It’s 12:56 am on my birthday.

birthdays are portals.

age may be just a number to some, but ever since astrology came into my life, my relationship to aging has shifted. no longer is an age just a number: it’s a profection year, it’s a Venus cycle, it’s a nodal reversal, it’s a Saturn return. your age becomes a marker for celestial rites of passage.

the birthday is the solar return: the annual return of the sun to the same sign and degree it was in at the moment of your birth. every year, without fail, the sun passes through the doorway of your natal sun’s degree and is reborn. it’s a renewal of the same vitality that coalesced into your being and brought your physical form into this world.

every birthday also signifies a changing of the guards, in a sense, via profection years and the passing of the baton from one planet, the lord of the year, to the next.

today is my birthday. I am 29 years old. in astrology terms, that’s a 6th house profection and the height of the first Saturn return. for me, this birthday is special because I am closing out a two-year period of back-to-back Saturn profections and welcoming in jupiter as my timelord for the first time since I was 26.

by jove, so much has changed. at the start of my 3rd house profection year, I was at a relatively low point in my life, and incredibly unsure of who I was. I was fumbling around in the dark, desperately needing hope but unsure of where or how to seek it out. then, two things happened: I fell in love with a boy, and I fell (even further) in love with astrology.

then came 27. in astrology, that’s a 4th house year, nodal reversal, progressed lunar return, and it was the first of two saturn-ruled profections, for me, to kick off my saturn return. 27 is big for a lot of people, and my life is no exception: I moved in with the boy I love and very shortly after became pregnant. we were married in october of that year, in a gorgeous and intimate ceremony. that year also forced me to leave ‘normal’ jobs for full-time self-employment, and I have astrology to thank for presenting itself as a calling in my life exactly when it did.

this year, being 28, is the first time in a long time where I can confidently say there were more highs than lows for me, and that fact in itself could bring me to tears. 28 is a 5th house year, and the 5th house has to do with children and creativity, amongst other things, which is fitting because it seems like the two main things I did this year were: I had a baby, and I started creating again.

this year, I discovered a passion for graphic design (no but really) that I never knew existed within me, and I started putting colors in my hair again. I fell completely in love with my son and with the experience of motherhood. I found new ways to love my husband as he became a father and fell in love in his own ways too. through connecting with my son, I’ve been able to access emotions like joy and wonder on such a regular basis that I don’t remember life before these emotions were the norm.

moving on to 29 and into a Jupiter-ruled year, what I’m most excited about is piquing my own curiosity through various intellectual and spiritual pursuits, as well as buckling down on creating solid routines for the first time in my life so I can keep this body for as long as possible. I’m excited to get to work! 2022 brought me more astrology clients than any year prior, and I am consistently humbled by the caliber of people I get to serve and the vulnerability I get to experience with them.

in the spirit of jupiter, this is a gigantic and enthusiastic declaration of gratitude—for the things that feel inevitable and the things that could have only happened serendipitously (like turning a username I created on a whim into a full ass business). I am also endlessly thankful for every genuine connection that’s been forged, no matter how brief or how impactful, between myself and other astrologers. it is an honor to know you, to work alongside you, to be influenced and inspired by you, and to be alive under the same stars.

thank you.