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Opening
The question underneath this whole episode is whether you were ever actually one thing — or whether that was just something you were told, and believed, because it was easier than the alternative.
Two frameworks, one question
Chelsea came to IFS by experiencing it first — in her own therapy, without knowing what it was, before she ever read the theory. KP came to parts through the chart, through the planets, through a symbolic grammar she’d been using for years before she realized it was already describing exactly what IFS calls a system. Neither of them arrived here the same way. The episode sounds like that.
A kid showed up to every single class at juvenile hall and made himself impossible — throwing things, talking over everything, a constant disruption. Finally the teacher pulled him aside and asked why he kept coming back if he hated it so much. The kid said: I just wanted to see how long it would take for you to kick me out. Chelsea tells this story about mercy, about what parts do when they’re still waiting to be rejected. It’s the center of the episode and it lands without any editorializing at all.
KP talks about a friend who, years ago, said something about her being too loud, too sunny, too comfortable in her own vibrance — and the tone made clear that wasn’t a compliment. She’s still sitting with it. Working with Venus as a part has been giving her more room to understand what was happening in that friend’s system when they said it. Not excusing it. Just — more room.
“Once you actually come to them with understanding and inquiry and curiosity and a little mercy — instead of being like, what the f**k are you doing, stop, get out of here — that’s what they’re expecting to hear. But when you come to them with a different energy, they’re like: okay. Now I can relax.”
— Chelsea Owens
The landing
The kid kept coming back to the class he was destroying because he needed to know if someone would stay. Parts do that. They act out the thing they’re most afraid of, to find out if the answer is different this time. What IFS calls parts, what Hellenistic astrology calls the planets — both are just different languages for the same fact: you are many, the many are trying to help you, and none of them are bad. Not even the ones that bite.
What this episode is actually about
We’ve inherited a model of the mind that assumes one driver, one will, one self that’s either disciplined enough or not. IFS says that’s not how it works. Hellenistic astrology, it turns out, never thought so either. This episode is about what becomes possible when you stop trying to get your parts to be quiet and start asking them what they need.
Also in this episode
* Why Chelsea stays away from explaining IFS theory before a client experiences it — and what happens when people encounter it in the body first
* The monomind model, what it costs you, and why willpower is often just one part running a very exhausting long con on all the others
* Dick Schwartz working with people who have committed murder — and what happens when you actually ask a part why it did what it did
* Cultural and legacy burdens: the parts that are carrying something that isn’t entirely yours, maybe wasn’t even born when you were
* Spiritual bypassing, and how parts can get very enthusiastic about meditation or religion if it means the other parts finally have to shut up
* KP’s closing synthesis: the birth chart not as a verdict on who you are, but as a map of who’s in the room — and the argument for no bad charts
Before you go
If this episode gave you something to sit with, subscribe at partsandcharts.substack.com — that’s where we put the things that didn’t make it into the episode, and occasionally where we tell on ourselves between seasons.
Leave a review if you’re the kind of person who does that. One of our parts will be very grateful.
Upcoming Events
Arts, Parts & Charts | Apr 8, 2026 · 7:00 PM CT · Virtual via Zoom
Chelsea leads a guided meditation into whatever is moving in the sky right now. You make art with what comes up. Then we talk about it together. No art experience required — just a willingness to see what your parts have to say when they’re handed a pencil.
Chart Roulette | Apr 18, 2026 · 12:00 PM CT · Virtual via Zoom
Bring your chart. KP reads it live. The wheel decides who goes first — which is another way of saying: the planets decide. Fast, candid, and probably illuminating in ways you didn’t expect.
For those applying to grad programs in counseling: Chelsea Owens pulled together a deeeeeep dive into all the practical elements of this decision, for the price of a cute cafe lunch ($25) — follow this link: https://chelseawow.gumroad.com/l/bfbiau
Work With Us
KP Kaszubowski
Hellenistic astrologer · Jungian parts work educator · poet
KP offers Hellenistic chart readings that treat the birth chart as a map of the psyche’s inner figures — not a verdict, a conversation starter. She’s also currently accepting a small number of practice clients for her Astro Parts Method sessions: guided meetings with your planets as parts, using active imagination. Interest form open now.
Book a chart readingApply for a practice sessionAstrology for Makers ↗
Chelsea Owens
Licensed therapist · IFS Level 3
Chelsea works with individuals using Internal Family Systems therapy — the same framework she brings to Parts & Charts. Her sessions are warm, rigorous, and grounded in genuine clinical training. Now accepting new clients.
Book an IFS sessionChelsea’s Substack ↗
Key Quotes
“Parts are more than just something the mind is creating. Whatever they’re made up of — particles, waves, thoughts, feelings, experiences — they are coming from somewhere. They have more substance than that.”
— Chelsea Owens
“He just wanted to see how long it would take for you to kick me out.”
— Chelsea Owens, relaying a Dharma teacher’s story
“Not the chart as the person — the chart as the place of data that shows us where all the parts are and how they’re in relation to each other. There are no bad charts.”
— KP Kaszubowski
“I feel proud when I let it come out. And so when someone calls attention to that — in a place where I feel proud because it took a lot of energy to get there — yeah. That’s what’s coming up.”
— KP Kaszubowski
Credits
Music: “Vape Juice Dave’s Bistro” composed by Scott Cary (Wild Western Avenue) for the feature film RINGOLEVIO (2020), directed by KP Kaszubowski. Performed by Scott Cary, Max Wikoff, Else Albeck Gasparka, and Sarah Luther.Cover image: collage by Chelsea Owens.
