Healing Inflammation: Scorpio South Node / Taurus North Node

As I was listening to a recent conversation on the Emergent Strategy Podcast between adrienne maree brown and her guest, Briana Herman-Brand, I couldn't help but think in astrological terms about what AMB was sharing regarding the examination and release of what has had a toxic hold on her (South Node Scorpio): 

"I'm trying to be in a really deep internal conversation with myself around my addiction to things that inflame my body and my life. So, it's really been like, 'what does it look like to put myself in a non-inflamed state and protect that non-inflamed state?' And then notice everything that inflames, you know, both food and drink and people and news and activities and, just everything." –adrienne maree brown

I love how adrienne maree brown is engaging the high potential, penetrating, truth-seeking energy of Scorpio by entering into deep, honest conversation with herself to clarify what has its hold on her that is not good for her. High ground Scorpio is the will to SEE CLEARLY and RECKON with what is toxic in the service of utter, death/rebirth transformation.

In AMB's sharing, I also hear her speaking to the evolutionary, healing medicine of the North Node in Taurus:

"What does it look like to put myself in a non-inflamed state?"

In its high ground, Taurus represents that which we can cultivate and build upon in ourselves and in our lives that resources us in life-giving ways, ways that allow us to feel grounded in states of being that are steady, centered, calm, clear, connected and present.

And, then to take it a step further, in true Taurean fashion, AMB asks: "And, (what does it look like) to protect that non-inflamed state?"

Taurus = what we hold onto, what we value, what we seek to protect.

Lastly, in the spirit of the catalyst of the Moon's Nodes' journey through Scorpio/Taurus, and the intensification of it all through this current eclipse season, I want to share this excerpt from Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals by Alexis Pauline Gumbs from the section titled "rest" and a piece specifically about southern sea elephants and the shedding of their skins:

"There are layers of myself I need to shed now. And, rest is the only way to be renewed... I wish for you the sacredness of rest, expansive sprawling rest uninterrupted. I love the part of you that is emerging under everything. You deserve to rest long enough to let whatever go. I put my skin right next to yours to let you know that even when you seem alone, I'm with you..." –Alexis Pauline Gumbs

I want to share with you that I, too, have been immersed in a raw and real reckoning with inflammation!

A few weeks ago, a diagnosis of diverticulosis came on the scene after a trip to the emergency room with incredible lower abdominal pain.

It's so wild because I borrowed a cookbook, Meals that Heal Inflammation, from the library several weeks before the trip to the ER, but hadn't opened it (until I got home from the ER)!

Even though this particular health crisis happened in-between eclipse seasons, this is such a great example of the sort of accelerated change that eclipse energy often stimulates. The sense of a deep change that we are intending to make in our lives, but promising ourselves we'll get to it sometime down the road and then, boom, something happens to speed up the process.

My response to this new awareness/truth around my health has been to immediately divest from that which inflames my gut and cultivate an anti-inflammatory way of eating and living.

I have wanted to do this for yearrrrrs, but did not have the will to unhook from what had its hold on me (namely, sugar). I'm here to shout from the mountaintops that the unhooking IS possible (and sometimes a crisis is the catalyst - very Scorpionic)!

I had a feeling deep down in my bones (Taurus) that anti-inflammatory eating could be a root-level, life-force game-changer. And, finally, FINALLY, it's amazing to experience its stabilizing, calming, centering, energizing, clarifying impact.

If you're interested, please check out the cookbook! It's an education and also a source of delicious anti-inflammatory recipes. These Meals that Heal Inflammation grain-free berry muffins are a staple around here! Check out the recipe below:

To read more, please visit my Scorpio/Taurus Eclipse Season + Anti-Inflammatory Living Newsletter