energy somewhere in our chart, so even if it’s not your Sun/Moon/Rising, it will still hold relevance for you. As with most things in life, balance is key. Balanced Virgo energy: Nurturing yourself first, so that you can be of service to others Compassionate, with good boundaries Organizing your time in a way that honors your priorities Conscious connection to your body’s rhythms and needs Creating structure and restriction for yourself, to support your goals (e.g. getting enough sleep every night) Too much Virgo energy feels like: Bossing people around Perfectionism turned up to 100 Judgment of self and others Very rigid behavior, being uncompromising Really mad about being wrong Not making changes, because you can’t control or predict the outcome One of the things I do in my work as an astrology coach is to help clients bring their Virgo energy into balance. I’m going to give you two exercises to do this today. How to find Virgo in your chart: Go to your astro.com chart. (Get yours here) Click near the top on “PDF” Check your personal planets. Are any of them in Virgo? In the chart on the right, find the Virgo symbol and the House # it’s in. This tells you where Virgo influences you most, in your life. If you do not see Virgo anywhere, this means it is an intercepted Sign for you. For you, Virgo energy isn’t contained to one area of your life. This means you probably experience it more sporadically. Send me an email and we can talk more about what that means. Now, let’s talk about judgment. If you are judging someone else, it is probably because they are doing something that you feel YOU are not “allowed” to do. This unspoken agreement may have come from your upbringing -- a parent telling you to always be polite, or, generally, from your past life experiences. In fact, if you are someone who self-identifies as judgmental, you probably have a LOT of rules for yourself. The first step here is to notice when you’re judging someone (I like to do this a lot in traffic when I’m judging someone for not using their turn signal), and then to get curious about what unspoken rule for yourself this is bringing up. Now, let’s talk about control. Today I have a challenging exercise for you that I love giving to my Virgo clients, especially (but it will help everyone who feels like their overly-controlling self is out of whack). This is one of my very favorite exercises because it is so simple and effective. I have only ever had to do this exercise once, because its positive effects have stuck with me for years after. I want to acknowledge that often being “controlling” can be a result of trauma. If you are someone who feels the need to control things because your childhood was chaotic and offered you little control, the exercise I’m going to give you next will be the most effective if you are ALSO working with professional mental health specialists. Exercise: Do not give your opinion or try to control the situation for 24 hours. Rules: You can tell other people that you’re doing this exercise. Can be especially helpful with partners who might be confused by your change in demeanor (lol but seriously). This is not an absolute exercise. If you need to give your opinion, say, because your boss at work asks your opinion, or an emergency occurs and you need to take quick, decisive action. Use your best judgment. If you do take on this challenge, email or tag me in a post so I can cheer you on! This Week’s Book Recommendation: Warrior Goddess Training by HeatherAsh Amara

Scorpio Season Overview: Scorpio Energy Ruling Planets - Mars & Pluto Element - Water Intense, passionate, bold unconcealed truths, unconventional ways of looking at things, burning down anything that isn’t quite working.  10|23 - Sun Enters Scorpio 10|30 Mars enters Scorpio 11|5 - Mercury enters Scorpio 11|5 - Venus enters Capricorn 11|4 - New Moon in Scorpio 11|19 - Full Moon & Partial Lunar Eclipse in Taurus Aries Rising - Deep transformation and growth. Learning how to open your heart and trust others more. Releasing deep-seated resentments and past hurts. Taurus Rising - An emphasis on commitment -- both for yourself and others. Clarifying your priorities. Taking an honest assessment of how you have been contributing to your close relationships. Gemini Rising - Prioritizing your own well-being. Learning how to balance work and play. Tuning in to your body and honoring its needs. Cancer Rising - Adding something meaningful to the world through your own creative self-expression. Learning how to have fun and enjoy your life NOW. Leo Rising - Finding inner and outer forms of security and “home.” Creating a sense of stability and comfort for yourself, not based on others. Maybe even a breaking away from past or traditional forms of security you’ve had. Virgo Rising - Learning how to communicate boldly, unapologetically and straight from your heart. Having the courage to say no and set boundaries around your time. Libra Rising - Lessons around fully supporting yourself (financially, physically, emotionally). Maybe taking big leaps that feel like freefalls. Scorpio Rising - A rearrangement of self. Taking an honest look at yourself -- your strengths as well as toxic traits. Getting to choose again. Sagittarius Rising -  A time of increased connection to your own spirituality and subconscious. Releasing that which needs to go -- old clothes, furniture, but also situations and people. Capricorn Rising - Deepening your connections to groups and communities you are a part of. Some may not be serving you and you may discover new ones to take their place. Branch into unexplored territories. Aquarius Rising - Big shifts and re-structuring of your “purpose” or perhaps your career. A choice between staying where you are (safe) or jumping into a new adventure (growth). Pisces Rising - Bridging the gap between where you have been, and where you’re headed. New perspectives and ideas that shift your philosophy of life. Opportunities for expansion, learning and growth. Shadow Work Exercise: ”Fear & Flip” You will need: A journal or 2 pieces of paper, something to write with, a timer (you can use your phone), a willingness to feel your feelings. Step 1: Settle in and take a few centering breaths. Tune into your body and pick one sensation or emotion. Begin writing about what you notice. Step 2: Underneath what you’ve written, identify what fears are at the core of this emotion. Try to identify at least 3 fears. Step 3: Flip the fears! What is the opposite of each of the fears you wrote down? Write those down. Step 4: Set a timer for 1 minute per fear (i.e. if you have 5 fears, it’ll be a 5 minute timer) and breathe deeply, as you read over your Flipped Fears from step 3. Allow any sensations or emotions to arise. If you can, expand those feelings by energetically leaning into them. Book Mentioned: “Existential Kink” by Carolyn Elliot.

Today, I want to talk to you about self-esteem or self-worth. Before I begin, just a warning that I will be sharing my own self-esteem journey which has themes around bullying and unworthiness. If these are particularly troubling themes for you, this may be a bit of an intense episode. Okay, let’s get started. I want to begin by sharing a little bit about my own experience with self-worth: Grew up with undiagnosed autism and ADHD. Making friends was hard because I didn’t understand social cues. Felt like everyone else was playing a game I didn’t know the rules to, and would be punished if I did it wrong. Also moved every year, which prevented me from making solid, deep-seated friendships. In elementary school, middle school and the beginning of high school I was bullied a lot. As a result, as an adult I had very poor self-esteem and self-worth. This led to choosing really damaging, unhealthy romantic relationships that reinforced these beliefs I had about myself. Really affected my mental health. I felt broken and unloveable. Then, something snapped inside of me and I burned all of my bridges and started a new life. Began to get to know myself: Discovered personal development, growth mindset (another topic for another time, but basically that I wasn’t stuck and could do anything I wanted), spirituality. All of which made me want to HEAL. I devoured all of the information I came across and began to put it into practice. What I want to share with you today are 3 ways to improve self-esteem/self-worth that I have personally had life-changing results with. This isn’t to say that my self-esteem is perfect now. I have days where I doubt every decision I’ve ever made and resign to the fact that “maybe all of those bullies were right about me.” BUT those days used to be every day, now they happen maybe a few times a month. I encourage you to play around with these tips. Experiment. Combine them. Make them your own. Toss out any of them that DON’T resonate with you. You can pick one to start, or try all 3. Okay, so here are my top 3 tips for improving your self-esteem: Improve self esteem by: Boosting self trust Treating yourself gently Consciously acknowledging/noticing the things you are doing RIGHT Quickly bringing it back to astrology: In the birth chart, we could see this in a few places: Pluto or Chiron in the 1st House - core wound around the concept of self Uranus in the 4th House - unstable family life or upbringing Moon in the 8th House - constant focus on improvement Book mentioned: The Upward Spiral by Dr. Alex Korb Thank you for listening! If you liked this, I release new episodes weekly, so make sure you are subscribed to the show so you don’t miss an episode. For more of my tips and tricks follow me on Instagram at www.instagram.com/astrologywithursula and if you’re interested in working with me 1:1, you can book a call on my website at www.astrologywithursula.com

Todays topic is slowing down: Why we resist it & what we can do about it Why we resist: Feel guilty when we relax Our worthiness = based on productivity AND we believe that working more = more success, more money In your birth chart, this is particularly important for: Virgo placements, Chiron in Taurus, Pluto or Saturn in the 5th House but its not true! Why is it not true: This belief is a relatively modern invention and comes straight out of capitalism post-industrial revolution Think of the people you love -- do you love them because of what they do? Or who they are? Consistent, small actions are WAY more powerful than burning yourself out What we can do about it: STOP being “on” all of the time! Break your big goals down into small, daily action steps Once those are done DO ANYTHING ELSE Sit with the feelings as they come up DO NOT TRY TO SIMPLY push them away Replace actions taken from guilt with nurturing practices: taking 3 deep breaths, making yourself a cup of tea, taking a stretch break, going on a short walk if it’s available to you, meditate for 2 minutes Thank you for listening to this episode of Luminous Living! If you enjoyed the show, I release new episodes every Friday so be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss a thing. For more tips on how to LEAP after your big goals to live a luminous life, follow me on Instagram @astrologywithursula or check out my website at https://www.astrologywithursula.com Books mentioned: Do Nothing: How To Break Away From Overworking, Overdoing, And Underliving by Celeste Headlee.