All posts here are from sections of the books: "North Node Astrology; Rediscovering Your Life Direction and Soul Purpose" and "Lifting the Veil; Becoming Your Own Best Astrologer" and "Astrology for the Third Act of Life" and finally "Saturn Returns~The Private Papers of A Reluctant Astrologer" All available in paperback, Kindle and Audible on Amazon.com

To inquire about readings or for more articles on the North/South Nodes, go to: https://www.NorthNodeAstrology.com

Monday, February 25, 2008

Aquarius North Node



Aquarius North Node, Leo South Node


Your soul yearns to dance to the rhythm of your own drumbeat, for in a former life or earlier in this life, you may have lived a life that had little connection to your true Self. In this life you may feel generally liked by your peers, as you have a charismatic “shine” about you, and others tend to project things on you which may or may not be true. They may even see you as being more lucky than you really are, or they may feel that you embody an ideal. However much others may project on you, your own true freedom and honest self-applause is more important now than the approval or praise from any group. You may have had previous lifetimes when you were on center-stage and had a fair amount of attention, and you may hold deep within you a feeling of being "special" but it may not have been a good fit for your Soul. Now there is a deep desire to be true to your self and not to follow the majority rule or herd instinct.


You care deeply about humanity and humanitarian ideas, and you need to risk disapproval from others to develop a more satisfying feeling of self approval. Because you are blessed with a keen intellect and the ability to see things differently, you have a lot to offer the world.


Aquarius North Node folks are visionaries and dreamers when they follow their North Node Soul Path. They are astutely aware of the importance of equality and fairness, and are usually brave enough to share their ideas with others--they're the ones who write the Letters to the Editor and organize the charity fund raising and peace rallies. Known as being non-conformists, romantics, exiles and brilliant thinkers, their challenge is to inform and balance their intellects with the sometimes irrational promptings of the heart.


Yet there's always a need for greater objectivity, and a need to leave behind making changes just to exercise authority. As you learn to relate to others apart from their roles, as equals, your desire for friendship will grow. You thrive best when you nurture yourself and others with your warmth and fresh ideas.


It will be important to leave behind any old melodramatic tendencies to insist on doing things your own way, and taking dramatic risks. When you ask God and the Universe for what you want and then let it go, you allow life to bring you exactly what you need with its own perfect timing. In this life, you can relax feelings that you need to be in control and be responsible for everything.


Because Aquarius NN folks were blessed with the ability to see things that others cannot, you are challenged to bring in new ideas especially in science, metaphysics, and human rights. As an idea-breaker and visionary forerunner for the rest of us, we look to you to see where we're going.
As you turn on your path and retrieve the gold in the shadow of Leo you may want to rekindle the warmth and openness of that generous heart of yours, and then to turn that warmth and non-judgmental quality on yourself. Expect the unexpected in life and keep dancing to that distant drumbeat---life will surprise you and delight you, when you least expect it.

Soul Purpose: Being a person who knows when to preserve what is good, when to reform what is in need, and when to overthrow what is corrupt. You are called to be visionaries and dreamers who are willing to do life differently. Avoiding the seductive undercurrents of other people’s expectations and projections on you is important—Aquarius is truly about freedom and authentic soul expression. Don’t settle for less.

Shadow: In wanting to share your generous heart, you can come across at times as being self-centered and seeking the spotlight just a little too often. There’s an awareness here of wanting to share your gift with the world, but unless you do it with a “warm touch” and pure intention it can come across at “first whiff” as being attention getting and self-serving, albeit in a rather subtle playful manner.

***


Marianne Williamson is a spiritual activist, author, lecturer and founder of The Peace Alliance, a grass roots campaign supporting legislation currently before Congress to establish a United States Department of Peace. She has published nine books, including four New York Times #1 bestsellers.
A minister in the Unity Church, the driving force behind Williamson's philosophy is to offer a new thought approach to spirituality. She addresses both established Christianity and Judaism in statements such as "You've committed no sins, just mistakes." Her earliest fame came as a result of her talks in a Course in Miracles, a step-by-step method for choosing love over fear. She credits her breakthrough to Oprah Winfrey who invited her to the Oprah Winfrey show to discuss Williamson's first book A Return to Love, a book of which Oprah bought one thousand copies.


Marianne’s famous poem, "Our Deepest Fear," was wrongly accredited to Nelson Mandela, but its message is unique in expressing the Aquarius/Leo Nodal axis. In this poem she challenges all of us to dare to share our light in the world—this is a good example of bringing the “shine” of the Sun ruled sign of Leo out into the humnanitarian public world of Aquarius, and she does this by acknowledging the fear inherent in her own South Node of Leo.


"...Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

(c) elizabeth spring http://www.elizabethspring.com/

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Moon's Node Reversal



At the time when the moon’s nodes are reversed, issues around life direction and soul purpose are up for examination and decision-making. It’s a time that holds great potential for crisis and transformation, and no matter what we do externally, on an inner level, we’ll want to balance the opposing tendencies within ourselves.

The transiting Nodes take a little over 18 years to make a full circuit around your chart. After 9 years they are at the opposite points from birth, so at the opposition point of 180 degrees your Natal North Node is conjuncted by your transiting South Node, and your Natal South Node is conjuncted by your transiting North Node. The opposites come together and this moment has the potential for a time of illumination—like a full moon.

I see this time primarily as one is which we are called to activate the highest potential or “octave” of both our North and South Nodes. It’s a time to release the negative qualities of each sign, and to manifest the highest qualities, or at least to truly see what these qualities are.

It’s also a time to reach for the “gold” in the shadow of the South Node. Carl Jung talked about this—he said that even in our repressed unconscious dark “shadow” self, we hold goodness and un-manifested potential there as well, similar to how the yin/yang symbol holds the germ of its opposite within each side.

As we access the highest octaves of both the North and South Node signs we release the negative qualities in each and reach for the gold in the shadow of the lower manifestations. It feels like this reversal is saying to us: "look at what's good here, take it, and release the rest.” Like all oppositions, it holds within itself a chance for an epiphany, a new depth of self-knowledge, and an illumination of where our Soul yearns to go towards. It illuminates what also needs to be released and surrendered.

Let’s look at an example. Say a man has North Node in Leo and South Node in Aquarius. He can choose to activate the gold in Aquarius South Node---which could be to courageously manifest a humanitarian project or a great life-work despite South Node Aquarius tendencies to think of himself as a genius exile who is both above and alienated from the rest of society. He could release me vs them thinking, and operate more from the level of the heart than the intellect. He could release being “eccentrically special” and simply be a conduit for the insights that want to come through him. And by acknowledging that his Soul longs to be a leader and a transformer of society, he chooses therefore to generously give of his heart, without fear and self-consciousness. His ego is diminished in light of the nobility of his work; his project, his life work.

These insights and awareness can come at anytime, but there are times in our lives—and the Nodes often point to these times—when self-awareness and the cosmic green light of the Heavens urge us to ‘move on’ like a loving mother. These are the times of openings in the curtain of fate, and the time to walk through old illusions and delusions. These are the times when we can see clearly, and when we are given renewed courage because we can now “take heart” because our unique life path opens before us.

Elizabeth Spring © http://www.elizabethspring.com/

Anyone else have research or insight about Node reversal?

Thursday, February 21, 2008

North Node Virgo









North Node Virgo



Virgo North Node, South Node Pisces

Virgo is probably the least understood and most under-estimated sign of the zodiac. Whether it is your Sun sign or your North Node sign, you have a unique ability to visualize the ideal and the willingness to do what must be done to bring this ideal into reality. What a gift! However for you to do the high path of Virgo, you must use the tools of discrimination and discernment--which also means you need to "dot your i's and cross your t's." By carefully attending to the little details of life, and by analyzing what's really happening, you'll be able to make your dreams come true.



Earlier in this life, or in a former life, you've merged with the Divine in some way and yet you weren't savvy about how to live the mundane life on earth. Whether you merged with God, your Art, your lover, or your bottle of wine, you now need to relax the urge to merge and pay attention to the demands of reality. Some of you may have died, suffered, or been persecuted because of your beliefs, so now you need to regain your faith that life in the real world can be good. Many lifetimes may have been spent in the dissolution or sacrifice of ego or simply sacrificing your life for the sake of another person or ideal. Now it's time to develop a healthy ego and strong sense of Self that allows your Soul to feel safe.



As a North Node Virgo, you've been naturally drawn towards developing a vision of the "ideal" and you innately know how to bring that vision into reality. Don't allow yourself to get distracted, but get good at the mundane details of life and see how that process of focusing and becoming competent enables you to bring your dreams into reality.


Dare to take risks in spite of fears, and avoid addictive tendencies and escapism. The wisdom and sense of Oneness you earned in former lives can now support you in this world. Because you see the ideal and are willing to work for it, you often get what you want, as long as you don't let your perfectionism or self-criticism stop you from giving 100 percent in whatever you do. There is a need to plan and strategize in this life and follow through on your ideas.



You are likely to have skills in crafts, teaching and in the healing professions, but whatever you do, use skillful means to your ends, and empowerment will happen naturally. You have a psychic sensitivity, a great imagination and a uniquely creative way of seeing things. These attributes, plus an innate understanding of people helps you in countless ways.
As you turn on your path and retrieve the gold in the shadow of Pisces, remember your half-forgotten visions and sense of knowingness..."remember to remember" all that is good and beautiful and meaningful in life. Remember the magic you know in your heart.


Soul Purpose: to bring order, harmony, healing, and practical wisdom into your life and the lives of those you touch. By knowing what is truly good—since you’ve been doing the work of “separating the wheat from the chaff” and the real from the illusory, you preserve and maintain the best of what our culture and our mutual lives have to offer. Learn a skill and offer it to the world. When you become truly useful to others—when you are “in service” to others—you regain a lost sense of self and self-appreciation.


Shadow: A default tendency to see the world as a dream, and one in which you don’t have a strong sense of Self. You may have spent lifetimes dissolving the ego in unselfish tasks, or religious life, but that stance doesn’t serve you now. In a former life you may not have developed a strong enough ego that could have helped you thrive—you might not have been “mirrored well” as a child, or you may have lost your sense of sense in the collective (like in the military) or in addictions (communing with the bottle.) When you don’t look beyond your inner world to skillfully participating in life, you sink into a dull dream of life that’s bound by other people’s expectations, and you lose that cherished love that comes from serving and loving others. There’s a subtle difference here—basically, give your gift/service to the world, but do it your way!



***
Joseph Campbell had this Virgo/Pisces Nodal polarity. Campbell was a world famous mythologist, writer, and lecturer in comparative religion and mythology who also became popular to the American public due to the PBS television series, the” Power of Myth” with Bill Moyers. In this series, Americans remember him for his depth of sharing on the “myth of the hero” through all cultures, the Universality of certain spiritual “truths” and the necessity for “following one’s bliss” in life.



As a North Node Virgo, Campbell tackled the enormous job of chronicling, cataloging and synthesizing details of the world’s mythologies and religions. His painstaking analysis allowed us to see connections and parallels in man’s religious nature—the kind of work that Carl Jung had also done.



However Campbell began his studies in the time of the Great Depression, and when conventional graduate school wasn’t available to him he devised a plan of study as he was trying to figure out what to do with his life. He engaged in a period of intense and rigorous independent study which he discussed in The Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work. Campbell states that he "would divide the day into four four-hour periods, of which I would be reading in three of the four hour periods, and free one of them...I would get nine hours of sheer reading done a day. And this went on for five years straight." Now this is reaching for that skillful and disciplined North Node Virgo!



Campbell believed the religions of the world to be culturally influenced “masks” of the same fundamental, transcendent truths. All religions, including Christianity and Buddhism, can bring one to an elevated awareness above and beyond a dualistic conception of reality—that is, beyond the idea of “pairs of opposites,” such as being and non-being, or right and wrong. Indeed, he quotes in the preface of The Hero with a Thousand Faces "Truth is one, the sages speak of it by many names." In this line, we can hear the echo of his Pisces South Node: that place in him that could permeate beyond boundaries, masks, and linguistic or cultural divisions.



Campbell’s body of work was huge and even affected the world of screenwriting and film. George Lucas was the first Hollywood filmmaker to openly credit Campbell's influence. Lucas stated following the release of the first Star Wars film in 1977 that its story was shaped, in part, by ideas described in The Hero With A Thousand Faces . Campbell’s life itself was like a film of one hero’s journey, and contains both the discipline and the imagination of the Virgo/Pisces axis.

(c) elizabeth spring For more information: http://www.elizabethspring.com/

Monday, February 18, 2008

South Node; Don't Repeat What Doesn't Work


The South Node
From the point of view of evolutionary astrology, the sign of your South Node describes your default pattern in life. It describes a way of being in the world which doesn't work well for you anymore. It represents something you are comfortable with, because earlier in this life or in a previous life (if you believe in reincarnation) it was your habitual pattern and where you failed to live up to all you could be. So now, the Soul longs to move away from this and towards the potential and possibilities of your North Node.
The South Node represents an easy way out for us---our addictive tendencies, our unresolved conflicts and negative personality traits, and the limitations and failures from the past which can interfere with our ability to be all we can be.
In looking at the sign of the South Node, one needs to look at what the lower octave, or less pleasant side of the sign is all about. Because the South Node represents what we didn't get right, or was troublesome either earlier in this life or in a former life, then we really understand quite a lot about ourselves if we can understand what this is all about.
Of course the South Node is balanced and compensated by the good qualities of the North Node ,which point to where the Soul longs to go towards in this life. So understanding the positive aspects of the sign of your North Node gives you great insight into what qualitities are helpful for you to develop.
For those of you who want to delve a little deeper, and who understand the nature of aspects, we can find out more information by looking at any oppositions or squares to the Nodes. An opposition to the SN is the planet that conjuncts your NN, and it represents in its lower manifestation what hurt you or oppossed you in the past. Read it negatively. This is a good exercise in seeing both the high and low sides all the planetary archetypes....because the higher aspects or the good qualities of that same planet are what is going to help you in this life. All signs and planets are dualistic and contain a full range of possibilities.
Now a planet that is square to your Nodes represents what Steven Forrest and Jeff Greene call a "skipped step." So in order to fully actualize the potential in your North Node, you do need to understand what this blind spot, or skipped step is about. It ties in with what you didn't get right in the South Node, but offers suggestions as to what you need to bring into your life to reach the potential of your North Node.
The other piece to this puzzle is to look at what houses the North and South Nodes are in. The house that the South Node falls in further describes something of where you didn't get it right before, and the North Node house offers a different direction for you to focus on.
We can also look at the ruler of the planets of the Nodes and how they are aspected in the chart, but we are getting a lot of variables here, and it's easy to get lost. I find that looking at the sign of the Nodes, the houses, and the possible opposition or skipped step, (opposition or square) usually is enough for me. There's quite a story here--a parable really, of who we were and who we are becoming.
All this reminds us to look at the paradoxical nature of the signs and planets, and to keep reaching for the highest expression of them. And although we don't want to keep falling back on what we know or what our default pattern is, it's helpful to remember that Carl Jung always said to watch for the "gold in the shadow." We've learned something in our past, and we picked up skills and attitudes along the way....so it's true that we can look for the highest expression of these South Node qualities to act on, and we can use what we know. But think of the SN territory as potentially a slippery slope, and we need to be fully grounded before digging for the gold there--or what we might find is simply fool's gold.
The South Node represents qualities and habits we repeat endlessly, and it doesn't serve our evolutionary soul contract for this life. We are wise to very cautiously "mine the gold" in the shadow of the SN and to discipline ourselves to see the skipped step or obstruction; but don't linger in the shadows. Go for the North Node--reach for your personal North Star.
(c) elizabeth spring For more info: http://www.elizabethspring.com/

Friday, February 15, 2008

North Node Capricorn


North Node Capricorn, South Node Cancer
Integrity is the key to your life. By following your personal code of ethics and beliefs you have an inner compass for your life. As you develop self-control and self-care while approaching life in a goal oriented manner, you integrate the lessons of your past and bring your dreams into reality. In former lives, or earlier in this one, you were more concerned with the process of life rather than your goals and visions, and were overly immersed in your emotional life. At times you succumbed to moodiness and a dependence on others that was not healthy. Now you are learning to truly be the author of your life: the "author-ity" and are finding the satisfactions of independence.
By setting positive and reachable goals, and taking the steady steps to reach them, you release old fears of rejection and find that you have what it takes to be a leader and a person in authority. This may feel quite new, as you may have spent other lifetimes in which you were a householder and identified with your role in your family and clan. You may still have some difficult family karma to resolve, but you're willing and able to do what needs to be done. You are not one to be irresponsible and you are not naive either.
In this life you are called to be a builder, a creator, and a preserver of all that is valuable. You have a deep respect for the good part of traditions that have been handed down, and you may find yourself given the opportunity to succeed in the world in a surprising way. Others see your integrity, and trust that you can be the person of authority.
Because of your innate seriousness and strong work ethic you can sometimes feel isolated from others, so make it a point to find ways to lightly and creatively express yourself, as well as finding loyal friends to cheer and encourage you. You are more respected and loved than you realize.
As you pick up the gold in your Cancer South Node, you'll find that any left-over tendencies to control others by emotional over reactions and manipulations will fall away as you come into your own. You have a keen sense of intuition and yet you may feel at times as if you are blocked, or don't want to open up fully to all your emotions--sometimes it feels like dangerous territory. Trust your intuitions, and go at your own pace.
Soul Purpose: Building a life, a business or career, or some structure that is worthy of your ambition. You are “toughening” into becoming an Elder and a wise one, but you need to mature into it by wise use of solitude and a savvy attitude in the world. You are leaving behind a family oriented dependence and moving out into the public world. You could become a high achiever and successful in whatever field you choose, but remember to “be in the world, but not of it.”

Shadow: Not setting up appropriate boundaries between your self and family members or business partners. The goal is inter-dependence with others, and an outward looking perspective that still honors the integrity you deeply understand. Never forget the old Biblical saying: “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but lose his immortal Soul?”
***
Oprah Winfrey, television talk show host, wise woman, and possibly one of the world’s wealthiest and most influential woman, Oprah has this Nodal aspect. Born in rural Mississippi to a poor teenage single mother and later raised in an inner city Milwaukee neighborhood, Winfrey was raped at age 9, and at 14-years-old gave birth to a son, who died in infancy. She was sent to live with her father, who encouraged her education, and Winfrey landed a job in radio while still in high school. She began co-anchoring the local evening news at the age of 19. Oprah is credited with creating a more intimate confessional form of media communication, and by the mid 1990s she had reinvented her show with a focus on literature, self-improvement, and spirituality. She is generally admired for overcoming adversity and for becoming a benefactor to others—in 2006 she became an early supporter of Barack Obama, which may have helped him win the election.

Oprah shows the characteristics of deep integrity and goal orientation that are embodied in her North Node Capricorn. Her strong work ethic helped move her beyond the South Node “Cancerian immersion” in the drama of family life and she chose instead to focus her energy and goals towards the larger “family” of the world. Although Winfrey has a partner, she never married, and believes that the reason she never had children was because her students at her South Africa’s Academy for Girls were meant to be her daughters: "I never had children, never even thought I would have children. Now I have 152 daughters; expecting 75 more next year. I said to the mothers, the family members, the aunts, the grannies — because most of these girls have lost their families, their parents — I said: “Your daughters are now my daughters and I promise you I'm going to take care of your daughters. I promise you.”

Time magazine wrote about Oprah’s power to blend the public (Capricorn) and the private (Cancer): “Like a family member, it’s as if she sits down to meals with us and talks to us in the lonely afternoons. She makes people care because she cares. That is Winfrey's genius, and will be her legacy, as the changes she has wrought in her talk show continue to permeate our culture and shape our lives.”

Yet in 2009 Oprah has admitted that she has let her goals, ambitions and work become out of balance with her personal life and need for self-love. She admits that her life long battle with weight gain appears to be connected with a problem of self-nurturance and love, which has been a fluctuating theme in her life. This is the precarious balance of the Nodes here; balancing home, heart, and heart with the work that one is called to do. So far, it appears as if Oprah has done an amazing job of following her life direction and soul purpose.
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Monday, February 4, 2008

Scorpio North Node, Taurus South Node















Scorpio North Node, South Node Taurus

The passionate Scorpio nature feels its way through life, sensing undercurrents and daring to look deeply to find the emotional bottom line. In order to move towards the heights of your Scorpio North Node you need to relax your concerns around money, security, and possessions as well as being willing to risk losing your current level of comfort to gain a higher state of power and vitality.


Can you leave behind tendencies to possessiveness and attachment and open up to the excitement of change? Will you dare to look deeply and bravely into the underworld, into 'the other side of the question' and into the places where the deepest level of truth resides? Superficial “people pleasing” is not for you. You are meant to look into the eyes of the murderer and find the frightened unloved child there. You are meant to know the whole story, and to travel the roads many of us declare unsafe.


The eagle, the phoenix, and the scorpion are the symbols of Scorpio, and like the eagle you were meant to fly high and be powerful, and like the phoenix, you are meant to risk dying and being reborn, knowing you are a survivor. As you dare to delve into the mysteries of life, you come up with deep treasure.


The third symbol of the scorpion hints at the shadow side of this sign which can see all aspects of truth, including that which is not always full of light and joy. The wisdom of the Scorpio nature evolves because it has dared to explore the dark, the taboo, the unspoken, and then takes this ability to see and embrace the dark and transform it. It's a high calling and that's why North Node Scorpios are often the best doctors, healers, investigators, and friends to have in times of crisis.


Scorpios are the truth-tellers of the zodiac. In the old storybook tale it was probably a Scorpio who told the emperor he had no clothes on. Because you are good at delving into the minds of others, you can be intense, yet your Soul yearns to deeply relate to others and benefits by working in partnership. Let yourself explore and experience what sex, money, God, and politics can teach you. Go where others have not, and let yourself experience it all. Be brave, for like the cat with many lives, you too have many lives to live.


When you come to a turning point in the Scorpio-Taurus path you're ready to retrieve the gold in the shadow of your Taurus South Node. You can now relax into enjoying the fruit of your passions. For example, turn the grist from the mill of your life into something creative and pleasing. Have you ever tried singing or songwriting? (Taurus rules the throat and singing.) Or writing a mystery novel or screenplay? Own your experiences by creatively giving birth to something that is uniquely you.


Soul Purpose: Integrating your instinctual goodness and vulnerability with a willingness to do the hard and often conflictual work of making both relationships and career “work” for you. You have to go deeper than you may be comfortable with, and learn to move beyond “goodness” into wholeness. This means having the ability to withdraw negative projections from others, and to see with compassion where you may have control issues, sexual hungers, and feelings that are sometimes less than nice. You are meant to make peace with you own “inner scorpion.” Doing this will give you a power and charisma that will make you successful in whatever areas of life you choose to dwell in.


Shadow: Trying to keep everything safe and predictable. You are called to the edge to look at the complexities of life and the moral ambivalence and paradoxes of life. Not an easy thing to do! Being lazy and going for the creature comforts only puts you back into old habits. Release any addiction to financial security as being the “bottom line.”


***
Ellen DeGeneres, Emmy Award-winning stand-up comedienne, actress and host for the syndicated “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” has this Nodal combination. Although we can’t know the details of her personal experience in reaching for her phoenix-like Scorpio North Node, we can see her gutsy, hard working, truth telling nature in her public expression. We know that before becoming famous, Ellen worked as a waitress, house painter, bartender, and retail clerk. And we know that she came out publicly as a lesbian in an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show.



DeGeneres received wide exposure on November 4, 2001, when she hosted the Emmy Awards-TV show. Presented after two cancellations due to network concerns that a ceremony following the September 11, 2001 attacks would appear insensitive, the show required a more somber tone that would also allow viewers to temporarily forget the tragedy. DeGeneres received several standing ovations for her performance that evening which included the line: "We're told to go on living our lives as usual, because to do otherwise is to let the terrorists win, and really, what would upset the Taliban more than a homosexual woman wearing a suit in front of a room full of Jews?"



Ellen became formally married to Portia de Rossi in 2004, and they live together as Vegans with their three dogs and four cats. As a lover of animals, and as a savvy business woman, Ellen faced a dilemma in the 2007 writer’s strike when she crossed the picket line to do her television show. Although Degeneres verbally supported the strike she said that she could not break her contracts or risk her show losing its time slot. As a show of solidarity with the strikers, DeGeneres omitted her monologue during the strike, typically written by WGA writers. However, the Writer’s Guild condemned her, and said that she was "not welcome in NY" saying: “We find it sad that Ellen spent an entire week crying and fighting for a dog that she gave away, yet she couldn't even stand by writers for more than one day – writers who have helped make her extremely successful.”



This Taurus/Scorpio Nodal combination can sometimes put one into situations where we need to be true to ourself and our needs, as well as true to what we believe is correct. Whether we believe she was wrong or right in her decisions, I think Ellen showed courage in her stance of truth telling, both in her coming out in her sexuality/marriage, her humor-filled tactfulness after 9/11, and in her business needs—she is a good example of the complexities of choice and moral ambivalence contained in the Scorpio North Node. (c)~Elizabeth Spring www.elizabethspring.com
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Neith’s thoughts on the North Node in Scorpio

With a strong Scorpio influence in my chart – the Ascendant with Jupiter, Mars & Mercury in Scorpio – what Elizabeth is saying about the North Node in Scorpio rings true. It is one of the tougher Nodal positions to handle and I have seen few people with this Nodal axis express it well. Most will have moments where they experience the heights and depths inherent in Scorpio but admittedly it is a tough place to live, day in and day out. An astrologer friend of mine with this axis has done the best with this I have seen to date. She has slowly learned to find a balance with pushing herself to the limits, trimming her life style to the bone and yet learning to keep a few creature comforts to relax with.

If I look at the Scorpio/Taurus patterns in my life, I see years of being able to move quickly and easily because my possessions were few. In fact it wasn’t’ until I married at 44 yrs old, I owned anything of substance, i.e., land, vehicles, etc. I still live a very simple, frugal lifestyle with few frills. My computer and high-speed internet service are my main luxuries . . . that and buying books (well, I do have Libra!) Living in a rural area with a large yard and garden satisfy the Taurus need for simplicity and pleasure in being close to the Earth. Is this a key to living with the Taurus South Node? To live close the land while pursuing Scorpio North Node concerns?

Elizabeth describes Scorpio as the “truth tellers of the zodiac” and I very much agree with this too. May be why I learned to keep my thoughts to myself as a child because few want to hear the truth . . . I’m wondering if Scorpio discerns the truth behind the facades and Sagittarius blurts it out! We would love to hear the experiences of others living with this Nodal axis, if you can get past the Scorpio need for privacy and holding what you know close. ::grin::