I am frequently asked the following question: What are the Lunar Nodes?
There are different schools of thought about this matter. In this post, I discuss my current views on the Lunar Nodes. What you read in this post is what passes through my mind when I analyse the Lunar Nodes in the charts: natal, horary, event, mundane or medical.
This post is the first of a series.
Astronomically Speaking
Astronomically speaking, from our terrestrial view, the Lunar Nodes are the points where the path of the Moon intersects the course of the Sun in the sky. The passage of the Moon and the Sun are not aligned. The direction of the Moon is shifted and tilted from the path of the Sun by around 5 degrees. And that is why we do not get two eclipses every month with every Dark and Full Moon.
When the path of the Moon crosses the route of the Sun whilst going into the Northern Hemisphere, the link is called North Node. If the direction of the Moon crosses the path of the Sun whilst going into the South Hemisphere of the Earth, the link is called South Node.
In practice, the Lunar Nodes are the relationship of the Sun and Moon as they dance around the sky as viewed from our planet Earth. Lunar Nodes are famous because they show us where the eclipses will happen for a current period.
Eclipses occur when a Dark Moon (Moon-Sun cojoining) or Full Moon (Moon opposite Sun) happen near these Nodal Lunar points.
If a Dark Moon occurs near the intersection point, we have a Solar Eclipse. Sun, Moon and Earth are perfectly aligned, with the Moon coming precisely in the middle between the Sun and the Earth, covering the Sun from our point of view.
If a Full Moon occurs near the intersection point, we have a Lunar Eclipse. Sun, Earth, and Moon align perfectly so that the Earth comes precisely in the middle between the Sun and the Moon. The Earth covers the Moon with its shadow whilst blocking the light of the Sun from reaching the Moon's surface.
Both Dark Moon and Full Moon, that is, Solar Eclipse and Lunar Eclipse, can occur at either the North Node or the South Node of the Moon. The nearer the Sun and the Moon are at the intersection points, the more perfect is the alignment, the greater the percentage of the light being blocked, the more nearing totality is the eclipse.
For an astronomical animation of the above, please click here.
From Astronomy to Astrology
The Sun and the Moon are the energy providers of our Solar system. They make life happen as we know it on Earth.
Let me example this further.
The Sun is the ultra-hot furnace of nuclear energy that gives force vitality and sustains our Solar system. Without the Sun's gravity and constant spraying of photons, electromagnetic waves, and much more, there would be no cohesion of the Solar system and no Earth.
The Moon is the satellite of the Earth. The current hypothesis is that the Moon was born from a protoplanet colliding with proto-Earth. The cataclysmic event caused the ejection of a planetary soup that then coalesced in our Moon.
In time, the Moon's constant rotation around the Earth stabilised the spin of the Earth. This gave more predictable weather and made Earth's environment more suitable for life (as we know it) to flourish on Earth. Without the Moon, Earth would be too erratic for life to have a firm base.
In Astrology, the Sun and the Moon are called Luminaries because they give us light. The Sun, the light of the day. The Moon, the light of the night. Light is photons, is energy, is life.
As said earlier, the Lunar Nodes are the intersections of the path of the Sun and the path of the Moon from the Earth's point of view. They are the power points through which Cosmic energy, particularly the Sun's energy, comes down here from out there.
The Moon acts as the midwife of the energy of the Cosmos, of the Sun and the Stars. Everything gets filtered and stabilised through the Moon. One can imagine the Moon as the transducer of the Cosmic energy helping to transform high voltage Cosmic energy into energy useable by the Earth without getting electrocuted.
Transducer Battery Circuit
Continuing with the analogy, the Nodal points are positive and negative of Earth's battery circuit. Through these points, Cosmic Energy gets distributed on Earth. The positive pole, the North Node, is where the energy comes into the Earth plane. The negative pole, the South Node, is where the energy goes out of the Earth plane.
The North Node is where the Cosmic energy takes the terrestrial energy form. Things come to be on this material plane. The South Node is where the terrestrial energy gets recycled back to the Cosmos. Things go out of being, dematerialise.
It is essential to view the Lunar Nodes always as a pair, just as you would consider a battery with both its positive and negative poles. A galvanic battery is such because it has an ongoing circuit from positive to negative. You can't have a battery an electrical circuit if one is missing. The same logic applies to the Lunar Nodes.
As energy comes in from one side, flushing the Earth with power, on the other side, the energy goes out from the Earth back into the Cosmos. One cannot exist without the other.
Of coming in and going out
Energy never stands still. It is in constant motion. The Lunar Nodes show us where the flow is coming in and going out. Both activities are needed to keep harmony and balance. That is why we always need to consider the Lunar Nodes as an energy axis.
Things are born, grow, mature, age, and die in this earthly plane. These are the rules on Earth. It is a never-ending cycle of impermanence. We come in this dimension with our first inhalation. We leave with our last exhalation.
And going backwards
The Lunar Nodes take about 18 months to journey through every Zodiac Sign. To complete a whole cycle, the Nodes take about 18.6 years. Every 9 years or so, there is a reversal of the Nodes.
For example, in February 2022, we have just shifted to North Node in Taurus and South Node in Scorpio axis. The last time North Node and South Node were in the same zodiac signs with the same polarity, we need to return to mid-April 2003. In late August 2012, the Nodes were back in Taurus and Scorpio but in a reversed polarity, North Node in Scorpio, South Node in Taurus.
The Lunar Nodes moves backwards in the zodiac. They move from East to West. Again, as an example, the Nodes a month ago in January 2021 were North Node in Gemini South Node in Sagittarius.
For an astronomical explanation, with animations, I suggest you read here.
Summary
The Lunar Nodes, from an astrological point of view, describe energy circuits where Cosmic energy takes the physical form and vice versa. The concept is similar to a galvanic battery's positive and negative polarity. You need both to create an energy flow.
However, if the transducer battery circuit is too cold an imagery for you, and you would like a more poetical version, try the following.
Let's go back to the cycle of impermanence. Back to our first inhale when we come to Earth and last exhale when we leave this Earth.
Imagine the Cosmos as a living sentient entity, as all ancient astrologers did. Imagine the Earth as Gaia, a living being in this living Cosmos.
Now imagine the Lunar Nodes as energy vortexes connected to Cosmic Energy. Imagine the Earth breathing in and breathing out through these vortexes. Imagine the Earth breathing in and out rhythmically as it rotates on its axis and around the Sun.
Imagine Gaia, inhaling and exhaling the Sun's constant gravity and electromagnetic force flow whilst the nurturing Moon midwives the process.
The Nodes in our natal chart and mundane astrology show this intimate interconnectedness, the breathing in and breathing out, through and with the Cosmos. The umbilical cord that ties us with the Universe.
To be continued…
Wishing you health, joy and prosperity,
Hilary
Wishing you health, joy and prosperity,
Hilary
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Image by Anke Sundermeier from Pixabay