Parts & Charts: The IFS and Astrology Podcast

33: With Exiles, You Can't Skip to the End

Every other part in your system has a job — protectors protect, managers manage, firefighters put out the fire. Exiles are the ones with no job at all. They just hold the feeling. This week KP asks Chelsea, the resident IFS therapist, to teach the foundations of exiles: who they are, why your protectors guard them so fiercely, and why grief — the step most of us skip — is how you actually reach them. You are listening to Parts & Charts: The IFS and Astrology Podcast. Be sure to subscribe here on Substack and follow — available on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/parts-charts-the-ifs-and-astrology-podcast/id1819784738], Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/2iR7QcdimkXeGQ0HPTl14M], and wherever you get your podcasts. Parts & Charts is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. There’s a part of you balled up in the corner of the room with a blanket over its head. It’s young. It’s holding something heavy — shame, a rejection, an attachment that ruptured or never formed — and it has been holding it for a long time. In IFS, that’s an exile, and the rest of your system has organized itself around keeping you from ever feeling what it feels. Chelsea Owens [https://substack.com/profile/9362340-chelsea-owens], a licensed therapist trained in the model, walks KP Kaszubowski [https://substack.com/profile/19649812-kp-kaszubowski] through the foundations: how exiles differ from the protectors and firefighters running the show, why you can’t march straight up to a tender part (picture a stranger knocking and asking to speak to your four-year-old — of course the gatekeepers say no), and what the textbook arc actually looks like, from getting the protectors’ permission, to witnessing, to grief, to unburdening a belief like I’m unlovable and letting the part take on something new. The throughline is grief — the piece Chelsea says we’re never really taught to do, the one protectors are most afraid of, the one that, when you stay with it instead of running, turns out to feel less like drowning and more like room being made. KP keeps catching the resonance with creative process: you can’t rush a revision to its tender center any more than you can rush a part to its. (She also clocks, mid-episode, that the novel she thought was about the medieval period is actually about her grandmother. The work knows before you do.) And then the chart. KP’s distinction to sit with: a birth chart is a snapshot, but the moving sky — transits — is where this kind of process actually shows itself, which is why “you have an exile doing X” is exactly the wrong way to read a placement. Where to begin instead: Chiron for the named wound, and the Moon, the tender spot every one of us shares. A note on staying in our lanes: Chelsea teaches the IFS model here; KP translates it toward the chart. What we get into: * What an exile is, and why it’s the one part with no job — it only holds the feeling * Protectors as gatekeepers, and why reaching a tender part is slow on purpose * The energetic “tell” that you’ve met an exile rather than a protector * The arc from permission to witnessing to unburdening — and the new qualities a part can take on afterward * Why grief is the step we skip, what our protectors fear about it, and why staying with it makes more room than it takes * Where exiles come from: the classroom humiliation, the un-sent birthday invitation, the friend who stopped without a reason * Reading this in the chart without flattening anyone: Chiron, the Moon, and transits as the place process lives Work with us / stay close: * Sun & Moon Workshop — in person, San Francisco. Solstice, June 21, at Birdhouse Gallery on Judah St. in the Sunset. Three hours of astro grounding, meditation, and art making — we meet the Sun and the Moon as inner figures and build something in response to them. Priced to cover the venue and supplies so the room can be full. → sign up [https://www.eventbrite.com/e/arts-parts-charts-the-sun-and-the-moon-creative-workshop-tickets-1990029492783?utm_experiment=test_share_listing&aff=ebdsshios] * Subscribe to Parts & Charts on Substack — episodes, in-person workshops, and the part-two we keep threatening (where the wounds actually live in the chart) land there first. → partsandcharts.substack.com [http://partsandcharts.substack.com] * We’re curious. We want to map exiles and wounding onto real placements — Chiron, the Moon, and beyond. Tell us in the comments where you find this energy in yourself, and what house it lives in. → * Chelsea’s Oracle deck, Outer Realms for Inner Archives — a collage deck shaped by exactly this work, made the way she makes images of her own parts. Pre-orders coming; this email sign-up form gets you deck news only, nothing else. → subscribe here [https://chelsea-owens.kit.com/19ebf9c33a] * Meet your Moon. If the Moon is the tender spot for everyone, this is the guided audio course for meeting yours as an inner figure — KP’s active-imagination approach, on your own time. ($42) → https://kpkaszu.gumroad.com/l/meetyourmoon [https://kpkaszu.gumroad.com/l/meetyourmoon] * Work with Chelsea. If you’re in California and you’ve been looking for a therapist who will actually go there with you — the deep stuff, the weird stuff, the stuff you’ve never quite found the words for — Chelsea Owens is your person. Licensed therapist, Leo moon, first house everything, art supplies on every surface. She brings clinical rigor and genuine delight to the work in equal measure, which turns out to be exactly what the hard stuff needs. 👉 www.chelseaowenstherapy.com [http://www.chelseaowenstherapy.com/] * Work with KP. Astrology readings (written, voice note, or live; in person if you’re in Wisconsin), Astro Parts sessions, and Book Doula — a monthly retainer for people serious about making the book real, three clients at a time, waitlist when full. → Book Doula Waitlist: forms.gle/3LwpmAinnBN2Q4aY8 [http://forms.gle/3LwpmAinnBN2Q4aY8] Schedule a 1:1 session → https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=22372975 [https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=22372975] 🌟 Credits Music “Vape Juice Dave’s Bistro” composed by Scott Cary (Wild Western Avenue) for the feature film RINGOLEVIO (2020) directed by KP Kaszubowski — performed by Scott Cary, Max Wikoff, Else Albeck Gasparka, and Sarah Luther. Collage cover art by Chelsea Owens. Get full access to Parts & Charts at partsandcharts.substack.com/subscribe [https://partsandcharts.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

32: Friends with Benefics

On June 9, Venus caught up to Jupiter at 25° Cancer — the last time the two "benefics" will meet like this for about twelve years. Chelsea and KP sit with what happens when two planets who both say yes end up in the same room, why a no isn't always a wall, and how to actually receive a soft sky instead of trying to optimize it. What is a benefic??? The benefics are the two planets the old astrologers called the ones who say yes — Venus and Jupiter. This week they conjoined at 25° Cancer, where Jupiter is exalted and Venus is more than comfortable. The Astrology Podcast’s Chris Brennan and Leisa Schaim called this one an extended warm hug, and given the spring we’ve had and the July that’s coming, we’ll take it. But a yes isn’t automatically a gift. Two yeses together is how you end up overspending, overcommitting, saying let’s figure it out until you’re in trouble. And the malefics — Mars, Saturn, the ones who say no — aren’t villains. A no is a boundary. A no is discernment. This episode is about getting friendly with both. What we get into: * Benefic as “one who says yes,” malefic as “one who says no” — and why neither is good or bad on its own * Venus applying to Jupiter, and how we get to take Venus’s role as we move into his energy * Venus as a baseline state (Chelsea) vs. Venus as something you choose (KP, Venus in Scorpio) * Jupiter’s verb: to cohere * Charts with no “hard” aspects, difficulty levels, and why an easy chart isn’t an easy life * A seven-year piece of homework about Saturn’s eventual move into Cancer And the actual assignment, which is barely an assignment: don’t accelerate anything. Don’t launch on the warm-hug day because an astrologer told you to. Have the chocolate croissant and don’t do your homework while you eat it. Call the person. You are in a body for a finite number of moments and you only get to touch someone’s skin so many times — this is a week to remember that, before July asks something harder of all of us. Parts & Charts is co-hosted by KP Kaszubowski, Hellenistic astrologer and APM educator, and Chelsea Owens, licensed IFS therapist. Work with us / stay close: * Sun & Moon Workshop — in person, San Francisco. Solstice, June 21, at Birdhouse Gallery on Judah St. in the Sunset. Three hours of astro grounding, meditation, and art making — we meet the Sun and the Moon as inner figures and build something in response to them. Priced to cover the venue and supplies so the room can be full. → sign up [https://www.eventbrite.com/e/arts-parts-charts-the-sun-and-the-moon-creative-workshop-tickets-1990029492783?utm_experiment=test_share_listing&aff=ebdsshios] * How was your June 9? Leave a comment on the episode post and tell us what showed up the afternoon of the conjunction. We want the real reports. → * Chelsea’s Oracle deck, Outer Realms for Inner Archives — a collage deck, pre-orders coming. Drop your name on the interest form for deck news only (no spam, we promise). → Subscribe here [https://chelsea-owens.kit.com/19ebf9c33a] Work with Chelsea If you’re in California and you’ve been looking for a therapist who will actually go there with you — the deep stuff, the weird stuff, the stuff you’ve never quite found the words for — Chelsea Owens is your person. Licensed therapist, Leo moon, first house everything, art supplies on every surface. She brings clinical rigor and genuine delight to the work in equal measure, which turns out to be exactly what the hard stuff needs. 👉 www.chelseaowenstherapy.com [http://www.chelseaowenstherapy.com/] Work with KP * If this episode sparked something — a placement you want to understand, a pattern you keep circling, a chart you’re ready to sit with — KP offers 75-minute astrology readings on a sliding scale. * KP is also now open to take on a few clients looking for a book doula. If you have a project in the works and you need support getting your book out in the world send her a message for more info. * Book an Astro Parts Work session: acuity link [https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=22372975&appointmentType=89789886] Book Doula waitlist: forms.gle/3LwpmAinnBN2Q4aY8 [https://forms.gle/3LwpmAinnBN2Q4aY8] Astrology for Makers ↗ kpkaszubowski.substack.com [https://kpkaszubowski.substack.com/] 👉 https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=22372975 [https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=22372975] Go deeper into making contact with your personal moon as a part of you with the short audio course Meet Your Moon made by KP Kaszubowski [https://open.substack.com/users/19649812-kp-kaszubowski?utm_source=mentions] — https://kpkaszu.gumroad.com/l/meetyourmoon [https://kpkaszu.gumroad.com/l/meetyourmoon] Thanks for reading Parts & Charts! This post is public so feel free to share it. 🌟 Credits Music “Vape Juice Dave’s Bistro” composed by Scott Cary (Wild Western Avenue) for the feature film RINGOLEVIO (2020) directed by KP Kaszubowski — performed by Scott Cary, Max Wikoff, Else Albeck Gasparka, and Sarah Luther. Collage cover art by Chelsea Owens. Get full access to Parts & Charts at partsandcharts.substack.com/subscribe [https://partsandcharts.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

31: The Secret Love Language with the Lilith Therapist Lisa Broggi

Be sure to subscribe here on Substack and follow — available on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/parts-charts-the-ifs-and-astrology-podcast/id1819784738], Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/2iR7QcdimkXeGQ0HPTl14M], and wherever you get your podcasts. What is the 6th, secret, Love Language, you ask? Well, listen to our conversation with long-time guest of the pod The Lilith Therapist—Lisa Broggi, therapist, astrologer, 12th House guide in which we go deep with the moon as a secret love language! About Our Guest Lisa Broggi [https://www.pinkmoontherapy.com/] — therapist, astrologer, and The Lilith Therapist — is back on Parts & Charts, and we went deep on the moon. Not just the sign, but the whole picture: house placement, aspects, conditions, and what it actually means to honor what your moon needs in relationships, in self-care, and in the recurring patterns you might not even recognize yet. Lisa has a clinical eye for the moon as a tool in therapeutic work — she calls it a “therapy gold mine” — and this conversation showed exactly why. We talked about how the moon reveals your core emotional needs, what happens when those needs go unmet, and how the protective patterns that formed early in life show up in your closest relationships. KP brought the Hellenistic framework (dignities, rulerships, why Scorpio moon gets a bad rap it doesn’t fully deserve) and Chelsea brought the relational and somatic grounding. Lisa brought everything she knows about actually working with this in a room with clients. We also did a rapid-fire pass through all twelve moon signs — what each one needs, how it moves, and where it can tip into shadow. It was a lot. In the best way. Topics Covered * The moon as a map of core emotional needs — and why it might matter more than Venus in relationships * House placement as the arena where your moon needs to be fed * Moon sign synastry: what compatibility actually looks like, and why tension isn’t disqualifying * The shadow side of every moon — not as a verdict, but as a starting point for the work * Saturn, Pluto, and Jupiter aspecting the moon: what gets restricted, intensified, or amplified * A full pass through all twelve moon signs: needs, self-care, and what gets in the way * How your moon’s ruling planet points toward what kind of movement, creativity, or expression supports your emotional health Rapid-Fire Moon Sign Notes Aries — needs movement and autonomy; one step at a time; Mars-ruled instinct over strategy Taurus — sensory comfort, downtime, stability; exalted moon; shadow is rigidity, not rest Gemini — Mercury-ruled; needs someone (or something) to bounce off of; language as emotional processing Cancer — narrative and story as emotional access; the body as a way to close the loop; deeply feeling, needs to feel safe doing so Leo — expression, appreciation, being seen; generosity as self-care; the sun as literal nourishment Virgo — Mercury-ruled in an earth body; grounding the mind in highly personal, non-prescribable ways Libra — relational processing; justice and fairness as emotional stakes; watch for conflict avoidance as the default Scorpio — trust is the core need, full stop; emotional safety before depth is possible; not a bad placement — a rigorous one Sagittarius — expansiveness, adventure, growth; fire sign that moves at its own tempo; needs room Capricorn — perspective, projects, purposeful solitude; slower movement (yoga, weightlifting, rowing); loves something to build Aquarius — lone wolf and community animal at once; individuality within belonging; genuinely cares, reads as aloof Pisces — sensitivity that requires real tending; energy hygiene, healthy escapisms; body as barometer Homework from Lisa Think of a past relationship that didn’t work — a hard one. If you can, find their chart. Look at their moon sign. See what you can learn about what needs were in the room that never got acknowledged. You don’t have to be kind to the relationship to be honest about what it was teaching you. About Lisa Broggi, The Lilith Therapist Lisa is a licensed therapist, astrologer, and the creator of the Feed Your Moon workshop. She works with clients through a lens that integrates astrology and depth psychology — with a particular focus on the moon as a gateway to understanding your emotional world, your relational patterns, and your oldest coping mechanisms. She takes coaching and therapy clients, offers astrology readings, and now teaches workshops. 🌕 Feed Your Moon Workshop — June 14th Lisa’s upcoming live webinar goes deep on all things moon: core needs, emotional processing styles, self-care by placement, and the shadow material that shows up especially in relationships. A recording will be available for those who can’t attend live. 👉 https://theliliththerapist.podia.com/feed-your-moon [https://theliliththerapist.podia.com/feed-your-moon] Mentioned in This Episode * Marshall Rosenberg, Nonviolent Communication (the “beautiful need” framework) * Married at First Sight (Chelsea’s cultural reference for moon-based matchmaking) * Arts & Parts & Charts in-person workshop [https://tinyurl.com/partsandcharts], San Francisco — June 21st, the beginning of Cancer season, with Cancer sun Chelsea Owens [https://substack.com/profile/9362340-chelsea-owens] and Cancer moon KP Kaszubowski [https://substack.com/profile/19649812-kp-kaszubowski] | Register here: https://tinyurl.com/partsandcharts [https://tinyurl.com/partsandcharts] Parts & Charts is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Parts & Charts is co-hosted by KP Kaszubowski, Hellenistic astrologer and APM educator, and Chelsea Owens, licensed IFS therapist. Work with Chelsea If you’re in California and you’ve been looking for a therapist who will actually go there with you — the deep stuff, the weird stuff, the stuff you’ve never quite found the words for — Chelsea Owens is your person. Licensed therapist, Leo moon, first house everything, art supplies on every surface. She brings clinical rigor and genuine delight to the work in equal measure, which turns out to be exactly what the hard stuff needs. 👉 www.chelseaowenstherapy.com [http://www.chelseaowenstherapy.com] Work with KP If this episode sparked something — a placement you want to understand, a pattern you keep circling, a chart you’re ready to sit with — KP offers 75-minute astrology readings on a sliding scale. 👉 https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=22372975 [https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=22372975] Go deeper into making contact with your personal moon as a part of you with the short audio course Meet Your Moon made by KP Kaszubowski [https://open.substack.com/users/19649812-kp-kaszubowski?utm_source=mentions] — https://kpkaszu.gumroad.com/l/meetyourmoon [https://kpkaszu.gumroad.com/l/meetyourmoon] Get full access to Parts & Charts at partsandcharts.substack.com/subscribe [https://partsandcharts.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

One of Us Is Howling at the Moon. The Other One Has Announcements.

Chelsea is at Esalen. Possibly naked, likely howling at the blue moon in Sagittarius. And I am here, with my snoring old-man-dog in the background, talking to my webcam. Holding up a paper doll I made of my Venus like it’s show and tell in peak 2020 COVID. ANYWAY HERE IS THE WORKSHOP ANNOUNCEMENT: Arts, Parts & Charts. [https://www.eventbrite.com/e/arts-parts-charts-the-sun-and-the-moon-creative-workshop-tickets-1990029492783?aff=oddtdtcreator&keep_tld=true] → San Francisco. In the Sunset @ Birdhouse Gallery 2548 Judah (31st & Judah). → Sunday, June 21st, 1 - 4pm. The longest day of the year, which feels appropriate because this workshop will contain multitudes. → Three hours. You will go inward and meet your planets (da sun and da moon) as actual living figures you can talk to. Then you will make them out of arts and crafts supplies. There may be glue guns???? Is this serious soul work? Yes!!!! Is it also going to be chaotic and delightful and possibly transformative in ways you didn’t budget for emotionally? Maybe!!!!!!!! Chelsea will be back from Esalen by then. Presumably clothed. Link to register → (I love this little arrow, don’t you? →) Arts & Parts & Charts: The Sun and The Moon - Creative Workshop [https://www.eventbrite.com/e/arts-parts-charts-the-sun-and-the-moon-creative-workshop-tickets-1990029492783?aff=oddtdtcreator&keep_tld=true] Use this code for 20% because we are so grateful for you allowing us into your inboxes week after week <3: PARTS + shoot KP a question if you have one: A Long Shot: Chelsea and I want to host 1 or 2 more workshops in the SF area while I’m in town visiting June 17 - 21. If you know of a place that would be open to this, let us know! Get full access to Parts & Charts at partsandcharts.substack.com/subscribe [https://partsandcharts.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

30: Carla Contreras on Living by the Moon

You’re listening to our conversation with Chef Carla Contreras [https://substack.com/profile/11099572-chef-carla-contreras] — chef, food stylist, content strategist, and the person who has perhaps the most fully developed personal practice around tracking the moon that we have ever talked to. Be sure to subscribe here on Substack and follow — available on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/parts-charts-the-ifs-and-astrology-podcast/id1819784738], Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/2iR7QcdimkXeGQ0HPTl14M], and wherever you get your podcasts. Carla has been tracking the moon since the beginning of 2020. Not casually. Daily. She knows when the moon enters a sign because her body tells her before the app does. She schedules her podcasts, her travel, her client calls, and her recordings around it. I booked this podcast because of his Aries moon, she tells us, twenty minutes in. There are no coincidences here. What she has built, over five years, is not a system she’s selling. It’s a relationship — with the moon, with her own birth chart, with her body — that has gotten specific enough to be useful and supple enough to be a practice rather than a rule. This episode is what that looks like up close. About our guest Carla Contreras is a trained chef, a food stylist of thirteen years, a podcast host, and the founder of Nourishing Creativity. She has built thirteen profitable Substack publications. She is a projector in Human Design (4/6 profile), Aries sun, Pisces stellium, Scorpio moon — and three years into mentorship with her Incan teacher Puma, from Chinchero, Peru. The Incan philosophy at the center of her work is Ayni — reciprocity. Nothing goes one way. Energy moves between you and the world, and within that exchange there’s room for extra abundance and generosity, including toward yourself. Nourishing Creativity (Substack): nourishingcreativity.substack.com [https://nourishingcreativity.substack.com] Instagram: @chefcarlacontreras [https://www.instagram.com/chefcarlacontreras/] On the moon as a personal map Carla’s practice did not begin as a system. It began as noticing. She started paying attention in early 2020. When the moon was in her sun sign — Aries — she noticed: go time, let’s party, let’s come to coworking, let’s go to New York City. When the moon was in Pisces — where her stellium lives — she noticed: let’s create, let’s dream, let’s make the podcasts. When the moon was in Gemini, her rising sign, the energy was so distinct that her friends started texting to ask is it a Gemini moon today? They could feel it through the phone. What emerged, gradually, was a working knowledge of which lunar days she could schedule on and which she shouldn’t. Leo days — where her Black Moon Lilith lives — she protects. I do not schedule a podcast. I do not schedule anything important if I can avoid it. Taurus days — where her Chiron sits — she rests. The donkey is so freaking smart. The donkey is like, okay, I’ve climbed up this mountain and we need to take a break. The map is hers. It would not work for anyone else exactly. That’s the point. On the void-of-course moon, and the practice of honoring transitions The moon goes void roughly every two-and-a-half days, between leaving one sign and entering the next. Some void periods are twenty minutes. Some are most of a day. In KP’s framing, it’s the moon making no significant aspect to any other planet — not in communication, not translating, not doing the relay work she usually does. Carla loves the void moon. In the past, I have really not honored transitions. The moon being void is honoring a transition. For KP, the void moon is email day. Wrapping up things. I’m not going to start anything. For three Aries / Libra / Cancer suns in a room — all initiating signs, all want-to-start-things energy — the void moon is the cosmos giving permission to drift. 🌙 Want to try tracking the moon for yourself? KP Kaszubowski [https://substack.com/profile/19649812-kp-kaszubowski] made a free companion page with the full how-to, plus a Notion template you can duplicate to log your daily state. Get it here → https://kpkaszu.notion.site/The-Moon-As-Attention-3609fb7abf1480178952eecaeb6352a7?pvs=74 [https://kpkaszu.notion.site/The-Moon-As-Attention-3609fb7abf1480178952eecaeb6352a7?pvs=74] On not asking whether it’s good or bad Carla names this as the thing she has had to learn slowly, and that she most wants to hand to other people: there’s not good or bad with this. Earlier in her practice, she would text her astrology friends a meme of herself in distress when she saw a Taurus moon on the calendar. She does not do that anymore. The shift was subtle and took years. This is a gift, and I get to rest. This is not labeled, quote unquote, good or bad. KP names what’s underneath the temptation: anticipatory anxiety. The fear of the hard day before the hard day arrives. The way knowing what’s coming can make you tense up before there’s anything to tense against, which then shapes how the day actually unfolds. If you ease in, if you let what happens happen, the experience is the experience. It’s not good or bad — because you’re not putting that anticipatory energy on top of it. Carla agrees, with a small refinement: she would not call those days bad. She would call them challenging. And challenging days need rest. I know today is a Leo moon. I’m going to go to bed at 8 p.m. with my kids and skip Netflix. That’s not surrender. That’s strategy. On the body, the cycle, and the practice of being pulled by the waves Chelsea asks how the menstrual cycle interacts with the moon — whether tracking one disrupts or syncs with the other. Carla, deep in perimenopause, gives the answer that surprised her too: when womb healers and pelvic floor practitioners ask her what part of your cycle are you in, she increasingly answers it’s an Aries moon. She’s not bypassing the body. She’s noticing that for her — Pisces stellium, deep waters — the astrological moon and the physical body are running on the same frequency. I’m pulled, like with the waves. This is also a generous frame for anyone whose cycle has changed, paused, or never matched the calendar. Hysterectomies, perimenopause, hormonal shifts, lifelong irregularity — the moon is still there. I’m tuning into the planet, which just happens to tune into my energy as a human. On the strategist’s invitation Toward the end, KP asks Carla — projector, content strategist, builder of thirteen profitable Substacks — how she’d advise someone who wants to start. Carla’s answer: Start with your sun sign, rising sign, and moon sign. Note where they are. Then watch what happens when the transiting moon passes through each of them. Write it down. I had lots of energy. Oh my goodness, Gemini moon, lots of energy. The pattern emerges from a month or two of notes. Get an app to make it easy. Carla uses Dara (99 cents, no affiliation) for moon position, and Align 27 for an additional layer — its color-coded green / yellow / red days have helped her name when a hard day is happening without needing to assign cause. When I’m having a really hard time, I’m like, oh — is it a red day? Is it a red day? Do I get to sit and journal and have cacao and be with myself before I start my work day? Maybe. The practice is not prediction. The practice is discernment. What is your relationship with an Aries moon? What is your relationship with a Gemini moon? What is your relationship when the moon is void of course? Build that relationship. Trust it. Then — and this is the move Carla keeps coming back to — disconnect from the predictive astrology when you need to. Get rid of the apps. Get rid of reading anything. I get to have my own relationship with my birth chart and the astrological weather. Also in this episode * Carla’s debilitated Scorpio moon, and why she is one of the most in-tune Scorpio moons we know * Why the cards we pulled before recording were uncannily specific — chocolate bar, pizza, dumpling, three of pentacles, nine of cups, the chariot * Ayni — the Incan concept of reciprocity Carla is being mentored in * Cacao as Carla’s daily ground, and the scientific footnote about its possible runner’s-high chemistry * The caballo-and-burro metaphor — the horse and the donkey, the running and the resting * Why some signs are harder than others to live through, and what your Chiron and Black Moon Lilith might have to do with it * KP’s quiet mission to make people with debilitated placements visible as good examples * Whether NASA could please send Carla to the moon Go deeper into making contact with your personal moon with the short audio course Meet Your Moon made by KP Kaszubowski [https://substack.com/profile/19649812-kp-kaszubowski] — https://kpkaszu.gumroad.com/l/meetyourmoon [https://kpkaszu.gumroad.com/l/meetyourmoon] Quotes “I’m tuning into the planet, which just happens to tune into my energy as a human.” — Carla Contreras “I would not have, three years ago, talked about honoring transitions. Or pausing in any way, shape, or form. I’d be like, that’s annoying, I don’t like Taurus, I’m an Aries, let’s get moving.“ — Carla Contreras “What is your relationship with an Aries moon? What is your relationship with a Gemini moon? What is your relationship when the moon is void of course?” — Carla Contreras “There’s not good or bad with this. This is a gift, and I get to rest.” — Carla Contreras “I’m leaning into how can I self-source this.” — Carla Contreras “Astrology is not an ‘exact’ science. It’s a contemplative science.” — KP Kaszubowski “If you ease in, if you let what happens happen, the experience is the experience. It’s not good or bad — you’re just not putting anticipatory energy on top of it.” — KP Kaszubowski “I am so jazzed up about the moon just from hearing all of your experiences. I’m sold on using the moon to help me.” — Chelsea Owens Work With Carla Check out her resource on Ceremonial Grade Cacao as a Coffee Replacement here: https://www.carlacontreras.com/blog-recipes/coffee-replacement-make-ceremonial-grade-cacao-at-home [https://www.carlacontreras.com/blog-recipes/coffee-replacement-make-ceremonial-grade-cacao-at-home] Nourishing Creativity (Substack): nourishingcreativity.substack.com [https://nourishingcreativity.substack.com] — Carla’s home for the podcast, essays, and offerings on creative and spiritual practice Instagram: @chefcarla [https://instagram.com/chefcarla] The Moon Guide: Carla has created a special discount code for our community to download her Moon Guide. Use the 1-month free link here to gain access to her community: https://chefcarla.substack.com/0a238c45 [https://chefcarla.substack.com/0a238c45] Mentioned in this episode: * The Dara app — moon position tracking * Align 27 — energetic day tracking * Puma — Carla’s Incan teacher in Chinchero, Peru * The Cacio e Pepe tarot deck — Chelsea’s new favorite Work With Us KP Kaszubowski — Hellenistic astrologer · Astro Parts Work · poet KP has opened up Astro Parts Work sessions and is currently reviewing her Book Doula waitlist — taking on 1–2 more clients this year for people ready to finish that book for real this time. Book an Astro Parts Work session: acuity link [https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=22372975&appointmentType=89789886] Book Doula waitlist: forms.gle/3LwpmAinnBN2Q4aY8 [https://forms.gle/3LwpmAinnBN2Q4aY8] Astrology for Makers ↗ kpkaszubowski.substack.com [https://kpkaszubowski.substack.com] Chelsea Owens — Licensed therapist · Certified IFS Level 3 Chelsea works with individuals using Internal Family Systems therapy — the same framework she brings to Parts & Charts. Now accepting new clients. Book an IFS session: chelseaowenstherapy.com [https://chelseaowenstherapy.com] Chelsea’s Substack ↗ chelseaowens.substack.com [https://chelseaowens.substack.com] Credits Music “Vape Juice Dave’s Bistro” composed by Scott Cary (Wild Western Avenue) for the feature film RINGOLEVIO (2020) directed by KP Kaszubowski — performed by Scott Cary, Max Wikoff, Else Albeck Gasparka, and Sarah Luther. Get full access to Parts & Charts at partsandcharts.substack.com/subscribe [https://partsandcharts.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]