Intro: [00:00:00] Welcome to Energetic Advantage, the podcast where energy isn't woo, it's your edge. I'm your host, Jessica Cerato. Intuitive strategist, lifelong pattern decoder, lover of numbers, and energetic guide for visionary leaders. Around. Here we go. Energy first, strategy second. Every episode will give you a perspective, a tool, or a timeline shift that helps you lead from your power.
Because the truth is your energy is your most undervalued asset. Until you learn how to use it, get ready. You're about to have the advantage. Let's begin.
Welcome back to the Energetic Advantage Podcast. I know y'all came here for the July Energy Forecast, and I promise we're gonna get to it. But first, we need to zoom out for a beat, because July isn't just a new month, it's a new quarter. And Q3, the third quarter of this year, has a very specific [00:01:00] energy.
I've been calling it the season of light Because light does two things: it illuminates and it purifies. It helps you see, and it helps you release. So this quarter, these next three months, are asking you to lighten. Lighten the pressure, lighten the performance, lighten the expectations, lighten the stories that you've been dragging into rooms that they no longer belong in.
And at the exact same time, this is also the quarter where the spotlight finds you. Interesting, right? Because we often think visibility comes from doing more, but visibility often comes from removing what is blocking the light. It's like cleaning a window. The light was always there, the window was just dirty with fingerprints and dog paws and tongue marks.
You know, actually, I'll start here. Does anyone out here have, [00:02:00] like, two different kinds of showers?
Like, one is like the full shebang, like a shower shower, and then the other is just, like, a shower. Like, I just gotta rinse off, definitely no conditioner. It's like, let's get to it, right? So month to month, I would say most of us take this energetic shower, right? We rinse off. We kinda do the bare minimum.
But every quarter, I believe, we need a shower shower, right? Not the quick rinse, not the, "I technically got wet, Mom," the full experience: the scrub, the exfoliation. So, like, we, right now, especially coming into this quarter, if you haven't yet reflected on where you've come, if you haven't yet reflected on Q2, I really want you to take a moment to do that.
Because this past three months, if you've been listening along and feeling along, was the quarter of experimentation. Q2 was, you know, let's see what happens. Let's [00:03:00] try it. Let's test it. Let's find out. And now, quarter three is arriving and asking, "Okay, so now that you know, what will you choose?" Because knowledge without action eventually becomes clutter.
And so as a reminder, before we jump into July, if you want the full quarter three forecast, uh, where I break down the next three months, both a- from a big zoom-out lens, but also specific dates, a workbook, journal prompts, guided visualization, everything you need to set up your next quarter, go to the show notes.
You can grab the, the replay there. You can grab the workbook, and you can plan and feel really confident going into this next three months. Um- And now July. So July carries the energy of the eight. And as a reminder, we get that energy by adding up the seven of July with the digits of the year. So seven plus two plus zero plus two plus six [00:04:00] equals 17, and one plus seven equals eight.
And one of the most prominent energies of the number eight is momentum, momentum, momentum. If you just think about the number, there is no end, there is no beginning. It is the only number that is completely closed. And so think of like a snowball. Think of like a river. Think of like the train has already left the station.
In the eight, the energy isn't starting, the energy is building, which means July becomes very important because momentum doesn't care what you're growing. It just grows it, right? If you're growing confidence, more confidence. If you're growing resentment, more resentment. If you're growing courage, more courage.
Um, if you're growing fear, more fear, right? Do you see? So before we get into the month itself, we have a few more days here before the [00:05:00] energy officially hits. I want you to ask yourself: What am I currently feeding? What energy am I focused on? Because July will magnify it. It will take it and run with it because the eight loves momentum.
Now, if we think about where the eight sits on a Pythagorean energy grid, and remember that energy grid looks like a tic-tac-toe board. We have a physical energy, emotional energy, a masculine and feminine energy, mental energy, right? Each spot tells a story, and the eight lives on the far right-hand corner, right in the middle.
So that means that the eight lives in masculine, emotional energy. And this is really important because- When we think about emotions, which is emotion, energy in motion,
I know people are comfortable with some emotions and really deeply uncomfortable with others. [00:06:00] We've created this emotional hierarchy, right? Good emotions, bad emotions, positive or negative. but again, emotions are not moral. They're, they're simply information, literally energy in motion. That's it. And so, you know, July wants these honest emotions, particularly around emotions that create movement, AKA masculine emotions.
And when we think of masculine emotions, what, what do you think of? Frustration, anger, determination, intensity, passion, drive. These aren't wrong, right? We cannot put judgment on them. They're fuel. But the question is: What are you doing with the fuel? Because fuel can power a car. Fuel can also burn down a house.
So if you've spent a good part of your [00:07:00] life suppressing these specific types of emotions, July might feel a little bit uncomfortable. And so what I want you to do is proactively think about how you can work to keep that energy in motion, to release and encourage this energy to keep moving. So maybe that's a workout.
Maybe you can scream into a pillow. Um, maybe it's as simple as stop pretending you're fine when you're actually frustrated. You know what I got actually in my visualization when I was doing the quarter forecast is, you know those smash rooms or those rage rooms, I think they're called? I've never done one, but where you like put the goggles on, and then they give you a big sledgehammer, and you like break all the plates, and you throw things against the wall or something like that.
Um, and it's just-- it doesn't matter what you do. It matters that you acknowledge the emotions because emotions that aren't acknowledged tend to leak, tend to [00:08:00] erupt And we also wanna notice how we respond to those emotions. And I'm intentionally using the word respond because in the empowered side, the eight is responsive.
In the disempowered side, the eight is reactive. So this isn't just about your relationship with your own masculine emotions. Remember, there's two sides of the eight. It's also about your relationship with other people's masculine emotions, right? You know, most of us learn these emotional rules long before we even learned emotional intelligence.
Some people grew up in homes where anger felt dangerous, um, and some people grew up in homes where anger was the only acceptable emotion. You might have learned that conflict meant abandonment. maybe you are equating frustration [00:09:00] with meaning that someone was disappointed in you. some people learn that intensity meant that they needed to get smaller.
So when July starts bringing these emotions to the surface, I want you to pay attention not only to what you're feeling, but also what happens to you when someone else feels it And I think there's some nuance here because I actually don't feel that we, we respond to emotions. I feel we respond to what we've made those emotions mean.
So like, let's just use an example. Someone expresses frustration, and there's two people observing this person in frustration. One person might be like, "Oh, wow, they're really passionate about that. They really care about that." And another person is like, "Oh, I'm in trouble." Same emotion, different interpretation.
Again, like someone gets angry and one person is like, "Oh my gosh, this is unsafe." And the other [00:10:00] person's like, "Wow, they're just having a really human experience. They're really angry. This must be important to them." you know, I find fascinating that many people are so comfortable feeling certain emotions themselves, but really deeply uncomfortable when someone else expresses them.
And you know, I even think back, I'm a very emotional person. My emo- emotions come in waves, and I have no problem crying at movies or, um, you know, you know those things where it just hits you in the feels. But wow, it took me a long time to really be okay with seeing other people cry because I wanted to jump in and help.
I wanted to make it better. I wanted them to stop crying, right? And that is part of the lesson and the experience that July brings. And just knowing that, you know, maybe you're comfortable being angry, but uncomfortable when your partner is, or maybe you're comfortable with your ambition, but [00:11:00] uncomfortable when someone else's ambition feels really big.
Maybe you're okay with expressing frustration, but again, like maybe you immediately start to feel responsible for fixing someone else's. This is all valuable information this month because the eight asks, " Can you allow emotions to flow without assigning meaning to them?" Can anger simply be anger? Can frustration simply be frustrating just information moving through a person, E, energy in motion. And, you know, just think back to like when it rains. We don't assume it's gonna rain forever, and we don't blame ourself when it rains. We don't question our entire relationship with the climate or the sky. We simply say, "Ah, it's raining."
Right? But just think now of like if someone is frustrated for 10 minutes, and then you start writing a novel. "They're mad at me. Something is wrong. The relationships is failing. I should fix this. I need to explain myself." It's, it's never gonna stop being [00:12:00] frustrating, right? Meanwhile, the other person is simply having a passing emotional weather pattern, okay?
And one of the most supportive things that we can do for another human is to allow them to have an emotion without making it our responsibility. And one of the most supportive things we can do for ourselves is allow ourselves the same grace. Again, looking at the shape of the eight itself. As within, so without.
As above, so below. Whatever that saying is. The top loop and the bottom loop. And if we think about the top loop as your own emotional experience and then the bottom loop as everyone else's emotional experience, the middle is where they meet. And so this emotional maturity isn't controlling either side, although the eight wants to play tug of war.
But we know when we play tug of war, no one wins. Really, it's about allowing energy to [00:13:00] move between without getting stuck, just letting it move, because emotions are meant to move. Energy in motion. The problem is typically not the emotion. The problem is when we trap it, when we hold it, when we identify with it, when we make it mean more than it actually means.
So in July, you might find yourself in situations where you ask yourself... Here are some good questions to ask: Which emotions have I labeled as unacceptable? Which emotions in other people immediately activate me? What story do I tend to tell myself or do I automatically tell myself when someone is frustrated, angry, intense?
Fill in the blank. And really the question that I'm trying to lead you towards is, can I let an emotion be present without making it permanent? Because momentum, this eight, does not come from [00:14:00] suppressing energy. It comes from allowing it to move One more discernment here I want to make with these two sides, um, of the eight is very often the emotion that we see is not the emotion that's actually asking for attention.
It's the messenger, not the message. And masculine emotions are often the emotions that I said that create movement, while feminine emotions are often the emotions that create depth. So someone might express frustration, but underneath it is actually disappointment. You might feel angry, but underneath it is hurt, do you ever feel this way? I do. Criticism, but underneath it might be sadness. Impatience, but underneath that is vulnerability. The visible emotion, the masculine emotion, is often the armor, and the hidden emotion, the more [00:15:00] feminine emotion, is often the wound. Right? It's like an iceberg. The part above the water is what everyone sees.
The part below the water is what actually is driving it. And so if we spend our time trying to manage the visible emotion, only the tip of the iceberg, without ever exploring what's underneath it, that is going to keep us in a loop, right? So, you know, a client says to me, "I'm so frustrated," but I stay with it, and I keep asking questions, and what emerges is typically, "I'm actually really disappointed that this launch didn't work," or, "I'm scared that this won't work," right?
And then it becomes a very different conversation because frustration usually wants action, where disappointment simply wants acknowledgement. If we misidentify the emotion, we give ourselves the wrong medicine, right? Just how it works. So again, this top loop feels like what is being expressed, and this bottom loop feels like what is being held.
So again, it's what's visible versus what's [00:16:00] hidden, what's conscious versus what's unconscious, what's being said versus what's actually being felt. And in the eight, we need to look at both, specifically that middle crossing point, right? That moment where we realize, oh, like this is how it's connected, and everything will change from here.
I think this is also why masculine emotions sometimes get such a bad reputation, because they're often the first emotion to arrive because it wants to act. So it's like the bodyguard at the door. They show up first because they're trying to protect something softer, something more vulnerable.
The anger is protecting the hurt. The frustration is protecting the disappointment. The control is protecting the fear. Not always But sometimes. And so this can become a beautiful July practice. When a strong emotion arises, instead of [00:17:00] going to, "Ah, how do I get rid of this?" I want you to ask, like, what is this emotion protecting?
Or if this frustration could talk, what would it say? Or what's underneath it? And then kind of follow that loop, follow that energy of the eight. And again, this applies to other people because the most transformative thing we can do is to stop reacting to the emotion other people are showing and get curious about the emotion that they're protecting.
You know, maybe an angry teenager may actually be embarrassed. Maybe your controlling boss may actually feel overwhelmed. And this is not to excuse behavior, but it helps to understand it, because understanding creates options. And that's one of the gifts of the eight. [00:18:00] It teaches us that there are often two loops to every emotional experience: the one that everyone can see and the one that is asking to be seen.
And so my hope is that July can be a month where we stop arguing with that emotion on the surface and start listening to the one underneath it
Let's get into one of the other big themes of the month, which, here's me, a hard left-hand turn, a complete pivot to what we were just talking about into Jon Bon Jovi. Because the song that keeps on coming through for me this month is, "Whoa, we're halfway there. Oh, living on a prayer." first of all, Jon Bon Jovi is an eight of spades, literally, but I will not do a case study on Jon Bon Jovi right now.
But this does feel like July, we're standing in the middle of a bridge. We're in the [00:19:00] middle. And the middle, not the beginning, not the end, is sometimes difficult, is sometimes hard, is sometimes messy. Because the middle is where motivation fades. The middle is where progress might feel slower than you expected.
The middle is where a lot of people quit Because you've come so far or too far to turn around, but you can't quite see the destination yet, and that uncertainty messes with people. And so before we go any further, I want to bring in this mantra of I didn't come this far only to come this far. Okay? And I wanna think about all areas of your life, relationships, business, fitness journeys, healing journeys, creative projects, right?
Nobody celebrates halfway, right? But everyone celebrates the finish line. In July, I want us to start [00:20:00] celebrating the halfway there, and, you know, brings me back to when, um, it feels like many lifetimes ago, but I was a fitness instructor. And when I taught spin classes, specifically my forty-five minute lunchtime spin class downtown at the Robert Lee YMCA, um, minute twenty-three of a forty-five minute class was brutal every single time.
And it's not because I made the workout harder at minute twenty-three. It's because people realized they weren't done, but the excitement of starting had worn off. The finish line wasn't visible yet. They were literally in the middle. So what I started to do was strategically place distractions. I would do a trivia game.
I would do a challenge. I would do something unexpected. I would put in a totally random song, something fun to break it up, to break up that energy and give them a reason to keep going, right? And [00:21:00] I-- many times people would tell me after the class, "Man, I just knew I needed to get it to trivia today. I just knew I needed to get to that halfway point, and I knew it'd be fine."
And you know the same thing about road trips. Like, nobody drives ten hours straight. You stop. You get snacks. You grab coffee. You reward your progress. So why do we only reward ourselves when we finish things? Why not reward halfway? Why not celebrate momentum? Why not acknowledge progress before the finish line?
So in July, I want you to create milestones, not just end result goals, and make sure for each milestone you are creating a celebration that motivates you to keep going. Again, if we think about standing in the middle of the eight, that crossing point, that bridge, that transition, that space between the top of the number and the [00:22:00] bottom of the number, it reminds me of sometimes...
I, I had this visualization maybe a few years ago, and it was for a specific client, and it hasn't left my energy yet because I just feel it's so impactful. Uh, it's... I had seen her. I was, I was like, not literally, but in a visualization, I had like an eagle eye view. I was like, had this vantage point where I could see her walking in a corn maze, and she was very close to the end And I could see it.
I could see she was almost there, but she was in the corn maze. She was living her life, and everything looked like she was going the wrong way. Everything looked like a dead end, and it was like I was shouting to her, "Keep going. You're almost there." So in July, if you can zoom out and do that for yourself, that is a great strategy.
If you have a friend or a family member or a professional, uh, someone who can see the bigger picture [00:23:00] to help you keep going, that's also going to be a very smart, strategic, practical move you can do. Okay. Now, again, this loop of the eight is very independent, right? And momentum and motivation, mastery are all beautiful, empowering energies of the eight.
Flow, right? But I wanna talk about one of the shadows here, which is a loop. Going around and around the same block, the same mountain, having the same conversation, repeating the same story, revisiting the same lesson, thinking about the thing instead of finishing the thing, right? And, you know, the top half of the eight is in the mind, intentions, thinking about things, and the bottom half of the eight is about commitment, is about doing the things, and the midpoint is the heart, is the devotion to it, [00:24:00] continuing to do the things.
And because June was a seven month, and actually going back to May, May and June, we've learned so much. We've learned so many lessons, and our job in July is to integrate them and to release the lesson, but keep on hold to the wisdom. And this is what I mean here. I keep on seeing the visual of, like, a stove.
What taught you not to touch a hot stove? You got burned, right? You touch a hot stove, you got burned. But how many times do you need to revisit the burn before you trust the lesson? Because actually, the lesson wasn't the burn. The lesson was hot things burn. The burn was simply how you learned it. And if you think about the lessons you've learned, how many times do you go back to the [00:25:00] how when actually the how is not important?
What is important is that now you know I feel if we take this metaphorical stove, there are some people carrying these entire stoves around, not because they need the lesson, but because they've become attached to the evidence, and they don't wanna do it again. So whether that is a breakup or a betrayal, a failed launch, a rejection, an investment that didn't work, a friendship that ended Every day, if you pick that up and say, "See?
This is how I learned," that is not helpful. That is keeping you in the loop. So July asks you, can you release that burn and keep the wisdom? Can you release the heartbreak and keep the discernment? Can you release the embarrassment and keep the confidence you earned? Can you release the failure and keep the experience?
Because this wisdom and [00:26:00] suffering are not the same thing. And I think this actually theme will kind of come into August a bit more, but if you can really embrace it and recognize when you might be in a loop, August will make you come out of the loop. It will, it will be more forceful in the release, whereas July, it is your choice.
So I feel the advantage is to choose early. And the other big shadow of the eight is sabotage. But here's the really tricky thing, sabotage, uh, rarely sounds ridiculous. If it did, we wouldn't know it was sabotage. Sabotage sounds really intelligent. It sounds logical, it sounds reasonable, it sounds productive, which is why it works.
And the second problem is everyone sabotages differently, self-sabotage. Okay?
And it's coded in your chart. If you're curious about it, let me know. [00:27:00] But for some people, sabotage is doing nothing. Or if you think about procrastination, right? It's like doing nothing. But for other people, self-sabotage might be doing everything except the thing, which if I'm honest, it's typically my version.
Suddenly my desk is organized, my inbox is clean, I've researched 17 different options, I've color-coded something, I've listened to three podcasts, I've rearranged my spice drawer, I've cleaned the kitchen, I've learned a new strategy, and somehow the thing that I actually... well, don't want, but the thing that is most important, what I'm sabotaging, still isn't done.
Sabotage often disguises itself also as preparation. Um, another certification, another course, another conversation, just one more plan, just one more spreadsheet, just one more month. So July, and this is really only a question that you can answer yourself, or like I said, I can share what's in your chart.
But what does your sabotage [00:28:00] actually look like? Because this awareness will break the pattern. The eight just feels so expansive this month. Again, like as the upper loop grows, so does the bottom. This opportunity for momentum and flow and, receiving and abundance, you know, eight, ugh, is such an abundant number.
And I just want you to remember that this is not a starting line month. It's a bridge month. It's a trust month, right? And so as we come to the end of this forecast, I have a few questions that I want you to sit with as we head into this next energy. Number one: Where am I kind of halfway through something, somewhat in the middle?
And what am I tempted to [00:29:00] abandon? What deserves one more season of my trust? What lesson have I already learned that I might still be carrying evidence for? And what wisdom can I keep while releasing the story attached to it? What does self-sabotage actually look like for me? And what am I feeding, or where, where am I placing my energy that is currently gaining momentum?
And do I like it? Do I like the snowball? Right? Can I respond instead of react? And really, you know, just remember this masculine emotional component that is present with us the entire month, and if nothing else, exploring that more and exploring it specifically in relationship to others will create that really strong independent [00:30:00] energy that the eight has without closing off, which is the other shadow side. You know, today we talked about these overarching themes of July, and specifically the 8th.
But of course, there are underlying energies. Each energy, each day holds a different energy of the month, and there are patterns, and there are highlights, and there are specific dates, if you anchor into them, will really help you move through the month more confidently and more freely. And I break it all down in the calendar.
Daily energetic forecasts, daily journal prompts. I share with you, some tips, some exercises, a guided visualization, a song of the month, a crystal of the month, and you also get a beautiful, custom-created painting that you can use as your lock screen or just to keep you reminded of the energy of the month.
And you [00:31:00] can find that information in the show notes. Your first month, as always, is free, so check it out.
So- Halfway is evidence. Evidence that you've come further than you think. And like I said before, you didn't come this far just to come this far. So stay. Stay with yourself. Stay with the process. Stay with the momentum. Keep going. And that might be the bravest thing that you will, do all month, is even if you feel like you're in a corn maze, trust in your intuition, trust in the energy, and keep going.
And like I said in the beginning of this forecast, if you're curious of why this is all is happening, what is the bigger arc? It's because we are heading towards a star which is actually part of a bigger constellation. [00:32:00] And this is a concept that is coded uniquely for Q3. So again, if you want that forecast, just check out the show notes so you can get the full picture while still staying rooted in the month of July.
May your playlist include all of Jon Bon Jovi's greatest hits, as mine always do. Have a beautiful month, and I'll see you back here next week.
Outro: Thanks for being here inside The Energetic Advantage. If today's episode open something for you, share it, tag it, or send to the person who popped into your mind. And remember, energy first strategy second. Your advantage has always been in you. Now it's time to lead with it. See you next time.
