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Some thoughts on the North Node, newly in Leo…

Impetus and inspiration for this post came from a very striking experience I had on May 9, 2017 at around 7:00 p.m. More about this shortly…..

The North Node’s transit through Virgo (South Node in Pisces) was from the end of 2015 through early May 2017. The transit picked up on the particularly undermining, painful, and difficult Saturn-Neptune square (from Sagittarius to Pisces) that challenged us all. This was especially true when the attendant eclipse seasons in September 2016 and February 2017 triggered the pattern. (1)

Collectively, we had the pain and trauma of waves of mass migration from the world’s trouble spots to European countries ill-equipped to cope, with many migrants drowning in overcrowded traffickers’ boats, their hopes for a better life perishing with them. We had the election of Donald Trump and the shock waves that event sent around the world. We also had the U.K. voting to exit from the European Union, with similar effects.

On a personal level, many of us experienced a great deal of confusion, uncertainty, family trauma, and other types of suffering. The impression I gained from astrological colleagues — especially via social media — was that the nodal axis through Virgo/Pisces had challenged us to grow and move forward on our personal paths through much worldly pain.

As the imminent shift of the nodal axis into Leo/Aquarius approached, there was a great deal of positive comment, hope, and anticipation across the astro-Web. A move from Virgo’s dense earth and Pisces’ deep water to Leo’s creative, optimistic fire, complemented by Aquarius’ detached, humane airiness, would surely be easier and more pleasurable to deal with?

The North Node crossed my 9° Virgo Ascendant and entered the 12th house with the South Node moving through the 6th house in November 2016, where they will remain until the spring of 2018. I was aware in late April/early May 2017 that the North Node’s shift into Leo was imminent, and so began reading some of the astro-Web’s outpourings on the subject.

However, I was too immersed in grappling with the inner challenges brought to me by trauma close to home — not of my making — to pay much attention to second guessing what the shift might bring for me personally, or indeed what day it was going to take place.

Then, on May 9, 2017, just after dinner, my inner turmoil suddenly resolved itself to the point where I was able to take constructive action to put some distance between what I know to be my main path for whatever life remains to me and the needs of others. (Protecting other peoples’ privacy prevents me from being more explicit than this.)

In essence, I re-affirmed for myself that night that the energy my creative life and spiritual path require was not going to be given away to grappling with old family pathology, from whose grip I have largely managed to extricate myself after decades of tough spiritual work.

Realizing that this was a key moment, I put up a chart and was stunned to note that the decisive action I had taken had been almost exactly the moment that the North Node shifted into Leo in my 12th house. That night, I was also even more aware than usual of the unconditional support my Aquarian husband has always given me to follow my creative path.

Looking for some nodal images I could use whilst writing this post, I came across this summary — brilliantly appropriate for where I am at the moment — from the website of Alison Gunn, Ph. D., an astrologer whose in-depth work I very much admire:

“…In a nutshell, then, this is the dichotomy of the 6/12 nodal axis: you have to find a way to live in the everyday world and, at the same time, keep the issues confronting your ‘immortal soul’ on the front burner…” (2)

I hope you will find this personal account of interest, and that it will inspire you to keep a close eye on the pair of houses being highlighted in your horoscope over the next eighteen months by the transiting nodal axis and its attendant eclipses. These are the areas in your life that are now ripe for challenge and change!

To end on a pungent, amusing, and I think very accurate piece of astrological shorthand that I learned from the incomparable astrologer Michael Lutin: Couched in the terminology of Alcoholics Anonymous he invites us to think of the South Node as the Bottle and the North Node as The Meeting … a very concise way of reminding us that the South Node represents the safe haven of familiar responses and patterns that, if we stay there, leads to no progress. We need to push ourselves in the direction to which the North Node beckons if we want to grow and develop to the fullness of our capacities as this lifetime unfolds. (3)

Footnotes:

(1) There was a solar eclipse on September 1, 2016 at 9°21′ Virgo and a lunar eclipse on September 16 at 24°13 Pisces. On February 11, 2017 there was a lunar eclipse at 22°34 Leo, followed by a solar eclipse on February 26 at 8°11′ Pisces.

(2) See Alison Gunn Ph. D., Beyond The Stars Astrology and Tarot, Analysis of the 6th house/12th House Nodal Axis through the Signs.

(3) See Anne Whitaker’s blog, where you can download a free copy of The Moon’s Nodes in Action, the author’s extensively researched and thorough (172 pages) work. Although written in 1998, the work is only recently available and a fine contribution to the astrological literature on the lunar nodes. Anne writes:I thought I’d never be able to resurrect the whole text of The Moon’s Nodes in Action from its cyber-grave of apparently unopenable files going back to the 1990s.” Luckily for all of us she was able to retrieve the text and has generously made it available.

Bio: Anne Whitaker is a writer, astrologer, and astrology teacher living in Glasgow, Scotland. Her work appears in many contexts including the UK’s Astrological Journal, The Mountain Astrologer, Astrodienst, Infinity Astrological Magazine, and Dell Horoscope magazine. Find Anne at astrologyquestionsandanswers

Editor’s note: This is a slightly edited version of a post that originally appeared on Anne’s blog…thank you, Anne, for letting TMA share your good work.

3 Comments

  1. …and many thanks to you, Mary, for publishing the post and for the generous ‘plug’ for The Moon’s Nodes in Action research study.

  2. Hello Anne,

    I have always been very interested in Astrology and have known myself to be a soul having a human experience.

    I am extremely interested to learn astrology and I would very much appreciate your answer on what is the best way I should go about mastering this wonderful subject.

    Kindest regards
    Jenny Raquel Newick

    • Dear Jenny

      Thank you so much for sharing your enthusiasm about astrology with us. It is indeed a wonderful subject, and would be a life enhancing study for you.

      If you would like to contact me via my website, I will send you some pointers re reading, courses etc.

      Best wishes
      Anne


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