Astrology as a Tool for Understanding Grief: Exploring Healing Modalities

Summary

In this episode of Growth from Grief, Laurie Latimer shares her personal journey through grief and loss, discussing the various ways individuals can navigate their healing process. The conversation explores the significance of personal development, the role of astrology in understanding grief, and the importance of community support. Laurie reflects on her experience of starting a podcast as a means to find purpose after the loss of her son, Greg, and how this journey has evolved over time. The discussion emphasizes the transformative power of grief, the quest for meaning, and the importance of embracing change and new paths in life.

Takeaways

• Every person's grief path is different.
• Creating a foundation for healing is essential.
• Astrology can provide insights into personal journeys.
• Emotional resilience is built through community support.
• Finding purpose in loss can lead to personal growth.
• It's important to embrace change and new experiences.
• Self-discovery often follows significant loss.
• Healing is a continuous journey, not a destination.

Thank you for listening! Visit www.sueandersenyoga.com for Yoga for Grief classes and additional resources.

Transcript

Sue Andersen (00:00.942)

Hi everyone and welcome to this episode of Growth from Grief. I'm here with my friend Lori Latimer and Lori and I met online. Actually we were in the same training program during the pandemic and we kept in touch with each other.  I'm gonna let her talk a little bit more about herself, but the kind of theme for this episode is talking about the ways that we kind of make sense of our loss and the types of things that we engage in. 

So it could be something as simple as starting with a breath technique when you're early on in your loss. It could be that you are called to do a fundraiser. It could be anything. And I believe that there is a right time for each individual to do whatever it is in their journey as they go forward. 

So, Lori and I recently, over the last year or so, have worked together. She's done a few readings for me, astrology readings. We're going to talk a little bit about why that's important for me at this time in my journey. 

Lori, welcome. Thank you for being here.

Lori Latimer (01:44.91) 

Thank you so much for having me. It's an honor and I'm really excited to chat with you. Great.

Sue Andersen: 

So, you know, one of the things you and I have talked about a number of times is that every person's grief path or grief journey is different. And, you know, as I mentioned just a minute or so ago, you know, the things that people feel called to do at each stage in the journey is going to be different for each person. 

So somebody you know, as I mentioned, might not feel up to doing something like starting a foundation and other people will move forward with something because they're called to it. And I remember in early conversations with you, I was amazed that you had started a podcast so early after Greg's passing. So first, can you talk a little bit about Greg and your journey the first couple of years and you know why you decided to move forward with a podcast.

Lori Latimer: 

Sure, I would love to. So I'll actually start back in 2008. I left my marriage and it was not my first marriage and divorce. And I realized I was the common denominator. And so I thought, okay, I need to figure out why I keep making the choices I'm making. And that started me on like a personal development journey, which turned into a spiritual journey. And I started hearing about energy work and Reiki and I became certified in, or...became a Reiki master. I started studying crystals and essential oils, and I cleaned up my eating and started really reading labels and looking at the toxic products that I was using. And then in June of 2014, my mom died very unexpectedly. And then I started studying the afterlife, which I had never, ever delved into before. And life was rocking along, and I had started a business working with women.

Lori Latimer (03:56.686)

And then January 6th of 2019, so just over six years ago, I got that call that my 29 year old son had passed away and nothing can prepare you for that ever. And I spent that entire year healing and you you're numb that first year and just like, it's surreal.

Lori Latimer (04:26.836)

And you just want to wake up from this awful nightmare that you're in and you can't.  I realized very early on that everything I had done the preceding 11 years at that point had been creating this foundation for me that I was going to need when that happened because it was very Greg's passing was very unexpected. He was healthy. He you know, it's not like he had lived his life with some kind of illness. 

And so I guess it was in the fall of that year, sometime around his birthday. I'm clairaudient, so I hear messages and I kept hearing podcast and I'm like, not me, no, no, not me. Because I was always the kid in school who was so shy and so afraid of being wrong, even though I usually knew the answer, just the fear of being wrong and being so embarrassed that I was wrong, because I thought everybody else knew everything that I would not raise my hand. And if I was called on by the teacher, I would just pray that the floor would open up and just suck me under. So for me to think about doing a podcast was so far out of the realm of possibility for me. And so then I started thinking, well, I don't know how to do the technology, so I can't do it. 

And then for Greg's, the first anniversary of his passing, I hosted a dinner for family and his friends and I wanted to do a video montage. And I asked a friend and he said, I don't do those anymore because it's too emotionally difficult for me. And I'm like, gosh, thanks a lot. What do you think it is for me? But I was so determined to do this that I figured out how to use iMovie. I had never even opened iMovie. And I not only did a video thing, an iMovie, but I put audio to it. And a couple of weeks later, I thought,

Lori Latimer (06:33.582)

Well, dang, if I could do that, I can certainly do a podcast. So I took a very basic course in podcasting, mainly for the technology piece. And what I couldn't figure out from that, I just kept Googling YouTube videos on how to do this and that. And in June of 2020, so it's been almost five years now, I launched my podcast, my first podcast, which was called Grief with Grace.

Sue Andersen (07:02.572)

Yeah, and I listened to that. It was really, I thought, very helpful for me. And I know for other people, you had a lot of really great guests on there. I think one of the things that I was, again, kind of amazed about was that just having that voice to be in front of the camera and to be interviewing people, to talk to people about grief. Because for me, talking about any of it, I was like just, I was just a well of tears, right? I was just gonna start crying. And so I couldn't, you know, and at the time that you did that, I was starting to teach yoga for grief. And even with that, I was like really, you know, gosh, how can I teach this if I'm going to start crying, you know, so I kept going with it. But, you know, doing the recording and everything just seems like that would be I don't know if it seemed really emotional. Did you feel like that? Did you feel that way? 

Lori Latimer:

Yes and there were times where I got teary-eyed and emotional during the recordings, but it was like, it was almost like I, how do I explain it? It was almost like I separated myself from it to be able to do the recordings. And...It was something, it's a skill that I had to develop. I was so nervous the first couple of months because again, this is something I had never done. And the more I did it, the more, like with anything, the more you do it, the more comfortable you get with it. And then I started having fun with it. But I got to a point, this was in 2023, where I started hearing, you need to change it, you need to change it.

Lori Latimer (09:06.594)

And I fought that for several months because about three months after I, well, the way I came up with the name was right after Greg died within a few days, I started keeping a journal. didn't know why, but I just knew that I needed to write down my experiences. thought maybe I would write a book at some point. And when I was going to name the podcast, I started looking through that journal.

 And I found these word combinations that I had written down. And that was how I came up with the name. I started playing with those again. And about three weeks after I launched the podcast, all of a sudden I had this like...I don't know, like somebody hit me on the side of the head like, well, duh. I realized that Greg is the one who gave me that name because grief starts with GR, grace starts with GR and Greg starts with GR. I could not have made that up if I'd wanted to. So when I started hearing that it was time to change the podcast,

Lori Latimer  (10:17.442)

I had a really hard time with that because I started it in his honor and because of him. And I felt like his passing was a way for me to really step into the reason that I'm here on this planet. And I couldn't let his death be in vain. And I thought, well, how can I let go of that name? And then I started hearing him say, mom, it's time. You've done what you needed to do with it. It's time to change it.

 And it took a while to figure out what the new name would be. And about a year ago, it came to me. And again, it was like, I can't do that. That's, who am I to do that? Right. And so I sat with it for a couple of months and finally I'm like, okay, that's it. And so now it's called the Illuminated Woman. And it's all about helping women step into their God given gifts and step on their path, whether it's through speaking or painting or whatever it is, we all have these gifts that as women, we are conditioned to, for the most part, to ignore. Because we were taught to go into the corporate world and climb the ladder of success and get the corner office and go out there and all these things. 

And there are some women who, that is why they're here. But so many of us, myself included, that's not why we were here, but that's what we ended up doing because again, society, family, whatever it is, that's what we were brought up to believe we were supposed to do. And so I really want to help women find their purpose in this life so that they can fulfill it so that when they take their last breath, they feel like they completed what their soul wanted them to complete in this life. Whether it's to a completion point or not.

 And that's what I'm trying to do. And I found so much of that through astrology, which was never on my path. I never saw that on my path. It was not something I was doing before Greg passed away. But to your point about...

Lori Latimer (12:35.598)

Finding your purpose or finding meaning or finding a way to make meaning of your loss I was trying to figure out when Greg passed away. I was like on this quest to figure out okay was it my soul that wanted the experience of losing a child before me and his soul God bless him agreed to be that child or did his soul want to have a shorter life and my soul for whatever crazy reason said, okay sign me up. I'll be your mom and do that.

 That was like the foundational question that I was looking at and I didn't think I would ever get the answer and I found the answer through karmic astrology. And the answer is, it was my soul that wanted to have that experience. And the reason I say that is because the North Node in astrology is one of your destiny points. And...Greg's sun is almost exactly where my North node was when I was born. So his son is illuminating. So again, illuminate. His son is illuminating my life path, one of my destiny. And that's when I fully stepped into what I'm doing now and why I'm doing it because I can't let my child's life have been in, his death have been in vain.

Susan Andersen: 

It's really interesting because just to go back to the first podcast, I noticed as a listener, the shift in the podcast, right? So it was a little bit more, not overwhelming, but just like a little bit more focused on astrology, which I started finding very interesting. And that's probably when I asked you to do a reading for me. One of the things that I found really interesting about the reading, and I'm going to go back a little bit. I never paid attention to any of this stuff prior to, well, actually prior to probably six years ago, way after Ian's death.

Susan Andersen (15:01.352)

But something was niggling at me, know, just like you had that question about why this happened or who wanted this to happen, which soul. I kept kind of going back and saying like, you know, what is my purpose? Like, what should I be doing? And how can I get there? You know, how can I step in? Because, you know, again, even just doing a little bit of yoga for grief that I was doing, I felt so emotional that I was like, I don't know if I can actually do this. 

But what I found helpful with the astrology readings was that it actually made a lot of sense to me. So understanding that when I was born, where all these planets were and how that relates to me today, it was really validating of how I was feeling. And so that was really, really helpful to me and in a way like affirming and soothing. It like, okay, you're doing the right thing and just take your time getting there. 

Don't try to push yourself to do that thing, you know, to to move into this. And so anyway, so it was just very interesting to me and also got me thinking about. You know my ancestors, you know, and thinking about, you know, all of sudden realizing like, well, wait a minute, you know this grandmother lost a child and this aunt lost a child and this person had this experience like me. So maybe what I'm doing here is.

Maybe they didn't have the opportunity to really grieve their child or help other people or just be acknowledged that that happened to them. so that's why I'm here. So that was something that came up for me. So I feel like even though

Susan Andersen (17:29.106)

your path was shown to you earlier and mine was a lot later. It doesn't really matter. It's like it, that's what it took to get there. And it's where are you going now that you know it?

Lori Latimer: 

Absolutely. It's almost like we step into this new level of responsibility once we know. It's, know, once you know, you can't not know. And I feel like, you know, the thing about however long it takes you to get to that point where you kind of have more clarity around what it is that you're to do after a great loss. It's all about divine timing. And I know without a shadow of a doubt, that if Greg had passed away before 2008, I don't know where I would be. I don't know what would have happened to me because I did not have the, I didn't have the foundation that I built from 2008 until, so it was what? Just, was 11 years because it was 2008 when I left my marriage. 

I wouldn't have had that foundation that was there to hold. mean, the very first day, that afternoon that he passed away, was standing in my older son's kitchen and I had a trip planned to Destin, Florida, like two weeks after that. And I said, I can't go on that trip. I've got to cancel it. And I remember hearing Greg's voice say, mom, you have to go. love the beach. You know that you have to go. And I'm like, wait, what? And so he and I had a connection instantly. And that also gave me a huge sense of...

Lori Latimer (19:15.15)

what's the best word to use? You know, it's not relief. It's not a knowing that, I said it after I heard his voice. said, you know what? I know that he's okay and that I will see him again. And that gave me a level of courage to keep living my life. And honestly, I realized early on that whatever I did with the rest of my life was again going to be to honor him because when I take my last breath in this life, I want and I see him again. I want him to look at me and say, wow, mom, look at you. Look what you did to help other people after you went through the worst. and that is part of what keeps me going. 

Susan Andersen:

Right, right, right, yeah.

Lori Latimer  (20:13.096)

But I will say that one of the reasons that I changed the podcast is kind of to your point about the emotions that come up. There are some people who can do that work forever and God bless them. I can't. And again, I have this understanding through astrology, I can go to those deep places and I can stay there with you. I, but I have to come back out. I can't stay there forever. 

And one of the things in my astrology chart is that my rising sign is Sagittarius, which is all about higher wisdom, knowledge, adventure, seeking, exploration, and it's ruled by the planet Jupiter, which is all about faith and hope and optimism and expansion, and Jupiter is in Sagittarius in my chart. So I have like a double dose of all of these energies, which is why I am able to...be more optimistic about my life, even in the face of this god-awful, you you never get over this. never, life is never the same. 

But I also understand now that that's why I did not fall victim to drugs or alcohol or, you know, prescription medications, any of that, because that's not part of my DNA. And I also believe that my soul and God and Whoever else is all part of whatever our planning is before we incarnate. That was part of what this whole plan for my life was about was to be able to then give women hope in the face of any kind of trauma or loss. 

And that was something, you you talked about how my podcast started shifting into astrology. I was not studying astrology back when I started shifting. What I was doing was using different modalities to whether it was crystals or writing or essential oils, whatever it was. And I started using the moon, the moon cycles, the full moon and the new moon. And just on my own started learning about the different, like we just had the new moon in Aquarius. And so what does that mean for women who are healing? And that was how I started getting into astrology.

Lori Latimer (22:34.636)

And then I started taking courses in it and became certified in karmic astrology. And it has been an unbelievable path for me. It gives me so much, such a sense of relief and peace that I didn't think I would ever feel again.

 Susan Andersen:

Yeah, that's really amazing. I certainly can, as somebody who's worked with you, I can definitely feel that when we have our discussions, when a couple of times you've done the readings for me. You brought up something that I think is important also for people to think about. And that is, you don't go from A to Z. In between all this is everything that you try to release your grief to one step forward, two steps back sort of thing at the beginning. 

Because if, this is my belief, if we do not allow that emotion out of the body, first of all, it's gonna affect us physically. And I'm sure you know people, I know people who it absolutely affected and or affects physically. But also you're now on this like hamster wheel that you can't, it's hard to get off of. You're just like in the same place because it's scary.

I mean, let's throw it right out there. It's scary to take that step forward and try something else. knowing that you don't know, I mean, that's the fear courage thing, right? It's like, okay, I have no idea. But if I just try writing, or if I just talk to a therapist, if I go to a medium, like you try something to help you move forward. 

Susan Andersen(24:52.186)

That just opens up your soul, just opens up your energy to first of all receive more positive energy and open up to purpose, to joy, to happiness, to all of the things that we long for. We're never going to be the same. It's not going to be the same life but we've taken this really curvy path, whatever the path is to get where we are, no matter how long it takes.

Lori Latimer:

Absolutely, absolutely. Because if you don't do something, then it all sits inside of you and it gets stuck. And that's when you have the physical health issues and, and, you know, emotional, mean, the whole thing, all of it. And I also understand how easy it can be for people to spiral so far down that you know, they're drinking all the time or they're relying and I'm not judging anybody because again, if this had happened before 2008, I don't know what I would have done. I would have been in a very, I mean, it was a dark enough place, but I would have, I don't know that I would have been able to pull myself out of that dark place. and so again, it's all about trying things. Cause I did, I tried all kinds. 

I did scientific hand analysis, which is finding your purpose through your fingerprints. I did that back in 2011 or 12. So I was always, again, this is the Sagittarius energy in me, always on this quest for something more. It's funny, my mom always said that I should have been a professional student because I love to learn. And it's true, whether it's foreign language or it's traveling to Europe by myself just to experience new cultures and astrology and just all these different things. But that was something else. I was 48 when I left my marriage.

Lori Latimer (27:03.694)

And when I turned 50, I thought, okay, I'm probably more than halfway through my life. My kids are grown now, so what do I wanna do with the rest of my life that I haven't done? And I thought, I don't wanna get to the end of my life without having tried whatever crazy thing it might be that I wanna try. Even if I don't like it, at least I can say I tried it. Instead of getting to the end of my life and thinking, Oh, I wish I had tried X, Y, or Z. 

Now I'm not going to go zip lining. I'm not going to go jump out of an airplane, not on my playlist anywhere. like, so talking about going to Europe, I had wanted to go to Europe since I was seven years old because I went to private school. French was a required language. I fell in love with everything about France and that was my dream and I never went. 

And just over 10 years ago, I joined a very high level women's mastermind. And part of the reason I joined is because there was a retreat in France and I went to France and we had to be there on a Monday in Lyon, which is in the like southern part of France. And none of the other ladies wanted to go the weekend before. And so I thought, okay, I have two choices. I was 54 years old at the time. I could either just fly right on by Paris and go straight to Lyon and regret it the rest of my life. Or I could put on my big girl pants and I could go by myself. And I did. And I went to Barnes and Noble and I bought a book written by a woman about traveling through Paris. 

Because how do you choose even a place to stay in your own country that you've never been to, let alone a foreign country you've never been to? I did it. I found this place. I loved it. This little boutique hotel. And the first afternoon I was there, I walked up to the corner and I turned the corner and there was the Arc de Triomphe. And I couldn't believe it because all my life I had seen pictures of these places and there I was. And I walked around for a while, came back and on the corner by my hotel there was a little French cafe. And I sat out on the sidewalk at this French cafe and had a glass of white wine and some French onion soup and a plate of cheese.

Lori Latimer (29:24.482)

And I just had tears running down my face because I could not believe that I was actually there. And I did it by myself, having never been there before. Now, if I had not done that, I would have regretted that at the end of my life. So I loved it so much, I went back the following spring. And then a year later, Greg and his dad and I went to Italy. They met me in Rome after I had another retreat in Portofino, Italy. So... I mean, I opened up a whole new world to myself because I took a chance and did something that I wanted so badly that I was willing to do it by myself.

Susan Andersen: 

Great, great, great. Yeah, that sounds like it was great. Sounds like a lot of fun.

Lori Latimer:

It was amazing. It was amazing. And I wanted to go back this spring, but I wanted to take my older son, but I don't know if we'll be able to do it this spring. We may have to wait until fall or next spring, but that's definitely on the itinerary.

Susan Andersen: 

That sounds great. So I guess I want to just ask one last question. So this, you just passed the sixth anniversary of Greg's passing. And what does that, you know,

Susan Andersen (30:50.702)

not what does it feel like, but where do you feel like you're going from this? I guess what is the next step for you? is there some other path or is it just continuing on what you're doing now with your new podcast?

Lori Latimer: 

I think it's continuing on what I'm doing now, but on a bigger scale. I've gone through a lot more grief and loss over the last two years, the last year and the last year specifically, but the last two years. One of the things that I love about astrology is even though I've gone through more loss over the last couple of years, I now see it in my astrology chart based on where the planets are right now and how those energies are affecting where the planets were when I was born. Having that understanding helps satisfy my left brain, rationalize things, but it also helps me understand that that's not going to last forever. will the loss ever stop?

Will I gain back some of what I've lost? I don't know. But I'm at peace with it because of the understanding that I have, again, from a soul level. And that was something else I said the day that Greg passed away, is that, you know, the mom in me is shattered and will never be put back together again the way that I was before that day. But the soul, from a soul perspective, I understand it. I understand that my soul chose that.

 I often joke that when I take my last breath and go back to spirit, I might have a little chat with my soul and say, what in the world were you thinking? But of course that's a joke because once I get back to spirit, I will have the full picture and have a full understanding. And God and I might have a little chat about it and say, look, we can check that off the list. Let's not do that again. But it's really about helping women who have been through trauma and loss, find their purpose, find

Lori Latimer (33:11.308)

what I can't tell them exactly what they're meant to do, but I can show them whether they have like a gift for like with you, you have all that mother energy. You're meant to nurture people. One of the things for me, and again, I did not know this when I started my podcast, but it's really interesting. The sun was in Aquarius when I was born, but it was in my third house. 

And if you look at an astrology wheel, you know, it's...There are 12 sections and each section is a house, which is an area of life. The third house is all about communication. Part of my identity, our sun is a reflection of our identity. It's also part of our purpose. So it is for me to communicate, but in a different way, not the usual, because Aquarius is all about doing things in a new way and it's about freedom. 

And so I find a lot of freedom in sharing through my podcast and through speaking on other people's podcasts, but also helping people because Aquarius is also about astrology. So helping people through astrology, helping them see, you know, make sense of their lives from a different perspective and help them see their destiny points and maybe guide them, give them the courage if there's something they've been thinking about, but they're like, like I was like, who am I to do that? I can't do that. 

And again, when I started my podcast five years ago, I was, I thought I was just speaking to bereaved moms. And I started getting emails from women all over the world who weren't even moms, let alone bereaved moms, but it was all about the trauma and the loss that I was speaking to. That is a wider audience than what I.

Lori Latimer (34:57.25)

thought I was speaking to. So it does cover a broader audience, but I believe at our core that our souls come here to grow, heal, and evolve. And part of the path that I used to do that is astrology and breathwork. And those two things have completely changed my life and...

And I just want to help other people through that work to see parts themselves that they might not have seen before. again, as I said, it's almost like a permission slip. Like, yes, you can do that. Yes, you can do it your way. You might change as you go along and that's okay, but at least try.

Susan Andersen:

Right. felt that, especially the last reading that we did, which was, I don't know, the summer maybe, I can't remember, but where you identified all this mother energy and the nurturing, which it was very validating to me, like, OK. what I'm thinking about I want to do and how I want to approach this, especially this year, 2025, what do I want to do? It was just very validating. It did feel like permission, like, OK, you're on the right path. So that was, I think, very helpful to me. And like I said, just kind of gave me that permission to now do what I'm doing.

Lori Latimer (36:38.286)

I will share too that Neptune, the planet Neptune is connected to spirituality, dreams, illusions, disillusionment, and it has been in Pisces since I think 2011. It's about to move into the sign of Aries. Think back to 2011, 2012. That was when we saw the rise of spirituality and energy work and all of that.

 A lot of people have been like you and me, know, studying and trying different things and not quite sure if we should or can or what have you. I think a lot of people are going to be Aries is the planet of action, or I mean the sign of action. It's about starting something, initiating. It's the first sign of the zodiac. And so I think that a lot of people are going to be ready and Neptune's going to move out of Pisces and into Aries later this summer and a lot of people are finally going to stop thinking, stop like testing the waters and actually start doing. So it's a beautiful time to try something. And again, if you might not hit on it the first time and that's okay, you course correct as you go along.

Susan Andersen: 

Right, right. Well, thank you so much, Laurie. It was great talking with you. I really enjoyed it. So if people want to get in touch with you, what's the best way?

Lori Latimer:

my podcast, the illuminated woman, or my website, is just Lori Latimer.com.

Susan Andersen (38:21.556)

All right, great. Well, thanks so much.

 Lori Latimer:

Thank you so much. Such an honor to be with you and I love what you're doing. And yeah, thank you for letting me share.

Susan Andersen:

You're welcome. Thanks.