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I write regularly at jessicashepherd.substack.com — soft, human words on healing, astrology & intuition:
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Pisces Full Moon: Swept Away
Virgo is a busy time of new commitments and new agendas. If Virgo season had a scent it would be the smell of pencil shavings and fresh paper. If Virgo had a signature look, it would be perfectly put together: our first day of school outfit. If Virgo had a library it would be full of self-help books, how-to and educational texts. The Virgoan urge for productivity, squaring things up, planning and scheduling, listing and problem solving is reflected in everything we say, wear and do this...
Virgo New Moon: Pull It Together
Relocating to Stockholm for four months has been a monumental move. Clothing for three seasons was made doable by my handsome and handy (Mercury in Virgo) husband's packing cube system – genius! Packing up our five person household and making it tidy for our temporary tenant was both satisfying and wearying and I was never so happy to sink into the seat of a fifteen-hour flight than I was that day. To hop on a plane is easy, but to journey without losing your mind and passport is not. Luckily,...
Illness As Spiritual Path
"It is not a sign of good health to be well adjusted to a sick society."-J. Krishnamurti Most people take up the spiritual path out of human need to find a context for our human experience. We are searching for a way to make peace with our self, our life. We may be looking for forgiveness or meaning or healing. Everyone on the path wants to end the sense of separateness, suffering, fragmentation and alienation we feel. Sometimes we find a Guru, a faith to follow. But as often, our life...
The Fantastic T-Square
There's an aspect brewing this August, and in honour of a fortuitous dream my good girlfriend, Erin Reese, had on my behalf, I'm calling it the fantastic t-square. The fantastic dream had nothing to do with t-squares, not really, except that it was so full of wonder and marvel that I could happily spend the energy of my own two t-squares, and probably also my next few lifetimes, working toward that vision. Plus, I started writing this as a Facebook post, but realised I had much more to say...
Creating Love Magic E-Kit
Have you ever wondered how to use the art of Divine Timing to magically draw the love of your life to you? What does your astrological birth chart say about the character and qualities of your soul mates, and your time of life partners? Based on the tried and true method I used for attracting the love of my life, this 3-part lecture also includes a fascinating exploration in identifying your soul mates and karmic mates in the birth chart. 7 page PDF handout included. 90 minute instructional...
Electrolyte-Rich Mojito Green Drink
It's been a hot summer in Fairfax, CA, which has meant I've been sweating ALOT. When we sweat alot we excrete the electrolytes our body creates from minerals: sodium, potassium, chloride and bicarbonate. These chemical messengers are responsible for maintaining the sodium-potassium balance in our bloodstream that keeps our body hydrated, as well as informing basic bodily processes like blood pressure, thinking clearly and smooth muscle function. A classic sign of low potassium is muscle and...
Crying Is Good For Your Health
This summer, June-July is an especially watery season as so many planets are in water signs. Water is the realm of wetness, emotions, feelings, and feeling is healing for all of us. Lately, everyone who enters my office walks away having had a good cry. One of my kind-hearted mentors, Steven Forrest, has said that he knows he’s done his job if he can make a person cry. This isn’t cruel! Most of us walk around with stored up hurts, grieves and slights we’d love to release, and a conversation...
Jupiter In Cancer: To Every Heart, A Home
Lately, the waterworks are turned ON. Last weekend I found myself blubbering about the loss of traditional cooking skills, nostalgically yearning for a time when folks gathered together in the kitchen, made, and ate real food together, a time when women gathered, grandmothers, mothers and cooked toxin-free food…and the dam burst and the tears started rolling. My dear Cancer friend, a man, moved by my tears, replied with a story about a friend who brought home cooked food every day to the...
Capricorn Full Moon: Desert Moon
During Cancer season I always feel a strong need to break away from routines, to go somewhere, experience something different. I need to turn over a new leaf or rock –preferably one found far away, on foreign land. Cancer falls in my Ninth House of Expansion, but the urge to get away is motivated by the archetype of Cancer. This is where I take care of myself, how I heal. I’ve been dreaming of a trip to the desert, I always long for the bone-dry desert at Capricorn Full Moon, with its Spartan...
Venus-Pluto-Uranus Transit: Peeling the Onion
We really don’t know what we’re getting into when we fall in love with another, do we? We fall under the spell of love, we fall for someone trustworthy, kind and true, and trust that no matter what comes our way, the tender feelings we have for one another will insulate and protect us from what inevitably comes next. Given the right person, barring a criminal history or other red flags, it would be silly to think it's not worth the risk. Love is the ultimate reality, and many know that God is...
