Thou art a symbol and a sign to mortals of their fate and force
like thee, man is in part divine, a troubled stream from a pure source..
~”Prometheus“, George Gordon, Lord Byron
The Nodes of the Moon are a tricky thing to understand, because they are not an object that you can rest your thought on; they are, rather, two opposing points in space that are described by intersecting orbital planes, and they are in continuous motion. The motion of the Nodes is rhythmic, completing their course in 18.6 years. If you want to study the Nodes in your own biography, consider the events that took place in your life every 18. 6 years (so at ages 18.6, 37.2, 55.8…)
The Nodal Inversion occurs every 9 years, when the North and South Nodes change places, as it were, and each Node is at the opposite side of the zodiac from where it started.
The Nodes are not isolated, but sweep in a unique harmony through the the zodiac. For instance, the Node is at the inverse of its position at one’s birth in the 27th year; it returns for a third time to its exact position at birth in the 55th year. What do the ages 27 and 55 have in common? They each mark the last year of the planet Saturn’s return to its position at birth.
Nodal return=every 18.6 years
Saturn return=every 28 years
The nodal inversion at 27 opens the door on where we’ve been; the nodal return at 55 opens the door on where you’re going.
At this autumn cross quarter time 2018, the Nodes are at 0 degrees Leo/Aquarius in the tropical zodiac, readying for the sojourn through Cancer/Capricorn, which begins November 7, 2018 and lasts until May 4, 2020. While the region of Cancer marked the gateway of the human soul on its descent from the celestial world to the earthly world, Capricorn marked the gateway of the gods, and the human being’s ascent from the physical back to the spiritual/celestial world.
Also at this Autumn Cross Quarter, 2018, the planet Venus is tucked into the light of the Sun and slipping away from the Scorpion clutches into Libra, where she has dominion. The ancients honored a sacred relationship between starry worlds and the human form, and posited that seven of the 12 regions of zodiac stars demonstrated how far the human being had progressed in ascending the forces that descend to the earth from the stars, and five that are still in descending mode.
The seven ascending signs (Aries to Libra) they aligned to the human form from head to hip (head/aries; larynx/taurus; limbs/gemini; rib cage/cancer; heart/leo; inner organism of torso/virgo; hip/libra). The descending signs they aligned this way: scorpio/reproductive region of human being; sagittarius/thigh; capricorn/knee; aquarius/shin; pisces/feet. The profound wisdom of these alignments will be the topic of another blog post, but for now, I wanted to share the curious simultaneity of events:
Sun comes to its cross quarter November 1st
Moon’s Nodes slip from Leo/Aquarius (fire/air) to Cancer/Capricorn (water/earth)
Venus slips retrograde across the ascending/descending line in the human form as described by the zodiac.
We are definitely at a crossing point in the cycle of the year, in the 18.6 year nodal rhythm, and in the 8 year orbit of Venus through the sky. How shall we engage this time?
“I readily believe that there are more invisible than visible things in the universe. But who shall describe for us their families, their ranks, relationships, distinguishing features and functions? What do they do? Where do they live? The human mind has always circled about knowledge of these things, but never attained it. I do not doubt, however, that it is sometimes good to contemplate in the mind, as in a picture, the image of a greater and better world; otherwise the intellect, habituated to the petty things of daily life, may too much contract itself, and wholly sink down to trivial thoughts. But meanwhile we must be vigilant for truth and keep proportion, that we may distinguish the certain for the uncertain, night and day.”~Thomas Burnet (1635-1715)
In anticipation of the season ahead,
Mary Stewart Adams