Dead and nameless, I slide as the shadows cast by the angry arms of the living folk. Dispersed by a sandstorm of staccato assertions—”I am…! I want…! I think…!”—I drift like a decibel, dissipate in the soot of spent images that rise as smoke in the projected light of the mind.

I hear my child-self crying inside a closet. Wrenching open the dream-door of solidified fear, I plunge in to rescue her. Pure blackness engulfs me. In the vast, dimensionless dark, I call out my own name….

On and on, the Universal Serpent whirs and chatters like a 16-millimeter film projector. Time becoming space like the mischievous smile playing on the lips of my doppelganger. Possible worlds flicker upon the Void’s foam, flashing their firefly seduction.

In the dead of Midnight, in the stillness between sensation, I have slipped the twin pillars of the Moon.

Chiron

1

When others suffer cruelty, I suffer:

One Mind poured into eggs of liquid shell

Makes sympathetic waves and not a buffer.

Amnesiatic gods

Engender hell.

2

Curious, unknowing,

My Beloved and I

Improvise love’s sacred music

Unheralded divinities haunt our bodies.

We revel in sudden songs

Uncanny and unfolding and unknown

In Silence of desire

Our native senses burst into life.

We worship with rapture

Witness wild and rugged joy

Journey into unfamiliar spaces

Live stories never told

Inhale supernal jasmine

Surrender limb and mind

To unfathomable Will.

In the Valley of Woodstock, Georgia

August 24, 2026 e.v.

Anno V^xii 11:32 pm ET

Sol in 1 Virgo, Luna in 27 Capricorn

Quote

“In other words, when the alchemist dies to the false ego and its attachment to transitory things, he or she experiences eternal Life in the flesh.”

–The Joy of Dissolution: Thelema, True Self, and the Ego Illusion, p. 76

Astrological Notes

Pluto is Universal power, which we should steward. However, at this stage of our evolution, most people project it outward—too many in a bid to control others.

Chiron is the sacred wound we incur when we manifest into duality below the Abyss.

Pluto is forming a square with Chiron now, becoming exact in July of 2028. We may feel the tension especially strongly on October 15, 2026, when Pluto stations direct in 3 degrees of Aquarius.

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

In this article:

• Let Form Be the Mother of Spirit!

• “On Venus Retrograding” by J. Edward Cornelius

• How to Work with This Venus Retrograde

• Astronomical Details (Brief)

• Please Share Your Experience

Let Form Be the Mother of Spirit!

Soon a window opens: Venus Retrograde. This window will challenge each of us to channel our passions toward the intent for which we incarnated.

We will be pushed to leverage desire to slingshot ourselves toward our chosen end—so often lost among the transitory dramas.

During any retrograde, the energies augured by that planet tend to operate internally. So, during this upcoming period, Venus will be whispering to each of us about our “loves” and whether or not we pursue them toward a union with the highest, Unknowable face of self.

Venus spontaneously inspires desire, love, and pleasure. In Her retrograde, She asks, “To what end?”

Venus corresponds to the Qabalistic sphere of Netzach-7—VICTORY—on the Right-Hand pillar of returning to our Source. Thus, she invites passionate devotion to our inner divinity—our own Star—through what attracts and inspires us.

Every beautiful and desirable thing or person may serve as a Temple to Venus and, thence, as a gateway to the Goddess of the Night Sky. What if we surrendered to love, desire, and beauty in a rapture of awe?

“Invoke me under my stars! Love is the law, love under will.” --L, I:57

My late spiritual Teacher, J. Edward Cornelius (1951-2023), wrote the following on Venus retrograde. Read between its lines. Perhaps, in doing so, you can appreciate the value of balancing your pursuit of Beauty with your total surrender to inner Divinity.

On Venus Retrograding

by J. Edward Cornelius

The symbol Rx in an astrological chart refers to an apparent retrograde motion of a planet. On a macrocosmic level the planet Venus “retrogrades” about every two years or so, which makes it one of the rarer astrological events. The outer planets retrograde every year and as for Mercury, it can retrograde a couple of times every year. But what does a retrograde mean?

We tend to think that all our natal planet’s energies are always directed toward outward expression, but … when the planet is retrograde … that part of the energy is now directed inward, away from the world. Such qualities often give us a deeper sensitivity in regards to the planet and the house in which it falls.

Some astrologers believe that a retrograde implies a form of unconscious Karma that comes forward from childhood or from a previous incarnation as if to imply unfinished business requiring that we focus inward in order to resolve these issues. But, more often than not, karmic astrologers consider these “past circumstances” as unfinished “negatives” rather than a positive foundation that our present incarnation can use as a springboard to achieve our goals.

Everything that manifests below the Abyss is balanced in duality—both Yin or Yang, which includes retrogrades.” (J. Edward Cornelius, Aletheia: Astrology in the New Aeon for Thelemites, 2011, p. 124-125)

Oddly, Venus retrogrades for 40 days and 40 nights like Jesus who was tempted by Satan in the wilderness for forty days, or like Parzival who wandered in the wilderness and was later tempted by Kundry^[2]. Richard Wagner equates Kundry with Lucifer, whose name means light-bringer and refers to Venus in her morning star phase.

The 40-day period of Venus retrograding^[3] from astrological point of view can be seen as a period in which all women are tested in their personal relationships with others either toward personal sexual gratification or higher purposes. It is a time when women in particular should examine their values in relationship to the Laws of their Star, not those dictated by men or even Klingsor’s^[4], and determine whether or not they have successfully balanced the Warrior archetype of a Scarlet Woman with the “Goddess of Love” in a way that helps them more effectively as an avatar^[5].

In this light, like the retrograde implies, a woman must go within or focus more on rising upward into the branches of the Tree in order to resume her role as a High Priestess of the Holy Grail in 3-Binah (בינה). If she seeks only fleshy gratifications on 10-Malkuth (מלכות) then she must ask the hard question: “Why is the role of a Scarlet Woman on the Right Hand Pillar of Ascending Influences?”

[end of piece by Cornelius]

How to Work with This Venus Retrograde

Even though women, artists, and feminine folk tend to experience Venus’ energies more personally than do others, the irruption of love and intense beauty during a Venus retrograde period provokes a crisis of “what really matters” in every human being.

I have suggestions for you:

1. Check what was happening in your life from October 5 through November 16 of 2018. During that time, Venus retrograded through almost the same degrees of Scorpio and Libra. Thus, it’s a good bet that the same themes will emerge this time around.

2. When Venus begins Her retrograde in Scorpio (on October 3, 2026), ruthlessly prioritize the burning loves over the lukewarm ones. Focus intensely on channeling your lusts toward your original purpose for coming here. Venus in Scorpio does not achieve harmony as easily here as in the opposite sign of Taurus, which She rules. This is because Scorpio’s Mars / Pluto rulers are better suited for aggression and power-plays than for sharing. Yet the tension created by Venus’ trip through the underworld can bring your true motivations to light. If you are paying attention, the stress can be worth the self-knowledge.

3. When Venus retrogrades into Libra (a sign She rules) on October 26, recognize your beloved as the face of your Hidden God or Goddess. Find harmony with all phenomena, whether loathsome or appealing to you.

4. As with any transit, the potential power of this Venus retrograde depends on how it interacts with your natal chart. Check which houses it will move through; those symbolize the areas of your life in which these tests will arrive. If you have planets in the path of Venus retrograde, note how tests of your spiritual devotion might be inflected through their symbolism. As well, see if retrograding Venus will make any aspects (e.g. Opposition, Trine, Sextile, or Square) to other natal planets. If you have Venus retrograde natally, you may experience a return to the roots of your values.

5. Take notes!

Astronomical Details

During this retrograde, Venus will be transitioning from Evening Star phase to her Morning Star phase. Beginning in mid-September, She will sink toward the West, disappearing entirely around October 14, make her inferior conjunction with the Life-giving Sun on October 23 (the cazimi), and emerge as a Morning Star in the East on October 29. After that, she will remain remain combust (invisible beneath the Sun’s rays) until mid-November, when she can finally be spotted in the sky before sunrise.

Please Share Your Experience

What have you noticed during Venus Retrogrades?

Leave a comment

Love is the law, love under will.

^[1] In other words, on August 31, Venus (direct) will first enter the degrees of Libra to which she will later retrograde. At that time, the approach of the retrograde may begin to be felt or worked with, or any associated events may be foreshadowed.

^[2] The archetypal Woman in Wagner’s drama.

^[3] More or less. -EJ

^[4] In Wagner’s drama, the evil magician who makes the woman Kundry his puppet or slave until she aligns herself with the higher masculine principle, symbolized by Parzival.

^[5] An avatar is one who channels divinity—in this context, one’s own inner divinity, or the Universal Will. A Scarlet Woman is a particular spiritual office within the religion of Thelema.

Erica's True Will Astrology Services

Your Creative Potential

Having incarnated as a human affords you a special opportunity—namely, to wield the lightning of divine creation. This is what it means to do your True Will. Will you accept? Bombarded daily with spirit-destroying ideology, you can still reclaim your power. The key: when you move from the ground of your own being, the Divine Will is done through you. Know Thyself.

The Will is the fiery Creative Force behind everything manifested. It is Universal. Operating in the realm of pure potential, in what Qabalists call “above the Abyss,” the Will is something you channel in increasing purity as you open up more and more to your Creative potential.

The current “basket” alignment between Neptune in Aries, Uranus in Gemini, Jupiter in Leo, and Pluto in Aquarius becomes exact at 4 degrees between July 18 and 21^st, 2026. On a mundane level, this formation augurs a major, collective shift—one that’s viewed variously by various astrologers. Broadly, the collective shift has to do with contests over our changing relationship to technology and communications, as well as the need to revitalize our social order. The old ways of doing things are breaking down under great pressure. Obviously, while change will continue to occur rapidly, we aren’t going to wake up on July 22 in an unrecognizable world. We’ll be working through the implications for a long time to come. In my view, we’re grappling--albeit with a new intensity--with issues that we’ve been confronting for a long time now (especially since the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in December 2020): how do we use technology without losing our souls (or, rather, without forfeiting the opportunity to grow souls). How do we reconnect with our divinity and power under conditions of intensifying alienation, exploitation, knowledge fragmentation, and desacralization?

Regardless of how you interpret the collective shift taking place, what can you do with it in your personal, natal chart? Obviously, you can do more with it if you have natal planets or sensitive points between 3 and 5 degrees of any sign. I’ll talk more about that in a minute. Let me begin with what everyone can do.

The “basket” is framed by an opposition between Jupiter at 4 degrees Leo and Pluto at 4 degrees Aquarius. In which houses of your natal chart are these located? Let’s talk about the choice you have to make in regard to these two areas of your life. (See the graphic at the bottom of this post for a review of which areas of your life each of the various houses symbolizes.)

Jupiter Opposite Pluto: Principles vs. Power

Jupiter correlates to the 4^th Qabalistic sphere on the Tree of Life (Chesed—Mercy). Since this major alignment takes place between 4 planets at 4 degrees of their signs, Jupiter (Chesed-4) sounds the keynote of this basket’s symbolism.

Jupiter symbolizes your highest ideals. It invites you to exercise spiritual leadership by living according to the principles that align with your deepest values. To the extent that you are able to hold yourself to your own highest standards, the divine order dictated by the Will is able to manifest throughout the four corners of your Universe. Dare to step up.

In Leo (which it entered June 30, 2026), Jupiter signifies regal leadership. As you live according to your highest principles, know that you rule your own Universe. No one else does. So, rule over your lesser impulses. Set a good example for those inferior complexes within you. Discipline the lesser parts of you as and how necessary. Bear yourself with dignity.

Look at the house in which 4 degrees of Leo falls in your natal chart. This symbolizes the matters over which you may have opportunities to exercise regal leadership. Think about what this could look like in your life. What kinds of challenges might you face in that arena? What kinds of strengths do you have there?

Pluto opposing Jupiter means there can be a tug-of-war between your highest principles and what Pluto symbolizes—which is Power. Because the “opponent” (Pluto) is an outer planet, it can show up as a shadow figure. For example, it can show up as someone or something that seems to exercise power against you.

Step one is to refuse to demonize whomever or whatever any seeming challenger looks like. Recognize the same force or impulse within yourself. Own it. Pluto, being the Underworld God, tends to be a projection screen for our own rejected features, because the ego fears death. It tries to “reify,” or stabilize, objects. However, we are living in times of increasingly rapid change.

Step two is more profound. It is to recognize that Pluto’s Power is Universal and to welcome it as such. Pluto is the Great Kundalini Serpent, belonging to no one. It moves all Desire and cares nothing for results. As such, it demands great respect and reverence. Pluto’s Power can either be stewarded or abused, but it cannot be owned. So, Pluto immediately asks you, “Are you abusing Power in any way?” You can’t control what others do, but you can take a hard look inside yourself and take responsibility.

Pluto in Aquarius asks whether Power is wielded to benefit all humanity or just a few. In which house does 4 degrees Aquarius occur in your birth chart? This is the arena of life in which opportunities to grapple with this question might present themselves. It might be helpful to distinguish between taking responsibility for your attitudes and actions versus controlling the outcomes. When dealing with collective planets such as Pluto, we often cannot control outcomes. And yet we can own our responses—inner and outer—to those much larger currents. How we respond defines our character and shapes our soul. It makes us who we are.

The seeming opposition between your highest principles (Jupiter) and Power (Pluto) resolves into a higher Unity once you see how both are equally dictated by the Will. If you see a conflict, your mind is creating that. Granted, other people may be abusing power, in conflict with your ideals. However, due to pebbles that you once threw into the pond, perhaps long ago, they ripple back upon you, showing up in your life to give you an opportunity to respond in accord with your deepest principles. In doing so, you forge your soul in Unity. This is why it’s important to receive Pluto’s representative as a mirror. If you recognize your own image in the mirror-person or circumstance, yet refuse to match the ignorance, you begin to heal the world.

Neptune and Uranus

Jupiter and Pluto sextile and trine the other two planets of this alignment, Neptune and Uranus, which sextile one another. Squinting, this means that the rest of the alignment could provide lessons that affirm the ego more than those of the opposition we’ve just talked about. Still, outer planets always offer challenges.1

Neptune symbolizes spiritual softening of the ego—the realization that All is One / None. However, it equally symbolizes illusion, delusion, deception, and madness. Neptune in Aries challenges you to take bold, decisive action in alignment with Spirit. But how pure are you in doing so? Think about religious fundamentalists who kill and harm based on their convictions. They believe themselves perfectly innocent and justified. Don’t fall into that trap. The test is whether you allow others the same freedom that you require. If the ends seem to justify the means, deeply suspect your own motives. It’s so very easy to become what you hate. Look around the world and see where that might be happening. Can you act decisively yet from a place of compassion even when you encounter terrible ignorance? This is what Neptune in Aries is demanding of you. Neptune is retrograde (appearing to move backwards) until almost the end of 2026. This is time of self-questioning and inner trials. Take the opportunity to be as honest with yourself as possible.

In what house of your birth chart does 4 degree Aries occur? That’s the area of life in which you must act boldly on behalf of “All-is-One” from a place of compassion.

Uranus symbolizes the Will itself striking like lightning and producing rapid, unexpected change. It doesn’t care about your comfort. Yet, in an inexplicable, alien way, it “knows best” in that it works for the Will. In Gemini, it tends to take the form of surprising communications, close encounters, disturbances and breakthroughs in technical matters, new information or a new relationship to information, and educational opportunities or breakdowns.

Uranus in Gemini asks you to recognize any startling changes (pleasant or unpleasant) in these matters as divine and to respond accordingly. Where it manifests in your life, you are invited to recognize a Will beyond that of your ego. How do you work positively in regard to it?

In what house does 4 degrees Gemini fall in your birth chart? That is the area of your life in which to expect the unexpected and contemplate it as Will.

Remember, these outer planets (Uranus, Neptune, Pluto) spend many years in signs and houses. Thus, this alignment reveals a landscape that you are asked to explore for years to come as you embrace yourself as a unique vessel of divine creation.

How to Interpret Natal Planets or Points at 3-5 Degrees of Any Sign During This Alignment

Do you have planets or sensitive points (such as one of the four “angles”—example, the Ascendant—or a Lot) at 4 degrees in your birth chart? If so, perhaps investigate the strongest angular relationship (aspect) that it makes to one of the planets making up the “basket.” What type of relationship does that aspect (conjunction, square, trine, sextile, opposition) set up between your natal planet and one of these transiting planets? That indicates the energy with which that planet (what it symbolizes in your life) will be triggered in relation to the transiting planet that it touches. Depending on what house that natal planet falls in, that area of life may well come to prominence during this time. What might that look like for you? Keep a journal about what actually occurs and / or how it feels.

Go Insane or Go Within

Today, ethical and practical crises swirl around our increasingly tech-centered world. How do we navigate the rise of AI, steep challenges to our global environment and public health, and the growing ease with which special interests manipulate the masses through disinformation? As Martin Luther King Jr. observed, “Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power.”¹ Welcome to the Aquarian Age!

From a spiritual perspective, our crises challenge each of us to develop our internal resources so they become equal to our outer ones. Emerging from the second half of the Piscean Age, we have grown up in a world almost entirely externally focused. We witness the worship of facts. Most of us suckle at the teat of the factory-farmed, 24-hour-a-day news cycle.

Too often now, we encounter “spirituality” as a quaint relic from a superstitious past or as a pre-digested body of beliefs to which everyone must conform. In a world in which structures seem to melt away almost as soon as they arise, each of us faces a choice: go insane or go within. Each of us must discover the unique ground of our individual self.

Today, each of us needs to accept responsibility for our divine creative power and to embrace our earthly vessel. Oddly, the shores of our body are as foreign to most of us as the deepest, oceanic reaches of our soul. As Carl Jung notes, “[W]e are still under the influence of the first fish [of the Pisces constellation], and have not yet accepted the earth, we are like spirits hovering over the Earth and above ourselves.”²

As Aquarian-Age people, we must pour out the waters of life equally on our rivers (internal life) and on our land (external life). One of the best guides for doing so—whether we are astrological experts or rank beginners—is our birth chart.

Astrology Can Reveal Your Embodied Divinity

It might seem hard to believe that the arrangement of planets when you took your first breath has anything to do with you. After all, most of us have been trained since birth to think only in terms of physical causality, to ask why something happens from a linear standpoint. Clearly, from that perspective, the planets have almost nothing to do with you.

However, a holistic way of thinking—“thinking in fields”³—suggests otherwise. When you think this other way, you approach phenomena with an entirely different question: “[W]hat likes to happen together in a meaningful way in the same moment?”⁴ And, in particular, what happens when you unite a specific complex of events by asking about their meaning? When you ask this question, you create. You are engaging both the passive and the active side of divine creation; you are doing what is known as divination.

When you divine using astrology, you spawn meaningful events by marking out the beginning of whatever you are investigating—including your own lifetime. Although astrology can be used to predict external events with surprising accuracy, my interest here is in how it aids the inner, spiritual development.

Can astrology help you become strong, even unshakeable, in the face of momentous external forces? Can it assist you in doing what you came here to do? If you approach it rightly, the answer is “yes.”

Astrology, if you approach it correctly, reveals the meaning of your entire lifetime —your True Will. True Will is a term from the Western esoteric philosophy of Thelema (which means Will), but it resonates with spiritual seekers from many backgrounds.

In a nutshell, your True Will is the Universal Will as you alone have the potential to channel it through the Truth of your incarnation. Let me break that down.

From a True-Will perspective, two intertwined aspects of divinity operate at the core (sacred center) of your embodied self: Universal Will and Truth.

• The Universal Will⁵ is the unmanifested, divine creative Force. The Will fathers all of creation. You participate in this divine Force at your core. Just as the sun energizes all life on planet Earth, the undifferentiated Will Force energizes the continual coming-to-be and passing-away of the entire universe and all the phenomena within it. Nothing ever stands still.

• Truth⁶ (with a capital-T) is the possibility of Form. Truth mothers all of creation by making it possible for anything to manifest at all. You participate in this divine, potential Form through your essential structure, which is symbolized by your astrological birth chart. Yes, your birth chart is an artifact of perfection. All the secrets of how you chose to channel the Universal Will into manifestation lie within it.

View your birth chart as an ideal of divine creation through form. In doing so, you can grasp how your authentically-lived lifetime is necessary for the whole cosmos. When you live your lifetime authentically, stripping away all other “oughts” and “shoulds,” divine creation happens naturally.

Three Guidelines for Reading True Will in Your Birth Chart

Even if you study only one feature of your birth chart—say, your Sun or your lunar nodes—you can begin to understand your life’s unique importance from a cosmic perspective. To do so, follow these three guidelines:

1) Assume that your birth chart symbolizes an essentially perfect vehicle for the Will. You can think of its holistic meaning as your original, divine intent for taking your incarnation. (This, of course, does not mean you won’t go through some sh*t! The assumption has nothing to do with your conscious self’s preferences.)

Call your True Will your mission, your cosmic function, or even just the sum-total of experiences you have chosen so you can rebalance your soul. But remember, you are a microcosm of the universe. “As Above, So Below.” To whatever degree you come into alignment with your chart, to that extent you heal the whole universe. You matter.

2) Second, approach your chart, not as a description of you, but as your Law. Think of it as your personal set of “Thou Shalts” and “Thou Shalt Nots.” Meanwhile, always remember that every human (not just you) is a star.⁷

There is a saying in Thelema: “Let everyone else do their Will before I do mine.” This means that each of us should bend over backwards not to interfere with others’ choices whenever possible. Another saying is, “When two stars collide, one of them is out of orbit.” Avoid needless conflict while asserting your absolute right to live your lifetime authentically.

3) Lastly, recognize yourself as numerically One with all you encounter. Everyone and everything is an unknowable face of your true, unmanifested Self. Recognize yourself as identical with all others in being ever-changing vessels of the Will. Again, every human is a star.

Leave a comment

NOTES

1 Martin Luther King Jr., Strength to Love, Fortress Press, 2010, p. 73.

2 C. G. Jung, “27 January 1932,” “Visions I,” in Jung on Astrology, selected and introduced by Safron Rossi and Keiron Le Grice, Routledge, 2018, p. 104.

3 Marie-Louise von Franz, On Divination and Synchronicity: The Psychology of Meaningful Chance, Inner City Books, 1980, p. 8.

4 Ibid.

5 On the Qabalistic Tree of Life, the Universal Will resides in the sphere of Chokhmah-2. This corresponds to the planet Uranus in the macrocosm.

6 On the Qabalistic Tree of Life, the Truth resides in the sphere of Binah-3. This corresponds to the planet Saturn in the macrocosm.

7 The Book of the Law, I:3: “Every man and every woman is a star.”

• Image Credit for brightly colored figure: Aleister Crowley

• Image Credit for 7-pointed Star: Tomruen - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37970223

“For I am perfect, being Not; and my number is nine by the fools; but with the just I am eight, and one in eight: Which is vital, for I am none indeed.”

—The Book of the Law, II:13

Through her documentary film Star Cash, writer / director Hayley Garrigus weaves a tale of the extreme tensions characterizing today’s world. How do we as human beings succeed or fail in navigating their dramatic disjunctures? Wielding a highly personal and vulnerable lens, she focuses her tale on the little-known intersection between astrology and financial market analysis. Incorporating stunning graphics and visual effects by Nathan Boey and a haunting soundtrack by Jake Nadrich, Garrigus succeeds in illuminating contemporary crises of fear versus confidence, uncertainty versus predictability, and fate versus free will in a world on the edge.

Garrigus introduces the main theme of Star Cash in her home-movie-like opening sequence, voiced over in an Ira-Glass-inspired, anecdotal style. There she recounts how, while driving back from swim practice, her father used to tease that the moon was following them. Garrigus says that she didn’t want the moon to know where she lived. In recalling this simple memory, the filmmaker exemplifies our anxiety-provoking paradox: we, as technology-obsessed moderns, yearn for total control over our lives yet ache to connect with an elusive sense of meaning. In finding the courage “to film the moon,” Garrigus ritualizes her own journey from obsessing over validation to surrendering to her destiny.

The film’s narrative structure comprises a patchwork of Garrigus’ interviews of financial analysts, algorithm developers, historians, and astrologers—prominently including financial astrologers. Often these categories overlap. The viewpoints presented often do not. Sometimes astrology is portrayed as a predictive science so powerfully profound that if its secrets were known, the financial markets would collapse. Other times, it is portrayed as the key mystical art of the cosmos and its cycles. The motivations of the protagonists are equally varied. Some care deeply about numbers and prediction. Others, about getting rich. Still others, about understanding the human condition. Driving this disparate narrative is Garrigus’ own quest for personal meaning. As a linear thinker and philosopher, I struggled a bit with the catch-as-catch-can approach to the film’s profound topics. Is the film about Garrigus’ journey to free herself from personal hang-ups or is it about the unthinkable borderlands of modern life that are highlighted by astrology and its struggle for respectability? The answer, of course, is yes. I suspect other viewers will have fewer problems than I did with this aspect of the film. Most people—including me—will enjoy the charisma, passion, and uniqueness of the many interviewees.

One narrative choice I greatly appreciated was the prominent and intimate dialogue between Garrigus and astrologer Anne Ortelee. Garrigus interviews the wise and maternal Ortelee at her home and seems to be a long-time client. At one moment, after a particularly frenetic visual and auditory sequence about our rapidly changing world, the film descends into quiet as we linger on the image of Ortelee simply floating in her building’s outdoor pool. Emotionally, at that moment, I land safely in the arms of the Mystery. Ortelee, with her Pisces Moon conjunct her Ascendant, gives a beneficent face to the moon and its promise that we are, indeed, a part of something much larger.

—Erica Johnson, Astrologer

Star Cash moves to streaming services on May 1, 2026. I am not an affiliate.

Share

Leave a comment