Astrology, Art, and Tarot: An Interview with Toad

Hey, everyone, this is Adam Elenbaas from Nightlight Astrology, and today I am joined by my friend and colleague Toad, who is an amazing astrologer and artist that I happened to finally meet in person through this random and really cool synchronicity while Ashley and I and our kids were on vacation in the Redwoods back in June.

We took this kind of random vacation to the Redwoods and ended up running into someone that I had only known online and had really admired their work from afar as an astrologer and artist, and then we got to meet her really magically. So Ashley is going to be on the show today, as well as our friend Toad, and we're going to talk about her work as an astrologer and as an artist and I want to introduce you guys to her because I think she's a magical person and a very talented artist, and a really good diviner. She's really talented with Tarot. She's also an astrologer too, so it'll be really fun to have her on.

We're going to talk about her artwork; I'm going to show you some of the artwork that I have of hers, that I'm getting some frames for it's going to come here in my office. Ashley will show you some of the artwork that she got from her as well, and yeah, we'll just talk astrology and art and then tell you how you can connect with her as an artist and astrologer, and then at the end, we're also going to ask her for some of her takes on the astrology that's happening right now and into the next month. So this should be really fun.

Before we get into it, as always, don't forget to like and subscribe, and share your comments and thoughts in the comment section. We really appreciate hearing from you guys and what you have to say about the astrology in today's episode.

I'd love to hear your own connection with other modalities. You cross art and Tarot and astrology and music, and I love hearing from people in the unique ways that they blend their talents and interests. I'd love to hear from you guys about that. You can always find a transcript of today's talk on the website nightlightastrology.com.

When you go over there right now, don't forget that we're in the midst of enrollment season for my fall program, Ancient Astrology for the Modern Mystic. You're gonna go to the Courses tab when you get over there to the website, click on the first year course, you're gonna scroll down, and you'll see that we begin November 18. You can learn more about the program here on the page.

There are 30 classes on the year. We go really methodically from the foundations of Hellenistic astrology up, and we kind of build our way up to have a really deep understanding of where everything comes from in astrology.

Houses, signs, planets, and dignities. We work our way into being able to interpret birth charts in year one. There are breakout study sessions with tutors that help you; we have tutors in a group forum discussion. So we have a great staff of supporting teachers as well.

Everything is taped, so you don't have to be there live. If you want to be there live, we welcome you to; also, follow along at your own pace. At the bottom of the page, you'll find the different registration options; early bird saves you $500 off, and there's a payment plan you can use to spread tuition out over 12 months.

Most importantly, we are now taking enrollments for need-based tuition. So, if you need a little help to make a program like this happen, please apply for the need-based tuition. We have over 13 years, something like 50 to 60% of the students who've come through our programs; there's been 1000s have been on some form of payment assistance, and we do that because we don't think anyone should be priced out of learning astrology and basically our mission is to try to use any success we have to help other people be successful, and that means making sure that not just one type of person with one type of income can study astrology.

So, I hope you'll take advantage of that. Any questions you have about our program, email us at info@nightlightastrology.com.

Okay, well, now that the announcements are out of the way, I'm really glad to welcome onto the show Ashley and our good friend Toad. Hey, guys.

Toad
Hi. Oh, I'm so excited to be here.

Adam Elenbaas
Yeah, yeah, so it's so interesting the way that this all happened. First of all, remind me of the city that you live in, Toad.

Toad
I live in Arcata, California. It's smack dab in the middle of Humboldt County. It's pretty far north. Most people think that San Francisco is Northern California. We're five hours north of San Francisco. So yeah.

Adam Elenbaas
You know, it's funny, we drove through it on the way to what was the name of the city that we were staying in?

Toad
Trinidad Beach. I always have to preface that it's when I'm working on

Adam Elenbaas
That painting behind you is actually the beach in Trinidad.

Toad
It's one of the beaches. Yeah, one of the beaches. Yeah. So Trinidad is a little smaller town just north of there, and, you know, I could just paint that single day for the rest of my life and never run out of inspiration. But I had my art up in one of the local cafes there, and you guys saw me there. It's just really special.

Adam Elenbaas
Yeah, we were like, Okay, so first of all, this is a really magical story that relates to, I think, astrology and plant medicine and Ashley's wheelhouse, too. So they've told us a story about how we decided to go to the Redwoods because that was kind of magical before we even met Toad.

Ashley
Yeah, so um, so I had gone out kind of like on inspiration to our garden and picked a little leaf of lemon balm for each of us. I picked four lemon balm leaves, and I just said to everyone, I'm gonna give you a lemon balm leaf. Let's take it and lay down on the bed together and just see what the plant has to say to us. So the two girls and Adam and I each took the lemon balm leaf, and I thought we had pretty wise things to say. But Adam, Adam got a hit. Do you want to tell him what your hit was?

Adam Elenbaas
Yeah, well, I was laying there, and I had this image of just this gigantic redwood tree, and it was like, come visit me, and I was like, Whoa, that's pretty vivid. What what? You know, what is this? So I mentioned it, and Ashley has always wanted to go to the Redwoods for many years. She was like, let's go, let's go, and I was like, well, we have some time like, okay, and I looked in the Air BnB In Trinidad, which is one of the places that was recommended for like a good stop along the way to see the Redwoods. The Airbnbs were super affordable, you know, and I was like, Okay, well, it looks like, you know, a week is like feasible. So. So that's how we ended up going.

Ashley
Later, it was like all the doors opened.

Toad
It's rare in Trinidad for there to be an opening. It seems like you guys got a great one, too. You know, yeah, it seems like all the doors were just like opening for you, and the same on my end, too. It was really weird for me, you know. I just, you know, you had posted that you saw my art, and I opened it and was like, Adam Elenbaas posted one of my things. Is he here in town and then you were, and so I invited you to my studio like, I have to show my appreciation for this person. You know, I consider you one of my teachers, one of my mentors, you know, like I've learned from you and from Chris Brennan of the astrology podcast, you know, most of what I know when it comes to astrology, and you've been a part of my life for years now, and that was just, it was, you know, I had to invite you.

Adam Elenbaas
We went to this little cafe not far from our Airbnb after a day of hiking around the Redwoods and I looked on the wall, and I saw art not unlike what you're seeing behind you. In fact, I believe the one that I saw because I asked if I could purchase this one from you was this one, and I don't know how well you can see it with the glare. Let me see if I can get a little better. Yeah, so you can kind of see it if I hold it like this angle. But I was like, oh my god, I was like that.

First of all, that is beautiful, and second of all, it seems astrological, and third, I think I've seen this before, and I asked the waiter, the waitress, like came over to our table and I was asking, I was like, you know is that you guys sell this here because I wanted to buy one and she goes, Oh, those are all those are all art by Toad. She's this really cool local woman. She's an astrologer, and I was like, I freaking knew it. I knew she's an astrologer, or, like, you just feel it, and then I go, how can I get in touch with she goes, Oh, she's got an Instagram, and so I looked, and I was following you on Instagram, and I was like, this is where I know her from, and I don't know what like how I ever made the connection.

But I remember that at one point, I saw your artwork on Instagram knew that you were an astrologer, that you read Tarot as well, and that you have this astrologically inspired artwork and. I had followed you some, probably a year or two ago or something, and I couldn't remember how the connection had been made or whatever. But then I saw I took a picture, and I think I tagged you, and then you hit me with a messenger like, wait, are you here? Yeah, I think we're in your town or something.

Toad
You know, we're so off the beaten path here. You know, we're, like I said, five hours from San Francisco and seven hours from Portland. Literally, we call it the Lost Coast in Humboldt County, you know, and so it's rare to have people come here, and it was funny because for months now, I had been meaning to contact you. I was gonna reach out and talk to you guys about my art and see how we could work together. I didn't have to do that. We found each other, you know, very cosmic if there's any time to use that word.

Adam Elenbaas
Well, you know, the other thing that was really crazy about it was that in this, I didn't remember about you, but I noticed on your Instagram handle that, like, one of your links or something or your name or whatever was Ramble on Toad and I was like, well, that's a Grateful Dead reference for sure. Ramble On Rose, and I told Ashley, and she started getting really excited because, on the side for several months at that point, Ashley had been completely indoctrinating me. Well, I asked her to, but she had been completely indoctrinating me into the world of Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead, and we had just booked tickets for later in the summer for my birthday to go see Dead & Co. back in San Francisco and so, I was riding a very fast train into Grateful Dead land. Turned out that you're also a really big fan, so that was another connection point for us.

Toad
Yeah, yeah, and when I, you know, you had just started posting your videos about it, and that was just another like, you know, there's so many weird synchronicities, you know, but that's a huge one, and it's I use the Grateful Dead, their lyrics, other bands that I really admire. I use their lyrics, along with astrological transits, as the names for my paintings. You know, it just fits in so perfectly, and I could talk about that forever, but it was definitely like another connecting point, you know, and just realizing that Ashley was a Deadhead and everything. I was like, Okay, this is too much.

Adam Elenbaas
This one, by the way, is called Standing on the Moon, right? Yep. Mm hmm. Does that come from the song?

Toad
It does. Yep, and the other one that goes with that, though. It's actually a double piece. It goes with the sun. There it is. Yep, and that one, here comes sunshine. It's another Grateful Dead song. Yeah, and that kind of had like the I like this one. It has a mirror effect with the sun in the moon. I started doing that a while ago. Actually, what's interesting is that I started doing this whole style of mine came before I was an astrologer, which is the weirdest part, you know, that I've been like obsessed with the cosmos for a long time, you know? And once I finally found that, it put a lot of pieces together as well.

Adam Elenbaas
Yeah, yeah. Well, that's, that's a perfect place. We've got some questions for you. Because we want, I want everyone to know of you as a tarot reader, as an astrologer, and as an artist, so I just prepared some questions so that you could tell us a little bit about your story and a little bit about what you do. So, are you cool if we just jump into it?

Toad
Absolutely. Let's go. Awesome.

Adam Elenbaas
Well, I guess the first question I have is, like, you actually just kind of mentioned that you said that you were into this style of art before astrology ever came into your life. So my question was going to be, where you first identified, would you say more as an artist or like tarot card reader, student, astrologer student? I mean, what kind of came first? And how did they all come together?

Toad
Great question. So, I don't remember when I decided to be an artist; it was before I was making memories. I know that I went to my kindergarten career day as an artist, who my mom put me in like a little beret and a smock, and I had a palette. So before then, I knew I was one of those lucky ones. I've always known what I wanted to do and what really inspires me; it's taken a lot of faith along the way and a lot of ups and downs. It's like, oh, maybe I should be a yoga teacher and went on that path for a while, and this and that, you know, all of that is kind of steered me away from my true passion, which is the art. So I chose that, you know, that was that's something that, you know, I always knew.

The Tarot was not something I chose; neither was the astrology. I started reading Tarot about 12 years ago and then just got I was just interested in it, it interests me, you know, so I started going deeper I, I'm into the connections, you know when I'm interested in something, I'm just gonna keep going with it, and it just kept working, and I was getting good at it. I got the feedback, and so I kept going and going, and well, first of all, let me back up a little bit and say that my favorite thing to draw has always been the sun and the moon ever since I was very little.

My first word was actually moon, which is another interesting piece. So I've just always been obsessed with the sky and the cosmos and the planets, and so when I moved out to California, also about 12 years ago, around the same time that I got into Tarot, I started doing these landscapes, obviously, I was inspired by the beautiful nature around here, the redwoods and the rocky coastlines, and everything is super inspiring.

But kind of with this whole mandala, and I guess the mandala was really kind of how I started getting into this whole kind of radiating thing here with the rings, and then the stars, and if you go and look at my art, you'll see more examples like this, but people would always ask me, you know, what does your art mean?

Like, what is it about? I didn't really have much to say about it. You know, I was like, Okay, well, it's beautiful. I kind of related it to the Platonic triad. Plato's whole beauty, truth, and justice. I think that is what that is. Because it's like, it's just beautiful. That's all I have to say about it. You know, I never really thought I could say much about it at all, but then about maybe five or six years into reading Tarot and getting good at it and doing professional readings, and I wanted to go to the next level, and there are all these correspondences between the cards and astrology.

So I'm like, Okay, I got to start doing this. I started getting into my own chart and started going deeper. I found Hellenistic astrology pretty much right away. So I'm one of those ones that I started pretty much with Hellenistic astrology, which is nice. But it clicked, and I was like, oh, that's why I do this art, and now since then, you know, five years later, I've got so much to say, I've got a lot to say about it. I can go on and on talking about it.

It's like I found my language basically, I always said that about the Tarot, you know, it's, it's a language is an alphabet in which to communicate with spirit if you want to say that or just to read messages and I kind of see astrology like that too. So, I found the words that I can use to speak about my art. Really still, though, it's just, it's nice looking to evoke a feeling.

Adam Elenbaas
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think, for example, you know, I've been reading Jerry Garcia's biography and took to pull a Grateful Dead reference, and they were talking to, you know, I'm gonna forget his name is Robert Hunter. Is that his name? So he's the, the kind of songwriting companion of Jerry Garcia and, you know, he said something along the lines of, you know, like, people are thinking too much about what all the lyrics mean, the real question is, how do they make you feel?

Toad
Yes, yeah. Because really, once I make it, and once I put it out into the world, it becomes yours, it becomes what you want, but you're the enjoyer, you're the viewer, you know, do what you will with it. I can only go so far with that, and then it becomes something that you appreciate.

Adam Elenbaas
I love that these are so beautiful. I mean, just go back and show people some of my favorites that we have here.

Adam Elenbaas
That's amazing. Yeah, it's an amazing piece. It feels like you know, you're, you're tapping into something. For me, that's both astrological. But there's a psychedelic flavor to it as well. I mean, I don't want you to; you can plead the fifth if you want. But would you say psychedelics have played a role in your art as well?

Toad
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I yeah, I can't, I can't say that. It didn't, I don't, I don't think that it's hard to say that that's specifically it, but it definitely plays a part in it, you know, I had some of my first psychedelic experiences actually, with, you know, a static bhakti yoga, but I was also doing, like, I started that at the same time that I was starting to explore psychedelics and started to get into music, you know, so it all kind of blends together.

Adam Elenbaas
I like we, by the way, have a set; we've found out that we have a background in both, having spent a little bit of time in the bhakti yoga world, which I thought that was another kind of magical connection.

Toad
Very much. So yeah, that was something that really drew me to you initially because, you know, you give just enough spiritual in with the, with the astrology that it just made sense to me the way that you see things. I think that has a lot to do with that and with the psychedelic background because I know that you've said it and not just in the whole, I'm gonna go to Grateful Dead shows and do a bunch of L, and you know, it's, you know, more meaningful and it can be more meaningful. But it can also be that too because life is about having fun, and one thing that I really learned from the Tarot and from astrology, part of my belief is that we came here to have fun, and you know, but it's about like the long term fun.

Adam Elenbaas
I'll never forget it; by the way, I have to say that it is just so interesting to me that you also mentioned that the Tarot and Grateful Dead is not the only band that has a meaningful relationship with the symbolism of the Tarot.

Toad
So I was going to mention, too, when he mentioned Robert Hunter, he, you see it a lot in his lyrics. But in they were when their band started, they were studying this stuff deeply. Astrology and the Tarot. They got their name from speaking of divination, he just opened the Tibetan Book of the Dead and, like, pointed, and it said, Grateful Dead right there. That was Jerry who did that.

Adam Elenbaas
So it's like bibliomancy or something like that. Right?

Toad
Exactly. Yeah, I'm just kind of dove right in there, and I think that you know, it's just infused all of their work and, you know, LSD, they were part of the psychedelic counterculture at the time, you know, with Timothy Leary, they're all hanging out in the in that counterculture in, in the 60s in San Francisco.

So they were part of changing the collective consciousness in a way, you know, there's, you know, these chemicals like it or don't like it, it has opened up new pathways in their brain, and you know, and with the psychedelic movement, and like the New Age Movement and the Age of Aquarius, as you could call it, you know, what's so interesting to me the similarities in the astrology that was happening in the late 60s And what was going on the past couple of years to, you know, it's all full circle. But, um, but yeah, just it's hard to see the lions.

Adam Elenbaas
Yeah, people always, like, people will be like, Oh, you must like, like, my channel and the content that I create there like, I can so tell that you've done psychedelics, and I'm like, Yeah, that's good. That's good. I hope that there's a good amount of people who also can't tell. Right, right, as long as there's sort of a balance of both, and I feel I feel like I'm in the right space.

Toad
Exactly. You know, I never, you know, growing up before I came out here, I got really strongly into the yoga community, but at the same time, it was very much into, you know, going to festivals and dancing and that sort of thing and, and I never quite fit into the yoga community completely, I never quite fit into the hippie community, you know. So, finding the balance there and that's something that I feel like I connect with you guys a lot. Yeah, and you say that, you know, it feels that these pieces strongly; some of these that I'm showing that I chose to show are actual commissions that are based on people's birth charts, which is pretty cool.

Adam Elenbaas
Oh, that's really cool. Yeah. So well, I'm gonna let Ashley keep going with the questions. But I want you to come back later in the question. Yeah. Tell us all about the offerings that you have. But I want to come back to that one.

Ashley
Yeah, because I think that is, I mean, the idea of being able to almost channel I was thinking about in the Garcia biography that Adam and I are reading; you know, Jerry says that, like, you know, music is a language, it's like the, it's pre words, you know, and, you know, music goes back before language and I, as you were talking about art and how you communicate, you know, it's like, your art is a language like music is a language, and I just feel like your art communicates, like, there's information in there that's nonverbal and nonlinear. I mean, there's a lot of linear information, but I feel like there's so much wisdom that comes through your work and, and that just that was just such, like, you know, that idea of music and art being kind of parallels, I think that really stands out to me.

Toad
So beautiful, and means so much to me to hear that. Thank you.

Ashley
So I do have a question about, like, when your art started. Do you have a favorite piece? Or like the, what was like, tell me about the first piece that you made when you were like, Oh, wow, this is the beginning of a new era. Hmm.

Toad
Interesting. It was when I moved here; I'd say I hit something. You know, at the time, I was still doing a lot of printmaking; I studied printmaking at the University of Arts in Philadelphia, and I quit eventually. But for a while, I was studying it, and so it was a piece inspired by the Redwoods with the light coming through, you know, like coming through the trees and this, it was, it was feeling, you know, and I really tapped into that and but it wasn't really until the first show that I did in Humboldt County when I first showed, I've done some art shows back in Philadelphia, and then I had traveled for a long time, I moved to Italy and came back here, and I was pregnant with my son at the time, and had been stockpiling some drawings, and I put them up and made some prints, and they all sold out.

The originals, and everything you know, and that just told me, Okay, so this isn't just something that I see. You know, of course, I've been told like that I'm good at art my entire life, but there was something about it that I was like, Okay, I'm supposed to be doing this; people appreciate it. It's not just for me, and that was that really gotta go in, and then from there, I really, really put myself into it, and I really, yeah, and there's no way I would ever stop, you know, I always say that I can't stop, it won't stop.

But from then, it's been really trusting as much as I can because when it comes down to it, if I were to have to get a full-time job, and then be a mom on top of that, and a wife and all the things I'd be too exhausted to then keep creating like this. So you know, there you don't have that much time. So in order to keep creating, I got to do it, I got to put myself out there, and I got to share it with the world because actually this painting has kind of become about this the whole sun and you know, higher purpose part of it in, in traditional astrology and the sun being okay, we all have this light that we have to shine.

Not all of us are the creative ones. Some of us are supporters of creators or, you know, nurturers, or we all have our light, and we have to go out into the world to share it, and then that fills other people up and inspires them, and then that fills us up, and we can bring it on back home something about this movement coming back home to the sun so that we can shine it out more. You know, of course, we can all just we can keep things to ourselves and everything.

It has been a lot to kind of put myself out there. I am a 12th house sun. Yes, I'm a Leo. But something about it being in the 12 house makes it so that, okay, I get the attention. I don't necessarily want the attention. I've had to really put myself out there, and I do live painting now and doing events to doing stuff like this; I started teaching classes, I'm working, you know, all this stuff. So it's been an having the effort but inspired effort, you know.

Ashley
Beautiful and getting that confirmation that one art show like, like, oh, and I feel like people on like a spiritual path and people that study patterns. It's like when you see them happening in your own life, and you're like, oh, energy is flowing, money's coming in, like there's support, there's interest. You know, it's easier to trust that when you have been studying patterns and symbols.

It's happening now, and it seems like you really just caught that wave, and it's been so cool. Yeah, it's been cool to hear your story, and I just wanted to say real quick that one thing that's been really inspiring for my girls because they got to see your art studio and you set them up on the floor with paper and their own little colored pencils, and they still talk about that, and they each have one of your prints in their rooms.

These are mine, but they have their own, and they talk about you, and they talk about remember we went to Toads and, and our daughter, our Sagittarius, wants to be an artist, and she's known that since she was little too. So she was very inspired by meeting you.

Toad
So I'm telling you, that's something that's become really clear in the past, especially this summer, but a little bit last summer, too, because I've been doing a lot of lot more live painting at festivals and events and everything and the kids, oh my gosh, I have this art cart, you know, where I paint on it and I have my prints and everything, and they're just, they just start drawn to it and really a big part of it one to inspire everyone but to inspire these little kids to be like, No, you can do this, I wanted to do this since I was your age, you just got to keep believing in yourself and do what makes you happy.

It's not always about art. It can. It's it could be like a mental thing. You know, some of the best little mini readings that I've done for our for these little kids where, you know, they have that spark from this age, and if they can have that confidence to go after it.

Adam Elenbaas
You know, I couldn't believe this, but someone, our daughter, Virginia, she's a Sag-Sun-Aquarius moon, and she, you know, was so inspired. Well, someone at her school the other day said she wanted to be an artist, and they were like, well, you really can't do that because they don't make any money. That's what she said to her and, and I turned to her, and I said, sweetheart, do you remember when we visited Toad, and I said, remember, Toad has that beautiful studio and all of her art and said she makes a living doing art.

So don't listen to that, you know, so we're really happy that she got to see someone who's putting themselves out there and doing it because that's what the world will tell people about art these days. Oh, don't take a risk, sell out, you know, and I'm not saying like, it's not easy to do, and it's not for everyone to do, and God knows people try and fail, and it's heartbreaking on that level. But as someone who, you know, I'll never forget at my wedding.

My best man, you know, he said to me, he was like, he was, you know, first of all, we were a little intoxicated. So, I don't think he would usually say this. But he said something along the lines of, I wish I could tell my kids to live the kind of life you've lived, but it's just so few people who actually get to do blah, blah, blah, and I will stop them, and I was like, like, Dude, you can't do that man. You don't know you got it. You just if your kids are into art or spirituality or whatever, you just gotta let them figure it out and you know, believe in them, and I just remember, he looked at me, and he was like, like, that's so hard for some people to put wrap their heads around that, like, you know, even if it doesn't work out, you probably feel better if you gave it a shot, you know? I know our daughters got that from you. I know that they both saw like this, woman is going for it, and that was really inspiring for them.

Toad
That's amazing. That's, yeah, if I don't accomplish anything else in my life, then I'm satisfied with that. It's amazing. You know? Yeah, no, it really is so important. So, like, doubt can get in so easily and, you know, can just ruin it for so many people.

Adam Elenbaas
I mean, I remember in my MFA program, you know, I stayed in touch with some people who, you know, went to school for creative writing, who, you know, got really discouraged because they kept putting themselves out there and not really seeing the success that they hoped for, and so I don't mean to like blow smoke up anyone's ass, like, it is hard, and it is sometimes a path of being an artist or an astrologer anything is sometimes a path that it's like it's it might turn into your favorite hobby and not a career for some people and I just encourage people to just keep loving what you love regardless even if it turns into a career or not, you know?

Toad
Exactly, and try to infuse your days with it the best is the best you can, you know, and it doesn't, you know, if you if it's if you start to see okay, maybe I'm not going to be able to completely put food on the table. With my passion, whatever that passion is, or whatever, how can I still keep it in my life? And how can I make it so that my days are happy, you know, and that I, you know, it's not, it's not just about doing it's not one or the other, you know, it's, it's getting out of this kind of dualistic mindset and being like, okay, no, we don't live in this or that universe. We live in a yes universe.

Adam Elenbaas
There are so many messages out there. Speaking of purpose, that say your purpose has to be your job, and your job has to be the best, and you have to make a ton of money, and it's so like, it's funny how capitalism coops purpose nowadays, you know? Yeah, and for some of us, you might get to do what you love for a living, but it's throughout the history of the human species, I'm pretty sure that there are probably far more people that have loved the things very passionately that haven't been their jobs, you know, so it's like, there's that too.

But anyway, we digress. I want to ask you if there have been any transits you've experienced that have shaped or changed or informed your artwork or like; I always like to hear that, like, even astrologers. How has your career, the way that you do astrology, or the way that you do art been influenced or changed by a transit? Have there been any that have been like, oh, I have completely changed as a creative person?

Toad
That's interesting. No, because it's, you know, I've always been doing art it's always been my focus. One thing that I would have to say is that as soon as Uranus kind of went into Taurus for me, things did start to change I think that was really around the time that I started to infuse my two professions or my two passions or my three or I've got many passions you know, kind of got a narrowed in on so I do have Gemini in the 10th house, and people often say okay, if you got Gemini in the 10th house, multiple things and then I have Jupiter in Gemini, which we know is in its fall and can sometimes be okay and an explosion of things, you got to kind of narrow it down.

But um, so having Uranus going into Taurus, there and it's up there, right, and I feel like it's when things are higher in our, in our, in our natal chart, I feel like it's kind of coming in like this and Uranus has that kind of electric stroke of insight kind of thing to it as well. But that's when I really started to get these downloads on doing the birth chart paintings, you know, I was things were really clicking with Tarot and astrology and how that all can fit in, and I was just seeing how is it again, it's not a this or that it's not, it's yes and so that's been really, really cool and it's still happening Uranus is you know, we're going to be having the Jupiter Uranus conjunction, but then Uranus is then once it goes into Gemini gonna hit my early degrees, Jupiter and Gemini, I'm gonna have my Jupiter return and I think it's all kind of happening now. Big stuff is going on.

Adam Elenbaas
Yeah, I imagine that for a lot of artistic people, Uranus, going into a Venus-ruled sign was having an impact on, you know, your artwork or the confusion of different things in artistic ways and stuff like that.

Toad
Right. Right, and, you know, Ashley, you mentioned channeling before, and I didn't get to mention that. You know, it was one of my first astrological readings that I got from my astrologer, my friend, who said, you don't have an artist chart; you have a translator chart. The F I do, I didn't get, and he was like, Well, do you translate something with your art? And I'm like, yeah, it is, you know, and that's when I was getting into the Tarot, and I was like, I translate through the Tarot, and then this, you know, it's a translation, and it's a channel.

I've been kind of leaning more into that, you know, we all have the muse, right? You actually did a podcast about the muse a long, long time ago, didn't you? Anyway, we all have these energies that we can tap into, you know, and it's just tapping into a frequency. It's very scientific, you know, but I think that when I'm tapping in with, like, when I really get inspiration and when I really get into my meditation or my flow when I'm creating, I'm tapping into the same channel, then when I really get into speaking to my guides, and everything with the Tarot and with astrology, I think that there's kind of like an overall message that wants to come through and then I can get more specific.

Ashley
That leads me to a question because I read your daily tarot card readings on Instagram; they're so helpful to me, and they're like always spot on and, so I was just curious about like your own daily rituals. I know that every day you post your three cards and kind of a synopsis of what's going on, but like, what is a day in the life of Toad? What are your rituals, and what are like the things that you have to do to keep things flowing?

Toad
So my daily readings, my daily pull is huge for me; I started doing it; it's probably been like five years now, four years, pretty consistently. It's, it's an offering to my followers, you know, so I do it on my stories on my Instagram, and thank you, and, yeah, it's become something for me. But it's also become for, like, something that I can give back, you know, this is just something that I'm freely giving, and I know that that energy is going to come back to me, and it really just helps me notice these archetypes in my life.

So what I do is, you know, I get my cup of coffee; usually it's in the morning, sometimes it has happened later because I do have many other things going on in my life. But, you know, I like to stick with my cards, like pull out the current transits and kind of like, get a feel for that, pull the cards and get a feeling for it, and then I just start writing, and that's usually I don't really know what I'm going to say until I start writing, it just kind of flows out in that way, and then I like to come back to it.

You know, especially if I did it earlier in the day, sometimes it's later, sometimes I wait to post, but one way that I teach with the Tarot, and I'm starting to really teach a lot, is that it's not necessarily very good to pull for yourself all the time, you know, especially when it's very, when we're when we have a lot of emotion attached to the questions that we're asking or anything to be able to do just a very general pull to kind of do it for the collective, or just my followers, you know, it really helps step back, and so you can really see how it, how it fits into everyday life, you know, and how these, these archetypes play out.

What was really cool for me is that you know, when I was starting to dive even deeper into the Tarot, it was the same time that I was learning about traditional astrology and Hellenistic astrology, and it really made sense to me. Because at first, I was just looking okay, well, what does it mean to have Venus in Cancer? You know, and I'd go, and I'd look it up online, and I'd get all of these other people's interpretations of what that could mean, you know, and it can be scary, and or, you know, we're confusing.

But then Hellenistic astrology really broke it down and like, why does it mean that it's not just this means that and this means that, but why does this mean what's the rationale behind it, you know, and to get this basic understanding, then we can create our own interpretations, you know, we can see how those archetypes what they mean for us, you know, and I realized that the same thing that's going on with astrology, this renaissance of this traditional astrology, it's the same with Tarot, it's all just, we've been putting the pieces together since the New Age movement.

You know, when the Rider-Waite came out in the early 1900s, that was the same time people started getting back into structures, and we were just putting pieces, there was no book, there's no original book on this stuff, you know, and so the insight that I got from Hellenistic astrology helped me understand like, Okay, let's get down to the basic archetypes of the cards as well, and I really think that's helpful. I really think doing my card of the day has helped me see that because it's not just okay, I'm asking a specific question about this and seeing what these people mean, but I'm seeing how the energies show up in the every day and how they can show up, right.

Ashley
I'm always so surprised, like, how concise you are because, like, stories are not a lot of space. So you'll have like the three cards, and then you'll have like, you know, a text box, and in that text box, like you fit like, it's so concise, and you're, you know, and yeah, like it's just very artful and very translator, like, I'm going to think of that now when I look at it like she's translating.

Toad
Yeah, really, I have to try to keep it short. Sometimes, I tell you Jupiter in Gemini is a struggle, and I also believe that's why it's how I can channel with, you know, Jupiter and then Gemini, right? But, um, but it makes it hard. I want to just type on and on and on and on and on and on. Sometimes, you have to really kind of cut it short, but I'm glad that you feel that way. Thank you.

Adam Elenbaas
Yeah, I feel like the way that you seem to perceive and describe the combinations of card archetypes. Just reminds me of the way it feels very kindred because it feels like the way that I relate to astrological transits. So, I love following your daily Tarot. Ashley and I often in the mornings, what Toad is saying for the day, we'll take a look at it together, we'll read it like, oh my god, yeah, that really fits what's going on? And it just gives another lens through which to look at things, and to me, the fact that you're, you know, you've studied Hellenistic astrology to it shines through like if people like my work. In other words, I think you like the Hellenistic astrology piece. I think that you'll really pick up on Toad's incorporation of those Hellenistic astrological frameworks. Even though she's not talking about them explicitly, their ancient system is hermetic, and there's something very hermetic about the way you read cards, and so I just say that there's a similarity there that I think this audience would really appreciate.

Toad
Thank you. Yeah. Yeah, and I'm so appreciative of this because really, right now, I'm just trying to gain a follow up more of a following, you know, again, sun of a 12 house isn't always the easiest to shine the light out, and but yeah, we need to support each other and when fill each other up, right.

Ashley
That's why I wear this hat and like, every time I wear this hat, and like, you gave me some business cards, and I have them in my wallet, so when I wear the hat out, people are like, where do you get the hat? I was like, Girl, I got you. Oh, yeah, no, but you do such amazing work. This hat is yours, and it's got like, really, it's even got artwork, like on the inside of it, which is, you know, like a secret.

Adam Elenbaas
Those two spaces on my wall right there have bhakti art, and I still have a lot of bhakti art, but I'm slowly kind of incorporating other elements of my interests since Bhakti isn't as primary for me anymore.

Toad
And there's some bhakti in there, too.

Adam Elenbaas
You know, Bhakti just means devotion. There's tons of devotion in your work; you can see that those two spaces right there will be where the framed prints go up. So that'll that'll be done as soon as I get off my ass and go to the frame shop.

Ashley
I just wanted to say these, these two are like, these are my little babies, and they sit behind me, and I just, I feel like they're there. It's like a mandala. It's like you can meditate on them, you know, and just kind of get lost and go into, like, go into some pretty meditative deep spaces, and I just, I love that there's so much contemplation that can happen through your art.

Toad
I get that a lot from people, and it's so nice to hear, you know, man. Beautiful. Well, my meditation, you know.

Adam Elenbaas
I'm sorry to talk over you guys. I'm just aware of the time, and we do have a little bit of a time constraint today. So, one thing that I want to make sure we do before you leave, actually two things.

One is I want to hear if you have any astrological takes to share with us about, you know, anything; we're coming in towards late September right now, heading into eclipse season. What if anything is on your mind as an Astrologer and Tarot reader right now? If you have any takes to share with us, and then before we leave, I want you to tell people what kind of services you provide and how people can reach you.

Toad
Of course, yeah, so I, you know, I've been looking at this month for a while; it's a big month; I usually, like you, I don't go straight to lunations. I think as we start to get more and more into astrology, we lean away from just like, oh, the full moon and the new moon is what we kind of tune into when we're early. But it's more about, Okay, what else is going on around it, but then also, like, coming back around?

I'm really seeing how, okay, lunations and the moon itself really anchors the other transits that are happening into reality; it really kind of sets things into motion, and we know the biggest story that's been going on is this Venus retrograde, you know, and I thought it was really interesting how this full moon coming up the full moon in Aries, right, so it's the first one we have an Aries, we're getting close to the nodes here. So I think that this is a taste.

I really think it's interesting that it's coming at the exact same time that Venus goes through her last square to Uranus. Okay, after her retrograde, you know, she went through all three, and so it kind of feels like this one and then also the next new moon after that, which will be fully an eclipse or really, if there's anything that we haven't done, okay, so with the whole Venus retrograde, I believe that it has been a lot about our passions, alright, and this fits in perfectly with what we're talking about so do the cards that I pulled to the kind of inform me about it.

But being in Leo, Leo being ruled by the sun, it having this fiery purpose to it, the fact that the nodes are switching into Libra, and Aries has this like, you know, very human kind of fiery Mars being conjunct with the node as well. How are we setting up our life so that we can have more of our passions and our life so that we can enjoy our life more? I like to call it the long-run good game, and so ever since this last full moon in Pisces, I think it brought up the story of Saturn in Pisces again, right?

It was conjunct with that, and so Saturn moving in there. It was about cleaning up the messy parts of our life right, and like it, hey, we need to restructure, we need to clean, we had all the sun in Virgo the Mercury retrograde, figuring out how to restructure how to reorganize everything and then Saturn is going retrograde. It's really interesting how it's going all the way up to the very first degrees of Pisces again because it's like, okay, well, I did; I was starting to rebuild here or build or whatever it is or clean up.

But now it's like, wait, if I'm gonna build, I want to make sure that the foundation in which I'm building is from what makes me happy, what lights me up, what inspires me, what gets me out of bed in the morning, right? It's so important. I think that that's a lot. Generally, it's going to be different for everyone according to, you know, other things, what's going on, you know, and that can show up in so many different areas of our life, you know, it can be about relationships, it can be about your work could be about where you live, or just what you do. From day to day, these are little decisions that we make, right?

So, like I said about, about the moon kind of anchoring these, I think the full moon, these, these lunations are really going to set things going. Uranus is definitely going to give us any kind of extra push to make the changes that are necessary. It might be big for some people, it could be big, it could be big tower moments, as I like to say.

You've mentioned this before on your channel and everything. I didn't pull this card, but I have it out just to show it; it's the tower. Because it's very Uranian with the lightning bolt coming in here, it's almost like a strike of insight. But it can be very physical as well, like, okay, the tower was built on faulty foundations. So it needs to come down, and I always say these are the three cards that I pulled to kind of inform my readings, and I know you do something similar with the I-Ching, and so that was another connection that I made with you.

So these were the three I pulled; I got the lovers, perfect, eight of cups, and the four of Wands All right. So yeah, and the lovers is I'm really glad that these cards came out because I talked about these cards pretty much every reading that I do; they're so important and very integral to my teaching. So the lovers is when we start to build now whatever we're building at the lovers can either become a tower that gonna is going to explode, or fall down or crumble, or it's gonna last, you know.

Now, we can't avoid tower moments; there's always going to be a shadow to uncover new things to learn. We've learned through lovers; we learned through choice, right? I always say this little Toad-ism; I always say that the lovers is called the lovers card because who we choose to be with is one of the most important choices we make. But primarily, this card is about choice.

It used to have three people on it before Rider-Waite-Smith brought back these cards. He said three people, one man, and two women, and it was very much illustrating more about these choices that we make in our life.

The four of Wands; I also relate this to the tower because four is a very foundational number. When we can build and make sure that we have all four elements kind of in place, you know, from for whatever it is, you know, you know, is my heart being fulfilled? Is there empathy and compassion? Do I feel fulfilled on a psychic level and that way? Am I intellectually stimulated with the air element, the swords? And is there commitment and trust? If it's a job matter, can actually put food on the table? Because we are physically living in human bodies? That's the Pentacles. Right? And then, of course, there's the fire, which is that passion, that creativity, the sexuality, right?

This is about being honest with yourself about what makes you happy. What really does get you out of bed in the morning? There are no walls to this structure, right? All the people are coming out of the walls of the city to celebrate, and it's like, okay, I'm building from a firm place here.

So whenever we are settling, when we're settling for something, like when we're talking about the real stuff, like those real deep things that we want in our life, you know, we're actually taking the tempting path. You know, with the lovers, there were two women; one was the queen of the heavens, and one was the temptress. Okay, and you know that that temptress path is when we're making choices based on fear, okay, now it gets iffy, and that's when you have to really dig in because it's hard to know sometimes whether or not, that's when we have to start looking at our patterns and our cycles and everything.

But if we're making a choice based on fear, it's eventually going to turn into a tower moment. If we're denying something that's really integral to us and our passions, particularly, you know, that's going to either you're building on three instead of four. You keep building, it's gonna get riskier and riskier, or it's gonna, it's gonna collapse eventually, right? Or, or if it's just a little bit, you're just gonna wander, you're whole life like you mentioned earlier, you know, just wonder, Oh, you know if I don't try this now if I don't know if I can do this or not, then I'm, you know, can't live like that and so that's where the eight of cups kind of comes in.

Now, I relate this card to the moon card. All right, now I mentioned before how we can break these cards down into their more primary archetypes, right and really, these pictures didn't used to be on the Minor Arcana; they used just the eight cups, similar to the plane deck rakes where the plane decks came from. But it is related to 18 the moon or eight strength; okay.

Now, eight cups is good. It's very comfortable. But it's not the 10 of cups, not the nine of cups, we want more, you know, and so this is about making that push big or little in order to have more Venus in our life and more Leo, more passion, more purpose, you know, what lights us up, what gets us out of bed, and it takes trust and walking into the, into the dark night, you know and so I always say that going from the eight to the nine is a lot harder than going from the four to the five.

Because from the four to the five, it's like, okay, I can see that if I make this push force comfortable, you know, then I'm going to achieve something, and I'm going to get it right, from the eight to the nine. It's the dark, right? And that's similar to the moon card, and we have to face our fears of the unknown and really take our faith, our trust, and faith, I know, is a loaded word for some people.

But to me, I always say faith could just be having faith that the sun is gonna rise again. Astrology really does that, you know, okay, we can say forever. This, too, shall pass, and people can be like, okay, bullshit. But if you can literally see, okay, it doesn't matter how long the transit, it's eventually going to shift, things are going to change. But yeah, so this is about making those choices to have more stability based on our passions in our life and needing to make a little pushes in order to get that really, really just advocating for yourself, you know, and it does take some, you know, so anyway, if you haven't made the changes are ready, I think Uranus by this full moon, if not by that new moon, you know, it's gonna get us going and really set us up for a life of more passionate happiness.

Adam Elenbaas
Wow, I love the way that you connected those archetypes. I mean, the full moon as a trigger point for a lot of eclipses coming up in the signs of Aries and Libra, the full moon happening at the same time that Venus is square Uranus. I like where you went with Saturn, kind of retrograding all the way to that first degree of Pisces and then turning direct, especially since Pisces is the exultation of Venus.

It strikes me as a restructuring in service of Venus for that reason, too, and I really liked that connection that you made, and I do think that we've been through such a process with Venus-Uranus of, like, this is your life, helping you move toward things that you really love and then also like the, the feeling that I got when you were bringing up the eight of cups was that there's some uncertainty and risk, an emotional risk involved in following something that you really love. Like we were taught exactly what we were talking about earlier. Yeah. Yeah, I love that. Yeah. This is why I love following Toad, you guys; she's really awesome.

The last question, before we go, is just what kind of offerings and services do you have? And I'm going to bring up your website and your Instagram. Tell people how they can follow you and learn more about what you do and order prints if they want to, or commission artwork or whatever else.

Toad
Okay, great, thank you. Yes, I have a website; it's artbytoad.com. Okay, and you can also follow me on Instagram; if you're on Instagram, that's @art.by.toad, and there you can get full, like, detailed shots and videos of all my work and get a closer personal view of what I do. On my website, you can go on there and go into the menu; you can see I have paper prints and I have canvas brands. Unfortunately, this website is not an official shop. So you will have to contact me directly. But there are buttons there that you can click; it'll send you to a contact page, and you just tell me what prints you want once you decide. Now, this is all to support me so that I can be doing these bigger paintings so I can really be doing what I want.

This has become two jobs. My husband is really taking over the more administrative part of it so that I can actually do the creative work, you know. But one of the exciting things, like I said, that brings in my two passions is I started doing these, these birth chart or chart-based commissions where if you have a special day, either your birthday or you could be a gift for someone, I've even done a composite chart, I've done an event chart, you know, I do a piece inspired by a chart that or a day that means something to you.

I am super stoked, and people have really been loving it and I know you do the same thing with your courses, where you make it so that everyone has access. Hi, sweetie. I like to do that with my art as well. I want to make sure that everyone has access to good art, and it's not just a bunch of hippies throwing tapestries and Grateful Dead posters up on the wall that we call nice art. But, um, yeah, so from very small to very big now, I do only have so much room on my commission's list, so it does fill up, but you can get on the waiting list for that, or you can buy prints that I already have. I do have ones on there that are named after certain transits and everything that might speak to you.

But yeah, you contact me, we talk about it, we go into we can do a reading, we really go into the chart and see what really speaks to you, what you're really proud of in your chart or, or you just give me free rein, and I channel the energy of that into the piece, and it's been going really well, and yeah, so that's something.

Oh, yes, I do readings too. One thing that's very exciting is that I'm starting my official Tarot course; I'm recording lectures right now that people can buy off my website so that they can learn this kind of way of reading the cards, and I'm really excited about that. It's kind of like traditional card reading, and people are going to be able to buy separate lectures. So stay tuned for that.

I also do private lessons, which a lot of people have taken me up on, and then I do personal readings. My personal readings you can just book on my website as well; you can DM me on Instagram, and I pull up to 100 cards; I do it in a very nonlinear way. I pulled the chart up; it's not like a normal astrological reading; I can do that. If someone wanted to come to me and get just a breakdown of their chart, they could.

But what I do is a little bit different. I use the cards and the chart to kind of just see where the messages need to come in, and then we go deep, and we get into the nitty gritty, and yeah, so, yeah, like I said, I have tiny little pieces, like the ones that actually showed up to very large canvas prints and original paintings and it's just a huge support. We're looking for more support. So we're gonna be making more of this and bring it out to people.

Adam Elenbaas
Yeah, I'll never forget, you know, just the magic of connecting with you in Trinidad and going down to your studio and seeing where you make your art, and you know, I knew I knew that it was going to be a magical trip because when we got in the first morning in the grocery store, it so happened that someone at the grocery store, watched my channel and was friends with a student in one of my programs and then the next day we met you, and it was like, Okay, people in this neck of the woods are first of all, I just I found that just like kindred spirits.

I was making lots of connections there, and then we met you, and it was very magical. I just hope that everyone will take a moment to get to know you and your work. Follow you on Instagram. You can find her on Instagram @art.by.toad. Next time, I'd like to have you on again and maybe do some tarot; we can promote your Tarot course. Have you throw some cards for us or maybe teach some parallels between planets and card archetypes or something? We'd love that.

Toad
It's been such a pleasure. Like, yeah, it's, I was nervous. But you guys, just talking to you is so easy. You know. It's very natural, and I'm so stoked to be on, and I'm so stoked to start this connection, and here we are at a new moon. So, all right, let's get it. Yeah, I'm so excited to be back. Thank you, everyone. Yeah, thanks for your support. I'm happy to be here.

Adam Elenbaas
Thank you guys. Ashley, anything you want to say before we go.

Ashley
Just that you feel like family told, and I'm just so so glad that our paths crossed.

Toad
Seriously. I can't wait to go see a Dead show with you guys.

Adam Elenbaas
Yeah, it sounds awesome. Thank you, everybody, for listening, and we will see you again soon. We hope to have Toad back on, and in the meantime, remember, you can check her work out at artbytoad.com. Instagram is @art.by.toad. Thank you so much for being here, and we will see you all again next time. See you. Bye, everyone.