by other people.
Vanessa: It’s interesting, isn’t it? I know for me it comes with an inbuilt ability to just kind of withstand that and not worry about it. Like it’s a sign of movement. Like you’re galloping along. You’re moving. You know, it just doesn’t matter. You have to not worry about any of that.
Colin: Nope. Yeah. Because I’m aligned with my values on this one, too, like I didn’t just say yes to this opportunity because it was on TV. I really thought long and deep and hard about it. And I was really clear about whether or not I would say yes, based on these terms, which they did. And my value is accessibility, my value is leveraging the fact that astrologers have this extraordinary space of listening and a popular culture. Why would I not use that to provide ideas, strategies and behaviors that can change other people’s relationship quality? Why would I not? So I’m very happy with that. I can’t wait to see what the world thinks of it, frankly.
Vanessa: Oh, it’ll be great. I think they’ll love it. Good gateway— lets Sag teach and preach for a minute. Fear stops most people. That idea of Sagittarius broadening horizons is what it’s about, like if you stay doing what you’re doing, you’ll never do that next thing like write a book or appear on a show or write and pitch a show. I know that AstroTwins wrote and pitched. They pitched that idea. That’s how it got going and it ended up being very different to what they started with. But you gotta start somewhere and you won’t always hit that square to the Pisces vision, you know, but you’ve got to get going. It’s a moving target and Sag can work with that, Gemini can work with that, the mutables can. But always hold up your goalpost or your vision or your higher why are you doing this. So that’s what you were saying was really important in your process you had the reason why you’re doing it. And it allowed you to keep aligning with that, allowed you to apply boundaries so that it just wasn’t all over the place. And you have to be ready to grow, which is Sagittarius season expand, you have to be ready to grow, or ain’t nothing going to change.
Colin: Okay. And that’s what I was looking for is like, I didn’t necessarily have a professional intention of ever going on television. You know, that was never necessarily something I was set out on doing. But I was starting to feel like, you know, I don’t know if I want to stay working on the internet forever. Because that was becoming a little murky. And then when this was presented to me, I said, okay, I’m going to do this and it felt very aligned with some transits that I was experiencing. And again, the production, their names are Lucy Brian and Rosa Golding, they have done incredible jobs really just maintaining the integrity of astrology. And from the first meeting. So once I felt that I’m like, I’m good to go. So I’m so happy with where this is gonna go.
Vanessa: And you challenged yourself by the sounds of it, it was way out of your comfort zone. And so how are you feeling, do you like feel an extra layer of confidence now, an extra level?
Colin: You know, I feel a sense of security around it. Yeah. Because the executives would come to me after and just sort of say, like, Colin, where did you learn that? Where did you hear that? How do you know? How did you connect this to astrology? And then I just watched, Vanessa, the conversations grow and change. And I was like, wow, so this is only happening on set? What is this going to do if maybe millions of people are watching it? And once I saw how quickly the conversation would expand and become a force multiplier, very Gemini-Sag, right? And cross-culturally, I was the only American in like a 250 mile radius. Okay. So when I was watching that happen, I said, Wow, this could be something really special. So yeah, we’ll see.
Vanessa: Well, I think back to when was that key moment that you might have heard of astrology? Or this or that, and it didn’t really take? When was that moment when it really sparked? That fire sparked? And it took? There’s always that moment, right? Yeah, so absolutely, to a mass audience, which I think is very Sagittarian, it’s going to spark a few fires, and it opens up people to then explore further, fantastic.
Colin: And you know what, you just made me think of this, too— I was just saying this to the other astrologer— I did not go into this opportunity knowing for sure how to measure it successful, you know?Are we measuring it successful because the matches are staying together? Are we measuring it successful because the people watching now have a greater interest in astrology? I don’t know. But what I do know is that me and those two are signed to that show for a reason. So let’s just speak into that space with the highest level of integrity, and maintain detachment to outcome, and just sort of see what happens from there. Because who’s to say? Who’s to determine the success of the show? So I just sat back and said, All right, we’ll see what happens. Go ahead. What are you gonna say?
Vanessa: I was gonna say, pick up on you said don’t attach to an outcome. Keeping it open for growth. That is a key to life. Have a goal, and keep it there. Yeah, Sag life— that’s how you grow. Season of growth and expansion. That’s the key, thank you, that’s the key.
Colin: And it’s hard because I know that people in so much collective uncertainty, they want a clear, single right answer. They want prep, they want structure, they want a preposition. And there are many places where that’s appropriate. But if there’s a lot of mutable energy, we’re just not about it.
Vanessa: It’s not about certainty. In fact, I would say with so much mutability in me, mostly, I don’t want certainty because I feel trapped if there’s too much that’s locked down. I need a lot of space that is not accounted for in my schedule.
Colin: Yes, I need to be better about that. My Capricorn Moon, but thank you for reminding me. You need more of those buffer periods you were saying.
Vanessa: Buffer periods and just in a way that I can do things in my own time when I’m ready. So I might do a lot of work but I can’t have it scheduled in at like I have to get up at this time because I’ve got this here because I like to stay up late and I don’t know when I’ll be able to go to sleep. So it’s just it’s very unstructured. Let’s put it that way. Yeah, I feel like if there’s too much structured in, where’s the space for opportunity?
Colin: And where’s the space for happenstance? Where’s the space for surprise? Where’s the space for the Muses to visit?
Vanessa: Where’s the space for change? That’s a mutable keyword. How can anything change? I’m all locked into all this stuff. And I know what I’m doing. But I 100% agree it’s about people’s need for certainty. So that’s something that we can draw on for Sag season is to open up for faith and optimism, which is how we can handle the uncertainty. Well, there is a certainty, because it’s placed in something else less tangible, like faith and optimism.
Colin: Okay, and how about, the only thing certain is that the uncertain will happen?
Vanessa: And you feel pretty sure. I know mine is more based on a feeling, very unchangeable a lot of the time, and it’s like I feel sure that things will work out.
Colin: Yeah. And when a Sag is around, I’m committed too, and I’m convicted in that principle, and they teach me how to do that as well. Like, what do you lose from assuming a positive outcome or a generous assumption about other people? You lose nothing? You gain so much. Don’t get me started.
Vanessa: I’m gonna get you started.
Colin: Sagittarius season 2022. Here we go.
Vanessa: Do you have any questions to a Sagittarius while you have me here before we move on to the pitfalls of Sagittarius season?
Colin: Ah, the pitfalls! Well, honestly, it would probably stem down from like, how do you look at optimism? You know, we use that word a lot around Sagittarius. How do you experience, define, and live into optimism?
Vanessa: I feel it as a feeling, as an energy, as an openness to something positive will come of this. Its fire, so there’s an excitement, like I want stimulation and excitement. So optimism is like yeah, that’s gonna be great. And exactly what you said before like a generosity, you know, applying that to someone else and expecting the best out of things generally, not to say I’m not critical because I am also skeptical about certain things, especially through life having learned the reality of things. It’s not always pollyanna lifestyle, but generally I feel like there’s an openness and an expansiveness and movement towards something which is the seeker, I think.
Colin: Yes, I like to that you said openness and movement. Yeah, I’m going to take that with me and everything that you say now. Openness and movement. I love it. What are these pitfalls? I can’t imagine any, what is it?
Vanessa: Well, I was going to reflect on Gemini season. I did notice, it didn’t pass me by, but a tricky Gemini managed to circumvent the pitfalls straight into the next topic. So we didn’t actually do the pitfalls of Gemini. A Gemini friend of mine picked that up as well. She’s got five planets in Gemini and she’s like, “I noticed the Gemini managed to weasel out of this topic.” So we’re gonna make up for it in Sagittarius season. Everything, including oneself, just give me something to laugh at and I shall.
So pitfalls of Sagittarius season is for sure getting canceled, because your foot’s in your mouth because of something you said, because of your radical honesty, blunt and direct. Because, well, maybe no one asked you in the first place. But don’t ask if you don’t want to know.
Colin: Oh, yeah. Honestly. And don’t give advice if no one asked, how about that? Yeah. If they’re not asking don’t say, you know….?
Vanessa: Or you could ask if they would like some advice because you’ve got something to say, and respect if they say no.
Colin: Right. Do you want this solved or do you want to be soothed? That’s what I heard people say. Yeah, how about both, right? I want it to be solved and I want to be soothed. Okay, I love it. Yeah. To avoid cancellation and foot in mouth, just shhhh for three seconds.
Vanessa: Three seconds, yes. Pause, pause, think about it. Reflect
Colin: Pause for the cause.
Vanessa: Exactly. So I think the excessiveness, it could be a pitfall, like over-committing then ghosting because a) we were just being friendly in the moment, b) it seemed like a good idea at the time, but then you realized it came with responsibilities, so forget it, c) you’re out of range.
Colin: Guilty. Yep. Yep,
Vanessa: d) you’re hung over, e) you’ve got new, more exciting friends, so byeee!
Colin: Right. See, you know what, this was fun, but they are new. And that’s always more fun.
Vanessa: What is it, new relationship energy, even in friendship?
Colin: Oh, basically. Yeah, I can see that being a pitfall of Sag season. Yeah.
Vanessa: You’re in a yoga class again or you dropped your phone again—clumsy!
Colin: Oh my God, my Sag bestie dropped her brand new phone not a week after she got it and I watched the whole thing crack.
Vanessa: Oh god, yeah, I just dropped mine, dammit, it’s finally got a crack in it. I did think for this particular season, and we’ll get to this under the headlines— blowing the budget. It’s gonna be a big pitfall. And we’ll get to why.
Things to do in Sagittarius season: road trip!
Colin: Yes. Travel. Call your friends. Yeah, like connect with cross-cultural friends. Yeah. Friends. Learn new things. Yes.
Vanessa: You’ll be speed-friending. You’re gonna have the best Sagittarius season.
Colin: I feel it. I feel it. I’m so excited.
Vanessa: What else, your comedy special?
Colin: Absolutely. Learn a new language, maybe?
Vanessa: Learn a language! The language of astrology? Read our books. Got books for that! Yeah. Tell the truth.
Colin: You took the words right out of my mouth. I was gonna say something like that. Like be direct.
Vanessa: Yes. Be direct. Consider if you’re being direct. This has been a big lesson for me. And I think a lot of women, like it’s very gendered, are socialized not to be particularly direct. And just soften everything. And I love my emojis, but not to emoji everything. So I have to always consider, Am I being clear? Like, is the person picking up on what I’m saying? Because I can be very direct at the wrong times. But other times, I’ll have to kind of rethink and learn how to speak very clearly and directly. And that’s been a journey, actually.
Colin: I’m glad you mentioned the social and cultural framework because directness and clear speech is very gendered. There’s a lot of power imbalances and there’s a lot of distinctions around those contexts. So I’m really glad you said that. And it is I think, a harder and sometimes maybe even more necessary responsibility for anybody who’s not a straight white cisgendered able bodied man, to just be very clear in your request and what you’re asking for and see what happens. Yeah.
Vanessa: And if someone’s not able to do that themselves to perhaps help them out with translating what they’re trying to say to you.
Colin: Oh, yes, that can be very Sag too, just like, So what I’m hearing you say is… the reflective listening, right? Now, do you mean A, B, and C? Or do you mean 123? Let’s hear it.
Vanessa: Because you want to understand so it’s taking that curiosity and you want to understand so helping out? Totally. I think things to do: trust your intuitive flashes. It’s a very intuitive sign.
Colin: Okay. Okay. Yeah, I could feel that.
Vanessa: Jump on a last minute flight somewhere, maybe with Colin. Or plan one at least. Sign up for a course or quit your job, but not your daydream?
Colin: Oh, quit your job but not your daydream! That’s Sag season personified, or Sag transits, yes.
Vanessa: Be spontaneous, preach and teach.
Colin: Preach and teach. I love that. I love “let’s preach and teach for a minute.” Right? Very Sag. And I also feel like I learned so much just by Sag demonstration, because you have mentioned Ophira Edut, I’ll use her as an example. She was my friend before I had any professional interest in becoming an astrologer. I met her through Parsons, because I was doing a project and I just wanted to thank her for something that I made about the astrology of fashion. And I just reached out to her and said, I’m a student. And this is what I learned and thank you for everything. And she was like, Oh, I’m in New York, we should get coffee one time. That was it, you know, and she’s still to this day, one of my nearest and dearest and I just watched her work. I mean, she would bring me to all her events and anything astrological, I was her plus one and I think observing her conduct herself as a professional astrologer in many rooms to many high profile people was incredibly inspiring.
Vanessa: Interesting, mentoring. And of course, she’s a Sagittarius. So you’ve got again, you’re working this axis and this polarity. And I have to mention, because I was thinking about this, you’re both twins. You’ve both done these dating shows. And I think who better to talk about relationship astrology, which you’re centering more on, than someone that has from the womb, from pre-birth, how to do relationship and I just think it’s so fantastic.
Colin: Oh, and that was really when I knew the twins were for me when I was reading their book, their compatibility guide back in 2010 called How to Get Along with Anybody. And when they said that they’re twins, so they’re lifelong students of interpersonal dynamics. And they really are so relational, I think something that I learned from them and other astrologers, but especially Ophie, would be now that the gate is open, I walked in, and I’ve sort of done what I need to do, who can I bring in, like Ophie brought me? Because she really did. I mean, she cleared so much space for me, and she just provided me the opportunity to work alongside her and to see what it means. And she never, ever stopped supporting me, and made me want to make sure because we’re kind of like an astrologer family tree. I want to make sure that everybody who comes after me, you know, I learned from her. And she’s so nice and so Sag too, right, like never got competitive, only collaborative. Yeah, there’s enough opportunities for everybody. I lose nothing by putting you on. Yeah, everybody’s MO. So go Sag.
Vanessa: This is to me, this is really demonstrating the generosity of Sagittarius and that expansiveness it’s like expanding it, including more, she’s teaching by showing as well, very interesting. Yeah, I feel like she’s very Sagittarian in that way, as well.
Colin: 100%? And Scorpio stellium. So she’s like, Well, you better earn it kind of thing. And I love that about her, she don’t play.
Vanessa: Well, they’ve worked so hard. They work like, oh my gosh, they’re machines. Capricorn rising, all that Sag, all that Scorpio. A lot of respect.
Colin: Me too. Me too. All the respect for them. And just all the deference, you know, I probably wouldn’t have a career without them. I really believe that. Yeah. So I will always name that.
Vanessa: Well maybe moving into classic signs, then, they’re going to have to be the classic Sag. So I feel like we’ve already hit my classic Sag. Do you have another classic Sag that you wanted to talk about?
Colin: Honestly, it would probably be Taylor Swift. I think that she is an incredible example of a woman who tells her truth, much to the dismay of people in power. I think that she is also a powerful example of Sagittarius collaboration. And then just lastly, her songwriting, I think she does an incredible job of making the personal really universal. You know, people might not necessarily have experienced the lyric where she says, “and there we are again, it’s the middle of the night and we’re dancing around the kitchen in the refrigerator light.” But we see that and we know a moment like that. That’s Sagittarius.
Vanessa: And she’s your reverse astro twin. She’s Sag with Moon in Cancer, right? That’s interesting, too, that you chose her.
Colin: Yes. And her music has really moved me through some really challenging, hard times. You know, we grew up together.
Vanessa: Oh, what is that song, Shake it Out? I actually did use her for my first book as one of my classic Sags. And I mentioned that song because how Sagittarian is that song? Shake it off? Yeah, that’s it. It’s very bouncy. It’s like this Sag’s lesson in how to deal with something that could get you down, you shake it off, you bounce out of it, you are buoyant, keep moving, you just move past. There’s a book called Why Don’t Zebras Get Ulcers? And it’s a really serious book written for popular culture. It’s very good. So it’s about animals in the wild, they literally shake. So the zebras get chased by a lion. They get all this adrenaline. As soon as the threats over, they just shake it off, they shake and that gets everything moving. And then they just go casually back to eating the grass. And I felt like that’s what she was saying. And she said something and we don’t do that. We just like suck it all up. And it just starts rusting us from the inside out. So that song, fabulous.
Colin: And you know what I just thought of, too, absolutely, the mutable energy of something happened. Something is about to begin. Let me shake off the past and be in transition so that I can be available and present to what’s to come. Very mutable.
Vanessa: And be completely available. I like that. Oh, yes.
Colin: Shake it off, baby. Shake it off. Yeah.
Vanessa: I play that music. So things to do in Sag season, play some Taylor Swift and Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, yes, Sag.
Colin: And Nicki Minaj, yep. I love it.
Vanessa: Isn’t Nicki Minaj hilarious? She’s so funny. That’s our classic signs.
Let’s move on to the moons. So we have a New Moon in Sagittarius. Very quickly. It’s at one degree Sag, it’s in a stellium conjunct Venus and Mercury. It is trine to the ruler, Jupiter in Pisces. So that’s looking great. That’s looking really good. So plant those new moon intentions, really go for it, make a ritual.
Colin: Yes, yes. And then honor what you said— you’ve used this word a few times since we’ve chatted—but really live from vision and not just circumstances. I think that’s what Ophie and other Sagittarians teach me is you’re in the weeds of the circumstances. Think about the vision. What are you doing to live your vision? Because that’s how you’ll change. That’s how you’ll create a container to hold everything that you want. And it’s one of those invisible, unforeseen things, but live from vision, not circumstances. You can’t live from both.
Vanessa: Yeah, exactly. I love that.
Colin: Is it November 23?
Vanessa: The 23rd, that’s it. Yeah. One degree Sag. That’s beautiful. We also have a full moon at 16 Gemini. So that one, it has more tension. It is in a T-square with Neptune. So on November 24. In Eastern, it is conjunct, also at 16 degrees that Mars Retrograde in Gemini. So Full Moon in Gemini, which is also out of bounds. So I’m gonna go more into that in headlines. They’re very mischievious. So we’re going to try something new with the full moon, and we’ll see how it goes. We’re going to do some improv since Colin has Leo rising. And I just want to say—
Colin: You’re an Aries moon, so come on! All you know is improv!
Vanessa: I’ve got south node in Leo, so I draw on my past life. Alright, so I think that you should be the Moon in Gemini remembering it’s also conjunct Mars, perhaps, for extra inspo. And I’ll be the Sun in Sag. So what’s the scene that we go into— Is it like, Sag Sun and Gemini Moon walk into a bar?
Colin: Totally, or just like collide into each other?
Vanessa: Okay in the street? Bang!
Colin: Yes. Yes. Here we are in New York City. Oh, hey Sun in Sagittarius. How are you?
Vanessa: Oh, what’s your name again?
Colin: Ugh, what’s my name again? You know you’ve met me before. Don’t play— I’m the Moon in Gemini!
Vanessa: I didn’t recognize you with that Mars hanging by your side.
Colin: I love the red though. Don’t you like the new outfit?
Vanessa: Yeah, it’s really, it’s very assertive.
Colin: Yes, I agree. Well, because I’ve been really thinking about polarities and conflicts recently. And so I want to dress the part because you know, it’s it’s not a problem to be in conflict. And I just read this amazing quote by— speaking of Mars, Aries Joseph Campbell. Can I read it to you?
Vanessa: Yeah, sure.
Colin: Joseph Campbell said, “We live on the side of mystery. In the realm of the pairs of opposites, true and false, light and dark, good and evil, male and female, and all that dualistic rational worldview. One can have an intuition that is beyond good and evil, that goes beyond pairs of opposites. That’s the opening of this gateway, into the mystery.” So I wear this red, and I get all dressed up and I get prepared for conflict because I want to go beyond that mystery. I really want to go beyond right and wrong, good and evil, pair of opposites and just consider that mystery beyond. What do you think, Sun in Sag?
Vanessa: Well I was just thinking what is the meaning of all of this, anyway?
Colin: That is a great question and I don’t know. But Joseph Campbell has also said that we’re not looking for meaning, we’re looking for vitality. We all want to feel fully alive. We want full aliveness.
Vanessa: Maybe we should go skating in the park?
Colin: Hey I mean in my hemisphere, we could totally go skating. I don’t know about yours, though.
Vanessa: Well we could go boogie boarding or surfing in my hemisphere, because it’s spring and it’s really warm. And I just love being active. And I do feel alive and vital when I move my body and get into nature.
Colin: Oh, that makes sense as a fire sign, right? Because yeah, I don’t think we give enough reverence to fire as somatic wisdom and somatic psychology. So you’re 100% right. And you know what else I don’t think we give wisdom to, since you got me on that topic? I don’t think we give enough reverence and wisdom to conflict. And actually that conflict can be an incredible vehicle to closeness. I’m convinced of that. And I think Mars Retrograde is, too. That’s why I’m wearing red to kind of normalize anger, to normalize conflict. It doesn’t have to be that bad. And so yeah, I’ve been thinking a lot about how we can really communicate and wrap our heads cognitively around conflict in a different way, so that we can move beyond the pairs of opposites and find connection across conflict.
Vanessa: Well, I am trine Chiron in Aries this month, so I’ll go with that. Yeah, let’s do some healing around that. Bleed first, then heal.
Colin: Bleed to heal. Yeah. Because listen, really conflict is just an objection to difference and we’re signs that don’t really have a whole lot of objections to difference.
Vanessa: Well as a Sagittarius Sun, I quite like a bit of difference, I find it really interesting. It gives us something to talk about and learn from the other person that’s different. And it’s too boring if everyone’s just the same.
Colin: Honestly. And listen, because Mars is here, let’s be clear, too— the chemistry is through the roof. All right, we’ll go surfing, fine. But if there’s too much sameness, I’m just not turned on. I’m not excited. No way.
Vanessa: Well I think the fact that neither of us can surf and there’s a lot of sharks coastally here in Australia, it’s going to provide the stimulation that we need.
Colin: Feels very Mars Retrograde, like, Will they die? Yeah. There’s a lot of danger.
Vanessa: Danger, yeah, yeah. Well, it is trine Chiron so we’ll come out of it okay.
Colin: You think so? I hope so. But we’re gonna come out a little bloody with Mars Retrograde. There’s no doubt about it. I’m getting scratched.
Vanessa: Yeah, you’re definitely getting canceled.
Colin: No. Yeah, probably. I know— what’s worse, getting bit by a shark, or cancellation? I’ll choose the shark.
Vanessa: Definitely getting bit by the shark, yeah.
Colin: I know. That’s a whole other story about embarrassment and public humiliation and public shaming, but damn, yeah, we’ll save that for our paddleboard out into the ocean.
Vanessa: Yeah. Okay. Well, it was really nice to run into you.
Colin: You too! What was your name again?
Vanessa: Sun in Sagittarius. What was yours?
Colin: That’s right. How can I forget? Moon in Gem, and I put the “gem” in Gemini. Bye, girl!
Vanessa: Bye, Gemmie!
Colin: That was actually pretty incredible. I’m not gonna lie. I was nervous. I don’t do improv.
Vanessa: I don’t usually, either. But I thought that we should give it a try. Because it’s about doing something new. Expanding on things, Sag season. And being ready to just — what did they call it? Like, get mud on your face? Or get? What is it?
Colin: I think that is it. No, yeah, get mud on your face. Just like scrape your knees, get on the bike and ride it. You don’t have to read how to ride the bike, just ride the fricken bike.
Vanessa: And Mars is in there. So yeah, it’s perfect. And yeah, you have to try it. You have to get out of your comfort zone with the Sag. As a Sag, too—maybe it’s the Aries, also, I’m not sure what it is— but I am always prepared to and want to say the thing that sounds silly or stupid because you have to start, you have to be prepared to put your ego aside and say the thing to get it started or have the conversation or bring it up, and that’s that thing about pushing the boundary or pushing past something. It’s your own boundaries, your own unhealthy way. I don’t mean not healthy boundaries, but just put those boundary pegs a little further out, just a little further out. Encouraging other people to do that, too.
Colin: I’m thinking about that Sag is not afraid to just be a learner.
Vanessa: Egg on your face, that’s the saying!
Colin: Egg on your face! Okay, okay. Because I did eat eggs earlier, many eggs. Yes. Sag gains no value from being a knower. I feel like Sag gains a lot of value from just being a learner. And I think that’s a beautiful thing.
Vanessa: Yeah, I will say to that as well, we do come across as a know-it-all and love every second of it. But yes, it’s like—
Colin: Ha! More than Virgo?
Vanessa: Maybe, in a different way, perhaps. I think it’s the eternal student-teacher, it’s a reciprocal. So the best teachers I’ve ever known, like at university, were also the best students. They had this perpetual openness to new information. They were learners as well. And the ones that were not, they shouldn’t have been there. They were not university standard because they were closed and they were trying to protect their little bit of turf and they weren’t open. But these guys that were the best, they were the best because they were really open and they speak to everyone like their equals because they always maintained the idea that they can learn something. Everyone’s got something to teach. If you’re good. If you’re open, you’re always gonna learn something valuable. And that’s how you expand.
Colin: I’m thinking of a bell hooks book, Teaching to Transgress. Yeah, because bell writes beautifully about that, about how when she was interviewing another professor, and that what they both realized was that other professors criticized what they saw as a little too much fun and socialization in that class. And bell was like, learning can be educational and entertaining.
Vanessa: It helps the medicine go down. It helps you remember it if you attach it to good experiences.
Colin: It helps the medicine go down— yeah, Mary Poppins! I love it. Love it.
Vanessa: I’ll have to take a look at that. That’s interesting. That’s very on brand.
Colin: I read it during Virgo season, which was the perfect time to read it. And bell wrote extensively on popular culture as an incredible classroom.
Vanessa: Okay, I’ll have a look. I actually haven’t read much of her stuff, and I’ve been meaning to.
Colin: Oh yeah, Teaching to Transgress might be the one that feels the most Sagittarius.
Vanessa: So speaking of Mars retrograde, give me the headlines. Is it Sag or is it Sag out of bounds? Mars retrograde in mischievous Gemini and out of bounds forever. Venus and Mercury are going to go out of bounds as well in Sagittarius. It’s going to be off the hook in Sagittarius season, budgets blown. It’s already off the hook with the Twitter pandemonium.
Colin: It is pandemonium at this point, yes.
Vanessa: Elon Musk, who has now bought Twitter, he’s saying everyone can have a blue tick. It just costs $8. The Mercury retrograde does retrograde back over his Venus in Gemini. Because I checked, I’m like, what’s going on with his transits? And he does have that Venus in Gemini. Kanye West has lost so much sponsorship, he is a Gemini as well. So public examples.
Colin: Totally. And just people saying really egregious things that demand consequences. Yeah. And I think that’s where we’re so kind of hijacked by cancellation culture, that it’s not always cancellation. It’s just consequences. You know, and I think that people like Elon and possibly Kanye have been left without consequences for so long. These measures actually say, no, no, you can’t just shoot your neck and mouth like that all of the time.
Vanessa: Yeah, well that’s what certainly happened to Kanye. And I think that it’s like children need boundaries, everyone needs a boundary somewhere, and they will test and they will test and they will test until they get them— I feel like he’s finally hit his boundary. And the consequence has really— I don’t think he ever would have realized it would be this big. And I think with Elon, it’s interesting in that Mars trickster situation. Everyone’s playing tricks. They’re playing tricks on him, it’s backfiring. And people are able to use any name. So they’re using all these big companies, they’re using his name, or they’ve got a blue tick on there because it only cost him $8. I think he’s cancelled that now. But they were hilarious. Like it was so mischievious. Some of them weren’t mean, they were really funny. It was the ultimate in trickster trickery. So they’d have these big companies that just wrought for money, you know, and so there’s one that was saying, “We have now decided to make insulin free for everyone.” Like things that you want to hear from the company, like BP or Exxon Mobil, whoever it was, owning up to what they’ve done to the environment and taking responsibility, it was all of the things you’d want to see.
Colin: This is so Mars retrograde in Gemini, oh my god.
Vanessa: It’s actually been incredible. And Elon had a few good comebacks, but he’s probably not winning. It’s really out of control, as you would think, a Mars retrograde and out of bounds in the most mischievous sign on the planet.
Colin: And I like that Elon is an example of it kind of done positively and well. And I think the sad part with Kanye is he should have never had learned those boundaries at the expense of anti-semitism. Because a Jewish friend of mine was just telling me that he had this terrible nightmare about him and Kanye West getting into a big fight and then the police coming for him, not Kanye. And then I watched Jamie Lee Curtis talk about what it did for her, because I think her father’s parents were Holocaust survivors, or they were either Jewish—they are Jewish—they had something to do with being so reflective on that. And I just, I really wish Kanye did not need to take it that far. And then the question becomes is that the point where the public is done with you? I don’t know. Ugh, hard.
Vanessa: He’s lost billions, actually. So has Tesla— billions. Literally come at quite a big cost. And I think most of Kanye’s sponsorships, they’ve just dropped him. It’s gone. So consequence, yep.
Colin: You should know so much better. And it should never have come to this.
Vanessa: It’s very out of touch with the impact that he has on real people’s safety.
Colin: Oh, god. Yeah. Yeah. And that felt very Mars. I don’t think it happened during Mars retrograde in Gemini, it was like just the week before, two weeks before, it was a little bit earlier than that?
Vanessa: That would have been the shadow, the shadow setup.
Colin: Totally, totally. It’s heartbreaking for everyone involved because I don’t think anybody wishes public shaming or public cancellation on a public figure like that. But at the same time, your words had significant consequences and you have to be held accountable.
Vanessa: You can’t just be untouchable. So Sag season is being built up like Scorpio season. I’m looking at the overview rather than going into specific aspects so much. So of course during Sag season, we’re going to get squares to Neptune from Sagittarius. Then later Jupiter in very late Pisces, we’re gonna get trines to Chiron in Aries. So healing around that action principle. Oppositions to Mars Retrograde out of bounds. We’ll pick up a few sextiles to Saturn in Aquarius, so that’s great for stability, whatever you do. It helps it move into the long term. So think about long term decisions. Quincunx a bit awkward to Uranus and north node in Taurus from Sagittarius. So, get into nature to balance that. I’ll just go through the list. Sun enters Sag on November 22. Then we’ve straight off the bat New Moon in Sag on the 23rd, Jupiter direct November 23, Neptune direct December 3, Mercury into Capricorn December 6th, which is probably quite useful actually. Full Moon in Gemini, December 7, then Venus into Capricorn December 9, also maybe quite useful, the responsibility. Capricorn can really balance out the Sagittarius.
Colin: We’re gonna love a little bit of earth energy around that time, I’m sure gonna be like ground down, everybody ground down.
Vanessa: That’s right, like a quarterback. Professional boundaries, right? Remember your career. Jupiter, then goes into Aries December 20, and finishes off with the Sun in Capricorn at December 21. You wanted to talk about that Sun-Mars opposition. Do you have something more to say about that one?
Colin: We touched on it, actually, related to just the fact that I actually believe that conflict can be incredibly beneficial around relationship. And something that really changed my life, frankly, around conflict was the research by the Gottman Institute, which has determined that there are two types of conflict Vanessa, there’s one called solvable conflict, right? And then perpetual conflict. So just out of curiosity, of the 100% of conflict, can you take a wild guess and tell me how much do you think is solvable?
Vanessa: I think a lot is solvable. Do you want a percent?
Colin: Yeah, I want a percent, 0-100. Because then the rest would mean that it’s perpetual and ongoing. Right. So what do you think, give me the first number that comes to your mind.
Vanessa: Well, I can’t think of what is not unsolvable. But I’m an optimistic, positive-minded person. Is there something you cannot solve, what would that be?
Colin: Related to relational conflicts.
Vanessa: Like one person wants to leave and one person wants to stay, that would be unsolvable?
Colin: There’s typically a single right answer around that. But just the normal, everyday relational conflicts, right? How much do you think is actually solvable?
Vanessa: I feel like it’s different for different people. I have Pluto square my Venus, so…
Colin: I love that you’re like what could it possibly be determined by this data, come on, get generative and imaginative.
Vanessa: I can’t even think of what one couldn’t really solve, or, you know, not solve, but I guess to live with, to accept differences and live with it.
Colin: There we go. And that’s beautiful. Well, and you’re saying what they’re saying. Right? So they believe that only 31% of conflict is solvable, meaning a single right answer. And 69% is perpetual conflict and it’s a function of central personality differences between the couple. It’s a lot. And when I learned that, then I realized that I can’t go to every conflict with the intention of let’s get to a solution. And if we don’t get to a solution that means we should not be together. But really, the solution is the repair. It’s just the fact that you’re going to do it this way. I’m going to do it that way. You don’t have a monopoly on merit. Neither do I, then what? So when I learned that it just helped me adapt in conflict with greater awareness and action steps. So I just thought people listening might want to know that, because we’re already scared of conflict, let alone how many of us know that research? And then from that research, how many of us are acting in perpetual conflict? Thinking we can find solvable conflict. And because we can’t, we make up a story about the relationship’s merit or meaning, right. So that changed the way that I think about conflict. And then the other aspect this month that I thought was something worth mentioning was obviously something you know the fact that Mars retrograde is squaring Neptune throughout, I think most of it, and I love the research—your Sagittarius ass is gonna love this—it’s called the zone of optimal confusion.
Vanessa: I do love that. So we’re going to be in that, because we are in that now actually.
Colin: The zone of optimal confusion. And I did not know this, but it turns out that confusion is what researchers call an epistemic emotion, because it’s a mixture of thought and feeling. And it’s an emotion critical to knowledge acquisition and learning. And confusion is vital towards learning because it motivates us and it leads to deep learning and trigger problem solving. So Sidney D’Mello, who put forward this idea around the zone of optimal confusion argues that when we’re trying to work through our confusion, the first thing we need to do is stop and think, engage in careful deliberation, and develop a solution and revise how we approach the next problem. And that up that learning needs to be effortful, which is why the zone of optimal confusion is there, it’s a matter of finding what he calls the desirable difficulty. So the same way a muscle burns when it’s being strengthened, the brain needs to feel some discomfort when it’s learning. And I think that astrologers can actually hold confusion and just let it exist. And just stop maybe trying to predict everything and just go, Hey, there’s a zone of optimal confusion for a reason everybody, why don’t we stop and think, engage in careful deliberation and develop a solution on how we revise the next problem? Because it’s rare and courageous. So just something I wanted to say about Mars retrograde.
Vanessa: I love that. The zone of optimal confusion. And is it chaos? Is that a creative space?
Colin: Absolutely, because like D’Mello argues that we need to stop and think and engage in careful deliberation and develop a solution. That’s all creative. That’s very creative, and courageous. People love foolish consistency. “This is the way we’ve always done it,” right? Whereas stopping and going hold on a minute, not necessarily. And it’s so vulnerable to admit confusion. But it’s incredibly brave. And it’s apparently essential for learning acquisition. So I just wanted to say that because I’ve been in my horoscopes and in my readings just sort of letting confusion breathe. And just let it be and encourage other people to normalize it when it’s present.
Vanessa: And you do need space. And yeah, pause for the cause, as you like to say, pause for the cause. You need that space to allow something to come through and develop and just yet welcome it, invite it, make that space for it, and you can’t have certainty, and you can’t lock it down. Those two things are like oil and water. Actually, it’s very, like Saturn versus Neptune. And maybe the need to know on the Sag side, not dealing with not knowing yet. Neptune and yeah, that’s actually perfect. I’ll take that as a quote for the show, actually. Thank you.
Colin: Oh, good, good. Good. I’m glad. Thank you for letting me research nerd about this. Because, yeah, the zone of optimal confusion and the zone of desirable difficulty, I think or like, you said, I am now living my life from and just embracing it as often as I can.
Vanessa: Yeah, look what’s happening, there’s a lot of change and you’re rolling with it and going with it. So you’re leading by example with that. When I do readings with astrology, and look at both in the birth chart, synastry, and transits, but I guess we’re talking about synastry. So let’s go with that. That’s really the way I look at squares and oppositions and the challenging planets that, say, in synastry, someone’s something squares your something, this is always going to be an issue, that square is not going anywhere, you are essentially different in these two areas. So you need to learn about how each person does that, and respect it and perhaps and learn something from it. And notice when it happens, so you can talk about it. And I think for me, that’s the biggest gift of using synastry is that. I’ve definitely done readings for newer couples that they’re just like, really, should we do this or not? And sometimes they’ve taken that information and decided not to go ahead. And I thought that was really interesting because they’re like, You know what, yeah, we can’t do this or that’s not something that I want to do or we know where there’s part of us that really like each other because we’re so different, but essentially, we know we’re not that compatible. This was a Capricorn and a Sag, actually, I remember and I thought it was a very mature decision. They remained friends, but I think they really essentially did know and the astrology gave them like, these are the positives. These are the challenges. You have a choice here with where you want to go with this relationship. So they chose. Isn’t that mature?
Colin: It’s so mature. And you know what, again, back to how do we measure success? That to me is a successful relationship. Yeah, just because— and I know you would agree— just because it didn’t transition into something romantic and intimate means nothing less. You know, and I love that. How incredible for them to realize you’re no less. And I’m no less, but we might not be wanting the same thing.
Vanessa: This might not be the relationship style that is best suited for you two, so instead of falling out, they were able to move into something that was more supportive, and they ended up having a good and long friendship.
Colin: That’s beautiful! Okay, Sag-Capricorn! Like, leave it to two sides to just be incredibly honest about like, hey, I want pizza. You want sushi? Oh, well.
Vanessa: I can or cannot live with that. Your decision. And that is something where you know, there’s no living with it. If one person really does want to live in another country, and you absolutely don’t because of whatever reason or can’t, that it is what it is.
Colin: Were you just talking to my mother today? You too are not allowed to ever talk or telepathically connect. That’s all I’m gonna say. She was just on that wavelength with me today. It was good. It was basically along those lines of like, “Alright, Mister ninth house transits” whatever, because I was telling her about all this. She was like, “Are you aware that you’re going to be asking a lot of somebody one day?” and I was like yeah.
Vanessa: And they’re gonna love every second of it.
Colin: It’s a Sag, or I gotta find some very mutable energy that’s like I don’t want to live in America anyway. See ya.
Vanessa: Exactly. That’s up for some movement and that can do that. I know, right. There’s a fit for everyone.
So I’m going to our nonprofit promo at this point, and talk about thehumanesociety.org. I might have mentioned them before, but they just look so awesome. Since 1954 across the US and around the world, the Humane Society fights the big fights to end suffering for all animals and with your help, they’ll achieve the vision behind their name: a humane society. So their big fights that they tackle is and this is not the entire list: banning trophy hunting, stopping puppy mills and farming, ending cosmetics animal testing, taking suffering out of science, protecting marine wildlife, stopping wildlife trade, rescuing animals in crisis, fighting animal cruelty and neglect. And helping makes you feel good because it releases oxytocin so you can get engaged yourself locally or say in Australia wires.org.au is a really great one. And I think this is very Sag on brand because in the 70s there was so much with animals and PETA was born. You know, we had animals in all the shows like Benji, you know, I’m a little bit older than Colin so I remember it. I was loving all the Sag things like Benji, BJ the bear. We had Chewbacca in Star Wars. Was he an animal or an alien? What makes an alien not an animal? I don’t know, the big question. And as a reminder to when I was looking this up apes, chimps, and bonobos share between 98 and 99% the same DNA as humans. Pigs 98% the same. That’s why they can transplant the organs. As a vegan— virtually vegan— I just had to throw that in.
Colin: Whoa, I did not know that about the pigs.
Vanessa: 98%. They’re really smart. They can play Atari.
Colin: Learn something new every day with a Sag, let me tell you. Oh, pigs are so cute.
So we’ll go to the opportunity knocks stand out I thought was the new moon looks really great. And then December 15, grand earth trine at around 12 degrees. The Moon in Virgo is going to activate Mercury and Venus and the North Node and Uranus and it’ll form a kite formation with the south node as well coming into that. So around December 14, 15.
Colin: Oh, I love that. That’s when I fly back to America from Italy. So I’ll be really calm. Maybe a little sad but very calm and excited to go back home.
Vanessa: Yeah, exactly. It just feeling the good feelings, you might have a good conversation with whoever’s sitting next to you.
So key takeaway and monthly mantra, do you have a takeaway or a mantra that people can say or that you’ll be saying over this season?
Colin: It’s really just what most of my Sagittarius friends teach me. And I said it earlier, it’s just live from vision and not just circumstances. My God, if we could have vision as a precondition, what that will do to change everything. Everything.
Vanessa: And that’s why companies always have their mission statement, right?
Colin: Yes, yes. Yeah. Cuz they’re alerting us to what their mission is, and then we can hold them accountable if they don’t do it. Particularly with vision, what stories are we saying about the people we love and about ourselves and our failures and our successes? It all comes down to vision. Yeah, that’d be my mantra.
Vanessa: And consider the frame. Can you reframe that, it’s a mutable sign. I’m gonna go with, “I easily see and speak my truth while respecting the truth of others.” Okay, Mars Retrograde in Gemini! Exactly right. These Mars retro times in mischievous Gemini.
So what’s on your coffee table, Colin? Have you got a favorite read at the moment you want to share?
Colin: Oh, you know what, I’m actually reading a book by Ezra Klein called Why We’re Polarized and I’m learning a lot about American history and things that have created the polarity in our politics, and how polarity or polarization begets more polarization. And it’s astounding and it’s also taking me to task to make sure that I don’t teach, educate, or encourage greater polarity thinking, because it is so popular and seductive.
Vanessa: That is very interesting. I might need to take a look at that, too. And in astrology, of course, we have the oppositions for polarity. So you can always apply these things. I love that. Yes.
Colin: Totally. Totally. What about you? What are you reading?
Vanessa: I am actually, well, apart from my own book that’s just getting published as we speak, Astro Power, I’ll get to that later. I’m reading a book by astrologer Wendy Stacey. She’s from New Zealand, but she’s based in London, and it’s called Uranus Square Pluto: New Perspectives on the Current Planetary Lineup in Mundane Astrology. She wrote it around 2011-ish, I think, and she has got Moon in Sag. Whenever I’ve heard her speak, I’m just like, wow, she’s really great at forecasting. And so I just wanted to have a look at her forecasting and her take over this last decade and into now as well. She really nailed a lot of it. She did really well. She’s like identity cards, like the whole thing. Got it. So I’m interviewing her on my show for Sag season, actually, classic Sag. Yeah, so check that out. I just found that in the library. I’m always encouraging people to get down to the library. You can usually order books in because it can become unaffordable to work your way through all of this. And libraries can be very supportive as well. Yeah, also order our books hello.
Colin: Shameless plugs. But Aries Moon: order our books. What degree’s your moon sign honey?
Vanessa: What degrees? It’s nine. And it’s conjunct Chiron at nine as well.
Colin: Okay. Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah, I think my progressed moon might be at 13 Aries now.
Vanessa: Oh that’s where Chiron is now. I think 12-13. So you’ll be having a transit to your progressed Moon, conjunction. Interesting.
Colin: Leave it alone! As long as Jupiter makes it over my moon one more time, which I think it’s going to and I cannot wait! But I’m having way too much fun with this progressed moon in Aries, girl. It’s too much fun.
Vanessa: I love having Moon in Aries. Yeah.
Colin: Jealous! It’s going great. So I just wanted to see where’s yours? Okay.
Vanessa: Nine degrees everyone. 28 November is my birthday.
I’m going to go now to what’s coming up. I’ll have a look at Astrology University and then we’ll cut to you and then we’ll cut to me. So everyone go over to—and I’m going now to astrologyuniversity.com— go to live event calendar. And then the list of webinars comes up. November 30 to December 21 we’ve got a series on the Social Planets, the social planets Jupiter and Saturn. That’s going to be with Mark Jones, Darby Costello, and our fearless leader, Tony Howard. So week one Jupiter with Darby Costello. Week two Jupiter with Mark Jones. Week three Saturn with Mark Jones. And week four Saturn with Tony Howard. So that’s always interesting to get a group perspective on things as well. There’s a few required texts with that. That will be interesting. Definitely do the reading. November 30 to December 21 Natal Chart Synthesis 201: Holistic Chart Interpretation with Tony Howard and Kelly Surtees, essential. November 30 to December 21 Zodiacal Polarities and the Mythic Imagination with Safron Rossi, that will be beautiful. I find her approach is really magical, really great on the myth. November 30 to December 21, Chart Synthesis Practicum with Tony Howard and Lynn Bell, that sound practicum, practical. December 3, so this is part two, Venus in Myth and Psyche with Jason Holley. So that will be awesome. December 8 to January 5, build your 2023 Action Plan. Plot your 2023 and plan for the year ahead. 2023 timing with astrology. December 10, one off Jupiter in Aries. Pick your battles with Steven Forrest. Always a fun teacher, sounds very appropriate as well for the moment. January 27-29, 2023 Personal Predictions 2023 Retreat. So that’s the retreat, that will be amazing. That’s in Palm Springs, California with Kelly Surtees if anyone is in the area or wants to go to Palm Springs. That would be at the Saguaro Palm Springs, in the Agave Ballroom, that just all sounds so fun.
I want to go. So Colin, what have you got coming up? You’re going to be in London if anyone wants to come and meet you?
Colin: Yes, I’m going to be in London doing the show promotion for the first two weeks of Sag season. And then I’m gonna go to Italy for the next two weeks of Sag season until December 15, just to secure some paperwork for my dual citizenship there through ancestry, very Sag. In fact, I’m actually going to the village of my great great grandmother, because we have to go all the way back to the first ancestor. And she’s a Gemini and I’m a Gemini. And it’s the Full Moon in Gemini, that was the only day they had available. So weird! So very Sag, very Sag. And I’m just looking forward to being back in that context of language, culture, travel, I miss it all the time. But it’s been really good to be with with family. So it’s gonna be a lot of work promotion, and also a lot of 4th and 10th house energy. It is that axis personified, basically, until December 21.
Vanessa: Awesome. Oh my gosh. And so are you going to be available for consult or anything like that? What if people want a live one because you’re in the area?
Colin: Oh, potentially, oh god, yes, send me an email. You never know. Just because it would be harder to navigate the time zones. Oof, I’m such a grandpa. You know, so if I have anybody listening who is closer to European time zones, absolutely send me an email and let me know because you never know what we can swing or I’ll get right back to you, because I don’t know what’s going to happen with the promotion of the show, press is so last minute, notoriously last minute. So we’ll see. But I am looking forward to just a wonderful Sag free for all, frankly,
Vanessa: Oh my gosh, FOMO, I’m living through FOMO, I didn’t get to do my trip yet. I’ve planned it for spring. Find Colin at queercosmos.com. Also lots of fun on IG. So go follow him over there. Lots of fun lives and you do a lot on there. So for me, I’m available for reading, so astroallstarz.com. Our schedule is all under the same banner, synastry, transits, birthchart, having a chat, focus on one thing, focus on multiple, I’m a mutable sign. So I’d love to see you there. Also my book Astro Power has just come out in London. It’s due out this week in Australia.
Colin: Oh my god, congratulations!
Vanessa: Early next year in the US.
Colin: I’m buying it in London, and I want to be one of the first Americans to have it.
Vanessa: Yes, grab it, you will love it. So it really deep dives the planets, a bit of history. It’s very Sagittarian, it’s fun. It’s a little bit provocative. Lots of good advice and just really getting into the themes and archetypes so that you can understand transits yourself, empowering you. It’s not a cookbook, because that doesn’t necessarily empower you. I think cookbooks are really valuable because it gets you rolling and a lot of people like that in the beginning, but you know, like the Sag, like okay, here’s some examples. I’ll always give a little example to get you rolling. Now you do it. You do it.
Colin: Oh, I’m so proud of you. I feel like I’ve seen on your Instagram that your books are typically sold at the airports, right? Like you’re always at the airport. So Sag.
Vanessa: It has been, the second one not so much because it came out when everything was closed.
Colin: Okay, well, I’m gonna go when I get to Heathrow, I’m gonna scan the bookstores and be like, Is Vanessa’s book here? Oh, and I’ll freak out! I’m gonna freak out. Okay, I’m gonna be on the hunt. And congratulations. I hope you’re really taking it in. I mean, it’s such an incredible gifts to put out a book to the world that have your words live in all these different plans.
Vanessa: I’m incredibly pleased with this and incredibly pleased with the whole team, cannot take all the credit. As you know, it takes a village to raise a book. It’s a big process. It’s a really big process. I’m so happy with it. Everyone’s done so well. And it makes me appreciate it more because well, I’m so seventh and eighth house person but I love that it’s taken a few people to put this together. The designer has done a beautiful job, it’s worth their weight in gold. And it takes the readers to buy it so that I get to make another one.
Colin: Yeah, well, I’m buying a book, maybe several— I just give them away at these astrology events.
Vanessa: They do make great gifts and Christmas is coming up. In the US you can order from Book Depository because they’ll send it earlier because it’s already released and it’s got free postage.
Colin: Okay Book Depository, you said?
Vanessa: Yeah, Book Depository is great. I order a lot of stuff from there myself. Actually we’re not going to the library, we’re buying things.
Colin: Right, go to the library but maybe not with V’s book because the first year of a book release is so good for sales and like very helpful. Blah, blah, blah. So buy V’s book. Come on. Don’t skip out.
Vanessa: Thank you, Colin, for coming and joining us once again. I hope you have a wonderful time promo’ing Sag, what a great season to promo in, Sag season.
Colin: I know, again, I appreciate, I will never forget how much anxiety I was feeling after the disaster at the Greek consulate because I was not prepared for that. And you just gave me so much faith and so much conviction and you were like you’re going, you wouldn’t have made it this far just to make it this far.
Vanessa: Yeah. And the transits, it was guaranteed.
Colin: I know but I just I needed to hear someone else say it and your faith in it really gave me so much inner peace and excitement. So thank you. I really have not forgotten that. I really, really appreciate it.
Vanessa: Well, I am nothing if not a cheerleader.
Colin: Okay. Thank you for cheerleading and I’m cheerleading you back congratulations on your book and happy Sag season.
Vanessa: Thank you and happy Sag season to you and all our beautiful listeners, have a wonderful time of Sagittarius, embrace your faith and optimism and generosity as well. Remember the universe is very generous, it is limitless and unfathomable and tap into that. Okay. Bye for now.
Tony: Thanks for tuning in to the Astrology University podcast. Study astrology online with some of the greatest astrologers of our time at www.astrologyuniversity.com, where we offer webinars, online classes and virtual summits to bring you inspiration, connection and insight through the study of astrology. Take good care, and we’ll see you next time.
