The Moon's Nodes are one of the most fundamentally
important symbols in Astrology, and also one of the most fundamentally
misunderstood. While most Astrologers include the Nodes in
their charts, few seem to be particularly comfortable with
interpreting them. Pick up any introductory book on Astrology,
for example. You'll find no shortage of information on all
of the Signs of the Zodiac, and on all of the planets as well.
But where most books devote entire chapters to each of the
planets and the Signs, the Moon's Nodes are barely mentioned
and rarely interpreted.When I began my Astrological studies,
I was rather confused about exactly how to interpret and work
with the Moon's Nodes, and I was also getting frustrated at
the lack of information published on the Nodes. It wasn't
until I started taking classes in astrology that I even learned
that the Nodes are the transiting eclipse points. Now, I may
not have known much about astrology, but even then I knew
enough to know that eclipses are extremely important events!
I reasoned that if eclipses were so important, then the Moon's
Nodes must also be very important, and I set out to uncover
everything that I could find that anyone had ever written
on the Moon's Nodes.What I found was pretty consistent. The
North Node (often referred to as Caput Draconis, the Dragon's
Head) is associated with all of the good things that we could
possibly experience in our lifetime, including success, advancement,
increase, and personal fulfillment. The South Node (just as
often referred to as Cauda Draconis, the Dragon's Tail) is
associated with huge, heaping amounts of what you would expect
to come out of the tail end of a Dragon.
In other words, "South Node: BAD.
North Node: GOOD."
To be fair, this sort of approach is more
common in the older, more "traditional"astrology
sources. The more modern and humanistic approach to astrology
tends to take a more enlightened view of the Nodes, in keeping
with the trend to re-define the astrological symbols in a
more empowering and less fatalistic way. (In other words,
"There are no bad planets, only bad experiences of them....and
Saturn is your friend.") In the more "modern"
astrology texts the Nodes get a bit of a face lift.The South
Node is promoted from evil incarnate to the point in the chart
where we are most likely to follow the path of least resistance,
or to rest on our laurels. The South Node is also related
to the karma that we are working out in this lifetime. The
North Node becomes the process and experiences that we must
strive for in order to work off our Karma and grow in this
lifetime.In short: "South Node: BAD, North Node: GOOD."
The
Search For A Definition of the Nodes
Value judgments aside, I realized that I still
hadn't found any justification for these interpretations.
Why do the Moon's Nodes function in the way that they do?
How did the Nodes become so closely linked to our spiritual
path, our past lives and our karma? Every other symbol in
Astrology has some rationale behind its interpretation. We
can gain a better understanding of the nature and symbolism
of the planets through exploring Greek and Roman mythology.
The Signs can be broken down into Polarity, Element and Modality.
We can come up with a description of Aries by combining and
blending the qualities of the Masculine/Positive Polarity,
the Element of Fire, and the Cardinal Modality. Even the aspects
can be understood using numerology and harmonics. But what
about the Moon's Nodes?
(I should mention at this point, that there
is a mythology associated with the Nodes, but it's not from
the Western Tradition: it's from India and the Hindu tradition.
The Nodes in Vedic astrology do not function in the same way
that they do in Western Astrology.)
Since I couldn't find a direct source of information
on the Moon's Nodes to help me to build a better understanding
of their symbolism, I decided to take a closer look at the
Moon's Nodes and see what I could extrapolate myself. The
first thing that I did was to look at exactly what the Moon's
Nodes are from an astronomical perspective. What I learned
is that the Nodes are mathematical points that represent where
the orbit of the Moon around the Earth crosses the Ecliptic
(which is the apparent path of the Sun around the Earth).
The North Node is the point where the Moon's orbit rises above
the Ecliptic, and the South Node is the point where the Moon's
orbit falls below the Ecliptic. The North Node and the South
Node are always exactly opposite each other in the chart.
This may not be quite as obvious as Elements
and Modalities, but just this simple physical description
of the Moon's Nodes can help us to gain a more complete understanding
of what they represent in Astrology.
The
Nodes Are Mathematical Points—They Are Not Physical Bodies
The Nodes are mathematical points; they are
not physical bodies. What this means is that the Nodes do
not emanate light. The Nodes can receive aspects from
other planets, but they can not directly influence how a physical
body expresses itself.
This also means that the Nodes do not filter
the energy of the Signs. With the Nodes, as with the Angles,
we have a pure expression of the energy and symbolism of the
Signs. Our experience of the energy of Aries, for example,
is very different when we are experiencing Venus in Aries
than it is when we experience Mars in Aries. The personalities
of the planets color the expression of the Signs that they
visit. The Nodes, however, do not change how the Signs are
expressed or experienced.
The Nodes
Are Related To The Moon, The Sun And The Ecliptic
The Nodes are the most closely related to the
symbolism and processes of theMoon because they represent
points on the Moon's orbit around the Earth. But the Nodes
also relate to the Sun because of their relationship to the
Ecliptic. In other words, the Nodes are the points where an
aspect of the Lunar and Solar principals connect.
Let's look at the Moon first, and get a feel
for what the Moon brings to this process. The Moon reflects
the light of the Sun; it is passive, receptive, and feminine.
The Moon responds, and produces emotions and feelings. The
Moon is the container of our experience, providing form and
location for the Sun's expression. The Moon relates to our
conditioning, habits, vices, learned responses, in other words,
the Moon is our memory. The Moon is not just our memory of
this lifetime, the Moon is our soul's memory, and the Moon
is what our soul wants us to remember from other lifetimes.
The Moon is our unconscious and our sub-conscious.
The Sun, on the other hand, is our conscious,
active, life force. The Sun is our will, our power, our sense
of purpose. The Sun is the heart of our existence, is the
motivation for our life this time around. The Sun is how we
are seen, how we shine, how we express and project ourselves.
The Sun is how we want to be a hero in our lives; it is how
we want to become an individual.
The Ecliptic, the apparent orbit of the Sun
around the Earth, describes the path that our journey will
follow in this lifetime. When we look at a natal chart, what
we're actually looking at is a 2-dimensional representation
of the positions of the planets as viewed from the Earth,
flattened to the plane of the Ecliptic. In other words, in
a chart, the Ecliptic is the chart wheel itself. When we look
at the positions of the planets along the Ecliptic, we are
looking at where along our journey we encounter these energies.
The position of the Sun at birth shows the point where we
chose to begin our quest for self-expression and self-realization
in this lifetime. The Ecliptic, the chart wheel, represents
the actual course that we will follow.
Viewed in this way, the Nodes represent the
places in the chart where our past, where our soul memories
(the Moon) intersect with our current conscious experiences,
and our current cycle of lessons and growth. The South Node
is the point where we are able to dip below the Ecliptic into
our past and access our memories from previous journeys. The
North Node is the point where our past lessons intersect with
our present journey, the point where we emerge from the past
and move into new territory. It is the point where our past
lessons come up into the light of conscious awareness and
let us look at this piece of our past in an entirely new way.
Now the connection of the South Node to
our past, our karma, and of the North Node to our future,
or dharma, begins to make sense.
The Nodes Are
Always In Perfect Opposition
Next, lets look at the Opposition aspect. Planets
are said to be in Opposition when they occupy points across
the wheel from each other, at an angle of 180°. Traditionally,
Oppositions were considered "hard" or "challenging"
aspects, and fortunately, this opinion has been largely updated.
When I look at Oppositions, the keywords I start
with are "balance" and "perspective".
(Others also use "compromise" but I find that limiting.
To me, "compromise" means that each person has to
give up something that they want to get something that they
want. "Balance" just means that there is agreement
and harmony.) The thing about Oppositions is that both planets
really "want" the same thing, they just approach
it from different ends of the spectrum. If we can get the
two planets to see things from the other's point of view,
then we can find that middle ground where they can work together
and both get what they want. This process is made easier by
the fact that being directly across from each other, the two
planets can "see" each other easily, and are able
to gain greater perspective on the big picture.
Putting
It Together
In other words, the key to the Nodal Axis is
to get the South Node and the North Node to work with each
other, right? Not quite. The Nodes are not planets, they are
mathematical points in the chart. This doesn't make them any
less important than a physical body, it just makes them a
bit different to work with. The planets represent physical
urges (for want of a better word) and drives that we all have.
We can either choose to work with our Mars, for example, or
to ignore it. Either way, we're going to be very aware of
its presence in our charts. When Mars is activated by transit,
or when transiting Mars triggers activity in our charts, we
feel it. If we choose to become aware of it, and own it, we
can learn to use the energy in the most constructive way possible.
If we don't, we're still going to experience it.
The Nodes, on the other hand, have to do with
the spiritual or soul lessons that we can encounter in this
lifetime. The Nodes are where the path of our Soul development
intersects with the path of our physical experiences. Since
we're presently incarnated on the physical plane, that's where
our focus naturally lies. If we don't choose to work with
the Nodes and their lessons on a conscious level, we are probably
not going to be very aware of how they manifest.
In order to really work with and experience
the Nodes, we have to become consciously aware of our Spirituality,
of our soul connection and our connection to the universe.
We have to accept that we came here with a lesson that we
chose to work on in this life, and we have to be ready to
ask what that lesson might be. Are we learning it now? Of
course. But the soul path lesson is far more subtle than a
Mars transit.
The Nodal axis is not our spiritual path in
this lifetime. What it is, or rather, what it can be, is a
spiritual compass, pointing us in the right direction. The
Nodes show us where our spiritual path and our soul lessons
intersect with our physical path, and they are the points
where we can most easily align with our spiritual path.
So with the Nodes, it's not just about perspective
and balance, it's about leaning how to consciously work with
and integrate the lessons, gifts and experiences indicated
by the North and South Nodes. The Nodes can tell us what we
have to work with, and show us what direction to go in to
experience our lessons and to look for our true path in this
life.
The South Node
The South Node, then, sheds light on our past.
By its location in the chart, the South Node represents the
types of experiences and memories that our soul wants us to
have in this life to help us on our developmental path. If
our soul has gone to all of the trouble of bringing up these
experiences, shouldn't we pay attention? And would a soul
filled with love and light intentionally send us back into
the material realm with only excess baggage? Of course not.
The South Node represents gifts to us from past
lives. The lessons, the skills, the talents and abilities
that we struggled so many years to master are still available
to us through the South Node. The South Node is our soul's
report card. It tells us what subjects we have passed: the
South Node says, "Congratulations, you have passed Gemini
Level I." For "incompletes" and less impressive
marks, look to Saturn for further instruction and re-testing,
not to the South Node.
Now, just because we can now look at the South
Node in a more positive light doesn't mean that the traditional
warnings about the South Node being a "trap" don't
have merit. Every planet and point in the chart has a highest
potential and a potential trap. With the South Node, the trap
is to mistake summer vacation for graduation. We may be able
to take a break, but we're still in school. So long as we
are incarnated on the Earth, we are here to learn.
Even though the South Node represents lessons
and skills that we have learned, used, and often mastered
in the past, it also is an indication that we still have more
to learn about them in this life. We may have learned the
skills too well and limited our growth in other areas.
We may have misused the information in the past, learning
the letter of the lesson but not the spirit. Or it may merely
be time to learn how to use the skills in a different way,
to expand our mastery. In any event, for higher education,
we look to the North Node.
The North Node
The South Node is not alone in being long overdue
for a revised interpretation. True, the trap of the South
Node is a tendency to stick with what is familiar, which can
mean that we miss the opportunity for growth and repeat old
patterns. Also true, the way to avoid the trap of the South
Node is to work with the North Node, which is why the North
Node got such a great reputation. But the North Node also
has a trap: the tendency to want to turn our back on the past
in the single-minded pursuit of growth and new experiences.
The temptation of the North Node is to forget
where we've been, and to focus only on where we are headed.
The North Node, after all, brings success, happiness, abundance,
luck, and freedom from the patterns and habits of the past.
The North Node is the spiritual equivalent of the trip to
the Bahamas that we've always wanted to take. And just like
that trip to the Bahamas, the trap of the North Node makes
us feel that much as we want it, we probably can't afford
it. The North Node can seem to say, "you can get to the
Bahamas, but you have to leave your nice, comfortable boat
and
swim there on your own. Oh, and by the way,
there are probably sharks in the water." The trap of
the North Node is just as dangerous as the South Node's trap.
We buy into the idea that we have to sever our ties to the
past and create a new future, dive into the water to swim
out to the Bahamas, get part of the way there, and either
get too tired, or too scared of the sharks in the waters,
and hurry back to the comfort and familiarity of our boat,
the S.S. South Node. And if we've really bought into the trap,
we may feel like spiritual failures on top of it all.
Obviously, this is not an interpretation that
is very supportive. My intention is not to bash the North
Node, only to point out that the traditional interpretation
of the Nodes encourages us to stay away from the South Node
to reap the rewards of the North Node, and that is just not
what it is all about. The true process of the North Node is
not about turning our back on the past. The North Node is
about taking stock of the past, honoring it, working with
it, building on it, and learning how to use it in a new way.
For example, the North Node Sagittarius/South
Node Gemini axis doesn't tell us that we're done with Gemini
and now have to learn Sagittarius. Instead, it tells us that
we are now going to learn how to use our Gemini experiences
in a Sagittarian way. It tells us that part of our path, part
of our lesson in this lifetime is to recognize that there
is a point of balance between Gemini and Sagittarius,
and finding it will be a key to our spiritual growth and development.
By working with both the North Node and the South Node,
we get to take the boat with us to the Bahamas instead of
having to swim there.
Interpreting
the Nodes
Before we can begin to integrate and interpret
the Nodal Axis, there is one more factor to consider: the
Houses. And the single most important thing to remember about
the Houses is that the Houses are NOT the same things as
the Signs. Every book on the Moon's Nodes that I have
come across makes the same assumptions and claims that the
North Node in Aries is the same thing as the North Node in
the 1st House and this is simply not the case.
The Signs represent the underlying motivations
and the evolutionary lessons that we must learn. The Houses
represent the areas of life and of experience where we are
most likely to encounter these lessons. The Signs, then are
the "What" and the Houses are the "Where".
The house placement of the Nodes does not in any way change
the fundamental lessons and gifts of the Nodal Axis, it simply
shows where in our lives we need look to find the lessons
and gifts.
The Houses, too have their lessons, and like
the lessons of the Sign Axis, the House Axis teaches the importance
of balance and perspective. The opposing houses, like the
opposing Signs represent areas of life that we must learn
to integrate and harmonize. Just as we may tend to get a little
too comfortable with the gifts of the South Node, we may also
tend to focus more on the area of our life represented by
the House of the South Node. And, of course, we may also occasionally
focus too much on the North Node or spend too much time involved
in the affairs of the North Node's House, and forget to draw
on the support and resources of our South Node. Because the
Houses represent the places that we will naturally encounter
the Nodes, if we want to work with our Nodes, we can simply
devote time to activities that relate to the House in question,
and we will naturally encounter our Nodes.
When interpreting the Nodal Axis then, the first
and most important factor is the Sign axis of the Nodes. What
do the two Signs have in common? All opposing Signs share
some common theme; they simply approach it from very different
perspectives. Next, look at the Sign placement of the South
Node and the North Node within this axis. What are the gifts
that the South Node offers? What are the best and most wonderful
expressions of the Sign of the South Node? And how can working
with the North Node balance and enhance these gifts? By exploring
these questions, we can discover some of the lessons of the
specific Nodal Axis. Now, take this understanding and look
at the House placement of the Nodes to learn more about where
in our lives we will be able to experience and encounter these
lessons.
Finally, let's try and put things into perspective.
Remember that the Nodes are not physical bodies, and because
they are not physical bodies, they operate on a far more subtle
level than the planets do. Unlike the planets, the Nodes do
not play a very big part in the development of an individual's
personality. The Nodes, however, are the key to understanding
more about what our spiritual purpose is in this lifetime.
Sometimes the Nodes are closely connected with the planets
in a chart and the connection between an individual's physical
life and their spiritual path is obvious. Sometimes the Nodes
seem to exist on their own, separate from the rest of the
action in the chart. Whatever way the Nodes appear to be linked
with the other elements in the chart, the Nodes can help us
to step back and see beyond the limitations of our time on
Earth, and once again glimpse the bigger picture of the evolutionary
journey of our soul.
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