Monday, August 13, 2007

Planetary Nodes

It appears that there are yet more sensitive points to be found in our natal charts - those formed by the nodes of the planets. These are calculated in the same way as the Moon's nodes, they are "points at which the orbits of the planets intersect the ecliptic, because of the inclination of their planes to the plane of the Earth's orbit." (Definition from Nicholas deVore's Encyclopedia of Astrology).

In her book "Here and There in Astrology", Ivy M. Goldstein-Jacobson says "the nodal points move not more than a degree and a half in a hundred years...... these are of value by conferring something of their own nature on the person whose planets they conjoin, thus explaining some of his special leanings to that extent.....a planet on one of these nodes at birth has that nodal vibration inborn and lasting throughout life"
There's further information about each planet's nodes from Jim D'Amato, at "Planetary Nodes" HERE. (It's necessary to forage among the adverts, but everything is there!)

The current position of planetary nodes can be found at Astrology Weekly HERE and HERE for 2006 and 2005 ( Jim D'Amato's and Ivy Goldstein-Jacobson's information is for dates around 1960).

Finding the exact position of planetary nodes at one's time of birth could be tricky, I guess. Anyway, for 1960-ish here are the rounded-off positions(North/South). For most adults these nodal positions are not likely to differ by more than a degree or so in their natal charts.

Mercury 18* Taurus/Scorpio
Venus 16* Gemini'Sagittarius
Mars 19* Taurus/Scorpio
Jupiter 10* Cancer/Capricorn
Saturn 23* Cancer/Capricorn
Uranus 13* Gemini/Sagittarius
Neptune 11* Leo/Aquarius
Pluto 20* Cancer/Capricorn

I have no planets within a degree of any of these positions, but I notice, from a quick look at the chart of my husband (HeWhoKnows), that Neptune's North node is less than 2 degrees from his ascendant. That might well contribute to the many Piscean traits I see in him, which conflict sharply with his Aries Sun !

Here's another tidbit from Nicholas deVore's Encyclopedia of Astrology:

"One authority states that a lunation or eclipse on the South Node of a planet tends to release a destructive force of the nature of the planet involved. For example, conditions centering around Saturn's South Node may indicate a drought following an unusually hard winter"

11 comments:

Michelle said...

I must confess to being a skeptic where nodes are concerned. They just seem so.. fussy?

That being said I have seen them work. I have a friend who is very keen on nodes. We used to argue astrology a lot as our "take" on the subject was quite different. She's back in South Africa and I must admit I miss our arguments. I learnt so much from them.
She had a definite gift where reading nodes was concerned.

If I had my dream it would be to find a way to pare down astrology to the essentials. A kind of "haiku" birthchart!

But then I have Mercury in Virgo and MC Virgo so I'm not keen on "frills" and fuss. ;-)

Twilight said...

I'm unsure about how important nodes are too Michelle. At present I take the view that unless there's a planet or angle on a nodal point there's not much significance.

I agree wholeheartedly about the paring down. There's too much fluff by half for my taste. We just have to be careful not to throw out the baby with the bathwater though. :-)

Michelle said...

"We just have to be careful not to throw out the baby with the bathwater though. :-)"

True. :-)

Anonymous said...

Hi and thanks for the links to astrology weekly. I noticed that the planetary nodes from 2005 to 2006 differed quite a bit. Do you know where I can find current ones?

Thanks

Ian

soysins (at) yahoo.com

Twilight said...

Anonymous ~ No, I can't find anything more up to date on planetary nodes. There's an article by an Australian astrologer

http://www.astrologycosmobiology.com.au/planetary_nodes.html

where the difference between Heliocentric and Geocentric nodes is explained. Another complication to add to the scene!

It's an interesting article.

Anonymous said...

All the Planetary nodes take approximately 26,000 years to circumvent the Zodiac. In my experience only the Mars and Neptune nodes are of great significance and only Mars Node has much influence outside of 1-2 degrees.
Jim D'Amato
http://aaarf.net/planetnodes.htm
http://aaarf.net/
aaarf@cox.net

Twilight said...

Anonymous ~~ Thank you kindly for the information and for the links.
I shall investigate!

Raymond Nolan Scott said...

I believe that the nodes of objects are valid and significant whether planets,transneptunians,centaurs,asteroids


In my own chart:

Sun in 5'20 Scorpio
oppose/conjunct Eris Nodes in 5'30 Taurus/Scorpio

Chart ruler Mercury in 18'21 Scorpio
oppose/conjunct Mercury Nodes in 17'59 Taurus/Scorpio
oppose/conjunct Mars Nodes in 19'20 Taurus/Scorpio

Lunar Nodes Nodes in 10'30 Aquarius/Leo
oppose Neptune Nodes in 11'28 Leo/Aquarius

Ascendant/Descendant in 13'27 Virgo/Pisces
square Uranus Nodes in 13'51 Gemini/Sagittarius

Midheaven/Imum Coeli in 11'14 Gemini/Sagittarius
sextile Neptune Nodes in 11'28 Leo/Aquarius


Dane Rudhyar wrote about Orbital Astrology and Heliocentric Planetary Nodes

http://mindfire.ca/The%20Astrology%20of%20Personality/Chapter%20Nine%2 0-%20Planetary%20Interweavings.htm


http://mindfire.ca/Person%20Centered%20Astrology/Chapter%20Eighteen%20-%20Orbital%20Astrology%20and%20the%20Nodes.htm


http://www.khaldea.com/rudhyar/aoft/aoft_c3_s7_p1.shtml

Raymond Nolan Scott said...

HELIOCENTRIC PLANETARY NODES
Jan 1, 2011

Mercury Nodes
18'27 Taurus/Scorpio

Venus Nodes
16'46 Gemini/Sagittarius

Mars Nodes
19'38 Taurus/Scorpio

Jupiter Nodes
10'36 Cancer/Capricorn

Saturn Nodes
23'45 Cancer/Capricorn

Uranus Nodes
14'04 Gemini/Sagittarius

Neptune Nodes
11'53 Leo/Aquarius


HELIOCENTRIC DWARF PLANETARY NODES
(includes dwarf planet candidate nodes)


dwarf planet Pluto Nodes
20'28 Cancer/Capricorn

dwarf planet Eris Nodes
6'12 Taurus/Scorpio

dwarf planet Makemake Nodes
19'32 Gemini/Sagittarius

dwarf planet Haumea Nodes
2'10 Leo/Aquarius

Sedna Nodes
24'26 Leo/Aquarius

Orcus Nodes
28'43 Sagittarius/Gemini

dwarf planet Ceres Nodes
20'32 Gemini/Sagittarius

Quaoar Nodes
9'12 Libra/Aries

Varuna Nodes
7'26 Cancer/Capricorn

Ixion Nodes
11'11 Gemini/Sagittarius

Calculated with Jonathan Dunn's Ephemeral Page http://www.true-node.com/eph1/

Raymond Nolan Scott said...

This is Carl Payne Tobey's article on Planetary Nodes.
http://mysite.verizon.net/bonniehill/pages.aux/astrology/tobey/tobey.14.html



"The node of Mars will show up strongly where violence and surgery is involved. In fact, we have found but one case of a hysterectomy to date where the woman did not have a planet (any planet) conjunct or square to Mars' nodes That one case had Mars conjunct the node of Saturn."

This is true for both my mom and me.

My mom and I were subjected to gun violence. My mom was shot,and I was with her at the times. She had surgery because of it. She was 20, and I was almost 3 at the time. It was 3 days before my 3rd birthday.
My mom had a hysterectomy because of cervical cancer when she was 23 years old.

In my Mom's chart:
Chart ruler Moon in 18'51 Scorpio
oppose/conjunct Mars Nodes in 19'12 Taurus/Scorpio

In my chart:
Chart ruler Mercury in 18'21 Scorpio
oppose/conjunct Mars Nodes in 19'20 Scorpio



"Planets conjunct or square the nodes of Saturn have a depressive correspondence, while planets conjunct or square the nodes of Uranus have a very restless and rebellious spirit. The functioning seems to be similar to aspects of the planets themselves but more pronounced."

I can easily say that I have a very restless and rebellious spirit

In my chart:
Ascendant/Descendant in 13'27 Virgo/Pisces
square Uranus Nodes in 13'51 Gemini/Sagittarius


btw
Robert Hand has Sun oppose/conjunct Uranus Nodes

Twilight said...

Glaucus ~~~ Many thanks for all of the information you've presented. I feel sure that anyone drawn to this page in the future, via searches, will be very glad of it - as am I.

Thank you again, for your time and trouble in posting it all.

:-)