As an expert astrologer, I obviously love astrology, but I think we’ve gotten a little lost in how we use it. Too often, we treat transits like predictions instead of invitations. We want astrology to tell us what will happen, when its real gift is helping us understand ourselves more deeply. That’s a much more interesting and useful conversation. So, let’s talk about why astrology works best as a mirror, not a crystal ball.
Thousands of years ago, humans looked up at the sky and created meaning. Clusters of stars were denoted “constellations,” and these constellations represented different seasons of life: Aries as the start of spring, Cancer as the start of summer, Libra as the start of fall, and Capricorn as the start of winter. These ancient humans split the sky into 12 dedicated sections for each zodiac sign, and again for each “house” of life. They mapped the signs, the houses, the planets, and their movement as a way to understand their own lives here on Earth.
The ingredients of a Birth Chart — planets, signs, and houses — are archetypal. They are entities with symbolic meaning that we (astrologers, cosmic humans, spiritual girlies) interpret to glean a deeper understanding of patterns, themes, and energies shaping a person, relationship, or moment in time.
Archetypes are metaphors for specific prototypes of characters, personality types, or behavior patterns, and have many ways they can manifest in a person’s actual life.
For example, the Moon represents the Mother archetype- the moon doesn’t just represent your actual mother (which it does), but it also represents your childhood, your sense of safety, how you experience your emotions, and how you nurture others. We can be “mothering” many things: children, pets, projects, and creations.
The planets, signs, and houses don’t run our lives. We live life, making our own decisions and choices, with the sky acting as a mirror for the archetypes coming alive at every moment.
The transits, aka the current sky, still give us a fantastic framework for the energy we are existing through, but it’s up to us to work with that energy. For example, let’s say Mars is moving through your 7th house of relationships. The archetype of Mars is the Warrior/the god of war, so you might jump to a conclusion: uh oh, my partner and I are going to break up, or at the very least have a really hard few weeks with lots of fighting.
While that scenario could happen, this transit could also be a mirror for the below:
You utilize the energetic/motivational aspect of Mars to be more intentional in dating, pursuing people instead of waiting to be chosen.
You cut ties with a business partner who has been taking advantage of you.
You feel extra passion (Mars=heat) in your relationship and have a heightened romantic desire.
You decide to take up boxing (Mars=Martial Arts) with a friend, and that becomes your “thing.”
You are super motivated to network and make a ton of new professional connections with coffee chats and informational calls.
So you might be thinking, wait, so if this transit can mean all these different things, can astrology even be accurate at all?
The answer is yes, but with one caveat: astrology requires context.
The thing that popular astrology apps are missing is context into YOUR life: how the archetypes of your birth chart actually manifest in your life, the things that you are focusing on at the moment, and your relationship to the archetypal energy at work.
After all, where our focus goes, the energy flows. Mars may be going through your 7th house, but the context in your life matters greatly on what you actually do with that transit. Without this information about you & your life, how could any algorithm or even person help you make sense of the cosmic moment- past, present, or future?
As an astrologer, my biggest problem with astrology apps is that they feel like generalized fortune cookies without any personal context, making the content entertaining, yet totally inactionable. I often get frantic texts from friends about what astrology apps say will happen to them- an actual example is when my best friend was in tears because she got a push notification from a popular astrology app that will not be named telling them to “wear green today,” and they were wearing a red sweater, and their long-distance boyfriend just called them and dumped them. “Would this not have happened if I wore green instead?” I mean… huh?!
So when I heard there was an opportunity to bring in this missing piece — life context — into this new astrology app called Lora, I knew that there was hope for integrating the ancient art of astrology into your increasingly technological world. With Pluto in Aquarius and Uranus in Gemini, everything is increasingly algorithm-ed and built to get our attention, for better or for worse. But in the spirit of archetypes, we can also use these transits to bring accurate astrology into the technology age and learn to communicate astrology differently. At Lora, we’re using the energy of these transits to build something that actually works.
I joined the team at Lora back in January, and we’ve been heads down building the future of astrology with context. We have a beta version, and we are ready to open it up to a small group of people for testing. If you’re like me and are looking for a better astrology product that actually works with you, sign up to be a beta tester so you can work with your astrology in a new way. <3
Every week, we spotlight incredible spiritual practitioners, and we’re so excited to introduce you to expert Tarot reader and astrologer, Jacqueline- Muse of Whimsy!
Lora: Tell us a bit about you and your practice.
Jacqueline: Hi, Lora community! Super excited to introduce myself as Jacqueline, owner of Muse Of Whimsy (which is officially an LLC as of 2026), and a spiritual practitioner for both Tarot and Astrology on Lora! I also do events and mini seminars on ritual practice, tarot, and astrology 101.
My spirituality journey has been offline until recently, and I’m glad to finally open up those doors for others to see into my personal practice. I felt very connected to the divine from a young age, I just didn’t realize it was calling me to witchcraft or helping others through spirituality - growing up catholic, I now love to help others weave their own path, as there’s no “right” or “wrong” way to discover what you are called to, energetically / spiritually. I feel a lot more aligned when practicing in truth and authenticity, even if it means wading through the uncomfortable bits of healing or transmuting & teaching others about their own power
Lora: What moment or realization made astrology and/or tarot “click” for you in a real, lived way?
Jacqueline: I was interested in tarot from a cultural standpoint when I first got my deck randomly at an Urban Outfitters, almost 9 years ago. When I started to read my cards and introduce myself to this part of witchcraft/divination, I had a moment where I was like “oh… this isn’t just a ‘trendy’ thing anymore, this is more than me being agnostic” - from there I became immersed in researching, learning all that I could about divination tools, and through that came astrology and learning about witchcraft.
When I listened to Margot Adler’s Drawing Down the Moon for the first time on audiobook, a quote from the preface made me cry: “Since Pagans are a very diverse group, it is wrong to say all Pagans believe this or that, but here are some beliefs that many people in this book share: The world is holy. Nature is holy. The body is holy. Sexuality is holy. The imagination is holy. Divinity is immanent in nature; it is within you as well as without. Most spiritual paths ultimately lead people to the understanding of their own connection to the divine. While human beings are often cut off from experiencing the deep and ever-present connection between themselves and the universe, that connection can often be regained through ceremony and community. The energy you put out into the world comes back.”
Because in my life, I’d never felt so seen in my spirituality than in that moment. Since then, I’ve been growing, learning as a student, and now finally teaching others how to find that sense of home within themselves.
Lora: What’s something most people misunderstand about astrology and tarot that you’re always gently correcting?
Jacqueline: I view divination as a mirror, and not a prediction. Sometimes that can be hard for individuals to grasp, especially when something can resonate so clearly in a reading. But just because I pointed something out that you hadn’t seen before doesn’t mean it wasn’t there prior to our session; it just means that I’m bringing another set of eyes to the table.
Additionally, truths are really hard to grasp sometimes, and tarot doesn’t love to give “yes” or “no” answers to questions (usually). A good example of this that I give in readings is: You might want to find your soulmate - great! But asking where / what time you’re going to meet them is going to have the deck turn that question back around at you. It might say, “Are you ready to meet your soulmate right now? What do you still have to work on in order to be vulnerable with your potential other half?”
Lora: What’s a recurring life theme you see in your readings right now (love, career pivots, endings, rebirth, boundaries), and how do you help people work with it instead of resisting it?
Jacqueline: One theme I’m seeing recently, both in my own life and others, is “you are more powerful than you give yourself credit for”. Sometimes, especially within the times we live in, we can feel hopeless or lost. These are definitely normal feelings, as there’s a TON that’s going on. Both within the world physically and through the cosmos. But narratives take time to shift. Feeling like you are hopeless when you have tools at your disposal that weren’t there before, as we grow, we realize our old coping mechanisms don’t work anymore.
As we feel that, we also don’t know which way to turn, which can create a stuck loop/decision paralysis when trying to move into a new chapter. I’ve been there many times! So nothing to be ashamed of - I love to help others see that they not only have choices, but that life can be full of things that you actually enjoy doing/add a bit of whimsy in your healing journey.
Lora: When someone is trying to understand their love life more deeply, where do you guide them to look first? What parts of the chart, energy, or inner patterns tend to reveal the most?
Jacqueline: In Astrology, it’s easy to see what might be in their 5th house or where Venus might be in their chart. That being said, I also like to look at the first house when talking about love life. It’s important for people to know how their ego might show up in relationships, and/or if they feel insecure about themselves. They might need to work on defining their own sense of self, or simmering down that ego (Leo rising here, so me lol), in order to find a stable life partner. Also, the third house, or finding mercury in their chart, is going to be helpful information in order to see how your communication style fits with your partner’s - current or future.
Book a Session with Jacqueline 🪐
Lora hosts free wellness, spirituality, and “woo woo” events IRL and virtually every month. Here’s a roundup of some upcoming events- we hope to see you there!
Thursday, June 25th: We’re hosting a live podcast recording/ discussion in NYC with Lora’s Head of Astrology, Michelle Grodnick, and Ghosted by Grief host Emma Zeiger. Together, they’ll explore a question that feels both cosmic and deeply personal: What if astrology is inherited?
Through a conversation about family patterns, ancestral connections, grief, and memory, they’ll examine how astrology can offer a language for understanding the people who shape us, and the threads that continue to connect us across generations. RSVP here, there’s still a few spots left!
Tuesday, June 30th: We’re hosting a virtual workshop with expert astrologer Jessa Messina, all about this summer’s astrology! Summer 2026 is jam-packed with astrology (Mercury Retrograde, 2 eclipses, Jupiter moving into Leo, and more!) that will impact every sign, and you won't want to head into the summer without your astrological map! RSVP here!
It’s officially time to launch Lora’s Beta Program!!
You might have seen us posting more about this in our Discord and on our Substack, but we’re officially entering the beta launch phase of Lora. If you signed up to be a beta tester on Lora (one of the first users ever to get your hands on it!), you will receive an email from us over the next 2 weeks. But fear not, our beta is still open! If you want to be one of the first people to experience a more insightful and context-rich way to understand Astrology, come test it out!
As a beta tester, you’ll get early access to new features, share feedback directly with our team, and use Lora every day to learn more about yourself, your chart, your relationships, and what’s unfolding in your life.
If you’re interested in being one of the first users of Lora, fill out this form here, and we will be in touch ASAP!
Here’s what some of our amazing beta testers are saying so far:
And if you’re new to our little Lora universe, a few months ago, we started offering free birth chart readings daily in our Discord, The Constellation Lab. We do readings across astrology, oracle, tarot, astrocartography, and psychic mediumship as well!
If you’re a little (or a lot) bit woo woo like us, come hang out in our Discord and get your first free birth chart reading!
Get a Free Birth Chart Reading 🪐
See you next week, and until then, stay spiritual 🪐
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