posted April 25, 2006 01:02 PM         

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It becomes vital to know the zodiacal position of the planetary nodes. The position of the north lunar node is given in the ephemeris. The south lunar node will be at the opposite zodiacal point. The Sun is not involved in this calculation, because the Moon goes around the earth. The point where the two orbits cross is itself in motion, and it circumvents the entire circle of the zodiac in 19 years.

The planetary nodes have a similar motion, but it is too slow to be significant within a lifetime. The nodes of Mercury circle the zodiac once in something over 171,000 years, while the nodes of Uranus make the trip in about 40,000 years. Oddly, the nodes of some of the outer planets appear to move more rapidly than those of the inner planets. In any event, however, no planetary node moves a degree within 100 years, so you can use the present nodal positions as close enough for any living being. Present north nodal positions are as follows:

MERCURY 17 TAURUS

VENUS 16 GEMINI

MARS 19 TAURUS

JUPITER 9 CANCER

SATURN 23 CANCER

URANUS 13 GEMINI

NEPTUNE 11 LEO

PLUTO 19 CANCER

Planets aspecting these points, or even the lunar nodes aspecting these points, have significance. To have a body conjunct or square the node of a planet appears to be more important than to have it conjunct the planet itself. The node of Mars will show up strongly where violence and surgery is involved. In fact, we have found but one case of a hysterectomy to date where the woman did not have a planet (any planet) conjunct or square to Mars' nodes That one case had Mars conjunct the node of Saturn. During a class, a protest against this statement was introduced by the wife of a physician. As a result, all the students were requested to accumulate all the cases of hysterectomies they could find, and try and locate a case where this was not true. Many birth dates involving hyster- ectomies were produced. There was no case among them where some natal planet was not conjunct or square the nodes of Mars. That does not mean there are no such cases, and you might find one, but when you do, please send it to us. In fact, it will be very helpful to our research department if you will send in the birth dates ofall the people you know who have found hysterectomies necessary. The data will be very welcome.

Planets conjunct or square the nodes of Saturn have a depressive correspondence, while planets conjunct or square the nodes of Uranus have a very restless and rebellious spirit. The functioning seems to be similar to aspects of the planets themselves but more pronounced.

The north node of a planet is also called the ascending node, while the south node is called the descending node. No one has yet prepared symbols for the planetary nodes, and if we invented symbols and placed them in each horoscope, the charts would become rather crowded, but you can compare them with each chart you draw. You don't have to worry or be concerned about their motion, except for the lunar nodes which are given in your ephemeris. Another experience was important in our dropping any conception of astrology as a causal phenomenon. The ancients placed great emphasis on the occurrence of mportant events at the time of an eclipse of the Sun or Moon, and having observed many world shaking events that occurred near the time of an eclipse, we set out to investigate this statistically. We found many events that occurred near the time of an eclipse, but we also found many important events that occurred at other times. Eclipses can occur only when the Sun is conjunct or within about 15 degrees of a lunar node.

Our statistical investigations showed that most of the important world events which occurred when there was no eclipse took place when the Sun was square the lunar nodes. Thus, it would appear to have nothing to do with the eclipses, because there can be no eclipse when the Sun is squre the lunar nodes, but the results are the same.

Statistics also show that loss-of-life through fire increases when the Sun or Uranus is conjunct or square the lunar nodes. Yet, there is no increase in the number of fires during these periods. Our investigation included all the fires in the U.S. and Canada where the material loss was over $100,000, over an eight year period. The data were furnjshed by the National Fire Protection Association which publishes all such data for insurance companies. Nearly all the "famous" fires took place when the Sun or Uranus was conjunct or square the lunar nodes, but "famous" fires are those where loss-of-life is heavy.

It is our considered view that what is here involved is human instability. Human instability reaches its maximum when the Sun and lunar nodes are 0 and 90 degrees apart, its minimum when they are 45 or 135 degrees apart. At the maximum, people panic more easily. A very great ratio of loss-of-life through fire takes place during the night among people who are sleeping in strange surroundings as in a hotel. If they awaken in strange surroundings during an unstable period to find the building on fire, they seem to know what to do. They think clearly. But if the same thing happens during an unstable period, they are confused and they panic bringmg about their own deaths. Hotel fires which occurred during stable periods have seldom involved loss-of-life, but hotel fires occurring during the unstable intervals have resulted in very heavy loss-of-life.