Fare Thee Well, Taurus North Node

Are you grounded, rooted, and centered? Honoring the close of this significant eighteen-month evolutionary cycle.

Image credit: Pxfuel

On July 17, we have a shift of the Moon’s astrological north node into the sign of Aries, where it will remain until January 2025. We’ve spent a year and a half in the earthy, fixed sign of the Taurus bull, with the south node in Scorpio.

A nodal change of signs is significant, pointing to key evolutionary themes in the collective and all activities on planet Earth. I’ll have more to share about the new Aries/Libra axis tones coming in, as we step into the fire and feel the heat. But first! I want to take a few moments to honor what the Taurus North Node has brought into form and dimension and awareness over the past year and a half.

Taurus, the fixed earth sign of the Bull, is the ultimate in groundedness, rootedness and centeredness. You may have consciously ridden this wave, drawing earthing energy into your world; or, you may just now be looking back and seeing the significant difference since January 2022.

Let’s first pay respect to the sacred cow as we bow to Taurus. Let us honor Krishna aka Gopala or Govinda, in his incarnation as a cow-herding musician-flautist, dancing with his consort, Radha, the Queen of Heaven. Radha represents the Divine Feminine as the standout gopi, or milkmaid, amongst her peers. Krishna is Lord of music, art, love, bhakti devotion, and preservation of life and succulence.

Here’s a devotional song to Krishna: “Gopala,” from an album that first spun me off into Indialand - Beggars and Saints by the fabulous Jai Uttal and the Pagan Love Orchestra, first released in 1994. Enjoy.

A Word on the North Node in General

As you may know, where the north node resides is our “true north” of the soul’s evolution. Take a look at your own chart (astro.com is a wonderful free resource) and see which sign and house your north node falls in. This is the direction of striving toward, where you are bringing in the new, the unfamiliar, and the – at times – foreign and hard. Now, look exactly 180-degrees opposite your north node to the sign and house of the south node. That’s the “old,” the familiar; you might say it’s where you’ve “been there, done that,” and have learned what you’ve needed to learn. You don’t lose the gifts of your south node, but if you only dwell there, you’ll stay stuck.

In our current case, if we’ve done our work, we’ve shifted out of Scorpio’s shadow sides of enmeshment, codependence, complex intensity, and emotional dramarama.¹ We’ve had the opportunity to grow toward the themes of Taurean simplicity and worth and value and self-reliance. The Bull’s vibe is mellow, slower-paced, if stubborn at times. It’s about enjoying the pleasures without rushing onto the next best thing. (Take that as a reminder to ground in and hold on to your hats as Aries’ rocket-fueled themes will be ultra-different!)

Now, Let’s Check Out a Few Treasures Received from the Time of the Bull (January 2022-July 2023).

Cow With Radha Krishna (2018) by Mukesh Mandal

Gifts from Taurus’ Nodal Infusion

1.       Relaxing and resting before taking action. Be consciously relaxed without “doing.” Allow.

2.       Indisputable, irrefutable connection with, in, and as Nature Herself.

3.       Slow down. Simplify. Slow down again.

4.       Music as key (no pun intended) to life’s harmony and pleasures. Dancing, singing, enjoying live music and playing an instrument.

5.       The body. The body, the body, the body. Tending, listening, engaging, appreciating this form.

6.       A shift to organic and more locally-grown food. Less processed foods. A cleaner diet, low in carbs and gluten and grains (to each their own here of course!).

7.       Reviving the use of herbs and all sorts of mushrooms for grounding, healing, rebalancing, tonifying.

8.       Earth-based movement practices on the regular, e.g. trail running, snowshoeing, vinyasa and Kundalini yoga.

9.       A deep bond to the Land. Where one lives. Where one travels, where one rests. Earth and sky and mountain and river. Ocean and meadow and valley and creek and desert and beyond.

10.   ______ Fill in the blank for yourself! How have you developed your Ground in the last year and a half or so?

I’d love to hear your comments and feedback. Stay tuned for more on the Aries/Libra nodal shift. And, check out the music tracks below.

With a deep bow to the holy cow.

Erin

1. Every sign has an archetypal shadow – this is not an attack on the sign of Scorpio the magnificent serpent eagle! In about sixteen years, we’ll evolve toward Scorpio magic and mystery and intimate merging once again. Everything changes.

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Want more? Here’s an upbeat remix dedicated to Krishna as Govinda (cow-finder).

The latter track is on my go-to yoga playlist, which you can download from Spotify here for a great 75-minute practice set.