(Re)enchanting Education
Teaching as magical praxis and collaborating with Jupiter in Taurus
Dear reader,
The essay I wrote for The Peace Chronicle on (re)enchanting education, which inspired this Substack- in which I asked the question, “Is the academy enchantable?” And thus, Enchantable was born- is hot off the presses! I would love for you to check out the full article (p. 13-21), and the whole edition curated and edited by Vanessa Meng, here!
I feel honored to be included in this magazine, am proud of this piece, and am excited for you to read it and hear what you think. You can also listen to a spell I wrote for the article, which I recorded next to the Río Chimuria:
On a related note, Jupiter has entered Taurus! As I have shared before, astrology is one of the enchanting forces in my life.
Welcome, Jupiter in Taurus!
I feel your movement.
I am excited to collaborate with you in this new space.
Thank you for the expansive possibilities you bring!
Tuesday, May 16th, Jupiter, the planet of blessing, abundance, and expansion (and much more) made its way into the sign of Taurus, home of stability, sensual pleasures and earthly delights. I feel like I would be remiss if I did not encourage you to mark this moment, and to cultivate a relationship with Jupiter if you haven’t yet.
I am a baby astrology nerd. I have always enjoyed reading my horoscopes (since my teenage days of reading Free Will Astrology in the local weekly City Paper, and calling the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette hotline to hear my horoscope read to me over the phone). It’s only been the past years- more than 7 but less than 10- that I’ve followed and practiced with the planetary energies in a dedicated way (mostly through Chani Nicholas and the CHANI app, which I can and should write an entire love letter post about), and I can say from experience in my own life that magic is possible. And the magic is really a practice rooted in relationship.
Astrology is a way I work with the energies in the world, a way that I practice being in relationship with natural cycles and mystery. The astrologers I learn from - Chani, Katina Castillo of Celestial Revelations, Virginia Rosenberg, Jessica Lanyadoo among them - talk about astrology like a weather forecast: these are the energies that will be present in the cosmos this week. You can work with them, and you can actively collaborate them. And that’s the invitation with this movement of Jupiter into Taurus.
You might start with something like:
Hello, Jupiter! I want to be in collaboration with you!
Thank you for the fresh and abundant energy you bring to this part of my life.*
I am here to work with you and open to blessings and expansion.
*to understand better what part of your chart Jupiter is lighting up, I recommend using the CHANI app or booking a reading with a trusted astrologer like Celestial Revelations.
Last year, during the Jupiter in Aries transit, I wrote Jupiter a letter that I kept on my altar all year. Jupiter entered Aries in May, right before I finished my doctoral work. I asked for Jupiter’s support in following my dreams and the next steps on my vocational path.
And here we are. It wasn’t Jupiter alone who brought me here- there were years of hard work and dedication and luck and timing and on and on. The Mars in Gemini transit was also potent for me, Gemini being my 10th house of career, and I received the job offer to UPEACE two days after Mars moved into Gemini. Astrology alone doesn’t make things happen, but we can make things happen when we work actively with the astrological energies. The planets and stars are open to collaboration and making magic with us.
Yesterday I celebrated Jupiter’s entrance in Aries with my colleagues, at work. We found a spot at the edge the forest as if someone had left an altar for us there.
That I get to do work that I love, at the edge of the forest, with humans and more-than-humans with whom I can collaborate in these ways, is beyond words and wildest dreams. I am soaking in every moment I get to be here, living breathing teaching learning mothering magic making.
So, we will keep dreaming big, dreaming wildly. We will work and play with this expansion. We will open to the blessings. We will do the work required to be in collaboration, reciprocation. We will nourish and strengthen our relational webs, human and more-than-human. We’ll make magic, together.
To learn about Jupiter in Taurus in your sign, I recommend checking out the beautiful videos Katina (Celestial Revelations) made yesterday for each sign on her Instagram.
May Jupiter in Taurus help us collectively ground our actions and energy in ways of being. living, learning, and doing that serve one another and our precious planet. May we dwell in the abundance of the Earth. May Jupiter in Taurus support us in learning to live in harmony with one another and our precious planetary home.