Best Friends with Nicole Byer and Sasheer Zamata - Nicole's a Double Virgo w/ Isa Nakazawa

Episode Date: May 22, 2024

Hey star friends! This week, Nicole and Sasheer welcome astrologer and podcaster Isa Nakazawa to the show. She gives them a chart reading and more insight into their relationship as it relates to the stars. Nicole is a double Virgo and Sasheer’s Moon is in Aries. Don’t know what that means? All good, Isa breaks it down. For a better understanding of astrology, check out Isa's new podcast, "Stars and Stars with Isa Nakazawa.” No BuzzFeed quiz this week.  Email or call Nicole & Sasheer with your friendship questions at:[e-mail] Get access to all the podcasts you love, music channels and radio shows with the SiriusXM App! Get 3 months free using this show link https://siriusxm.com/friends and code FRIENDS.

Hi, Sashir. Hi, Nicole. We have a special episode this week. Isn't that fun? That is so fun. Today we have podcaster and astrologer Issa Nakazawa. And she currently hosts Stars and Stars with Issa, a weekly podcast where she sits with talented artists

and thinkers of our time to read their birth charts currently host Stars and Stars with Issa, a weekly podcast where she sits with talented artists and thinkers of our time to read their birth charts and discuss their life's purpose. And she's gonna do that very thing for us. Yeah! So let's get into it with Issa Nakazawa. Yeah! Hi, Issa!

Hi, Issa! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah! We're here with Issa! Yes! Hey everybody! Hi, hi, hi! This is a fun special episode, because usually we have like, we do a segment called, everyone's a best

friend! Best to each other. And then we have like two best friends, but you're a singular person and you're into astrology so how'd that happen wait so do i have to do double the work then because i'm just the one no the stars can be your best yes the stars i like that i got my star team thank you so much i'm like and now i am mars um wait what was the question like how did i get yeah how'd you fall into it? Yeah, I definitely feel like I didn't fall into it was pretty. I feel like it was like zigzag because I

always had like somewhat of witchy friends around me. But I grew up, I would say, like pretty politicized, meaning I was more into like thinking about the world through like logical systems of power. And I always was wary that when you were growing up? Yeah, so my mom is Uruguayan and then my dad's Japanese American. And so being like a younger, I'm the youngest sibling of three sisters and I was always the one, I'm a Scorpio. So I was always like thinking about history

and like going deep into like where, like what was the story of my mom and my dad? And then you find out, you know, some difficult things about what happened. Like my mom grew up in the dictatorship and had to leave her home country. My father's lineage was part of Japanese internment on the West Coast. So, you know, you like you grow up and you're kind of angry as you're finding out information about what happened to your family. And so I was always a little skeptical and wary of religion and spirituality is like an opiate.

Like, but at the same time time like in true fashion for all of us i have a lot of contradictions i was also like a very devotional kid so i feel like kind of glad i found astrology later in life because i feel like if i had grown up in a really like a religious context i would have been like a believer you know yeah i'm pretty aware i have that vulnerability to me i love the way you talk about yourself as a kid. I was like, I colored. She's like, I was politicized. Yeah, I was like, oh my God.

I was like, I didn't know anything about that shit. Yeah, well, we all have such unique ways of coming up that's like not really on us, right? It's like our family culture, what's around us. Because we're just kids. Like you were a smart kid and you went to clubs and stuff. As adult i learned i didn't know how to get to a club like a school club which is an insane thing to say out loud but we've talked about this so many times oh do you mean like extracurricular clubs yeah i meant like the club oh no no no i was not a club kid at all no

spanish club glee club choir club yeah lacrosse club volleyball club like and another club yeah i also loved a club that's what i mean like being a part of like being a member in a group it's like i think that's really beautiful but it can be dangerous you know if you're not thinking i think what's dangerous for me is when you're not thinking critically and i think astrology right now it's on the one hand it's such a cool moment where there's such a shorthand for it so you can get into conversations like this today and there's some context and i love that i think the other side of it is like let's not throw these things at people because i feel like that's the turnoff it's like oh i can't date a gem you know just big stereotypes i think they're

funny if they're light-hearted yeah i think it gets super weird when you're being for real about it. I've learned nothing about other signs. I barely know anything about me. Yeah. Like, are Virgos, do they not like clubs? I'm really stuck on clubs. You really are. Well, yeah.

I mean, I would say that. So we'll get into both of your charts. But both of you are what's called mutable signs. You're a fixed sign Taurus, but you're mutable rising. And mutable signs in general, just like they want to be fluid. And so membership stuff is like very fixed signs. Like fixed signs are like, I want a routine. I want to be able to know what to expect.

And I want to like lead within that. Whereas mutable signs are like way more content to just be fluid and be like this and that here's a question with friendship are you do you do you do charts on your friends and then you're like i know why you're acting like that yeah i mean actually to answer the first question like i definitely think my friends stewarded me towards deepening my practice like oh my god these words yeah my i'm a scorpio we're so nerdy but my um my like really close like women friends i think were the ones who are always just like rooting for me um and seeing the ways that i was like you know year five of doing study and they were like let's you know believe in ourselves and push me to get my first

client practice and so I feel like it's always been women friendship that has taken me from like a hobbyist to taking myself seriously and I think I'm someone who needs community to take myself seriously I don't feel like driven by myself if that makes sense I'm actually driven through friendship so if my close friends are like we believe in you like it's easier for me to take risks i don't know how either of you are but i mean yeah i do feel like friendship like having support around me helps propel me a bit but i also am self-motivated you probably know that yeah well both of you have a lot of you have a lot of both though yeah you have a lot of like being able to propel from within.

So that's why I was like eye contact for you. I was like, and how is it for you? I think I'm self-motivated, but also I like to just double check. Like if I have a joke that's like a little risque,'ll be like so she or should I tell it and she's always like yes absolutely and then I have to figure out a way to make it right for normal people um and then with like writing when we first started writing together I was like well I'm not a writer I just do ideas and she was like you are a writer and I was like am I um so yeah it's like I can do the things but then I always have to double check to be like,

can I? I love that. I feel like that's like such a good example of your of you becoming almost like the mirror that's like confirming. Yes. You know, that's so powerful to me. I feel like friendship is always that process of recognition. And it's also crazy because it's like this is a person I trust.

Oh, yeah. Right. Yeah. And both of you have charts that are discerning with that. Because I feel like if you don't have that self, not self-trust, but if you don't have the people, the few people in your life that you can vet, like, is this funny? Yeah. Because you can't have like a bunch of yes people around you or else you're like, yo,

what? I think that's the demise of a lot of people. Is it? Yeah. Where people are just around them being like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's like, no, no, yeah. And it's like, no, no, no. Don't do that.

Yeah. All three of us have sun signs that are like not into that. Wait, can we just hop into it? Because I don't know what sun signs are. Well, what would you just say off top? Like no wrong answers. What a sun sign is?

Just like first thing comes to mind. The bright side of you. Oh. I love that. The aww leads me side of you. Oh, I love that. The awe leads me to believe I'm wrong. I love that. I think it's like your most prominent sign or like what you're like, what you are at your core, maybe. I love that.

Yeah. So you're right. You said who's right? Oh, my God. That's hilariously competitive. Who's right? Who's right? We're all right.

Can you grade us? I was an educator for a minute. So your rising sign, this is so, for listeners, we have charts in front of us because I really encourage people to see a visual chart because I think the thing with astrology, I think the reason things don't stick for people is because you need to have a visual aid and understand. I think it's helpful. I know it's a pseudoscience.

I know. But astrology and astronomy have such an interrelationship. And I think it helps to think about it in nature. Because for me, that's when it sticks. Like music and nature, I'm like, boom, I'll remember. Yeah. So your rising sign is the sign that was rising in the eastern horizon at your exact time and location.

So if you just think about that, it's like, okay, now we have an image of like we're ascending into the world. And Channing Nicholas, who's like probably the most famous astrologer in this moment, always calls it your big yes, because it's like the moment you burst into the scene of your life. So the rising sign, I would say is the most personal in the degree of the rising changes every four minutes. So if you think about how, right? So if you're born four minutes before, four minutes after, depending on when and where you were born, you might be a totally different sign.

So I think that's helpful for people. The moon changes signs every two to two and a half days. That's also pretty intimate. The sun changes every 30 to 31, 20 to 31 days. So the sun is like a little less personal, if that makes sense. Because you're sharing it with a lot more people. So actually it doesn't mean it's less personal,

but hopefully that makes sense in terms of the metaphor. Yeah, I think so. So your sun is you. Me. It's your purpose. It's like, think about where you shine. Oh, okay, yeah. And then the moon is, I like to think about it as the moon is like

your body so it's your emotions but it's also think about the fact that if you don't meet your needs of the moon you can't even get to the purpose of your sun so i'm an aries moon and so is to sheer so aries moons are pretty turnt it's like rihanna tupac like um aoc like whoa people who have a lot in common yeah so it's people who like need to say what they need to say but behind the scenes it looks a little more like you usually need movement if you're not an exercise person or you're not able-bodied you're still going to need to be like high intensity and somehow like it's very airy it's very fiery and passionate and if you don't meet those needs you're not going to be able to even think about what your son wants to do because your moon is like immediate. It's your emotions. But I think

people think emotions. They don't really know what that means. And it's like it's kind of your daily needs. So you are, I believe, let's go to your chart. You're a Gemini moon and Gemini is an air sign. And it's very curious and childlike. And Aries and Gemini moons, Gemini and Aries moons are very compatible because we're both fast. We're like fast, quick paced, externalizing signs. So we're like kicking, we're laughing, we're thinking about ideas. We're moving through the world at like a lightning speed. And so Gemini and Aries moons kind of get each other.

Is that the rising? The rising sign is more like how you engage and interact and what motivates you, what motivates your life. So the moon's actually way more private, if that makes sense. Because I thought I was a Gemini rising. No, you're Virgo rising. Oh, yes. Virgo, Virgo.

Yeah, you're a double Virgo. And this is a beautiful thing for you to think about. So when your sun and rising are the same, it's because you were coming into the world. You were born, can I say your birth time? Yeah. You were born at eight in the morning. So as the sun is like rising, you come into the world.

So you have this like daybreak personality. But I don't like the day. Oh my God, this is what Rico Nasty said. I was talking about the winter. And she was like, I don't like the winter. I'm like. This is what Rico Nasty said. I was talking about the winter and she was like, I don't like the winter. I'm like, okay, but it's not that literal. It just means you have. Yeah. Cause Rico said the same thing.

She was like, I hate the winter. I'm like, no, no. I hate mornings. Yeah. Yeah. No, it doesn't have to be. Like she texted me to be like, come. It's not morning y'all.

It's like noon. Noon is morning to me. I got to put you on blast. It is morning until we get back to the single digits. 1 p.m., 2 p.m. is my afternoon. Like, that's the start. Like, I think breakfast and brunch should go until noon, noon 30. I agree.

I don't want a lasagna at noon 30. Do you know what I mean? Noon 30 is killing me. But yeah, no, it's not literal in that way. It goes back to what we were saying earlier about, like, people who daybreak personality can like take risks and can bet on themselves and i think the thing with astrology like therapy is like sometimes we don't see ourselves clearly and especially virgo like virgos tend to be so analytical towards themselves that sometimes when i read for virgo they're like they're analyzing what i'm saying and they're also like

i don't know like they're they're more they're not necessarily egoic in the same way where they're analyzing what I'm saying. And they're also like, I don't know, like they're they're more they're not necessarily egoic in the same way where they're like, that's me. Like, I'm going to go out and get it. And so that's all it means is that you're someone who can like be in the world in that way when lead where other people might be like a lot. Like the things you do are very it's very courageous whether or not you have that in your head or not. You're like out here in the world yeah in a big way that's funny because I don't think it's courageous I'm just like

I couldn't be in an office yeah how do you view it I couldn't work at a store I like it I mean I did but like I just I don't know this is what I like to do and so I'm good at yeah I was very bad at waitressing like I've had job like I remember I'm good at. Yeah. I was very bad at waitressing. I've had job. I remember I had a job interview. And they were like, what are your strengths? I was like, I can look busy. And in hindsight, that's not a thing.

When did both of you have either an internal awareness or someone else in your life acknowledged or kind of helped you locate this was a skill of yours to talk and to like be funny and use words. I have a very specific memory. It's in high school. I did this government camp because I was I guess I was politicized as well. The word of the day is. And I remember like putting some jokes in one of my my campaign speeches and people were laughing. And afterwards, they're like, you should do something where you like stand in front of people and talk and make them laugh. But like no one knew like stand up was a job.

Like no one knew to be like, you should be a comedian. They're just like, do something where you make people laugh. And I was like, I wonder what that is. And did you see like yourself in that like did it feel good or were you like yeah yeah it felt really good to make people laugh and I was like oh yeah I wonder what this mysterious job could be and she never figured it out did you have a moment like that or moments like that uh when i was little i would just be funny and my grandmother she she was she's from barbados uh so she had other thing like uh what is it like uh phrases

she just had different ones and instead of like you're making me laugh she would say you tickle me so i would try to make her say that um so that's like the first time when I was little, I was like, oh, I know that people laugh and my grandpa would always be like, oh, she's putting on a show. He still says that. And then in Haskew, my mother was like, you should try out for the play

because you talk so much. And then I remember the first performance it was short uh a short plays by christopher durang i remember like that first laugh and i was like oh oh boy so like this kid like every night i could do this yeah and then i was like i have to do that and then school was brushed aside the only club I went to was theater. The only club! Because someone brought me. Otherwise, I would've figured it out. But then I truly was like, oh, I'm not doing the SATs.

I'm not doing anything else. School doesn't matter. I am an actress. I think that's amazing though. I think it's kind of, I always view it as a little bit lucky when you have those moments early in life where someone identifies a talent that you enjoy because what if someone identifies a talent you're like i don't get any joy from that like it seems like both of you are like yes yeah and i ride into

the sunset with my lol yeah and then when did you all meet and decide to work together we met in new york uh 32 years ago. In 2009. I was like, wow, okay. We look so young. We were put on this mashup improv team by a teacher that we had both had. And I remember, I've described this several times, she was wearing golden rod pants and a teal shirt, and she had a fro.

And I was like, God, she's so pretty. And then she was funny, and I was like, that's not fair. And then she had a fro and i was like god she's so pretty and then she was funny and i was like that's not fair and then she was nice and i was like fuck and then we just like started hanging out and i simply don't remember the very first time we hung out alone yeah i took a few like shows and group meetings and hangs and things like that. But eventually it was like, oh, I just like you. I'm playing out with you all the time. Do you feel like friendship for both of you is like a honing of craft like do or your friendship specifically like it strengthens your actual craft or is it more just like you make each other feel

safe and seen that's a great question i think we're friendship forward and honing craft second oh i love that like when we do write together i think a normal person maybe a month us a year year and a half because we'll be like wait should we work on that and it's like great we wrote six words i think we deserve a drink that's hell of funny yeah that is actually sometimes the challenge when you get along with someone so well because the tension is low sometimes you need tension right to produce or like for me i do sometimes well it's easy it's nice because it's easy like i i we could just sit on the couch and like put something on it but then like get on our phones and then send each other

memes from just next to each other two feet away yeah i'm like oh that's funny another experience another like questions that i had just to show the nuance and complexity of astrology is there's a lot of similarities but i'm interested in the differences too so virgo rising is a knock virgo is a nocturnal sign so it's like the tarot card of the of virgo is this um kind of shadowy figure and it's looking into a lantern and it's looking inward uh-huh so it's mining within it's like internal world is very rich gemini's external so it it's always like interacting with the world and itself and processing that way and so you're gemini and you're virgo so there's like that internal extroverted but here's the nuance you have a lot of your planets in these like kind of

more introverted houses yeah so i'm curious for you like how you describe yourself and your energy in terms of the introversion extroversion because you have a lot of extroverted signs and introverted houses yeah i feel like i consider myself an extroverted introvert okay like i feel like i am for sure an introvert, but I can be extroverted. I can switch it on here and there, but I don't consider myself to actually be an extrovert. Yeah, that's so fascinating. Yeah. Because do either of you know the poet Ajumoné?

Mm-mm. I did her chart and she's similar where she has, for example, you have your son in one of the most mystifying houses in astrology, which is the 12th house. And it's associated with Pisces. But a lot of people with their son in their 12th actually have this like interesting journey in stepping into public roles because it's actually a house that can be comfortable in the creative incubators. I would conclude this. Like think about studio versus the stage. I think they're pretty different. Right. Like the register of how you feel, what you can say, you're not feeding off an audience in the same way. How do both of you, like, do you have a preference to stage this?

Both are different for both reasons. Like, and let's start with you. I would say both are different for both reasons. Like, yeah, yeah I love performing live I love the stage but I do think a different type of performance is required when you're like in front of a camera or like on studio so I don't think I answered the question but no you did okay yeah I was just curious if you had a preference or if there was like moments where you like where would you say in your life you feel the most shy? Like in a group of like five people. I love hearing that. Because what does it make you feel? Like a little bit like double dutch where you're like.

Yeah, that's true. Like he can't. There's like a little bit of a. It's not quite balanced. It's not four people. of a it's not quite balanced it's not four people it's not two people yeah I feel that deeply it's like birthday dinners when it's like what is happening yeah there's been times where I've watched this year

try to say something and like everyone is like going and I go wait a minute she wanted to and it's really funny to watch it happen because you'll go and then like your face like it's really funny because i'm like oh can i can i get it in a later time oh no now you're doing a caring one maybe i can connect that back to the thing i wanted to say no i can't it We're way too far gone.

Yeah, I love asking that because I feel like for some people this or a stage is so terrifying. Like they have no interest. They'll never do it in their life.

Yeah. And then for other people, I think for me for a long time, like intimacy was a hard one for me. Like I can do like a classroom, a stage, but then someone's like, and how do you feel about me?

And I'd be like, you're doing a lot. Like you need a backup. Yeah. It's a lot of pressure, you know? So everyone has different kind of like spaces. What would you say is your comfort and then your discomfort? My comfort? It varies. Sometimes I'm very comfortable. I'm very comfortable in front of a bunch of people like a show that's I get nervous because that's just if I'm very comfortable in front of a bunch of people. Like a show that's, I get nervous because that's just, if I'm not nervous, I don't care. And that's scary. But sometimes, like we went to a party once

and there was a ton of people I didn't know and I felt very shy and nobody wanted to talk to me. I was like, but I'm wearing fur. And that made me uncomfortable. But I think I'm the most uncomfortable when i'm the most myself like uh one time i saw big silverware and started crying and i was so deeply embarrassed because like well i get so excited about big silverware um what's going on there don't what does it mean i like big things oh and then there's i like when little things are

big i like i have a pencil lamp in my house it's a big pencil i'm the opposite oh i like i feel like i always say that's the most japanese thing about me i like like little little i'm like make it tiny yeah but yeah i don't like when like i've cried over doors in front of people and that's embarrassing what I like a door by this it's like I asked a friend to be my friend and I immediately started crying like I when I'm like authentic like pure pure Nicole I find that humiliating yeah great laugh that was super charged your face your eyebrows I'm glad this is being videotaped. They're like, I would do a quick cut there. You're like, oh.

Well, and this is something you share because you're Mercury, which is like how you communicate. And both of you are Mercury ruled people. Like you're Virgo and Gemini share the ruler of Mercury. Mercury is like in the Babylonian, the scribe god. It's the one that would write the fates of man on tablets of stone. It's very funny and literal for both of you to be ruled by the planet of communication, right? When I see that, I sometimes don't want to believe in astrology. And then I'm like, it's funny.

But you're Leo. You're Mercury is in Leo. You're Mercury is in Aries. So again, another similarity. Both of you have fire sign Mercury's. But yours is in the house that we were just talking about and so when you have Leo there it's really interesting because Leo is like very grand and dramatic and like playful and it knows how to be on stage but again it's in the 12th so to me the way I read that is like and I feel like this in your comedy and in like all the work that you do is you're able to talk about things that other people just like don't know how to

talk about and you make it really accessible and light and funny and then you also like use yourself you don't have a problem with like using yourself but that is a question I have for both of you is like where's that line between like useful self-deprecating humor and then moments where you've realized, did I just throw myself away on stage? I don't. I don't know if I would even consider my comedy self-deprecating. I don't think I throw myself away at all. Yeah.

Yeah, that's good. Yeah, I don't. Yeah, I think I just find a way to relate in a different way yeah yeah but i don't and i think maybe i used to yeah but it felt so insincere it felt so like it didn't make sense i was like why am i doing this i love myself why am i like and i think maybe because i felt insecure about like being pretty and like can can an audience relate to a pretty comedian and then i was like well fuck that like yes they can but i'm a human being of course they can um so i'd find other ways to like get in there and relate but i don't yeah when i was trying to do that it didn't feel natural or authentic. Yeah. Oh, you know, cool. I don't think I'm self-deprecating either.

Yeah. I don't think. You're not self-deprecating, but I think you're very gifted at not making things precious. Does that make sense? Yeah. Like you let the audience, you do this like generous work of like not, these things don't have to be taboo or precious. Does that make more sense?

Yeah. I just talk about a lot, like talk a lot about like dating and how awful it is and I just feel like my experiences aren't just a monolith I feel like Pete like yeah even if you're married you've been on a bad date even if you're married and have never been on a date your partner has done something wild that you can relate to that I'm saying um yeah I don't I don't think I ever talk down on myself or I don't think I'm super self-deprecating yeah yeah I don't think I don't think so no I think I view self-deprecating as like a good thing or not a good thing but I view it as like a certain labor of like I'm gonna use my like I do in astrology a lot like here's a

difficult placement I have because I think it's a little bit i don't think it's as generous to start with the other people because you haven't built that trust yet so it's like i think there's a generosity in artists when they're like i'm gonna be vulnerable first and then it kind of sets the expectation and you're like modeling what that could look like because obviously if you're a comedian or you're on stage you're okay like you know you're not like falling apart yeah you've clearly done some work to fortify yourself but i think and my journey has been like i i was very like using humor a lot my whole life and i always found humor tricky because i wasn't always aware you know because it's like my way of relating and then people tell you you're good at it and sometimes the things people tell you you're good at you're just like dope we're fucking going

fully there with it especially if in other areas of your life you don't feel seen you know and then it's like a refining process of like well what's funny to me like i know how to make you laugh but like how do i want to actually how do i want to like make myself laugh or what how do i want to define my sense of humor yeah and then you're all in the spotlight in in way more ways than I've experienced I'm always curious how that works like how do you find a balance between like okay this is making people laugh versus like this is what's funny to me um I it has to make me laugh first yes first and foremost like people I've done interviews where they're like, you laugh a lot at your own jokes. I'm like, yeah, I'm not leaving my house at 8 p.m.

to tell a joke that I don't think is funny. I love that. I can be at home. Yeah, I love like I wrote it. I think it's really funny. I was probably driving somewhere and thought of it and started laughing and was like, better write it down before i forget then it gets lost in my phone for a year then i'm like oh yeah that was pretty funny i better tell that uh yeah i it has to be funny to me first and foremost right yeah i yeah i agree i don't think i don't think anyone's writing uh succeeds when they are trying to write it for the audience when they're like oh i think i think that's what they're gonna think is funny as opposed to like it should start with you you yeah yeah what you think is funny what you think is truthful and then you know try to find a way to make it

relate or not and like if or the audience will come find you but like i think when the goal is i'm gonna write something that i think the audience will like i think it i think they can tell this ain't shit i don't like this yeah i think that's like a very soothing to hear because i think that's always a concern of me like when you get when you step more into like professionalized space of like i just feel sometimes act like nervous about that line of like sometimes both of you are have very intelligent charts and so you become so good at adept at observing like what works and so it's really inspiring to hear that there is that like boundary for both of you that's like yeah I start with myself and then I move outward because sometimes I start with the world and then move inward like my chart is more

starting out and moving in and both of you have more like in and then out do charts they don't change that's such a good question i always say they do because what we call transits means how the configuration of the planets in today's sky interacts with your birth chart so i always view the chart as like a living breathing ever-changing um dynamic if that makes sense and i think about that i i have a lot of clients that are therapists and they bring a lot of their practice into the reading and there's a i can't speak like with any authority about it but there's one they always bring up which is internal family systems i've heard of that yeah yeah which is parts work so it's like there's different parts of you that and you ask each part what it needs so they view astrology as similar of like what does my venus need what does my moon need

so they kind of use that framework and they're like oh that's kind of similar like i always think astrology can be even if you don't believe in it it can just be a baseline helpful framework like okay isa said that i have an aries moon like have i been meeting my needs what are aries moon needs for me specifically like for me i need to exercise i need like i need to like take all the hot energy out of my body i need to like push it out what do i need you need to what does she need what do we need gemini moons like they need laughter they need learning and i think here's the interesting thing about gemini's is they're the communicators of the Zodiac, but they also need to be learning. So it's a both. It's input, output, input, output. Like if you're not learning something new, if you're not in conversations that

are like dynamic because Scorpio, I'm a lot of Scorpio. Scorpios go deep and intense on one thing. Geminis don't like that. It needs to be like everything's making connections like uh like a hummingbird you know how hummingbirds go and then they're flapping then yeah i saw one today me too oh my goodness i saw one too and i was like that's a gemini like they're so present but then they need to move and that freedom of movement is essential to their happiness and if you entrap them you're not really honoring their spirit right and with And with a Scorpio, I'm kind of the opposite, where if you don't let me go in, I actually start to feel like not myself. I'm like, wait, you're moving on. Like, how do we stay on topic so we can get into it? And Taurus and Scorpio are opposite signs.

So Taurus is not water, it's earth. But it's similarly, the gift of Taurus is to stabilize and create resource. It's the farmer. It's the gardener. So Taurus also moves, it moves slowly because it's teaching us a lesson of patience. I know.

I just don't see you as a farmer. Metaphor, guys! Metaphor! I just don't see you having a bountiful harvest. Oh, no! I've been pulling

a lot of weeds out of my yard. I guess you have. Uh-oh. All right, fine. You're a farmer. Well, I always try and bring different archetypes because I feel like Taurus on popular astrology sites

is like sleepy snacks. That's her. That is me. She is so sleepy and loves a snack. Yeah. It's so wild. Und a snack yeah that's like the wild undeniable it's like sleepy but in classical astrology torrent taurus was like the stewards of agriculture so again it's metaphorical oh my god it's metaph it's it's not like literal but i think tauruses i've dated a lot of tauruses i'm towards rising so it's like there is a like a certain kind of recognition and I feel

like we are just sensual beings and we like presence so like with Taurus is I'm like we're both gonna just like be in this moment now and it makes me feel like safe because I'm like we both I'm not making you feel bummed by like chilling in this nap for 30 more minutes I always feel bad when she comes to my house because I don't have any snacks. It's all expired. Well, the only time I had something unexpired, it was chocolate and then I left it on the coffee table. Then my dog ate it and then we had to go to the vet.

Oh my God, I just saw you on the David Chang Live. And you were all talking about how some, or David was saying when he was single, he didn't have any like not like no plates and no and then you said you'd call someone back who didn't have that i was like no i was like don't do it hello they need but now you have no plates uh does it make sense that i don't have snacks well no it makes sense that comment because you're not tripping about you're not like big into cooking or chefing. I imagine.

No, it's so hard. It is. I'm similar. Who will I love? You have. Well, so another thing that you have in common, you all have so much. Who will I love? Who will I love?

I'm like, I have any throw any question at me. OK, when do I meet someone? Who are they going to be? When? When? When? When? Which paper tells me? i'm not gonna lie you're in a transit right now where there is kind of a saturn is the planet of like delays and the planet of but it's not it's not a cruel planet and it gets a bad rap because everyone's like saturn to turn but it's trying to get you to

fortify like what you value and care about and it's in your house of relationships right now so there is a transit i'm just letting you know that's still happening around like what do you want like it's just really trying to get you attached to a kind is that true i would like to be in a relationship with a nice person who's nice wait what does nice look like to you nice looks like they like me okay all right next next um okay they like me they're they're kind they're giving they listen to me they let me talk about uh boring stuff that they don't like uh they watch They watch Sonic with me. They watch the Knuckles 6 part of it.

Okay, wait, stop. What do you want for Nicole? Like, and what qualities in a partner would you want? Yeah, someone who is really confident in themselves and, like, is going nicole shine and not be intimidated by that um and also support her with that and um someone who's really hot yes i love those and also it makes her laugh like they don't have to be a comedian or like super funny, but can make her laugh. Yeah. Yeah.

Those are really great. Yeah. That's nice. Yeah. I think we all start crying. We're like, you both. So you both,

you have so many similar just kind of funny. You both have Mars, which is where sex and anger live. It's where we take initiative, right? So it's like the id part of us. That's not, it's bypassing this. right so it's like the id part of us that's not it's bypassing this both of you have it in capricorn which is considered exalted because

capricorns know how to lay the foundation for things to happen so both of you have this like go-getter mars but mars also tells me as an astrologer what what would be good in terms of traits for you and that to to your point like it would be great if you had someone who had their together who could like be a mountain goat for you and like hold things together so cap's another earth sign right so think of that earthly energy but then both of you have air venuses so that that's also important so both of you might flirt or be good flirts in terms of like intellectual conversational that could be a good way that you seduce and attract and like people could be very attracted and turned on by that like by your ability to make them laugh or like i always think of gemini's like the trickster like they're very

clever they have the gift of gab and they keep you on your toes so that i think of venus is more how we flirt like how we seduce yeah and it also is good for us and the traits of our partner. But I look more towards Mars for that. But it's also Venus is like how we feel cute and like how we kind of bring people in. So yours is Libra, which is called in domicile because Venus wants to be in Libra. So it actually does give you like an extra dose of honey or ease in terms of being flirty and like being able to attract and especially if you're like uh owning your libra and like libra is very flirty like libras don't they're

not scorpio scorpio is like after libra every sign corrects the former sign so like there's a corrective element so libras are like just like cute and beautiful and like down. And Scorpios are like, and now everything's so intense, you know, so it follows each other. So I think you have a really beautiful Venus, Libra Venus. Yours is Gemini. So you both have air Venuses and then cat Mars. And then you, your opposite sign of your rising is known as your descendant and to me if you want my opinion i think your rising sign is the most important to look at for relationship compatibility not dick not like cute shit okay just like long haul shit if you even want that and your opposite signs pisces so i for you not knowing you at all would want you to have someone who's like stable and

has their shit together but has that like deep artistic understanding of the world and sensibility. So like someone who is like emotionally intelligent, neither of you have a lot of water, like none in your personal planet. Thirsty? You're thirsty. I was thirsty looking at these charts. I was like, but I will say for the record, the nuance of it is you have a lot of water houses and the houses add texture. So you do have water houses, but you neither of you have like dominant water energy. What does that mean? So water energy is like very emotionally sensitive. People who like are pretty wide open and almost like, you know how you meet people and they're like they can cry quickly.

They're like, do you know what I mean? Like people you meet where it's like heart on sleeve like you're almost like are you good yeah that's like a caricature but you know what i'm saying like people are very sensitive i have a lot of water but i actually can be scorpios can be more like internal and put together um so i actually end up dating a lot of people where i'm like are you good like you're so emotional because it helps me like I need help getting that stuff pulled out of me because I if I date someone who's too self-contained then it's so bad for me because then I'm like tight let's never talk about feelings like let's literally never do that and then you don't grow yeah you know so do you what do you have you been in like in relationships and situations where you feel like you're drawn to that energy of like someone who helps you be more emotionally vulnerable?

Or is that easy for you to be vulnerable? No, vulnerability is super hard. And I'm only attracted to people who are also emotionally unavailable. I love someone who's like, hey, you're cute. And I'm going to withhold all of my emotions about it and i'm like oh i'm wet uh are you still in that situation are you over that is that boring at this point i mean i'm through the work of therapy i'm getting over it yeah because it can be at certain point like my mom always told me this she's like you'll just don't trip you'll get bored of your own shit

like one day you'll just be with a dude you'll be like i can't do this anymore and i thought i thought she was right i feel like sometimes that feels resonant you're like never mind yeah like i just need something new right so maybe you need someone who has their shit together but who can like make you feel safe but that tension of like they're so into me that i kind of have to like yeah i want someone who's like oh no you're so fucking hot your voices are crazy like you want them to just like be so into it uh-huh yeah yeah like i want someone who like stares at me and i'm like what are you staring at and he's like you i'm like i think you're gonna get that yeah yeah where but i think you have to want it i think you have to want it i'm telling you i want it where's it happening and another thing in your chart is jupiter which

is the planet of like luck and expansion abundance is in the house of committed partnership so i'm not worried about you because i feel like you're gonna have so the only tricky thing is that pisces is the planet right now that's in the like delay, like fortified. And that's where your natal Jupiter is. So I feel like you're probably going to go through a phase of like, what do I want? And then it comes, you know, but it's I think we have to be on it. This is my personal opinion.

You can disagree. But I think for me, I had to work on shit to call it in, which sounds really corny. But there was a lot of like me indulging past patterns and that's what I kept getting I was like another musician who like where does they where do they live and I remember being on a date but like around the same time with my current boo and I was like really into him and I was like I have to ask like in my house like I have to ask him I was like where do you live and was like, he like didn't have like a home or like, you know, like shady about. And I was like, I can't do it.

Yeah, I need a person with a home. I get it. I just broke then and there. I was like, not another tourist with no home. Like, I need a home. do you believe in mercury retrograding i do why is it always in retrograding it's actually not yeah i mean so it it does it retrogrades a lot for little amounts uh-huh and then there's other planets that retrograde way longer because they're further in the solar system and they're slower moving. But why does Mercury make everything funky? When we were traveling, Mercury was in retrograde

and bad things kept happening to me. Yeah. So do you believe in it? I do. Yeah. Every time I, I usually am aware of it after the fact and I'm like, oh yeah, my phone wasn't working. I had terrible communication with people. This thing happened. And yeah, they're like, oh, retrograde happened last week. And I'm like, that was it. That was it.

Nothing to do with me. I actually do. I think that's a healthy way to relate to astrology is sometimes after the fact. Like, I think sometimes when people get so obsessive with like what is happening right now they end up subconsciously like responding prematurely yeah and it's like you can't control you know what i mean how what are you really gonna control like if you're on a trip there's probably so many things that are happening outside of your control like the flight gets delayed or whatever we have one i they canceled my ticket and then i bought another

ticket but then i stayed in their system as a double ticket and they kept being like why did you do that and I was like no delta why did you do that I hate wine right now wild travel has been like gotten so rough it really has yeah I don't even want to blame mercury for that because it's a hot mess yeah what how would I I'm curious what this is what I wanted to ask is like how do both of you relate to astrology because i feel like it's very big in l.a so you must be like you know hearing about it a lot so what yeah how does it sit with you i feel like i keep trying to learn about it but there's so much even listening to you talk yeah how long is it gonna take how many years of my life a lot to have to dedicate to understanding all of this um and i so i tried to like focus and be like i'll just care about the moon and

and even still i don't know all the things i want to know about the moon but um yeah so i think i like am tangentially aware of stuff but some some people will say things like, oh, yeah, like your Gemini rising does blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, mm-hmm. There she goes again. I believe you. Yeah. I agree with that. I think it's, I mean, it takes years.

Yeah. But I love that. I think that's always, like, a dope recommendation I give for people is, like, the way I learned was very much, like, parts. Like, just focus on the sun for a while yeah i think there's like such a temptation to know everything at once and if that's not useful and not sticking then it's not useful because it's like you can't even remember it yeah how did you study for this or

like how did you go to school for this or what how deep is it there's this one book that's like kind of one of the main playbooks called Ancient Astrology by Demetra George. And it's like a thick book like this. And every single chapter has like homework where you have to. Yeah. So you really move. At least for me, I move at the speed of my comprehension. So it's like if I get stuck, then I find other resources.

There's this guy, Chris Brennan, with the astrology podcast. I just guessed it on his show and he was like such an inspiration for me because he does free really really rigorous like youtubes and i just am so i just love people who provide free resources because i was learning at a time where i went part-time trying to pivot my life career and it's so expensive right now and i'm like what if you don't know if you want to commit to school yet you're just at that like kind of gemini stage of wanting to like just look at a lot of different things and i feel like there's not a lot of resources sometimes at that stage in your life when you're just curious yeah definitely so i just want to shout him out because i feel like i'm just

so grateful that he has so many amazing resources and i started seeing a lot more astrologers of color which is something I never saw. And I, again, was like, this is like a white, weird world. And I don't feel like there's a space for me, if I'm honest. And then I started seeing like younger astrologers. I was also born in 1986. So I'm not young, young. But I didn't see like anyone who looked.

I don't need anyone to look like me, but just like people I know. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. It's like, I don't need anyone to look like me, but just like people I know. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. It's like, I don't need to see me. But like someone other than the standard is lovely. Yeah. Someone you can relate to.

Yeah. Yeah. That's all I'm asking for. Like, I'm not someone who's like, I need an Asian Uruguayan. Like, no, I'm not. It's so specific. Yeah. And I actually feel like that's even like whiter than white.

Because that's like acting like that's all I am anyway. You what i mean i'm like i'm i'm way more than that and actually that's what got me into astrology was like i was never a sci-fi kid i was never a harry potter or um i don't know like for some reason that stuff didn't really work for me or like land for me i was always the person who liked documentaries and like i like real life and then astrology for some reason kind of felt like that because it's the solar system yeah and it's sciencey so I was like oh this shit's cool it's like what I don't know for me it just made sense that there's some mysterious relationship between the planets and us I can't say that it's perfect or that I can speak to it in this exacting way but But to me, it's very intuitive.

Like if my sister lives in Mexico and the farmers still use moon phases to farm. You know, so for me, I'm like, is that why we do the daylight savings? Yeah. For the farmers in Mexico? Yeah. For your farmer right here. We have a farmer. I need it. In fact, I need to save my time. The farmer is just here. yeah i don't know for me it just made sense like animals may there's even this is a weird one but there's like heightened violence around full moons and like really yeah and like police there's more patrol you know i mean that's scary and weird but you know there's like i would love to think that the police department like we're spending so much money because they have an astrologist being like yo when you start researching it it's crazy like from the roman empire they would hire astronomers

and astrologers as like essentially staff to help them kind of predict the destiny or like wield power with the like the heavens and the cosmos and i found like movie like la film like directors or hiring astrologers to figure out when to release like people just don't share it because it's stigmatized um i would say it's the least stigmatized it's ever been like i wish it were more like this is not niche enough for me we gotta start gatekeeping again i know that's like my dark shit i'm like but i think it's interesting i talk a lot i feel like i talk a lot about this but like in schools i feel like it's like oh if you're into the planet it's like here's something planet adjacent like you didn't know the term for stand-up and it's like why yeah why don't we tell kids about creative things that they can

do and why don't we send them to trade schools yeah and then teach them a little bit about business they can have their own business we always need plumbers we do yeah we do need plumbers and we were not we didn't have any of that and i think that's why for me i took a risk so late in life because i'm towards rising i'm very practical so like my sense of security is literal and spiritual. But it's hard for me to take a risk. I'm like, okay, what's the plan? Where's the check coming from?

It's hard for me to just leap into the abyss. Which I think is a dope thing. Because sometimes people do that and then they're fronting. They're like living in this scary place. And then on Instagram, they're like, I'm okay. What was your secure job before this or like what what did you leap from to do this so i was in arts education for a long time at this organization called you speaks and we worked with like middle and high school age young people

across the bay area mostly public school, teaching poetry. And the premise was really like poetry and writing is like a conceit to make young people feel a little more comfortable because high school, middle school is really tough. And especially in schools right now, they're like underfunded. They don't feel like they're learning things that are relevant. We all know, you know, it's the same shit. And so we would provide a space for them to like a lot of schools in California. A lot of the kids are are esl so like we're like right in your language like so it was kind of that it was really like developing voice and developing community and like poetry is kind of the vehicle if that makes sense i love that yeah middle school and high school is hard i couldn't believe when

they took away recess i was like i remember walking into sixth grade and looking at the schedule being like so when do we go outside don Don't you think we need recess? Yeah, absolutely. Yes. Go outside for a minute. Yeah. Some of the best days I ever had was we had a skate gang and I need to I really need to bring it back. But we would just like roller skate around outside. It was the best. It was like fun. And I was like, oh, yeah, I forgot that like adults need to play like playing is fun yeah we do yeah i feel like high school is brutal though because even you have i think we're like older ish where we had to do like the standardized exercise things like the i don't know if you we had like jump rope for heart we had um run a mile like we had all those standardized things that are

not fun it's not about play i had a like i just remembered we were somewhere and i was like oh yeah in high school for pe we like climbed and learned how to like belay and we're doing obstacle courses in the sky and i that's fancy yeah yeah but also terrifying and i'm fat and i had i've been fat my whole life and i was like so this very small white lady's gonna is gonna hold me. What if I fall down and she gets sucked up and there's a slingshot? So I didn't do it. So I just like stood around outside.

I was like, but what about me? Can I do something on the ground? Yeah. Oh, my God. Shout out to, yeah. To Middletown High School South. I wonder if it was like an army pipeline. Like, oh, you like traversing in the air?

We'll send you overseas. You could traverse into our enemy's face. Oh my God, maybe. That's like fully, yeah. But that, so I was in youth education and then I hopped to independent documentary film, which is I'm still like three days on at Bayvac Media in the Bay,

which is like we connect independent filmmakers who don't really have a formal background to like editors and producers and resources. And so it's adjacent. It's like helping people who are like, I'm creative, but I wasn't necessarily encouraged to do anything formal with it. Make the steps, take the steps.

Yeah, definitely. And I still kind of want to do that. I want to do like I don't know how you all but I like I like doing a bunch of stuff oh yeah we both do a ton of stuff um so do you do readings for people how do they get in contact with you for that yeah I have a website at isanaka.com that's my name Isanaka and I am pausing them momentarily because I'm currently doing a podcast called stars and stars with Issa where I read celebrity birth charts. And it's just, yeah, it's, you know, I'm trying to focus on that show.

It's my first season. Yeah. Yeah. If you have any advice, any advice, first season pod. I don't know. I don't know. Have fun. Have fun.

Yeah. I mean, you're really good at interviewing. Yeah. I felt like you were interviewing us too. Yeah. And I oh i wanted to i wanted to wait oh here's a good question that judith wrote which pairings are most likely to be enemies like sun sign or rising sign judith yeah whatever sign you feel like whatever whatever you think is right oh wait also and i have another question after that okay you ever do like the charts of like a murderer and then be like yeah saw it coming yeah i mean unfortunately yeah i mean not that i have the same chart as a lot of

murders but i feel like i've done charts of people i don't like and i'm like why is it so dead on my like me and drake have very similar charts which is a little upsetting yeah at some point i'm like oh no so i've had moments of silence with myself where i look up someone's chart i'm like okay um i think so here's an interesting thing i could say i can't i'm bad at answering like enemy questions but when you have the same when you when you're in the same modality there's an there's like a we're the same we're kind of similar we understand each other non-verbally but there's what's called squares in astrology where there's like like losers square fucking

square oh my god that was funny to me um but there's squares where like you're you're similar but you're different enough and you're taking that for granted because you feel like the same. And I don't know how you feel, but I feel like in relationships and friendships that happens where you're like, I love you so much that when something comes up unexpectedly where you're different on it, it's heartbreaking because you're like, I thought we're. It's almost like when you start getting a new friend or dating and it's like that first disappointment happens and you're like oh you are different oh and it's like this kind of grief but it's also good and for me when i'm doing synastry which is like when you're looking at two charts i don't like when it's too harmonious because it's going to create some boredom ours is not too harmonious it's not it's not but it's it's not too different that's for sure but i But I think, I don't know how you...

Did you ever have a moment where you're like, oh, you're different on this than me? You must have. I mean, I guess. But like, I guess I never thought that we were the same. Like I wasn't like, we've been matching up this whole time. And this one thing, like we're pretty... That was pretty good. That're pretty that was pretty good that's pretty pretty different yeah you're right

i mean we're very similar in a lot of aspects but i guess we're not so similar that i was like what yeah wait we think different on this one thing i think we did think different on a lot of things but do? You're just constantly surprising me. Oh! The cough. I have an example. Like, my current boo. You know what? So, we met online.

And I feel like it's interesting to be 37. Well, we met when we were 36. But you've been on earth so long without this person. Yeah. So, when you're getting to know someone you're dating, it's like how much context building can you reasonably do in like a month? You know, it's going to take some time. And so when you're into someone and you're vibing, you're like, and then we started to realize he's from like a military family. I'm from a really like leftist family. So he would drop things and I'd be like, what?

Yeah. And we'd be like, huh? And instead of it being because I think I'm more mature, instead of it being like, oh, like gasping. I was like, cool. Like, that's interesting. Let me think about how difference is exciting. But I think in the past, I've always dated people with my same political orientation. So it felt new. Yeah. I was like, oh, are we going to have to do the work? Cool. So I know that's an example of like me having a moment of like oh we're very different okay we do have to wrap it up and i'm having trouble because we have

five minutes and i never looked at the clock so i don't know i think we do but how do we do that let me think about it is there a this is why we don't have any advice for you we're literally like i'm so glad i printed papers because i hope everyone can see the way you're all like so what um so when i see this i'm thinking it reminds me of how like no matter what age we are where can people find your podcast and is there anything else you would like to promote? No, I think I'm just trying to work on that one. Yeah.

So, yeah. So you can listen to Stars and Stars with Issa. We have a weekly release, wide release. So anywhere you get your podcast, Apple, Spotify, whatever, blows your boat. And it's every Tuesday. And we have eight episodes out right now. We have Kamau Bell. We have Ajmo Ney.

We have Gia Tolentino. We have some really exciting guests coming up and yeah, it's just fun and we basically use astrology as a prompt. So if you're not

into astrology, definitely listen. Don't worry. We won't bite. And if you're into astrology, obviously it's for you. And then do you have social media that you would

like people to follow you on? Yeah, it's stars and stars with Issa. It's a long one, but you're capable ill-automated i love that you're capable yeah you can do it this um and then mine is isa naka my last name is nakazawa it's very long so i've shortened it to naka how do you pronounce it fully nakazawa i feel like nakazawa is pretty and fun and don't you dare shorten it for people with dumb tongues. No, that sounded low key. Like we're gonna start a spoken word poem.

Don't you shorten it. Don't you dare shorten it for dumb tongues. Well, it's funny because people will try to shorten Sashir's name, but she'll always be like, it's Sashir. Just two syllables. It's Sashir. I didn't say her name for a long time

cause I saved it wrong on my phone. Anyway, we have to end this. Thank you so much for doing this. Thank you so much. Thank you. This was so much information. It was really cool. It was very valuable.

Thank you. I can't wait to learn little by little. Yeah, truly little. Is there a smaller book you can recommend? Yes. Chani Nicholas's book is really amazing. It's small. Like a mid-sized book?

It's a mid-sized book. It's like you can put it in your toe and it's not heavy. It's not hurting your shoulder. We love that. And it's just very helpful. Great. All right. Thank you so much for being here.

Thank you so much. Wow, that was a fun episode. Usually we answer questions, but today we didn't. We said, no, no, no, no, no. Focus on ourselves. We have an email address. It is Nicole and Sashira at gmail.com. And then we have a phone number for calls, texts, concerns.

424-645-7003. We also have merch at podswag.com slash best friends. We also have transcripts for our new episodes. Check them out on our show page at earwolf. Yeah. Yum. Lastly, don't forget to rate review and subscribe.

That is the easiest way to support this show. See you later. May the stars be with you.