In this fourth episode of Parts & Charts: The IFS and Astrology Podcast, Chelsea and KP explore:
What if the parts of us who manage our day to day lives are really intending to protect us?
What if those manager parts are connected to Saturn?
[to watch the video version, head over to Substack or Youtube. For the audio versions, listen through your favorite podcast app]
In this episode, Chelsea leads KP through a live IFS demo centered on manager parts—the internal protectors who keep our systems running smoothly, often by gripping tightly to control, productivity, and perception.
You’ll learn:
* What manager parts are and how they function in our daily lives
* Why they can feel both essential and exhausting
* How Saturn, the astrological planet of structure and responsibility, mirrors manager energy
* The surprising overlap between tarot symbolism (hello, Death and Six of Pentacles) and internal systems work
Midway through, KP gets curious about her own Saturn placement and what it says about her patterns around income, health, and timing—and then opens to a poetic and powerful visualization of one of her manager parts. What emerges is a mermaid on a rock, equal parts ancient and devoted, sturdy and a little dramatic. This part becomes a living metaphor for how structure allows for creative freedom, and how containment doesn’t have to mean limitation.
This episode is part tutorial, part therapy demo, part astrological meditation—and offers an up-close look at the internal world of a practicing poet-astrologer as she makes contact with her parts.
✨ If you’re a practitioner, this episode also offers a rare chance to witness Chelsea’s gentle, skillful facilitation of an IFS session in real time.
🎥 We highly recommend watching the video version to catch key visual cues, including KP’s astrological chart and Chelsea’s micro-expressions during the demo.
Key Quotes:
“Managers do a lot of the front end stuff, managers do a lot of proactive work or preemptive work to control the situation or control the activation in the system so an exiled part doesn’t get too activated. ” — Chelsea
“Controlling the environment, the body, how people perceive you, it can look like people pleasing, striving, schieving, type A stuff can be manager material.” -Chelsea
“I think that I wasn’t seeing him [Saturn] as significant as I should have been, because he’s the last visible planet, I think he gets this kind of reputation like he’s isolated, he’s out there, he will come in when he needs to fix something.”-KP
“The best manager is not asking you to notice them, the best manager is doing things behind the scenes and not calling attention to the 300 things they just got done.” -KP
“When you listen to us, we don’t have to work as hard.” — KP’s internal part
Timestamps & Topics:
00:00 – Tech notes and why the video version is still worth watching :)02:00 – What’s on the tarot table: Death, Nine of Swords, Six of Pentacles04:00 – Introducing manager parts: the backbone of your internal system06:00 – How manager energy might show up in daily life08:00 – Perfectionism, people-pleasing, overworking, and control12:00 – IFS demo begins: KP meets a part shaped like a mermaid on a rock18:00 – Barnacles, devotion, and multi-generational parts21:00 – Saturn and the second house: slow growth and sacred work24:00 – Saturn in the first house: vitality, routine, and body responsibility28:00 – Shape and restraint as allies to power31:00 – A manager’s fear of internal chaos—and how structure helps36:00 – The volcano and the rudder: managing explosive creative energy40:00 – When parts want more attention: building trust through ritual43:00 – Rhubarb the analyzer part, and other unexpected guests48:00 – The astrological case for Saturn as a spiritual ally53:00 – Debrief: chart geometry, Venus-Pluto, and deep sea symbolism58:00 – Creative devotion, sacred pacing, and why Saturn gets better with age
Resources Mentioned:
* No Bad Parts by Dr. Richard Schwartz
* The Internal Family Systems Institute – ifs-institute.com
* Astrology chart tools – astro.com or astro-seek.com
* Tarot decks discussed: Rider-Waite Smith, Mary K. Greer interpretations
* Concepts: manager parts, Saturn return, birth chart rulers, containment, sublimation, sextile aspect
Connect with Us:
✨ Subscribe to Parts & Charts on Substack
📸 Follow us on Instagram: @PartsAndCharts💌 Send a question or note through Substack
🎧 Share this episode with someone who’s ever doubted their chart or wanted to silence a part of themselves.
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
The cover image is a collage by Chelsea Owens.
