Hi, I’m Kaitlyn 👋
I write about real life through the lens of astrology. My goal is to help as many people as possible learn to love themselves for who they are—dark parts and all. I believe the parts we were taught to hide are where our true gifts lie.Â
My focus is to inspire you to feel confident enough to shine without the fear, regardless of the expectations of others.
Reflection—North Node Aries, South Node Libra—July 2023 to Jan 2025
For the past year and a half, we’ve been moving through a period of evolution in our relationships. You may have noticed your relationships of all sorts going through an upgrade, including the most important relationship—the one to yourself.
The nodes of the moon offer us 18 month windows of opportunity to balance out a certain axis of our life. From July 2023 until this month, the North Node has been in the sign of Aries, the self, while the South Node has been in the sign of Libra, the other.
North Node: where we’re headed - our growth edge
South Node: where we’ve been - our comfort zone
Some astrologers say the South Node is what we’re meant to leave behind, but that’s not how we roll here. There’s a balance that needs to be found between the two energies—they are similar, while also being opposites—by creating a cohesive conversation between both ends of the spectrum.
One can’t exist without the other, they work in tandem.
The South Node is often where we find comfort, where we come back to for safety and refuge, where we’ve become masterful—our gifts. Please don’t throw away your gifts, use them to propel you forward rather than getting lost in them. Looking at your own South Node will give you clues as to where this comfort is for you, and while the South Node moves through the sky, we will also experience this energy highlighted in our lives collectively, as well as individually.
Since 2023, we’ve been letting go of old habits relating to the sign of Libra in the area of our lives where this energy is expressed in our chart. Some of these low road Libra habits could be people-pleasing, indecisiveness, inability to commit, being nice rather than direct and honest, and codependency. During this time, there could’ve been tension created from these unhealthy habits, prompting you to use the valuable lessons to move towards the North Node in Aries. Leaning into the North Node in Aries could bring more direct communication, instinctual action, individuation, and independence.
One thing I’ve noticed from observing the nodes, is that we often start at the low road of the south node, swing the pendulum to the low road of the north node, and then the pendulum continues to swing back and forth until we find a healthy balance. By the end of the cycle, we feel more equipped in the areas of life that have been highlighted, finding a flow that works for us.
Libra and Aries are cardinal signs which means you might have noticed the past year and a half was about getting s**t done, standing up, and taking charge in new ways.
Unbalanced SN Libra:
* People pleasing
* Codependency
* Indecisiveness/flakiness
* Beating around the bush
Unbalanced NN Aries:
* Aggressive and rude
* My way or the highway attitude
* Violence
* Acting impulsively without considering the consequences
Balanced Aries/Libra:
* Healthy boundaries
* Interdependence
* Ability to make decisions
* Direct and respectful communication
* Self trust and consideration for others
During this period, I was in my first romantic relationship since I had decided to get sober. It was with someone who I had known in what I often refer to as “my past life” as a drinker; we didn’t really know each other well, and we had brief history, but he slid into my DMs and I thought “what’s the harm?”
We met for coffee and continued from then.
I learned a lot about myself as a sober person in a relationship with someone who works in a bar and brews beer for a living—in hindsight, we were kind of setting ourselves up for failure from the jump. What this relationship taught me was how important it is to have values and lifestyles that are aligned, as well as how to honour my own needs without falling into codependent habits and morphing into someone more palatable for the sake of a relationship.
While I was in bed by 9pm, he was slinging drinks until the early hours of the morning. While he was sleeping in after a hard night’s work, I was drinking my first coffee and getting my day started. We rarely saw each other, and I think that’s probably why we stayed together so long—we didn’t really get much of an opportunity to get to know each other deeply, which is something I now realise is a core value of mine in relationships.
During this period of the nodes being in Libra and Aries, I learned how to identify and ask for what I need. My boundaries became more clear (even though I didn’t always honour them in the beginning) and I was able to speak up about how I felt. This makes sense astrologically because the South Node was blitzing through my 5th house of romantic relationships.
When we broke up in March, we were able to talk about what happened, and what brought us to this breaking point. It was mutual, we both needed something the other person couldn’t provide, and we realised the relationship had hit a dead end. No hard feelings, just mutual respect.
Later when he came back to ask to try again, I knew in my heart I couldn’t live a life with this person—not because of his character, but because if it hadn’t worked by this point, we weren’t going to be able to make it work without some major lifestyle shifts that neither of us were willing to make. I stayed true to myself in a situation that I would have folded on in the past, out of a need to be loved by someone other than myself.
What decisions have you made in honour of your own needs over the past 18 months?
The nodes transiting through Libra and Aries allowed me the opportunity to provide what I needed to myself first, so if and when I do meet someone new, a relationship won’t be coming from a place of lack and a need being filled, but rather from a place of mutual understanding and interdependence where we can grow individually and together.
On the other hand, after my romantic relationship ended, I went into a bit of isolation. I didn’t spend much time with others, and I really soaked in my own energy. I didn’t fully lean into the North Node being in my 11th house of community. Looking back, my boundaries did a pendulum swing to the other end of the spectrum and I blocked out the world. At this point, I’m finding the balance between how much time I need to spend on my own versus how I want my relationships (of all varieties) to progress, knowing that in order to connect with others I need to put myself out there.
What is one thing you’ve learned about yourself and your relationships since July 2023?
Looking ahead—North Node Pisces, South Node Virgo—Jan 2025 - July 2026
Virgo and Pisces are mutable signs, which means we may be letting things go over the next 18 months. I’ve already noticed how people are approaching the year ahead by slowing down, easing in, and doing less rather than taking on more. Starting the year with Mars retrograde is helpful for that, and I think we’ll continue to see this trend over the next year and a half.
Saturn has already been in Pisces since early 2023, so we’ve been experiencing an initiation into the Pisces themes in our lives. The North Node will just amplify our attention and continue to balance the areas of our chart ruled by Virgo and Pisces.
Here are the outs and ins of 2025/26 from the lens of the current South and North Nodes.
Out:
* Criticism of self and others
* Placing blame
* Perfectionism and the need to be “right”
* Martyrdom and staying in situations that bring you down
* Hyper-rigidity without room for flow
* Anxiety, overwhelm, and worry
* Getting stuck in the details and logic
* Escapism/numbing/trying to get out of the 3D
* Lack of boundaries
In:
* Compassion for self and others
* Locking in your spiritual practices/faith
* Finding God in the mundane
* Creating and sustaining boundaries
* Knowing what you want to be responsible for and letting God handle the rest
* Leaning into compassion for self and others
* Inviting more flow, imagination, and trusting a higher power
* Being mindful of where you put your attention and energy
* Spending time in solitude/with spirit/(co)creating/imagining
* Meditation and down time
* Creative acts
* Seeing people as they are, accepting them, and releasing the need to change them
* Gratitude
As we move through the next 18 months, you may find yourself teetering between these two places. Leaning into your spiritual practices will be helpful—maybe you take up meditation, slow walks, pottery (like me), yoga, painting, or other creative endeavours. It may also be a time of revisiting your relationship with God, the Universe, Creator, Higher Power—anything outside of yourself that you put faith into. I think this will be a time where we see more value placed into “woo” as more people discover the value in our unseen resources.
It’s also a time to bring any dreams into reality. Pisces is the dreamer—the one with its head in the clouds, imagining worlds and ideas that possibly come straight from Source itself. Virgo is devoted—the one who can bring a dream to life through practical application, it can make and execute the plan step-by-step, parsing away anything that isn’t useful (I repeat—getting rid of unnecessary stress/actions/bs), leaving the rest to shape into something tangible.
Look to where Pisces lands in your own chart, this is where your growth edge is for the next cycle. Where does Virgo land? This is where you have some cleaning up to do. Let me know in the comments and I’ll give you some insight.
If you need help finding the houses in your chart, here’s a video that may help.
I can slowly feel myself feeling more—I’m not sure if it’s the big fat Cancer full moon in the sky (accompanied by Mars), all the water in the sky, the collective grief, or if it’s just the initiation into being present with what is happening within and around me—but I know I’m feeling sensitive, and I’m not mad about it.
Over the past year and a half while the nodes were in Aries and Libra, I didn’t honour my sensitivities, I walled myself off and intellectualised what was happening, which has value, but no more. I can feel myself opening up to the possibility of connecting with my community in a new way, through our similarities and our differences. So much so that my word for this year is “connect.” It’s easy for me to isolate, and this year I’m making it a point to lean into seeing myself in others, and them in me.
As an addict in recovery, my go to move is to escape—recently it has been into work or scrolling and reading the amazing Substack posts, binge-watching tv, etc. My boundaries with people have gone up, while my energetic boundaries have taken a back seat. I’m consuming more and I can feel my nervous system taking a toll. I’m at a point where I want to create more than I consume, try new things, get back into music (I’ve been scouring the internet for a digital piano so I can tickle the ivory plastic once again), get my hands into clay with pottery, look into the eyes of everyone I come in contact with even if just for a moment, share laughs with strangers and friends, and believe in myself more than ever before. I want to feel connected again, because I’ve spent much of these almost five years of sobriety protecting myself and my new found sensitivities, which is exactly why I drank in the first place. I’m ready to feel it all. I’ve already noticed a difference within myself as I have started making this a priority.
My eyes are welling up just thinking about how much I’ve isolated myself, robbing myself of beautiful connections. I can’t be too hard on myself, though, because at least now I know what I don’t want. Life is too short to hold back, and I’m ready to put more of my trust into powers outside of me, because it’s f*****g exhausting trying to control every damn outcome.
What’s going on at LTDP:
* The next Cosmic Classroom article will teach you all about the modes in astrology. Learn which energy is most highlighted in your own chart—are you the starter, the sustainer, or the finisher? Become a paid member to find out!
* If you’re looking to sink deeper into yourself and your vision for 2025, book a Year Ahead Reading! We talk about you through the lens of your natal chart, parse out your feelings through constructive dialogue, settle into the present moment, and look ahead to make the most of your year. Gain clarity and confidence as you move through 2025.
Here’s what others are saying:
“It's incredible to be able to compare notes from previous readings and see how my journey has evolved over the years. I particularly like the list of key themes and actions items at the end as they help me stay focused on and attuned with my inner and outer worlds for the year ahead.” ~ Bonnie Tai
“All the questions I had have been answered and explained. I left the meeting feeling strengthened. As if I had gotten permission to finally live my life the way it was meant from the beginning.” ~ Frederiek
