Episode Transcript
[00:00:28] Speaker A: Welcome to the mushrooms Apprentice. My guest today is an amazing astrologist who I have been working with now for the past couple of years, and she has helped me greatly. So I'm very excited to introduce her to you. And she's very interesting. So her name is Elsa. And Elsa discovered astrology when she was eight years old, and for the last 30 years has been consulting full time with clients. She specializes in relationships and anything related to trauma. Elsa hosts a forum on her blog, which has been around for almost 25 years and has been writing a free newsletter for the past 15 years where she offers Astro tips. Her website is elsaelsa.com dot. Welcome, Elsa.
[00:01:19] Speaker B: Hey, how are you? Thanks for having me.
[00:01:22] Speaker A: You are so welcome. I am very much looking forward to this. And so my first question for you, Elsa. How did an eight year old child find her way to astrology?
[00:01:36] Speaker B: My grandfather was interested in metaphysics of different types.
He was odd. He was ahead of his time. Like, he was a vegan in the 1950s, if you can imagine that, in Arizona, no less, which has a lot of cattle.
So he was into a lot of things and he came across astrology. And he, what he said is, actually, my sister and I got into this together and we were introduced by my grandfather, who, he said it was too hard for him. He couldn't learn. He thought that we might, you know, we should cry. We thought it, thought it would be good to know. It was interesting, and we were smart enough to learn, so he encouraged us, I guess that's what I'd say.
And it appealed to me. It appealed to my sister, too. But, I mean, it appealed to me because I'm just the kind of person, if there's something hidden, if there's something to know, I always want to figure it out.
So I was like a tag along, a little sister, because I couldn't have done this, really, without my older sister. I was eight, she was ten.
But he got us just a couple of books. It was like an introduction. But my mother, we actually lived in the middle of the desert. I grew up without a tv and without a phone, just completely isolated. But we went to the library once a week. So my sister and I would go to the astrology section and we pull all the books down on the floor, and we'd sit on the floor and go through them. We could only take out two each and decide which ones. That week we were taking home. And we caught, we pulled. They had an ephemeris in the library. So we take the ephemeris and birth dates that we were looking into or dates, we would write them down out of the book. Cause we couldn't afford any books, so that's how we got started.
[00:03:22] Speaker A: It's just amazing to think, and I do wonder with all of this cell phone, there's just ubiquitous, right? And cell phones are in the hands of small children and they're just, I just think they're missing so much, right. Because when you have that kind of open time without those diversions, it's just amazing where you can go.
[00:03:54] Speaker B: I couldn't agree. I couldn't agree more. And you also see what you're really interested in because you got to work for it, you know, it's, when my sister and I, it's just interesting, I have two sisters and all three of us have Capricorn risings within a degree of each other. So it's that, well, actually, within four degrees risings, it's really, anyway, I think that that's, we do things the hard way.
But I didn't, you know, this seems all normal to me. Like, I think from growing, I grew up like that and you don't, it's hard to imagine any other way, you know? And so to this day, I'm still trying to, I'm still realizing how odd that is to, we just, we learned astrology. We didn't talk to anybody. There was nobody to talk to. Like, astrology has become popular now. And at that time we had, you know, there's people maybe interested in astrology, but there's no way to access them. There's no Internet for, you know, another, what, 30 years, you know, 30 years before that, you had to learn to calculate a chart, which my sister was able to do, which is miraculous, you know, when she was ten, she's eleven years old, she calculated, I mean, she missed my ascendant by a few degrees, but other than that, you know, she had this, she had it down. She was able to draw or draw our charts. And so when I just came up recently, it had me think about it and I started to, you know, we've learned astrology. I learned astrology entirely, you know, from observation, pretty much just, you know, watching, looking at the ephemeris and paying attention.
So I didn't, we didn't have, I didn't find like another, like a person interested in astrology until I was in my thirties.
[00:05:48] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness, seriously.
[00:05:51] Speaker B: Well, I don't live in town, right. You know, I live, grew up in the desert, but I also moved to the desert myself, moved out, you know, that kind of person that is just fascinating.
[00:06:02] Speaker A: And so.
So then did you go on to college?
[00:06:08] Speaker B: No. Boy, you don't know that much about me, do you?
[00:06:12] Speaker A: No, I don't.
[00:06:13] Speaker B: Well, you know, I'm happy to tell you this stuff's all. I'm very open about all of this. I left home when I was 15 years old.
I'm talking about my grandfather. But my grandfather was exceptional. He was fantastic. But my father is very abusive, extremely abusive, you know, egregious, shocking. And so, you know, I left home when I was 15 years old, permanently, to get away from him.
So I don't know. I made it in life. You know, I had a period there. This is why I work with people who have trauma, because the things went. Once I got out of my house, things were great. That's the truth. You know, I was in the middle of the desert, and I was isolated. Then I got to town. I mean, I literally. I wrote a book about this. Well, you know, this and other things. But, you know, I just had to get out of there. I'd had to get out of there. And so I walked out to the highway and from the middle of the desert, and I stuck my thumb out, and I had a sundress from goodwill and rubberization thongs. You know, those, like. Yeah, $0.50. You know, I didn't have a purse. I didn't even have $0.10 for a phone call. So instead of. Rather than going to college, I got a job tending bar when I was 15 years old. I just. I have a lot of nerve. It's, you know, I mean, it's an interesting story. I'll tell you how I have that. You know, that little bit. But I got a job. I walked in, and I just have natural sales ability, clearly, because I went in and I said that I was 21 or 22. I think the age is 21. So I lied the first time. I don't really remember, but I, you know, this was a pattern. I had to keep working.
So I went and told the guy that I was, like, 22 years old, and I was a great bartender and I'd make him money. And he gave me a. He gave me a job, and I started bar that night, like Friday night. I have, you know, I read stories, and so I. You know, I tell. I've told most of these stories publicly, you know, over the years because I've been writing online for, like, 25 years.
[00:08:19] Speaker A: That's a long time.
[00:08:21] Speaker B: Yeah. I got a lot of stories.
[00:08:24] Speaker A: I'll bet you do. I love people like you. I just that's just amazing. Amazing. When did you begin practicing astrology, like, with clients?
[00:08:37] Speaker B: Um, it wasn't until, you know, when I committed, when I got. Okay, so we were studying when we were a little like kids, right? We kind of, you know, puberty and chaos. Like, when I'm 15, I'm not doing this. I'm trying to survive, right? So then I get some. You know, when I really started getting back into this, you know, I had to. I was homeless right when I left. So I had my apartment. I had, you know, start. I actually ended up buying a house when I was 25 years old. So, you know, it was about then when I was trying to, like, establish myself as an adult after leaving home at 15. And what happened?
I was going to be, like, an adult now, and I was going to send Christmas cards to people. This was my thought. So I was gathering addresses and birthdays, because I send people birthday cards like, I have libra. And I noticed that all my friends were clustered into these monthly groups because I was filling in the calendar, and that brought astrology come rushing back, you know what I mean? So I picked it back up, and, you know, when I really got serious about this is as I was heading into my Saturn return, so maybe like, 26.
And I started to, like, the first time I charged is right around the. Actually, no, I was beyond my Saturn return. It was. It was. I think I was 31 before I charged somebody.
[00:09:59] Speaker A: So you bought a house at 25, and were you married at that time, or you just did that on your own?
[00:10:06] Speaker B: No, I didn't on my own. So I was a bartender when I was 15, and I did that. Um, you know, I was lying about my age, and I not. I'm naturally not a liar. Like, I'm just known for candor. And a very honest. Is very uncomfortable with lying. So when I was 17, I was solid enough. I mean, I did well. You know, I was able to get myself together. And so I confessed that I was lying, and I got a job in a restaurant that didn't.
It didn't require me to serve liquor. Right. And then, you know, where I. Where I flipped up is I went to work for Frito lay. I went back to tenning bar when I was of age, and then I was getting sick of it. I just really am not a drinker. And it started. Got dark for me because I would see, you know, I'm. I had a couple of customers. Two different customers hit two. Two different people on a bicycle. You know, it wasn't because of me. It wasn't the night that I saw, you know, it was just dark, and there was a girl just haunted me. She'd come in, she's beautiful and, you know, effervescent, and she'd get drunk, and then she'd end up doing things in the parking lot. I just don't want to be part of that. It was sort of really bothered me. So liquor salesmen and beer salesmen come in a bar, and I started to kind of envy them because they come in, they chat, and they go. And then if they didn't have to, they didn't have. They didn't have a set schedule. If they liked you, they could say and chat with you. If they didn't, they just did the job and left, you know, and I really like that kind of freedom. So I was talking about that, and, you know, eventually a job at Frito La came up, which is a route sales job. And it, you know, it's just similar. So I went to apply for that, and I was able to talk my way into that job, which is miraculous. And it was very high paying.
And so that's how I got in a position. I bought my mother a house first, actually, and then bought myself a house when I was 25.
[00:12:12] Speaker A: That is so impressive.
That's just. What a story in hindsight.
[00:12:19] Speaker B: In hindsight, yeah. Yeah.
So I did that. And then I think you just have a. I came to the time I sat and returned. I did marry eventually, you know, I did. My first husband, I married him. And he was a. He was a good dude. He really was. But I didn't want to get married. I really had a lot of fun with him. He's like a friend. I didn't feel attracted to him. I told him all this. It was very clear. And he told me, well, you know, let's get married, and if you don't like it, we'll get divorced. You know, he had four planets, actually, five planets in Scorpio. It's shocking that he said that, but that's what he said. And I had Uranus in the 7th house, which will experiment, you see. I mean, so when he says, well, we can do this and we'll try, because. And I said, okay, well, you know, I just really didn't have the attraction, so that didn't work. And this, you know, this is what happened. It's stunning. We had a house. We had a house full of furniture at that time. And I also think I was bored, and I was just trying to disrupt things. And I said, you know, let's sell this house, you know, let's, let's go get a different house. There was no reason to do that whatsoever. But what happened? And this is right coming into my Saturn return, and this is just like, you know, God or the universe, however you see these things, this is how at least my life goes. Some guy was driving by, we're in rural Arizona, like, I mean, we're in like, a town with like 30 people. So really a rural Arizona, and you don't expect the house to sell.
He was driving by and he had the agent call and say he made a full price offer for a house he hadn't even been inside. And so we were going to take that. But he also wanted the refrigerator. And, you know, this is a stupid story. You know, I was young, but whatever. I have Capricorn. I just bought that refrigerator, so I didn't want to give it to him free. So I, you know, she says, well, he's paying a full price offer. But, you know, I'm like a kidde. I don't understand that I should have taken that offer. So I told him I'd give him the refrigerator for this. And we sat down. I don't know why we did this, but we sat down and we listed every single thing in our house, my husband and I, that we would sell to this guy for x amount of, like, my grandfather's tools, for example, you know, and we never, and we said, we sell everything for this price. Well, this guy instantly bought everything we owned. Everything but my husband's pool cue because he was like, he liked to play pool, you know, his high end pool cue that he had made by somebody famous. So I can think Zambodi, is that what it is? He had, he had a pool cue that he wasn't going to let go of. And we kept our vehicles, and the guy came in, even tried to buy our dogs, if you can believe that. So then everything we owned was gone. So then we thought, well, you know, what about this marriage? Did we get another house and we get this together? And we decided no, and we divorced. And we got a $30 kit, you know, to write down. And if you look at our divorce, it says pool queue. It says he gets the car because he was six, seven, and he fit in the car. So he gets the car. I took the little truck, he gets the pool cue. I got one, something from my grandfather. Nothing else. No money's even mentioned. So he got divorced. And I put my albums, I think I did my albums and my clothes, I had those and drove to Colorado and probably because of, you know, I didn't know this subconsciously. My husband. My husband. Now, when he came and he found out, left Arizona, he said that I did it because of John Denver singing about Colorado, romanticizing it. And also he said I was looking for more Mark and Mindy.
[00:16:09] Speaker A: Oh, gosh.
[00:16:11] Speaker B: Which is probably true, but it's, you know, that as stupid as that is, I told everybody that I was going there because it was like the nearest roller coaster. That was my reason, you know, none other. Because I'm like that, you know, obviously, if you're gonna. If you're gonna leave home when you're 15 and walk in a bar and say that you're a great bartender, you know what I mean?
[00:16:30] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:31] Speaker B: You got nerve. So anyway, that's how I ended up in Colorado. And that's the first time I was anywhere where there was. There was access to another astrologer. And there. This is still pre Internet.
[00:16:43] Speaker A: What was it like meeting another astrologer? I mean, just because to think it was not. Not at all common at all.
[00:16:51] Speaker B: Well, you know, I talked to my sister about astrology all the time. It's like, I'm going, you know, I didn't know. Honestly. You know, I'm not an overconfident person. It sounds like I am. I'm more like nervy. I'll take a chance. But I'm not like a.
I'm not an arrogant person. I had no way to measure my knowledge against anyone else's, so I just assumed everyone I was going to run into, I was trying not to embarrass myself. You know what I mean?
[00:17:19] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:17:20] Speaker B: I just had no, you know, I had no idea. But I got in there and I was shocked because I understood everything everyone said. And it's like, oh, I must know astrology.
How would you know? I mean, honestly, how would you know? I said, you know, I want, you know, I went to the meeting, and she said, how was it? You know? And I told her, you know, what the people were like. And this one knew this, and this one had this idea, and this one, you know. And so that, you know, we both expanded. And then it was a city, so I started to go to workshops now, and then a few, you know, when people came, this is Denver. So I saw Tracy Marks as somebody that I saw, and I'm thinking David Pond.
[00:18:11] Speaker A: I don't know those names, but I assume those were.
[00:18:14] Speaker B: Well, it's been a while, you know, I don't. Tracy Marks, actually, she wrote a book on the 12th house, and she was the person who really popularized the nodes for western astrologers. But she's quit astrology. I don't know, maybe that's not accurate current. But about 20 years ago I heard that she gave it up.
[00:18:36] Speaker A: So then when, after that did you start actually practicing?
[00:18:41] Speaker B: Well, I was pregnant with my daughter and I was into this and.
See, you can't have an astrology business until it is online because how are you going to do that? There's one little, one or two metaphysical stores in the city at most.
So I started doing this in apartments, like, and I was rather. It was a condo. I own the condo. It was a condo. And I started doing this with my neighbors and that was the first people to pay me. Like, they gave me money. So that's what I'm saying. It's not an astrology business.
I mean, it is. You're starting. You're starting. And then, you know, that was the problem. Like, I realized that I could do this, I could do something with it. But there's no way to get any. Any clients, right? Like how? So then eventually, you know, the Internet came about. Like you could write a book maybe. But I, you know, I had. That was before I knew I could write because, you know, I've been writing nonstop. It's almost. I mean, even before. Before I was blogging, I mean, I've really been writing constantly. And I had no idea I could write either until I was in my thirties. No idea.
[00:19:58] Speaker A: That was quite an amazing start for you. I have just one backtrack question. When you were a child, so were you guys going to school or were you homeschooled? How did that work?
[00:20:09] Speaker B: No, we went to school. I mean, we just.
Let's see. I don't, you know, I don't want to. I don't know if it's like okay to say things are dark or, you know, things that are dark on this and, you know, for your audience.
[00:20:23] Speaker A: Absolutely. It is. Yes.
[00:20:27] Speaker B: Well, you know, when I was a little kid, we lived in town. You know, I lived in town till I was six years old and I skipped a grade and I started scroll early. So when we moved to the desert, I went into third grade. I started third grade when I was six years old and that's when we moved to the desert. And the reason we moved to the desert is both of my parents are hardcore aquarians. Like my father has four planets in the sign and my mother is sun and moon and Aquarius. And they're not going to have anyone anyway, they were beating us quite severely. And we would scream. And so he said, we're going out to the desert where no one can hear you scream.
So that's how we end, you know, so we're. Anyway, we still going to school? We're just out there isolated, so he could do what he wanted.
[00:21:12] Speaker A: Oh, Elsa, that's. That's horrible.
[00:21:15] Speaker B: Well, you know, it's. It's a million years ago, and I don't carry that around with me, believe me. I'm just saying, whatever happened to you to somebody, somebody, like when my customers, you know, my clients call, they've got some kind of dark, you know, I can get right in there with the best of them. And I also. I should have mentioned that, like, as far as my background, that's what I was doing in between going, you know, I went. Started therapy in my mid twenties, you know, and I went to three years of therapy to work all this out. Anyway, we went to school. We just lived in the desert, and we were isolated and we didn't have a phone and we didn't have a tv, so we walked to the highway, get on the school bus, and go to school, and we excelled.
[00:21:57] Speaker A: If you introduced children to astrology, I mean, they might be interested, but maybe not like what called you to it at that age. What did you find so compelling?
[00:22:12] Speaker B: Secret information.
Like, I have a packed 8th house and there's something to know, but there's two things in my chart. I think there's two. Or, you know, my chart is me, is my personality. They're in, you know, they're indistinguish, distinguishable from each other. So one thing is I have Mars, Mars with mercury, which is driven to know things. It's just driven to know things, period. And it's in the 9th house, and it'll go out of bounds to know things. You know, I'm going to consider anything from any source, so that's one thing. And then I have this 8th house, and if my big sister's going to learn and know something that I don't know way, no way am I going to have her have secret knowledge that I don't have. So she's not even. I mean, you know, I'm like, I was going to be over her shoulder no matter what.
[00:23:00] Speaker A: So when you say you have Mars with mercury, are you saying that your mercury is in Aries? Is that what you're saying?
[00:23:06] Speaker B: No, I'm saying that I have the conjunction. Okay, yeah, so Mars is hotting up mercury all the time. I want to know, you know, talk fast. Think fast. I want to go. You know, the 9th house is, you know. Are you feeling lucky, punk? Yes. Yes, I am. I think I'm leaving home. You know, as a matter of fact, actually, I talked my sister, and my sister and I moved to town. We were. When we were 13 years old and spent the summer in town working and paying for a motel.
I just pushed her until she. I didn't want to go alone. I have Mars and mercury in Libra. It's hilarious. So I push somebody else to go with me. You know, I learned that I can't do that because I want to do things that other people don't want to do. But that's. I mean, it's. It's to that degree. It's to the degree, like, why are we out here in the desert during the summer? Like, you know, school. You got to go to school.
There's a schedule. But why be at home in the summer when you can go to town and live there and get a job, work. See, yeah, that was prelude to leaving when I was 15. I had some practice.
[00:24:09] Speaker A: It just is such an amazing, impressive, shocking, incredible story.
[00:24:16] Speaker B: Elsa, the astrology is there for that, too. A shocking story is Jupiter and Uranus. That's it. The story is Jupiter and Uranus is shocking. And I have those planets also in, you know, aspect.
[00:24:29] Speaker A: Okay. Okay. What is this book that you wrote?
[00:24:33] Speaker B: Heaven. I mean, circle k, indicating. Implying that I had the circle k mixed up with heaven, which I did. If you want to go somewhere really bad, that's heaven. That was what? I had no religious training whatsoever. I had nothing of that sort. And, well, I shouldn't say that. My grandfather was very high minded, and he was exceptional. So, you know, I would probably be just a basket case with, you know, the way that I was raised, if not for my grandfather. But he was there, and he was nearby, and he had a, you know, huge influence. Huge.
In fact, I'm turning into him, you know. You know, it's like. Like, I really. I see that I'm, you know, his legacy.
[00:25:15] Speaker A: And this is your paternal or fraternal grandfather?
[00:25:18] Speaker B: My mother's grandfather. Some mother's side.
[00:25:21] Speaker A: On your mother's side. Okay. Okay. No, this is interesting. And, you know, I just find this so fascinating also, because astrology is all about fate, right? And so this is, your life is just, from an early age, so fated. Like, this is just so clear, right? This was. This was the path you were to be on.
[00:25:42] Speaker B: You know, I think. I think. I think that's true. I, you know, you see I've been on the alternate. It's interesting that you said that. I just put this together, you know, thanks to you, it's an alternative. You're honest, odd, your own, you know, individual path. Jupiter. And I'll tell you, you know, just, if you talk to me, it just gets worse and worse and more obvious. And I'll give you another example.
I started when I started first grade. I started first grade, you know, a year early, and I was able to read. They tested me. I was able to read on the 7th grade level when I started school. That's why I skipped a grade. So when I was, you know, moved to the desert and started a new school, and it went into the third grade when I was six and a rather five when I started at five. And they rapidly realized that I knew the curriculum. And so they pulled me out of the classes and they had me go work in the office, you know, so I didn't even go to school, you know, I mean, I'm in school, but I'm working in the office. It's half the day. There were some subjects. I don't remember which ones, to be honest. And they also had me helping other kids. They put me in a room with a tape recorder, and they had me read into a tape recorder so kids who couldn't read could follow my reading, you know, go home and learn to read. And so basically they put me to work, you see, they put me to work. And so you're just going, I can't know. There was nothing I can do. I mean, there's just nothing I can do. I'm going out to the desert. I'm going into the, you know, and I. So I'm working in the office. It's just a shocking thing. You know, I have Capricorn, which is like an authority figure, and I'm having to call. My job in the office is to call the parents of kids who are truant. You know, like the truant children. I'm not even a child and I'm younger than everybody.
So I was literally, you know, when I was six years old, I was calling parents for the secretary of the school and saying, do you know, are you aware that Tommy isn't here today.
[00:27:39] Speaker A: With your little five year old?
[00:27:42] Speaker B: Yes. Yes.
Hey, it wasn't my idea. They didn't know what to do with me. They just didn't. They. They had no idea what to do with me.
[00:27:51] Speaker A: Well, you were smarter than all the teachers.
[00:27:54] Speaker B: I have no idea. I mean, you know, I don't like. I'm just, you know, I'm like a beaten kid, right? You know, I have black eyes, I have bruises, belt, welts all over me the whole. All through school. True.
And you just, you know, I'm just going to school and doing what the authority figure says. And they said, you know, I mean, I was glad because I'm sitting in the class.
Well, exactly what happened. We, you know, start third grade and they gave us this giant book of math, right? And they gave us, you know, this is the math for the year. And I just can't help myself. You know, I was craving. I like puzzles. So I went home on the weekend and I did about two thirds of the math book for the year.
And I thought everyone would do that. You see what I mean? I just didn't know.
[00:28:39] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:28:40] Speaker B: I had no, you know, I don't have any training of how to behave, you know, like, I really didn't have any, you know, someone telling me, you know, how would, you know?
[00:28:50] Speaker A: Yeah, of course, of course.
[00:28:52] Speaker B: So they said, what are we going to do with her? And, you know, they got me all day and they put me in the office.
I worked there three or four periods a day. I can't remember at least three.
[00:29:03] Speaker A: I mean, you're just. You were an exceptional child is what I just keep thinking.
[00:29:08] Speaker B: It's. Yeah. You know what? Thank you. See, it's. I mean, I don't even know what to think about it. I mean, the thing.
The issue now is people expect me to be like them, and I'm just not. And I can't help it. How can I possibly? You know, you can't even guess because I didn't have the tv going to show me how I'm supposed to act. You know, I'm very grateful for that at this point.
[00:29:31] Speaker A: You should be. Absolutely. No, I mean, it's part of the reason why we're circling the toilet as a civilization at this point.
And the Internet is just eating it up.
[00:29:43] Speaker B: They tell you what to think and they tell you how to think and they, you know, people have sub out their thinking. They sub out, you know, they, they look, they look outside themselves for.
For, you know, how to feel about things or, you know, I don't know. You know, you said early in this conversation, like, I have, I'm faded. You're faded, too. And I feel like they take people. This is why, you know, you also mentioned children in astrology. This is another reason I don't really like, I don't like the idea of that, because, like, I'm a Virgo. And virgos are very dissed. And if somebody told me, and I, you know, I'm a Virgo with Venus in Leo, and I just want to be a star, you know, I want to be a star. And if I was a child and, you know, see, we were doing this on our own, but if I'm reading and it's saying, boy, if you're a Virgo, you know, no one wants to be around you because you're picky. And it would just crippled me, you know, literally, it would have ruined my life.
[00:30:39] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:30:40] Speaker B: And so it's very concerning to me.
[00:30:42] Speaker A: Okay. When did you start this blog?
[00:30:46] Speaker B: 2001.
[00:30:48] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:30:49] Speaker B: Started on sanga.com, and then I blogged on sanga.com, and then the CEO of Xanga, I caught his attention, and he's the one who set me up on my WordPress blog with my name, like, I used to write under, I was very modern, very modern astrology. And then he set me up on the blog, and I've been there since.
Yeah, several years after that. So I started in 2001 because I got a spam mail that said, come over here, we're writing, and it's fun. I said, well, I'm going to go see what this chick Bianca, who doesn't exist, is doing. So I felt for spam mail, and the rest is history. You see how this, my life's like this. I mean, the guy comes and buys all our furniture and buy. He tried to buy, you know, I. That guy came over, he hadn't even seen the inside of the house. He came over after he bought it, and he wanted to come in and look at the house he bought. I guess he just felt he was paying. He must have had a lot of money and thought he, you know, it didn't matter what he's paying because the price is so low. But I had, was taking stuff to goodwill, and I had, like, these suitcases sitting outside the house to go to goodwill, and he tried to take those, too. He just wanted to assume our life.
[00:32:02] Speaker A: Yeah, I would say. Okay, so, all right, so you started this blog. Now, tell me first, there are different astrological systems.
So what system were you using and why?
[00:32:20] Speaker B: Okay, I think when you say system that you're talking about a house system.
[00:32:25] Speaker A: Yes. So you hear, like, whole houses, placidus, equal houses?
[00:32:29] Speaker B: Yes. Okay, so everyone used Koch when I was a kid. Nobody used Placidus.
This is what I can tell you. I've been around this long enough to tell you these house systems change, and we are undergoing a change right now. So when I started, that's, you know, this is the 1960s and the seventies. It's about in the seventies that Placidus started to be. You started to hear about it. You know, people like, in the books that you're getting at the library, it's in the start to hear about this. And I watch, one of the things I watch intently is just trends. I'm just interested and I notice trends and because, like, for, I'll give you an example. Because, you know, we're italian, and we grew up in the desert in Arizona. Nobody's italian. And people didn't even, they didn't know the word pasta, you know, and we had to learn to, we had to, they tease us, right, for eating pasta. And I remember when pasta became absolutely like luxury food, everyone started eating it like, it trends. And then the next person comes in. So anyway, Placidus started to become popular when people started looking at everything like, that's european flavored to be better, you know, same time they started liking pasta. That's what I noticed. Then people started using it, you know, online, astro.com, comma, they're their first and their biggest, and their default is placidus. So most everyone in this generation is this changing now, but in the bulk of everyone right now uses placidus. So when everyone was changing, there was a, I was on astrology mailing list as well, and there was a astrologer that I admired, and he used equal houses. And I really like this guy. I thought he was smart, you know, so I had to look into that, even though it was like he was an Aquarius. So it wasn't like one of the normal things to look at. So what I did, I have Libra. Like, I mentioned mercury in Libra, so I can't decide anything. It's very hard to make a decision. So. And I also hate to be wrong, so I started to study the three house systems together. You know, whenever I was working with somebody or talking to somebody, I had all three versions of the chart. And I did this. And I literally did this. I did three of them for about two and a half to three years. And then I kept placidus. Like I said, you know, placidus and cots, they're about the same. So I, you know, ditched one, and I focused on the two. And after about five and a half, six, seven years, I landed with eagle houses. And I've been with it since. Nobody could ever, you know, talk me out at this point. And once I started working with them, a lot of things emerged, which I'm not saying that my house system is right and the other person's is wrong. I'm telling you that this is my house system. And what I can do with it is marvelous. And I'm gonna. I know that I discovered this. I put a lot of effort in. So, anyway, to continue for the. In the larger picture, other people, whole, whole signs are emerging now.
And I play with them as well because I also studied vedic astrology, though I'd never got any good at it. I did study it. So I've looked at my chart in whole signs and I can go with any of it.
But what I'm saying is I can see myself. I can see myself in any chart. But I like equal houses, period.
[00:36:03] Speaker A: And why is that?
[00:36:05] Speaker B: It defined as I never had because they never fail. Because I never say to somebody this, and they say, well, that's not happening or that's not me.
And I already admitted I hate being wrong. So I won this. Right. You know, what would you do?
You know, finally, I mean, I've been using. I've been. I've been committed to this house system for.
I haven't thought about it at least 20 years.
And I can read the chart, you know? And, you know, I've gotten, like you, when you do something this long, you just constantly learn. You really do continue to learn. But, like, for example, with equal houses, you know, people understand that. People understand that the first house relates to the 7th. But really, it's the cardinal houses as a whole. That's the structure of your life and that gets lost. And then also, you know, I just don't really don't like how the other house systems break down at extreme latitudes and you have, like, houses that are ten degrees and houses that are 60 degrees. It's like, not. I can't, I can't.
Like people say, I think. I think if the house system works, it should work for everybody. You know what I mean?
[00:37:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:37:24] Speaker B: If it breaks at a. If it breaks at a certain location, then it's no good. That's my opinion.
[00:37:29] Speaker A: Okay. And so that when you say the house, you're talking about the 12th house wheel, correct?
[00:37:35] Speaker B: The. Yes. Wheel of twelve house.
[00:37:37] Speaker A: And so an equal houses, they're. Meaning they're all 30 degrees.
[00:37:42] Speaker B: Yes. It's the house. The house cusps are determined by the ascendant. In ascendant's important in the horoscope. So, like, I'm 25 degrees Capricorn. So 25 degrees on every. Okay. Whereas, like, the difference between equal and whole signs, if in whole signs, I would be zero Capricorn, they go to the, you know, whatever sign would like. If you're 25 Capricorn, it becomes zero Capricorn.
[00:38:08] Speaker A: Right. And there's a difference in these degrees. Right. It makes. It makes a difference.
[00:38:12] Speaker B: Well, it changes the houses completely.
[00:38:14] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay.
[00:38:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:38:17] Speaker A: Question. When you say equal houses.
[00:38:21] Speaker B: No, no, no.
[00:38:21] Speaker A: What did you say? Did you say whole houses? But then you also said whole signs.
[00:38:25] Speaker B: Yeah. They're the same. I'm sorry. I think they call it whole signs is probably proper, you know, see, it's. This is just becoming. Whole signs are becoming very popular, and I think I can see that it's going to ultimately, I'm just going to be candid. Okay. The people who use Koch, they're going to literally die. You know, very few young people, none use that. So then the placidus people, the newer people are going to end up using whole signs, and then it makes it a vision. It's almost like, it's almost like the same thing with astrology as everybody else. It makes people, divides people, and it puts them in conflict.
[00:39:03] Speaker A: Yes. Yes, it does.
[00:39:05] Speaker B: Each generation says, you know, they don't know what they're doing because they're using the other house system.
[00:39:10] Speaker A: Exactly.
Exactly.
How old is the equal house system?
[00:39:18] Speaker B: Where the beginning.
I mean, you know, it's. It's equal houses. Yes. It's, it's, it's old. It's not, you know, it's, it's so.
[00:39:28] Speaker A: Does that go back to, like, hellenist astrology?
[00:39:31] Speaker B: I don't know, honestly, that I've never studied that at all.
[00:39:34] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:39:34] Speaker B: I'm sorry. Because of my. The way I learned astrology, there's holes in my. What I, you know. Yeah, I don't.
[00:39:42] Speaker A: Yeah, kind of doesn't matter because you're damn good at what you do.
[00:39:45] Speaker B: Yeah, well, you know, I want to see this guy, this, this astrologer that impressed me. You know, he was getting results other people couldn't get. And, you know, I want to do the. As well as I can. You know, I am ambitious, honestly, and I really want to help people and I want to be good at whatever I'm doing. And, and, you know, he's getting results. And when I tried it when I did, you know, I used his house system, I got results. And so I'm not going to leave the results for popularity.
[00:40:15] Speaker A: How'd you get into the relationship chart piece? I mean, I know that's kind of part of it. But you said you specialize or not kind of specialize, but it sounds like it, right? You do a lot of work.
[00:40:24] Speaker B: Definitely. Okay, so I've got this Mars and mercury and Libra, right? So, and it's in the 9th house, which is study, right? You study. That's your. What you're studying. So what am I interested in? Relationships. So go back to when I'm 15 years old. I'm watching people interact in a bar. You know, it's fascinating. Absolutely fascinated. And so I'm watching, and I watch how they pick each other up because I have Mars and Libra. I hunt love. I don't care how that sounds. I haunt love. I'm watching what my competition and how they do this and how they do it well or not so well. So Mars. Mars is. Shows. Mars on the chart. Shows what you want. You know, it's what I want that it's. It's.
So you're what you're pushing. You're pushing. And so I'm pushing Mars in the 9th house for knowledge. That's the 9th house. I want knowledge, and I am interested. Mercury, you know, mercury, I'm interested in other people, in relationships. Libra is about relationships. And so even, you know, like somebody said, why don't I do a podcast? Easy. I need someone to talk to. I can't just talk, you know, by myself. Right. Because I have Libra. It's like, you know, does that make more sense?
[00:41:40] Speaker A: Total sense, because I actually, I get very nervous if I have to give an actual talk by myself. But then when I'm conversing or being interviewed or interviewing other people, I love that. I love that. Very comfortable.
[00:41:54] Speaker B: Exactly. So, so I'm the same way. So I'm trying to say, like, there's a foundation here where I'm interested. And I think you can also tie this to trauma. You know, when people are stabbing you in the back all over, you better figure it out. Right. In fact, I just, I just wrote about that.
Somebody asked me about prey and predators and how you see that in a chart. So this would be something my sister and I organically, right before we have anything else, we're looking and how to discern a predator. You know, how to identify a predator. We don't want any predator. Right.
So we, you know, what you do and that, you know, Mars is what you, you know, like, it's raw male energy. So my raw male energy is directed into relationships. Like I'm hunting. That's what I mean. It's Mars. It's sharp yeah. After something, it wants to prevail. It wants to win.
It's aggressive. You can hear me talk. I mean, you know, even when I talk about it, it's.
It's also the 9th house will take a big risk. Obviously. I'll take giant risk. I'll put myself out there. So anyway, when we are kids, you learn the synastry. Like, you know, my sister and I started on that when we were children, because how do we get along? Right. Well, my Mars is this. And then we fight about who's Mars is better. You know what I mean? And you start with that, but, like a composite chart.
I never had a composite chart until they came out with computers that could calculate a chart, because I personally never learned to calculate, you know, I'm sorry, but my sister was doing it, and I never learned. And so when. Once you get a composite chart from a chart from a metaphysical store, that's the first time I really saw a composite chart.
And anyway, I specialize in it because I'm really interested and also because people hire astrologers for all kinds of things, but primarily, generally, love and money is part of it.
[00:44:01] Speaker A: Yes, for sure. I've not done a relationship chart with you, but you've read for me three times. What I love about the way you work also is you offer half hour readings, which most people don't. It's an hour, hour and a half, and sometimes that's really all you need, especially if you've got a pressing situation or question.
[00:44:23] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm happy to do that. I'd be shorter, even. I mean, when I know somebody. And the reason is because I'm very direct and very direct, like, you know, and I just. Especially, really, some people, they just don't have the money, and so I just want to be accessible.
[00:44:43] Speaker A: Yes, yes. Well, this is something I so, so appreciate about you and the way you read. When I refer others to you, I tell them, look, she's. She's just super grounded. No bullshit, just common sense, practical. Here's the deal, you know, it's no fluff, no new agey whatever. Like, it's just. It's so clear, which is, I think, like, that's what you need when you're reading, especially if something is going on in your life. You need assistance.
[00:45:18] Speaker B: Well, you know, thank you. Thank you for that. You know, I think, you know, it's raw. You know, it's raw. It's very directed. I am like that. And other ways to be, you know, they're like, if you go to a therapist, they roll things slowly, you know, they get to know you. And I know that's very, that's a different kind of thing. But I guess it's like a hot shot. But the main, you know, the main thing I do for clients is, you know, I will be honest with them. I will be honest with, with until, you know, and try to help them. I'm tactical, so, like, if you got a problem, I'm going to try to help you get out of the problem or, you know, if there's something you want, and I'll tell you. I don't think you're going to get this, you know, like somebody call me recently, you know, he said, you know, that he wasn't going to pay this, this, this large bill. You know, it was a large loan. He was compelled to make an Annie and didn't want to make it because he didn't feel like he would get, get his money back. And I told him, you know, that's fine, but you're going to get sued. You're going to lose. No, no. I mean, yeah, like, you can do what you want, but ultimately you're, you know, it doesn't matter how you feel. You got to pay, you know what I mean? And he, and he was shocked. But see, that's the difference between soft pedaling. I will, I will tell you. But, you know, when you, when you have a contract and you owe the money, you got to pay that money.
And we live in a world, you know, we live in a world where people won't tell you something like that.
[00:46:43] Speaker A: That's right. That's right. I mean, that is essential information because it could save that guy a lot of headache, right?
[00:46:52] Speaker B: Someone else would tell him what he wanted to hear and tell him a bunch of fluffy, you know, it's recently I realized, I just came, I was studying and I came across, I was looking into something and I came across, I found out that, like, doctors anymore, they don't tell patients they have heart failure.
[00:47:10] Speaker A: What?
[00:47:11] Speaker B: Well, you know, like the, you know, there's a nurse writing and she said, like, she tells, you know, somebody's dying in the hospital and they say, like, well, your heart failure. And the patient says, I don't have heart failure.
Like, they're on, they're on four heart failure medications. They don't know they have heart failure. And so you think about, why would that be? Well, you know, maybe the doctor doesn't want to go through the motion. Maybe the person really doesn't want to know. We live in a world now where people just don't want to know. They just don't want to know things. And so I'm. I exist for the people who do want to know things.
[00:47:44] Speaker A: Yes, because that's. People have been infantilized and television's played a big, big role in that one. And I have to. I have to quickly say, I worked with someone who booked a session with me. This was a while back, and this person was telling me they were drinking a lot. They were in a big city. This is a very attractive person, and they would just find that they'd kind of drink themselves into a blackout and end up going home with a perfect stranger. And that this happened several times over the past couple of months. And then meanwhile, they were reading a book, and the book is all about not having to go to AA, not having to stop drinking altogether, that you can manage this. And so. But she's working with me. I'm like, I know what you'd say. And so. And I just said to this person, I said, look, that book's bullshit. I said, you need to throw that book in the trash. That's absolute nonsense. And clearly your drinking. Your drinking could actually get you killed. Like, this is not okay, and you do have a problem. And, you know, anyway, I mean, it was very straightforward and matter of fact. And also this person paid me good money for an hour for a session, counseling session. And I got an email from this person later saying, well, thank you so much. Gosh, you're so fierce. Well, I think I'm going to kind of move on. And I. And I remember reading that thinking, fierce.
No, I'm frank. This person clearly, I think, wanted me to do just what you're saying, just kind of coddle and fluff around and not cut to the chase.
[00:49:35] Speaker B: Honestly, I think the majority, I think I shouldn't say the majority. I think a good deal of people do exactly that. They don't want to broach. They don't want to broach anything that's difficult. They're doing that because there's a market for that. You know, there's, you know, there's. But, you know, sometimes you want something different. I mean, you know, you're bleeding. It's like you need a. I mean, like a trauma nurse. You know, I've talked to somebody in total crisis. There's some times I pick up the phone and the person cries the whole time, and I talk to them about their chart and they don't even speak. That's happened to me more than once. You know what's going on by the chart, they don't have to talk, you know what I mean? I know, I've got the chart. I've been doing this. I read the chart, like breathing.
[00:50:18] Speaker A: Yeah, I love that. What are the indicators of trauma in the chart, I wonder?
What are some indicators when you're looking.
[00:50:27] Speaker B: At a chart, you know, if you have, you know, Mars is generally going to be involved, you know, just Mars, you know, what kind of trauma, like emotional trauma, like emotional trauma that's deep and personal. That can be Pluto, you know, like if you're going to get attacked, if you're getting attacked and stuff like that, you know, aggressive, overt is generally Mars, you know, Mars and a wonder, you know, there's lots of ways to be attacked. You can be attacked and be undermined. You know, somebody undermines you. That'd be Mars and Pisces, you know, just as one example. And Mars in Aries, um, you know, there's people stab you in the front, somebody else stabs you in the back, you know. Right. Yeah. Um, it's, it's uh, um. If you have a lot of Scorpio, if you have a lot of planets in the 8th house, you're going to be exposed, um, you're going to be betrayed, you're going to be you and your kid. It's just a given. You're going to be betrayed and you're going to be exposed to, you know, shadowy things in one way or the other, you know, and taboo, that's the word I'm looking for, taboo.
Or like, you know, like just Mars. Mercury gives me a dirty mind. Think about it.
My mind is unbelievable. The stuff that pops in shocks me.
I'm shocked by. The thing is that, you know, sometimes you just like, like, you know, I remember one day I was shot, you know, you have, it would have been a transit. I mean, I'm not like this all the time, but I was in a gym and I was just, I was just in a gym and some guy, you know, walked by me and I was just massively attracted to him and like I could have just knocked over and mounted him, you know, that's just the kind of rush that comes into me. That's the kind of mind. It's awful, isn't it?
[00:52:19] Speaker A: But that's Mars conjunct Mercury.
[00:52:22] Speaker B: Yeah, that's Mars. Yeah, Mars, you, you know. Yes, yes. It's like Mars is impulsive and, you know, it's like I want that. I saw something that Mars wanted that, you know what I mean?
It's masculine and, you know, so it's really. It's kind of interesting because. Because I work online, and if you meet me in person, I'm ultra feminine. I really am. But I sound, you know, very masculine and very aggressive. But in reality, I'm like, you know, I'm an italian mother, you know, classic, you know, eat some more. You're getting skinny. You can eat some more. Wait, you know, let me, you know, let, you know, everyone's visiting my house. Does anyone need any laundry done? I mean, that's my real personality. Here's the stuff I grew in my garden. Take it. No, you don't have to pay. That's my real personality. That's my, you know, who I am, my essence. But, you know, you come across in this medium very hard. Harsh.
[00:53:18] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
But I do think, you know, with chart reading, I don't know, I just. And I think in counseling, too, I mean, obviously it's sort of how you deliver it, but still, it's so important to kind of cut, I think, cut to the chase and get to the core of the matter so you can figure it out from there. So if someone comes to you and they've got physical trauma, so you read their chart and then can see that chart. Can, can. It can sort of tell you how that's going to go. Right. Or moving forward with looking at transits.
[00:53:53] Speaker B: Well, what's typical? I mean, people who read me, they're well aware I got a dark background and they're well aware that I've transcended that background. You know, I mean, I just don't really carry, I mean, you know, what's left over now is just I'm odd, but you know that I'm not odd because of trauma. I'm odd because of what I just explained to you. Right. You failed to go to school because they took you out. You know, so, you know, you're just out of sync like that. So the typical person who wants to talk to me about something like that, they know that I'm not going to, you know, be shocked and, you know, you know, they need somebody who's not crying and hugging them. I've been told recently, you know, like they had enough of that. They want to know how to get out of this, how to transcend it, how to. How to heal, how to quit repeating, you know, their trauma, you know, that just that kind of thing. Or they just want to tell somebody what happened to them or, you know, or whatever they want. They're trying to find a path out of. Away from pain.
[00:55:00] Speaker A: Right?
[00:55:02] Speaker B: And then the chart, then, you know, the chart shows not how I do it. You know, you don't do it how I do it. You do it how you do it. Right. The chart, you know, it's like the answer is in the chart, but the person isn't aware of it because they're focused on what happened to them and they don't understand, you know, that the tools to get out of that exist in their chart. They have the ability.
[00:55:24] Speaker A: What if you don't have your exact precise time of birth?
[00:55:29] Speaker B: Well, then we work with what we have. I mean, you know, it has that, you know, there's some limits, but, you know, sometimes it doesn't matter at all because you're looking at aspects, but, you know, if you don't have your birth time, you don't know the sun, that you don't know the houses, but you can, you know, kind of generally figure the moon, generally. But the rest of the aspects will be, you know, they'll tell you enough. You just have to work with what you have. That's all.
[00:55:55] Speaker A: Yeah, I want to talk more about this, but we are at the end of the first hour, so I'm going to invite people to go to themushroomsapprentice.com and subscribe to listen to more of this amazing woman. And people can reach you, Elsa, at your website, elsaelsa.com dot.
