Grabbed: When the Gods Explode into Our Lives

Hey everyone. This is Adam Elenbaas from Nightlight Astrology [https://nightlightastrology.com/]. Today I'm going to take some time out to share the stories that you have been sending to us over the past couple of months. We're going to be looking at some stories that you all shared, a whole bunch of them that came in around the Mars opposition to Pluto and throughout Mars's retrograde thus far in the sign of Cancer.

If you're not familiar with the storytelling episodes, if you're new to the channel, we call this series "Grabbed," and I'll tell you more about why we call it that, and how you can also submit a story for a future storytelling episode. We also share some of these in our monthly overview. Whitney, Alexandra, and myself will read some of the stories that you share in those episodes as well. But yeah, some really nice stories to share today.

I think it's really important to do this from time to time because we can learn so much about astrology and astrological transits, not just by constantly talking about what they will bring, but also reflecting upon what they brought and what we learned from what they brought. This is a key way in which astrology becomes more personal and more meaningful to us. So I really enjoy telling stories from my life and also celebrating the stories and the ways in which the planets are showing up in your lives.

So that's what we're going to do today. Before we get into it, don't forget to like and subscribe. Really appreciate all of you who have been helping us grow the channel in recent months, and we're trying to get to our goal of 80,000 subscribers by the spring equinox. We are just about 74,000 subscribers right now, so it's about a 6,000-subscriber push that we're trying to make in the next couple of months. If you want to be a part of that, click subscribe. It's free to do so, and it really does help us. We appreciate it.

You can find transcripts of any of these daily talks on the website, which is NightlightAstrology.com. I'm going to take you over there right now because we are starting to promote some of the new webinars that are coming up. So let's go over to NightlightAstrology.com. If you go there and you click on the events page, go to live talks, you will see that on February 20, I'm giving a talk on Venus Retrogrades. It's called "Venus Through the Fire: Unlocking the Mysteries and Magic of Venus Retrograde."

This is going to be a great class for those of you who want to learn more about Venus Retrogrades and the symbolism of each of the unique stages and phases of the Venus Synodic Cycle with the Sun. We're also going to be looking at the upcoming Venus Retrograde in Aries in a little bit more depth during this talk. So that's coming up in March. This is a good way to prep for that. It's February 20, from 7 to 9 PM. When you register, you'll get the link to attend live. And if you can't attend live, you get the recording afterward. So even if you can't make it live, you can certainly watch or listen on your own time.

Then you'll see there are webinars coming up in March and April. In March, we're going to be taking a look at the third house, and that was called "The Temple of the Moon: Why It's a Rather Mysterious House." We're going to talk about why it is connected to the Moon in ancient astrology during that talk, and how you can learn and get more out of the third house understanding of your own birth chart. And then in April, I'll be giving a talk on essential dignities and why people should stop hating them and try to understand them because they have really specific and amazing uses.

Anyway, that's the news and announcements coming up. What I want to do now is take a look at what you have been going through in recent months and share some of your stories. So if you're new to the channel, or if you've never heard about this before, we use the hashtag #grabbed in the comments section to share stories. The reason we use this is that one of the names for the planets in ancient Indian astrology was "Graha," which means "grabber." It can also mean "to grasp."

It has a dual meaning with respect to the role that the planets play in our lives as administrators of fate or karma. In the realm of ignorance and unconsciousness, the planets have a way of grabbing us. Right? We are constantly being grabbed and almost puppeteered by the planets, especially to the extent that we don't have a practice of awareness in our lives and of consciousness, of cultivating a conscious relationship to things. Then we're being moved along rather unconsciously, and the planets have this way of sort of grabbing us.

But when we reflect upon the planets and keep an active, conscious awareness of them in our lives, it is as though the planets become the means by which we grasp and understand truth. And so this kind of double meaning is really important to the way that we understand planets and the way we understand astrology itself. We want to have a conscious, healthy relationship to the planets, even if they're going to show up in ways that are unexpected and sometimes grab us. We want to then grasp what they're saying.

We want to cultivate an awareness of the planets as our teachers, as our guides, as opposed to things that are just kind of unconsciously moving things around on a mechanistic board, which is the experience we have. It's a kind of objectifying experience of life that we have when we don't stay in conscious contact with the planets, which is the whole purpose of this channel and this as a spiritual practice in our lives—astrology.

So if you ever have a story to share, all of the stories that I'm reading today from all of you around some recent Mars transits, they come through people using the hashtag #grabbed and then naming the transit and telling us a brief, concise story in the comments section, or emailing us your story to grabbed@nightlightastrology.com. Don't share anything that you don't want us sharing in one of these episodes. We don't use your name, and I really don't like it when people send a ton of astrological jargon and details about your chart. Just tell us the transit and tell us your story as simply and concisely as possible. Those make for the best stories for me to share.

Anyway, much appreciation to all of you who shared some stories. And these two come from the Mars opposition to Pluto. Right, the Mars opposition to Pluto, which occurred—was it right around January 3? So that Mars opposition to Pluto, that was a really big deal. And it also occurred through an earlier transit in the autumn. So I'm going to go back in time a little bit here. And so we had the beginning of January. It was Mars Retrograde in Leo, opposite Pluto. But we also had Mars at 29 Cancer opposing Pluto around November 3.

So we've had several Mars oppositions to Pluto. We have one more coming up in the spring after Mars goes direct and back into Leo. That won't be until late April, early May, off the top of my head. But anyway, so the other thing that people have been generally commenting on in this series of stories that I'm sharing or sharing their stories has been the Mars Retrograde. Mars retrograded around the early part of December, was like the eighth or ninth, something like that. And Mars's retrograde has been going on since then, backing into Cancer in the early part of the new year.

So we've got some stories to share from Mars's retrograde in Cancer, and two oppositions from Mars and Pluto. And I thought, you know what? These have been such big transits for so many people. Many people. Let's focus our storytelling episode on those. There's some really, I mean, easily, the most vivid stories that I archived for us over the past couple of months were from the Mars-Pluto transit and from the Mars Retrograde. So that's what I'm focusing on today.

As you all know, I choose different transits each episode to focus on. So next time, we'll do something else. And you can also—we always end up using four or five #grabbed stories from the previous month in each new month's astrological overview. Whitney, Alexandra, and myself will read some of your stories there as well. So on that note, let me now tell you some of the stories that you all shared from Mars-Pluto's opposition. We'll start there, and then we'll move into the retrograde.

Now, these are all varied, but remember, these are Mars stories today, so they're a little intense. Here's one that I thought was so powerful: "On the day of the exact Mars-Pluto opposition, firefighters knocked on our door, and we had to be evacuated due to a broken gas tank in the neighborhood. We spent the day at the fire station, then we were able to return home, and then the gas problem persisted for several days, and people were setting off fireworks nearby on New Year's Day. This was with Pluto transiting through their fourth house and Mars in the 10th."

Yeah, you don't—it doesn't get more scary than that, like explosions, being displaced from your home, going to a fire station. The Mars-Pluto thing, of course, occurred, as did the retrograde with the fires in LA and that. So this story also mirrors what a lot of people ended up experiencing around Mars-Pluto and then the backing into Cancer, with displacement, destruction of homes. That's a very Mars and Cancer theme.

Here's another one: "Yesterday, I was having dinner at McDonald's and noticed someone who had schizophrenia sitting in front of me. He was playing death metal on his phone. He started talking to himself. He was discussing with himself something that was highly anti-Semitic. I won't bring up the details, and it was definitely offensive. I don't think he understood what he was doing because he was clearly not well."

I'm sure this person doesn't know for sure if this individual had schizophrenia or not, but obviously, they're seeing someone who's not well, not stable. "I finished my dinner and headed towards the trash to dispose of my meal. When I did so, I noticed two members of the Church of Latter-Day Saints. They even had their name tags on. Even more, they were sitting directly behind me, opposite the young man who was not well. It was literally Mars opposite Pluto. One of them was in front of me, the other was behind me."

That's fascinating. I mean, for one thing, I just think that there's tremendous value in being able to identify a planetary transit in a mundane place and setting, like eating your dinner at a restaurant. And if you notice that there is, you know, kind of intense Mars-Pluto dynamic sitting right around you for the day, because you're bringing an awareness of an enchanted cosmos into your experience. And that enchanted cosmos is there. It's right there all the time. All we have to do is develop the eyes and the heart to see it and experience it.

And that doesn't necessarily mean that there won't be some stressful, very interesting situations we find ourselves in, but it helps to know that we're living amidst the gods, right? Hi. All. Appreciate your channel so much. It's really been helping me. As of late, I kept meaning to send in my story. So this individual is having the Mars Retrograde going over their natal Moon in Cancer, and they said that their disabled brother, who is a diabetic, got a life-threatening infection during this, during the Mars-Pluto opposition, which, of course, was just a few—this is the Cancer-Capricorn opposition earlier, and that it was coming over their Moon, and then opposing Pluto.

So during that time, "my disabled brother, who is a diabetic, got a life-threatening infection. He almost died five separate times as the opposition between Mars in Cancer and Pluto in Capricorn occurred really close to their natal Moon. This has been one of the most emotional years of my life, and there's been a lot of family karma that has been brought up by my brother's sickness. It goes very deep—things of power or lack thereof within the family, male-female dynamics. There's been a constant up and down with his health. He's been in long-term care where he was neglected, and has now led to a second infection and sepsis. And needless to say, I'm very concerned about what will happen, but turning the jewel has helped me process what is going on."

Well, first of all, prayers to you and your family. As someone who has a son in Cancer and Moon in Capricorn, when Mars was going over those points at the same time, my sister got really sick. So I can totally understand where a health crisis in the family drags things up, and it's, yeah, it is very overwhelming to deal with. And yet, the fact that you're able to turn the jewel and see this as a sacred space, albeit a very difficult one, is exactly what astrology is there to help us do.

So good on you for having this in your life as a practice that can guide you through these difficult times, and may the gods be with you, and may your brother find healing as well. "Mars in my first house for this transit—this was the Mars opposite Pluto transit—and I had a super fun eczema breakout on my face and hands. Looks like I've been in a fight, and people are definitely giving me the side-eye in public."

Okay. Well, first of all, anytime Mars is in your first house, skin flare-ups, irritation, fever—like all the inflammatory Mars stuff—can affect the body, especially when Mars is in the first. And that's a great example of something very inflammatory, with Mars in Leo and a fire sign hitting an opposition to Pluto. It's amazing that we can see the planets in the midst of something as annoying as being side-eyed in public because of a flare-up of eczema.

I'm glad you have that for you to laugh and enjoy, because they put a laughing-crying emoji at the end of this. And I really appreciate that ability to find levity and absurdity in the midst of this magical cosmos that involves such trying situations. "When Mars made its first opposition to Pluto, I launched my paranormal podcast, and I've been publishing an episode every week. As Mars approached its second opposition to Pluto, my co-host shared with me that the podcast subject matter gave her nightmares, and she doesn't want to do it anymore. The podcast is doing really well and gaining more followers every week, so I plan on either continuing by myself or rotating various friends as co-hosts. We'll have to see what the third opposition brings. But it's been a very interesting manifestation of the fear theme."

Isn't that amazing? Yeah, Mars opposite Pluto can bring up confrontations with the dead or ghosts or the other world, or the underworld, and that subterranean space for some people is too much. I know I'm very sensitive too, so I can appreciate, you know, having to safeguard my well-being, and I could imagine someone else may have to. But other people, I don't know, their constitution is different, and they're able to deal with those subjects carefully without maybe it provoking nightmares or disease or whatever.

Yeah, that's a—it's fascinating that you're able to track that along the Mars-Pluto lines. I love the way you saw that. That was really cool. Here's another one: "Just as Mars went retrograde into Cancer in my ninth house—that's a place of higher education, learning, spirituality—I'm taking up your Year One course again with full vigor and determination. I had started it previously but had to pause because I was in the midst of finishing another course in agriculture. We moved house, started a business, learned how to manage the olive garden, produce oil, and many more things. I have never left astrology in that time, but now that things have calmed down, I'm back to finishing this course and hopefully going on to Year Two."

I can't believe that—first of all, that's awesome. Isn't it interesting how when a retrograde comes through, the opportunity to revisit something and complete something or resolve something from the past that maybe has been unresolved comes up? It's a beautiful, simple example of a retrograde. Here's someone else that says, "Two days after the ingress of Mars into Cancer, my son cut his finger. There was blood all over, and he completely freaked out."

Yeah, it's amazing how that simple, just that simple symbolism of cuts, bruises, nicks, dings that comes up when Mars retrogrades into its—you know, a place of instability, and it will hit a vulnerable place, like your children, or in your home or your kitchen, or something like that. This is another example. It's very similar: "As soon as Mars went into Cancer, we had two different occasions where hot boiling water shattered glass jars we were using in our home."

So Mars in Cancer. Isn't that amazing that you can see something so simple through the lens of astrology that's happening that seems like it has no meaning or relevance because it's just hot water and glass. But it's not when something like hot water and glass is more than just hot water and glass. That's what astrology brings into our life. And you don't often know what the meaning of this showing of symbolism is, but you know it's there.

It's as though you're just getting the hairs standing up on the back of your neck when all of a sudden you think of someone who passed away, and you can say they're here. There's something like that with astrology too, where a glass jar shatters with hot water. Mars is in Cancer. And you go, there are higher forces and intelligences, gods, angels, daimons—they're here. And even just that reminder, if not some kind of decoded meaning, is enough.

"I'm in my seventh decade, but I've still struggled with abuse I suffered as a child from a close family member. Learning about the connection with my natal Mars in Cancer during this retrograde is helping me process it in a healing way that I've never been able to do before. Thank you." Well, thank you. And isn't astrology amazing that under a Mars Retrograde in Cancer in your 70s, you can access an understanding of a trauma that has had a very hard time moving or shifting?

This is what astrology is for. There is a way in which we don't know until we know, or we're not ready until we're ready to heal, to let go, to understand something. But when we do, and we have an astrological symbol to mark that understanding or that healing by, it is a remarkable thing. It's like you're being given a little token. Like in 12-step groups, you've been here for a year, you know, you get a token saying you've been in the program for a year. You get five years of sobriety, you get a little token.

The association between a healing moment and a transit and that connection is like getting a token. That's how I think about it. Anyway, "When I was out on a walk around my neighborhood a few weeks ago, while Mars was going through my third house in Cancer—remember, the local neighborhood being the third house—I found a butter knife on the street, pointy knife full-looking like in their direction, and I completely forgot about it. And then yesterday, I went out for a walk again, totally different part of the neighborhood. This is now while Mars is retrograde. So the initial butter knife was found while Mars was going direct through the third house in Cancer. They go out for a walk in the neighborhood, totally different part of the neighborhood, and there was a different butter knife again at their feet, but pointy side facing out rather than at them. I mean, what? That's crazy. How literal is that example?"

Yeah, and isn't it amazing that there were two butter knives, two totally different places in the neighborhood, one pointing at you, the other pointed away, while Mars was direct and retrograde. What is that doing, if not the gods giving you a little sign? Yes, this is all real—real in a completely different order of reality. Real on a different level. Is it literally real? Not really. Is it symbolically real? Yes. And what is that symbolic level of reality? Why don't we give it enough attention? Why don't we take it more seriously?

I think that those kinds of examples are little winks from the gods saying, this is a system of signs and omens and instruction and guidance that has a purpose in your life. "The day Mars retrograded back into Cancer, my husband and I had two heavy, painful, illuminating conversations about our relationship. Each of us said some honest, vulnerable, and hurtful things. It's become clear, in order to protect our marriage and young kids, we both need to do some serious work alone and together. For the first time, separating seems a real possibility—not a foregone conclusion, certainly, but one of the potential outcomes. It's very sad. For your information, my Moon and his Sun are in Cancer."

Well, I'm really sorry to hear that. That must be really painful and confusing. And I'm sure also there's some sense that certain things need to happen. In my experience, doing hard things together, whether that means doing some things personally to grow and heal, doing some hard work therapeutically together—those are things that I think all successful relationships that I've ever known of go through periods like that. And so my hope is that you'll be able to figure things out.

Obviously, I've heard lots of stories over the years of counseling with astrology, of people who go through difficult transits, and it triggers healing, it triggers mediation and compromise, and, you know, negotiation. And those are meant to be mirrors for each other. On some level, we're meant to not just be enjoyable partners but also agents of change and growth for each other. And so my hope for you is that that will be the case, but even if you have to go your own separate ways, I hope that it is peaceful and healthy. So that's a hard one, though, and I'm sure all of our hearts are—everyone who's listening to this, I'm sure our hearts go out to you.

Now, the final story will end on a light note: "Mars retrograded back into Cancer this morning, into this person's eighth house, and I just had the worst explosive diarrhea in my 23 years of life. Like, not hyperbole at all. I'll spare you the details, but to suffice to say, there was a lot of carnage as I was fighting for my life on the porcelain throne. I thought to myself, is this the cosmos' way of saying, 'Happy Mars in Cancer, here, have a violent, watery outburst to tune into the moment as Mars re-entering my eighth house'? Maybe I was purging, cutting some karmic attachments through that experience, haha. Or perhaps my bowels have just gone through a death and rebirth experience and will emerge from the crisis transformed. I certainly feel light as a feather now. Thank you for reading this disgusting example of how transit has shown up in my daily life. Hopefully, whoever reads this was able to have a good laugh. Thank you for all you guys do. You're absolutely one of my favorite YouTube channels, content creators. I'm grateful for the opportunities you provide us to feel the pulse of the universe through astrology—and the pulse of the universe, even through poop. Let's be real."

Oh my god, that is so gnarly and totally appropriate. Interestingly, the eighth house is associated with the evacuation space in the human body, so that was a traditional medical designation associated with the eighth house. Anyway, wow. Whoa, that is. Well, let me tell you what these stories do for me and you guys. Know, if you watch these, I like to reconfigure what we just listened to in terms of the beautiful gift that astrology is in our lives, because that's cosmic shit, not just regular, mundane, explosive shit.

You have a totally different lens through which to view the absurdity of that situation because of astrology, and that is a gift. It's not just a marriage potentially falling apart or going through a healing crisis. It is a cosmic intervention when you can see the planets in the midst of what you're going through, and there is a trust that comes along with that that is profound. It's a butter knife from the gods, not just a random object. That is beautiful. It's a god inflamed in your skin, not just eczema. And there's something about that that causes us to stand in wonder and awe and like literal irritation. The gods get under our skins. They have to, otherwise life just isn't what it needs to be.

Somehow, it's generational karma, and it's a moment of tremendous historical resolution that has a cosmic significance when you finally are able to get into some of the roots and let go of an old trauma from your family. It's not just hot water and breaking glass. It's planets exploding into your awareness, reminding you this is a sacred experience. It's not just a cut finger. It's an omen. It's not just a retrograde, it's a reinvigoration time to get back to my studies. It's not just an infection that your brother is having that is purely chaotic and unfortunate. It is a cosmic test and a meaningful cosmos that we have an opportunity to face with courage in our hearts and love.

It's not just a podcast, it's a transmission, and some people will be able to handle those topics, and they can literally invoke energies, and we can see that with the astrology. It's not just a broken gas tank. It's a reminder that the ground we stand on is tentative. It's as though many people experienced the reality of the burning bush—you take your sandals off on the ground of the numinous, sacred, and sometimes destructive powers of the gods in the universe, and it can remind us of how precious and sacred and vulnerable and fragile life is, and yet how strong and beautiful we are in our hearts too.

It's not just a broken gas tank. The ground we stand on is holy. It's not just a random encounter with intense people at McDonald's. It's a reminder that archetypal fields surround us and move through us. And for these reasons, I love astrology. Whether it is a broken glass in the kitchen or a marital intervention or whatever else is happening on any level, big or small, the universe has a way, when we walk astrologically through it, of reminding us that there's no mistakes here.

There is an embarrassment of riches when it comes to meaning and symbol and myth and metaphor, and life becomes so poetic, and our experience is so profound. And that does not whitewash or take away any of the existential angst or despair or doubt or confusion or pain or suffering. But it places it into a realm of cosmic significance. And in my mind, that's what most people long for. It's not tidy solutions, it's not pat answers, it's not even salvation. It's just a sense that this too belongs. This too has beautiful significance.

And all of these symbols were called significators, so I'll leave it there today. Thank you for listening. Thank you for sharing your stories. If you ever have a story to share, use the hashtag #grabbed. Tell us the transit. Tell us your story. Keep it concise, or email it to us at grabbed@nightlightastrology.com. We'll see you again tomorrow. Bye-bye.