What Excites Us!

Episode 5 - Astrology with Linda River Valente: How do the Planets Effect your Love and Sex Life

Transcript

Linda  0:06  
So I'll never forget one time sitting with someone not too long ago, and we were doing the process with her. But then I said to her, Go ahead if you feel comfortable, she had two partners. And she said, if you feel like bringing these questions to them, and it feels safe and comfortable, and you're interested in their game, ask 'em any of these questions. So she asked one of them the question about what is the erotic and he was just like, he couldn't get past fishnets. It was like it was all fishnets it was like 24/7 fishnets. You know, and for this, this, the my main client, it's like, she is a fucking force of nature, like, wow, her expression of the erotic is so many things. It's mystical and non verbal. It's deeply neurodivergent I mean, so many things, you know, we were like, alright, we got some fishnets.

Gwyn Isaacs  1:07  
Hi there, I'm Gwyn Isaacs, and this is What Excites Us, the show that discusses sex and sexuality through time and place. And today, we have a special bonus episode that includes the Galaxy too. I'm talking with Linda River Valente about astrology, and how we can use it to learn more about ourselves, and how it affects our love and sex life, among other things. She also tells us about some important things happening in the sky right now. And a little bit of a heads up for what is coming for winter. Linda is an astrologer, tarot visionary, witch, holistic sexuality educator, burlesque performer and producer who lives in Vermont with her husband, son, and their handsome and beloved ginger Tomcat. Because she goes into information regarding November, I wanted to bring this to you sooner than later. But that is only a piece of the discussion. It is all really great stuff. So it is well worth listening to even if you are hearing it later than November of 2021. I do want to give you a quick heads up that our Wifis acting wonky that day. So there are a few moments where she sounds a little funny. But really, it is so worth it.

This episode of What Excites Us is brought to you by me I'm Gwyn Isaacs. And besides being your podcast host, I'm a certified sex coach and educator. And right now I have some openings for text based clients. I love coaching over email and text. It allows you to be open and vulnerable in ways that may feel too difficult in person, which lets us tackle the concerns you have at your own pace. Very few of us were taught how to have sex. Most of us are feeling our way through the dark hoping we get it right. I can help you build skills in the bedroom and navigate your intimate relationships. I have two ways you can sign up to start texting with me right away. When you go to earthlydesire.com/coaching You will find a weekly subscription for daily correspondence. And a way to schedule a live one hour text chat. Visit earthlydesire.com to start on your path. Have more pleasure today. You deserve it. 

Hi, Linda. Thanks for joining me.

Linda  3:43  
Thank you for inviting me.

Gwyn Isaacs  3:45  
This is wonderful. Besides being an astrologer, and an artist, psychic to some degree, I imagine, you are also trained in in sex and sexuality.

Linda  3:57  
Yeah, I'm a Holistic sexuality educator and I did coursework through ISEE. And this is this is a body of work sex education, not necessarily sex. I didn't do the sex therapy track though. There's a whole ton of therapeutic technique that I use with clients for sure. But the sex educator track was a way for me to sort of live out some parts of my chart that were angling for a little bit of attention in the front. And this would be for example, my Taurus rising, which is deeply about sensuality and sexuality, the tactile, the sensuous and then a giant Scorpio stellium that I have as well right. So all of those things about depth and mystery in the erotic so for me it it was this way to say, I would love to have conversations with people about sex and sensuality and intimacy. And I would like to fucking help people feel like they have someone to speak to about this, starting at any point, starting exactly where they are, was no kind of preconception of needing to know something or have experienced it like, it's just come and let's start talking. And let's use the dialogue for learning and growing. And then that I merged that work with my astrology because sexual astrology is a specialty of mine. And then I also merge that work in just the general counsel that I do, as well as my art I also perform and produce in burlesque. So all of those come together.

Gwyn Isaacs  5:55  
So if someone comes to you just, they don't even know why they're coming to you do you start with a chart

Linda  6:01  
I do ask for their chart information. And I tell them that if it works for them, where I would love to start, because it's where we hit, we get right into the fucking realness straight out of the gate if we start with a chart, so I definitely listen to where are they? What are their needs, and desires? Where are they not feeling supported? And where could they use some clarity and brainstorming? And then we pop into the chart, and I reconcile what they have let me know they need, as well as what I can see from the transits and placements in their chart. And we go from there. Yeah.

Gwyn Isaacs  6:44  
So do you find yourself teaching a lot of the time while you're going through it? I know that you have with me, but I don't know that everybody wants that. 

Linda  6:52  
Yes. Oh, I definitely do. Because I feel like what better playground to be able to learn and understand this symbolic language than your own chart. So I am I find, but I also have a Jupiter rising, which makes me an absolute natural born teacher for better or worse, right? Where that being able to translate knowledge and turn that into wisdom. That's a really important piece for me. So yes, while we're working along, and I may be explaining to somebody what one of the placements in their chart is and what that could look like for someone with a chart like that. I turn these into kind of like mini lessons or teaching moments so that they can hold that and it helps their chart cohere I think. 

Gwyn Isaacs  7:44  
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. So back in the 70s 80s, I don't, I don't know 80s. I guess because I was cognizant, Linda Goodman was very popular. And her thing was about love, love in astrology. And I'm wondering, how different is it in the chart between love and sex?

Linda  8:04  
That's a great question. And what I'll start doing with people, when I do the chart work is I begin with their Venus and Mars placement. So regardless of assigned sex, or gender at birth, regardless of our fluid orientation, any regardless of any of those pieces all of us in our little stellar snapshot there, we have a Venus and a Mars. And the way that I speak about Venus is that Venus is our relational aspect. How do we do love and friendship and collaboration, she's additionally how we do wealth and resources and aesthetics. But that element of the relationality of love is present in Venus. And then we look at our Mars. And our Mars is like the engine or the driver in the chart where you've got big agency and momentum. It's really like makes it happen by looking at your Mars, you can see how do I get shit done. And when we look at our Mars, it certainly does start to give us a sense of the sexual as opposed to just the love the impulse of love, right? So it gives us a stretched out picture, we can look at both the Venus and the Mars placements. That's a primary way to do it. My like, absolute sweetheart, though are the asteroids. I find that when we take the main planets, the Venus and Mars, and we layer in more and more story, through our aspirant placements, we get things in more detail and particularly when it comes to love and sex. There are certain asteroids which speak to those angles. I think about, for example, Eros and Psyche. So Eros and Psyche are about the story of spiritualized love. But Eros in a chart can indicate our erotic impulse, and Psyche in a chart can indicate our soul growth and expansion. So even within that team within that pair, there's a nod to Yes, impulses for love and sex are signatures, blueprints for love and sex. Those are different things. And we want to look at them in their wholeness, and then see how they chat with each other.

Gwyn Isaacs  10:01  
So let's take a step back for those folks who are astrologically. Stupid. Ignorant not stupid. They're learning. There we go. So what what the heck does it mean where your Venus is where your Mars is, like what? So take us all the way to the very beginning.

Linda  10:57  
So if we, if we're sitting down with with our charts in front of us, we're looking at a snapshot of the sky at the time that we were born. And this snapshot turns into a little bit of an energetic imprint. And it is an amazing map for us to look at to say, I can learn so much about myself and my strengths and my challenges. And my fears, and my fantasies and my glitches and my golden shot, I can learn so much by looking at the energetics in this map. So I look at this map. And when it comes to Venus and Mars, I might say, Well, where is My Venus? And why does it matter? And what the hell is she doing there? And why is she different there than anything else? Right? So we start with Venus, we start with that planet? And we say, well, what sign is she in? She is in one of 12 astrological signs. Then we layer the next lens in and we say, Okay, what house is she in? She is in one of 12 sematic houses or kind of content areas and a chart. And then once we think we know her sign and her house, we look at how she relates to all the other bodies in the chart. Who was she happily speaking to? Who does she want to avoid? Who is she sitting next to? And what does it mean when all those players play together? So for example, if we look at my chart, we would say, this is a person with a Venus in the sign of Sagittarius in a seventh house. And that translates to Hey, this is a person whose love and friendship and relational signature is in a sign that is powerfully expansive. It's about learning. It's about art. It's philosophical, it's adventurous, it sees the game in things.

And then we would say, oh, that character, interesting character, Where does she live? Oh, in this person's chart, she lives in the seventh house. She lives in the house of marriage, she lives in the house of long term relationships. So in someone's in my chart, we would say, hey, Venus is in Sag in the seventh house, this is to say that in your world, for this person, they are a spectacular, romantic with a capital R in the sense that they see love, as this incredible game, which is loaded with philosophy and deep meaning and knowledge and wisdom, and self expression and expansion. This is someone who wants to liberate themselves and others through the way they love them. Right super different signature, or different signature from someone who may have a Venus in Taurus, perhaps, or the Venus in cancer. So by knowing what sign your Venus is in, you get the flavor of how she operates. And by popping her into the house, in your chart, where she lives, you see, in what area of your world she's in her strength. If we do that with the Venus, and we do that with the Mars, because of course, we're really doing that with all the planets and all the asteroids, that's what we do when we do the chart. But say we look at those two, we can then bring to that person at the table this expanded awareness of all the multiplicities inside them and my goal is always to have someone befriend all the parts of them there is no pathology in the chart. I'm not talking For five fucking seconds about this is bad. This is a no like shits hard shits real we work with it. But every part of us needs a chance to pull to the front and get some expression, particularly in the realms of love and sex, right? Because, understandably, what gets stuffed and doesn't get attention, that's a problem. So by using this astrological, symbolic language, we start to understand parts of the love and the sex responses in us. Sometimes we didn't have a language for it until then, I mean, I will, so many people sit at the table, and I explain these things to them. And they're just like, jaw dropping, you know, like pinwheel eyes and just saying, yeah, um, yes, yes yeah yes oh no, what do I do with that? What do I do with that, and I want to be able to say, excellent, we now can move to how to live it. But recognizing those placements, knowing your Venus, knowing your Mars, and then if you have someone you know, someone like myself, looking at asteroids, we do the same thing. You will learn the sign the asteroid is in where that asteroid is placed, and how that shows up in your world.

Gwyn Isaacs  16:22  
Brilliant. It sounds like the graphic designers would recognize like layering, or gels for a camera.

Linda  16:35  
That's a really good, one. Yeah, the way I sometimes think of it is like, this is my Mercury in Scorpio showing, right? I think that I've got these like detective glasses, these lenses, and I'm just clicking them into place, one on top of the other. And when I look through all of those lenses, then I really crack it, you know, then I've really got what's at the bottom? Because I've used those multiple lenses, sign house aspects, those are the conversations is your Venus in a happy conversation, say with your planet Saturn. Is she in not such a great conversation with your Mars? You know, these are things that help us say, Hey, here's some stuff that I bumped up against, or here's some stuff that's super easy for me, this feels so flowing, like, I've just I carry this around in my pocket. It's amazing. I don't even think about it. But by becoming conscious of those, it, I have seen it fundamentally change the way people can experience the erotic among other places in their life. Certainly.

Gwyn Isaacs  17:40  
So going back to the original question, which was are love and sex different in the chart? It sounds like they're having a conversation.

Linda  17:50  
Yes, yes, they are. They are autonomous. They have their own non human human personhood, love and sex are different characters. But you bet they're in conversation. Additionally, of course, they're in conversation with the pieces of our chart that have to do with health, or how well resourced we are, or our heritage or ancestry or all of that, but yes, they are in conversation.

Gwyn Isaacs  18:22  
So the, the thing that prompted me to specifically say, hey, Linda, come chat with me on my show was I posted that I was going to be interviewing a foot fetishist, which hopefully and you said I wonder where his blank is. Yes.

Linda  18:41  
What I wonder, I wonder. I wondered what placements they had in Pisces because here is a kind of goofy but um incredibly helpful, informative piece of information to have. If you if you consider the field of medical astrology, this is the ancient practice. still in effect, I certainly have people that I helped them book surgery like depending on what part of the body their surgery is on right we look at certain Moon times. Medical astrology is a body of wisdom, where the twelve sadiacle signs are each in rulership over different parts of the body. And so my kind of sassy comment, born of actual information was because it was a foot fetish guest I wondered where their placements in Pisces were, because Pisces is the sign that rules the feet. So, in when we look at sexual astrology, and we look at our erotic impulse, I'm looking not just at the Strength of the Venus and Mars and the sign there in to look at, let's just say associated body parts and systems. I'm also looking at things like, well, where's your moon? And what part of the body does your moon rule and therefore say when you're having sex and you're in a super tender and vulnerable place, and say that moment kicks in? What part of your body then becomes either a heightened turn on? Or you want to say, No, thank you. No, not permission for that today. Right? My I'm holding that for myself today. So that medical astrology piece has a life and a presence in this kind of erotic print. Um, you know, we could say I do a um in the work I do in the erotic with folks when I'm looking at their chart. And I'm also asking, of course, specific questions about turnout and and the things that they like, and the things they don't. And so many times, I'm also trying to create a pleasure map in their body and locate the parts of the body where things are, yes. And I'm telling you so many damn times people talk about the parts of the their turnouts or parts of the body, and I'm just sitting there with their chart like, Yeah, I think I got ya, you're exactly right. Because I'm looking at it. Oh, you know, um, it's weird, you wouldn't think that I really... And I'm like, Oh, I wouldn't think looking at it. You know, it's, it's a great funny thing. So that's what made me make the sassy comment.

Gwyn Isaacs  21:38  
I love it. I, I would love to see like a survey, you know, not offending anybody, or, or getting, you know, anonymous for people who are not feeling it. But like, you know, of all the different varieties of fetishes, of which there are too many to count. But of the of the main basis. They're like, people who are into needle and what, what, what, what things? Are they into people who are into impact what, you know, dominance, like? I think it's fascinating.

Linda  22:10  
Yes, absolutely. I think it is so um there, you know, as you and I know, in this field there are umpteen quizzes, and assessments and all these ways that we say, let's find out what type of this we are and what type of that we are. And some of them can be really incredible tools for dialogue really helpful. To me, that chart is like that is the quiz that I can go back to every damn time and really count on it. When I'm trying to help someone bridge to pleasure or we're trying to understand why they what it is that that has them ask for sex or not ask. So all these things like coming back to the chart, so fetishes, absolutely, like absolutely, that appears. The conditions under which, that sounds kind of fresh, like it's a union contract or something, but the circumstances, the environment, right, that you need to be in to feel really comfortable and safe and confident and vulnerable. In order to thrive erotically. I can frequently speak to that in a chart, and it gives us some leverage, sometimes a client will want to jump in so much, and they don't yet have the language for it. So I get to help by using the chunks of the chart to say, you know, "Mars in Libra huh?" So, you know, what do you what do you think about open relationships, you know, like, I kind of make these little do these little squishy opportunities to have them look at things differently. And fetishes are certainly one I have discussed in this office before related to the chart.

Gwyn Isaacs  24:08  
I love that you can use that as a tool to help people because there's so many people who need so much help and don't even have the language to ask for the help. I think that by coming to you, you're they're coming around in a what would feel like a circumstance or around the bend way, but you can really pinpoint the thing.

Linda  24:31  
It has been having, having the chart as the anchor for the conversation. It is both deeply personal, and then sort of transpersonal, right, because it's such a big deal shift that we're talking about. So it can let a client feel absolutely confident that we're talking about their business, and their very specific... like we get really into it, and then I can remind them, you know, folks with this placement, all the folks with this placement, sometimes they experience it like this, or this is the thing to consider. And then I stretch the frame out a little bit to give them a sense of, um, well, certainly that they're not the only person who's looking at or challenged by or excited by or any particular topic that... I want to keep shifting that frame between like the personal and the collective, and help them to situate their individual erotic body within the larger erotic body, and just have an awareness that that's even there. But you know, one of my intake questions when people are doing specifically, sexuality work with me is what does the word erotic mean to you? That's a very big first important first question. And certainly the way they answer it, I could see evidence of within a chart, and it's so important to make sure that they get a very broad frame in which to kind of test the waters and see what might they say. 

Gwyn Isaacs  26:15  
That's, that's great, and that's a huge question. I, as you asked it, I was like, I don't know how I would answer that. And it shifts on every given day. And that is also normal. People go through all sorts of changes throughout their lifetime, sometimes within an hour. 

Linda  26:33  
It's often you know, when I speak about the erotic to people to clients, I'm reminding them that the erotic is a profoundly and deeply about sex, but is not limited to, it is sensual, it is cerebral, it is spiritual. It is such a magnificent force. So I'll never forget one time sitting with someone not too long ago, and we were doing the process with her. But then I said to her, go ahead, if you feel comfortable. She had two partners, and she said, if you feel like bringing these questions to them, and it feels safe and comfortable, and you're interested in their game, ask him any of these questions that she asked one of them the question about what is the erotic and he was just like, he couldn't get past fishnet. It was like, it was all fishnet. It was like 24/7 fishnets, you know, and for this, this, the my main client, it's like, she is a fucking force of a nature like, wow, her expression of the erotic is so many things. It's mystical, it's non verbal. It's deeply neurodivergent. I mean, so many things, you know. So we were like, alright, we got some fishnets. How do we bridge the fish? But it's just one of those things that you're right. It's there's an evolving answer. And so there should be I mean, that's the whole thing is that our learning and our growth, and if we're in communion with the erotic this is going to change, we're going to go places with it.

Gwyn Isaacs  28:19  
How do you, Linda, take the astrology of what's happening today, or this week or this month or whatever, and translate that to people? I know, so for like generic horoscopes, Rob Rezny, who's one of my favorite generic horoscope people, the poetry he does such lovely poetry. He's looking at where the signs are, and what the houses are, and just sort of making it all Capricorns feel this? Then I think it might have been you it might have been someone else taught me to also look at the rising sign.

Linda  28:51 
That was me. Yeah. 

Gwyn Isaacs  28:54 
Okay, so that's for a big generic, every Capricorn or whatever. What happens when you narrow it down to a person?

Linda  29:02  
That's great. So those horoscopes like Rob Rezny, and so many others. Those are what we call sun sign horoscopes, and they can be fucking great info and they can just like, ring the bell and feed you in a way that you need. But when I'm working with a chart, I'm considering someone's Sun, Moon, Mercury, Mars, Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and a shit ton of asteroids, more asteroids every day. I'm a little out there in love with the asteroids. So how do I possibly take all those beings reconcile them and sit with someone? Well, what that's the process of looking at someone's transits, which is the way in which the sky in real time speaks to their unique imprint in the chart. So probably the transit people people are the most familiar with, even if they don't feel like they know a whole lot about astrology is the Saturn Return. The Saturn Return is when we're between 28 and 30. And that shit is unmistakable, right? We know it's happening. It's happening, it's a thing. Well, we experienced many transits all day long every day of our life. And so it's my job to take what's happening in the sky, and sort of localize it into the body of someone's chart and say, Whoa, well, for example, this weekend, here comes Mars into Scorpio. He'll be in Scorpio for the month of November 2021. As well as the first two weeks of December 2021. Six weeks, here comes Mars in Scorpio hasn't been in there in a while. That is his, the place he loves to be. Well, let's look at your chart. And let's discover what that means to you to have his visit in whatever house or sector of your chart is there. And who is he going to visit when he comes around? Is your Venus there in that spot? For you? Yeah. Is your Pluto there for a whole slew of people that Pluto in Scorpio generation? Yes. So how the planets in the sky in real time are visiting and speaking with that imprint inside you. That is how I am able to give people you know, an incredibly detailed personal horoscope, with transits and help them to shape what they're doing in their world. I mean, this is very practical stuff. Do I take the job? Do I not take the job? Do I sign the mortgage? What am I thinking about this the fucking well is busted on this land. We didn't know I mean, so much. And all those conversations happen as we track the chart and how it works with us. And there are definitely transits that speak deeply about love or love and sex. Anytime Venus is traveling around in the sky. As Venus travels around, she is having conversations with things in our chart. If we have something called a Venus return, when the Venus in the sky matches where she was, when we were born, I had this just a couple days ago, she was actually there. A Venus return is the special marker of saying how am I enacting the rituals of love and beauty according to the design that I have been given to be here with? I want to take a look at that. Things, things may become clear to me during that transit that were not before. Or I may feel super encouraged by the yeses of what I am doing. So it's through that kind of methodical process. There's heavy method, there's tremendous method for metaphysics, magic, and it's all loaded in together. 

Gwyn Isaacs  33:14  
So every planet makes a return.

Linda  33:19  
Well every planet in the sky is on the move. But in terms of returns, because the outer planets are so dang far away, and they move so slowly. If we are fortunate, and we live to be 84 years old, we experienced a Uranus return. That's absolutely true. But we will not as humans, though the more than human critters and intelligences on our planet, they will have these we do not have a Neptune return or a Neptune or Pluto return because they're just moving so slowly. 

Gwyn Isaacs  33:58  
That makes sense. 

Linda  33:58  
But do have well, we have a solar return. That's our birthday every year. We have many little lunar returns because she's moving through the signs every she moves through all 12 signs every month. So once every four weeks or so, depending where that moon is, you get to have a mini lunar return, you know, and then Mercury, Mars, Venus, Saturn, Jupiter yeah they're lining up and making those returns.

Gwyn Isaacs  34:33  
I've always thought of Saturn's return as sort of setting you up for the next phase that you go through a thing. It's usually a fairly dramatic thing, although you might not recognize it in the moment. But then on the other side, you've you've whatever it was that you were doing has now set you up for the next 26-8 years of life. So is it like that with the other planets that are making the return? So is Venus setting us Some question beauty, money, sexuality.

Linda  35:05  
Yep, super good question because when Saturn is doing his return, it is in his nature, his entire purpose is to make you the sovereign to put, to make you the boss of your world to grant you inner authority. So you go through the rites of passage, he teaches through constriction, you think it's a total bitch, you think it's a personal punishment? PS, you just totally figured out, you know how to do the adulting of the world as we call it, right? So if that's what Saturn's goal is, during a return, then yes, it makes sense that when we look at these other planets, we would say, what are you coming back by to talk about? And yes, Venus is always going to want to talk about love and beauty. And Mars swings back, and he is going to want to say to you, yeah, what are you been doing? When you've been getting done? You know,

Gwyn Isaacs  36:02  
You gotta say it with a Brooklyn accent. 

Linda  36:03  
Where is that? Okay, this is his way of, of doing it. If you have your lunar return, much more subtle. This is the one that you're getting, what 12 A year pretty much, much more subtle, because your moon is your interior world. So this could be anything from little like psychic flash, that's particularly remarkable, wacky call from your mom on the phone, things with some of your friends, I mean, this, this is a much more subtle thing, but by no means less than or less um impactful when you have them. We could also talk about the upcoming Venus retrograde. There's a Venus retrograde that begins in the middle of December, and it goes through the month of January, we get the so this is for the whole human family doesn't matter what your chart is, this is just what she's doing in the sky. And she'll do this about every year and a half. We understand that when a planet goes retrograde, they're not really driving backwards and not really traveling backwards, it is, um, it appears as though they are to our eye and to our spirit, to our energetic body to the realities of our day, a retrograde really does mean a slowing of stopping and a reflection. So when Venus goes retrograde, what she's saying is, I'm going into the underworld for a time. In fact, she goes for 40 days and 40 nights, and she disappears from the sky. This is a way of experiencing the kind of underworld journey. I think about and I know you're familiar with this story. But other friends might not know this one, I think about the story of Inanna remembering that Inanna, who's the Queen of Heaven and Earth, goes to the underworld and descends to visit her sister Ereshkigal, who's essentially the queen of hell Queen of the lower world.

Now, in order for a Inanna to get down there to go down there, she has to pass through seven stations or seven gates and at every gate, she has to relinquish one of her very blingy, queenly accoutrement, right. So in the in the passage and the ancient passage, we go through the process with her, she has to take off her crown, she has to put down her scepter she gets stripped of all of that glitz and glam and I'm at the front of the pack, I'm the queen, and she ends up in the underworld, completely naked in front of her sister. And this is like a death and resurrection process that she goes through. When Venus is retrograde. It is like in some measure, a death and resurrection process. Now that sounds really fucking scary to say what is this? Is everybody getting a divorce during a Venus retrograde? What can this mean? It means that she is not at the height of her power, she needs a timeout. She has an interior process that she needs privacy for. And so the things that she is in dominion over love and beauty aesthetics and cash money and resources. There is a real challenge in times to those things when Venus is retrograde and of course it does make it very impactful on relationships, depending where it happens in your chart. This is why it's so important to have someone you do specific chart work with, you get to locate where is this happening in my world, say you were having a Venus retrograde upon your Venus, or upon your Sun or your Mars, we would easily be able to say, who you're going to be thinking about stuff quite a bit at this time, like, you're gonna need to slow down, you're probably gonna need to tap out, take a break and look and feel through these things. For some friends, if the Venus retrograde happens, and it impacts nothing in their chart, in the rare but absolutely possible case, it touches nothing. Doesn't oppose anything doesn't square it, doesn't even have a conversation. Yes, they still feel the general frame of that. But maybe they don't feel it as keenly as their friend who experiences it somewhere else. So I think to mention this because I start to think about the Venus retrograde that is coming during the time that she is retrograde, which is important enough for us to observe just on its own, but this particular time, she retrogrades with the planet Pluto. Pluto in our charts, is the lord of the underworld. He's about shadow. Pluto in a chart can indicate obsession and fetish and power play and all that dark stuff, right? Like yank Persephone down there and have a ball. You know, like, that's the kind of thing. So if Venus and Pluto are conjunct in Capricorn, where they will be during this Venus retrograde it's it's no small moment. I mean, it really, there's a way that I think that the human family in the United States, certainly globally, but with a particular nod to the United States, that we will be experiencing the true cost, the invisible cost of this pandemic, it will become clear to people what has genuinely been lost. And I talk about this in frames of relationship, social bonds and structures, our economic realities, our health realities. Like, I think that some things will become clearer to people that they were not yet able to sit with in this moment. And certainly, some of it will have to do with love and sex.

Gwyn Isaacs  42:40  
Thank you. Are there more things coming up that in, say the next few months that we should be aware of?

Linda  42:48  
I can speak about the month of November, if you know, if I won't be put on toward the end if it helps to have a November frame? 

Gwyn Isaacs  42:56  
Sure. 

Linda  42:57  
I can speak about um that Mars in Scorpio. So Mars in Scorpio does have the month of November as a flashpoint. It awakens and activates for all of us, regardless of our chart. It awakens and activates this conversation that's been going on all year long, between freedom and liberation. Between duty and expansion. Like the signature of this year, the Saturn - Uranus square, which has played out in every geopolitical decision that I have witnessed all year long. So many ways. It's part of the supply chain issue. It's part of the we can't find workers issue. It's just alive in so many places. That aspect gets heightened by Mars - Scorpio in November, then what we want to consider is that there will be information, secrets, stories, things that have been submerged, that will be coming to the surface. This is personal and transpersonal. This is just the signature of the time. We'll have to be able to do some shadow work or being able to sit with our darkness and darkness at large. So the run of months from November, December and January. They are intense. They are deeply intense. I look forward to February when Jupiter re enters Pisces. Absolutely. But in the meanwhile, the end of this year and the beginning of the next year. There's a lot for all of us to hold to. And it's times like it's times with this level of intensity that I find this process of erotic reclamation of utmost importance, because when all this shit is exploding all over the place, if you can reach deeply into yourself and into another and if we could reach consent to reach deeply into each other like and make this kind of connective magic, this is what gets us through. That's what absolutely would. It's not spiritual bypassing, we're not bullshitting, we want to get straight and put our eyes on the issue, deal with it be right there with it, and it does not own us, it cannot colonize us, it does not have permission. Because there's something wild and hot and magic. And you can have that. And if you can keep your hands to that part of you, even if you could keep like a fingertip to that part of you, through the next months, you will be in a much better place to be able to sit with um, you know, the real message of the times.

Gwyn Isaacs  46:11  
I just want to mention that engaging in shadow work is so important, in general, that our tendency is to go, No, it hurts and push it away. Which just ends up making the thing an infection and then it gets pissy and gross, and then you heal over it and then you don't get to it and then and then you're in pain for the rest of your life or until you sit back down with this piece of whatever it is that hurt. It's something that comes up with clients a lot. And you just have to accept that sometimes it hurts, and to sit with it and to feel it and to go through it because truly the only way to actually heal is to go through it instead of push it away. So it's very....

Linda  46:59  
Absolutely.

Gwyn Isaacs  47:01  
That, that we're doing this on a on a global collective basis is a little bit terrifying. Because, 

Linda  47:08  
Yeah, yeah.

Gwyn Isaacs  47:10  
Most people are not willing to sit with that shadow piece. 

Linda  47:14  
Yes. And even those who may talk a good game at being able to or wanting to do that. We're just gonna really be getting into the squeeze, just let that be understood that we are really getting into the squeeze. And so this work becomes this, it's no longer optional. You want to go to the next world, like, let's really we're going we're like linking arms, and we're going and we're ripping off the band aid. And so having a, you know, having people around you, right, who can hold that space. And who can can say, Yeah, I see what you're doing. I see how hard it is. And this is part of this collective liberation.

Gwyn Isaacs  48:03  
Having this knowledge, this piece of information as a framework is exceptionally helpful for me. I can only imagine that it's going to be exceptionally helpful for people who listen into that. And I'm going to bump it up and make sure that it gets played Oh, sooner than later. Because that's amazing. And actually, it makes me want to ask I know I'm taking up your time, but would you be willing to come back and do this again in like three months and have like a regular quarterly?

Linda  48:31  
I would love to. 

Gwyn Isaacs  48:32
Oh, that would be great.

Linda  48:33  
I would love to come back in February or come back to you know, talk about February and beyond. Because then we can have a Jupiter and Pisces foot fetish discussion. I mean, he's gonna be there. He loves to throw money at things, you know, like the cool pedicures. He's gonna be there.

Gwyn Isaacs  48:54  
Oh that's fantastic. Oh, that's so good. Okay, so at some point in the next whatever, we'll ping and make another appointment. And this is great because we are coming up on an hour and I do value you and your time. I don't want to keep you all day. Although I could ask you all the things. However, are you accepting clients at the moment, are people

Linda  49:15  
Yes.

Gwyn Isaacs  49:17  
Okay

Linda  49:20  
People can find my work at lindarivervalente.net You can also find me on Facebook, Linda River Valente, and I'll be launching my Patreon shortly. And that will give people the chance to receive weekly audio forecasts, virtual altar work, additional audio. I do have a membership platform level that is called erotic or regular. And yes, there will be the hot and heavy sexy business stuff that is the Venus tier no surprise. So that Patreon will come out people will be able to Look at the memberships. But if you just want session you want to say I've never had my chart done, I don't know what should i I'm interested right and you've never even never thought that you might do it or I would love I certainly am accepting clients. I love it. So finally and low book.

Gwyn Isaacs  50:21  
And as far as a testimonial Linda is easy and comforting and not judgmental and lovely to work with, I would highly recommend her. So please do. So Linda, what excites you?

Linda  50:35  
Conversations like this excite me for sure. What excites me also is I'm about to have my 45th birthday in a week. So week from, my birthday is just after Halloween. Something that excites me is being in your late 40s is fucking awesome. I would not be trading back. I'm not trading back, like, deeply humbling all the way around. But I I'm so loving it. I'm really looking even every bit of chaos. I'm going through some brutal transits right now, some Uranus transits that are ridiculous. And still, what excites me is like this potential, the richness, the nuance of this time in my life and being able to reach out and sit with people in a time like this, that really excites me.

Gwyn Isaacs  51:30  
That's wonderful. Thank you so much. This has been really, really great. So, super excited about your Patreon. I will also be launching a Patreon very shortly. And part of what I'm going to be asking what part of what I'm going to be doing is encouraging people to ask me questions to ask my guests. So perhaps by the next time that we chat, we'll have some some listener questions too. That would be super cool.

Linda  51:56 
Oh, that would be so awesome. I love that.

Gwyn Isaacs  51:59  
All right. This has been great. And it's so lovely to catch up and see your face. Thank you so much.

Linda  52:04  
I'll say thank you.

Leah Carey  52:08
Hey Friends, I’m Leah Carey, inviting you to listen to Good Girls Talk About Sex where I interview everyday women about their sex lives.   

speaker 1  52:17  
“Yeah, I wanted to be like pushed against the wall, like in the movies” *Laughter*  

speaker 2  52:21  
“This feels good but do I look fat?”  

speaker 3  52:22  
“That always turned me on but I don’t think I’ve admitted that to my husband.” *Laughter* 

speaker 4  52:26 
“Have sex with women, highly recommend”  

Leah Carey  52:28 
Good Girls Talk About Sex is here to remind you, you’re not alone and your desires are completely normal. Listen in your favorite podcast app today!   

Gwyn Isaacs  52:42  
Oh, man, that was so good. I've listened to it at least three times since recording it. And I'm still comprehending stuff I didn't grok the first time around. What did you think? I'd love to hear. And you can tell me all about that at whatexcitesus.com. You can record and anonymous voicemail right there at the site. Of course you can always rate and review the show wherever you're listening. That would also be super helpful, because it helps us be heard by more people. I also want to be sure to let you know that Linda's Patreon is indeed open and it looks fantastic. I'm hoping to finagle coming in on the Jupiter level soon because I love the idea of getting goodies every month. But I'm starting with Mercury. There will be links to it and more included in the show notes. Sadly, my Patreon is not live yet, but it will be soon so stay tuned. What Excites Us is produced, edited and hosted by me Gwyn Isaacs. All music is used under the Creative Commons Attribution license this week and includes the Vendetta by Steven Kartenberg. And Harmony by PolyPlus. tickle.life hosts this and many other podcasts about sex and sexuality and has a bunch of other great content. Check them out. Thanks for listening. I really appreciate you.