Transiting Node ?

1
Hi Folks,

I was just wondering what a transiting North Node does to natal planets and points.

I know on this site we are encouraged to answer our own questions so I'd imagine that a North Node is positive and expansive.

Any opinions or pointers for research ?

H.
Yikkes!

2
Transiting planets over other planets and over the angles usually get noticed by a change of mood. During transits of the lunar nodes however (either 'true' or 'mean') I don't really notice anything so I often doubt the use of them in astrology.

Because of their relationship with eclipses which usually are associated with negative events, the nodes too are seen as negative. Sometimes the north node is seen as positive though. From an astronomical point of view there is no difference between the north and south node. In Indian astrology they both are negative. If they mean anything then as an analogy they might have the meaning of 'obscuring' things.

According to Jim Tester's 'A History of Western Astrology' (also on Google books), originally they were probably treated as mere mathematical points which later became real 'things'. http://books.google.nl/books?id=L0HSvH9 ... #PPA162,M1

In Tetrabiblos III12 Ptolemy mentions them and the 'bendings' which are perhaps the points square to the nodes, but he seems to have rejected them http://www.springerlink.com/content/q026046130022820/. Perhaps it could be the latitude of the moon rather than the nodes themselves that give the meaning?

3
In Vedic astrology, the North Node's (Rahu's) return to its native position every 18 or so years is considered an important transit, and its transit of the Sun is considered even more important. There is currently a thread on astro.com concerning various personal experiences with Rahu's transit of the Sun.

I can tell you that my Rahu transit of its natal postion occured three years ago, and coincided fairly closely with an important spiritual event for me. Rahu will conjunct my Sun next year, so I am waiting to see what happens.
All I know is that if my birth chart was a horary, the answer would be "No".

My Blog: http://slushpileastrology.blogspot.com/

4
Hi Eddy,

I wasn't aware the lunar nodes were used in hellenistic astrology at all. I thought they were something imported into western astrology from the Vedic tradition in the the early medieval period?

Mark

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MarkC wrote:Hi Eddy,

I wasn't aware the lunar nodes were used in hellenistic astrology at all. I thought they were something imported into western astrology from the Vedic tradition in the the early medieval period?

Mark
Hi Mark, according to Tester's book it seems that both was the case. Maybe after Ptolemy the nodes were ignored by the Greeks but since much of Indian astrology appear to have Greek origins via the Persians, over there the nodes could have gained in respect which was passed via the Arabian astrologers (Al Biruni) back to the West again.

6
Eddy wrote: In Tetrabiblos III12 Ptolemy mentions them and the 'bendings' which are perhaps the points square to the nodes, but he seems to have rejected them http://www.springerlink.com/content/q026046130022820/. Perhaps it could be the latitude of the moon rather than the nodes themselves that give the meaning?
The bendings are the points of greater distance from the ecliptic, as the nodes are the points when a planet is on the ecliptic.
So yes, the meaning depends on the latitude of the planets.

For example Cardano says in the Comment to Tetrabiblos that Mars and Venus are the planets with the greater latitude, so they show the stronger passions, love and wrath.

Especially love :) considering that Mars can reach 4.38N - 6.53S but Venus can reach 8.35N-8.49S

Margherita
Traditional astrology at
http://heavenastrolabe.wordpress.com

7
Gjiada wrote:The bendings are the points of greater distance from the ecliptic, as the nodes are the points when a planet is on the ecliptic.
So yes, the meaning depends on the latitude of the planets.

For example Cardano says in the Comment to Tetrabiblos that Mars and Venus are the planets with the greater latitude, so they show the stronger passions, love and wrath.
Would it be right to assume that the planets would be strongest when exactly on the ecliptic or rather in their extreme latitudes?

Another interesting fact concerning the relation of the nodes/lunar orbit to the planets is that since the planets are more often not exactly on the ecliptic, it perhaps would be more conveniant to find out when the orbit of the moon will cross the (radix position of the) planet with its latitude. In those cases the transiting Moon would be exactly on the spot of the natal planets.

When the moon passes an (actual position) planet or star this is called an occultation. Spica for example is ca. 2? below the ecliptic. When the North Node is in ecliptical conjunction with Spica every sidereal month the Moon will pass 2? north of the ecliptic. A few years before the Moon would have
occulted Spica. For example 29/30 november 1994 the Moon was in 23?-24? Libra and occulted Spica while the North Node still was in 13?28'(Mean)/14?42'(True) Scorpio. These calculations could also be applied to the natal planets giving some more dimension in the chart.

Note that occultations may occur on different times when using topocentric positions instead of geocentric positions.

8
Hello Eddy,

Would it be right to assume that the planets would be strongest when exactly on the ecliptic or rather in their extreme latitudes?
No, I would not say this. In general bendings mean plenty, while nodes swiftness.
For example, see Centiloquium:53. The lords of the genitures of lean men have no latitude, but of fat men they have: if the latitude be south the native will be nimble; if north, more sluggish

It depends on which quality we are looking for in a chart, it does not matter if a nativity or a mundane chart, and which planet we are talking about, at least in my opinion.

Margherita
Traditional astrology at
http://heavenastrolabe.wordpress.com

10
Yikkes! wrote:Also people use the mean node and the true.

Any huge differences ?
Here's an explanation on the (technical) differences between the mean and true node. http://www.astro.com/swisseph/swisseph. ... c204425039
The mean one is not exact but the true one turns out not to be that 'true' either. The difference is at most about 1,5? apart. This makes me even doubt more about the nodes.

Anyway, whether mean or true, in astrology their character usually are considered evil and "mean" :) .

11
My feeling is the transiting node is like a big tapestry needle that sews into our lifes people we are destined to meet (northnode) and eliminates those we no longer have " business" with .... the transiting south node is currently on my natal un aspected 6th house sun and I have take a few months of work to look after my acutely ill mother....

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Eddy wrote:.......In Indian astrology they both are negative. If they mean anything then as an analogy they might have the meaning of 'obscuring' things.
In Vedic astrology they are known as "Chhaya Graha" or shadowy planets which give the effect of the sign lord they are posited in.In general, Rahu(North node) is like Saturn and Ketu(South node) is Martian.Ketu is also known as liberator of the soul(moksha karaka).

http://www.komilla.com/pages/rahu-ketu.html#Ketu

PD