The Month of May will bring some big energy shifts. Hopefully this will make our social distancing a bit easier. We’ll take a look at the Full Moon on Thursday, but for now the focus is on invisible points in space. Click on the highlighted words for a link to a fuller explanation of the Nodes that I wrote almost a year ago. You’ll find a helpful diagram.
Every 18-1/2 months the Nodes of the Moon move into new signs. The Nodes are the points at which the orbit of the Moon intersects the ecliptic. The ecliptic defines the apparent path of the Sun around the Earth against the backdrop of the constellations. At any given time, from our point of view, a planet occupies a degree of the Zodiac as well as a position north or south of the ecliptic, known as its “declination.” The Moon and the planets in our solar system have orbits tilted at angles to the ecliptic, so they intersect the plane of the ecliptic at specific degrees. These points become charged with energy as the planet’s realm of influence interacts with the Sun’s and activates the archetype within our psyches.
The Moon’s orbital plane intersects the ecliptic at two points exactly opposite one another forming an axis or polarity. While planets move forward through the Zodiac from Aries to Pisces, the nodes move slowly backward. Eclipses occur when the Moon is close to its nodes, allowing the Sun, Moon and Earth to line up. For the last 18 months our eclipses have been in Cancer and Capricorn. This summer they will be in Gemini and Sagittarius – completely different energies.
The Nodes of the Moon indicate our evolutionary path. In ancient times the axis of the Nodes was symbolized by a dragon, the North Node being the Head – the direction in which we are moving – while the South Node was the tail, where we shed digested experience. In November 2018 the Moon crossed the ecliptic heading north into the constellation of Cancer. Two weeks and 180 degrees later it crossed heading south in the sign of Capricorn.
Historically the ingress of the nodes into this particular axis has coincided with remarkable events, ones that have reshaped our reality. In 1944-45 World War II came to an end and the modern era was born. In 1963 JFK was assassinated and the image of America as a modern Camelot died with him. In 1981 Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan deregulated the banks and transformed our economy, which created an ever-widening gap between rich and poor. And then in 2001 the attack on the World Trade Center brought about the Patriot Act with increased national paranoia and surveillance. 2018 -19 saw increased polarization in our society, the re-emergence of Fascism and totalitarian governments, along with a rerun of deregulation that is hastening the demise of our planet’s viability.
During these years, the North Node has been in Cancer, ruled by the Moon. The energy is protective, nurturing, emotional. Cancer is associated with home life, especially our childhood homes in which we grew up, took on beliefs, experienced emotional wounds, became sensitized, learned how to defend ourselves. We were conditioned by the mores of our families, our society, our institutions. This is where we ingested our paradigm. Sadly, a great many of us did not get our needs met during childhood which left us wounded, vulnerable, reactive and insecure.
The USA natal Sun is in Cancer and as a nation we have a collective insecurity which has prompted us to build the biggest defense system on Earth. The Fear of Scarcity drives us to overachieve, to hoard, to become super-consumers. We feed our fear with material possessions, symbols of wealth that profess our safety, but install security systems, keep guns in wall safes, and fear to walk our streets. We are obsessed with safety, and like money, we can never have enough. The irony is that the more weapons we build, the more guns we buy, the more systems we install, the less safe we feel. How do we meet our needs in a healthy way?
The North Node in Cancer is telling us to look within. We need to grow up, develop inner strength and wisdom, master ourselves and our talents and take back responsibility for the reality we are creating. True safety lies within. We develop it along with self-confidence as we learn and grow from our experience. We feel unsafe as a nation because we are trapped in an adolescent stage of development and haven’t yet learned to trust ourselves, or each other. Furthermore we have gotten soft. We prefer comfort and consistency, resisting change. We turn over our power to people we hire (vote for), to run the country for us. Then we argue and complain about their performance and turn back to our personal lives.
The South Node carries the energy of the past. In Capricorn it has been showing us the consequences of relinquishing responsibility. Our government is corrupt, and useless in protecting its people. Our economy is fragile and poised for a crash. We have switched our allegiance from Democracy to Capitalism. Our healthcare system is inadequate to meet the needs of all our citizens. As the pandemic isolates us and takes many lives, the poor become more desperate, while the rich grab the lion’s share of pandemic relief funds. The environmental progress we made in the 20th century has been lost to deregulation and the corporate plunder of resources. Our planet has become so toxic that our children are dying, sea life is dying, forests are dying, glaciers are dying. We have poisoned the very eco-system that keeps us alive. We are committing suicide as a humanity.
South Node in Capricorn has shown us what doesn’t work, what isn’t meeting our needs, what happens when we abdicate responsibility. North Node in Cancer has asked us to become intimate with our inner life, to consult our feelings, to meet our own emotional needs and become Self-actualized adults.
Hopefully this lesson has been learned because we are moving on. Tuesday, May 5th, just after midnight on the West Coast, the nodes shift into Gemini and Sagittarius. The next phase of this evolutionary growth spurt begins. Our minds are waking up and it’s time to take a good look at our paradigm. A paradigm is a set of basically-agreed-upon beliefs about reality. Clearly we no longer agree. Cracks are opening up in our paradigm. Conflict, power struggles and the need to be right have fractured our Union. What if, instead of squabbling within the system, we stepped back and took a look at the system itself, built out of our beliefs and the way we have allowed our elected officials and our corporate bosses to steer our reality to the edge of a cliff?
As the Nodes shift into Air and Fire signs, our minds will be activated. Gemini is curious – wants to know. Gathers information and thinks about it. Sagittarius wants truth, the building blocks of a belief system. And meaning. Gemini provides the facts. Sagittarius develops vision.
The North Node moves into Gemini asking us to start thinking again, questioning beliefs, seeking truth, exercising curiosity, demanding the facts. The South node in Sagittarius will support the growth of a new ideal, a new understanding, an evolved paradigm.
All the ingredients are here now. We have been forced in upon ourselves. Liberated from our habitual routines, we can take a deep breath and a good look at ourselves, our lives, our families, our neighborhoods, our nation and our government, before we head to the polls and make habitual choices that keep us locked into this dysfunctional reality.
The Nodal energy will spark our curiosity, provoke reflection, tickle our imagination and activate our dreams. In the USA chart the transiting Nodes are in the 1st and 7th houses. The South Node in the First House suggests that it’s time to balance our individuality and independence, our “Me First” Social Darwinism, with the needs of others. The North Node is our future – the direction in which we are evolving. In the 7th house of Relationship, it’s telling us that we need each other, that everyone matters. The fulcrum between self-interest and the interests of others is Interdependence. This pandemic is making us aware of how important everyone is to the successful operation of daily life. We need healthcare workers, farmers, grocers, delivery people, emergency personnel. We are completely interdependent.
With Sagittarius in the 7th house we are going to become aware of the many injustices in our system which make us sick as a society. We are only as strong as the weakest of us, as rich as the poorest, as happy as the most despairing. The next 18-1/2 month time period is our opportunity to dream up a better system, a new way to live together that honors everyone – a society in which we assess our success in Gross National Happiness, not material wealth. Change doesn’t happen overnight, but it begins with new ideas.
So take an inventory of your beliefs. Are they truly yours, or did you inherit them? Do you feel disloyal rejecting the ideas of your parents or mentors? Is it really more important for your beliefs to be right, than for our us to find a way to live in harmony with all life on Earth? Are you willing to open to other possibilities? If not, why? Use the next 18 months for research. What do you believe and why? Don’t be afraid to open your mind to other possibilities. We all need to become more flexible. Gemini and Sagittarius are mutable planets, lending resilience.
Thursday May 7th is the Full Moon in Scorpio, the domain of Pluto. Intensity is the theme. Look for a second post then.
Some states are opening back up now. I encourage you to continue impeccable hygiene and social distancing. This pandemic is by no means over. In fact, re-opening too soon may precipitate a resurgence and more deaths. Please take care
Michel
Once again, you are spot-on about unfolding events and how personal responsibility is key in acknowledging and appreciating interdependence at a core level. Well done.