We answer two listener questions, both essentially about the effects of drugs and medication on the body, and wanting insight from a Chinese medicine perspective. Give it a listen!

Notes:

Art by Georgia O’Keeffe

Why We Love Why We Cheat TED talk by Helen Fisher

Because it is August and the weather is hot and muggy, we discuss how to cope, or at least how to put the swamp-like weather into perspective.

This goes into a discussion about Heart season, the height of summer, when we can relax and enjoy human interconnectedness. Summer is unique in that is characterized not by the work of planting and harvesting, or hunkering down to survive the winter, but by a certain ease and openness. The extra daylight is also related to the archetype of the heart as Sovereign, surveying their kingdom. When we are connected to our heart then the rest of the body is correctly ordered.

The listener question we spend the rest of the episode getting into is about how we find our true vocation according to astrology.

We answer with “It’s simple, just look to … the Sun, Moon, Ascendant, Midheaven, North Node, Saturn, major stellium, planetary rulership etc.” In other words, look at the whole chart and see the tendencies. Look at your life and see your own proclivities. Meditate and trust what guides you. Don’t be afraid to follow something that doesn’t automatically lead to money and wide social approval.

Books, articles, and movies referenced in this episode:

• Human Heart Cosmic Heart by Thomas Cohen

• Takahiro-Style Teishin Technique in Vancouver by Daniel Silver and Sara Bergman, NAJOM July 2025

• Five Spirits by Lorie Eve Dechar

• Movie “I Am”

• Yesterday’s Sky by Steven Forrest

Thanks for listening and please write in with your questions!

Audrey and Carly

At the top of this episode Audrey poses an epistemic question: how do we reconcile different ways of knowing? There knowledge that is more based in data, stats, facts, “book learning” (aka internet learning nowadays), and commonly associated with science. And there is knowledge that is based more in intuition, faith, living experience, internal comprehension and commonly associated with religion.

Both ways of knowing can lead us to the truth, and both ways exist not in conflict but in a relationship on a polarity. Both ways of knowing can also lead to falsehoods, i.e. from science that is corrupted by bias or influence, and religion that is corrupted by dogma and power.

Astrologically speaking, the data or “science” based way is Mercurial and manifests in the Mercury ruled signs of Gemini and Virgo, characterized by their logic and intelligence. The intuition or “religion” based way is Jupiterian and manifests in Jupiter ruled Sagittarius and Pisces, famous for their affinity to religion and spirituality.

We take this interesting topic and apply it to tackle the perennial question of “what is up with this relationship that I’m in/want to be in?”

We look at the charts of a married couple that kindly wrote in to ask about the astrological patterns in their relationship.

Then we tackle the perennial Virgo question “ How should I structure my daily routine for the best health and harmony?”. We look to the Chinese organ clock which shows the flow of qi throughout the different organs in a 24 hour cycle.

We go into it in more depth, but basically: be awake and do stuff when it’s light out, rest and sleep and fast when it’s dark out.

Happy listening!

Audrey and Carly