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🌀Weekly Weather Report with Ember

From behind the toilet portal

Ember

Oct 15, 2025

Sidereal vs. Tropical Astrology

Let’s start here: Tropical astrology is tied to the seasons, not the sky. Aries season always starts around March 21st — not because the Sun moves into Aries then (it doesn’t), but because that’s the Spring Equinox, and tropical astrology locks the zodiac there.

Sidereal astrology, on the other hand, uses the actual constellations in the sky. That means Aries season starts about a month later, when the Sun actually moves into Aries. This system reflects the movement of the stars and planets as they really appear above us — which is why I use it for more accurate predictions.

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You may also notice:

Tropical horoscopes are usually based on Sun signs — why? Because newspaper astrology took off when most people didn’t know their birth time, and your Sun sign is based on your date of birth.

Sidereal astrology is based on Rising signs — your rising sign is the sign of your body, path, and the natural energy you move in. It should lead the way.

Quick breakdown:

The Sidereal Zodiac gives us a different frame to see ourselves through — a secret, forgotten story about someone who’s been waiting to be seen.

I grew up thinking I was a Capricorn. I tried to be like a mountain — goal-oriented, stable, serious. But I kept forgetting my goals as soon as the wind changed. I wasn’t grounded. I wasn’t focused. I was confused, constantly shifting… and constantly failing at being who I thought I was supposed to be.

And then I found my Sidereal Rising Sign: Libra.

Cardinal Air. Light. Breezy. Relationship-focused. Music-obsessed. Desire-driven. It all clicked. I wasn’t the world’s worst Capricorn — I was actually a natural Libra.

Libra Season Is Coming

In just a few days, the Sun moves from Virgo into Libra — bringing fall colors, longer nights… and the existential dread of the Sun entering its least favorite sign.

Libra is a beautiful sign — ruled by Venus, full of grace and thoughtfulness — but the Sun is in its “fall” here. That means this season often comes with an unsettled energy. The veil thins. Time feels strange. Kids put on masks. The world shifts toward sleep.

Venus leads us softly into the dark. This is your cue to:

Weekly Field Report

Ember's Weekly (?) Field Report

Hopefully weekly! Let's see how things shake out...

RIP

I have retired the music that has scored my life for the past year and a half. Music that I love and connect with. Music that held me through facing my shadow and comforted me while I rebuilt my life from the ashes. Music that connected me to my guides and spirits and helped me find the ground when I was flying too high.

And now it is gone, not deleted, just untouched. Sitting in a vault that maybe one day I will be able to open again. But for now, I need to truly let those stories and that time of my life decompose. The Sun is in my 8th House of things that need to die. The things that we can’t let dissolve into nothingness, but need an honest to gods clean break. Things that keep us in the muck when we need to be moving forward.

I love that music so much, but every song carries memories about the time in my life when I was reorganizing my mind. And you can only rehash so much until it becomes a cage. And being caged by my own liberation is not a fate I will accept.

And so I have one single playlist. Songs without words. Songs that are expansive and emotional and have momentum behind them. Songs that will soundtrack my new life that is blooming a bit more every day.

Sometimes things are taken from us when they need to die. And sometimes we have to kill them ourselves. RIP to my favorite playlists, artists and songs. May we meet again when I am older. When I can hear you differently. When you are not a black hole of where I have been. Until then I have math rock and post rock and a little prog metal to get me through.

Life is beautiful. Music is glorious. The world is unhinged. And so should we be.

Hearts

I have been delivering for Uber Eats for about three weeks now. In the slow times I run errands and check out little shops. About a week ago I went to Nature Haven in Peoria. It is this great crystal shop with amazing jewelry and home decor and so many crystals. I wanted to buy a necklace that reminded me of a bond that had formed last year. It was forged through flames, arguing and outbursts and chaos.

I went in asking for something metamorphic. Something that really symbolized the ferocity of the time. The showed me piece after piece after piece and my stomach turned at each one. None of them felt right. They pulled out a few trays for me to look at and left to help other customers.

And then I saw it. A small heart in a silver setting. Dalmatian Jasper. It was a little silly and made me smile. It definitely wasn’t my aesthetic, I don’t do hearts. But it was pulling at me. My entire body was saying yes. And so I bought it. At the store they told me that dalmatian jasper represents joy and your inner child. And a deeper dive into it told me that it helps you work through hard feelings.

I didn’t get a necklace that represented how the bond formed. I got a necklace that represents how the bond carries me now. With joy and innocence and a companion as I work through the heaviness of having been forged through flames.

This week I went back to doing readings at The Raven, The Hare, and The Scroll. It felt good to be back. It was a slow week, but I got to do a reading for a Libra Rising. It was a nice gift to receive, as I am also a Libra Rising and I love getting to read for fellow Libras. It feels like a little mirror, someone who experiences life like I do. It makes me feel less alone and like there is some order to the Universe. That is the thing I love most about astrology, what looks like chaos at the surface, is really the energy at play around us. Shaping our experiences and thoughts and emotions. Not taking away our autonomy, but coloring our life, just like the physical weather. You act differently when it’s raining than when it’s snowing. And you act differently when Mercury is acting out than when Jupiter is transiting your sun. Astrology gives you the ability to predict the weather, not so you can control it, but so you can move accordingly. Astrology tells us in what area of our life we are going to be hit and the nature of the energy at play. And it gives us exact dates so we know when the tides are going to turn. When the pressure is going to let up and when things are going to feel chaotic.

My astrology is more than personality. It is predictive. It is a weather report. It is hope and preparation together. And I don’t leave you hanging with bad news. I give you concrete ways to work with the upcoming energy so you can feel better in your body while you go through the shit.

Curious what your weather is looking like? You can book with me here for either an in person or online reading.

Rising Sign Readings

Your Rising Sign is more than a mask. It is the sign of your body, your path, and the natural energy you bring to the world. It is the most important story you will ever hear, which is why it is always 100% FREE.

Ask Me Anything

Back until the end of June! This is a short, focused reading. You ask me any one question and we will open up your chart and see what the stars are saying. Curious about your love life, your career or whether or not to invest in a new horse? No question is too big or too small.

30-Minute Reading

We will dive into your Rising, Sun, Moon and North Node. And look at current transits. Or we can ditch that all and deep dive into the topic of your choice. You will leave feeling seen by the Universe, hopeful for what is coming and with specific dates that the weather will change.

60-Minute Reading

Everything from the 30-Minute Reading plus important transits that will be coming up in the future. Or we can ditch that all and dive deep into whatever is on your mind.

Field Report from Idaho

Boring

This is day 1 million 845 thousand 91 in Idaho. Only 7,046 more to go.

I have been in Idaho discovering what it is to live life without stress. I am doing a workshare. 30 hours of work a week in exchange for room and board, a generous weekly grocery budget and enough money to comfortably cover my bills.

I have been helping to establish a new ranch in the Owyhee foothills, taking care of four dogs and a loverboy of a horse and cataloging baseball cards. It’s mindless, sometimes tedious work. A perfect contrast to the strange and exciting year before it, where spirits spoke too loudly and every song was a message.

Now I am boring. Not like uninteresting, though I feel like I am that too here, but boring into the ground. Into myself. I am taking root in the mundane. No longer worried about if I can make my bills or where I will be living next. I’m getting to do the tedious work of living as myself when everything is quiet.

It’s easy to be yourself when times are loud and chaotic. You get to ride the wave of excitement— be carried on the winds of adrenaline. But that has settled and I am just— present. Nothing required besides dogs and horses and a new ranch. Time to keep myself properly fed and to sit with the memories of a wild year.

I have written compulsively and deleted every file. I am writing for myself. For my own entertainment, in service to my own growth. And I think that has been some of the most important work I have done here. Created for myself. With no pressure, with no audience. Just me and four dogs and a lovesick horse.

Yeti & Tater (& also Bonnie, eventually)

Yeti is a Tennesse Walker. A horse almost as wide as he is tall. He is one half of a bonded pair, but Bonnie is still stabled. They were separated. Her love had turned obsessive and violent. She wouldn’t allow anyone to touch Yeti, and if he was moved out of the paddock she would pitch the biggest fit known to horses. And so Yeti came home alone.

Yeti doesn’t like to be touched much. And so I usually just stand in front of him, feeding him apples. He puts his nose on my cheek, rests his chin on my shoulder and nibbles at my clothes trying to groom me. He always had a certain sadness about him. He was always moving, never settled…. Until… Tater came into his life.

Tater belongs to the dog trainer getting ready to move to the new ranch in the Owyhees. And until the horse area gets built, he is sharing Yeti’s home.

They became fast friends. Yeti’s demeanor changed. He started getting comfortable and even laying down during the day. After they had a couple days to acclimate, I took Yeti on a walk. At first Tater seemed fine, but when we moved past the paddock, she started whinnying. Softly at first, but the further we went, the loud she got. Yeti was doing his best to ignore it, but his ears were giving him away— he was concerned. I looked back and saw Tater raging. Screaming in horse, going full rodeo in the paddock. And Yeti lost his composure. He lifted his head, turned around and moved as quickly as an obese Tennessee Walker can muster. When he got back to the paddock he put his head over the fence and nuzzled Tater until she calmed down. And then he went back to grazing just outside the paddock.

And then things took a dark turn. This is the point when I realized, maybe Bonnie wasn’t the one to blame in their situation. Maybe Yeti is a horsy narcissist, knowing exactly how to emotionally manipulate the mares. He walked quickly past the paddock and waited for Tater to start her protests. And then he ran back to soothe the discomfort he caused.

I can’t say for sure if Yeti is an evil mastermind or if horses are just kinda dumb. But I do know one thing, Yeti is setting himself up for one helluva love triangle when he, Bonnie and Tater are all together at the new ranch.

Ember's Weekly Field Report

Ember

Oct 11, 2025

🌒 Field Report

This week has been full of Libra risings, being a Libra rising myself, this made me very happy. Here’s a quick run down on Libra vibes.

Libras are the sign of balance and harmony in relationships. They want everything to be beautiful, to feel beautiful and to sound beautiful… and when it doesn’t they tend to do anything to try and fix it… including making themselves smaller, depriving themselves from their space or giving up their own needs to maintain the peace. This is one of THE key issues a Libra has to figure out in order to walk steadily in this life. And from a Libra who has been there done that, once you figure it out… your life changes.

🌕 Astro Moment of the Week

This week, Venus moved into Virgo.

Dun dun DUN…

That doesn’t sound so bad, right? I mean, Venus is the planet of love and harmony and art… and Virgo is the spirit of the forest…

What could possibly go wrong?

Well. Have you ever actually stepped into a forest?

It’s not harmonious. It’s not balanced. It is chaos.

Last year’s leaves are still rotting on the ground (seriously, Virgo… ever heard of detritivores?). And the noise?? It’s not one beautiful song — it’s blue jays, wrens, owls, mourning doves, crickets, frogs… all screaming over each other.

There’s mud and dirt. Thorns and burrs. Half the things are poisonous, the other half will miraculously heal you — and good luck telling which is which without a degree in faery botany.

Of course Venus is overwhelmed here.

So what does this mean — and what can we do?

Keep an eye on your finances. Don’t make impulsive money decisions, and be prepared for unexpected expenses. This is par for the Venus-in-Virgo course.

Notice when it all feels like too much. Especially around service, health, pets, and responsibilities. If you feel like you’re being pulled in ten directions (like Venus lost in the briars), don’t panic — just acknowledge the overwhelm.

Make beauty anyway. Listen to music. Sing. Create. Let something beautiful come through you to remind both you and Venus of your power.

This is just a phase.

In November, Venus moves into Libra — one of her home signs — and all will be right in the forest once again.

Until then: try not to buy five herbal tinctures you don’t understand. And maybe don’t text your forest ex.

🔮 Ritual / Reflection / Practice

This week’s challenge, if you choose to accept it…

Set aside time every day to commune with spirits.

Light a candle and set the intention — say something like:

“To any spirit aligned with my highest path, this is a time for us to hang out.”

Then do whatever feels right: sit down, lie down, pace the house, stare into space like a poetic raccoon. Talk to the spirits you just invited in. Say what’s on your heart. Then — get quiet.

And listen.

Is it your imagination or your intuition?

Yes. It’s one of the two. Possibly both.

It doesn’t matter right now.

What matters is that you trust yourself enough to try. Over time, you’ll learn to tell the difference between imagination and intuition — but only if you stop judging yourself before you even begin.

Feel for shifts in the energy around you.

Listen for words, songs, images, or sensations that rise inside of you.

When you’re finished, blow out the candle, thank the spirits for spending time with you, and come back again tomorrow.

Rituals like this create containers for relationship — a time and space where the spirits know you’re open, and you know when to listen.

Through the Toilet Portal

You can find me in person in the back room, through the bathroom (yes, really) at:

The Raven, The Hare and The Scroll

285 Derby St. — Pekin, IL

Or — if you’re a ghost, time traveler, or just someone with internet access —

I’m available virtually anywhere in the world.

✨ Book here (in-person or online):

calendly.com/embracingexpansiveness

🔍 Current Offerings:

🎁 FREE Rising Sign Readings (for new clients)

Dip your toes into the chart pond — let’s see what flavor of cosmic chaos you’re running.

💫 $20 Mini Reading (15 min)

One story. One question. One retrograde.

Or one confusing thing in your chart that’s been screaming at you in dreams.

🌀 $60 Deep Dive (60 min)

Who you are. Where you’re going.

You’ll leave with:

Multiple dates to watch for

Possible joys

Probable nonsense

At least one spiritual plot twist

✨ SPECIAL: Grab Bag Astrology

Pay me whatever you want — $3.33, $6.66, $11.11, $69.00 (no judgment)

and I’ll send you a surprise video reading with:

Want help decoding your current celestial nonsense?

I’m taking bookings for October.

Click that little link above. You know the one.

Random Transmissions

Stupid Threats

Like turkey, not bears

One of the hardest things about being human is having a nervous system that remembers. My nervous system remembers the day I got the pukes while my mom was making a turkey. It took me years to get over that association. When our nervous system flags a threat, it reminds us viscerally every time that threat comes back into view. Which is great when the threat is a bear, and terrible when the threat is a song that sends us reeling into sadness.

So much of our nervous system was wired before we even had language. We store the memories in our bodies because we didn’t yet have language to make sense of our world. And then we suffer with tense muscles, IBS, or migraines. And the doctors give us medicine to take care of the symptoms without ever pointing us toward the cause.

I recently did deep, internal work to get to the root of my maladapted nervous system. It was intense, I had to see parts of myself that I tried to keep hidden. My shadow came out in ways that were terrifying and a little heartbreaking. I dug out the cancer and sent it to the sun to be held forever in warmth. I allowed myself to be held to the extent that I was able.

And something extraordinary happened. My body started to relax. The chronic tension in my shoulders started to soften. My jaw began to unclench. My nervous system stopped scanning constantly for threats as I started to trust the world and myself.

The Sun recently moved into Taurus, which is my 8th house of things that poison me. In my life care had always been coupled with poison. Whether I was giving or receiving care, it always came with caveats and expectations. Something was going to be held over my head. Accepting love was the most dangerous threat my nervous system perceived. And with the Sun currently in my 8th house, I am being asked to release that. To kill the old pattern of care being poison.

I am being taken care of right now by friends and family and a host of Unseen forces. And I can trust now that they are all fighting for me, not against me. I am not waiting for a dropping shoe. I am trusting their love, their intentions and their words. I am letting myself be loved, nourished and cared for. It can still feel scary, but I know every scary moment is data collection for my nervous system. It is my mind and my body learning that yes, love is safe.

Wild Currents

It has been a wild year and a half. I can’t say that the crazy is lifting, only that it’s changing form. I am becoming better at moving with it instead of fighting it and my faith has deepened enough to trust the process. I know the current has me.

I imagine a river flowing, sometime violently like spring run off down a mountain. And sometimes calmly. And I am in the water for all of it. When the current is hard and fast, there is nothing to do but relax and be carried. Maybe writing doesn’t happen. Maybe projects get put on hold, because the focus is surviving the current. It feels uncomfortable and out of control, but this is where faith is forged. In the survival. In trusting that I can step away from projects and they will be there when things are calm again. In trusting that my value is not in my productivity and that a lack of output does not equal a lack of growth.

Nature is cyclical. Spring brings storms to manage, sometime rebuilding because of it. Other times just holding on as the wind rages around us. And then the storms settle and we are able to plant, to tend the soil, to do the work that needs to be done. When the storms in our life hits, sometimes just holding on is the best possible reaction.

And then the current settles and we can play in the water. We can look on the riverbed and see what rocks had been deposited from the upheaval. We can sit in the water and let it run over us without carrying us away. And we can get back to the work that we set aside for survival. Our passions and creativity can come back online. We can refocus on building instead of surviving. Knowing that this too is a season and a not a permanent state.

Venus just left my 8th House of death and transformation. During that transit I left Idaho, where I had been integrating, grounding and learning to take care of myself. And then I came home. To uncertainty and upheaval. The current was storming around me. Quiet time to myself was hard to come by. I wanted so badly to write and create and share my astrology. But I was busy holding on for my life as the current pulled me under. Today Venus entered my 9th House of Spirituality and Evolution and I feel, for the first time in a long time, that I can create again. That I am not being tossed around by the elements. I feel grounded and strong and centered. And I know that this is a season too. I need to enjoy this period and be thankful for the stability.

Wherever you are in life right now, you are not wrong. You are in exactly the season you are supposed to be in. Astrology gives us insights into the energetic weather. It can give us perspective on what’s happening and a timeframe so we know when it is going to end and what season is coming up next.

To find out what season you’re in and how to better manage it, you can book here for a reading in person or online.

With Love and a Gentle Stream,

Ember

Home Again

May 02, 2026

After four months in the high desert I am back home to the prairies and the forests of the Illinois River Valley.

I spent my time in Idaho tending animals and building a new regenerative farm. I played trivia twice a week and watched my friend karaoke Hits From the Bong about a dozen times. I made new friends and discovered new ecosystems. But in the words of Dorothy “There’s no place like home.”

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I left not knowing if I would come back, but that all changed during the Solar Eclipse. Solar Eclipses are a powerful time that show us our deepest wish, and during this particular Solar Eclipse I wanted nothing more than to get back to my community.

I missed my people, my rituals, my rhythms. I missed the freedom of sleeping in and staying up late, of taking naps in the middle of the day. I missed Aldi and shopping at Costco with my mom.

I missed the way words flowed out of me and the excitement of sharing a rising sign reading with a skeptic. As I cried I heard the words, “Feelings are weather. They will pass.” And they did. The intensity diminished, but did not disappear. And I knew The Land was calling me home.

On Monday I drove 1,000 miles, stopping overnight to drive another 700 miles on Tuesday. When I arrived in Iowa I was met by a Casey’s. I stopped for a slice of taco pizza and a Country Roast coffee. I ate my lunch with hurried reverence as home was coming into sight. I crossed the Mississippi and saw the land covered in flood waters, trees barely peaking up above the water. I stopped at a rest stop and walked under the full shade of deciduous trees for the first time in four months.

And last night I attended May Day in downtown Pekin. After four months away I returned to my community. I spoke with a prolific writer about my options for publishing. I had a dream analyzed by a Tropical Astrologer and then offered her a reading. I connected with an old friend I hadn’t seen in so long we had forgotten each other at first. In the light of the Libra full moon, my own rising sign, I did what Libras do. I connected with people with an ease I hadn’t felt in four months.

It seems I left a part of myself in Illinois when I ventured to Idaho. The part of me that connects easily, that moves with the current of relationship, that flows with words and follows without forcing. And now I am back. Ready to give to the community I desperately missed. Ready to share the work of the past year and a half of my life in a way I couldn’t do four months ago.

Astrology work will start again shortly, as well as community events. Keep your eyes on your inbox for future transmissions!

With Love and a Huge Hug,

Ember

Manmade Lakes

And sagebrush... There's always sagebrush.

Ember

Mar 29, 2026

Today, in an effort to have a good attitude about Idaho, I went to a wildlife preserve.

When I got there I found out it was a manmade lake.

There were several short trails through sagebrush (it’s always sagebrush out here),

A dam, and a beach.

I saw a baby bunny (oddly, the first rabbit I’ve seen since I’ve gotten here) about 50 coots and two mallards.

There were very few trees.

It felt sparse and exposed.

I walked the dam and read the placards about the creation of the lake and the agriculture made possible by its irrigation system.

And it made me feel even more disconnected. None of it was natural. It was all constructed.

It made me miss home.

My own forest that I know. Fourteen miles of trails through prairie and woods.

Full of water and deer and squirrels, foxes and bobcats. I even saw a mink there once.

I miss places that I know. Places that know me.

I miss being held by the Earth in forests I don’t just visit, I tend.

This time of year I generally going into the woods to pick wild garlic.

It is wildly invasive and easiest to pull when it starts sprouting.

Four more weeks and I will get back home.

This time with more appreciation for what I have.

And with plans. Big plans.

Keep your ear to the ground and your eyes on your email…

You don’t want to miss what’s coming!

If you go to the forest and listen close, you might hear some whispering about it…

Snowstorms in Spring

The Grove is cold, the winds are blowing strong. The clouds are close to the ground with the smell of promising snow blowing around us, promising feet, not inches.

I set the shovel out on the porch. The flowers that prematurely bloomed droop their faces to the ground. False spring gets them every time. Nature has a cruel sense of humor.

Inside the cabin Radio Head is playing from Pulse’s room. I am starting a simmer pot to try and shift the energy while I listen to Sleeping at Last. There is no simmer pot strong enough to balance out the return of a winter day once spring has started.

You think the hard days are past. You think it will be easy sailing, sunny days, flowers blooming. And then you’re right back into it. In feelings you thought were behind you. Stuck for another day in issues that seemed like they were resolved. And then— feet, not inches.

Mutable energy. Gemini, Sagittarius, Virgo, Pisces. The energy that transforms by changing. Back and forth. Spiraling around. Taking us out of a situation and then dropping us right back in it when we thought for sure we were over it.

It’s not malicious. It is thorough. This storm is a reminder of what we are leaving behind. A dramatic goodbye to winter. One last chance to feel the full force of the snow before spring sticks. And we have nothing to do but feel it. And maybe make some snow angels.

A Tribute to My Friend

May You Know Peace

Ember

Oct 22, 2025

A friend of mine passed on recently.

He was kind and gentle.

He was weird and quirky.

He had a sense of style that boldly announced who he was.

He saw the world a lot like I do…

Mythical. Archetypal. Layered with secret meaning

and divine whisperings.

People like us aren’t designed to survive the systems that are in place.

We are meant to struggle our way out.

We are meant to find ways to exist parallel to PTO’s and Overtime

without being distracted by it.

Unfortunately, we don’t always figure it out.

We have been isolated.

We have been taught that individuality is more important than community.

We have been taught that our vision is mental illness

And that our wandering is lack of vision.

The world can be unkind to people like us.

Which is why we need community.

Which is why we need each other.

To remind each other that our faith is our vision.

To remind each other that our imagination fuels our becoming.

To remind each other that we are loved, cared for and held,

Even when we are messy…

Especially when we are messy.

When I think back to the times we spent together

I am struck with awe for his transparency.

I think about his art

How he captured majesty in a thistle

And vulnerability in lions.

We shared moments of profound joy

Moments of fall

Moments where imagination collapsed in on itself….

Moments that were lovely, spiritual, and terrifyingly human.