In today’s episode of Radical Remembering, I’m joined by Stacyann Forrester, an astrologer and global traveler, to explore the concept of location independence and how it can serve as a path toward liberation. Stacyann shares how moving away from traditional ideas of security, structure, and attachment to a fixed location can lead to personal growth and authenticity.
We also tackle how our cultural backgrounds, and experiences living abroad, have shaped our perspectives on identity; Stacyann's journey to location independence; how astrology played a pivotal role in her journey; and how embracing an “outsider’s identity” has brought both challenges and growth.
Watch Radical Remembering: Season 2 Episode 10 and find inspiration on your journey towards liberation!
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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stacyannforrester/
Website: https://stacyannforrester.com/
Connect with Dr. Norissa
Living Liberated app: https://livingliberated.passion.io
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Radical Remembering is a podcast that covers personal growth, self-awareness and awareness of topics at the intersection of mental health, spirituality and self-help. Each episode will leave you with intimate knowledge of the liberation process, sprinkle a little healing magic, and leave you with wisdom for your journey into living out your purpose. Stay tuned for the next episode. Thank you for listening to the Radical Remembering podcast! Listen to our next podcast and tell a friend about us.
TRANSCRIPT
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Welcome to Radical Remembering with psychologist Dr. Norissa Williams. This is a weekly conversation where we explore ways we've internalized oppression and consider what it really means to live liberated. Each episode would leave you with intimate knowledge of the liberation process, sprinkle a little healing magic, and leave you with wisdom for your journey. As you get settled in for today's episode, please make sure to like and subscribe. And if you've liked what you heard at the end, please share.
Welcome to another episode of Radical Remembering. We have Stacyann Forrester here with us. Welcome, Stacyann. Hi, Dr. Norissa. Good to be here.
Thank you. So do you mind sharing? I know you have such a diverse background, and I know that you are an astrologer right now. Would you mind sharing a little bit about yourself? Yeah. So I was trained as a scientist, a biomedical scientist.
So, that's what I have my master's in. I also studied nutritional sciences. And, I spent most of my working career in global health and international development. And, that's where I thought it would be for the rest of my career. But life happens and astrology I rediscovered my connection to astrology because I've always always had a connection with it, but never thought it would be a career.
Uh-huh. So yeah. Yeah. So one of the reasons why I invited you on well, one, I think we can go down many avenues. I love astrology.
I love thinking about how astrology, in my opinion, brings you, like, into right relationship with yourself because once you start realizing, oh, you know what I mean? Like, this is the reason why I have this challenge and this challenge is because I have these energies or whatever. So I love astrology for those reasons. It's a good mirror. Yeah.
It's a great mirror to really see yourself and to separate the aspects of self that, you know, were put on you by other people, by society, versus, you know, a more pure and and then I hate that word but because is it really? Right. Because we are still made up of our environment, how we were raised. And so that still gets in there. But it is definitely a good mirror to better understand yourself.
So it's a great tool for self awareness. Absolutely. Good. So I'll definitely wanna talk about that too still a little bit more later. But another reason that I invited you is because I'm so intrigued by your independent lifestyle, your location independent lifestyle.
And so I met Stacyann cup couple months ago, more than 6 months ago. And you were in Bali living in Bali at the time, and I was like, woah. Wow. Right? And so, you're someplace different now.
So you're location independent, and we're not having this conversation because we think everyone should be location independent and those kinds of things. But I love the willingness and the actual action of just moving away from how we're socialized to be, which is safety, security, being attached to a land space, and what what have you. So can you share a little bit about that journey with us? Absolutely. And it is a journey.
Right? And I would be the first person to say that I love security too. I love structure. I did the path that most people would think, wow. You got it made.
Like, why would you ever wanna change? Like, you know, I I went to university. I got my degrees and, you know, I I I had a good lifestyle in Northern California. However, I wanted more. I definitely wanted more.
So I say that to say that I get that and I'm still working through what that different way will look like for me and always trying to be more and more authentic to myself. But it's never done for me because definitely, I think there's more in society that supports being like everyone else or being safe and secure. And I get it because, like, life is very scary sometimes. So in terms of my journey, I've always wanted to live a life where I lived half the time in the US, half the time somewhere abroad. Like I said before, I spent most of my career in global health and international development and I thought that career would be the way that I would get that lifestyle, but it didn't quite work out that way for me for many different reasons.
So I've had to choose this life, consciously. It just didn't happen. I had to make it happen for myself and I'm so glad that I did. And so back in 2020 during the pandemic, we're all, you know, shut in our apartments and homes and I had the ability to reassess how life is going for me. I was also having really strong transits of Pluto.
So if you know anything about astrology, Pluto is all about transformation. And it's a once in a lifetime transit to my Sun and anyone who has Sun in Capricorn. Like I have been going through that. And so it looked like life was telling me something major had to change. And there are other trends too that are happening, in my chart that also indicated, yeah, something big has to change here for you.
And astrology just helps you understand what that is so you could have information to make those choices instead of letting life just kind of happen. So in 2020, I was able to connect with various different communities, communities that are, like, expats, mostly Westerners living abroad or digital nomads, people who are working and traveling. And I saw what they were doing, and it was like, okay. This is possible. There are people doing it, and there are people doing it in, like, the scariest moment in recent global history.
Right? So it was very inspiring to see that happening. And I just educated myself about what they were doing and how and made a decision that it was something that I wanted to actually do. And I made a plan to do it but it wasn't until March 2022 that I actually did it. So, I've been traveling now for 2 years and working.
So mostly because people really ask me, so what are you doing? So I've had my astrology business for 6 years now. So when I had my full time regular regular job, I started my business on the side in 2018 and I did get it to a place where I'm like, okay, I think this could support me. And so, the intention in 2022 when I first took off was to, you know, put myself in my business full time and really go for it and really take a big risk and also travel. Love travel.
I've never gotten to travel in this way, but I have lived abroad before. I lived abroad in Quito, Ecuador, in 2009, 2010. So I knew it was something that I could do. I always say travel is, like, the easy part for me. Now my big learnings come through my business and developing my business.
You know, we all have the things in our life that are challenging and being aware of what that is for you is a great way to engage in it. So that's my journey so far. And now I'm in Istanbul, Turkey. Oh, wow. Wow.
Nice. Nice. Nice. I love it. So many questions.
Okay. So when you had this first inspiration, right, so you're seeing the digital nomads or whatever. You had this first inspiration. Were there still your family in Northern California? Like, did you have, like, like, your family base there or were they elsewhere?
No. And, you know, and that's also a big piece of why, it's an easier choice for me and my personality. My family, they're based in New York, Long Island. That's where I grew up. That makes sense.
And I've lived in California and then the Washington DC area. So I've always lived away from my family. And so I don't have that kind of familial structure where I would feel really sad if, you know, I didn't see my family every day. I know that would that's an issue for a lot of people but it wasn't for me. Because I just tend to live away from that family of origin.
Were you born in the US? No. I'm Jamaican. Okay. I I thought so too.
And I because I think that has something to do with it too in terms of when I studied abroad when I was, like, in undergrad, it was radical in the sense that I didn't have an example when I I went to study in Ghana. Right? It was radical in the sense that I didn't have an example. No one else I knew was doing this in their undergraduate program or, you know, I saw a poster on a board, and I followed it. But I do know what helped what lent itself to me was the fact that very, very few of my family from Trinidad was right here in the US.
Right? And so there was this, you know Oh. This ability to be like we've been disconnected. You know? And so this ability to go and come and to go and come, that lent itself to me as well.
Yeah. Yeah. And I don't know if you felt this traveling or maybe your time in Ghana, but there's something about when you are born somewhere else. I call it, like, a 3rd culture kid. Like, if you're born somewhere else, but then you grew up and you live in another country.
And then when you travel, it's like I feel I feel more American when I travel than when I'm actually living in the States. Yeah. And I've I've I've spoken to other people who could come from other cultures, and they've had the similar experience. So it does make it easy, but I do see my edges and where, wow, I am truly Yeah. For good or bad, I'm truly, I'm I'm I'm truly, like, raised in that western culture.
Yeah. You can't believe that. I did have that experience because I very much even though I was born here in the US, right, but grew up in Flatbush, which was very trendy, very Caribbean, and then before moving to Long Island. And I was so immersed in the culture that you asked me, I'm Trinidadian. What?
You know? And it wasn't until I went to Ghana that I was like, I'm very American. I'm very, very American. And then I embrace more of a hybrid identity that I'm a Trinidadian American. Yeah.
Because both are true. Both are true. But, yeah, it was when I travel that I'm like, oh, oh, this you know? And all And how do you and I feel like I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm so grateful. Yeah.
That I'm not. I wasn't, you know, born in the US. Like, there's I have a wider perspective on things that maybe you do too because of being raised in a treaty family. Like, I just I'm so grateful. I'm so glad that's how life turned out for me because there's a space that I like to be in that's kind of as an outsider. It's very much part of my identity.
And as I travel, I'm definitely an outsider to these countries and cultures that I find myself in. And it's been interesting because that identity could also be a bit negative and shadow is the shadow aspect of that too. Yeah. But I'm just in a time of my life where I've been embracing that identity of the outsider. It's been wonderful.
I do have that experience of feeling like an outsider. I do have that experience of feeling like an outsider. One caveat to it, though, is what it is to have been born in America because so you have, like you can say, like, well, I was born in Jamaica.
Right? So when you go home, yeah, they still look at you and say, oh, you're you're, yeah, you're you're, Jamaican or you're a Yankee or whatever. But Yeah. Yeah. But you know you were born there, so I am Jamaican.
Right? So Yeah. It's really something that happens when you are born here outside of your culture. Like, you're really dismissed as, like, you're American. Even my grandma my not my grandmother.
My mother definitely looks at me and my sister. Like, y'all are American. And I'm like, how could I be like, how could I ever be fully any one thing when I was very like, my first music was so good. My fur you know what I mean? All those kinds of things.
So my relationship with being an outsider, yes, it's something that I embrace because it has helped me to develop a critical lens through which I experienced the world. And that, like, you're as you're saying, for better or for worse. Right? So I can see things. Yeah. In a different ways having been from the outside.
My personality as an introvert lends itself to that as well. And so that the shadow aspect of that has been and I'm trying to think. Is it over? I think I'm still working through it in certain aspects of my life. Yeah.
Right. Of just being totally okay. Like, particularly with my relationship with my ancestors, I had this conversation with them, and they were like, we were always traveling. Like, we were always traveling. We went from here to here to here to here, and that experience has always been our way.
You know what I mean? And so right? And so that's that . Yeah. You know, what am I trying to say? Yet and still, like, doing that root chakra kinda work for myself to feel more grounded helps me feel I'm not saying anything really meaningful right now, but what are you trying to say?
You say? So you are, and I'm trying my best not to because when I get excited, I interrupt. And so I'm holding myself back because, like, because I want you to finish your sentence and your thoughts. But what sparked in me was around like, I know I I know, like, in my bones that there was someone like me in my ancestry. Yeah.
I don't know their names. Yeah. I can't I can't ask my mom or dad about it because, like, they don't know. Like If you enjoy listening to Radical Remembering and would love to get the season dropped before everyone else, if you want exclusive invites to live and virtual events and could benefit from daily liberation inspiration, like affirmations, thought provoking questions, and daily guidance, then download our free app, Living Liberated, in the app store or on Google Play. You can also find the link below in the description box.
But it's like I know I'm not the first. Yeah. But if it does it is a bit lonely when you kind of, like, look around it, like, you know, the your, your family that is currently around. And I know it was somewhere back in the line or maybe even more recent. It's just I don't have the connection that you have yet, But that's part of what I hope to reclaim in the future.
Like, that connection with the person that was like me. Yes. And, like, fully gets what I'm doing. My family does not not get like, when you immigrate to a different country, you're leaving for a reason. And so to to leave the state even like, I'm not leaving permanently or anything.
It's but still, I think it's still, like, why would you wanna do that? Yeah. But yeah. But I know that there's someone like me, and they're somewhere around, but I can't really. Yeah.
You know, what I what I found out in somewhere in the last 5 years or so so I have a a great great great I don't know how many greats grandmother. Right? And so even in my recent ancestry, there has been movement, right, in the sense that there were a lot of people in Grenada that are on both of my sides, lineages, maternal and paternal, that ended up in Trinidad. Right? And there were some people in my lineage also who were in America, fought in the war of 18 12, and when they got their independence, they went to Trinidad.
Right? There were also people but there is this one particular grandmother that I think of when I'm hearing you saying that there's this one. She didn't move. She went to Grenada as a dancer, so she wasn't even enslaved. She went by choice to be a dancer.
The other part of that is still like, oh, but you were still dancing for Europeans. Right? But she went by choice to come. You know what I mean? And she was in, oh my god.
Why am I forgetting the name of the island off of Grenada right now? Starts with a c. Whatever. So she is not from Cuba. Carrot not Carrot.
Wait. Hold on. I don't know why it's escaping me. It's not caraco. It's like a It's not caracou.
It's not caracou. French. Maybe it's caracou, I think. I don't know. So y'all It's French.
Yeah. Yeah. So yeah. It's not that big caracou, but it's the small one off of Granada. And so she was there, and she was a dancer.
And from there, when, you know, across some generations, they ended up moving to Grenada. Right? So even that. Right? So to pick up and to say, I wanna Yeah.
Go and do so we don't know our history. It's a lot it's not Yeah. Or I'm glad that one was carried over. I mean, I don't it's not a problem with that, and I don't know them as well. Yeah.
Somehow it got to me, and I value that story and that grandmother. And the stories are important. Yeah. And it's important just to connect to the thread around the identity of being an outsider. But the outsider that also wants to belong and belonging is important and community is to feel super important to me.
Even though I am very independent, I want to serve a community in that sense too. So having those stories be okay like it just creates a belonging. Like oh yeah you 2 fit here even if there aren't any recent examples of your kind of story. Right. That's amazing that you do have that.
The keyword that you said there was choice. Choice. Yeah. I think a lot of times our stories and not just as black people, but other peoples, like, they you know, usually, you're leaving a place maybe because of war or a possibility. Like, you're leaving something horrific.
Right? But to move to, like, to leave war a choice or something positive Yeah. I think it's those stories we like I want to reconnect to. Yeah. That it's not it doesn't always have to be because of something negative or bad happened.
So you're choosing to like to go somewhere else or leave or so yeah. Yeah. That's the positivity around. Yeah. It's just a choice.
And like any other choice, you can stay. It's still a choice and that's okay too. Right. Yeah. So how do you travel solo, or are you traveling with someone solo?
How do you fill your community needs or your social needs? Do you just make friends, or, like, what do you do? Yeah. So that is a big piece of my travel experience having to focus on that a lot more. You take it for granted when you go to work every day, at a job with people in the community or you have family.
So, I do have to work harder because I am a solo traveler to make new friends everywhere I show up. What's been helpful recently is that I joined co-working spaces. Okay. And usually there's a local community around those co working spaces. Like this, this morning, I went to work at a place called Impact Hub, and they're a global co working space and really connected to whatever city they're in, the business development that impacts, you know, for good social mission driven businesses.
And so, I went there this morning and I connected to some, some local people or there's a lot of I. I tend to stick to big cities if I can. Mhmm. It just stayed a little bit easier. I think in my experience, beach towns or smaller towns tend to be quieter, not a lot going for it. So it's harder to, especially if you don't know the language, to connect.
And I also connect with a lot of other Westerners who are traveling. I do a lot of Airbnb experiences that have me like touring the city and then I meet travelers who are participating in that tour as well. But I do have to work at it. Like, it just doesn't happen. And so that's, like, 50% of the work is, like, me making connections wherever I go. Interesting.
And doing my best to stay connected to the people that I've, that I previously connected with. And that's another thing that's also challenging. It's not it's not easy. But I enjoy it. I enjoy every opportunity to be around someone who's new and different from me.
Yeah. I love that. It is so because you strike you don't strike me as, like, an extrovert, someone who's just, like, out of the world. Okay. So I mean, I'm very introverted.
Okay. Yeah. But I would say that I like people. That's what I have to say because I've found out within the last, like, 3 years that some people think introversion means you hate people. Right.
Which is never something I thought, but it kept happening over and over where people would say, like, oh, I I'm I'm introverted, but I like people. I'm like, oh, maybe I need to start saying that too because I I I do. It's just, I also like it's a scientist in me that likes to observe culture and people and communicate. And so there's a lot of like thinking about my experiences and that makes me a little bit, more, internal. Yeah.
But I definitely enjoy connecting with people. So yeah. But I don't think introversion doesn't make it harder. Okay. For me I think what makes it harder is language.
Yeah. Especially if I'm in a community where I don't really see a ton of other westerners, and it's just local people. Like, the neighborhood I'm in now, it's very it's a very local neighborhood. It's very cool. Very Brooklyn-like, by the way.
Nice. Yeah. And just lots of good people watching. Lots of really cool young people around, but I just can't communicate as easily. Right.
Yeah. I think some people do know English as well, but I think the language is more the barrier than actually being introverted Right. Or shy. Right. Yeah.
Like, I'm a different person traveling than what I, you know, when I'm, you know, back in the US. And, you know, and I I asked about introversion because I think you're right that people have a misconception about what introversion is. Introversion really speaks to where you get your energy. I get my energy. I am charged when I have these quiet moments to myself when I like you said, you're thinking about the experience about you know all those things.
And so the introvert is also more sensitive to their environment so they are more stimulated in a way that's different from an extrovert or I mean I mean and it's also a spectrum because we could be more ambivert, which is, like, kinda in between both of them. But they're introverts. Believe it or not, there are studies that have tested different kinds of stimuli, even, like, lemon drops. Lemon drops, the introvert is more likely to be like and to have, like, that kind of response to it than the introvert because they're more sensitive to stimuli. And so that goes also for social surroundings and people in those social surroundings. And so for an inch an introvert enjoys deeper, richer connections and it's more stressful to have small talk.
You know what I mean? So I was thinking about that, but also from this great book I read, called Platonic by doctor Marissa Franco that talks about friendships and stuff like that. She talks about, you know, where people are likely actually, I just think this was probably in one of her newsletters, where people are likely to meet people. And it's just like this, like, in traveling because you're meeting people at very specific transition points. And so there's a depth that you drop into quicker than if you were at the bus station in Brooklyn somewhere.
Absolutely. So I could see I could see thinking seeing it through your lens, how you just painted it, I can see how that would be true and and not as much of a challenge because Mhmm. We're having meaningful conversations. Yeah. Yeah.
And I think people are open to having those meaningful conversations if they know, like, oh, wait. Maybe I would never see this person. Yeah. Again ever. So let me let me drop my guard down. Let me be real, have a connection.
And people are looking for for that because then, you know, it just I don't like, when I feel connected to a place, it's not because of, like, any monument I see or, like, the sites or, I probably lead the most boring, travel lifestyle because my thing is just about the people and having the small talk. And it's like it's not about all the things that you could do. Like I've been in some places where I tell people like you probably on your 5 day vacation will probably see more than I did because like you know I'm balancing work as well. Yeah. But I was, like, just never that kind of a person, that kind of traveler.
Like, I'll do a few things, a few excursions, but I'm just like, what if I was born here in this country, in this city? How like, I'm you know, it's not a 100%, but I try to have, like, a normal normal experience as possible. So I just like the day to day, the TV, going to a cafe Yeah. Like, going grocery shopping. I just feel very bored.
So how do you choose? My husband and I like to travel like that. We get rental cars. We drive you know, as opposed to doing there's some things I'll do with a tour. Right? Yeah.
Yeah. No. I probably wouldn't get a rental car if it was just me, but because it's the both of us and sometimes the kids too, we would get a car. But how do you choose where you're going? Are you mapping this out well in advance, or are you like you got this notion like, you know what?
It's time, and then you get ready to move on? So it started off that way. Maybe my 1st year just to, like I'm a planner. I spend most of, like, my other career more of, like, a project manager and so just planning things, managing. So I did that for maybe my 1st 1st year.
Like, I know it's gonna start off in Mexico. I know it's gonna go to Colombia and then Peru. But after that, it just kind of was like, where else is calling to me? It's a little bit looser now. So there's that.
And then there's also the logistics of, because I'm still traveling via a tourist visa. So Okay. Logistically, where can I stay so that I could slowly travel? So, for Americans, like, Europe and the Schengen zone is a bit harder because you only get I say only which sounds like a lot of time for some people, but you get 90 days. And so you have to kinda travel quickly, and maybe you can't do as much because, you know, you're trying to be within that limit.
And so, you know, it is just Liberation is 100% about being in right relationship with our power. It's so easy from day to day to disconnect from our source and forget who we really are. On our app, Living Liberated, we have the tools to keep you plugged in. You'll find a library of affirmations, guided meditations, guided journeys, and tapping sequences to keep you in a state of alignment with who you really are. Topics range from self love, healthy relationships, activating our DNA, to guided journeys with your ancestors.
Download our free app, Living Liberated, and start your free 7 day trial now in the app store or Google play. You can also find the link for plugged in in the description box below. It's loose, but also logistically making sure I'm following all the visa requirements and rules properly, all that stuff. So right now, I have a vague sense that I'm gonna head back to South America at some point. I don't know.
And, usually, my planner self would have been on top of it, but I've you know, there's aspects of self that I just had to let go of, and that's been a part of it. Like, coming into more of a balance with it. Yeah. It was way too much. That's good.
That's good. Because I'm hearing, like, balance divine masculine, divine energy, your Capricorn energy with kinda, like, Cancer moon energy. Aries moon. I have Aries moon. Oh, right.
And when I said moon, I was just talking about the moon being the feminine, the sun being the masculine. The masculine. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
Yes. Yeah. Okay. And so where so you listed a few places. Where else have you been?
So after Peru, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bali, Vietnam, then back to Bali, Greece, Athens, and, oh, Italy. Italy was there. Italy before Thailand. And after Bali, Athens, Greece. Mhmm.
Now I'm in Istanbul, Turkey. Mhmm. And I'm headed to Croatia next but in another month or so. Okay. Not as far as I have Okay.
And the cons of any intentions? You said just not planned, but any intentions to go to, like, Ghana or The continent of Africa, I would love to go to, but I don't wanna experience that by myself. Uh-huh. I want to know it's gonna be a deep, rich experience. Yeah.
And I wanna be doing it without having to work. Yeah. I wanna allow more space and time for myself. Yeah. And so that's a different trip, and I think you know why.
Yeah. Yeah. So it's it's I've it's there. I want to go to Nigeria, Ghana, and Egypt. Mhmm.
Those are the 3 the top three right now. I just don't wanna be doing it while I'm also, like, balancing work. I wanna have spaciousness around it. Very well. And I do think that is something that I would do as a group.
Uh-huh. Like, that is definitely an experience I would be like, okay. I don't think I wanna do that by myself. Yeah. It's funny on this side to witness what that contemplation did in you.
You were like, you know, like, you got more, I don't know. I just heard an an intentionality, a connection. You know what I mean? Like, the way that if you had a friend that was more than just an associate and you wanted to be, like, so intentional about how you spent that time with that friend. You know?
I like hearing that. And I can there's so many reasons why Yeah. You can see the value in doing it that way. It's a special place, and I don't wanna have my first experience be a bad one. Yeah.
Yeah. And I think it's so easy. Like, for example, Portugal. I went to Portugal. I I backpacked around Europe after university, and Portugal was one of our stops.
We spent, like, maybe a week. I hated it. I thought I was gonna love it. I hated it. I agree.
This was in 2,005. Mhmm. And it has nothing to do with Portugal itself. It was the experience that I had at that time with the people and my own approach to travel or my own naiveness around, you know, the history and and a lot of other things to, like you know, that was my first time. I was traveling with a friend, but still, it's, like, my first travel experience.
And yeah. But it's still till this day. I'm like, if someone's like, let's go to Portugal, I just because I had a bad experience. And, like, I do think I owe Portugal another try. So, again, it's nothing against the country, but I do think we can have positive and negative experiences, and then that shades the whole Yeah.
You know, for many years to come. So, like, I wanna, like, make sure that I treat it with a lot of intention that I do have, you know, and, you know, I'll have whatever experience I need to have. Yes. But I also want it to be a positive one too. So it's not something that I'm just gonna do lightly.
Yeah. Yeah. That's good. Because I know that you're first , it could ruin you for the rest, like, for, yeah, for decades. Yeah.
Yeah. I I I can see that way. So I loved my experience in Ghana studying abroad so much that it's like even when I went to Egypt, right, it was like, oh, this is nice. Ghana. You know what I mean?
Yeah. And I've been 4 times at this point. And I wanted to go to Nigeria last summer, but it was just advised not to go at that time. Yeah. But Nigeria because a large part of my ancestry is Nigerian.
Ghanaian too, but more Nigerian. Mine mine too? Yeah. So yeah. So yeah.
So I don't know. I felt the reverence for it, and I love that you have that reverence for it. So now as we think about astrology, right, and think about your passion, we just touched a little bit in the beginning on why you Yeah. Astrology. Can I hear a little bit more about this passion you have?
I don't know if I mentioned, when I first got introduced to astrology. So I was, you know, 15 years old, and I was, like, feeling again, like, how am I part of this family? I'm very quiet and sensitive, empathic, and I'm in, like, a lot of loud Jamaican huge like, I have a huge extended family and, you probably know how that goes. And amazing people. I love my family, but I I didn't feel connected.
Mhmm. And I found an astrology book in my school's library, and it was like sun sign astrology. It's like a basic form of astrology. And because my birthday is January 20th, it's you know I didn't know what a cusp was or if it was a real thing but you know back then it said I was an Aquarius. And it said all these and that's the archetype of Aquarius too, not to feel like they belong.
And so it just spoke to me and I was like I understood. How am I so understood by this system, Mhmm. This ancient system, and I just don't feel understood by the people that birth me. And it was just it that does something to your mind and It does. It does.
I was hooked. I was hooked. I can't even say that. Just even hearing I mean, I'm an Aquarius moon. And and you saying that and thinking about our conversation just earlier, I'm like, oh, right.
That's why. So just I'm just affirming that, like, how affirming it could be because now even hearing that just now, miss Moon, I'm like, oh, because I know much about Aquarius, but I never heard about that part about not belonging or whatever. So it is so affirming. Sorry to interrupt, though. Yeah.
Yeah. It's very much part of you know, because part of their archetype too is to be a leader in that new innovative way, to do things differently, to be the, the rebel, to, you know, cause change, to be disruptive. And if you belong and everything's cozy and good, why would you disrupt that? Right. And so it's like, oh, it all makes sense why you would be born with a moon like that or for me so it wasn't until I got my chart actually done.
No. I was in my twenties until I got my chart done. And I'm actually a Capricorn, the sun, 29 degrees of Capricorn, but I am Aquarius rising. So that archetype is still a really important piece of my natal chart. Mhmm.
So so yeah. And by other things, I was probably Aquarius sun for most of that time period anyway. Because the planets keep moving. So yeah it's, it just really spoke to me and I didn't start to take actual lessons because I'm trained as an astrologer. Like, I studied, and I didn't start that until after my Saturn return, my first Saturn return.
And I don't know if your audience knows about the Saturn return. It's pretty popular nowadays, but I'll just explain quickly. Yeah. Because I think this is popular with the younger generation. Yeah.
Yeah. It's such a common language with people like 30 and under. Yeah. Because you don't know what's happening. They're turning them.
Yeah. You know? Right. We know people who listen, so let me quickly explain. Yes.
So, Saturn is a planet that we all have somewhere in our chart that speaks of, limitations. It speaks of maturation. It speaks of adulting. And so, it's like the hard stuff of, like, being in physical embodiment in the world. Like, that's Saturn.
And I love Saturn. Saturn's a great planetary body because of the energy of helping you get through challenges. Because if you have a Saturn, you can get through some of those hard things. And so every 28 to 30 years, Saturn makes its way back to the place where it was in your natal chart, and we call that your Saturn return. So if you live a long life, you get 2 Saturn Returns.
1 around like 20, 28, 29, 30, the next one around 58, 59, 60. And if you really live a long long life, you'll get one you know in your 90s but you know but we'll see. So definitely most people right now have first and second time returns. So the first one is you know, towards the end of your 20s and most of us, 20s is a time of life when we're like, I could be anything. The rail's my oyster.
That's, you know, when you go to university and you're studying interesting things, you're meeting new people, but Saturn comes around and you're like okay. Life isn't so open with endless possibilities. You realize that you're good at certain things and you're not good at other things. So life becomes more restricted, like you choose a path to go down. And one could say, it's that we're too late.
But, you know, if you wanted to be an Olympic gymnast, you kinda had to start training from when you're little. Right? There's certain things where, yeah, you just either have talent in it or you don't. And sadness is that very sobering, sobering, sobering planter energy. And so, usually that time you're making a lot of big decisions around your career, around marriage.
A lot of people get married around that time. Maybe you're having the first birth of a child. So a lot of these are like real adult things and so for me, I decided that I was no longer going to continue my career in global health and international development. So that was my sad return and I had mine in my 10th house of career. So it just made a lot of sense and just a lot of power dynamic issues that I had to face and deal with around that time made me make different choices in my life.
And so I don't know. I like to say I'm still a big deal in my life and so I would even though it's been many years now, I'm in my early forties, you know, I it was a really impactful sad return for me. And there are other people who have sad returns, and it's like when they reach a pinnacle point in their career. And so the sound return is not always bad, but for a lot of people, it is a hard time. It is very challenging, but it also could be a point of a lot of recognition just just depending on your chart.
I would love to. I didn't know what house mine was in, but at 28, 29, I left my first marriage. And I think it would probably on the outside, it may look abrupt, you know, but a woman never just leaves. A woman is, like, calculated, and, like, can I do this? Can I not?
Am I you know? So I left at 28 and started my doctoral program the same year, and those are those huge things that fall right under. And I had no idea about Saturn's return in the past, but it was the best thing in my life anyway. Yeah. So I actually even moved from Long Island to Queens at the I mean, that was probably because where I was going to school too in the Bronx.
Yeah. Yeah. It's a big shift, kinda. You know what I mean? Considering the closer proximity to my family and then you know?
Yeah. And one of Saturn's one of the words that go along with Saturn is commitments. Mhmm. And so you committed. And so it's a time that either you commit or you uncommit to those you know?
Yes. So you are uncommitted to a marriage, but you committed to your education, your doctoral degree. Yeah. And that's not a light thing. That's very Saturnian to be able to stick to.
Yeah. Education for over you know, that's that's a big deal. So Yeah. And it makes sense too because I also committed to my son. My son was, like, 2 at the time.
Right? So there was this commit I had to commit to say it's you and me. And I'm gonna you know what I mean? Like, I I had a recognition. Like, I changed your life drastically, so it's important to me to make sure that you're okay.
You know? And Yeah. My baby's in college now, so he's okay. And it it's it kind of provides the structure for the next 30 years until we get to that late fifties, early sixties where that structure gets demolished again, and we get to rethink which structures are leaving and which structures do we continue. So yeah.
And then it's like, okay. So do you. I'm really excited. I'm getting super excited about that 5860, that 2nd time returning. I I I worked with yeah. Because I'm just like it's so exciting because it's like about your legacy.
It's like because you may not have as much time Yeah. Forward as behind. Yeah. So you really are really making those big choices for, like, what do you wanna leave behind. Yeah.
Like, how do you wanna really like you if you have kids. Your kids are all grown up. They're they're doing their thing. Now what do you want? Mhmm.
So there's more selfishness too. With that second sound returning, I'm excited. That's good. That's good. It's exciting to me too.
Also, you don't look in your forties. I did not know. I thought I was, like, significantly older than you. That's a lot to be, like Thank you. Happy about.
It's the Aries I say it's the Aries moon. Oh, okay. Okay. So how do people do 1 on 1 reading still? Mhmm.
Yeah. How do people get in touch with you? We'll put that in the description box, but I don't know if you wanna share more. Yeah. On my website, stacyannforrester dotcom, you'll see how you can work with me.
I have, just single one on one consultations, and then I have longer term consultations for people who are going through, like, major change, major growth, and they wanna have regular contact with an astrologer. One of the things that I I noticed when, when I was seeking astrological support was, like, I would see an astrologer and then that was it, just one consultation. And so having, having the ability to offer a service where people can work with me over a period of time has always been something that I wanted to create, and now I've done it. And it's different from how I know many astrologists do work, but that's my Aquarius Rising team. I like it.
I like it. To be different. Yeah. So how would they say so when you say over time, would they see you, like, every 3 months or, like, how would that work? So they're different services.
The one that's my most popular one right now is called Illuminate, and that's it's working with me over 3 months, but we do, like, 5 sessions over that 3 months. So we space it out. Mhmm. But yeah. I like it.
I like it. I like that you're doing it differently and that people like you know what I found too? That the more connected I get to my, well, to my center, right, in my own spirituality, the more I am internally guided. Right? And they said that we are stardust.
Right? Internally guided. Right? And they said that we are stardust. Right?
And so the stars, the galaxies, the planets, the planet, all of it lives within us. So I'll find myself doing things and then later hear, like, oh, Moon is in Taurus. I'm like, oh, well, that makes sense. Right? You know?
So meaning, like but it's because of my connectedness to myself and that you have that internal, I guess, compass or guide that is aligned with the planets, with the stars, and different things like that that you have that guidance. Yet, and still, I really enjoy hearing, like, oh, well, of course, Mercury Mercury is in retrograde. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. And the lesser popular ones because now Mercury in retrograde is pretty popularly known. You know? Mhmm. So, yes, I appreciate that.
I appreciate that. Yeah. And I I I totally agree. I think whether we believe in it because I don't know if you if it's a belief could be. Whether or not you believe in astrology, it works.
You know? Like, they're all we're connected to each other. We're connected to the Earth. We're connected to the planets. Like, we're all connected, and astrology just is, like, the perfect framework to show us how much we are connected to everything.
And so I like it of course like if you know when I'm not surprised when I read someone's chart who is very centered and who's very and they're not surprised. They're just not because, of course. I always tell people, like, you are the expert on you. I just know astrology. Right.
So so yeah. Like, I think that it makes sense to me that you would feel like, oh, yeah. Of course. Yeah. Yeah.
You know what too? I think because there was a point in time in the conversation here I was thinking, like, wow. You left the hard sciences. Like, what was that? Because I say this, and then I'll say that.
I'll finish that thought. But what then occurred to me, I was like, astrology is a hard science too. And so we don't remember. It's reduced to junk science in a colonized world. Right?
But we don't remember that it was so pivotal in our understanding and our way of beating beings, in the way it guided our life in ancient Kemet and, you know, many civilizations thereafter. So I wanna praise what it is because I know what it is to be, like, going to school in the sciences, training in the sciences, and having those jobs and how you're, like, enculturated into thinking as in space. Where's your proof? Where's that? Where's your this?
Where you and security or whatever. So I wanna praise the fact that you were just like, Yeah. I'm done with that. You know? Because I know that that that becomes an identity is what I'm also getting at and the fact that you were able to shed that.
So I know when I left academia well, the irony is that I never intended. I always intended, but I was the first husband. He was in economics, and I was, you know, social work psychology. Okay. He was Ghanaian.
And so our intention was to go back to Ghana and do work throughout the continent, right, of Africa. Right? And so when that didn't work, I was already in my 1st year. I got accepted into the program after the marriage ended. And so my whole landscape changed, and so I didn't know I wasn't gonna do UN by myself with a child.
And I didn't know what was next. And then I ended up in academia was the first set of people that called me back, and I ended up in academia. And then somehow, I formed an academic identity where, you know, it's like, well, what does this doctor even mean? Because I wasn't a clinical psychologist. What does this doctor even mean outside of academia?
Like, where is my space and all those kinds of things? And so the year leading up to my leaving I mean, the thing about academia is that, like, if it was another job, I would have put in my 2 weeks notice or 4 weeks notice. But in academia, you have to, like, finish out the semester or 2 of the academic year. And so in that time, I had the opportunity to really reconfigure my identity and shed this notion that any of that even matters. Right?
I had never believed that that was me, that that, you know, psychology is what I do, is what I love, it is a passion, but that's not the totality of who I am so I I I had I had to shed that. Right? And so I say that just to say that, you know, I imagine you had to shed that. Yeah. Me too.
Absolutely. And I'm still working on it. I'm still working through it. And there's different ways we could talk about this on different layers, because I do think identity is also protective. Mhmm.
Especially as a woman, especially as a black woman. Mhmm. To be known as knowledgeable, smart. You know, I I went to Ivy League university. Like, all of that stuff that Western culture says is important.
Mhmm. You know? Like, I like, I have that. Mhmm. And to choose something from my heart that's more in alignment with my heart, and it's in something where it comes with a lot of projection, a lot of, like, people don't know what I do.
Like, honestly, like, sometimes, like, I like to tell people, like, I know astrology is popular, but it's, like, popular online. Yeah. I don't know if it's popular, like, in the real world. Right. I still like when I meet people, I tell them I'm an astrologer.
They're like, what do you do? Are you an astronomer? Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, oh, so I'm always humbled by that fact.
Like, yeah, I'm there, it's still not prevalent for people to see someone like me in the real world. Like, maybe they come across something online but still like oh I didn't know that's a thing. Yeah. So yeah it's a hard one. It's definitely a hard one when that identity did protect me a little bit from a lot of things in the US and probably traveling too.
So to trust that, you know, I'm gonna do this thing anyway. Yeah. I know you know it's a big deal, and it's still you could see I'm still processing, so I'm not making a clear sentence about I'm following them. With it. But I am going through a big identity shift, and I told you, like, the transit of Pluto on my sun, the sun being my identity, it's it's, you know it's a trend that I'm experiencing in a very visceral way, in a very real way.
And, I'm just happy that I get to do it while I'm traveling because traveling you do get to, you know, be more fluid with who you are because no one cares. It's such a good idea. We're like so so so yeah. It's definitely a big deal. And, one of the things that I'm still working through is the projection piece.
When people think, like, you know, maybe astrology is, like, just like fortune telling or there's some, like, nefarious thing behind it. Yeah. It's not real or, because integrity is so important to me. Mhmm. So important.
And that's also a big reason why I'm an astrologer. I'm an astrologer who was trained by others, you know, other people because I wanted to make sure that, like, I have ethics training. I know how to do a consultation. I know the various techniques, and I came up to a level I like, you know, like, I went through those paces because I didn't want someone to to say that I'm acting out of integrity even though I know that's just their opinion or whatever, but that's still something that I'm I'm working with because I I do wanna be seen as very capable, very serious Yeah. Capricorn word. So yeah.
I'm I'm, you know, I'm still struggling with it and I'm only 6 years in being a professional astrologer. So I have more time to go. I'm a baby astrologer. Well, I love, I mean, the whole podcast is about liberation journeys. Right?
So I love to see that it's not one, it's not always neat. Like, oh, no. I have this container. Here, this container. Here.
It's messy. In some ways, I'm one of the greatest. In some ways, I'm still continuing to work on or I mean, because I think you're still even if you're having this thinking through and this shedding of that identity, to me, that is so praiseworthy for the simple fact that a lot of people do not even think about it. A lot of people are like, uh-uh. 9 to 5 is safe.
I'm going to go ahead and stay here. Right? And so I think it's a beautiful thing. And and and then it also just really exemplifies for the audience that it's a journey. Like, it's not like you just take it off one day and you don't have it.
It's like, you know, I have to keep recommitting and re and unlearning and relearning and and all these kinds of things to be able to be aligned with your core in those ways and to, you know, live liberate it. Yeah. Yeah. And just a constant recommitment to what you're, what you're standing for, what you, what your intentions are. Abs absolutely.
And I do think it gets easier. And, you know, but that middle end is kind of funny but not funny. But this is basically what most of my clients are going through. They're going through, like, those changes of, like, who they were and not yet seeing who they're becoming. And so that middle piece, that's where I like to work because it's messy.
That's where all the good stuff is too, the juicy stuff. And that's also where you find your power. Yes. That's where you find your courage. Yeah.
You know? And so, like, I'm going through what a lot of my clients are going through. I may be just a few steps ahead or I'm able to see what they can't see because they're in it. You know? Just like I'm in my stuff, so I always rely on other people to support me and see what I can't see.
Because I do think a part of this. If not, you don't go through it by yourself. Like, you know, we need other people. Again, that mirror, we need the mirror whether it's astrology and working with other people. Like, there's certain things we just have blind spots to.
Yeah. And so yeah. You know, and I'll say too what I'm hearing and that is this value for process. Right? So is anti-capitalism and is decolonial to not just think about the outcome and what's the end product.
What you're saying is, like, no. I'm really valuing and loving the process, the being in the thick of it. I I learned that most when I was in my doctoral program, 6 years for me. Mhmm. And so for there was such a fight to get to a literal there was, like, a fight to get to the end.
But for me, it was like, you know, when I can't wait to get to the end. I can't wait. Oh my god. This is horrible. I can't wait to get to the end.
This is a you know, I can't wait to get to the end. Right? And then when I got to the end, it was so anticlimactic. I was like Right. This is it?
It's over? Yeah. And now even 10 years later, I'm still feeling you know, I still look back, and I was like, it's in the making that is so beautiful. It's in those times where I was finding myself, my rhythm, my you know, all those kinds of things that really were the most beautiful of times. Yeah.
And we miss a lot if we loathe those times, if we loathe the messiness. You know? Right. Yeah. Yeah.
And, you know, there are people who don't like lacrosse and then they wanna, like, they want something fixed right away. Like, here, fix it for I don't know. I don't. I don't get those kinds of people coming to work with me, but I I know that is a place where, you know, we can find ourselves in too. And for certain things, that's okay. I'm, you know, I'm open to all different kinds of experiences, but I love what you said.
Just a great reflection back to me that I value process and I I agree. I do. I do. Yeah. I have worked with people, particularly in the days when I worked with mandated clients where, like, maybe they were experiencing challenges with their children, and it was like, here.
Fix it. Or, you know, or even if they came in for, like, therapy and it's like, come on. Come on. Can we get to it, and can we resolve this? I always know that their medicine is to slow it down.
Right? Because they still internalize this capitalistic pace that they had everything now. The immediacy. Whereas, you know, their answer lies in the mindfulness and the slowed pace and different things like that. So thank you.
This was a great conversation. Is there any yeah. Right? Is there anything that you'd want to say to the audience? That's a great question.
Please, come and say hi. I do also have a YouTube channel, so if you want to say hi to me over there. And I'm on social media too. But, yeah, I love connections. I love hearing from people.
So, yeah, do send me a line if you're curious about what I do. Definitely, go to my website at stacyannforrester dot com.
Good. Thank you. And we'll put all that information in the description box.
So for now, it was so great being with you all. I hope you enjoyed the conversation. And finally, again, thank you so much, Stacyann. Thank you. Take care.
Bye, everyone. Thanks for listening. If you've loved what we've had to share and wanna be the first to get releases of our new episodes and learn about events, download our free app, Living Liberated, in the Apple or Google Play Store.
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