Latest on Substack
I write regularly at jessicashepherd.substack.com — soft, human words on healing, astrology & intuition:
Blog
Birthday Magic & Solar Returns
Every year, the Sun makes its annual return to the same position it was when you were born. This day is your birthday. In astrology the Sun holds our vitality, willpower and life force, as well as what makes you uniquely you. You are being kissed by the Sun. It's appropriate to be made a big deal over on this day, to be showered with blessings, to celebrate our self and allow others to celebrate us! In astrology, a birthday brings more than age. On the days surrounding your birthday, your...
Pluto Station-Retrograde: Trials By Fire
Pluto, planet of taxes, death, rebirth, resurrection and sex makes a habit of turning retrograde around tax day, as it will this year on April 16- September 25. In my personal and collective experience, we are not good with handling Pluto. It's hard to face what no one wants to either do (die, pay taxes), talk about (death, sexual taboos) or own up to (desire for power, old traumas running our life). We'd rather... not. That's part of the problem with Pluto. The other is that Pluto transits...
Libra Full Moon Lunar Eclipse: Peace, Love & Understanding
These aren’t the easiest of times. Everyone’s cup is filled to the rim, and living with daily stressors can really wear you down. Paradoxically, stress lowers our tolerance for handling the complexity it brings into our life; science says stress chemicals hi-jack our brains, and narrowing our ability to think we literally become dumber. Under stress, we become reactionary and reductionistic. Even ordinary discussions are bigger, hotter and redder as, we, and the people in our lives, find it...
Aries New Moon: Energy & Action
At springtime, Mother Nature inspires us to begin anew so last weekend we got in the spring spirit and lined our red flagstone walkway with potted flowers and herbs. Mothers are known to nest when preparing for the imminent arrival of their new bundle, and as we readied the yard, I realised this was what I was doing. For months, I had noticed that even though our Pink House was full of vibrant light, energy and color, there was a feeling of expectant emptiness and generosity. It had occurred...
Virgo Full Moon: Answers From Within
Problems. I don’t know a person who doesn’t have them. In astrology, problem-solving is associated with the sign of Virgo, and some problems are simpler to tackle than others. For instance, when I tell my friend, Marian, who has Venus in Virgo in her First House, that our new King sized bed is like trying to fit a King mackerel in a sardine box, in seconds she’s strategised a new floor plan. Then there are problems that resemble an unsolvable Rubik’s cube -- where that same walk we take down...
Meatzza! And Why A Cheesy, Fatty Meat Pizza Is Good For You
When I gave up grains, I thought I was also giving up pizza forever. Yes, I cheat a couple of times a year with a gluten free pizza, but really it's no good for me: my body doesn't tolerate tomato sauce, cow cheese, yeast or grains well. That's four points against eating pizza. Enter: meatzza! I initially balked at the idea. A pizza made of meat? It sounded too decadent and well, meat heavy. I've been a vegetarian and raw foodie at different periods of my life, and like many of us animal...
Pisces New Moon: Dare To Believe
Every year around this Pisces New Moon, I take an intentional walk with Spirit. Using the front door as a magical threshold, and the tree-lined trail in back of our house an enchanted forest stage, I step out with the intention to receive what Spirit wants to tell me. With my bottle of water I also carry a magical mindset; open, receptive, surrendering and present, I view everything I encounter as a message specifically for me, the receiver. It also helps to be in a non-linear space, fuzzy...
Leo Full Moon: Fallen Stars
I, like many, was surprised to hear about Philip Seymour Hoffman’s death last week. As an actor and human he seemed to be in a genre completely of his own, and because he had touched me in that place few actors do, I was saddened. I didn’t know he had a history with addiction, and that he relapsed last year; now we all know. In the media, compassionate articles like Russell Brand’s “my life without drugs” re-circulated (he wrote this after Amy Winehouse died of an overdose last year), and...
Book Review: Lessons In Astrology As Magic
You know that excited-all-over feeling you get when you meet someone who will inspire you in some momentous and mysterious way? Over 20 years ago, as a student of astrology, too poor to buy a copy of the magazine, I would hunker down in Santa Fe's Ark bookstore, cup of tea (it was free) in hand and a fresh copy of The Mountain Astrologer, to drink in astrologer, Dana Gerhardt’s words. I was googly-eyed for Dana (still am). I don’t remember which article inspired me the most, but I am pretty...
Aquarius New Moon: Breakaway
It's the Year of The Horse, in Chinese Astrology. Although I'm no Chinese Astrologer, and I've been too busy to read absolutely anything about this perspective, I can feel Snake Year giving up the ghost, and horse energy at the gate. In the mystic tradition I study, horses symbolise missions, goals with a sense of purpose about them. Horses swiftly carry us places. We yoke our dreams, hopes and wishes to the harness of an able, strong animal. In a vision, reading or dream when a horse crosses...
