- How Do The Transiting Moon’s Nodes Operate? -

This is the last article in our series about the Moon’s Nodes. Today we take another look at the Lunar Nodes’ transit in our charts.

Up to now, we’ve taken a look at what the North and South Nodes of the Moon are, their relationship to eclipses, and how they operate in our chart. I also gave you a few examples of the Nodes in the signs and houses, as well as how they might operate when transiting our chart. Here’s a brief section:

Wherever the Nodal axis transits in our charts, it works like it would natally, except it moves backwards through the houses of your chart. Therefore, it exerts a specific house influence for approximately 18 months as well as for some time after, since we get many eclipses in that span of time.

The transiting Nodes in a given sign show the same general axis of development and release for everyone on Earth. However, they fall in specific houses determined by where we have those signs in our charts. So right now, since the NN is in Gemini, and SN is in Sagittarius, we’re all learning about those sign energies, but in different life areas, depending on our rising sign.

I believe the Nodes reveal something of their greater function every time the transiting Moon makes aspects to the transiting Nodes, as well as when the transiting Nodal axis makes aspects to our natal or progressed Moon. Wherever the axis is transiting in our charts is where we are growing and releasing, being pulled to demonstrate that growth pattern across time.

If you have questions, it will help to take a second look at what I wrote in the previous three articles so you can see possible ways to apply the “intake” and “outflow” action of the Nodes using the sign energies in the areas of our lives shown by the houses. Understanding the differences between the signs and the houses is crucial to our understanding of Astrology, since that shows us how and where a certain type of energy will manifest.

To recap, the sign of the North Node shows the quality of your line of greatest evolutionary development; the sign of the South Node shows the quality of your line of least resistance. The house of the North Node is where you will grow tremendously in terms of the sign, or the growth energy you’re here to demonstrate through the sign of the South Node in the area of life shown by the house of the South Node.

North Node efforts are often difficult, whereas the South Node patterns are familiar, and therefore usually easy. One is in-take, one is out-flow, and we are told that both assist the mechanics of our personal line of greatest evolutionary development.

They work the same way when transiting our chart in terms of the houses. We grow in and through the affairs of the house of the transiting North Node, and release whatever we need to of the life area shown by the house of the South Node. Just apply what is known to be the arena of influence for each house, and begin to see the Nodes as an axis, working together to help certain areas grow, while releasing whatever is needed in the SN house to demonstrate the positive qualities of the house of the NN.

The Transiting Nodes Past and Present – How They’ve Worked in Our Charts

The sign of the transiting North Node is the current energy where we can ALL learn to grow. When in Pisces from June 2006 through December 2007, we grew from embracing a vast oceanic view, compassion, forgiveness, seeing life as a movie that needs occasional re-editing, and empathy for our common humanity. When in Aquarius from December 2007 through August 2009, we grew through embracing group work, altruism, world service, dispassion, and genuine friendliness toward all other beings, greeting them with open minds and open hearts, demonstrated through positive Leo traits.

When the transiting NN was in Capricorn from August 2009 through February 2011, in general we learned through organization, discipline, taking personal responsibility, and crystallizing some form of individual excellence within a group performance. We demonstrated these through forms of caring and nurture while letting go of old Cancerian emotional responses and habit patterns. We grew through accepting power and responsibility, and demonstrated that through letting go of emotional instability and restlessness.

From March 2011 through August 2012 when the NN was in Sagittarius, we grew through embracing broader views, a more optimistic life adventure, and anything philosophical or spiritual that could give us a wider understanding of truth or Spirit. These were demonstrated through how we communicated, and whether we were getting hung up on intellectual wheel spinning or finding multiple angles of understanding and expressing an open view. SN in Gemini gets caught up in the minutia of life, old repetitive mental patterns, dualities, and superficial knowledge, and we were all given chances to let go of these.

We then went through the period from September 2012 through February 2014 of growing through the transiting North Node in Scorpio, and releasing through the South Node in Taurus. I used this position as a specific example in a previous article, so by all means go back and refresh yourself if you want more about those potential qualities of growth and release. Since the signs express in the 10,000 ways in different lives, use your imagination to see how that Scorpio NN transit worked its growth magnetism in your life, whether through what you attracted, or what you could not attract.

Some learned how to “hold the void,” since emptiness taught us more than the forms we captured. We were learning to let go of things we no longer needed, as well as dense, unproductive, or inert wheel spinning parts of our life represented by the houses in your chart where the nodes transited.

The sign of the transiting South Node would seem to imply that energy is what is familiar but we learn nothing from, except how to release, let go, or perfectly demonstrate something we cannot learn from. For example, when the SN was in Virgo from June 2006 through December 2007, we needed to let go of excessive clinging to things “making sense,” or fitting together perfectly, or worrying about details that were already fading due to the Pisces NN.

During that time we learned more from blessing the passages than working with all the pieces trying to find order. We learned more from forgiveness than from labor for its own sake. And yet much was accomplished by those who learned to flow from one sequence of details to the next, fixing what we could, letting go of what we had to, and demonstrating our ability to be good servants within a larger galactic field.

We then entered a period between February 2014 and November 2015 when the NN was in Libra, and SN was in Aries. That featured growth into more balanced views and/or approaches to things, with everyone learning through being as diplomatic, reasonable, and moderate in all things as possible. Again, it’s not that we necessarily achieved perfection in these areas, just that we grew when we embraced Libra qualities.

Because that period also featured SN in Aries, we saw an escalation in violence and war. It could be inferred that this is the negative expression of an out of balance Libra energy in those who initiated the violence. Ideally, it indicated a period of taking a balanced approach to things that could be jumpstarted quickly and with relatively little effort.

The North Node was in Virgo and the South Node was in Pisces between November 2015 through May 2017. This reversed the lessons of June 2006 through December 2007 when the Nodal signs were opposite those positions, and it could indicate that how we grew in 2006-07 provided means of releasing energy or “showing what we know” from late 2015 to May 2017.

NN in Virgo/SN in Pisces was a time of growth through practical adaptation, learning Divine Discernment, working in a selfless service, doing whatever helped us achieve physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health, and other Virgo qualities. These expressed through Pisces, or ability to bless, forgive, and let a lot flow down the time stream without analysis or criticism. We all were shown ways to demonstrate ways to achieve closure in quiet, even “submerged” ways.

May 2017 through November 2018 featured North Node in Leo and South Node in Aquarius. That period would have helped all things Leo develop, expressed through Aquarian associations. Leo is the sign of the heart, the Solar Fire that burns forever in each of us, the blazing bonfire of our total dedication to Love, Wisdom, and Divine Intelligence. The heart is a muscle that grows through exercise, and creativity is only found when we stop playing it safe and express what’s in our hearts.

As I’ve offered you in other articles, the heart is the crystal at the core of our Being. It is the source of our life. The physical heart pumps the blood, which is the vehicle of our Life essence and our vitality. The Spiritual heart is the door to the Soul. If our eyes are the windows of our Soul, the heart shows us and the world what we love and what we are willing to commit to.

Learning to listen to the heart is a long term discipline, and our heart gets exercise through the experiences we attract which show us what our heart is and is not into as we move through our experiences of what love is and what it isn’t. Here’s it’s crucial to value our heart enough to protect that which matters at the core of our being. Knowing our integrity often provides the clarity we need.

So mid-2017 through late 2018 pulls us to grow through heart exercises, challenging us to show courage and determination to come to greater strength, courage, and clarity about our willingness to embrace a more whole hearted approach to life to overcome the scourge of fear. That ability to develop our heart strength was demonstrated by Aquarian experiences showing our ability to be loving, wise, and creative in ways that serve a greater good, introduce a greater ideal, or help us and others to a greater contribution to a long term future.

November 2018 through May 2020 gave us a North Node in Cancer, South Node in Capricorn experience. Growth was through caring, nurturing, and family dynamics, for better or worse. Expression was through our willingness to show maturity, take responsibility, and organize our lives based in wherever our needs were leading us. Some learned how to care more while letting go of rigid structures and disciplines; some learned through developing more of a sense of family, whether embracing closer family relations or dumping unhealthy ones involving too many control or responsibility issues.

May 2020 began our current experience of North Node in Gemini, South Node in Sagittarius. With those Nodal positions, we’re all learning about the intake and expression of those energies, each according to the life area they are currently transiting in our chart. As I offered you in a previous article,

One may be learning how to grow in Sagittarius ways in values (transiting NN in the 2nd house), while another is learning openness, truth, and a higher philosophical view in speech, view, or mindset (3rd house), while yet another is learning through being more philosophical in their work or a more future oriented sense of service or humor about that service (6th house). Some may be releasing old dualities or distractions in their philosophy (SN in Gemini in the 9th), or an old contradiction in motives or remembrance of how indiscreet speech created past sorrow if the Gemini SN is transiting their 12th. There are infinite possibilities, based in the qualities of the signs.

Long Term Nodal Influence

As I explained in previous articles, eclipses are New and Full Moon Lunations conjunct the Nodes; that’s why they’re powerful. They illuminate and give form to either what we’re learning to do, or what we’re learning to let go of or demonstrate, or both. There are at least 6 eclipses in each sign over about 18 months, sometimes more, so you can see how the sign of the transiting Nodes sets some heavy pressure points in our charts that are triggered over subsequent months and years.

Eclipses as "cosmic recyclers," since they help us release what we no longer need or have already mastered. While the heavy lifting of growth into unfamiliar realms is usually not easy, it does fill our lives with new contents, new skills, and new vistas of development. The Nodes and the eclipses made when they are in any sign show us what will be shut down, whether we want those things to end or not. The voids then can be filled with the contents of our line of growth.

Here we also should take note of the eclipses which happened when we were in the womb, as we all have at least two eclipses while we are in the womb, and some have four. That would indicate some heavy events in our parents’ lives before we were born and in the years after, since Solar Eclipses last for a number of years. And prenatal experiences, set by Dharma and Karma, do influence us more than we often suspect, since the joys and fears experienced by our mother impacts our development.

I was born in the weeks following both a Solar Eclipse and a Lunar Eclipse. This has factored in a big way in my life, since it's part of my "pre-natal epoch" and I was literally born "under the beams" of those Eclipses, both of which affected the Americas. If you're interested, you may want to check out the Eclipses that happened when you were in the womb, as well as those which followed your birth. They offer important clues to your early family life, and why some things changed in big ways when you were young.

Crossed Nodes

On a final note, I’ve been asked frequently what it means when the transiting Nodes are opposite the birth Nodes, i.e., when the transiting North Node in Pisces is conjunct a natal South Node in Pisces, and transiting SN in Virgo is conjunct the natal NN in Virgo, or any other “cross nodes pattern.” I believe these are times of learning how to release, and demonstrating what you've learned.

It marks the end of a 9 year cycle of growth and release, and begins a 9 year cycle complementing the first one. It represents a time of growing (at least temporarily) through what you're familiar with, and letting go of old lines of development that have fulfilled their time in your life.

When this “crossed node” pattern is found in the synastry between different birth charts, it sets up a peculiar dynamic. It indicates that person A learns from something that B doesn’t, and A doesn’t learn from what B does. Each is growing along certain evolutionary lines that the other has already fulfilled, and has little to learn from except how to express what is already known.

These situations require that each learn as they must, express what they must, without needless criticism from the other. While they can learn from how each other grows and demonstrates the energies of that sign axis, they are moving in opposite and occasionally complementary directions.

So where our NN falls in another person’s chart shows how we help them develop, and how they also help us develop. Where our SN falls in another person’s chart shows how they help us release, let go, and/or demonstrate what we already know, just as we also do that for them. This interpersonal dynamic is a powerful indicator of how and where people help us, whether through growth or showing what we know.

I’ll close by encouraging you to observe the aspects of the transiting Moon to its transiting Nodes, since those are point they are supposedly much more powerfully active than any other times. Also take note of the times when the transiting Nodes make significant aspects to your natal and progressed Moon, since the same would be true, and these aspect periods could last for weeks or months and provide important information about how you are aligning your habits with the on-going growth patterns.

Reprinted on crystalwind.ca with written permission from Robert Wilkinson. Copying this article to other blogs is strictly prohibited. It is copyright protected. 

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