- Speaker #0
Hi, creative. It's Lauren here. I just want to remind you that if you love the podcast, the best way to support the show is by leaving it a rating and review on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Actually, Spotify just started accepting ratings. So go ahead and rate it on there and tell all your friends to do it because it's super simple. It takes literally one second. I mean, maybe four seconds, but it's really quick. And another great way to support the show is by sharing it with a friend. or posting about it on social media. If you do post it on social media, tag me at Lauren LaGrasso and at Unleash Your Inner Creative, and I will repost to share my gratitude. And remember to tag the guests too, so they can also share. Okay, now let's get to the show. Who am I and what am I here to do? Do you find yourself in the middle of those questions more often than you care to admit? Same. Good news. Today's guest can help us. He's an astrologer who combines astrology and proven self-development research and methods to help his clients and followers attain better relationships, careers, and lives. Welcome to Unleash Your Inner Creative with Lauren LaGrasso. I'm Lauren LaGrasso. I'm an award-winning podcast host and producer, singer-songwriter, and multi-passionate creative. And this show is meant to give you tools to claim your right to creativity, take fear out of the driver's seat, and love, trust, and know yourself to pursue whatever it is that's on your heart. Today's guest is Colin Bedell, a.k.a. Queer Cosmos. He's a non-denominational, strength-based astrologer looking to queer the cosmos and provide secular approaches to personal, relational, and professional development. His work has been seen in Cosmo Magazine, Discovery Plus, his amazing Instagram, Queer Cosmos, and countless podcasts, including his own, Good Rising. From our chat, you'll learn the true meaning of your sun, moon, and rising signs and what they may mean for your purpose and journey, The Difference Between Self-Acceptance and Self-Compassion and enabling, how to use your chart to increase creativity, and what part of your chart can guide you if you're feeling a little lost. Now, here he is, Colin Bedell. So Colin, I'm obsessed with you. I'm so happy we're finally doing this. There's such a synergy between us two because I love the way that you approach astrology and all of life from a holistic perspective versus... this one little thing living in a tunnel. Because what I've really realized about creativity and everything in life, everything is the same everywhere, which is so annoying and so beautiful.
- Speaker #1
Okay, the wisdom of that, though. I love that. Hold on, like, I'm gonna need you to put that in the notes of the show notes. Everything is the same everywhere. Yep.
- Speaker #0
Yeah, it's just like endless lessons to learn that everything is the same everywhere. All the lessons you have come up everywhere. You cannot avoid yourself and life. It's just going to keep coming for you. And I love that that's how you approach. astrology and just life in general. So thank you for being here.
- Speaker #1
Oh my God, Lauren, thank you for having me. I was just congratulating you on your level of life preparation and readiness and like very clear direction. Like I love when people give me the recipe to like bake the cake and you were just outstanding on expectations and guidelines. I was looking forward to this for quite a while. So thank you for having me. I can't wait to chat.
- Speaker #0
Well, honored to have you here. And also thank you for rescheduling through my concussion and just like your kind words. It was. so great um hello you really hurt yourself and i was like wait what oh my god yeah and yeah how did that go down i was gonna bring that up but i like i don't know if that was being recorded i don't know if that was private it's totally fine it's not private okay i was on a treadmill and i was walking like uphill on the treadmill and you know there's a fan behind me i'm like that would feel really good to have like a gentle breeze blowing at me while i walked so i got off the treadmill turned on the fan great instinct bad next step literally because i stepped on the treadmill. fell flat on my face it's feeling great but i okay good split open my head and oh my god hurt my hip i was bleeding everywhere it was really scary so i was super lucky all things considered this is my second head injury in four months so life is trying to tell
- Speaker #1
me something maybe a few things well wait if all if all everything is is the same all the time yeah what do you think the lesson is miss thing what do you think well i actually think that that
- Speaker #0
That bang on the head helped me figure out my next big step I need to take. But also, interestingly enough, big bang, big step, the start of my universe.
- Speaker #2
I love it. Go ahead.
- Speaker #0
But I think it also helped me realize that I need to give myself grace for the things I do need. And that's something I definitely want to get into with you is like, what's the difference between self-acceptance and enabling?
- Speaker #1
Oh, oh, oh. oh that's really good should we just go right into that like i want to know more about your story but i feel like we got there let's just we'll get wherever we need to go yeah come on no we'll go right into the stuff that's like helpful because people like who's this fucking bitch and why should i give a fuck about her story yeah you know like i mean the best fucking bitch around colin you are the best bitch around i'm just like we'll go right into the tips the tools the strategies no so i think what we could do is work from the premise that we are whole and worthy exactly as we are, and we get to be works in progress at the same time. So it's just an end. It's not an or, right? And when we hold that in our minds, then we will, I think, have more grace for ourselves when we realize, look at me doing what I consistently do when I'm reacting from the inner child, when I'm reacting from self-protection gone awry. And we want to actually get to the space. I think it was Ram Dass, the celebrated Aries spiritual teacher. Who, you know, after decades of having these conversations, he said the progress he made was he went from my neurosis. Like that's how he would describe it to my neurosis.
- Speaker #0
Yeah.
- Speaker #1
And if that's all we can do is just like maintain some levity and flexibility with ourselves when, you know, that those personality defects come in, then I think we can give ourselves grace and then most essentially give others grace at the same time.
- Speaker #0
Right.
- Speaker #1
Easier said than done. I know I'm recognizing it's a tall order, but I just think it's an end, right? It's a matter of like, I'm worthy and I'm whole exactly as I am. And I'm a work in progress at the same time. So I'm going to make mistakes. Lauren's going to make mistakes. The listeners are going to make mistakes. So how do we hold ourselves and other people from that perception of you're worthy? And here's some corrective behaviors we might want to discuss. That's all.
- Speaker #0
Beautiful. And why is it so hard for people in general, but especially right now? to hold space for nuance?
- Speaker #1
Oh my God. How much time you got, hon? Meet me on the Spanish steps. Let's go. Oh my God. Well, we become incredibly polarized. We become incredibly self-sorted. You know, we're friends with people who hate the same people we do or hate the same ideas. And it's just, we live in these really tough echo chambers. And so that actually has been explored really beautifully by Dr. Brené Brown in her work, Braving the Wilderness. She really helped me map anthropologically, politically, and sociologically kind of how we got to this place of depolarization, which is nuance's number one enemy, right? And so from there, though, I think, yeah, if we can just accept within ourselves just that polarity, both end, not only but also, those are the fundamental forces of nature. Those are the fundamental forces of reality, with a capital R. Then we'll accept that within ourselves, communicate it more effectively. and have a pretty low tolerance policy when other people are really in that either or binary thinking. There are times and places where there's a single right answer, but there's a lot of times and places where there isn't.
- Speaker #0
Yeah, it's pretty rare. And I think something I talk about on the show every single week, almost probably people are sick of hearing me say it, but like I call this soul, S-O-U-L-C-I-A-L, social justice. Oh,
- Speaker #1
hello.
- Speaker #0
Again, with the holistic. approach. It's not like I am focusing on this one little issue. It's like, how can I be more fair everywhere?
- Speaker #1
Because how we do one thing is how we do everything. Yes or no?
- Speaker #0
Yes. Yes. And?
- Speaker #1
See, right? I don't see there's a single right answer, right? No, it's all contextual, yada, yada. But yeah, you're absolutely right. I think if we can recognize that we need to be bringing some soulfulness in social justice, that will only help us in. the way that we approach ourselves, the way that we approach our romantic intimate partners, our family systems, our communities, coalitions, organizations. Absolutely. Because also too, relating is a spiritual practice.
- Speaker #0
Ooh, say more.
- Speaker #1
Absolutely. Really, if we track this, because you want to know a little bit about my story, my career, I would say, started to really take shape five and a half years before I put my website out. But it was when I was learning about the principles of A Course in Miracles, which Marianne Williamson teaches on, Gabrielle Bernstein and others, Iyanla Vanzan as well. And what I learned from that book, which is a celebrated, you know, kind of tome of universal spiritual principles, was that there is no coming unto conscious contact with divinity as you understand it, but through other people around you. And it even has this beautiful line, Lauren, that heaven is entered two by two. We can't get there without each other. And so when I learned that, then I said, okay, so if I am studying spirituality and it lacks relational nuance or relational information. I can call a lot of things, but it's not spirituality. And if we talk about relating without the psyche, without the soul, call a lot of things, it's not relationship. So I want to bring relationships to spirituality and spirituality to relationships. And that's really, I think, what animates my work to this day.
- Speaker #0
Okay. So let's get into it because you have a really interesting astrology origin story. Can you take me, what has been your creative path? to becoming Queer Cosmos and this beautiful work that you do?
- Speaker #1
Well, again, other people. right? It was my Italian mother who would talk shit about my legal father at the household before he walked in and say it to his face too when he got there. They're still married. I love him. But it was my mom who would just be like, oh my God, my Gemini twins, what am I going to do with you? Because I'm a Gemini and a twin. And then in my early 20s, it was really just learning about these concepts with my friends, with some of the students I was going to. I was a student at the time at the new school in New York City. So it just became very much a part of my academic a culture. of just spirituality, astrology, and all that. And I had no intention, honestly, Lauren, of becoming a professional astrologer. I was just surrounding myself with them. And then it wasn't until I was about 26, 27, where my best friends and I, who is a queer woman, first generation Chinese American, Brooklyn native, her and I were like, you know what we should do? We should create an astrology resource for queer folks and also our allies by not just talking about astrology, but some secular and research themes that have really helped us as well. And so I just put out a website and said, okay, you know, I just thought I would blog about it or write about it. And then two weeks later, I was fired from my day job. And so it just kind of took on a whole trajectory. And I just want to specify here that I honestly didn't know whether or not it would be sustainable or whether or not I thought I had what it took to be a creative until I was 29, almost 30. I think, you know, and I'm not assuming anybody thinks about me in that way, but it might be easy to look at me now and assume, oh, he knew what he was doing. He knew he had this kind of unshakable conviction or anything like that. No, not at all. I was constantly terrified around whether or not, you know, this could be sustainable or whether or not I could actually become self-employed in a meaningful way. And it wasn't until two years into the work, Lauren, where I said, OK, I think I have a grip on the steering wheel. Let's see where this goes.
- Speaker #0
Yeah. And I have a lot of questions off of that beautiful answer. So the terror, something we talk about a lot on the show is not necessarily getting rid of fear. I don't think that's possible or even something you should try to do because it's a good tool. It's a good learning.
- Speaker #1
It's adaptive, honey. Say it, say it. It's adaptive. Okay.
- Speaker #0
But how did you develop a relationship with it where you're like, okay, fear, I hear you. I see you. I'm taking you out of the driver's seat, putting you shotgun, maybe in the back, maybe in the trunk.
- Speaker #1
Okay. Well, by honestly contextualizing the fact that fear is not the enemy, it's when I self-protect, that's problematic. That's really what it is, is I just kind of said, all right, it's not fear that's the problem. It's how do I self-protect when I'm feeling like I need to be a knower instead of a learner or when I need to be right instead of get it right? When do I shoot myself in the foot with losing strategies in the name of self-protection? That's the problem. And so I would just catch myself, right? And when I could feel a level of defensiveness or persuasion, or I'm going to show you and I'm going to grandstand and I'm going to da da da da da, I know right then and there, Colin, you are absolutely inaccessible to critical thinking and relationality in this moment. So calm all the way down. And also, it just became a matter of honestly recognizing that it's not fear that's the issue. It's how we self protect and people who are listening might self protect through procrastination through perfectionism. through let me ask 40 people when I already know the answer. There's a lot of different ways that we self-protect. That's where we're in some hot water. It's not fear that's the issue. It's self-protection that becomes problematic for our creative endeavors.
- Speaker #0
So what is an example of fear manifesting or like you're feeling fear and self-protection? Could you give a concrete example?
- Speaker #1
Yes. So for example, I would really love to see astrologers celebrate the fact that we are working with timeless wisdom, but recognize that as a system, it is incomplete. I don't care what the fuck somebody said 3,500 years ago or what the fuck someone's saying now. If it's posited as too complete, I have an issue with that. And where I can self-protect is not say that fast enough. Because, oh God, then if I speak up and I ruffle someone's feathers and I rock the boat, what if they don't invite me to these conferences anymore. Right. So it could just be me being quiet and not speaking up or not daring to challenge the status quo. So that's one example. Or if I, you know, sort of want to shake my ass to Britney Spears on Instagram, but I'm like, oh,
- Speaker #3
maybe people will take me seriously as an intellectual. So let me not let me just put a works cited page on there.
- Speaker #1
So it really depends on the individual. But for me, contextually, it can be where I don't speak up fast enough. I think I'm getting better at that. because I have done that in the past and there was too much adrenaline. There was too much. charge and I shut a lot of people out. Right. So I'm working on that every day. I don't know if that answers your question.
- Speaker #0
Yeah. So like in action, that might look like you getting online and saying, Hey, I feel a little scared saying this, but I have to say the way we're approaching astrology right now, I don't think is helpful. And here's a more helpful way we could approach it as a living document, as something that's open to change and then letting the chips fall where they may.
- Speaker #1
Damn, I'm just going to make you do it. Yes, it is a living. breathing document like the U.S. Constitution. Well,
- Speaker #0
that's exactly what I was thinking of. These people are taking the Constitution so seriously. Like everything is the same everywhere, right?
- Speaker #1
So look at you bring it right back to the original point. I love a full circle moment done like a gymnastics land, like 10 out of 10. That was you just now.
- Speaker #0
Thank God I could do it somewhere. I got kicked out of gymnastics at five because I was bad at it. So at least at least in the realm of podcasting, I'm making it land.
- Speaker #1
You made it land like an Olympian, honey. Okay. I'm so impressed with that. And yes, that is where I have to be careful to, you know, just call in research and honor some ancient indigenous, wonderful metaphysical wisdom and acknowledge that it might not be evidence informed and it's been disproven before. So then what? You know, because I've done that before. I've been accused of being a colonizer. I've had a colonizer accusation yielded against me. Like, I certainly agree that my criticism was ill-informed and there was definitely a level of aggression, aggressiveness and tone to it. But at the same time, I don't regret what I said. I just regret how I said it.
- Speaker #0
That's an important differentiation, too, to realize that, like, maybe you could have been in the right about something you said, whether it's in a relationship, whether it's something you say publicly, creatively. Like, maybe what you said was right, but the way in which you delivered it or even the time in which you delivered it wasn't quite attuned.
- Speaker #1
Correct. And then I shot myself in the foot, you know, and I think we do that a lot. You know, tone can conquer the message like paper covers rock. And if my tone is just a little too arrogant or grandiose and one up, no one's going to hear me. But that's self protection, you know, and so that's when we in the name of I'm afraid can actually self protect to the point of our own self annihilation. So we just got to be very careful about self protection that's dysregulated. that is kind of informed by inner children, our inner child taking the wheel. And we get it, you know, it was adaptive then my anger was adaptive when I was younger. It's not adaptive now, you know, so there's just a lot to tease out there.
- Speaker #0
That's so good. I mean, there's another question I want to ask you about your transition. But this topic, I think is really important. And I want to get into deep astrology stuff. But we have to talk about like, personal development, because it's all of course, connected. Well,
- Speaker #1
and personal development is deep astrology, right? How we do one thing is how we do everything.
- Speaker #0
Thank you. We're coming back. But my one teacher used to say something like what got you to one place, like will not get you to the promised land. Like just because you've gotten to like a certain level, like doesn't mean that same tactic will work getting you to the next level. How do we know when we've outgrown a tactic in our own life?
- Speaker #1
If we're not getting the results that we want because results are the ultimate guru. Yeah. And honestly, like I don't know if that's entirely true because the strategy that I have had since my career started. is what I still use now. And it works every single day. It's changed a little bit, but it works every single day. Absolutely. 100%. So it really just, you would want to ask yourself, like, how's this working for me so far? You know, because results are the ultimate guru and they out themselves right away. So just look at your life and sort of say like, hey, my best thinking got me here. Where am I? Am I happy with this? If I'm not, I might need to work on my system a little bit, I might need to tweak that. Whereas if it works... then keep it up. And that's actually the fixed signs. Taurus, Scorpio, Leo, and Aquarius, they're the ones that ask, what's your method? What's your process? Does it work? And do the results back it up? Because if they don't, they don't work. You're kidding yourself and you're trying to lie to me.
- Speaker #0
So speaking about the beginning of your career, you got fired from your day job. You were on obviously a path there, but you decided to not go searching for another job. You decided to commit to this.
- Speaker #1
That's right.
- Speaker #0
How did you make that decision?
- Speaker #1
It was a couple of things. Fortunately, because I was surrounded by astrologers, right? So they kind of knew, hey, like, we'll help you, like, we'll do what we can. So I was really blessed to have that network. And then just speaking of it really honestly, a month later, Lauren, one of my best friends died in a tragic accident. And if I didn't know then, just about the fragility of life, the temporality, and how this is not a game, I need to take my passions incredibly seriously because there are absolutely no guarantees. And when you're front row to a vibrant technicolor, beautiful life going out in a millisecond, you realize in the face of death, I need to choose life. And what makes me feel fully alive is talking about astrology and helping other people make sense of their lives with astrology. So I'm not going to delay. I'm not going to procrastinate and I'm not going to perfect. I'm going to do it right now. So it was those two things, I would say.
- Speaker #0
It's beautiful. And I know following that feeling, following what felt good really did turn out to be the right thing, obviously. But even then, within two months, I remember you saying in an interview, you were writing for Cosmo, you're collaborating with Cosmo.
- Speaker #1
Okay, research. Okay.
- Speaker #0
Tell me what it feels like to be in that kind of creative flow. What does that feel like in your body?
- Speaker #1
Oh, wow. Well, it's very much on par with the solar season. that we're recording this under very Scorpio, right? I feel fully alive. I feel incredibly grateful. And I also feel very anxious and very nervous, you know, and like holding that, see, I can just feel it in my body, right? Holding that tension. But then I just feel a sense of audacity of like, wow, okay, so let me see if this can work. Let me apply this because I was studying the principles of A Course in Miracles and I was learning from Marianne Williamson. And I was thinking about, okay, so I have this opportunity for six months. Thank you to unemployment from the state of New Jersey to, you know, really commit to this and let me see what happens and let me wake up every day and go straight into meditation and then ask the universe, where would you have me go? What would you have me do? What would you have me say into whom? Let me go right into understanding that I'm the lamp. I'm not the light. I'm the faucet. I'm not the water. But if I plug in, if I allow myself to be used in service to the good, the true and the beautiful in all directions of time, then it's reasonable to assume that I will find myself in. favorable outcomes. And that's what I did every single day. And that's what I do every single fucking day.
- Speaker #0
So one way to get into creative flow from what I heard you say is start your day in meditation or giving yourself some sort of foundation.
- Speaker #1
I don't care. Like, and I will get dogmatic and grandiose about that. Miss me with the, Oh, but it's hard to just fucking do it. Stop. But start small, right? Like if you need five minutes, do it because of kind of distracted mind is no good to anybody. And that's really all we're responsible for. And, you know, Julia Cameron's the artist would say the same thing. Like, do you think you're going to do this without a creative ritual, without a disciplined practice? You can't. It's the cost of admission.
- Speaker #0
No.
- Speaker #1
But it's up to you. Right. It's up to you.
- Speaker #0
Yeah. Because if you don't do it, life just slaps you around all day. And then you are. Go ahead.
- Speaker #1
Yeah. No, no. No, go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead.
- Speaker #0
You can tell we're both Italian.
- Speaker #1
Yeah, it's true. We interrupt, but we hear each other at the same time.
- Speaker #0
We're very compassionate with our interruptions. So no, I was just going to say, like, life will still slap you around, but you can take it. And you can also say, wait, I'm not going to take that one, actually. I'm going to go over here.
- Speaker #1
Isn't that a beautiful thing, right? Like, okay, that's not going to take me down. I'm going to keep trying. But I think it's important for us to understand that what that will also do is lift you from what the world determines as successful, right? Like, I don't give a fuck about algorithms and metrics and this and that because I'm about something bigger. And it's not anything that's of me. It's within me, just like it is in everybody else. And when I attune my thinking to that vision every morning, my life unfolds much better. And I just think people need to know that, too. And typically what I'll hear from my clients or friends or family is, well, it's just so much more difficult to do that. And I go, no, it's not, actually. It's just different. But what's difficult is getting over our collective resistance to doing things differently. It's incredibly simple to not go onto your social media and not get sucked into modernity and just spend five minutes in meditation and questioning and asking, hey, universe, please move through me, dream through me. That's incredibly simple. It's not hard. It's just different. And so that's where I get very like, absolutely not miss me with the excuses or keep it up and let me know how that works out for you in five years. And if you're exactly where the fuck you are, then we can talk and be real about that.
- Speaker #0
Total agreement. No, why would you ever be sorry? No, I totally agree. I mean, I, I recently talked about how, if I don't do my meditation and morning pages, I just forget it. Like I fall to pieces. I've turned into ash. Like there's nothing for me.
- Speaker #1
Why is that?
- Speaker #0
I feel like it seals off the day. Like it's a foundation. It's something before the world can get to me that I've just done for myself and my relationship with God. It's like just for me and my connection to the divine. and it doesn't have anything to do with like needing worthiness from an outside source. It doesn't have anything to do with all my little weird habits, like the things we're talking. It's just me remembering I'm a person and I'm in a body and I'm going to try my best today.
- Speaker #1
And congratulations on that, because I'm going to tell you right now, that's pretty rare. And I think what I want to implore people is like, we need those spiritual spaces now more than ever, you know, being surrounded by collective trauma, collective deadness, collective oppression, collective trouble. and injustice. We need those moments of just unencumbered spiritual reflection and spiritual connection. Otherwise, like we're not putting the stall in soulful justice. We're just reactive. We're not allowing an energy to move through us. And some of the world's leading civil rights and social justice movements had their origins in spirituality. Abolition came from the Quakers. Dr. Martin Luther King was a Baptist teacher, right? Like he had a soulfulness to him. Bobby Kennedy, before he was killed in 1968, was interested in Catholic mysticism and he was connected to something divine, you know? And so it's just important for us to remember that. Like we can bring these principles to some really complicated areas if we just allow ourselves five to 10 minutes every day of uninterrupted contemplation, meditation, and prayer.
- Speaker #0
Totally with you. And how much more powerful is it when we do bring these principles when we have our mission, but we're doing it from this place of like, oh,
- Speaker #1
I wish I hope people could see that. Yes, because that's what it feels like, right? As opposed to Oh, I don't really know if this No, because some spirit is moving through us. And we're like, Oh, this is going to work on this is going to work now. And then boom, you know, shit just happens. Because conviction is a force multiplier. And when people take a stand and people start having honest conversations and then they're inspired to righteous action, shit happens. But I think we need to be really careful about a sense of mindfulness, a sense of psychological and emotional discipline and sobriety so that we can listen in very carefully to what the universe is trying to communicate to us and then have the faith to take the action that it tells us to do.
- Speaker #0
Okay. I do feel like I want to get into like some brass tacks astrology stuff because I still have questions about this.
- Speaker #1
Okay. Let's do it.
- Speaker #0
I hear different people say different things about the big three, which are the sun sign, the rising sign and the moon sign. What really to you are the big three and how do they affect our lives and personality? Like what are each meant to teach us?
- Speaker #1
Okay. Great question. And then you're going to tell me what yours are, right?
- Speaker #0
I'd love to. Do you want me to tell you now or later? Yeah.
- Speaker #1
Tell me now. Cause I'll contextualize it for you. Go ahead. Okay,
- Speaker #0
perfect. I'm an Aquarius sun.
- Speaker #1
That's right. I remember that.
- Speaker #0
A Cancer rising.
- Speaker #1
Nice.
- Speaker #0
And a Sagittarius moon.
- Speaker #1
Sag moon, Aquarius sun, Cancer rising. Got it. Okay. So the moon sign governs our factory settings. It's our kind of sense of emotional nature. It represents what you're born as, right? It's preconditions, pre-sentiments. You don't know why you're kind of hardwired this way, but you're just hardwired that way, right? So all things Sagittarius, the sense of vision, joy, optimism. sense of, you know, we can actually in this space of really dark times, collectively gather and problem solve and generate hope so that we can discover a path out of this, right? So you're born in that way. It's a fire sign. So you feel your emotions incredibly somatically, they might be cognitive, they could be deeply sentient. But when I see a person who has a fire sign moon, I encourage them to get into somatic psychology because they feel their feelings deeply in the body.
- Speaker #0
Yeah, I was somatic therapist. So that And I swear,
- Speaker #1
I like, I try not to Google because I don't want that to inform. Like, I just follow the direction. I did not know that. Yeah. Okay. Just want to acknowledge. Okay. And then you're becoming Aquarius in this lifetime. So the moon represents what you're born as. The sun represents what you're becoming. Right. So I had an Aquarius astrologer actually tell me we don't start to become our sun sign until our 30th birthday because we've been mastering and integrating the moon. most of our life. And then at 30, we're meant to integrate the wisdom of the moon sign into our sun sign. And it kind of becomes the star by which we're meant to follow. And we'll often honestly feel kind of a little bit out of reach. We're striving, we're learning to become that sign, right? And so then the rising sign, I just learned this from Christopher Renstrom, who wrote a book called Rise and Shine. And he really beautifully articulated all the different rising and sun combinations. The rising sign does cover the face of your chart. It's the way that you introduce yourself. It's the energy that arrives with you, whether you realize it or not. And he had this beautiful lens on it. He basically argues, and I'm still sitting with it, but it's becoming very true for me, that we sort of slip into it. We can kind of slip into the rising sign. It's like a glove that we put on, right? So you put on cancer, you put on a sense of coziness, of home, of curiosity around your culture and ancestry of origin, right? When anything feels domestic or if anything feels rooted in home and family, you are very much at peace and feel very connected there. And yeah, so people will greet you in that way. They'll often interpret your rising sign before anything else.
- Speaker #0
That's very true. Is that true for you? Very true.
- Speaker #1
Yeah. And the only thing I was doing was laughing at you in the Spanish steps. And like, that's so cancerizing because we're both Italian girls. I'm like, oh my God, look at her living. I can't believe she ordered a green salad. Oh, she just got lettuce. And I'm dying laughing thinking of you going. What the fuck is this, Giuseppe?
- Speaker #0
It was awful. Yeah, just for anyone who's confused right now, I just have to really recommend to you never order a green salad, anything labeled green salad in Italy. You will be brought chopped up lettuce, nothing else. They look at you like you're the most offensive person if you ask for a little bit of olive oil and lemon. I mean, how dare you insult the chef who just chopped up the lettuce and put it in a bowl?
- Speaker #1
Picasso, right, exactly. How dare you? Okay. And on that note, never order a latte because you'll just get a cup of milk, which I've seen American girls do. And I'm like, oh, rookie mistake. It's okay. I would do it too. But anyway, don't order a latte. Don't order a green salad in Italy. But yeah, it explains why you are curious about these things, right? I also think that the rising sign, and this is where Christopher and I differ, but you can always use them together. I do believe that the ruler of the rising sign, the planetary ruler, because every zodiac sign is ruled by a planet, is the person's chart ruler. So because you're a Cancer rising, that would then mean that the moon rules your entire astrology. So your moon in Sagittarius is incredibly important. Whatever aspects it's making to other planets, what house it's in. And then also on the contemporary sense, whatever the moon is up to astrologically, you'll want to know about it. Like we're going to have a lunar eclipse on November 8th and we have two or three a year. So you might feel incredibly activated on or around the lunar eclipse because it's a supercharged full moon. So when we know this, right, then what we can actually start to access back to creativity, back to discipline, back to a sense of spiritual ritual routine is thinking about what. does the divine have in store for me on a timing basis? Because then you start to align and accord your desires with what the universe wants for you. And then you'll just start dreaming bigger dreams and things just start happening at a right time, right place moment, because you're working with your ruling planet, or you're feeling more self-accepted in your moon sign, and you're striving to become Aquarius. And self-actualization cannot help but attract circumstances, situations, events, and relationships. that serve your highest level of self-actualization. So astrology is the story for that. And it's also a toolkit. It's so much for so many people. And it has fundamentally transformed my life and what seems to be the lives of others because it helps us feel accepted in who we are and then inspired in the decisions that we take from that acceptance.
- Speaker #0
So beautiful. I have a million questions. One that I got out of that because as creatives, we're always launching projects, putting new ideas out there. When you're launching a new project or a class or a podcast or something new that you're doing, do you look at both your chart and then the basically chart of the world and figure out what could be the best timing to bring this through?
- Speaker #1
Absolutely. Yeah. And I have certainly realized what happens when I don't listen to what the chart is suggesting. Oh, right. So yeah. And also, you know what I really loved about working with astrology is it will tell me my downtime. It will tell me when I need to rest. So for example, because you're a Cancer rising, Mars is retrograde in Gemini, which would situate, I believe, Mars retrograde in your 12th house, Lauren. So from now until January 12th, you might want to take your foot off the pedal a little bit and just go into a space of surrender and doing less. And because what it's going to bring up for you is when you do less, the universe says, you really believe in this or not? Because we got your back. But we want to see what happens when you just really kind of go into a space of surrender. Since when Mars will reenter cancer next spring and be in your first house, you'll be on fire. But it wants you from now until then to just rest, recharge. Aquarians, not even just Cancer Rising, but Aquarians have had a transformative two years. And so they might need a moment of just integration, reflection. what did I learn about myself? What behavior supports this learning? So that when Mars is conjunct your ascendant, so beginning a new two-year cycle for you, you're ready, you're strategic, and you're energized because you took the time to rest.
- Speaker #0
Well, that really lines up with a few plans I have. So that's good to hear, Colin.
- Speaker #1
Okay. Yes. And then just do your best to like, when you're in that space of like non-doing and you're not... buying into the white supremacist capitalist patriarchy that's telling you, you need to work and you need to do this. And a woman's role is right. When you're in that space of non-doing, just lean on your spiritual vision and say, there's something coming. I'm going to have unshakable faith and I don't have to worry about my bills getting paid or the people I need to meet. This is the time for rest. Let me listen to what the universe intends for me.
- Speaker #0
So when we get into that old way of thinking, that old patriarchal white supremacist way of thinking where we feel like who we are is what we do. And that's our value.
- Speaker #1
Yes.
- Speaker #0
How can we start to shed and lean into rest is my birthright. Rest is resistance. Honestly,
- Speaker #1
once again, I'm going to bring this up. It's action, right? But it's in those morning routines. Because the more I sit with this information on a consistent basis every morning, the less likely I am going to be at war with myself when I tell myself, take a break. Because I've just been sitting with the information I've integrated it, right? So again, it just goes back to, it's incredibly challenging. to take this information to our emotional nervous system without a spiritual routine. And that's why, of course, Miracle says, enlightenment begins like a journey without distance from the head to the heart. And so every morning we're asked to really think about how do I disenthrall and detach myself from what white supremacist capitalist patriarchy tells me is my value and just be with that every morning. And then sometimes, you know, you'll get that reflex of like, Like I just had it today, like, cause I did all my work yesterday. So I had all this free time this morning and Lauren, I was like, my God, what am I doing? I don't know. And then it just hit me like, it's okay to just sit, breathe and be. So again, be very intentional about those morning routines, those morning rituals to say, what have I learned? What have I unlearned? And how do I live from that learning on learning?
- Speaker #0
Beautiful.
- Speaker #1
Oh, thank you. Thank you. You're such a great space holder. You're such a great question asker. What a conversation. Who knew you should? Holy shit. Too soon. Am I allowed to joke about it? You're a comedian. Oh my God. No,
- Speaker #0
I love joking about everything. Okay. It's the only way I get through.
- Speaker #1
No, you're incredible at what you do. So I just have to say that.
- Speaker #0
That is so sweet. I mean, you're incredible at what you do. I'm obsessed with the way that your work. resonates. It's just, it is doing exactly what you want it to do. It really is. Oh,
- Speaker #1
wow. Thank you. You're a Sag moon, so I know you can't tell a lie.
- Speaker #0
I can't even fix my face anymore. I don't know what's good. Don't bother. I don't anymore.
- Speaker #1
It doesn't need to be fixed.
- Speaker #0
Thank you. Thank you. I feel very accepted right now.
- Speaker #1
You better be. Okay.
- Speaker #0
Okay. So how can we use astrology as a tool for building authenticity? Like, Where do we look to in our chart to... find our most authentic self. Okay. So same, same more. Like how do we look at the whole thing?
- Speaker #1
Right. Well, first of all, let's just acknowledge, you know, authenticity is a practice. It's not a state of being, it's a trait, not a state. Right. So once again, every morning, think about who do you want to be, blah, blah, blah. But then, you know, if you hire an astrologer who to the best of their capabilities and their lenses can tell the story of who you are to them. Like I can just speak, for example, when I had an astrologer. kind of helped me normalize my moon position. I felt incredibly encouraged to step into that authentic expression more often because she was basically like, yeah, if God wanted you to be softer, why were you born with a Capricorn moon? And it's true. I've definitely went a little off the rails. I can get a little aggressive sometimes in my tonality. Absolutely. But My chart is not here to major in nurturing and minor in challenging. It's here to major in challenging and minor in nurturing because sometimes people need to be told, get the fuck over yourself and do it now. Right. And that's my moon sign. And so when I was encouraged to step into that, I felt incredibly validated. And so that's what astrology can do is it just basically made me realize I don't have to bake. fucking cookies and cupcakes to people at night i had to sit them down to be like you want to talk and be real in this relationship autopsy about why you got left because we can do that you know and that's what i appreciate about astrology is it kind of tells people what their assignment is and then they realize oh without a doubt it assigns people like you you're an aquarius with that such moon cancer rising go explore belonging culture of origin and make your family heal
- Speaker #0
through your authentic truth telling okay i have to tell you too you know that i like I reconnected my family in Sicily after no one had talked for like 70 years.
- Speaker #1
I know I didn't fucking know that.
- Speaker #0
But just I want to like validate how dead on you are. My dad got a letter from his first cousin who, by the way, I didn't know that my grandpa left a brother there. My whole life I was told his older brother died on a boating accident. And so he came to America so he didn't have to be a fisherman. And I didn't know he had a brother. So two weeks before I'm leaving for Italy, my dad walks up to me. Hey, I got this letter. It's from 2009. Just never bothered to answer it. From our first cousin in Sicily, who I did not know existed. So he's like, go to this address when you get there.
- Speaker #1
Oh, my God.
- Speaker #0
So me and my boyfriend go to this address. Like, no one in this part of Sicily really speaks much English. It's not like a very English-speaking place. So I don't know if the taxi cab driver is taking us to some, like, you know, death spot, whatever. Right. We get there. Hostel 3. Could be. Could be. It wasn't. Thank God. We get there. Thank God. It was an apartment. By the grace of God, the name LaGrasso is on this buzzer. And I start buzzing it and buzzing it and buzzing it. And I'm like, what if they're not home? All these thoughts are going through my head. They come out onto the balcony and I go, hello, my name is Lauren LaGrasso. I think I'm your cousin. It's a younger guy who's like maybe a little older than me. And then a guy who looks a little older than my dad's age. And they look at each other and go, one moment. They start racing down the stairs. And I haven't even told this story of the podcast yet. They start racing down the stairs. They fling open the door. I show them the letter. It's them. We're hugging. We're kissing. We're crying.
- Speaker #1
Oh, my God.
- Speaker #0
It was the most transformative, beautiful experience of my whole life. And I know that holds the key to something I'm supposed to do. I don't know what it is yet. I'm still sitting with it because this happened in July, but it's still so intense for me. It's hard for me to even talk about it without crying because I just I want to go back there and be with them. And yeah, it's amazing that you're saying this because I do feel like my role in my family unit is to help everybody reconnect to their roots and to get back together and to also learn our lessons from the past, like learn our collective traumas that we've been carrying with ourselves and learn them and then heal them. and heal up the bloodline and down the bloodline.
- Speaker #1
Okay, Cancer Rising. Okay. The gospel according to Lauren, 100%. And I don't even know what possessed me to have said, like healing the family of origin story through truth telling. I mean, boom. And then you just shared a story with us on that. So then the question becomes, how could you, having just learned or heard me talk about your chart in your life without no prior knowledge, not be authentically true to your astrology? Like what would be the incentive? to act out of alignment or have a kind of personality chart discrepancy. What do we get out of that? Nothing.
- Speaker #0
Self-protection. That's it. And as we said,
- Speaker #1
are we really protected? No. Right. Are we really, which is not to say we don't have healthy boundaries, yada, yada, but it's just a matter of like, yeah, you gain nothing from that. And you know what? I can speak a little dramatically here because hello, Siamo Italiano, right? We're dramatic. When it comes down to it, the cancer cell is the cell in the body that disconnects from its natural intelligence and forgets. what it's there to do. And a lot of us have been infected with like a kind of spiritual malignancy. We've forgotten who we are and we disconnect from our natural intelligence rather than realizing we all have a particular role to fulfill. And I don't need to see or worry about what everybody else's role is. I just need to ask myself, am I rising to the occasion within my natal chart more often than not? And when I do that, I see myself a part of a cosmically ordered universe, a cosmically ordered relational system. When I don't, I see those consequences right away.
- Speaker #0
So Colin, I heard you talk about how you're a Capricorn stellium. Is it stellium or stellium?
- Speaker #1
Stellium. But let's call it stellio. I like that.
- Speaker #0
Stellio. So I am too. I have six planets in Capricorn.
- Speaker #1
Okay. Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.
- Speaker #0
Yeah. Let me see. I actually pulled it up so I could tell you.
- Speaker #1
Yeah.
- Speaker #0
I have, yeah, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Venus, Mercury. Wait, maybe that's five then. But it works. And then I have my moon and they're all in the sixth house and my moon's also in the sixth house. That's what I'm thinking of with six.
- Speaker #1
So. Right, right, right.
- Speaker #0
OK, so tell me what a stellium is like. What does this mean for us? Both of us, Capricorn stelliums. Like, how does this.
- Speaker #1
That we're bitches. Cold.
- Speaker #0
So bitchy.
- Speaker #1
No. So it depends on who you ask. But I believe that a stellium is three or more. Some astrologers say, no, four is the minimum. four or more planets configurations in one zodiac sign. So the chart has a specialty, right? And I've seen stelliums pretty frequently. They're definitely common, but it's just important to kind of like locate how does a stellium interact with your sun sign or et cetera, et cetera. But yeah, so it just means that our chart is largely textured by Capricorn rule things, right? So A commitment to mastery, a commitment to discipline, a sense of integrity, radical responsibility for our lives. If there's something I'm not happy with, there's something I'm doing to create this dysfunction. This sense of emotion regulation. I can be emotionally activated, but I don't have to react from this emotional activation. I can maintain calm. I can maintain connection. And I also just take responsibility for my life.
- Speaker #0
Oh, yes.
- Speaker #1
We try. Yeah.
- Speaker #0
So when you have more energy, like, okay, you know my big three, but then I have a lot more. from my point of view, like energy in Capricorn. Does that mean I'm more influenced by Capricorn than those big three? Are the big three still taking precedence?
- Speaker #1
Well, how about we look at it always as integration, not alternation, and never more or less.
- Speaker #0
Thank you for taking me back.
- Speaker #1
And listen, honey, rest assured, I do that shit all the time, right? I'm in the soup. I'll be like, oh my God, my Capricorn stellium is so important. It's like, ooh, that I'm a Gemini, you know, and I forget. So yeah, it's all about integration, not alternation. and it's about holding the whole story and then that's you know back to creativity as a central topic here right that's what's beautiful about looking at astrology as a creative lens on personal development because only you can express the story of that chart not me and then how do you creatively understand ways in which you integrate a capricorn stellium into your astrology you're meant to answer that question for the rest of your life right and isn't that it's inspiring it's it's generative it's It's possibility driven. So yeah, that's what I love utilizing astrology for is for people who feel existential despair and are overwhelmed by the amount of decisions they need to make and the choices they have to commit to when really astrology can just kind of ground them down and say, this is what your chart might intend and want for you. What would happen if you followed its direction?
- Speaker #0
So if there's someone listening right now who is- What up, bitch? What up, bitch? Hey, honey.
- Speaker #1
We went right into like airside fuckery. We did it in Capricorn. And then we fell into like easy breezy, beautiful cover girl air energy. I'm sorry. Go ahead.
- Speaker #0
We love being both. It's so good for us. That's right. That's right. So if there is somebody who's feeling that existential dread right now where they don't know where to go, they're feeling super lost. Where is a place or some places within their chart that they can look right now to ground them in direction and self-knowledge?
- Speaker #1
Great question. I would probably say the moon sign, just because your question said, what does one do when they're like overwhelmed? They're in a sense of, you know, anxiety or sadness or despair. You want to look at your moon sign. You want to ask what would it have you understand around your approach for emotional safety and then do it and then do it right. Like for you, for your Sag Moon, if you came to me as a client and were like, I'm just really concerned about what's happening and what's going on in my life, I would immediately ask you, what are you doing every day to move the energy in your body? What's some kind of cardiovascular, physical embodiment energy or strategy you can commit to? And is there through direct traveling or maybe even some learning, is there a place where you can discover new approaches and new possibility? because Saj feels happiest. When it's learning, when it's expanding, when it's discovering, when it's on a voyage, right? So I would say like, what would that look like for you? Where are you? What's going on? And how are you moving your energy through the body? And when you do that, the critical thinking returns. You're not in the amygdala meltdown, right? All of a sudden, the neocortex goes back online and helps you with critical functioning. And you move from the inner child to the wise adult. But if people want to know what's the first step, I would say, understand the story of your moon sign. and then do it. That's it.
- Speaker #0
So the inner child to the wise adult. We talk about the inner child a lot on the show because I do believe they hold the key to some creative answers. So many creative answers. But then there's also times when they start running the show and the adult needs to step in.
- Speaker #1
Okay.
- Speaker #0
Can we speak about this? What is the delineation? When is their wisdom necessary? And when do we need to say, quiet down, little one. I've got this under control.
- Speaker #1
Oh God, such a great question. I don't know if it can be reduced to like a single right answer, but I would say that the inner child is always there, whether we realize or not. I don't think the wise adult is always there, whether we realize it or not, you know?
- Speaker #0
She's at the bar.
- Speaker #1
Oh my God. Or like mine's taking a nap and just saying, fuck this, fuck that, fuck all of you. So I think honestly, just it's making space for the inner child and understanding maybe who it is, paint a picture of it. You know, a lot of teachers in this field. kind of have us develop a little bit of an avatar around it. Like how old is it? What are we wearing? Where are we? What grade are we in? And you can almost like kind of see. And then once we have a clear image, then all of a sudden what we'll realize is when we're in behaviors or internal conversations, we'll know when that child is taking the wheel when it shouldn't be. And then we'll kind of maybe do a quick little like visual meditation where like, for example, my wise adult will step forward and say, thank you so much for all you've done today, but stand behind me because you're safe with me now. I got it. It's okay. Relax.
- Speaker #0
Beautiful. You know? Okay. Since we are on the topic of creativity here, where in the chart do you look at when you're looking at somebody like and how they creatively express? Like I know you said my cancer rising was like a place where I could look to. Where else do we look to for creative expression?
- Speaker #1
There's no place in the chart where creativity isn't. Yes. I'm telling you, there is no, just like there's no place in the chart where like our relationships aren't, you know? There is no place in the chart where there isn't a creative dimension. Yeah, with out of the houses one through 12. What I would probably say, though, is the fifth house could be really helpful. So my friend, Alison Scott, she's an astrologer, and she has a book coming out called Conjuring the Muse pretty soon. I think it's either out already or very soon. And it's all about unlocking our creative potential in astrology. And she locates the fifth house, which might be like, what? But the fifth house in the natal chart. as a place to understand your kind of creative curriculum.
- Speaker #0
Ooh. So,
- Speaker #1
yeah.
- Speaker #0
I know we don't have much time, but the houses, this confuses me. Girl,
- Speaker #1
it confuses me and I'm in the industry. What the fuck?
- Speaker #0
Well, like what wisdom are the houses supposed to teach us? Like you have the sign, but then it's in this certain house. Like what should we be looking for for the house to teach us?
- Speaker #1
So each house corresponds to an environment or a central topic, right? And the zodiac sign that's on the cusp of that house governs one of the best approaches to help you unlock it. For example, the 10th house is the one associated with career in the highest sense, right? It's literally the highest point of the chart. So I would interpret the 10th house as our connection to the divine and how the connection to that divine helps us serve the ages really meaningfully. So it's true for everybody. Everybody has the 10th house, right?
- Speaker #0
Is that the midheaven that you're talking about? Yes,
- Speaker #1
the fuck it is. Okay. Yes, it is. And then. You want to look at what zodiac sign rules the 10th house. So for me, it's Taurus, which means that I am not bringing my values to career. And if I'm not helping people understand individual and relational security, my chart will not function at full capacity.
- Speaker #0
Okay.
- Speaker #1
Period. Right. So you'd want to look at what zodiac sign rules my 10th house. And then to like what planet rules that sign. We can get really advanced and go, well, planet rules that sign. What house is that in? Right. Because like Taurus rules my 10th house. Venus rules Taurus. My natal Venus is in my 11th house. So, of course. Right. So, of course. It really is. Now you take it.
- Speaker #0
Now you take it.
- Speaker #1
But it isn't that beautiful because that's really that's that's the way nature is.
- Speaker #0
Yeah.
- Speaker #1
That's the way we are, too. And of course, I became an astrologer through my relationships. I'm not self-made. I'm relationally made because Venus is in my 11th house. And it was typically women astrologers who helped me succeed Venus.
- Speaker #0
Wow.
- Speaker #1
Right. So once we know that, we can just make very different choices and understand personal insight in a really meaningful way.
- Speaker #0
And that's related to career, right? The 10th house. Yes.
- Speaker #1
Yes. And then the 7th house is romance and marriage, if that's something one wants, or intimacy and commitment.
- Speaker #0
Right. So definitely look that up. Is there any resource you like to learn about? Well, I know you've got classes and stuff, so let's give that a plug.
- Speaker #1
Oh, thank you. My Eclipse workshop. Yes, Yeah.
- Speaker #0
So let's give that a plug, but also just like to learn about this stuff. If we need like a general base of knowledge, where do you recommend for people to go to learn more about astrology?
- Speaker #1
You know what? I would probably recommend a reading. I love the internet and I think there's nothing like learning through interactive conversations with an expert. I mean, I'll never forget my first astrology reading. It was from an Italian-American woman named Maria DeSimone in Howard Beach, Queens. And I got cookies and cake and the whole thing. And I almost took a nap on her couch because I was so full from all the food. She shut down my throat. Okay. So I would recommend for them to really invest in a reading. I mean, there is nothing like dialogue, right? Because this is a relational experience. So why not learn relationally?
- Speaker #0
Gorgeous. Okay. I could ask you a million more questions. We have three minutes. So what? themes are happening astrologically right now that you think people need to know like i know you're saying right now is a good period for rest potentially yes yes what other themes do people need to know about like what things are happening and how should we let it inform our choices creatively and just as humans i'm going to say mars retrograde until january 12th is probably what we're going to be really present to and
- Speaker #1
how we need to communicate in and amongst conflict more effectively. I think we're very unprepared and undereducated and underskilled, all of us, around communication strategies and conflict. And we think that the absence of conflict means connection, but it's not true. It's actually researchers indicate relational stability in between conflict and repair. So in other words, you cannot get to stability but through conflict. And I think people really need to understand that. Because what's the first thing we want to do. We either want to vacate the premises. I'll show you Halloween. I'm ghosting right the fuck now. Okay. Or if you're like me, you go, oh, so you have a death wish and I'm going to kill you and hand your body to your mother. Great. Let's do it. You know, and I need to relax and other people need to show up to the party a little bit more, you know? So from there, if we normalize conflict and we try to communicate in conflict more effectively, I think we'll be in a very different space. Absolutely.
- Speaker #0
I think so many people get into conflict and they're like, oh my God, I'm going to die.
- Speaker #1
Yes. And because it's scary.
- Speaker #0
Because we need each other.
- Speaker #1
We need each other. Right. So in the presence of conflict, there's a sense of perceived isolation or rejection. And without each other, we do die. Loneliness is lethal. That's a valid fear, but it might not be happening right now. So can we just communicate a little bit more skillfully?
- Speaker #0
Yeah. Or even just saying, hey, I love you. And here's what I'm feeling.
- Speaker #1
Yeah. Oh my God. Leading with that. I'm not going anywhere, but let me just tell you what I got to say.
- Speaker #0
Yeah.
- Speaker #1
Beautiful. Okay,
- Speaker #0
final, final thing, because we just talked so much about Italian people. And I know I've got Italian friends, family, listeners. How does Italian culture, Catholic culture actually pair so beautifully with astrology?
- Speaker #1
Oh, my God. You know what, I'll tell you what, when I went there, I thought everybody's gonna be like, Oh, no, no, no, we don't talk about that. Right. But meanwhile, in Italy, there's a celebrated mainstream astrologer named Paolo Fox, who's like one of the most state like the journalistic staples of italy he's like the walter mercato of italy he's like this flamboyantly presumably queer person and people love learning from him and like astrology has some really good movement there and also in italy like we're surrounded by all these beautiful imagery of the mythological gods and goddesses which live on in us you
- Speaker #0
know yes the vatican is there and also the vatican has so much of that shit and the vatican i don't know if you saw my video on this. But it is very sexy. I'm sorry. God forgive me. I don't care. I left the Vatican horny.
- Speaker #1
I agree.
- Speaker #0
I was DTF after going to the Vatican. Well, because Michelangelo sculpted. Thank you.
- Speaker #1
Oh, my God. Go ahead. So many. So many penises.
- Speaker #0
There was something actually in St. Peter's Basilica that looked a lot like a vagina.
- Speaker #1
I probably have seen it. Yeah. And I was like,
- Speaker #0
I'm going to send you the video. I do the video on it.
- Speaker #1
Okay. I love Torni. I get it. No, I totally get it. And so maybe that's the Italian connection without a doubt. And then when I would go there, what was interesting is that like when I would ask them, di che signo sei? Which apparently means what sign are you? Right? They would always say like, oh, mi sole, my sun is in Aquario, but I have a cancro ascendente. I'm a cancer rising. And I'm like, you're doing a rising sign? They know they're rising signs and the sun signs off the top of their head. I'm like.
- Speaker #0
bravissimo italy bravissimo oh well i love you so much thank you for everything oh my god love you so much and i'm so grateful for you and uh i want to have you back like a million more times and just hang out let's do it just don't get hurt in the meantime please i'm gonna try okay i'm gonna try i think i'm done with that for now all right good well thank you for having me and i hope i hear from you soon okay well you will yeah are you better Thank you for listening and thanks to my guest, Colin Bedell. For more info on Colin, follow him at Queer Cosmos and visit his website, QueerCosmos.com, where you can book astrology readings with Colin as well as subscribe and get weekly horoscope updates. Also, be sure to check out his podcast, Good Risings, wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks to Rachel Fulton for helping edit this episode of Unleashed. You can follow her at Rachie Fulton. Thanks to Liz Full for the show's theme music. Follow her at Liz Full. And again, thank you. If you like what you heard today, remember to rate, review, and follow the show on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Share the show with a friend. Podcasts are really spread person to person. And post about it on social media. Tag me at Lauren LaGrasso and add on Leisure Intercreative and I will repost to share my gratitude. Also tag Colin at Queer Cosmos so he can share too. My wish for you this week is you look up your birth chart and find new ways to know, love, and trust yourself through it. I love you and believe in you. Talk with you next week.
