In episode 443 historian of ancient astrology and magic Kristin Mathis and astrologer Drew Levanti join me to talk about an ancient Greek mystical tradition known as Orphism, and how it influenced ancient astrology. Orphism is an ancient Greek mystery cult founded by a legendary figure named Orpheus, who is said to have been a poet, musician, and mystical figure. It is a mystery religion because members of the Orphic cult had to be initiated, and were sworn to secrecy with oaths. The...

In episode 442 astrologers Chris Brennan and Sam Ogden discuss the rulers of the houses in astrology, and what it means for the ruler of one house to be in another house in a birth chart. The rulers of the houses is an ancient and important element of birth chart delineation, but it is often overlooked in modern times. It is more of an intermediate level technique, because it involves combining different basic concepts surrounding the fourfold system of planets, signs, aspects, and...

Astrologers Chris Brennan and Diana Rose Harper look ahead at the astrology forecast for April, and discuss the major astrological alignments that will occur in one of the most important months of 2024. News in the first hour, then forecast begins at 00:57:50. The astrology of April features a solar eclipse in Aries that will cross the United States, a tense Mars-Saturn conjunction in Pisces, a positive Jupiter-Uranus conjunction in Taurus, a chaotic Mercury retrograde in Aries, and...

In episode 440 astrologers Chris Brennan and Sam Ogden discuss the Antikythera Mechanism, which is a complex mechanical device that was recovered from an ancient shipwreck, and how it may have been used for astrology. The Antikythera Mechanism was discovered in the year 1901 by a group of sponge divers who found an ancient shipwreck near a Greek island named Antikythera. They had found a Greek merchant ship that sank around the year 60 BCE, and divers were able to recover a number of...

In episode 439 astrologer Britten LaRue joins the podcast to discuss unshaming the signs of the zodiac, which involves re-conceptualizing qualities that are viewed as negative, and radically accepting what we invalidate in each sign. We open the episode by discussing the topic of shame in astrology, and some of the problems involved with treating certain qualities in the signs as problematic, and the effect that can have on people. Then we proceed to go through each of the 12 signs of the...

In episode 438 astrologers Kirah Tabourn and Jo O’Neill join the podcast to do a retrospective on people who had their Saturn return in Aquarius over the past few years. The Saturn return occurs when the planet Saturn returns back to the natal sign of the zodiac it was in when you were born, and for people who were born with Saturn in Aquarius it returned to that sign between March 2020 through March 2023. In the first part of the episode we review some basic concepts about how to interpret...

Episode 437 features an overview of the astrology forecast for March 2024, with astrologers Chris Brennan and Austin Coppock. The astrology of March features a lunar eclipse in the sign of Libra, which connects back to events that occurred during the last eclipse in October, and Mercury also slows down and prepares to station retrograde in Aries. We spend the first hour or so talking about the astrology of news and events that have occurred since our last forecast, and then we jump into the...

In episode 436 astrologer Demetra George joins me to discuss the origins of the myths associated with the planets in astrology, and how the Greek gods were assigned to the planets by the philosopher Plato and his students in the 4th century BCE. Early in the Greek tradition the planets either didn’t have names or were given descriptive names that matched their appearance, and it wasn’t until later that they were given the names of gods. It wasn’t until the time of the philosopher Plato and...

In episode 435 Dr. José Manuel Redondo joins the show to discuss the life and work of the 5th century philosopher Proclus, and how he integrated astrology and theurgy with Platonism. José is an astrologer from Mexico City who wrote a PhD dissertation on Proclus in 2015. We met at an astrology conference in 2010, and have been talking about doing an episode on Proclus for years now. After last month’s episode on the Lots where I touched on Plato, the Myth of Er, and the concept of the...

Episode 434 features an overview of the month ahead astrology forecast for February 2024, with astrologers Chris Brennan and Austin Coppock. We spend the first 55 minutes talking about the astrology of recent events in the news, and then in the second hour we get into the forecast for February. The main planetary alignment this month is that Mercury, Venus, and Mars all conjoin Pluto in Aquarius for the first time, giving us a preview of what those conjunctions will be like over the next 20...

In episode 433 astrologers Chris Brennan and Kira Ryberg give an introduction to the the mathematical points in astrology known as lots or Arabic parts, focusing on the two most important lots called the Lot of Fortune and the Lot of Spirit. During the course of the episode we explore the history, philosophy, and calculations behind lots, and also analyze some example charts to help bring the concept to life. Here are some key points we discuss in the episode: * Introduction to...

In episode 432 astrologers Chris Brennan and Nick Dagan Best explore past periods when Pluto was in Aquarius in history to find out what will happen in the future now that Pluto is returning to that zodiac sign for the next 20 years. During the course of the episode we talk through twelve different historical eras when Pluto was in Aquarius, and explore how this astrological transit has correlated with major developments and shifts throughout history, particularly in the realms of...

In episode 431 astrologer Chris Brennan presents a set of year ahead horoscopes and astrology forecasts for all twelve signs of the zodiac for the entire year of 2024. Timestamps for each sign are available on the podcast website. This is meant to take some of the general transits that we will talk about in our big year ahead forecast and personalize them, by discussing them within the context of each sign. I would recommend listening to the zodiac sign that matches your rising sign,...

In episode 430 astrologers Chris Brennan and Austin Coppock discuss the year ahead astrology forecast for 2024! Some of the highlights of this year include Pluto moving into Aquarius for the next 20 years, the Saturn-Neptune conjunction in Pisces coming within 10 degrees, and Jupiter conjoining Uranus in Taurus. Jupiter will also move into Gemini where it will trine Pluto in Aquarius, there will be eclipses in Aries, Libra, and Pisces, Uranus will form a close trine with Pluto, two comets...

In episode 429 astrologers Camille Michelle Gray and Lindsey Turner join me to discuss how different eras in music can be seen through the zodiac sign Saturn is transiting, and how those eras can be studied by looking at the Saturn returns of musicians. Saturn spends about three years in each sign of the zodiac, and during the course of the episode we go through all twelve signs of the zodiac and discuss how the sign Saturn was in often characterized the music of that era. Lindsey has made...

In episode 428 we give an overview of the monthly astrology forecast for December 2023, with astrologers Chris Brennan and Austin Coppock. We spend the first 45 minutes talking about the astrology of news and recent events since our last forecast, and then at 00:48:08 we get into the forecast for December. The main planetary alignment this month is Mercury stationing retrograde in Capricorn while in close configuration with the benefics, and then retrograding back into Sagittarius where it...

Episode 427 features a conversation between astrologers Madeline DeCotes and Chris Brennan about astrology and death, where we discuss the relevance of astrology in understanding and dealing with issues surrounding mortality, as well as related topics such as how astrologers cope with grief and loss. We open by addressing the question of whether astrology can speak to the topic of death, and talk about some of the different ways that it can, both by looking at a person’s birth chart and the...

In episode 426 astrologer Madeline DeCotes joins Chris in the studio for a wide-ranging discussion about astrology that covers eclipses, fate vs. free will, and the future of astrological research. We open the episode by discussing the intense past month of astrology with eclipses and world events, the significance of eclipses in ancient times, and the origins of astrology. We also explore the broader topic of negative transits, and how tragic events can sometimes lead to positive outcomes...

In episode 425 astrologers Chris Brennan and Nick Dagan Best do a followup episode on the astrology of eclipses that coincided with major events in history, where we share more examples from around the world. We open the episode by reviewing the main discovery that we made in the last episode, which is that 1) important events in history tend to take place around the time of eclipses, and 2) people born near an eclipse tend to have some of the most important events in their lives coincide...

In episode 424 we give an overview of the monthly astrology forecast for November 2023, with astrologers Chris Brennan and Austin Coppock. At the beginning of the month we are coming off of an intense eclipse season, where a solar eclipse in Libra square Pluto occurred in mid-October, and a lunar eclipse opposite Mercury and Mars is about to happen on October 28. November continues some of the tense themes, with Saturn stationing direct in Pisces at the beginning of the month, then Mars...

In episode 423, astrologers Nick Dagan Best and Chris Brennan discuss some of the most stunning examples where a solar or lunar eclipse coincided with a pivotal or momentous event in world history, leading us to unravel the profound implications of eclipses in astrology. The purpose of the episode was to compile a list of the top 20 or so examples of when a major event in history happened to take place within days of a solar or lunar eclipse. By studying what eclipses have coincided with in...

In episode 422 astrologer Helena Woods joins the podcast to talk about astrocartography, which is the astrology of travel and relocation, and can be used to find the best places to live. Astrocartography was developed in the 1970s by the astrologer Jim Lewis, and since that time it has become a popular application of the astrology that is used to study how your location in different parts of the world can emphasize different parts of your birth chart. Astrocartography is an extension of...

Episode 421 is a documentary about the 1986 United Astrology Conference, which was the first time that UAC was hosted by AFAN, ISAR, and the NCGR. This was the very first time that three of the main astrological organizations in the United States pooled their resources to host one big mega conference, and the documentary features many prominent astrologers from the 1980s. Some of the astrologers featured in the documentary include Rob Hand, Joan McEvers, Marion March, Jim Lewis, Michel...

In episode 420 we give an overview of the monthly astrology forecast for October 2023, which features eclipses and lots of Pluto aspects, with astrologers Chris Brennan, Austin Coppock, and Nicholas Polimenakos. At the beginning of the month we see the end of the Venus and Mercury retrograde periods, with Venus finally departing from Leo and moving into Virgo, and Mercury departing from Virgo and moving into Libra. In October we move into eclipse season, with the first in a new series of...

In episode 419 astrologer Kenneth Johnson joins the show to talk about the Mayan calendar and Mesoamerican astrology, which is the indigenous astrology of ancient Mexico and Central America. During the course of the episode we talk about what is known about the development of astronomy and astrology in Mayan and other Mesoamerican cultures prior to the arrival of Europeans in the 16th century, when many written documents were destroyed during the Spanish conquest. Kenneth explains how...