Astrology of the Week Ahead with Chani Nicholas - The Week of October 31st, 2022: Mars is retrograde, Venus opposes Uranus, and Venus squares Saturn

Episode Date: October 31, 2022

In this podcast, New York Times bestselling author and astrologer Chani Nicholas discusses the astrology of the week and what it might mean for us all. The astrology of the week of October 31st, 2022, is a little tenderizing. We start off with a newly retrograde Mars, which is initiating a three-month-long deep dive into our power, agency, and anger. Then on Saturday, Venus — the planet of pleasure and beauty — makes an opposition to Uranus — the planet of disruption — dumping a dose of radical honesty into relationships. And on Sunday, Venus continues on to square Saturn — the planet of structure — asking us to take a hard look at the dynamics of our values and commitments. In all, it could shake a few things up, but we’ll be better for it in the end. For more, check out your free daily horoscope on the homepage of the CHANI app. Android users can receive their free daily horoscope on the CHANI website. The CHANI app is currently only available for the iPhone, but we are working as hard and as fast as we can on an Android app. In the meantime, Android users can access our content by purchasing the Android Workshops on chaninicholas.com. The music featured in the podcast was created by Latashá.

This week's astrology is spooky, y'all. Listen, Mars is stationing retrograde on October 30th. And while we do not fear astrology in this house, we certainly pay attention to what it's telling us. And a Mars retrograde is always going to be an invitation to understand our agency and our power and how we want to engage with it. It's also an invitation to understand our anger and our rage and how to channel it to get the things done in the world that we most want to do. This is the Astrology of the Week Ahead podcast, and I'm your host, Chani Nicholas. In this podcast, we look at the astrology of the upcoming week and how it will be landing for all of us collectively. For a more personalized reading that dives into the ways that this week's astrology will play out for you,

Download the Chani app for iPhone. All right, yeah, we got a lot of really big astrology. Like this corner of the year, this last quarter of 2022, just like packs it all in. We just had the first eclipse of the season that was on Tuesday, October 25th. That was a solar eclipse, meaning it was a new moon. And it was in Scorpio. So this is a great time to reflect. upon what this past week brought up, what intense feelings or situations, or extreme kind of

opportunities showed up on your doorstep. Oftentimes, eclipses are moments of beginnings and endings and swift turns and twists. And because this eclipse we just had is ruled by Mars and Mars is stationing retrograde on Sunday, October 30th, it has an extra level of depth to it. Because you know, when planets station retrograde, especially Mercury, Venus, and Mars, because they're usually quick-moving planets, the outer planets or the planets that are further away from us are retrograde for so long, like generally almost half the year, that They're still important, but they're not felt in the ways that Mercury, Venus, and Mars retrogrades are felt. Mercury retrogrades are about our interpretations of things, the ways in which we exchange and make meaning of the information we have.

Venus retrogrades are always a deep dive into the heart of the matter, into our relationships, into our intimacy issues, into our values. and it's usually quite tenderizing. And Mars retrogrades are a deep dive into our power, our agency, our anger, our bitterness, our rage, how we use it, how it manifests out in the world. We don't take accountability for the ways in which we cause harm and also without taking stock of the harm that's been done to us. Mars is a planet that, you know, talks about a lot of stuff. It's not only about harm, but understanding how harm is done and understanding how harm lives within us and then understanding how we then become facilitators of harm ourselves, how we can become that, is so essential. Because life isn't sweet and lovely most of the time. it's a little brutal, especially now, right?

Like maybe we could get to a different world. But right now we have to really grapple with the brutality and violence that is in the world. We have to focus on, make space for, protect beauty and love and connection. That's Venus. We have to learn how to communicate in an effective way that can create spaces where healing injustice can occur, that would be more mercury. And when we own our power, when we say, yes, this is where I have agency, and this is how I'm choosing to engage with that agency, then we're with our Mars. So a Mars retrograde is always a great review of just how seriously we take our power and how

consciously we're willing to work with it. There's a lot of ways in which Mars is also a planet that can teach us a lot about doing our own thing because Mars transgresses the boundaries. Mars doesn't care about societal norms. Saturn sets those norms and standards and structures and Mars just blasts past them. So Mars is willing to do the thing that's going to cause strife and commotion and it's an essential component of becoming. our own selves. It's an essential part of knowing what we're made of. And in that way, Mars can teach us something about leadership. I think of leadership a lot as the sun, because the sun is about being our own sovereign. But Mars on another level is like, okay, well, I'm willing to

actually deal with that kind of conflict if it means that I have say in the way in which I'm going. So we need that too as we become leaders in our lives, leaders of ourselves, grown people, adults. And when we're in the world and just causing conflict because that's the only thing we know how to do, obviously that's not being a mature, responsible, accountable adult. But if I am going to interrupt injustice, then I'm going to have to deal with a lot of pushback. If I'm going to interrupt injustice in my own life, I'm going to have to do that. If I want to even think about engaging with that in the world, I also have to own the fact that people aren't going to like it.

They're going to have a lot of opinions about it. So that's the part of us. That is the part that Mars tells us about. So this is a really, really good time to go to the Chani app and look at your Mars. Mars placement. Where is Mars in your birth chart? Where was Mars in the sky when you were born? We call that your natal Mars. And going into a bit of a deep dive about your Mars, where it is, how it exists, who else it talks to. So you're looking at the sign your Mars is in. We're looking at the house your Mars is in. And we're looking at the planets that Mars is in relationship with. So we call that the aspects. And in the app, we call it your gifts and your challenges, because we're always trying to frame things in a proactive way. And Mars always brings up a lot of challenges.

It's just the nature of the planet. So to Saturn. So do the outer planets. But it's a different kind of thing. Now, if you're born at night, and the app will tell you this. If you look at your sun and moon, it'll say, oh, you were born at night or in the day. and therefore if you're born in the daytime, the sun is what we call your light leader. If you're born at night, the moon becomes your light leader.

If you're born at night, Mars is a planet that's on your team. Mars is on your side. And therefore, the Mars retrograde might be a little less of an issue for you. If you are a day chart, meaning you were born when the sun was up over the horizon, and not yet set, then this Mars retrograde might be a little bit more prickly for you. That's one level at which you can look at this. It's not the be all end all. If you have planets or placements, points like ascendant, descendant, mid-heaven,

or I see in Gemini specifically, but also kind of more broadly in any of the mutable signs, So Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces. If you have planets or points in any of those signs that are between 8 and 25 degrees, so that's almost the whole sign, if you have any planets or points that are 8, 9, 10, 11, blah, up to 25 degrees of Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, or Pisces, this Mars retrograde is going to do some major work with you. And you can learn if that's true for you in the transit section of the Chani app. You can look under short-term transits and see if Mars is squaring or opposing or conjunct anything.

You can also take a look at the app and look and see if you have any planets and like what degree, what little numbers beside them and know that that planet is going to be activated. And when that activation comes up, when it's going to be transited, it'll be. be in the transit section of the app. So it's a good time over the next couple months to be checking that transit section because when Mars comes around, things happen. It's a noticeable transit. Not everyone is. Some transits are a little bit more subtle, like Venus can be a little bit more subtle. Mercury can sometimes be a little bit more subtle depending on what they're doing. But Mars is always like in your face. That's just the nature of the planet. Now this Mars retrograde is going to be from October. 30th through to January 12th of 2023. So we got a minute with this. We don't know exactly what it's going to do,

but we do know that it's going to be in Gemini that entire time and that Gemini is a sign known for its loquaciousness, its verbosity, and its ability to see things from every angle. Some might call that the devil's advocate. Some might call that unnecessary. Some might call that helpful. It's definitely curious, but it's about a lot of words. So I don't know if you've noticed any apps that are based on words, any Gemini's in the public eye that have had kind of a hard time on those apps or are making life really difficult for some people. But not for nothing. Gemini's. people with, again, the sun or any other major placement in Gemini, are going to feel this probably first and foremost. Does that mean if you're a Gemini sun or a moon or rising or the ruler of your ascendance in Gemini that you're going to blow up your life? Absolutely not. Again, this transit is about recognizing your power. It is about recognizing when you get overheated and what to do,

to let off steam in a way that is not going to harm your internal or external system. This is about being in a kind of anti-inflammatory state of mind. How do I help myself feel contained and safe and held and supported when things come up and I feel my temperature rising? How do I help to ground myself? How do I help to cool down? and how do I help to say, yes, anger, rage, I feel you, I see you, you are legitimate. It doesn't mean that I can behave any way that I want, but this feeling is legitimate. Can I write about it?

Can I dance about it? Can I do something with it so that I'm channeling it in a way that helps me to understand what's underneath all of this and the power of it? It is incredibly powerful. It is a force that we've all got to work with. And if you're someone that's really not comfortable feeling anger or rage, or if you were taught to stifle it and be nice and be sweet and be kind or docile or just not show up in the world in a way that's going to take up space, then there's going to be something that comes along that's that's activating that in a way so that you can let that part of yourself be expressed. And the way to do it again, obviously, is in a way that

feels contained so that you don't feel like you have to stifle any part of you, but that you're also not harming yourself for other people. And that's always the secret. We're talking about that all the time on this podcast and in this work. How do we do that? How do we say, wow, this is burning inside me. It deserves my time and energy and it deserves a safe space to be released into. And I don't have to question this feeling inside me. That's not the thing to do. The thing to do is not to pour it out into the world in a way that I'm going to regret later. So we've all got that work to do collectively. We're doing that.

And collectively, we're probably going to see a tremendous amount of divisive sentiments and arguments. And this is the kind of astrology that brings all of that to the surface. So how do we be the kind of people that. that don't engage with that kind of toxic behavior that don't disassociate from our own power and anger and stuff, but still become a type of anchor in this whirlwind of energy and in this whirlwind of words and in this whirlwind of words and in this whirlwind of a world that we live in, How can we be a little plot of land that is anchored, tethered to the earth, and a place of calm? How can we create that space in ourselves so that when we meet that in the world, we can witness it, but we don't have to become a part of it? How do we take care of ourselves in this kind of chaos?

And I don't believe that we do that by disengaging from the world, by turning off everything and being completely ignorant to what is happening. There's got to be some kind of balance because we really learn how to create an inner calm when we are engaged with things of the opposite. It's not really that helpful to sit in a room that is silent and be like, wow, I'm such an amazing meditator. Can you meditate in the midst of a construction site and still find that? That's when we know we've actually developed some kind of skill. And the only way to develop it is to be in it and to take breaks from it and to go back in and to take breaks and to refuel, to take space. And then to kind of test out our skill set. So any and all kind of work that you can do around conflict resolution in your own.

life about acknowledging the ways in which you might have engaged in behavior that created a situation that was either harmful or just not how you wanted to show up in the world. Any of that work goes such a long way in this kind of astrology. Again, we're in the middle of eclipses as well. An eclipse season, I was always taught, is like a pattern setting time. There's these grooves that we get into because things tend to shift a lot in eclipse season. A lot goes and a lot comes in. There's a lot of change.

And what we commit to within this little portal of time can be deeply transformative. And it is about this Mars piece because that first eclipse is ruled by Mars. the next one will be very Venusian and different in tone. But we are in the in-between week this week. And of course, you know, we've got all kinds of festivals, all kinds of parties, all kinds of celebrations, all kinds of moments that relate to different traditions and cultures and religions that have to do with death

and connecting with our ancestors, connecting with and paying honor to the living, lineages we're grateful for or that we are a part of. And within all that we will witness and be part of over this past weekend and into the next week, we get to meditate on our lives via being very engaged with death and the concept of endings and rebirths and that great cycle of life. And that's the perfect thing to meditate on, you know, given a Scorpio eclipse just happened. obviously this always happens in Scorpio season, but we don't always have eclipses, and that the traditional ruler of Scorpio Mars is retrograding. It's a really great moment to say, okay, this is it for

all I know. This is my one life. Maybe I'll get, you know, to do this a million times over or go to other galaxies or whatever. Who knows? But for all I know in this moment, this is what I've got. What am I doing with it. How am I spending this life? Where am I letting fear hold me back? And how am I engaging with my power, my energy, my life force, and working with it consciously. Interestingly, the only real, like, significant astrological thing that's going on in this week, besides the fact that Mars just stationed retrograde. So also go read your Mars in Gemini horoscope, either on the Chani app or on chani.com as its own horoscope.

Definitely get to know what part of your chart Mars is retrograding through whether or not you've got planets there. And then the only other thing that's happening this week is Saturday and Sunday, Venus makes an opposition to Uranus and then a square to Saturn. Venus is in Scorpio right now. So it feels like a big weekend for relationship stuff to come up. Venus opposing Uranus is shaking things up, is kind of electrifying our connections

and making obvious what we need to be honest about, radically honest about in terms of our needs. And what we value radically honest. Say that again. And then as it squares Saturn, it's about a deep commitment to what, we value and to who we are in relationship with. And if that is our relationship, how deep is our commitment? How solid is it? And to look at some of those dynamics. So the weekend might be a little

tenderizing. Look, we are in between eclipses. Be gentle with yourself. Have fun. Do your celebrations. Like live your life. Make sure that you feel like you are living. And also know that topics get prickly and people might have a lot coming up right now. So just keeping that in mind. And those people might be you, maybe me. You know, we're all in this together. So have fun, celebrate,

honor all the people in all the lineages that you honor and that have taught you and that have guided you. And also go a little gentle just given the situation. Y'all, we so appreciate the reviews that you leave for us in the app store. I wanted to share one with you. It's titled A Beautiful Legacy. I downloaded this app and went premium during the last eclipse season and have enjoyed a daily treasure trove of astro wisdom. But the most surprising precious feature of the Chani app for me is the daily meditations.

I've added them to my kids' homeschool. school routine. And there is something so precious and sacred about sharing our meditation time together every day. Oh my God, I love that. All right, y'all, that is the reading for the week, sending you so much love, protection, blessings. Bye for now.