posted February 17, 2008 09:33 AM            

Karmic astrology - Retrogrades and reincarnation

by Martin Schulman

Retrogrades and magnetism:

There is nothing in the universe that doesn’t have magnetic qualities. thought itself is known to attract similar thought.
Each individual has his own magnetic energies based entirely upon how the makeup of his own planetary horoscope arrangement is used. All configurations attract certain things and at the same time repel others. Thus, the whole world is in a positive and negative condition at the same time.
In the individual horoscope some planets are positioned in a point of radiation where they constantly give out their energies to the world. Others are positioned as points of absorption through which the individual is able to assimilate the understanding he needs of the universe.
Truly, it is how the individual uses his planets which will determine their magnetic qualities at any particular moment above and beyond the basic magnetic quality of the planet. Thus, even planets which absorb can radiate, depending upon how the individual himself is polarized at any particular moment.
When a person is experiencing a great deal of energy, beyond what he needs at the time, most of his planets act as radiators and he becomes a giver to others. In the opposite condition, when a person is experiencing less energy then he needs to function, his planets become absorbers, drawing from others the energy he his lacking.
Man has the ability from moment to moment to actually control his own magnetic field! to see this, consider the planet Venus, which itself is negatively magnetized and is generally thought of as an absorber. Yet, when an individual has, through all his other planets, more energy then he needs at any given moment, he will use his Venus to radiate love to others. the same applies to Mars, often thought of as aggressively masculine and self centered. In the same circumstances, when an individual has more energy then he needs, he uses his mars to energize others. This occurs with all the planets. From moment to moment and day to day, each planet is in part a radiator and an absorber.
It is to what extent one holds dominance over the other at any given point in an individual's life that astrology concerns itself. And the astrologer tries to the best of his ability, to teach individuals how to use their planets in both ways.
When an individual is able to use all of his planets as radiators and absorbers, switching their polarity as is needed, he does not need a horoscope reading. But, there is rarely an astrology reading in which this is so. Usually, the individual is either absorbing or radiating too much or too little in terms of how he combines and blends all the planetary energies in his chart. To the layman, this is defined as having personal problems that one does not know how to cope with. To the astrologer it is only a polarization or magnetic energy and, as soon as the individual can be brought to understand and to develop control over his own magnetic for fields, much of his personal problems miraculously disappear!
There is no question that Retrograde planets create quite a different force field for the individual to deal with than planets in direct motion. It has been the general lack of understanding of this force field that has caused so many individuals to experience so many personal difficulties in this area.
The general tendency is for the individual to try to use his retrogrades in exactly the same manner as he is using his planets which are in direct motion. And when this doesn't work he starts dividing himself into various unrelated states which can result in general misery.
With planets in direct motion it is very easy for the individual to switch the emphasis of the planetary energy within himself from moment to moment as his own total energy pattern rises and falls. However, when he tries to do this with his Retrograde planets he runs into quite a different situation.

Firstly, he is at any given time going through part of a threefold Retrograde Process. He is.
1. Jumping ahead of himself trying to live the future now.
2 In the process of living out the future, experiencing the feelings that he has already been there,
3 Repeating in mind the first phase, so that he is actually reliving the looking forward to a future that has already occurred.

When the individual is in Phase 1 (jumping ahead of himself into trying to live the future now) it is nearly impossible for him to employ the retrograde negatively, for he is trying to use all his energy for the propulsion of forward motion. Thus, during this phase he radiates outward so that he can magnetize himself towards all people and conditions which will bring about the future experience.
During phase 2 (when he is actually living out the experience) he is often unaware of phase 1 where he actually brought it about. but he does experience more deja-vu feelings than direct motion planet individuals. In other words he has the sense to know that he has experienced this before, but he doesn’t know exactly how, when or why. It is this ambivalence that creates a cross vibration where he is operating negatively and positively as the same time. Part of him is positively radiating his desire to complete the experience, while the other part of him is negatively seeking to absorb the understanding of why the experience feels repetitive to him. Naturally, it is during this phase that the individual is least understood by others.
Finally in phase 3 where he is repeating in mind the looking forward to a future that he has already lived through, he becomes completely out of time synchronization with the rest of the world as he attempts to reabsorb the individuals and circumstances which will bring him back to the past. he is more understandable during this phase, but he is also more of an energy drain on others because he is radiating practically no outward energy.
It is interesting to note that phases 1 and 2 -the attempt to live the future and the cross vibration of future-past, are so private to the individual that astrology hardly notices these as characteristics of the Retrograde. Instead, it has always been phase 3 of the Retrograde process (the past lingering or retreating characteristic) that has always been the most noticeable. Perhaps this is because this final phase is where the individual not only spends most of his time but also reacts in a more observably different way than society at large.

Retrogrades and the time factor:

Because of the threefold Retrograde Process, the individual experiences his life in different time sequences than those individuals with direct motions planets. In fact, the parts of his life that he experienced by Retrogrades are quite different than the parts of his life that he experiences though his own direct motion planets.
When the sequence of events in his mind is running in contrary motion or changing direction away from the sequence of events in his life, he is actually breaking the time barrier. Depending upon which phase he is in, he is living at least part of his life in a different type of time warp. Here in this amazing transcendence of time through Retrogrades is the major key to Karma.

Retrogrades and Karma:

Not only do Retrogrades cause the individual to regress back to yesterday, last month and last year, but they also induce regression back to former lives whose memories carry strongly into the present incarnation. these memories represent specific events or individuals that were meaningful enough in another life to still have a hold on the person now.
Whenever a Retrograde planet appears in the horoscope, the individual does not come forward in time sequence along with the rest of his chart. Instead, he keeps trying to resolve the earlier circumstances which still appear unfinished.
In these specific areas of his life there does not seem to be a demarcation between one life an another. His memories are so vivid that he doesn’t even recognize then as memories. But rather they seem to him to be the present. Nevertheless he is living a dulled phase of another time zone whose irresistible magnetism seems even more important then his current life."

Retrograde Mercury Karma:

The individual with retrograde mercury is here to experience an unresolved karma in relationships. He has a tendency to react to others as if they symbolize people from his past. Thus, he has difficulty keeping the full focus of his consciousness in the "here and now."
Usually this manifests as difficulties with family and relatives. But the question of relationships goes beyond how one communicates with people. It also involves one's perception of the universe as a whole. Often there is a problem inherent in the retrograde mercury in terms of seeing what might be called an inverted reality. the individual has difficulty understanding the very basic relationship between cause and effect. He questions the very essence of life itself, yet he cannot often see most simple links between things, circumstances, and people. Losing himself in thought which is beyond comprehension he must learn to be content with the very basic simplicities upon which life is founded. so intent is he on discovering that which is beyond understanding that he nearly always misses the obvious.
From a karmic point of view then, this individual must learn how to focus his attention on the reality of the present rather than losing himself in all of the transparent overlays he perceives. Once he can do this, he will be able to establish a firm reference point in the here and now through which all of the discoveries he makes can be expressed to the outer world.

Retrograde Venus Karma:

When Venus is Retrograde, the individual is carrying with him a great misunderstanding about love in a past life. Usually there was such intense hurt, that he now cuts himself off from fully experiencing the richness of love because he fears being hurt that much again. Whether male or female, there is much present life difficulty in relationships with the opposite sex.
While trying to live in the present, he endlessly recreates a past memory of love in a former incarnation which still keeps eluding him. He reacts to the present as if he were actually living in his past. In this sense he is fixated at a point in time, and no matter what he does there hardly seems to be forward progress that he says he wants.
In the charts of males, this sometimes indicates Karma related to homosexuality. But even homosexuality has its degrees, ranging from outspoken male who tries politically to sell homosexuality to the world down to the male who would not hear the word in his presence, is married, but seeks every possible opportunity to avoid females while proving his masculinity. This latter type of male is the kind of individual whose life revolves around his male friends, using the guise of association, clubs, hobbies, and so on as an excuse for his avoidance of women. He can function respectably in society, but he is still a latent homosexual. Less often, we find similar reactions in the female with retrograde Venus.
The most noticeable Karmic pattern is that the individual, whether male or female has a powerful tendency to mistrust most offers of love, feeling that the individuals making these offers usually have ulterior motives.

Retrograde Mars Karma:

When mars is retrograde in the horoscope, all the actions of the individual in the current life are recreations of the past.
The individual tries to find people in this life who symbolize all those who fulfilled him in past incarnations. In his mind he throws them into the roles of these no longer existent figures. With them he tries to act out all that he could not previously express. He tends to over-react in an attempt to forcibly move them into the imaginary roles he has conceived for them. Thus he comes on too strong and sensing rejection but not understanding why, he pulls back into himself never fully experiencing his current life relations in the present moment.
He tends to center on a time from his past which represented a force he had to deal with. Now he unconsciously vibrates to that exact same force, be it anger, revenge, hostility, or misdirected action in every person in the present. In some cases he may be carrying a former life grudge which makes him mistrust other people's actions. In at least one past life he has lived through suspicious or deceptive actions on the part of others. the residue of this in the current life weigh heavily on the present behavior.

Retrograde Jupiter Karma:

The karma in the retrograde Jupiter always deals with introspection through the higher mind. the individual must be able to justify himself to himself in order to feel that he is truly worthy of the respect and honor that Jupiter promises.
In some former incarnation there had to be a high regard for some religious or spiritual principle which the individual has seen violated. In the current life he feels even more determined to restate the value of this principle in his mind.
He has to guard against being judgmental of others as he sees an outer world vibrating to rules he cannot fathom.
still he must have patience with others, if he expects them to listen to the expression of his inner truths.
On another level, there is a tremendous amount of deja-vu experiences inherent in the Retrograde Jupiter. Times and places from he past all blend into a continuous present, such that at any given moment or in any given place, the individual is in touch with generalizing that time or place, the individual into all like times and places he has experienced. Thus, his consciousness expands through these two dimensions simultaneously, and often without limitation. He does not know how to bind him mind totally inward to a fine point focus. Instead he absorbs the symbols of his thoughts from his environment, ultimately to learn that anywhere is home, and anytime is now!
The more these outer symbols represent the truths he learned in a former life, the more comfortable he becomes.

Retrograde Saturn Karma:

Retrograde Saturn always indicates a continuing Karma from past incarnations. Whatever the lesson, the individual is unusually slow in bringing it to completion. Thus, in this life he needs to carry the extra weight in his soul of a former life so that when the two ultimately combine there will be enough evidence for him to fully understand his true mission. Much of what he does in this life is a repeat of what his Saturn already stands for. But now he faces circumstances and situations that are slightly different. the Retrograde action of the planet can make him feel its restrictive force, particularly if he tries to escape the weight of its lesson. But, if he flows with it, understanding that through the patient guidance he is receiving, he is slowly being led to identification with something higher than he may have imagined, he can truly appreciate the workings of god's beautiful universe through this planet.
Saturn is one's teacher and when it appears retrograde, the individual has experienced similar teachings before this life. As the years unfold there is an enormous amount of wisdom that steadily pours from the retrograde Saturn.
Of all the planets, it is the most natural and comfortable in its retrograde position, for it affords the individual a kind of second chance to improve on the relationship formed between his soul, the circumstances he was faced with in a past incarnation, and how these were understood. Now under the gentle guidance of Saturn, he is able to put into form all that he has learned in he past.

Retrograde Uranus Karma

On a personal level, retrograde Uranus plays havoc in human relationships. The individual experiences an inner changeability that often makes him hypocritical to himself. his mental and emotional levels often fight each other so that he may know certain things which should lead him in the direction which his knowledge points to, but at the same time, he feels other things which may lead him in an entirely different direction.

He is living a Karma of learning how to express the inner freedom that he brings into this life. And, he must not be bound by trying to make sense at all times to others, or even himself. A free spirit does not always appear to make sense, nor should it. The fact is, that a logical continuance of common sense in an individual is more of a saturnian trait, bound by the rigidity of order, discipline, and the pointing of oneself towards specific goals. But the individual with Retrograde Uranus is not living such a Karma.

In order to explore his inner being, as well as so many other realms of understanding that mankind as a whole has not yet reached, his path is often long and crooked. He darts this way and that seeking the formulas that make the world work. Still, he knows that his quest is a never ending process, for each new discovery leads to still another question. He can be extremely happy so long as others do not try to force him into molds of thinking and behavior patterns that he has already transcended due to the meaningless roles they play in his perception of the grand scheme.
He has learned how to be independent in former incarnations, and now he must use this independence to rediscover and understand the reason he originally wanted it.

Retrograde Neptune Karma

The individual with Retrograde Neptune is living through the Karma of learning how to sort out that which is real in terms of his ideals, and that which gives the appearance of fulfilling his dreams. He knows what he needs but has difficulty finding it in the external world. Constantly living one dream after another, he often winds up running from imaginary shadows, while chasing unrealistic fantasies. Still, he must find his ideals in the he world of "no form" which has such a strong hold on him. He sometimes makes the mistake of projecting past dreams into present situations. This does not allow him to see the reality of the present clearly. He is highly intuitive, and through the different Retrograde phases he is often able to know the outcome of situations long before he gets into them. But until he learns how to cope with the subtle flow of Neptunian energy that he feels within himself, he does not easily trust his intuition.

These individuals must learn how to integrate their senses with the ideals and dreams that they bring into this life. Instead of trying to distort perceptions in order to make the present fit the past, there must be an awareness of what parts of the present truly symbolize the parts of the past that are karmically incomplete.

Retrograde Pluto Karma

The individual with retrograde Pluto is living through a Karma of experiencing mass consciousness within himself. He feels the impact of world thought, and is conscious of how it relates to world though throughout the ages. Not always expressing outwardly what he knows, he tends to see other individuals as part of a larger and more inclusive whole rather than on a constant one-to-one basis.
In his personal life, it is far less important what he does than what he thinks about what he does. Much of the time he lives within is conscience, sifting through the great multitude of feelings and experiences within himself.

The spiritual growth possible with retrograde Pluto is limited only by the individuals conscious mind. He can literally rise above much karma of his entire race if he chooses. Interestingly enough, if he tries to avoid elevating his Karma, he will feel the lower karmas of others around him anyway. Thus, if he chooses to elevate himself, he truly can begin to live the parable of "being in this world but not of it." In order to eventually achieve this he goes through temporary withdrawals during the first half of life, until he learns how to be impersonal with the intensity of the world he senses outside himself, so that he ultimately reaches the point at which he no longer feels it acting within himself.

posted February 17, 2008 09:35 AM            

[quoting John McCormick]
Having retrogrades in one's chart is more common than not having any. That is to say, if you take cross sampling of people from anywhere in the world, you will find that MOST people have one or more retrograde bodies.

The outer planets are retrograde quite a bit. On average, Pluto and Neptune are retrograde about 160 days each. That's almost half a year. Uranus is almost as long, about 150 days, while Saturn averages 140 days, and Jupiter 120 days. Chiron is a bit more irregular in orbit, but it has a retrograde period that ranges from around 140-150 days. So just from this, it's easy to see why so many people have at least one outer planet retrograde at birth.

Mercury goes into retrograde three or four times a year, ranging from 20-28 days each time. So about one out of every 5-6 people, on average, have Mercury Retrograde at birth, and a good portion of them have at least one outer planet retrograde.

The oddballs are Mars and Venus. Venus can be 18 months between retrogrades, and when it finally gets around to it, it only stays that way for about 40-45 days. And Mars is even longer between retrogrades, as much as two full years, only staying that way for around 80 days when it does. So if you have Venus or Mars retrograde, that stands out. You are definitely in the minority when looking at other people's Venus or Mars positions.

As I said in the beginning of this post, more people have something retrograde than nothing. There can be periods of months, sometimes even years, when at least something will be retrograde. The dynamics shift, as the planets shift in relation to each other, so there can be some periods of time when nothing is retrograde for several months, and other periods of time when as one planet enters retrograde, another goes direct, one right after the other.

But overall, it is the person who has no retrograde bodies that is in the minority, and having several bodies retrograde is not infrequent at all.

Saying all this, I want to bring up the work of John McCormick, who studied the motion of retrograde planets over a 100 year period, and then applied his findings to World War II Generals, Statesmen, Writers, Athletes, and others with respect to retrograde planets in the natal charts. Here, he found some quite interesting and unexpected things. (John did not include Chiron in his studies, so it would be interesting to what, if any, differences would have shown up in his results if he had.)

Take Neptune. One would expect that about forty-four percent of any group of people would have Neptune retrograde. But John found that ninety-two percent of those Generals had Neptune retrograde! (One of the few exceptions, and the most notable, was General Douglas Macarthur who had it direct.) Think about that for a minute....let it sink in.

He looked at US Presidents. Unlike the generals, only nineteen percent of United States Presidents had Neptune retrograde. Much lower than the expected forty-four percent, of course, but even more striking is the difference between the charts of the generals, and the charts of the presidents. What is it that makes a Neptune retrograde rise to the rank of general, but makes a Neptune direct more likely to become president?

But he didn't stop there. In the 100 year period he studied, there were no retrograde planets ONLY ABOUT EIGHT PERCENT OF THE TIME! And yet, even though there was only an 8 percent chance of having zero retrograde planets, THIRTY SIX of the US Presidents was born without a retrograde planet in their chart.

Let me say that again in different words, for emphasis. While only approximately eight out of every one hundred people, born during that century, had no retrograde planets in their chart, almost every single US President was born with no retrogrades! (I rounded off, it's more like 7.7 out of 100 people.)

Unfortunately, John passed away before he could do a great deal more, but he did set down some interesting findings, which have been supported by several astrologers who have since studied his results. First, let me break down the percentage of time various quantities of planets were retrograde during that 100 year period. (And note: I think that everyone reading this was born during the 100 year period charted.)

Born with 0 retrograde planets: 7.7 percent
Born with 1 retrograde planet: 18.7 percent
Born with 2 retrograde planets: 29.2 percent
Born with 3 retrograde planets: 26.7 percent
Born with 4 retrograde planets: 12.7 percent
Born with 5 retrograde planets: 4.15 percent
Born with 6 retrograde planets: 0.66 percent
Born with 7 retrograde planets: 0.005 percent

Think about it.....almost sixty percent of the population has either two or three bodies retrograde.

Then, John went on to theorize about the meanings of how many planets you had retrograde.

No retrograde planets was found in people with a dogged perseverance, unrelenting in their drive to achieve their goals. He found
this very high, not just in US Presidents, but in the charts of successful athletes and dancers.

One planet retrograde, he found, tended to not really need the company of others to be happy, and was somewhat of an independent type, something like the Aries type who can work and achieve alone.

When people meet someone with two retrograde planets, they tend to feel comfortable with that person....because there is a feeling of familiarity about them. In general, people are drawn to these people, and tend to like them.

People with three retrograde planets, John found, tend to operate more behind the scenes, and have a strong determination to excel at something.

Four retrograde planets was something John often found in the charts of writers, and others who seek private ways to express themselves, and are often drawn to the more solitary professions.

Five retrogrades planets tends even more towards solitary occupations, and is not likely to strive for a position where they need to please other people. In general, the public would tend to prefer to shake your hand than to greet you with a hug.

Six retrograde planets was so rare (only 51 days out of the whole 100 years), that John did not have enough people to come to any conclusions. In fact, he only found two famous people with six retrogrades, Angela Davis and Muhammad Ali. Definitely not a large enough group to speculate on. And of course, the group with 7 retrograde planets was even smaller, so there is no speculation there as well.

A lot more work could be done to expand on these categories, flush them out. And there is also a matter of degree. Take the person with 1 planet retrograde. If that person has a lot of Aries/Mars type energy, it might be difficult to see the effects of the one retrograde planet. On the other hand, a person with one retrograde planet, with nothing in Aries, and a quiet, non assertive Mars, might not seem quite so Arien, EXCEPT in comparison to other quiet types who have a different number of retrograde bodies.

One more thing before I move on from John's work. He also hinted that one can sort of shift from one category to another, as planets in our chart progress retrograde to direct, or direct to retrograde.

Using John's choice of planets, I was only born with one body retrograde, Neptune. (No, I don't want to be a general.) This progressed direct when I was 10-1/2 years of age, and from then until I was 47, I had no retrograde planets by progression. Shortly after my 47th birthday, my Jupiter went retrograde, and will stay that way the rest of my life.

In my early childhood, I was very much a loner. I can blame it on a lot of environmental factors, but in truth I was happiest when left to do my own thing. I was a little experimenter, curious about everything in nature.
Then, around age 10-1/2, I discovered botany. I became rather obsessed, and for many, many years it was all I could think of. I remember when I graduated elementary school, one teacher wrote in my autograph book, "I'll always remember the Luther Burbank we had in our classroom." I was still mostly a loner, but had developed an intense focus. Years later, in college, I shifted my focus from plants to planets.....and anyone who knows me can vouch for my dogged pursuit of information on Chiron.
When my Jupiter progressed retrograde, I was once more back to one retrograde planet. This happened when my mother had turned very ill (Jupiter, among other things, rules my Sagittarian Moon), and she passed away the following year. I started being at odds with myself. Part of me wanted to 'do my own thing', part of me wanted to be connected with someone else. I got involved in a relationship that was very intense, but I never did stop wanting to do things my own way.

I've been playing around a bit with a theory I first read on www.therealastrology.com. Kevin writes:
"I feel that planets in direct motion are concerned with issues of growth, while planets in retrograde motion are concerned with issues of evolution. What’s the difference between the two? Well, growth cycles can be accomplished within the span of an individual lifetime. Evolution cycles, on the other hand, take many lifetimes to complete.
"When I look at a natal retrograde planet (and here, I focus mainly on Mercury, Venus and Mars, since the other planets are retrograde so much of the time), I generally take it to mean that the individual is working with that planet on a different level than most of us; they are trying to learn evolutionary lessons, and these don’t always sit well with the daily cycles of growth. Since evolutionary energy is about breaking out of the current growth cycle, it can be difficult to integrate at times. Individuals with natal retrograde planets have a different, and very personal experience of that planet, and it’s not always easy for them to communicate this."

I like that. True, it smacks of reincarnation, something I'm on the fence about. But it 'feels' right to me.

Kevin goes on to say:
"I began to explore this theory when I started to work extensively with the Moon’s Nodes. The Moon’s Nodes most certainly have to do with evolutionary issues: in a sense, they help to connect our past life experiences and lessons with our path in this lifetime. And the Moon’s Nodes spend most of the time in retrograde motion.

Again, this 'feels' right to me. And it also lends itself to theorizing about people who were born with the Nodes direct. Perhaps they are here to deal with new issues, starting in a new direction, having finished with other lessons in the previous life?

posted February 17, 2008 09:51 AM            

* if you skip reading the full article below, just want to point out that a retrograde Lunar Node is not the same as a retrograde planet.

“A New Look at the Nodes”
The Moon's Nodes are one of the most fundamentally important symbols in Astrology, and also one of the most fundamentally misunderstood. While most Astrologers include the Nodes in their charts, few seem to be particularly comfortable with interpreting them. Pick up any introductory book on Astrology, for example. You'll find no shortage of information on all of the Signs of the Zodiac, and on all of the planets as well. But where most books devote entire chapters to each of the planets and the Signs, the Moon's Nodes are barely mentioned and rarely interpreted. When I began my Astrological studies, I was rather confused about exactly how to interpret and work with the Moon's Nodes, and I was also getting frustrated at the lack of information published on the Nodes. It wasn't until I started taking classes in astrology that I even learned that the Nodes are the transiting eclipse points. Now, I may not have known much about astrology, but even then I knew enough to know that eclipses are extremely important events! I reasoned that if eclipses were so important, then the Moon's Nodes must also be very important, and I set out to uncover everything that I could find that anyone had ever written on the Moon's Nodes. What I found was pretty consistent. The North Node (often referred to as Caput Draconis, the Dragon's Head) is associated with all of the good things that we could possibly experience in our lifetime, including success, advancement, increase, and personal fulfillment. The South Node (just as often referred to as Cauda Draconis, the Dragon's Tail) is associated with huge, heaping amounts of what you would expect to come out of the tail end of a Dragon.
In other words, "South Node: BAD. North Node: GOOD."
To be fair, this sort of approach is more common in the older, more "traditional” astrology sources. The more modern and humanistic approach to astrology tends to take a more enlightened view of the Nodes, in keeping with the trend to re-define the astrological symbols in a more empowering and less fatalistic way. (In other words, "There are no bad planets, only bad experiences of them....and Saturn is your friend.") In the more "modern" astrology texts the Nodes get a bit of a face lift. The South Node is promoted from evil incarnate to the point in the chart where we are most likely to follow the path of least resistance, or to rest on our laurels. The South Node is also related to the karma that we are working out in this lifetime. The North Node becomes the process and experiences that we must strive for in order to work off our Karma and grow in this lifetime. In short: "South Node: BAD, North Node: GOOD."



The Search For A Definition of the Nodes
Value judgments aside, I realized that I still hadn't found any justification for these interpretations. Why do the Moon's Nodes function in the way that they do? How did the Nodes become so closely linked to our spiritual path, our past lives and our karma? Every other symbol in Astrology has some rationale behind its interpretation. We can gain a better understanding of the nature and symbolism of the planets through exploring Greek and Roman mythology. The Signs can be broken down into Polarity, Element and Modality. We can come up with a description of Aries by combining and blending the qualities of the Masculine/Positive Polarity, the Element of Fire, and the Cardinal Modality. Even the aspects can be understood using numerology and harmonics. But what about the Moon's Nodes?
(I should mention at this point, that there is a mythology associated with the Nodes, but it's not from the Western Tradition: it's from India and the Hindu tradition. The Nodes in Vedic astrology do not function in the same way that they do in Western Astrology.)
Since I couldn't find a direct source of information on the Moon's Nodes to help me to build a better understanding of their symbolism, I decided to take a closer look at the Moon's Nodes and see what I could extrapolate myself. The first thing that I did was to look at exactly what the Moon's Nodes are from an astronomical perspective. What I learned is that the Nodes are mathematical points that represent where the orbit of the Moon around the Earth crosses the Ecliptic (which is the apparent path of the Sun around the Earth). The North Node is the point where the Moon's orbit rises above the Ecliptic, and the South Node is the point where the Moon's orbit falls below the Ecliptic. The North Node and the South Node are always exactly opposite each other in the chart.
This may not be quite as obvious as Elements and Modalities, but just this simple physical description of the Moon's Nodes can help us to gain a more complete understanding of what they represent in Astrology.
The Nodes Are Mathematical Points—They Are Not Physical Bodies
The Nodes are mathematical points; they are not physical bodies. What this means is that the Nodes do not emanate light. The Nodes can receive aspects from other planets, but they can not directly influence how a physical body expresses itself.
This also means that the Nodes do not filter the energy of the Signs. With the Nodes, as with the Angles, we have a pure expression of the energy and symbolism of the Signs. Our experience of the energy of Aries, for example, is very different when we are experiencing Venus in Aries than it is when we experience Mars in Aries. The personalities of the planets color the expression of the Signs that they visit. The Nodes, however, do not change how the Signs are expressed or experienced.



The Nodes Are Related To The Moon, The Sun And The Ecliptic
The Nodes are the most closely related to the symbolism and processes of the Moon because they represent points on the Moon's orbit around the Earth. But the Nodes also relate to the Sun because of their relationship to the Ecliptic. In other words, the Nodes are the points where an aspect of the Lunar and Solar principals connect.
Let's look at the Moon first, and get a feel for what the Moon brings to this process. The Moon reflects the light of the Sun; it is passive, receptive, and feminine. The Moon responds, and produces emotions and feelings. The Moon is the container of our experience, providing form and location for the Sun's expression. The Moon relates to our conditioning, habits, vices, learned responses, in other words, the Moon is our memory. The Moon is not just our memory of this lifetime, the Moon is our soul's memory, and the Moon is what our soul wants us to remember from other lifetimes. The Moon is our unconscious and our sub-conscious.
The Sun, on the other hand, is our conscious, active, life force. The Sun is our will, our power, our sense of purpose. The Sun is the heart of our existence, is the motivation for our life this time around. The Sun is how we are seen, how we shine, how we express and project ourselves. The Sun is how we want to be a hero in our lives; it is how we want to become an individual.
The Ecliptic, the apparent orbit of the Sun around the Earth, describes the path that our journey will follow in this lifetime. When we look at a natal chart, what we're actually looking at is a 2-dimensional representation of the positions of the planets as viewed from the Earth, flattened to the plane of the Ecliptic. In other words, in a chart, the Ecliptic is the chart wheel itself. When we look at the positions of the planets along the Ecliptic, we are looking at where along our journey we encounter these energies. The position of the Sun at birth shows the point where we chose to begin our quest for self-expression and self-realization in this lifetime. The Ecliptic, the chart wheel, represents the actual course that we will follow.
Viewed in this way, the Nodes represent the places in the chart where our past, where our soul memories (the Moon) intersect with our current conscious experiences, and our current cycle of lessons and growth. The South Node is the point where we are able to dip below the Ecliptic into our past and access our memories from previous journeys. The North Node is the point where our past lessons intersect with our present journey, the point where we emerge from the past and move into new territory. It is the point where our past lessons come up into the light of conscious awareness and let us look at this piece of our past in an entirely new way.
Now the connection of the South Node to our past, our karma, and of the North Node to our future, or dharma, begins to make sense.



The Nodes Are Always In Perfect Opposition
Next, lets look at the Opposition aspect. Planets are said to be in Opposition when they occupy points across the wheel from each other, at an angle of 180°. Traditionally, Oppositions were considered "hard" or "challenging" aspects, and fortunately, this opinion has been largely updated.
When I look at Oppositions, the keywords I start with are "balance" and "perspective". (Others also use "compromise" but I find that limiting. To me, "compromise" means that each person has to give up something that they want to get something that they want. "Balance" just means that there is agreement and harmony.) The thing about Oppositions is that both planets really "want" the same thing, they just approach it from different ends of the spectrum. If we can get the two planets to see things from the other's point of view, then we can find that middle ground where they can work together and both get what they want. This process is made easier by the fact that being directly across from each other, the two planets can "see" each other easily, and are able to gain greater perspective on the big picture.
Putting It Together
In other words, the key to the Nodal Axis is to get the South Node and the North Node to work with each other, right? Not quite. The Nodes are not planets, they are mathematical points in the chart. This doesn't make them any less important than a physical body, it just makes them a bit different to work with. The planets represent physical urges (for want of a better word) and drives that we all have. We can either choose to work with our Mars, for example, or to ignore it. Either way, we're going to be very aware of its presence in our charts. When Mars is activated by transit, or when transiting Mars triggers activity in our charts, we feel it. If we choose to become aware of it, and own it, we can learn to use the energy in the most constructive way possible. If we don't, we're still going to experience it.
The Nodes, on the other hand, have to do with the spiritual or soul lessons that we can encounter in this lifetime. The Nodes are where the path of our Soul development intersects with the path of our physical experiences. Since we're presently incarnated on the physical plane, that's where our focus naturally lies. If we don't choose to work with the Nodes and their lessons on a conscious level, we are probably not going to be very aware of how they manifest.
In order to really work with and experience the Nodes, we have to become consciously aware of our Spirituality, of our soul connection and our connection to the universe. We have to accept that we came here with a lesson that we chose to work on in this life, and we have to be ready to ask what that lesson might be. Are we learning it now? Of course. But the soul path lesson is far more subtle than a Mars transit.
The Nodal axis is not our spiritual path in this lifetime. What it is, or rather, what it can be, is a spiritual compass, pointing us in the right direction. The Nodes show us where our spiritual path and our soul lessons intersect with our physical path, and they are the points where we can most easily align with our spiritual path.
So with the Nodes, it's not just about perspective and balance, it's about leaning how to consciously work with and integrate the lessons, gifts and experiences indicated by the North and South Nodes. The Nodes can tell us what we have to work with, and show us what direction to go in to experience our lessons and to look for our true path in this life.



The South Node
The South Node, then, sheds light on our past. By its location in the chart, the South Node represents the types of experiences and memories that our soul wants us to have in this life to help us on our developmental path. If our soul has gone to all of the trouble of bringing up these experiences, shouldn't we pay attention? And would a soul filled with love and light intentionally send us back into the material realm with only excess baggage? Of course not.
The South Node represents gifts to us from past lives. The lessons, the skills, the talents and abilities that we struggled so many years to master are still available to us through the South Node. The South Node is our soul's report card. It tells us what subjects we have passed: the South Node says, "Congratulations, you have passed Gemini Level I." For "incompletes" and less impressive marks, look to Saturn for further instruction and re-testing, not to the South Node.
Now, just because we can now look at the South Node in a more positive light doesn't mean that the traditional warnings about the South Node being a "trap" don't have merit. Every planet and point in the chart has a highest potential and a potential trap. With the South Node, the trap is to mistake summer vacation for graduation. We may be able to take a break, but we're still in school. So long as we are incarnated on the Earth, we are here to learn.
Even though the South Node represents lessons and skills that we have learned, used, and often mastered in the past, it also is an indication that we still have more to learn about them in this life. We may have learned the skills too well and limited our growth in other areas. We may have misused the information in the past, learning the letter of the lesson but not the spirit. Or it may merely be time to learn how to use the skills in a different way, to expand our mastery. In any event, for higher education, we look to the North Node.



The North Node
The South Node is not alone in being long overdue for a revised interpretation. True, the trap of the South Node is a tendency to stick with what is familiar, which can mean that we miss the opportunity for growth and repeat old patterns. Also true, the way to avoid the trap of the South Node is to work with the North Node, which is why the North Node got such a great reputation. But the North Node also has a trap: the tendency to want to turn our back on the past in the single-minded pursuit of growth and new experiences.
The temptation of the North Node is to forget where we've been, and to focus only on where we are headed. The North Node, after all, brings success, happiness, abundance, luck, and freedom from the patterns and habits of the past. The North Node is the spiritual equivalent of the trip to the Bahamas that we've always wanted to take. And just like that trip to the Bahamas, the trap of the North Node makes us feel that much as we want it, we probably can't afford it. The North Node can seem to say, "you can get to the Bahamas, but you have to leave your nice, comfortable boat and
swim there on your own. Oh, and by the way, there are probably sharks in the water." The trap of the North Node is just as dangerous as the South Node's trap. We buy into the idea that we have to sever our ties to the past and create a new future, dive into the water to swim out to the Bahamas, get part of the way there, and either get too tired, or too scared of the sharks in the waters, and hurry back to the comfort and familiarity of our boat, the S.S. South Node. And if we've really bought into the trap, we may feel like spiritual failures on top of it all.
Obviously, this is not an interpretation that is very supportive. My intention is not to bash the North Node, only to point out that the traditional interpretation of the Nodes encourages us to stay away from the South Node to reap the rewards of the North Node, and that is just not what it is all about. The true process of the North Node is not about turning our back on the past. The North Node is about taking stock of the past, honoring it, working with it, building on it, and learning how to use it in a new way.
For example, the North Node Sagittarius/South Node Gemini axis doesn't tell us that we're done with Gemini and now have to learn Sagittarius. Instead, it tells us that we are now going to learn how to use our Gemini experiences in a Sagittarian way. It tells us that part of our path, part of our lesson in this lifetime is to recognize that there is a point of balance between Gemini and Sagittarius, and finding it will be a key to our spiritual growth and development. By working with both the North Node and the South Node, we get to take the boat with us to the Bahamas instead of having to swim there.



Interpreting the Nodes
Before we can begin to integrate and interpret the Nodal Axis, there is one more factor to consider: the Houses. And the single most important thing to remember about the Houses is that the Houses are NOT the same things as the Signs. Every book on the Moon's Nodes that I have come across makes the same assumptions and claims that the North Node in Aries is the same thing as the North Node in the 1st House and this is simply not the case.
The Signs represent the underlying motivations and the evolutionary lessons that we must learn. The Houses represent the areas of life and of experience where we are most likely to encounter these lessons. The Signs, then are the "What" and the Houses are the "Where". The house placement of the Nodes does not in any way change the fundamental lessons and gifts of the Nodal Axis, it simply shows where in our lives we need look to find the lessons and gifts.
The Houses, too have their lessons, and like the lessons of the Sign Axis, the House Axis teaches the importance of balance and perspective. The opposing houses, like the opposing Signs represent areas of life that we must learn to integrate and harmonize. Just as we may tend to get a little too comfortable with the gifts of the South Node, we may also tend to focus more on the area of our life represented by the House of the South Node. And, of course, we may also occasionally focus too much on the North Node or spend too much time involved in the affairs of the North Node's House, and forget to draw on the support and resources of our South Node. Because the Houses represent the places that we will naturally encounter the Nodes, if we want to work with our Nodes, we can simply devote time to activities that relate to the House in question, and we will naturally encounter our Nodes.
When interpreting the Nodal Axis then, the first and most important factor is the Sign axis of the Nodes. What do the two Signs have in common? All opposing Signs share some common theme; they simply approach it from very different perspectives. Next, look at the Sign placement of the South Node and the North Node within this axis. What are the gifts that the South Node offers? What are the best and most wonderful expressions of the Sign of the South Node? And how can working with the North Node balance and enhance these gifts? By exploring these questions, we can discover some of the lessons of the specific Nodal Axis. Now, take this understanding and look at the House placement of the Nodes to learn more about where in our lives we will be able to experience and encounter these lessons.
Finally, let's try and put things into perspective. Remember that the Nodes are not physical bodies, and because they are not physical bodies, they operate on a far more subtle level than the planets do. Unlike the planets, the Nodes do not play a very big part in the development of an individual's personality. The Nodes, however, are the key to understanding more about what our spiritual purpose is in this lifetime. Sometimes the Nodes are closely connected with the planets in a chart and the connection between an individual's physical life and their spiritual path is obvious. Sometimes the Nodes seem to exist on their own, separate from the rest of the action in the chart. Whatever way the Nodes appear to be linked with the other elements in the chart, the Nodes can help us to step back and see beyond the limitations of our time on Earth, and once again glimpse the bigger picture of the evolutionary journey of our soul.

The best Lunar Node work I have read is Michael Lutin- Sunshines- The Astrology of being Happy Though the title of the book and it's salable bright yellow color might lead one to believe it a merry piece of work... it is one of the most insightful and psychologically profound books I have ever read...highly recommended.

posted February 17, 2008 12:45 PM            

Martin Schulman's classic 4-book series on Retrograde and Reincarnation:
http://classiclegendbooks.com/karmicastrologyseries.html

Zane Stein's site:
http://zanestein.com/chiron.htm

He's also a regular contributor to one of the forums at www.tribe.net (can't recall which one and they're down for maintenance right now).....

Mme Node

posted February 18, 2008 04:02 AM            

I don't have any retrograde planets.

quote:

---

No retrograde planets was found in people with a dogged perseverance, unrelenting in their drive to achieve their goals. He found
this very high, not just in US Presidents, but in the charts of successful athletes and dancers.

---

I am persevering in achieving goals. I like to give the journey my all, which is why it's so important for me to truly want the end goal. I chased the "wrong" goal a couple times, but I have it right now.

quote:

---

I feel that planets in direct motion are concerned with issues of growth, while planets in retrograde motion are concerned with issues of evolution. What’s the difference between the two? Well, growth cycles can be accomplished within the span of an individual lifetime. Evolution cycles, on the other hand, take many lifetimes to complete.

---

posted February 18, 2008 09:54 AM            

It is unfortunate that John McCormick did not have Chiron in his study. The astrological community has only recently embraced Chiron, over 30 years after it's discovery. It would also seem that no astrologer has picked up his research baton. I found that particular article maybe 3 years ago, I find myself going back to it periodically.

To anyone else who might read this The Astrology of Sexuality is selling for under $5 USD, (used) on amazon right now.

Steins' comments had me look to my progressed retro's [down to 2!] 3 if you count Chiron making some fancy Lipazaner dressage moves backwards. oh, and Jane, - Dana Gerhardt has her 5th House article up on astro.com

posted February 21, 2008 12:37 AM            

Thanks for the heads up on Gerhardt's new article. I'll be reading that tonight.

I do not yet own "Astrology of Sexuality," but it will be mine soon. Excellent recommendation. I'm not quite sure what tipped you off to that being my kind of book... Is it the Scorpio Asc? Damn, I can't take that thing anywhere.

If any of Schulman's info regarding Scorpio Asc's (Pisces on the 5th) is floating around in your head, by all means, feel free to unload it here.

What's your ASC? I already know you're a Taurus Sun. Just give me a moment to get out my Node scrapbook to update.

About the Presidency, mayhap indeed! Especially since my guy Obama is in there scooping up so many delegates. Everything is going according to plan.

Actually, no it's not. I checked my progressed chart and in that I have Jupiter retrograde. My plans for world domination foiled by the ruler of my own Sun. Et tu, Jupiter?

posted February 22, 2008 05:07 AM            

Well, lets just say that is perhaps the strongest sexed placement in the zodiac.

One word of caution about his writing. I have never found his birth date but would hazard a guess that he was born in the 30's; certainly he is of the era that uses "he" as opposed to the personality "they". So, there is a bit of oldschoolness to his writing. But I feel confident that you will convert, or process that style as if it were a cartouche on a wall. .

And don't I remember you having a Mars in Virgo? I think they are potentially the reigning kinkmeisters...

p.s. and a note about house systems: for some house systems will change your house cusps by sign. Which is why I use different systems for different work. Meridian/Koch is what I use for Progressions/Return charts. Porphyry for Solar/Lunar/Nodes work. Companus/Vehlow for synastry/karma work. event charts and the experimental multi-composite for Centre of Gravity is something I have not found a definitive favorite for. Though I use that option frequently.

posted February 23, 2008 02:55 AM            

Like cartouche on a wall? Doesn't get much more oldschool than that.

"And don't I remember you having a Mars in Virgo? I think they are potentially the reigning kinkmeisters..."
Sshh...don't make me gag you. And you know I'm capable.

Ooh, a Virgo Rising. I tend to like you guys. My oldest and closest girlfriend has that rising, but she's a Scorpio Sun (& Sag Moon). You wouldn't happen to have your Moon in Sag, too? Oh, and while we're at it, what's your Venus sign? Sorry for the interrogation, just curious.

I'm intrigued by your use of different house systems for different work. How did you decide on which system works best for different work?

I'm particularly interested in Vehlow, since I'm self-absorbed and that's the only system that changes my house cusps. Vehlow pushes every cusp back a sign. My ASC is 5º Scorpio, but Vehlow starts my 1st house at 20º Libra, conjunct my Pluto at 21º Libra. So even with Vehlow, I can't escape a Pluto/Scorpio flavor on the first.

Before tonight, I'd never seen a house system that didn't start the first house with the ASC. You've just blown my mind.

posted February 23, 2008 02:26 PM            

www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0738703524

posted February 23, 2008 02:39 PM            

My comp crashed in the middle of that, here is the rest...

Here is a taste of what M.S. says about your sexy Pisces 5H-->

His interps are of course refined by any planets/points posited in the House.

Vehlow is a mind-blower. And your ASC 5 Scorpio combined with my Sun 5 Taurus is a creative opposition. Your posts are demonstrating that in a neat spiral.

posted February 27, 2008 10:27 PM            

I don't think I know anyone else who has their Sun exactly on my DSC. Forgive me if I hound you. But you're such a delectable feast of signs--Taurus, Virgo, and Pisces. Good stuff.

Your Venus is conj my Chiron @ 9 Taurus.

How's that Grand Square treating you? Your taste in astro lit seems to coincide very nicely with mine, so if you also have any recs for books that deal with aspect patterns, I'll head over to amazon again.