The Astrology of Addiction in Families & Individuals & How to Remediate

Hey everyone, this is Adam Elenbaas from Nightlight Astrology, and today we're going to talk about how to identify the signatures in a birth chart that indicate addiction in the family or addiction in the individual, or both. I get a lot of questions about specialized topics like this throughout the year, and because there's a little bit of a lull in the astrology and frankly, I think, you know, this week, I've been thinking a lot about just recovering and changing the pace and the mood around some of my astrology content after a few really intense months and coming out of eclipse season and everything like that. This little lull in between major transits, I thought, you know, let's address some of those interesting questions that you guys have had that maybe I haven't had a chance to get to.

So, today, how do you identify patterns of addiction in the family or within the individual in the birth chart? Or both? Also, what can we do to remediate some of those things? We'll talk both practically and maybe more magically about that today because my wife Ashley is going to join us. Ashley is an herbalist, as you guys know, and has a lot of wisdom. One of her areas of specialty over the years has been in helping people use plants to work through patterns of nervous system recovery when there's addiction or trauma in the family, as well as people who are in recovery using herbs to aid and assist in the recovery process from addiction.

So yeah, as someone who used plant medicine all throughout my 20s to work through opiate and alcohol troubles that I had for a few years in my early 20s. I worked with Ayahuasca throughout all of my earlier years to help start a new pattern and reach sobriety. So I just have a really deep respect and appreciation for the fact that we can use really intelligent plant medicine helpers who can assist us in transformation and healing. So that's going to be a part of how we address this topic today, as well. That's what you have to look forward to.

Before we get into it, as always, don't forget to like and subscribe, share your comments, and tell us your story. If you have anything to add any wisdom to add to the conversation today, we'd love to hear from you guys; you can find a transcript of today's talk, as always, on the website, which is nightlightastrology.com. If you go over there right now, you'll also notice that we are very close to the start of our next program. Ancient Astrology for the Modern Mystic begins on June 11. If you go to the Courses page and click on the first-year course, scroll down, and you can learn all about it and everything that the course includes I have been talking about every day.

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Ashley
Hi. It's good to be back to talk about herbs and astrology. I love these times together.

Adam Elenbaas
Yeah, we've gotten so much good feedback, and we're really thankful to all of you who have, you know, just said so many kind and affirming things about the way that we've started blending herbs and astrology more regularly on the podcast, maybe for the past year more recently since we started the Roots and Spheres program in January of 2023.

By the way, if you want to check that Oh, look at the website and go to the Roots and Spheres course; you can look at our monthly Moon circle, where we break down the astrology in depth. We also diet plant teachers to help us work with the energies of the month. Ashley and I lead that program together. So yeah, so it's good to have you back; we're going to talk about signatures of addiction in the birth chart and how to identify them, and then Ashley is going to help us by talking about different plants and plant medicines that can help people who are working through the pattern of addiction, whether that's something you're working through because you grew up with it and it's in your family, or in your nervous system, and the trauma that you endured from that could use some help, and there are ways of seeing that in the birth chart.

We're going to also give you some plant teachers to work with, and then we're going to talk about signatures in the birth chart that show that an individual may struggle with addiction, which may, in fact, overlap with people who come from families who have addiction present. So there's going to be some overlap between those. But we're also going to talk about herbs that can help people who are in the process of recovery from personally dealing with addiction. So that's our goal for today. Maybe you could just say a little bit about why this subject is meaningful to you and how it's played a role in your work in recent years.

Ashley
Sure. I mean, this subject hits close to home because I grew up in a family where there was addiction and active alcoholism. So for me, you know, I didn't realize as I started becoming an adult how that had impacted the way I thought, the way I processed information, the way that I responded emotionally to people, and you know, even why I got into the work that I got into on some level. So this is a subject that I personally have, you know, a lot of connection with, and I've been in the Al-Anon program, which is for family members or friends of those who have struggled with alcohol for about three and a half years now. I'll be getting my four-year little coin in June next month, which is pretty exciting. I've just learned so much about recovery and recovery; even if you yourself haven't had a period of addiction or something that you would consider to be notable addiction, there are still a lot of patterns that if you've grown up in that environment and even if it's distant, you know, it could be a grandparent or a, you know, a grand or great aunt or uncle. Sometimes we don't even see how it trickles down.

But, you know, I think in my experience, being aware of the patterns to look for, I've been able to help a lot of clients, I've done a lot of videos on this subject, and there's so many plant members and plant allies that can reset our nervous system and kind of give us some of the care intending we may not have experienced in our childhood and then even in recovery itself there are some really wonderful plants that can restore, you know, frayed nerves, even some of our pathways in our neurotransmitters that may have been damaged and have been wired in a way that we would like to unwire. So I am excited to talk not only about what plants but also the patterns behind the plants and like what the patterns are that the plants are specifically addressing.

Adam Elenbaas
Right. I mean, one of the beautiful things about plant spirit medicine is that we're not just saying, well, this, these chemical properties, I mean, that's part of it. But it's also to say, this is the deeper signature or constellation of patterns that are somehow in the plant and that match, or closely resemble or treat in some way offer some kind of juxtaposition to the patterns that we see present and individuals and families who have an addiction, active addiction or in recovery from addiction.

Ashley
Absolutely and you know, for me, as an herbalist, I don't see plants as objects; plants are people there. They're alive, vibrant beings. They're sentient beings with their own life force, their own personalities. So, you know, we think of plants in that way. We're pretty much-building relationships with these sentient beings, who are there to support us ultimately, and who have always been there supporting us, you know, since the very beginning, and yeah, so to me, it's like, you know, it's relationship-based healing and not just object-based remedies.

Adam Elenbaas
Yeah really well put; well, let's go ahead and get into it. We're going to start by talking about signatures of addiction in the family. So to start off, what I want to do is just talk about where and how you might see some of the patterns of addiction showing up in birth charts. Now, let me be very, very clear before we talk about something like this, it is really important to offer a few qualifiers. One is this is not prescriptive, which means I'm going to tell you some of the places that you sometimes we'll see or, like often, will see the pattern of addiction showing up in the birth chart. That doesn't mean that just because a planet is in a certain sign or house or position, automatically that person has addiction in the family or addiction that they'll struggle with addiction.

They're like planetary probabilities. The planets are multi-veiling, and the signs and houses and planetary combinations can express themselves in so many different ways. So what I'm giving you are, you know, from 13 years of client practice and about 13,000 clients, you know, something like that. I see about 1000 clients a year in different contexts, horary, natal chart readings, and all sorts of different contexts throughout the years.

Over those 13 years, this is where I tend to see the pattern of addiction and families appearing over and over again, very, like consistently. But you know, one out of every four times I see that signature, it will mean something different than I've ever seen before, and it won't mean addiction; it will mean something different. So don't use this list to become prescriptive or narrow in the way that you look at astrology or people. But use it as a tool to inform the way that you understand patterns, and that goes for all of the different ways that I'll look at charts.

Also, this is not an exhaustive list. There have been many books written by wonderful professional astrologers about the signatures of addiction in the birth chart. Astrologers in their practices will see and notice the patterns appearing in different ways, although you'll probably notice that some of the things I'll say have been said before, right, so some of this is going to be consistent across the board, and some of it is unique to what I've seen or experienced as an individual practitioner.

So all of that being said, as a qualifier, I want to talk; I'm going to put the chart up on the screen right now, and I'm going to go through this before we get rolling into talking about remediation, which is where Ashley will take the wheel here. But first of all, the signatures of addiction in the family, first of all, look at the condition of the moon. This is one of the most important features for a couple of reasons.

One, when we're talking about addiction in the family, we are often talking about needing to look and find where is there going to be information about family karma in the birth chart, and you have a variety of places to look.

Maybe one of the most obvious starting points is the moon. The moon will tell us not just about the family but broadly speaking about the environment that the soul finds itself in within this lifetime, which can speak to marriage, it can speak to family, it can speak to the mental, emotional, and physical environment of the body. It can speak to the environments that are consistent psychically throughout relationships, jobs, and all sorts of things.

The moon is the most pervasive, all-encompassing symbol of what the environment is going to look like, and the most obvious case of the environment that we all start with is the family. So look at the condition of the moon. A few things in particular, if the moon is afflicted, afflicted by malefics, if the moon, for example, right now, as we're making this talk, here's the moon about to conjoin, Uranus, you know, so moon and Uranus can mean a lot of different things; one of the things that can mean is that the environment is not stable, right?

That can be a symbol or sign of addiction; the fact that we're talking about patterns of addiction and instability and how to remediate those things is literally being reflected in the planets as we make this talk, you know, so you could have the moon in any variety of challenging positions, that could mean that the moon is in an opposition with Saturn, the moon is in a difficult house like the 12th house, sixth house or eighth house in particular. You could have the moon in a challenging sign like Capricorn or Scorpio to places that it was traditionally debilitated.

Remember, debilitation doesn't mean that there's nothing good about or salvageable about the moon; it just is often an indication that there'll be more challenges for it within that environment of life. The moon in the 12th house, the moon in the eighth house, the moon in the sixth house, the moon afflicted by malefics, the moon co-present with other difficult or debilitated planets. So those are all things to watch for, and you will often find that the pattern of addiction in the chart begins and ends with the condition of the moon.

It's a telltale sign of challenges in the environment, and one of the most pervasive challenges that we see in environments in families, unfortunately, is addiction. That's one of the major dysfunctions that, like I would say, I don't know if I had to quantify it, and people who come in to talk about family trauma, 50% of my clients at least have those clients, how many of them talk about addiction in the family at the root of various cases of abuse? 60 to 70%. If I had to guess, it's very pervasive, and it often boils down to the condition of the moon.

Number two, we'll be looking at the fourth house and the fourth house ruler. So let's just give you an example here. Let's say now that we have the; I'm just going to put plot Mars in here. So I can give you an example. So here's Mars as the ruler of, in this case, I'll just take this banner away. Here is Mars as the ruler of the fourth house; there are no planets in the fourth house that I'm showing you at this time.

But let's just say you examine the fourth house, and you notice that the ruler is Mars and its fall in Cancer in the seventh house. So you have a badly debilitated malefic in the sign of Cancer, which is the sign of the family, the sign of the moon; this could be a simple indication that there was trauma or real challenges of some kind in the environment, you don't know exactly what they are. But this could be a clue that maybe that trauma is related on some level to addiction.

For example, I've seen many charts with this exact configuration, where there's abuse in the marital relationship, and that stands out in the person's experience. But when you ask them, where did that abuse come from? It's because Dad was an alcoholic, you know, something like that. So, at any rate, and so look at the fourth house, look at its ruler, that's another simple place to start debilitated planets in the fourth house malefics in the fourth house, the ruler of the fourth in a challenging position will often be a telltale sign of trauma in the family and again, you got a pretty high percentage of that trauma coming from addiction.

Look at planets in the 12th house. It's another area that the 12th house was called mala daemon, which means the evil spirit. And it's often a place of the places within us that get repressed or that get suppressed by others. The places and things that undermine us, the places where we feel isolated, alone or abandoned, or neglected. A lot of those kinds of patterns will come and express themselves in the 12th house when people have grown up in a family where there's addiction.

So look at the 12th house; that's often a place where you'll see addiction in the family. Look for debilitated planets in the water signs of Cancer, Scorpio, or Pisces. Water signs tend to be about bonding. When you have debilitated planets in signs that have to do with bonding, you will often see issues of codependency; one of the main ways that can express itself is through addiction. So debilitated planets in water signs, in particular, that could be a debilitated planet could also just be a malefic.

You know, that's you know, for example, we have Saturn in Pisces right now; Saturn in Pisces is a planetary placement that will often express itself in terms of the melancholic temperament, and one of the ways that people try to cure the melancholic temperament is through drugs. So any kinds of challenging placements or planets and combinations of planets and aspects in the water signs, especially when they look a little bit more challenging? Water signs are a place where, again, bonding, when it's not so healthy, is often codependence dependency normal, codependency not so good.

So those are four signs of addiction in the family. What I want to do next is just let's, let's go and break this up a little bit. And let's talk about two helpers. Now, that can if you're working through patterns of addiction in the family, but let's say you're not necessarily in recovery yourself, but you grew up with, you know, something like that; what are the plants that can help us and why are they a good fit?

Ashley
Yeah, I think I want to say first, though, that a big way that addiction we see this affecting people through the family system is how people bond and how people attach, as you mentioned, that you know, sometimes what happens when children grow up, in alcoholic environments or where there's addiction is that they don't really understand how to be close, you know, close this can feel unsafe.

So, the way that a child learns to bond to others can be really affected by addiction in the house; sometimes, they can become overly independent. They kind of shut their emotional bodies down, and because it's just not safe to feel emotions, their emotions weren't validated. So they shut down, and they just, you know, become they kind of grow up too quickly. Right? They become too independent, and then as adults, they have a hard time with closeness and being attached to people that they are friends with or partners or lovers.

Then they may also perceive love as a threat to their safety; I think safety is a big thing. And this is where the herbs can really help, which is, you know if a person doesn't feel safe, if they grew up not feeling like they were in a safe environment, and they couldn't trust their caretakers, they may also not really trust themselves, and there might be just a lot of heightened anxiety that develops in childhood that goes on to adulthood; their nervous systems tend to be in a more upregulated state. So they're kind of always looking out for danger, you know, like, when's the other shoe gonna drop, right, and that can create a very, you know, a very heightened nervous system state that goes into adulthood. And they may deal with this with nervous energy where they have to stay busy. It's like; there's a lull, oh, gosh, let me fill it up. Because it's unsafe, or they, you know, there's this fear, if I get to still, if I get too quiet, all that stuff will come up, and I don't know how to deal with it.

On the other side of busyness can be that low self-esteem, where a person grows up where maybe there was a lot of verbal abuse, and they just don't feel confident in themselves and as a result, they kind of shy away from responsibility; they might not fully mature or develop because of this sense of them not being worthy or not being smart enough or good enough or likable enough because they didn't receive that validation from a parent. So these are the types of patterns that can then really affect a person as they're going out in the world trying to make close and healthy attachments.

So the two herbs I chose first is Chamomile, and Chamomile has been such a wonderful ally, not only in my own life but for so many people that I've worked with and students over the years. Chamomile, the Latin name is Matricaria chamomilla, and Matra is the mother, so care of the mother. And this plant. One of the things that's really cool about this plant is that the more it's trampled, the stronger it grows. And so it's a plant of great resilience. And the long thin leaves almost look like branches of the nervous system and the nerves.

So it's a great nervine. It really helps calm down the nervous system. So for the hyper-vigilant type, who's hyper-independent, maybe they carry a lot of tension in their stomach, they get like nervous stomach, or they have IBS or different gut imbalances or gut diseases even. Chamomile soothes the digestive system; it soothes the nervous system, and it's just a great one. And it's so easy to find all over the world; you can find Chamomile in a tea bag at restaurants, and you can order it at an airport, so it's everywhere.

So I think this is the first ally I would recommend people who have that sort of heightened, hyper-vigilant nervous system reach for if there's anxiety, because when you start to feel like I'm getting overwhelmed, I'm getting angry, or I'm getting frustrated or agitated or anxious, brew yourself a cup of chamomile tea, and that is just it will quickly settle your nervous system and mother you in the way that maybe you weren't mothered. And this, you know, maybe your mother wasn't the drinker. But you know, even if your mother wasn't the drinker, she was affected by the disease of alcoholism. And so you know, a lot of times that lack of that mothering influence, we never learned how to self-regulate our nervous system. So that's the first herb.

And then the second one is mother wart. And mother wart. The Latin name is Leonurus cardiaca. And Leonurus is the name Leo, you know, or is named after the sign of Leo, or the lion, and cardiaca is the heart of the cardiac system. So it's the Lionhearted herb, and I think for people who tend to go more in the direction of low self-esteem, especially where they kind of have poor posture is one of the indications I look for with clients. The shoulders are rounded forward, and when the shoulders round forward, it shuts down the heart. It's often an unconscious way that a person protects their heart is they slouch, they round, they make themselves smaller than they are.

So what Leonurus does, it helps to it actually can help with physical posture. So it can help with scoliosis, and kyphosis, and lordosis, all of the different ways that the spine can curve itself sometimes as a protective defense to open itself up, and it has this tall, straight stem with prickles on it, showing that it can help with healthy boundaries and it's good for heart palpitations. So if that low self-esteem and that crowded-in feeling leads to anxiety that's more in the heart and less than the gut, then Motherwort is a really, really good herb, and yeah, I think this one works best, I think, as a tincture, mostly because of the taste it is super uber bitter.

So you could make tea, but you'll need lots of honey to combat it. So I like it as a tincture, and it can be one that you take maybe three to five drops a few times a day, and it's even better if you can grow the plant; it grows pretty, you know, here in Minnesota, it's a weed grows everywhere. But you know, if you can even grow it in your garden or in a pot, it's a really nice one to watch it grow. And to see. Yeah, to watch how it just grows full and bright and tall and straight. And you know, Motherwort and it has that name for a similar reason. And that it's very, it's a very nurturing plant. It's real; it has that mothering quality, like Chamomile, but in a different pattern.

Adam Elenbaas
Yeah, that's wonderfully put; I want to also say that, you know, the patterns that we've mentioned, or Ashley mentioned, with respect to what addiction can do, you know, it can, for example, people can become avoidant, and super busy and, you know, like, the problem is coming back to intimacy, emotions, and comfort with those things, people can also go in the direction of anxiety, low self-esteem, and even like never fully trusting anyone or anything that's safe. There's, there's a whole interesting realm of attachment theories that I've learned a little about lately.

Like there's an anxious attachment style, there are avoidant attachment styles, and they often attract one another too. So it's really, it's really interesting how this like web of family trauma can create different compatible sort of equally messed up bonding patterns that have the potential to learn from one another, but can also lead to just more hurt.

The other thing is that we can be both, right? We can have elements of us that, like the low self-esteem person that's really anxious in their bonding style, for example, coming out of a family with addiction, could also become super good at stuff and really successful in the outside world. But when it comes to bonding intimately, they're just super anxious and can't trust that the bond is real or stable. You know, so there can be pieces of us that stay super busy and overcompensate and become very individually successful while also being really anxious.

Then sometimes it's flipped, you know, there are so many interesting ways in which the wife's like a big tangled ball of wires. And what I love about these herbs, as far as I understand, is that you know, if you're, if you're coming out of a family where you grew up with these patterns, you may think, I think of this myself, like my grandfather was an alcoholic. It had a huge impact on my father, which then had an impact on me and the rest of my family.

You may think to yourself, but I mean, at least I have, like, well, you know, that sort of like removed, you know, or like, well, I didn't come away dealing with addiction myself, but I think what's so good about these plants is that if you start working, for example, if you start working with Chamomile regularly, you may find that there's an intuition that you start developing around how and why anxiety is doing what it's doing in your life. It's almost like these plants can help us understand the roots and patterns of trauma connected to addiction in the family in ways that we're not even aware of. It's like taking this plant; it's not just addressing something that you consciously need help with. It's also good at helping you understand things you didn't even know you needed help with.

Ashley
Yeah, and I think one of the ways that people can use it in that kind of like uncovering the unconscious patterns is before asleep. So you can take especially tinctures work really well. If you are sensitive to alcohol, then a tea might be a better choice or glycerin you can find, which is made with vegetable glycerin rather than alcohol for extraction. But taking it before bed and then asking the plant to show me something help me with this. That's a great way to initiate a conversation with the herbs, and they respond. It's pretty amazing.

Adam Elenbaas
But if someone asked me recently and said, is it just that plants like to speak in dreams? Is that why? And I said, Well, you could put it that way. But another way of understanding it is that the way that plants communicate is subtle. Their language exists in a space that's somewhat quieter and subtler than the active mind, and so when you're sleeping in, that active mind is sort of powered off, and the subtle mind is more awake, and some element of lucidity can enter in as a quiet small observer, then you can pick up on the plant voices that are there throughout your day as well.

For example, you can access the wisdom of the plants, and I say this as someone who once upon a time did you know worked with some micro-dosing of Ayahuasca; you can access that by just sitting down and breathing for 10 minutes; the same space will start to rise up and all of a sudden, you may feel Chamomile, if you have some canned meal you're sipping will like literally give you some downloads. It's pretty cool.

Ashley
Yeah, and I'll say this, too, that I think when there are addiction patterns, you know, there's a lot of busyness in the mind to avoid it, you know, we have these coping patterns that served us well as children, but that we don't even realize are still operating under there and so the avoidant, or, you know, fear-based, you know, like that energy is still driving the mind in some ways.

So when we take these plant medicines, and they give us a buffer, sometimes it gives us just enough space between thoughts and between one coping mechanism to the next. That little gap can be a message; there can be some clarity or like a recognition, like, wow, I need to take a nap, you know, like, I've been powering through my day, or, gosh, I really hate my job. You know, like, just enough space to get some insight that maybe you've been avoiding or unable to hear. The plants can give us that extra space.

Adam Elenbaas
I was just gonna say I can't wait till the stupid podcast is over. I hate my job.

Ashley
I hope we're not in that.

Adam Elenbaas
No, like, honestly, like, I would say that, like, the number one thing that a plant ever gave me was the somehow the awareness that I loved astrology. Because, you know, if there's anything that keeps me from, like tipping into all of my worst things, it's that I get to do a job that I don't love 24/7, right, like anyone. But I like what I'm doing, and I'm not kidding you when I say when I tell everybody that came from plants. So I just can't speak highly enough about the wisdom of plants and what inviting them in to speak to you can do. It can completely change things.

Ashley
Course correction, for sure.

Adam Elenbaas
There are signatures of addiction in the birth chart, and again, this is sort of embarrassingly brief to try to address such a massive topic in such a short period of time; I just want to give people some ways, if it's brand new to you, of looking at the chart that could be useful, right. So I feel like next year in my Masterclass series, maybe we do a four-part series on this, you know, and maybe we, we really get into it on the astrological and herbal level with different kinds of addictions. And I mean, I could see it really being addressed in such a full way.

But there are signatures of addiction in the birth chart that can indicate that the chart owner, the native, or the individual may struggle with addiction, and they're not exactly the same as those that you'll see when family addiction or trauma around addiction in the family is indicated.

We have some allies to talk about for you guys in terms of people who are in the process of recovery from addiction. So, first of all, this one might sound like a cop-out, but it's true all of the same signatures for addiction in the family apply to individuals because it's a family pattern; anytime, for example, the moon is indicated and implicated in, you're seeing that pattern of addiction.

I'll always ask my clients, you know, after we after the, you know, I say, well, it looks like there was some real trauma in the family was addiction abuse, like what was going on? I see this moon in this position, whatever, and then they'll say, No, yeah, there was an addiction. And then the next question I'll often ask will be, Have you ever struggled with that yourself? If it okay to ask? And, you know, a lot of the time, yes, I went through a bout of addiction, I'm in recovery himself, but I'm sober now, or I'm still dealing with it or whatever.

So all of the same signatures that we started with those four that we looked at for signatures of addiction in the family could be indications that the individual struggle because we know that it's a family. Addiction can be a family disease that is spread, and it's weird how sometimes, you know, it'll be like, I'll see kind of like, no, but my brother's totally messed up. You know, my sister she's off the deep end with alcohol, but I somehow came out relatively okay; I've never struggled with addiction. So you just never know, but any of the same signatures for addiction in the family could be an indication that the individual themselves will also struggle with addiction.

Number two on my list is to watch for the luminaries being afflicted. So let me give you an example. This is a classic one that could come into play, and I'm going to just speed this up a little bit. But let's just use this example right here. Here we have the sun in the sixth house, which was called Mala Fortuna, or bad fortune, and it was a house of sickness, obstacles, and things that we have to persevere through and overcome through hard work, discipline, sacrifice, belief in ourselves; it was called The Joy of Mars.

Mars was also associated with perseverance and victory over hardship, like in battle. So the sixth house is an embattled place so you can come out on top, you know, so it's like, there are, but when you see a luminary in the sixth house, you think, potential health problems, right? Or you think of a dad, son, his father, a dad, that was a tyrant that has to be overcome in the psyche, somehow, all sorts of different things that could be indicated their son in the sixth house, I've seen an athlete's charts. So you know, you just never know.

Sun in the sixth house sacrifice on behalf of things that are bigger than ourselves. It's a very diverse place. But if you see the sun in the sixth, and then you see it square to Saturn in the third house, remember, the third house was called DEA, or goddess; it was the house of the moon, and it indicates what's in the environment. So you have a melancholic Saturn in a water sign in the third house, the joy of the moon, squaring the sun in the sixth; I have literally seen the signature in dozens, this exact signature in dozens of charts where there's active addiction in the family, often through the father with the son.

But it could be drug abuse in the individual or alcoholism on the part of the individual. This is one simple example. But there are many, many other examples where if the sun or moon are being afflicted by house, by aspect to malefics, and so forth, that you'll often see a person dealing with, you know, sometimes its health problems, you know, one of the major health problems that show up again and again when luminaries are afflicted is addiction.

So that's just something to be aware of, that if the luminaries are afflicted, start with the idea that health, vitality, and the life force itself could be hindered or challenged in some way. That's broad; more narrowly, one of the major expressions of that affliction can be addiction. So luminaries being afflicted as number two.

Number three would be first house challenges. Let's rotate this around a little bit. Let's say that you have something like this, we'll just take out the sun, but we'll leave Saturn in the first house. It could be Mars in the first house could be Pluto or Neptune, or any kind of planet that can present a major challenge for the house that was associated not only with character psychology but also vitality and health.

So anything that afflicts the health is going to potentially show up in the first house, the first house ruler being afflicted planets in the first house that are afflicting those are the kinds of signatures that you'll see when people have major health challenges or mental, emotional health challenges. And one of the major forms of health challenges can be addiction.

So it's like, most of the time, archetypal Lee speaking, you're starting with a broad set of parameters, and you're saying, if this exists, then beneath that tree of possibilities for the signature of ill health could be an addiction and then you usually get more narrow based on the context. If it's an afflicted moon, if it's an afflicted planet, in a water sign again, for example, often issues with dependency, attachment problems, stuff like that. So you narrow in from there, but first house challenges.

Number four would be the fifth house or Venus-related challenges. Let me back this up a little bit, and let's just imagine that you have this. This is Saturn in the fifth house was called the House of good fortune, and it was called The Joy of Venus, but it's also the House of Pleasure, and broadly speaking, you could call it the House of pleasure, body, romance, sex, pleasure, child, procreation, and pregnancy, but also joy and creative fulfillment. That's the fifth house if you have afflicted planets in the fifth house, Uranus.

For example, Saturn or Neptune, or a dinged-up Venus or something like that. The potential is that pleasure is complicated for you. That doesn't mean it can't ever be a healthy thing. But that might be where the healing work lies, and for some people, that's gonna mean I go to extremes. Maybe again, maybe it's because you grew up in a family that had extremes present around pleasure or sexuality. But one of the ways that fifth house challengers can express themselves would be addiction. So look at the fifth house, its ruler planets in the fifth for potential issues around addiction.

Then finally, the 12th House and sixth house afflictions or angular malefics. So anytime that a malefic on it. Let's take a look. For example, at Mars, I'm going to play some Mars in this chart. This is Mars in Leo in the 10th house; you might not think Mars in Leo in the 10th house would have anything to do with addiction. The reason that this could be a signifier of addiction is because, broadly speaking, when you have a malefic and an angular place, angular places were called crema turisticos by the Greeks, which means loud and active, and it has those places have the power to speak or regularly sort of louder than other things in the chart.

When you have Mars and Leo in the 10th house, for example, you could be someone who kicks ass and takes names. A lot of people, if you remember the show Mad Men, think of all those people in the 50s 40s who are kicking ass and taking names and drinking like a fish all day long. Yeah, sometimes the fuel that people burn to be successful is compulsive, and addiction will lie behind an angular Mars. So you have to look at angular malefics as empowered and potentially doing things that are strong, maybe they're getting results, but maybe they're really dysfunctional at the same time in some way.

Then 12th House sixth house afflictions typically show up as places of ill health, disease, sickness, and addiction. So if you have in the 12th or sixth, if you see planets in those places, they could be signs of addiction in the individual. All right, well, I finished my piece here.

I want to turn it over to Ashley again because we want to talk about two helpers for patterns of addiction, two patterns of addiction in the individual who is in recovery. The reason we qualify it like this, just briefly, is that we're not giving advice to people, like take this herb, and you'll get unaddicted. That's some pretty deep digging that we need. And we often need a 12-step program; we need a sponsor, we need therapy, and we need to have taken some initiative to really address the disease of addiction. Once we have that, and we're on the path of recovery, whatever that looks like for each person. These are helpers that can be great allies for that process.

Ashley
I think, you know, it, you can't do this; it takes a village, I think, to really support people through addiction; it's really hard for people to do it on their own. There's this beautiful story that my teacher Rukmini says of this little town, this little village in Africa, and when someone is, is showing signs of addiction or has done a violent act, everyone in the village comes around and encircles that person, and they all say, what have we done to fail you; how have we failed you. And they all take it as personally like I some I have somehow failed you; how can we help heal you? What can I do to make it up?

I think sometimes, you know, while not always an intervention, it might not always take an actual intervention. When enough people you know, there's usually a tipping point for the person where they realize I can't do this on my own, and I think that one of the ways that people often work through recovery is by trying to find healthy habits, like, you know, one of the things in my practice that I am very careful of when it comes to addiction, even just coffee addiction or chocolate addiction is you can't just take something away without putting something in its place because addiction as a coping mechanism.

It's actually very normal, and it's understandable. It's very rational that when something's really uncomfortable, you medicate. And you know, there's a lot, you know, ideally, it's like I take a deep breath, I go for a walk, I do some yoga, you know, I take a bath, but not everyone has access and or was modeled those different coping mechanisms.

Substance is something that people can easily fall into because it actually helps them. But there comes a point where these substances no longer help; they actually start to suck the vitality and the lifeforce, and they actually just, frankly, stop working. The person doesn't feel relief from taking the substance; they actually feel more afflicted. So what can help someone once they are like, okay, I'm looking outside of myself now for support is finding new patterns, finding new groups, but finding new habits, and for me, one of the simplest things as an herbalist that I often give people and this is true also for I want to say eating disorders because that's an addiction too. Whether you starve yourself or you binge. I personally have had experiences with eating disorders in my late teens and early 20s. So I know this pattern well, and it's interesting that, actually, food addiction and eating disorders are very common, and people who grew up in alcoholic or families where there's been addiction as a way of coping and controlling the environment and controlling their bodies.

So we have to add in things that are going to be helpful and healing and nourishing, and so, I often recommend people try an overnight infusion of nettles and Oatstraw. These are very safe herbs; they have really no side effects. You know, if you are on medications, speak with a clinical herbalist or, you know, write something in the comment section, I can't do full assessments for people. Generally speaking, these are very safe herbs in pregnancy and breastfeeding across the board for children; even so, I recommend these as, like, these are tonics. And what nettles and Oatstraw do together as a team is they act as a yin and yang. And you can even see it in this picture here.

The Oatstraw, which is on the left, is this very Yin, kind of light milky-looking plant; it's downturned, showing signs of nervous system sedation. Then, on the right, we see nettles, the bright green, the jagged edges; it's ruled by Mars, whereas Oatstraw is ruled by the moon. So on the right nettles is it's very yang, it's very bright, it's very activating, it moves, it's very nourishing. So we combine these together, we create this beautiful synthesis of nourishing and cooling and activating and warming and nourishing, and this is often like the perfect cocktail for people who are coming out of addiction or coming out of even really just any really challenging period in life where they've been exhausted and depleted.

Addiction is certainly very depleting. So if what I recommend people do is they take about half a cup of each herb into a quart-size mason jar, which is like, you know, a large pickle jar, they fill that up with hot water, cap it, let it sit overnight on the counter, I usually make mine at night, and then I'll strain it and drink it in the morning. But you know, really six to eight hours of letting it steep in that water, then you strain it in the morning, and then you drink it throughout the day; you can stick it in a water bottle; I like to just pour mine into another glass mason jar and then just sip on that throughout the day.

I think one of the things that's so nice about this is that it's a ritual. It's a ritual that you do for yourself. So at night, you make it, you let the heavenly planets imbue it with its own, you know, starlight power, and then in the morning, you take, you know, take responsibility of this thing that you made, you pour it out, and then you drink it. There's something I think about that process that can be very transformative and very, very healing to the nervous system.

Adam Elenbaas
Yeah, I will say as someone who has drank this many times that you know Ashley makes it often and, like lots of other infusions over the years, but it is, I don't know how to explain it. I feel like my experience of it, anyway it's sort of like it makes you feel calm and confident at the same time.

Ashley
Yes, yeah. Yeah. It's like, you're okay, relax. And then here's a little broom to swat your butt. So you start doing the things that you should be doing. It's a little bit of both.

Adam Elenbaas
For example, I've been doing spring cleaning. I haven't been drinking this; I probably should have, you know, you drink this. And you're, you're gonna tackle that project. Like for me, it's like, Okay, I've got to clean and organize the garage. It's springtime. We're going to do that. But I'm going to do that in a way that's not sort of manic, obsessed, urgent, freaking out, angry. But I'm also not going to deal with any lack of energy, lethargy, tiredness, or feeling overwhelmed or sapped by it.

Ashley
Yeah, exactly. And I think for people, you know why I like to blend this together is because it's going to, it's harmonizing. It's going to work for both that more anxious type and also for the more melancholic type coming out of these patterns.

Adam Elenbaas
Yeah, it's really like for someone who, you know, like active addiction, for me, is my early 20s. It was a long time ago. But even now, the patterns, some of the subtle patterns of anxiety, control, you're always working with those things that, in my opinion, if you've had addiction in your life, you're maybe the volume is down on some days, maybe it's way up on other days, but when that volume starts getting cranked up, this is a great combination.

Ashley
I think that, you know, when there's been addiction, again, like any sort of addictive behavior, it's easy to want to run away from it. You don't want to be uncomfortable. And so I think sitting with the discomfort is part of the recovery process, and having herbs that help your nervous system feel safe so that it can do some exploration and live through the period of recovery can be so helpful, you know, it's really nice to have these both like the soft and then the more active energies as allies behind you. So that's tea. So those are made as an overnight infusion.

Now this next one is Lobelia. Strong plant, it's, it's not the easiest to find, but I'm sure you can find it. If you look around, I believe that Herbalists and ALCHEMIST make Lobelia. So this is, yeah, this is one type of Lobelia. There's also Lobelia. Inflata, and that one, this is a picture of the flower but the Lobelia. In Florida, when you see the actual seed head, it's like a little balloon, and you can actually pop it in the seeds pop out. It's very satisfying.

This is actually from the old eclectics from the turn of the century in the early 1900s; the late 1800s talked about this as being the herb of the second brain and that when you can't make decisions, Lobelia will help make those decisions for you, which is pretty incredible. One of the ways it does that is it actually increases serotonin production in the gut. And we know that we have a nervous system in the brain, but we also have a whole nervous system in the gut. So yeah, here's the Lobelia inflata, and you can see those little, those little pods there.

So as a second activator for this second nervous system, the enteric nervous system of the gut, you know, we actually can be assisted in making choices. I think sometimes, with addiction, we can just get overwhelmed, we can get choice paralysis, or we can get overwhelmed by the amount of choices and, and by all the responsibilities, and so Lobelia is a plant that can help us step into that second brain and that more grounded brain, the more guttural instinct of, like, okay, let me check in how am I feeling? What do I need and actually be able to recognize what is going on in that moment and be able to rationally think, stop and think is something we sound al-anon Like think about it before you do something.

The other interesting thing about this plant is that it has a compound in it called lobalein, which plugs the same nicotinic receptors as nicotine in tobacco. So this plant actually works on the nicotinic receptor system, kind of like the cannabinoid system that cannabis works on. So it has this amazing ability to both like what nicotine does, which is why it's so addictive, is that it puts the gas on the sympathetic nervous system, and it puts the brakes on the parasympathetic. So we get this sort of like stop and go at the same time. So people really like that it's like I'm up, but I'm relaxed.

Lobelia does that for the central nervous system; it plugs those receptors without having the addictive factor because it actually plugs those receptor sites less intensely as nicotine does. But it gives you that same feeling of, like, I used to smoke cigarettes, I worked in restaurants for a long time in college and, and I just remember, you know, go out for a smoke break, and I love smoking not only for the ritual, love it, and the fact that I didn't have to work for five minutes but also because I felt like I was more alert, but I was also more relaxed.

So this herb can help give us that stop and go at the same time so that we can actually stop and think and figure out what our next step is. It's also a lung tonic; I use this one a lot. I call it my wingman herb for people that are coming through different addictions to have in their pocket to take drop doses of when they are having cravings or they're having withdrawal symptoms, especially from nicotine if you're a smoker; this is a great one to help with those withdrawal symptoms. But it can also be used for other substances as well.

It can cleanse the lungs, opens the lungs, and has a great affinity to the lungs. And that's part of the signature of those little balloon air sacs. So I really love this one. Now if you are in recovery from alcohol and you don't want to take it as a tincture, you don't want to have that exposure to alcohol. Your best bet is to put maybe five to six drops in some hot water and let it sit for a few minutes to evaporate the alcohol, and then you can drink it, and you'll know it's there because that very acrid taste that knocks your socks off, which is part of the part of how it works, which is it kind of shocks your system into a bit of a reset. I gave it to my dad when he was quitting smoking. It actually really helped him. He said the taste is so good awful; I couldn't even think about sticking a cigarette in my mouth, which is one way of getting there. But I think it also just shocks your system. So you think, what am I doing next? And it lingers. So it kind of helps you stay in that very present zone.

Adam Elenbaas
Well, thank you so much. I want to just, you know, on behalf of all of us listening, we just so appreciate your wisdom and the way that you talk about plants, your passion for the subject, and your wisdom when it comes to working with people who have come from families where addiction, the trauma from patterns of addiction are present, or individuals in recovery, or, you know, dealing with addiction, that you've done a really nice job of weaving the wisdom of plants into helping people with the reality of addiction. So we just really appreciate having you here.

I also want to mention, just on an astrological level, you hear these signatures and birth charts, and you can think to yourself, Am I just doomed? You know, if you see these signatures in the chart, and like, again, they're not prescriptions, they're just patterns that will often indicate things, but not always. The other thing to remember is that you know, life from the astrological perspective is like a 3D moving chessboard; know that there are parameters, there are rules, there's a field of karma. And we have a destiny of sorts and outlines, shapes, and patterns that we will encounter.

But there's so much free will, choice, and creative potential within each of us. How will we meet these challenges? What meaning will we make from them? How will we transform? How will we heal? So in hearing these patterns and ways of identifying patterns, I don't want people to think that you are a prisoner of some kind of bad lot in life. You know, both Ashley and I, as people who have done a lot of work on ourselves and really believe in the potential to transform ourselves and anyone, that everyone has that same potential.

So we hope that this would be interesting for people who have been asking questions to me about how you can identify patterns of addiction and families or individuals in the birth chart. But also, as you would leave here, feeling empowered that your choices matter, your choice to live a different reality, the courage to ask for help. And knowing that there are plants out there who you can literally work with to help ease yourself along the way. We hope that that's what you've heard today, and yeah, thank you again, Ashley, just so much for being here.

Ashley
Oh, it's such a pleasure. I mean, this is a subject that is just so close to me, and I think the more people that hear this and that, yeah, find allies that they can work with, the better off we'll be as a planetary community.

Adam Elenbaas
Yeah, plants, I think, you know, one of the things that I realized when I went to the Amazon was that you know, plants are, in many ways, like elders on the planet. I just love how you always bring that perspective, whether we're gardening, which I'm learning more about, or actively getting involved in the community garden; I will try to maybe post some pictures on the community board for you guys to see that. But you embody that love and respect for the plant wisdom.

So yeah, thanks again for being here. Thank you, everybody, for listening. We appreciate all of you, and please don't forget to like and subscribe and share your own reflections and comments. We'd love to hear from you guys. If you want to find a transcript of today's talk, it's on the website nightlightastrology.com Any questions about the upcoming programs or anything else we're offering? Email us its info@nightlightastrology.com. That's it for today. Thanks, everyone. Bye.