Happy Equinox and the origins of the word Easter.

Tomorrow is the Vernal Equinox, a time for renewal and resurrection. Astronomically and astrologically it is when the Sun is at zero degrees in the constellation Aries. Astrologers call Aries, the baby of the zodiac, the first sign of the twelve…the beginning of things anew.

I remember being shocked at the first Passover Seder I attended when I saw hard boiled eggs on the table. Eggs? Isn’t that for Easter? How little I knew. We all have the same concept- eggs, fertility, rebirth and resurrection – they are all celebrated at the Equinox.

It is all about eggs – The Druids dyed eggs red – the color of the “returning” Sun. The Celts dyed their eggs blue in spring and the Ukrainians started dying eggs thousands of years ago. Spring is the time when the Earth comes back to life. It is symbolized by the goddess at her youngest – sowing seeds that will bloom in a few months.

In fact the word Easter comes from the Anglo Saxon goddess Eostre. Now there are two stories about Eostre. In some parts of the ancient Saxon world she was a goddess in the maiden stage who wandered the country side with her hare sowing seeds. This is also the beginning of the Easter bunny legend. In other parts she was a goddess who transformed herself from maiden to hare as she brought the return of spring and promoted the growth of crops. However, you get the general drift – spring is the time for renewal and growth.

The concept of resurrection was not new to the Christians – check out Osiris and Isis for the Greeks and Oden for the ancient Norse. Sorry, but there just is nothing new under the Sun – in any season.

But be a part of the ancient tradition, dye some eggs, plant some seeds – it is SPRING!

Me and My Shadow – Taurus

You got me JF! I was showing the shadow of my Gemini South Node — jumping around too much. Your comment was correct – I SHOULD go to the opposite of the Scorpio North Node now – not jump to another nodal axis. Ah ha – I tossed in another word – Nodal Access. You know one thing I hate about astrology is when people try to make it totally confusing and inaccessible. The zodiac is a circle – go look at a chart – it is round – right? So, if you have a North Node on one side of the circle – the South Node has to be on the opposite site – that whole north and south thing. Therefore, that is a Nodal Axis. See? Easy.

So the opposite of Scorpio is Taurus. The last post dealt with a Scorpio South Node…so now we will like at Taurus. Taurus is the Bull, to me the ultimate Earth sign – content to laze in the pasture – feeling the wonderful Earth beneath it. They can stay in the pasture all day and look at the pretty colors of the fields. How wonderful. Well, to an extent.

If you have a Taurus South Node, some of the traits you may become too reliant on are stubbornness, materiality and just be stuck in stuff. Come on, you know someone like this – they hoard materials either actually like having a hoarding illness, or they are people stuck on collecting possessions. “See my toys – I have all of these possessions so I must be good – see what I just bought. You must think me valuable now because I have all of these valuables.”

Taureans also have a hard time turning away from the table. People who eat and eat despite having to reinforce the bed, the car and the house frame – are stuck in a gluttonous past. As are people who can’t change their situations no matter how miserable they feel.

Think of the bull, eating in the pasture all day, enjoying all that surrounds him -never moving – taken to extreme that is a person stuck in a Taurus past.

Remember, our South Node is comfortable to us – no matter how detrimental it is to our soul development in this lifetime. We have lived in that existence for so long that we subconsciously crave to go back there. However, the longer we reside there the more shadow aspects develop as the soul development stalls.

So all you Taurus South Node people – get out of your pasture – and into the drama of the world… embrace your Scorpio North Node passion!