Hello friends.
I’ve spent the last week and a half away, both at an astrology conference and in the Eastern woods of Washington in a log cabin with a stuffed cougar mounted to the wall. The former was ostensibly a type of learning: each day, there were at least five talks you could attend, and plenty more you could catch on replay. These lectures covered a range of astrological topics from a wide collection of traditions for three full days of wisdom-soaking.
But honestly, it was the time in the woods that really taught me. Each day, my friends and I would perform some sort of ritual— a talismanic Venus working involving engraving, incense and wine-drinking (en)chanters, or a Hecate ritual where we barked at the Moon. I couldn’t remember a single word chanted during the Venus ritual but that’s because I wasn’t thinking about Venus, I was embodying her. Watching the Moon appear from behind clouds and shine into our eyes taught me about the power of asking for what you want. There’s also something to learning outside the classroom, to bringing these big ideas or beliefs into your everyday life. I don’t just want to talk about astrology; I want to live it.
The paradox, of course, is that I couldn’t engage so effortlessly with these planets if I hadn’t spent significant time studying what they mean intellectually. Valens tells us Venus indicates “cheerfulness, friendship, companionship…the purchase of ornaments, agreements on favorable terms…fine voices, a taste for music, sweet singing, beauty,”1 which I had to know beforehand to dress up and gather the proper supplies (grapes, oranges, rose, jewelry) with the Venus ritual.
The mind used to not just be seen as a black box, unsullied by the subjectivity of feelings or the irrationality of magical thinking. The mind is a portal, that which connects to the divine to the earthly. The mind used to be seen as where the Great Mystery spoke to us and impacted our body. All of my thinking about Venus allows me to effortlessly point her out in the clover and roses I see on my walk; the sugar in my coffee; the love in my friend’s eyes.
My thinking allows me to take note of the fact that Venus was conjoined the fixed star Sirius when we performed our ritual, bringing up all sorts of facts I could then compare with my direct experience around the ritual, sensing when the scorching dog-star shines through. It meant Hecate, dog-goddess was present in the working too, both affirmed by the fact of the conjunction, my knowledge about Sirius, and what I experienced unfold before my eyes. The next time, intoxicated, my friends and I implored the Moon and Venus, visible after sunset, to show themselves through the thick clouds that had gathered that night— they did.
My thinking allows me to offer a bridge to pure experience, to looking into and trusting what you see, what, often, the mind cannot touch.
This is why I created my Intro to Fixed Stars class— to help compile a useful foundation for anyone who wishes to know more about how the distant lights illuminating our sky, like this underworld star Sirius, impact our lives. Nothing will beat direct experience, meditation, ritual— looking yourself. With the fixed stars, which has little extant astrological information, looking for yourself is often the only way to get the knowledge you seek. But bringing in the mind can be a huge support, especially for those relearning how to trust what they see but can’t find in a book.
Your point of view, experience, sight, matters.
But we all need some help. If you want to initiate into the stellar realms, my class is a wonderful foundation (and stay tuned for even more fixed star content I have brewing!).
If you want to learn more about my class or purchase, click the link below.
Plus, all who purchase receive a discount code for 20% off a personal Fixed Star Paran reading with me, perfect for figuring out which stars are guiding your life, your soul, and how.
My books are currently open for June, if you wish to be initiated into the stellar mysteries.
Year in Review
It has been over a year since I started Recent Bedroom on this platform. I have been absolutely gobsmacked by how many people have joined me here over the past year— nearly quadruple the audience when I first started out— and I am beyond excited to see where this continues.
I have always been a writer and being able to have a space to talk about ~whatever I want~ and have people excited to read each week is my paradise. So thank you, dear reader, for your support.
As I have also accumulated quite a bit of content in the past year, it also feels apt to raise the price of my paid newsletter. It won’t be much, just 5$ to 7$, but I wanted to tell y’all before I do it so you are aware and have the option to opt out if that doesn’t work for you for whatever reason. I won’t be doing it for another week, so you have time to still get your first month at the original price.
P.S. If you are a paying subscriber or want to be, feel free to comment below with any newsletter topics you may want me to write about in the future.
I also wanted to highlight some of the essays I have written for the paid side of my newsletter, which you can always read excerpts of before you subscribe.
But if you are interested in becoming a paid subscriber, here are some of the juicy highlights you will receive:
On Houses:
The Fixed Stars:
The Flower and the Stone: On the Fixed Stars Castor and Pollux
Stars of Mysticism (plus Part II)
Born by Water, Made for Air: On the Fixed Stars Scheat and Markab
The Planets:
Practical Dreaming: On the “Parable of the Sower” and the Moon
On the Soul and Mercury
Embodying Venus (plus Part II)
Miscellaneous:
On the Role of Divination in Your Natal Chart; perfect for anyone who wishes to connect with their latent divine powers on their own terms and in their own power
plus whole essays on the role of divination for each rising sign element !
And, for the next week, anyone who upgrades to paid also receives a mini-guide on understanding your Moon’s separating and applying aspect in your chart and how to interpret this potent point.
If you are already a paid subscriber and wish to learn more about your Moon, feel free to fill out this form so I can email you a copy as well :)
P.S. If you are a paying subscriber or want to be, feel free to comment below with any newsletter topics you may want me to write about in the future <3
Until next week,
Love,
Chloe
Vettius Valens, Anthologies, Book I, p. 1