Transcribed by guest contributor Jennifer Coates / Kitty divides her time between New York City and Montauk. She is a freelance Intuitive Technique Specialist and part-time Trance Inducer. She was recently certified in Trauma Re-alignment and holds a dual Associates Degree in Breath Dancing for Painters and Creative Shock Control from the Online Academy of Spiritual Transit. She is devoted to helping painters live out their truth on the surface of their choosing.
[Image via Four Muddy Paws]
Leo 7/23-8/22Your day-to-day routine is of paramount importance: let no one get in the way of your need to get in the studio. However think about reorganizing your set-up and materials this month as a way to work more efficiently but also to cue your brain to reorganize itself into a healthier state. Open the windows and the door to get a cross breeze both literally and figuratively. Aerate the rancid ecosystem that has been developing of late! Your mind can be a toxic hellhole if you forget about the forces outside you � the sun, your �friends,� a good book about other people�s problems. Venus will be moving through your sign until September 6 highlighting your relationship sector. She has many things to teach you, some of which you may love, and some which you may truly hate. Pay attention!
Virgo 8/23-9/22
This is the time to confront your fears! If you come to accept certain facts about your health, your significant other, your family, your drawing skills, your body odor � facts that others are more than aware of but you have ignored for too long � you have a chance to feel complete bliss! Self-acceptance is the way to happiness this summer. Once you face facts, you are emboldened to improve yourself and your life in a variety of ways. This summer is also about working hard and finishing a large piece or body of work. Over the next few weeks you might find yourself feeling enthusiastic (overzealous) about something that no one else cares about. You would be wise to keep your enthusiasms to yourself. Or, join a group of like-minded types on Facebook. Otherwise you risk alienating those closest to you. Get smart!
Libra 9/23-10/22
Changes in the domestic space are happening this month � whether it�s selling or renting your home, completing a renovation or simply washing your dishes and doing the laundry. A New Moon is in your professional 10th House, which means you might have an exciting opportunity coming up. You might have an important studio visit or you might be offered a solo show. You might sell a large painting to a semi-important collector. Or, you might not. But use this lunation to your advantage: it�s time to nurse those precarious connections to people with power and/or money. There may be some interplanetary anger brewing that affects your judgment on the family front. Keep your cool as you balance the pressing needs of your spouse and/or children and/or mother and/or friends with time in the studio. During this phase wash your most expensive brushes: don�t let them sit in buckets of sludge. Take care! It�s a metaphor, silly!
Scorpio 10/23-11/21
If you are finishing up a major project or painting this month. Kudos! If you just had a meaningful conversation with your significant other for the first time in years, way to go! Your emotions are nothing to be afraid of, contrary to how your digestive tract kicks into overdrive when you think you are feeling something. This is merely more proof of your profound intensity. Don�t let paperwork stand in the way between you and a goal, whether it�s a grant application, a job application or going back to school. Venus is in retrograde at the end of the month and an old friend might come back into your life. This could be a real friend, an imaginary friend, or a bad old habit you thought you had given up (think drug abuse). It�s time to draw from life! You will be richly rewarded (internally) if you sit before a scene or object and get in touch with what�s right in front of you. Go to it!
Sagittarius 11/22-12/21
This month you are insecure about money. If you can sell paintings to offset your anxieties about cash flow, now is the time to make it happen! If you can�t, consider selling your belongings. Take to the sidewalk and lay them out on a towel if you must. Your stuff is not you! By the end of the month a sale, a loan or a grant may actually come through. Don�t let it get you down if a friend does not seem to be on your side. You never really liked them anyway. Venus turning retrograde brings the anxiety into your painting practice. You even start to wonder if you should keep your studio, or keep painting in general�don�t listen to these cruel voices. There is a glitch in either your palette or your spirit that is getting in the way. It�s time to come to terms with who you really are! Use more green if you need to! Be true to yourself!
Capricorn 12/22-1/19
You are feeling emotional this month. It�s time to clean up your act and shed the parts of your life that are no longer workable. This shedding of dead weight can begin in the studio: throw away those old tubes of paint and unused mediums, the experiments that led nowhere, the stretchers that are now warped. Start fresh! In order for your best self to emerge on canvas, you must be bold like a warrior, a hunter, an athlete�.all those things that an artist can�t be in the world, but can be on a two dimensional surface! You are a visionary! You must fight for new beginnings in your paintings as well as your relationship. You need to feel empowered both at home and in the studio. Feel free to splurge on art supplies this month: buying is like making! Right?
Aquarius 1/20-2/18
You are hyperactive this month. You are on fire! Is it enthusiasm, mania or anxiety that drives you? Who knows? Who cares? Just try to keep it tamped down for the sake of those closest to you. The studio is the only acceptable place for your rampant, uncontrollable drives. Don�t spend your time worrying about your mental or physical health, don�t focus your anxiety inward, spend all that crazy energy on painting and you will find yourself with a large, compelling, fascinating, undeniably genius new body of work. This time it�s for real! Just try to put off scheduling studio visits until the early fall � the stars are not aligned for anyone to care about you just yet. If you can wait just a little longer, it will be in your best interests. I cannot be more specific. You�ll see! I swear!
Pisces 2/19-3/20
You are an asset to your friends, your family, your neighborhood, and the artworld in general. You are you! You are fully committed to whatever is asked of you and confident in your self worth. You notice how inspiring you are, taking credit for other people�s achievements. You are sympathetic to the plight of a friend and will do whatever it takes to help, even if it is unwanted. A New Moon will fall in your 5th House of Romance and Creativity. If you are trying to start a new relationship or a new project now is the time to get it going. It will be stressful initially, due to your uncontrollable paranoia, but eventually, things might work out for you on some level. Think about incorporating collage elements into your paintings. Use garbage, it�s cheaper and it makes people think. That�s what you�re all about!
Aries 3/21-4/19
It�s time to enjoy the fruits of your labor. An award, an honor, a show, some special recognition is in store for you. You are deeply committed to your work and you finally have a sense that what you do really matters to others, especially on Instagram. Social media gives you what you crave this month and even your partner understands when you constantly check your phone during dinner. You are simply more real! This month�s lunation brings the focus on ambition, but also potential anger. Avoid arguments and stop trying to manipulate people � it never works. Your controlling nature is better suited to the studio, where you are free to be as rigid and uncompromising as you need to be. Remember to properly ventilate when using toxic materials and wear gloves. Your immune system isn�t what it used to be. Safety first!
Taurus 4/20-5/20
You may be in the media this month, featured in an article or mentioned in a review of someone else�s work. You�re likely to feel very pleased with this fleeting burst of attention. The middle of the month brings a focus on communication of all kinds. You are hearing from friends, family, getting likes on social media. Since there is more public focus on you, be careful of what you say. Your words, if not used wisely, could get twisted and you could find yourself the focus of unwanted attention, having to defend retrograde, politically incorrect positions. The trick is not to obsess too much about what others think. The antidote, as always, is to immerse yourself in your painting. When life isn�t working out the way you wanted, starting a new painting always promises wholeness, oneness, completion, perfection�for a few moments anyway. Keep hope alive!
Gemini 5/21-6/20
This month is about financial awareness. The more you know, the more you can be prepared for any looming crisis. You may even find that you are more on top of things than you thought. In any case, it�s time to stop taking Ubers everywhere and get back on the putrid subway. Suck it up! A New Moon suggests an opportunity to cash in on one of your talents (not painting). Perhaps you are good at mime, perhaps you have a knack with senior citizens, perhaps you are a computer wiz: if you keep your eyes open an unusual opportunity to make money will be coming your way. In the studio you are frustrated but focused. Your seemingly lackluster new paintings eventually evolve in an unexpected direction and your studio neighbors drop in to give you the thumbs up. I wish I had more exciting news for you but I don�t! Better luck next month.
Cancer 6/21-7/22
Red and blue are your colors this month. Keeping your palette simple is the key to inner peace and outer success. You are churning with intensity and profundity right now – the key is to channel it properly. A Full Moon falls in your partnership sector highlighting relationship limitations. Consider taking a spiritual advisor (for example, me) to help you through any current hardships. The end of July is for fresh starts. There are no limits to your potential, do not let anyone or anything get in the way of your insatiable desires and ambitions. Go for it! You have a strong craving to eat meat and work with chemicals. This is part of your charm. Try to wash your hands before eating, your already compromised organs will thank you with an extra year or two of functionality. Keep it up!
NOTE: If readers have specific questions and would like advice from Kitty, please contact her via email at dearkittyshimski@gmail.com. She will not use your real name, so feel free to choose an alias–or let Kitty chose one for you.
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Every wretched month this heroic woman gives me hope.