Episode 43: Interviews and Stories with Dynamic People: Michelle Artemis

In this episode of Ready To Connect: Interviews and Stories From Dynamic People, we sit down with astrologer Michelle Artemis. Listen as we delve into the complex world of Astrology. You can find more about Michelle by visiting her website https://www.michelleartemis.net.

Want to share a story or experience? Send us an email to readytoconnectpodcast@gmail.com or reach out to us through our social media. Consider becoming a supporter through Patreon and get access to bonus content. Get Ready To Connect!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This podcast is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speakers' own and do not represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of their affiliated organizations.

SPEAKER_04 0:21

Welcome back everybody to Ready Connect. I am Lisa. And I'm Ryan. And unfortunately, Heather cannot be with us this week, but don't worry, she will be back. Um, but we're going to be talking to an astrologer today. That's something I know nothing about. Same here. Yeah. Not a thing. I'm excited to learn. I I'm excited to learn too. I have a feeling that astrology is a lot more um of a complicated topic than I'm than most might think. But um we'll see what we can get from our our our special guest when we bring her on. But until then, Ryan, what have you been up to?

SPEAKER_03 0:58

Oh boy. Let's see. Well, you know, the other day it was nice. I got to take Watson out on we uh my roommate and I we took him out to a lake nearby, and uh he was able to see a lot of water for the first time ever. Okay. And uh he actually had a good time.

SPEAKER_04 1:15

Did he put his toes in?

SPEAKER_03 1:16

No. He wanted to. He walked up to it, but you could tell he was just slightly overwhelmed by everything. You know, you have different smells, um, different environment, but but he did a really good job. Proud of him for actually going towards it. Because see this dog is petrified of water, even rain. Do you know why? He will not go out to I don't know. I it's it's really bizarre. When my roommate first got him, he was okay with baths and everything. But then all of a sudden now he's pet even going outside to go to the bathroom if it's raining. No, he'll he will quickly come in or he'll just refuse to go out. So we're trying to get him desensitized and get him used to being around water. Okay. And then trying to get him to move forward. So it's a big step going to the lake. That is a big step. So and I have a picture that, yes, I gotta remember to post it to our social media.

SPEAKER_04 2:06

Yeah, I have pictures, I apologize to our listeners. I have pictures that were sent to me to post to the uh social media, and uh I have been slacking on that. But I have pictures of kites, I have uh pictures of a bird feeder with Oh yeah. Uh-huh. And then I uh our newest picture going up will be of Heather and I. We went to um so what's been happening with me is my daughter is now home from you know, work because she's a social worker in a school, so she's got the summer off, so she's home, so I'm no longer required or needed, I should say, to babysit on Tuesdays and Thursdays for my grandson. So my first day of non-babysitting was this past Thursday, and I of course was um sad and missing him. Uh you get used to just you know having this little soul just recognize you and get all excited for seeing you, and then when you don't get it, you're like, I need my I need it. Um so Heather took me and we went for a little ride. We went out to Rhode Island to Ninigrette Park and to see the trolls, the two trolls there, which was a lot of fun, and we ended up in Mystic for lunch and sh we went stopped at a bookstore, which of course is always my favorite thing, um before coming back to do psychic circle, and it was um a really great day. So I have pictures of Heather and I at the Trolls, which I will post. That's awesome. Yeah, that's fun. And then this past weekend, um this past weekend uh was Father's Day and had family over and uh was able and also we celebrated my younger son Kevin's birthday, which was yesterday. Um so yeah, it it was another family time, so I got to see my grandson then and play, you know. Gonna get you. How was your weekend, by the way? Because you sent me a picture which we should also post if you want. You were at a party.

SPEAKER_03 4:00

Yes, yeah. So um so aside from Father's Day, I got to see family there. But um, yes, it was uh my youngest uh cousin, Luke. He just graduated high school, so we're all so proud of him for doing that. Um do bigger and better things in college. But um so basically, uh long story short, in our family, um a sign from our grandmother is feathers and uh she always wanted the family to be together and uh so it was great to be together as a whole family for this occasion because we we really haven't seen each other in a long time since um our grandfather passed away. So we used to get together every single Sunday, but then that has since stopped since uh now we don't get together like that anymore at his house. So our grandmother always loved everyone getting together, and uh this was just an uh excellent occasion to do so. And so I had this feeling of, hey, you know what? I I would like to take a picture with Luke, you know, especially because I'm just I'm so excited for him and so happy to be there. And so I had uh my aunt take the photo. And now just to give some background story of this, uh the the environment, it wasn't really that bright. So when you look at this photo, at first I thought, oh, is that just the sun reflecting or whatever? But in the lower uh right hand corner you can see what looks like a feather of like of energy. And it was just so incredible. So yeah, yeah, we could probably post it. I'm I'm fine with that.

SPEAKER_02 5:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:35

So yeah, pretty cool and unique.

SPEAKER_04 5:39

Very unique. All right, so why don't we call in our guest that we have today, and that is Michelle Artemis. She is an astrologer and friend of Ryan. So welcome to our podcast, Michelle.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

Hi, thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_04 5:51

I hope you're ready for all the questions that we're gonna like, you know, bombard you with.

SPEAKER_01 5:55

I think so.

SPEAKER_03 5:57

Yeah. So uh so, Michelle, I've known you. I'm not gonna age us here, I've known you forever. But um, since yeah, that doesn't age you forever. I know, right? Yeah okay. For listeners out there, we've known each other since elementary school. That's a long time. Um but for those who are meeting you for the first time, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and the work that you do?

SPEAKER_01 6:21

Sure. Um, I do a lot of different things. I am an astrologer, an aspiring librarian, I am a mom, um, and I teach an astrology class also. So I bunch I do a bunch of different things.

SPEAKER_04 6:34

Okay, so my ears just perked up when you said aspiring librarian because I'm a book alic, and I used to work a library, like we're in a I can actually say how long ago, about 40 years past when I was in college. I did summer um work in a library, my public library for the summer reading program.

SPEAKER_02 6:50

Nice.

SPEAKER_04 6:50

And so I've worked in libraries, I love books. Um, so yeah, working in a library that would be like, you know, aside from a bookstore, that'd be cool. Yeah, that'd be cool to do. Anyway, that just part and you have children?

SPEAKER_01 7:03

I have four children.

SPEAKER_04 7:05

Four? Yeah. Okay, so for our listeners who cannot see Michelle, and you'll have to Google her, but she looks all of 12. So four children. Wow. What are their ages?

SPEAKER_01 7:16

Um, 19 for the oldest and almost nine for the youngest.

SPEAKER_04 7:21

Nineteen?

SPEAKER_01 7:22

Nineteen.

SPEAKER_04 7:23

Yeah. Yeah. Oh my word. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

This is where Ryan didn't want to age us. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:29

So then uh afterwards, you're gonna have to give me your skin regimen so I can like copy that one. That'd be good. Yeah. So we're actually uh really interested in you as an astrologer. So why don't you give us a little bit of background? How did you become interested in astrology? Anybody influenced you? Did you have any mentors? All that kind of jazz.

SPEAKER_01 7:48

Yeah. Um, so I first got into it when um my grandmother, who I I barely knew my grandmother, but when she was when she died, I inherited her astrology books. And I hadn't even realized before then that she was an astrologer. So I was like super excited. They were gonna actually throw them out. And I was like, no, I want them so. Um and then I got really into it. I just like went down the rabbit hole and um I studied for probably, I mean, almost 20 years on my own. And then I eventually was like, no, I need more. So I had a bunch of different teachers. Um Chris Brennan, who does the astrology podcast, I learned Hellenistic astrology with him. Um, there's an astrologer based out of California, Gemini Brett, and I did my first reading with him, and then I did a bunch of one-on-one mentorship and I joined his uh educational community that he has online. Um, Helena Woods, I learned astrocotography from her and zodiacal releasing, which is an old technique. And um I did a year-long program with Andy Botticelli, who does more of like a modern Western style of astrology as well. I like to do all different styles and learn as many different ways of approaching it as possible. Um, and then most recently I was doing courses with um Stephen Forrest, who's he's been around forever, but he does like evolutionary astrology, and I was learning that technique as well. So yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:08

I didn't even realize there were styles to astrology.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

Oh, there's so many different types. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:13

Yeah. So what's your favorite? Or how do you how do you like to approach your your clients when they come for astrological advice and things like that?

SPEAKER_01 9:23

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I mostly do, um, I would say that I really love the ancient Hellenistic techniques. I really like to work with a lot of those primarily. Um, but I do incorporate some of the more modern things. Like I use the planets that have been, you know, discovered, like Pluto and Neptune and Uranus. Like they didn't know about those back then. So um I do use those planets. Um and I do think that like modern astrology is really great at approaching astrology, like from a like more like uh psychological way of like trying to understand people's um emotional uh expression of their chart and like how they're how it makes them feel and all that. And so I do try to do a little bit of of both, but I really love the ancient stuff, and I think there's a lot of great techniques and predictive stuff, and yeah, it's fun. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 10:16

And do you find that because of all the studying you've done with astrology, does it do you take it into your own personal life? Does it affect your decision making daily or I mean like how do you use it within your own day in your own daily life?

SPEAKER_01 10:33

So I'm kind of like um a research nerd. So I basically I track all of my daily transits and I journal and I try to see like how things are working out, just because I want to see like like I love when other wiser astrologers tell me this is how it should work out, but I want to see it in my real my own life. So I use myself as a guinea pig. Um, but then I also I'll like, you know, if for example, um if when I was applying to grad school, um, I tried to time the application just right using astrology. Like I came up with this called electional astrology, and you can use it to time things well. So I did that for applying to grad school, for applying to a job recently. Um, and so that was one concrete way that I use it. I also, if I see um really like powerful transits coming up or really um even like ones that look like they could be challenging, I try to think of like what's the most positive way this could manifest. And then I like actively work to try to make that be what happens. So if I see something health-related coming up, I'm gonna be like, you know what? What I would really like for that transit to be about is about like me getting really serious about exercising and taking care of myself. And so I do that consciously. And then I think like, I don't actually know how much control I have. Like, I hope that we have some control over what happens, but the best I can do is try to prepare for the difficult things by you know trying to make the good stuff happen, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_04 11:59

So I I don't know much about astrology, so we're gonna treat me as as someone who's really ignorant. And when you say transit, is that like sure for transition?

SPEAKER_03 12:09

That's gonna be.

SPEAKER_01 12:10

No, so transits are so so you have your birth chart, which is basically like a moment in time and space that's just like frozen still when you were born. And then what transits are are they are the planets which are constantly moving, interacting with your birth chart. And so every day you have countless transits happening to your birth chart. And so there's like different techniques to figure out like which ones to pay the most attention to on any given day. But like um, for example, some planets move really, really slowly. So you might only get one transit from like Pluto to your sun in your entire life, and other planets move really quickly, so like the moon goes around your entire chart every single month, and so there's like all these different transits constantly happening, and that's really just um that's like where the change is. That's how you see like how things unfold, and that's how you figure out timing and and all of that with astrology.

SPEAKER_04 13:48

Okay, so all right, another silly question. Yeah, astrology is a study of planetary movement and how it affects your life. Is that like a yeah, I I've watered down version definition? I because now I'm going back to like exactly what is astrology, astrology because there's so many different yeah, like so. The study of the heavens you mentioned birth chart, right? So I understand that. Um you you I I remember someone wanting to look at my birth chart and they need to know the exact time I was born, all that kind of like you couldn't just say the day, you'd have to say the exact time and all that stuff. And so if you have that birth chart, what I mean, what are you hoping that tells you?

SPEAKER_01 14:38

I mean, what it can it can tell you tons of things. So um you can look at it as in like a modern Western framework, it would be like you broken down to different facets of your personality, and you would look at the chart through that like sort of personality-driven, psychological driven kind of framework. Um, I prime, I do think that there is weight to that and there's value to that. Um, I primarily look at it through a Hellenistic framework, which basically in your chart, you can see not only yourself, you can see different areas of your life, you can see the other people in your life. Um, it's all there. You can look at it to see like what you would be ideally suited at for career. You can look at it to see like what your parents were probably like, your experiences with your parents, what areas of your life are more difficult or easier or will be, because you know, obviously your chart is still unfolding. Um you can see things about relationships, friends, romantic relationships, like anything really. And then there's some astrologers that only do health astrology, medical astrology. Like that's not my thing. So I I always try to like send people to somebody who's like an expert at that if they ask. But um, yeah, some astrologers just focus on medical astrology and um some just focus on past lives. I mean, there's like there's so many branches of astrology.

SPEAKER_04 16:02

I my mind is blown because as a psychic medium, I relate this to like you can look at someone's birth chart and you can tell as much, or if not as more, that as I could with someone just walking through the door and connecting to their energy and their guides, really.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

Yeah, it's just it's like um with astrology, it's it's kind of like the more you learn, the more you realize that you'll never know everything. Like there's just always more you could be learning, which I try to do, but like I think you know, it comes to a point where you have to be like, I cannot master every single thing you could do with astrology because you can do an infinite amount of things almost.

SPEAKER_03 16:37

That's true.

SPEAKER_04 16:38

Okay. So uh someone new to astrology, if I wanted to start understanding astrology for myself, where do I begin?

SPEAKER_01 16:47

Where's the So I think, yeah, I think it depends on the person, the individual person, like how they learn best. But like, like I learned from books. So if somebody else like me wanted to learn from books to start with, like there's a couple really good ones for beginners. Um there's You Were Born for This by Chani Nichols. That's a really good one. And then there is one called Astrology, using the wisdom of the stars in your everyday life. I think that's the subtitle. I know it's called Astrology and it's by Carol Taylor, and those are both really good. Um, but like not everyone likes learning from books. So there's also the astrology podcast that covers everything from like like they have hundreds of episodes. So like some of them are really basic, like all about what particular zodiac sign, or all about how do you first look at a chart? And then some of it's like a lot more complex. Um if people like to learn in person, like um trying to find an astrology class local to you. I mean, I like I said, I'm teaching one in um Vernon, but you know, for people elsewhere, like trying to find a teacher locally, or just trying to get your like getting your chart read by a professional. Like I put that off way longer than I should have. And when I finally did it, I was like, wow, I'm learning so much from you in such a short period of time, especially if you find an astrologer who enjoys teaching and you can approach it that way and be like, what I really want from this is for you to like show me how do I look at my chart and and try to have that kind of framework. Because astrologers will do whatever you want during a consultation. Like you can be like just all I want to talk about is career or teach me stuff, you know. So yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_03 18:15

Wow, that's pretty cool. Yeah, that's good to know. Um, let's see. Well, you already explained what a birth chart is, so that's good. Thank you. Crossing that question off the list. Yeah, we have there's the other chart here. And what which one was that? Oh yeah. Oh, okay, yeah. So you mentioned charts. Um, so what is a a natal chart and uh what can it reveal about a person's strengths and challenges?

SPEAKER_01 18:40

Natal chart's just another word for birth chart.

SPEAKER_03 18:42

Okay, that's what we were.

SPEAKER_04 18:44

Okay, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:45

Yeah, same thing.

SPEAKER_04 18:46

Yeah, because I've heard birth chart and I've also heard natal chart. So yeah, maybe it's two separate charts.

SPEAKER_01 18:51

Yeah, no, it's the same thing. But I mean, it can, yeah, like I said, it can basically tell you anything about your strengths and challenges. And also it's kind of like like with any given placement in your chart, there is a range of how that can be manifested. And like astrologers debate whether or not that's like from your own free will or whether it's, you know, you know, fate combined with environmental factors combined with this now. Like who knows how much control we really have over it? But there does seem to be a range over, like somebody could have a very similar placement to somebody else, and one person expresses it in a really healthy, productive way, and another person expresses it in a way that is more destructive or you know, unhelpful in some way. Um, so you can't just look at a chart without talking to a person. You can't just look at a chart and be like, I've got this person figured out, because like it's way too complicated. And context matters and free will matters, um, whatever amount of it we have. And so, like, one thing astrologers would throw around is like, you know, Hitler's chart looks surprisingly peaceful. And it's like, okay, but obviously, you know, that's not lining up with reality. So then you have to really dig into it and you have to look at his life story and see, like, oh yeah, but this placement could have been really nice, but then it ended up manifesting in this kind of darker way that that is also a possibility, you know. So it's kind of like um I had I took a workshop once with this astrologer, he's also like a professor in Canada, I believe, um, Richard Tarnas. And it he said that the birth chart is an infinitely complex poem and that you should have it interpreted by as many different people as possible because everyone's gonna have their own way of looking at it and their own take, and you can only learn more and that you could never know everything that you need to know about a particular chart. So I don't know if that answered the question. But yeah, it can show pretty much anything about strengths and challenges.

SPEAKER_04 20:40

You you mentioned free will, and I know when I do readings for people, psychic readings, or even if they just want tarot cards flipped or whatever, um there's always that part of a reading where you say you maintain your free will. I can see different pathways for you, but you maintain free will to make your choice over which one you want to go with, or if you want to even, you know, accept advice from your guides or whatever. Is that basically the same kind of role free will plays in astrology? Like you look at their chart and you can see different scenarios and the person maintains that free will.

SPEAKER_01 21:20

Yeah, I mean, well, I definitely uh I don't think that any astrologer should be telling people you need to do this, you should do this. Like you can, you know, say like this might work out well for you based on what I'm seeing, but you know, choice is yours. Um I try to look at what I'm seeing and offer like kind of the range, you know, like this particular placement, it could show up and this like this could be a sign that you would be really good at XYZ. Um, you know, if you don't learn to integrate different energies, sometimes they come out in a more negative way, or you'll like if you um if you don't learn how to work with a part of yourself and you kind of suppress it and don't find healthy outlets for it, then you might find yourself in situations that end up expressing a negative aspect of that particular placement, if that makes sense. So I will try to like guide people towards like finding within a range of helpful possibilities, like you need to find some way to learn how to work with this energy, you know, and here are some options, but you know, it's up to you ultimately. Um I still don't know, I wrestle constantly with how much free will we actually have, but I think it's important to act as though we do have free will. Like if I use astrology to plan a very particular time that I want to apply for a job, for example, and every time I try, something happens that stops me from doing it. And I'll just be like, how much control did I actually have over that situation that I planned out so, you know, perfectly? But I still think it's Important to live as though we do have control, just so we can, you know, try to make a difference.

SPEAKER_04 22:50

I agree with you too. When it comes to free will, I know that if someone um let's say comes to me for a reading and you know, you you give what you're picking up on, they do certain something with their own free will, they come back, it does change the energy around them. So it does change what the reading will be next. So if someone makes a certain choice, does their their chart stays the same though, right? A birth chart to birth chart. So how does that free will like manipulate or show you a different change, or does it in a sense?

SPEAKER_01 23:24

That's why it's so hard with astrology, because every placement in your chart represents not only does it represent different possibilities, but it represents different realities all at once. So like you can have one planet in a particular place in your chart, and that means one thing at one point in your life, it means another thing at another point in your life. It's like there is no one set interpretation for any particular part of a birth chart. There's countless. And so the best thing an astrologer can do is try to get as much context from the other person that they're reading for to try to narrow down to like this is the most likely scenario of what's going on, or to look at like past transits and be like, well, last time Jupiter was, you know, on your sun 12 years ago or whatever, this is what happened. So what's going on in your life right now that's similar to that? And maybe we could kind of like prepare you, you know, for this potential opportunity or whatever. Um, so it's really, it's not, it's not like a sure thing, you know, like there I see it working all the time. And I see I'm like constantly shocked by how well it works. But any astrologer online who claims like this will happen to you on this date if your sun is in this sign, they're full of crap. Like there's that's just not how it works, you know. Um, so it's it's really complicated and like multilayered, and you kind of have to work with the person coming to you for consultation to sort of narrow down to the most likely scenarios.

SPEAKER_04 24:51

I would think when you I imagine you counsel people about relationships and things like that, just like we get questions, like the one question. But I would imagine it would stand a reason. Like if you're talking about relationships, that's more than one person involved. And so it's not just my free will, but it'd be the free will of the other person as well. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:10

Right.

SPEAKER_04 25:11

And I have no control over their free will. So it's uh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:15

Whenever I do a relationship reading, I always start by looking at the person who's coming to me. I look at their chart first, and I say, like, we need to look at your chart and how relationships show up because really that's all you have control over, you know what I mean? Like how you act in a relationship and what you choose for yourself. And like, yes, we'll look at the other person's chart and we'll look how they interact and we'll see, you know, like, do you have really different communication styles or fighting styles, or you know, what's the timing like for each of you? Does it show up that each of you is like looking at, like, I don't know, some kind of a hardship in relationships, and you guys should probably prepare yourselves and all that, but ultimately, yeah, you only have control over yourself in a relationship, and it can't work if both people aren't drawing. So it's true, it's true.

SPEAKER_03 25:57

So it seems like if a couple comes to you to have you, you know, look at their charts are it's gonna be way more in depth than those like compatibility, you know, websites or paragraphs that you find online. So that's pretty interesting.

SPEAKER_01 26:12

I mean, the best that those can do is like break it down piece by piece. They can't integrate it into one hole, you know.

SPEAKER_03 26:17

Right. So interesting.

SPEAKER_04 26:21

Okay, so I have um sort of an interesting question. Growing up, and I'm the oldest one here in the podcast, so you know, being 60 something aged, um, back in the day when we actually got newspapers to the house and would actually touch them and read them, um, as a teenager, the first place we would go would be the horoscopes. And we would read our horoscope, and we would take that as if it was Bible of what's to happen kind of thing. And I look at horoscopes now um a little more wiser as being more for excuse my French, but shits and giggles, you know, ha ha, kind of like entertainment. Horoscopes are uh different than what a professional astrologer does, right? I mean for sure. Where do horoscopes fit in or do they in professional astrology?

SPEAKER_01 27:16

So I will say that there are some astrologers I really respect that will give that will write horoscopes. And I think that the way they generally approach it is to say you really need to be basing this off of your rising sign, not your sun sign, because your rising sign will tell you, and you need to know your birth time for that. And not everyone knows their rising sign, so it right away it limits the number of people that are gonna benefit from this. But if you know your rising sign, then you know where every every so the the I'm sorry, I'm gonna rewind. So the birth chart is split into like it looks like a pie and it has like 12 different segments, the like 12 pieces of the pie. And each, and they're called houses, and each house represents a different area of your life, different topics in your life. And if you know your rising sign, which is the first house, then you know the signs of all the different houses in your chart, and you know the astrologer will know that's writing the horoscope that will know that, like if you have, I don't know, let's say, uh, we'll say you have Aquarius rising, then they would know right off the bat that Gemini is where Uranus is, that causes change, disruptions. And if you have Aquarius rising, that's gonna be happening in your house of children and creativity. So they can right off the bat say something kind of generic, but less generic than you might expect, based on how you're probably over the next several years going to be experiencing, you know, change or disruption there. But in a daily horoscope, they might focus more on the moon and where the moon is and all that. Um, so with the rising sign, you can say things that are likely to be true. The only problem is there needs to be that caveat of like it it depends on your birth chart because like if you also have Mars there, then that's also activating Mars. And not everybody that has Aquarius rising is going to have Mars there. And so it's really like you can only get so accurate. Um, and any like legit forecast for the day or the month has to at least warn you that this is generic based on your rising sign and does not take into consideration where your natal placements are, which will change things or shift them, yeah, I guess. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:19

So I guess I equate that a little bit to what I do. Like if I flip a tarot card for everybody and post it, this is the tarot card for the day, take it into your life, how it might think for some people it hits, right? And for others, it's like, well, no, because I'm not in that kind of situation, I guess. You know, so you know, yeah, take it for what it is, I suppose, right?

SPEAKER_01 29:43

The more people you're aiming it at, the the less specific you can be.

SPEAKER_04 29:47

That is very true. So then it becomes more of an entertainment thing, too, right? You know, we look up our horoscopes and yeah. Oh, that's interesting. Well, horoscopes are a little bit more specific because it is based on like your astrological sign, right?

SPEAKER_01 30:02

It's so it's bl so like in the newspaper or something like that, it's based on your sun sign. Um so they're really they're really just trying to focus on what's going on in relationship to that sign, assuming that it's going to be very important to you because your son is there. But if you are somebody with your son in a particular sign and it's in a house that is kind of one of the less prominent houses in the chart, and maybe you have a whole stellion of planets in another more prominent area of your chart, maybe your sun doesn't affect your life as much as it does for somebody else. And in that case, the horoscope's probably not going to ring as true. If you're somebody whose sun in their chart is super strong, like if you're Leo rising, your sun rules your chart, like probably the daily horoscope is gonna feel a little more accurate because that sun is so powerful. Um, but that's not always the case. Like it is important, but some people's charts are leaning more heavily to another part of the chart than where the sun is.

SPEAKER_04 30:55

So this this is how I guess when you look at somebody and say, Well, they're a Libra, but they don't act like a Libra.

SPEAKER_01 31:03

Oh, yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah.

unknown 31:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:08

Yeah. I think usually when you see somebody, what you first experience is likely to be their rising sign more than their sun sign.

SPEAKER_04 31:16

Okay. And the sun sign is the astrological sign um hooked to your birthday, correct?

SPEAKER_01 31:25

Yeah, so a certain time of year would be equating to the sun in a particular sign. Yeah. So my changes every couple of hours.

SPEAKER_04 31:33

Mine would be Libra because I was born October 2nd. Right?

SPEAKER_03 31:37

Yes. Yeah. And you are a I'm Capricorn.

SPEAKER_04 31:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 31:42

All right.

SPEAKER_03 31:43

And I take that seriously.

SPEAKER_01 31:44

Do you? But the rising sign is why you need to know the birth time because the rising sign changes every couple of hours, even less for some of the signs. Some signs move faster than others, and the degree of the rising sign changes every few minutes. So it really does matter what time you were born for figuring out that part of it.

SPEAKER_02 32:02

Wow.

unknown 32:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:04

It's really detailed and more on the number aspect than thought. It's like it's not a uh astrology, isn't this sort of, you know, willy-nilly kind of thing. It is very much steeped in like um detail in the group. All right. Well, before we move off zodiac signs, uh Ryan and I were talking before um recording the podcast and uh about zodiac signs, and we were curious to know if there's any zodiac sign you think gets unfair criticism or a bad laugh.

SPEAKER_02 32:39

We thought this was a good question.

SPEAKER_04 32:41

We we we have I have my old thoughts about which sign I would say would get like criticized a lot.

SPEAKER_03 32:47

I know.

SPEAKER_01 32:48

I was kind of torn between two when I was thinking about I think they all do though, to be fair. I think they all there's negative stereotypes associated with all of them. Um but wait a minute. I've not heard anything negative about a Libra. I have, in display.

SPEAKER_03 33:02

Oh, now the truth's coming up. Okay, all right, we're ready for this.

SPEAKER_01 33:07

No, I've heard I actually one of the first books I read in one of my grandmother's books was What's Wrong with Your Son Sign. It was kind of a joke book, but it was like all like the negative stereotypes about all the signs. Or we're not an angsty teenager. I just loved it. I thought it was so funny.

SPEAKER_02 33:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 33:21

I'm gonna tell you the one I think it's about. Maybe we'll and he'll tell you his. I think it's Scorpio. I think a lot of people think Scorpios are angry, hard to deal with people.

SPEAKER_01 33:33

See, usually I think uh the stereotype of Scorpio is that it's secretive and controlling. And I think that that is because Scorpio is kind of here to learn how to fully trust. And if somebody that is here to do that isn't really like learning that and practicing that, then they can get kind of closed off and try to control everything around them, try to um, you know, protect themselves by being secretive. Um, but it doesn't have to work out that way. But I do think that there's kind of that dark like undertone that's associated with Scorpio, and uh I think part of it too is that in modern astrology they associate um Scorpio with Pluto, and I think people are a little wary of Pluto sometimes, um, and it's like associations with power struggles and and all of that. But I don't, I mean I was gonna say Scorpio or I was gonna say Gemini. Those are my top two that I was thinking. Gemini, because you were both of them.

SPEAKER_03 34:32

I was gonna say Gemini.

SPEAKER_01 34:33

I think those are the top two that people really like to give a hard time. And I think with Gemini, especially now with like Donald Trump being president, but um I think that people say, you know, about Gemini, you can't trust anything they say. Like, you know, that they change their mind so much they can't stick to something. And I'm Gemini rising, so I I can say all this, yeah, but um, you know, you can't trust them because they're always changing their mind and all of that. Um there are these episodes on the astrology podcast, uh, it might just be one episode called Unshaming Unshaming the Sun signs, I think. And he had a guest on there, and her whole um spiel basically was like, what do people say about each sign that's negative and difficult? And like, how can we reframe that as a strength, you know? Like if people say Taurus is really picky, well, maybe Taurus just knows exactly what they like, you know, and like reframing it like that, or like maybe Gemini isn't like in constant and like um sort of flighty, but maybe Gemini is just like endlessly one, like fascinated by the world and just like follows their wonder, you know. And so it's kind of an interesting way to look at it. Yeah, or like with Scorpio, they can be dark and they can be kind of depressing, you know, but maybe that's because they've been through hard things and they're not afraid to look at that part of life. Like maybe other people should be more willing to recognize that there are hard things in life, you know. So it's but yeah, no, Gemini and Scorpio do both get a bad up.

SPEAKER_04 35:57

So I'm just curious. I want to know the dark part of a Libra, because all I've never heard about Libra is we we like to keep the peace.

SPEAKER_01 36:04

Yeah, I mean, I think that when people are trying to criticize Libra, then um, and this isn't coming from me, I don't think any sign is bad. Um, that they would focus on the fact that sometimes in trying to keep the peace, you might not know how to speak up for yourself or you might not be willing to make a decision because you don't want to disrupt the peace and you don't want to have to be the one to choose and things like that. Yeah, that's fair.

SPEAKER_03 36:27

Yeah, okay. So what about a Capricorn? Yeah, well, it's the dark side. Oh, we're putting you on the spot.

SPEAKER_01 36:31

Working yourself to death, which you already knew, Ryan, right? Working yourself to death is just constant, constant work. Always feeling like it's never enough and you have to do more work.

SPEAKER_02 36:42

Yes, exactly. I think you got us there. Um and then we might be psychic, by the way. We might be because we picked up on both of the sides.

SPEAKER_04 36:52

Might be, might be, yeah. Yeah. If you could clear up one misconception or myth about astrology, which would you pick? What would you pick? What do you think is a misconception people have?

SPEAKER_01 37:06

Just that it's simple. Like I think that people really do think it's simple, that all you need to know is the sun sign, or even like now, sometimes we'll be people will be like, what's your big three? Meaning sun, moon, and rising sign. And they think that's all you need to know, but it's not. Like, you need to know where is your sun in your chart? Where is your moon in your chart? Are they an aspect of any other planets? Um, where's your Mercury, your Mars, your Venus, like all of that? And like I think that there is unfortunately an issue with social media where people will just say these like really dramatic, very simplified statements about astrology to get people's attention, but then it gives the wrong idea of how astrology actually works because it's not simple in any way. So I that's what I'd like to think about.

SPEAKER_03 37:46

Yeah, this what I'm learning here from you is that it's just it's way more in-depth than I ever thought. I mean, I know you and I we've had numerous conversations off-air here about about astrology, and it's just it's just incredible. I feel like I learned so much each time, and even just this conversation alone, it's is just amazing. So it's not just three signs, it's a lot more. Oh, yeah. Um so what's uh the most surprising thing you've learned through studying astrology?

SPEAKER_01 38:16

Surprising thing I've learned. Um it's probably the way that there are so many different techniques, and some astrologers are expert at one technique or another, and nobody uses all the techniques because you couldn't possibly, like, there's just too much. Um, because we're talking like a couple thousand years of history here. So, like, you know, more than that. So there's just so many different ways you can approach astrology. And what fascinates me, and what I've been really surprised to learn, is how like different astrologers can take totally different techniques and still reach similar conclusions about something, and that like you'll see the same thing show up regardless of how you approach it. And and so what I like to do when I'm doing a reading is try to use, you know, a handful of the techniques that I find to be the most reliable. And if they all agree with each other, then I'm like, yeah, I feel really confident saying this, you know. Um, but I just think it's really cool to see um how many different ways you can practice astrology, and there is no one right way to do it.

SPEAKER_04 39:10

I get that. We thought we talk about that with our classes for psychic development, that there is no one perfect way that any psychic medium approaches a reading. We're all very different, but yet, like myself and our other co-host, um Heather, who isn't here today for the interview, um if we do a reading together, we often pick up on different things, but yet the message is still the same. Right that the person needs to hear. So it doesn't matter which way you attack it, if it's truly in right, it's gonna be the same message that they get. Yeah. Yeah, that's really interesting. I want to go back though to the misconceptions a little bit. Have I'm sure you've run across it email, maybe even with students in your classroom, those skeptics who maybe are not uh or even just in, you know, someone, what do you do? I'm an astrologer. Oh, whoa, woo woo woo, you know? That kind of thing, ooh, you know, kind of thing. Um what do you say to the skeptic skeptics about astrology, or do you even bother?

SPEAKER_01 40:12

So, like online, I won't bother to engage, it's not even worth it to me. But like in person, if it's somebody that I know like genuinely wants to have a conversation, or I don't care if they want to and I want to talk to them about it anyway because they brought it up. Um in those situations, I usually just focus on the fact that like at heart, I consider myself a skeptic. Like when an astrologer tells me, like, this is how you should do this thing, it works. I try it out before I use it. Like I'm practicing based on the things that I have personally tested and found to work. And like I don't know why astrology works. Like it probably shouldn't work. Like it's constantly challenging my beliefs about the universe and making me think that like, how could everything work out to such a like particular degree and be so accurate, it's almost like everything's already unfolded or everything's already designed. I don't know. It's very confusing to me, but it does work. And that's that's what I would say. Like, I mean, I've tried it and it works. And like from what I can see, most people who are skeptical don't actually know anything about astrology, you know, like Neil deGrasse Tyson, you know, famous scientist, very cool guy, right? Except when it comes to astrology, because he will not learn about it before just like shutting it down, you know. And astrologers have had tried to have like reasonable conversations about him, about it with him, because it's clear he doesn't understand the basics or like the philosophies or anything, not interested. It's like, well, then you can't say it doesn't work. You haven't even heard how people are using it, or you know what I mean? So um I would generally just say, like, you know, if you're not willing to like learn it enough to try it out yourself, then you shouldn't really probably be speaking on it.

SPEAKER_04 42:03

I would agree with that. I would think that most people who come to see you who have never seen an astrologer before probably walk out saying, Oh my god, I didn't really think that would be what happened. We get that with our readings, or even if we're teaching, uh, the probably the most eye-opening thing is to watch a student learn how to use a pendulum for the first time. And when that thing swings for them, they're like, Oh my god, you weren't actually swinging it yourself because here I am doing it, right? So yeah, that's that's yeah, it's probably about the same. Yeah. So so you have people that will come to see you um for uh uh an astrological session or a reading.

SPEAKER_01 42:40

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 42:40

I usually do them over Zoom, but um, but yeah. What do you find to be the most rewarding part of your work?

SPEAKER_01 42:48

I would say probably when people are coming to me and they're like like really hesitantly bringing up this kind of dream or goal they have, but they're like almost afraid to even say it because they're like, oh, I probably can't do that. And then I can look at their chart and be like, no, it looks perfect for you, you know, like kind of like amp them up and like get them excited and like show them like you do have these potentials in your chart because honestly, that's what happened for me when I had my first reading, and I was like, I kind of want to be an astrologer. And he was like, your chart is perfect for that, and then just like talked me through it. And I was like, this is amazing. And that's kind of what I want to do for other people, you know, show them like how their chart shows that they have these hidden strengths and potentials, and and it kind of gives you courage to be like, oh, well, I mean, it's in my chart, you know, like I might be afraid to do it, but I can do it because the chart supports that, you know. So that's what I like to do for people, give them hope, inspiration.

SPEAKER_04 43:42

Here's here's a question I have. I'm sorry, I'm talking over you. I don't mean to be doing that, Ryan, but he's about ready to say something like, Wait, I have a question.

SPEAKER_03 43:49

No, it's it's enlightening, so no worries.

SPEAKER_04 43:52

Um are there certain aspects of a person's life or questions that people have? If they want to go, what are some great instances for people to seek out an astrologer for? Like people will often seek a psychic medium when they're grieving and they want to connect with somebody they've lost, or maybe they have a um choice ahead. A lot of times graduates want to know the best choice ahead for them, they'll seek a psychic out for that. What are some really great instances or life situations that you as an astrologer could really have a good impact for?

SPEAKER_01 44:29

So probably the top ones that I personally see um would be relationship readings when people are either their relationship is struggling, or even more often what I see is people are like engaged and they're going to get married and they're like, what should we work on? Like what should we be like aware of as like potential struggles or um things like that? Like, what would be good timing for us to like buy a house or this and that? Um, so I'll I'll do those. Um, there's also something called solar return readings, which is a you have a chart every year for your year. Um It's kind of complicated, so I won't explain it, but there is like a chart that shows like the themes and the events of the upcoming year. And so a lot of people will come like on their birthday to get a reading for the year ahead just to see like what to expect, um, where they might, you know, be wisest to put most of their energy because it looks like an area where they can make a lot of progress. Um other things would be um, I do astrocotography, which is like locational reading. It's um you have like a map that has like different planetary lines across the world. And so people who are looking to relocate um will come for an astrocotography reading so that they can kind of narrow down, like, oh, I was thinking about moving to Europe, but I don't know where in Europe would be best for my career. And then I can kind of look at the map um or timing too. Electional astrology like helps people pick the right time to do something. So um somebody is applying for citizenship or they are um looking to get married and they want like the best date. And then I, you know, working within whatever framework they have, I find like the best date within that range for them. That's wow. Yeah. But most people come because they're like, I don't understand what my purpose is, why is everything bad? Like, help me. And then I'm just really there for reassurance and like, you know, there's a light at the end of the tunnel. This transit looks really hard, but it's going to end. And you know. We get that too. Just gonna say, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_04 46:25

What else got?

SPEAKER_03 46:26

Um, so I guess you can say it's it's all written in the stars. That's what it seems like.

SPEAKER_04 46:30

Oh, you've just been waiting to say that.

SPEAKER_03 46:32

I've been waiting to say that the whole time. Because it's the old man in me. Um anyway. So uh so what exciting uh projects, classes, readings, or offerings do you have coming up? Anything exciting on Horizon?

SPEAKER_01 46:48

Yeah, so I'm gonna be teaching my intro to astrology class again this fall um through the town of Vernon continuing education department. Um, and I am also, I mean, I'm still doing consultations online. I have an Etsy store where I do like pre-recorded readings, um, which aren't as ideal because you can don't get that back and forth dialogue. So the best I can do is be like, you know, here's a range of possibilities, but feel free to reach out after and we'll discuss it if you want to give me more context. Um, but some people are shy, they don't want to get on camera or our schedules don't line up or whatever. Um, so I'm still doing those. When recently I started offering five sliding skill readings a month for people who find the um prices to be challenging. So that's a new thing that I'm offering. Um explain that a little bit. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 47:29

Explain that.

SPEAKER_01 47:29

So I'm I'm just allowing up to five readings a month. I'm just allowing people to reach out to me. I don't have a set price. It's basically like they email me and then they let me know like this is what I could afford to give. And then I mean, I'm pretty much always just gonna be like, sure. Um, you know, and it's almost just like it's based on like they could just like tip me, basically, you know. Um, I just want to give back because astrology, it's like it's becoming as a field, it's becoming very expensive. And and I understand it because so much goes into it. And it's really expensive to get all the training and to to do all the courses and to really study it and like the readings themselves take time and the prep work takes time. And so, like, I'm not saying that the readings shouldn't be pricey because I feel like I'm justified in what I charge, and I feel like other astrologers that charge way more than me, they're also justified, you know. Um, but I still want other people to be able to get readings too, even if you don't have a lot of money. So that's why it's kind of like what I'm trying to do, is just offer a little bit, you know.

SPEAKER_04 48:25

So your beginning course that you offer through the uh Vernon Regional Adult-based education, um how long is that course? Is that like a a a two-hour class?

SPEAKER_01 48:37

Is it uh Yeah, it's it was so I did it um I did it in the spring for one hour classes. It was the first time I offered it and I loved it so much, but it wasn't long enough. So now in the fall, I'm gonna be doing two hour classes. I I can't remember, I think I did, I don't remember if it was eight weeks. I think it was eight weeks, two hour classes. Um, and I'm hoping that will be more time because you know, people walk in there expecting astrology to be simple, and then they're kind of like, whoa, you know, there's a lot to learn. Um, so I think that more time would be helpful. Time to review what we did the week before and time to kind of slow down a little bit.

SPEAKER_04 49:10

So that's a beginning class. And do you offer privately if somebody wants to go further, or you just do the intro part?

SPEAKER_01 49:17

Yeah, I would if someone reached out. I don't have it like on my website or anything. I mean, my eventual goal is to create some kind of an online course, but I just haven't gotten there yet. That takes a lot of time.

SPEAKER_04 49:27

All right. So uh where can our listeners connect with you? How can they what's your contact information? Give us all your your details.

SPEAKER_01 49:35

Yeah, so my um website is Michelle Artemis.net. So M I C A G L L E A R T E M I S dot net. Um, and on there, there's all my socials and my email and all that on my Etsy store. But the um I do, I have been, it's been a while since I've made videos on YouTube, but my goal is to get back into it because I'm trying to make like educational astrology videos and put them on YouTube. And that's just at Michelle Artemis. Um, but I'm on Instagram and um Facebook. I think I'm on all of the threads, blue sky, but I just don't post very often. I just like do you only have time for so much? And I'm like learning, teaching, and doing consultations. So I have very little time left over social media, but hopefully something. Yeah, well, yeah, that too. But yeah. Yeah. So do you have a birth chart on all of them?

SPEAKER_04 50:26

You must.

SPEAKER_01 50:27

Oh, yeah, yeah. I try not to overanalyze it, any of them. I try not to go down a hole with that.

unknown 50:36

Okay, all right.

SPEAKER_03 50:37

I mean, if I had the ability, I would be analyzing all that like every day.

SPEAKER_01 50:40

Like yeah, you'll drive yourself nuts and then you'll realize, wait a second.

SPEAKER_04 50:43

You need to Capricorn, you'd be a little obsessive with it. Oh, yeah. A little bit.

unknown 50:50

Anyway.

SPEAKER_04 50:50

Well, thank you for being here with us, Michelle. We really do appreciate it. And uh, for all our listeners, do look up Michelle Artemis.net uh for all your astrological needs. Absolutely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 51:01

And until next time, get ready to connect. Thank you for tuning in to Ready to Connect. If you're interested in exclusive behind-the-scenes content, be sure to like, share, and follow us on social media by searching for Ready to Connect Podcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. And for those looking to further support our podcast, consider subscribing to our Patreon at patreon.comslash ready to connect podcast. And until next time, get ready to connect.