Skies and Currents

Happy Holiday weekend!

I don’t have much time to write today, but I wanted to get the new episode out to you all.

Tomorrow is the new moon in Virgo, and next week heralds a transition to markedly new skies. Theresa and I talk in detail about what to expect as we head into the Mars retrograde cycle. I hope it’s helpful!

Theresa and I will hold a live session for the Sun | Saturn opposition on Friday at 3:30 PM PST. All are welcome to join via Zoom.

More soon!

With Love,

Christina & Theresa

Skies of Grace Astrology

Inner Currents

The Jupiter-Saturn square is nearly upon us, and of all the noise happening in the skies right now, it’s the conversation between these two planets that’s setting the stage for what’s next.

In this episode, we talk a bit about why this moment feels so heavy, the nature of Jupiter-Saturn squares, and what Mercury might have to say about navigating the week ahead.

Today is the Mercury cazimi; this one feels a bit like entering into the eye of the storm. Wishing you all a brief window of quiet and clarity as Mercury passes into the heart of the Sun, preparing us for the negotiation to come.

With love,

Christina & Theresa

Skies of Grace Astrology

Inner Currents

Drinking from the Depth of Self

Dear Ones,

We have arrived. August is arguably the most critical month of 2024, so strap in and prepare for the storm of activity ahead! Wishing everyone here big wins and clarity through the hurricane-force cosmic winds.

I hope the episode provides a clear and helpful outline of the weeks ahead. We talk a great deal about the activation of the Jupiter-Saturn cycle. It’s not the sexiest astrology, but the cycle between these two heavyweights is profoundly consequential for the state of the world and for defining our personal orientations towards and participation in the communities and cultures to which we belong.

A reminder that Theresa’s course, “Drinking from the Depths of Self,” begins in September. You can find detailed information here if you are interested in signing up or learning more.

With Love,

Christina & Theresa

Work with Christina: Skies of Grace Astrology

Work with Theresa: Inner Currents

Dear Ones,

Today is an important day in the ongoing story of 2024. As Mars transits into Gemini, he activates his square with Saturn, as well as one of the most important configurations of this year: the Jupiter-Saturn square. Theresa and I spend most of this episode discussing what this means for the next six weeks. As Mars forces the conversation between these two heavyweights to the forefront, we can expect to encounter a surge of activity and circumstances weighted with importance and urgency, activating a deeper story about who we are in the world and our core values.

Tomorrow is my birthday, and Theresa and I are visiting a few close friends in Northern California. We won’t be recording a podcast next week, but we are offering two public meditations tomorrow that anyone is welcome to join via Zoom. Sign-up information below!

Meditations:

Sunday, July 21—

Tibetan Healing Chö with Paige Hetherington: Chö is a traditional Tibetan healing ceremony utilized for transformation of obstacles and cleansing spiritual consciousness. It combines sacred song, ritual instruments, and chanting to purify the five elements which compose the body and mind. It is renowned for its remarkable ability to access our deepest blockages and to harmonize patterns and imprints that are resistant to other therapies. Participants are invited to set intentions to direct its impact and simply relax while the ceremony takes place.

Chö is offered in the spirit of something referred to as Bodhicitta (enlightened mind). It means that the practice is expressed with the intention of benefiting the welfare of all sentient beings. Every time you participate you are making an offering to the collective, beyond individual interests. During times of increasing tension and upheaval, it is a wonderful way to not only care for ourselves but meet the persistant instability of the outer world. (1 PM PST)

SIGN UP HERE

Longing for God: A monthly transmission/meditation to strengthen our connection to the Divine. (5 PM PST)

SIGN UP HERE

PAID SUBSCRIBER OFFERING:

A five to ten-minute recorded message describing a few blessings, challenges, and themes that may arise for you under this configuration.

If you would like to participate, send me a DM on Substack or an email ([email protected]) with your birth information.

With Love,

Christina & Theresa

Work with Christina: Skies of Grace Astrology

Working with Theresa: Inner Currents

Dear ones,

Welcome back to another episode! We hope everyone enjoyed the new moon in Cancer last weekend and had a great start to the summer. We are in a bit of an ominous astrological window. Below are some brief words to frame my thinking about the next couple of weeks + DEATH MEDITATION & T i b e t a n  C h ö SIGN UP INFORMATION!

In the ongoing story of 2024, July represents a critical juncture.

On July 20th, Mars enters Gemini, kicking off a busy six-week period that activates one of the most significant transits of the year: the Saturn/Jupiter square. As Mars forces the conversation between these two heavyweights to the forefront, we can expect to encounter a surge of activity and circumstances weighted with importance and urgency, activating a deeper story about who we are in the world and our core values.

In preparation for this significant period, the heavens have mounted a gauntlet of underworld challengers. Mercury, Venus, and the Sun all pass through the orb of Pluto as they move through the final degrees of Cancer into Leo. On July 15, Mars conjoins Uranus on the fixed star Algol, or as she is known in many Western traditions, the blinking eye of the slain Medusa. For most of us, it may be easy enough to numb out during this intense window and avoid the unease and pain of the underworld. It is a relatively quick, rapid-fire series of transits. But the discomfort is full of rich, fertile soil for growing new efforts. This combination of transits cracks open portals to the dark crevices of our lives and imaginations. What tools do we need to recover from the basement of our unconscious? What crucial parts of ourselves must we resuscitate and bring into consciousness to meet with agency this critical time ahead? Pluto is the Lord of the Underworld, and he always reminds us that death is never as far away as we’d like to believe. Resisting the inevitability of death increases our pain, but surrender brings clarity and the vitality of presence.

For many eons, human beings have looked upon the blinking light of Algol with dread and unease. As Mars and Uranus touch that ominous light early next week, they will unleash the volatile rage of the Gorgon, the unbounded pain and profound anger of those unjustly cut off from their power too soon.

This moment asks: What will you do with your power while you have it? How will you thread it through your numbered days? Meditating on these questions can gift the clarity and conviction needed for the pivotal weeks ahead.

If you want to dive deeper into these themes and questions, our dear friend Paige Hetherington will hold a guided death meditation on Sunday. Anyone is welcome to join on Zoom. You can REGISTER HERE.

We also discuss Paige’s ceremonial C h ö offerings at length in this episode. If anyone would like more information or to join the upcoming ceremony on July 21 during the second new moon in Capricorn, that registration form can be found HERE.

with love,

Christina & Theresa

Skies of Grace Astrology

Inner Currents

Dear Ones,

We’re back. Tess and I are here to tackle the astrology of July. It’s a doozy of a month—a mix of supportive and catastrophic astrology that will land differently for everyone. Wishing everyone here a hefty dose of the positive and tons of capacity to move through challenges with grace.

We will be holding a group session for the Cancer new moon on July 6th at 10 am on Zoom. All are welcome! Together, we will look at our relationship with the moon as our celestial mother figure, as well as our relationship with Gaia as our terrestrial mother figure. We will be joined by our dear friend Monique Matty, who has cultivated a profound devotional relationship with Gaia and has offered to guide us in a group meditation to explore our inherent connection with the earth.

Message me on Substack or email me at [email protected] for the Zoom link, if you would like to join.

With love,

Christina & Theresa

www.skiesofgrace.com

www.innercurrents.com

Dear Ones,

How are the skies treating you? Theresa and I have a new episode for your beloved ears. Enjoy the week ahead and I hope everyone has a fun and insightful Mercury cazimi on Friday!

ICYMI, I am offering a new donation-based “pay what you can” reading to the Substack community. We chat about it in the new episode, and I am including the description + details about how to sign up below.

PAY-WHAT-YOU-CAN: 12th House Readings

For the past three months, I have been testing and developing a technique based on the ancient concept of derivative houses. This technique is designed to provide insight into the nature of the unconscious (or less conscious) obstacles blocking the healthiest expression of any aspect of our lives. The method rests on the investigation of the 12th house, a place in our chart that the ancients referred to as “The House of Self-Undoing.” In its most challenging expression, the 12th house represents the beliefs, behaviors, and obstacles we unconsciously develop over a lifetime and frequently marshal to sabotage our own efforts. But, refracted through another perspective, this same house can represent paths of liberation—mechanisms for “undoing” layers of the ego that trap us in harmful modes of expression. My fixation on the 12th house originated from a desire to explore its relationship to spiritual practice. But somewhere along the path, I had the idea that perhaps we could look at the “derived” 12th house from any other house (or planet) in the chart to illuminate the unconscious obstacles to specific areas of life.

In application, I’ve found it to be a powerful tool. I have tested the concept in depth with a select group of friends and clients and have also found it enriching as an additional tool for birth chart analysis. I would love to explore it further with a larger pool of people. In the spirit of exploration, I am opening it up to all my Substack subscribers as a pay-what-you-can, donation-based reading. Here’s how it works: if you find yourself routinely troubled or stuck in any area of life and want to explore it further, send me a message through Substack describing the issue. I will send you a link to a calendar so we can set up a time to discuss it together through the lens of this technique. These readings take about 30 minutes. You can donate through Venmo or PayPal; the suggested donation amount is between 30 and 75 dollars, depending on your means. If you can’t afford to pay at all, that’s fine too. I hope this can be a helpful resource to anyone who feels called to participate. Please know that these readings demand some courage and willingness to engage in a process that might feel uncomfortably self-confronting. So take care to assess whether or not you feel emotionally resourced and up for the conversation. I can offer a deep well of grace and compassion, but I am not a mental health professional, so use discretion and take care of yourself first. Depending on how many people want to participate, I may spread the readings out over the next month or throughout the summer.

Oh and I am also offering 20% off all my readings for June (a Jupiter in Gemini special…) USE CODE: SKIES20 B o o k H e r e

With Love,

Christina & Theresa

www.skiesofgrace.com

www.innercurrents.com

Friends,

How is everyone feeling? We’ve reached a major chapter break in the year, and I hope the predominant feeling is one of exhilaration as Jupiter opens up new pathways for communication and connection during his long-heralded ingress into Mercury’s excitable air domain.

In this episode, we talk at length about the square between Jupiter and Saturn in the context of the much larger cycle at play, which began in December of 2020. I am currently working on the June update, which I will send out in a separate email. I’ve been working on a new reading/offering that involves diving deep into a single area of life and bringing up everything the chart has to say about the unconscious obstacles that prevent us from accessing peace, ease, and satisfying progress in that area. It’s an offering I would like to extend to my subscribers first. I am in the midst of working out the format, but look out for more information in the aforementioned update.

Swani and I will hold a live session on Thursday, June 6th at 5 pm for the new moon in Gemini. So mark your calendars if you would like to attend, and look out for the Zoom link in the June updates.

Theresa is offering a new intensive, which we discuss at the end of this episode. You can find all the information here: Drinking from the Depths of the Self. This is a six-month-long, intensive deep dive into our personal stories, both wondrous and obstructive, to reclaim, discover, and nurture fuller evolutions of our authentic expression.

For more information about Inner Currents, as well as a calendar of all their public meditations and offerings, check out their website: www.innercurrents.com.

For more information about me and my practice or to book a reading, check out my website at www.skiesorgrace.com.

With love,

Christina & Theresa

Dear Ones,

I hope this final week of Jupiter and Venus in Taurus brings each of you many sweet gifts and deep, embodied pleasure. This Thursday is the Venus and Jupiter conjunction, and I hope these two planets highlight a profound and fulfilling end to Jupiter’s long transit through Taurus.

In this episode, Tess and I look ahead to Jupiter’s year-long transit through Gemini, which begins on Saturday. We will certainly be discussing it in greater depth as the weeks progress and I am offering a special reading on the subject for anyone interested in a more personal look: Special Reading, Jupiter in Gemini.

As always, thanks to each of you for your support.

Christina & Theresa

Work with Christina

Work with Theresa

Paid Substack members access your discount codes here!

Dear ones,

We are back after a short break. I hope you all are faring well. In this episode, we chat about the ongoing vibes of Taurus season, the relationship between Venus and pleasure, avoiding determinism in astrology, and fighting for the life you want. We also discuss the Venus workshop we are holding next weekend.

Below, find a description of the workshop and a link to sign up if you’d like to attend!

With love,

Christina & Theresa

Venus Workshop: On Pleasure

Goddess of Love & Beauty. Queen of Heaven. Patron of the arts and ruler of all things sensual and pleasurable. Venus is known by many names: Isis, Ishtar, Innana, Aphrodite, Astarte, Shukra, the list goes on and on. Of all the planets in the sky, it is Venus—perhaps—we humans mythologize most fervently. We know her as both The Evening and The Morning Star. So brightly does she shine, she’s earned the honorific title of Light-Bringer. So profoundly does her absence move the human psyche, that distinct cultures across history have devised secretive cults and profound rituals to plumb the mysteries of her retrograde. And yet, in this age of widespread loneliness, numbingly cheap pleasures, and highly addictive, dopamine-hacking technologies, I sometimes wonder: Where is Venus in all of this?

If there were a conceptual canopy under which all matters of Venus might fall, I believe it would be “Pleasure.” To know and to seek pleasure is the path of Venus. For this, she is highly prized and revered amid the planetary pantheon. And yet, so frequently we find ourselves estranged from the Venusian realm and from the deep, innate engagement with pleasure that should be a straight shot within us. We find ourselves asking, at shockingly late stages of life, what do I really like? What brings me delight? We realize we’ve defaulted to ideas and definitions of pleasure wholly defined by people and by social structures entirely outside of ourselves.

When will I have what I want?

When people come to astrology, frequently it’s to pose a version of this question. But the more essential question—the one we often forget to ask– is much deeper:

Will we enjoy what we want?

Our culture will eagerly teach us what to desire. Sometimes it's our parents who fill in the blank at an early age. Sometimes it's our community. Occasionally it's media. Many faith traditions exist almost wholly to fill this yearning inside us. But what instruction, if any, do we receive on pleasure? And in the absence of that instruction, we are left with the assumption that our desire alone can guide us; that the feeling, the urge, the passion will cut a blazing path to the deep pleasure and fulfillment we seek. But the path between desire and pleasure is not as clear or direct as we are led to believe, and pleasure itself is not bound to any object or goal or process of striving. Pleasure is a force unto herself, and Venus is the celestial custodian of her secrets.

This is the first time Theresa and I will be offering this workshop, and it was born of an intention to make space for the sacred and essential processes of pleasure. Together we’ll look at the nature and quality of Venus as a planetary devi from many angles and traditions. We will plumb the depths of information the birth chart can offer about our relationship to Venus and we will use a variety of traditional and intuitive techniques to identify concrete and unconscious obstacles that block our fullest expression and experience of pleasure. The session will open with a guided meditation and space is limited to ensure that the work can be tailored to the group and there is ample space to share, learn, and grow in the safe container of our Venusian deep dive. 

The workshop will be held live on Zoom on Saturday, May 18th at 10 AM PST. Attendees can register through the signup sheet provided and must provide their birth information in advance. There is a suggested donation of $20 to $30. 

Zoom link will be provided upon registration!

Register for the workshop here: Link

Additional Links:

www.skiesofgrace.com

www.innercurrents.com