the brightness and bravery of Sagittarius
and some lessons on alchemy from the monarch butterfly
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your witchy writer friend check-ins are are specially curated editions of the newsletter that hit your inbox and/or Substack app with the passing of each astrological season. They include thoughts and recommendations on any number of relevant current events, links, literature, and ideas on what to create ritual with. I also share deeper discussions of astrology as a framework for what may be coming up, both on personal & collective levels, and how to use it as a vehicle for personal growth and healing.
Hi cosmic coven,
Everywhere I look, orange and black-veined wings flutter; I am caught up in a storm of them. There are so many monarch butterflies in each cluster that they weigh down the branches of the pine, cypress, and peeling eucalyptus trees they’ve alighted on. One winged thing after another flitters off, sweeping in lazy circles, cradled by the warm early November air (we are in California, after all), only to return again.
Its companions sidle up and down the branch, making room for it to fold those wings momentarily and slot itself in. A group of butterflies together is called a kaleidoscope, and they certainly evoke one as I stand in the monarch sanctuary, looking up, up, up to watch them pinwheel in sleepy oblongs on the breeze.
These butterflies’ lifespans are longer than most. Thousands of them migrate from this sanctuary every spring, after a hibernation period of 6 to 8 months. The journey is so long and arduous that up to five generations of butterflies take part, until seasons pass and daylight hours lessen again, reversing the direction of their migration. Can you imagine starting a journey you’ll never see the end of? One that you’ll die in the undertaking of, only to pass on to your offspring—and they to theirs, and theirs—instead?1
The monarch sanctuary consists of a tiny grove dominated by a singular trail that, surprisingly, doesn’t loop around. It’s simple, just one fairly busy clearing, bustling with a large group on what is clearly a student field trip. The main viewing area is at the top of the trail, featuring a single butterfly-shaped bench.
I’m here with a new friend I’ve made at the hotel in Pacific Grove I booked a spontaneous stay at; she is also traveling solo. We decide to go together instantly after meeting in the dining room of our more-than-a-little haunted, historic Victorian inn—where happy hour starts every night at 5pm, starting with a generous pour of vino, free of charge.
Staying here in this quaint coastal town feels like a mixture of Elaine’s house in The Love Witch and Lorelai Gilmore’s Stars Hollow inn. Not five minutes’ drive from Monterey’s Cannery Row of Steinbeck fame on one side, and the scenic 17-mile Drive to Carmel by the Sea on the other, the town is every bit as charming as it sounds, and my breezy little solo trip is wholesome in exactly the way I need.2
At the butterfly sanctuary, my new friend S and I chat about how the little creatures essentially liquify in their chrysalises before emerging to reveal their wings. Caterpillars become nothing but clusters of imaginal cells that nonetheless remember, somehow hold onto the very fact of their caterpillar-ness, even as they are stripped of everything else that makes them what they are. Or what they have been, thus far.
But first? Bug soup.
For many of us, November has been a month of integration, of recalibration, of taking the harsh lessons we learned in October and turning inward with them. For me it’s been a month of shadow work and yet more transformation (there it is again!). And yes, a time of extremely heavy collective energy, continuing even as the dust of that chaotic eclipse season has settled.
Today we enter Sagittarius season, while Jupiter, its ruling planet, is currently retrograde in Taurus. The normally ebullient Archer feels muted. Many of us are starting this period more inclined toward introspection than the typical extroversion of holiday soirée season, and with good reason. But Sagittarian bravery remains—a fiery streak lighting the way forward in times of upheaval and hardship, its natural optimism infusing us all with a little levity, wherever and however possible.
Some of us in the collective are still feeling the energy of the Mars cazimi of last week, which took place in Scorpio on November 17 and 18. A cazimi is when a planet meets up with the sun, supercharging its presence—and this one sparked a new two-year Mars cycle, one that should incentivize us to start taking aligned action, or preparing for it within the aspects of our lives that desperately need change.
Let’s not forget that Sagittarius is a mutable fire sign. It’s adaptable, innovative, and constantly evolving or looking to evolve, a sign that thrives on forward momentum; we may see ourselves wanting to make moves on one or more of the seeds we planted with the Mars cazimi.
But, with the sun in Sag forming a square to Saturn in Pisces on Thanksgiving Day—squares are typically seen as tense transits, known to bring up challenges and obstacles—we may be in for a little reality check on that breakthrough.
Make sure you’re dotting your i’s and crossing your t’s, as we’re also entering the “retroshade” period before Mercury goes retrograde in mid-December. Plus, a square always has the potential for more explosive energy (I can just picture daddy Saturn waggling his finger, saying, Look, here come the consequences of your actions).
It’s important to remember that though we may not be able to control how others react to the volatility being reflected by the cosmos and amplified with the current geopolitical climate, we can always choose to respond differently ourselves.
I think it’s one of the best things about life, actually: No matter how long we may have been in a certain cycle (or rut), no matter how many times we’ve repeated the same action or thought pattern or behavior, we can always choose differently. We can always make a change.
Visionary and idealistic Sag is a potent reminder of the dazzling potential on the other side of that kind of alchemy (a rebirth first initiated by Scorpio). And, as Mars joins Mercury and the sun in Sagittarius on Friday, November 24, we are in for even more of that incandescence—reminding us both to keep it movin’, and helping to guide our way.3
DEEP INSPIRATION:
- has fast become one of my favorite writers here on Substack. Her words have a way of carving straight into the heart, getting down deep and close and staying with you. Here is a gorgeous piece of hers on rebirth—and more on a topic that has become a strange obsession of mine: the caterpillar essentially digesting itself in order to enact the process that is the butterfly becoming. “During the violent process of mush to magic, you keep what is to be kept,” she writes. “The rest is lost to the hungry appetite of change.”
For more—and highly in-depth—astrological reading, I’ve been loving
’s The Curiosity Report. She’s just as adept an astrologer as she is a talented writer, and I love her thought-provoking Week Ahead reports in particular (like the one shared below).
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
A series of important explainers from @jewishvoiceforpeace on why it’s so dangerous to conflate antisemitism with anti-Zionism.
This Instagram reel shared by Iranian creator @moj provides some invaluable context on current events re: the Women, Life, Freedom movement, first touching on why the actions of the Islamic Republic of Iran4 are everyone’s problem now. It’s hard to sum up the video without giving away all of their points, so trust me on this. It’s worth the watch. To quote them:
“✅End the War
✅ Free Iran & Dismantle/Defund the Islamic Republic
✅ A Free Palestine to exist as a stand alone country free of Occupation
✅ Isreal has a right to co-exist peacefully in the Middle East
✅All Hostages brought home held by Islamic Republic and Hamas
✅Free Women of Afghanistan
✅Stop Armenia Genocide
✅End the Civil War in Syria
✅Provide Immediate humanitarian aid to Gaza and support the set up on a birthing center for expecting mothers.”
FOR CREATING RITUAL WITH:
I found this episode of adrienne maree brown’s podcast, How to Survive the End of the World, equal parts inspiring and nourishing. In it, she and Palestinian writer and psychologist Hala Alyan discuss endurance, regulating the nervous system (starting with a breathwork exercise), and the importance of both creating art and bearing witness in times such as these.
“How do I regulate myself to the best of my ability? How do I soothe my nervous system to the best of my ability? How can I be as steady as I can, to be able to access the coping and the resources, etc. that I need to to be able to bear witness to these things, and then be able to… digest it properly, and… show up in different ways for it?
…It’s painful bearing witness, but it’s so necessary, and it’s really particularly important in moments where people and communities are facing erasure, or narratives are facing distortion or censorship. You know, I think there’s something really, even spiritually… Bearing witness is also a commitment to the truth.” —Hala Alyan, who wrote the incredibly moving and heartbreaking NYT piece Why Must Palestinians Audition for Your Empathy?
Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate—and thank you for reading Cosmic Kudos. I’ve decided against paywalling these editions of CK in the interest of reaching more readers. If you’d like to support my work, you can purchase a paid subscription; buy me a coffee here, if you’d like to provide a one-off contribution; and share this post with a friend if it resonated. On the Substack app? Please consider restacking, as it helps more readers find my writing.
Look at you supporting a growing independent writer and artist! 🫶🏼
xx, Kimia
Sounds like the passing of so much generational trauma to me. Well, maybe not the trauma, necessarily—or else not just the trauma.
Absolutely checking my privilege here.
This email is getting too long! But I promise, I have more to share on what this Sag szn has in store for us. Coming soon :)
Let’s remember I’m referring to the government here—the authoritarian regime behind the Islamic Republic of Iran. Governments are not their people. Language is important.
I love all of this. 💜 I currently am... bug soup.