258. BDSM as a Transformational Technology with Professional Dominatrix Contessa Domenica

What if your desires could lead you somewhere beyond anything your current self is capable of imagining? This week on Moon to Moon, I'm joined by the extraordinary Contessa Domenica: professional dominatrix, artist, philosopher, and creator of Sex, Death, and Olive Oil. After a dark night of the soul that led her to leave her relationship, her corporate career, and London itself, Contessa Domenica began following a mysterious intuition that sexuality might be the doorway to reclaiming herself. What began as an exploration of boundaries, pleasure, and desire became a spiritual path, and eventually an entirely new life. In this conversation, we explore: The origin story of Contessa Domenica and the magic of naming yourself BDSM as a transformational technology for exploring power, shame, desire, and the disallowed parts of ourselves Why consent, boundaries, and clear communication make extraordinary experiences possible The dominatrix as trickster, artist, and guide to the Underworld Endarkenment and the invitation to encounter the dark forest of our interior lives Her immersive sonic project, Sex, Death, and Olive Oil Why following what delights you might take you beyond anything you could have manifested This is a conversation about becoming someone you couldn't have imagined being, about discovering permission where you've been taught to feel shame, and about the courage required to follow what makes you feel alive.   About Contessa Domenica: Contessa Domenica is a professional Dominatrix and trickster-philosopher.  In her dungeon, erotic power play is a technology of transformation that dissolves stagnant stories about who we are and what we're supposed to enjoy. It's soul-making for deviants...and the deviant-curious.  She reckons the whole culture could use some time in the dungeon. That's why she created Sex, Death & Olive Oil, an immersive sonic journey into the parts of ourselves we've been told are too dark and dangerous to ever acknowledge, let alone explore. Turns out, that's where the party is. The first episode, Ecstasy, is out now.  Listen to Sex, Death & Olive Oil on Spotify or any other podcast platforms: https://open.spotify.com/show/2hJFI5qq2tZwFPs6jLcDwu Follow Sex, Death & Olive Oil on Instagram @sexdeathandoliveoil and Contessa Domenica @contessa.domenica  +++ Learn More: Britten invites listeners to join her in the seventh installment of Mystics Making Money: Astral Promotion: The Secret Art of Selling What You Dream. Registration opens on Thursday, November 5, for a ONE DAY ONLY EARLY BIRD. You can join the newsletter to be the first to know by clicking here! +++ E M E R G E N C E  A S T R O L O G Y ⁠⁠https://brittenlarue.com/ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@brittenlarue Order Living Astrology Join my newsletter here Check out my new podcast CRYSTAL BALLERS on Spotify, Podbean, and Apple. +++ Podcast art: Angela George. Podcast music: Jonathan Koe.

In this episode of Moon to Moon, I'm joined by astrologer, herbalist, and teacher Cameron Allen for a rich conversation on the ethics of speaking astrology. We explore intellectual honesty, the relationship between astrological technique and embodiment, the consequences of our interpretations, and how shame can interfere with our capacity to speak, listen, and learn. Along the way, we talk about unshaming the signs, honoring the wholeness of the people we work with, and cultivating enough self-trust to experiment, disagree, and change our minds. What if being an ethical astrologer isn't a destination we arrive at, but a relationship we practice every day?   About Cameron Allen: Cameron is an herbalist & astrologer that sits at the crossroads of Medical, Traditional, and Evolutionary astrology. He synthesizes wisdom from his training in Ayurveda, Kundalini yoga, & mixed movement arts, holds degrees in Health & Sports science and Psychology with a focus on Sports & Exercise psychology, and is currently in school for Greco-Arabic Medicine. Cameron has trained with teachers of lineages that have not been named here, but honors them nonetheless. All of these traditions, systems of healing, and ways of knowing are rooted and centered on being of service in any given moment. Substack: @cadream6 IG: @Cadream6 Website: www.cadreamplanet.com    +++ E M E R G E N C E  A S T R O L O G Y ⁠⁠https://brittenlarue.com/ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@brittenlarue Order Living Astrology Join my newsletter here Check out my new podcast CRYSTAL BALLERS on Spotify, Podbean, and Apple. +++ Podcast art: Angela George. Podcast music: Jonathan Koe.

In this Dark Moon Download, Britten comes through with a message that arrived on a run, in honor of Venus retrograde in Scorpio: unpopular opinion, leave him. The "him" isn't necessarily your husband (although, maybe it is). It's the contracts, arrangements and agreements we've worked so hard to make work. Britten talks about what Venus is revealing right now, the grief of realizing how much of our lives has gone into trying to be good enough, and what she found on the other side of saying no in her own life. In this episode, Britten explores: Why she loves planets in detriment and fall, including Venus retrograde in Scorpio What's being revealed underneath the polite rituals of respectability Why believing it's our fault can feel easier than seeing what's true What "him" really means, and why it doesn't have to be a person The grief of becoming extraordinarily competent at arrangements that disempower us What it tells us when naming things doesn't lead to change The 7 of Cups, meeting Venus at the gates, and the underworld journey of this retrograde Venus meeting the Sun at 0 Scorpio and heading back to Libra, the land of contracts How shame erodes self-trust, and why your knowing is enough When contracts want updates, and when they want to be snipped up and burned What Britten calls an Emergent No, and the grief and creation that follow it What Britten left at 39, and the part of her that showed up to take it from there Underneath it all is the question Venus is asking each of us: is this the contract I want to keep agreeing to? +++ Scopes Unshamed: October 2026 is live! Find your Rising Sign here and dive in! Each is about 12-14 minutes, so they're very digestible. Britten stays focused on themes and gives you clear frames and questions for navigating the energies we're inside. The mystical with the practical! ENJOY! +++ E M E R G E N C E  A S T R O L O G Y ⁠⁠https://brittenlarue.com/ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@brittenlarue Order Living Astrology Join my newsletter here Check out my new podcast CRYSTAL BALLERS on Spotify, Podbean, and Apple. +++ Podcast art: Angela George. Podcast music: Jonathan Koe.

In this episode, Britten is joined by S.J. Anderson, the astrologer who coined the term Barbault's Basket.  S.J. takes us into the work of French mundane astrologer André Barbault, the rare convergence of outer planetary cycles, and the story of how a phrase from a tweet became one of the biggest astrological conversations of the summer. They also talk about what happens when astrological language takes on a life of its own, including the myths and misunderstandings that spread alongside the excitement. In this episode, they explore: What Barbault's Basket actually is, and why its planetary configuration is so unusual The work of André Barbault and his predictions about a new world civilization How S.J. coined the term in 2021 and watched it become a viral phenomenon in 2026 The misconceptions that circulated about Barbault and the basket Why July 2026 may be one moment in a much longer astrological story The possibility of a second basket involving Ceres in June 2027 Saturn and Neptune in Aries as an invitation to create new foundations The role of AI and technological breakthroughs in the unfolding astrology How the basket speaks differently through each person's natal chart Shame, certainty, rebirth, and our capacity to live into new ways of being Why love and human connection remain essential amid technological transformation Underneath the outer planets and the AI headlines is a question Britten calls almost urgent: what does it mean to be a human being?   About S.J. Anderson: Hi, I'm S.J. Anderson, an astrologer and writer. In addition to maintaining an astrology consultation practice and YouTube channel, I regularly share ideas on Instagram. My perspective is influenced by studies in Hellenistic astrology, Theravada Buddhism, and Sivananda yoga. A lifetime member of the International Society of Astrological Research (ISAR), my astrological writing has been featured in publications such as Ignota Press, IAM: Infinity Astrological Magazine, and Wellbeing Astrology Guide; and my insights into astrology have been covered in major publications like India Times, Daily Express, Mashable, and Yahoo! News. Website: sjanderson144.com  YouTube: youtube.com/@sjanderson144  Instagram: instagram.com/sjanderson144  +++ E M E R G E N C E  A S T R O L O G Y ⁠⁠https://brittenlarue.com/ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@brittenlarue Order Living Astrology Join my newsletter here Check out my new podcast CRYSTAL BALLERS on Spotify, Podbean, and Apple. +++ Podcast art: Angela George. Podcast music: Jonathan Koe.

What the fuck is a "pop astrologer," anyway? In this episode, Britten talks with Tasha Beg of The Pop Astrologist about the strange and slippery divide between "pop astrology" and "real astrology," and what that divide reveals about seriousness, legitimacy, visibility, business, and belonging inside the astrological community. At the center of the conversation is a larger question: why does astrology, a tradition that has itself so often been dismissed as unserious, sometimes seem to need an "unserious astrology" inside itself? Topics They Cover: What we actually mean when we call someone a "pop astrologer," and how many different assumptions get collapsed into that label. Tasha's path into astrology and the creation of The Pop Astrologist, combining astrology with pop culture, headlines, celebrity, sports, and current events. The difference between accessibility and lack of depth, and why making complex astrology digestible is its own form of skill. The "real astrologer" versus "pop astrologer" binary, and the ways seriousness, technique, business size, visibility, branding, and legitimacy can become tangled together. Why commercial success and scale can provoke suspicion inside spiritual and astrological communities, and how large platforms also allow astrology to reach people who might never encounter it otherwise. Shame inside astrology, including the possibility that a field that has itself been culturally dismissed can reproduce its own hierarchies of legitimacy. Teachers, authority, and what happens when someone who once shaped us can no longer accompany us into the next chapter. The difference between rejecting hierarchy and abandoning discernment.  Visibility wounds, public evolution, criticism, and the reality that people often grow up in public. Reclaiming authority: asking what we value, what we trust, what resonates, and where we have allowed someone else to tell us what astrology is supposed to be. This is a conversation about pop astrology, but it is also about much more than that. It is about shame, legitimacy, projection, business, teachers, belonging, and the ongoing work of becoming our own authority inside a tradition we love.   About Tasha: Tasha is a Brooklyn-based evolutionary astrologer who left her Wall Street career during her Saturn Return to help others navigate life with greater intention and alignment with their natal promise. When she's not working privately with clients or hosting retreats, she brings astrology into everyday conversation as the @thepopastrologist, exploring the intersection of astrology, pop culture, and current events.   IG: @thepopastrologist Substack: https://thepopastrologist.substack.com/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thepopastrologist   +++   Tune in to Britten and Tasha's Instagram live by clicking here!   +++ E M E R G E N C E  A S T R O L O G Y ⁠⁠https://brittenlarue.com/ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@brittenlarue Order Living Astrology Join my newsletter here Check out my new podcast CRYSTAL BALLERS on Spotify, Podbean, and Apple. +++ Podcast art: Angela George. Podcast music: Jonathan Koe.  

In this episode, Britten is joined by Danielle Rothschild of Little Mystic School for a conversation about astrology, childhood, motherhood, and the experience of feeling different from other people. Danielle shares how astrology became a way of understanding herself and validating the things she already knew somewhere inside, and how that eventually led to the work she now does with parents and children. Topics They Cover: Danielle's experience of feeling different from her peers, moving throughout Europe as a child, and carrying a deep sense of loneliness and instability. Finding astrology and discovering that it could validate the things she had stopped trusting in herself. Danielle's relationship to being a mystic, her early connection to spirit and divinity, and the difficult childhood experiences that shaped her. How motherhood and inner-child healing have influenced the way both Danielle and Britten understand and teach astrology. Danielle's Legacy course and using the Moon, Mercury, Mars, Saturn, and the Sun to better understand children, their needs, communication, development, and relationship to limits and authority. Little Mystic School, Danielle's books and resources for parents and children, and her desire to get the information out of her head and into your hands. Danielle speaks about astrology with both reverence and humor, while remaining deeply curious about what it can help us understand about ourselves and the children we are raising.    About Danielle: Danielle Rothschild is an astrologer, spiritual teacher, writer, educator, and the founder of Little Mystic School, a modern mystery school for families. She has been teaching since 2009 and has spent a decade working with children, parents, and educators through astrology, yoga, mindfulness, healing, and early childhood education. With extensive training in astrology, yoga, meditation, energy healing, and childhood development, Danielle brings together ancient wisdom, mystical teachings, and her real-world experience working with children and families. Her work explores everything from the birth chart to Hermetic philosophy, meditation, ritual, and the deeper questions children naturally ask about who they are and the world around them. Little Mystic School grew out of Danielle's own healing journey and the transformation that came through becoming a mother. At the heart of her work is the belief that the wisdom many of us had to search for as adults can be given to children from the beginning, changing not only how they understand themselves, but also what becomes possible for the generations that come after them. WEBSITE: www.littlemysticschool.com  LEGACY: https://www.littlemysticschool.com/pages/legacy    +++ E M E R G E N C E  A S T R O L O G Y ⁠⁠https://brittenlarue.com/ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@brittenlarue Order Living Astrology Join my newsletter here Check out my new podcast CRYSTAL BALLERS on Spotify, Podbean, and Apple. +++ Podcast art: Angela George. Podcast music: Jonathan Koe.  

In this episode, Britten is joined by Amiya Alexandra of Resonance Astrology to talk about the upcoming Venus retrograde. They begin with the basics of the retrograde itself, then move into relationships, intimacy, jealousy, endings, and what it can mean to consciously engage with Venus rather than treating a retrograde as something that is simply happening to us. Topics They Cover: The basics of Venus retrograde, including the pre- and post-shadow periods, the 18-month cycle, and why retrogrades aren't necessarily bad. Venus as the glue of the zodiac and an opportunity to reassess the relationships in our lives, including our relationships with ourselves, pleasure, health, spirit, and the people around us. The 8-year Venus cycle and what looking back at the last Venus retrograde in Libra and Scorpio can reveal. The Libra and Scorpio themes of intimacy, boundaries versus walls, obsession, possession, jealousy, and the unmet needs underneath them. Personal stories of Venus retrogrades, including relationship conflict and repair, changing self-presentation, returning collaborators, and the grief that can come with endings. Ways to consciously work with Venus through altars, ritual, the Orphic Hymn, and building a relationship with Venus rather than simply waiting for her to do something for us. Amiya describes herself as a relational astrologer, specifically in relationship to the planets. For her, the invitation is to engage with Venus, especially during her absence, and come out of the retrograde in an empowered state.   About Amiya: Amiya Alexandra is an astrologer and former psychiatric nurse whose work blends Traditional Hellenistic with Modern Psychological Astrology.  Through Resonance Astrology, she translates the language of the stars into lived and embodied experience, exploring how we can develop meaningful relationships with the planets and their cycles.  Her work invites us to move beyond simply interpreting a chart and instead encounter its symbolism as something we can experience, relate to and live. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/resonance.astrology  Website: https://www.resonanceastrology.com  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ResonanceAstrology   Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/3A3NjLa2V0l0jLlwI8KoDh  Join Venus Through the Underworld 🌹: https://buy.stripe.com/dRm8wI4rsbfydbF3HtbfO02    +++    Learn More:  Britten invites listeners to join her in the sixth installment of Mystics Making Money: The Syllabus Is The Chrysalis starting September 11. She'll be teaching you how to architect transformational spaces that serve exponentially more people and bring her exponentially more revenue. Creating courses takes you out of one-on-one contracts and into something way more expansive and experiential.  You can learn more and register here: https://brittenlarue.com/course/mystics-making-money/    +++ E M E R G E N C E  A S T R O L O G Y ⁠⁠https://brittenlarue.com/ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@brittenlarue Order Living Astrology Join my newsletter here Check out my new podcast CRYSTAL BALLERS on Spotify, Podbean, and Apple. +++ Podcast art: Angela George. Podcast music: Jonathan Koe.  

In this episode, Britten introduces her next Mystics Making Money teaching, The Syllabus Is the Chrysalis. She explores the syllabus as a magical structure that can hold a learning and experiential journey, bringing the expansive and the imaginal into elegant containment so that transformation can happen. Topics She Covers: The heart of Mystics Making Money and what it means to bring your magical craft, intuitive gifts, creative service, and leadership into the marketplace. Jupiter and Saturn as a helpful conversation between expansion and structure, and what happens when we bring those two principles together. The syllabus as the chrysalis for transformation, including the imaginal cells, resistance, and the process of letting parts of who you've been fall away so something new can emerge. The syllabus as both an itinerary through time and a structure for the space itself: the boundaries, agreements, expectations, and "rules of the game" that help hold an experience. Bringing the expansive into elegant containment, and how a strong container allows the participant to have their transformation without the guide getting in the way. Creating beautiful systems that organize your genius, support scaling, and allow your work to keep moving through the world even when you are not actively delivering it. Britten explores the possibility of maximum expansiveness and maximum structure at the same time, without either one diminishing the magic. For her, this is the playground: creating experiences that are fun, transformational, and deeply impactful.   Learn More: Britten invites listeners to join her in the sixth installment of Mystics Making Money: The Syllabus Is The Chrysalis starting September 11. I'll be teaching you exactly how I architect spaces that serve exponentially more people and bring me exponentially more revenue. Creating courses takes you out of one-on-one contracts and into something way more expansive and experiential.  The increase in revenue gives you the freedom to dream and create even more. To rest. And to nurture what most matters to you. A syllabus is more than a list of what will be covered. It's the dream in built form. You build it, the community comes!  Registration opens on Thursday, September 3, for a ONE DAY ONLY EARLY BIRD. You can join the newsletter to be the first to know by clicking here and learn more here: https://brittenlarue.com/course/mystics-making-money/    +++ E M E R G E N C E  A S T R O L O G Y ⁠⁠https://brittenlarue.com/ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@brittenlarue Order Living Astrology Join my newsletter here Check out my new podcast CRYSTAL BALLERS on Spotify, Podbean, and Apple. +++ Podcast art: Angela George. Podcast music: Jonathan Koe.  

In this episode, Britten records a collective reading, feeling called to pull cards for the Pisces eclipse. She begins with reflections on eclipse windows, Virgo-Pisces, refinement versus perfectionism, motherhood, and the practice of listening without projecting shame into the relationship. Topics She Covers: The Pisces eclipse in Virgo season, and eclipse windows as times when everything can feel dilated, collective, personal, full of grief and wonder. The Virgo-Pisces polarity, including the pleasures of refinement, process, editing, preparation, preservation, care, and discernment. Motherhood, witnessing her daughter's young adulthood, and how unshaming helps Britten listen without going into a shame spiral. The 10 of Wands and Five of Pentacles as "don't like" phases connected to scarcity, strain, hypervigilance, burnout, and endless efforting. The King of Wands, Six of Swords, The Hermit, and Strength as invitations to hold your pose, travel from one way of being to another, listen one step at a time, and expand your capacity for the vulnerability of aliveness. The overseer cards as teachers on belonging, aliveness, the Emergent No, alchemy, voice, shame, and the agency we have in our willingness to change. Through this Pisces eclipse reading, Britten returns again and again to willingness: the agency we have in agreeing to change, updating old worldviews, and giving ourselves the generosity to always be learning how to be here.   +++ E M E R G E N C E  A S T R O L O G Y ⁠⁠https://brittenlarue.com/ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@brittenlarue Order Living Astrology Join my newsletter here Check out my new podcast CRYSTAL BALLERS on Spotify, Podbean, and Apple. Tune in to my new monthly YouTube series: Scopes Unshamed. +++ Podcast art: Angela George. Podcast music: Jonathan Koe.  

In this Dark Moon Download, Britten speaks from the dark moon in Cancer as the Moon moves toward her chart ruler, Mars in Cancer, and as she approaches her Mars return. What comes through is a meditation on power, leadership, and the malefics: Mars, Saturn, and the Sun. Topics She Covers: Why confronting our own power can feel complicated, especially when we are committed to not harming others with it. Mars as the high sensation of truth, and the part of us that cuts through masks, pretenses, and the fear of being too honest. Saturn as the container for time, focus, pressure, responsibility, and bringing a vision down to Earth. The Sun as visibility, generosity from the heart, and the practice of sharing what you love without promoting from resentment or shame. The difference between loving boundaries and walls around the heart. The alchemy of Ablaze as a process of breaking down and building back up into a more potent version of yourself. The investment we make when we give ourselves the coin for the ferryman and say yes to our own leap of trust. Through the malefics, Britten explores the kind of leadership that can stay honest, heart-led, and boundaried while learning how to hold power, pressure, visibility, and the work we are here to steward.   Learn More: ABLAZE is a high intensity group initiation space for big-hearted leaders craving to distill, embody, and amplify their most authentic voice. Inside of 4 months, you will be held to the fires of your own sublime heart. You say Yes because you trust Britten to hold the space as you cross the threshold into your next chapter.  Starting August 13, we join to gather in a community capped at 9 participants for intimacy, vulnerability, and true transformation. You will not be the same leader on the other side of this. You will be more of who you already are. Spots are available until filled. There will be a waitlist for the next round once all spots are filled.  Claim your seat inside the second cohort of ABLAZE. Learn more here: https://brittenlarue.com/course/ablaze/  Questions? Feel free to DM me with questions. Give me a 2-minute voice message sharing where you're at, where you're going, and the edge you're crossing right now.   +++ E M E R G E N C E  A S T R O L O G Y ⁠⁠https://brittenlarue.com/ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@brittenlarue Order Living Astrology Join my newsletter here Check out my new podcast CRYSTAL BALLERS on Spotify, Podbean, and Apple. Tune in to my new monthly YouTube series: Scopes Unshamed. +++ Podcast art: Angela George. Podcast music: Jonathan Koe.