2026 Astrology Forcast w/ Victoria Martin

Host Chris interviews Chicagoland astrologer Victoria Martin, who has practiced since the mid-1970s and full-time since 1982, including a 20-year run as Bloomberg Business News’ on-staff astrologer interpreting statistical commodity-market charts. She explains her forecasting style as a “weather report,” her preference for working with about 100 fixed stars rather than 12 zodiac signs, and her emphasis on new and full moons, eclipses, and mass psychology. Martin outlines an intense start to 2026 with multiple new-moon conjunctions, discusses eclipse-related public confusion and unrest, and describes May’s new moon conjunct Uranus as a formative window focused on technology and groups, with July favoring alliances and August’s solar eclipse emphasizing leadership; after August she expects fewer proactive opportunities. The episode also discusses Chicago’s esoteric scene, ley lines, and contact details for readings and her free forecast email list.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to another episode of Academia Obscura. I'm your host, Chris. Today I've got Victoria Martin, one of the best astrologers in the Chicagoland area. Hello, Victoria.

SPEAKER_02 0:11

Well, that's a big build up. I've been doing this a long time, full time since 1982. How many years is that? It's a few years.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

Yeah. So right. So how'd you get started? Well, I started in high school. One of my friends became a trans medium in high school. And so I thought, well, okay, that's pretty interesting. And I started to study the I Ching, which I still believe is effective. And then I began studying astrology at that point. And then by the time I got to school there at Institute here in Chicago, I actually started to develop a practice. I actually had quite a few clients. And I studied with someone who had been a disciple of Kriyananda. Do you know have you ever heard of Kriananda?

SPEAKER_00 0:56

Nope.

SPEAKER_02 0:57

He taught yoga, like you. You're a yoga teacher, right? And he taught yoga. And he was astrologer. He did not use Vedic astrology. But a lot of people in the Chicago area studied with him. And he was just very, very regular Chicago guy, nice guy. And so anyway, then I just continued. So essentially my private practice starting in 1974. 75, 76. So how many years is that?

SPEAKER_00 1:27

So this is 26 now, 76, 30, and 20.

SPEAKER_02 1:31

50 years. I've had a practice for 50 years. But during that time, I developed a specialty in the 90s because I was hired by Bloomberg Business News to be the on staff astrologer. Traders are very superstitious, you know, and so they would read me. Then I learned how to interpret statistical charts for the commodity market. And that's real interesting. Then that went on for 20 years. And so that's why the whole idea of what's happening now is of great interest to me.

SPEAKER_00 2:07

You know, it's just from the commodity markets or from something else.

SPEAKER_02 2:10

Well, just from the what I guess you just call the public, you know, the mass psychology. So we all kind of travel through these planetary configurations and experience them. And so I think it really helps. It's like a weather report. If you know it's going to be raining, you bring an umbrella. That's it's pretty simple. Yep. I kind of adapt that serum approach to astrology, is that here's the weather here, you know, and then how to take advantage of it. So I actually split up my current forecast. I'm now being featured. It's called Classic Chicago Magazine. It's it goes out to all the Gold Coast residents.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

So my office is in Gold Coast.

SPEAKER_02 2:49

Yeah, you know, they're great. No, they're they're good. They got their dogs, you know, they're walking around, they're dressed up dancing, they're cool. So it this covers a lot of charity events, which is what I like about it, the classic Chicago magazine. So I'm in there right now. So you can find me under Astro Chart, and they do a really good job of breaking every day. You know, it gives the report of what's happening, and then I give advice and I split up the forecast from the advice, which I've never seen another astrologer do that, but it kind of makes sense. Like, okay, here's what's going on. Then if you want it, here's the advice. Two separate things.

SPEAKER_00 3:27

Then do you have a specific approach to astrology? Because I know there's like different schools of thought when it comes to sure.

SPEAKER_02 3:34

Yeah, well, I use the stars a lot. I don't use the zodiac signs because the stars are where it all started. You see the planet lined up with a star. And so right now I'm using about you know close to 100 stars, even though there are 300, not plus, there's 400 stars you could use for forecast, but I've got it boiled down to 100, which is much better than 12 zodiac signs, for God's sake, or goddess sake, as you depending on the context. But yeah, so and then I I I work very strongly with the new moon and full moon because the new moon is when you start things, and the full moon is when you see all this drama, so you got to start it off right, then you see all the drama on the full moon, and so I guess I'm big on proactivity just because I'm born closer to the new moon. I mean, people are very much aligned with their moon phase.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

So help me understand why the full moon is where all the drama happens. Because a lot of times in the pagan community, I feel like the full moon is when we just naturally want to do all of our rituals, all of our cleansings, like all the festivals. But you're saying it's more like the new moon should be where we focus more.

SPEAKER_02 4:50

Well, both. I mean, it's a really good idea to have festivals and cleansing on the full moon because you need something to do with all that energy. But the new moon and full moon are the two times when we have the highest tides, whereas the first quarter, last quarter, there's less of a tide. So what happens is the tide bulges up the water that weighs on the earth, and then we have earthquakes and minor tremors, and people don't feel them consciously, but they feel them unconsciously. So, this whole idea about the moon pulls water in your body's water. No, it's like you feel the earth moving under your feet, literally on the new moon and full moon.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

Yeah, I always get a giant energy burst on the full moon, and so does my cat. He never wants to sleep at night. It's just like it's like he's got the zoomies and he will not calm down on the full moon.

SPEAKER_02 5:46

Animals they pick up on it. Animals and children, they feel the vibration of the earth more than us grownups. Yeah, we don't feel it, but but on some level we feel it.

SPEAKER_00 5:56

Yeah. And I feel like in a lot of ways, adults are conditioned to ignore their feelings or to write them off something else. Yeah. Whereas children and animals do not have that conditioning.

SPEAKER_02 6:09

Well, I'm not an expert on psychology, but still adults go crazy on the full moon too, especially on lunar eclipses. Lunar eclipses are, you know, the public is confused on a lunar eclipse. And during the pandemic, we had riots and looting on every lunar eclipse. And just like we didn't need more excitement, there were four lunar eclipses in 2020. Usually there are so only two, two lunar eclipses, two solar eclipses. But in 2020, we had for sure four lunar eclipses, and I think maybe three solar eclipses, you know, like thanks a lot. Like we needed that, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:50

Well, what you've got on the screen though corresponds to the eclipse window we've got this year, because we had the first one in February that coincided with the Chinese New Year, and then we've got another one coming up here in August.

SPEAKER_02 7:04

So, right. So the one in February kind of set the tone for six, usually they say it sets the tone for six months. So that solar eclipse was actually forming a square aspect to the planet Uranus. So there's a little, there's kind of rebellion in the wind and some skepticism about new technology and science. It was February 17th.

SPEAKER_00 7:28

Is that the square, or is that having to do with Uranus? Like sort of break down exactly like what's the specific meaning is.

SPEAKER_02 7:36

We look at the geometric relation between the planets and the Stragus is the conjunction, and then the opposition would be number two, and then the square is 90 degrees, so it was 90 degrees, Uranus 90 degrees from the solar eclipse. It was a kind of a weak solar eclipse, though, because it wasn't that close to the node, and I think it was at Apogee, but then the lunar eclipse, I believe it was March 3rd, was at Perigi, and it was much closer to the node, and that's when the whole Iraq war started, was on the lunar eclipse, March 3rd.

SPEAKER_00 8:11

Iraq or Iran? Iran, okay, yeah, Persia.

SPEAKER_02 8:17

Right, yeah. So then in March, if I can continue, because we all lived through it recently in March, and then and coming back in April, too, was this Saturn-Neptune conjunction, which is those are two of the mollifics. Saturn being well, in its in a good day, dignity, expertise, organization, professionalism, but also criticism. When that's conjunct to Neptune, which is glamour, sensitivity, spirituality, mysticism, but also illusion, trickery, toxins, and chaos. You know, sometimes they can do each other good, but it also can correspond to difficult to manage situations or trying to manage a situation that's difficult, that's way beyond your capability. And then in April, Mars went in. Mars is the third mollific. So that's why April was so bad, and Mars is war, of course. So that's why in April we had such a bad situation. By the way, I always think of Saturn Neptune as being very gothic. It's got Middle Ages. So it got so bad with Mars going in there in the middle of April that actually the Pope, who's a medieval figure, right, had to say, All right, guys, cut it out. Remember, and then there was a ceasefire, which has mostly lasted. And I think that's really interesting because the Pope, yeah, Saturn would be an authority figure, Neptune is religion.

SPEAKER_00 9:46

Well, the ceasefire is unfortunately starting to break down now. But that's probably where we could we're going here.

SPEAKER_02 9:53

I I'm gonna guess it's gonna hold for the most part, because that was the worst week since May 1845. There hasn't been anything like that with the Mars. Well, there's been a couple things close, but in the middle of April we 226, we actually had the moon then moved into position with Mars, Saturn, Neptune. And the last time that happened was when Texas was annexed as a state, and then we had the Mexican-American War right after 1845. I don't know, was that a bad thing? Is that remember the Alamo? Is that the whole thing with that going on?

SPEAKER_00 10:33

Maybe. Yeah, I don't know my Texas history as well as I should for having lived there for nine years.

SPEAKER_02 10:39

That's okay. But anyway, so I think the worst is over, even if it's breaking down a little, maybe the Pope has to come back, make a return appearance, yeah, reprimand everyone again.

SPEAKER_00 10:52

I mean, he he is a Chicago Pope.

SPEAKER_02 10:54

Yeah, I was gonna say that he does tell like it is guy, absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:58

Yeah, although if the prophecy of the popes is to be believed, he should be the last one.

SPEAKER_02 11:04

Because maybe that's all we mean.

SPEAKER_00 11:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:07

Mean him now, though.

SPEAKER_00 11:08

Yep, right? Yep. That's sort of like some inside Catholic baseball with the last Pope choosing ceremony they did. The prophecy came into play a lot because the prophecy says that Peter the Roman would be the last one, and I think it was Peter Petrole, he was the runner up to Pope Francis. It was a lot of inside drama.

SPEAKER_02 11:28

Well, he's a good guy. He's all right.

SPEAKER_00 11:31

Yep, he's doing the work of Pope Francis, but he's more thoughtful about doing it. Pope Francis wanted to be more abrasive, wanted to go for the attention to noticeably mark that he was trying to make a turn with the church, whereas this new Pope is more of an institutionalist and is still making the turns, but is making sure he has all of his bishops, especially the American ones, on side first.

SPEAKER_02 11:57

I'm impressed that you know I don't know that much about him. I'm not following it that closely. Yeah. You know, I do have his horoscope somewhere. So, anyway, so all that happened, and that was really the bulk of the influence of the year. Now, this month in May, we have the new moon conjunct Uranus. Oh, I forgot to mention in January we had a new moon conjunct Mars and Pluto. We had the solar eclipse in February, in March, we had the new moon conjunct Neptune-Saturn. Then in April, we had a new moon conjunct Chiron, the Doctor, and but Mars came along and hit the Saturn Neptune. We really had a lot of direct hits. We had a lot of conjunctions. It's been an extremely intense, potent time frame to begin 2026. All those new moons were lining up, and all the planets were very, very intense. So, what's really great about May is the new moon conjunction Rainus is that probably everybody is going to forget all about the war. It's all going to be about AI and new technology and groups and all this kind of stuff. You know, us Americans, we have a short attention span. So we're going to move on to other things. So that's what I'm seeing for the middle of May. But could be a little manic. And then in June, that's really just a preparation for July, because the big thing in July is the best social month we've seen in a long time. Jupiter is opposing the Pluto. So we have some really powerful alliances shaping up. So I would encourage everyone to be really social and get some teamwork things going. And then the final thing, the final formative phase of 2026 would be, as you mentioned, August, I believe it's August 12th, solar eclipse. So that gives us a chance to set up what do we want to have happen? And especially in terms of leadership, because it's near the head of the lion. So it's leadership, and both in your own life and then maybe who you're going to follow as a leader. And after Arya's, that's it. There's not a whole lot more you can do to. I don't want to be. Is that dismal?

SPEAKER_00 14:12

I mean, do for what? Like, what do you mean there's not a whole lot to do after Aries?

SPEAKER_02 14:16

There's just my program is proactive. So I'm saying that there is tons of proactivity. January, February, March, April, May, June, in the sense that it's preparing for July. June isn't really that big of a deal, but July is huge for partnerships. August for leadership. After that, there are no more proactive opportunities in a big way. There just aren't. So that's why this is so important to grab this now and to make things happen, to set things up, because it's just it's mostly reactive. After August, it's mostly reactive to what has already been set up, either by you or other people.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

So can you talk a little bit more about where we're going into the end of May, especially with what Uranus is looking like and how someone could apply that to their lives?

SPEAKER_02 15:07

Yeah, it's the middle of May. I think May. That new moon. Yeah, see, that's the problem, is the new moons ideally would be happening at the beginning of the month. So, but the beginning of the month is not the beginning of the month. It's really the reaction from the months before. But yeah, it looks like the new moon, I believe it's on the May 16th. I give it a five-day time window. So it would be 14th through the 18th of May, would be highly formative. And then you can continue to, you know, even into the third week of May to set up things the way you want them. But it's all about technology, new stuff, groups, and anticipating the future. And it's kind of eccentric, charismatic, very friendly. Yeah, good idea to be friendly to everybody and just go to special interest groups, they're just going to thrive in May. They're setting their agenda. So then, did I answer your question?

SPEAKER_00 16:06

So, what should someone be actively trying to do or avoid doing in their life during that new moon phase?

SPEAKER_02 16:13

Okay. So the thing is, you want to set up your technology, very important. You want to kind of do an inventory of all of your special interest groups. Everyone should be a member of at least five groups, but 10 is better. We have two hands, right? 10 is better. And so you want to be joining every group that you're eligible to join, either because of your interests, because it's your alma mater, you went to school, you classmates, or you have your ethnic background, your religious background, whatever your interests, you want to be charting out these groups, find out what they're doing and get involved with them. And that just can really enrich a person's life, I think almost faster than anything.

SPEAKER_00 16:55

And so you do that enrichment and get involved in May, and then that scales up through June into July.

SPEAKER_02 17:04

Yeah, and even for the rest of the year, and even until the sun comes around and hits Uranus again. I mean, it's just the absolutely fantastic opportunity to glimpse your own future and who do you want your associates to be? And what do you want to have happen? You know, that's three group. And you know, I mean, it used to be called networking. I'm not sure what it's called now, but you know, it's just good old-fashioned networking. It just can do so much work for you. Yeah. So I'm excited about May, because I think we'll in this country, anyway, we're gonna forget all about that that Crumi old war. I mean, you know, that's their problem. And let's get on with what we can do. We're in this innovative country and very friendly country. I think that's what we're known for. And that we are in a golden age of groups. All you have to do is find out about it, go and find the website, when is their next meeting? And then it's just it's absolutely glorious time to be alive, you know. If you can benefit, if you know how to work the room, right? You got to work the room, you got to go with your business cards or whatever. You've got to go with gifts for the organizers because a lot of times these groups are volunteer. Some of the best groups are volunteer run. And so you want to be very generous with the organizer and you know, and understand that it's not gonna be if it's volunteer run, it might not be exactly, you know, professional or perfectly done, but the volunteer groups can just be enormously beneficial because they might be part of this niche, you know, some kind of a niche interest. On the other hand, the regular, well-established groups are really good at the theosophical society here in Chicago. We have the national headquarters, it's a virtual empire of esoteric studies. It's just absolutely amazing. And then there's other great organ, there's the Anthroposophy Society here, there's the Swedenborg Libraries here. Those are some that I go to, and uh, of course, Demetria's group, but what do you call your group? The Pagan, the Pagan Society group. Oh means just great.

SPEAKER_00 19:05

Yeah, International Pagan Society.

SPEAKER_02 19:07

Yeah, that's just great, and that's a very niche, it's very, you know, very exotic.

SPEAKER_00 19:13

Yeah. Well, the main driver for that is to not only help provide common communication infrastructure for all of the pagan groups, but to act as a piece of shared infrastructure for sacred commerce. There's a lot of difficulty because of the fragmentation in the pagan community of being able to fully access the same level of tools and platforms as some secular spaces do. Like, for example, in selling incense or artifacts or readings, a lot of times on the secular sites, you're flooded with either junk or people that don't really list what they're actually selling because the platform won't let them. So the idea for IPS is to number one, create a platform where sacred faith-based commerce can thrive outside of a Christian or Abrahamic religious frame, but then through that foster a deeper sense of community amongst all the different faiths.

SPEAKER_02 20:15

Love it. That's wonderful. I didn't realize that. So, how can they get in touch with?

SPEAKER_00 20:21

So, right now we're setting up our website. We're still a very young org. The major features are the website, a community calendar to link all the different events here in Chicago, and then some shared advertising platforms to handle social media integration along with digital billboarding across the different shops and vendors for the occult and mystical community here in town. From there, we hope to branch out. The goal is to take it international, but right now we're starting Chicago local and treating Chicago as a hub of the mystic arts, just like it was back in Alistair Crowley's time.

SPEAKER_02 21:00

Yeah, Chicago's known as the psychic city.

SPEAKER_00 21:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:04

Because at one time there were more psychics here than any place in the world. And we did have the parliamentary world religion here too, because there's more religions here.

SPEAKER_00 21:12

Yeah. I mean, the ley lines here in Chicago are very unique. So there's a couple that cross on two different cross streets that are major like ley lines for the entire planet that other cities just don't have.

SPEAKER_02 21:28

Yikes, can you tell me? I'm curious, what are those cross streets?

SPEAKER_00 21:32

So one of them's actually on on Brynmarr and Broadway, right near Hexa House. Because you've gone to the shop a couple times and you can just walk in and tell the energy is completely different. Right. It's the sort of edge water like area that it radiates out from there. That's one of the big ones. There's another one closer to the Lincoln Park area. I need to get out a map and find the exact street names for that one. But that one's also a pretty big hub.

SPEAKER_02 21:59

Yeah. That's amazing. Well, I yeah, I definitely feel it. Hexa House has got a wonderful exotic feeling to it. It's it feels like a museum in London or something. You know, it's just it's a wonderful place. It's always a joy to be there.

SPEAKER_00 22:12

Yeah, it is. Yeah, we've got to have you back there sometime. So when do you think you'll do an update for this? For next year, or is this one pretty just locked in?

SPEAKER_02 22:21

Yeah, well, it would make more sense to do. Yeah, I haven't really looked at 2027 in terms of the configurations. Uh, I do have one the almanac for 2026 is at Hexa House. Kind of like this report that I gave in person in January. But I haven't really looked to see, but it's probably gonna be some of the same. So yeah, it would make more sense to have that in November or December, actually. It's just that I'm busy doing gigs. But yeah, I don't have plans to do. We're gonna do something. Demetri and I want to do some programs there in the summer. And so, yeah, because there's nothing going on in Chicago in the summer. So we'll do something there. Maybe that's a good time to look at 2027 because after August 12th, our proactivity options are more or less exhausted.

SPEAKER_00 23:17

Makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 23:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:18

So then if people wanted to get a hold of you either for readings or more professional work, how would they do that?

SPEAKER_02 23:24

Do you know? I think there's a I think that on my classic Chicago magazine, but you can also write to me at Vicky Martin at gmail.com. It's well V-I-C-C-I-M-A-R-T-I-N. And I do have a regular forecast I send out to 600 of my closest friends. So I can always, and it's free, so I can add someone to that. Just don't keep changing your email address on me. I just that's it for life. Just keep that email. Yeah, but yeah, I'm always happy to add someone, friend of a friend, people you know. How many listeners do you have? Any idea?

SPEAKER_00 24:03

Haven't checked the numbers yet.

SPEAKER_02 24:04

Okay. Well, you're certainly a very skilled interviewer if you don't mind me making a personal remark.

SPEAKER_00 24:09

No, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 24:10

And I hope your yoga workshop continues and we'll be in touch.

SPEAKER_00 24:15

Alrighty.

SPEAKER_02 24:16

Okay, thanks a lot.