A Nodal Cycle for Magic, Miracles, and Complete Surrender

Vol. 67 // 02-05-25

There has been a lot going on in the sky. But we’re going to break it down to be a little more digestible, so let’s start.

MARS RETROGRADE
This has been the main culprit of any interpersonal conflicts or unexpected happenings over the past month and a half, as Mars went retrograde in Leo back at the beginning of December. Mars has now been in Cancer for about a month and will remain retrograde through basically the end of February (February 24th). However, the warrior planet will then have to retrace its steps, meaning that we’re having Mars in Cancer through mid-April. Mars doesn’t enjoy being in Cancer that much, as it weakens Mars’s ability to act with assertive power. However, the best way to work with this energy is through intuitive movement, which will be something that will be an increasingly important theme in 2025. Throughout this Capricorn season, we’ve likely been feeling more motivated to envision what our plans are for the future, and with the influence of Mars retrograde, we’ve likely been pulling ourselves away from certain investments and commitments so that we can redirect our energy to other priorities that feel more resonant with our long-term future. Considering this has been the first Capricorn season in a while that has not had Pluto sharing the sign, we may feel as if we’re looking toward our futures with a bit more optimism, and if not optimism, a deeper, more devoted determination to not let life get the best of us. We’ve likely felt more resilient and are feeling empowered for it.

This Mars retrograde has been working its way through the signs of the luminaries (the luminaries being the sun and moon), Leo and Cancer. Why is that significant, you might ask? The sun and moon are what shape the most foundational aspects of our personality and self-concept. They symbolize how we perceive our parents' roles in our lives, the Sun being the father, and the Moon being the mother. They represent how we shine outwardly to the world (the Sun) and inwardly to ourselves or those we feel comfortable being vulnerable with (the Moon). But interestingly, while they represent the gifts that our parents infused into our personalities through their raising us, they can also symbolize a core maternal and paternal wound, and this is what Mars retrograde has been meaning to unfurl.

While Mars was retrograde in Leo, many of us were likely dismantling our egos in some way, and if we weren’t willingly participating, it was likely still being done for us. If you look at your sun sign and the house it sits in, looking back to December, you may have noticed some experiences that kept the themes of that placement in check. Mars retrograde in Leo was asking us, “Are you doing this because it looks good or because it feels good? What has become a performance? What does your heart want?” As Mars regressed back into Cancer, we were asked to listen to our intuition more; we were asked to allow the answers from Mars’s retrograde through Leo to inform us of what the next steps are with its time back in Cancer. This has likely led many of us to make intuitively guided decisions and consolidate our schedules to get back to the basics, as Cancer governs over our basic needs.

For the remainder of Mars’s retrograde through Cancer, I have three main pieces of advice.

1. Reconfigure your basic life and self-care practices. This is a great time to reassess your sleep schedule, eating habits, water intake, and restorative practices. Can you remember the last time that you felt deeply nourished by the systems you’ve set up in your life? This is a great time to identify if you’re missing a supplement, need to get outside more, or have neglected an aspect of your well because of prioritizing other, more work-related, tasks. This is the time for us to get back to the foundations of our lives so that when Mars is direct again, we’ll be standing on sturdier ground.

2. Don’t take others’ reactivity personally (but don’t expect others to coddle you either!). This is a time of heightened emotions—Mars retrograde is like a warrior standing on the front line with no armor, shield, or sword—it’s a very vulnerable position to be in. Considering Mars already doesn’t like conflict in the archetype of Cancer, this theme is especially heightened! We all might feel a bit more emotionally reactive and hypersensitive. Everyone’s inner child is coming out with this retrograde. There may be attempts to weaponize our empathy against us (look out for guilt-tripping). This may be a time in which everyone is looking for someone else to shoulder the blame but simultaneously might be unwilling to take their portion. Some may say they want to have adult conversations, but when things get real, they may want you to coddle their feelings and make them the exception. The thing about Mars retrograde through Cancer is that it’s pointing out our soft spots, that is, our most vulnerable wounds, most of which are probably unresolved childhood pain points. Instead of looking to others to protect them, it may be important to ask ourselves how we can parent ourselves in the ways that our parents didn’t so that we can start to actually heal these wounds rather than rebandaging them over and over again.

3. Intuitive movement above all else. As I mentioned above, this is a time for intuitive movement to be taken, but I want to further emphasize the importance of this. Sometimes intuition directs us to act in ways that we don’t want to because it challenges the things our ego finds security in and may involve disrupting structures that we’ve become familiar with and therefore find safety in. There may be decisions or actions that we’re feeling guided to take that we don’t feel ready or prepared for, but upon making them, you may find a deep sense of lightness within your spirit—this is what intuition is for, to show us the path aligned with our highest good! There may be obligations that you feel you need to prioritize above others, but this is a time to set obligations aside and instead devote ourselves to our intuitive guidance. That’s not to say you should discard your responsibilities—obviously, we must manage our day-to-day responsibilities and tasks still. But I’m more so referring to those moments when your intuition tells you to go for a walk, have that difficult conversation, or make today the day you start pursuing a desire.

NORTH NODE IN PISCES, SOUTH NODE IN VIRGO
This is the ingression that I’ve been waiting for. The north and south nodes spend about eighteen months in a pair of signs at a time and are symbols of our spiritual evolution and personal development. Eclipses follow the path of the nodes, which is why we’ll typically experience between six and eight eclipses on the axis that the nodes are activating. Our next eclipse season is in the second half of March.

The north node is associated with dharma, destiny, and spiritual development, and, in transit, typically poses us opportunities and challenges to embody the evolved themes of the sign that it’s passing through. The south node is associated with karma, fate, soul ties, comfort zones, and mastery and can reference how we have become overly reliant upon the qualities of the sign it passes through, which have perhaps resulted in us embodying a more unevolved essence of that sign. The north node in Pisces heavily advocates for intuitive development, trust in god/the universe/the creator, and the implementation of the law of detachment. It, paired with the south node in Virgo, will ask us over the next eighteen months to invest more into our dreams through intuitive action and to rely less on logic and what seems most practical to guide our movements. This nodal cycle is awakening the collective on a much bigger scale—as the north and south nodes move through Pisces and Virgo and Aquarius and Leo over the next three years (and also this energy paired with Pluto in Aquarius), we will likely see an expansion in the spiritual consciousness of the collective. This nodal cycle will have the most skeptical people believing in magic and the most nihilistic “seeing beyond the veil;” it intends to show us how the universe is in everything and that believing is seeing. This cycle will bring in miracles and soul-contracted experiences, but we must learn to trust.

This nodal cycle is a big deal, as it enhances our spiritual connection and intends to support those of us who have already been spiritually in tune to deepen our relationship with the universe even more by embodying our faith more sincerely. The south node in Virgo may bring up how our attachment to perfection, looking professional, and seeming more polished than we actually are is inhibiting our ability to align with our dreams. It will point out how “sticking to the plan” can only get you so far, and there reaches a point where you have to sink into the arms of the universe and trust that things are working in your favor, even if it doesn’t seem that way from your limited perspective. On both a personal and collective level, this cycle asks us to stop criticizing ourselves and the past mistakes we’ve made—we cannot change the past. Fixating on it only prevents us from investing our precious awareness, time, and energy into the things that matter most: what is right in front of you. We’re reminded by the north node that we cannot make change by pointing the finger and criticizing others—change happens when we embody the change we want to see when we live it ourselves and lead by example.

The Pisces-Virgo axis is the axis of mental and physical health, the spiritual world and the human world, the invisible and the visible, faith and logic, fluid flow and organized action—but I think their most important thematic representation is their symbolization of heaven and hell, not as physical places, but as states of consciousness. The north node in Pisces is god’s plan, the south node in Virgo is our plan, and through this nodal cycle, we are advised to have more faith in that which we can’t see, as there are likely many more fulfilling things on the horizon for us than we can conceptualize. This nodal cycle will be about walking by faith, not sight, and will urge us to embrace our intuition with deeper devotion and surrender. Many of us may already be getting intuitive activations that are urging us to sink into the arms of the universe and have faith in the directions that our intuition is calling us into. While the south node in Virgo may have us clinging onto what we know and what logically makes sense, the north node in Pisces reminds us that the feeling we experience sometimes will not have any tangible evidence to be confirmed to be true, but the lack of evidence does not speak to our intuition’s validity. We must learn to have faith in those subtle, invisible pulls. We must learn to let go of what we think is best and open ourselves to experiencing the magic that is available to us when we collaborate with the universe around us.

This nodal cycle will likely awaken many by lifting the “veil” that has shrouded our collective vision for many years. We are beginning the gradual ascension into a high-vibrational frequency, one that operates through unconditional love, freedom, and authenticity. The old world is collapsing, but simultaneously, a beautiful new one is taking root. This nodal cycle will reveal to us how physical reality has become the true illusion—we have clung to what we see so tightly that we’ve forgotten our energetic origins, our inherent spiritual nature. Seek out the magic around you, and you may be pleasantly surprised by just how good things can get.

URANUS AND JUPITER DIRECT
Uranus in Taurus and Jupiter in Gemini are both now direct, as of January 30th (for Uranus) and February 4th (for Jupiter). Both of these planets retrograde annually, so this isn’t necessarily ~shocking~ but these shifts may have subtle, yet noticeable impacts on our lived experiences.

With Uranus being the planet of electricity, the future, progress, evolution, and chaos in direct motion now, it may feel like many of the changes we’ve been trying to implement in our lives are actually doing something rather than being foiled and returned to us for re-evaluation. When Uranus is retrograde, it’s a time for us to experience more interior innovations than external ones; we might find ourselves challenged to look internally so that we might notice how we have contributed to our own dissatisfaction by clinging onto structures or systems that we’ve outgrown. Uranus retrograde points out that if you wish to see changes in your physical reality, you must also be willing to evolve and grow, you must be willing to be proven wrong or shown a different perspective. Considering Uranus has been in Taurus since May 2018, Uranus has spent the last seven-ish years dislodging our attachments from physical symbols of security so that we can find a more grounded sense of peace and safety within ourselves.

Now that Uranus is direct, and also considering it will soon dip into Gemini to introduce us to the next seven years’ Uranian themes, we are likely finding a sense of freedom from the grasp that material security has provided for us in the past. Some may be recognizing how things that they once felt comforted by they now feel constricted by. We may be willing to leap from the arms of physical security (which we have likely recognized is temporary, even if it appears predictable and reliable), which is perhaps accompanied by an enhanced sense of confidence within ourselves to venture into uncharted waters, and doing so may end up being quite rewarding indeed.

As for Jupiter, this direct period may feel deeply rewarding and could be representative of manifestations coming in, as the retrograde period has had us re-examining our thought processes and inner narratives to identify how they are or are not supporting us in aligning with our desires. Jupiter is a planet that is a heavy influence in the manifestation process, as it symbolizes how the energetic mechanics of the universe function and offers us insight into how we can work with those mechanical parts to align ourselves with our desired vibration and, therefore, our desired reality. Jupiter represents how creating your dream life truly does begin in the inner world—the beliefs you hold about yourself, what you are capable of, and what is possible for you are going to reflect out into your external world and manifest as your lived experience.

Since Jupiter went retrograde in October 2024, our attention has likely been directed toward how we, albeit unintentionally, may sabotage our progress and alignment with our desires by continuing to entertain the limiting beliefs that we encounter on a daily basis. Many of us have likely felt drawn to reworking our mindsets toward life. If you’ve been doing your affirmations, listening to abundance meditations, and prioritizing seeing the silver lining in things, they may start to pay off now that Jupiter is direct. We’re also likely recognizing through this shift that we’re allowed to make choices just because we want to make them—we don’t have to provide practical evidence to justify them every time. While retrograde, Jupiter in Gemini was likely having us feel as if we have to make decisions that make logical sense, even if we felt intuitively guided to do the opposite. We may have found ourselves trying to reason with our intuition, especially if its instructions seemed strange or unrealistic. With Jupiter now direct, we’re essentially being asked by it, “Yeah…and how did that work out for you? 🫥” and are likely recognizing that what is logical does not always feel most spiritually aligned with us. This may be a time in which we’re feeling more confident to make the decisions that are necessary for us to come into a deeper feeling of alignment, even if there is no practical reason to make these adjustments. You don’t always need evidence to justify your intuitive sense; in fact, the evidence is almost always bound to reveal itself after you’ve listened to your intuition. Don’t be afraid to heed its advice; now is the time.

ARIES, get comfortable with the foundations of your life and your overall sense of security being a bit up in the air right now. This is not the time to overexert yourself. You may find it better to pay attention to your spiritual knowing above all else right now, as you’re being initiated into a deeper state of surrender that you will discover the power of over the next year and a half. There is a time to act, and there is a time to pause—busy doesn’t always mean better. Let go of external definitions of productivity and success and allow their meanings to be transformed and renewed.

TAURUS, you may be having significant realizations about yourself that are making you understand your identity and self-concept from a different angle. Perhaps you’re becoming more mindful of the community around you and are being awakened to a role that you are intended to play in the spiritual evolution of society. This may be starting with you, though; perhaps there are matters within yourself that you’re being encouraged to approach with more authority and confidence. You may be recognizing that true confidence in yourself is created by deciding to choose confidence in the face of doubt.

GEMINI, there may be some leaps that you’re beginning to take in your career or toward your overall sense of success at this time, and you may find that the more you listen to your intuition to navigate such matters, the more fulfillment you find. You may be more willing to believe in the “impossible,” which may mean that your spiritual or philosophical beliefs are expanding to embrace more magic and possibility. You are likely learning to trust the universe more as you navigate the physical world, and as you continue to prioritize alignment rather than perceived security or “what makes sense” practically, you are simultaneously bound to liberate yourself from the ways you have indirectly imprisoned yourself in your desire for safety.

CANCER, you may find yourself discovering more expansive and complex definitions of faith at this time, as you’re likely being guided to trust your inner guidance system more than ever before. Perhaps you are solidifying new belief systems in your mind by acting on them in your physical life; you may find that this is also inspiring you to share this wisdom with those around you, which may be inspiring you to extend your reach into bigger social circles, either for collaboration, learning, or teaching. You may also be learning how to embody your authentic expression in more polarizing ways; perhaps you’ve been understanding the importance of self-prioritization and boundaries and the vital role they play in helping others. It is okay to pull back from helping others to help yourself.

LEO, you’re being invited to find more peace in the ebb and flow of life, understanding that there is an equal blessing in loss as there is in gain. This may be a rather interior time for you; perhaps you’re reflecting on past experiences that have contributed to unhealthy or undesirable attachment to people, things, or comfort zones. You may be actively removing yourself from cyclic patterns that have gone on for a long time. Your willingness to let go of perceived security and your comfort zone may result in some exciting opportunities or beginnings in your career, which may reference a budding social media presence or your venturing into a more community-oriented environment.

VIRGO, you may be gaining different perspectives of yourself through insightful conversations with those who are close to you—perhaps you are understanding yourself better by seeing yourself through their eyes. You could also find that some of your long-standing belief systems are being dislodged at this time, making room for new ones to be formed, which will support your growth into deeper fulfillment, especially regarding matters that you associate with success. Embrace the reconfiguration process that may be happening in your life, as it’s a necessary part of honoring the authentic self and the evolution journey.

LIBRA, you may be embracing a more rebellious essence of yourself at this time and are perhaps pulling back from taking actions from a place of obligation or guilt. This may be a time in which you’re re-evaluating your long-term goals and are asking yourself whether or not you’ve been pursuing them because you want them or because fulfilling them would accommodate their expectations of you. You are likely learning how to honor your intuition through your actions with more devotion. Don’t be afraid to ruffle some feathers; choosing yourself does not always look pretty. You don’t owe others predictability.

SCORPIO, this is likely a time in which you’re sinking into your creativity and self-expression with more curiosity and inspiration, which may also be illuminating a new way of expressing your confidence. While you may have made security a bigger priority in relationships previously, you may be understanding that security is only half the equation, which is perhaps encouraging you to take more risks in relationships to open the door for deeper intimacy to be built and more depth to be found in both your relationship with yourself and close connections. This is an invitation to show your soft, vulnerable side—others cannot hold it gently if you never allow them to see it.

SAGITTARIUS, vulnerability may be difficult for you to show to other people; you may be recognizing the healing that can come from allowing others to see that you don’t always have it all together. There may be new beginnings happening in your life, but like the germinating seed, the shifts and developments are perhaps in the invisible realm at present. You may find yourself embracing new ways of doing things, especially in work; perhaps you understand that the growth you’d like to see in your work, wellness, or productivity is going to require more than just consistency—it requires innovation and an openness to things being done in alternative ways.

CAPRICORN, your intuition has likely made itself more known to you under this energy, which has perhaps been guiding you to find more power in your voice. This may lead to important conversations about expectations and needs in your close connections or romantic partnership. You may be craving more from life at this time, and you’re encouraged to lead yourself into that deeper fulfillment. You may be unwilling to tolerate certain cycles in romantic matters, which may involve a partner’s unresolved wounds or your own, which is likely sparking you to either initiate uncomfortable conversations that you’ve avoided bringing up or step away from the connection. Embrace authentic truth at this time; it will only support your growth and spiritual evolution.

AQUARIUS, you could be feeling deeply empowered to embrace your freedom but may be grappling with setting clear boundaries and specific expectations for yourself and others. There may be things that you are setting yourself free from or are being set free from, which are meant to guide you into a path of deeper self-love and authentic embodiment. You may also be understanding that money and your desires are a reflection of your sense of security and confidence in yourself—your relationship with money and confidence is likely in the beginning stages of a powerful transformation. Root yourself in your intuition at this time; don’t compromise your authentic expression for anything.

PISCES, your focus has likely drawn away from relationships and toward yourself, toward your relationship with the god consciousness within you. You may be undergoing spiritual upgrades that are opening your heart to a higher vibration of love and surrender. You are perhaps recognizing that self-love is the best way to love others, which may mean that you’re more assertively setting boundaries. You must let go of how others perceive you—you cannot please everyone. While some connections may fade away in your embodying a more authentic expression of yourself, in embodying your authentic self, you are aligning yourself with more nourishing and soul-connected individuals, environments, and experiences.