Open Your Mind...
The Great Dragon surrounds the earth, pulling us ever forward.
The Lunar Nodes are the mathematical points where the path of the Moon crosses the apparent path of the Sun - i.e. the ecliptic - as seen from the earth. In other words, they signify the celestial spot that holds space for the eclipses.
We have the North Node where the moon crosses upward of the ecliptic; and the South Node where the moon falls back down below the ecliptic. These points are diametrically opposed to each other and so the North and South Node always occupy the same degrees in opposing signs.
An evocative way to think of these points - the Lunar Nodes - is as a Great Dragon that occasionally swallows the sun and moon.
At each end, the North Node is the Dragon’s head or Caput Draconis. This is where the dragon hungers for new experience. The South Node is the Dragon’s tail or Cauda Draconis. This is where old experience, already chewed up and digested, is spat back out again. And so the North and South Node hold different symbolism, something important to bear in mind when considering any pair of eclipses.
The North Node - and its eclipses - signifies where growth lies at any given moment. The South Node - and its eclipses - symbolises what we need to let go of in order to grow.
The Lunar Nodes travel slowly backward through the zodiac, changing signs every one and a half years roughly. They take around 19 years to make a full zodiac round - exactly the time it takes for eclipses to return to roughly the same degrees of a sign.
As the Nodes spend time in a particular sign, they bring to the fore the issues of that sign in a very public way, focusing society’s attention on certain challenges.
The North Node shows what sorts of attitudes and considerations will take us forward in the world; the South Node illustrates the dangerous pitfalls that it’s all too easy to fall into.
2018-2020 North Node in Cancer, South Node in Capricorn
Since 2018 the North Node has been in Cancer and the South Node in Capricorn, signifying the need for fresh nourishment to water the parched land. University buildings might be majestic but they are pointless without students. Similarly, what use are banks with nice balance sheets when they are completely sucking the life out of people? What use are governments when they rule over the homeless, the destitute, ruined families and debt slaves?
The past year and a half, with the Lunar Nodes in Cancer and Capricorn, was all about reinserting the human factor into the system. Institutions are supposed to be here to sustain life and not crush it.
That was the message, whether we managed to hear it or not.
2020-2022 North Node in Gemini, South Node in Sagittarius
On May 5th, the (true) Nodes are moving into Gemini and Sagittarius - with the North Node in Gemini and the South Node in Sagittarius - all the way till 18 January 2022.
During this period, the biggest danger is dogmatism, fanaticism and blinkered views. Preaching old defunct philosophies and silencing the voices from the ground.
There’s a tendency to be fanatical and eliminate smaller voices in favour of an unquestioning uniform philosophy. The temptation is to cling to your own version of the truth to save yourself from the cacophony that surrounds you. But that is exactly what NOT to do, no mater how threatening it feels.
The lesson here is to be intellectually large enough in to tolerate multiplicity and contradiction. It’s time to listen to many voices and opinions, it’s time for fruitful dialogue and lively debate.
But there is a dangerous tendency now to crush such endeavours with the Dragon’s Tail in Sagittarius.
Fanaticism and propaganda are the biggest dangers now. This combo threatens freedom of speech.
The message of this period? Open your mind to new ideas, even if they contradict what you take to be unassailable truths - indeed, especially then! Be innocent as a babe who’s experiencing the world for the first time. Be agnostic. Try entertaining opposing viewpoints and see how your mind expands!
Assume you know nothing. Simply ask. It’s harder than it sounds. The mind wants to latch onto answers.
May 2020 to January 2022 is not about knowing the right answers. It’s about asking the right questions.
Watch out for problems around movement and transport, teaching and education, domestic and international trade and all sorts of media, devices, news and communications.