The Path of Becoming

A conversation on normalizing discomfort, the invitation of the Astrological New Year and our upcoming workshop with Marina Lynn of North Node Guide.

SM: Can you begin by sharing your sun, moon, and rising signs?

ML: I am a Capricorn Sun, Pisces Moon, Libra Rising, and my North Node is in Sagittarius.

SM: What is a North Node and why is it important to know in your chart?

ML: Your North Node¹ is your life direction in this lifetime. It is your growth edge. Where you’re evolving towards. It’s what energy and essence you’re learning to embody, and life is going to present different situations to help you learn how to grow and evolve into that energy. A lot of people will refer to it as your life's purpose.

SM: Hearing this you might assume that when you’re aligning with your NN, everything feels easy and enchanting. But you tend to speak to the unglamorous ways you’ve aligned with your NN. Can you touch on that?

ML: Yeah. At first, I was hearing about how aligning with your higher self would feel like life getting easier, you’re getting happier. It’s shiny. It’s exciting. But it’s actually really hard. Through this perspective of North Node Astrology, it’s your growth edge. It’s outside of your comfort zone. You’ve never done these things before and that’s why it feels so challenging. It’s the opposite of what feels normal to do. We want to stay in our comfort zone and it takes courage to step towards our NN. When we do, we see our life start to crumble. Usually, the first 30 years of our lives are built through the lens of our South Node². When we have our Saturn Return³, that’s really when we start to wake up to our North Node and you see a lot of people's whole lives flip around because they hear this sudden call to a different world that they want to experience. The call of the NN. So many people are afraid to listen to that call, and don’t actually understand what’s happening but it’s really very normal. It’s also normal for your nervous system to be dysregulated. When you’ve just made a decision outside of your comfort zone, it’s super scary, and you can become unbalanced. That’s how you know the decision is not coming from your SN. And it could be just the simplest thing, such as saying no to a client in an email when you would usually say yes. But choosing to listen to those micro steps earlier on can make it easier over time. But it’s those initial, pivotal moments that are really challenging. The medicine’s always in the opposite.

SM: Did you always want to get into astrology? When did North Node Guide first begin?

ML: As a kid, I always loved reading my horoscope. But I never imagined it being a career path. A bit before my Saturn Return, within one week, these three crazy things had happened, and then I left my job after spending years climbing the corporate ladder. I came home and was like “Oh my God. What. Did. I. Just. Do. What am I going to do next?” A couple days later on my computer, I see this quaint little yellow house in the corner of my screen. It was an ad for a workaway in Denmark on a permaculture farm and I knew that was exactly what I needed. Talk about medicine in the opposite – it was this unplugging, hands in nature, very different from the city hustle bustle life that I had been living. So a few weeks later, I’m pulling weeds and planting things while listening to this astrology podcast in Denmark. She was talking about the lunar nodes and I went down that rabbit hole, became absolutely obsessed, ended up taking her year long astrology program and then went on to learn about it more. That was ultimately the start of it all. That one episode that one day.

SM: When you stepped away from corporate life, what felt most uncertain and what felt undeniably true?

ML: Not knowing what I was going to do, and then knowing that I was going to travel. If I was on my deathbed and got asked “what’s the number one thing you wish you did?” It would be to see the world. Then I know I’ve lived. That felt so right that I knew there was going to be medicine for me in doing so. 

SM: What does “authentic work” mean to you? How can someone tell the difference between ambition and alignment? 

ML: A really good indicator, and it may come later, is burnout. I think burnout comes from ambition because it’s essentially coming from ego, a core wounding, or what society has told you to want. I think of ambition as drive, pushing yourself, trying to make something happen. Whereas alignments just getting really honest with yourself. You’re operating from your zone of genius, and it probably doesn’t look like what you thought it was going to look like. It can be something really simple where there’s not a lot of thrill to it and yet it feels so good and so magical. Working with the talents and gifts you’ve had since a kid but for some reason, didn’t think were as worthy as the efforts that ambition asks of you.

SM: Collectively, what themes feel present for this upcoming Astrological New Year?

ML: We’re starting a new world. There’s no other way to say it. We’re seeing all of these systems crumbling. We’ve been trying to piece them together and it’s not working. We’re burning it all to the ground and rebuilding the foundation all over again.

The North Node is moving into Aquarius, the sign of the collective, of equality, of being human. Ultimately, we’re all just people and we want to do good by other people. And we’re craving things that are really real! I’m calling this year The Great Unplugging as we’ll see a rise in people putting their phones down instead of watching other people. Like why are we all on our phones telling each other to do these things? Why don’t we all put our phone down and actually go and do these things. I think we’ll see a lot of that. We’re releasing the Influencer Era, if you will, and moving into an Impactor Era. It’s no longer “hey, buy this product” but “what’s the actual impact behind what we’re doing?” There’s a responsibility now.

In short, I think it’s going to be We vs Me. North Node is moving into Aquarius, very ‘We’, and South Node is moving into Leo, which is about ‘Me’. So working towards moving from “this is what I want, what I need, what’s going to put me in a better position” into “what is going to put us in a better position?” It’s a year for everyone. 

SM: Can astrology inform personal style?

ML: Oh, 100%. Some really key things you could look at are your Sun sign, your Rising sign and your 1st House. Venus is beauty and style and could indicate what you value in your looks. If you were wondering how to dress for your career we could pull in your MC, or your 10th house for a brand shoot etc. When I had Venus conjunct Pluto in my chart, it was transiting and I was feeling that energy big time. All I wanted to do was shop online. Like I couldn’t not feel that, it was so strong.

SM: So there’s natural born shopaholics. And deeper ways to understand your style and impulses. 

ML: Yeah. Yeah, it would be in your chart.

SM: We have an upcoming workshop, The Becoming Board, at Euspira this month. Can you tell us a little about what to expect?

ML: Yeah. It’s a vision board workshop using our North Node to craft a board that’s true to who we are and who we’re becoming. Ultimately, you want to create a vision board that is not what you think you want. Aquarius is all about owning what makes us unique. Your board is going to be something that reflects what’s actually true for you based on where Aquarius is in your chart and the energy that is already naturally there for you this year. I’ll create a print out for each person sharing where Aquarius is in your personal chart to help you understand what the gifts and talents you have always held are. This is important because, as we start to see all these systems collapse around us, this is one thing we can hold onto. When all things are stripped away, you’ll be rooted in knowing who you are and the gifts you were born to share with the world. So this workshop is really going to help you understand who you’re becoming, choosing images/words that reflect that direction, and creating a vision board to refer back to to keep you on an aligned track.

SM: Combined with the wisdom of feng shui to place these visions. It’s a whole new perspective to Vision Boarding and is going to offer some profound clarity. I’m so ready to get creative in this way.

ML: Me too!

SM: Last question. What is a piece of advice or wisdom that you always come back to?

ML: In business, the one thing I always come back to is: all you need is something to sell, a way to sell it and a way to get paid. When it comes to life, a lot of the time it’s just “get basic”. When things feel chaotic, get back to sleeping well, eating well, moving your body. And I always check in with something like “does this line up with my NN?” “Is this decision coming from shadow [my SN]?” or “does this serve the direction my soul wants to go?”

A few spaces remain for our upcoming workshop, The Becoming Board, on March 21st at 6PM. Reach out with any questions.

To work with Marina, click here.

Photos by Ali Marie Parker.

1. North Node: Your highest self. What you're here to embody.

2. South Node: Your comfort zone and subconscious blocks.

3. Saturn Return: Breaks down structures that aren't aligned and dismantles the life built on expectations.

This conversation has been condensed for clarity.