Lunar Nodes

 

September 10, 2004

 

http://cainer.com/ericfrancis/sep10.html

 

Dear Eric:

What are the lunar nodes?

Eric, on behalf of everyone who has already asked.

Regards,

San Pedro, Spain

 

 

Dear Everyone Who Has Already Asked, or Those Who May Wonder:

The lunar nodes are very mysterious.

 

No discussion can ever cover them entirely, but I'll try to get you started. First of all, you can find them because they look like little horse shoes in the chart. They are designated North and South, for reasons I'll get into in a moment; some charts only give the North Node; the South Node has the same degree in the opposite sign. The North Node is the horse shoe with the opening on the bottom; the South Node is the once with the opening pointing up.

 

The North Node is also called the Dragon's Head or in Vedic (Indian) astrology, Rahu. The South Node is also called the Dragon's Tail or in Vedic astrology, Ketu. They activate a polarity; they are always exactly opposite one another, so they remind us how important it is to remember that opposite signs always work together in some way.

 

First let's go to the Fred Gettings Arkana Dictionary of Astrology for a technical definition. The nodes "are the points in which the orbit of the planet [or the Moon] intersects the ecliptic." The ecliptic is the apparent path of the Sun around the Earth. Most people know the Earth goes round the Sun (research indicates that many people are still confused about this!) But it looks like it works the other way around. So the apparent path of the Sun is called the ecliptic. At the degree where a planet such as the Moon (or recently, Venus) crosses this path, we have the node. When the Sun is standing right there when the Moon (or a planet, such as Venus) crosses this path, we have an eclipse (or in the case of Venus, a transit).

 

The Moon is not exactly on the ecliptic. The Moon's orbits -- and all the planets -- intersect with the ecliptic at an angle.

 

Where the Moon crosses one of its nodes to the northern latitudes, we have the North Node. Where the Moon crosses the ecliptic to the southern latitudes, we have the South Node.

 

Are you with me so far? This is a three-dimensional situation. The chart is two-dimensional. The Sun is making an orbital path on one plane; the Moon on another; where they meet are the two points called the Nodes.

 

Whenever you're looking at a chart of any kind and you see the Sun near one of the Moon's nodes, that tells you that an eclipse is in the vicinity -- really, two eclipses, one of the Sun and one of the Moon. So eclipses and the Nodes are intimately linked. What the nodes give you is a permanent stand in for eclipses even when the Sun and Moon are somewhere entirely different. They kind of tell you, "This is the approximate location of the next eclipse." Approximate, not exact. As I write, this, the North Node is at 3 Taurus and 20 minutes and the South is in the same degree of Scorpio. The next eclipse is a solar eclipse on Oct. 14 at 21 degrees of Libra and 5 minutes. On that day, the nodes will be at 2 degrees and 6 minutes of Taurus/Scorpio. The nodes and the position of the eclipse are about 10 degrees apart, which is fairly typical.

 

I don't know enough about astronomy to account for this difference, but I live with the mystery.

 

Now, none of this tells you what to do with the nodes.

 

If you look them up in an astrology textbook or two, you're going to find out that the South Node is about your past karma, the past, where you're coming from, where you get stuck in life, or where you draw your power based on past experience. That's a reasonable explanation. The North Node is usually said to be a place where we struggle to become something, to learn something, or to express ourselves. True enough.

 

The Sound Node feels like Karma -- the total effect of our past actions. The North Node feels like Dharma -- right action, or 'acting as if to hold the world together'. They are very important in terms of their house position; their sign position tells you a lot because the sign where the node is placed gives you a ruling planet or two to search for, and that placement tells you a lot about the influence of the particular node in question.

 

If a planet is conjunct one of the nodes, then that planet (and the house it rules) are associated with the whole story of the node. If a planet is square the nodes, then one will not be able to deal with the nodes until they first address the concerns, issues or themes of that planet. If a planet is trine or sextile the nodes, then it will tend to be greatly amplified and broadcast widely into our reality and even the world around us. The nodes say a LOT about where our private world intersects with the greater world, the culture, society, and so on. Often famous people have prominent lunar nodes, or have learned to work effectively with the planets that aspect the nodes.

 

Typically Western astrologers say the North Node is 'good' and the South Node is 'bad'. This is entirely oversimplified.

 

The Nodes are important tools in Vedic astrology and are only beginning to be vaguely understood by modern Western astrologers. Last year I had the chance to speak for a while with Presanan, the official astrologer to Ammachi, when Amma's road show was in Seattle. I asked him about the nodes. He said that from the standpoint of the Vedics, both nodes are considered troublesome because they bind us to the Earthly plane of existence. One says what we must work out from the past; the other says what we must work out for the future. Thus, they attach us to our lives. I considered that and, never being one who is afraid to edit, I would put it this way.

 

The nodes tell us about what we get to do here on the Earth, and they help us do it. Since we are on the Earth, we would do well to consider the value of doing what we came here to do. As a result, they keep us grounded, which is where we belong. If we ever get too far from the true path of life (as we define it) the nodes will somehow keep us on track, or eventually bring us back on track. I consider the Nodes to be something of a first priority in order of what really matters in the chart.

 

Now, one past point. In terms of what they are, the nodes are directions in space. They are nothing physical; they are points that hint at where an event in the future (an eclipse or two) will occur. But they act with power that should make most planets envious. They are among the very most compelling points in the chart, on par with Pluto, Saturn or Chiron, but really much more immediate, even urgent. They feel like a strong current moving us through the water. They are alive. They are completely cosmic and yet totally mundane.

 

The fact that no-thing can have this kind of effect tells you that astrology is not about things, it is about energies and ideas. People who have difficulty interpreting the nodes may be responding to this intangibility, this no-thingness.

 

Tune in; check for aspects, pull a few tarot cards, take a deep breath, or wait for the next eclipse.

 

The nodes speak.