AstroPsychology as a Blueprint for Unlocking Your Leadership Potential | Angelika Matev | Ep. 27

What does your birth chart reveal about your leadership potential? Our special guest Angelika Matev joins us to explore the intersection of astrology and psychology.

Angelika shares how astropsychology provides a personalized map to self-discovery, empowering leaders with new levels of self-awareness. We discuss how understanding your energetic signature allows you to lead with authenticity and harness your innate gifts.

Learn how astrology offers insights into navigating change, setting boundaries, and preventing burnout. Discover practical tools to master your emotions, connect with others, and ultimately transform as a leader.

In this episode:

• Uncover your unique energetic signature to unlock your leadership gifts
• Learn how to navigate change and transition with ancient astrological wisdom
• Discover the keys to authentic, purpose-driven leadership
• Master your emotions and prevent burnout with astropsychology
• Connect deeply with your team by understanding their astrological blueprints

Dive into ancient wisdom through a modern lens as we uncover the secrets hidden in the stars. Allow your birth chart to guide you toward bold leadership and purposeful change.

Tune in to begin unlocking your greatest leadership gifts using the celestial treasure map encoded in your astrological blueprint.

About Angelika Matev
From an early age, Angelika has been drawn to Astrology and the mysteries of life and human nature. She studied Astrology on her own and under different teachers
and mentors and has been practicing birth chart analyses for
over two decades. The work of C.G. Jung and Dane Rudhyar led her to the decision
to specialize in Psychological Astrology.

Angelika holds a Certification from the Academy of AstroPsychology – the Astrology School and Program created by astrologer and psychotherapist Glenn Perry, Ph.D. Throughout her life Angelika has experienced different social and cultural realities living, studying, and working in 5 countries in Europe, Africa, North America and later moving to Spain, where she lives now. She worked in the corporate world, international business, as well as education, and coaching.

Work with Angelika

Website: www.angelikamatev.com
Email: angelika@angelikamatev.com

Clients Testimonials:
https://www.angelikamatev.com/testimonials/

Free Discovery Call:
https://calendly.com/angelikamatev/discoverycall

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:01

Hey, conscious leaders Boy, do I have a treat for you? This week we are joined by Angelica Matev on this week's podcast, and the reason I say it's a treat is because it's going to be a little different compared to some of our past episodes. We are going to be diving into the world of astro psychology. Now you might be asking yourself what does astro psychology or astrology have to do with leadership? And to all the skeptics out there, I want to make the argument that self awareness is not only critical but required for exceptional leadership. We cannot lead others effectively if we cannot see our own patterns. Astro psychology as a blueprint to support us to unlock new levels of self awareness, at least on my personal journey, has been absolutely instrumental. Angelica is a certified astro psychologist, which we'll learn what that is in just a moment. Inner work mentor, holistic growth coach and teacher. I've personally been working with her for several months now to help navigate a couple of big transitions and big decisions in my life. I don't know if this has been true for you out there as well, but I know for me in the last six to 12 months it has been such a time of transition, transformation, recalibration towards what is most important. Now that we're on the other side of the pandemic, where is it that I'm really wanting to put my precious life force, energy? What are the gifts that I'm wanting to cultivate most to unlock my leadership potential? What are the projects that are most suited for, or aligned to, my unique persona or archetype, and how am I uniquely positioned to serve my clients? Who is it that I am destined to serve? These are all questions that Angelica and I have explored, in addition to things like patterns picked up in childhood, my money mindset and my beliefs around money, relationships and the attributes that an ideal partner for me would have.

Speaker 1: 3:17

In today's episode, we're going to be looking at the connection between astro psychology and leadership specifically, and how we can use astro psychology to unlock our self awareness, help us step into our personal power, become more clear decision makers as leaders as we set boundaries, find our sacred mind, our sacred know and, very importantly, how we might navigate change in transition. By becoming more self aware and empathetic towards ourselves, can we become even more empathetic to those around us as we move through big challenges and transitions? The world of astrology in combination with the world of psychology is fascinating. It invites us into a whole world of understanding for ourselves and towards others. The level of mastery that Angelica has around this holistic, integrative approach to combining these two disciplines is off the charts.

Speaker 1: 4:20

This conversation with Angelica, who's joining us from Spain today, opened my mind even more to the possibility of what leadership in the future can look like, how we can weave intuition and greater levels of consciousness into how we show up as leaders, how we can connect with the larger rhythms and cycles of the cosmos, and how we run our companies and self resource ourselves through big moments of change and transition. There is so much depth in this episode, and I hope that by the end of it, you feel as empowered and enlivened as I did. Without further ado, let's get into it. Angelica, welcome to the show. I am so filled with gratitude to be having this conversation with you today.

Speaker 2: 5:16

Thank you so much, nicole. It's an honor and a real pleasure to be your guest, so thanks for having me.

Speaker 1: 5:22

Of course, I know we're going to get into so many interesting topics today and to just help tee up this whole conversation, which is going to be all about how astro psychology can support our leadership practice, I want to address up front and do a little bit of context setting, because I think listeners might be thinking wait a minute. Astro psychology, first of all. What is that? But secondly, how can that support me as a leader? And so I just want to share up front that Angelica and I have been working together for a number of months now, so I've actually been a client of Angelica's, and throughout the episode I'm going to be sharing moments of insight or pivots in my own leadership practice. That would not have been possible if I didn't have the blueprint of my own chart to really understand the evolution of my leadership, the unique gifts that are innate in me, the strategies and the patterns that I can either leverage or overcome. I have been blown away at how a chart is so much more than what I once used to think of when I would think of astrology, and this has really set out a roadmap for me to the point where I've actually updated my mission statement and my understanding of my own purpose because of working together.

Speaker 1: 6:40

So before we get into defining what astro psychology even is and how you got into it, I want to just start with an appreciation for you and the work that you do, because in a couple different sessions you reflected back to me that one of the things that I'm here to do in this lifetime and on this earth is to help make the spiritual practical, to be the bridge of spirituality and the physical or the physical or the practical world, and as a leader, as someone who self identifies as being a visionary but also someone who has the skills of organizational systems and bringing that into practice. That was such an aha for me and I've just watched myself in the last six months gain confidence, gain self awareness, and so we're going to get into a lot of the benefits. I just wanted to open with that gratitude and share with the audience that our work has literally up leveled and evolved my own personal mission statement and understanding of what it is I'm here to do, which is amazing. So thank you.

Speaker 2: 7:47

Oh, what an emotional and beautiful way to start our talk. Well, nicole, nothing more amazing than this energy of gratitude that you're bringing and I follow because I am grateful to you for being my client, for all the other amazing people that I have the chance to work with. But thank you so much for these words, so many emotions coming together and definitely being the greatest reward for my effort, for my work, for my services, knowing that what I do is actually the guidance and the help needed to amazing people such as yourself and to be part of your journey. So I thank you for that and for the opportunity to share today with your audience what we do, how we got there and why this could be really another absolutely fabulous way to learn how we can add something new to our journey of personal evolution, as a way to explore, as a way to evolve.

Speaker 1: 8:55

Beautifully said. Beautifully said, and I think let's start there right. So we'll take the audience on a journey of how we do what we do and what astro psychology even is. So I would love to just invite your definition of this incredible body of work, why it's different than traditional astrology as we might commonly think of it, and how did you get into it as well, if you're able to weave in your personal story a bit as well, Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 9:24

I've been interested in astrology since I don't know. I was a teenager probably, but back then, of course, what I obviously consume this content related to astrology was only focused on the traditional model of astrology, which deals, of course, with the zodiac, with the things that we all have heard a little bit here and there. Yet the more I learned, the more fascinated I became. At the same time, I felt that something is missing, because I saw so much potential into this sacred system of knowledge which wasn't well justified by the different ways in which people perceive astrology as a tool for prediction, or for fun, or for curiosity. So the first thing I realized is that it's impossible for people on Earth to be categorized in only 12 groups based on the astrological science. If we are only 12 kinds of type of people, life would be a lot easier to decode and understand, but there was an oversimplifying way of interpreting astrology. So I started looking for more, for something additional that would allow again this absolutely amazing gift given to us by the universe to expand and serve a different and a much deeper purpose. And, after studying under different mentors and on my own, I discovered the Academy of Astro-psychology, founded by a psychotherapist and astrologer, dr Glenn Perry, who developed this idea of teaching astrology along with psychology, based on the work of many other great astrologers, philosophers and thinkers before him, which actually created the integration between traditional astrology as we know it with Jungian archetypes and concepts, with analytical psychology, and allowed counseling and therapeutic approach to be added to the already existing system of astrology as we know it. So discovering this was my moment, because I realized that, yes, there is something new here. Saying new compared to psychology is much older and astrology itself three days over 3-4,000 years. But the so-called postmodern humanistic astrology occurred as an official discipline and term back in the second half of the 20th century with the work of many prominent astrologers. Like I said, the book of Dane Rudier astrology personality was revolutionary there and that became the foundation of so much to explore. So I took the studies, I took the course, I added to what I already knew, to this newly acquired approach to bird chart analysis, and I realized that this is much more than just understanding of certain events that people would usually look for when they talk to an astrologer. So I discovered a new theory of personality by studying and working under this mentorship and, of course, on my own, and then I realized that astro-psychology and bird chart analysis from a psychological perspective, is a tool of inestimable value for the journey of self-discovery. How does that work?

Speaker 2: 12:51

Without going too deep into overwhelming details, I just want to say that the connections between the cosmic energies, the natural phenomenon, the cycles of time and ourselves as human beings are based on universal laws that allow us to see certain processes between, again, cycles of positions and movement of the planets, which, again, the actual planets themselves. They don't do anything to us. I know the argument of anasis. They would go like oh so you're telling me that a floating rock in the space will determine my luck in life? That is oversimplifying it, to say the least. It's not like that.

Speaker 2: 13:32

Those bodies we see up there are the physical expression of actual centers of energies that, just like we can't see the soul and the psyche, but it's operating all the time the same way, there is no visible energy coming from those planets.

Speaker 2: 13:48

Whatever happens up there to following the principle of what's above, so below and what's without, so within, we can see how the universal laws of correspondence allow us to decode certain personality traits, strength and weaknesses, drives, beliefs and motives that would create the makeup of the individual and the psyche as reflected in the bird chart, and from there we can start working towards helping the individual discover their own potential for being the active agent in their own creation as a powerful individual who can reinvent themselves when needed, step into their personal power and become the best version of themselves, forging their own path in life. And a lot of that is quite difficult if this knowledge is missing, simply because an approach that uses techniques of therapy or self-help applicable to everyone wouldn't work so well. What the birdchart does? It adds the very unique and personalized components of being the individual blueprint of you and no one else, so that makes it so valuable and so effective. I hope that gives an idea?

Speaker 1: 15:09

Yeah, it definitely does, and I can't help but think about how, as a form of elevating our self-awareness and using it as a blueprint, right, there are so many self-assessments out there, like the Enneagram, the Gene Key, myers-briggs, right, and I've taken all of these over the years because it's fascinating, I think, to some level to dissect ourselves and try to understand ourselves so that we can become better, more expressed versions, and I've always been driven by that. But what I find really unique about astro psychology is that it's not just a stagnant snapshot of your personality, traits and your gifts. I know from working with you over time that it's dynamic. There is personal will and choice in the strategies that we enact to really be with and heal or evolve the patterns within the chart. And then to your point about just the rhythms and the cycles of the cosmos that's always changing, always evolving Collectively. We seem to feel it right.

Speaker 1: 16:19

I'm sure we've all had those days at the office or in Zoom meetings where everyone's feeling the same agitation or a little bit more angry than usual and we're all going.

Speaker 1: 16:31

Why do I feel this way? It must be something in the stars, is something that I even hear in the corporate world of people tossing that out there, this acknowledgement that there are these greater rhythms or energies that do impact us on some level. And, yeah, I know that it's been a process of self-awareness but also understanding the transits and how I'm a part of the whole. I'm a part of the collective and I have a key or a piece of the puzzle that I get to put into this, like this great dance or this great play that we are enacting in these lives, and so that piece in particular, the dynamism and the ever evolving aspect of this has been really special to me compared to other self assessments, and so I guess I want to hear your thoughts on that, but within, specifically within the context of why can something like astro psychology support leaders? Why is it so effective for leaders to use as a tool?

Speaker 2: 17:34

Absolutely. Thank you so much for explaining this so well from the perspective of someone who received the insight and the guidance. That's absolutely priceless. And to add to your point, yes, that's 100 percent true.

Speaker 2: 17:50

The biggest advantage of this system, astro psychology is that it functions as a growth model. It interprets the chart as a growth model right, because traditional astrology tends to be more static. So again, to make this as brief and clear as possible, if we look at a bird chart from a traditional perspective only, we can identify a lot and talk about certain events, but there is nothing that offers a connection between the past, the present and the future. So things remain more dynamic and they're focused. The whole analysis is focused on the chart, whereas with the astro psychological approach we focus on the person. That is client centered, person centered approach. And that's why it's called a humanistic astrology, because we definitely look from the perspective of what is possible for that person, so they can make the most of the energies reflected in the chart and in turn, become the active agent of their own way to create the life they've always wanted. And that happens only if we look at things from the perspective of action, of dynamic. That's why, if we talk about faith.

Speaker 2: 19:09

Maybe faith is what we have in the chart, because that can never change. It's there, all right. But we talk also about destiny. That's another term we use in English language, right, and in other languages too. So destiny is what we make of this faith, meaning we take the energies given to us and we take them to a certain destination. Right, that involves already the movement, that involves the actual doing of what we can understand. That's very important. The component of understanding comes first, before we can accept it and before we can integrate it. And I just want to bring a few examples. And, like you said, what could be the link between what we talked about and actual leadership, right? So in Burt's chart analysis from again this approach, it's possible to identify what kind of thinking and behavioral patterns this person operates under the influence of, and those usually happen. Of course, in traditional therapy, exploration of child food is always present. But the beauty of this approach is that we combine astrology with psychology, with counseling, with therapy and even coaching. So when we put all this together, we have again a very dynamic way of strategizing, literally on how to help that person realize their potential, because it's with that goal in mind, the ultimate goal of the psyche is wholeness, so we cannot operate only from the fragmented understanding of one part of the personality. We need to look at the whole thing, just like this beautiful circle which is the zodiac end of Burt's chart shows us that it's all connected.

Speaker 2: 20:54

I realized over the years working with clients that it's so important to focus on self awareness and understanding of our authentic essence, of who we are, because people have different ambitions and desires and oftentimes they're very capable of applying and achieving what they want based on their goals for success. But if they step into the big battle field that is the world and to claim their place, if they're not prepared with proper work prior to, chances are they may stumble upon many different blockages and barriers. That would be only a reflection of the unresolved inner issues. And that goes for everything for relationships, for career, for creativity. Any process and any activity in life we dedicate ourselves to is much more easy to accomplish if we step into it with a full understanding of who we are and with a high level of self awareness. And that connects very much with leadership, because I'm sure in your own work leadership is not viewed only as leading a team of people or a project. It's a much bigger concept that has many different components and layers within. So, the way I see it, in order to be really good at leadership which involves other people as well, we need to master that for ourselves first, and that includes understanding how we can best lead our own self and psyche and soul through the path of life. And that happens only when we're willing to objectively explore and see different facets of who we are. That always starts with childhood and certain formative experiences.

Speaker 2: 23:00

Let me give a very quick example here. I had a client who struggled with relationships. A good looking man, successful man, but for some reason every time he met a woman that could be a potential partner, something happened and things didn't end well. So he felt that he's cursed with bad luck in love, right and some other issues. But we started working together and turns out based on the position of certain cycle points in the indicating energies in the chart that an astrologer could interpret.

Speaker 2: 23:38

I was able to see that in his childhood he was raised in a family where only when he was able to achieve and accomplish something at school he was rewarded with attention and care and extra gestures of validation from his parents. So he learned that in order to really be loved and accepted, he has to demonstrate some kind of success, and he was really the number one student at school, at university and then later he was even a boss, with so much reputation and all but turns out, when we talked about it, every time he would meet with a woman he would start talking about his work, accomplishments and the things that he's planning to do next, thinking that consciously or subconsciously that he's impressing her and the reward would be for this person to feel closer to him and more connected. But eventually those women apparently so in him, someone obsessed with work and business and career, and they couldn't find a way to establish a more warm and intimate connection. So they ended up leaving and that kept repeating itself as this negative cycle which once we brought to conscious awareness for him that this is a pattern which needs to be changed and that could be something he takes personal pride from and can increase his own self-confidence, but without applying it directly, following the same mechanism from his formative years that he thought. And now, showing how capable he is necessarily brings a reward in the form of something he wants. So that was just a little example of how doing like demonstrating the right thing but at the wrong time and circumstances is not the best strategy. So he later realized that there are a lot of other things that he needed to start thinking about and using and applying differently, which ultimately freed up for him a huge amount of energy and self-esteem and confidence. That brought later on based on his feedback after our sessions quite a lot of success, not only at work. But he ended up married.

Speaker 2: 25:58

Yeah, I guess we did, and that was only possible by looking at the circumstances surrounding his childhood, which are definitely indicated there. But then a chart can show us so much more. And if we are to connect this to leadership, I'm thinking that the Zodiac presents us with a beautiful matrix of qualities attributed to each archetype, which could be used as a great description of what amazing leadership is. And I'll give you a very quick example, going through the signs, really in a minute. So, aries, if we start with the first one, gives us strength, sense of adventure and the ability to be fearless when it comes to doing something. More risk than tourists is our ability to make money, our personal values and our ability to create stability and safety. The next sign, gemini, that's the knowledge, communication and intellect that is needed for this kind of position. With cancer, we find that sense of creating a family around something, when people are engaged and involved because they feel they belong and a great leader should be able to do that because this is an extra motivation, creating the emotional support. Then the generosity of Leo, of course, and the ability to take charge is another very important part of the skill set.

Speaker 2: 27:26

Virgo brings the pragmatic soul and very objective approach to solving problems. Libra insurance balance, connection and bridging different ideas when it comes to negotiations. Scorpio brings the passion, the depth and the personal power. Sagittarius is the archetypal energy that allows us to bring the enthusiasm about something. Enthusiasm is a Greek word which means Enthus, means filled with God, with divine energy, when we feel that anything is possible. That brings this inspiration in turn. And of course, capricorn is the builder of the zodiac, creating the matrix of success and always going higher and higher until the top is reached. Aquarius uses unconventional approach and decisions that always caring for the greater good. And finally, pisces is that strategic intuition a leader can apply when it comes to using not just the rational approach but that inner feeling about helping to be done right, with spiritual alignment and compassion, because, after all, without this, we won't be the human beings we need to be.

Speaker 1: 28:40

Wow, angelica, I feel so glad and excited that listeners just got a taste of how deeply connected you are to this body of work and this wisdom, to the point that you're so fluent in it that it just channels through you.

Speaker 1: 28:58

And this has been my experience in our sessions, where it feels like, yes, you're reading the chart and you're working from this incredible base of wisdom and knowledge and study over the years.

Speaker 1: 29:10

At the same time, you have this way of intuitively channeling, which I so appreciate, and you can tell when it's happening right. It feels like flow state is just incredible. So, yeah, so I think folks listening just got a taste of that, and I think it's so cool that the Zodiac presents this, almost this menu in a way of the exalted state or the exalted attributes that leaders could have, and I imagine that it also includes the shadows or some of the patterns in our collective too, and so if we all collectively have pieces of this, I think there's a lot less shame that I feel in that, even in uncovering some of my own shadows, and maybe we'll go there next as far as how we can use self-awareness to step into our personal power but also start to work with some of the shadow patterns, because I've found personally that this type of work is almost like looking in a mirror.

Speaker 1: 30:16

It's almost like looking in this reflective, bottomless pool of insight that if you're ready and open to receive and ready to really look at yourself in your own patterns, including all the way back to childhood I'm so glad that you raised this because I often feel that sometimes leaders who don't have the self-awareness or aren't using this type of self-awareness assessments or tools, they present sometimes as kids running around and living out their traumas and their patterns. And I have so much empathy for that on one level and I also I don't want to unconsciously do that either I want to make the unconscious conscious. I want to bring the things and the patterns within me that I've been operating from unconsciously. I want to really bring those to the surface, and so I just want to personally name a couple that when I looked into the mirror that is, astro psychology I saw for the first time that I have not seen in other bodies of work, and so a couple of them included jumping into something and going all in and then hesitating or second guessing myself and I was like, oh my gosh, I could name a hundred instances where that has happened.

Speaker 1: 31:38

There can be this contradiction or this hesitation, that I feel this back and forth inner tension when it comes to my decision making, where I want to hold all of the possibilities open but I have a hard time saying no. I also can sometimes have this tendency to be used and abused by people who see me really capable, see me as a very capable leader, and I play into that because I get the satisfaction of being quote unquote good, I get the good girl badge. I did a good job, someone saw me, maybe they appreciated me for a moment, but usually they're still not compensating me to the level that I deserve or maybe they're not even giving me credit and yet I still have this pattern of wanting to help, wanting to shine and really putting others on a pedestal. And when I look at this list of patterns, I'm like, on one level that could be really difficult to hear If someone reflected back to me you're doing all these things, you have all these patterns.

Speaker 1: 32:45

But I've found that in astro psychology to look at it with curiosity, as a blueprint, and to understand that these are patterns that I can work with and overcome and be aware of. Now I'm befriending my shadows in A and so I want to. Yeah, I guess I wanted to offer that to listeners as evidence of this body of work really working for me, and even just that list is invaluable to me. And so, from your perspective, if someone is really wanting to go beyond self-awareness and start building the personal power to overcome some of their shadows or start working with their patterns, how can astro psychology support that? And what is the process for even beginning to work with our shadows really look like in your perspective?

Speaker 2: 33:38

Yeah, that's a really deep and vast topic because it encompasses so much. But of course, a huge part of that analysis is focused on the so-called shadow work, which is also referred to as inner work, because that term shadow tends to sound a little scary to people. There's nothing scary about that. The reason it's called shadow is just to use a term as opposed to something being in the light that is visible. Okay, and we all have this way of presenting ourselves in social settings and interactions with the world. This is when we put our best self ahead, the so-called persona right Psychologically, where we want people to see us at our best, to see that we look great, that we feel great, that everything we do is well-handled and under control, because that's how we perceive the image, which is the opposite of being weak and vulnerable, right. So, because we are a mixture of so many various traits and experiences, there is a lot of different parts which, with shadow, people would choose to actually cast away into that part of the psyche, that reservoir which we would rather not look at because it's not a pleasant content to deal with. So, when we want to disconnect from the effect of all this negative feelings such as guilt, fear, shame, complexes, insecurity, anger and all this pain and trauma accumulated that hasn't been addressed and resolved. It gets put somewhere where we can't see it, but it doesn't mean it's not there, right. So, at moments when we feel under pressure and when we're stressed, this is the moments when some of those negative energies that haven't been integrated can start to dictate the tone of our actions and reactions, and that's why it's so important to be aware of those, and it doesn't have to be anything extreme, it could be something very casual.

Speaker 2: 35:51

Like you said, it's difficult to say no. For you and your listeners, no is a power word, okay, so let's agree on that, and there is nothing wrong with saying no the right way. And there are ways which I share with my clients as different techniques and strategies about how we can decline something that is being asked from us without coming across as someone who doesn't care, who is selfish, etc. Unfortunately, our social convention and culture has made of no some kind of a dirty word and people don't feel comfortable using it. But the moment it becomes something that damages our own time, energy and goes against our own priorities and interests, it's already psychologically dangerous because we're not doing a real service to ourselves to begin with, and it's very important to understand that having healthy emotional boundaries is allowing us to have a lot more energy and time to invest in proper activities, including helping and sharing ourselves with those who need us more effectively.

Speaker 2: 37:09

But running around saying yes to everything and rearranging our schedule just so we can please not disappoint and do something that goes totally against our will becomes a pattern that can be a really dangerous inertia and response. And that is one thing that can be identified with that kind of analysis, because the underlying cause for that is usually a lower sense of self-worth. When people think that by saying no they will lose the chance to be accepted and they think that they will. There is a guarantee and a promise here that the other person will embrace them as their friend and next time they meet it's going to be like a big yes because they're together. But it doesn't go that way, so we cannot. But there are other ways. Actually realizing that by prioritizing and really using no creates the kind of respect that other people start to appreciate a lot more and love us, for it could be another way to start being more comfortable with this kind of boundary. That's one way to look at the chart and identify it.

Speaker 2: 38:19

Then you mentioned something about decisions my first astrology teacher. He used to be a martial art teacher as well and he often referred to some of the Eastern wisdom. So he told me this, based on the book of the samurai, one Japanese ancient writing A good samurai, a good warrior, slash leader, is able to make an important decision within the time span of seven breaths. Seven breaths depends on how we breathe. Is about 30 to 40 seconds time, not a long time, right? Not enough time to make a decision. Yet this piece of ancient wisdom tells us is that once we are at the right level of inner balance, of connection with our authentic self, once we are driven by self-confidence and personal power and true belief that we are able to take charge, to be in control, to lead and to make things happen, a 30 second decision is not hard.

Speaker 2: 39:31

Yet if we have to take that decision from a place where there is a lot of pain and fear and other unprocessed wounds, then this would be a long and difficult process, because many other things will come to join the party as a reminder of what happened last time and doubt how this person act.

Speaker 2: 39:55

Will they be mad at me and then we get into that rabbit hole of how I do things, so I please everyone, regardless of how I feel about it.

Speaker 2: 40:04

So self-awareness, being consciously into self-hood in terms of again I want to stress this 10 times selfish and being self-aware are two totally different things. Selfish is the negative connotation, looking only after what we want and what's best for us, disregarding everything else and even abusing other people's energy and resources to get what we want, whereas a person who is self-aware is acting to the best of their ability, knowing that this kind of awareness and this conscious leaving of someone who is truly within their own power and is also clear on their own strength and weaknesses I'm not talking about superhuman, that's ideal and perfect, no such thing but knowing the truth about who we are, making conscious choices, or choices not based on fear, but based on our belief that we have what's needed and we have all the support of the universe, who's always happy to comply. When we project that kind of energy, then opportunities, people, situations are brought to us, aligned with that renewed sense of self and being authentic. That's the way.

Speaker 1: 41:36

Yeah, beautifully said. My goodness, there's so much in what you just said and I just want to highlight a couple things that are really deeply resonating when it comes to leadership. One is this connection between boundaries and burnout. I so appreciate that you named no as a power word, and I think back to all of those moments of indecisiveness where I was doing exactly what you described.

Speaker 1: 42:04

I was spending so much mental energy running different scenarios and worrying and feeling anxious. Is this person going to be mad? I should do this, I have an obligation to do this, they're paying me, so I have to do this. I would literally feel like I didn't have a choice. Sometimes I was taking away my own power and my own ability to actually consent to different work projects, which is maybe a bold statement. But that correlation between our ability to know ourselves so deeply that we know what is an alignment for us and then having the reverence for ourselves and the honoring and the valuation of ourselves to then set the boundaries and say no I can see how connected that actually is with preventing burnout, which is something we talk a lot about on the podcast and in this community of regenerative leaders, because a lot of us are recovering people pleasers who have come from experiences of burnout or toxic work culture in different corporate settings, and what you're describing to me also feels like a pathway to confidence and really building trust and safety in ourselves, which is amazing.

Speaker 1: 43:22

So I guess I want to get into some topics around that preventing burnout piece and the self care, because I know that we've talked a lot about this as well, of uncovering those patterns or those traits. From working with you, I know that I need to step away sometimes and have my introverted time to regenerate, to integrate. It's not actually a fit for me as a leader to always be on, to always be social, and since discovering that at deeper levels through working together, I'm now able to give myself permission to step back and I know that this is actually a self care practice. This is a form of, I think, what you often call emotional mastery, which I absolutely love. So I'd love to go there. Next, I'd love to hear if you have insights to share around self care and emotional mastery Of course.

Speaker 2: 44:20

Yes, thank you for bringing that up, because it's so important, and I would definitely add here also the super important component of self because, every act of self care is an act of self love, and our ability to connect with the world, to love and be loved by others, is a direct byproduct, result and projection of the ability to love ourselves. And if we subject ourselves to this absolutely crazy lifestyle where we find time and energy for everything but our own well being, sooner or later the burnout will sour everything else, and even the things we're able to achieve wouldn't bring us the satisfaction and fulfillment, simply because this kind of exhaustion takes away our own joy and ability to celebrate what we're able to accomplish. So it's interesting, though, because, honestly, if we Google self care, it's all the same. Meditate. Take a look at yoga. Okay, we know that cup of tea, but the solution of the problems is not always at the bottom of the cup of tea, although it's great, I realized that charts can help us a lot as well with that too, because astrology is very much based on the correspondence of between the four so called proto elements being water, air, fire and earth which represent so many different connections with the natural world, but also with psychology. Even the different typology that you use connects with those four elements. So we have types of people based on the energy signature of the chart, and that is easy to identify. We just look in what sector of the chart, what sign the most planets are being clustered or make connections with, so that would immediately tell me what kind of energy is driving that person.

Speaker 2: 46:28

And to make things very easy and simple to understand, someone with a lot of fire in their chart, that means an emphasis on Aries, leo or Sagittarius, if this person has different planets. They tell a person like that to relax by going to bed and they will just stop listening to it because that person needs an active way of relaxing, if you want. So for that person, some kind of activity that involves fun in a party and movement and dancing, if you want, is what will bring their energy levels back, whereas someone with more earth energy, they will need more sensual pleasures, something that they love to have a taste of a good piece of dessert or a glass of wine, their favorite music, candles, etc. That has a lot more relaxing way and allows them to disconnect from everything else. And then, of course, we have air, which requires intellectual kind of stimulation.

Speaker 2: 47:30

But also a good conversation would have a lot better effect than just doing any other kind of meditation or therapy, and this is how the dynamic of the chart sets the tone for the conversation. That makes it a lot more relevant and adequate, because, based on the client I'm talking to, I cannot go into just any kind of recommendation based on you know what everyone else talks about. I would use a more individualized and personalized approach based on the energies that I find in the chart, and that also goes for everything that we do together. Some people want things to go faster and others need more time. That includes not just me presenting the steps and the strategies behind how we're going to approach an issue, but also how they're going to process it and work with it. So that's why just looking at this energy signature is already so helpful, because it removes the barriers of something that might not be relevant to that person.

Speaker 2: 48:35

And talking about all these things that bring us to a point of total exhaustion, especially people pleasing again, that's such a big thing, but, in the words of you, we don't as much solve our problems as we outgrow them.

Speaker 2: 48:49

Bringing awareness to what it means to please others might be that magic ingredient which brings the awareness that is actually not necessary, and what used to be a problem up until yesterday could disappear if we choose to adopt a different attitude towards the whole thing, the whole dynamic, the reasons, the why, right?

Speaker 2: 49:14

So you and I, we talked a lot about this like what is the why that brings us to do anything in life, right, including our motivation to please others? So we reverse, engineer the actions we take with the motives of what we're hoping to accomplish and to achieve. And let me tell you, a lot of people pleasing tends to be transactional, okay, so people would do certain things in the hope that they will receive something in return, and that already makes it inauthentic. So when look at this from that perspective, it loses its meaning, right? And that makes it a lot more easier to be shifted and to be brought to a different way of a matter altogether, to stop being a problem ultimately, right, because we talk about shifting, et cetera. What would be also good to talk a bit about, if you think that's of interest, to talk a bit about change.

Speaker 1: 50:12

Yeah, I would love that, I think.

Speaker 1: 50:15

Yeah, just wanting to reflect a couple things back.

Speaker 1: 50:19

One the phrase energy signature, energetic signature, really stood out to me, and the reason it stood out was because, in what you're saying, I'm really hearing how the as we discover our own energetic signature, there's a celebration of the uniqueness that is each of us.

Speaker 1: 50:39

At the same time, if we try to present as or portray ourselves as a different energetic signature than we are, we're missing the opportunity to be in our full authenticity, to be in our full expression.

Speaker 1: 50:54

So something just clicked for me in the way that you said that, where I thought, ah, authenticity and full expression is dependent on me knowing what my energetic signature even is, but then having the confidence, the trust, the understanding of I get to be in that unique energetic signature and that unique expression of my gifts and at the same time, everyone else gets to do this, and what a world it would be. And so I was also really feeling and I felt almost emotional about it of the sensational diversity that we have available to us when people are coming from their authenticity. And I know that this is a common metaphor or analogy that people use, but I just was really seeing the metaphor of music and being in a chorus with one another, where each one of us has this unique note that when we're in harmony and we're really buzzing from those gifts, like we get to be a part of the universe, right Like the chorus that is our humanity.

Speaker 2: 52:03

I love the resonance and harmony, like you said, and that brings something to mind. Authenticity is actually the way to develop emotional mastery, naturally, because if we are authentic, there is so much that goes away, which causes trouble and creates tension and stress. So then, if we feel that we're really into our own power and confidence, we stop being dependent on to an extreme level on other people's opinions and we feel that freedom of being ourselves, of course, by following everything that is required for us to be a pleasant member of society I'm not talking about extreme cases when people are weird, but just to do what we do brings that sense of inner happiness which radiates and shows, and then we stop being judgmental, we are a lot more tolerant, we accept. There is no jealousy, there is no blame game, there is no guilt, and even if there is something that needs to be resolved, it's done in a very different way, because an emotionally intelligent person wouldn't use always and never all the time.

Speaker 2: 53:15

These are actually two categories of words that represent concepts which are very damaging when it comes to growth and evolution, because they have this idea of something static in them. Imagine a couple like partners arguing and then one of them starts with you always or you never. So that means OK, I already labeled you, named you, as someone who has a zero chance to change or evolve. That's how I see it. And that sends such a wrong message and even if the person doesn't realize why it creates a really violent reaction of anger being sent back. Oh, so you call me that? You think that I always or I never. So see how wrong it is. And that comes from another hurt within that person who sends those words out. That's their own unsolved problems that are speaking here. But the lack of emotional intelligence creates this tone of a conversation which leads nowhere, only to further antagonism. So bringing that to leadership thinking of categories always and never should only be applied if we add always as a quantifier to an effort to do something new. Ok, like I'm always ready to learn. Ok, but not to say I'm always doing this thing and nothing more right, or I never apply an approach different from the one that I'm used to from 20 years ago. So that's the difference between the static and the dynamic use of those categories.

Speaker 2: 54:53

But emotional mystery is extremely important, also because we are very much driven by our emotions and we can control the mind. Maybe we can work on some mental discipline a lot easier than when it comes to feelings and emotions, because they happen to be connected to a different aspect than part of our psyche and there are instincts involved and there are a lot more there which is much harder to control. So learning how to work with our emotions is that we take into account when we look at the position of the moon in the birth chart. So the moon is that archetypal energy which reflects the personal unconscious. This is where things are happening within the psyche that are not directly being the result of a mental, cerebral and logical approach. They are wild and instinctual, just like the moon. But it's also our capacity for love, care and nurture our memory, our sense of belonging, our need for emotional security and the type of relationship we had or have with the mother, another figure in our life, and what kind of mother we are in our own parental role. So there is plenty to see there just by exploring that archetype.

Speaker 2: 56:16

And naturally, when there is a negative aspect between the moon in the birth chart and, let's say, saturn, that immediately tells me that this person has difficulties with the processing of their own feelings and emotions and their adequate expression, because Saturn represents limits, things that are frozen, that are stuck, that are not done the easy ways. So Saturn can build walls, literally, because Saturn rules the element of stone and rock on the material plane. So Saturn can build that wall around the soft core of the emotional self and can make really hard the job of learning how to express ourselves emotionally. So for some people this is protection, because they don't want to be perceived as vulnerable. But over time it becomes a limitation to relate to another human being because it literally castrates and that's another Saturnian word, but that's mythology our own ability to fully connect, identify and ultimately enjoy our emotions. So that's why that mastery is so important and a lot can be done working with the chart and, of course, in connection with the individual person and story, because in astrology nothing functions in isolation. So it's important to take into account all these different factors.

Speaker 2: 57:39

But again, to connect that to leadership here is absolutely vital to understand the role of the ability to observe not just ourselves but everything around us.

Speaker 2: 57:55

And once we do that exercise observing and exploring our own inner world every time we need to deal with other people, and that's the thing about leadership.

Speaker 2: 58:08

On the one hand, the leader must be someone that others look up to, because he presents exceptional qualities that give this wave of trust and desire to follow that person, because they know what they're doing and they have all these qualities At the same time.

Speaker 2: 58:27

This person needs to also act in a way that shows others that he's one of them, that he's not some kind of God put on a pedestal. So the integration of these qualities and the navigation of this environment where someone needs to stand out and at the same time, be part of that group he's working with, is a really great mastery that requires huge level of self-awareness. It's impossible to do that and to be effective understanding others where they come from, understand their potential, their genius, their weakness, what makes them tick, if we didn't do that exercise for ourselves first, and to do that exercise in an effective, unique and personalized way. Using the word chart as a blueprint, I refer to it as power map, treasure map, leading us to our own personal wealth and treasure. And so map, if you want, is the way to take advantage of all this potential reveal there, wow, wow wow, wow.

Speaker 1: 59:36

Yeah, I love what you said there about just the inner-ness of all of this, that we can't look at anything in isolation, and I think, as a principle, that's so helpful in other areas of life too. And I know that one takeaway that I've had from looking at the birth chart is also the integration or the synthesis of seemingly opposites, so the tensions or the polarities that we might find within ourselves, if we can identify them and work with the seemingly fragmented parts of ourselves.

Speaker 1: 1:00:10

the sun and the moon, the masculine, the feminine, the insert two opposites here, and integrate, that we can become more whole as we move through life in this self-aware way that allows us to be receptive, aware, sentient, attuned to our ever-evolving context.

Speaker 1: 1:00:29

And I definitely want to get back to what you had said earlier about change as well, because I think in its full circle in the conversation, right like we talked about the birth chart, is that's a snapshot of where everything sat and how the energies looked when you were born. But we live in a dynamic universe. Leaders today are facing an incredibly rapid rate of change and the biggest levels of complexity, uncertainty. There's so much happening, from climate to political unrest, and so to be self-aware, but to also know how to move through change and to adapt to our context, I really believe that astroastrology, astro psychology, can help us with this to find the unique strategies that are specifically right for us or that we are really designed for. So I'd love to maybe end with this question around how can using astro psychology support us to navigate change as leaders and big transitions, because inevitably we'll have many big transitions in life.

Speaker 2: 1:01:40

Love that topic. I'll do my best to present that as briefly as possible because, again, each of this topics, honestly, I think we can do a separate talk about each of them.

Speaker 2: 1:01:51

They're so vast. But just a very quick note about what you said earlier, because you said it so beautifully. Jung talks about one of the biggest challenges in life is to learn to hold the tension of opposites. And you just said it because we are that mix of polarities. Every time we decide to identify only with one end of the spectrum, we are leaving something else behind which creates this balance. That's why this wholeness, this integration, is so important About change we all know that change is actually an integral part of life and we're constantly in a process of change.

Speaker 2: 1:02:26

In fact, the very first experiences humans we go through is change. We leave the warm, safe environment of the mother's womb to get into this cold and unknown world. Right, and that's not an easy thing to do. But then everything else that happens later to us. For some reason, although it's cycles, road shifts, seasons in nature, we see change all the time.

Speaker 2: 1:02:51

Yet a lot of people are reluctant to accept change and to deal with it, and one reason for that could be the fact that when we're driven by the ego, which is connected to our mechanisms of survival, the ego likes predictability. The ego is that part of ourselves, nothing bad about it. It's a very necessary to survive, a part of the psyche, but it's just how it operates. It wants to know when and how and what has this sense of beginning and end and safety. So that's why, when something happens that is different from what we already know, it's perceived as possible threat or, at the very least, source of stress and tension, because we don't know what that is. Yet the inner self is very much aware that these things don't matter and in terms of something dangerous and to be afraid of. On the contrary, the self embraces the opportunity to change, because change serves the evolutionary purpose of our soul path and the reason to be here. So if everything stayed the same, what do we have? Stagnation, no progress, no life. Ultimately, everything stops and we end up in a black hole. We need change to keep us moving and going.

Speaker 2: 1:04:09

But if we had to talk about change in two big categories, I'd say one is the change that we initiate and we make happen based on our own conscious will and decisions, and the other changes are the ones that come to us without being necessarily invited and we don't have control over them. And that includes the midlife crisis changes when a lot of people face this moment, when they realize that, oh, half of the party is over and now I'm going through so many other changes which are physiological, social, psychological, etc. But also those other changes, like you said, are the bigger scale. With the world around us and everything that is happening every day in the structure of economy, business, technology, it's so hard to keep up with, right. So, regardless of whether we start the change or the change just happened to us, there is something very important to understand here, and that is the difference between change and transition.

Speaker 2: 1:05:17

People tend to get confused and think about that this is one and the same. It's not so. Change is a different reality that we face when we have to deal with something new, all right. So that is the change. The adaptation, the process of learning how to live with that different reality is the transition. Therefore, change is situational, transition is psychological. The way we adapt to that new situation is the transition. In the words of this great writer, william Bridges, if we don't transition rightfully and we don't adapt psychologically in an adequate way to a change, it won't be just moving the furniture, but it won't be a new house. So we need to really consciously adapt to a new situation without too much resistance, because this will only create problems for us. The change itself will still be there, but how much we adapt to it.

Speaker 2: 1:06:27

And this is where, looking at the bird chart, we can find some insight on how to facilitate that process. Because, let me tell you, change comes naturally for some people than for others. There are certain factors in the chart. For example, the sign of tourists is a sign that likes things to be predictable, to be steady, slow, to stay the same, to uphold the status quo, because a tourist is very much about acquiring and keeping possessions and because astrology has that inner logic of every sign, presents qualities that are totally at the other end of the spectrum compared to the preceding sign. So, if we look at this from a historical and human development perspective, aries is the sign of adventure. So there were times in human history when people would go in groups or as tribes to fight with each other for territory, but the minute they planned the flag, this is there. So this comes at that moment the energy of tourists comes because now we have a territory, we have a land to farm, we have a house to preserve, so we stop running around, we settle, and when we settle, we want things to stay safe and secure.

Speaker 2: 1:07:38

So when I see a bird chart of a client who has a lot of emphasis on tourists, they usually come to me with oh so much has changed and it's causing me so much stress. And I know that here it's not that it's impossible to adapt. The perception of the transition process comes in easy. And then the key here is to find various other qualities and adaptive mechanisms in the chart for that person. By guiding them through various examples, I usually prompt people to think about something similar that they did in the past where they were successful, to focus on the positive outcomes of that change, to use any kind of help and support and to open their horizon perception for all the positive outcomes with that change. But that requires a little bit of vision, which might lack as a natural ability if we don't work with the energy already in the chart. Yeah, that's why for leadership is extremely important to be flexible, to be quick to adapt to transition and to embrace change. But what would be really helpful is based on the nature of the change, of course, to again consult the chart and see why this change might be difficult to accept.

Speaker 2: 1:09:04

What is it triggering? Maybe someone healed wound. Maybe it's a reminder of something that we don't like to face about ourselves. Maybe we refuse for way too long to break that negative cycle of doing the same thing over and over about a specific aspect of life or work. So change comes, and this is usually with the energy of Pluto and Saturn. They don't take no for an answer. So yeah, so do it. Okay, that is like a step towards our own growth, which might not be pleasant, but, when perceived as an evolutionary experience, makes a lot more sense than just the regular struggle.

Speaker 1: 1:09:43

Yeah, wow said said. I'm just blown away by the distinction between change and transition there and the role of the psyche in how we navigate change as well. And having awareness of that and I'm just imagining I can almost feel the listeners and the excitement that I imagine they have at this point to get in there and look at their own charts and to investigate. It's quite a ride.

Speaker 2: 1:10:13

And, by the way, if I may just very quickly bring an example, which always is when I think about this, is so fascinating.

Speaker 2: 1:10:23

There was this case of like an experiment of interviewing siblings about their own change, and there was an effort between neuro linguists and astrologers too. So what happened was that these three siblings three children raised in the same family where the father, due to his job, has to had to move a lot every six months or a year the accounts they gave of their childhood amazing. So the child with a lot of cancer in their birth chart said that he hated his childhood because he couldn't grow roots anywhere and he had to go through different places just after making friends and having their own room with things that they love and know where they are, whereas the other sibling, the other child with strong Sagittarius, said I love my childhood, I got to make friends in all over the country because it was an adventure. We moved and it was fun. And there was a lot more other examples here. I'm just saying that same story, same family, same experiences, yet very differently processed by two children at the time which faced the circumstances, and they meant very different results to them psychologically.

Speaker 1: 1:11:37

So see how important this could be to examine that from the perspective of the birth chart and how, when big change is happening in an organization, I can imagine, similar to the siblings, every member of the team is going to have a very different perception and a unique set of needs that are born from their particular chart, makeup and so to I guess it comes back to that diversity or that uniqueness a little bit. But knowing if we have this awareness of ourselves, we can then communicate that with our teammates so we can say, in the face of change, I'm someone who really needs to process solo and step away and take a breath before I come back to the next step or whatever it might be. And if we can have that awareness of one another, I also believe that a different level of care becomes possible in the culture of workplaces, and so I actually get really excited about that example that you just gave, where, if self awareness can also become group awareness, now we're really learning how to take care of each other, not just ourselves.

Speaker 2: 1:12:43

Yes, and from a much more authentic perspective again, because everyone's uniqueness is taken into account. But then we know when the approach or the response is different, it's not because that person does it to block things, it's because their own individual perception of that situation makes them maybe a little self guarded, a little defensive. But understanding that brings the solutions automatically, and then it doesn't have to be any kind of struggle or a bitter atmosphere where it's impossible to collaborate and to work together smoothly. Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 1:13:21

Wow, angelica. This has just been the time has flown, because there has just been so much depth in everything that you're saying. You're right, we could dive more into each one of these topics, but I want to give you the final word here. If there's just anything else you want to leave listeners with, but also if people are really eager to look at their birth chart with you and dive into the world of astro-psychology, where can they find you and how can they work with you?

Speaker 2: 1:13:49

Thank you for that. I have a website which I guess you'll share with the listeners in case they're interested to learn more about my work, and the most effective way in format I use to work with my clients is a three month program which brings together all these different modalities. We talked about, of course, the astrological analysis from a psychological perspective, but also counseling, guided inner work and the therapeutic approach, and so all that together proves to be very effective when it comes to understanding the current situation and mapping out strategies which are tailored individually for that person's needs, so they can start seeing possibilities and ways to resolve chronic issues and ultimately introduce positive changes in their lives. So if people are interested, they can research psychological astrology online and then look at my website, of course, and see what other people I work with are saying. Although even your testimonial alone here, with everything you shared again, thank you so much says a lot, I hope people would feel inspired to learn more about this.

Speaker 2: 1:15:03

I do offer a discovery call, as that's typically done, but it's a 30 minute free meeting where we can meet, connect and talk about what the person needs and how I can possibly help explore options to work together. It's totally without any obligation to take any action. It's just to see if we're good fit to work together, but I'm always happy to meet with new people who are interested and are seekers of self-knowledge and self-discovery, because I believe my methodology is really effective with that and I can't wait to hear feedback and see how else we can help your audience. Hopefully it was valuable and I want to thank you again for that opportunity, because I feel so connected to you as a person, as a client, as an amazing leader and entrepreneur, and I'm really honored to be part of your journey. So let's hope this was the first, but it won't be the last opportunity for us to connect with your audience, and thank you again. Stay inspired is what I'm saying. Love yourself, love life, love the world and they will love you back. Thank you, thank you, angelica, thank you.