Tag Archives: Moon’s Nodes

Conception, beginnings and endings: The Moon’s Nodes Part 3

To gain the most from the Moon’s Nodes series, please do read Part 1 and Part 2.

And now, Part Three…

Moon's Nodes

Moon’s Nodes

3. “In my end is my beginning….” (1)

The Nodes have also struck me as having strong connections with conception, beginnings and endings, of either a literal or more often a symbolic kind.

I found it intriguing, for example, that in the two of Marc’s Turning Points which concerned the beginning of the two key relationships with women which would most powerfully affect his life, the charts for the conception points of the relationships were more powerful than those for the actual start of Marc going out with Beatrice (first wife) and then Caitlin (his long-term partner).

In Mary Shelley’s case, the chart for the waking dream in which she could have been said to have conceived the idea which led to ‘Frankenstein’, was very powerful.

All of the key moments in all the case material concern conception, beginnings and endings: in the case of Princess Diana, her physical death. Andrew’s Nodal moment concerned the dramatic end of a relationship, but also of certain pathological ties to his family past, leading to the beginning of an altogether more positive stage of his life.

Anna’s Nodal moment represented the beginning of a whole new cycle of her life; the date of the interview whose successful outcome would see her re-locate to another continent, 11 October, was also the anniversary of both her mother’s and her sister’s death. John Glenn’s Nodal moment concerned his rebirth as an astronaut in October 1998 at the age of 76 – the second Nodal Return from his original space voyage in February 1962.   He returned to Earth safely, complete with his record of being the oldest person to venture into space.

Marc’s first Turning Point represented the end of his youthful image of himself as an intellectual achiever, and a very painful initiation into experiencing the more brutal aspects of life as a necessary part of his life path. The election of Margaret Thatcher as UK Conservative Prime Minister in 1979 , when he was 33, represented  another major Turning Point: the end of his political hopes for Scottish Independence at that time – he had been a Scottish Nationalist all his adult life. The whole period since then for him has been a long struggle, for a man who needs the inspiration of belief to guide and focus his considerable energies and gifts.

In my own case, as described in the preface to the research, critical endings  on the first and second Nodal returns bracketed a long journey from spiritual alienation to deeper connection with a sense of meaning and purpose. I had needed to find this spiritual connectedness in order to become all I could be in the next stage of my vocational life .

My research confirmed both the traditional view  of the Nodes’ connection with conception, beginnings and endings and my own impressions gained over many years’ practice.

Nodal Axis

Nodal Axis

Endnotes:

(1) Headline quotation is from East Coker, No. 2 of ‘Four Quartets’ by T.S.Eliot

To Be Continued!

You are most welcome to download the full research study from which my conclusions are taken: it was FREE for several years, but I am now charging a small fee of $7. The simplest way to get it is to send the money to my PayPal account: contact.anne.w@gmail.com

PayPal will notify me and I will send you the e book within 24 hours.

Thanks!

The Moon's Nodes in Action

Zodiac

Zodiac

550 words copyright Anne Whitaker 2016

Licensed under Creative Commons – for conditions see Home Page of Writing from the Twelfth House

Major and Minor chords: The Moon’s Nodes Part Two

For many years I had a Moon’s Nodes obsession: perhaps not unconnected with the North Node exactly conjunct my Midheaven at 29 degrees Taurus, square a Twelfth House Sun/Moon conjunction……to read Part One of my Moon’s Nodes series, click HERE

And now, Part Two…

The Moon's Nodes

The Moon’s Nodes

1. ‘ Major’ and ‘ minor ‘ Nodal activity

Transits and progressions weave in and out of life – there may be years for example which are dominated by Pluto, others by Neptune, or very heavily  Saturnian years. There are the few occasions eg where a planet changes sign by progression, or the MC  progresses over Uranus, or the Moon.

But there is Nodal activity of  some kind going on all the time, as the Nodal axis regresses through the horoscope, transits come to the Natal or progressed Nodes, and progressions touch off the natal Nodal pattern. The Nodes appear to me to function both as witnesses (the Sun) and midwives (the Moon), symbolic translators of the archetypal energies of the  planets into the medium of Life as it is lived in the Sun/Moon/Earth system.

Where, then, does this leave the contention that Nodal times have a particularly powerful, fateful “charge” to them? That can’t be true of every year in life, surely?If it were, the intensity of it would pretty quickly reduce people to  cinders! What,  therefore, distinguishes those special moments or turning points in life where either at the time, or later, we realise we have crossed an important threshold?

From the research done on Marc’s life in particular, I have concluded that there are two kinds of Nodal activity : major and minor, as it were. As  already discussed, there is always some “minor” Nodal activity going on.

The really powerful “major” times on the other hand, which are few in any lifetime, are characterised by not just one or two, but a cluster of transits and/or progressions involving the natal, and/or progressed, and/or transiting Nodes.The outer planets, especially Pluto with its strong “fated” feel,  stand out. This was an impression I had  already formed after 15 years of chart reading – but I’d never tested it out in formal research before.

Pre-natal  eclipses are very much  part of the weave, as can be seen from the case study material. The most striking  example is seen in Mary Shelley’s horoscope where the pre-natal solar and lunar eclipse degrees appear as the actual Ascendant and South Node degrees in her horoscope, and the charts of  all the key people and events in her life with reference to her authorship of‘Frankenstein’. (Mary will be getting a post all to herself, complete with horoscope, as part of this series! )

I’m quite clear now, as the Nodal axis regresses through the chart, identifying via the highlighted houses the overall territory up for change, that the transiting eclipses function as “battery chargers”, gradually building up the energies of the person’s life in preparation to receive major change.

An image  comes to mind here from the female menstrual cycle, of the egg gradually being primed and prepared until it is at its maximum point of readiness to receive the male sperm, conceive and begin new life. I think the eclipses begin their work of charging-up as soon as the relevant eclipse season begins, which may be as long as eighteen months before the turning point in the person’s life appears. (i)

References and Notes

(i) A very clear example comes to mind from my own life, linked to the Virgo/Pisces eclipse season of Spring 1997-Autumn 1998. In the Spring of 1997 I decided to hire an office out of my home to create space, mainly to write this thesis. My Asc/Desc axis is 9 degrees Virgo/Pisces.

The Virgo/Pisces eclipse season started on 9 March 1997 with a total solar eclipse at 18.5 Pisces, opposite the asteroid Urania at 19 Pisces in my First House, clsely linking in Mary Shelley’s and Marc’s North Nodes at 19 and 21 Gemini respectively. It was at this time that I chose Marc as a main case study subject along with Mary Shelley.

On Friday 7 March I saw the office I decided on 10 March to rent, paying for it for a year from an insurance policy I had taken out 18 years previously. At that time, I had a feeling I might need money for a future adventure of some kind – long before I knew anything about  either astrology or the 18- year Nodal cycle. My bank manager, of course, thought I was mad….

The middle period of that eclipse season saw me well settled into the writing as the 9 Virgo eclipse fell exactly on my Ascendant in the Autumn of 1997. The following year, the day before the total solar eclipse (7 deg 55 min Pisces) of February 26 1998 fell on the Sixth House side of my Descendant, I had a call from my landlords saying they needed to know by the next day whether I was going to renew my lease, which ran out on 9 May 1998, since the building was being sold. I decided to renew for 6 months and sent my rent cheque off just before the lunar eclipse on 13 March 1998 at 22 Virgo.

The lease ran out on 7 November 1998: the day I graduated with my Diploma from the Centre for Psychological Astrology!

To Be Continued!

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You are most welcome to download the full research study from which my conclusions are taken: it was FREE for several years, but I am now charging a small fee of $7. The simplest way to get it is to send the money to my PayPal account: contact.anne.w@gmail.com

PayPal will notify me and I will send you the e book within 24 hours.

Thanks!

The Moon's Nodes in Action

Zodiac

Zodiac

900 words copyright Anne Whitaker 2016

Licensed under Creative Commons – for conditions see Home Page of Writing from the Twelfth House

*************

Introducing the Moon’s Nodes

For many years I had a Moon’s Nodes obsession: perhaps not unconnected with the North Node exactly conjunct my Midheaven at 29 degrees Taurus, square a Twelfth House Sun/Moon conjunction……I read somewhere in my very early years of studying astrology that the South Node conjunct a Scorpio IC indicated having been burned as a witch in a previous life. This piece of conjecture gave my MC/IC axis a kind of dark, scary glamour.

Scorpio New Moon

Scorpio…dark, scary, glamorous…

However, I burned out that obsession during 1997-8 whilst completing the third and final year of  my Diploma in Psychological Astrology at the Centre for Psychological Astrology in London, where I had the good fortune to study withDr Liz Greene and the late, great mundane astrologer, Charles Harvey.  How did I do this? By writing a 50,000 word research study called “The Moon’s Nodes in Action”. After that, I’d had enough of the Moon’s Nodes.

A big part of my obsession that year concerned the links I found between the horoscopes of Mary Shelley, author of ‘Frankenstein’, and that of Dolly the Sheep, the first cloned mammal, created in their research laboratory  by Dr Ian Wilmut and his team in the Roslyn Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland and announced to the world in February 1997.

I take strange pride in being probably the first person to have written a detailed synastry between a dead human and a live sheep! Never a class went by for that whole year without Dolly and Mary Shelley being mentioned. By the end of the year, and the completion of the research study, my students had taken either to giving me presents of pens, etc, with pictures of sheep on them, or to crossing the street when they saw me approaching! ( I exaggerate, but only slightly….)

In this series of posts, I am confining myself to presenting conclusions based on my original research study, which can be downloaded free from this blog should anyone wish to read it in full.

I am thus assuming at least a beginner’s familiarity with the astronomical and symbolic significance of the Moon’s Nodal axis, and its 18.6 year retrograde cycle through the Zodiac with the accompanying twice-yearly eclipse seasons.

For readers who need to be brought up to speed regarding the basics, check outWikipedia on The Lunar Nodes for the astronomy, and Cafe Astrology for a typical explanation of the Nodes’ symbolic meanings.

Before setting out my conclusions, it might be useful in context-setting to offer a  brief description of the content of the 50,000 word research study upon which these findings are based:

1) Preface, in which I outlined my personal reasons for becoming fascinated by the Nodal axis and bringing it increasingly into my teaching. 2) Introduction, in which I set out my reasons for embarking on the research. 3) Chapter One:Astronomy and Symbolism of the Nodes. 4) Chapter Two: Case Study One: Mary Shelley, ‘Frankenstein’ and a sheep called Dolly. 5) Chapter Three: Case Study Two: ‘Marc’ (age 51) : a life through the Nodal Lens. 6) Chapter Four: Case Study Three: Four “Nodal Moments” – key turning points analysed in the lives of two men and two women, two famous (Princess Diana and astronaut John Glenn) and two unknown, Anna (age 44) and Andrew (age 34). 7) Conclusions. Finally…. Bibliography, References and Notes, Charts used and their provenance.

Nodal Axis

My main research questions were these: How significant is the Nodal axis? Are astrologers missing something really important by not delineating it in their readings, both natally and in terms of its transiting cycle? Does it say something specific? Or does it act as a reinforcer for information about a person’s life pattern which can be derived from other chart factors?

To Be Continued!

******

To gain the most from the Moon’s Nodes series, please do read  Part 2 , Part 3 , Part 4 , and Part 5 

******

You are most welcome to download the full research study from which my conclusions are taken: it was FREE for several years, but I am now charging a small fee of $7. The simplest way to get it is to send the money to my PayPal account: contact.anne.w@gmail.com

PayPal will notify me and I will send you the e book within 24 hours.

Thanks!

The Moon's Nodes in Action

Zodiac

Zodiac

600 words copyright Anne Whitaker 2016

Licensed under Creative Commons – for conditions see Home Page of Writing from the Twelfth House

*************

Some thoughts on a possible second Scottish Referendum…an astrologer’s eye view

Scotland voted to stay in Europe by a substantial majority on Thursday 23rd June 2016, just as the UK as a whole voted to leave the European Union.

Scotland’s horoscope has very accurately been speaking of an inexorable momentum towards independence from the time Scotland got her own parliament on 6th May 1999. To read my analysis of our country’s horoscope, click HERE. The chart below (click to enlarge) shows in red where the transiting planets, Chiron and Moon’s Nodes were on referendum day, 18.9.14. The progressions are in green.

That 18.9.14 referendum, from a high turnout of 84%, produced a decisive 55% Yes vote in favour of Scotland remaining part of the UK, 45% No to Scotland separating from the UK– but the clamour for independence has not abated. And SNP party membership has rocketed in the two years since it was held.

However, as we know from the momentous news of 24.6.16, the UK as a whole is heading for the exit door in our relationship with Europe, and our nation is in turmoil, with both Labour and Tory parties in Westminster in utter disarray, and Scots, lead by the embodiment of Eris, the Battle Goddess, Nicola Sturgeon, contemplating yet another possible referendum.

Will this happen? And will we become independent? Below are just a few sketchy notes I made in the last couple of days, which have been getting a lot of attention on this blog’s Facebook Page. I thought I’d share them here. The horoscope below shows where the planets and progressions were in 18.9.14.

Scotland's Horoscope 18.9.14

Scotland’s Horoscope 18.9.14

But times have moved on, and the planets with them. Eris, the Goddess of Strife, currently at 23.5 degrees of Aries, is within 2° of Scotland’s natal Mars in 25 Aries in the Tenth House. Uranus crosses that Mars in May 2017, November 2017, and February/early March 2018. Are we looking at another Scottish Independence referendum between then and March 2018? I would not be surprised, given the current mood in Scotland … Even people who were against independence the first time round, are talking about changing their minds…

Note that Uranus will also be squaring Scotland’s 12th House Saturn in Cancer, the sign of home and belonging, during the next couple of years – a further indication of disruption and posssible separation – whilst Pluto is sitting currently in its most fated of places, the Moon’s North Node. ( c/f my research findings in ‘The Moon’s Nodes in Action’, downloadable for free from the left sidebar of this blog. Read the last chapter for what I have to say on Pluto combined with the Moon’s Nodes)

Whatever happens between May 2017 and March or April 2018, Mars in Aries in Scotland ‘s 10th house with the revolutionary, groundbreaking, defiant planet Uranus going over it, would seem to indicate radical change of one kind or another. However the action of planet Uranus is also volatile and unpredictable … so seatbelt fastening, once again, would appear to be in order. Watch this space!

Zodiac

400 words copyright Anne Whitaker 2014/2016
Licensed under Creative Commons – for conditions see Home Page

Free Book – ‘The Moon’s Nodes in Action’

e-publication by co-occurrence

e-publication by co-occurrence

“… this book is about….  Nodal Returns, Nodal synastries, Nodal ‘trawls’ and Nodal moments.  A knowledge-gathering journey through the lives and charts of the famous and not so famous – yet with the excitement of a personal quest and the inestimable benefit of coming through the pen of a gifted writer. Herein are facts – not theories – that you can use to enrich your own astrological interpretations and personal understanding of the Moon’s Nodes in Action….”

Download the book HERE

Zodiac

Zodiac

******

100 words copyright Anne Whitaker 2015

Licensed under Creative Commons – for conditions see Home Page

The Moon’s Nodes with Uranus and Pluto: disruption, mayhem and a new order emerging…

To read the first post in this tw0-hander, click 

Has the Uranus/Pluto wave peaked? The UK General election may have said “Yes”…

Uranus:Pluto Seventh Exact Square

Uranus:Pluto Seventh Exact Square

click to enlarge

My in-depth research study of The Moon’s Nodes in Action is due to be  published very soon – as a free download from this site – just as  events in our wider collective life appear yet again to be validating the overall conclusion at which I arrived some years ago, after examining the Moon’s Nodes and attendant eclipses from several different perspectives in both famous and “ordinary’ people’s lives, and in life-changing events.

The conclusion is this:

 times of most profound and radical change come in collective and individual life when the combination of the Nodal Axis and Pluto is triggered.

e-publication by co-occurrence

e-publication by co-occurrence

Four years ago, as the North Node crossed Pluto and its applying square to Uranus in Aries, approaching the final stage of the August 2009 – July 2011 season of eclipses in Capricorn (North Node point) and Cancer (South Node point),  Colonel Gaddafi lost his grip on Libya amidst scenes of bloodshed and mayhem as a wave of  protest – mainly from the young – swept the Middle East in what came to be known as the “Arab Spring” of 2011 onwards.

The iron grip of dictatorial rulers was snapped across the Middle East in a domino chain of nations rising in revolt, the world community watching with fascination, horror and a certain excited anticipation of possible positive change in the wake of all this upheaval.

In February 2014, the North Node returned to cardinal mode again as it entered the sign of Libra, regressing in its eighteen-month journey  through that sign, pulling eclipses with it, once again moving toward the turbulent, explosive energy of the Uranus/Pluto square which is currently scouring our world from its first coming into orb in 2009 until it separates in 2017.

In the summer/autumn of 2014, as the North Node drew closer to Uranus/Pluto, we watched with horror the shockingly unexpected, brutal rise of ISIS/ISIL, a fanatical death cult whose depradations across the Middle East have cost thousands of lives and created mayhem ever since.

Focusing in on our small country, the United Kingdom, one can also see in the charts of both the UK and Scotland the powerful emphasis on 5 – 15 degrees of the cardinal signs. This emphasis is shared also in the horoscopes of the UK’s Prime Minister David Cameron and Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, as well as the former First Minister Alex Salmond, who resigned after his Scottish National Party’s 45%/55% defeat in the September 2014 Referendum on whether Scotland should become an independent country.

The radical nature of the changes which are taking place in our small corner of the globe are vividly described symbolically through the Nodes/Pluto/Uranus combination: the UK has lurched to the Right by electing a majority Conservative government. The Labour party has been crushed in the UK and virtually annihilated in Scotland. The Scottish National party has won almost every Scottish seat, turning our small country into virtually a one-party state, never a healthy situation in a democracy. And the UK is set to vote shortly whether to remain within or without the European Union. The old order is dead.

Turning to personal life, those of you who read my Moon’s Nodes research will see the Nodes/Pluto combination occurring natally and bringing with it a life with more challenges of a profound and radical nature, than when that combination is not in evidence. Its impact is radical, profound and life-changing especially when natal, progressed and transiting aspects combine : c/f my long in-depth study of Mary Shelley and  her authorship of Frankenstein.

mary-shelley

mary-shelley

There seems to have been disruption and upheaval ‘right across the map’ of the world:  politically, socially and in terms of the fabric of the Earth itself – witness the recent horrific earthquakes and attendant loss of life in Nepal – in the last year especially. Let us hope that as the Nodal axis moves on, with the seven exact Uranus/Pluto squares completed,  all the turmoil gradually settles down into something more manageable as we survey our world and are perhaps more able to spot what positives have emerged from all the chaos…

So – what are your thoughts on such potent and powerful planetary symbolism both on collective and personal life? Can you report experiences of profound and radical changes when the Nodes combined with Pluto in your life? I’d be most interested to hear!

Zodiac

Zodiac

700 words copyright Anne Whitaker 2015

Licensed under Creative Commons – for conditions see Home Page

Moving forward today: Jupiter in Leo, master of creative excess!

Jupiter has now gone direct in Leo. I hope to write a longer post about this ere long, but personally the last couple of days have been typical of the power of a planetary station, in this case prior to the planet in question turning direct. 

e-publication by co-occurrence

e-publication by co-occurrence

Jupiter natally falls in my Third house; events have clearly expressed this Mercury/Jupiter vibe! I’ve had book proofs (for The Moon’s Nodes in Action) and a 12500 word politics essay land on my desk for me to read through, complete with short deadlines. On the same day I had a computer meltdown around the issue of accessing wifi and 3G connectivity in my new office. Today, there was  a very creative meeting with a new colleague who I hope will be a research subject in my next book project…..I suspect he has Jupiter strongly marked in his horoscope!

Jupiter is always the planet of excess both positive and negative. I feel oppressed by literary demands! But I’m optimistically sure it will all turn out just fine…

Now, tell me, how was it for you folks out there?

(NOTE: I will let my readers know when the download of  The Moon’s Nodes in Action’, elegantly rendered as an e-book by co-occurrence, is available…likely by the end of April 2015… if you want to pre-order a copy, just send your email address to me, at info@anne-whitaker.com)

Zodiac

Zodiac

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250 words copyright Anne Whitaker 2015

Licensed under Creative Commons – for conditions see Home Page

 

‘The Moon’s Nodes in Action’

‘The Moon’s Nodes in Action’ is the research study I wrote to complete my three-year Diploma from the Centre for Psychological Astrology in London.

At that time, the Centre’s Director Dr Liz Greene described ‘The Moon’s Nodes in Action’ as “…a superb thesis…” I was of course, delighted to have my work described in those terms. However, as life moved on, other projects beckoned.  But I never lost my interest in the Moon’s Nodes…

Many people – myself included – find the Moon’s Nodes fascinating. What you will shortly read is a comprehensive, original piece of research, born from my curiosity and interest over many years. As  fellow writer and astrologer Paul F Newman says in his generous preface to the study:

“… this book is about….  Nodal Returns, Nodal synastries, Nodal ‘trawls’ and Nodal moments.  A knowledge-gathering journey through the lives and charts of the famous and not so famous – yet with the excitement of a personal quest and the inestimable benefit of coming through the pen of a gifted writer.  Herein are facts – not theories – that you can use to enrich your own astrological interpretations and personal understanding of the Moon’s Nodes in Action….”

Please note that the study was written in 1998 and I have chosen not to update it, but simply to present the research as I completed it at the time. Being aware that other astrologers have published their own research since then,  I am happy  to make my small contribution, albeit somewhat retrospectively!

The Nodal Return cycle is 18.6 years. When I wrote the study, the North Node was in the sign of Virgo. I have just realised that it returns there in November 2015, the year my research is finally published in its entirety, eighteen years after I first began to write it in the autumn of 1997…

UPDATE 12.4. 2019:

In the last 3 years, over 5000 people have downloaded a free copy of this book, and I am delighted that they have done so – I’ve also received some wonderful feedback, eg

I want to give you feedback immediately: the value of your book is at least 1 million dollars and I got it for 7 dollars. What a buy and I have been through only 25 pages!’ (Tuomo Henttu, Finland) 

 However, I feel the time has come now to charge a small fee, ie $7.00 per copy.

If you’d like to buy the book, the simplest way is to go into PayPal and send $7.00 directly to my PayPal account which is: contact.anne.w@gmail.com

PayPal will then send me an email notifying me of the payment, whereupon I will send you the book within 24 hours. Thank you!

OR – to my UK Royal Bank of Scotland A/C:

Sort Code: 83 21 05, a/c number 00282322 

Zodiac

Zodiac

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500 words copyright Anne Whitaker 2015/2019

Licensed under Creative Commons – for conditions see Home Page