Uranus In Taurus Transmission: I have been meditating a lot recently on the transit of Uranus in the sign of Taurus. Uranus has been in the sign of Taurus since 2018 and remains here through 2025. Uranus is known as "The Great Awakener" and Taurus is a sign that corresponds with our Food. I have spent a lot of time over the past several years deconstructing my beliefs about food and health, and having my own "Awakening" about the Health and Wellness industry and I wanted to share my thoughts and research with you.
This is not my usual type of content, and I'm not a doctor or an expert in health and wellness. I am an Astrologer and Tarot Card reader, and my main focus when I write is to bring my community advice for their spiritual and emotional wellbeing. However, I do know that there is quite a big crossover between those who are interested in metaphysical topics & spiritual wellness with the Health and Wellness community. As Spiritual people we tend to look at health and wellness in a holistic way - understanding that our physical health is connected to our spiritual wellbeing and vice versa. I myself am frequently researching health and wellness topics as I struggle to maintain my physical health while living in a country where I have limited access to proper healthcare.
Through my personal experiences, I have often found myself online searching for Yoga and Exercise to help with chronic pain and hypermobility, as well as diets and food advice for helping me with Chronic Migraines, Perimenopause Symptoms, Chronic Fatigue, Fibromyalgia, and more. Much to my dismay, I have found that searching these topics will often lead me into spaces that are full of misinformation and conspiracy theories - bumping up alongside or entering into realms of Ableism, Racism, Classism, Fatphobia, and a myriad of Toxic Positivity and Spiritual Bypassing practices. There are "Wellness Influencers" on social media with hundreds of thousands of followers that are promoting their "hot takes" on health and wellness trends while ignoring the scientific research that backs up the opposite of what they promote. Some of these influencers end up promoting flat-out dangerous practices or misinformation, and even the most educated people can end up falling for the hype as it spreads around social media. A lot of this is spread through fear. Fear of "chemicals", fear of Sunblock, "Big Pharma", pasteurized milk, vaccines, GMO's, and "Processed Foods" is rampant and prevalent among the people who also search for Astrology and Tarot content. In fact, the success of the Wellness Industry and the Wellness Influencers is dependent on keeping you afraid and paranoid - so they can sell you the solution to the problem that they invented or inflated.
Common Misperceptions I have Encountered:
Chemicals in Food are Bad! Why are all these Chemicals added to my food? - It is important to remember that "Chemical" is not synonymous with "Dangerous". The food labeling for a lot of foods in America requires that some foods are labeled with the chemical compounds of certain preservatives or additives. Preservatives and Additives are often added to help make the food shelf-stable (keeping it from going bad before it gets to the store shelf and then to your home), and the chemicals that are in these ingredients are not necessarily dangerous or harmful in the very small doses that are present in your food. Sometimes the chemical name of an ingredient is listed and it is scary sounding because we are not chemists and we do not recognize the name, but it is actually a very well known ingredient that we add to food ourselves when cooking! For example, "Tocopherols" are commonly known as Vitamin E - a group of fat-soluble organic compounds that act as antioxidants and are essential for human health.
"When we think of chemicals it’s easy to think they’re artificial, human-made additions to our lives, rather than the foundation of our lives. Even things we may not think of as chemicals, like water, oxygen, sugar, protein, DNA are all examples of chemicals." https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/chemophobia-fearing-chemicals
Sure, it is reasonable and healthy to look at the ingredients in your food, and it is acceptable to want food with less additives, but it is good to remember that not all "Chemicals" are some lab-created poison. Everything has a chemical makeup, including water and fruit and your own cells.
*note - there are legitimate food allergies and sensitivities that require people to avoid certain ingredients and I am not disparaging or dismissing those struggles and realities. This post is about being aware of where we are getting our health information to avoid scams, grifts, and misinformation.
If I want to be healthy I should avoid Processed Foods! - "Processed Food" is any food that has been altered in some way during preparation. Flour has been Processed because the wheat grain has had the chaff removed and it has been ground into a fine powder. Coconut Milk has been processed because it has been drained from a coconut and strained, and heated for purifying out any bacteria that may have contaminated it during the straining process. Usually when people are talking about Processed Foods, they are imagining that their food has been damaged, corrupted, or altered in ways that are somehow removing the health benefit from the food. Truthfully, the act of changing a food from it's original form into another is processing it. If we grow our own tomatoes and then make them into a home made tomato sauce, we have just "Processed" our food. If we limited ourselves to unprocessed or minimally processed food, we would have an extremely limited diet - and one that just isn't accessible to people who live in food deserts or are unable to grow and prepare their own foods.
It is true that the food that is best for you is fresh and minimally processed - Fruits and vegetables, legumes, eggs, nuts and seeds are examples of foods that have been minimally processed. Even these have sometimes been mildly processed by washing and packaging them. Beyond this, there are other minimally processed foods that include adding one or two ingredients or extra steps to alter the food in some way such as through drying, freezing, boiling, fermenting, and pasteurizing.
Most of the foods in our grocery stores have had a lot of Processing, because they have had ingredients mixed together and some things added to enhance flavor (like salt or sugar) and have had preservatives added to help stabilize the food for shelf safety and helping it to last long enough to make it from the factory to your home.
Ultra-Processed Foods are those that contain five or more ingredients and are usually pre-made for immediate consumption after heating or some minimal home preparation. These are foods typically formulated with 5 or more ingredients, including preservatives, stabilizers and hydrogenated fats. Think frozen pizza, breakfast cereals, frozen dinners and canned soups. Again, it is probably wise to limit the ultra-processed foods in your diet, but the fact that something is processed does not make it inherently unhealthy or unsafe.
Conclusion: Your food choices should not be based in fear or shame. Your food choices are going to be unique for you and your body, and the choices in your dietary needs should be informed by your Doctor and well-researched scientific information. Additionally, your choices will be based on your income, the availability of food in your area, your allergies and overall health, and your physical needs.
Being Mindful about How We talk about our Food Choices:
Meals made from scratch aren't always more nutritious or "safer", (have you seen your grandmother's recipes for chocolate cake or fried okra from scratch?!?) but cooking from scratch does require more time and labor. While it is easy to feel good about ourselves when we have taken extra effort to process our own foods at home and avoid ultra-processed storebought foods, we still should be mindful of how we talk about these foods because there is a lot of privilege involved in being able to do this. Many Disabled people do not have the ability to cook meals for themselves and cannot afford a home health nurse to cook meals for them. Low Income people often work hard labor and many hours and they might not have the time or energy to cook meals for themselves from scratch or be able to afford the minimally processed ingredients. Some people live in food deserts where they only have one or two grocery stores within travel distance of their home so their food choices are limited by availability.
Additionally, the focus on "Clean" foods and "Safe" foods in Wellness media and social media has added to an increase in Eating Disorders and Food Anxieties in our modern culture. We must remember that "Fed Is Best" and it is better for our friends and family to eat what is available to them rather than to avoid eating because of fear of chemicals or processed foods.
Finally, we need to be aware of the way that the Wellness Industry is indeed an INDUSTRY - there are companies making money off of our fear of processed food and chemicals. There are people who are intentionally fearmongering on social media about food and diets and wellness - and most often these people are selling you something: a supplement or their "Master Class" or their fancy Wellness Retreat and their book about their secret "Detox Diet". When you go looking for recipes and advice and health or wellness information, remember to BEWARE: HERE THERE BE GRIFTERS.
Last but not least, nestled safely within these Wellness Grifts are pipelines to Fascist, Racist Extremism. There is a pipeline from the Wellness Industry into QAnon Conspiracies, Anti-Vaccine Conspiracies, the Conservative Alt-Right, Fascist Extremism, and White Supremacy. We need to arm ourselves with information about these dangerous beliefs and how these extremist groups recruit people from within the Wellness and Spirituality community so that we can protect ourselves from their often subtle indoctrination.
Below, I have compiled a list of links to sources that I have found helpful and informative. I would consider this a Primer for arming yourself with knowledge to avoid Health and Wellness Misinformation and Grifts.
The High Cost of Wellness
Conspirituality: Derek Beres and Julian Walker
The Problem With Clean Eating
Veggies & More: By Alina Petre, MSc. RD.
Chemophobia: Don’t Fear Ingredients in Your Food
IFAC
When Chemicals are Used To Scare You About Food
The Washington Post: Cara Rosenbloom
Chemophobia - Fearing Chemicals
Michigan State University: Elisabeth Anderson and Jinpeng Lihttps://www.canr.msu.edu/news/chemophobia-fearing-chemicalsÂ
Should Processed Foods be Feared?
Dietetically Speaking: Sophie Gastman
The Wellness to Woo Pipeline
Rethinking Wellness: Christy Harrison, MPH, RD and Laura Thomas, PhD, RNutr
Why are So Many Popular Wellness Influencers RedPilled?
Rolling Stone: EJ Dickson
The Wellness to QAnon Pipeline
Maintenance Phase: Aubrey Gordon and Michael Hobbes with Mike Rothschild
Racism in Wellness Culture
Conspirituality: Derek Beres and Julian Walker with Dr Natlia Petrzela & Dax-Devolon Ross
How Wellness Makes Us Sick
Siris Health: Derek Beres
Why Smart People Fall for Wellness Misinformation
Rethinking Wellness: Christy Harrison, MPH, RD
Snake Oil
Maintenance Phase: Aubrey Gordon and Michael Hobbes
How Companies Manipulate the Wellness Science
Siris Health: Derek Beres
The Gospel of Wellness
Conspirituality: Derek Beres and Julian Walker with Rina Raphael
How to Fight Wellness Misinformation and Counter Conspiracy Theories
Rethinking Wellness: Christy Harrison, MPH, RD and Seema Yasmin, PhD
Why Public Health Collapsed - and How To Reclaim It
ReFrame: Derek BeresÂ
Why Wellness Sells - The Benefits and Harms of Wellness Culture
Rethinking Wellness: Christy Harrison, MPH, RD and Colleen Derkatch
I Track Wellness Misinformation For a Living - So Why Did I Fall For It?
Cosmopolitan: Cécile Simmons
Can we Stop Abusing Fat People?
Conspirituality: Derek Beres and Julian Walker with Aubrey Gordon
Cooking Without Wellness Rules, and How Social Media is like Diet Culture
Rethinking Wellness: Christy Harrison, MPH, RD and Julia Turshen
The Detox Industry is Selling You Snake Oil
MotherJones: Adrienne Matei
Parasite Cleanses are full of Sh*t
Conspirituality: Derek Beres and Julian Walker with Mallory Demille
Why the Gut Health Trend is Mostly Empty Hype
Rethinking Wellness: Christy Harrison, MPH, RD and Timothy Caulfield
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