I’ve noticed quite a lot of misconceptions floating around about the lunar nodes in astrology, which I think is based around an unclear understanding of how karmic dynamics work within our charts and within ourselves.
Human minds prefer to make things simple, perhaps it is due to the limitations of language. Mercury does put more of a linear spin on things. Or perhaps it is due to the fact that we have two hemispheres in our brain, and tend to conceive of things in terms of polar opposites. But as spiritual and mental discipline helps to build more and more functional connexions in the corpus callosum- the bit that connects our two brain hemispheres- the more we are able to see that the two things we perceive as opposites are, in fact- one.
As a New Zealander of mixed European-Maori descent, I suppose I have been predisposed to see life in terms of this koru here- this fern shoot. This is how I see our circle astrology charts, as well. Life’s stirrings within this parcel of energy cause it to unfurl and expand outwards according to the coded patterns that lie within it. The shoot uncurls and becomes a fern leaf, which in its time will decompose and fall to the forest floor, where its energies will be resorbed into the plants and trees here. These also go through these same cycles of death and rebirth. Nothing is wasted, nothing is lost- and all takes place according to the microcosmic patternings within the plants themselves and the larger ecosystem of the forest as a whole.
Thus it is with the lunar nodes and with the tracks of karmic transformation we can see in astrology charts.
I’ve seen it written- and it annoys me- that the north node is our destination and that it is something that we have to travel towards, arrive at, embody. This is a frustratingly simplistic understanding that lacks awareness of how these patterns actually defy our own limited ego reasoning.
In Vedic astrology, the North and South nodes are known as Rahu and Ketu. Rahu is the head of a snake and is the North Node, Ketu is the body of the snake and is the South Node. Hindu mythology understands Rahu as the one who swallows the sun when there is an eclipses- and Ketu as the one who swallows the moon.
The Sun is our ego, our light, the representative of our joy and passion in life. The Moon is our emotional security, that which is hidden, the vast world of the unconscious. The North Node that eats up the Sun is the opposite of our comfort zone, the same as the South Node that eats up the Moon is the opposite of our growth zone.
This dynamic moves snakelike within our psyche, I am sure we all recognise it. Always the human shrinks in fear from what it might not be good at- that which threatens the sun, the ego. We would prefer an easy life with what we are already comfortable with, but that leads to emotional stunting and the lack of an inner world. Like the mythological snake, this conflict seems to have no beginning and no end- its ability to shed its skin lends itself to endless transformation.
In short, you do not arrive at your north node. It is simply an area of your life that you are advised to work on, in order to grow as a soul. One will always be in a state of flux between the two. Life is an ascending spiral and a masterpiece beyond our comprehension, not the limited theorising borne of our need to have the perfect plan.
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