I was standing in a dusty, enchanting used bookstore in Julian, California yesterday afternoon when the universe nearly hit me over the head with a subtle message regarding my future.
I was making a pilgrimage to meet with Steven Forrest, master of myth and mischief, in the remote and forbidding desert town of Borrego Springs. My mind was itchy with thoughts about my so-called career; which direction to take next, what kinds of worthy projects might occupy my time and thoughts. After having a quick lunch and procuring a couple of famous Julian pies as a treat for Steve, Jonny and I strolled across the road to investigate the local bookstore. It was a sleepy Monday afternoon and we had the place all to ourselves – four or five rooms of an old bungalow, filled with well-organized shelves. Moments after I entered the room marked “Metaphysics”, I heard a book-like thud from the next room. I peeked around the corner; no one was in the room. On a whim, I bent over to retrieve the fallen volume.
It wasn’t the rather lurid picture of a gun on the cover that caught my eye. Rather, it was the title: Solar Eclipse. As many Big Sky Astrology readers know, eclipses are one of my real astrological passions. In fact, I pitched the idea for a book about eclipses to my publisher before we ever talked about a wedding book – but they had Celeste Teal’s fine book in the queue, so we had moved on to other ideas. But a book about eclipses is one I’ve always felt most passionately that I’d like to write.
So I looked at the book, and I thought about why I was on the road to see The Great Man, and all the questions I’d been turning over in the my mind, all the things I wanted to ask him about, most of which boiled down to a single question: Should I write another book? And I thought about something I once learned, which is that moving in the direction of the North Node always gets you something that’s absolutely right for you, even if it’s not in precisely the form you’d expected.
Yesterday, Pluto was trine my natal North Node in the 9th house within one minute of orb, with Jupiter close behind. Fittingly, Pluto had picked me up and was carrying me toward one of my teachers, a suitably 9th house figure. The meeting was fabulous and magical, and the reading began (naturally) with my North Node. I came away with all the insights I didn’t even know I was looking for, and confirmation that the path ahead is one with heart.
But along the way, wise Pluto waylaid me in a tiny, remote mountain town and nearly dropped a book (9th house!) on my head – just to make sure the message was unmistakable, and to let me feel like the discovery was all mine.
