The roadblock in the way of awesomeness

A nail-biter

Right now and for pretty much the rest of the year, the nodes of the moon are in a t-square with Pluto. Let me say this a second time in a different way: the nodes of the moon, a marker of expansion (north node) and contraction/restriction (south node), which oppose each other at an 180° angle, are each ~90° off from Pluto, which is an energy of psychological depth. Just for fun, I'll say this a third way: beware of your psychological hangups getting in the way of your growth.

Right now the south node of the moon is in Scorpio, and I don't know about you guys, but I've had quite enough of being in other people's business, as well as situations involving death, destruction, and danger (all Scorpio things). Wherever the transiting south node is, the energy is prevalent, loud, and stale. The idea is to move into transiting north node behavior, which in this case is Taurus, so finding peace despite emotional chaos (Scorpio). In July, the south node switches to Libra, so the north node switches to Aries. I'll talk about that more later, but if you want to know more about how the nodes work, I recommend reading Astrology for the Soul by Jan Spiller or Lunar Nodes by Celeste Teal. Regardless of which sign the nodes are in, Pluto's squaring them, which is an aspect of tension....and hangups.

Generally speaking, you're good at the south node behavior indicated by your birth chart, and do not need to continue to develop it, so 99% of the time you want to be exploring north node behavior, since that's an undeveloped area that holds possibilities for your personal fulfillment. This is exactly what I love about astrology: it gives you a map to use to go have new, rewarding adventures rather than feeling like you're stagnating and banging your head against the wall all the time. I love talking about this with people and would do it all day if I could.

For a person born when Pluto is squaring the nodes (meaning they have this aspect in their birth chart) it's one of the first things my eyes go to when I'm reading that chart, asking pointed (but ginger and sensitive) questions about psychological hangups, fears, or traumatic events, because generally what you're going to see is emphasis on wherever Pluto is in that chart, and the person ping-ponging between north node and south node behavior without feeling like they're in control of it, because Pluto energy is running rampant most of the time. Either something happened when they were young, or the same patterns keep happening again or again, or they have inexplicable fears/phobias/hangups that, despite their best intentions, they can't push past in order to be consistent. Anytime you see anything squaring the nodes in a birth chart, it's going to be a situation or behavior that person falls into that's basically a trap (and after a while it's almost like a Wile E. Coyote situation, like "this AGAIN?"). So, let's say it's the sun squaring the nodes instead of Pluto, just to make this a little more palatable: this is a person who trips over ego issues when they're trying to make headway on their life goals. But that sun issue could be an inflated ego or a lack thereof, and it could be wildly variable, because most people are very confident in some areas and not so much in others. A person like this could have a new job they're excited about, and then experience a fit of feeling like they're not progressing fast enough in their career and the job has aspects of it that this person feels like they are above, and they self-sabotage on a greased slide back into stagnating.

I'm talking about the current sky, rather than an actual person, so Pluto squaring the nodes is energy we ALL have to deal with for the rest of the year. Basically, we're all going to have to push through fears and phobias about what big change means for us. We're going to have to enter uncomfortable psychological territory in order to get closer to our dreams. Most of us have a couple of hangups we'd rather not discuss, right? Let's say you're terribly afraid of heights. You might find yourself in the running for the job of your dreams...except you'd have to work in an office that's on the 80th floor of a skyscraper. Do you reject the job because you're afraid you might throw up in the trash can outside the elevator bank on a daily basis, or do you suck it up and figure out how to get over yourself? (Remember: it's either suck it up or stagnate.) Pluto energy changes "never will I ever" to "I am considering dealing with this" to "maybe I have to" to "I will stare at this in the face unflinchingly until I'm not afraid of it anymore." (Personally, I have a 7th house Pluto, which is the house of relationships, so sometimes what I'm afraid of is staring right back at me, which is disconcerting.)

You're going to see some people who are terrified of new territory actively resisting it and getting nowhere. You're going to see people conquer their fears and make big changes and then smile at you radiantly because they proved themselves...to themselves. That's the spectrum here. But if you have a "never will I ever" in the back of your mind that you know is irrational and are worried that you have to face the beast, today might be the day to start thinking about how to tackle it. This is the stuff that therapy is good for, but failing that, admitting to yourself that it's real is a good first step. The most destructive demons are the ones we keep in the dark and refuse to admit exist.

(As always, if you want me to read for you, hit me up.)