The Lunar Nodes in Astrology Pt. 4 - How Do The North and South Nodes Work In Transits?

by Robert Wilkinson

Today we continue our theme of possible ways the transiting Lunar Nodes affect our charts.

So far, in previous articles in this series, we’ve explored what the Lunar Nodes are, how they fit into eclipse patterns, and some possible ways to interpret how they work as an integrated duality in our lives. We’ve also briefly touched on how the natal Nodes work in the signs and life areas of the chart, and how we could apply the natal examples in terms of the movement of the transiting Nodes through our houses. Here’s a brief piece:

In another example, where the Nodal axis is transiting in the chart, it works like it would natally, except it moves backwards through the houses of your chart. Therefore, it exerts a direct house influence for approximately 18 months as well as for some time after, since we get many eclipses in that span of time. I believe it reveals its mystery every time the transiting Moon makes aspects to the transiting Nodes, as well as when the transiting Nodal axis makes aspects to our natal or progressed Moon. Wherever the axis is transiting in our charts is where we are growing and releasing, being pulled to demonstrate that growth pattern across time.

Please take a second look at those articles to familiarize yourself with the descriptions of the many possible ways to see how the Nodes work in terms of intake and outflow using the sign energies in the areas of our lives shown by the houses. Understanding the differences between the signs and the houses is one of the most important factors in Astrology, since it shows us how and where a certain type of energy will manifest.

To recap, the sign of the North Node shows the quality of your line of greatest evolutionary development; the sign of the South Node shows the quality of your line of least resistance. The house of the North Node is where you will grow tremendously in terms of the sign, or the growth energy you’re here to demonstrate through the sign of the South Node in the area of life shown by the house of the South Node.

North Node efforts are often difficult, whereas the South Node patterns are familiar, and therefore usually easy. One is in-take, one is out-flow, and we are told that both assist the mechanics of our personal line of greatest evolutionary development.

They work the same way when transiting our chart in terms of the houses. We grow in and through the affairs of the house of the transiting North Node, and release whatever we need to of the life area shown by the house of the South Node. Just apply what is known to be the arena of influence for each house, and begin to see the Nodes as an axis, working together to help certain areas grow, while releasing whatever is needed in the SN house to demonstrate the positive qualities of the house of the NN.

The Transiting Nodes Past and Present – How They’ve Worked in Our Charts

The sign of the transiting North Node is the current energy where we can ALL learn to grow. When in Pisces from June 2006 through December 2007, we grew from embracing a vast oceanic view, compassion, forgiveness, seeing life as a movie that needs occasional re-editing, and empathy for our common humanity. When in Aquarius from December 2007 through August 2009, we grew through embracing group work, altruism, world service, dispassion, and genuine friendliness toward all other beings, greeting them with open minds and open hearts, demonstrated through positive Leo traits.

When the transiting NN was in Capricorn from August 2009 through February 2011, in general we learned through organization, discipline, taking personal responsibility, and crystallizing some form of individual excellence within a group performance. We demonstrated these through forms of caring and nurture while letting go of old Cancerian emotional responses and habit patterns. We grew through accepting power and responsibility, and demonstrated that through letting go of emotional instability and restlessness.

From March 2011 through August 2012 when the NN was in Sagittarius, we grew through embracing broader views, a more optimistic life adventure, and anything philosophical or spiritual that could give us a wider understanding of truth or Spirit. These were demonstrated through how we communicated, and whether we were getting hung up on intellectual wheel spinning or finding multiple angles of understanding and expressing an open view. SN in Gemini gets caught up in the minutia of life, old repetitive mental patterns, dualities, and superficial knowledge, and we were all given chances to let go of these.

We then went through the period from September 2012 through February 2014 of growing through the transiting North Node in Scorpio, and releasing through the South Node in Taurus. I used this position as a specific example in a previous article, so by all means go back and refresh yourself if you want more about those potential qualities of growth and release. Since the signs express in the 10,000 ways in different lives, use your imagination to see how that Scorpio NN transit worked its growth magnetism in your life, whether through what you attracted, or what you could not attract.

Some learned how to “hold the void,” since emptiness taught us more than the forms we captured. We were learning to let go of things we no longer needed, as well as dense, unproductive, or inert wheel spinning parts of our life represented by the houses in your chart where the nodes transited.

The sign of the transiting South Node would seem to imply that energy is what is familiar but we learn nothing from, except how to release, let go, or perfectly demonstrate something we cannot learn from. For example, when the SN was in Virgo from June 2006 through December 2007, we needed to let go of excessive clinging to things “making sense,” or fitting together perfectly, or worrying about details that were already fading due to the Pisces NN.

During that time we learned more from blessing the passages than working with all the pieces trying to find order. We learned more from forgiveness than from labor for its own sake. And yet much was accomplished by those who learned to flow from one sequence of details to the next, fixing what we could, letting go of what we had to, and demonstrating our ability to be good servants within a larger galactic field.

We then entered a period between February 2014 and November 2015 when the NN was in Libra, and SN was in Aries. That featured growth into more balanced views and/or approaches to things, with everyone learning through being as diplomatic, reasonable, and moderate in all things as possible. Again, it’s not that we necessarily achieved perfection in these areas, just that we grew when we embraced Libra qualities.

Because that period also featured SN in Aries, we saw an escalation in violence and war. It could be inferred that this is the negative expression of an out of balance Libra energy in those who initiated the violence. Ideally, it indicated a period of taking a balanced approach to things that could be jumpstarted quickly and with relatively little effort.

We’ve now just finished the period of November 2015 through May 2017 where the North Node was in Virgo and the South Node was in Pisces. This of course reverses the lessons of June 2006 through December 2007 when the Nodal signs were opposite where they are now. It may be that how we grew then provided means of releasing energy or “showing what we know” from late 2015 to now, or that what we demonstrated then became a path to recent growth.

So we’ve just finished a period of growth through practical adaptation, learning Divine Discernment, working in a selfless service, doing what we must to achieve physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health, and other Virgo qualities. These expressed through Pisces, or ability to bless, forgive, and let a lot flow down the time stream without analysis or criticism. We all were shown ways to demonstrate ways to achieve closure in quiet, even “submerged” ways.

We now have entered the period of North Node in Leo and South Node in Aquarius through November 2018. This period features growth through all things Leo, demonstrated through all things Aquarian. However, as I made clear in earlier articles, that doesn’t mean the Leo growth will necessarily be easy.

Leo is the sign of the heart, the Solar Fire that burns forever in each of us, the blazing bonfire of our total dedication to Love, Wisdom, and Divine Intelligence. The heart is a muscle that grows through exercise, and creativity is only found when we stop playing it safe and express what’s in our hearts.

As I’ve offered you in other articles, the heart is the crystal at the core of our Being. It is the source of our life. The physical heart pumps the blood, which is the vehicle of our Life essence and our vitality.

The Spiritual heart is the door to the Soul. If our eyes are the windows of our Soul, the heart shows us and the world what we love and what we are willing to commit to. Learning to listen to the heart is a long term discipline, and our heart gets exercise through the experiences we attract which show us what our heart is and is not into as we move through our experiences of what love is and what it isn’t.

However, while the heart can grow in strength and clarity through challenging experiences, we also must learn it is equally important to value your heart enough to protect that which matters at the core of your being. Knowing our integrity often provides the clarity we need.

Sometimes we are put through heart exercises we’d rather not go through, but if we pay attention and show courage and determination we come out the other side stronger, more courageous, and clearer about what works and what doesn’t work. By our challenges, our willingness is tested, which generates the courage we all need to overcome the scourge of fear.

Our skill in participating in our heart’s evolution will be demonstrated by the Aquarian experiences we’re in that show our ability to be loving, wise, and creative in ways that serve a greater good, introduce a greater ideal, or help us and others to a greater contribution to a long term future. Those who already are in a Leo growth groove will no doubt find many ways to demonstrate that growth in Aquarian ways.

Long Term Nodal Influence

As I explained in previous articles, Eclipses are New and Full Moon Lunations conjunct the Nodes; that’s why they’re powerful. They illuminate and give form to either what we’re learning to do, or what we’re learning to let go of or demonstrate, or both. There are at least 6 eclipses in each sign over about 18 months, sometimes more, so you can see how the sign of the transiting Nodes sets some heavy pressure points in our charts that are triggered over subsequent months and years.

I consider Eclipses as "cosmic recyclers," since they help us release what we no longer need or have already mastered. While the heavy lifting of growth into unfamiliar realms is usually not easy, it does fill our lives with new contents, new skills, and new vistas of development. The Nodes and the Eclipses made when they are in any sign show us what will be shut down, whether we want those things to end or not. The voids then can be filled with the contents of our line of growth.

I’ll also note that we all have at least two eclipses while we are in the womb, and some have four. That would indicate some heavy events in our parents’ lives before we were born and in the years after, since Solar Eclipses last for a number of years. And prenatal experiences, set by Dharma and Karma, do influence us more than we often suspect, since the joys and fears experienced by our mother impacts our development.

I was born in the weeks following both a Solar Eclipse and a Lunar Eclipse. This has factored in a big way in my life, since it's part of my "pre-natal epoch" AND I was born "under the beams" of those Eclipses, both of which affected the Americas. If you're interested, you may want to check out the Eclipses that happened when you were in the womb, as well as those that followed your birth. They may give you insights about your early family life, and why some things changed in big ways when you were young.

Crossed Nodes

On a final note, I’ve been asked frequently what it means when the transiting Nodes are opposite the birth Nodes, i.e., when the transiting North Node in Pisces is conjunct a natal South Node in Pisces, and transiting SN in Virgo is conjunct the natal NN in Virgo, or any other “cross nodes pattern.” I believe these are times of learning how to release, and demonstrating what you've learned.

It marks the end of a 9 year cycle of growth and release, and begins a 9 year cycle complementing the first one. It represents a time of growing (at least temporarily) through what you're familiar with, and letting go of old lines of development that have fulfilled their time in your life.

When this “crossed node” pattern is found in the synastry between different birth charts, it sets up a peculiar dynamic. It indicates that person A learns from something that B doesn’t, and A doesn’t learn from what B does. Each is growing along certain evolutionary lines that the other has already fulfilled, and has nothing to learn from.

These situations require that each learn as they must, express what they must, without needless criticism from the other. While they can learn from how each other grows and demonstrates the energies of that sign axis, they are moving in opposite and occasionally complementary directions.

I’ll close by encouraging you to observe the aspects of the transiting Moon to its transiting Nodes, since those are point they are supposedly much more powerfully active than any other times. Also take note of the times when the transiting Nodes make significant aspects to your natal and progressed Moon, since the same would be true, and these aspect periods could last for weeks or months and provide important information about how you are aligning your habits with the on-going growth patterns.

© Copyright 2017 Robert Wilkinson

Comments

[chickie]

Thank you!

[Nic]

Thanks Robert for these Master Class in the Nodes. The fact that you pointed out the influence of the eclipses while on the womb are very interesting and they can explain a lot as they set the wheels in motion that are at the base of our life unfoldment. A new insight for me. I was born right at the time of a Full Moon so that, I assume, makes them even more interesting to explore.

Blessings be to all.

[Sharon]

I noticed my husband's natal NN in 2nd has progressed sun & moon conjunct. Also, transiting NN is just 2 degrees away from his natal mars and transiting mars is just 2.5 degrees too. Then i look at his progessed ascendant which is just 2 degrees from his IC. He has a ton of oppositions at solar eclipse on august 22 by having his natal asc at 0 pisces and his sun at 9 degrees. He is contemplating ankle fusion but leery that he may not survive it with an expected 3-6 month recovery (probably more like one year with his other health issues). His bday is: 2-29-48, born in st louis area, US. I do wonder if this portends a bad outcome and he should wait to have the surgery until later next year. He has been receiving acupuncture with some success to help with the severe chronic daily pain that has made him almost an invalid because he cant walk much due to bone on bone arthritis. Any thoughts on this situation?

[Robert]

Hi all - Thanks.

Hi Sharon - A comment stream is not a good place to discuss medical astrology. Mainly timing on surgeries requires examining the Moon, its aspects, Saturn (bones; also knees and ankles) and other factors. Aquarius rules the ankles. Many bone and cartilege issues can be helped with comfrey, but it's hard to find in the US. Acupuncture is always good.