assignment is no exception. It's true that action-oriented, gypsy-spirited Sagittarius energy is pretty much a hand-in-glove fit with the self-assertive, enthusiastic qualities of First House terrain. But Sagittarius is generally oblivious to the fact that anyone thinks, feels, wants, or needs anything any different than it does. With that kind of energy in the part of the birth chart where the assignment is to develop a strong sense of self that you assert out in the world, "too much of a good thing" becomes a definite possibility: disregard of others' sensibilities for the sake of "Telling it like it is;" shoving one's beliefs down another's throat in the name of "Speaking one's truth." Constant awareness, self-discipline and self-control add up to the only strategy - not a comfortable concept for Sagittarius in the First House, but there it is.

 

Your South Node in the Seventh House of Partnership brings a legacy of knowing how to make relationships work, and that can help smooth your path in this lifetime, but it also opens the door to another challenge. The Gemini energy there hints at a history of allowing a need for connection to override your need to learn and gather information and communicate it with a clear, unbiased eye. This is not so terrible if the issue is relatively minor, like letting your partner make the final decision on the color of a new car. But it is a problem if you find yourself filtering and editing the research information you're acquiring about hybrid cars and gas consumption because your partner is hell-bent on becoming a soccer-parent road warrior.

 

Look for the signals. The Universe will let you know if you wander off course, and is likely to send you the message though your relationships, especially partnership relationships. If you find yourself attracting Scheherazade-type-people who lure you away from your own agenda with endless quantities of interesting, diverting minutiae, it's time to smile politely, thank them for the entertainment, and retreat. What they're really telling you is that you're stalled on the journey North.

 

Tell it like it is for you. Live it like it is for you. Just don't forget the rest of us out here.

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HOUSE 2: Values 

Welcome to the challenge of putting that adventurous gypsy spirit of yours to the task of figuring out what's really important to you and then going for it. In this lifetime of dot-connecting and developing a big-picture view of the world and your place in it, having a belief system that's yours and yours alone to frame around your life is a huge component of what can make you feel safe and secure and good about yourself. Developing that philosophy of life is going to take lots of exploration, and whether that exploration occurs while you're circumnavigating the globe, or sitting in a library, or pointing-and-clicking your way around the World Wide Web, having the freedom to encounter new ideas and ways of living is a pre-requisite for completing this North Node assignment. A pre-conceived, pre-digested philosophy of life simply isn't going to fill the bill. With your North Node in the Second House, you've signed on for a do-it-yourself lifetime, and that means that you can't go galloping off to a workshop on metaphysics in Miami on the spur of the moment and trust the Universe to see that the pipes don't freeze during a harsh New Hampshire winter.

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Your Eighth House South Node karmic history comes into play and it can be both a help and a hindrance. The curiosity and quick mind of its Gemini energy are huge assets in this quest for meaning, no question about it. But that bright, airy energy is not at home in the watery depths of the Eighth House, which creates a "dis-ease" that can be distracting in this lifetime. It suggests a karmic history of having had to "play dumb" somehow for the safety, security, and support that an intense, dramatic, and possibly traumatic relationship might have provided. When that past stirs in this lifetime, it may be tempting to go skittering off in a million different directions to distract you from the discomforts of those energetic memories, but if you succumb to that temptation, you'll miss the opportunity to explore the things that really matter.

 

Drain the pipes and hit the road...it's for your highest soul growth, this time around.

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HOUSE 3: The Mind​

Welcome to the challenge of putting the adventurous gypsy spirit you're learning about to the task of exploring your own neighborhood and its inhabitants. This is a lifetime for finding out about big-ticket issues like "The Meaning of Life" that are hidden in the minutiae of the mundane. Welcome to learning to discipline yourself to stay with the quest to find the God that's in the details of everyday life when your whole nature vibrates with a restless urge to go bounding over the ridge of the metaphorical mountains that define and shape your world. Welcome, in other words, to the paradoxical, exciting and phenomenally rewarding terrain of the karmic "switcheroo," the situation where the themes of this lifetime's assignment bear a striking resemblance to the experiences of the karmic past.

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Your North Node sign of Sagittarius is naturally associated with big-picture themes of exploration, adventure, and expanding horizons. The last thing Sagittarian energy wants to do is to pay much attention to the "small stuff". But that North Node is in the Third House, a piece of astrological real estate that's grounded very much in the everyday world and resonates with Gemini themes of gathering and disseminating all kinds of information, from the tiniest curiosity to the biggest news flash. And vice versa. Your Gemini South Node is in the exciting, beyond-the-blue-horizon turf of the Ninth House which resonates with the wanderlust of Sagittarian energy. In other words, in this lifetime, it's going to be hard to know if you're moving forward to the North Node or back to the South. In fact, there could even be times when you literally won't know whether to take the bus downtown to the library or to book a trip to Tibet to immerse yourself in the practices and beliefs of Buddhism.

 

Yes, this is certainly a challenging assignment, but it need not be daunting because you have everything it takes to reach the goal. The Gemini part of you knows how to follow your curiosity and gather whatever information and experience you encounter, and that's what the Third House challenge is all about. Your adventurous, freewheeling Ninth House karmic history of exploration in pursuit of the Truth and Meaning can help you recognize and nurture the Sagittarian energy you're learning about. But missteps and detours and dead ends are part of the "switcheroo" deal, so go easy on yourself: You're learning a complicated lesson. Just keep the most positive qualities of your North Node sign and house in the forefront of your consciousness as much as you can. When you have the reversed sign and house situation, it's often an indication that you're working on an issue that takes more than a single lifetime to master.

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Think twice on the trip to Tibet. It's North you're heading, and that's means downtown.

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HOUSE 4: Home​

Welcome to using the Sagittarian energy you're learning about to create a framework of belief that includes the importance of connecting to family and clan, and to discovering that although your thirst for adventure might take you far from the family homestead, everything you really need is back home where you started from. In this lifetime, the weaving of family connection and learning from its history can build a firm, secure foundation that will support and sustain you wherever you may go. In other words, although Mom, Dad and Aunt Josephine may not be physically greeting you when you get off the plane in Hong Kong, they'll be there in spirit, quarterbacking you throughout the trip. With this North Node assignment, you're living the truth of this TS Eliot quote:

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"We shall not cease from exploration 
And at the end of all our exploring 
Will be to arrive where we started 
And know the place for the first time."

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No one is going to be locking the gate of the picket fence and throwing away the key to the family compound with you stuck inside. Your "don't fence me in" Sagittarian spirit would languish under such restriction. But with your Tenth House South Node history of unfettered freedom to seek achievement and success, one of the big challenges with this assignment is simply that you have to learn to settle down a little. The Gemini energy in that node is every bit as restless as Sagittarius', and if you're not careful you'll never stay long enough in one spot to even know where you are, never mind assimilate the experience. And although Gemini's curiosity and quick mind are huge assets in your quest for meaning, you must be careful not to let that phenomenal ability to accumulate knowledge get wasted by living the real-life equivalent of the perennial quiz show contestant. Spending your life out in the public, making your way to fame and fortune by spouting the minutiae of all that you know could leave you feeling comfortable everywhere in the world, but at home nowhere.

 

Keep the home fires burning.

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HOUSE 5: Creativity​

Come right on in, you're going to like it here, so I'm hoping you'll stay a while. The adventurous, spontaneous, optimistic Sagittarian nature you're learning about is a definite hand-in-glove fit for the creative energy of this piece of astrological real estate. For you, far-ranging, freewheeling exploration of different environments, cultures, and ideas is just to ticket to stir your own creative juices, and the only challenge about getting in touch with your inner child revolves around whether or not you'll gallop off too soon and too far beyond the blue horizon with the little tyke on your back.

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Now, this is te North Node journey and challenge is part of the job description. On the one hand, there's the matter of the "too much of a good thing" issue. Fiery Sagittarius knows a lot about risks, and the Fifth House is asking you to take them. And neither the sign nor this particular house is intrinsically sensitive to others in the environment, so the Sagittarian vulnerability to "hoof in mouth disease" and its relationship fallout is really accentuated with this combination. In fact, it might be a good idea to go back and reread the "Don't go overboard" section at the start of Chapter 19 in "Perfect Together " and commit it to memory. Self-discipline is needed to stay the course, and self-discipline is not a strong suit for the "don't fence me in" centaur.

 

Then there's the matter of your South Node, calling to you from the Eleventh House. The Gemini energy there is comfortable and happy, socializing and schmoozing with friends and associates, learning a little bit about this and a little bit about that from all its companions. That comfort can make it hard to get going on the explorations of this lifetime's journey, and even when you do, it can be awfully tempting to run everything by the gang in the Eleventh House clubhouse to get their approval.

 

Saddle up. You've got work to do.

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HOUSE 6: Service​

Come in and stay a while. I know that the vibe in this earthy piece of astrological real estate is a little uncomfortable for the free-wheeling Sagittarian energy you're learning about. The thought of contending with the minutiae of the mundane and day-to-day routines must make you want to saddle up and gallop off in a new direction. And that's not even considering the part of this assignment that's about cultivating sensitivity to others' wants and needs so you can serve them well. But you've chosen to knock on this door because somehow you know that it's your next best step, and you're right, so let's get going.

 

"Big-picture," optimistic and tolerant Sagittarian energy can make a big contribution here, bringing perspective to a place where too tight a focus on the micromanagement of endless detail can impede progress. Sagittarius' easy-going confidence and its strong shot of simple pure luck can help you avoid the workaholism and perfectionism landmines scattered across the Sixth House terrain.

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The compassion and sensitivity of your Twelfth House South Node legacy can be of great help and add even greater meaning to the work you're doing in this lifetime, but it still presents a big challenge. Gemini's fascination with the accumulation of more and more information feeds right into the Sixth House's concern with detail. The result can be an addictive escape into endless accumulation of irrelevant data and analysis, a combination that can distract you from the work at hand with a detour that's definitely not on the roadmap for this trip.

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Hook the reins to a post a stay a while in this corral. We need you here.

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HOUSE 7: Partnership​

In this lifetime of exploring and questing, you're slated to have company on your adventures, so don't just go galloping off on your own. In fact, it pretty much goes without saying that if you do gallop off on your own, you're just not going to be able to get to where you need to go. You need the companionship of a true equal, someone with their own view of reality, so that you can bounce important ideas off each other. And commitment to partnership is essential, so that when bouncing ideas off each other gets to feel like you've just taken a hit to the head in a beach-front volleyball game, no one rides off solo into the sunset in a big huff. All this might already be starting to feel like someone's strapped on the saddle too tightly around that freedom-loving Sagittarian spirit, but I promise you, it's worth it. Safe in partnership, you can put yourself in just the exotic situations that allow you to think outside your normal box and develop the cohesive world view you came here to develop. So tie up at the railing and stay for a while.

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The curiosity and quick mind that you made so much a part of your personality in the karmic past can be huge assets in this quest for meaning, and the charm and sociability that are also part of the First House Gemini South Node legacy can go a long way to making the journey pleasant. But Gemini is every bit as restless as Sagittarius, which can make staying focused on a faraway goal and committed to another person even tougher to pull off. If you find yourself spending lots of time in meandering conversations that don't really go anywhere, or itching to go galloping off into the sunset on your own, it's probably a message from the Universal Life Coach saying you need to step back and see if you aren't stalled on the path North, even if you're sitting in an airport in Juneau.

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Think big! And by the way, your partner needs help getting their luggage into the car.

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HOUSE 8: Transformation​

Welcome, dear traveler. Your Sagittarian quest for meaning and truth takes you into the mysterious and powerful waters of the Eighth House, something your fiery, spirited energy might find more than a bit unsettling. You'd probably rather be heading off to the airport to grab a last-minute flight to the Himalayas, but in this lifetime you've signed on to dive deep, instead of traveling far and wide, to find your answers and retrieve your power. What's more, if you do gallop off on your own, you're just not going to get the job done. An essential part of the assignment is to establish a deep, intense, bonded connection with someone, and share your experiences and beliefs and feelings with a person who has their own unique point of view. I'll bet the "deep, intense, bonded" part is sending a shiver up that freedom-loving Sagittarian spine of yours, right? Well, this is North Node work, after all.

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Your Second House South Node karmic history can be of considerable help, but it also brings a full measure of additional challenge. The bright intellect and quick-silver communication skills of the Gemini energy there can help you acquire the information you need to fuel your journey and back up your beliefs and conclusions, and Gemini's charm and sociability can help you connect with fellow-travelers along the way. But we look to the South Node with a negative bias. Depth is not in the comfort zone for Gemini energy which prefers to travel light. A fallback to low-end South Node behavior could come in the form of charming Gemini diversions to distract you from the intensity of this lifetime's assignment. And the Second House self-sufficiency you developed in the karmic past won't make it easy for you to make the kind of Eighth House relationship you're looking for, one characterized by the sharing of resources of all kinds.

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Take the plunge. Remember the phoenix.

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HOUSE 9: Expanding Horizons

A double "welcome home" to you, dear voyager. The centaur likes nothing better than to gallop off, as free as the wind, toward an ever-receding horizon in the quest for new experience, and that's exactly what the Ninth House part of job description is all about. No time to sweat the small stuff; no need for fences and the comforts of the routine and the familiar. Yes, big-picture thinking and flashing on an instant concept that connects every dot in your field of vision is right up your alley. If world-wide Eurailpasses existed, you'd be the first customer on the ticket line. So come on in and stay for a while - you're going to feel right at home.

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But the North Node journey is always a challenge, and for you with the doubled-up opportunity, the challenge side of the coin is double-thick as well. Looking back to the Third House South Node, we see Gemini energy just as comfortable there in the familiarity of the everyday world as your Sagittarian energy will become in the Ninth House world of limitless horizons. Of course, it's good news that that Gemini energy brings a karmic legacy of knowing how to gather just the kind of diverse information that is grist for your Sagittarian philosophical mill. What's more, Gemini knows a lot about spreading the word, and though your classroom is more likely to have a bunch of graduate school students than the Third House's grammar school contingent, those Gemini skills will surely come in handy. But operating in its own piece of astrological real estate, Gemini can wind up endlessly buzzing around and skimming the surface of the same experiential pond, never going deep enough or slowing down long enough to realize it's collecting the same information over and over again. And the sign of the twins is every bit as restless and distractible as the sign of the centaur. There's a real possibility that, between the two influences, you could wind up on an ever-accelerating merry-go-round, going faster and faster in circles that go nowhere if you're not careful. You'll need to slow down and check the map and the guidelines for this assignment regularly.

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Saddle up and get going! You've got important work to do

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HOUSE 10: Authority​

Welcome to a lifetime of using the optimism and enthusiasm of the Sagittarian energy you're learning about to go out in the big world and share your experiences and beliefs with your "tribe." In this lifetime, the centaur takes to the public road to share its message, be it about justice, or tolerance, or even your experiences as an explorer and adventurer. Whatever it is, that message is important and you're asked to deliver it in a big, authoritative way.

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Now, you're probably starting to think that you've hit the karmic jackpot, and that's okay. Sagittarius thrives on having lots of elbow room, and this karmic assignment takes you out into the wide, wide world that the adventurer and gypsy in you loves to explore. But this is a North Node assignment and that means there are important challenges. For starters, the more you move into that Sagittarian energy, the more you might believe that your pursuit of Truth-with-a-capital-T will automatically give you all the right answers to life's biggest questions. Combine this with Tenth House themes of authority and control and recognition, and you can gallop right into the "pomposity pitfall" of believing your own publicity and letting it all go to your head.

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Your Gemini South Node legacy of intelligence and curiosity will be a big help when it comes to backing up your conclusions with solid information, and its communication skills are a priceless asset. That node is in the Fourth House of Home, so you can call on karmic memories of Mom or Dad reminding you to do your homework, or reining you in when you wandered too far from safety as a toddler, to keep you focused on this lifetime's assignment and moving forward safely towards it. But those warm memories and soft feelings about home and family can make it easy to linger too long in the everyday graces of family life, especially when you hit a bumpy stretch of the Northbound karmic highway. And you'll have to be careful not to filter the beliefs you're developing now through the lens of family assumptions. This would compromise the expansive vision you're here to develop and share in this lifetime. For example, it wouldn't be so terrible if the issue is relatively minor, like letting the family influence the final decision on the color of your new car, but it is a problem if you find yourself filtering and editing information you're acquiring about hybrid cars and fuel consumption because the family value system equates success with having a big and pricey sedan or SUV road warrior parked in the driveway.

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Saddle up - the book tour starts tomorrow. In London.

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HOUSE 11: Goals & Groups

If you can stop long enough from your free-wheeling, globe-trotting adventures to spend some time in one place, we're sure you'll be glad to have chosen the Eleventh House corral. The easy-going, friendly, tolerant, and optimistic Sagittarian energy you're learning about makes for a really good fit with the vibe here. We aren't any more interested in the clingy, total-fusion approach to relationship than you are, so you won't have to worry about feeling too hemmed in. What's more, the diversity and breadth of your experience can help make our already-broad definition of what we're all about even broader and more ambitious. And who couldn't use a shot or two of pure Sagittarian good luck? So come on in and let's get going.

 

Now this is the North Node journey after all, and that means that challenge is simply part of the job description. In your instance, this translates to a couple of items that reinforce each other across the whole North Node/South Node axis. In the karmic past, the Fifth House location of your South Node gave its Gemini energy an over-infusion of the sense of its own specialness, with the result that the information you collected and communicated may have been filtered through the too-narrow lens of your own point of view. Add this to the fact that Sagittarius is pretty much unaware that there even exists a point of view other than its own, and it's not going to be easy to avoid the trap of thinking you know it all, an attitude that could throw a real monkey-wrench into your attempts to fit in and make an Eleventh House contribution.

 

And we need to talk about restlessness. Both Gemini and Sagittarius have a strong itch to move around and move on. In fact, the biggest difference between them in this regard lies mainly in how many real or metaphorical miles they include in their travels. In this lifetime, in this piece of astrological real estate, the assignment is to see the job through to the end. People are counting on you. You'll simply have to learn to settle down.

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It's time to trot the Eleventh House segment of the globe. Saddle up.

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HOUSE 12: Spirit

Whoa! Slow down and stay for a while. I know you're thinking of trotting right on past these watery environs so that you can tie up in some wide-open spaces, but it's the Twelfth House you've signed on for, and if you just take a minute you might find out that you'd like it here. The big-picture Sagittarian energy you're learning about is on a quest for Truth and Meaning, and this part of the chart is about Spirit. Seeing how one relates to and infuses the other is a lot of what your quest is about. And Sagittarius' tolerance and sense of justice are an excellent complement to Twelfth House compassion. Put it all together, and there's no limit to how far you can go in the growth of your consciousness, and limitless horizons are what Sagittarius is all about. But you will need a little down time. Peace and quiet are essential if you are to find the place where you connect to Spirit, and the Twelfth House environment can give you just that space.

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There's an exciting buzz calling to you from your Sixth House South Node and it represents your biggest challenge. The Gemini energy there is very happy amidst the comings and goings of the everyday workaday world. The Sagittarian "restlessness gene" is going to pick up on that buzz and buy right into Gemini's gadabout energy, and that could make it even harder for you to settle down to this lifetime's business. If you're not careful, you'll be off and running, not really knowing where you're heading, and in so doing miss the chance to take the next big step on the journey that you saddled up for in the first place.

 

On the boardwalk in Atlantic City there used to be a horse that would jump off a diving tower into a big swimming pool. He learned to love the water. So will you.

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