When people tell me they don’t believe in astrology I get a little smug because I like to believe I know the secret to the universe through astrology. I am tapped in to a language only a few people understand. I have spent the last six years deep diving into astrology by witnessing the patterns of the planets and the way they affect my life. Since moving to Lisbon in January of 2025, I have become even more obsessed.
When I first moved here, I started working at Wheelhouse for Chris Corsini, a popular tarot card reader and astrologer. I was surrounded by people who were into woo woo culture and I loved it.
I started taking the moon phases more seriously; I put a lot of effort into working with the energy of transits. Transits are how planets move through your chart, a popular transit everyone knows by now is a mercury retrograde. The way planets mingle with other planets and signs has an effect on different areas of your personal life.
The astrology of birth charts is wild. I love showing people their chart and trying to dissect it, even though I don’t know a lot, I do know a lot more than the average person.
Your birth chart looks like a clock with all the planets and signs placed exactly as they were the moment you were born. Your transit chart has an additional circle around your birth chart that tells you what is happening in the sky for whatever day you choose. Those charts work together to give you an idea of the energies you can tap into for that day or week or month or year(s)!
This blog post isn’t trying to make you a believer in astrology. This post is me breaking down a full month of personal chaos by also showcasing what was happening in the sky to make these things occur.
It all started with the solar eclipse in Leo on August 12 2026.
Eclipses eclipse something out of your life that no longer serves you. Eclipses are usually the most eventful, news making times of the year. Something comes along that completely flips the script.
This was a total solar eclipse in Leo; the Sun symbolizes our identity and so does Leo. This eclipse changed our beliefs around who we are and what that means in the real world.
The identity I literally (and permanently) wear on my sleeve is that I am a tattoo artist. The day of the eclipse I was working at the tattoo shop and I started to question everything.
I worked all day, from 11am - 8pm. I was tattooing a client I had worked on several times before. That day was the second session working on a sleeve that I had already started. At the end of the day, he didn’t know he had to pay. He thought he had already paid the full amount when he left his 500 euro deposit.
What?! How does this guy think that his full sleeve is 500 euro!?
Up until this point there had already been a lot of miscommunication about pricing at the shop. This had me questioning everything. When I moved to Portugal, I knew I wasn’t going to make the same kind of money as I used to make in Canada but I didn’t think I would be working so hard for nothing. I was pissed.
The manager tried his best to solve the situation but his solutions fell on deaf ears, I was not having it. I wanted my full amount, no if, ands or buts about it. I was frustrated. Eventually I would get my money (a few days later) but it wasn’t the full amount I asked for.
That day when the piercer saw that I was upset, he gave me a pair of eclipse glasses to go look at the sun. I walked three minutes to the top of a parking garage and watched the eclipse happen. I shed a few tears. I could feel that this was the beginning of the end.
So that was a bit of drama with my work life.
Then family drama happened, something I won’t dive into here. I have had a strained relationship with my younger brother since 2024. We had a falling out over him not showing up for me multiple times. Then two years later, August 2026, a similar event happened, so of course I went to the astrology.
I sent this screenshot to a friend because the astrology was too accurate.
There was a two week window between the solar eclipse and the partial lunar eclipse of August 28th and I felt like I was being worn the fuck down.
Everything was happening all at once.
During that two week eclipse window four talented and famous artists died in this order: the incredible Yayoi Kusama, Hayden Panettiere, Dolly Parton, and Tim Curry.
This was the news worthy stuff eclipses bring, along with several natural disasters like the flash flooding in Nepal. Astrology is quite literal sometimes, but again, I am not here to convince you to believe.
My life in Lisbon was starting to look different. I questioned if it was worth ‘sticking it out’ for another season. My finances were looking bleak, my current job was unstable, my surf skills were improving slowly, and my dating life was dismal.
Of course there are always positives; the gorgeous friends I have made, my tan and surf skills have developed, and I freaking LOVE my apartment, except for the ants. I cannot get these guys to fuck off.
I planned to go to Canada for Christmas. I was planning on going earlier to tattoo so I would be away for nearly two months. I was starting to look for someone to sublet my apartment. I would randomly message people who were looking but not many people wanted to move to my side of the Tejo river.
I needed to make a post for Facebook and local WhatsApp groups, but I was worried my landlord would find out. Since I value honesty and transparency, I asked for permission. The answer was no. UGH. I tried to find a friend to stay at mine but that didn’t work out either.
If I left my apartment for too long during the winter I was worried about the mould, the cost, and the freaking ants. I guess this is another sign for me to move on. Lets refer back to the transit post above where it says, and I quote, “Moving is likely”.
Okay, so…my job is unstable, there is tension within my immediate family, now I have to leave my adorable apartment, what next?!
My health.
I developed an ear infection. It got so bad that a friend at work could hear the water in my ear from the other side of the room. My sinus infection brought me to the hospital where I had to navigate a whole new health care system by myself. I was fucking tired. As I sat waiting for the doctor to see me I looked up the energetics of what a sinus infection means:
Yeah…so that adds up.
Over thinking about my job, my family, and my living situation.
Repressed anger towards…literally everyone.
People pleasing by not saying my true feelings at work.
My boundaries with family are not being respected.
Truthfully this entire year has been one of the best since 2020. There were so many positive things that happened to me and my loved ones. I was thrilled with how everything was unfolding in my life, until that August eclipse came in and swept it all away.
That two week period in August was rough, but I wasn’t about to throw in the towel.
I didn’t want to make any rash decisions. I loved my work environment, I loved the life I was building. Maybe I stick it out at the shop. Maybe I keep my apartment empty while I am away and I will have a friend check in on it.
A month later on September 21st, I hit my wall.
I hadn’t made enough money at the shop to pay my rent and I got a text from my boss about charging too much for tattoos; he said that we needed to have a meeting. The day before was a literal shit show at work, I won’t get into it but I was annoyed. I knew that a meeting wasn’t going to solve all the issues facing that studio.
About an hour after getting that text from my boss, I got a final answer of ‘no’ from my landlord about having a friend stay to look after my apartment. Here I am thinking I am being responsible by having someone look after my place while I am gone but they didn’t agree.
So I said fuck it and burned my whole life to the ground.
This is was a small portion of my astrology reading for that specific day:
Damn, it is so accurate.
I was absolutely facing internal fears and depression. It has been six weeks of internalizing work drama, family drama, and health concerns…alone. I had to get back into my spiritual hygiene practice and take stock of what was working and what wasn’t.
So, I quit the tattoo shop and I told my landlord I was moving out.
And there you have it.
This isn’t me saying goodbye to Lisbon or Portugal. I freaking LOVE it here.
This is me letting go of the things that do not serve my highest potential. This is me making space. I am gaining flexibility and freedom. Who knows what will flow into my life now that I am not holding on to a dream that no longer fits.
This is the breakdown before the break through…right!?
Right. That’s what the astrology above says, “This transformation is necessary and will provide space for the emergence of new circumstances that will be more beneficial to you”, and I believe that, without a doubt.
It freaking has to.
If this made you want to dive deeper into astrology I believe the best person to watch on YouTube is Pam Gregory. She has an educational video that teaches you how to read your own birth chart so you can understand how the transits affect your own life.
Thank you for reading and I hope that all transits work in your favour.