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I write regularly at jessicashepherd.substack.com — soft, human words on healing, astrology & intuition:
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Virgo Full Moon: A Little Broken
On top of several other conditions I was attempting to heal, I got really sick last week. It was the full catastrophe. Suddenly I was flooded with self-doubt. Was it the chocolate (sugar-free) I had been sparingly eating lately that had taxed my adrenals and made me vulnerable? Or the gluten-free naan bread I had treated myself to a few days prior? Despite having been told by the contractor who had been working on our house that black mold was found, and removed, which certainly was the...
Aquarius New Moon: Feeling Our Freedom
“I’m harboring a fugitive, a defector of a kind, and she lives in my soul and drinks of my wine, and I’d give my last breath to keep us alive.” - Fugitive by Indigo Girls Every year at about this time I feel my skin start to crawl. Feeling housebound and earthbound, I want to do something wild, different, subversive. Initially, this leads to an impromptu song, dance or art session. Last night I was Alison Moyet singing Midnight at the top of my lungs to my reflection (and my dog). Being...
Saturn Transits the Second House: Name Your Worth
Saturn’s transit through the first house, while a relief from the challenging twelfth, was far from roses and ponies. While my personal account struck a chord with many readers, more than a handful also wrote to me describing how much harder the first house Saturn transit was, than the twelfth, for them. The common thread for those readers involved feelings of depression, uncertainty and anxiety. No Saturn house transit works in a vacuum, each builds on the last. When Saturn entered my...
The Mechanics of Trauma & Healing Through Uranus-Pluto
Have you ever experienced trauma? If you've ever felt: 1) powerless, 2) alone 3) threatened and 4) surprised by the unexpected, you have. Physiologically, when trauma occurs, our body goes into a state of emergency and the "freeze response" gets activated (if we can fight or flight, generally we have a sense of power). This freeze response must then be either discharged or repressed. Animals "shake off" their traumas. Maybe you've seen geese get in a territorial fight over their mate, then...
Leo Full Moon: A Celebration of Life
People have been exiting the Earth in record numbers, lately. If there’s a welcome home party in the afterlife, there’s surely going to be some great music and conversation. Naturally, the question of the hour is, why is everyone dying? This isn't a new phenomenon. The past six or so years have been demanding. Uranus and Pluto, still in their wide square, continues to pressure us to “evolve or die”, to face our shadows, heal our wounds, and live more authentically and true to our self....
David Bowie: The King of Cool
Today Moonkissd.com features another guest post from astrologer Lindsay Conover. Enjoy! I woke up the other morning to the saddening news about the passing of David Bowie after an 18 month battle with cancer. Remembering him has brought back many memories of moments in my life of appreciating his creative work. He maintained relevance for half a century; continuously reinventing himself with a vision that transcended the boundaries of age, which allowed so many people to enjoy his...
Capricorn New Moon: Year of the Hermit
I started an ambitious project over the holidays, one of those that knee-deep into it your awareness startles, “If I would’ve known how much work this would take, I don’t know I’d have ever begun...” Yet I was grateful for my inspired enthusiasm, sorely missing in the past months. The creative solitude was delicious. I found myself pouring forth from a well I hadn’t known was there, deepening into myself, the quiet hush of winter, the wet stay-indoors weather proving itself a great container...
Cancer Full Moon: Weird Family
I grew up in one of those “weird” families. Maybe yours was, too. The parental units weren’t exactly hippies, but they didn’t mix well with the status quo, either. They didn’t wear Birkenstocks or smoke pot with their guitar-playing friends (or, not that I know of), but neither were there potlucks, potluck parties and PTA meetings. While the other kids in my suburban neighborhood took dance or sports lessons, their big ploy was to get me to take mime (huh?) or meditation classes. Since neither...
The Significance of Winter Solstice
Today Moonkissd.com features a guest post from astrologer Lindsay Conover. Enjoy! Monday, December 21st at 8:49pm PST the Sun enters the sign of Capricorn. In Astrology, the Winter Solstice is considered the time of the re-birth of the Sun (in the Northern hemisphere); a time to rejoice in the renewed length of the days. During this time, for six days, the Sun will rise and set on its longitudinal path at its Southern most place in the sky; creating the shortest days and longest nights. Then...
Sagittarius New Moon: Great Expectations
It had been a difficult couple of months: I pulled a muscle in my back, an old health problem flared up for no apparent reason, and I experienced a number of dashed disappointments- all of which had the net effect of dampening my internal fire. Then there was the trip on the calendar for Paris. Instead of a heart filled with excitement I felt only a dull thud, because like many of you under the influence of the recent Saturn-Neptune square, life had become a study in disillusionment. I had...
