Lisa Stardust: Big Emotional Risks

What can your birth chart tell you about who you are? Astrologer Lisa Stardust joins us for a conversation about connecting to others and the world through your birth chart, making peace with Saturn’s heavy energy, and how we can choose to learn from astrology’s lessons. Then, Pia Wilson shares a coffee spell brewed for romance.

Michelle Tea: Welcome to Your Magic! I’m Michelle Tea, and today my guest is Lisa Stardust, astrologer extraordinaire, author of The Saturn Return Survival Guide and creator of The Astrology Deck. We’re going to talk about Saturn returns, of course, and Sag moons, and love. And you’re looking for love — who isn’t — stick around for Pia Wilson, host of the podcast If I Go Missing the Witches Did It, with a coffee spell brewed for romance. 

Stay with us.

[Music]

Michelle Tea: Hey listeners, if you’re in the Los Angeles area, or maybe you’re looking for a reason to take a road trip, we invite you to the latest Your Magiv Live! Our IRL, mystical talk show, hosted by me, Michelle Tea. It’s on Thursday, December 2 at 2220 Arts & Archives at 2220 Beverly Boulevard. Our special  guests are wild. Alicia Garza, Fran Tirado and Rose Dommu, Grace Lavery. Oh my gosh. Ashley Ray, Bett Williams, Rosemary Carroll. It’s going to be wild. Can you handle it? We think so. Tickets are $15 at 2220arts.org/events if you get them now. They’re also $20 at the door. This event is 21+ so that you can have a cocktail. See you there.

[Music]

Michelle Tea: I know I mention my sun sign a lot on this podcast. As an Aquarius, it feels like my destiny that I wound up making at least part of my living reading tarot cards and gabbing about witchcraft. I know that to many people, Aquarius represents technology,  and the thinking outside the box that makes for visionary inventions. And I love that. But technology, in my understanding, is just one direction the Aquarius mind can go in. At its root, that ability to brainstorm tech is just a by-product of reaching for more, the desire to pierce the veil of the unknown and source one little piece of the giant puzzle that is the universe. For me, someone a bit dunce-y about technology, that earnest urge to know the unknowable results in studying all I can about the thoughts other thinkers have thought about such things as magic and death and the supernatural. 

But even as I do strongly feel my Aquarius sun, I want to be one of the chorus of astrological voices urging us all to move away from this heliocentric - and possibly patriarchal and western - tendency to over-identify with our sun sign, at the expense of all the other planetary positions that influence our personality. I myself have not only a Sagittarius moon, but a Mars and a Jupiter in that jolly, over-extended sign. A cluster of planets in the same zodiac sign is called a stellium, and the ooph of this concentrated energy can be powerful enough to make your sun sign take a back seat. While my Aquarius sun holds a scientist’s interest in the unknown, my Sag stellium’s mystical optimism allows me to take wild leaps of faith simply for the joy they bring. It lends me a powerful resilience, allowing me to claw my way out from the grim destiny my humble origins may have trapped me in, and giving me the verve needed to bounce back from the repeated heartaches that having all this Sag in the 5th house of romance lead me into.

The deeper you look into your own astrology, the more sense you make to yourself - even and especially those parts of yourself that are paradoxical, counter-intuitive, stubbornly nonsensical. I’m psyched that we’re living in a time when getting a deeper understanding of our zodiac is easier than ever, with so many books and apps and real, live astrologers at our disposal. Avail yourself of their many offerings! The motto Know thyself never, ever gets old. 

Now, over to Lisa Stardust.

[Music]

Michelle Tea: Hello, Lisa Stardust, and welcome to Your Magic.

Lisa Stardust: Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here.

Michelle Tea: I believe you're our first astrologer like guest that we've had, which is so stupid because like, we are a mystical podcast, but we've been really busy having like a lot of, you know, poets and writers. So I'm really happy that you're here.

I want to know, I want to, like, get down to the root. Like, when did you start being interested in astrology?

Lisa Stardust: Uh when did it not start? I grew up in a very mystical household. Michelle has read tarot cards from my mother. My mother loves to test out every reader. That's her jam. She's a Pisces. But I grew up in a very mystical household, and my dad had my birth chart read when I was really young and the time was incorrect. So I always grew up thinking that I had a Virgo rising, but it didn't make sense because of the timing of things. So, you know, to make a long story short, I've been into astrology since I was maybe like a toddler and a kid, but I didn't have the right information and the right tools to get it, so I would go to my favorite occult shop in the neighborhood that I grew up in when I was in elementary school with my friends called Pastimes and we would, you know, get like astrology readings and like we would get crystal readings and we would get our tarot cards read. So I grew up with all of this, and my great grandmother was a tarot reader as well. So I grew up with all this mysticism in my family.

Michelle Tea: I really want to hear about this experience of living a chunk of your life thinking you, you had a different astrological makeup than you do. I feel like it's like learning you were adopted or something like, what was that like for you?

Lisa Stardust: Well, when I got my birth chart, I had to get the long form from the, you know, Department of Vital Records, and this was a long time ago, so it had to be mailed to me. And when I got it in the mail, I opened it thinking, Oh, it's just going to say that I had a Virgo rising. This is my fate in life. Then I opened it and it says Libra rising. And I feel as though I when I did the chart, you know, upstairs in my apartment, I had like an existential crisis because I never really thought of myself as being very Libra. So, you know, I was like, Wait a second. I guess this does kind of make sense just because I have, you know, more of an intellectual way that they can process things at first. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm very passionate. I have, you know, like I have, my emotions are very big and they are a lot, but I always seem to really process my feelings first and really like to talk about them, which is very air sign type of vibe. However, I do also have a Virgo stellium, so that's how the need to make everything perfect and the need to make my bed every day, the need to you know clean everything in my apartment a thousand times or have everything in order in the refrigerator comes into play. I mean, it just should be that way anyway.

Michelle Tea: Yeah, I have a Sagittarius stellium. So it's like, let me create a philosophy that defends why it's actually better to never make your bed.

Lisa Stardust: Well, that's true. I do I have a Sag moon and I do feel that.

Michelle Tea: Me too, Lisa, I got a Sag moon too. Don't you think it's such a fun moon to have?

Lisa Stardust: It makes us really adventurous, and it makes us take really big emotional risks, which are the only way to live through your emotions.

Michelle Tea: Oh yes, I want what you just said tattooed on my back. Or maybe, maybe somewhere I could see it more readily. That's so beautiful. Do you think that, like astrology can be seen as a sort of spiritual practice in itself?

Lisa Stardust: Yes, I definitely do. I think that knowing your birth chart can really help open a lot of the gates and understanding the way you connect to other people and the world. Also what your drive and your passion is. For me, particularly, I have my Venus is in the 10th house in Cancer, and I had always works at jobs where I was working in, you know, areas where I was like feeding clothing or helping the public. I never really understood that I should really be using, you know, my past experiences to help everyone with navigate through their lives, with their daily vibe and their problems and their, you know, amazing successes. And that makes me feel really good about myself because I always struggled. And, you know, I felt really empowered the moment I realized that this was something that I could give to people. And I love giving and helping people as a Libra rising. And with my Venus in the 10th house, and I feel really good when I help my clients and when I help people get through the daily haze and daily issues that they have and really see clarity.

Michelle Tea: I'm really curious because I know that you practice a very particular type of astrology horary astrology. Will you talk about that? 

Lisa Stardust: So horary, astrology, it spells H-O-R-A-R-Y. And it's an ancient form of astrology that focuses on the burning question of the hour. So, you know, we can't ask things about the past. We can only ask things about the present or the future. And we have to phrase the question "Will I," you know, will this relationship work out? Will I get this job? And it focuses on the next three months that are coming ahead. And there are a particular set of rules when doing horary astrology. And I think the first one being that the Moon cannot be void if the Moon is void, that means nothing comes out of the question. And like if Saturn is in the first house, the 10th house or the seventh house, it kind of shows that there are different things that are happening with the question. Maybe it's the wrong question to be asking. Maybe there is a lie that's happening in the question, and the ascendant has to be at three degrees to 27 degrees. If it's less than three, it means it's too soon and things are going to shift more than twenty seven. It's too late. The action has already been taken. But you know, the cool thing is that as the astrologer, you know, you cast the chart with your client and you really understand the burning question that they want to know. And it's interesting because a lot of people don't know the real questions and I know you're a tarot reader and people ask a million questions that are not the precise one. So you can get, as I like to say, false answers because they're not being clear, they're not being honest. Or maybe they don't have the tools, to be honest, because they're not being given all the information, which is why astrology and tarot, you know, particularly horary, can be a really great astrological tool to kind of search through and to get a clear, concise understanding about what the energy is going to look like.

Michelle Tea: I love hearing all thank you for sharing the, you know, it has to be like this and it can't be the moon can't be void. Like, I love this, the structure around it. It's so fascinating to me.

Lisa Stardust: But sometimes you a void moon. If you don't want something to come out of something sometimes you want it like I always mail my taxes or I submit them online. I wait for a void moon because I'm like, Oh God, wait for wait. I don't want to before like you, you know, do the calculator online when it tells you how much you owe. I'm like, Oh, I want that void moon. Because then it's like, you don't have to pay. You know, there are ways that we can use astrology to work with us.

Michelle Tea: So, oh my god, we can use astrology to get over on our taxes. That's amazing.

Lisa Stardust: Over and a lot like a lot of things like sometimes I don't want to, you know, have an argument with someone or sometimes I don't wanna, you know, take the garbage out and I'm like, I'll wait for that void moon you know.

Michelle Tea: What's the energy of the Void Moon that you're waiting for it for these specific situations?

Lisa Stardust: The void Moon is when the Moon isn't making any aspects to any other planet and the other major aspects. If the Moon is not doing anything as and or at least the astrologer says the moon's not working. So neither should you.

Michelle Tea: Oh my god, it really makes me feel like the moon has my back, which I already feel like. But knowing that the moon the moon takes a day off and wants you to like, Yes, thank you, Moon.

What are some things you think folks can do to kind of deepen their practice with astrology?

Lisa Stardust: Well, Michelle, funny, you should ask. I have a wonderful game that I wrote. I think literally the moment quarantine began. So it was a labor of love and it is called The Astrology Deck, and it is out November 2nd. And I worked with Chronicle Books and this wonderful deck of cards. It comes with your own astrological wheel that you can take out of the deck and you could make your own birth chart with all of the cards. And you can understand all of the aspects all the planets, all of the houses in relation to you. And it comes with a book explaining everything. So you don't have to take a class and spend hundreds of dollars on an astrology class. You can buy the cards for less than $20, and you can teach yourself how to do it. I had a lot of learning disabilities growing up and I learned astrology. I would write everything out because I am a visual learner and I always create images in my head to remember things. So this deck is really special and important to me because I think it will really help everyone understand astrology and really get to know the basics of it.

Michelle Tea: I love your Saturn Return Survival Guide. What's the number one piece of advice you would give someone if you're heading into your Saturn return. But you know, is there is there one sort of like classic like, do this or don't do this.

Lisa Stardust: It's going to be fine, that's what I say to people, it's going to be OK. It's like, don't stress the Saturn return, just live your life because I always say to all of my clients. Yeah, things are going to be tough. However, you have to live your life and you have to use this as an experience to grow from because, you know, if you have to do what you have to do. And I think that a lot of people, you know, are seeing this after we've gone through quarantine and I guess the first half or first part of COVID. So I think that everyone needs to really embrace their dreams and their desires, and that's what the Saturn return really is about. It kind of gets you in check, but if you aren't afraid of it and you just live your life and you're open to all possibilities, it's going to be OK.

Lisa Stardust: After writing about Saturn for a long time, I've come to peace with, you know, the heavy energy that a lot of people fear. And I always say, if you're doing the work and if you're constantly trying to be a better person and you're learning from your mistakes, then Saturn will reward you. No one's perfect. We all make mistakes. We all have meltdowns. We all lose our temper sometimes. Unfortunately, life isn't peachy keen. However, it just depends on what we do after we have these setbacks and how we choose to learn from our lessons. And that's something really important that astrology can teach us. And Saturn, too, how it can keep us on the right path so we can really be the best versions of ourselves. And I really do believe that.

[Music]

Michelle Tea: Hey, I have tarot cards with me. Do you have a question? Can I pick a card for you or something?

Lisa Stardust: Well, Michelle knows I only like to ask about love.

Michelle Tea: You're not the only one. Lisa Stardust.

Lisa Stardust: Me and mother only ask about love. We are a Libra rising and my mom's a Pisces. Come on.

Michelle Tea: Absolutely. This is your destiny.

Do you want to just see, like, what that sphere looks like right now or do? So do you have a specific question?

Lisa Stardust: Let's see what it looks like. I'm OK with being read for filth. I. Michelle knows everyone who I have gotten tarot readings for. They know that I love hearing the tea and the the filth and the truth. I'm a Sag moon. I love it.

Michelle Tea: And the Gemini Sun. So what a combo.

OK, Lisa. This is wild. You got wild cards and I'm not surprised. OK, love. OK. Your first card: The Empress.

Lisa Stardust: Oh.

Michelle Tea: Really beautiful. Like you are love. Like you're like ripe and ready to go. Like, here we are. Like, you know, Aphrodite or whatever. You know, love love goddess you. You like to think about, like, is there for you, you know? And then there's the Moon. And then after the Moon, there's the queen of Cups. This is just like, it's like. It's like you're so ready, you know, it's like the it's like the bed is made, the stage is set, like the romantic evening is is just completely set. And you know, here's your Libra. Here's your Libra rising, just like, come and get me. But then there's just so much. It's like, there's fear. There's a lot of fear energy here with with the Moon card and that sort of like fear. I mean, I just feel like, you know, we love the Moon. Obviously, I love the Moon. I love talking about moon placements and astrology. Love doing rituals on the different, you know, moon moments. But in the tarot, it's like about when we don't know what's going on and we don't like it. It feels scary to not know what's going on, so it feels…

Lisa Stardust: Like Hello, I'm a Gemini sun, with a Virgo stellium and I'm born on the exact full moon. I have to be in the know.

Michelle Tea: Right. So it's like, this is your challenge, right? And this is what happens all the time with with tarot and people, you know, and I'm sure you see this yourself. I think you've even kind of like touched on it in this conversation that, you know, you ask a question and then you get an answer for a different question, you know what I mean? So it's sort of like, here's what your challenge is, you know, to kind of like buff up your your your romantic sphere, that part that part of your life because the next card after the Moon is the Queen of Cups and you know, some decks, the Queen of Cups is just like, Wow, you want to be her, you know, not the Crowley deck. You can see in the Crowley deck, the Queen of Cups, you can't even see her face. She's so obscured by emotion. And so this is just talking about, you know, a person or a state of mind where you're so emotional you've lost clarity, you know, you've lost clarity and to have a card like that. Sometimes it's a good. Sometimes it's good. If it's coming after a really lush, you know, psychedelic happy card. But coming after the Moon, it just means that this this inability to kind of control, you know, the situation that the sphere leaves you at a disadvantage leaves you without clarity.

It's like you - you don't know what's going on. So you get very stressed out with no clarity, which means that you still don't. It's even harder to know what's going on, which means that you have more emotional lack of clarity. It's just like kind of feeds into itself. So I want to know what you can do to break that cycle, you know, because you're like to have the Empress be the first card that comes up to me sends a very strong message that like your little love monster, you want love in your life and you deserve love in your life. And it's like that Venus card, you know, obviously rules your ascendant.

I'm going to pick cards for you from this Vessel Oracle. And I love this Oracle when we're just kind of in a situation that's a little tough. So what will help you as you work through that? Let's see. Alright. Oh, you got some good cards. So the first card that's offering you help is this. I always think of these cards as like allies. Move On. So if you're holding on to any stories about love, about yourself, in love, you know, in relationship, to love, in relationship, to relationships, if you're holding on to any old people scenarios, narratives move on, move on from them. And it's this beautiful picture of this like many eyed person with a big star on their face, like blowing a handful of stars.

So, yeah, moving on is going to really help you clear out from that. Your second card here is Endurance, which I love this card. It's like all these hands holding up kind of a little village from the bottom from underneath. So it's like you can get through this, you know, you're not fragile. I don't know if you have a feeling like, you know, love will wreck you. I don't know if the need to control comes from a fear of your own vulnerability or fragility or your, you know how, how painful it is to have your heart broken. And it is painful, but like none of this is going to wreck you.

You have the strength to let yourself be vulnerable in love. You can endure the not knowing you know you can endure. You know, the the the the really kind of triggering experience of of letting somebody in. It can be very triggering can be very scary. But this endurance card is like, yes, it's worth it. And you can do it. And then your final card here is Truth, which is like, really beautiful. It's like this person who has three eyes and their eyes are stars. They're holding their heart like over their heart chakra. It's very beautiful. So like, there's something about what's your truth in this situation, you know, like like, can you can you allow your heart to shine on honestly authentically? Can you allow yourself to be seen in your perfectly imperfect truth? Can you allow that truth of who you are in the world? Be seen by another person? So these are like, these are there. It's like almost like your little love homework from the oracle. Like, move on, move on from from anything that's holding you back. You know, know that you are strong and you're strong enough to, you know, make yourself available for love and all of its ups and downs. And like you can be in your truth, you can be in the truth of who you are and be loved.

Lisa Stardust: Oh, I love that. You know what's so great about this reading is something that I wanted to say that I've noticed when people ask me horary questions is that we, as readers, can tell if someone's going to be happy in this situation, but no one ever wants to know if they're going to be happy. And I never, you know, understood that because I always say to people, Yeah, you're going to get what you want, but is that what you want? Is it really going to make you happy? Because, you know, that's important to know, and it's especially important to know with the reading that you publish. So I appreciate it so much.

Michelle Tea: I think in our culture, we're all raised, especially any of us, you know, who are like femme or female, like, I think you're we're really raised to think that love will solve all our problems, you know? So it's like it just seems like it's akin to saying, like, what will I find love is almost the same question is, will I be happy, you know? And and and it's not, obviously, and it's you're so you're so right to point that out.

Lisa Stardust: Well, you know, you're not going to find the right love unless you're happy with yourself.

[Music]

Pia Wilson: Hi, my name is Pia Wilson, and I'm a writer. My podcast, If I Go Missing the Witches Did It is available now anywhere you get your podcasts. I'm so happy to share with you a fun coffee spell to help you bring some romance into your life.

You'll need coffee grounds, edible pink, rose petals, baking cocoa, vanilla extract, a citrine crystal and some honey. I make my coffee with the pour over method, but I'm sure this would work with a more traditional drip coffee maker. The most important part of this and any spell is your intention, so don't worry about things being perfect. As you prepare your grounds in the coffee filter. Think about what kind of romance you want to have. Is it fun and spontaneous? Warm and comforting? Super passionate. All of the above, whatever it is, truly feel it — emotionally and physically.

Now, add a few edible rose petals on top of your grounds. Just a couple. Take a whiff. Mmm. This is getting good. Now sprinkle a little of the baking cocoa. The baking cocoa and rose petals create a double shot of sexy, love magic. This is so much fun, and this little spell is going to bring you some love. Isn't that great? What does your joy feel like? Put that smile or giggle into the coffee grounds. Now put a couple of drops of the vanilla extract in the grounds for passion. Take another whiff. Doesn't that smell amazing?

Place your clean, citrine Crystal into your coffee cup. The citrine is adding a dose of happiness to your spell. Now at this point, I place my pour over coffee maker on top of my coffee cup and visualize little sparkles of magic twinkling with my intention among the grounds. Infuse your own magical intention into the ground any way you like. You can twitch your nose like Samantha on Bewitched or just blow a kiss. Whatever makes you happy.

Then I start pouring the hot water over the ingredients in a clockwise direction. I take a moment to sniff the sense that the hot water has activated. The spell is working your way. If you have an automatic drip coffee maker. See if you can smell the new perfume of your roses. Coffee, vanilla and cocoa as it all brews together. Once your coffee cup is filled with your magical coffee. Add a little honey for a sweet romantic relationship that sticks stir clockwise three times, whispering the same intention. Each time you could say true love or I am loved and I love or lover come on over. Whatever floats your boat.

Sip your coffee thoughtfully and carefully. Don't forget about your citrine. Notice any opportunities throughout the day that come your way for romance, even if they come in the form of an awareness about something you need to work on in yourself to draw the kind of love your magic wants to bring to you. I hope you enjoyed your spell, and thanks for listening.

[Music]

Michelle Tea: Pia Wilson, I have been waiting for a witch to offer up a spell I can do with my coffee! I can’t thank you enough. Despite what my name suggests, I am not a tea person, and so many spells include tea that I find myself drinking it way more than I want to. This is a spell I can definitely do with extreme pleasure!

But, whatever your poison may be - coffee, tea, absinth, Soylent - we hope this episode inspires you to try something different,  to look more deeply into your astrological makeup, to aim beyond the limits of our mystical imagination.

[Music]

Michelle Tea: Thanks for tuning into Your Magic. Make sure you follow us on Twitter and Instagram @thisisyourmagic. You can subscribe to us right here on Spotify — do what you need to do to never miss an episode. You can email us at hello@thisisyourmagic.com, we would love to hear from you. And you can support us — plus get access to a whole bunch of bonus content — at patreon.com/thisisyourmagic.

This episode was produced and edited by Molly Elizalde, Tony Gannon, and Vera Blossom. We got production support from Raven Yamamoto. Our executive producers are Ben Cooley, myself, and Molly Elizalde. Our original theme music is by John Kimbrough. 

Thanks for listening!