Transcribed using AI, please forgive mistakes.

Veronica Perretti [00:00:00]:
Hello and welcome back to the Essential Astrocast. I am your host Veronica Peretti, and this is the podcast that you come to to find out what's going on in the heavens so that you can dictate your fate down here on Earth. Happy New Year. I am so happy to be back here on the mic. The last couple of weeks were kind of crazy. The week of Christmas, the week of New Year is just not knowing what day it is and having to cook and wrap presents and do all the things. So I'm actually really happy to get back to a routine and kind of get back into the flow of things. I have a moon in Virgo, so I love a ritual, I love a routine.

Veronica Perretti [00:00:48]:
I'm happy to have structure. So I'm pleased to be back with you and my intention for 2025 is to be here every week talking to you and also sprinkling some bonus episodes throughout here and there when we have particular topics that we want to dive into. I am also hosting my next cosmic conversation on January 20th at 5pm Eastern Time. So you can go to my website veronicaparetti.com events and sign it is free. I host those on Zoom. It's basically just a gathering to talk about the astrology of the moment. We can look at some charts and then we always end with a very short grounding meditation and a little bit of writing, a journal prompt just so that we ground our energy before we go into the week because it's usually on Monday. So Cosmic conversation.

Veronica Perretti [00:01:54]:
Go to veronicapretti.com events and go sign up for it. It is again, completely complimentary. I just want it to be a place for our community to come together and talk about astrology, yoga, spiritual studies, anything else that comes up. But mostly we talk about astrology. So we've got a lot coming up this year. It's going to be a wild year and that is the reason that I want to make sure that we have a place to come together and talk about it. I am going to be hosting Cosmic Conversation twice a month going forward, so stay tuned for the additional dates. That's my intention.

Veronica Perretti [00:02:38]:
And I will also be opening up my books again for readings, but that will only be for people on my email list. So I'll be opening it up and just sending very limited number of openings to to the people on my email list when I open the calendar and I'll be opening it up for Q1 soon and then you'll be able to book for this quarter. So that's January, February, March, it'll just Go out to people that are on my email list, which if you're not there, you can go to veronicaparetti.com right on the homepage and sign up for the email list. You'll always be in the know with what's happening. Okay, that was a lot of housekeeping at the top, but it's the new year, so I wanted to just let you know what's going on. We are in Capricorn season, so that's why things are so structured today. I'm hitting it with the announcements. It's Capricorn season.

Veronica Perretti [00:03:39]:
We are in a time of being clear, of being determined, of being diligent, of being deliberate. These are all things that Capricorn likes. Capricorn is an entrepreneurial sign. I think of Capricorn as the sort of like the CEO of the zodiac. You know, it is the cardinal Earth sign. So it is the Earth sign that casts the vision. So it's very appropriate that we start the year in the midst of Capricorn season. So, of course, the Gregorian calendar, that is the calendar that we use, is not associated with astrology in any way.

Veronica Perretti [00:04:21]:
But I still think that these moments where we are all collectively moving through a particular moment, that feels like a threshold. It still carries weight and importance. So even though January 1 means nothing from an astrological perspective, it still means something because we. It means something to us. It has meaning in our culture, and it feels a certain way for us. With that said, this is a year that you really want to start slow. You don't want to rush, because Mars is retrograde. So while it is Capricorn season and Capricorn loves a to do list, Capricorn loves a business plan.

Veronica Perretti [00:05:07]:
Capricorn loves to use, you know, create the new school routine and get the color coded binders and all of that. Just like Taurus and Virgo, all the Earth signs enjoy structure and organization. It is a time that we are really being asked to slow down and reflect. So resist the urge to be in that New Year new you mode. Anyone that is pushing that, tell them to take a seat. Because it is not the year for New Year new you. It is the year for New Year reflecting on same old me. Because retrogrades are an invitation to rest and reflect and revise and repair.

Veronica Perretti [00:05:57]:
This is a time for healing and repair. So Mars is retrograde. You probably remember me talking about that, because Mars spends two months retrograde. So we have Mars already retrograde as this year begins. And we'll be working with Mars retrograde for quite a while. What's interesting is that we've been living with this Mars retrograde opposite Pluto, which is intense and it's passionate, but it also leads to bouts of violence and anger and frustration. And so we've seen occurrences of violence in the news going on in the world. We've had Mars retrograde, he stationed to retrograde in Leo.

Veronica Perretti [00:06:44]:
So we've had him in Leo where he's pretty confident, you know, he is in a fellow fire sign. So Mars rules Aries. He's also the ruler of Scorpio. But Mars really likes to be in fire signs. It's where he feels like he can express his directness without feeling hemmed in in any way. So what is happening is that he's stationed to retrograde in Leo where he is happy and confident and able to express himself, but he is retrograding back into cancer. So majority of his retrograde will be in cancer on January 6th. When I am recording this on Monday, January 6th, Mars has retrograded back into cancer.

Veronica Perretti [00:07:41]:
So we will be with Mars in cancer for quite some time thanks to this retrograde. So quick recap on Mars retrograde. Mars retrogrades least frequently. It retrogrades every two years. Majority of this retrograde is in cancer. Which means that because he's slowing down and reviewing those degrees of early Leo and late cancer, he's going to make it all the way back to 17 degrees cancer. Then he is going to station to go direct on the 24th of February. And it's going to take time for him to pick up the pace and review all of those degrees of cancer.

Veronica Perretti [00:08:22]:
He's not going to make it back to Leo again until the 19th of April. So we're really working with Mars retrograde and then the post retrograde shadow through April into May. So it's not going to be until the end of April that Mars opposes Pluto once again. So because of the retrograde pattern, Mars has opposed Pluto twice already. And it will happen again April 26th. But the second opposition was just last week on the third. So we are in this place where we've been feeling the energy of Mars opposite Pluto for weeks already. And we're gonna be feeling it for a little bit while longer, then it's gonna ease up as Mars makes his way deeper back into cancer.

Veronica Perretti [00:09:16]:
So it's a long time to have this very wide swath of time from October to the end of April that we back and forth have this Mars opposite Pluto energy. And so if you feel like there is this underlying tension, frustration or anger, that's Just in the ethers, then you're right, because we're feeling that energy of Mars opposite Pluto. The good news is that you can use that energy to do some work, to do some healing. What's really below the anger or frustration? What's really below the drive to succeed? What's really the ambition? What's driving it? And is it something that you want to be your driving force? Because that's what Mars retrograde is about. It's about reviewing not only what drives us, what motivates us, but how we go after those things. Because Venus teaches us about how to receive what we desire, But Mars teaches us about how to go out and get what we desire. So. So what is driving us? What is that desire? What's beneath it, and how are we going about it? And so we're reviewing that as Mars retrogrades, But we're also feeling restless because Mars isn't able to communicate and express himself in the way that he likes to when he's in cancer.

Veronica Perretti [00:10:42]:
Mars in cancer is really passive aggressive. He's a little bit avoidant. He gets angry, but then stuffs it down. And then he pouts and stomps around the house and waits for someone to go, what's wrong with you? And then blows up, you know, so that is like kind of the energy of Mars and cancer. It's a little bit like a petulant child in some ways. But if you know that and you lean into it and you let Pluto help you dig into what's underneath, Because Pluto, while we demonize him a lot because he is the God of destruction, he gets us to what's going on underneath. You know, Pluto also rules the resources that are in the Earth, the gems, the diamonds. So we want to dig up what's going on underneath the surface.

Veronica Perretti [00:11:40]:
What is that anger really about? What is that need and that drive to succeed really about? What is that frustration really about? What are these arguments we keep having really about? We have an opportunity to really work with that and maybe quit some of those behaviors that have been toxic by working with this energy of Mars opposite Pluto, as well as the Mars retrograde as a whole. With that said, it's a slow start to the year because Mars rules our muscles. Mars rules our motivation. It's our drive. So I would bet that the gyms are not quite as busy as they normally are after the new year. I don't know that to be a fact, but just based on Mars being retrograde, I'm guessing that people are not as inspired to do the Usual. Let me get back to the gym. I would bet that people are probably not as motivated to get back into the flow of business meetings, etc.

Veronica Perretti [00:12:47]:
Again, I could be wrong. I'm not in that world. But even if you're not paying attention to the astrology, you're feeling the energy of the astrology. And there's a general slowness of getting back into things this year, particularly because Mars is not only retrograde, but is now back in cancer. And that's going to feel even slower in some ways because at least Mars and Leo had that fire and now Mars in cancer feels more. It's a little bit of a depressed Mars, not able to really find that oomph. Okay, but here's the good news. This week and this span of time is an incredibly opportune time for healing.

Veronica Perretti [00:13:39]:
This week in particular. On Wednesday, we will have the sun again in Capricorn, squaring Chiron. Now, Chiron is an Aries. Chiron has been in Aries for quite some time. Chiron moves very slow. Chiron points to our core wound. So, so with Chiron and Aries, we've all been working with allowing ourselves to be enough just as we are, you know, not because of the skills we have or the possessions we have or the family that we come from, but just as who we are as an individual. And so we've been working with that energy.

Veronica Perretti [00:14:23]:
And the sun squaring Chiron on Wednesday is going to bring light to some of the shadows, to some of the dark corners of your psyche, some of the places where you might feel hurt or wounded. We also start this week on Monday, not only with Mars entering Cancer, but Mercury squaring Neptune, Mercury squaring Neptune. It makes it hard to focus, but it makes it incredibly easy to tap into our intuition, to tap into the subconscious, to make space for meditation and dreaming. So with that Mercury square, Neptune on Monday, along with Mars moving in to Cancer, that water sign that is much more concerned with the emotional body than going to the gym and working it out in the physical body. It's an opportunity for healing and digging into the process of moving the emotional energy, whatever that means for you. So just to give you an idea, today we also had the first quarter moon in Aries. So I'm recording this again on Monday, January 6th. So I hadn't done my New Year's intention setting ritual that I do every year.

Veronica Perretti [00:15:46]:
I hadn't done it yet. I went through my calendar, I went through all my photos, I wrote down all of the peak moments, all of the Pit moments I went through and logged the things that I was proud of, the places where I showed up as my best self. So doing that annual review, doing my intention setting, I have kind of several rituals along with some vision boarding, which I do online. I use Canva to create a vision board. If you're interested in that. Totally recommend it. It's really helpful to do a little vision boarding just to, you know, focus your, your energy and your mind. And it helps if you're a visual person to have some, some images that just conjure up how you want to feel for the year.

Veronica Perretti [00:16:39]:
So I have several, maybe too many rituals that I use at the beginning of the new year to move into the year. And as I said, even though this is astrologically not an important time, it feels important to me because I am part of this culture. So to me there's something fresh and new about it and I want to engage in that energy. So I do several rituals and I hadn't finished these, but today I just felt that energy with the first quarter moon in Aries, which is a great time to set your intention for the new moon if you hadn't done it already. It's always optimal to do your new moon intention setting within 24 to 48 hours after the new moon. But of course, if you wait, you can always do it within that whole first week, even up to the first quarter moon. And frankly, my rule is if you feel inclined and in alignment with your inner knowing, your intuition and whatever you want to draw in, it is the right time for you. So remember, you dictate your feet.

Veronica Perretti [00:17:46]:
It's regardless of what's going on astrologically, I can always tell you the optimal times, but it's really about what feels in alignment for you. So today with that Mercury square Neptune that peaked this morning at or perfected at 8:56am I was feeling so desiring some quiet time being with my journal, meditating. And I did all that stuff. I did the intention setting and I pulled my card cards and I did my ritual and it felt so good. So trust how you're feeling and sometimes how you're feeling, you'll then go look back at the astrology and say, oh, hey, that was Mercury Square Neptune. I was deeply in tune with my subconscious and my intuition at that moment. So that's what happened for me this week. If you have not yet done your ritual for the new year, it is a really nice week to do it.

Veronica Perretti [00:18:41]:
And if you already did it, great, reconnect with it, charge it. Furthermore, if you've got some stuff to go through, if you need to sit down with your journal, if you need to pull some cards, if you need to go for a walk and just listen to the birds chirping, please do it. Because this is a week that is asking for your presence. This is a week that is asking for you to do the work of listening to the whispers of your soul and really giving yourself the time to rest and repair. Okay, so Mercury will also be squaring the nodes this week. So that's going to be happening on Wednesday as well. So Wednesday the 8th is kind of a big day. We got Mercury moving into Camp Capricorn on Wednesday the 8th.

Veronica Perretti [00:19:36]:
So Mercury will be coming out of Sagittarius finally, after he had his retrograde a while ago, and now he'll be moving into Capricorn. So our minds will be more interested in those spreadsheets come Wednesday in the next few weeks. But Mercury squaring the nodes, it gives us an opportunity to make some choices. And knowing that you know that, okay, the choices that I make today with Mercury squaring the nodes, they're going to be important. And it's not just on the 8th. You might be feeling it on the 6th or 7th or the 9th or 10th as well. So really, the whole week, you might be feeling that energy of like, okay, I'm making some pretty important choices. What's interesting about Mercury squaring the nodes on Wednesday is that the nodes are at 0 degrees.

Veronica Perretti [00:20:25]:
So the nodes move backwards, the planets move through the chart. They go from aries to Taurus, etc. The nodes move backwards, they go from Aries back to Pisces. We have had the north node in Aries and the south node in Libra. And we've done a lot of work the past year and a half with the eclipses that have occurred. Because an eclipse occurs when a new moon or a full moon occurs near the nodes of 8. With the eclipses that have occurred, we have been working with this axis of our charts. So wherever you have Libra, wherever you have Aries, we find the south node in Libra releasing perhaps some partnerships or relationships that were no longer serving us, perhaps releasing some people, pleasing, perhaps releasing, putting other people's needs and desires over our own and moving toward the Aries part of the chart, asking us to stand on our own two feet, honor our.

Veronica Perretti [00:21:39]:
Our autonomy and our independence, and making sure that our individuality is not lost in the partnership. So we've been balancing me versus we. How can I honor my Partner. And so this has been something, this theme has been going on in some part of your life, depending on where it's landing in your chart and what planets it's been talking to. But those eclipses have had that general vibe to them. And so you may just think back like the past year and a half, what's been going on and have any of those themes been coming up? Maybe in your work life, maybe in your personal life, maybe in your family life, etc. Okay, so now this week, Mercury enters Capricorn at 0 degrees cap and it's squaring the nodes because the nodes were at 0 degrees Aries and Libra preparing to go to 29 degrees Pisces because remember, the nodes go backwards. So this means that we are having an opportunity because Mercury is how we think about things.

Veronica Perretti [00:22:46]:
Mercury is how we understand things. Mercury is how we learn things. Mercury is giving us an opportunity to process verbally with our words, writing, talking to a friend, going to therapy, whatever it is, communicate and express what has come up for us over the past year and a half with these nodes in these signs. And so you have an opportunity to do some really great healing work here. So I encourage you to think back not only on 2024, or you could just do 2024, but maybe even all the way back a year and a half ago when the nodes moved into Aries and Libra and see all the ways or review all the ways that those themes may have come up for you over the past year and a half. So it's a nice little send off for these nodes being in these signs because we won't have the north node in aries for another 19 years. We will have the south node in Aries in just over nine years, but it's a different energy. So for now, we're saying goodbye to having eclipses in that part of our chart.

Veronica Perretti [00:24:11]:
We had that beautiful total solar eclipse across a lot of America on April 8th of 2024. That was the solar eclipse in Aries. So, you know, we had a lot of interesting moments with this eclipse cycle and now we get to move on to the next one. And the north node being in Pisces will. The nodes will move into Pisces and virgo on Saturday, January 11th. So really this whole week, again, it's such an opportunity for healing and reviewing where you've been not only for the past year, but year and a half. And this whole start of the year just has so much ripe energy for reflection. So I hope you lean into it and you Use it.

Veronica Perretti [00:25:03]:
On Saturday, January 11, we have the nodes moving into Pisces and Virgo, which is going to be an invitation to release perfection, release control and embrace the unknown, embrace what is intangible. It's going to be an opportunity to let go of the nitpicking, let go of the criticism and embrace compassion, embrace empathy. It is my favorite axis of the zodiac, I might say this Virgo Pisces axis, not only because my moon is in Virgo, but I just love the balance of these two opposite signs because they both are desiring devotion. You know, Pisces is devotion to the spirit, devotion to the great mystery. And Virgo is devotion to the details, devotion to the practice, showing up for the ritual, the routine. So you might consider, as we move deeper into January, into the year, and then eventually get to the eclipses, you might consider the rituals and the routines that help you access a feeling of being connected to spirit. And that might be part of the story for this next year and a half for you. Or it could be letting go of the criticism and embracing the compassion because that is something that we're all going to be working with over the next year and a half.

Veronica Perretti [00:26:47]:
Okay, so on Sunday, January 12, Mars is going to trine Neptune. And yet again we have a beautiful opportunity for rest, for repair, for reflection. Mars again is retrograde now in Cancer, trining Neptune in Pisces. So Neptune and Pisces. Neptune is co ruler of Pisces, the modern ruler of Pisces. Pisces is the sign associated with sleep. Mars is retrograde in cancer. This is a great day to take a nap, meditate, do some restorative yoga, maybe watch a delightful movie that helps you feel like you're escaping in some way.

Veronica Perretti [00:27:39]:
You're going to want to escape with Mars, trine Neptune, but you want to escape in the ways that are healthy and helpful and are restful and repairing for your nervous system, for your physical body, for your energetic body, for your mind. So really lean into that idea of resting and repairing on Sunday the 12th. And I will be teaching my Full Moon restorative ritual on the 12th. And that is for members of Cosmic Yoga Club. So if you are looking at ways that you can support yourself and support your healing and rest and repair and take care of yourself and take care of your nervous system. This year I really recommend that you join us in Cosmic Yoga Club. You can join us by going to cosmic yoga club.com and signing up. If you're not sure if it's right for you, just shoot me.

Veronica Perretti [00:28:36]:
A message. You can go to Veronica or email me veronicaronica peretti.com and let me know your concerns. We practice yoga three days a week, Monday, Wednesday, Friday. It is in all levels, all bodies included. It's very inclusive environment and community. We practice Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and then two Sundays a month. On the Sundays nearest the new moon and the full moon, I offer a new moon restorative ritual and a full moon restorative ritual. So in those I talk a lot about the new moon and the full moon.

Veronica Perretti [00:29:11]:
Of course I talk about the astrology and we do a lot of restorative yoga poses and then we come together and do meditation and some journaling to help us set our intentions and work through our blocks. And it's really a lovely, lovely ritual and a really wonderful way to support yourself on all the levels you know, not just physically, but also mentally and energetically and spiritually, etc. So I hope you can join us for that and it'd be so wonderful to have you this year in Cosmic Yoga Club. On Monday is the full moon. So The Monday the 13th is going to be the full moon in cancer at 24 degrees. And that full moon is going to kick off a week that's going to feel very different than this week. So if this week feels really sleepy and slow, next week, you know, Mars will still be retrograde, but we're going to get a little boost of energy because the full moon is going to be not only conjunct Mars retrograde, but also in a trine to Uranus, which always likes to shake things up. And full moons generally offer us a peak of energy and apex of energy.

Veronica Perretti [00:30:27]:
Sometimes they can make us sleepy. And it is in Cancer, which is a water sign, so it can make us feel a little bit worn out, but oftentimes we get a little boost as we move into next week. We'll also have Venus square Jupiter on Tuesday the 14th. So just note Tuesday the 14th because even though it's a square, those are the two benefics squaring one another. So I think that's an amplifying energy and I think Tuesday the 14th might be actually an energizing day and kind of a fun day. So just, you know, circle that one on your calendar and I will talk to you next week. We covered it all, we talked about it at all this week. Again, rest, reflect, repair.

Veronica Perretti [00:31:11]:
Do those annual reviews. Make that vision board. Do your intention setting, if you haven't done it already. Tune into your inner knowing, tune into your intuition. Give yourself time to be present to that whisper in your heart. I offered my where I taught my 2025 Year Ahead forecast yesterday. So this year is wild. There are a lot of shifts happening.

Veronica Perretti [00:31:37]:
We have all the outer planets moving into new signs. We have Saturn and Neptune moving into Aries together. It is going to be rocky at moments, but there will also be moments for slowing down. And this first quarter of the year really is a big invitation to slow down. So I'm thinking about this year as slowing down to speed up. So you gotta slow down first to be able to speed up later. And I really encourage you to take it easy as you move into the new year. If you would like to know all the things that are coming in 2025, you can purchase the recording of that workshop.

Veronica Perretti [00:32:23]:
It's not up yet, but it will be soon. Stay tuned. Join the email list. You can also check out my website and it will be posted there. You will be able to buy the recording of that if you were unable to join us live, which was so much fun and I felt like I was spewing astrology from a fire hose. It was just. There's just so much to talk about this year. I'll talk to you next week and take it easy.

Veronica Perretti [00:32:49]:
Bye.