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I write regularly at jessicashepherd.substack.com — soft, human words on healing, astrology & intuition:
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Gemini Full Moon: Dark and Light
I was just turned away at the airport, from a much awaited trip to a handful of my favorite places: Vienna, Paris and Versailles. The ticket agent was unusually spry, warm and caring, a person you just feel good around. A good person for breaking bad news. As my husband prattled on about bag weight, she hesitated. I could tell she had something to say to me that she didn’t want to say. “What is it?”, I asked. It turns out, for France, your passport must be valid for at least three months...
Sagittarius New Moon: Culture Shock
Waking up the morning after the election was traumatic for many. It was for us. My husband turned over and said, “the last time I felt this way it was 9/11.” A component of trauma is shock and surprise, along with feelings of powerlessness. The shock was perhaps made more surprising because it was occurring on home soil, in a place we thought we knew, in this land we’ve lived our whole life and so maybe have taken its familiarity for granted. We woke up to a new world, that day. Clearly, we’d...
Taurus Full Moon: Spellbreaking
The world is a spell, an enchantment, an amazement, an arabesque of such stunning rhythm and a plot so intriguing that we are drawn by its web into a state of involvement where we forget that it is a game. - Alan Watts I’ll be honest, I was hoping the content of this essay would be different, that the spellbreaking I’m writing about, today, would be the broken enchantment of Donald Trump.Poof, in a puff of orange gas, gone, many glad to see him as a distant, strange memory. But, as we’ve...
Scorpio New Moon: Instant Transformation
I’ve often believed in the power of instant karma. I've seen it in action, too. The idea that what goes around can (relatively) instantly come around, makes sense to me. I trust that life is ultimately fair, while knowing I may not fully understand what that means yet. But instant transformation is a harder sell. Excepting a temporary, superficial makeover, the work of true, deep change is a slow process. So I have been suspicious of shortcuts. I want the real. Yet some changes are instant....
Protect Your Energy
It’s autumn in the Northern Hemisphere. Just as the leaves of the trees dry up and fall to the ground, autumn tends to bring drier skin, cooler weather and more exposure to wind. Our natural tendency is to bundle up, to protect our selves from the elements, to spend time “under wraps,” under warm covers, and indoors. As the fall weather changes, I always integrate an ayurvedic self-care practice into my routine called abhyanga, or warm oil massage. When the winds kick up, pricking my nervous...
Aries Full Moon: Center Your Energy
The debates have been difficult for everyone to witness. They say this is the darkest, nastiest presidential campaign of our modern history. As sensitive people invested in keeping our hearts soft, open and aware, how do we stay informed (which in large part includes at least tracking what’s happening) without being pummeled by the negativity we witness? How do we remain open and vulnerable to life, without getting shut down by negativity or burying our head? In energy work, we have options....
Libra New Moon: Good Things Await
I once knew someone who had some very real obstacles in life. She just couldn’t get a leg up. It did seem like life was hell bent on throwing her curveballs. Nothing she tried, and she tried a lot, was working. This had gone on for years. One day I sat down and had a talk with her. I asked if she believed the Universe always had her back, even when life was hard. I asked if she had a material worldview --mainly, that she was a passive participant, and that things, people and events just...
Pluto & Emotional Blackmail
Venus is in Scorpio from 9/23/16-10/17/16. Pluto in Capricorn moves direct on September 26, 2016. During Pluto and Scorpio times, we’re more susceptible to noticing the subtext - what’s below the surface- of our everyday interactions, conversation and encounters with others, probably because it’s more imperative that we do so at this time. Pluto holds our worst nightmares- pain, trauma, abandonment, fears - based in past wounds we’ve incurred, and the defenses to feeling...
Pisces Full Moon Eclipse: Your Own Private Idaho
I used to feel astrologically cheated out of that zany and enlightened experience known as Pisces. I've thought about how fun it would be to bliss out during kirtan chanting, trip the light fantastic astral traveling, communicate with Spirit beings... but my reality has been far more mundane. Pisces holds only a small footnote in my fifth house, staking a far larger claim in my sixth (also home to a Mars-Pluto opposition). The textbooks say ‘must have creativity and imagination in your work...
5 Reasons to Love Jupiter’s Entry Into Libra
Jupiter will precess into Libra from 9/9/2016-10/10/2017. Librans will receive a whole lotta love from love this placement, but Jupiter in Libra is not stingy with its affections. Read on to find out how everyone can benefit from this transit. 1. Partnering is in the air! Relationships will flourish. There will be more partnering, both business and romantic, and more people interested partnering and/or improving the quality of their current relationships. Very important relationships will...
