How to use Western Astrology to make Today your One Day with Guest Ysanne Lewis

Do you want to unlock the mysteries of the stars? After exploring Chinese Astrology with Denise O'Dwyer in Episode 88, in the interests of balance this Metal Monkey wanted to explore how I align with typical Gemini traits. So I've called in the expert, and am delighted to be joined for this episode by Astrologer and Art of Timing Advisor Ysanne Lewis to talk about How to use Western Astrology to make today your "one day". 

Dubbed "The Modern Navigator" by her clients, Ysanne shares insights and anecdotes from over 40 years speaking the language of the stars and interpreting how they intertwine with the sun, moon and planets to impact and influence our lives. 

And, using my birth chart as an example, Ysanne explains how we can harness astrology to make the most of the opportunities that Midlife brings... and use it to help us bring our goals and dreams to fruition. 

Connect with Ysanne

https://ysanne.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ysannelewis/

https://www.instagram.com/ysannelewis/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Time-Catcher-Actions-Challenges-Oppportunities/dp/0953450716

Transcript

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SPEAKER_02 0:01

Welcome to Midlife Unlimited, the podcast for women who want more. I'm your host, Kate Porter, the Midlife Metamorphosis Coach, and I know what it's like to feel stuck navigating the midlife maze. I've looked in the mirror and thought, who is that woman? So Midlife Unlimited is here to let you know you are not alone. You don't have to put on a brave face and put up with it. You don't have to play it safe. Midlife Unlimited is all about ripping off that mask and telling it like it really is. Nothing is off limits because together there's no limit to what we can achieve. So, welcome to today's episode. Now, those of you who tuned in to Denise Audui and my episode about Feng Shui in Chinese astrology will have witnessed me almost, almost read rendered speechless by her revelations. So, in the interests of balance, this metal monkey is rather excited to explore how I align with typical Gemini traits. And in true midlife unlimited style, I'm calling in the expert. And I'm delighted to be joined by my guest today, Isan Lewis, astrologer and art of timing advisor, to talk about how to use Western astrology to make today your one day. So welcome, Isan. It is fabulous to have you here.

SPEAKER_00 1:37

Oh, thank you so much, Kate. Yeah, good morning to you all. It's a delight. It really is a delight to be talking with you.

SPEAKER_02 1:46

Well, I'm you can tell I'm rather excited about this one because I know bits. I've known, well, I I knew vaguely nothing about Chinese astrology. I just I know more about well, what I referred to initially is zodiac astrology. But what I love before we go any further is that your clients call you the modern navigator. And that really made me realize just how we've always for centuries looked to the stars, haven't we? For navigation purposes. And that's essentially what astrology and what you do is all about, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 2:23

Absolutely. The old, old saying over the doorways, if you like, of the temples in Delphi, way, way back in time, way back, back in the day, as they say, and was as above, so below. And we can also say as within, as without. There's a link. And it's a beautiful way of looking at things. And I don't know how often UK just for no reason at all, apparently, just look up at the sky, the clouds, the stars. I'm amazed how many people don't.

SPEAKER_02 2:51

And it can be so, especially it's such a difference as well. The power of there's one thing lying in a meadow. I'm painting a picture here, lying in a meadow on a summer's day, looking up at clouds and seeing faces, and a completely different feeling to on a on a crisp November night when it's cloudless, looking up, and actually behold the zodiac constellations there. That can be absolutely humbling, really, I think is a word I would use.

SPEAKER_00 3:21

Gosh, I like that word humbling. I was talking about that, about somebody the other day who I feel um Japanese had great inner authority, authenticity, and he talked about being humble, but I said that's not a negative unless we're always apologizing for our existence. No, I think the more we grow, the more we know ourselves, the more we realise how little we know, and that is humbling.

SPEAKER_02 3:43

And the minute we stop wanting to find out more, we might as well just sit on that porch in our rocking chair and say, that's it then. Is it fair to say that kind of astrology found you? I mean, it's something that you're from your childhood, even it was an interest, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_00 3:59

Yes, Kate, it was. I was fortunate. I was born in 1951, so I'm a bit more than midlife, but you know, I'm very, very fit physically. Um absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 4:10

Midlife going forward, it's just Absolutely. Adding life to our years, that's what I'm all about. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:15

That's where I've got the more the body, the mind, whatever of somebody in their forties. But uh, so it's a kind of midlife and turning point. But no, my family um were very interested in these subjects, not so much astrology, they were very open to spiritualism, you know, that communication mediums, the other side. And I think back then um the quality of mediumship was quite high. Uh, now a lot of people call it channeling, they just get a bit of information. I'm not being critical, um really high-quality stuff, and even talked uh the uh spiritual beings came through, talked about through mediums we knew, talked about life on other planets, he talked about just before it was starting, heart transplants and things like this. I mean, the information was really interesting, but that was spiritualism, the communication with the other side, and very open. Not I was not brought up religious. My parents did say try church once and see if you like it. And I have to admit I wouldn't.

SPEAKER_02 5:09

But they encouraged rather than pigeonholing you or you know, trying to do do what we do, it was very much let you explore. And that's obviously something that's become a vital part of your curiosity.

SPEAKER_00 5:20

Well, I really wanted to be a physical explorer. I wanted to go down the Amazon when I was 17. I applied to all sorts of expeditions. I'm sure my mum threw the letters away sometimes. But no, um exploring takes many forms, and yes, I I love nature. This I recognise that solace we get from nature and the adventure. And in that day, back in the 50s, early 60s, I'm not saying it was safer then than now, but I mean the freedom to be out and about. You know, they trusted you to come home at tea time and you were home. But also looking up at the stars, I think that need to be an explorer to have that meaning of why. Maybe I was born with the why in my eye, you know, that question of why. But curiosity always ran me. You're right, curiosity is very important. I also think it keeps us useful more than perhaps anything else. I think what happened was I was wanting to explore, I wanted to help people. I really, really wanted a purpose.

SPEAKER_02 6:14

Because you considered journalism as well, didn't you? Like me.

SPEAKER_00 6:16

Yeah, a little bit, yeah. My last job being self-employed from 18 to 27 was working on a major newspaper in Bath in the West Country, where I lived from the age of nine to 36. And I really found self-employment irksome because of the un you know, fairness runs me, Kate, fair play. I've got, and we'll talk about that later. In fact, you have as well, Aquarius is your rising sign, my rising sign, the sign rising in a two-hour window of the day once a day, and then the other signs follow. But Aquarius is about fair play and curiosity. And I hated the pettiness. I wanted to know whether I was more than just a um a Scorpio sun sign born in November, early November. And I met somebody who was an astrologer, and they said, Well, I said, Well, what's my moon sign? I gathered that's to do with your link with your mother, your matriarchal line, how you like your home, how you respond to things, your rhythms. And they said, Well, the moon changes every two and a half days, and it can change on a particular day at a particular time. But no, love, you're gonna have to do the mathematics. Now, in those days, Kate, 1979, there it wasn't really around any programs for this, and computers were to say it was a a chart, literally, you were plotting and planning, and yeah. Absolutely. So it all had to be done, and anyone who learned astrology had to do the courses, the mathematics. Now, I was a dunce at maths at school, I was uh into English and all that and the arts and drama because I did train to be an actress, and I just where there's a will, there's a way. And I had a friend staying from Chicago, Ruth, and she had learnt astrology, she wasn't doing it for a living, and I remember keeping her up to two in the morning, but she was begging me to let her go to bed to teach me the mathematics, logarithms, that horrible word. So I did, and you know, um, I went to America, my sister worked for an airline, I had free travel. I went to Arizona in February 79, and the feeling of open space, I came back to the small office and I thought, I can't do this. No, I gave my notice in two weeks, Kate, two weeks' notice. Oh wow. And I'd learned, I had learned, I've done all the mathematics, I'd done a course in astrology. I was living in Bath, and I just decided to do it for a year. Give it a go. Give it a go. And so when when you mentioned about did it find me, did it choose me, I think it would be arrogant if I'd said that early on. Now 47 years on.

SPEAKER_02 8:36

I think yes, I think I think you've earned you earned the right to say that though. Don't you think, listeners? Yes.

SPEAKER_00 8:43

Well, I think I know a thing or two. And what I have learned, and I think this applies to anyone who knows their subject well, is to make it relatively simple, even if it's very complex. The use of analogy is important. That shows you know your subject. So I took it up and I was never a one-trick pony, and um, I'd done lots of voluntary work, I'd done karate, I'd done parachuting, I did many things that are true adventurous, but I always had an interest in the mysteries of life, philosophy, and so forth. I did handwritten charts, and then I went on to cassettes, tape, tapes, and then to CDs, and I still do those occasionally, but mainly now, of course, it's like this, and it's um, you know, files and so on. So very quickly, um, I because I also at the same time trained as a colour therapist. Uh yes. Wanted to be a colour therapist. Not what colour suits you, though I think it makes a difference what season we link with spring, summer, autumn, winter. Like I'm a I'm a pure winter. But I somehow, as I say, astrology chose me, and I do integrate the two of how colour, uh, lights, looking at the colour.

SPEAKER_02 9:46

Certain signs. I mean, I obviously I'm a Gemini, and I think in our pre-chat, I think you said oranges and golds were quite powerful for me.

SPEAKER_00 9:54

Yeah, absolutely. Um, we look at the sun sign, which is your core essence, which everything like the planets revolve around, and the sun is your own core. And I always mention to my clients when they feel they've lost a bit of their own sense of self, their identity, to do the breathing, to breathe in from the sun to the center, and then breathe out all the things in their world, and then breathe in again to their core. So there's a total balance, that word balance, between our outside world and our inner world. It's my little pet saying is that people aren't people aren't less important than us, but they're not more. There has to be a balance.

SPEAKER_02 10:30

No, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 10:31

Don't you think? And we can be of service if we're of service to ourselves. So, and people often forget that, you know. But no, definitely Gemini falls under the spectrum of orange going toward gold. It's a beautiful, beautiful colour.

SPEAKER_02 10:43

Going for gold. I like that. I like that. Now, and I don't want to make this all about me. Now, Denise will be laughing. She says, No, fire horse, it is all about you. But no, we're going back the zodiac, the zodiac and Geminis and constellations. Now, you're like me, you love language and you love words. And I was fast. I didn't, I should have realized when I did Latin at school, I didn't do Greek, but astrology, you said literally means the language of the stars. So we are literally learning through astrology a new language, and also interestingly, you said horoscope is that's why it's so important if you can listeners to know the time of it's not just about the date, is it? It's the time of your birth as well. Because Horus from time, I'm not sure if it's clock, but yeah, hour hour. Hour, that's it. I see, I I need you.

SPEAKER_00 11:36

I need yeah, horoscope means few scope of horror hour of birth. And so in time's gone by, you'd be known as your rising sign. What that means is, for example, Kate, your Gemini. If you'd be born at dawn when the sun was rising, whatever exact time that was, the sun would be rising in Gemini. So your rising sign, that to our wind of the day, would be Gemini, also your sun sign. But most of us aren't born at dawn. So what is rising when most of us are born is something different to our sun sign. And whereas a sun sign is your pathway, your core essence, you can really call upon the element it belongs to, fire, earth, air, and water makes a difference. The rising or ascending sign is your mask you wear to the world, how you look, what you look like, how people see you, and so on. And that really sets the stage also for the whole chart, where the planets are positioned. Obviously, I do a lot of work for individuals who don't know the time of birth. There's so much information between the planets on that day. And this is where intuition synthesis comes into play. You can't just follow a book.

SPEAKER_02 12:40

Correct me if I'm wrong. You said the zodiac signs are like the costumes we wear. Oh yes, and the planets are characters.

SPEAKER_00 12:49

I I like I like to compare the birth chart because I used to work with actors as well.

SPEAKER_02 12:54

Yeah, I was born literally, I think it was 10 to midnight. It was it was a long and tortuous labour for my poor mother.

SPEAKER_00 13:00

Because a lot of people they say that, oh yeah, my mum says I was born at a certain time. And I always say to them, in all due respect, before we have our time together, our session, please go and ask again because so often they come back just before the session starts and says, Oh, actually, my mum said that was my sister and I was born whatever. Right.

SPEAKER_02 13:17

Yeah, no, I was I was first born. Why she then went on to have three more as well. Oh goodness, it can't have been that bad. It can't have been that bad, really.

SPEAKER_00 13:26

No, but you know, going back to the idea of the characters, um, I liken the chart, the birth chart, which is based on the full date of birth, including the year, the place of birth, which is longitude, latitude, and the time if one knows it on the clock, and then the and do the calculations. And you know, in one moment in time, there's about 2,000 variables. I mean, it's a huge, it just shows how not just contradictory, but how complex we are inside, because the chart shows your inner landscape as mirrored by the the pageantry, if you like, of the planets, the constellations overhead. I liken the chart to a theatre stage that we've all got our play of life. Hopefully, not a Greek drama, but maybe some people like that.

SPEAKER_02 14:09

Some people make it like that.

SPEAKER_00 14:11

And the planets represent the characters, the costumed roles. The zodiac signs they're placed in, like your sun is in Gemini, and also because you're born on a new moon, which we'll talk about, your moon is also in Gemini, because at the new moon, the sun and moon are in the same sign for about two days of the month. So the signs that planets are in are how they express those characters. The areas of the chart, those 12 sections where they're placed, is the areas of life which are perhaps very important to you as an individual, and others which are more like the walk-on parts, and others which really perhaps one has stage fright with we don't come on stage and we let somebody else play that role. And Kate, do we just allow other people from an early age to play certain parts of us because we've lost confidence, we've been criticized, we've been hurt, or we've overdone something and felt guilty.

SPEAKER_02 15:03

So now really is quite a pivotal time then. I mean, so obviously I've just turned 57. I'm all about midlife shaking things up, trying new things, deciding what we moving forward, what we want to take with us, and what quite frankly, we want to say goodbye to, what we want to quit.

SPEAKER_00 15:19

Right. And you know, trouble is it also that sounds great, except that we're creatures of habit. And sometimes, even if it's painful, we stay with the familiarity. That's why we can heal us, we get healing, we don't get better because we're not actually wanting to let go of our wounds, to let go of the old stories. We don't want to create new ones. But as with a play or drama, actors go on and off stage, right? And some of them have leading roles, and we all know what our leading roles in life are, or people rely on us for. And my part of my job is to say, but are they getting a little bit of burnout? Are they getting a bit of typecasting, resentful even? Do they know when to leave the stage? Yeah. And to get somebody else to have a go at that. So, and we've also got areas I mentioned which have stage fright. And when we don't live out a part of us, maybe it's anger, spontaneity, creativity, the dreamer, even, the teacher. Some people stay as pupils forever. We draw to us, because nature apps a vacuum, we draw to us people from a very early age who amplify those traits, and sometimes in an over-the-top way. And that's when we feel fated, fated, that word fate. And I think when we can release that within us because some of our more wounded areas, they're not weak, are often our biggest talents.

SPEAKER_02 16:30

But we just overlook them all, or we're we're nervous to do I dare, do I dare explore this? But again, now is such a powerful time because you said about obviously leading roles that we take, and now so much as that is shifting. I mean, me particularly, my mother role has been a the shift in that has been a huge thing to get my head around. And joyously, I've got my head around it in an absolutely amazing way, but it wasn't easy, and you know, my my role as a daughter has shifted massively, and and all these it's not just work roles that shift, and but again, you know, I've been through a midlife pivot, and lots of the women I deal with have as well, and you know, reassessing the character, and as you said, the mask, I'm all about ripping it off now.

SPEAKER_00 17:19

This is a real yeah, yeah. I mentioned the mask, the ascendant or rising sign is your persona, which means in Greek it means a mask. So it's basically how people see you. Your sun sign is your core essence, which we do use. The moon sign is how we respond or react. Some of us do we react very fast and in a fiery way, others have tears in their eyes if they've they've had um something put their way they don't like or comment. So, and some people like to go away and think about it before reacting. So the moon sign, um and the moon is fascinating because it has many cycles, it covers all the signs in one month. A mathematical way of moving the chart forward involves the moon moving forward. So, funnily enough, at the age of 27 and then 54, and what's the next one? 81, those are important times of shedding of skins, and that links in also with a very important cycle of the planet Saturn, which is like father time, chronological.

SPEAKER_02 18:13

I also suppose it got it ties in with the idea of the maiden mother crone, no make make crone a bit later.

SPEAKER_00 18:20

We like sage first, and also with the moon cycle. We've just um we just had a new moon on Sunday night, Monday morning, and um that's like the virgin the birth.

SPEAKER_02 18:29

Um my birthday, which is quite is that like new beginnings as well, then because obviously Chinese astrology, I don't I don't want to over Latten too much, but I know I'm entering an another or the the next 10-year cycle for me, which is quite so that cup coupled with the new moon on my birthday. I think I've got some rather exciting times are coming, and I'm bringing you all with me, ladies and gentlemen.

SPEAKER_00 18:54

I think um the three days before a new moon is like the dark moon, and tribal people, people of the countryside understood that to do less, to let a bit of chaos in, to reflect more the dark moon, and when we push things too much, we get extra tired. And we can easily check out when the new moon is. So we just look for the three days before that to actually honour this feminine, what they call the dark, which is a misunderstood word aspect of it.

SPEAKER_02 19:19

Yeah, because you hear dark web and you think bad connotations, don't you?

SPEAKER_00 19:23

Absolutely, and then with the new moon is the time of seeding, not necessarily doing, but seeding the intent. Planning ahead, yeah. Plant it yeah, yeah, have the intent at the time of the new moon or sometime after that, and then about a week later at the half moon, you have the time you can manifest more. Two weeks later at the full moon, that's culmination, and of course, in times past, full moons were used for celebrations, you know, the full moon would shed light in them, but there was no electricity. But what full moons do is to bring things to a head. Births often occur when they've been late coming at a full moon, and hemorrhaging is higher, hemorrhaging is higher, emotions are on high. Hospitals, police stations, people with mental issues, you know, they they feel more amplified at those times. We actually weigh a little bit more at the full moon than water level, because we are mainly water.

SPEAKER_02 20:13

Because I mean, I know now traditionally we think of the moon as a feminine character, but but am I right in thinking that historically that hasn't always been the case? And the male and female sun and moon have done a little dance in terms of having I wouldn't say I almost said sexuality. No, I don't mean that, I don't mean sexuality.

SPEAKER_00 20:33

There's a kind of when they come together, it's a kind of love making, then they separate to the opposite sides when they're having a so we call it a TIFF at the full moon, the sun and moon in opposition. In fact, in full moons you get more more crime, you know, more emotions running high. And but it's a wonderful time also for celebration, and also, of course, in times come by bridge parties and things like that. Full moon parties, don't you? Absolutely. I think the full moon, and then you get the waning moon, which is actually the best time for letting go because as you build up to the full moon, which we've got in two weeks' time, it's a good time for projects, building them up after the full moon. The waning time is like a tidying up of things. Um, it it's easier for the body to reduce symptoms when there's pain. It's better to have an operation perhaps in the waning moon phase after the full moon. Okay, I mean, we've all had operations.

SPEAKER_02 21:21

Does this apply whatever your zodiac sign is there? Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 21:25

Whatever, but it's just a general general because you asked me about how people can. No, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 21:30

No, I'm I'm fast. I'm just trying to get it because obviously the moon that's something that now I would have thought the actual timings or phases of the moon are quite easily. We can Google that, couldn't we? Or yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:42

Then during the year, we also get they run in tandem, we usually get about four eclipses, quite often in the spring and in the late summer autumn period. And the word eclipse means to leave. Our ancestors used to be afraid of them. Interesting when you know, whatever we feel biblically, when Jesus was on the cross, the sky darkened. And he to try to work out a timing of that because it looks like there was a major solar eclipse at that time. So that's interesting. And of course, people didn't understand astronomically what it meant, but it was looked upon as a portent, you know, of endings. And often eclipse times are um more exhausting. There are endings. You often find in politics and in the world the people are toppled from power or death's a curve leader. But no, that's so that's linked with the moon, the lunar eclipse when the earth is between the sun and moon, um, the full moon time, and the solar eclipse, when the sun and moon are together at a new moon. But um the moon, the moon is very strong. Looking at what you don't need in your life at those times, and we had two, I can just tell you the dates now as we're talking about it. Yeah, we had one on the 17th of February this year, uh, the new moon, and a total one um on 3rd of March. So I don't know if any of your listeners yourself can relate with those dates. Partial lunar eclipse coming up, because you're going, they run in tandem, um on the 28th of August.

SPEAKER_02 23:03

Oh, so the day after we come out then, so we can talk more about that as well as it's a good one.

SPEAKER_00 23:06

Also a little bit in the UK. Um, so these are times when it's good to look at what you don't need in your life, what needs clear clearing houses, if you like. And nothing to be worried about, but because it's up the Earth's energy field, we feel our own physical energy a bit exhausted. And it can dredge up, that's a good word, dredge up a lot of stuff from the past. Yeah. And look what's going to happen in the world of politics and the world of those times of leaders and so on. But no, the moon is very important because uh yes, you're right when you mentioned about the moon, hasn't it not so much hasn't always been feminine. Some cultures see the moon as male and some see it as female, being mainly female. Um, and of course, the moon cycles, and we talked about this, Kate, link with the menstrual cycle. Yeah. We talked about how women, when they share a house or whatever, their cycle.

SPEAKER_02 23:57

I I always found that fascinating. Obviously, this is a massive subject, and I I always didn't want to make it a regular thing, but we will be sharing. I will I will be asking you if you could share your tips in a while about how listeners can start, whether they've been using astrology for years, whether they're new to it, or whether they're curious, we like that word, the the kind of ways that they can use it to start to make today your one day. But I am gonna make it a little bit about me, but only only as an idea, as a way of illustrating the kind of um information that obviously I haven't paid you for this. I'm not paying you to come on here. There are lots of other astrologers out there, but while I've got you here, I think it would be rude not to take advantage of your expertise. Now, it's so if someone does con contact, and we'll be giving all your contact details later on, and they're on the show notes for our episode. But what is the first port of call? Is it literally imparting the information that you've alluded to? So your place of birth and the date and time. Is that the the starting blocks for a reading?

SPEAKER_00 25:06

Absolutely, that's what I asked. That's the left brain, you know, the left brain, the logic side. Um, because astrology incorporates left and right hemispheres of the brain. The right is like synthesizing of all the information so it makes sense, it's coherent to the client or listener. The left brain side is the mathematics and working with the astronomical picture of what that, if you like a photograph of the heavens at that moment of your birth. Um, interesting, Carl Jung, you know, the great psychologist. Yeah, he once said that whatever is born at a particular moment in time takes on the qualities of that moment. So there's something about the memory of the moment, um, a starting point. And we all know starting points are important. And when there's a full start to a race or a dive into a pool or a dance, we have to start again, you know? And it's a starting point. And I often think that it's a little bit beyond astrology that the conditions around us when we're born resonate through life with us, like if there's a big storm. Um, like you said, didn't like you said it rather a difficult birth. How do you feel how do you deal with struggles, or do you make things more complicated than they should be, or expect things to be take longer, you know? I know when I was born, my mum, who was a nurse and midwife and should have known better, and I was two weeks late, she actually said apparently, I'm not, she said, these are her words, I'm not ready. And sometimes I feel like that.

SPEAKER_02 26:30

Yeah, very much. Which is so interesting considering you're all about time and how we can use because that is a phrase that I was going to pick up on that, because yeah, timing, and we're using this episode to turn our our advice and insights to turn our one day into today. Because how often do we say, oh, it's the time's not right, the time oh, waiting for perfection that never comes, waiting, as you just said, I'm not ready. We're never going to be ready. Now, anyone listening will know because I say it all the time, I am the queen of taking perfectly imperfect action. Even launching my beloved podcast was a prime example of that. So I'm quite interested to see. I mean, obviously, you hear common traits that go from one zodiac sign to the other. Is there any weight behind that? Can you say, right, Kate, you're a Gemini, which means you are blah, blah, blah. Or is it all about a snapshot of the time I was born, my rising sign? Tell me, what kind of person does the chart say I am? I'm intrigued now. No sugar coating, no sugar coating. It says you're a right cow. No.

SPEAKER_00 27:47

Yeah, my readings last about 90 minutes. I like to allow that. Um, so it's difficult sometimes to just encapsulate. No, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 27:55

I don't I don't mean I don't mean to make light of what you do. I just wonder if there are any standout things that sure.

SPEAKER_00 28:02

Well, absolutely. I mean, I'm just going to show you your listeners can't see it, but that would be your chart, like here, and showing you all the planets are spread out around the circle. Some people have it all in one area, they can be very specialist. Being a Gemini and also your planets are well spread around the chart means you like a finger and many pies. You're not saying you get below boredom threshold, but you like that. I do.

SPEAKER_02 28:23

I have a bit of magpie syndrome. Yes. I have to control my magpie syndrome. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 28:29

What I tend to do with the charts, I look at firstly the sun placement and the moon and the rising sign, the three main players. The sun, your core essence, the moon, how you respond, your background, and the rising sign, how you express yourself on a day-to-day level. And then the planets, Venus and Mars, the social ones, your male and female side, Mars being the um decision-making, initiative, fire, if you like, and Venus, how you relate with people. Do you have a fear of rejection? Do you want approval? Do you actually feel very self-loving? There's many, many ways. And how do I know that? Because I look at their aspects to other planets. Do they block them? Do they amplify them? Mercury, messenger of the gods, is how we think, how we can best be educated when we're children. Are we more analytical, academic? Are we more intuitive? Um, are we more practical? These things are really important when looking at a child's chart. So we're looking at all that, and and then my job is really to synthesize these different parts to see what modifies, what amplifies, and above all, Kay, to fit it into your life because you've got your own soul, I call your soul, your level of awareness, your nature, nurture, your upbringing.

SPEAKER_02 29:42

No, absolutely, because that's one thing. I said I said it to Denise, and I'll I'll say it to you. I I don't believe or I can't hold any weight with the whole idea of it's all pre-planned. I like the idea of free will, and I know you're about that as well. I don't like the I do not like the idea of saying, oh, well, I couldn't help it. It was written in the stars, literally, you know, it's beyond my control. No, that that goes against everything that I've sure believe in, that I've you know, that I stand for. But I think I'm right saying that that Western astrology, it that's not what it's saying anyway. It's more of a guide or a roadmap, shall we? A navigation tool. It's a satellite, it's it's also stellar satlav.

SPEAKER_00 30:30

Yeah, Vedic astrology, Indian can be more fatalistic. I do believe if we stay with our patterns, yeah. It's like Einstein once said, um the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. And some people really are attached to their pain, you know. But also I look at certain signatures, I call it signatures in the chart. And it depends why also the client comes. Is it out of pure curiosity? Has it been given to them as a gift? Um, have they got crossroads going on? Because I do update the chart, I've got yours here to the present time, and we also look at the year you're in now, your birthday year is called the solar return, the sun returns. And it's not your birth chart. A lot of children were born, babies were born on your birthday, it's their chart, but it does show for your year ahead, Kate, the landscape, what the planets would be in different positions, what is ready to come to birth, what is ready to be lived out. And that's a really interesting way of using astrology. Um, but of course, with your chart, because everything's nicely spread out around your chart, your air element is quite strong. Gemini is an air sign. I think your listeners may understand what I mean by that. The air signs, Gemini, Libra, Aquarius, um, it's very much about communication, moving, adaptation, connection. It's interesting in your chart that Aquarius is your rising sign, which is a very futuristic sign.

SPEAKER_02 31:54

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 31:55

And that is an air sign like Gemini. And the two flow very well together. So what people get, how they see you, is very much like who you are inside. There's not too much of a contradiction.

SPEAKER_02 32:06

That is so true. Because again, I that's one thing I pride myself on. I've I've ripped off that mask, I've stopped. I was I never used to try to pretend to be someone in a big up way, but I always used to try and fit in or dilute myself, maybe thinking that I was too much or not enough, even. But now, no, now I absolutely am what you see, what you see. What you get, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:31

What you get, but you know, Aquarius rising. I mean, I've got the same. We're born actually, mine's at the first degree of it, yours is a seventh degree. There's 30 degrees in a sign of the zodiac. It's interesting, also, you've got the Mother Earth. Um, it's actually a dwarf planet, because these planets, Pluto is demoted a few years ago to a dwarf planet. So it's because it wasn't big enough. Oh, I remember that. Yeah, and Pluto's a planet of power, you know, it was discovered when the um rise of psychotherapy, the working with the atom bomb, um the war, many many factors, and it we link with the word plutocratic, plutonium, Pluto. But anyway, um, I think that you've got so basically Pluto is demoted. Ceres was promoted from an asteroid to a dwarf planet. Now, Ceres, C-E-R-E-S, right? We get our word cereal from. And okay, um, and she links with the Demeter, the myth of Greece, you know, where the Persephone, uh not Persephone, Demeter loses her daughter to the underworld. A lot of seasons, yeah. Right, spring and autumn, and also reconciliation compromise because she couldn't hold on to her daughter forever. And anyway, Ceres in our chart is our sense of self-worth and where we feed ourselves and where we feed others. And you've got Ceres and Aquarius rising when you were born, so there's a huge impulse in you, Kate, and when you were born, to be able to feed others, maybe not literally with food, because Aquarius is more the mind, the inventiveness.

SPEAKER_02 33:56

Well, that again that ties in because obviously I was from the very early age, journalism was where I was going. But now that's evolved, although I still have obviously through my podcast and I still write features, etc.

SPEAKER_01 34:08

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 34:08

Um, and that is you know, it'll always be my first love. But then the coaching element of nurturing other people and helping women, women like you know, that have been where I was, feeling like I was, helping them realize this can be the best time ever.

SPEAKER_00 34:23

Oh, you're wonderful.

SPEAKER_02 34:25

That is quite um that's been there for 57 years.

SPEAKER_00 34:30

Wow, and 57 astrologically, I mentioned the pro call the progress moon in 2754, between 54 and 58, a very pivotal time. Um, Saturn, which is father time, chronos, a chronological chronic, um, in the Greek terminology. Saturn is very much about patience, it's about not taking shortcuts, taking off the rose-colored glasses. It can actually, it's all about to do with structure and where we have fear and control. And 29 and 58 are Saturn cycles, and we have those in between, but those are significant ones. So usually people find 27 to 30, 54, 58 very important for shedding, shedding, like nature does, of skins, because our bodies are from nature, and we often forget that. We may have a soul, and I believe we do, but our bodies are from nature, and we have to understand that we are the only species with our brain that actually don't cooperate with our diurnal, our diurnal circ cycles and everything. And we wonder why we get tired and we feel lost. I think in your case, you've got this a new moon birth, Kate, sun and moon are together, new moon birth, which indicates a lifetime, not a not that you're a new soul, but a new because I do actually believe in reincarnation. If there's a soul we've been here before. Not everybody, of course, accepts that, and we can't prove it, but it's a new cycle of lifetimes for you, new beginnings, and it's important for you not to look back. That doesn't mean you shouldn't tie up loose ends or be responsible, but it does mean that it's important for you to love to be at the beginnings of things. And you're one of these people in a group where you'll be the one who thinks outside the box, it brings fresh air into some conversation going on. That's new moon births, and you've also got Mercury, the planet of communication, in its home sign of Gemini. So you've got three of those energies in Gemini, and your rising sign is Aquarius, also air. You like to feed people with ideas to encourage them to grow. You've also got Mars, the male planet. Lantin's primal energy. If you like the wild animal compared to the domesticated one, we've all got that. We learn how to tame it. Mars was directly overhead when you were born. Well, mid-heaven is a chart, it's your your um you're not just your persona on a day-to-day level, it's your public image, it's your career vocation. And Mars there, you see in charts of people who are leaders, and in it's in the sign of Sagittarius. So um, Sagittarius is the messenger, the teacher with a capital T.

SPEAKER_02 37:02

My son Sagittarius as well.

SPEAKER_00 37:04

Ah, you see that's how it links. Because you do see fantastic links between family members. It's wonderful, these signatures they repeat against all the odds, if you want to call it that. And you have the ability to run the show, literally. You see what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 37:22

And um that ties in a bit with the the fire horse idea, being the centre of attention. And I'm I've just realized as well, my dad and my brother are both Aquarius.

SPEAKER_00 37:30

I don't know if that's absolutely the rising sign often links with a parent or a child, and obviously.

SPEAKER_02 37:36

Yeah, my dad's Aquarius.

SPEAKER_00 37:37

Yeah, when they don't know their time of birth. Um, well, what are your children? What are your parents?

SPEAKER_02 37:42

And that can absolutely give us what the rising sign is, which is based on what my dad and my son are there, Sagittarius and and Aquarius.

SPEAKER_00 37:51

There you go. And Gemini should play a part. Um, you've actually got the planet Venus, your feminine side. Um, I'm not doing gender stuff here, I'm just talking about archetype. Yeah, yeah. Um, and Venus is how what you find beautiful, how you love. Do you allow yourself to be loved? Some people don't, you see, and it's about how we earn money, about our about our abundance. And I always compare Venus to um the little weeds coming up in motorways, you know, and then they keep coming up, the flowers.

SPEAKER_02 38:19

And absolutely swamped in life.

SPEAKER_00 38:22

We often feel, oh, I've been let down, I've been hurt, I've been betrayed, and we don't do it again. And that's such a shame. But your Venus, going back to that, is in Taurus, which is an earth sign, Taurus, the middle of spring.

SPEAKER_02 38:33

And my sister, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:35

Okay, so ah, so she's a Taurus? Right. So the sun do you get on well with her?

SPEAKER_02 38:41

Yes, yeah. Yes. There's a big age gap between us, but we get on very well.

SPEAKER_00 38:46

Yeah, when you see sun and Venus come together, um, you find there's a mutual admiration society, there's a sense of um bonding. The same with the moon when it's well placed. Um, because the moon is very much about how you nurture yourself, not just others, your own mothering side towards self and others. So it all this tells us a great deal about the makeup of an individual. And you might say, well, are you stuck with it? No, you're not.

SPEAKER_02 39:08

Once you know it more, you actually can start to hear as you say, playing to your strengths and then the lesser parts that we're not necessarily not pushing, but nurturing now. But it's uh so in in terms of then going back to the overarching theme of our chat, the how to turn our one day into today. So obviously, decision making and procrastination, the the two ends of that stick, shall we say? Are there any advice or top tips that you could share, not just with me, but with our listeners that the their chart, even if they're just new to it, are there any common threads to look out for that you know that can help us think right? Yes. Timing, finding or realizing that A, the perfect time will never come, but to give us that impetus, to give us that push.

SPEAKER_00 40:09

Yeah, we are all about timing. Time is something which is there to stop everything from happening all at once, but time is very subjective as well. We all know what as you said earlier, we wake up and we think, oh, this may not be a good day, or it might be. Do we resonate with that all through the day? Uh or do we say no, I can shift that? Now there are going to be signatures, I call them signatures astrologically, where the the dynamic ones going on up there, you know, and because all the planets are really doing is mirroring events on Earth and what's going on within our own bodies. And if we know today may be an extra tired sort of day, now we may have a busy schedule ahead, but to be kinder on ourselves, to actually be gentler. And you know what, Kate, we do know our own timings, we do know our own cycles. Our bodies would always tell us, and again, it's a well-known quote, forget who does it now or said it, that if we don't find time for recreation, recreation or rest, sooner or later, we'll be obliged to find time for illness. And we've all known that to some extent. And we've only got ourselves to blame if we keep saying, Oh, well, the world won't do without me, and so and so needs me.

SPEAKER_02 41:16

Well, it's really no one's yeah, indisposable or whatever the word is, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:21

Yeah, so we do actually approach each day in that way. And if we sense our body for no reason at all, we went to bed feeling fine, woke up extra tired. Maybe if we don't even know what the astrology is for the day, we sense that it's telling us our body to maybe take some time, to take some time out. If there are dynamic energies going on, which can bring up irritation and anger, to say, okay, I'm feeling that I'd be extra careful about accident proneness, dropping things, how I react with people. Because in a way, you are living your own chart. My job is just bringing it alive. You actually know these energies within you, you can feel them, but the left brain again, the analysis interferes so, so, so much and says, Well, maybe not, and so forth. There's times when I mentioned the full moon where we feel perhaps amplified in our feelings. Um, we have a again, a lot of your listeners, and maybe yourself will have heard about this the phenomenon of Mercury retrograde.

SPEAKER_02 42:18

I've heard of it, but I don't know what it is.

SPEAKER_00 42:20

I'll explain. Well, what if retrograde? Retrograde means like appearing to move backwards. Now, planets don't move backwards, but what happens is with Mercury, which is a major one, Mercury's how we think. Three times a year, Mercury slows down in its orbit in relation to the Earth. And therefore, it appears if one looks at a book called an ephemeris, where the planetary degrees are, instead of moving forward in degrees, they're moving backward. And that goes on for about three weeks, about three times a year. It's a time when the prefix re really applies. And you might think, ugh. But on the other hand, we're the only species, if you like, who don't pause in our thinking. Dance has a pause, music, nature, but our brains don't. So this is an opportunity time to actually step sideways, to step back a little and to reassess, re-edit, rethink, revisit ideas. Often you go back to if you go to a place when Mercury's retrograde, you often do go back to it in the future.

SPEAKER_02 43:19

How many times a year? Because obviously we're coming out end of August. Is it something that Mercury retrograde? Will that be later in the year? Or yeah, it will.

SPEAKER_00 43:30

It will. The next one is going to be 24th of October to November 13.

SPEAKER_02 43:36

Oh. So that's something to look out for.

SPEAKER_00 43:38

So, Re, I think I quite like it because it's very easy to make mistakes, to overlook the small print, emails go missing, miscommunication. So if you know it, it's an opportunity to double check MOT things. It's a time also for using the right hemisphere brain, your intuition. And often often opportunities come back, which you've given up on, you know, if they're meant to be, if you want to. call it that, they will come back in. So and where it's placed in your chart, for example, it's going to be in um Leo. It's very much about in your chart, it would be very much to do with um how you relate with people, one-on-one situations, when if there's any contracts to be signed to be extra careful. Yes, you can do anything when Mercury's retrograde, but just to be extra discerning.

SPEAKER_02 44:22

Does Mars, I'm sure I heard you mention about Mars being linked to decision making.

SPEAKER_00 44:27

So I think Mars has um about a 200 day cycle and that also can go retrograde at times, not happening now. But Mars, when you get when Mars returns once every roughly two years to um when you're born, the sign it was in when you were born, you get a burst of energy. You get a feeling of timing is good, so on. And when it's in the opposite sign, it's often when your energy is lower now again this can be useful to know. I was gonna say this is really good for one day then. It is but I think on just literally on the day-to-day basis, knowing where the moon is, there are times when, and this is something one can Google um the moon is what we call void of course big words. But it's when the moon is at a late degree of a sign, which it will be every two days, once every two days and no planets are at later degrees so it's hanging empty until it moves into the next sign. It's a time of knowing there's an empty energy when not a lot happens that phone call doesn't happen or it's a good time for doing routine stuff. It's a good time for meditation and what's happening things aren't happening. They should be it's a quieter energy. We don't have to be astrologers we all are at heart. We've got inner calendars nothing to do with the outer ones. And if we take a moment just to feel regardless of how busy or not our dear head is if we can just feel what the energy is and to work with it and to recognize when it changes this is one of the best bits of you call it advice I I could give you know it's so true though. It's so true because it takes honesty it takes courage to do that. And often if we keep pushing against the tide we get really tired. We would do if we were swimming against the tide and the same thing with our rhythms. There are times um regardless of whether we know our moon sign or not and when when we know the element the moon is in that's something people can Google or they may have a calendar they can buy a calendar with this all on as well. When you know that it's like it's a water one to take it more easy to go with the flow to be more homey. You may even find business meets are a little bit more talking about family or home or our past. If it's when it's in a fire sign like Leo then maybe there's more feeling of I want to be around people maybe I want to go and see a show I mean maybe um I want to have a little bit more attention giving to me myself it's more colourful. When the moon is in an earth sign Virgo Capricorn Taurus it's a time perhaps doing the detail doing the um you know the day-to-day things rooting things when it's in an air sign you were born with a moon and an air sign it's like that inner that inner um curiosity wanting to explore things learn things and it really regardless of your own moon sign it's just important what you find yourself drawn to doing things of that nature without even realizing it which is lovely. So those are the things people can do and also if you're whatever sun sign you are like you're Gemini often the opposite time of year to when you're born which would be your case Sagittarius the opposite sign can be when your energy is a little bit lower not to push the tides too much.

SPEAKER_02 47:28

There's some great ideas there for I say for planning for not procrastinating for taking action as you say things to look out for things to work with and things that are going to help us turn our one day into today I am going to be asking you the same three questions that I ask each of my fabulous guests.

SPEAKER_00 47:50

So if you are ready I want to find out firstly what is your midlife anthem oh I had a hard one with that because I'm all about music had I did train classically and I also done jazz singing I adore music because it has to be on Anthem Kate um so my father always said that I did it my way which is a Sinatra song right I did do it my way because I just didn't want to be fitting in the box. I wasn't a rebel but I I don't know um just wanted to do it differently in life to help people to explore to really to really do as much as I can um but then another song that came up for me was from one republic called I Lived oh I don't think I know that one no nor did I and it's very much about um all the things I've done the events the places I lived even with broken bones not that I've had any I lived you know it's like I've lived so I want so it's one republic I lived yeah I would say I didn't sing it to me right no that is a new one to add I do like adding new ones to the list I really do. Right well I lived does that link in to your midlife mantra that was another tricky one uh there could be many mantras uh I think um I've been quite protected in life by life I've found my way I've followed the omens the auspices I've um allowed things to come to me which are right and if they don't feel right not to do them but the mantra I've chosen is always take the scenic route.

SPEAKER_02 49:30

Yes I like that I like that because that reflects everything I say I'm all about the journey because the destination can change always take the scenic route have experiences along the way don't rush the journey love that so last question before we share all your contact details what is the title of your autobiography?

SPEAKER_00 49:52

I've often said when I've given a talk or people have asked about me I'm an ordinary person. I was brought up everything I'm okay so my my my autobiography would be ordinary person extraordinary life like that I can see I can see the front cover now yeah can I just can I just add to that point talking about the extraordinary life because like I said I've got a bit of low boredom threshold I wanted to make my profession interesting for myself if I was going to stay with it. And as well as taking it into the theatre world I love working with children's charts for the parents the grandparents again definitely not fortune telling but again like education the right kind as I mentioned earlier.

SPEAKER_02 50:30

And some of them come back 20 odd years later to have their children's charts done but also um the best timing the best timing for events putting on webinar what is the landscape like is it an earthy one is it um a fiery one would have thought things like big social events like weddings and that kind of thing or do those in fact can I just give one one quick example on that well I say we're going into your contact details now so talk through yeah give examples share your website all your details are on the show notes on the website but over to you how can how can listeners get in touch with you what can we do my well my website isan my name y-s a double n e isan.com um my emails on there info at izanne.com I love hearing hearing from people by phone I love that um I'm on LinkedIn um Instagram don't do too much on sadly Facebook that's a way of getting in touch I live in Guildford in England and I was just saying with the wedding situation that somebody asked me to time it was it was a biggie it was a biggie in Whitehall and um I don't miss the family's charts I think but it was a big one and they wanted to set time normally people pick time on the hour don't they?

SPEAKER_00 51:40

And I looked at that it was the empty energy the moon was about to change sign it was hanging empty because it wasn't forming angles strong ones to other planets in that process it moved on to be stronger and about 20 minutes later I said would you mind just moving that wedding time for half say half an hour later well they did but wait for this that half hour if they had gone ahead it was a big room whitehall right big big room um it's Horse Guards Hotel and um the sound system failed oh my goodness yeah it did and they managed to correct it so I couldn't have known that I didn't know what it was but I knew the energy was off kilter that's it off kilter which is a very things are off kilter you feel it it's like starting again like in a race or a dive or a dance you start you start again.

SPEAKER_02 52:25

So yeah events are very very it's a major part of my work I also do something big word astrocotography which is a way of putting your own birth chart on the world map each country has its own chart you can see what you relate with best and you can see what your planet whether it's your work your home life relationships that quite a bit well I promised you a good one and I think we've delivered I think we've delivered I'd love your feedback listeners on today's episode so it'd be fabulous if you could leave a review like subscribe you know you know the routine um you could also email or text me via the link in the show notes and uh come and join the Midlife Unlimited podcast Facebook group even I'm so excited my brain's gone uh link in the show notes too where you'll find details of how you can work with me one-to-one um or come and join more M-O-R-E exclamation mark my award winning all-in-one coaching program that is all about adding life to your years it's a bit of a quitter's revolution really so thank you for joining me it's been absolutely brilliant I've learned so much I could talk to you all day I know we're gonna get you back on we're gonna talk some more obviously our video podcast will be coming out as well but it's been a joy thank you for listening I look forward to tuning in next week because don't forget Midlife Unlimited is a new episode every Thursday available wherever you get your podcast so here's to be fabulous and flourishing together and living midlife unlimited thanks ever so much take care bye thank you bye