By Len Wallick
Today is the New Moon at 23+ degrees Taurus. On the East Coast of the United States at 9:04 pm, 6:04 pm Pacific. That’s when the Sun and Moon form a conjunction. That means that they are in the same sign at the same degree of longitude. This happens once a month in most months.
If Luna’s orbit around Earth were in the same plane as Earth’s orbit around the Sun, every New Moon would find the luminaries not only at the same longitude but also the same latitude. Thus every such monthly conjunction would be a solar eclipse.
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However, that’s not the way it is. The Moon’s orbit around the Earth is at an angle to the ecliptic, another name for the plane of our planet’s orbit around old Sol. As such, Luna’s path intersects with the ecliptic only twice a month. Once on the way to going below it (at the South lunar node) and once on its way to rising above our orbital plane (at the North lunar node). When the Moon is in or very close to this node at the time of conjunction we actually have a solar eclipse. That’s why they are relatively rare. The last one was on mid-January of this year. The next one will be this coming July 11th.
The lunar nodes are more than just where eclipses can take place. They are perhaps the most important hypothetical points on an astrological chart. By hypothetical point, one means that there is no mass there. No chunk of rock or ice, no giant ball of gas. Periodically, however, an object could intersect while passing through on its elliptical journey. More often these points combine to form an aspect to another moving thing and bring their cachet to the combination. Karma, consequences, attachment, or release for the South node. Dharma, creativity, responsibility or embrace with the North.