Astrology Readings

page 5

Nurturing and Creating a Home

Nurturing. Mothering. These experiences are associated with womanliness, but are not the sole definers of your womanhood. Although women are the only ones who can become mothers, it is not necessary to be a mother to become an exceptional nurturer! Nurturing is a natural expression for women - but the manner in which it is done is very individualized. Whether with children, lovers, partners, friends - or even with your own parents - you have ample opportunities to nurture others. The person who needs your nurturing most, however, is YOU. Although caring for others can fill a special place in your soul, the way you care for yourself is especially important. You may derive nourishment from developing your talents and skills, or through your work. Study or travel can be nourishing. And something as simple as a long soak in the tub can refill your spirit. Part of nourishing yourself is physical, part emotional and part is definitely environmental: what you create in a home. In exploring these factors together, you can begin to see the link between these different levels of personal fulfillment. Yet another facet of your Moon beyond what you've already explored, is what your Moon shows about your deepest needs. You can only feel whole when these needs are answered and fulfilled. Although it is tempting to look outside, your wisdom tells you that a great part of the responsibility for nourishment comes from within yourself.

With your Moon in Scorpio your intense emotionality needs opportunities for release. Although you may spend time lending your energy to others through your work or taking care of family, you may not find it easy to take care of yourself without feeling guilty. Oh, but you do dream about it. Since you tend to protect your emotional vulnerability, you may find it difficult to open up in just any situation, but your desire to let everything go and experience true ecstasy is definitely there. A passionate sexual relationship can be quite delicious and may seem to be the best nurturance of all. There are also other ways to fill yourself which reside in your creative expression. When you pour your heart into your creativity, you are free. It also feels absolutely wonderful when you tear into a project, restore an old piece of furniture, rebuild a house or bring a tired garden into its full vitality. You may find the greatest nourishment of all when you surrender to your needs to find the depth of your soul. Activities such as a spiritual retreat intensive, a vision quest, or self- renewing rituals during the full moons call forth a joining of your soul and spirit and nourish you at the most profound level.

Saturn also plays a positive role in nurturance. Despite the bad rap Saturn sometimes receives, this energy is necessary to your stability and growth. Through Saturn, you learn to take responsibility for yourself and your actions. Saturn also seems to be the repository of your fears, and it's important to understand and deal with these emotions in order to be whole. Trying to repress such feelings blocks your ability to feel the positive, supportive energy that life has to offer. In many respects, the energy of Saturn is played out in your life by your experience with authority figures. Your mother and father, extended family and teachers were your primary Saturnian influences when you were a young girl, and their direction and guidance still whisper in the way you approach establishing your personal security. As an adult woman, you express Saturn through the manner in which you take responsibility for yourself and your needs for stability and security.

Your interest in restoration permeates every part of your life, and is strongly influenced by your Saturn in Scorpio. Even if you sometimes fall short, you understand the importance of making the most of your life and its resources. Your influence upon others who cannot see the value in something on the surface can be immense, because you are the master of removing the crust and exposing the jewel at the core. You may also know when there's nothing there to expose, in which instance you can take what is useless or outworn and recycle it in the best possible manner. This attitude may be especially emphasized since you are a woman and experience the variations related to the cyclical changes within your own body. You can learn to make the use of the different levels of energy which occur at different times to become more productive, more secure and more confident in the natural order of things.

Your 4th House illuminates what you need in a home environment, where you will feel most comfortable and how you like to live. It is here that you create a feeling of safety, where you can let your hair down and be yourself.

Libra's influence on the cusp of your 4th House adds a sense of style and refinement to your home environment. You love being surrounded by beautiful things and may have a wonderful eye for color and design. Your home may feature works of art and fine decor, and you can be somewhat meticulous about making sure that everything seems to create a sense of balance. The energy of Venus is associated with this house in your chart, influencing an inviting atmosphere and friendly home environment which probably draws your friends and family. You may love entertaining and may be quite gracious to your guests, although you do appreciate them most when they observe proper rules of behavior and don't mar the furniture!

Family and home are exceptionally important needs for you with your Moon in the 4th House. Regardless of your other priorities and responsibilities, you may always operate with an underlying consideration for the needs of your family. The influences of your parents were probably very powerful when you were a young girl, and you may still feel quite close to them or be deeply influenced by their responses to the way you meet your own needs. This placement can also stimulate a desire to create your own family, and whether you have children or not, your nurturant qualities may be quite apparent to anyone who is close to you. You need a home space which provides a true feeling of comfort and support, and may not feel at home unless you have your special things around you. Those things usually considered domestic, like cooking, may be rather enjoyable for you, and can provide a sense of stability and fulfillment. But most importantly, you need a nesting place.

Your home needs to be a place of foundation and safety, but you may feel that you have to create it yourself with the energy of Saturn in your 4th House. Living a simple life may make more sense than striving for excess, and learning to live in cooperation with nature and the environment can be both rewarding and stabilizing. You may have issues with your parents or family, although getting beyond those issues can be much more difficult than it seems. Hanging onto the past seems to provide a stability which arises from familiarity, but can inhibit your growth. If you are to truly break free, you may have to relinquish your old attachments and strike out on your own. Creating your own sense of home and family allows you to recreate the fulfillment of your needs which may have been ignored or stifled when you were a little girl. Be careful that you are conscious about the way you parent your own children and nourish your own family. There's a temptation to repeat the patterns buried in your subconscious mind instead of defining a new paradigm.

Neptune's energy in your 4th House adds a need for a home space which is almost otherworldly. Your home needs to be an escape from the everyday, a place where you can exercise your fantasies and open to your dreams. As a little girl your home life may have been unsettling, particularly if there was illness or some type of family scandal. Uncovering family secrets may, in fact, be the key to freeing your soul of some of those feelings of inadequacy or insecurity. In the process you must also learn true forgiveness while avoiding tendencies to martyr or sacrifice yourself for the good of protecting the family illusion. By opening to your inner self through meditation, creative expression and spiritual development, you can finally achieve the connection to a spiritual home which has called to you since your childhood.