August North Node Horoscopes are Up!

You can click straight through for your monthly North Node Horoscope. Here’s the August 2020 astro weather report:

August 2020 features potent energies in the Collective. August 3 brings a Full Moon in Aquarius at 11:59 a.m. Eastern US time. This potent opposition of Sun in Leo, Moon in Aquarius forms a T-square with volatile liberator Uranus in Taurus. The energies will affect everyone, but especially those with key placements in 10-13 Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius. Any conflicts between head and heart may reach a crisis or catharsis during this Full Moon. You’ll fair best by balancing nurturing, love and stability with your need for freedom.

Depending on your time zone, in the late hours of August 4 or early August 5, Mercury moves from Cancer to Leo. This Messenger brings the element of Air to fiery Leo, and Air fuels Fire. Communication will go faster and further: try to pause before you speak or write. Communicate from the heart.

On August 5, transiting Venus conjuncts the Collective North Node at 28 Gemini. This is a powerful alignment in which the Goddess of Love has a date with Destiny. This date offers course correction in areas of love, romance, beauty, wealth and self-esteem. The Nodes move backwards through the zodiac, so this meeting is brief, yet potent, with lasting effects. The Collective Nodes affect everyone, but this alignment will especially affect anyone with significant placements at 27-29 Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius or Pisces.

On August 15, Uranus stations direct and moves retrograde for the rest of 2020. This transit offers a slight reprieve from 2020’s revolutionary fervor. Use this time to get clear on intention, because late 2020 and early 2021 will burst forth before you know it! Expect unusual, paradigm shifting revelations from August through the rest of the year. The New Moon on August 18 offers a chance for reset with revised intentions and perhaps a slower, more nurturing pace.

August 22, the Sun enters Virgo, shifting from Fire to Earth. Virgo’s a mental Earth sign, ruled by Mercury, so the final week of August encourages us to ground our thoughts into physical form. Hug a tree, walk barefoot on the grass. Brings those ideas down to Earth.

How this sky weather affects you will vary, depending on your entire natal chart, but your North Node Horoscope transcends monthly sky events. That’s because your North Node reveals what your soul came here to do. By midlife, the soul starts longing and pressing us to live our true purpose. At first, it whispers through intuition. Then it knocks a little louder through “coincidences” and external events. When not heard and honored, the soul’s longing can show up as health crises, marriage or work issues, or wondering “is this all there is?” If you feel a need to reinvent yourself, following North Node guidance helps you do that authentically — for you.

Unlike generic Sun Sign horoscopes, which ignore so many other aspects, following North Node guidance will always lead you in the right direction. Doors open, healing happens, relationships improve, and life gets more magical. This monthly column will help you tap into your personal North Node Mojo. When you start living your North Node purpose, we all win, because you not only begin to light up your own life. You light up the world.           – Laura
You can find your North Node sign here which is often different than your Sun sign. (If you’re right on a cusp, consider both options, or book a reading for more clarity.) Find your personal North Node Horoscope here.

Hair and Garden Update

Whew, it’s hot and HUMID here in Michigan! Here’s a little photo update of the garden in mid-late Summer. This tends to be a time of fewer blooms. The trick is regular deadheading (popping off the spent flowers). Many plants will rebloom to complement new bloomers like hummingbird mint, hibiscus, hostas, echinacea and cosmos. Before long, it will be aster and mum season.

The garden continues to yield more produce for less work, so I’m liking that! Between massive amounts of greens from the enclosed Garden Tower 2 and cucumbers, squash, herbs, banana peppers, carrots and eggplant in the open beds, every day brings a sizable harvest. It’s not the over-abundance I used to need to deal with while quasi-farming in Goshen: rather, a steady supply of fresh flavors and nutrients.

Some photos from today:

dinner plate hibiscus

 

Door Number 23: The Magician

I thought I finished this latest portal “door” on the weekend; however, I noticed a need for two little touch ups this morning of the potent Black Moon in Cancer. (A Black Moon is the second New Moon in a sign, like a Blue Moon’s the second Full Moon in a sign.) I knew I would post the painting in alignment with the New Moon, but it turns out I also finished it three hours before the Sun and Moon conjunct at 28 degrees Cancer at 1:33 p.m. Eastern time today. (You can find more information on this alignment in the above link.)

I only point out the precise synchronizing of this portal and this astro event, because this portal’s been so very long in the making. It actually began back in 2018, when I felt led to paint a large Sidhe (pronounced “she”) glyph and hang it in my office for inspiration:

The Sidhe are an ancient and regal race of Faery beings who work with humans to help preserve the Earth and shift it to a more harmonious vibration. Similar spirals appear as signs of healing, and even in Reiki. This particular Sidhe glyph comes from an experience that author John Matthews wrote about in his book, The Sidhe: Wisdom from the Celtic Otherworld.

Door Number 21, The Hermit Portal, now hangs in this location. As part of the replacement process, I was “told” to paint a Magician portal on top of the Sidhe canvas, so that the magic and energy of the Sidhe would hold the background energy. I needed to wait until Door Number 23 to do that, though, because the Magician needed to be a “123 Portal.” In Tarot, the Magician is card Number 1, with the Fool as 0, so by creating the Magician as Door Number 23, I would unite the 1-23 into a kind of magical number sequence, the next logical step.

Lady Justice synchronously presented herself as an 11-11 commissioned piece, right at the time I needed a Door Number 22, and right on time for events in our collective world. This allowed the Magician to come through as the intended 123, and the “1” also amplifies the message of the portal quote by William Blake: “If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.”

As always, sorry for the photo quality. I have THE most difficult time photographing portal paintings! The brown forms the edge. The blue is the wall of my office, and this is a straight edged, rectangular canvas, 2′ x 3′, another 123 echo, despite the apparent angles of the canvas. The whole painting plays with perspective, with the table both in front of and behind the threshold.

New Moon in Cancer ~ Astrology of this Black Moon

Tomorrow (Monday, July 20th) marks 2020’s second New Moon in the sign of Cancer. The first occurred as an eclipse shortly after Summer Solstice. Personally, that one opposed my natal Lilith (currently conjunct the collective South Node) and squared my natal Pluto. I FELT it big time, and I’m still integrating the physical and metaphysical shifts it triggered.

This second New Moon, called a Black Moon (like how a second Full Moon is called a Blue Moon), occurs with the Sun and Moon at 28 Cancer, exactly opposing Saturn at 28 Capricorn, along with a wider orb of opposition to Pluto and Jupiter in Capricorn. Potent is an understatement!

The Black Moon is also quincunx the South Node at 28 Sagittarius, still closely conjunct my natal Black Moon Lilith. The quincunx (150 degrees, also called inconjunct) aspect can feel irritating. It demands attention and creative integration of two signs that appear to have nothing in common. With the collective South Node involved, it offers a chance for some kind of karmic reset. With my 29 Sag Black Moon Lilith less than one degree from the South Node, it feels like very old Lilith/wild woman archetypes are stirring and awaiting a new form of expression. I finished the Magician Portal yesterday and will blog it up tomorrow during this potent window.

Also in my chart, this Black Moon happens right on my natal anti-vertex, almost exactly sextile my Midheaven at 28+ Taurus. I expect some key shifts in relationships and career, but time will tell.

For a deeper dive into the energies of this New Moon, I suggest Astro Butterfly’s latest post, as well as Ann Kreilkamp’s post. Both of them look at collective trends and effects. Astro Butterfly explores more of the Capricorn/Cancer, Saturn/Moon axis, while Ann also brings in the square to Eris, Goddess of Discontent. One thing’s certain: things are coming to the surface, demanding attention. How will individuals and society step up or retreat as more and more things come out of the Shadows?

July 2020 Specials

It’s hard to believe we’re over halfway through July already. Sometimes I repeat specials the next month, but at this point, it seems like August will feature different offerings. I sense some big energy changes towards the end of this month, meaning August will probably benefit from different specials. Just a heads up. 🙂

Laura Bruno's Blog

Sorry for posting these late. I always intuit which energies need most support right now. I’ve had so many requests for discounted medical intuitive readings that I’ve known about the first special for over a week. The second one just presented itself to me this morning. It seems many people are poised to make big changes but feel unsure of which direction to go — or which steps now will set them up for a preferred experience later. The Timeline Tune-Up addresses those questions from more of a non-linear time, quantum level.

Wishing everyone in the US a Happy Independence Day, and here’s to a powerful transformative Lunar Eclipse! Stay present and soulful. This one’s big.

JULY 2020 SPECIALS

$77 Medical Intuitive Readings

Medical Intuition is the ability to access information about physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health through “reading” the energy field around the body. A Medical Intuitive Session…

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Kathleen Wildwood ~ Long Herbal Infusions: Why Drink Nourishing Long Herbal Infusions?

This keeps coming up, especially long infusions of stinging nettles. Herbalist Kathleen Wildwood (whom David and I knew when we lived in Madison) gives a good primer on long infusions, the how, what and why of them.

I would add that long infusions bring out more of the “essence” of an herb, including the magical properties. In the case of stinging nettles, this magical essence connotes sovereignty, strength and beauty — as long as you treat Lady Nettle with respect. Stomp all over her, and she stings. She contains the cure to her sting, though, and in some cases, like arthritis, the sting itself is curative.

Nettle infusions come up most often for anyone having a Black Moon Lilith issue. I always say, if there was a patron saint of Lyme disease, the Herxheimer reaction, histamine reaction, or “hysteria,” it would be Black Moon Lilith. On the physical and metaphysical levels, nettles calm and nourish that energy and turn it into strength. It’s kind of like fairy tales where the prince meets the old hag on the road. If he scorns or disrespects her, she curses (stings) him, but if he treats her with respect, she turns into a beautiful maiden or fairy godmother.

Herbalists say, “When in doubt, choose nettles,” but you can make a long infusion from many herbs.

Kathleen gives many examples, but my favorite by far is a quart sized jar of one cup dried stinging nettles, one licorice root tea bag, filled to the top with boiling water. The licorice tea gives a slight sweet taste to the earthy nettles, and for me, rounds out the flavors and properties. Not everyone can take licorice, though. It’s not for anyone with high blood pressure, so be aware of that if you opt for my recipe. Just sharing this post here again, because I keep emailing it to clients. Enjoy!

Laura Bruno's Blog

This is a timely post from the lovely Kathleen Wildwood of The Wildwood Institute. David and I had the pleasure of attending many of her herb walks, classes and two wild edibles dinners hosted by Kathleen when we lived in Madison. I was just thinking about making a nettle infusion when her email came through offering permission to post her new article.

Long Herbal Infusions

Why Drink Nourishing Long Herbal Infusions? 

By Kathleen R. Wildwood, © 2015

          During the winter, people ask me what they can do to make up for the generous consumption of sweets, beer and other comfort foods and drinks that people use to keep up their spirits in the dark of the year. Though you cannot make up for the impact of these foods on your metabolism, you can drink nourishing long herbal infusions to help replace the nutrients lost, reduce cravings for less healthy beverages…

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Garden Tower 2 Update

For those wondering how the Garden Tower 2‘s producing, here’s a photo series taken from each side. I rotate it daily or every other day. You can see some sides have more growth. Those would be the days I didn’t rotate so those plants got more southern exposure. This is a heavily harvested tower and still producing. I made a huge batch of pesto last weekend, mostly from the tower, and it looks like this weekend will be pesto time again.

Turning the tower seems to have kept most of my lettuce from bolting even in our many days of 90+ degree heat. As long as the tender greens get periodic afternoon shade, they seem to think it’s still earlier in the season. I can’t believe how much produce I’m getting from 4 square feet of space!

So far so good with the fencing and mesh cage. A groundhog sniffed around and tried to figure out how to break in, but the 2 foot metal fencing and gate around the bottom are just high and wobbly enough that it gave up after just one “window warning” (opened and slammed shut).

The other advantage so far is that the white cabbage moths can’t fit through the mesh to lay eggs on my kale. Major score! Usually by this time of year, those little green caterpillars do major damage or it becomes a near full time job picking off the eggs. It felt soooo satisfying yesterday to watch a moth try to enter from every angle and eventually move onto sipping catmint flowers. 🙂

Now …. if we can just get the groundhog to move out of our shed. I had enough extra kale to give my neighbor a bunch when she dropped off a bucket of used kitty litter to drop down the new burrow. Fun times! She said, “I’m trying to wrap my head around this. I’m leaving a bucket of used kitty litter on neighbor’s porch — and I like her.” Always an adventure, even with plenty of yummies.

I also need to figure out how to prop up the dwarf tomato plant without ripping the mesh sides or ceiling. Even with pruning, it’s getting too big to rotate without hitting the top or sides.

Overall, this garden season feels much more fun than past years in Kalamazoo. The front yard is mostly herbs, flowers, hot peppers, cucumbers and eggplant, but so far so good even there for lettuce. The front yard beds get afternoon shade, and the cucumber vines now shade the lettuce even in the sunniest parts of the day.

The weirdest thing is that something — I think a deer — is leaving all my edibles alone but decimating my “critter resistant” large sedum and one other plant that I only purchased due to its resistance. I forget the name now, but it starts with an “a” and it’s totally gone. I’ll take it, though. If something wants to concentrate on non-edibles that I only planted so I’d for sure have plants there even if an animal ate my more prized items, I’ll play along. Munch away … far, far away from the things I want to eat. 🙂

An Alien World

I was going to post this as a comment but decided to reblog it instead:

Beautiful, Colette! This is how I’ve experienced the world, too. My own little sphere remains so magical and nature filled. Abundance, beauty, kindness … but the rare venture out into the “real” world feels like an alien planet.

I hate the masks. I spent time in Communist Russia right before the Berlin Wall fell. Things were breaking down, but it had that same kind of oppressed top down feeling.

I almost got beaten in line by two guards at Lenin’s Tomb, because I laughed. You were not even allowed to crack a smile, but a bird pooped flourescent green poop on the white shirt of a very vain young man in front of me. I cracked up laughing, and two guards apprehended me. They had clubs they were going to beat me with, but someone intervened on my behalf.

Shortly before the riots began in the US, I was in line at a garden store, telling my husband how oppressive everything felt — like you weren’t allowed to smile or interact with people. It reminded me of my experience at Lenin’s Tomb. I had dreams of riots before they broke out, and I predicted that this unnatural lockdown of the human spirit would cause it to come out sideways.

There are many signs of thriving and awakening, but I’m with you — I avoid the “real” world as much as I can. Our neighbors and neighborhood are lovely, the garden in full bloom and productivity. I’m fortunate to be able to talk with incredible people from around the world each week for my work, so I know good things are happening in many spots around the good Earth.

Blessings to you, my friend! Thank you for all you do and are and share in this world.

~Laura

Bealtaine Cottage, Ireland

An Alien World…

I ventured out yesterday, a rare enough event in the passing of time. On this occasion I drove to Sligo on a specific quest to the Health Food Shop that is Tir Na Nog, an Irish phrase meaning ‘Land of Youth.’ The streets of Sligo were almost empty. I walked along the pavements unhurried by other people in this usually, (before all changed some months back), busy county town…or city as many now refer to it!

So much has happened over recent months that has changed the very fabric of our society, and it shows! People avoiding each other on the street, few stopping to chat, (and Ireland is a place where people love to stop and exchange news and views)!

Walking along the pleasant streets of Sligo was very tiring. I felt the energy drain away from me as I moved…such a strange experience! The joy…

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July 2020 Specials

Sorry for posting these late. I always intuit which energies need most support right now. I’ve had so many requests for discounted medical intuitive readings that I’ve known about the first special for over a week. The second one just presented itself to me this morning. It seems many people are poised to make big changes but feel unsure of which direction to go — or which steps now will set them up for a preferred experience later. The Timeline Tune-Up addresses those questions from more of a non-linear time, quantum level.

Wishing everyone in the US a Happy Independence Day, and here’s to a powerful transformative Lunar Eclipse! Stay present and soulful. This one’s big.

JULY 2020 SPECIALS

$77 Medical Intuitive Readings

Medical Intuition is the ability to access information about physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health through “reading” the energy field around the body. A Medical Intuitive Session decodes the message(s) from soul to body into language your conscious mind can understand and begin to address. (It is not meant to replace traditional medical treatment.)

Medical Intuitive Readings are normally $222 per hour, $177 for 40 minutes, or $90 per 20-minute check-in. Medical Intuitive sessions purchased today through 7/31/2020, will be discounted to $77 per 20-minute check-in, which can also be doubled to save $23 on a 40-minute reading for $154. Please contact me to sign up, and remember to include your time zone!

Timeline Tune-Up:

This 40-minute offering helps identify which areas of your life can most benefit from the energetic openings this month. I focus your reading on finding small shifts you can make in order to generate monumental trajectory changes — kind of like switching the tracks on a railway. Tiny adjustments in the here and now can result in hugely different journeys later. $144 if prepaid on or before July 31, 2020. (Save $33 off the usual 40-minute rate.) Please contact me to sign up.