Forks in the Road and New Foundations

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

- From the poem The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost

As Saturn stations direct today he starts his final separation from the South Node (which always travels retrograde) – which means a final separating in your world from an old karmic story or pattern that is done, done, doneskie!

Due to Saturn having spent the last almost 5 months retrograde, he’s been travelling together with the South Node since April. Usually they might spend a week together, so this is highly out of the ordinary to spend so much time side by side. Not only have they been together, they’ve been doing this walkabout in Capricorn, Saturn’s home territory. Captain Serious back home in Serious Town. Had the walkabout happened in any other sign, their conversation might have been lighter….Pisces would have encouraged some healing baths or soothing crystals (Saturn and South Node were last together in Pisces in 2007), Gemini would have put on funny movies as a break every few miles (the next time they’ll be together will be in Gemini in 2030), but travelling through Capricorn, no such luck. Looked at another way, it’s actually been a great stroke of luck. What we’ve experienced is like that lecture that you really hated when you were getting it, but 20 years later you realise, “that lecture really changed my life.”

This Saturn South Node journey has given 2019 a certain flavour and feel. These two aren’t exactly the life of the party, far from it. They are like the father having a stern talking to with their 30 year old kid who doesn’t want to move out of home and grow up and step into adulthood; the business foreman meeting up with the workers who indulge in a little too much smoko time; or the headmaster chatting with a student who has potential for greatness but is mucking up at school.

For some this influence has felt quite heavy, while for others it’s been a much needed wake-up call letting you know that it’s time to get serious, pull yourself up by the bootstraps, and do what you need to do to get where you want to go. Karma and facing consequences for past actions has been a huge theme.

Your South Node is like an old, familiar backpack labelled “The Past”. This backpack can represent your comfort zone, things that feel natural to you (for better or worse). It can also represent things that you have outgrown, things that can keep you stuck if you hold onto them too tightly. It can hold your personal and family karmic stories, patterns and history (going back lifetimes).

Some people feel that we are here to let go of our South Node stuff and move into the new, fresh pastures of growth territory: the North Node. I more see the Nodes as two ends of a seesaw that need balancing. Life definitely won’t let us cling to our cosy South Node forever, but nor do we have to delete it from our life. Quite the opposite, the more that we bravely venture across into our North Node, the more we’ll be allowed to embrace our South Node in a healthy way rather than in an unhealthy, dependent way.

As an example, let’s say your South Node is in the 4th House of Home and Family, which would mean your North Node is in the 10th House of Career. As much as you might want to dedicate your life to being a homemaker, your life will just not be set up that way. Either you’ll constantly be blocked from having the home/family part of your life flourish until you attend to your career, or you’ll be immersed in home/family until suddenly circumstances force you out into the world to take charge of a few things.

The balancing happens when the North Node gives you a tick of approval, great work you’re owning your North Node….ahhhh, NOW you can re-integrate the South Node in a better way. Your worldly success gives you the means to spend more time at home with your kids. Or your career allows you to provide for your home/family in more prosperous ways. When balanced, you get the best of both your North and South Nodes.

Which brings us back to this walkabout that Saturn and South Node have been on. I have this image of Saturn strol