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What is Medical Astrology

In this episode of the Astrology Hub Podcast,  Astrologer Claire Gallagher and Amanda ‘Pua’ Walsh discuss Medical Astrology and Your Body

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Transcript

This transcript is automatically generated. Some miswording might be present.

Amanda Pua Walsh 0:04
Welcome to the astrology hub Podcast. I’m Amanda Pua Walsh, founder of astrology hub, and your host for our flagship show, we explore the many ways Astrology can support you, and your relationships, career, health, and personal growth. Thanks for tuning in. Well, hello, everybody, and welcome. It is so great to be here with you all. And I’m very excited about our guest today, Claire Gallagher, who is a post wellness ally, and anti diet nutritionist, an intuitive movement counselor and a medical astrologer. She holds master’s degrees in acupuncture and nutrition and is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. And she is here today to talk to us about astrology, and how it can help us with our bodies. So how it can help us experience more health and vitality. And what your chart says about your body and your health. So Claire, I am so happy to have you here. Thank you so much for joining us.

Claire Gallagher 1:10
Thank you for having me. I’m very excited to have a juicy chat about body astrology.

Amanda Pua Walsh 1:15
Nice. Awesome. And you did also recently write a book called body astrology which we’re going to talk about in a little bit. But before we get there, Claire, can you tell us how you got into astrology? And then also how you came to focus on the body? And

Claire Gallagher 1:32
astrology? Yeah, absolutely. I came to astrology during my Saturn Return, which is kind of funny. I think that happens to a lot of people actually. And at the time, I was in graduate school, and I was getting a dual Master’s in acupuncture and in nutrition. And the actual story is I went to the bathroom in between class and there was this flyer in the bathroom for medical astrology. And I actually grew up in a home that, you know, it didn’t talk overtly bad about astrology. But it was dissuaded basically. And so it was something I just never really paid attention to. And I was honestly a little scared of it to be completely clear. But when I walked in, and I saw the medical astrology flyer, something about the physicality of that. And the groundedness of that made me feel safe. And since I was already studying health at that point, for quite a while, I was like, that’s cool. It just called to me. And so I went it was a risk. And I had no idea what they were talking about. It was way over my head lots of Astro jargon. But I also knew at the same time it was like, I’m home, this is where I want to focus my energy and what I want to do. And from that point forward, it was all astrology all the time. So

Amanda Pua Walsh 2:52
that’s amazing clear that you sat in a talk, you didn’t understand a word they were saying, but that you knew this was gonna be the path for your life. That’s incredible.

Claire Gallagher 3:02
Yeah, it’s really funny looking back on it, because the you know, you’re in an astrology conference, they’re not going to water it down for you. And I’m trying to write everything out all the planets in longhand. And all because I didn’t know any of my glyphs. And mmm, but at the same time, like the the heart of the message really resonated with me. And I could understand that. And so I was just sold immediately and started tracking on my symptoms with astrology and doing that with my patients in the teaching clinic. And that really sold me when I was watching that.

Amanda Pua Walsh 3:36
Amazing. Okay, well, that makes me feel really good. Because I know sometimes our content on the podcast and at astrology hub in general can kind of go over people’s heads. While you’re saying, it makes me really happy, because it’s like if something deeper is resonating in them as truth, then they might continue to tune in and stick around and eventually learn the language and maybe someday write books like you, which is Yeah, absolutely,

Claire Gallagher 3:59
absolutely. Yeah, there’s total hope. If you’re like listening to this podcast, and we say words that don’t make sense. Like, I think people can really just grab the energy of a conversation and run with that. And so yeah, there’s total hope. Yeah.

Amanda Pua Walsh 4:12
Okay. So as far as medical astrology goes, who have been your biggest inspirations, who have you learned from that, you know, what was that path? Like?

Claire Gallagher 4:21
Yeah, my direct lineage, I guess you could call it is my teachers teacher was Judith Hill. And I did private tutoring and lessons with Andy Kurtz. I don’t know if you know of them. And they just basically transmitted all that they knew to me, I would meet with them in their living room, and we went through cases together. And so that’s who I like, lay out as the people that came before me and who really inspired what I do now. And also my even though they weren’t astrology teachers, my professors and attendings in acupuncture school because they really developed my understanding of the elements, even though it’s a different elemental tradition. I felt like I had a really good foundation in elemental medicine going into medical astrology. And that was a real boost for me learning pretty quickly.

Amanda Pua Walsh 5:19
Okay, great. Judith is a favorite here at astrology we have we’ve had her on the podcast several times awesome. An inner circle astrologer with us. So that’s, that’s wonderful. Okay, so tell us how you’ve seen astrology benefit you from a health perspective and your clients?

Claire Gallagher 5:39
Yeah, for me. And I didn’t say this earlier, but a lot of my story with astrology was informed by illness. So I have dealt with chronic illness since I was very young 20s. And that’s why I was studying acupuncture in the first place, and why medical astrology really piqued my interest. What I noticed at first is that it gave me language for a condition that really was falling through the cracks in conventional health care. And that was really validating for me. Because when you have a an I love doctors, and I love healthcare, but when you have an experience that can’t be diagnosed or articulated, for me, it was very, very healing to say, oh, but here’s some other language from my chart that describes the route or where this is going, or other things that can assist it. So I think a compassionate view is maybe the most powerful thing that astrology has gifted me in terms of health. And that’s really the heart of what I do with my clients is, I’m less interested in saying you need to eat this or you need to eat that or you need to take this, I think the most powerful work I do is creating a safe container where we look at a condition with compassion, and we let the chart tell us maybe other routes for for that condition or empower us give language and context to it. So

Amanda Pua Walsh 7:11
And do you find that in understanding the astrology behind why something might be happening for someone that they’re actually able to address it more effectively? Or maybe even more like it does it? Does it kind of streamline your ability to hone in on what’s actually happening?

Claire Gallagher 7:31
Yeah, if you are really tuned in with medical astrology, you can really see pathways of healing that might be quicker or maybe less strenuous for your clients. So for me, you know, as a grad student, it was like, what’s going to be the most effective so I don’t have to spend so much money trying to get better. And that’s what a chart can do is it can tell you well, my body is this type of constitution, I really respond to these types of therapeutics. And so in that way, it can help you make decisions about your health care, and help you manage your budget to around that. Yeah, that’s amazing.

Amanda Pua Walsh 8:12
Okay, what inspired the book, so the book is called astrology. And I know writing a book is a big labor of love. So obviously, you felt inspired to do it, what was the main motivation for

Claire Gallagher 8:23
you? You know what, to be completely honest, I didn’t go looking for this book to be published, I was approached, and I thought, you know, maybe in 30 years, I would write a book, I didn’t expect to write a book now. So I was given an opportunity, and it scared the crap out of me, and I did it anyway. If I’m being completely transparent, which I always am, as I said, rising should be. I don’t necessarily know that I was ready to do this. But I did it. And I learned a lot writing the book. So the motivation was really like being given an opportunity that I didn’t know I would be getting again. Yeah.

Amanda Pua Walsh 9:08
Okay. And so what have you like, what is the main focus? I know there’s some medical astrology books or some books about the body and astrology that really focus on the Sun Sign, or they focus on the elements? Or what’s the main focus? And what are you helping us decode in our charts as far as our health goes?

Claire Gallagher 9:30
So, um, as we know, I’m a Virgo. So there’s lots of charts in this book, and I give the reader lots of entry ways into their chart. So um, let’s see, how can I break this down? In the beginning, I sort of debunk Sun Sign astrology, in terms of medical astrology to me, the moon is very, very primary in terms of what the body needs to feel supported, safe, nourished, etc. It also reflects our describes how the energy moves through the body like circadian rhythm, like actual energy management. And so I really, really focused on the moon in this book. But I also give the reader a few options, I talk about their triad, which is Sun Moon rising, and how those are different from a physical perspective, by also give them a seasonal option, where I actually created a wheel, where I described healing, basically, intentions or gestures for each part of the seasonal astrological wheel. And so a reader can also decide they just want to follow the sun or the moon through a cycle and focus on certain parts of their body, depending on where that planet is located. So there’s options.

Amanda Pua Walsh 10:44
Can you break that one down a little bit? Yeah. What do you mean by that like gestures? Also, can you give us a couple examples?

Claire Gallagher 10:52
Yeah, sure. So I a big focus of the book is something I labeled a therapeutic gesture. And the reason I chose this word is because it is broad. And I find that to be a benefit when you are writing for a large audience, because medical Astrology can get you in trouble if you’re very, very specific for a large group of people. So instead of saying, All Scorpios need to eat this way, I said, Well, Scorpios gesture is elimination. So no matter what way you like to eat, Scorpio needs assistance, eliminating. So how can we do that. So it just was a way of opening medical astrology up. So that I also wasn’t participating in diet culture, because that’s part of my ethics as a nutritionist to not participate in diet culture. And so in order to prevent me from falling down that rabbit hole and saying this sign needs to eat these foods, I opened it up by giving each sign and nutritional gesture, and a movement gesture. And that allows the client to fill in the details depending on their preferences, and their likes, and their access to resources and so on. Okay, so you gave us a little

Amanda Pua Walsh 12:07
taste about Scorpio when? And so you said a nutritional gesture? And what was the other gesture?

Claire Gallagher 12:15
Movement? And that’s really what the book is focused on is food and

Amanda Pua Walsh 12:19
Okay, so can you give us one more example of like a new nutritional or a movement gesture that you would give to a specific sign?

Claire Gallagher 12:26
Yeah, so like Sagittarius, nutritionally, the gesture I gave them was exploration. So really emphasizing that in order for this sign to be to feel nourished, from a physical standpoint, they need variety. So being told that they need to eat the same thing every day, it needs to be at this time, and this way, can feel very limiting to that function for Sagittarius. So I have fun with it. And I described, you know, creating variety in the kitchen, etc. But I also am very specific as well, because we know or maybe we don’t, but Sagittarius is a ruler of the nervous system as well. So I describe how we can use food as an exploratory exploratory activity. But also, we need to make sure our nervous system feels safe and grounded in order to digest our food. So gestures are kind of playful, but I also flipped them in the book to be a little bit more serious as well.

Amanda Pua Walsh 13:23
Okay, and but what about a movement example?

Claire Gallagher 13:25
Yeah, so let’s just keep with saj, the movement example I gave for them was locomotion. And again, it’s that idea that Saj feels alive when it’s traveling, it’s on the move, it’s on the go. And this sign really benefits from movement that allows it to pivot change direction, change speed, to go in different directions and to move in different planes of motion. So again, I’m playing on that gesture of variety, but I’m using different language and applying it to specific sports. So I’m a strength and conditioning specialist. So I talk about weightlifting in the book and how you would do that for massage perspective. But also bring in yoga and running and how we can all enjoy those activities no matter what sign we are, but we might do it in a little different way.

Amanda Pua Walsh 14:13
Yes. Oh my gosh, I love it. This This sounds amazing. And I know that you talk about transits a bit in the book as well. So how can we use transits as a healing tool?

Claire Gallagher 14:24
Yeah, I love transits like my pet project. Um, yeah. So in the book, I think it’s part three, the very last section of the book is devoted to all the planets. And I really, my mission, basically, is to empower people to use transits instead of thinking like, what is this transit going to do to me? Like, how would I like to use this transit? And so when it comes from a health perspective, I essentially gave each planet a gesture as well. And I said, so you’re having a Mercury transit. Okay. This is the gesture of mercury. So So what can we do to assist the body during a Mercury transit and because Mercury Retrograde is happening on my son, let me remind myself of what the mercury gesture is connecting. So basically, it’s like, okay, how can we foster a feeling of connection and nervous system support, both from a food perspective and a movement perspective during let’s say, a Mercury station, or some other type of mercury progression, alignment, et cetera.

Amanda Pua Walsh 15:32
I really love this Claire, it’s, it’s clear and simplified in a way that I feel a lot of people could really benefit from. And and understand, which is one of the challenges with astrology, as you know, is it sometimes can get so complicated that it loses usefulness, because people just get lost in the like, in the details. And so this sounds like you’re really breaking it down in a way that is very digestible, and very applicable, like immediately.

Claire Gallagher 16:06
Thank you. That means a lot. And that was really my desire. I tried to write like I talk. I tried really hard, like, if I use any jargon, I explained it, I really wanted this book to be valuable for a practitioner, but also totally accessible if it was someone’s very first astrology book. And that was very hard to do

Amanda Pua Walsh 16:27
that, oh, it’s so hard and we’re constantly dancing that dance that astrology hub, like how did we, you know, make new people feel welcomed and invited so that they come to the party and they can actually understand some things? And then how do we make sure that we’re always fulfilling that? Seemingly unquenchable curiosity and desire for more advanced techniques for our more seasoned students? So it is definitely I understand that. Okay, and can you give us one more example of a transits gesture? Because, yeah, yeah.

Claire Gallagher 17:01
Um, so for example, let’s see who’s who’s got a bad reputation. Let’s use when Saturn, lets you Saturn, my friend, Saturn. So the gesture I actually chose for Saturn was for defying. So what I do in the book, and how I would flip it for a client is like, Okay, so we’re having a Saturn Return one or two, or we’re having a Saturn square, to a vital light or to our Natal, Saturn. Saturn often steals from the body. And so instead of focusing on that, I focus on well, how can we build the body back up? Saturn needs resources. So what can we give Saturn aka what can we give our body to make it feel secure and fortified during this time where other things might feel unsettled, unstable, we might feel insecure. And so I talk about the foods of Saturn, the nutrients of Saturn, but more importantly, just like the mindset of, you know, moving and nourishing yourself during a trance, a Saturn transit, which is like more is better, like the body often feels deficient in the heart often feels sick and longing. And so how can we create more softness during a Saturn transit with the way we approached our self care and approach our food, and movement,

Amanda Pua Walsh 18:23
I can really see how understanding some how applying some of those things you just said about Saturn transits could have been very helpful in some very challenging Saturn transits that I’ve been through. And it’s interesting to see that we probably intuitively go towards some of these things, even when we don’t know the astrology or we don’t know the specifics. But you know, for if we’re listening at all to ourselves, we may be intuitively guided to some of these gestures, as you call them.

Claire Gallagher 18:52
Yeah, and I think it’s really important, you know, if any beginners are listening, um, something I lay out in the book, as well as like, you, you don’t have to know what transits your experience experiencing to really invest into the healing gesture of a planet, you trust yourself. And so I also in the book lists out a lot of symptoms, and you can also just identify, what do I feel like and what planet does that remind me of? Oh, that feels like Saturn. So I’m going to do Saturn food and movement and self care just to fortify myself. So yeah, I think intuition is primary, especially when maybe you don’t know all of the language and the jargon and you really don’t have to. So yeah, I 100% agree with that.

Amanda Pua Walsh 19:39
Okay, so tell us about a few success stories that you’ve witnessed with your clients in applying this approach.

Claire Gallagher 19:52
Yeah. Let’s see. It’s interesting, because we have to define what does success mean, right? Yeah, each person Yeah. And so a lot of times what I view as success in a client interaction is like when they have really reached a new level of self compassion and allowing themselves and their bodies to be as they are, instead of trying to match some cultural ideal of how we should move should eat should look. So that’s kind of my metric for success. And I have a lot of clients, I’m thinking of someone in particular, who we did a lot of work with deconstructing fitness myths in their life. And we basically reconstructed a program where they just moved along with the moon. And now this person basically has an intuitive movement practice where they don’t have to use well, they can use programs if they want, but they feel permission to adjust, and to substitute and to modify, depending on Yeah, what the moon is doing. But more importantly, the moon taught them how to honor their own fluctuations within their own body. So most of my clients stories are about using the moon or in other planets to teach us how to honor our own bodies, and to restore our own trust in our in our inner voice.

Amanda Pua Walsh 21:17
That’s powerful. I love that. So where would someone who is maybe they’re experiencing some ailments or, you know, discomfort in their body right now? Where can they begin to just start dabbling with Okay, here’s my chart, here’s what I’m experiencing, you know, where what direction would you point them in, in addition to obviously, your book, is

Claire Gallagher 21:48
I think the best place to start, both from a technique perspective, but also just an accessibility perspective, is the natal moon. So really understanding the sign of your natal Moon, the phase of your natal moon, and then if you want to take it to aspects, etc, you can do that. But understanding like what your moon needs to feel stable to feel like it’s circulating energy to feel like itself. And I love the moon because it, it very readily depicts that we all need different things. We all find stability in different ways. We all feel safe with different stuff. And yeah, so my short answer is the natal Moon is gold, really lean into your natal moon. And because from a traditional astrology perspective, which is my wheelhouse, it literally represents the physical body and our ability to digest and our ability to be in these physical forms. Yeah, oh, gosh, I’m

Amanda Pua Walsh 22:51
just thinking of my Gemini moon right now. And how much I need variety and my movement options like I, I go crazy if it’s the same thing. And then also, I love group fitness, like I love doing. And I love when there’s lots of people around and it’s like, feels really alive. And if I have to do it on my own all the time, I get really, really bored. So I see already very clear correlations. And if I was thinking that there’s that I should be doing certain things, I can see how that would really be an issue for people. And I know, so many of us have that, like, oh, we should run or we should lift weights or we should exercise and move our bodies in a certain way. So I can see how so much of what you’re doing is giving people permission to really lean into their individual nuances. Absolutely. Yeah.

Claire Gallagher 23:43
Thank you for sharing that example. That is a perfect example of a Gemini moon and like flexibility and variety and social connection is like your physical lifeline. And so trying to shut that down, which we’re often told we’re doing it wrong. You know, that’s what fitness culture and diet culture tell us all the time you’re doing it wrong, you’re not doing enough, you need to do it this way. And that just shuts our Moon’s energy down, and then we’re stuck and then eventually, symptoms will pop up. You know, if the moon is inhibited, eventually something is going to occur if that energy is blocked. Yeah. Yeah. Well,

Amanda Pua Walsh 24:19
what I found is I just get so bored. I just stopped and then I’m doing which is really bad. So yeah, exactly. Okay. Well, Claire, Where would people go to find your book? And is there anything else you want to share before we close out? I

Claire Gallagher 24:36
think I don’t have much else to share. I mean, I could talk about this for hours, but you can find my book basically anywhere books are sold. It’s in all the big stores. It’s Barnes and Noble. It’s on Amazon and you can also buy it directly from my publisher which is roost books.com And you can find me on Instagram at the body asstra ledger and online at Claire gallagher.ca. Oh,

Amanda Pua Walsh 25:03
awesome. Claire, thank you so much for being here. It’s been such a pleasure to meet you and introduce you and your work to our audience. And I hope everybody goes and checks that out. If you are in our community, and you’re interested in more on the body and health, we do have the series that we created with Cameron Allen, who’s also a medical astrologer who’s also studied with Judah pill, and has been featured on this podcast quite a bit. And you can find that at our academy. So astrology hub.com/academy, there’s different courses you can take with Cameron house secrets of the Zodiac helps secrets of the planet. But that could be a great accompaniment to this book. With Claire, you could have the book, you could do this, the classes online, and really just immerse yourself in some of this amazing content. So thank you again, Claire, for being here. Thank you for doing this work. Thank you for answering the call and saying yes, even though you were terrified to write a book, I think that alone is such a model for all of us. It’s like, when you get that call, answering it with that, yes. And then just doing the best that you can and create who knows what you’re going to create, like that’s where magic happens. So I’m really grateful that you did that and that you’ve made this amazing contribution to the astrological community. And we look forward to hearing more from you in the future.

Claire Gallagher 26:27
Thanks, Amanda. And thanks so much for the opportunity. This was a blast.

Amanda Pua Walsh 26:30
Yay. Awesome. All right, everybody, thank you so much for being here. Thank you for being a part of our community. And thank you as always, for making astrology a part of your life and hopefully also a part of the way that you take care of your self, your body, your spirit, your mind, all of it. So thanks again for being here and we will catch you on the next episode. Take care everybody

Transcribed by https://otter.ai