self-direction and control and First House ego development and self-assertiveness can add up to "too much of a good thing" in no time flat if you're not careful. Your Seventh House South Node karmic history of knowing what it takes to make relationships work can be of real help with this issue, and the Cancer energy there means you know have had the chance to learn how to make the emotional connections that make partnership and all kinds of relationships "real." You can call on these resources when the impetus to achieve and take total charge of everything and everyone in your environment threatens isolation.

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But that Seventh House has its own challenge. The energetic memories of the comforts and support that partnership offers can make it hard to set out solo. Warmed-over cafeteria meatloaf is simply no match for the real home-made thing. Look for the signals. The Universe will let you know if you wander off-course, most likely by sending messages through your relationships, especially partner-type relationships. If you're intercepted by someone with a litany of need and loneliness when you try to cross the threshold to your responsibilities outside that Seventh House world, it's probably a sign that you may be getting stalled on the journey North.

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Can you take control without being controlling? Sure you can!

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HOUSE 2: Values 

Boy, are you going to like it here, heading toward home in the Second House! Capricorn energy likes nothing more than to set a goal and achieve it, and this is a part of the chart that asks you to do just that. In this case, the goal is to identify exactly what will make you feel safe and secure and good about yourself, and then acquire whatever that is by using the self-reliance and determination of the Capricorn energy that you're learning about. And, just as an extra bonus, because the Second House of the birth chart is a very earthy piece of real estate, tangible, material rewards for your achievements can definitely be part of the definition of success.

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But we are talking about North Node work, so you know there are going to be challenges, right? The first you've probably suspected already: that you could over-achieve and become so immersed in the driving determination to succeed that you lose track of the karmic why of what the work is for. Ever-escalating rewards can become ends in themselves, with the bar defining success endlessly set a notch higher after every achievement. Lost in the clamor of abundance and success, you could turn a deafened ear to the voice of your spirit asking "When is enough, enough?" If that happens, you could end this lifetime never having acquired the one reward you were here to get: the security of knowing that you have everything you need to take care of yourself safely within you.

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The other challenge is quite the opposite: that you'll never get to the assignment in any real kind of way. The pull of your Eighth House South Node in the sign of Cancer is a very strong and magnetic one, calling to you from particularly deep, unconscious levels of your being. It speaks of a karmic history of neediness and emotional dependency played out in the arena of intense, demanding relationships that provided your safety and security at a very high price. The legacy of those experiences can make it hard for you to believe that you're entitled to have needs and wants of your own and that you have every right to fulfill them.

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Get out there and go for it! It's for your highest soul growth this time around.

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HOUSE 3: The Mind​

Well, the Capricorn energy you're learning about in this lifetime sure has the focus and determination to "ace" the information-gathering part of this assignment: no stone left unturned in the pursuit of information and experience; no potential source ignored or overlooked; no resource too difficult to make contact with. Yes, this is all right up the mountain goat's alley. And if the assignment includes spreading the word, well you can be sure that that will get done, too. But getting this assignment right is going to take more. The more you get in touch with that Capricorn energy, the harder it's going to become to relinquish tight level of control over how information is managed and distributed, starting with control over what to keep to yourself. If you have it your way, what you keep would be useful and contribute to some identifiable (to you, at least) goal or purpose, and you'd be the one to decide just who gets to share it. If you're not careful, you can control yourself right out of that "A+" you're going after, and make it hard for yourself to even get a "C."

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Then there's the matter of your South Node, calling to you with echoes of a karmic past where emotional comfort and nurturing came from relying on familial or tribal belief systems that explained the world and your place in it. You can certainly call on the emotional intelligence of the Cancer energy there to connect with your audience when it comes to the "spread the word" part of this lifetime's assignment, but letting go of the ideas and, yes, dogma that provided comfort and meaning and safety at deep, unconscious levels can be a real challenge. Without awareness, the experiences you're meant to explore and the contributions you're invited to make could be filtered through the standard of whether they align with the comforting beliefs you acquired in the karmic past. Forewarned is forearmed.

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Keep your eyes - and heart - open. You've got important work to do.

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HOUSE 4: Home​

Welcome to a lifetime of using the strong, self-reliant, and achievement-oriented qualities of the Capricorn energy you're learning about to connect consciously and deeply to family and clan. Welcome to testing and extending the boundaries of your capabilities through experiences on the home front and opportunities to play a responsible role in the family as the pater familias regardless of gender. In this lifetime, you're learning to balance connection and control; self-reliance and support; the corner corporate office and the hearth of home. 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 Capricorn is naturally associated with ambition, determination, and responsibility and is most comfortable striving for success in large-scale initiatives in the public world where people don't know you personally. But that node is staked in the Fourth House, which resonates with themes of home and family and emotional connection - Cancer themes. And vice versa. Your South Node in the sign of Cancer speaks of a karmic history where you learned how to create and nurture the emotional connections that make relationships "real," but that node is in the Tenth House, the most public part of the chart, a piece of astrological real estate that resonates with Capricorn themes of ambition and achievement and success. It simply won't be easy to keep it all straight. Using the caring, nurturing Cancer energy to connect to the public is getting it backwards. Being a strong and responsible presence to those who are depending on you back home is getting it straight. But they both feel a lot alike, and if you don't sort it out, it's not only your family that's going to suffer. You won't get in touch with the support and security you're supposed to have, either. 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 fire up the crock pot and cook up a big family dinner, or work overtime to finish up the corporate annual report.

 

Yes, this is certainly a challenging assignment, but it need not be daunting because you have everything it takes to reach the goal. The Cancer part of you can help you feel right at home when you cross back over the Fourth House threshold, and can help soothe you when being in charge and being the one everybody relies on gets to feel like a big fat ton of bricks on your back, which it will at times. And your Tenth House karmic experience can help you move into the Capricorn energy you're learning about. Go easy on yourself: you're learning a complicated lesson. When you have the reversed sign and house situation, it's often an indication that you're working an issue that takes more than a single lifetime to master. Just keep the most positive qualities of your North Node sign and house in the forefront of your consciousness as much as you can.

 

Now, head for the dinner table. The family's waiting for you to say grace and carve the roast.

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HOUSE 5: Creativity​

Play with the child within? (Yikes!) Dabble in the arts? (Double Yikes!) Have a romantic, larger-than-life, over-the-top love affair? (Who, me? How?) For the Capricorn energy you're learning about, I'm guessing you'd much rather have an assignment to build an empire or run a corporation than be asked to explore your own creativity and bring it forth, but there it is: the North Node assignment. If you cut yourself a little slack and let yourself relax a bit, you might even find that you like it. Just don't set yourself an uncomfortable definition of what this creativity thing is. You're learning about the earthy sign of Capricorn, after all, and "will o' the wisp" is definitely not in the vocabulary of the ambitious, determined mountain goat. Creativity doesn't necessarily come packaged in a frame and a mat - you will have to experiment. Maybe a potter's wheel and some nice, earthy clay will catch your interest, or becoming the creative director of an environmentally-oriented advertising agency. You'll also need to take some risks (Over-the-top Yikes!), but Capricorn comfort with recognition and getting to the top of the heap is going to come in handy with the receiving attention part of the assignment.

 

Your Eleventh House South Node reminds us of another important challenge. You've spent lifetimes building emotional connection in very-comfortable-for-you group situations. Cancer energy likes nothing better than nurturing and caring for others, and has no taste for standing out in the crowd. It wouldn't be surprising, for example, if you were known in the karmic past for bringing home-baked cookies and other delights when the gang got together, creating something of a surrogate family out of those associations. It might not be easy to leave the warmth and comfort of those relationships to strike out on your own and risk creative self-expression in this lifetime, but it's what you need to do.

 

You can accomplish anything, including this assignment, so get going. Forget the cookies.

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HOUSE 6: Service​

It won't take you long to get the lay of the land of this particular piece of astrological real estate. The Capricorn energy you're learning about likes nothing more than taking on a challenging assignment, and here in the House of Service we have a never-ending supply of important work to be done. What's more, this practical, earthy common-sense terrain is a hand-in-glove fit for solid Capricorn energy that likes to see tangible results for its efforts: a debt-wrecked person whose finances stabilize because you've taught them to balance a checkbook and manage their money; another who has affordable, reliable transportation of their own because you've passed on your skills at automobile maintenance; someone whose chronic back pain is alleviated thanks to your orthopedic expertise. Yes, you're going to feel right at home here in very short order.

 

But step carefully over this threshold. One of the biggest challenges with this assignment comes right out of that compatible energetic fit. Introducing competent, ambitious, goal-directed, responsible, hard-working Capricorn energy to the place where work is the national pastime can be a sure-fire recipe for self-depleting workaholic escapism. And the issue is only compounded by the energy beaming at you from your South Node. Chances are that in the karmic past you overdid the nurturing and caretaking that are signatures of the Cancer energy in that compassionate but unconscious Twelfth House and wore yourself out. Falling back to the South Node could amp up the workaholism issue big-time if you're not careful, and put you flat on your Sixth House body/mind/spirit-connected back.

 

Now roll up your sleeves and get going. But don't forget the coffee break.

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HOUSE 7: Partnership​

Welcome to a lifetime of discovering how strong, self-reliant and responsible you are through experiences you share with someone who is your true partner, someone who's in it with you for the long haul. In this kind of relationship, you can test the boundaries of the Capricorn capabilities you're learning about, yet still have a soft, safe place to return to when the going gets rough in the outside world or you make a few false steps. Welcome to learning how to succeed without losing the connection and reciprocity that make partnerships real; to becoming strong but staying accessible. Executing this balancing act is going to be a real challenge, but we know that challenge is right up the mountain goat's alley, so step right on in.

 

The sign of Cancer in your First House South Node means you've integrated caring and nurturing energy into the very definition of who you are in the karmic past, and this can help you create the kind of connection you need to build in this lifetime. At the same time, that South Node presents a big challenge. Cancer's imagination could generate enough worry and reminders of emotional vulnerability that you might retreat into your shell and hide from having to confront the challenge of entering partnership in any kind of real way. And Cancer's sensitivity to everyone else's needs could take precedence over your responsibility to yourself in this lifetime. Look for the signals. The Universe will be happy to help get you back on course by sending a message through someone - especially a partner-type-someone - who is so overly-attentive to your real or imagined needs that you start to feel smothered. What is that person trying to tell you about yourself?

 

It's a lifetime to get ahead. But not ahead of your partner

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HOUSE 8: Transformation​

Welcome! I expect you're really going to like it here. The ambitious, determined, hard-working Capricorn energy you're learning about likes nothing better than to set a goal - the more ambitious the better - and work hard to achieve it. Exploring the deep, mysterious waters of the Eighth House and claiming the power you find there certainly fits the bill. Whether the goal is to climb the heights, or plunge equally deep in the opposite direction, there's no question that the mountain goat is the one for the job: acquiring Eighth House power only strengthens Capricorn's ability to control.

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So far, so good. Now for the challenges. You knew they were coming, right? This is North Node work, after all. For starters, an intrinsic part of the assignment is to travel at least part of the journey with a partner. The good news is that the legacy of Cancer energy of your South Node can help you reach out and emotionally connect with another person, and this is no small matter. The challenging news is that the more you become attuned to Capricorn energy, the more control and authority you're going to want in the relationship, and this is where things get tricky. How can you assume responsibility for the successful outcome of an initiative if you don't have total control of all aspects of the situation? But your partner is entitled to equal participation on all counts. The Second House location of your South Node only adds additional weight to what can upset the relationship applecart. The assignment in the karmic past was to "do it yourself," to discover the strength of your own self-sufficiency, an approach that totally dovetails with this lifetime's Capricorn point of view. But how does that fit in with the relationship part of the North Node equation? What's more, the Capricorn's earthy nature has a real appreciation for Second House material possessions and healthy asset account balances, which creates a doubled-up vulnerability to falling victim to South Node "Midas Touch" temptations. All this can easily send you heading 180° off-course. Self-awareness and self-discipline are simply critical to success.

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Remember the phoenix.

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HOUSE 9: Expanding Horizons

Well, you've certainly signed on for one interesting assignment, and there's no question that you will get it done. The responsible, competent Capricorn energy you're learning about in this lifetime likes nothing better than an ambitious challenge. If the goal is to get around the world in eighty days, you'll marshal the organization and resources to complete the circuit in seventy-five; if the challenge is to create a philosophical framework, you'll be the one to know just the rules and regulations and explicit directions needed to hammer it out, and it will be elegant and air-tight when it's done. But if you're not very careful, you won't get the A+ you're looking for.

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Capricorn's need for structure and control is not such a comfortable fit for the unfettered, freewheeling, and adventurous terrain of the Ninth House, which asks you to open your mind, not to button it up. So the more you come into Capricorn energy, the harder it might be to operate as freely and openly as the Nine House requires. Finding the higher ground that encompasses the best parts of both - combining Capricorn's structure and focus with Ninth House flexibility and breadth of vision - is just the level of challenge that Capricorn likes best: a tough one. What's more, Capricorn takes itself quite seriously, a quality that increases the likelihood of falling into the Ninth House "pomposity pitfall" if you're not careful. There's little question that you'd be more comfortable if you could traverse this piece of astrological real estate in a chauffeured limo instead of on the stallion that's waiting out there for you out there in the barn, but there's also no question that you can learn to ride it.

 

Now let's look back toward your Third House South Node in the sign of Cancer. The legacy of caring, emotional wisdom that flows towards you from that direction can be of real help when it comes to connecting to those who need to hear about your Ninth House adventures and insights. But Cancer becomes attached to what makes it feel safe and secure, and in the Third House this means finding comfort in the familiarity of known information and experience. This adds another layer of challenge in this lifetime's assignment, where the goal is to be open to all kinds of new insights. Like I said, North Node work is never easy.

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Nothing like the sight of Mt. Everest to get the mountain goat's juices flowing. And the view from the top is strictly Ninth House. Time to get on with it!

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HOUSE 10: Authority​

A double "Welcome Home" to you, dear voyager. Capricorn is the sign naturally associated with this part of the chart, so the message and call of your North Node is particularly loud and clear. In this lifetime, you are asked to discover how strong, self-reliant, determined, and geared for success you are, and to do this all out in the public arena, in a position of responsibility and authority, and perhaps even prominence. The potential venues are many and diverse: a high-profile executive position in a big corporation; coach of an NFL team; school principal. It's not the size of the pond that's important, it's the fact that you're the biggest fish and the buck stops with you.

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With this "double whammy" effect, the good news is that it's going to be relatively easy to make quick, effective progress toward your goals. However, it can also be doubly-easy to overachieve and fall into the trap of believing your own publicity. Preoccupation with status and your own success is part of the dark side of both Capricorn and Tenth House energy. One way to avoid it is to remember that the overriding intent of the assignment is to contribute something meaningful to the "tribe." Let's say you're in an executive position. The goal would be to model what needs to be modeled, and decide what needs to be decided, and do what needs to be done, so that staff members can achieve their potentials and the organization achieve its goals. Do the job well, and recognition and reward can flow naturally in your direction.

 

With doubled-up opportunity, the challenge side of the coin is double-thick as well. Here the good news is that your karmic history of being a world-class nurturer in the Fourth House of home and family brings a tremendous legacy of security and strength, and an inner confidence in having soft place to fall and get replenished when the going gets rough out in the bigger world. But the flip side is that it can be doubly-easy to get stuck, either dozing in front of the roaring fireplace, or losing yourself taking care of the needs and wants of family and clan. Under pressure, Cancer energy naturally retreats into its ever-present shell, so hunkering in at home can easily become the hide-out of choice when the more public call of this lifetime's assignment gets too loud. Getting overly-involved with little Mary's latest boyfriend drama, or quarterbacking dangerously- overweight Uncle Fred's medical and dietary regime can send you slip-sliding back to that South Node in one quick, unconscious hurry.

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Get the double-length ladder out of the garage. You're on your way to the top!

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HOUSE 11: Goals & Groups

Come right on in. I suspect it's not going to take long at all for you to get going on this assignment. The Capricorn energy you're learning about likes nothing more than to set its sights on an ambitious goal, create a plan, marshal the necessary resources, and stay with it until the finish line is crossed. Spearhead a corporate take-over that merges two giant companies on opposite sides of the globe? Small potatoes. Head up a relief effort to restore order to a country ravaged by natural disaster? Where's your passport? Be the president of a nation that's a big player in the world political arena - or the mastermind that's the chief advisor to that leader? A tailor-made assignment. Well, the Eleventh House team is ready to start and the work is challenging and important. What are we waiting for?

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But we're talking about a North Node journey, so even for someone acquiring powerful Capricorn qualities, challenge is part of the deal. For starters, there's the matter of how, as you acclimate yourself to North Node energies, it may become increasingly tempting for you to try to assume total control of the environment. If you're not careful you could drum yourself out of the all-for-one-and-one-for-all tribe you're working so hard to belong to. Self -control is what you're going to need in this department. Then we need to take a look at the South Node. Its sensitive, nurturing Cancer energy can be very attached to the Fifth House experiences of the karmic past. The crab's claws will cling tightly to remembered pleasures of romance and soul-full memories of parental nurturing and love of children. This could make it hard to break loose and head out into the bigger world. And the Fifth House sense of one's own special status can feed into Capricorn's sense of entitlement to positions of leadership and control. Self-awareness is crucial.

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Getting down to business doesn't always mean a three-piece pin-stripe, but whatever the definition, it's time to suit up.

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HOUSE 12: Spirit

Welcome! It's quite a challenging assignment you've chosen, but the determined, hard-working Capricorn energy you're learning about likes nothing better than to set a goal - the more ambitious the better - and move heaven and earth to achieve it. From that perspective, you couldn't have knocked at a better door. You see, earthy Capricorn is all about tangible results and control, and the watery Twelfth House is about emotional and spiritual surrender, something that can't be attained by even the finest state-of-the-art project management tools and processes. It won't be easy for Capricorn to surrender to the idea that, in this environment, sensitivity and intuition are the most reliable guidance mechanisms. Things like schedules and progress tracking reports just don't work in calm, languid currents where progress is measured by degrees of connection and consciousness. "Surrender" is a word that you'll have to add to the mountain goat's vocabulary. See what I mean about a worthy challenge?

 

Let's look at this now from another perspective. There's a nice energetic reciprocity in this combination. Capricorn can give needed shape and form to what could otherwise become a dreamy drift to nowhere. And the Twelfth House environment can sensitize Capricorn to the existence of something more in life than the next mega-million corporate take-over or promotion to the executive corner office.

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Your Sixth House South Node alerts us to additional challenge. Emotional, sensitive Cancer energy is very happy there, nurturing and caring for others in the House of Service. In the karmic past, it wouldn't be surprising if you went home after a long day at work at the social services organization and baked brownies from scratch to bring to the next day's planning meeting before falling asleep, exhausted but content, while reading a book about ten ways to improve personal productivity. Cancer's little claws will hold on tightly to such a compatible definition of home. Between where you've been and where you're heading, you'll need all the Capricorn strength and determination you can muster to keep your head above water, heading in a Northerly direction.

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It's time to trade in the three-piece pinstripe for a wetsuit and take the plunge.