I’m sitting in a bar, half empty margarita sweating on the table next to me. Sipping a drink while writing has become a newfound treat, especially now that Venus has just entered Libra. The voices have been so loud lately, as have the doubts. It takes alcohol — and I don’t even drink — to drown them out long enough for me to write.
First of all, HAPPY SIX MONTHS, LOVES!1 We are officially halfway to a whole ass YEAR on Substack. I can’t believe it was just 6 months ago that I was hunched over my desk, hyperventilating as I pressed publish on my very first paid post here:
At the time, I had no idea what to expect. I had no idea that I would try my best to be consistent, get harassed by the Substack milestone notifications (“Great work! Keep up the streak! Have you written this week?”), give up, and then end up writing about once a week anyway. I had no idea I would experiment with audio notes and poetry and horoscopes.
I had no idea I would even be able to show up.
But I did. And it has been the most fulfilling, heart-expanding thing I have committed to in the past year. 🥹
⌇ When I was a child, I wanted to be a writer.
I got hooked on Enid Blyton books from the moment I could read. She was prolific in her work as I was in my reading. There was a community library near my house, and my mom would take me there each Sunday. It was my form of church. We’d spend hours carefully picking books out for me to read — 10, 12, 15 — only for me to devour them all and drag us back there next week.
When I turned 6 years old, my mom taught me to keep a diary. She wanted me to improve my vocabulary, so that I’d stop misspelling sausage and watch, but I discovered an even deeper passion: writing. ✍️
I started scribbling in those little lined notebooks for hours each day, doodling on the margins, chronicling my day. Even then, those were the kinds of stories I loved best: stories about the mundane, the basic, the adventure in the everyday 🧚♀️ It taught me that life wasn’t just meant to be lived in the moment, it could be re-lived in retrospect; shaped and moulded with our words, so that it takes on a new meaning. A memory. A gift.
When the Internet became a thing, I started a blog that I updated as religiously as gossip girl did. I continued writing until I decided at 19 to become an entrepreneur. Private meanderings became public “X things I learned from doing Y”. Content marketing. I thought I needed to build up my personal brand.
I thought I needed to do a lot of things.
When my mental health came crashing and burning in 2016, I stopped writing.
I took up journaling to keep up with the stress of being a 20-something college dropout trying to pursue a crazy idea. I was hosting dinner parties for strangers and inventing vulnerable conversation games until one day, I looked up and it’d become a profit-generating empathy training company.
I stayed at that company for 7 years. I never wanted to run a “big business”, not really. But the sense of responsibility I felt was paralyzing, so I learned to get good at sales and marketing and public speaking. But I was running on empty every day. I wasn’t happy. I wasn’t fulfilled.
Most importantly, I wasn’t writing.
⌇ Coming back to this medium of expression now, on the cusp of 30, feels like coming home to all those younger versions of me:
the 3 year old who loved reading more than breathing,
the 6 year old learning to write a diary for the first time,
the 14 year old zealously committed to chronicling her inner world.
More than anything else, I am a writer.
And I am now home. 💞
I updated the About page on my Substack recently.
When I first started on here, I had no idea what to even commit to. After six months, 24 posts, and Saturn stationing direct last week, I finally have a better idea of how I’d like to try.
This Substack is an extension of the community I’ve built on Instagram, but I hope for it to be so much more than that. 💐
✧ ˚ · MY COMMITMENTS TO YOU · ✧ ˚
Every 10 days or so, you will receive a cosmic love note from me in your inbox 💌 It will be honest. It will be personal. It will illuminate, in some shape or form, my lived experience of the cosmos — with some insights on the astrological events happening that week. It will sometimes include some creative goodies, like an audio note, or some poetry.
︴ My goal for this Substack is two fold:
To connect deeper with you, my beloved community,
To demystify the cosmos through real, human, personal stories (mine! I volunteer as tribute!).
︴ As a subscriber, you’ll receive:
Honest, raw, personal writing about the stars
Updates on the changing Astro seasons, and what to expect
One Full Moon post every month, with horoscopes for paid subs ⭐️
A bi-monthly biz letter to fellow practitioners that share my lived experience, tips and tricks as a professional astrologer and entrepreneur (for paid subs)
More fun stuff ⇢ Audio notes, meditations, poetry, community Moon circles…
… And so much more!!! 💞💞💞
︴ Who should become a paid subscriber?
If you are a fan of honest, personal writing that demystifies and humanizes the cosmos for practical, modern living
If you appreciate learning from other people’s experiences in business & life
If you are committed to building community with other kind, star-gazing souls
If you are a longtime follower on TAA on Instagram, resonate with my approach to Astrology, and would like to support my work! 💐
A paid subscription is $5 a month and can go as low as $0.90 / week on the discounted annual plan, which I highly recommend ✷
︴ How else can I engage with your work?
Aside from writing this Substack and making reels on Instagram, I offer 1:1 natal chart consultations for helping you get to know your astrology in a holistic, fun, and practical way. I’ve had the privilege of reading for 80+ people in the past year alone, and continue to grow my skillset every day. 🥰
My readings are a mix of coaching, psychology and astrology: when you enter my space, you breathe out a sigh of relief. It feels like stepping foot on the beach on your first holiday of the year. Or lounging in the sun, warm grass tickling your face, as you sip on iced fruit tea and giggle the afternoon away. It feels like secrets and epiphanies and growth edges, delivered with unmasked delight. It feels like remembering. It feels like coming home.
⌇ Paid subscribers get $12 off my signature reading2. DM me to get the private link. 🌸
Friends, thank you so much for being here. Community is so important to me, and you are an integral part of it. Thank you for reading, commenting, liking, sharing, and making it possible for my words to have a home.
If you are ready to engage more deeply with my work, but a paid subscription feels out of reach, message me — I have limited scholarships available in exchange for your loving presence here.
I hope to see you in the comments, Zoom circle, or a reading soon :)
Love,
Gwen 💗
COMING UP NEXT: My first New Moon meditation for the New Moon in Scorpio!
Dearest Gwen, I am so glad I met you and wanted to stay. It wasn’t just because you are so good at astrology—it was because you paint magical landscapes on the tapestries of our human lives. Part of that is because you are a writer, and as a fellow writer on this journey, I hope you never feel like you have to suppress your voice. I hope you always turn to writing when your soul wants to sing a song to you. Happy 6 months of your Substack and here’s to so many more! You inspire so much love and support in your friends and community 💗
Congratulations on six months Gwen! I love the community you’ve created 💖