The Planetary Nodes and Collective Evolution by Mark Jones
This topic, the planetary nodes, is complicated to wrap one’s mind around, but once it is understood, it brings amazing clarity to the astrologer’s understanding of world events and an individual’s role in the collective. Those of us who have worked with the lunar nodes learned that the nodes are not actual objects in space like planets or stars. They are imaginary points on the ecliptic, which is the apparent plane of the Sun’s path through the constellations each year. When the Moon crosses this ecliptic heading north, the north lunar node is created, and as the Moon moving south crosses the ecliptic, the south lunar node forms.
Planets, too, cross this ecliptic, creating their own planetary north and south nodes. This is where it can get complicated, however. If we are standing on the Sun, gazing out at the planets moving north and then south of the ecliptic, the north and south points where they meet the ecliptic are exactly 180 degrees apart. The planetary nodes of the slower moving planets from Jupiter outward remain fairly fixed, moving only about a degree every century. These are the heliocentric planetary nodes.
Gazing into the cosmos as we stand on earth, however, the north and south planetary nodes are not exactly 180 degrees apart, and their movement in a given year can range throughout the entire zodiac for the faster moving planets and through at least most of the degrees of one sign for the slower moving planets. These are the geocentric planetary nodes, and the points Mark Jones chooses to examine when assessing the impact of natal and transiting planets meeting the planetary nodes of Jupiter, Saturn, Chiron, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.
People born with a natal planet conjoined to an outer planetary node can often bring their gifts and talents to collective significance. Martin Luther, for example, who initiated the Protestant Reformation by protesting the corrupt practices of the Catholic Church, was born with his Mercury-Neptune in Sagittarius conjunction on the south node of Uranus, the planet of the rebel. Florence Nightingale, who brought great healing to the world by elevating the practice of nursing to a profession, was born with her Mars in Leo on the North Node of Neptune. Alan Turing was a brilliant mathematician who cracked the code for the Axis powers’ Enigma code machines, providing intelligence which enable the Allies to win WWII. He was born with Mercury conjunct the north node of Jupiter. Martin Luther King, who gave his life fighting a corrupt racist system, was born with his Sun conjunct the North Node of Saturn. And Malala, who was shot in the head for demanding the right of girls to be educated, and then rose from her trauma to become a star on the world stage, was born with her Sun conjoined the North Node of Pluto.
When Mark Jones brings this analysis to bear on world events, the importance of the geocentric planetary nodes takes on dazzling significance. We can recall that the events of September 11, 2001, took place under a Saturn-Pluto opposition. The indication that the events under this aspect would be cataclysmic and world-changing, is found when we see that Saturn was conjoined with the North Node of Uranus in Gemini – old technology used is a radical new way, and Pluto was at the South Node of Uranus in Sagittarius – deeply embedded religious and cultural resentments bursting into the world, raining destruction from the sky.
Through exhaustive research and examples, Mark Jones establishes that dynamic turning points in our world occurred when transiting planets formed aspects which then intersected with the nodes of the outer planets. Reading through his examples makes for a great review of history as well as a reminder of the beauty, logic and power within this cosmos we call home.
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