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THE NODES OF THE MOON
Part
2
by Brian Habit
July 2, 2003
In
part 1 of this series, I introduced the
nodes of the Moon. I described the South Node of the Moon as representing
your past (whether in terms of genetics, reincarnation, or both), and I
described the North Node as representing your future. To illustrate these
principles, I used the example of the South Node in Scorpio in the 7th house
and the North Node in Taurus in the 1st house.
This time, let's consider the significance of the lunar nodes in another
combination of signs and houses. Let's look at the South Node in Cancer in
the 8th house and the North Node in Capricorn in the 2nd house. For purposes
of illustration, let's assume that you have not only these nodal positions
but also Sun, Mercury and Saturn in Gemini, Jupiter in Capricorn in the 1st
house, and the Moon in Capricorn in the 2nd house.
The
South Node in Cancer in the 8th House
Before we get into the
South Node itself, let's review what the 8th house represents.
We all have “hot button” issues. We all run into dark territory eventually.
Someone dies. How do we cope? Many of us wonder about what lies on “the
other side.” What happens when we die? Sometimes we really want to bond
deeply with someone, or we need to do it, whether it’s a matter of merging
sexually, financially, or in some other capacity. How do we keep ourselves
safe while bonding so deeply with someone else? In the 8th house,
instinctive gut-level reactions crop up in connection with questions such as
these.
The 8th house relates to those subjects that people tend to get hot and
bothered about--subjects like sex and death and the occult. Its territory is
associated with those intense gut feelings that temporarily overwhelm our
egos when we have experiences such as loss and grief. The 8th house is where
we have the potential to transform our psychological pain into a deep sense
of well-being. It’s where we decide whether to face our emotional
vulnerability for the sake of healing. It’s where we decide whether to make
ourselves vulnerable with others, for the sake of accomplishing more
together than we could alone. When hot-button topics like sexuality or
mortality or the occult come up, how do we react? That gives some indication
of how healthy or unhealthy a response we’re making to the issues of the 8th
house.
OK, that’s the gist of what the 8th house represents. Now let's assume that
your South Node of the Moon lies in the 8th house, in Cancer. Whether
because of heredity or karma, you are automatically, instinctively adept in
acting in Cancer ways (reflecting on your inner life, acting imaginatively
or compassionately, promoting emotional or financial security for yourself
and perhaps others). You also have a natural orientation toward the affairs
of the 8th house—merging deeply with others, reflecting on life’s most
intense, gut-wrenching topics, and exploring and absorbing your feelings
about such topics. From the get-go, you take a Cancerian approach to
8th-house matters. In the process, you weed out the development of behaviors
that clash with such an approach. You prevent them from developing. For
example, it comes pretty naturally for you to retreat into your “shell,” as
a way to keep yourself calm during life’s most psychologically turbulent
moments.
Your South Node (representing what you’ve already done) lies in Cancer, and
your Sun (representing what you’re trying to achieve in this lifetime) lies
in Gemini. How well does what comes naturally prepare you for what you’re
learning to do now?
In many respects, Cancer and Gemini are quite different. Cancer is a
cautious, reflective sign, attuned to what’s familiar and comforting. In
contrast, Gemini is a curious, improvisational sign. Gemini is motivated
toward sampling as much of life’s variety as possible, turning attention
outward rather than reflecting on memories, feelings, or imaginings.
Therefore, in some respects, you have to learn how to have a working
personality from scratch. Cancer doesn’t prepare you for learning how to
approach life with restless, nonstop communication or movement. You may have
to go down the same road and fall in the same hole repeatedly until you
realize some important points. It takes you a lot more effort to learn
certain behaviors, such as speaking in impromptu situations. On the other
hand, you do have Mercury and Saturn in Gemini, so a lot of the raw
materials or ingredients are available to you, for developing a sense of
identity that emphasizes learning and communicating with others.
Now, if we don’t recognize our natural biases and stretch ourselves beyond
them, then we get into a rut. We cover the same ground over and over and dig
a hole for ourselves. We could take the easy way out and stick to South Node
behaviors and pursuits. Based on experience, we know that if we act in
certain ways, we’ll tend to get certain results pretty reliably. If we focus
primarily on doing those things in our lives, we may seem successful because
we’re such “naturals” at it. However, the victories that we win could feel
very hollow. We might be successful in the world, but we also feel bored,
unsatisfied, and empty. The work of the South Node is all work that we’ve
finished already. It’s behind us, not ahead of us. We’ve done everything we
can in that department of our lives, and it’s time to move on to new
assignments. The South Node indicates which of the qualities indicated
elsewhere in the chart we have developed through experience.
Let’s look at some examples of the sorts of problems that you could run into
if you focus on acting in South-Node kinds of ways. Focusing on the South
Node means taking an emotionally self-indulgent, self-protective approach to
dealing with psychologically intense experiences: trying to control or
possess other people as a means to feel secure, dwelling on painful past
losses, lashing out when someone acts in a way that threatens your sense of
security.
Suppose you’re troubled by some dark feelings. Rather than taking steps that
will help you develop insight into the connections between your motivations
and your behavior, you becoming brooding, morbid, obsessive. You act
compulsively, getting into sexual, or violent, or criminal situations
without understanding what’s driving you to act the way that you do. Maybe
you have one-night stands with sexual partners. You get married before
you’re emotionally mature enough to handle it. You’re so self-involved that
you’re never there for your partner. Or maybe you marry someone for the
wrong reason, for example, out of a sense of gratitude or admiration, as
opposed to the desire to make a special romantic commitment.
Perhaps you channel your emotional intensity into substance abuse or crime,
either alone or with a romantic partner. Maybe your drinking gets so out of
hand that it ruins your relationship. The 8th house represents financial
involvements with others, including debt, so you might let your debt get so
out of hand that you declare bankruptcy. Or perhaps you’re like a politician
who fails to report personal assets accurately on annual disclosure forms,
and you have to pay court-ordered fines. If you let your concerns about
security grow into obsessions, then you could become the suspicious employee
who goes on a witch-hunt. You level unfounded accusations of wrongdoing
against people and lead a campaign against them.
Some of these behaviors may make a certain degree of sense in light of
circumstances that you experienced in your early life. For example, maybe
you were born into harshness or violence. People who were in a position to
nurture you let your down, brushing you off emotionally or exiting your life
early. Maybe you grew up in an emotionally threatening environment. People
were always drinking and fighting around you, or your parents divorced when
you were young, and you felt overwhelmed by sadness or a sense of
vulnerability. Perhaps you were constantly shuffled from one school to
another. You might have withdrawn from your environment or struck out at
your environment, becoming the child who gets into lots of trouble.
Nonetheless, if you overdo your South Node, then it will hold you back from
becoming more satisfied in your life. If you brood about old wounds or hold
on to intense feelings, or if you seek emotional solace and security in
inappropriate ways, then you might suffer more as a consequence.
Now let’s look at the point opposite your South Node--the North Node.
The North Node in
Capricorn in the 2nd House
The North Node represents
the future to which we are drawn. It symbolizes the newest stage of our
growth. Your North Node lies in Capricorn, in the 2nd house of resources.
Before we go further into the node, let's review the symbolism of this
house.
The 2nd house is the traditional House of Money. It pertains to how
well-equipped we feel to face life. To feel self-assured we have to feel
that we’re prepared to handle whatever life tosses our way. We need to equip
ourselves with both tangible and intangible resources. Tangible resources
include money and worldly possessions. Intangible possessions include
skills, knowledge, and connections with other people. The 2nd house
represents how you accumulate and apply such concrete and abstract
possessions. A question, then, is whether you develop a healthy regard and a
flowing approach to accumulating and using everything that you have going
for you. Will you enjoy the possessions that you acquire? Will you use your
resources for creative purposes? Or will you become blocked or obsessive
about your worth as a person? Will you use your money or worldly possessions
in an abusive fashion? The key issue that arises in the 2nd house is whether
you can develop a healthy, flowing attitude toward your self-worth, as
evidenced in how you approach earning money, spending it, and applying
anything else that you’ve got going for you.
The North Node indicates which of the qualities indicated elsewhere in the
chart that you’re developing through conscious effort, starting almost from
scratch. You’re developing your sense of self-worth and your ability to
achieve financial security through your own abilities or labor. You have
some resources indicated elsewhere in your chart to help you do this. For
example, you have the Moon in Capricorn in the 2nd house, as well as Jupiter
in Capricorn in the 1st house. Feeding your craving for practical
accomplishments and putting your Jupiter to good use will help you develop
your North Node potential.
If we let ourselves experience our North Node, then we open ourselves up to
newness. With newness comes both awkwardness and excitement. We feel
fascinated and anxious at the same time. After all, there’s not nearly the
certainty that comes with South Node behaviors based on experience. With the
North Node, all we’ve got is the uncertain future.
When you have experiences of a Capricornian or 2nd-house nature, they call
into question your automatic assumptions about life. In other words, when
situations call for you to scrutinize your current level of self-esteem, or
make dramatic changes in how you earn or spend money, you might feel lost at
first. When you have such experiences, you feel like you’re out of your
element. The unfamiliar is scary, at least at first.
If we first learn to recognize our natural biases and, secondly, decide to
go beyond them through an act of will, then we’re on our way to growth. If
we’re going to grow in this life, though, we have to stretch ourselves
toward our North Node. That way lies both stress and fulfillment. The North
Node indicates what we need to become in this lifetime. We can’t know from
looking at our charts whether we will become that. The answer to that
question depends on us.
With your North Node in Capricorn in the 2nd house, you may not appreciate
just how accomplished you could become in your public life. You may sell
yourself short when it comes to what you have going for you—your personal
strengths or your ability to earn money. Maybe influential people along the
way tried to make you think that you should look to someone else to be the
major breadwinner in your family. Maybe some strong figure led you to
believe that you weren’t strong enough to “handle the truth,” by taking a
comprehensive look at your internal and external resources. However, the
more you stretch yourself in such directions, the more satisfying you’ll
find it in the long run. The more you focus on developing faith in your
ability to provide security for yourself, in a way that you really respect,
the more satisfied you’ll be.
The idea is to move toward your North Node in this life—to focus
increasingly on developing Capricornian strengths as you address the issues
associated with the 2nd house. Here’s a general scenario of doing this:
Let’s say that you’re determined to break into a particular field of work.
You buckle down and learn the necessary skills. You master the art of acting
self-sufficiently. Perhaps you were trained to go into one field (say,
accounting) but you have a strong interest in another field (music), so you
stick to your guns. You do what it takes so that you can become a composer.
Maybe part of what gets you by is chutzpah--bold self-confidence. You become
like a disciplined professional athlete who maintains a demanding schedule
of training and touring. You learn to act with clarity of purpose. You work
hard, and you get results. You get things done. You develop a thick skin,
too. You get to the point that you can compete without losing emotional
self-control, and you conduct yourself with impeccable decorum, even when
you lose. You exercise self-discipline, overcoming bad habits for the sake
of accomplishing what’s most important to you. For example, if you want to
become a responsible parent, then you work to become the best role model
that you can be.
In time you become an accomplished musician or whatever else you have set
your sights on becoming.
Capricorn is a natural administrator, so let’s suppose you become a local
politician. In that case you might unite citizens from diverse ethnic
backgrounds in a way that no one else could do, expand social services to
poor people, and spur economic growth. Maybe you become the family-centered,
ambitious “steel magnolia.” You’re both strong and supportive. You’re
delicate, yet sturdy. Maybe you become a legal scholar who develops a
significant theory in your field. Capricorn is an earth sign, oriented
toward concrete matters, organization, and practicality, so you could feed
this earthy inclination somehow. Perhaps you buy land and develop a thriving
farming business. You might dedicate yourself to efforts that produce
tangible results, for example, raising children whose success you can see
grow day by day, as opposed to breaking athletic records (accomplishments
that are of a more abstract nature).
In moving toward your North Node, you don’t need to shun using whatever
strengths might be associated with your South Node. By all means use your
imagination. Combine resources with others in ways that nurture everyone
involved. Reflect on your most intense gut-level feelings when life stirs
them up. Just don’t limit yourself by relying too much on such behaviors.
Concentrate on developing things that you can consider all your own.
Concentrate on developing a solid sense of security. Prove yourself to
yourself—the person who is perhaps your greatest critic. For example, if you
find that you have difficulty accepting compliments, or credit, or
recognition, then do something about it. Don’t let yourself minimize your
accomplishments by saying, “Oh, it’s really nothing.” Practice taking bows
graciously, comfortably. By developing your abilities as a financial
advisor, choreographer, writer, or whatever the case may be, the
self-confidence and poise will spill over into other parts of your life,
helping you along there, too. It may feel awkward for a while, but the more
you do it, the more spiritually satisfied you’ll be. Stick with it. Give it
time. You’ll be amazed how far it will take you in the long run.
Looking Ahead
Next week, I will continue my exploration
of the lunar nodes by looking at the North Node in Sagittarius in the 6th
house and the South Node in Gemini in the 12th house.
And What About
Your Nodes?
Do you want me to interpret
your North and South Node, and other key parts of your birth chart? Then
order your very own birth chart interpretation.
Click here to learn more.
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Phoenix, 2004
(All Rights Reserved)
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