The Transiting Nodes: Ghost of a Dog

January 3, 2011 by Jessica 9 Comments

With South Node conjunct my natal Cancer Sun, the moons

nodes have always held intrigue so as a professional astrologer

I use them often in my work. Steven Forrests epic

work Yesterdays Sky, helped me bring core karmic complexes

to life in full cinematic glory, and those elusive mysteries,

unraveled. Eclipses are inextricably linked to the nodes, too, as

any full or new moon falling within 18 degrees of the nodal axis

creates what we call an eclipse. Eclipses are wicked good at

opening and closing mystery doors. Eclipse cycles are

retrospectively useful, too, predictively. Theyre also reliable in

relationship compatibility. Ive even watched transiting planets

trigger the nodes, in a sort of date with destiny way. Yet the

transiting nodes have been a mystery to most modern

western astrologers. We see a node transiting our natal axis,

angles or a planet and stare at each other, mystified. We go to

our cookbooks and teachers to try on their theoretical

conclusions about karmic reckonings and fated karmic

meetings, but thats elusive, too. Frankly, for every time

Ive linked an observable event in my life to the transiting

nodes, far more times nothing concrete has happened.

Then, the other night, I was talking with friend Jonathan Pearl,

traditional astrologer extraordinaire, who asked how my Pluto

transit was going. I gave him a laundry list of general

complaints that went like this: unable to get energy going for

projects (difficult, Im all cardinal, baby!), dissipated energy,

feeling in the dark, directionless, losing momentum for projects

I start. As a new author, I explained, I should be building my

empire. Instead, I find myself undergoing a major loss of

direction and purpose.

He said, From everything you just said, Jessica, this doesnt

sound like Pluto- it sounds like the South Node. Further

explaining, The South Node is the shadow point of

dissipation; when transiting a planet, it drains the

archetype of its energy. The Sun being my Will, life force,

ego, clarity, purposefulness, no wonder mustering the ambition

to act has been an epic battle. Jonathan tells me that the

ancients use an 11 degree orb, so the South Node has been

transiting my Sun since April. My husband confirmed this,

pointing out this time period as very different from my three

year Pluto transit: which I incidentally thought was robbing me

of any sense of satisfaction in accomplishment. All this

prompted this question: Who is the real culprit, Pluto, or the

South Node?

Astronomically, the moons nodes are the points of intersection

between the Sun and Moon. The South Node, in Hindu

Astrology, is called Ketu and like Rahu (the North Node) is

considered a shadow planet. Ketu is to Rahu what the Dalai

Lama is to Donald Trump: Rahu thrives on material gain and

worldly power while Ketus coin is the spiritual realm. Rahu

acquires real estate, gets promotions and makes tangible

worldly progress, while Ketu practices renunciation, eats

bean sprouts and does yoga. Each has light/dark

associations and its easy to see that each has value, but for

obvious reasons, the East places more positive value on the

immaterial spiritual Ketu while the West is inclined to focus on

the material and ambitious Rahu. Insomuchas the Hindus say

Ketu grants good health and spiritual prosperity, traditional

western astrology attributes poor health and lack of

advancement/material success to the South Node. Modern

western astrologers like myself, often interpret the South Node

(Ketu) as a point indicating habitual patterns which no longer

yield satisfactory fruits (Stephanie Austin taught me that the

Node symbolically resembled a set of upside down

headphones in ones birth chart-or an empty vessel). Which is

how Ive felt since the Cancer Node has neared my Sun.

Dissipated energy. Empty life force. No new incoming

information.

Sure, Pluto has visibly appeared: my interpersonal client work

has been wonderfully rich, and with natal Twelfth House Pluto

in Libra opposing a Sixth House Mars, as it should be. Pluto

affects my relationships, my dream life (Twelfth House) which

has been rich. But the other night when a transparent Christ

ghost drifted through a dream in which I am also a drifter, and

my spiritual companion said, Youre it. Youre the Node!, I

began to process again how deeply I Am solar-identified with

the South Node.

This all has me yet again reconsidering the value of ancient

traditional astrology and wondering how to get my hands on

some more ancient goodies. But as I sometimes ask of the

more fated traditional astrology, Would knowing this

information in advance have been useful to me? Would it have

helped me to relax into a way of inward, non-being, at a time

when worldly representation is required? How could I frame this

in a useful (non-depressive) way? The song Ghost of a Dog by

Edie Brickell has been repeating in my head: a ghost dog

presence barks in the backyard, a dog that is essentially dead.

Comic-mystic Stuart Wilde says God incarnated as the

companionable DOG so the Source could unobtrusively

witness how far humanity has grown, a metaphor for the earthly

dog and spiritual god. I wonder, if God/Dog are one in the

same, why is spiritual growth so hard to value? Does the

transiting South Node indicate a ghostly fallow period for

that planet transited? All questions Im leaning into. Ambition

creates large shadows, as were all learning with Pluto in

Capricorn. Sometimes theres nothing to do and no one to be.

Or so says the South Node.