Healing The Spirit: Astrology, Archetypes & Artmaking

In this episode, I share an unedited version of my conversation with astrologer and musician Mara Smith about the astrology of 2026, focused on the first four months of the year from January through April.
We recorded this at the start of the year, and I’m excited to offer it here in a form that preserves the spontaneity, thinking-on-our-feet energy, and insight of our original exchange.
I love exploring astrology as a lens not just to anticipate what may unfold, but also to reflect back on lived experience. And now that this first stretch of 2026 has passed, I invite you to listen with your own experience in mind and consider how our delineations and predictions resonate with what you lived through.
Mara and I explored the year’s opening tone, including the powerful “cazimi town” feel of January, with Venus leading the way through Capricorn alongside the Sun and Mars. We also talked about the clarifying but not always comfortable quality of the early-year transits, and the major threshold moment of Saturn and Neptune entering Aries, which shifts the energy from preparation into action.
Overall, this conversation points to a year that begins with structure being challenged and rebuilt, asking us to move with more intention, courage, and willingness to act before everything feels fully settled. I hope this episode offers something useful for your process and deepens your understanding of the first part of the year.
Resources and Links
* Support the podcast on Substack here
* Apply to work with Jonathan here
* Visit Mara’s website: www.lizziesgriffs.com for current offerings and connect with her on IG @finfeathermusic and @lizzies_griffs
* Try the breathwork and meditation app Open for 30 days free here
* Join the waitlist for Venus & Mars, a 3-month alchemical immersion to rekindle your inner flame and fall back in love with your life here


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jonathankoeofficial.substack.com/subscribe

Resources and Links
* Support the podcast on Substack here
* Apply to work with Jonathan here
* Try the breathwork and meditation app Open for 30 days free here
* Join the waitlist for Venus & Mars, a 3-month alchemical immersion to rekindle your inner flame and fall back in love with your life here
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The theme for May 2026 is: You already have everything you need.
What might we find when we garner the courage to really look deeper into our compulsion to search for more?
What lost states of paradise might drive the never-ending seeking for better?
How might we surrender to our form, our spirit, and who we actually are?
And what might begin to blossom as we allow ourselves to settle into the core of our essence?


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jonathankoeofficial.substack.com/subscribe

Resources and Links
* Join Ashley’s Magnetic Habits Bingo 101 here
* Support the podcast on Substack here
* Book a single session with Jonathan here
* Apply for ongoing guidance container with Jonathan here
* Try the breathwork and meditation app Open for 30 days free here
* Join the waitlist for Venus & Mars, a 3-month alchemical immersion to rekindle your inner flame and fall back in love with your life here
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We welcome back the brilliant Ashley B. Jones!
This time, we discussed the thing that every wildly creative, singularly unique person I know seems to struggle with the most: consistency.
We know it works. But for some reason, it is so damn hard for us.
Ashley designed a practical, genius framework to tackle this very problem called Magnetic Habits Bingo.
It’s helped her take the leap to move to her dream city and go after the life she wants. And she’s been sharing it with students and clients who had phenomenal results.
Listen to this episode to discover her secret sauce 🌶
Ashley’s bio:
Ashley is a Favorite Self Coach, psychic reader, and energy healer who helps recovering people-pleasing perfectionists and professional procrastinators trust their intuition to take aligned action that makes their dreams their reality.


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jonathankoeofficial.substack.com/subscribe

“Who you are is never a problem. You never have to change who you are.
If you know that something is coming from your core, and there are people around you who makes that a problem – this is not something to solve within yourself.
This is a matter of you recognizing that in that moment, when other people seemingly can’t understand you, it’s because they can’t understand themselves.”
This is the core of the message I wanted to convey in this episode.
When I hear people talk about the conflict between their individual dreams and the collective, I hear the underlying illusion of separation.
In Truth, we are never separate. We are always entangled with one another – influencing, evolving, and showing each other the way towards growth.
Under an intensely Martial sky, it’s easy to forget that we’re part of a collective body that’s trying to move the story along in our own ways.
May we never forget how beautiful and essential our individual uniqueness is.
And may we never forget how our individual emanation contributes to the collective unfolding.
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Resources and Links
* Join Galactic Warrior: From Imaginary Fear to Embodied Courage, a guided journey & embodiment workshop for the New Moon in Aries here
* Book a 20-minute recorded tarot reading here
* Support the podcast on Substack here
* Book a single session with Jonathan here
* Apply for ongoing guidance container with Jonathan here
* Try the breathwork and meditation app Open for 30 days free here
* Join the waitlist for Venus & Mars, a 3-month alchemical immersion to rekindle your inner flame and fall back in love with your life here



This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jonathankoeofficial.substack.com/subscribe

Resources and Links
* Join Galactic Warrior: From Imaginary Fear to Embodied Courage, a guided journey & embodiment workshop for the New Moon in Aries here
* Book a 20-minute recorded tarot reading here
* Support the podcast on Substack here
* Book a reading with Jonathan here
* Apply for ongoing guidance container here
* Try the breathwork and meditation app Open for 30 days free here
* Join the waitlist for Venus & Mars, a 3-month alchemical immersion to rekindle your inner flame and fall back in love with your life here
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What spiritual lessons does Aries teach us?
What might Aries energy show us about showing up more fully in the face of the heat, intensity, and speed of our human experiences?
I wanted to come on and share a realization that dropped in for me right after recording the April episode.
Aries can be an uncomfortable energy to work with. When life invites us to move into the unknown, or to dance at a tempo that’s quicker than our comfort zone, it can be easy to lose the calm, grounded posture we’ve worked hard to cultivate – especially when one is used to conflating presence with a slower, more measured tempo.
The cardinal fire of Aries helps us recognize the gap between what we’re genuinely drawn to and rigid identity constructs that hold us back. It shows us where our ideas of being tethered, grounded, or regulated are rooted in performance rather than moment-by-moment truth.
For most of my life, I resist Aries energy because I was scared of being irresponsible.
But when I recognize that I’m a vessel for cosmic intelligence that always flows through, true power and freedom become available without the need to constantly prove myself.


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jonathankoeofficial.substack.com/subscribe