Massaging the North Node in Taurus (Mine)

"... You may feel tired of journeying all around the world, or even your environment, to search for a true feeling of self-esteem, currency, empowerment, and self-value. All these things, in your past, came from without yourself, and thus if they were taken away, could give you a sense of dis-empowerment..." Interpretation of the North Node in Taurus

Yesterday was Labor Day in America. I am married to a Class One, real kind, long-time laborer and I was born to a family of labor with a heavy equipment operator (bulldozer) father. It does not escape my awareness, this labor-connection, that led me to partner with a man who knows how to work.

Almost ten years ago Pete and I had finished building a small wagon we imagined was possible and with many details to research and physically put together we had a new beginning. A real home was created. Over those years I have written many, many blogs and blog posts to describe the physicality and emotion journey of life in a wheeled home living with long-term illness. Yesterday, between weeks of smoke-filled skies, a break in the challenges gave us a window of opportunity to re-fresh and re-paint our sweet home.

The quote that begins this post comes from a new writer on the astrology blog ElsaElsa. The writing is one of twelve posts focused on the North Nodes throughout the astrological signs of the zodiac. Regular readers to my blogs know I am a life-time student of astrology and weave what I am learning and applying to life into much of what I blog. 

Massaging the North Node in Taurus is what's happening for me today. The insight and clarity provided in this article is golden. I appreciate the fresh approach to a topic I have long studied. Unlike the study of celestial bodies: the planets, the sun's placement, the moon's placement and the relationship (angles of ease or challenge/aspects) between them; the Nodes of the Moon are a mathematical point. To those of us who study astrology as a life navigational tool, the Nodes offer a spiritual element to growing, and I enjoy the potential that comes from considering the possibilities offered through interpretation.

"What to make of the astrological North Node? First, let’s talk about the technical parts of the astrological North Node. The North Node is not a planet. And, it is not a house, such as the twelve astrological houses that were set up. It is a mathematical point where the moon’s orbit intersects with the ecliptic. The same can be said of a person’s South Node sign. To simplify, your North Node is in the opposite sign, and house, of your South Node." (Click here to read more.)

As we physically walk into the newest September, here on the Prairie Front, a helpful bit of guidance comes my way and I find a place to patch a physical or emotional puka a hole, a tear, a missing piece in my self-worth. It's so important at this stage of our growth to recognize how resource-FILLED I am, how my effort in the everyday builds my esteem. 

Anonymoushermit continues her interpretation on the North Node in Taurus with, "Your confidence, self-value, and ‘currency’, will be better off coming from yourself, and your own hard work, rather than from someone else’s hard work. Someone else’s value cannot replace yours. You are you, and other people can’t compare. This is precisely where your state of mind needs to be. There is a need to realize that although someone may be a faster runner than you, they can’t fix a car the way you do. You need to realize that everyone has value, especially yourself. Even if someone was multi-talented, it doesn’t take away the fact that you are a useful, valuable, human being. You are useful to somebody, a place, or a movement.

Work is a must in this lifetime..."

When we chose to use milk paint from  Homestead House Paint there was so much to learn about finding, using and making adjustments to the process of living chemical-free and toxic-free. The challenges, the learning have tempered me: I had to apply what I researched into practical application. The picture above is the paint mixing (my job) necessary to make Pete's work of brushing the mixture onto the wall flow. Working in slippers (those are my short little toes up above) and Pete in barefeet must have given a grounding effect because the wagon glows golden!

An old Osterizer blender with a thick glass cannister, bags of milk paint stored and toted around with us, a long old bamboo stick for stirring, and a pot of room temperature water, a sunny day, and two long-seasoned makua make the most of Labor Day, 2018.

The wall Pete worked on was the most exposed surface: a wet and wind-swept winter battered this wall, removing almost all the beeswax that was rubbed into a dried milk painted wagon. It was necessary to get a fresh coat of paint, and soon a layer of beeswax on before the season shifts to cold and wet again. A light sanding before Pete painted along with masking the edges of the window trim was part of the prep-work.

This is probably a couple hours later. Pete kept going till all the milk paint I mixed was gone while I took myself out of the sun and into the kitchen to get dinner going.

A clean plate that was filled with beautiful roasted locally-grown root vegetables and salmon dinner with a pot of wild rice and short-grain brown rice stirred with slices of kale, a side of fresh avocado and a freshly picked Italian plum. A hearty meal for the laborers. A meal I loved making.

"I wanna know what you're going to call your restaurant?" Pete asked as we cleaned up from supper.

Without skipping a beat I answered, "The Safety Pin Cafe." 

"Of course," nodded Pete.

In the conclusion of the astrological interpretation that began this post, the writer suggests: "North Node in Taurus may ask you to be practical and realistic. If you do get rich in this lifetime, it will be from your own hands. Take care of the mundane, every day, things. You must learn to love yourself even if you aren’t as tall, rich, beautiful, or ingenious, as others... One lesson of North Node in Taurus is to value oneself, as oneself. Not to change oneself to make others value you more. ‘I am me, nothing more, nothing less.’

I feel that Taurus North Node relaxing into herself. I remember to exhale as I edit this piece, listening to the banging hammer (Pete's) working on the storage shed that needs to be patched before the winter rains. At the same time the South Node in Scorpio is calmed of her natal intensity and I appreciate the work I do here at the keys to paint the pictures of life from that small golden wagon of mine. It's ours, that wagon and the work of making a life from it is equally the work that I do.

A massage, now that sounds good, feels good. Would love a real hands-on one, it's been a long time.


Where is your North Node? Do you consider it in your life navigation?