Is the Life You're Living Too Small For You?

Is the life you are living too small for you? Chances are the answer to that question is some variation of yes. Chances are, the question may arouse some anxiety because that thought poses a variety of challenges, some big and some small. It hints of change and it’s not exciting to think that a “larger life” could mean the disruption or potential loss of the goodness that you have in your life right now.


It is exciting however, to think there may be ways we might “recreate our self” and our lives to move towards a larger life without chaos or loss. Some writers have suggested that it is mostly a weakness in the muscle of our imagination that keeps us from being and doing all we could be. There are other very practical reasons why we don’t or can’t do certain things we’d like to do. I’m sure you’re reminding yourself of those things now as you read this.


But consider this. It’s true that change and re-creation are easier said than done. Here’s an analogy—if we think of the astrology chart as a committee meeting of all the “planetary voices” in your psyche—all sitting around a conference table with the aspect lines in the center as the lines of communication between these voices—then you, as moderator of this committee, can tell certain parts of yourself to be quiet and others to speak up. If we think of these planetary archetypes as members of our inner committee that are asking to be “listened to” then we can open up to new possibilities from those parts of our self that have been silenced…or at least those parts of our self that have been made to sit quietly with hands folded. As chairperson of this committee, you can listen to those members that know how to find ways to increase your capacity for joy and energy.


It is also true that sometimes you simply have to wait till the time is right. When the planetary voices in our psyche are stimulated by strong transits—that is, when other “committee members” come to their aid by conjunction or trine they get stronger. Even when strong planetary transits make hard aspects to these lesser heard “committee members” within us, we have a unique opportunity to give them a voice.


Life has a way of forcing us back into old patterns and listening to the old voices that have spoken the loudest before—and so we listen again to the same “loud-mouths” and wounded parts of our psyche and tend to repeat the same old solutions to the same old story. Yes, we know that crazy, but we too often get a little lazy until life gets uncomfortable enough to encourage change. Then we become better listeners.


So now you may be wondering if wounded Saturn and ruthless Pluto have talked enough? Maybe you’re getting tired of reacting to the default patterns of your South Node? What about the gifts of Jupiter and the healing medicine in your North Node? Have you allowed Uranus to stop acting like an adolescent rebel and let him really loose? What would his version of freedom and inventiveness really look like?


The family karmic inheritance enters in here as well. Have you been blocked by fear, unconscious anxiety, or resistance to change because you’re allowing ancient family patterns to repeat themselves in your life now? Do you really want to live in reaction or in repetition of your father? Or mother?


Have you thought of where you avoid conflict and thereby avoid the necessary conflict of values that allows you to be true to yourself? Is your Venus always going along with things? Or is she so scared she’s trying to control the show and still not happy? Is your Moon sadly looking for permission or guidance from someone who may never show up? Is your Neptune demanding unconditional love or squirming with passive-aggressive confusion?


Interesting questions. Call for a committee meeting. Now may very well be the time to answer the summons of your Soul and to reach for your largest life. Isn’t it time to call an inner committee meeting again with you as moderator and recording secretary? You could take notes. You could let everyone get a chance to speak. You could research some of the ideas that come up at the meeting. (Some of the ideas that may have been thrown out in the past may now be workable if you change the story script of your life.)

With transiting Neptune and Jupiter making a “dream-encouraging conjunction” in the skies right now, there may be some surprising and energizing ideas being offered up to you—why not truly consider some “deep listening” at this time? (c) elizabeth spring www.elizabethspring.com

Venus, Neptune, and Your North Node "Joy"

I received this in an email today: “As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let you down probably will. You’ll have your heart broken probably more than once and it's harder every time. You'll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken.

You'll fight with your best friend. You'll blame a new love for things an old one did. You'll cry because time is passing too fast, and you'll eventually lose someone you love.

So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you've never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back. Don't be afraid that your life will end, be more concerned that it will never begin.”

This reminds me that we have a somewhat paradoxical self-protective mechanism in our psyche that seems to want to “let in” only so much joy or happiness. It’s as if we allow ourselves only so much awareness of the brighter side of life and the unknown possibilities that are inherent in each moment. Perhaps this filtering mechanism is there to protect us from feeling too sensitive or hoping too much, but in the present moment, no matter what the situation, we hold a capacity for more joy and love—and we can choose to open to it or not. Sometimes all it may take is the choice to not block or filter out the goodness that wants to come in.

We all tend to frame and express the current story of our life in a particular way at every moment. We continually re-tell ourselves “our story”—that life story you remind yourself of when you awake first thing in the morning. But by holding too tightly to the melodrama and “shoulds” of that story, you block fresh experiences that don’t fit in with that story line. However, we have choices even when times are hard—you can choose again—you can choose to awake today to the possibilities of unexpected joy and new experiences that aren’t conditioned by the past. You can choose to take in more joy. You can dare to color outside the lines of your life.


Astrologically, one could say that by clinging to the illusory safety of what we know and how we tell our story line, we repeat the default patterns of the South Node, and fuel our lives by our wounds and psychological complexes. We live through the Saturn/Pluto transits and the wounded complexities of our t-squares, but overlook the subtle beauty, joy and meaning in the other parts of our lives and charts. It would be a refreshing practice to reach for the highest expression of all our planetary aspects this spring, for the highest expression of Venus and Neptune (human and divine love) and to treat ourselves to the healing medicine of our North Nodes.

A final note: a friend of mine who has just celebrated five years of recovery from late stage Ovarian cancer, reminded me that “Love comes unconditionally.” Her cancer experience brought her to new levels of joy and “miracles” that she never expected. She said it also made her more “real.” What an interesting term! We tend to think that realness and reality is the negative bottom line—a Saturnian concept. In her case, she opened to an entirely different “reality” that showed her a deeper capacity for both joy and gratefulness. She tapped into Venus and Neptune and it transformed her life.
Elizabeth Spring © www.elizabethspring.com

Pluto's Orchestration of Fate

Pluto's transits often have everything to do with what makes you feel really crummy—you feel as if you are “falling apart.” That’s the way it strikes at first. Sickness, divorce, moving house, changing jobs, accidents—these all fall into that realm. Although the feeling of weariness or even death is metaphorical most of the time, you feel it in your bones—this dying and being re-born sensation. You become acutely aware of the fragility of life.

The phoenix-like nature of Pluto is powerful and could be said to purge us of our worst habits and karmic weaknesses. We see the underside of life and it brings up our repressed and often shame-filled shadow qualities. At these times, it is helpful to express what is happening rather than hide, because what we find is that we are not alone. There isn’t a single person born who isn’t touched by the archetypal energy of Pluto---this energy that puts us face to face with death. The good news is that our transit through Hades is a process—for “this too will pass” and there are many others who have been there who are willing to help.


The first part of living through a Plutonian life passage feels destructive and disintegrating, because it has to “tear down” before it can “build up.” Just like when a contractor goes into a neighborhood and tears down a house first before he can build a new one—it doesn’t look so pretty at first, but it has to be done that way. So Pluto brings up, irritates, and hopefully heals those South Node default patterns we’ve been discussing. It ultimately changes things for the better—or at least on our deathbed we might say “it changed things for the better.”


“Ruthless” is a word that is commonly associated with Pluto, partially because it seems so unbending in our efforts to change it. The really difficult moments of transiting Pluto are when we feel the hand of fate moving through our lives, and changing—without our permission—the orchestration of our lives. That’s why the words surrender and let it go so often come up at these times. We deal with Pluto best when we allow ourselves to let go of every image we have of “how it all should be and look.”


When Pluto comes into your life by transit—that is, when it hits a hot spot in your chart, such as conjuncting or squaring your Sun or a personal planet, you know something's about to undergo a metamorphosis. The ego is usually under attack in some way, or the part of your ego that is tied up with your South Node complexes. Most people feel overwhelmed and “attacked.” As you ego fragments under pressure, your inner voices start screaming and it’s easy to project those attacking inner voices onto other people. We regress and lose our maturity at these times, and there’s nothing to do but endure and trust the process until there is a moment of palpable shift and insight. There will probably be many of these “attacks and insights” or regressive acting out times followed by little “Ah-hah!” epiphanies.

Wherever the South Node and Pluto is located in your birth chart points to an area of deep karmic wounding, and from that wounding there evolves a behavioral distortion or a complex. We all have this in varying degrees. The good news is that when we have a Pluto transit, or a powerful transit to our South Node, we get to revisit this at some level, and to make it better. In a sense, we are getting a chance to be reborn.

At these times we can often feel the sense of fate; the hand of God orchestrating all this, and so it actually brings us closer to God, our life purpose, or what the Jungian’s call “the transcendent function.” The suffering involved is a high price to pay, but ultimately worth it. The less resistance we offer, the less suffering there is. As Buddhist author, Pema Chodron once said: “Suffering is optional.”

North Node Astrology Book Special~

If you order: "North Node Astrology: Rediscovering Your Life Direction and Soul Purpose" through www.elizabethspring.com now, and include your birth day, year, time, and place of birth, I will tuck a parchment copy of your astrology chart into the book. (All books are inscribed to you as well...)

Book reviews and the "Look Inside the Book" feature are also on Amazon.com, and you can buy it from them as well! (PS. But, it's cheaper to buy from me direct...)

~elizabeth spring