on not writing every day, mercury awareness, & book birth charts: mecca woods in conversation with jeanna kadlec

Mecca Woods is the kind of astrologer who takes the horoscope off the page and into your everyday life. She does, and has done, it all. TV? Check. (TLC’s Stargazing.) Podcasts? Check — her long-running Stars on Fire, with fellow Sag astrologer Janelle Belgrave, is one of the best out there. You can find her astrological savvy on jazz albums and even on beer bottles.

So of course she’s written books.

When her debut book, Astrology for Happiness and Success, arrived in 2018, she was the first Black astrologer to publish a book with a Big 5 publisher in more than a decade. She has followed that up with the Cosmic Coloring Books series, one for every sign, and her latest, The Astrology Journal.

Mecca joined me over Zoom from her home in New York City to talk about how her writing connects to spirituality and, of course, astrology.

This interview has been edited for length

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Jeanna Kadlec: Can you introduce yourself to the newsletter readers? I already know and love you, but for anyone who may not already know and love you, what do they need to know?

Mecca Woods: I'm a professional astrologer, and I've been a professional astrologer for a little over a decade. At this point, a lot of the work I do is based around self-empowerment and self-care. I have a very strong passion for social justice and using astrology as a tool to empower marginalized folks. I believe that astrology is not so much about fate and predicting things that are set in stone, but more about how to navigate things that are not within our control and also how to make the most of things that are within our control. 

That’s usually what I bring to the table, whether it's horoscopes, whether it is my books, whether it is my consultations or classes and lectures: It's always to educate people and give them as much agency as they can, because astrology is not something that should take away anyone's agency. It should give that to them. So that's me in a nutshell.

JK: The ultimate Sagittarius answer. 

MW: *laughing* Yes.

JK: That also connects into this idea I want to bring up first, which is what spirituality is to you in this moment, and how it may or may not connect to astrology for you — and also how any religious or spiritual background informed you coming to this practice. That's a few questions in one! 

MW: So it's interesting that you say that. First and foremost, I have a very broad spiritual background. You know I was raised by a Sagittarius and an Aquarius, and both of them have rather unorthodox ideas about spirituality. Their thing was very much about teaching my brother and I to explore things and not to take things at face value. [There was] lots of critical thinking that went on in my household. 

But when it came to spirituality, it was funny because we started off Muslim, hence my name. Then we moved to Buddhism, and then from Buddhism, there was Christianity. Eventually, everyone went in their own separate spiritual directions. 

So for me, having been exposed to those different traditions, I find myself to be a bit of a cherry picker when it comes to spirituality. This is also a very Sagittarius thing, because I have a very broad meaning of what spirituality is. I don't think that there's any one source when it comes to that. I actually talk about this often whenever I'm talking to clients about developing a spiritual practice and the things that they should be doing and really trying to drive home the point that it should be something that is intimate and unique to who they are — that it shouldn't be a cookie cutter or a one size fits all approach.

I think about spirituality as a concept. I see Spirit in everything. So whether that is something really pretty outside — like just yesterday, I was down by the river. Or being with friends: like, the God in me recognizes the God in you. Being around people that you love. Also music — music, to me, is a huge channel for the divine. Poetry, art, all of those things. 

To me, it’s not just about a scripture or being in a church or things like that. It’s very broad. So I tend to see Spirit and encourage people to see Spirit wherever they find it, because to me, spirituality is really about connecting to things that bring you back to source.

JK: It's an everyday experience and it shows up in the mundane as much as in the big moments. 

MW: Right, exactly. I think that it's important for us to look at it or try to find it in the mundane as much as possible, because I think sometimes, especially if we're going through a challenging period, it can be easy for that to get lost.

JK: 100 percent. I love that. Can I ask how or if Spirit shows up for you in your creativity or in your writing practice?

MW: For me, Spirit shows up for me more in the physical than in the mental. I'm a fire sign, so it's important for me to move my body. Sometimes I find if I'm sitting too long at the computer or just not getting as much activity as I should, it can sometimes create a cloud in my brain, you know, where it's hard for me to concentrate or focus or where I just feel really spent. I usually take that as a cue that I need to do something to move. 

Usually, the way that I do it is either through dancing — I have a lot of Leo in my chart, so dancing is something that I love to do. I love going for really long walks and working up a sweat. I'll listen to my music. I'll take note of things going on in nature. I have a lot of parks in New York City. I feel like when I am doing something that is physical in nature, it helps me to tap into my writer's brain.

JK: That makes total sense. In a similar vein, can I ask what your writing routine is like, if it's shifted over the years? Or, with all the fire energy, if it shifts from book to book? 

MW: It does shift. You know, it's funny because I remember when I was younger, I was back in college and I was studying creative writing, I used to get frustrated whenever I would come across writing advice. A lot of advice was, you have to write every single day. If you're not writing every single day, you're not really a writer and whatever.

JK: Terrible advice!

MW: I used to think there was something wrong with me, that I wasn't a writer because I couldn't do it — like, I couldn't write every single day. I have Mercury in Capricorn. So it’s like, unless I can sit down and build the words out and make them make sense, it's like, what am I doing? Like, free writing? That doesn’t make sense to me, because my Mercury wants to edit every single step as I go along like that. That’s what works for me. 

JK: Right. 

MW: So when it comes to working on a book or my horoscopes or an article and things like that, the only way that I can do is just to sit down and have a huge chunk of time and just plug away at it and become consumed. 

I remember when I was writing my first book, I literally did not see sunlight for weeks. Because of my writing schedule, I can only function at night. That’s another thing, too — my mind is clearer in the middle of the night. So sometimes it's not easy for me to be up while everybody else is up, trying to write. Being up at 2:00 or 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning is the sweet spot. My body has to follow that rhythm sometimes, and that can be a little bit spotty depending on what else is going on in the week. So my writing practice is a little bit all over the place. But when I actually do sit down to write, it's like game on for however long that is.

JK: And you just go in really intense long bursts. I love that you brought up the really terrible creative writing class advice — *both laugh* — because there is just so much shitty advice that you're given by well-meaning people, but it's actually so cookie cutter. Like what you were saying earlier about telling your clients that there's not one way to do spirituality. But it's like, the university system [is] churning out students, trying to tell you there's one way to be a writer, and there’s not. And I understand that they're trying to help us cultivate discipline, but that's also what you're saying, is that discipline looks different for a lot of people. 

Can I ask what the process was like to navigate that journey from undergraduate taking these classes to figuring out and developing the kind of discipline that worked for you as a writer? 

MW: Honestly, I think it was trying a little bit of everything. When I left college, I was working in publishing for a little bit, and everywhere I went, I still used writing. Writing was still a part of the work. After publishing, I went into non-profits — I was writing grants and things like that. But I had to find my voice. That’s where I had a disconnect. A lot of the writing I was doing wasn’t my own voice, it was for other purposes, you know? 

I don’t think it was until I actually started to study astrology that I was able to find my voice, because I started to write about astrology. I started to write about the way that I perceive the world through astrology as a means of trying to educate people. That was the thing that sealed it for me. I realized that, for me, writing only flowed when I was passionate about what I was doing, as opposed to just doing it without having that genuine emotional connection.

JK: So the emotional piece unlocked it.

MW: The emotional piece, and feeling like I was making a real impact with my own voice. That was big. 

JK: And your work has made a huge impact. Like, this is like your third — I mean, it's weird to say it’s your third [book], because you technically have 14 [because of the coloring book series] —

MW: Right. *both laugh* But this is, technically, the third book project that I have out.

JK: I am so fucking stoked to be giving The Astrology Journal to people at all levels of study, because it's it's so beginner-friendly, but it's also so detailed and comprehensive. It’s the kind of journal that I wish that I'd had when I started out, but it's also more detailed than the journals that I currently keep. I was going through it today, and I was like, shit, I actually need to use this, because this is more detailed than what I currently track. 

I wanted to ask how daily observation of astrology and writing about astrology itself and noticing the astrological weather patterns in your own life has impacted you creatively over the years. 

MW: I'm very much aware of when my Mercury [note: the planet of writing and ideas] is getting activated or irritated, depending on what transit is happening. I'll never forget when Saturn [note: the planet of responsibility and structure] was in the early degrees of Capricorn, and it was right on top of my Mercury. It was funny, because I had the idea to write a book way before I wrote a book, but I never did it because I was like, I can't concentrate, I can't do this, all the excuses. When Saturn came through, it was like, no, you're going to sit down and write this. And that's exactly what happened. 

That was why I didn't see sunlight for weeks! I used to go and get my Dunkin Donuts coffee at night! I used to take a walk with my little trench coat in the cold, like a film noir movie.

JK: This image! Your Leo Rising looks so stylish in this image! *both laughing*

MW: I always look and see what's happening, especially if I'm having a particularly hard time concentrating. Sometimes that has a lot to do with the transit. I'm also a Mercury Retrograde person, so I actually find them [Mercury Rx] more helpful than not helpful. I think with my creative process, I definitely see those transits as being helpful and also [as] giving me permission to take breaks when I need to. Like I said, sometimes you can feel guilt when you’re not writing on a regular basis. And sometimes, I just don’t have things to say. 

Even now, I think about my own newsletter or just posting things regularly on social media — I've taken a huge step back because I'm in a space where I don't know if I have anything that's super relevant to say. If I do, I'm presenting [my ideas] in a very specific format. 

JK: I love that. Just, the level of wisdom and like, no, I can take a break. I respect the hell out of that. It really feels like going against the grain of what current industry demands are around content and promotion.

MW: For me, it's the South Node story. I also think that my Mercury in Capricorn saves me sometimes from being like the typical foot-in-mouth Sagittarius, and also my Mercury being retrograde, because I really have to think, is this something that’s worth saying? I delete tweets more often these days than I have [in years]. I’m comfortable with silence. I feel like you can make more impact with fewer words.

JK: So, this is a bit of a random question, but we were drinking wine on a boat the other week, and you were talking about how you have these different book babies with different signs. I would love to hear if you could say more about how you understand your books’ birth charts — if you put a lot of stock in that, or if it's just a fun exercise to think about. 

MW: My first book [Astrology for Happiness & Success] is a Libra with a Leo Rising and a Cancer moon, which makes a lot of sense because she got a lot of compliments for being pretty and well designed.

JK: She is beautiful. 

MW: Even to the point where the father of the designer left a comment on Amazon and was like, this is a great book. My daughter designed it; this is her first big gig. And I thought it was the sweetest, most precious thing ever. That’s a Cancer moon thing, right? 

The Cancer moon quality is also the amount of info that I gave in there that was nurturing and self-care and relationships and feeling a sense of belonging and like, how to decorate your home and that kind of thing. 

My second group, which is the coloring books — they are little Scorpios. They were therapeutic, helping people to work through their stuff, in a way that wasn't too intense but still cathartic.

The Astrology Journal is a Leo sun and a Virgo moon — and that makes sense because she’s a journal! 

JK: You really can't make this shit up.

MW: She’s helping people organize their thoughts and track their transits and learn astrology and do it in a very practical and tangible way. And also, because she's a Leo, I've been getting a lot of people saying, I love how pretty the book is.

JK: It's so interesting and weird because your publishing date is like an actual person being born, a lot of the time, [in that] there's no control over when it comes out. And like, we know that authors generally have sub-zero levels of control over your pub date. So it’s interesting, with your books, how their birthdays are so reflective of them. 

MW: It kind of goes to show — and I've heard this from many different astrologers — that the chart chooses you. 

JK: The chart chooses the books — yes. So my last question here is, have you had any particularly magical or memorable creative moments this year?

MW: Yes. So one of the creative moments from earlier this year is when I got to do the beer release with the Bronx Brewery. That was really fun because, again, Sagittarius — we love alcohol; we love a good time. But it was also really cool to see how everything came together, and also writing some of the copy for the event and the label. It was a really collaborative effort. The folks at the Bronx Brewery really understood me and the vision that I was trying to bring with the beer. So that was really, really cool. 

Even though it hasn't happened yet, I am going to be performing onstage on August 26th. 

JK: WHAT?

MW: I was going to send you the invitation!

JK: Jesus Christ, Mecca, bury the lead!

MW: You know, it's funny, I do this to people all the time. I'm like, yeah, I'm doing this. And they're like, what? What are you doing? You know, just a regular everyday performance.

JK: So you have a performance at a huge outdoor New York City venue coming up.

MW: I'm going to be a special guest for a jazz performance working with the jazz artist that I did the astrology album with. He's going to be playing a couple of selections from it. So I'm going to be performing onstage.

Right now, when it comes to creative stuff, I love the idea of doing it with astrology, but also doing something very different from what I normally do. So like the music, the beer, those kinds of things. I recently did something with furniture. Those have been things that I’ve really been having fun with.

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You can follow Mecca Woods on Instagram and Twitter, and be sure to pick up your own copies of The Astrology Journal and her other books here! (The coloring books make, ahem, fabulous gifts.)