I always looked forward to reading my horoscope in J-14 as a young girl. But as I got older, I realized that astrology is way more than seeing if I'm compatible with the hottest pop star or the guy in my 5th period Language Arts. As celebrity astrologer Aliza Kelly told me during our conversation for The Dipp, astrology rests on manifesting the best possible version of your life.

"Astrology is a practice in seeing yourself, and seeing yourself is a practice in loving yourself, and loving yourself is a practice in recognizing that you have the ability to live your best life," Kelly says. Sounds easy, right?

While astrology can sometimes get complex and deep, Kelly wants to make it accessible for everyone. So for those that are new to astrology, memes on Instagram are a good place to start. "Any way that somebody can find a piece of astrology that they relate to... that's the point of astrology, right?" Kelly says. "That's that mirror, that validation, that recognition is how we ultimately start to build this more comprehensive holistic universe. No pun intended."

Knowing she was never going to possibly be able to meet and read every person that wishes to have a session with her, Kelly wanted to create a resource that allowed everyone, everywhere, to benefit from the transformative work she does with her clients. Enter her new book, This Is Your Destiny: Using Astrology to Manifest Your Best Life (out now). "I wanted to have something tangible that I would be able to offer, so that anyone in their journey would be able to pick it up as a tool and utilize it," Kelly says.

Read on to hear more about her new project, manifestation, as well as how astrology intersects with pop culture and the celebrity couples we're all obsessing over.

For those that are new to manifestation work and practices, how would you explain your process?

Manifestation is moving your hopes and dreams and wishes and intentions and desires from the internal astro-world (aka things that don't exist) into the physical world, the tangible world, the things that do have form in shape. So the process of that also requires a lot of self-reflection, understanding, self-discovery, self love, because if you don't know what you really want, you're not gonna be able to manifest what you really desire.

One thing that's been on my mind is that we are currently in Mercury retrograde. So many people who hear that, whether it be from memes or headlines, and are like, "Uh, oh. Scary." Would you say Mercury retrograde is scary or no?

I'd say no, because Mercury does not, from an astrological perspective, have the agency to destroy your life. Other planets do, but Mercury does not. Mercury is going to inconvenience you. Mercury is going to make things annoying. But the
annoyances that we receive from Mercury retrograde are not devastating ... You might miss your train, get stuck in traffic, your flight gets delayed. You send a weird text message to the wrong person. That's all Mercury retrograde stuff. But if something is happening in your life, that really is a catalytic disaster. Unfortunately, we cannot blame that on Mercury.

Astrology can explain a lot of what is going on in our lives, but also the lives of those in pop culture. One topic that is a huge conversation right now is Britney Spears' conservatorship. Is there anything that stands out to you astrologically?

Britney is a Sagittarius sun, with a Libra rising, and an Aquarius moon. And Britney's chart has always wanted to be free. Britney's chart has always wanted independence. She's always wanted to be able to express herself. And I don't think she ever really has. This is even predating the institution of the conservatorship and the mid [to] late early 2000s. I don't know if she's ever been free in the way that her chart wants her to be.

It makes me nervous because the trajectory of her life has deviated so much from a lot of, at least what I can see, in her chart. So regaining that and reclaiming that isn't going to be easy ... I did do a lot of videos on Britney back when she did her testimony. I do think that she's going to have a lot of ruling in her favor based on the timing of Jupiter and her moon and the roles that certain planets and their transiting significance in Aquarius on her Aquarius moon will be able to offer.

Are there any celebrity couples that have a strong astrological compatibility?

Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly have beautiful compatibility. They really do. They have this very, very special Venus-Jupiter conjunction at 17 degrees Pisces and it's one of the most auspicious and one of the most fortuitous and luckiest placements that you could have in a chart for compatibility. And I predict that they will be birthing something next year, whether that is a baby or it is a creative project. I think it's TBD, but they are absolutely collaborators and they're absolutely gonna be making something.

What about Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde? He's my number one celebrity crush, so I'm a little invested.

So Harry Styles is an Aquarius king. He has so much Aquarius in his chart, it is unbelievable. Aquarius is the sign of innovation and progress and revolution and rebellion, and conveniently that works perfectly with a signature that Olivia Wilde has in her chart. Olivia has her Venus in Aquarius. So even though she's a Pisces, her Venus, which is what she values, is attracted to all of his innovation and change and rule breaking and progress and him being a visionary.

OK, so not great news for me and Harry is what I'm hearing. Last one... what do you think about the resurgence of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck?

Bennifer is a force. Bennifer is on an eclipse cycle. And the last time that these eclipses came around was 18 and a half years ago, which is also obviously the last time that they were together. It's really fascinating — they're kind of the case study in eclipses. There is one more eclipse left in this particular series and it's going take place in December of this year. So I think that their relationship is really going to be calcified by December.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Image: Aliza Kelly