"Using Neptune Homeopathically"

Dear "Mountain Astrologer"

I found Elizabeth Spring's article, "Using Neptune Homeopathically," to be one of the most helpful articles I've ever read. Neptune's transits can be so hard to work through, and since I've had transiting Neptune conjunct my natal Moon/Ceres conjunction squaring my Sun/Mercury for some time now, you can imagine how quickly I latched onto this article!

What I found so helpful was Spring's practical advice. She suggests firm, tangible actions to address feelings and the negative tendencies that emerge during difficult Neptune transits. The only other person I've found who is able to give such practical and useful advice is Donna Cunningham, particularly in her book, "Astrology and Spiritual Development." With these two in my corner, I feel much more able to use this Neptune transit for my betterment rather than my detriment.

Please keep including articles such as these that give advice that is easier to apply, advice with a new twist. They keep me addicted to "The Mountain Astrologer"....a good addiction, I must say!

Anne Pauline Stanwood,

Washington

Transforming Fate into Destiny

Writing a book such as "North Node Astrology" may sound a little arrogant or naïve, depending on whether or not you believe astrology has anything truly worthwhile to say about one's life direction and soul purpose. Metaphysical texts have said that one’s life direction seems to evolve through some mysterious equation of fate, character and destiny. I think the equation is best understood like this: fate + character=destiny.

Yet how do we create this middle factor--"character" with our free will? Will astrological knowledge help? If fate represents the "givens" of life, such as our sex, nationality, birth order, parents, etc. how do we respond to this fate? Where and how do we exercise the muscle of our free will to adjust the effects of fate and the qualities of character to create a positive destiny? These are some of the questions examined in my new book: "North Node Astrology; Rediscovering Your Life Direction and Soul Purpose."

I believe it is in the making of character through the depth of our insight that intrigues me. This new book hopes to give you, dear reader, a rather curious tool to dig deeper into the whys and wherefores of character and insight. And as for soul purpose, I share a common yet sacred bias here, in saying that it is ultimately bound up with our growing ability to love and be loved.

Similarly, as a counselor I’m inclined to say that one’s life direction and soul purpose is about the movement towards healing and wholeness—for who among us is not wounded and less than whole? Life direction evolves as a response to our work and life choices, and yet it has an inner trajectory as well. This inner direction is bound up with soul purpose, and is where we each are different.

Can you remember when you first heard the words of the poet, William Wordsworth, when he said “our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting, the Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star, hath had elsewhere its setting, and cometh from afar: not in entire forgetfulness, and not in utter nakedness, but trailing clouds of glory…”?

Maybe it’s true that life existed before this birth, perhaps not. However, embracing the theory of reincarnation is not necessary to get something out of this book—what I might see as the re-incarnational story, you the reader, might understand as the effect of early childhood experiences and parental DNA. Either theory works.

As you might rightly assume, my point of view is that I like the theory of reincarnation, because although not provable, it’s a way to look at the world that holds the promise of fairness and justice. It’s a hopeful bias—because we all know that life is often not “fair” to a person in one life, but it may prove to be somehow mysterious “fair” over many lifetimes. There may be an order and invisible pattern that exists when you look closely at the backside of a tapestry or when you see the “lay of the land” from the top of the mountain. The closer I look, and the farther I look, the more interesting the terrain becomes.

What are the invisible patterns we might not see? A friend once said, “Be kinder than necessary because everyone we meet is fighting some kind of battle.” What is that invisible battle we don’t see in our friend? What are the invisible patterns in our life? What happens when we detect patterns using theories such as astrology and reincarnation? Perhaps they must simply be felt and experienced rather than proven, and then decided whether they are useful or not. It is in these realms I like to probe.

So I accept reincarnation and astrology as a “kind theory” that challenges chaos and randomness. It gives me faith that there is “meaningfulness” to existence even if it can’t be proven or discerned in one life. Looking at things this way, I don’t much like the original game plan of this pattern— for it feels too cruel—yet we all go to the movies to watch a good story. We accept the drama and tragedy in a story.

In the Eastern philosophy of Vedantic Hinduism we were once all part of the One that created this great pattern or Story. It says that we live through lifetime after lifetime of lila and maya, of play and illusion, till we arrive back at the place where we started at the beginning. They believe that there is an evolutionary story evolving, and astrological wisdom also holds this to be true—that there are synchronistic correlations and resonances between things, and that an evolutionary drama is being enacted. The legendary magus, Hermes Trigmegestus once said: “As it is above, so it is below, as it is in the inner, so it is in the outer.” Man is the microcosm, the universe the macrocosm, and in some metaphysical sense they are One. I like to entertain these possibilities as being true.

So if you can suspend your skepticism about reincarnation and entertain the idea that astrological symbolism is a language best used to explore psychological and spiritual terrains—well then, I invite you to consider that there may be something in your birth chart that speaks of your specific life direction and soul purpose. ~elizabeth spring http://www.elizabethspring.com/

I also invite you to read this new book review of "North Node Astrology" by Jeff Hutner in "The New Paradigm Newswire." Click here for his book review: http://newparadigmdigest.com/1498/northnode

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

Neptune: Living in Dreamland

Neptune: Living in Dreamland

When we awake from the dream of separateness and the addiction to the drama of the story-line of our lives, we awake to the idea that we’re all mystics living in a dream-world we create. Our perceived story—our ego, that small self with all its ambitions, aspirations, victories and defeats, is living a drama that sucks us in. It seduces us into believing that our daily rituals in the “marketplace of life” are all there is.

At the mountaintop level of observation, “liberation” is found by unsnarling this small ego from its sticky co-dependent relationship to others, self, and work. Beyond the Ten Commandments, “opinions” get confused with ego righteousness…so perhaps it is in the recognition of our addiction to drama that we become free—for isn’t it here that we accept our powerlessness, our limitations, and the messiness of the human condition?

I’ve come to feel that it’s here in this recognizing and releasing of our addictions, especially to drama (Neptune) that we make ourselves more available to Spirit. Here is the highest octave of Neptune’s expression: a non-dualistic spirituality. We catch a glimpse of Oneness. It’s a vantage point that doesn’t use words such as good/bad, win/lose and even higher vs. lower. Unfortunately, the mountaintop view may be the highest Truth, but it’s not so accessible in daily life here in the valley below. Perhaps too often we have lost trust in our path up the mountain, and suffered too many falls.

We know that the Soul wants to grow and deepen, and accepts all situations as rich spiritual lessons, or gifts in disguise. Yet the ego doesn’t easily accept that we live in a meaningful universe where accidents and coincidences are actually synchronistic lessons---situations through which we are stimulated to greater awakening. When things become too painful the ego often dismisses difficulties as being random or evil events, other people’s faults. It’s then that we risk missing the underlying message or meaning an event may have for us. It may be as deceptively simple as increasing our compassion.

Neptune is the planet of divine love and compassion, and also the planet of illusion and disillusion. We can get lost in it, just as we can drown in the ocean. Neptune is the trickster or magician as well, as it seems to require from us that we release and let go even those things, people and situations that we hold dear. Eventually we must release our own lives.

In releasing attachments to our personal stories and by reframing the story of our life from the point of view of the Self rather than the ego, we liberate ourselves from pettiness. It seems like a good idea. And as Andy Rooney might say: “I think I’ll give it a try.”
Elizabeth Spring www.elizabethspring.com

The Rainmaker. Where do I find what I need?

Do you remember this story?

"There was a great drought where Wilhelm lived; for months there had not been a drop of rain and the situation became catastrophic. The Catholics made processions, the Protestants made prayers, and the Chinese burned joss sticks and shot off guns to frighten away the demons of the drought, but with no result. Finally the Chinese said: We will fetch the rain maker. And from another province, a dried up old man appeared. The only thing he asked for was a quiet little house somewhere, and there he locked himself in for three days. On the fourth day clouds gathered and there came a great storm and the town was so full of rumors about the wonderful rain maker that Wilhelm went to ask the man how he did it.

He said: “They call you the rain maker, will you tell me how you made it happen?” And the little Chinaman said: “I did not make the rain, I am not responsible.” “But what have you done these three days?”

"Oh, I can explain that." He said. "I come from a country where things are in order. Here they are out of order, they are not as they should be by the ordinance of heaven. Therefore, the whole country is not in Tao, and I am also not in the natural order of things because I am in a discorded country. So I had to wait three days until I was back in Tao, and then naturally the rain came.”

There is so much wisdom in this little story, that it reminds me of a secret hidden in a little box. The rainmaker reminds us that we find what we need when we come back into "the Tao" or the natural order of things. When we balance our lives; when we come into peace with ourselves. The mystery is that although only we can do it for ourselves, there is also a whole community involved--we are not separate beings, but find our hope, help and inspiration through each other.

Whether we are coming back into alignment with our personal "Tao" or helping a friend or community do that, let's remember that there is a synchronistic alignment between psyche and soul, and nature and the world. When we extend ourselves to help another, we also help ourselves.

And again, the astrological correlate is in the balancing of the North and South Nodes--we come into our personal balance by self-understanding, and there's nothing more helpful for that than being aware of the "balancing point" between our astrological Nodes. Elizabeth Spring www.elizabethspring.com

Venus Retrograde, Rethinking Relationships, Money and Time

Venus is making the turn from retrograde to direct this Friday—so we’re in the last few days of rethinking, re-feeling, reviewing, repairing, and refreshing all things Venusian. Yes, all those words beginning with “re” apply for Venus retrograde as well as Mercury retrograde. Venus doesn’t turn retrograde again till the autumn of 2010, and what we are primarily called to review now is our attitude towards relationships and beauty and money.

These are the things that fall into Venus’ realm. (Interesting too that money falls there, and one could say we use money to bring more beauty and fullness into our lives…but it’s also related to priorities and power. That’s when Venus prefers to hand over the reins to Mars, as she turns back to her relationship mode and turns to her friend and asks: so, how are you doing?!)

So, how are you doing? Do we ask that enough of each other and then wait to hear the truth? Or are we hiding our true Self, and not really wanting to tell our truth or hear the other person’s stories? There’s such a stress towards thinking positively about the “art of possibilities” and re-imagining oneself in one’s life (coupled with the desire to feel only good feelings because we feel that less than nice feelings are wrong, bad or don’t measure up) that we unwittingly turn away from our “compassion” and the ability “to suffer with another” which relates to the root meaning of compassion.


Relationships are deepened when we can allow ourselves to hear the call for help even if it’s not asked for specifically, or even if it’s hidden beneath “everything’s fine.” Chances are its not.


When we are afraid to hear and feel each other’s pain—or when we don’t take that extra few minutes to really listen and respond to others, we lose the chance to deepen our friendships. Venus retrograde is about rethinking who, when and where we can be really honest with…who can we trust? Unfortunately, some people are so busy trying to survive and live in this climate of fear and scarcity that they don’t feel they can give another person the time to hear their joy or their sadness.

Venus is asking us to rethink this now. Maybe someone reached out to you these past few months when Venus was retrograde, and perhaps you were too busy to respond with compassion or engagement. Or maybe it was reversed, and you actually need to move towards—or away--away from those people who don’t respond from a place of compassion and intimacy; “in-to-me-see.”


Do you ever think of your Nodes as being a relationship axis---thinking of them as two people inside yourself who have different agendas and life styles? Can they begin to relate better? Can you reach for your North Node highest qualities and retrieve the gold in the shadow of your South Node? There are no good/bad guys here; it’s more about clearer and deeper ways of relating….Venus’s realm. Something to consider.
~elizabeth spring www.elizabethspring.com

Jan Spiller's "Astrology for the Soul" and Elizabeth Spring's "North Node Astrology"

Jan Spiller’s “Astrology for the Soul”and Elizabeth Spring's "North Node Astrology"



There are some strange ideas on the Nodes floating about out there in the cyber-world, however Jan's theories are well founded in the fundamental principals of Western astrology. Elizabeth's book, North Node Astrology, also picks up on Jan's thinking with her understanding of the Nodes, but adds to it the light of Jungian astrology. Both women see the Nodes as an axis that sheds light on the karmic lessons and aspirations and intentions of the Soul. However, some of the more fundamentalist Vedic Indian ideas that are "out there" in cyber-space are so claustophobic and disempowering, that they engender fear in fate and destiny. Be careful of these literalist positions that deny your free will and pigeon-hole your fate.

As the author of a new book on the Nodes--"North Node Astrology; Rediscovering Your Life Direction and Soul Purpose," Elizabeth gives Jan a lot of credit for her research in this book. The rest of us stand on her shoulders and take what knowledge and wisdom we have picked up along the way, and add to what she has done.

The Nodal story that is embedded within your astrology chart can be compared to a spiritual mandala that you can keep coming back to for spiritual guidance. It's a growing exciting field, but we need to stay on track with a wholesome understanding of the Nodes as an expression of compassion, Jungian “compensation” and karmic lessons—not as malefics and fate-embedded points. They hold some of the most delightful and numinous secrets of the soul's journey. ~elizabeth spring www.elizabethspring.com

Saturn Transits, Donna Cunningham's North Node Astrology Review

Author and astrologer, Donna Cunningham writes: “A couple of years back, I happened onto a blog created by astrologer and Jungian therapist, Elizabeth Spring. I was so taken by her wise, insightful, and heartfelt writing that I sent her a fan letter and have followed the evolution of her work since. She has recently published an excellent book, North Node Astrology: Rediscovering your Life Direction and Soul Purpose. It’s clear and readable for students at any level of astrology. The following is an excerpt, reprinted here with her permission.”


It has often been said that under strong Saturn transits one can choose between exhaustion and depression—some choice! It implies that because Saturn is often about doing hard work in the real world that exhaustion is the better choice— indicating as Mark Twain once said: “It is better to wear out than to rust out.” It doesn’t need to be so tiring. So what are the tools needed to successfully navigate Saturnian waters? Here are a few ideas:


1-Be Discerning. You are at a time now when you understand things you didn’t understand even last year. Use your new wisdom to make wise choices based on clarity of intention. Dream into your future and discern the path through the woods. Here is where the quotes: “Know thyself” and “Nothing in Excess” become relevant. At these times there is a necessity to pull back from the excesses of your younger years and to know what you can and cannot do.


2-Take Heart. Find ways to reach out to others and be humble enough to ask for advice. If your marriage is in trouble, ask yourself the questions: Is the relationship the true source of dissatisfaction, or is it the repository of my own misery? How much am I projecting my insecurities onto my partner, and not taking responsibility or even listening ‘with heart’?


3-Go Deeper. Superficial “all or nothing” solutions can be a quick fix and Saturn doesn’t like quick fixes. No quick decisions: instead, hold the tension of the opposites and conflicts within yourself till you see the emergence of a new idea. Then, and only then, is it time to stretch beyond your comfort zones to new places of thought and action. As was said so many years ago:
“Dig deep; the water–goodness–is down there. And as long as you keep digging it will keep bubbling up.” Marcus Antoninis


4-Take Action. Saturn ultimately rewards those that act and depresses those who procrastinate. In ancient texts, Saturn was sometimes seen as a devil who made a hand signal that said: “All that you see, is all there is.” That’s the devil’s lie. Prove him wrong.

******
(Ironically, springtime itself is somewhat Saturnian, in that we must wait for the warmth and "action" of May and June...in the waiting we are tested to hold our faith of renewal and rebirth. We too are like the seeds in the packet; waiting to be planted and nurtured. And in time, we must do all these things--taking action, and digging deep, discerning weeds from emerging flowers...all things coming in their time....) ~elizabeth spring www.elizabethspring.com

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