Hello friends,
I apologize for the single newsletter this week. It was my birthday on Tuesday! I spent is visiting my oldest best friend in New York, eating my favorite Malaysian food, seeing the new Todd Haynes movies and experiencing a Russian/Turkish sauna for the first time, where I alternated between 200º steam rooms and a frigid cold plunge pool, much to the delight of my mood and nervous system, followed by Vietnamese with my bestie. It was a beautiful mix of comfort, risk and all pleasure— perfect for my new Solar Return year with Venus in Scorpio in my first house.
The day before, I wandered through prospect park, seeing two swans moving across the lake just as Deneb Adige, the swan star, was culminating on the ascendant. Not twenty minutes later, my friend told me about discounted Cygnus, swan constellation, talismans on Christopher Warnock’s website. We each snagged one, of course.
What’s cool about knowing astrology is that each birthday is more than just another year gone, or a reason to celebrate; your birthday also marks a new Solar Return chart, as well as the passing of the baton between timelords. Timelords are the planets in your chart especially activated for that year. Your year is tinged with the flavor of that planet: love and pleasure for Venus, visibility and wisdom for Sun, etc. The transits to and from your timelord are also acutely felt. If Mercury is yours this year, then the Mercury retrograde coming up this Tuesday night may yield more revisions, repairs and misplaced packages than usual. You can figure out your profection year lord by looking at the diagram below and matching your age to the house year:
Your year will also be tinged with the themes of the house year you are in.
This birthday was a big one: the beginning of my thirties, but that also means the end of my 6th house Capricorn year and the beginning of my 7th house Aquarius year. Saturn rules both of these signs, but my natal Saturn is in Aquarius, giving me more agency over this coming year and Capricorn also exalts Mars, meaning both malefics were activated in my chart in a big way. But now, because my sect light is one sign away from my ascendant, I am also in an 8th house Pisces year, making Jupiter my timelord as well.
I look forward to balancing out the dry limits of Saturn with the flowing beneficence of Jupiter, especially as Jupiter transits my house of purpose and visibility (the 10th) and then my house of friends and wishes (the 11th).
Many people have asked me how I feel turning 30 and honestly, I am ready for my 20s to be over. One of my new friends from the past year is in his forties and I’m consistently blown away how happy he seems to be merely for knowing and accepting who he truly is. We exalt youth in this culture but crumbling economy and political situation aside, our twenties seem like a time of folly. We are still building our careers, figuring out who to love, understanding who we really are rather than who we wish to be. Growing up, I am realizing, is less about getting everything right and more about living in your own moment-to-moment truths, honoring reality and acting from there. It’s accepting that everyone is messy and no one has it all figured out but the more I can lean into being the most Chloe I can be, satisfaction often follows.
As I am a Sagittarius stellium, I love to look back and reflect on what everything Means. So, in honor of my thirty rotations arounds the Sun, I have written thirty pieces of wisdom that have served me well over my lifetime. Now this is a very personal list that may not resonate with you fully. That’s okay. I share it with you in hopes that it inspires your own wisdom, so please take whatever is useful and leave the rest!
Thirty Pieces of Wisdom for my Thirty Years
Fermented foods are essential both for taste and health benefits
You almost always know how you feel about people very quickly. People are constantly telling on themselves, for better or worse. Trust that because—
People are the greatest wealth we can possess. Treasure the good ones a such.
Making art is always a good thing because it makes the world more meaningful and beautiful, virtually every time.
Sensitivity and vulnerability are strengths. They are how we grow.
Truly giving yourself permission to rest and relax is a skill worth cultivating
Don’t get it twisted— you are here to love and create and feel good ! Prioritize accordingly.
“Living according to your truth” isn’t some far-off idea but a bodily feeling, a sense of always being home. It doesn’t solve all your problems or always shoe the doubt away but it makes bearing them easier, even meaningful.
Food is your friend. Trust your body and its many hungers to nourish you if you let them.
Your early intuitions are correct— it is all connected, all one body. Intend towards living from that place.
Meditation, contemplating, space away from your thoughts and noise is liberation. Give yourself that gift and see your life open and change.
A day spent reading or writing or talking with friends is never wasted.
You are meant to be your own biggest advocate. Ask for what you want and be kind to yourself if you don’t get it. The movement towards divine selfishness is part of your power.
Be compassionate to others (which includes having boundaries and saying no, even being harsh at times). There is always a reason they are “like that” and you often don’t know their story.
Ask questions. Each thing, person, place, spirit, etc is a world unto itself.
Be kind to yourself! Change only comes from compassion. Also—
Imperfection is human nature. Having compassion when you make mistakes is a lovely gift.
Taken from Gnostic Jesus: What you bring forth that is within you will save you. What you do not bring forth that is within you will destroy you. Even speaking something aloud can release its binding shame.
People who don’t know you don’t get to judge you. Discount their opinions.
Magic is real but seeing it and honing it is a skill like any other. Some may be born with a stronger innate ability but even prodigies practice regularly.
It’s similar with creativity— all of us are artists and have the ability to create, just by having been created. Trust that childlike instinct
Intellect and logic without heart or intuition is incomplete, a parlor trick. True wisdom comes from marrying the two.
Every time I remember to, I thank the powers that be that my life will always be bigger and wilder than what my mind thinks it will be.
The best way to prepare for the future is to stay in the present moment.
We are always worshipping something, even if we don’t think we are. If the thing is finite — beauty, power, riches, intellect— we will suffer. Put it toward some god or love or time itself, we will find infinite life in this one.
Pleasure can’t exist without pain. Push away pain and you rob your life of its full beauty.
You cannot earn love, no matter how hard you try. When someone makes you feel insecure or confused, then the well is not deep enough for you to stay and be nourished or be your bet self. Move on.
Ask for help from people, from plants, from god. The universe is infinitely giving but you must acknowledge your need. The help may show up in a different way than you expect.
Like begets like. Spend your whole journey to some goal insecure or conniving or small, you remain that way even when you receive what you desire. Treat each moment like a celebration and the celebrations won’t stop coming.
Each moment, wholly and truly, is bliss, the lotus land, the blessing of god. As humans we may not always feel it but beauty and meaning are always present if we let ourselves open towards it.
New Offering: The Lot of Eros with Kira Ryberg 🌹🦢
To love truly is so painful because you must accept your loving, knowing if it is returned it is out of your hands (it’s all a matter of tricking you into seeing the divine love pulling through at any moment).
I am proud to finally announce the release of a months-long passion project and collaboration with Kira Ryberg.
The Lot of Eros is one of the three primary lots used in traditional astrology and helps pinpoint where the unique contours of your desire coalesce in your chart. It can be used to understand your relationship to love, friendship, pleasure, art, spirituality and connection.
This collaborative lecture is 2 hours and 20 minutes long and provides a deep dive into the Lot of Eros. We take a look at the many meanings of love, the mythology of Eros and the myriad ways that the Lot of Eros can manifest in a life and astrological chart. We provide suggestions for how to delineate the Lot of Eros by looking at several example charts, along with giving you ideas around how to deepen and develop a relationship with Eros’ presence in your own life. We will explore delineating the Lot of Eros by planetary ruler, aspects, element and fixed star conjunction. This lecture is an extensive and comprehensive overview on the Lot of Eros and it explores significations of this hermetic lot that have never been discussed before. It takes us beyond the traditional texts and into the present moment so that you can gain a complete understanding of the many ways the Lot of Eros influences someone’s life.
This is the first in-depth treatment of this amorous, creative point of its kind. We make connections and go places you can’t find anywhere else. In addition to a video lecture, you also get a pdf of the lecture slides and a resource list for further Eros study.
This is for the lovers, the yearners, the artists, the mystics, the friends. This is for anyone with a deep interest in astrology or just knowing themselves more intimately.
Learn more and purchase via Kira’s website with the link below:
Drop any questions below!
Until next time cuties,
love,
Chloe
Happy birthday Chloe!
elm
i'll pick up your lecture this weekend