What Are the Lunar Nodes? How to Find + Use the Lunar Nodes in Astrology to Make Your Life Right 🐉🌙💫

OKAY, SO... the astrology of the Lunar Nodes is HYPER-WOO*.

(*First of all… it involves a dragon. 💁🏻‍♀️)

In the natal chart, the Lunar Nodes describe our ultimate purpose project: the South Node reveals conditions of our past-life karma, and the North Node reveals our present-life dharma. 

Technically, the Lunar Nodes symbolize where the Moon crosses the path of the Sun on your chart. The zodiac signs they fall across show where eclipses were sparking during your birth year.

AND, if you read my previous post (A User’s Guide to Eclipses, you’re welcome 😌✨), you’re well aware: eclipses can be karmic plot twists in the “meta-narrative.”

When the Lunar Nodes are involved, those plot twists can actually furrow us directly into our the fulfillment of our soul’s most desired destiny. 🤩

astrologers peek at the lunar nodes in your natal chart for clues about your “purpose project”…

…how the Lunar Nodes interrelate with the rest of your chart hints at the themes, experiences, events, and key players that will contribute or play a role in the unfolding and development of your soul’s core evolutionary urge.

The Lunar Nodes are not bodies in space (like Mars or the Moon), but astronomical points. They also come in a pair, the North and South Node, lying across each other in opposite signs / houses of your natal chart. Together, they are known as the Karmic Axis (one of four major axes, including the Ascension Axis, which I talked about in my post about he Destiny Point ✨).

The South Node describes the karma you smuggled into this life with, including past-life perfected abilities, as well as the type of experiences you will default to in your early 20s (and try balancing out with your North Node for your entire life)…

…whereas the North Node describes the present dharma, or destined purpose, you are currently exploring and honing. Our North Node is our evolutionary learning curve, what we’re leaning into, weighted by the entrained skills and experiences of our South Node.

“The north node is the thing a person desires. It’s the glass of water. The south node tells us why the person is thirsty.”

— Ada Pembroke, “A Guide to Past Life Astrology Readings”

Typically, we lapse into and feel most comfortable with our South Node conditions, and uncomfortable, even avoidant, of our North Node conditions. This is how it feels throughout our lives, no matter where we’re at on our chronological journey through the Nodal Cycle (I’mma say more about this in a sec…).

“The NN [North Node] represents the ways our interactions with the world must shift. It’s about the struggle of the past to become the future, the active spirit reforming and remolding matter, and the adjustments that need to be made–emotional, psychological, intellectual, and yes, physical– in order for this to occur. No wonder we resist our North Nodes.”

— The Inner Wheel, “The Story of the Nodes, Part Three”

In super traditional astrology, like Vedic astrology (I’ve included links to more in the Resources section at the bottom ✨), the Lunar Nodes are analogized by a dragon: the South Node symbolizes the belly of the dragon, while the North Node represents the head of the dragon. 🐲🐉

And basically, our “purpose project”, the “goal” of the Karmic Axis, is about keeping the dragon fed and sleepy… which means figuring out how to edge away from the dragon’s belly (which feels safe and easer to manage), and move towards the dragon’s head. 🥝🍜🧇

AND BTW, you don’t have to trust and believe in reincarnation to delineate the Lunar Nodes in your chart…

…looking them up can be a fun way for answering questions about destiny and purpose, and for inventorying how your past pursuits can serve your potential.

“Some people are uncomfortable with the idea of reincarnation. One can understand the Moon’s south node in a variety of other ways. It can be your DNA. It can be ‘how God made you’. It can be your ancestral past. Or, if you are open to the idea of past lives, it can be your karma in the Buddhist, Hindu or probably Druid sense. ”

— Steven Forrest, Yesterday’s Sky

also, the lunar nodes get transited… by planets, as well as by the nodes themselves… according to a specific schedule, and at predictable ages… 😳⏱

We toggle between the themes and experiences described by our North and South Node throughout life, often coinciding with the transiting Nodes (orbiting in the sky right now), as they connect with the Nodes in our chart (never moving).

This is part of your Nodal Cycle ✨, the astrological timing of your “purposeful moments,” when your purpose project becomes activated, inventoried, and delineated in real-time.

“As they describe the interaction of the Sun and the Moon, they are the core and the crossroads of our being. And as they rip through time and space via transit, they cut a swathe between who we have been and who we are becoming.”

— The Inner Wheel, “The Crucible and the Wheel: The Transiting Nodes Part Two”

Sometimes these mega-transits along your Nodal Cycle coincide with a sudden crossroads (a choice must be made), or a eureka-moment (I remember my original true desire, the vision I forgot to believe in), or a sudden cathartic purging, detoxing, or letting go moment (I can’t believe how much time has passed, gonna listen to Whitney and cry all night…)

Karmic detoxes and dharmic kickstarts abound!

Basically, you can consider Nodal Cycle transits as astro-triggered spiritual chiropractory: timed intervals when circumstances will collude, and you receive a wake-up call that you forget you’d requested.  🤔

AND MOST IMPORTANT, these Nodal transits can be timed and forecasted! 🤩

in this post, i’ll show you how to find + delineate your lunar nodes, as well as calendar when the lunar nodes in your chart will get tripped… particularly by the transiting lunar nodes themselves. 😳😱✨ 

Based on your age and the condition of the Lunar Nodes in your chart (in comparison to where the transiting Lunar Nodes are influencing them), you can guess-timate the mood, impact, and ensuing consequences of your Nodal transits, and maybe use the intel to (re-)align with your purpose project. 🧘🏻‍♀️🌖✨

I mean—you still might feel like the ground has dropped out from under you, or as though the sun has risen from the west, or that the sand is leaking out of the foundations of your life…

…but thank god we have astrology to help us make sense of it all, and guide us through it! 🥰🙌🏻

NOTE > For this tutorial, particularly the bottom two sections involving your Nodal Cycle, you might want some practice interpreting a transit chart, which I explain in this post. ✨

DON’T WORRY THO, I’ll show you where to get a free birth chart (Astro-Seek.com), and provide straight-forward step-by-steps for identifying where your Lunar Nodes are situated. ✅

But if you really want to time and forecast for your Nodal Cycle, you’ll have to pull up a transit chart, which I will also show you how to do! ☺️

TO START OFF, I’ll show you how to do an in-depth delineation of the North and South Nodes… basically, we’re going to use all the knowledge we have about signs, houses, and the energies / archetypes symbolized by the planets to really filet out the Lunar Nodes of your natal chart. 💪🏻

SO, if you were hoping for a DIY astrology tutorial to help you werk the basics and see what comes up, you’ve found it! ✨

And once it’s done, you’ll feel like you’re carrying around a classified Illuminati-status secret… one that you couldn’t really explain to anyone else (who doesn’t already know or care about astrology, anyway 😜), but may validate some vague pressure you’ve always felt about what you should be doing…

…as well as help clarify any vague apprehension or stress you might have about the role you must take on, and the energy, situations, and experiences you must embrace in order to get yourself there, to detox your karma, jumpstart your dharma, and otherwise fulfill your purpose project*!

(*As well as satisfy the hungry dragon in your stars! 🐲🌟)

HOW TO FIND + INTERPRET YOUR LUNAR NODES 🐉🌟

These are the basic step-by-steps for scoring a free copy of your birth chart, then interpreting the placement of your Lunar Nodes.

As I mentioned in the intro, this is the simple, straightforward way of identifying your North and South Node.

In the rest of this section, I provide a deep dive for seeing how the whole natal chart functions around the Karmic Axis (a.k.a. the Nodal Axis, same thing), as more intensive prep-work for the last section about the Nodal Cycle, which looks at transits that will occur to your Lunar Nodes, coinciding with synchronous experiences that will toggle you to and fro along your karmic path.

You’ll basically want a full, in-depth understanding of your North and South Node placements in order to get the most insight out of those maj’ transit moments that are coming along. ⏱

HINT > You’ll want a third place to “delineate” or break down each Node placement, so you can see all its bits at a glance, and try to make your own “whole.” Use scratch paper, an astrological grimoire, or any place where you can store your little doodle-notes, to be returned to when you’re ready for a Nodal review. 🙌🏻✨

1. FIRST, GET YOUR NATAL CHART. You’ll need birth date: the time, date, and location you were born. This post shows you how through Astro-Seek and Astro Dienst, which is cool if you want to store your birth data, and be able to recast different versions of your chart. ALTERNATIVE > hit up the AstroTwins’ Node calculator, or this one at Cafe Astrology.  ✨

2. NEXT, DELINEATE EACH NODAL PLACEMENT. Start with either the South Node or North Node. Break each down by its zodiac sign (quality, virtue, essence ✨) and house (arena, context, field of experience ✨), and any other planets or points sharing the same space, because they become complicit in your purpose project. REMEMBER, they’re a pair, the North and South, so researching one Node requires research into its opposite.

3. AFTER THAT, LOOK UP THEIR ASPECTS. Aspects describe how the rest of your chart serves or challenges your purpose project, and the type of aspect (square, trine, quincunx, etc.) indicates the energy of that process. Which planets are aspecting your Nodes? Pay special attention to conjunctions and squares. Read more about aspects here.

4. NOW, PEEK AT THE DISPOSITORS, OR RULERS, OF BOTH NODES. The ruler is the planet that rules the zodiac sign that your Node is in, which you might have to Google to find out. Where’s the ruler at on your chart? Does it aspect your Nodes? How about to other planets’ aspect(s) to it?

5. FINALLY, TAKE NOTE OF ANY PLANETARY TRANSITS TO YOUR LUNAR NODES. These coincide with omens and synchronicities related to you (such as the one I’ve provided in this post about tracking your current transits 😌).

BELOW, in the following steps, I’ll show you how to fully parse out how Lunar Nodes interact with the rest of your natal chart, based on surface-level knowledge of Karmic and Evolutionary astrology. 🌀🧬

NOTE > These might be a bit heady (😵‍💫), and you don’t actually need to do any of them to gain a working understanding of your Lunar Nodes (the above steps will get you there 👍🏻).

But if you’re working towards an in-depth understanding of how the Karmic Axis operates in your chart, OR if you're craving a form of metaphysical insight about your true purpose or destiny in this life (and what karma might need to be addressed), these steps will give you the full scoop! 🐉🍦

IF YOU JUST WANT MORE ABOUT THE LUNAR NODES AS PLACEMENTS (low key version 👌🏻)… check out this Astro Twins article, as well as this one from MindBodyGreen, and compare to this one by Well + Good.

For a bit more depth, also check out this Cafe Astrology article, which includes a calculator for finding your North and South Nodes (no charts required 😜). ✅

FIRST, COMPARE THE NODES TO YOUR SUN + MOON 🌻🌙🐉 >

Some astrologers examine the South Node in relationship with the Moon, and the North Node with the Sun. This gives them clues about the chart holder’s ability to intuit their own karmic journey, and how they might process transit experiences to either Node.

Typically, our Moon represents our primal comfort zone. Your Moon always references your past, and most primordial experiences (such as those when you were an infant… how did the world feel? how responsive was your mother / surroundings to your needs?).

Whereas it takes some time (well into our 30s 😳) before we really begin to embody our Sun. Our Sun reveals not our personality (don’t believe the hype), but the conditions for which we consolidate our inner and outer experience. The Sun is like a Polaroid picture: as the image develops, we become more cognizant of the information that’s been captured.

“The dynamic tension between the past and the future is experienced through the natal position of the Moon. The transition, or shift, within the Soul’s self-image and emotional security patterns/needs are reflected in the South and North Nodes of the moon. In this context, the Soul’s transition from the evolutionary past to the future is symbolized in the nodal axis of the Moon. Again, the nodal axis reflects how this evolution (i.e., the primary intentions for the current life) will take place on an emotional and conscious basis.”

— Lewellyn Journal, “Evolutionary Astrology: How Our Nodal Axis Defines the Soul's Path”

IN A NUTSHELL, when it comes to interpreting our Karmic Axis, the Moon represents gut feeling and genetic memory, while the Sun is the archetype we are ever becoming. 👐🏻✨

AND WE CAN USE THIS INFO, to help us grasp how we might consciously and unconsciously interpret experiences touching our Lunar Nodes.

SO THEN…. how do we examine the relationship between our Sun and Moon? 🤔

Easy: by looking up your birthday moon phase. 🌙🎈

Remember that Moon phases aren’t just about the Moon, but actually describe the relationship between the Sun and Moon.

You’re probably already aware of your Moon sign, but when you were born, the Moon was also either waxing or waning through that sign. Whether it was waxing (growing) or waning (shrinking) depended on how it was angled towards the Sun*.

(*Astrology is basically geometry. 💁🏻‍♀️)

Your birthday moon phase describes how dilated your inner eye may be to your subconscious experiences. It’s the “summary” for how your Sun consolidates (or makes meaning out of) your conscious experience, and how your Moon metabolizes your experiences. 

“The phasal stage of the Sun and Moon needs to be noted here, as well as sign and house placement. A first quarter Moon will react differently to the Nodal urging than a third quarter Moon, who has been around the block a bit and already knows the landscape. A full Moon may have more of a tug between Nodes, and may have particular difficulty moving forward, as the lunar draw is contrary to the Sun’s actions. A balsamic Moon is finishing up its journey, and may end up with a ‘last chance’ mentality as far as the nodes are concerned, going to any lengths to make sure its path to consciousness is developed and its lessons are learned.”

— The Inner Wheel, “The Hungry Moon: The Nodes, Part One” 

🌟 This calculator can help you find out your birthday Moon phase, and I say more about how Moon phases in my post about the Moon in your natal chart 🌙, as well as in my post about the Progressed Moon (tho neither of those posts have anything to do with the Lunar Nodes). ✨

ALSO, PRO TIP > For a wider scope of how you will internalize your Nodal transits, take note of any planets aspecting your Moon in your chart… just your Moon:

“Any planet contacting the Moon natally will colour the Nodal experience, particularly conjunctions, which will make their presence felt. They will give us an indication of what type of energy and experience has influenced spiritual development in the past and will influence it in this lifetime. The outer planets can be a particularly strong influence, but any planet can show us the theme of the developing awareness.

Uranus/Moon will cause radical change and sudden loss leading us to higher Mind. With Jupiter/Moon, the Nodes will be prompted by the Moon’s inbuilt tendency to go beyond boundaries. Mars/Moon’s awareness may be stimulated by sexual issues, or by experiences regarding desire.

The planet will play an important role in Nodal development, and the house it rules can define the types of crises that will nudge the Moon forward in its understanding. Anything that affects the planet will also affect the Moon. Transits or progressions of that planet will raise the awareness of that planet’s role in developing the Nodal themes.”

— The Inner Wheel, “The Hungry Moon: The Nodes, Part One”

I KNOW, DUDE… this first step might seem like a lot (😵‍💫😖), and if it’s too much, skip ahead to the next step…

….but just remember that fully delineating your Sun and Moon primes you for better understanding all of your transit experiences! 💫

THEY’RE CLUTCH, DUDE, THE SUN AND MOON ARE CLUTCH!!!

Anyway….

NEXT, COMPARE OTHER PLANETS’ ASPECTS TO YOUR NODES >

Aspects from other planets give more clues about the archetypes, contexts, and themes that might help or hinder your purpose project (and be recurrent throughout your life, particularly if that planet aspecting the Nodes is getting transited!).

For this, you might want to click the gray tab labelled “Aspects Tables” above the image of your natal chart in the Astro-Seek software. ✨

This table grids out all the aspects, so you don’t have to try parsing out the lines you see on the chart itself (thank god).

With the aspects table in view, look for the columns with the symbol for your North Node. 

HINT > Printing the chart and aspect table out onto paper might be easier to work with, so you can highlight and circle up all the planets (if any) that are thrown’ vibes on your karma-dharma. 

HINTS ABOUT ASPECTS… 

🌟 CONJUNCTIONS ☌ > Conjunctions are when a planet is side-by-side one of your Nodes. Conjunctions blend. When a planet conjuncts your South Node, it suggests that your soul charted to fully realize that planet while building your karma (before toggling towards your North Node). You’ll be able to live into that planet, then draw on the instinct and energy it represents when you’re living into your North Node. Typically, we skew towards our South Node role and qualities in our 20s and early 30s, unless a planet happens to conjunct our North Node (or it’s otherwise “weighted” in some way, such as with a slow-moving Outer Planet transit). Any planet conjunct your North Node is meant to be a bit spooky or challenging, but also the “goal” of your purpose project (symbolized by your North Node). If you’re analyzing your Lunar Nodes from a reincarnation perspective, then any planet conjunct the North or South Node indicate some kind of past-life issue demanding to be werked out in this life.

🌟 TRINES + SEXTILES △✳ > By default, any planets that trine your North Node (▵) are also sextiling your South Node (✳)*. Trines and sextiles are considered harmonious: trines bring gentle, appreciative vibes, while sextiles bring fluid, catch-and-release vibes. Both are progressive, as in, they’re pushing some development along, but at a lazy pace… that planet and your Node are listening to Incubus while drifting down a river. The planet’s influence may be gentle, but that gentleness can make it difficult to toggle towards your North Node.

(*This is also a geometry thing. 🤓)

“People never get into trouble in a vacuum. There is always a person or a situation that supports them getting into trouble. These “supports” are represented by planets trine or sextile the south node.”

— Ada Pembroke, “A Guide to Past Life Astrology Readings”

🌟 SQUARES 🔳 > Any planets squaring your North Node are also squaring your South Node. Squares bring contest and contention: planets squaring the Nodal axis represent the energy (planet), theme (sign), and context (house) that get underfoot as you try to get involved with your purpose project. Sometimes the planet represents an archetype, or type of person, who will knock you off your karmic grind (Saturn square the Lunar Nodes could symbolize an authority figure you have a fraught relationship with), or sometimes the planet represents a sabotaging habit or type of situation that tends to trip you up (Neptune square the Lunar Nodes could symbolize drugs, daydreaming, or media addiction… 🙋🏻‍♀️). The zodiac sign and house where the squaring planet is placed will give you clues*.

*HINT > If you have a planet squaring your Lunar Nodes, peek at the sign and house opposite that planet for hints about what qualities and experiences you might reach towards to resolve or recalibrate the tension created by the square!

“When a planet is square the Nodes, it necessarily creates a T-square, which creates a bridge between the past (South Node) and the future (North Node), and can be seen as our present. A square represents a conflictual energy, a challenge and a tension, but of course it also represents enhanced opportunity to achieve growth, as nothing ever happens through a quiet walk in the park. …

My understanding of a planet square the Nodes is that, the lessons served in this life will be represented by the planet T-square. The planet represents both a difficulty and a leverage. Through the planet square the Nodes, we find information about: What kind of people and situations will help you achieve the most growth, The kind of people you have Karma with, What needs to be transformed and worked on to achieve growth, What pushes you towards growth and holds you back from it by a constant movement of balance.”

— Look Up the Stars, “Planets Square the Lunar Nodes”

🌟 OPPOSITIONS ☍ > Oppositions tie into the description of the conjunctions. A planet conjunct your South Node is opposite your North Node, and vice versa. Depending at where you’re at along your Nodal Cycle, a planet could be read as conjunct or opposing what you’re currently working on, whether it’s building karma or developing your purpose. In past life astrology readings, a planet conjunct your North Node (opposite your South Node) symbolizes a past-life struggle you’ll be forced to use and embrace (if not master) in this life.

“Planets opposite the nodes represent an impossible problem like this. No matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t solve the problem, and the solution to the problem has come with you into this lifetime as your deepest longing.

In John Lennon’s chart, the sun is opposite his south node. (I have this placement in my chart, as well.) In a past life, he was denied the opportunity to shine. With the sun opposite the south node in Libra in the the 6th house, he may have consistently chosen to put service before self, the needs of his community before his own needs. He was never given the chance to look after himself or be benignly selfish.”

— Ada Pembroke, “A Guide to Past Life Astrology Readings”

OKAY, let me guide you through how you might synthesize or combine all the factors of the planets aspecting your Karmic Axis….

✨ WHAT ARCHETYPES DOES THAT PLANET REPRESENT? >

Venus often symbolizes women, pleasure, and art (🌸). Mercury can represent siblings, childhood friends, or younger people (such as students), and sometimes media (🧚🏻). Mars can represent aggressors, libido, or violence (🔥). Jupiter might symbolize a teacher, benefactor, and sometimes higher education (🕊). Saturn can symbolize a type of bureaucrat, authority figure, and sometimes karma… a situation that undermines our purpose project until we’ve mastered it (🪐).

When one of the heavies are involved—Uranus, Neptune, Pluto—your purpose project might be entwined with zeitgeist-level issues: social upheaval (Uranus ⚡️), spiritual crisis (Neptune 🧜🏻‍♀️), or intergenerational trauma (Pluto 💀).

With the Outer Planets, it’s always a condition affecting us intimately, to our core, but which has no specific cause we can pinpoint (or blame). With Neptune, for instance, our karmic journey could be as equally inspired by spiritual epiphany as it is complicated by… other altered states of consciousness (🙋🏻‍♀️🙋🏻‍♀️).

✨ NEXT, CONSIDER THE ZODIAC SIGN OF THE PLANET ASPECTING YOUR KARMIC AXIS >

You can use the themes traditionally associated with the zodiac signs (Libra = “partnership”, “collaboration”, Gemini = “connection”, “primary or immediate relationships”), but I think it might serve your intuition better by referring to the sign’s element and mode instead. 💁🏻‍♀️☺️

Each sign represents one of the four elements (🔥💧🌿🪶), and one of three qualities that element might express itself. Cardinal is the most assertive quality of that element, Fixed is the most stable, and Mutable is the most changeable.

Considering the elements and modes of the signs can help you figure out how that archetype might show up, whether it’s aggressive (🔥), intuitive (💧), nurturing (🌿), or ideational (🪶), and the modality (cardinal, fixed, mutable) can describe the intensity of its impact, whether the circumstances are opaque and cloying (cardinal), or diffused and fleeting (mutable).

✨AFTER THAT, CONSIDER THE NATURE OF THE ASPECT >

Once you’ve unpacked what the planets represent, and the quality of their impact, use the aspect to determine how that archetype influences your purpose project. Is the aspect considered easy, or challenging? A gentle touch (sextile), or a recurring impediment (opposition)?

NOTE > It might be wise to consider all aspects (even challenging ones) as helpful in some way. Some people show up to disturb or nudge us towards our destiny….

…if not to detract us, so that we gain valuable information as we reroute ourselves. 💡

✨FINALLY, NOTE THE HOUSE PLACEMENT OF THE ASPECTING PLANET(S) >

These will provide context clues. Where does this influence tend to manifest? What activities, circumstances, and types of experiences are attributed to this house? Based on the aspect, are these useful or undermining circumstances?

NOW THAT YOU HAVE ALL THIS INTEL… later on, when I dig into the section about the Nodal Cycle (🌀), you can look back at the timeframes when you were having a Nodal moment, and be able to recall if there were any significant influences coming into your life that might fit the description of these planets! 🤯🤩🥰

🌟 For more ideas of what the planets aspecting your Lunar Nodes could represent, check out this Astrology.com database, and compare to these descriptions, as well to these summaries from Well + Good. ✨

🌟 Check out this Well + Good article for more about the energies and archetypes represented by the zodiac signs, and compare to this one from the Astro Twins, and this other one from CafeAstrology. ✨

🌟 For more about aspects, check out this Cafe Astrology article all about aspects, and compare to this one from Dark Star Astrology... for more about techniques you can use for evaluating aspects, check out this article from Alice Sparkly Kat. ✨

🌟 For context clues, check out this article on the astrological houses, compare with this one from Cafe Astrology, and this one from the Astro Twins. ✨

AFTER THAT, THE NEXT PLANETS TO CHECK UP ON ARE YOUR “NODAL BENDERS” >

Nodal benders bring drama to your purpose project. Nodal benders are planets that are 90° degrees from either your North or South Node: South Node benders are planets 90° from your South Node that you are in the process of releasing, while North Node benders are planets 90° from your North Node that you are in the process of building.

“All nodal benders are about change. If Mercury is your south nodal bender, the security that you might derive from labor is something that you are always releasing. If Mercury is your north nodal bender, you might be building security through changing your relationship with labor.”

— Alice Sparkly Kat, “Nodal Benders”

The simplest way to figure out if any of your planets are bending either Node is by noting the degree° number of each node (it’ll be the same number, but in opposite signs 💁🏻‍♀️), then peeking at the same degree° number three zodiac signs away from the Node (which, because of geometry, will be 90° away from the node).

HINT > Move counter clockwise from the Node. If the Node is in your First House, then you’d spot the Nodal bender in your Third House (depending on the width of the houses on your chart).

NOTE > You might not have any nodal benders! This is just a special glimpse at what might be throwing static on your purpose project, and can be helpful insight into some self-defeating behaviors that you didn't realize are getting underfoot, or potentially mega-useful behaviors you can tap into.

If you peek at the example chart I’m using, you’ll notice that there are no Nodal Benders… however, the Mercury placement (ruler of the South Node) isn’t too far off from the North Node’s “bend zone”.

How might we interpret that?? Basically, the role they occupied while living their South Node karma actually becomes part-in-parcel to the process of building up their North Node dharma (well well well).

FINALLY, LOOK FOR THE RULERS (A.K.A. DISPOSITORS) OF YOUR NORTH + SOUTH NODES > 

The planetary ruler of our South Node describes the role we took on when creating (or re-living) our karma. The role and conditions described by the South Node ruler once felt… inevitable, something expected, or that we simply defaulted into.

Meanwhile, the ruler of our North Node reveals the role we’re evolving into: the conditions we’re reaching towards and trying to integrate into our current paradigm. We’re learning to take on the role represented by the North Node ruler.

“A lot of nodal interpretation is going on these days that takes just house and sign into consideration. But without the nodal rulers, without the the node of new moon detail, we really won’t have a clue about where we’ve come from or where we’re going. It’s like being told that Hamlet is about a guy in Denmark who hates his uncle.

The nodal rulers are the ones who carry the detail and the deeper meaning of the story the Nodes are trying to tell, and give us a more accurate interpretation of just what it is we’re here to do.”

— The Inner Wheel, “There Once Lived… The Nodes, Part 4”

To find clues about the roles involved with your purpose project, let’s find the planetary rulers of each one. Start with the South Node. What’s the sign? Which planet “rules” that sign? (This article summarizes the ruler of each zodiac sign. ✨)

Now, where is that planet on your natal chart? Which archetypes are attributed to that planet? One of these archetypes can signify the role you default to in your early life, particularly through your 20s and early 30s. This will also be the role you slip into as you move further along your Nodal Cycle through middle age. This is the role you are most comfortable being in.

NEXT, what is the zodiac sign that the South Node’s ruler is in? The sign illuminates the “cause” or “mission” for fulfilling that role. What themes and motifs are attributed to this sign? Use the intel you gathered about elements + modes from the last section to guide your interpretation.

FOR EXAMPLE, if your South Node is in Gemini (as it it in this example chart), you would peek at where Mercury is hanging out: in this case, Mercury is in Aquarius, sign of the collective, where mavericks, rebels, and revolutionaries are born, conceived once they’ve brought their genius, insight, or special gift to the group (think… Prometheus, Elon Musk, or Moana 🌺). 

Mercury is also in the chart holder’s Ninth House of Faith, Higher Callings, + Distant Voyages, where astrologers look for hints regarding how we target our goals and go the distance, and also gives clues about our personal philosophy and religious perspective. ♒️🏹

In a past life (“past life” or early life), the chart holder had the role as an apprentice, oriented towards a group goal (serving a group or collective), guided by faith (ninth house) that the effort and commitment would funnel them towards their higher calling. What was the “calling” exactly? We could look for the ruler of this house: Uranus, which is hangin’ out in their Fifth House of Love, Creativity, + Personel Fruition. ✨✨✨

(NOTE > You can basically play “ring around the rosie ‘round a natal chart”, looking for secret motivations for each planet by peeking at the ruler of its sign. Dawn Bodrogi says more in this article about dispositors. ✨)

As they’ve chugged along through life, the chart holder might’ve struggled with graduating to the next level (a.k.a. the role embodied by the North Node ruler), staying the perpetual student, pursuing abstract ideals, serving (if not in pursuit of) a group bonded to bringing about the same or similar ideals.

Because Mercury is… mercurial, or changeable by nature, it hints that their purpose project might have been undermined by their adaptability, of constantly remixing circumstances… perhaps for excitement (Uranus’s influence), or perhaps necessarily, due to ever-shifting perspectives, beliefs, and / or learning situations.

LAST, on your chart, which house does the South Node ruler occupy? This will tell you the activities and experiences you were immersed in while occupying the role of your South Node. Unless referring to a book or material written explicitly for delineating the Nodes (I recommend some under Resources at the bottom ✨), you might have to read a couple articles about the astrology houses (here’s the Astro Twins’ summaries, to be compared with the descriptions on Cafe Astrology ✨), until you’re able to build an intuitive picture of how the archetype (your South Node ruler) functioned in this house. 

“Ultimately, our relationship with our South Nodes will begin to feel incomplete. We will sense that we are hollow in that area, that there is some degree of emptiness and lack of fulfilment, even if we can’t point out what it is. This is, ultimately, what drives us to our North Nodes.

But what takes us there? The incidents, experiences and house orientation relative to our South Nodes. ”

— The Inner Wheel, “There Once lived… Story of the Nodes, Pt. 4”

SPECIAL NOTE ‼️ >

If you’re reading this after your first Saturn Return (which happen at ages 27-30), all this might click right away (are you having an a-ha moment…?) 👍🏻…

…but if you’re still young and fresh, this info might be a bit perplexing. 😣

That’s because you need time to live into your South Node (a.k.a. to build up or relive your karma), which is sooo unconscious, it’s like tuning into bio processes you do automatically, like shitting or blowing your nose.

TL, DR > Have you ever met with a professional about an issue that was frustrating you, like digestive woes or social anxiety, and felt disappointed when their advice was some dorky exercise… something so simple, it seemed to trivialize your problem? 🤨

Like—you’re anxious, and they coach you on pranayama breathing? Or, you’re super gassy after every meal (😵‍💫), and they instruct you to count to 50 while chewing your food, before swallowing? 

AND… when you followed their advice, you noticed that you actually really did stop feeling farty or filled with bees, because the technique (though dorky and simple) disrupted a behavior so unconscious and compulsive, you didn’t realize you were doing it (or that it was getting in your way)? 😳😅

BASICALLY, the “simple technique” is a metaphor for the planetary ruler of your North Node: the role you’re developing for breaking your entrained, almost parasympathetic South Node conditioning. 👐🏻✨

“The ruler of the North Node can be a kind of guiding star, as long as we keep our eyes open and don’t get led into a ditch along the way.”

— The Inner Wheel, “And they Lived… The Nodes, Part 5”

OKAY, now, let’s delineate the ruler of your North Node! What’s the sign? Which planet “rules” that sign? Where is that planet on your natal chart, and which archetypes are attributed to that planet?

FOR THIS CHART…

…the North Node ruler is Jupiter, which is in dreamy-sleepy mystical Pisces (♓️), as well as right smack dab on the cusp between their Tenth House of Status, Reputation, and Ultimate Potential (where astrologers look for information about our career and public profile), and Eleventh House of Fellowship, Expanded Networks, and Higher Vision (where astrologers look for info about our friendships and how we extend ourselves into the world).

For the chart-holder, the karma lies in their perpetual learning and apprenticeship, in amassing knowledge that will help get them where they want to go, while the dharma is in achieving special recognition and privilege, particularly within an audience or community. With Pisces as the theme, it would be an authoritative role based on a spiritual connection, and that “audience” might even be described as a congregation, or a network of people affiliated to the same cause or spiritual outlook.

If not recognition, privilege, and authority with an audience, then perhaps the purpose project is ambitious, lofty enough to believe their dharma is meant to bring about some kind of Utopia, or Heaven on Earth. 🕊🌎

Basically, the purpose project for this chart would involve balancing the tension between their role as a lifelong learner, and their role as a benevolent mentor… in transitioning in their chosen field from sparkling-synaptic, hyper-learner Mercury (I’m your best buddy, ya, I could help you with that, we’re on the same team) into sagacious spiritual teacher and king-of-heaven Jupiter (I’m here to inspire and guide you towards your own self-realization, I believe in you, and your hopes and dreams are not so dissimilar from mine).

REMEMBER THO, these are the roles described by the North and South Node…

…but the purpose project itself is described by the actual Nodal placements: the South Node is in Gemini (♊️) and their Twelfth House (Subconscious, Spiritual Life, and Self-Undoing 💠) and the North Node in Sagittarius (♐️) and their Sixth House (Self-Regulation, Personal Flow, and Daily Ritual 🌿). 

WHEN THE CHART HOLDER EXPERIENCES ONE OF THEIR NODAL TRANSITS… the on-the-ground werk will be about re-assessing how the micro (sixth house 🌿) fits into the macro (twelfth house 💠). The chart holder will be faced with challenges and realizations concerning how their daily rituals and routines (including daily service and work) contribute to or support their ultimate dream…

…and also, whether their hopes and dreams can be grounded in their mundane, work-a-day existence. ✨

Like—when their Nodes get tripped (🌀), will this person feel like they’re embodying the role of a mystically-influential benefactor… or still in learning mode, serving some other mentor-master, playing little cousin or kid brother to somebody else’s big to-do?

…are they assembling all the pieces of info gathered in their lifelong study into a whole, into a map they can navigate?

…is that map comprehensive enough for their audience, students, or congregation to navigate, as well? 🤔

COUPLED WITH THAT, are their daily habits assisting them in rising to the helm of personal destiny? Does their process, and the way they regulate their life, contribute to the wide-scope, “meta” canvas for which they see their ultimate destiny splaying across…? 🤔🤔

OR, are they overshadowed by self-perpetuated issues and delays couched in their Twelfth House-comfort zone… where it is easier to simply dream, milling away in their day to day. and leaving it up to god? 🤔🤔🤔

OF COURSE, we must factor in other placements that might be helping or hindering their purpose project, such as that inspired but dissociative Neptune I see caressing their North Node. 🧜🏻‍♀️🐉

REMEMBER FROM THE EARLIER SECTION that planets conjunct the North Node operate as “built-in” incentives. The attributions of any planet conjunct the North Node are ones our soul has a non-negotiable contract with learning to utilize and master.

With Neptune conjunct the North Node, the chart holder will be gifted with many “dates with destiny”…

…but might also hide from, evade, or delay those dates. 😓

They might crave and instinctually seek the divine, while also recoiling from it, fleeing instead into low-vibe avenues of “shamanic” journeying and dissociative forms of inspiration-gathering (Neptune in Sagittarius)….

…especially when the South Node is placed in the Twelfth House, the house governing our unconsciousness, and nighttime dreaming, a.k.a. the “haunted house” of our psyche. 😬

“While Neptunian energy can manifest in wonderful ways, it is also important to mention its negative side. The lower octave of Neptune includes illusions, escapism, addictions, fraud. If a person lives the negative manifestation of Neptune, they can have a blurry vision of reality. It is important to watch out for being fooled by others and falling prey to manipulation.”

— Advanced Astrology, “Neptune Conjunct North Node: Natal, Transit, Synastry”

BASICALLY, in my personal evaluation of this chart, with Neptune conjunct the North Node in Sagittarius (🧜🏻‍♀️🐉♐️), I get vibes like that scene from The Doors when Jim Morrison is in the desert…

…but, like, the chart-holder struggles with actually leaving the desert….

…the visionary landscape devolving into a kind of personal purgatory. 😱😓

SO, the chart holder’s purpose project will be all about balancing these Sixth-Twelfth House themes…

(…can the dream find a point of entry into the chart holder’s mundane reality… can they receive divine inspo with lucidity, and transmit it empathically? can they do it without being manipulated by their daily circumstances, or by those they perceive as masters of their fate?)…

…and be acted out in the chart holder’s efforts to rise from an idealistic learner into faith-driven teacher. 👐🏻✨

REMEMBER, the Lunar Nodes lie opposite each other, and our purpose project is about leaning away from one towards the other. Whereas the theme and context represented by the South Node (by sign and house) tends to feel easy (👌🏻), the themes and context represented by the North Node can feel unwieldy, and a little spooky (👻).

The South Node is where we feel prodigal, while the North Node represents what we’re training for. 💪🏻

But these can still very SUPER abstract (😵‍💫), which is why analyzing the rulers of your North and South Nodes can help contextualize where + how these struggles might manifest in your actual life.

OKAY, NOW THAT YOU HAVE FULLY DELINEATED YOUR LUNAR NODES, I’ll give you an explainer on tracking transits to them!

Below that, just before the Resources section, I’ll explain the Nodal Cycle, or when the Lunar Nodes orbiting in the sky right now transit upon your personal Karmic Axis, detonating crises and epiphanies regarding your purpose project! 🤩🙌🏻✨

HOW TO TRACK TRANSITS TO YOUR LUNAR NODES

Though the Lunar Nodes in your chart never change their placement, they do get transited… at least once a month by the Moon and once a year by the Sun (a.k.a. the luminaries 💡)…

They’ll also get transited (inevitably) by Jupiter (our sugar daddy-mentor 🕊🍬) and Saturn (our autocratic, karmic taskmaster 🪐🧑🏻‍⚖️), as well as (potentially) one of the heavies (Uranus, Neptune, Pluto)…

Transits to your Nodes can trigger major surges to the development of your purpose project, depending on the nature of the transiting planet. These planets will stimulate certain interactions and experiences that pull your personal karma / dharma into focus, typically by real-life people who happen to show up as archetypes and avatars of those planets (particularly transits from fast-orbiting “inner” or personal planets, the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, and Mars). 

When your Lunar Nodes gets transited by the Social Planets (Jupiter, Saturn 🕊🪐), special circumstances get issued to your karmic path, while transits from the Meta Planets (Uranus, Neptune, Pluto ⚡️🧜🏻‍♀️💀), can bring along “destiny muses” with messages or inspo to help you remember the potential you’re trying to realize in this life*.

(*Because… this is the only one you get, with these factors, this configuration of planets, and this ego structure you’ve invested into. 😳🫢)

AND YOU’LL NEED TO UNDERSTAND THIS… because transiting planets are the “celestial seasoning” (😜) that describe what’s happening coinciding with your mega-Nodal transits!

NOW, let me show you how to start tracking transits to your North and South Nodes, and how to notice the kinds of key events and people who serve up some big evolutionary leaps! 🤩🥰

I’m going to provide quick-’n-easy step-by-steps for grabbing a free transit chart, plus hints for breaking it down into something you can make sense of, but you want want to review  my post about tracking your astrology transits for the full scratch on delineating transits. 💫

After this, we’ll dig into everything you need to know about the Nodal Cycle, or when the transiting Lunar Nodes will move upon your own, so that you can prime and prep your life for existential diversions into your purpose project!

HOW TO GET A TRANSIT CHART >

1. Visit the Astro-Seek transit chart calculator ✨

2. Enter your birth data in the top half (birth date, time, + place)

3. In the bottom half, input the date when and location where you want to look up the transits. You can use today’s date, just to peek at whether either of your Lunar Nodes are being transited right now, or plug in a future date when you know they’ll be getting transited by the transiting Nodes (as per your Nodal Cycle, which we’ll dig into in the next section, squee!)

OKAY, once the chart is displayed… get oriented. 

If you’re using the Astro-Seek calculator, note that the inside wheel is your chart, while the outside wheel shows where all the currently transiting planets.

Your planets will be in blue, while the transiting planets are in orange.

If you click the gray tab just above the charts labelled “Aspects Grid”, you’ll see all the aspects between transiting planets and your own spelled out for you (your planets will be blue and in the left-hand column, the transiting planets will be in orange and in horizontal column at the top). 

IF YOU OBSERVE A TRANSITING PLANET (ORANGE) COMING WITHIN 4-ISH DEGREES° OF EITHER NODE…

1. First, note which Node is getting. Is this a past life memento moment, or a dharmic surge forward? Reminder: astrological houses describe fields of experience, whereas the zodiac signs describe the themes of those experiences. Planets in that house describe how you psychologize those experiences and their themes. Transiting planets show up as actual people or events that influence how you process the energies and themes of those signs / houses, for the duration of the transit. ✨

2. Second, note the energy and themes of the transiting planet. Is it a faster or slowing moving planet? For example, the Sun will each Node once a year (six month apart from each other), while the Moon will hit each Node every month (two-ish weeks apart from each other). Both these transits last only a day or so, but drip feed special messages and omens. Same deal with Mercury, Venus, and Mars. Jupiter and Saturn will transit either Node once every 12 and 27 years respectively, and are more KARMIC, as in, true miracles and shoulder checks. Last (and this may not even happen in your lifetime), Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto transits to the Nodes CHANGE the Nodes, and will might likely be felt where the Node’s ruler is hangin’ on your chart. (More on that in a sec…) ✨

3. Third, what is the aspect or relationship of the transiting planet on your Node? Aspects from transiting planets describe the type of action that the transiting planet is performing on the natal planet. Is it soft, or challenging? ✨

4. Fourth, note transits to the rulers (“dispositors”) of your Nodes, because the signs / houses give you clues as to the events, players, and types of situations that might play out. This is when your role will be addressed, the role you’ve taken on in either building your karma (south node) or pursuing your dharma (north node). Remember from the previous section that there is a dynamic interplay between your Lunar Node placements (which describe the themes and experiences wrapped up in your purpose project), and the roles you take on in order to realize those conditions (described by the rulers of the North and South Nodes). ✨

HINT 1 > Scroll down to see the Astro-Seek auto-generated robo-summaries of how the transiting planets are impacting your own chart, but note that the robo-summaries don’t account for rulers, or how all the transits are interacting together (you’ll have to use your big magnificent brain to synthesize all the information on the chart yourself 😘).

HINT 2 > With transit moments, the dispositor of the sign where a natal planet is being transited can reveal the circumstances that might indirectly express or get impacted by the transit. This adds an extra layer to interpretation and can get confusing (😵‍💫), so do this one last and separate from your analysis of transits to the Lunar Nodes proper. ✌🏻

“All of this activity, all of this new energy, has to have a focus, a pulling point. If the aspects are ‘squeezing’ the planet, the energy of that developing planet has to go somewhere. It has to spill out, play out someplace. This is where the dispositor of a planet kicks in. The dispositor of a planet will receive that planet’s newly forming energy and test it out, use it within the house it finds itself in. The planet has an indirect, but important, influence on the dispositor’s house.”

— The Inner Wheel, “Understanding Dispositors: The Hungry Moon"

I know we just spent a lot of time on this in the first section, but if you’re still not sure about rulers / dispositors, or haven’t used them much in delineating a transit chart, visit this article to learn more about the concept. ✅

ALSO, just to emphasize the nature of the aspect (conjunction? square?) will tell you whether the transiting planet is there to school you, add a loving touch, or drench the Node in its influence.

“Aspects to a planet describe the kind and type of activities that will cause that planet to develop. If our ultimate goal is to better ourselves, to raise our consciousness to a higher form of expression, then the aspects will show us how to do that. (The lights behave differently in aspect from the planets, but we will get to that another day.) They put pressure on the planet to evolve. The aspects are continually ‘teaching’ the planet, whether drumming in lessons or offering information. The types of aspect will show the ease or difficulty in processing the new expression. Our inclination (via the Moon) is to cling to the old, the familiar. Our aspects push us, gently or forcefully, to new and often uncomfortable places. This is how we learn, how we change.”

— The Inner Wheel, “Understanding Dispositors: The Hungry Moon"

SO, if aspects describe the type of action that a transiting planet is performing on one of the planets in your natal chart, the house where the dispositor of the natal planet is hanging out will give you insight into the type of circumstances and context where the change will materialize. 

“When considering dispositors, it’s best to first focus on each planet separately, all of the aspects to that planet, and ask how that planet is developing; the dispositor will show you were the developing energy of the planet will spill. If a number of planets have the same dispositor, or the dispositors of a number of planets fall into one house, the emphasis should be noted. It will give more information to the meanings of the planets in those houses.”

— The Inner Wheel, “Understanding Dispositors: The Hungry Moon"

ALSO, also… keep an eye on when any of your progressed planets move upon the North or South Node, or their rulers. These won’t manifest as events so much as affect you on an intuitive level: a changing of your inner temperature regarding the core themes and issues revolving around your purpose project.

WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENS WHEN PLANETS TRANSIT MY NORTH - SOUTH NODE? >

Idk. It depends on the conditions of both in your chart. 🤷🏻‍♀️

BUT… I say, starting tracking and documenting your transits as soon as possible, so you have something to review! 💻📝

In terms of either your North or South Node, peek at the location of the dispositor of the sign for clues, then try to document the events, people and circumstances that are happening in your life coinciding with that transit.

FOR ME, when I first started journaling my day-to-day alongside noting the Sun and Moon’s transits to my chart, I noticed that, every month, whenever the Moon was in Aries (and grazing my North Node), I’d cross paths with the same pair of people. 👯‍♀️

Over a few months (and many synchronistic encounters with them), these people became my closest, most enmeshed friendships. After doing synastry of all our charts between each other, I really can’t describe the connection as anything less than karmic, and soul-purposeful*. 🥰🌀

(*And, BECAUSE they’re karmic connections, a bit trying and fraught.)

Remember that the North Node is considered to have an inherent relationship with our Sun, with the South Node having a similar relationship to our Moon. The conditions of both in your chart hints at how you might internalize or process transits to your Lunar Nodes (which is why we analyzed them in Step One of the previous section ☺️).

Thus, you might “use” or perceive transits to either Node differently, depending on which is getting transited. With the North Node (dragon’s head 🐲), these transits might feel like insights and mini-awakenings, whereas transits to the South Node (dragon’s tail 🐉) could register as disappointment, dissatisfaction, or possibly not register at all, depending on how entrenched you are in your South Node conditions.

ALSO, which planets are transiting the Nodes will impact the kind of experience. Slower moving planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto) will have a drawn out effect, while the swifter moving planets (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars) might coincide with quick, insightful interactions.

And remember, the Sun will transit either your North or South Node once every six months, whereas the Moon will transit them every couple weeks. The Sun creates and integrates the new experiences that will alter the ingrained consciousness, and its sign and house position describes the type of energy that we will use in this life to process and create experience. 

“For this reason, the Sun’s energy is an important mediating factor between the South and North Nodes. When experiences created by the Sun (through the rest of the chart) will serve to alter and balance the energies of the South and North Nodes. The new awareness is then absorbed by the Moon and further develops the lunar consciousness. In this way both the Sun’s expression and the Moon conscious awareness develop throughout our lives.

When the Sun touches the nodes in any form, it is a direct line to nodal growth. When the Moon affects the nodes, patterns of the past rise up in full colour, and we must attain growth by sorting out our gifts from our bad habits. Aspects to the nodes from any of the planets will facilitate growth experiences, but none so potent as Sun and Moon.”

— The Inner Wheel, “Which Way Forward? The Nodes, Part Two”

CAN I FEEL TRANSITS TO MY NODES THE SAME AS I DO TO OTHER PLANETS, OR THE ANGLES OF MY CHART? >

According to Rudhyar (who I’m about to quote), you might not FEEL transits to the Lunar Nodes unless you have a planet nearby one of them, particularly if that planet is your Sun or Moon.

According to Rudhyar in The Astrology of Transformation ✨> 

“In the great majority of cases, planetary nodes are of no real meaning in the lives of human beings. They acquire at least potential meaning when a person, as a participant in a sociocultural whole, can be considered a mouthpiece or channel for the operation of collective forces. If the person has reached the stage of individual development at which he or she is actually conscious of what happens which he or she is actually conscious of what happens through his or her being, then the transpersonal level has been reached; bit if there is no consciousness of being an agent of some superficial and super cultural Power but only a kind of unconscious mediumship, the person still operates at the sociocultural level.”

Rudhyar's beef, or what he wanted to clarify for astrology students: the Nodes aren't entities, or bodies, so they can't represent any "energy" in our chart. 🤷🏻‍♀️

THUS, transits to our Nodes might trigger metaphysical experiences (✨), or basically, experiences that can only be interpreted from a "meta," transpersonal, or socio-collective level.  

HINT > This applies to other "points" in your chart, such as Black Moon Lilith (the "apogee" of your Moon), the Vertex (calculated through the positions of your Moon, Sun, and Asc), and midpoints (calculated "middle" between two other planets in your chart, i.e. the Soli-Lunar Midpoint).

BASICALLY, these points in our chart do not correspond with instincts or energies we notice in ourselves, but manifest in our awareness through our interactions with the world. 🌎🌟

“Do not count on each of these nodal transits always to correlate with something big. Often they seem to pass pretty much unnoticed. It feels forced for me to pretend to read each one as karmically important. Probably they all have some evolutionary meaning at a deep level. In my experience, the transiting nodes will be spectacularly relevant and illuminating sometimes, and other times they are duds, except perhaps in the context of adding dimensionality to other major events.

Remember our key “weeding” principle: the more slowly something moves, the more important it is. The nodal axis only takes that critical 2.5 degree orb (one twelfth of a sign). That is not a huge amount of time. ”

— Steven Forrest, Yesterday’s Sky

IF ANY (OR ALL) OF THIS IS CONFUSING, you might want to review my post about reading transit charts for a more in-depth tutorial! ✌🏻

And don’t worry, Google, YouTubers, and Tumblr witches can help you explore the themes, energies, activities, events, and types of disposition for each of these factors in your Nodal cycle transit chart. 💫

AND NOW, we’re gonna transiting into talking about the Nodal Cycle, a.k.a. when the Lunar Nodes will transit the Nodes in your chart. 🌀🐉

These transits happen at specific chronological ages, and you don’t necessarily need to be able to read an astrology chart to figure out the type of help or challenges you might face. 😜

BUT… now that you know how to read the transits, you’ll be able to key into the nuances that might be coalescing around those metaphysical events guiding you along your purpose project….

…so, way to go, you’re welcome, my pleasure. ☺️

WHAT IS THE NODAL CYCLE… IN ASTROLOGY? 🌀🐉

The Lunar Nodes are always transiting us. Wherever they are, that’s where eclipses are sparking. The zodiac signs of the transiting Nodes reveal the themes we are collectively processing, though in different ways, depending on where (+ what) those transiting Nodes are affecting our birth charts.

BUT… we all have a personal Nodal Cycle, happening at the same chronological ages for everyone.

Basically, every 9 years, you experience a Nodal moment! 🥳

Our Nodal experiences register in very particular ways, depending on the conditions of the Nodes in our chart (which you are now an expert on 😌), and also based on where other planets are transiting us at the same time (which you are also now an expert!).

So, the experiences may be very particular, but they will happen at these scheduled times, each one nudging us further along our purpose project. 👐🏻✨

Along your Nodal Cycle, you will experience three types of Nodal moments…

🌟 NODAL SQUARES > Every 4 or 9 years, the transiting Nodes will square the Nodes in your chart. This means that that the transiting Nodes’ axis will form a 90° angle to the Nodes’ axis in your natal chart. These events usually coincide with tension or contests between what we feel we want to do, and what the Lunar Nodes in our chart signify that our soul prefers to do. ✨

🌟 NODAL RETURNS > Every 18 years, the transiting Lunar Nodes will “return” to the same sign and degree° of the Lunar Nodes in your chart. When they return, the transiting North Node will conjunct (pull side-by-side) the North Node in your chart. You experience your first Nodal Return at age 18, and them every 18 years after that. ✨

🌟 REVERSE NODAL RETURNS > Every 9 years, the transiting Nodes will cross your Nodes, but flip-flopped, with the transiting North Node conjunct your South Node, and the transiting South Node conjunct your North Node. When this happens, it’s like having an upside down perspective on our purpose project: instead of the agitation of a square, we feel scattered, or that the “goal” is drifting just out of reach. ✨ 

Start counting from your birth year, and you’ll predict which ages you experienced a Nodal Moment. Each one lasts for about 18 months, or the length of time it takes for the Nodes to transit through a zodiac sign, becoming most discernible (in terms of “woo”) within 5 or so degrees of your Nodes themselves, as well as acute if crossing any of your other planets.

“When the transiting nodes meet the natal nodes, sometimes it can manifest in experiences or feelings that feel ‘fated’ in some way. These transits propel you towards the teachings of your North Node and challenge you to recognise the qualities and limitations of the South Node. Often they can be characterised by meeting people that can change your life (or having a life changing experience). Dreams, synchronicity and intuitive knowing can also play a prominent part in receiving the message of the transit.”

— Leah White Horse, “Nodes Transiting Nodes”

Your Nodal Cycle basically represents the full-circle moments of your ultimate life project, where you come online or remember the feeling or vigor of having a purpose, and what stepping into it might entail.

Until age 18-19 (a.k.a. your first Nodal Return ✨), you might slosh around between qualities and experiences symbolized by both your South and North Node. 

After that, and unless there’s a planet conjunct your North Node (or the North Node is otherwise “weighted” by a slow-transiting Outer Planet), you’ll pursue the role and qualities represented by your South Node. Your 20s and early 30s are when you’re building (or re-living) your karma, until your second Nodal Return, around age 36, when you’ll make an about-face turn towards your North Node.

Once you’re careening into your 40s, the role, themes, and context symbolized by the North Node will become clearer, and perhaps more accessible. By your mid-40s, you’ll experience another “Nodal flop” or Reverse Nodal Return, where you’re forced into a reprisal.

ALSO, remember from the previous section: every juncture of your Nodal Cycle coincides with other maj’ transits (like your first Saturn Return or Pluto Square), as well as a unique configuration of other coinciding transits.

Even without knowing astrology or when the transits were happening, as your Nodal transits were happening, you probably got your principles or expectations or future plans shoulder-checked in some way, or maybe nudged off course from what was making sense.

IN THE NEXT AND FINAL SECTION (phew 😮‍💨)…

…I’ll explain what specific ages you’ll experience a transit along your Nodal Cycle, and how you might use it as background information for interpreting what’s going down in your weird life!

HOW TO CALENDAR + INTERPRET TRANSITS IN YOUR NODAL CYCLE 🐉💫

Each and every transit moment involving the Lunar Nodes will stimulate awareness, progress, and a bit of re-integration regarding your purpose project.

NOTE > These describe aspects from just the transiting Lunar Nodes, in the sky right now, not aspects from other transiting planets to the Lunar Nodes, such as from the Moon (occurring about once a month) or the Sun (occurring once a year).

THERE ARE THREE TYPES OF NODAL TRANSITS IN A NODAL CYCLE…

Nodal Squares (every 4 - 9 years, counting from age 4), Nodal Returns (every 18 years, counting from age 18), and Reverse / Inverse Nodal Returns (also every 9 years, counting from age 9).

✨ NODAL SQUARES: AGES 4, 14, 23, 32, 42, 51, 60, 70…

When the transiting Nodes “cross” or form a 90° angle to themselves in your chart. “Squares” in astrology represent crisis points, agitations, where we tustle with the themes and element of the Nodes.

Your first Nodal transit is a Nodal Square (age four). It might be the first time you become aware of purpose, or of having a personal purpose (motives, desire) separate from the purposes of other people around you, or from the overarching purpose of the household or organizations you’re part of.

As you enter your teens, you might experience Nodal Squares as a sort of maturation phase, where you feel and realize that you’re leaving childhood. Your “childish ways” are confronted by people and circumstances, and you’re forced to start thinking of yourself as an adult.

(TL, DR; > I pulled up a transit chart for my Nodal Square around age 14, and realized it was around the time that I lost the ability to “pretend play” with my Grand Champion plastic horses, and started going with my boy-crazy cousin Becky to trashy high school parties. 😭😞)

Squares are also catalysts periods, where our comfort zone is violated, our entitlements revoked, where we might develop tingling-awareness of limitations to our autonomy in the world. This is a time of negotiation and recalibrating our expectations, and learning new basics.

“These times can bring tension. You may become aware that you need to do things you don’t really yet understand how to do, or you might feel circumstance nudging you toward a need to compromise in how, why, and when you do certain things. You might find yourself on any and every timeline but the one that works for you.

This can be challenging as you find yourself needing to branch out and learn new ways of doing things. It can also be uncomfortable as you realize you can’t just go through the motions of doing new things, but you need to actually learn them — it’s time to pay attention and learn some things that take you out of your comfort zone.”

— TD Jacobs, “Nodal Squares, Returns, and Reverses”

BASICALLY, at your Nodal Squares, you’re triggered by circumstances (and relationships) into adjusting your purpose and aims, or at least confronted with the expectation that you must declare some kind of purpose, and forced to acknowledge any critical missing pieces you might need to gather in order to fulfill it.

When hit by a Nodal Square in your late 20s, the “rules of the world” as you’ve learned them (a.k.a. your conditioning) are challenged at a gut-level. You realize at this time is that the direction you’ve been heading (or the “destiny” you’ve been hoping for, even if only in a vague way) has suddenly become irrelevant to emergent, more pressing circumstances being presented, and are literally leading you away from the paradigm you’ve trained in, or the plans you’ve laid.

IF YOU’RE HAVING A NODAL SQUARE MOMENT > Review your Nodes (“past life specialities” + “future life skill-building” ✨), then take a look at where on your natal chart “the world’s Nodes” are currently transiting (Taurus - Scorpio until July, 2023 ♉️♏️). The signs / houses where the Nodes are currently transiting give you clues as to the types of traits or virtues needed, and the areas of life where brewing problems might work against your aims.

If you know you’re being squared right now (because you’re at one of those ages 😳), your Nodes are probably in Leo-Aquarius ♌️♒️, and you can read about that here. 💫

If you’re looking for insight into how you might need to adjust your role, or what kind of role you might need to take on, check the sign and house where the ruler (dispositor) of your South Node is hanging out, as this highlights the qualities and activities where you naturally shine.

Compare those qualities / activities to the sign / house of your North Node, and see what you can envision. 👐🏻✨

✨ NODAL RETURNS: AGES 18, 38, 57, 75…

Every 18 (ish) years, the transiting North North “returns” to your natal North Node, simultaneous to the transiting South Node passing over your natal South Node.

COINCIDENTALLY, opportunities, “meta omens,” and destiny muses will emerge on the scene, nudging you towards your North Node, while incompatible habits, traits, and relationships start naturally begin falling away, if not tripping you up. You’re presented an obvious crossroads, a demarcation in your personal history, “before” and now “after.”

“The first 18.6 year cycle of life, (we will call it 19 for convenience) from birth, is associated with the North Node. The North Node is created when the Moon crosses the ecliptic of the Sun (the apparent path of the Sun around the Earth) from South (of the ecliptic) to the North. We are launched in a northerly direction. The Moon, representing the culmination of the past, is breaking into new territory. It travels north of the ecliptic for half its daily journey, plunging Southward at the halfway point.”

— The Inner Wheel, “The Crucible and the Wheel, Part 3 > The First Nodal Return”

Your first Nodal Return (age 19) is considered “the most confusing” 😫, because you become aware in a palpable way of your potential, or maybe realize limitations to your potential. You might feel challenges to your destiny, even if not quite defined, discovering unexpected possibilities as well as constraints, maybe in the form of family history or circumstance.

Your second Nodal Return (age 37) is “usually the most fraught” 😬, as it coincides with your Pluto Square (ages 36-38ish), or basically when “life” serves up situations that force you to detox on personality strategies that suddenly no longer serve your needs and goals.

Your Second Nodal Return is also when the North Node condenses from inspiration into a project. Our first Nodal Return cycle (age 19) is about (re-)learning our South Node, and by our Second Nodal Return (age 37), we’re ready to punch it to the next level. ✊🏻

Often, Second Nodal Returns are scary. We feel over-large and wrong-fit for what we’re angling towards, at what feels like intense velocity, even though we want it (mebbe… yes… mebbe 🥺). We’re letting ourselves down, and everyone else. We might become desperate for a life reboot, personality detox, and a makeover. We scatter our time and energy on macguffin. Every familiar turn leads us to a dead-end.

Astrologer extraordinaire Dawn Bodrogi mentions as a passive observation (“confirmed” through the grapevine 😋) that psychosis tends to settle in around the Second Nodal Return, and I feel like my (strawng Plutonian 💀) family can corroborate that age 37 has often been the “starting line” for mental breakdowns, jail time, children conceived from extramarital affairs, and OD’ing… (can’t waaait 😬)…

“The second Nodal return can be a dangerous threshold. Many, many people have crises then—serious, destabilizing crises that force them to pull strength up from some unknown quarter of themselves. This is where life can take a turnabout, for better or worse. An uncle of mine developed schizophrenia at age 37—my mother only recently told me something interesting that my uncle’s psychiatrist revealed to her. He told her that age 37 was a kind of turning point in the psyche; if you make it past 37, you’re unlikely to develop this kind of serious mental trauma. He had noticed, merely from his own observation of his patients, that age 37 was a particularly intense crisis hour for the consciousness.”

— The Inner Wheel, “And They Lived… Story of the Nodes, Pt. 5”

Basically, at your Nodal Returns, you’re confronted by habits, goals, duties, and relationships you’ve outgrown, and nudged back onto your purpose project, but not without first feeling sucker-punched by everything you’ve ever believed up to that point.

✨ REVERSE (A.K.A. INVERSE) NODAL RETURN: AGES 9, 27, 46, 65, 83…

When the transiting North Node crosses your SOUTH Node, simultaneous to the transiting South Node crossing your NORTH Node.

Instead of feeling encouraged and spurned towards a particular direction (your North Node), you’re presented with opportunities for closure. Old fixations, palliatives, traits, and motives, some of which might have been taken on to serve your purpose project (at the time), now appear outmoded. It might feel as though all your foundations are losing sand, or as though your life is a shaken up snow globe.

Basically, during Reversed or Inverted Nodal Returns, you become aware of how much your life might be in a rut (if not a straight up ditch)…

…while you’re simultaneously offered new motivations as to where you might retarget your efforts… 🎯

…but not before you’re forced to take a final walk-through the situations set by your South Node placement.

At these junctures, you’re in deep inventorying mode, reviewing all the abilities and qualities engendered by your South Node. Many of these might be core traits you know you can rely on, while also noticing how flimsy or immature they might be for the new terrain your North Node is beckoning you towards.

From this inventorying, you’ll finally see the “gaps” between your South and North Node, and be motivated to start patching them up, and turning to face the dragon’s head. 🐲

“At the time of these Nodal ‘flops’ we may discover new opportunities for integration and growth. The challenge is to remain in the strength of the South Node without letting it drown the newly emerging sensibility. (Aspects between the Nodal rulers will be of tremendous help at these times, even the more difficult aspects.) At these times of integration of the Nodes, it is not uncommon to find partners and others who can help us along the way—this is true of the returns and the squares as well, but partnering is often more prominent at the opposition. Given that we are attempting to integrate the Sun and the Moon within the Nodal pattern, this is not a surprise. Any transiting opposition is likely to draw someone into our lives who will illustrate that opposition for us, and the Nodes are, in a sense, the opposition to beat all oppositions.”

— The Inner Wheel, “The Crucible and The Wheel: The Transiting Nodes, Pt 2”

At this time, you’re basically tasked with pedaling your South and North Nodes in tandem.

This doesn’t suggest an outright rejection of all the effort and attention you’re put into this half of your South Node. You’ll simply be able to (through circumstances, events, and relationships) pull your South Node conditions into full perspective with your North Node, so that you feel the distance between where you’re coming from and where you’re going….

…and because your situation is feeling so boring, expired, or like something you’ve outgrown…

…you’re motivated to start making the stretch.

“Does that mean we should dismiss the South Node and completely focus on the North Node? No, not at all. Your South Node is, in fact, a gift – something that is waiting to be birthed and brought to completion. But to do that, to get to your South Node, you’ll need new directions with the North Node as your compass…

The North Node is where we are headed. The South Node is what we need to distance ourselves from. The solution to a South Node problem is always the North Node. The paradox is that once you solve the South Node problem through the North Node, the outcome is not the North Node, but the South Node. The South Node is the ripening karma, for good and for bad.”

— AstroButterfly, “North Node In Gemini 2020-2022 – How It Will Affect You”

SO, remember that neither the South (karma 🐉) or North (purpose 🐲) Node is best, and you’ll need the experiences and inherit qualities of your South Node in order to move towards your North Node.

“To put it in plain terms, the tail end of the dragon excretes what it has already digested, fertilising the land for new growth. But if you don’t feed the Dragon at the head/mouth/North Node, then the resulting feeling is often experienced as a curious kind of emptiness – a sense that something is missing. The South Node is where the seeds of potential lie, the North Node needs to be actively activated and fed!”

— Leah White Horse, “Nodes Transiting Nodes”

AND THANK GOD FOR THAT EMPTINESS…. because you’ll be hungry for whatever tasks and spooky scenarios you’ll have to face in moving to the other end of the dragon.

ACK! I’M DOING MY NODAL RETURN / SQUARE / OPPOSITION RIGHT NOW! WHAT DO I DO…?

THINGS… ARE… HAPPENING! 🙀🎉

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🌟 first, write down everything…

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Ya, I know, this is always my first suggestion, but if I’ve at all impressed you with my astrology tutelage (😌), it’s directly due to the fact that I am a compulsive notetaker… I’m basically the main character from “Pi” (…Darren Aronofsky’s first film, the black ‘n white one, about the super-math genius who’s trying to crack the stock market with the Hebrew alphabet…?)…

….but about astrology. 🌟🥰

SO, vlog, blog, or Voice Memo all your sparkly-trippy Nodal moments. Mystic urges journalling by hand (with a metal writing pen, ooh la la) in order to trigger a “more receptive dimension of your psyche”, which is basically automatic writing. ✨

Some ideas for what to write down…

✨ Daily doings. You can be like Emily Dickinson or Jane Austen and literally handwrite everything, or just clip your current work, school, club, etc., schedules into your diary, or drop screenshots into a folder, and label or tag it with the current maj’ transits that might be in play.

✨ Note other transits tripping other parts of your chart. If you’re using a software like Astro-Seek, you can plug in the dates of your Nodal transits, and see the chart. You needn’t do a full chart analysis, just jot down any other planet-play as it happens in the same sign / house as the Nodes, or on the “rulers” of the sign occupied by your Nodes.

✨ Write the name, appearance, and interaction of significant-seeming people passing in / out of your life, new and familiar, as they might become your Destiny Muses. 🧚🏻‍♀️✨ 

Along with that, use what you learned in the earlier section about the Lunar Nodes in your chart to answer some of these questions in a diary…

✨ What’s your true project, the true place you’re starting from, your true karma-inventory and true potential (not what you hope is there)?

✨ What was part of the plan, before there was a plan? What were your childhood or adolescent expectations, if any? Do they seem simple and naive, or not as ambitious as they might’ve been? Where does it feel like you’re supposed to be right now, compared to who or what?

✨ Are you realizing where your priorities, rhythm, or relationships for one project do not coalesce with the other projects, players, and vibes on the scene? How do you integrate or blend competing projects? How do you make a “soul” project commensurate with a “must-do” project?

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🌟 speaking of which, make special note of any interesting new characters that’ve come on the scene…

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I first learned about “destiny muses” from Mystic Medusa, but she deleted the post (😧).

I recently emailed her asking her permission to write my own version, but to summarize real fast: Destiny Muses are people who show up out of the blue, and somehow compel or beguile us towards our true purpose (north node), if not remind us of where we’ve already been (south node).

Sometimes they deliver messages, or model the qualities that we recognize would bring us closer to fulfilling our dharma. Other times, they can make us cringe, and make us feel guilty or queasy about where they’ve found us along our karmic-dharmic journey.

“You cannot go a day without meeting a ghost from your future or getting a clear hit on your life path. At the same time, you encounter people who are flamboyantly serving as role models or cautionary tales…”

…and more about Nodal Opposition transits from Mystic! 🤩✨

Whichever the case, they can stick in our minds lonnng after they’ve taken leave, becoming a human reference point to this time of our lives.

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🌟 also, check up on your progressed moon… 🌙⏰

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Another item to peek at in your chart is your Progressed Moon: the most astute astro-indicator of how you might be internalizing your Nodal transit experiences (and pretty much every kind of transit). 🌙⏰💫

Progressions move extra super slow, so we don’t need to check up on them very often. Big transit moments such as those along our Nodal Cycle are when I’ll check up on my progressions, especially if I’m reeling, frustrated, or otherwise unable to make sense about what’s going on.

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🌟 tune into music or read books or otherwise obtain content produced by people from your “soul pod”…

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…this is another concept I learned via Mystic Medusa (…am I obsessed? 😳🤔). Your “soul pod” consists of all the people who share your South Node placement (by zodiac sign and degree°).

To find your soul pod, hit up AstroTheme, and scroll down the sidebar on the left-hand side until you reach "Astro Search Tools”, then click “By Astrological Positions”. Plug in the coordinates for your North Node (which, obviously, is opposite your South Node), and indicate how precise or wide of a distance you’re interested in (Mystic suggests a 4° orb).

Then, run it, and see who comes up! 🤩

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🌟 and if you’re ready to make some big changes…

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Then you probably need a more meaningful self-inquiry, so read this: How Do You Take Personal Inventory in Recovery? 🕊✨

REMEMBER, FRIEND… your life is in a weird place, and there aren’t many culture tropes to inform and support where you’re at. 😓

You’re basically going through a “reboot” that you will have to remake the conditions and circumstances of all by yourself, and according to the elements and omens made available to you at this time.

And ya, it might be shredding through hella groundwork you’ve already laid, or some of your best intentions… 😓

You might realize that you’ll have to annoy some people, or break a couple sacred vows…

But you might also remember a promise you once made to yourself. 💗

When it comes to our Nodal Cycle, Marcus Aurelius had the best insight: The obstacle is the way.

Or, basically, the only way out is through. ✌🏻

WHERE CAN I LEARN MORE ABOUT THE LUNAR NODES? 🤓🌟 >

🌟 Btw, Vedic Astrology, the OG hindu-based classical system of astrology for which modern Western astrology owes a great debt (🙏🏻), deals primarily with issues around karma and dharma. If that appeals, check out this article. (Note: this is a TOTALLY different system using all the same astronomy, but super fun to explore!)

🌟 HOW ARE THE LUNAR NODES INTERPRETED IN VEDIC ASTROLOGY? 🤔 > “In India, the nodes are considered as significant as the seven visible planets and are envisioned as the head and torso of a demon. The story goes that, desiring immortality, the feuding gods and demons made a pact to combine their power to churn the primordial ocean and extract the life-giving nectar, amrita, from its depths. When the amrita finally emerged, the gods and demons lined up to receive the elixir from the supreme god Vishnu, who appeared to them as a beautiful maiden, Mohini. She began dispensing the nectar of immortality, intending to serve it only to the gods.”

🌟 WHAT IS THE “DRACONIC” HOROSCOPE, OR WHAT IS DRACONIC ASTROLOGY? 🐉 > Basically, an astrology system that looks at your horoscope (aka natal chart) based on the Lunar Nodes, combined of the astrological work of Edgar Cacye > “As time passed, we learned that what Cayce was given in his trance state when doing astrology was the Nodal system, not the Tropical system. And we have to assume that this is the system that came through him because it describes the state of the soul’s evolvement at this point in time (or in this incarnation).” > “When we begin discussions of the soul dimension, we must refer back to the Lunar Nodal Axis. We have seen how there is an association between the ideas of karma and past-lives that is connected to the Lunar Nodal Axis. The Nodal Horoscope is based on the Lunar Nodal Axis so the entire horoscope reflects the state of the soul just as a Tropical horoscope reflects the state of your physical interaction with the environment.”

🌟ALSO, MUST READ: MYSTIC MEDUSA’S ARTICLE:"Karmic Astrology – How To Find Your Soul Pod" > "When you first think of Karmic Astrology, you think soul-mate and time-crossed relationships. But what about your Soul Pod? What do I mean by that? Quite simply, people with whom you share a South Node placement. These are the folk you share a karmic affinity with – regardless of their era or the timbre of the times they lived through. You could have known them in another lifetime or more weirdly, been them."

🌟 PLUS, MYSTIC’S THOUGHTS ABOUT THE SOUTH NODE, PAST LIVES, AND GENETIC MEMORY > “Astrologically, look to your South Node for a sense of previous existences. People with the same Nodes as you are your Soul Pod, for sure. Certain astrological themes recur in families. Runs of Scorpios. Whole clans where everyone has Venus square Saturn. Big-time Jupiter-Pluto Vibe in your dynasties such as the Kennedy family. Whole bloodlines where everyone has Mercury Rising, whatever.”

🌟 IF YOU WANT TO LEARN ABOUT YOUR LUNAR NODES IN THEIR SIGNS / HOUSES > Check out this Astro Twins article, as well as this one from MindBodyGreen, and compare to this one by Well + Good.  For a bit more depth, also check out this Cafe Astrology article, which includes a calculator for finding your North and South Nodes (no charts required 😜). ✅

🌟 FYI: THERE’S A LINK BETWEEN OUR NODAL RETURNS AND CLOSE-COINCIDING SATURN RETURNS 😳🙀 > “Events at the Saturn return and events at the Nodal return are two entirely different things, and hold different lessons for us. Saturn is about grabbing hold of life in a mature way. The Nodal crisis is about needing to alter the very fundamentals of the way we create our life through our conscious awareness.” (Review here!)

🌟 CRAVING SOME PERSONAL STORIES ABOUT NODAL RETURNS? > Leah White Horse on Nodes Transiting Nodes with full descriptions (Returns, Squares, Oppositions) and personal life experience. 😳🤗

🌟 ALSO, SECOND NODAL RETURN (age 37) REAL LIFE STORIES! 🤩✨

🌟 SUN AND MOON TRANSITS TO YOUR NODES ARE ALSO PRETTY SPECIAL 🌻🌙 > “When the Sun touches the nodes in any form, it is a direct line to nodal growth. When the Moon affects the nodes, patterns of the past rise up in full colour, and we must attain growth by sorting out our gifts from our bad habits. Aspects to the nodes from any of the planets will facilitate growth experiences, but none so potent as Sun and Moon.”

🌟 WHAT KIND OF ASTROLOGY FOCUSES ON THE LUNAR NODES? > There are two schools of Western astrology that deal with them: Karmic Astrology and Evolutionary Astrology. Both camps focus on the Nodes, plus other specific planets and placements traditionally associated with past and future lives. I plan on posting explainers on both (remember to subscribe!), but click the links for articles that can show you more.

🌟 Btw, the Lunar Nodes (of the world 🌎💫) are transiting Taurus - Scorpio until July 12th, 2023, read the Astro Twins’ take on it: A Return to Senses with the Taurus-Scorpio Node Cycle. ♉️♏️

🌟 …but what about when the Lunar Nodes were transiting Gemini - Sagittarius (2020 - 2022)? 🤔

🌟 Also, you might need and love the “Project Mayhem” allegory for the Gemini 2021 Eclipse from Aeolian Heart Astrology, which might apply to any transits to your Gemini-Sagittarius Nodes. ✌🏻🤣✨

🌟 RECOMMENDED READING ON THE LUNAR NODES >  Jeffrey Wolf Green’s Evolutionary Astrology (which hones in on natal Pluto as the “agent provocateur” of realizing your destiny), and Martin Schulman’s Karmic Astrology Vol. 1: The Moon’s Nodes and Reincarnation, and finally, Steven Forrest’s Yesterday's Sky, as well as The Book of the Moon, particularly the last chapter, titled “Nodal Phase”, which describes how to compare your Moon to the South Node of your chart for deeper clues to your karmic history leading up to this life (and includes other book rec’s for astrology, karma, + the Nodal Cycle). 🤩🥰💗💗💗✨

I know, dude… this was a lot. 🥵

BUT… you did it, and you’re now an expert on the Karmic Axis of your chart! 🙌🏻

…which also means you are totally primed for my upcoming tutorial about all the mega-axes of the astrology chart: the Karmic Axis, Ascension Axis, Magnetic Axis, and Gravity Axis. ✨✨✨

These are the “fate lines” of your chart, the ley lines facilitating the people and experiences meant to evolve your little star-baby soul through this incarnation…. any planets you have nearby one of the axes, any transits that move upon them, and even other people’s planets that land along them, indicate a special skill, a pivotal turning point, or fated interaction. 🌀

AND YOU HAVE TO KNOW ABOUT THEM.

I won’t stop until you do. 🤺

Everything is about to get better.

Subscribe below to find out when that post goes live, and email me if you need hints for delineating your Lunar Nodes! ✌🏻

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A User's Guide to 2022 - 2023 Taurus - Scorpio Eclipses 🌻🌙💫

With a set of dates in hand, when you look back on your life, you might notice eclipses that had struck your birth chart coinciding with totally momentous years in your life…

…pivotal years where events, settings, and key players du jour served as catalysts for maj’ life transformations. ✨✨✨

Special eclipse years herald events, settings, and relationships that, even if you don’t know the astrology behind those years, are nevertheless crucial plot points in the story of your life when told in retrospect.

Basically, with astrology, eclipses can help dissolve the sticky bullshit of our lives, and allow us glimpses at the meta narrative happening over and around our ego-drama. 🌕🌑🌀

in 2022, we have four eclipses happening in taurus-scorpio ♉️♏️ >

• April 30th, 2022 > partial Solar Eclipse @ 10° Taurus ☀️♉️

• May 16th, 2022 > total Lunar Eclipse @ 25° Scorpio 🌙♏️

• October 25th, 2022 > partial Solar Eclipse @ 2° Scorpio ☀️♏️

• November 8th, 2022 > total Lunar Eclipse @ 15° Taurus 🌙♉️
  

Depending on how well you know your natal chart, you might be able to glance at that list above know how close (+ what on your chart) will be in the line of karmic-fire… ⚡️🔥

…and if you get tripped, congratulations, you’re now experiencing an Eclipse Story! 🥳🙌🏻

what happens when an eclipse trips a planet, angle, or other special object on your chart…?

Idk, man. 🤷🏻‍♀️

And I’ve been struck (like—really struck 🔥) near the same chart markers, in the same signs and houses, and part of the same eclipse series… at least three times.

Last year’s Eclipse Moment was the first one that I recognized as coinciding with an eclipse: the prior two eclipses that had struck were discerned via (totally free ✨) Astro-Seek software, as well as journal entries from the same time period.

(NOTE > I’mma show you how to do the same later in this post. 😉)

I’ve also been able to compare the dates for past eclipses through other journal, planner, and blog entries, and trace major plot points in my life alongside these eclipse cycles.

For all these eclipse moments, it wasn’t just the signs, houses, or natal chart markers involved with the eclipse itself that determined what went down, but also the other planetary transits coinciding at the time.

IN GENERAL THO, you can expect bizarre moments to occur in coincidence with the eclipse trigger, even if you weren’t paying close attention (or didn’t even realize an eclipse was happening that day…? 🤷🏻‍♀️).

But even if you didn’t realize an eclipse was happening, or that it struck a marker in your natal chart, you’re guaranteed to experience something totally woo, as well as an ensuing disintegration of the status quo of your life spanning six months to two years. ⏱🗓

By the time you’re able to really pinpoint that something… is… happening (⁉️), your life might be on a whole new trajectory.

If you didn’t know an eclipse was happening, you might lose your fucking mind. 😱

BUT NEVER FEAR > I and other weirdos on the Internet have pooled our reference experience to help you mitigate the shit-river of woo that might course through your life pre- or post-Eclipse Moment ✨, forcing you at odd moments to articles such as this (😌)…

…when you’d rather be running into the ocean, texting your exes, setting your social security card on fire, or maybe just taking a nap and trusting that all your plans and expectations will stay intact. 🙈👌🏻

This post will teach you how to…

1) find out when, which, and where eclipses will trip your chart for the year 🗓,

2) how to compare an eclipse chart to your birth chart 🌟, and…

3) how to delineate (a.k.a. “deconstruct”) said chart…

…so you can hazard for the oncoming changes, pre-plan your coping strategy, and also track the meta-narrative of your transformation… 🌙🦋✨

I've also handy-crafted a printable worksheet to help you delineate the Eclipse chart, and meta-cogitate on your Eclipse Story, so that you can get an eagle-eye perspective on what’s happening…

…along with a journaling / personal inventorying process for really digging into the themes represented by the planets, asteroids, angles, or math points sharing the same signs / houses as (or ruled by ✨) the eclipse. 👍🏻

Basically, you’re about to become way more informed about the meta-cosmic subtleties sublimating your life, and everything might become way better, thx astrology! 🤗🌟

some primers, or preliminary tutorials for what i’m about to roll out ✨ >

🌟 FIRST, GET YOUR NATAL CHART + LEARN THE BASICS. I get my charts from Astro Seek (having moved on from Astro Dienst), but you have lots of options (this post suggests a few). I show you how start delineating your natal chart in this post, and if you need a deeper exploration, check out this post, where I ascribe movies, songs, and Internet memes to my own. ✨

🌟 SECOND, GET FAMILIAR WITH COMPARING CHARTS. I showed you how to do this in my synastry post (where I compared and delineated the synastry chart between me + a deranged barista ✨), and also in my post about how to read transit charts. ✨

Basically, you’re just layering the current transiting planets (including the eclipse ✨) over your natal chart, then imagining how what’s happening in the sky right now relates or interacts with the themes and arc of personal development indicated by your natal chart. 💁🏻‍♀️

Based on that comparison, you’ll be able to use the insight for a little personal inventorying and prepare for the transformative effects in store. 🧘🏻‍♀️🌟🧘🏻‍♀️🌟

NOTE > You’ll definitely want to conduct this process when you have time to not just gather up the charts (10-15 mins ⏱), but also research what the the planets, signs, and houses involved symbolize, and translate into, in terms of true-life experience (1+ hours ⏱).

Okay.

Ready?

WHERE + HOW TO FIND OUT ABOUT UPCOMING ECLIPSES 🌕🌑✨

(…FOR THIS OR ANY YEAR!)

OKAY, I’m going to walk you through three methods for investigating eclipses:

• How to look up oncoming eclipses for the current year. If you know your natal chart very well, you’ll be able to know at-a-glance whether anything in your chart shares the same sign and degree° of any of the year’s oncoming eclipses (so you can stay the hell HOME 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻).

• How to compare your natal chart to an eclipse transit chart (showing the current signs and aspects amongst all the planets on the day of the eclipse). You'll be able to see not just the pieces of your chart getting struck, but the other planetary juju that will be in play, which might become part of the theme of your Eclipse Story. ✨

• How to find your “personal eclipse cycle”, where all eclipses (in a certain timeframe) are due to trigger your natal chart, and when, for your entire life! 🙀

The third method hearkens back to my post about what happened when the June ‘21 Gemini Solar Eclipse struck my Vertex - Chiron ♊️🌀, about learning how to look up past dates when Eclipses might have struck your natal chart...

…whereupon you, too, might also discover that all of the most karmic-loaded, miraculous-seeming moments of your precious life somehow coincide with eclipses. 🤭🤯🥺

HOW DO ECLIPSES WERK, THO? OR WHY ARE THEY HAPPENING, WHAT ARE THE ASTRONOMICAL CONDITIONS OF AN ECLIPSE? 🤔

Eclipses happen wherever the Lunar Nodes are currently transiting (currently: Taurus - Scorpio ♉️♏️). Because eclipses arrive in pairs, and usually (but not always) within two weeks of each other, you can expect at least four eclipses every year (sometimes more).

Every six months (for about 18-24 months), when the new or full moon graze one of the transiting Lunar Nodes, eclipses spark. ⚡️✨

Solar eclipses happen first, when a new (or “new-ish”) moon occurs within 10° of one of the Nodes. The solar eclipse sets the stage for the lunar eclipse, which happens within two weeks(usually, but not always), once the moon has orbited ‘round the chart to the opposite Node, typically at the next full moon (or “full-ish”) moon, following the Solar eclipse.

Once an “eclipse family” (called a Saros Cycle 🌀) finishes out, another eclipse won’t happen in those signs for 7-8 years.

Taken altogether, you can time and calculate how the eclipse cycle has underpinned your life over a span of 19 years, or essentially, the length of time it takes for the Lunar Nodes to transit back to the point where the eclipse had struck your chart.

DON’T WORRY, there’s a section below where I give you an opportunity to score a worksheet to help you sort all these factors, and also explain how these different factors actually impact your chart (and personal narrative, reflexively). 👌🏻

But it might help to visualize eclipses almost like pushing your consciousness in an upward spiral, in a process that never quite peaks, but tends to create bursts…

…or basically, you can think of eclipses as an astrologically-timed propulsion system, designed to thrust your life energies and circumstances into a higher stratosphere, a new elevation. 🌀

THIS CURRENT ECLIPSE CYCLE LASTS FROM NOVEMBER 2021 UNTIL OCTOBER 2023 >

Altogether, the eclipses from this current cycle are…

• NOVEMBER 19, 2021 > Partial Lunar Eclipse @ 27° Taurus 🌙♉️

• APRIL 3OTH, 2022 > Partial Solar Eclipse @ 10° Taurus 🌻♉️

• MAY 16TH, 2022 > Total Lunar Eclipse @ 25° Scorpio 🌙♏️

• OCTOBER 25TH, 2022 > Partial Solar Eclipse @ 2° Scorpio 🌻♏️

• NOVEMBER 8TH, 2022 > Total Lunar Eclipse @ 16° Taurus 🌙♉️

• MAY 5TH, 2023 > Lunar Eclipse @ 14° Scorpio 🌙♏️

• OCTOBER 28TH, 2023 > Lunar Eclipse @ 5° Taurus 🌙♉️

Eclipses are cycles that happen within cycles. This cycle last occurred Nov 2022 - April 2005, before that from May 1984 - April 1986, and before that from May 1966 - November 1967.

REMEMBER, it’s not only the zodiac signs where the eclipses are sparking, but the signs squaring them. In this case, TAURUS - SCORPIO are squared by LEO - AQUARIUS. ♉️♏️ / ♌️♒️

So, after you’ve checked for any angles or planets in the direct line of fire, check out whatever you have in Leo and Aquarius. Pay attention to anything within 2° of the eclipse trigger-points listed above.

FOR INSTANCE, if you have any planet (or angle, etc.) @ 25 - 29° of Leo or Aquarius, it was squaring the Taurus Lunar Eclipse way back on November 19, ’21. 

When planets square each other, it brings contention or struggle. If the eclipses coincide with a major epiphany or unlocks new motivations, but you felt yourself stymied in some way, note the natal chart and transiting planets in the signs “squaring” the Eclipse. ✅

OBVIOUSLY, because there are cycles involved, and because they can trip, trigger, or impact so much of our chart, eclipses make for totally fucking rad symbolic devices for time-keeping and personal inventorying.

Like—if you journal or document your life coinciding with your Eclipse Story, or during any eclipse season (even if not tripping a specific spot on your chart), you can collate the information, and trace the upward spiral of your life evolution, each eclipse cycle representing a different chapter that drove the evolution further along. 🥰👐🏻✨

major themes in store for these upcoming eclipses in 2022 >

🌟 PARTIAL SOLAR ECLIPSE @ 10° TAURUS ON APRIL 30, ‘22 > Dissatisfaction blossoms into awareness. Occurs on the Taurus New Moon, and will highlight patterns and consequences lingering from past choices rooted in “worthiness” issues. You might catch yourself in the act of making a similar dissatisfying choice, and be presented with new opportunities. What kinds of choices, and in what arenas, depends on the house triggered by the eclipse. With Taurus, this could be anything from realizing the blockages to being present or how you’re living in the moment, to wanting to update or retrain in a new skillset. Peek at any planets between Taurus and Scorpio that might reflect the archetypes you need to re-evaluate. Also peek at your natal Venus (ruler of Taurus ♉️), and where Venus is currently transiting (Pisces ♓️) for more clues as to where you might experience “spill over” effects of the eclipse. ✅

🌟 TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE @ 25° SCORPIO ON MAY 16, ‘22 (BLOOD MOON 🧛🏻‍♀️) > Emotions condense, solidifying into awareness. You might feel them wet and heavy in your body. Occurs on the Scorpio Full Moon, and will coincide with a reprisal of where you’ve been (the past) and where you’re heading (the future). Scorpio rules the process of elimination (💩), whether that’s detoxing on financial or material issues, or past grudges and resentments. Catharsis abounds. Peek at natal Mars (traditional ruler of Scorpio ♏️), and where Mars is currently transiting (Pisces* ♓️). Also note that Pluto (modern ruler of Scorpio ♏️) is currently in the hinter degrees of Capricorn, revving to enter Aquarius (March 23, 2023). Check up on the house and any planets in Capricorn on your chart. Everyone will experience some sort of “closing out” vibes for this past decade. This article can guide you through inventorying the past decade of Pluto in Capricorn. ♑️

🌟 PARTIAL LUNAR ECLIPSE @ 2° SCORPIO ON OCT 25, ‘22 > Because this is a partial eclipse, we might call it ‘Awakening Lite.’ Past situations believed to be put-to-bed might be resurrected, and point to outmoded feelings and behaviors working against the future you want (or hope for). This awareness might linger in your awareness (even if just somatically), making the future-oriented choices more obvious, and helping weight your actions towards into the direction you’re heading (unconsciously).

🌟 TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE @ 16° TAURUS ON NOV 8, ’22 > Status quo explodes. Secrets erupt, as well as scandals. Power struggling. Some relationships and situations won’t be salvageable, and possibly weren’t as practical or empowering as previously believed. Because this is an eclipse moment, you’ll be able to “see” the whole lay of the land: the wreckage, as well as the necessary reformation. This is your Scarlett O’Hara moment: “After all, tomorrow is another day.”

ALL OF THE ABOVE ALSO DEPENDS ON WHERE TAURUS - SCORPIO LANDS ON YOUR NATAL CHART > The houses hint at the activities, circumstances, and experiences where these Taurus - Scorpio themes will play out, while planets or markers in these houses hint at the particular instincts, drives, and energies that will be lit up. The closer the eclipse lands to the marker, the more lit that energy will be.

How the eclipse day itself plays out, and how these themes, contexts, and energies come into play will also depend on other transiting planets (in the sky during eclipse day), and which planets they aspect in your chart.

🌟 HOW TO LOOK UP UPCOMING ECLIPSES >

1. FIND OUT THE DATES OF THIS YEAR’S ONCOMING ECLIPSES. Hit up the Astro Seek Solar + Lunar Eclipse calendar, which lists all the eclipses that will happen in the year, along with important details, including what kind of eclipse (solar vs. lunar 🌻🌙), how impactful (partial, total, etc.), and which family or series (a.k.a. the Saros Cycle number, more about that below 🌀✨).

2. NOTE THE SIGN(S) WHERE THE ECLIPSE(S) WILL OCCUR. Eclipses don’t just trip one sign, but its opposite as well. This is the oomph of the eclipse: it basically synthesizes (ding ding ding 🔔) the themes and motifs of polar opposites in your life. SO FOR EXAMPLE, if the April 30th Partial Solar Eclipse is due to strike 10° Taurus, take a peek on your birth chart at what’s hovering at 10° Scorpio. ♉️♏️

3. OBSERVE THE DEGREE NUMBER ° OF THE ECLIPSE(S). This is critical. The degree point tells you how close and specific the eclipse will affect you. If you have Mars at 10° Taurus (same sign + degree as the upcoming partial Solar Eclipse on April 30th, see below ✨), BRACE FOR IMPACT. 😬😱

HINT > If you’ve entered your birth data into the Astro-Seek Natal Chart Calculator, pan over to the sidebar listing all your natal planet positions to see all the signs / degrees clearly stated. 👍🏻

Note which houses on your chart will be struck by the eclipse, which is as easy as noticing the signs of the eclipse. Unless you have intercepted signs, where the house engulfs an entire zodiac sign (read more about that here ✨), you’ll be able to follow along and intuit the activities or field of perception (indicated by the houses ✨) that will be affected.

HOWEVER, along with knowing how close the eclipses are from hitting specific natal planets, you’ll want to know about any other transiting planets that might cast their juju on the situation!

🌟 HOW TO COMPARE YOUR NATAL CHART TO AN ECLIPSE CHART ✨ >

1. NOTE THE CURRENT TRANSITS ON ECLIPSE DAY. On the Astro-Seek Eclipse calendar page, click the orange hyperlink labelled “eclipse chart”. This gives you an astrological lay of the land for the eclipse, showing you which sign and aspects each planet is throwing around on this day.
   
   For instance, it might be useful to know that transiting Venus will be exact conjunct (“side-by-side”) the October ‘22 Scorpio Eclipse, and that transiting Uranus will be close-by the North Node in the opposite sign (♉️).
   
   OR BASICALLY, during this eclipse, Venus and Uranus will be opposing each other, and conjunct the Lunar Nodes. This opposition will mean something different for everyone, depending on their natal chart, but will feature the energies of Venus (🌸) and Uranus (⚡️).
   
   With the Lunar Nodes in the mix, you can guess that whatever happens during this time will have a karmic flavor, and will ruffle certain circumstances (specific to where the eclipses are sparking).
   
   IMPORTANT TAKEAWAY > During eclipses, everyone is having their own Eclipse Moment, where they’re confronting results and circumstances that are now in change mode, whether seeded in an earlier phase of life, or inherited from past lives*.
   
   *If you want to keep it secular, you can think of “past lives” as the epigenetic and societal conditions which have shaped / are shaping your karma (as well as your destiny 🌀), and for which you will have to suffer the consequences of, even though it’s happening on a super-subconscious level that your ego doesn’t identify with and prolly doesn’t want to account for. 🤷🏻‍♀️

2. COMPARE THE ECLIPSE CHART TO YOUR NATAL CHART. Hover your cursor over “Free Horoscopes” in the Astro-Seek navigation bar, and select “Transit Chart Calculator” from the dropdown menu. (Or just go here. ✨)
   
   Enter your birth data, then enter the date of one of the upcoming eclipses. Select 12pm as a time, and your current location, or wherever you expect to be located when the eclipse pops off.
   
   TA-DAAA, you now have a transit chart comparing your birth chart to Eclipse Day! 🎉

Print ‘er off, and circle where the eclipse action is taking place, then delineate the chart according to some of the methods I talked about in my post about reading a transit chart, such as looking for a “t-square” pattern, etc.

Wherever a transiting planet (in the sky at the time of the eclipse) makes contact with one of your own planets (or angles, etc.), that’s what you’d want to consult with Google about. What do the planets involved symbolize? What’s their relationships to other planets (the aspects)? What themes are the zodiac signs bringing to that relationship? What are the arenas, fields of experience, or activities where everything will play out (indicated by the houses)?

Use the hints and clues provided via Internet astrologers to help you build an intuitive image of the transformation indicated by how the eclipse(s) are interacting with your chart.

The next couple sections will help you trace the future and lineage of these transformations, as well as explore the themes and circumstances that have been (or will be) impacted.

🌟 HOW TO LOOK UP ALL ECLIPSES THAT WILL IMPACT YOUR NATAL CHART (WITHIN, LIKE, 5 YEARS) 🗓 >

1. VISIT THE ASTRO-SEEK “ECLIPSES IN THE NATAL CHART” CALCULATOR. Enter your birth data, and select a time frame. By default, the calculator displays eclipses from the current year to five years from now.

2. SELECT THE ASPECTS. I keep it at conjunction, but you could also select “squares”, “oppositions”, or “all aspects”.

HINT > you typically want to be aware of the opposite point of the eclipse, so before you heave a sigh of relief that the eclipse will strike 10° Taurus, where you have no natal planets, angles, or points ✨, take a peek at 10° Scorpio. ✅

OBVIOUSLY, make special note of any planets, angles, or special points within a 5° orb (“span of degree numbers”) of any + all the eclipses in effect. eclipses that come within 5° of your Sun, Moon, or the degree of your Ascendant (the starting line of your chart), signify pivotal years. 😳🤩

Noticing any of that for this year?

Welcome to your Eclipse Story. ☺️👐🏻✨

OKAY, now that you have all the charts you need, you want to start delineating and brainstorming about what might actually show up to sabotage your life. 🦖

HOW TO CREATE A PERSONAL ECLIPSE RECORD

Eclipses are cyclical. What’s about to happen echoes the past, or is about to become an echo. 💫

SO, if you’re up for it, let’s go ahead and create a journaling / self-inventorying process guided by your upcoming Eclipse Moment!

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BTW, get a

handy worksheet

YAS, GIMME A CUTE WORKSHEET!

…to help you work out and meditate on your eclipse moment!

yours totally free for subscribing to my rad newsletter! 😍💌

---

…Or, you can just use a diary, planner, or google .doc to keep a personal eclipse record, + this is what you want on it:

DATE OF ECLIPSE >

LONGITUDE AND LATITUDE OF THE ECLIPSE >

TYPE OF ECLIPSE (total, annular, North Node, South Node) >

SAROS CYCLE #

GEOGRAPHICAL REGION OF ECLIPSE >

ECLIPSE OCCURS IN MY ______ HOUSE.

RULER OF THE SIGN OF THE ECLIPSE IS ______ IN ______ (sign) AND MY ______ HOUSE.

ECLIPSE (Sun or Moon) CONJUNCTS [0°] MY…. >

ECLIPSE (Sun or Moon) SQUARES [90°] MY… >

ECLIPSE (Sun or Moon) OPPOSES [180°] MY… >

Count any planets, angles, or points within a 5° orb.

BTW, this section post was informed primarily by Bernadette Brady’s The Eagle and The Lark, as well as this blog post from StarCats explaining how to create an Eclipse Record (as well as who they got this info from, Karen McCauley of Astrodynamics of Venice ✨), for which I have translated into a trusty worksheet to help you delineate and plan your Eclipse Story! 🙌🏻

Along with the rote information, you might want to dig into the super-subtle subtext of the eclipse transit. I’ll explain what this information is, and how it might help you interpret and predict what’ll occur below.

NOTE > This is definitely upper-division astrology-work, and you don’t need it in order to predict how the eclipse will work on you (not unless you’re working on your doctorate in astrology, I guess).

But if you’re curious to know what the eclipse means for your life (beneath and beyond the narrative you’re manufacturing 😳😅), this is literally all the intel you’ll need. 👌🏻

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF ABOUT THE ONCOMING ECLIPSES >

• Which planet “rules” the sign of the Eclipse? (Learn more about rulers a.k.a. “dispositors” here. ✨)

• Is that planet (the dispositor of the Eclipse) transiting within 5° of another planet (on Eclipse day)? Does that planet aspect any of your natal planets? (Conjunct, square, trine, sextile, or oppose... learn more about aspects here. ✨)

• Does the Eclipse conjunct a fixed star? FYI: “fixed stars” in astrology don’t transit… they are pinned in a certain sign @ a specific degree°, and sometimes unveil uncanny esoteric synchronicities. 🤩 (Read more about fixed stars here. ✨)

• Where (indicated by the house placement ✨) does that fixed star land in your chart? Where is the “ruler” of that fixed star in your chart?

• What’s the Saros Cycle* that this Eclipse belongs to? How long has it been active? (I say more about Eclipse Saros Cycles below, but go here to learn more. ✨)

• Is it a partial, annular, or total Eclipse? This tells you the strength of its impact. Also note if the “umbra” (or glow) was visible in your region, and if prominent, note any major coinciding news headlines.

• Finally, is it a LUNAR or SOLAR* Eclipse?

*what’s the difference between a solar and a lunar eclipse? 🌕🌑 >

A SOLAR Eclipse happens during the New Moon when the Sun and Moon are transiting the same sign. When the actual eclipse occurs, the Moon is passing over and obscuring the Sun. The Sun symbolizes the power of consciousness, including the feeling of control over our choices and future. 

While the future is eclipsed (😄), the past and unconscious issues (symbolized by the Moon) erupt and come to the fore. You become very aware of these issues. Eclipse-related events (or ensuing after the eclipse) occur in such a way as to help you process out some of the more recessed issues in your life that have subliminally blocked your way into the future.

“Look in a new direction during a solar eclipse, because that’s where opportunity lies. This can feel scary, since letting go of control will be necessary. Eclipses can also stir up buried desires, forcing us to acknowledge what we really want. Remember that change is inevitable! And it can be a beautiful thing once we finally surrender. These momentous new moons push us off the starting block and into new waters. But we have to move fast since just like an eclipse, the manifestation period is both rare and brief.”

— MindBodyGreen, “Lunar and Solar Eclipse Calendar”

🌟 IF YOU’RE STRUCK BY A SOLAR ECLIPSE 🌕 > Solar Eclipses bring fresh starts and good news, sometimes opening secret trap doors. Time is quickening, almost like we’re careening through the days, haunted by anticipation, hangry for something or someone specific. Sometimes the news arrives as “subjective and ambiguous as gossip”, and becomes valuable in 5-6 months as the eclipse continues its cycle.

A LUNAR Eclipse occurs during the Full Moon when the Sun and Moon are transiting opposite signs. Earth is suspended between them. While the unconscious is eclipsed (😆), the future and your personal agency (symbolized by the Sun) become too obvious to ignore. All that remains are the decision-making and action-steps. 

“Lunar eclipses are prime time for doing shadow work and dealing with feelings we’ve ignored. Buckle up, buttercup! Situations could pivot abruptly or come to a sudden, unceremonious halt. If anything in your life is “eclipsed away,” here’s our advice: Stop chasing and give it some space. You’ll either manifest a better option or circle back to this later—after you’ve processed the lesson and evolved!”

— MindBodyGreen, “Lunar and Solar Eclipse Calendar”

🌟 IF YOU’RE STRUCK BY A LUNAR ECLIPSE 🌑 > Lunar Eclipses bring final endings, nostalgia, and the re-surfacing of buried hopes and dreams. Hit up Spotify for playlists from the year(s) of your previous Eclipse triggers. Haul out your old diaries and agendas. Scroll through archived photos.  Astrology Zone remarks this is likely occurs at a full moon lunar eclipse. ✨

SO BASICALLY, Solar Eclipses lead the way, and determine where Lunar Eclipses will later fall.

ALSO, Solar Eclipses are not random. Each Solar Eclipse is part of an “eclipse family”, called a Saros Cycle, or Saros Series.

*what does ‘saros cycle’ mean? what are we referring to? 🌀 >

Every Saros Cycle births a new or first eclipse. Each Saros Cycle originates at either the North or South Pole, and “lives” for about 1300 years. Once started, it will circulate the planet, at timed intervals, to the opposite pole.

Every 18 years (…and 9-11 days), the Saros Cycle fires off an eclipse. Each eclipse in a Saros Cycle will spark about 10° further along the zodiac from where it last sparked (from 0° to 10° Taurus, then from 10° to 20° Taurus, and so forth).

In 1,280 years, the Saros Cycle will have traveled from one pole to the other, and finally close out, producing a total of 70-72 eclipses in about 1,280 years. 😳🤯

By the time the Saros Cycle finishes out, it will be back in proximity to the sign and degree where it originated.

Most often, for studying Saros Cycles, you would want to work with “long-lived” charts, like for nations, or with a theme that can be traced through history, such as “science” or “art” or language”.

“For example, the year that Gutenberg invented the printing press (1452), the year that Copernicus published his theory that the Sun was the center of the Solar System (1543), the year that Newton published his Laws of Physics (1687), the year that Einstein wrote his ‘Theory of Relativity’ (1905) were all years that Saros Series 14, North and South were producing eclipses. Whether it is Saros Series 14 North or Saros Series 14 South that is responsible would require further research. However, the years of 1452, 1543, 1687, and 1905 are all connected astrologically and astronomically to one Saros Series and, as we can see, the significant historical theme of these years is that of publications which changed the world.”

—Bernadette Brady, “Predictive Astrology: The Eagle and the Lark”

IF YOU WANT TO LOOK UP THE SAROS CYCLE > Each Saros Cycle is named after the pole where it originated (north or south), and numbered between 1 and 19, depending on its number of occurrences.

IF I HAD THE TIME… I’d want to study the Saros Cycles of the eclipses that FER SHUR have tripped my chart, probably limited to the late 19th, 20th, and 21st Centuries, following along my mother’s family narrative, just to see if any eclipse themes coincide with major events or turning points in our family’s (robust) oral history.

“The periodicity and recurrence of eclipses is governed by the Saros cycle, a period of approximately 6,585.3 days (18 years 11 days 8 hours). It was known to the Chaldeans as a period when lunar eclipses seem to repeat themselves, but the cycle is applicable to solar eclipses as well.”

— NASA, “Eclipses and the Saros”

IN 2022 ✨, our two Solar Eclipses are part of Saros Cycles 119 (April 30th, 10° Taurus ♉️) and 124 (October 25th, 2° Scorpio ♏️). Click those links to see the dates and links to charts of other eclipses in these families, which might lead you to make some genius observation concluding that reincarnation is real, and maybe also time-travel (email me).

You can find a whole mess of eclipse dates with links to their families over here, and see examples of how Saros Cycles might ultimately unfold within a natal chart in this legit as hell, in-depth PDF. 👌🏻

what's the difference between a north node eclipse and south node eclipse? >

The North Node symbolizes where we’re heading, whereas the South Node symbolizes what we’re releasing.

🌟 A North Node Eclipse happens when the new moon is next to the North Node (when you notice the moon + sun glyphs in the same sign close-by the north node glyph). North Node Eclipses affect your personal situation, your psycho-soma, your life trajectory. Days and weeks leading up to the Eclipse might feel frazzled and draining, and then suddenly feel as though you can take destiny by the helm.

🌟 A South Node Eclipse happens when the new moon is next to the South Node (when you notice the moon + sun glyphs in the same sign close-by the south node glyph). South Node Eclipses feel as though other people and external circumstances are colliding with your trajectory. A situation might be wrenched from your control, and other people are factored into your life course. The sign and house can hint at the type of circumstances.

Remember, the transiting Nodes determine where eclipses will spark. When the Nodes enter new signs, you can predict that within the next 18-24 months, they’ll eventually trip whatever points, planets, or angles you have in those signs.

When comparing the eclipse chart to your own, pay attention to which Node is where.

Along with that, note other planets transiting around the Nodes. ✅

what aspects should i look for between an eclipse chart and my natal chart? >

Remember, aspects describe the type of relationship between objects, and some aspects are considered friendlier than others.

“Every astrologer will probably have a different answer to this question. Since eclipses are interjections in one’s life. I feel it is best to use only major aspects. In fact, in my own work, I tend to look for only conjunctions and oppositions. The use of the square is optional and I tend to use it if the eclipse is squaring a natal luminary.”

—Bernadette Brady, The Eagle and The Lark

Luminaries are the Sun and Moon, a.k.a. the “lights” of the chart. ✨

If you’re a little wobbly on aspects, check out Alice Sparkly Kat’s Five Techniques to Assess Aspects, and compare with CafeAstrology’s article on the same topic, as well as this article on aspects from Well + Good (just to round it all out).

how big of an orb (or degrees° of distance) should i look for between an eclipse and my natal chart? >

Still focusing on just major aspects (conjunctions, oppositions), Bernadette suggests focusing on a pretty tight orb of 2-2.5° for conjunctions, and 1° for squares.

how long do the effects or consequences of the eclipse last? >

Bernadette Brady thinks this is a philosophical question: What is the PURPOSE of eclipses… in astrology? 🤔

“If we decide that eclipses have very little purpose and they tend to be like a fly in one’s soup—halting the proceedings but having very few major consequences—then the effect of the eclipse could be considered to last for just the period of the eclipse season. If on the other hand, our definition of the purpose of eclipses is that they have a profound effect on the person’s life, then although the tension may last for only a few weeks, the effect may be considered to last a lifetime.

Let us imagine eclipses like spotlights shining on the pathway of your life. These lights are not on all of the time but they switch on, catching you in mid-action, so to speak. As this spotlight shines, it will illuminate an area of your life. Whatever has been pushed to one side of shoved under the carpet, will become obvious. This bringing to the surface of hidden problems can be dramatic and emotional. However, it is an opportunity to become aware of issues that may need some work. You can, of course, choose not to work on the problems which have come to the surface; you could choose to blame it all on someone else, and so on. But, this may not lead to a healthy future. If you do choose to accept the challenge offered by the events of the eclipse, then although it may be a hard struggle—or possibly just an easy ride, depending on the Saros Series…”

OKAY, SO WHAT CAN YOU DO ONCE YOU KNOW YOU’RE DUE FOR AN ACUTELY FATEFUL ECLIPSE MOMENT? 😬 >

If the eclipse is set to land on an angle, another axis (the Vertex or Lunar Nodes), or a planet (especially your Sun or Moon, a.k.a. the “Luminaries” of your chart), you can expect weirdness.

Like—a doorway appearing out of nowhere, a messenger, an omen.

As well as a cascade of synchronistic circumstances prodding you into a new direction, with correlating new feelings and headspace.

Eclipses don’t CAUSE the change… they just signal that the change is happening.

And the most infuriating part…?

It’s totally solo.

Even if it happens in a crowded room.

Even if it happened on somebody else’s face.

Even if it provoked maj’ personal undertakings the likes of which you yourself have never heard-tell, have never read about in a short story or blog post, and for which there is no concrete reference guide in which to compare your own experience.

You are isolated with the beauty and magnanimity of the event. 👐🏻✨

It’s your own special secret thing that happened.

Your’s alone, to ponder half-naked in your darkened bedroom at 2AM while re-playing a sloppy Chelsea Handler podcast you’ve already heard and finishing off two bags of apple chips (so now there is nothing for your children’s lunchboxes).

And even if you think of totally brilliant explanations and analogies for the cool great thing that’s happened…

…nobody is there with you to “get” it.

Just you, and your journal. ✅

(And maybe your dead landlord’s ghost. 😳🤔)

So, enjoy!

HOWEVER, because you’ve read this intel that I’ve arranged for you (you’re welcome, my pleasure)…

…you are at least aware, and hopefully forewarned, that a dramatic personal experience is in store, and that the abstract, and self-referential quality of it will likely provoke anxiety and awkwardness, where you might feel like a stranger in a strange land…

…SO HOPEFULLY, those weirdsy weeks leading up to, during, and following the actual eclipse won’t feel as bizarre, infuriating, or catastrophic.

Because it was always due to happen…

…because eclipses are cyclical… 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

So, when it happens (whatever it is), it’s happening right on time.

“Around the time of the eclipse (a week before and a week after) even a seemingly insignificant event can create the so-called ‘domino effect’.

First we feel the tension rising, then we get ourselves into a new situation, feeling that we cannot turn back any more. That’s why during the time of an eclipse we have to watch what we do, when we do it, and with whom we do it. Generally, a feeling of decisive and irreversible events taking place often accompanies every aspect that eclipses form by transit to points in the birth chart... During those times we feel as though something, or someone, has drained our energy. That’s the reason why eclipses are accompanied by such difficult experiences. As a matter of fact, we feel as though something, or someone, is holding us in place. This is when significant life situations arise that delay our reaching a decision, or render making proper decisions difficult for us.

That’s why around the time of an eclipse we sometimes get ourselves involved in arguments, or other people’s personal problems or emotional battles. All it does is distract us from pursuing the right path, or from following the right direction in life, career, etc.; yet, it’s something that’s impossible to avoid, and the best thing we can do is to watch out not to let our emotions cloud what’s really important and prevent us from doing the right thing.”

— Astro Dienst, “Eclipses - A Meeting with Destiny”

COUPLE OF FINAL TIPS FOR LEADING UP TO, OR IN THE WAKE OF THE ECLIPSE > Avoid issuing ultimatums, and keep your schedule flexible. Allow up to ten days to pass before any significant decision-making.

If your Sun or Moon are due to get tripped, you might actually get hit with a head cold, or some type of sickness, or otherwise enter a weakened state that encourages a slowing down. Pre-stock some herbal teas, fresh ginger, and manuka honey. 👍🏻✅

Even if the eclipse doesn’t hit your Sun or Moon (but is due to strike another planet or point), you might feel drained or scattered in the weeks leading up the eclipse. Keep your journal, planner, or a pad of paper nearby, for jotting down on-the-fly to-do lists, and random lines from a manifesto (or break up letter) you might be inspired to write.

If the eclipse is due to hit an angle (the Ascendant, Descendent, Midheaven, or Nadir), it might denote a change in how you’re moving through life.

If the eclipse strikes an axis of your chart, such as the Lunar Nodes or your Vertex ✨…

…well, these are the most karmic triggers (#IMHO), the thoroughfares of our chart that thread this current life to our past and future lifetimes… 🌀

…and require their own write-up, which I’m working on, so subscribe to find out when it goes live (and also score your Eclipse Trigger worksheet)!

YAS, GIMME A CUTE WORKSHEET!

ANYWAY, MORE RESOURCES FOR DELINEATING ECLIPSES ✨ 

• PREDICT HOW THE ECLIPSES WILL IMPACT YOUR LIFE, FULL SCOPE > How the Eclipse might affect you based on Rising Sun, and check out When an Eclipse Hits the Astrological Houses. 🌕🌑💫💫 

• TRACKING MARS (A.K.A. THE CATALYST OF YOUR ECLIPSE MOMENT)? 🔥 > This CafeAstrology article explains more about Mars transits (especially to particular points in our charts), and this article tells you more about Mars’ retrograde (including 2022 dates)

• CURIOUS ABOUT ECLIPSES AND YOUR LOVE LIFE? 💞 > “Additionally, ANY Eclipse, in whatever zodiac sign it falls, can have a meaning for your own personal love life when it falls in your 5th house OR falls in the 5th zodiac sign counting from your Sun sign OR ascending sign.” Compare with these other astrological clues for timing relationships. 🌟

• WHAT TO DO WHEN ECLIPSES STRIKE DIFFICULT ASPECTS 😬 > “Planets woven together by difficult aspects are as strong as steel. They represent problems you can’t ignore, and conflicts that chew at you until you find a resolution – or at least détente. They describe your defining attributes; and each time an eclipse scores a glancing blow off these aspects (about every four and a half years), you’re given another chance to become a little bit more … you. … Personally, however, we tend to experience eclipses most strongly when they form close aspects (especially conjunctions, squares, and oppositions) to planets in our birth chart. Each time an eclipse aspects one of the planetary crosses that you bear, a narrative of change emerges – one that is repeated over and over throughout your lifetime."

• PAY ATTENTION TO COINCIDING TRANSITS FROM OTHER PLANETS! > Starsign Style parses ALL the current transits and themes of the 2022 Eclipses (cool to know: transiting Venus + Jupiter will be exact-conjunct in Pisces 🌸🕊♓️)

• This astrologer goes over other astrological details of the current Taurus-Scorpio Eclipse series, starting with the original eclipse that happened in November 2021 (when this current series started) ♉️♏️🌀

• BTW, EarthSky has intel on the science and geographical impact of the May 2022 Eclipse (high tide warning! 🌊)

• Also, you might need and love the “Project Mayhem” allegory for the Gemini 2021 Eclipse from Aeolian Heart Astrology (refers to the eclipses that sparked 2020 - 2021). ♊️✌🏻🤣✨

• RITUALIZING YOUR ECLIPSE? > Check out Aeolian Heart Astrology’s free class on astrological magic ✨, plus Mystic’s Eclipse best practices ✨, the AstroTwin’s take on Eclipses ✨, and about Miriam’s aesthetic jaunt through her neighborhood during the Beltane Eclipse (April 2022) ✨

• For an intensive DIY on where / how eclipses have impacted your chart, you might want to check out my post about finding your personal eclipse cycle. 🌀

• HOW MIGHT THIS YEAR’S ECLIPSES AFFECT US ON A MACRO-LEVEL? > “In 2022, there are two partial solar eclipses—meaning the Sun won't be entirely shrouded. The first is in Taurus on April 30, then six months later, a second one arrives in Scorpio on October 25. These will affect the way we "do" money. While they are bound to bring new developments in decentralized finance and cryptocurrency, there could be crackdowns and regulations to contend with. The global economy overall may experience surprising shifts as we figure out how to support world citizens during the ongoing pandemic.”

okay so, i totally realize that knowing the astro-trivia of your weird day doesn’t actually fix or do anything about the drama set off by an eclipse…

Knowing the astrology might just help open up that secret side-convo you need to have with yourself about the changes that are coming (maybe urgently). 😬😅

And also to remind you to stay home during eclipses…

…or if you have to venture out, you now know which days to stay away from prisons and bikini bars. ✌🏻

Until the next eclipse 😳😘💫…

​The Destiny Point in Astrology: Where to Find + How to Werk Your Vertex (Not a Medical Thing) 💫

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Hello! This is a re-publication of my post, How to Find the Vertex, or Destiny Point, in a birth, transit, or relationship chart! ⚡️🌀✨

I’ve updated it to include more info about what to do if you think your Vertex has been activated (“ew, what does THAT mean?” …read to find out! 😉), with links to free chart generators and instructions for discovering if your Vertex has been “activated” before… whether by a planet, an eclipse, or by somebody else's planets! 🙀

NOTE: I mention and link to my post about when my Vertex was struck by an eclipse in 2021, but just FYI, that post hasn’t been cleaned up or updated in hella days, but it’s def’ on my teux-deux list!

Remember to subscribe to find out when it’s live! ✌🏻

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here’s my new take on transits…

Transiting planets (+ Nodes… etc.) are basically stimuli, or engines. 🎆 

What exactly do they stimulate?

Our birth chart. ✨

Without transits, nothing would change, nothing could even be realized, including your chart’s hypothetical potential, which is what a natal chart actually is…

…just, potential. 👐🏻✨

Your Chiron is just pain, your Saturn is just boo. ❌

The whole freaking thing a permanent what if…?

But, like—what if reincarnation is totally for real, and there are all these clues, these consistent little evidences that time and space are illusory, and we’re basically in a simulacrum where temporal culture is raging out of control, like malware in our human programming, and astrology can help us pinpoint this malware in our inner narrative, and also use the power of analogy, metaphor, and simile to dissect triggers, omens, and other stimuli as they crest upon our consciousness…

…all so that we might be happier and more effective in our little fate-driven crises…

…and able to actualize our chart potential? 😳

“Free will is the ability to do gladly that which I must do.”

— Carl Jung

in which case, yes, fate, destiny, and the fulfillment of your potential would and does depend on planet transits! 🤩

Like—no matter how much you invest into LOA, you might still have to wait out a specific transit, one activating a specific piece of your chart, in order for the destined circumstances to come into play…

…or basically, a turning point. ✨

is there anything in our birth chart that might help us examine past moments of “transcendence”, or anticipate these maj’ turning points in our lives…?

YAS… the Vertex, a.k.a. the Destiny Point. 🌀⚡️✨

In a birth chart, the Vertex symbolizes a trigger point, a point in everyone’s chart that can be activated by transiting planets and/or planets in other people’s charts.

When activated by transits or synastry, depending on the planet making the contact, our Vertex indicates the theme (zodiac sign) and experiences (house) of fateful encounters and “destined” feeling moments.

(For better or worse. 😳)

and we need to talk about mine, because my chiron (“soul-wound”) and vertex (“destiny”) were tripped by the gemini solar eclipse in june 2021…

…which was officially the first moment I’d ever been completely self-aware of an astrological phenomenon as it was cresting upon my consciousness… ✨

…though it made me want to ugly-cry from confused humiliation, and then I went twice through the Sbux drive-thru in one day, now you know literally everything. 🙊

below, i’ll show you the 1-2-3s of finding + interpreting the vertex (a.k.a. destiny point ✨) in your own chart…

…plus how to find out when it’s about to get transited (or if it has been transited in the past)…

…and finally, how to evaluate where and how the destiny point shows up in your relationships on a synastry chart! 🤩🥰

I’ll also provide tips on how to cope and manage a Vertex activation, though I am mos’ def’ not an expert, and can possibly only provide hazard signals and warnings!

i provide all the links and step-by-steps for scoring free natal, transit, and synastry charts, but be advised…

…you’ll need accurate birth times (not guess-timates), as well as calendar dates for any spooky-woo moments in your past (that may have been a Vertex activation!).

SO, grab your birth certificate, or start dialing your momma and aunties! 📱

AND BEFORE WE BEGIN, let me better explain the Vertex and Destiny Point.

What is THE VERTEX, or Destiny Point, in Astrology?

TECHNICALLY SPEAKING… the Vertex isn’t a body, such as a planet, but is formed by where the ecliptic (or path of the Sun) intersected the prime vertical: an imaginary line dividing the sky into two halves, a “front” and “back”.

“[L. Edward Johndro] reasoned that if the Ascendant was determined by the intersection of the Great Circles of the Ecliptic and Horizon and the MC was determined by the intersection of the Great Circles of the Meridian and Ecliptic, there should also be a very sensitive point of energy at the intersection of the Great Circles of the Prime Vertical and the Ecliptic. He called the western axis of this point the Vertex and the eastern the antiVertex. He felt that the Vertex was the electrical, the Ascendant the magnetic and the MC the gravity axis in a natal chart.”

— AlicePortman.com, “The Vertex Axis in Relationships”

The Vertex is also referred to as the “Destiny Point” or “Destiny’s Gate,” because of its reputation for culminating into destiny and personal ascendency.

When activated by transit, progressions, or synastry, the Vertex coincides with major turning points

✨ the vertex can only be found on the right or “fate half” of your chart…

…because it pertains to fated encounters and situations, the Vertex is only found in the Fifth-Eighth Houses or right-hand side of our chart (full instructions for finding your’s below ✨).

This right-hand hemisphere (containing the Descendent angle) is known as the “fate” half of our chart, while the left hemisphere (containing the Ascendent angle) is considered the “freewill” half… 

…allegedly, because, we have more creative control over the planets, points, and angles on the left half of our chart, and less control over the objects on the right half of the chart (according to Steven Forrest in The Inner Sky).

“The ordinary Ascendant causes us to define ourselves by our experiences; the Vertex concerns itself with what we are (or can be) beyond our external circumstances. Vertex contacts feel ‘fated’ because they lead us to roads we instinctively feel, but cannot yet see. Vertex happenings invoke the Watcher in all of us–the one who knows, the one who works hand in hand with the one who experiences. This is the symbolic reason it appears on the opposite side of the chart from the Ascendant.”

— The Inner Wheel, “The Vertex versus the Nodes, Pt. I”

✨ the vertex is one of four “fate lines” to be found in a birth chart…

The Vertex, or “Destiny Point” is actually two points, comprising an angle stretching across your chart, between opposite signs and houses, known as the Ascension Axis. ⚡️

You’re probably already familiar with the other three “fate lines”, but under different names: the Magnetic Axis (the Ascendant-Descendant), the Gravity Axis (the Nadir-Midheaven), and the Karmic Axis (the Lunar Nodes).

The Ascension Axis is known as the spiritual ascendant, or the angle that draws spiritual, changing experiences to us.

“The Ascendant is who you are and how you express yourself. The Midheaven describes what you do (your career) and also one of your parents. As a result of how you express yourself and what you do, you are expected to express the characteristics and tasks of the Vertex.”

— Donna Henson, “The Vertex Report: Your Personal Destiny”

The Anti-Vertex represents the other half of “destiny’s gate,” and can also be activated by transits and other people’s planets. While the Vertex depends on other people (being on the relationship, “fated” portion of the birth chart), the sign and house placement of our Anti-Vertex speaks to what we cultivate on our own, the abilities, themes, and experiences that eventually lead into our “destined moments”.

Because the Vertex must be activated, it doesn’t reveal itself through our personality, though we might an have intuition, an instinct to develop the abilities symbolized by the planetary ruler of our Vertex sign.

“Ultimately, interpreting the Vertex axis isn’t very different from interpreting anything else in the chart. Whatever house it falls in indicates the realm of experience the ‘awakening’ encounters will occur in. The sign describes the method/process of the experience and also the general flavour of it. The rulers of the Vertex axis play a part, as do any planets conjunct the Vertex axis and the houses they rule.”

— The Inner Wheel, “Synastry Q & A: The Vertex”

But, until the Vertex is activated, we might not realize how those abilities were meant to parlay into our fate, or what role they would play in our destiny.

IN FACT, you might think of a Vertex activation as “puberty” for consciousness. We don’t decide it, we’re not manifesting it, it’s just programmed to happen. Our personality is not a factor in the process, though our personalities can develop and change with the activation.

We don’t choose it, the moment chooses us…

…and, for better or worse, we all do really want to be chosen! 🙏🏻

For more about the Vertex as part of the Ascension Axis (and the other “fate lines” in your chart), check out this post. ✨

✨ what activates the vertex?

There are 3 basic ways to activate your Vertex:

• TRANSITS TO VERTEX. Transits by other planets to your natal Vertex (which happens a lot with the Sun, Moon, Venus, Mercury, and Mars). Eclipses can also activate the Vertex, as I’ve discovered. And from the research, it seems like it’s not dependent on one planet transiting over the Destiny Point, but a combination of planet transits, and what else they’re transiting over in your chart.

• PROGRESSIONS TO THE VERTEX. Progressions reveal how your natal chart changes over time. If you have any natal planets in your Fifth - Eighth Houses, particularly the Sun or Moon (which progress faster than your other planets), they might eventually come upon your Vertex, and striate your inner awareness with insights related to your destiny process. During this time, you’d be living and breathing synchronicity.

• OTHER PEOPLE’S PLANETS CONJUNCT YOUR VERTEX (OR ANTI-VERTEX). The Vertex gets used a lot in relationship astrology (synastry and composite charts). Often, committed couples, besties, and super-enmeshed siblings have strong Vertex connections between their charts. Even without knowing the astrology, these are the relationships described as having a destined feeling, where both people feel the other one play’s a pivotal, supportive role in helping realize their true potential.

✨ what happens when the vertex is activated?

Fateful encounters and destined moments. 👐🏻✨

As one astrologer describes it, Vertex activations instigate a cataclysmic process, where events, meetings, and circumstances arrange themselves in such a way as to break up, dissolve, and dismantle all factors not currently aligned with your personal ascension.

The events and circumstances depend on your chart, and the configuration of transits (or synastry aspects) that helped conspire the trigger moment.

✨ how can you find and use the vertex point?

• IN A NATAL CHART > Examine your Vertex in your chart (sign, house, aspects) for hints about your destiny process. This post shows you how to start reading your natal chart, but you’ll need to come back here to find out how to look up your Vertex. ✨

• IN A TRANSIT CHART > You can cast charts for upcoming transits, estimating when (+ where) your Vertex might get tripped. Forewarned is forearmed. I show you a couple methods for tracking (or looking up) transits to your Vertex below (👇🏻), and you can learn more about reading a transit chart over here. ✨

• IN A SYNASTRY CHART > A synastry chart is created by overlaying one natal chart over another, and lining them up according to zodiac signs. In a synastry chart, you’d look for aspects between each other’s Sun, Moon, Ascendant, Midheaven, Venus or Mars, as well as your Vertex (or anti-Vertex). These connections might tell you if someone is meant to be in your life, and how they support your ultimate destiny. And FYI: Vertex activations aren’t always romantic—you can have a contact point between your Vertex and your kid’s Ascendant or Sun, for example, or connections between you and your mentor’s Vertex. I’ll show you how to find and evaluate the Vertex in a synastry chart below, and you can learn more about synastry here. ✨
  

✨ btw, the vertex is also known as the “wish point”…

Some astrologers also refer the Vertex as the “Wish Point,” because Vertex transits are reported to come on the heels of actual wishes: for a new life, new love, new purpose…

Often, the fateful meetings and circumstances of a Vertex activate seem like the answer to our secret prayers (uttered in those teary, dark-night-ish moments), and almost always coincide with major shifts in consciousness—often shifts in the very matrix of our life.

Enter “be careful what you wish for—you just might get it” scenarios.

Like—you might be wishing for skills, talents, or gifts you sense rattling around inside, and also feel you can’t access…

When the Vertex is activated, that access point is unveiled. 🔦

SO BASICALLY, by doing Mad Libs-style astrology with your Vertex placement, you might guess the who-what-when-why of these destined moments, whether they’ve happened in the past (or recently), and whether the people involved are meant-to-be!

HOW TO FIND AND INTERPRET THE VERTEX IN A Birth CHART

OKAY, I’m gonna explain where + how to score a free copy of your birth chart showing the Vertex, then share some descriptions and summaries for helping you find your Vertex sign and house…

…after that, I’m gonna show you how to find out what’s transiting your Vertex (if anything), and THEN, show you how to look for and delineate the Vertex in synastry! 😍💞

OKAY, ONE CRITICAL INGREDIENT > You need your accurate birth time for an online software to calculate a chart showing the Vertex. As accurate as you can get, because the degree° numbers of our angle placements (including the Vertex, a.k.a. our “auxiliary descendent” and “spiritual ascendent”) change every four minutes.

1. Pull up a copy of your natal chart. This post shows you how to get one from Astro.com. When you get to step #6, click VERTEX from the dropdown menu under “Additional Objects”, just under CHIRON. 👍🏻

2. Look to the right half of the chart, in your Fifth - Eighth Houses, for the letters “VERTE” (it’s missing the ‘x’ for some reason').

3. Note the zodiac sign on the outer rim of the chart, and confirm the house number between the spokes at center.

4. WRITE IT OUT > Vertex (any conjunctions?) in (the sign) in (the house). (Add the degree number to be fancy… and super-accurate. ✅)

5. WRITE OUT ITS OPPOSITE POINT > Anti-Vertex in (the opposite sign) in (the opposite house). (At the same degree, just different sign.)

6. Now, Google it all out... but don’t worry, I’m gonna link you to hella resources for every sign, house, and type of aspect you’ll need to look it all up! 😎

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ALTERNATE VERSION >
Visit + use the Cafe Astrology Vertex Calculator, just plug in your birth data. ☺️✨

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HERE’S MINE WRITTEN OUT >

Vertex ☌ (“conjunct” or side-by-side) Chiron in Gemini in the Eighth House. ♊️

Anti-Vertex ☌ Saturn in Sagittarius in the Second House. ♐️

✨ to interpret your vertex, we’ll basically break it down into keywords, mad libs-style…

Vertex (destiny) + Chiron* (soul-wound) in Gemini (connection) in the Eighth House (intimacy + power). 

(*Like that? My soul-wound is linked to my destiny. It’s like finding out that Pinhead from Hellraiser is the guardian angel of my destiny process. 😳😵‍💫)

So my passages through “destiny’s gate” apparently coincide with healing opportunities (vertex conjunct chiron), usually within the arena of my intense resource / psychological issues (eighth house), great. 👍🏻💫

✨ where am I coming up with these keywords for mad libs-style astrology…? 🤔

Retained from hella years of reading hella books + Internet articles…

And also, referring to a spreadsheet where I collect such things as keywords for astrology placements, because…

…idk why I have a spreadsheet, but I guess this is where I use it. 🤓

If keywords don’t zap to mind as you’re doing this exercise, you just need more astrology reading, and are literally remedying that by being here right now, so we’re helping each other out! 🤗💗

✨ once you’ve identified it, google for each component of your vertex placement…

SO, you’ll Google for your Vertex sign, Vertex house, and any aspects to your Vertex.

“Vertex in Gemini”, “Vertex in the Eighth House”, and “Vertex conjunct Chiron, natal” for good measure. ✅

Pop quotes, summaries, and links into a Google Doc, or Pin to your astrology boards, or wherever you like to hold and sift through mind-exploding psycho-spiritual personal data.

(Or basically, start building your own spreadsheet database! 🤩✨)

🌟 WHAT DOES MY VERTEX SIGN MEAN…?

Here are some summaries of the Vertex in the signs and houses to help you out, and links to where you can get more intel!

Remember, the sign of your Vertex indicates the theme, and draws in themes from the opposite sign (where the Anti-Vertex sits).

🌟 VERTEX IN ARIES ♈️ > Destiny process themes includes originality, first hand experience, taking the lead, and rivalry.

🌟 VERTEX IN TAURUS ♉️ > Destiny process themes include the acquisition of beauty, splendor, and comfort, and relationships that cultivate value and artistry.

🌟 VERTEX IN GEMINI ♊️ > Destiny process themes include personal integration, mental or telepathic connections, and being in like-minded relationships.

🌟 VERTEX IN CANCER ♋️ > Destiny process themes include laying roots, heart-centered belonging, and relationships built on sustenance and somatic-level entwinement.

🌟 VERTEX IN LEO ♌️ > Destiny process themes include play, validation, in finding a muse, unlocking creative potential, and relationships based on appreciation.

🌟 VERTEX IN VIRGO ♍️ > Destiny process themes include improvement, utility, ritual, and relationships that help us find our rhythm and honor our personal method.

🌟 VERTEX IN LIBRA ♎️ > Destiny process themes include collaboration, negotiating for truth and peace, and reassessing self-interest in light of others’ interests.

🌟 VERTEX IN SCORPIO ♏️ > Destiny process themes include depth, intimacy, unwavering commitment, and relationships based on intense shared experiences.

🌟 VERTEX IN SAGITTARIUS ♐️ > Destiny process themes include adventure, gaining full perspective, targeting for joy, and relationships based on pursuing and experiencing the miraculous.

🌟VERTEX IN CAPRICORN ♑️ > Destiny process themes include duty and overcoming, building a legacy or something with lasting value, and relationships that help in fulfilling one’s potential.

🌟 VERTEX IN AQUARIUS ♒️ > Destiny process themes include sharing a vision, fashioning an ideology, becoming more of oneself (individuation), and relationships based on true friendship.

🌟 VERTEX IN PISCES ♓️ > Destiny process themes include mystical healing, surrendering ego-fixations, and spiritual-based relationships.

For more summary-descriptions of the Vertex in the signs, check out this article, compare to this one from Siddhantika, and also this one from CafeAstrology! ✨

🌟 WHAT DOES THE VERTEX IN THE HOUSES MEAN?

Remember, the Vertex only shows up in the righthand or “western” side of the chart (the “fate” hemisphere) in one of houses 5-8.

Houses 5 and 6 are considered the last of the “personal” houses, whereas houses 7 and 8 are considered the first of the “impersonal” houses. We internalize the experiences of the personal houses, whereas the impersonal houses are largely externalized.

Whichever house your Vertex lands in indicates the arenas of life where your destined meetings take place, while the sign tells you the themes of the connection.

🌟 VERTEX IN THE FIFTH HOUSE > Destined meetings and fateful encounters in our passion pursuits, where we go to play, in our friendships, or within the communities or causes connected to our fun (anti-vertex in the eleventh house).

🌟 VERTEX IN THE SIXTH HOUSE > Destined meetings and fateful encounters in our daily routines and work-a-day life, with coworkers, employees, the people we service, or in the divine relationship behind and connected to our work (anti-vertex in the twelfth house).

🌟 VERTEX IN THE SEVENTH HOUSE > Destined meetings and fateful encounters in the realm of one-on-one relationships, i.e. with clients, or with professionals specializing in interpersonal services, such as law or therapy, intended to assist our personal image or self-relationship (anti-vertex in the first house).

🌟 VERTEX IN THE EIGHTH HOUSE > Destined meetings and fateful encounters within committed, enmeshed, or sexual relationships, such as with business, investors, or potential marriage partners, or the relationships we form as a means of consolidating our wealth, skills, and security (anti-vertex in the second house).

✨ to round it out, here are a few summaries for vertex house placements…

“In the fifth/eleventh house axis, there could be a propensity to experience fateful romantic or creative encounters (fifth house) through contacts with friends or groups (eleventh house). In the sixth/twelfth house axis, the turning point, or spin out, could effect our day by day living, or our link between psyche and soma (sixth house) through contact with those in the helping professions, those less fortunate or through dreams and creative fantasies (twelfth house). In the seventh/first house axis, sudden epiphanies could radically effect socially significant partnerships (seventh house) through an experience of projecting ourselves out into the world (first house). In the the eighth/second house axis, destiny may arrive in the form of an erotic encounter or intense research (eighth house) perpetrated by a desire for pleasure, security or peace (second house).

The vertex/anti-vertex by sign can signify the way we may experience activation to this axis. Aries/Libra could indicate issues between personal will and sharing, where Taurus/Scorpio may be about security versus risk. Gemini/Sagittarius could contrast knowledge and vision, where Cancer/Capricorn could emphasize protection versus enterprise. The Leo/Aquarius axis might highlight self-expression as opposed to group participation where the Virgo/Pisces might compare structure boundaries to limitless longing.”

— Kim Falconer, Astrology and Aptitude: How to Become What you Are Meant to Be

🌟 WHAT ABOUT ASPECTS FROM MY OTHER PLANETS TO MY VERTEX? >

Aspects describe the relationships between planets, some being softer (sextiles, trines) than others (square, oppositions, conjunctions).

HINT > The elements (fire, earth, air, water) and modes (cardinal, fixed, mutable) represented by the zodiac signs can help you build a picture how how these relationships express themselves and interrelate.

✨ here’s a summary of what aspects to your vertex can mean…

🌟 CONJUNCTIONS TO THE VERTEX OPPOSE THE ANTI-VERTEX > These planets help reveal where you can balance what you have (or know, believe, or do… etc.) against what you are developing.

🌟 SEXTILES TO THE VERTEX ARE TRINES TO THE ANTI-VERTEX > These planets offer an opportunity to develop your higher qualities, while flexing your already developed qualities. The real question: how to work with both in tandem?

🌟 SQUARES TO THE VERTEX ALSO SQUARE THE ANTI-VERTEX > These planets impede your development and the “higher” qualities you draw on from the Anti-Vertex. Hella bothersome. From Siddhantika’s article about the Vertex: “If planets square the Vertex angle, then the development of this planet is crucial to whether or not  I become aware enough (and brave enough) to meet my fate.  For example, if Saturn is square my Vertex angle, then Saturn development would open the gateway for Vertex-inspired experiences.  The more Saturn develops and the more we learn to use it constructively, the greater the possibility of Vertex experience.  This could happen natally or it could happen through a contact with another whose Saturn squares my Vertex angle.  If another’s Saturn squares my Vertex, their planetary development will affect my spiritual development.”

🌟 TRINES TO THE VERTEX ARE SEXTILES TO THE ANTI-VERTEX > These planets help you ease towards your Vertex qualities, drawing from the Anti-Vertex qualities. We’re floating down a riverrr… to the Verrrtex… 🎶

🌟 OPPOSITIONS TO THE VERTEX CONJUNCT THE ANTI-VERTEX > Presents the path of least resistance, or confrontations with your Vertex development. Might present opportunity to size up your potential, or gauge where your “higher self” potential actually lies, or the flimsiness of your vision for it.

🌟 QUINCUNXES TO THE VERTEX ARE SEMI-SEXTILES TO THE ANTI-VERTEX > These planets present quirky derailments where you’re able to observe and develop (or kind of lean on) the qualities symbolizes by your Vertex. According to some liner notes in Donna Hensen’s example Vertex Report: “Quincunxes to the Vertex are also semi-sextiles to the Anit-Vertex. While you're fated to develop the sign of the Vertex, help from your Anti-Vertex is just beginning to develop giving you little help from previous development. This results in minor irritations that could eventually develop into big problems such as health or financial concerns. To handle this you have to adjust to the differences of the two signs.”

HINT > This CafeAstrology summarizes the Vertex in the signs, as well as aspects to the Vertex from the planets, and for more summary-descriptions of the Vertex in the signs, compare to this one from Siddhantika! ✨

For more insight into aspects in general, here’s that CafeAstrology article again (that I linked to earlier), to be compared to this one from Dark Star Astrology, and this one from Alice Sparkly Kat (very useful for analyzing all the aspects in your birth chart). ✨

ALSO, for insight into the elements + modes (super helpful for building an intuitive picture of how the themes and experiences of your planets are interrelating), check out this AstroStyle article, and compare to this one from CafeAstrology on the same topic*! ✨

(*Build that database, yo’!)

SO, FOR ME, POUR MOI… 💕

Having Chiron in close aspect (2°) of my Vertex entwines my soul-wound cycle and healing with my destiny process. Chiron is a comet-asteroid that orbits between Saturn and Uranus, and indicates our “soul-wound” on our natal chart (read more about natal Chiron here ✨).

STRAIGHT UP, THO…

…in general, Chiron and the Eighth House are tricky to characterize. Both deal with carnal issues, situations dealing with deficiencies / gains, merging / un-merging, and evolved / evolving understandings of personal value and resource. 

Having Chiron nearby my Vertex suggests that any and all Vertex activations will entail the similar ripping and flooding experiences that characterize our “soul-wounding” (uh oh).

“Chiron is the essence of pragmatism, of gaining a palpable or ‘hands on’ awareness of ourselves so that we can metamorphose into something entirely new. This Chirotic form of transmutation is so systemic, the change so complete, the experience so intense, that most people forget it happened to them within hours. Often it can only be recognized by its effects, such as a sudden new vision, a complete path alteration in life, a feeling of being reborn.”

— Barbara Hand Clow, Chiron

GENERALLY, when Chiron gets transited (and it’s not along our Chiron Cycle, when our specific soul-wound gets re-triggered ❤️‍🩹⚡️), the transit coincides with events promoting some kind of re-education about what we might bring and use to transform a situation, based on our personal wounding / healing experiences.

OR BASICALLY, VERTEX CONJUNCT CHIRON IN MY CHART… implies that my path to ascendency involves re-integrating (Gemini ♊️) my wounding / healing experiences, and being led through the visceral resource-and-value scarcity issues that created my soul-wound in the first place. 🙈

AND THE SAME FOR YOU, if you happen to have Chiron aspecting your Vertex! 🙌🏻

IF NOT, or if you have any other planets aspecting the Destiny Point in your chart, you’ll have to do a little Google-snooping to figure out how that might color your fateful meetings and encounters. 😊

HOW TO READ AND INTERPRET TRANSITS TO THE VERTEX

While your natal chart describes potential, transits to the Vertex coincide with actual fated encounters and interactions.

REMEMBER FROM THE INTRO, until activated, everything described in your natal chart is just potential.

Often, when any planet, angle, or point of our birth chart is transited, other people will act as avatars for the transiting planet. It’s as if the planets are acting through people, performing functions related to the planet, “causing” the impact those transits are supposed to have on our charts (learn more about planetary transits here ✨).

With the Vertex, the “avatars” will deliver a message (Mercury) or spotlight a virtue (Sun), dovetailing with what our Vertex describes we’re fated to develop (by sign, house, + other nearby planets).

NOTE > These fated encounters might only happen as interactions, and not develop into lasting relationships (such as romances or friendships), or might occur in already established ones.

In any case, you might as well keep top-of-mind any planet that’s transiting your Vertex sign! ✅

✨ to find out what’s transiting your vertex…

You’ll need to score a copy of a transit chart from the day you believe your Destiny Point got tripped, OR to find out if it’s being transited by another planet.

COUPLE OPTIONS…

🌟 This Astro-Seek calculator lets you calculate aspects formed to your Vertex by transiting planets: just enter your birth data, select a planet from the first drop down menu, a type of aspect* from the second, and “Vertex” from the third. Click “calculate”, and the next page will list the calendar dates when the planet you’ve selected has aspected your Vertex! 🤩

(*Conjunctions and squares to our Vertex are felt most, the most promising for growth. Sextiles might start or inspire something between the points, while trines facilitate and support the direction you’re moving in.)

🌟 This post can show you a full out tutorial for scoring and reading transit charts, but if you want to grab one real quick, hit up the Astro-Seek Transit Chart Calculator, enter your birth data, select a date*, then hit “calculate transits”.

(*It’ll automatically display today’s date. 💁🏻‍♀️)

NOTE > This is a different chart calculator than Astro.com, but still totally cool, and will automatically display the Vertex in your chart!

✨ when you have your transit chart…

Scan houses 5-8 for “VX”, and see if there any planets hovering nearby. Your planets will be blue and on the inside, while transiting planets will be in orange and outside the wheel.

HINT > Remember to peek at the opposite sign / house to see if anything is transiting your Anti-Vertex!

ALSO, remember that it’s not just the planet transiting your Vertex, but the configuration of planets that are also in transit, and how they’re impacting your chart.

So, note any other “exact” aspects being formed by other planets, which you can spot by clicking the gray tab located over the chart display labelled “Aspects Tables”, which grids out all the aspects for you. Notice which boxes have black lines around them, indicating “exact” aspects. ✅

✨ “what should I know about transits to my anti-vertex?…”

These are also significant, and tend to impact the area of our chart where we’re doing “prep work” or the “inside job” leading into our destiny process.

BUT JUST FYI, I can’t locate much literature about the effects of transits to the Anti-Vertex, but from my own inexpert transit tracking, transits to the Anti-Vertex seem to be a “peek-a-boo” opening, or insight into the destiny process…

…not really coinciding with destined moments. ❌

FOR INSTANCE, instead of a moment of clarity or hit of awareness (such as with a transit to the Vertex), the effect feels more… like… realizing the bath water has turned cold, or waking from a micro-nap, and now a different podcast episode is playing from the one you’d settled in to listen to…

…or basically, transits to the Anti-Vertex feel like something on the backend that needs adjusting or re-calibration* (IMHO). 👍🏻

(*NOTE: My Saturn almost conjuncts the Anti-Vertex of my chart, so, this is a hella biased appraisal. 😕🤷🏻‍♀️)

ANYWAY, let me provide some summaries for interpreting transits to the Vertex…

…and in the final section, I’ll focus on reading for the Vertex in a synastry chart (💞), which showcases what the Vertex does best. 😌

🌟 SUN-MOON TRANSITS TO THE VERTEX 🌻🌙 > Transits to the Vertex from the luminaries, the Moon and Sun, happen once a month and once a year. Some astrologers claim a Sun transit to your Vertex will coincide with “love at first sight”, but that might depend on other transits (maybe something also transiting your Venus, and Seventh House?). In any case, Sun-Moon transits to the Vertex seem to bring a burst of energy, or a gut-feeling, that furrow you along your destined path (as described by the Vertex placement). Obviously, these effects are amplified by a New or Full Moon. You’d probably feel thunderstruck by coinciding events if an eclipse strikes your Vertex, like literally, which is how EYE felt. This is because eclipses are essentially hyper-karmic New and Full Moon portals. (Read more about my Eclipse Moment here, and learn earn more about astrological eclipses over here. 🌀✨)

🌟 MERCURY-VENUS-MARS TRANSITS TO THE VERTEX 🧚🏻🌸🔥 > Transits to the Vertex from the swifter, “inner” planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars) might bring about actual people, “visitors” or avatars embodying the planet’s archetype: you might receive a special message (Mercury), gratification (Venus), or even a spark of rivalry (Mars), all of which would goad you towards Destiny’s Gate.

🌟 JUPITER-SATURN TRANSITS TO THE VERTEX 🕊🪐 > Transits to the Vertex from the Social Planets are much longer lasting, and more formative. Jupiter conjuncts your Vertex once every 12 years, and will shower blessings on your destiny process, perhaps in the form of a benefactor, patron, or mentor, or coincide with some kind of meaningful opportunity. Meanwhile, Saturn conjuncts your Vertex once every 30 years, coinciding with some tasks that will crystallize the themes and context of your destiny process, perhaps in the form of a authority figure, or just as likely a reconciling or clearing of old karma complicating your route to ascension.

🌟 URANUS-NEPTUNE-PLUTO TRANSITS TO THE VERTEX ⚡️🌊💀 > Transits to the Vertex from one of the heavies (Uranus, Neptune, Pluto) will coincide with social, spiritual, or existential crises. Uranus will bring eureka level flashes of genius, perhaps the arrival of a tool or invention that enables you in some way, while Neptune will bring spiritual awakening, and Pluto will bring a soul-wracking, inside-out descent into the deepest caverns of psyche.

NOTE > The Outer Planets move hellllla slow, and may not ever transit your Vertex (OR Anti-Vertex) in this lifetime, but if they do, the situations will feel far bigger than you or any other single individual…

…or basically, the “fateful encounters” will link you into a “meta” issue that is tied to you destiny process, which could be ideological (Uranus), spiritual (Neptune), or chthonic (Pluto).

Whichever Outer Planet is transiting your Vertex, just note that this drawn-out experience will bring perhaps cruel-bizarre synchronicities, and that the experience itself is informing your destiny process! ✌🏻

ULTIMATELY, the themes (sign) and experiences (house) you will likely have during a transit moment is determined by your Vertex placement, but note where the ruler of your Vertex sign is hanging out on your chart, because that’s the area that’ll get “reworked” by the Outer Planet’s influence!

HINT > Here again is that CafeAstrology article summarizing aspects from the planets to Vertex, as well as a list of which planet(s) rule which zodiac signs.

Oh, and you can learn more about the concept of “rulers” (a.k.a. dispositors) over here! ✨

HOW TO Interpret THE VERTEX IN a SYNASTRY Chart 💞

OKAY, SO…. relationship astrology is where the Destiny Point really gets to shine, and maybe because not many people are tracking their transits (despite my constant admonishing ❌).

Often, the Destiny Point is prominent in the synastry charts of significant relationships. These aren’t necessarily romantic, and can be represented in charts of siblings, mentors-pupils, besties, etc., any relationship that feels destined, or any relationship where the person enters our life through a twist of fate. 🌀

FOR THIS, we’re only locating and interpreting connections betwixt-between each other’s Vertex in a synastry chart, but the conditions of the Vertex in a composite chart* can also be insightful about a relationship.

(*Click that link to learn more, but I have a tutorial about getting and reading a composite chart coming out in a couple months, subscribe to find out when it goes live! ☺️)

FOR THIS DEMONSTRATION, I’ll be using the birth data of the barista I happened to be looking at when the Gemini Solar Eclipse struck my Vertex on June 10, 2021, based on birth data that I approximated based on his phenotype (Gemini Rising), age range (45-46 at the time), and other factors gathered from the Internet and while eavesdropping in the cafe where it happened (bc, I’m creepy 💁🏻‍♀️).

THIS IS NOT ADVISABLE ❌, not only because it’s essentially stalking with synastry (…and transit charts), but also because the birth data is only approximate, and you definitely want an accurate birth time for the Vertex placement that’s displayed to be exact. 👌🏻

If you don’t have accurate birth data… welp, be forewarned that you might get excited (or frustrated) by synastry connections that aren’t even real or true. 🤷🏻‍♀️

BUT WHO AM I TO DISCOURAGE YOU, even if you only have approximate birth data, let’s do this, because we’re all learning astrology, right? Let’s put off grad school forever… 💕

Anyway…

🌟 WHERE + HOW TO GET A FREE SYNASTRY CHART…

1. Go to Astro-Seek.com, and hover over Free Horoscopes on the left-hand side of the navigation, and select “Synastry, Composite, Davison.”

2. On the next page, from the list of hyperlinks that displayed, click “Synastry charts” at the top.

3. Type in your birth data: time, date, location. You are Partner A.

4. Type in another person’s birth data for Partner B.

5. Below that, click the light gray hyperlink labelled “Extended Settings” and check to display aspects for "Vertex.”

6. Click the blue rectangle labelled “calculate chart”.

7. Ta-da, you did it! 💫
   

🌟 HOW TO READ FOR THE DESTINY POINT IN A SYNASTRY CHART >

Okay—it might seem a teensy bit complicated, but only at first glance.

1. FIRST, identify which planets are whose. Partner A will be in blue (on the inside), and Partner B will be in orange (on the outside).

2. NEXT, locate the Ascendants. Partner A’s Ascendant will be on the left-hand side, where the Ascendant angle and First House are usually located on a chart. Scan the rest of the chart for the letters “ASC” to locate where Partner B’s Ascendant has landed. (For me, Partner B’s ASC lands in my Eighth House.)

3. FINALLY, locate the Destiny Points, which will be labelled as Vx, for Vertex. You will have to approximate the Anti-Vertex, by looking at the sign and house opposite the Vertex (to determine if there are any connections there as well).

REMEMBER, we’re only looking for contact from your Vertex to their chart, and vice versa. You can save the other connections for a deeper-dive later on (again, here’s my synastry tutorial when you’re ready ✨).

✨ FIRST, locate the Vertex in your own chart…

Locate your Vertex (which is in blue). Do you notice any orange planets, angles, or points nearby? List them one-by-one:

MY VERTEX ☌ (“conjunct” or side-by-side)
THEIR ASCENDANT IN GEMINI / MY EIGHTH HOUSE (their first house).

✨ NEXT, locate their Vertex (which is in orange)…

Do you notice any blue planets, angles, or points nearby? List them one-by-one:

THEIR VERTEX ☌ (“conjunct” or side-by-side)
MY ASCENDANT AND PLUTO IN SCORPIO / MY FIRST HOUSE (their sixth house).

HINT 1 > Measure the orb, or “span of degrees” between the Vertex, planets, angles, and any other objects involved. Degrees are represented by the little gray lines in between the darker black lines, inside the boxes displaying the zodiac symbols. Every black line denotes 5°.

Any objects within a 5° orb of either Vertex should be counted, they’re in the mix. ✅

HINT 2 > Click the hyperlink above the chart itself labelled “Aspect tables”, and scan the columns labelled “Vx”. Partner A’s planets + points will be displayed in the vertical column on the left-hand side, while Partner B’s planets + points will be displayed in the horizontal column across the top. These columns display the exact degree° of your Vertex placement (mine is @ 18° Gemini) along with glyphs symbolizing the aspects formed to your Vertex by Partner B’s planets.

🌟 FOR YOUR REFERENCE, this CafeAstrology article displays and explains all the aspects, while this one summarizes aspects to the Vertex from other planets.

✨ LAST, compare Vertex placements between charts…

Recall the theme (zodiac sign) and experiences (house placement) of your own Vertex, and evaluate the same for your synastry partner. Note any orange planets hovering by your synastry partner’s Vertex (also orange). These planets are part-in-parcel to their destiny process, as described by the sign and house placement on their chart.

FOR ME, ON MY CHART… the themes of my destiny process involve communication and a meeting of the minds (Vertex in Gemini ♊️), and ascendency into power and intimacy (my eighth house).

AND IF YOU RECALL, my Chiron (❤️‍🩹) forms a 2° conjunct to my Vertex, both of which are crowding my synastry partner’s Ascendant.

FOR HIM, THE ECLIPSE BARISTA’S CHART… the themes of his destiny process involves intimacy + intensity (Vertex in Scorpio ♏️), but ascending into a vitality-driven work-life rhythm (his sixth house).

ALSO, the Eclipse Barista has Uranus (⚡️) within a 5° orb of his Vertex, both of which are crowding around my Ascendant…

…which means we share a “double whammy” between our Destiny Points + Ascendants!

My Vertex conjuncts the barista’s Ascendant, and his Vertex conjuncts mine, with my Chiron and his Uranus mixed in.

BECAUSE THE BARISTA AND I SHARE A DOUBLE-WHAMMY OF OUR VERTEX - ASCENDANTS IN OUR SYNASTRY CHART…

…the “fated interaction” might be… if looking dead-on at each other during a “cosmic trigger moment” (the June 10, ‘21 Gemini Solar Eclipse, perhaps 🤔), whereupon either of our Vertex or Ascendants were struck…

…we’d be furrowed into some version of our separate destiny processes.

Or basically, the “fated interaction” and pivotal moment would have been a super-subliminal catalyzing experience, something meant to shock and awaken us to the dormant skills and abilities underlying my Vertex placement.

And with my Chiron so close at hand (❤️‍🩹), wounding and healing would striate my destiny process, which I suppose ultimately happened (which you can read about at the bottom of my post about Black Moon Lilith in synastry ✨).

“In the Ascendant conjunct Vertex relationship, the two partners work as catalysts for each other’s true potential, wishes, dreams and desires. One of the truly beautiful and admirable things about this relationship is that each partner knows just how to encourage the other person in order to get them to deliver their best, express their deepest truths, and not least own who they truly are and what they truly want in this life. Here are two partners who truly see each other – and inspire and encourage each other to reveal themselves to the rest of the world, too.”

— Access New Age, “Vertex Conjunct Ascendant Synastry”

✨ what if not my vertex, but a different planet, asteroid or point connects to my synastry partner’s vertex…?

THIS IS TRICKY TO FIND! 😫

Planet aspects to the Vertex don’t seem to be felt or used much in compatibility analysis, but can explain the types of energy or function that one person provides the other.

This might even explain how one person can feel as though the other person contributes something meaningful to their life, even if the relationship itself is not very easy, or doesn’t have a purpose or function outside of this contribution. 🤷🏻‍♀️

REMEMBER, the Vertex in synastry might illustrate a gravitational pull, or feeling that this person is important to where you’re heading in your life…

…but doesn’t necessarily mean that your destined paths will align…

…only that you are engaging in a fated interaction. 🌀

“It is important to note that when romantic partners have conjunctions between one person’s Vertex and the other person’s personal planets (and/or going both ways), it doesn’t necessarily mean the relationship is a blissful, “happily ever after” one. That is hardly the case. However, it does suggest a powerful connection.”

— CafeAstrology, “Vertex”

If you notice one of your planets forms an aspect to another person’s Vertex, it might indicate your relationship is fateful for that person, and that your planet (or angle, whatever) plays into what that person is trying to develop in their destiny process.

What is the meaning, or significance, of the planet or angle from your synastry partner’s chart connecting with your Vertex? What does that planet (or object) signify in your their chart?

AS A REFRESHER, this Labyrinthos article explains the energy, archetypes, and symbolism of all the planets, which you can compare to these explainers from Astro.com! ✨

✨ what about synastry contacts to my anti-vertex (or vice versa)?

WELP, it sounds like synastry contacts to the Anti-Vertex are almost like a “shadow connection”, the way that we tend to project planets in our Seventh House onto others.

“The anti-Vertex allows us to process our divinity through the vehicle of ‘other’–when other’s planets fall on our anti-Vertex, we reveal ourselves through the ‘not I.’ Often, anti-Vertex contacts involve commitment and sacrifice beyond the call of duty, and we usually don’t mind fulfilling those commitments because we feel the divine pulse of our own spirit gradually unveiling in our actions.”

— The Inner Wheel, “The Vertex versus the Nodes, Pt. I”

If someone else’s planet(s) or angle connects with your Anti-Vertex, dig into the symbolism of the connecting planet, and try to evaluate the function of the connection. Compare to your true life experience of the relationship, and what it feels like and means to you.

Does there seem to be a commitment or sacrifice in that kind of relationship?

Does it feel like that person grounds your destiny process in a meaningful way (maybe like a tradeoff)?

ALSO, do you have any planets already conjunct your Anti-Vertex, such as I? 💕

Tho, from the research, it sounds like any planet connections to our Vertex - Anti-Vertex axis are ultimately beneficial, but I would add that, like most of our birth chart, it takes time and experience to tap into the benefits.

AND BE CAREFUL, because you might invest in the energy or function symbolized by that planet into someone else who’s activated your Vertex. 😳😬

what you might want to consider wHEN interpreting the role of the vertex (a.k.a. fateful encounters or destined meetings) in your synastry… 

• TIMING ⏱ > When did the relationship or interaction start? Did you record the original meeting date in a journal or an agenda? What was the vibe? Who were you with, what was the context? What were the circumstances and vibe of the next interaction?

• FIRST IMPRESSIONS 👀 > What were the circumstances of your first meeting? What was the vibe of your interaction? How did those impressions evolve over time, and due to what circumstances or events?

• INFLUENCE 🪄 > How would you articulate or describe the role or influence you each play in other’s goals, ambitions, or sense of purpose? Especially note if “purpose” or “fate” have a presence in your relationship. Like—has the other person ever described to you what they feel destined for? Do they know what you feel destined for? Have you both ever discussed what you individually believe you’re fated for, and what you individually believe the other person contributes to that fate? (…Or are you just #NetflixandChilling away your time together…?)

If you happen to have all this info, your Vertex connections in your synastry chart might be able to explain the start, consummation, or special advancement in your relationship! 

…but, I know, you’d have to just be the kind of person who documents such things.

If nothing else, maybe the info gathered from your Vertex placements helps you remember or feel back into those initial meetings…

…or maybe even help validate an intuition, some “woo" inkling you felt, about that person or your interactions! 🤯🤩

✨ but shouldn’t fate imply the capacity for some kind of significant bond with my synastry partner…? 🤨😓

While the lore hints that Vertex connections might indicate a metaphysical bond between people…

…the “purpose” of the Vertex connection / fated encounter is to goad us towards destiny, in whatever way described by the connection.

Or basically, aspects between your Vertex and theirs speaks only to interactions… not to the relationship itself.

There are so many other factors to look for in a synastry chart in terms of compatibility (see my synastry post ✨), and a composite chart is where you would look for the “meaning” of a relationship….

But the Vertex is specifically about your destiny process. ⚡️🌀

If you share Vertex connections with someone else, it only indicates that you’re co-engineering your destinies,

…or, at the very least, influencing each other’s destiny process…

…but ultimately, the destiny process itself is an inside job, something you’ll pack up and take with you when you go.

And how wonderful we have these sorts of synchronicities to spurn us onward (yay)!

Tips for Hazarding A Vertex Activation… 🌀⚡️

(…And WHAT I THINK HAPPENED WHEN MY VERTEX WAS ACTIVATED BY THE JUNE 2021 GEMINI SOLAR ECLIPSE)

TO CATCH YOU UP… on June 10, 2021, a Solar Eclipse tripped my Vertex-Chiron, I think at the exact moment I was looking into a barista’s eyes. 👁⚡️

As he called out my drink order, our eyes connected, and I saw a steely-blue flash of light. Two flashes, actually, starting in both eyes as metallic enzo-shaped swirls, which ballooned, then condensed and solidified into metallic glowing orbs, before finally flashing out…

I zombie-grabbed my mocha-drink-latte-thing, then scuttled back to my SUV, and went where I go for hope: astrology newsletters. 💡

I had seen the warnings about eclipse season— “check yo’ planets, check yo’ Nodes”—but I literally forgot about my Vertex-Chiron. Both the Vertex and Chiron are special bodies selected from a separate menu in the Astro.com chart generator, which is where I was casting the majority of charts at the time (now I use Astro-Seek).

So, in some versions of my birth chart, Gemini (where the eclipse was striking) is empty. 🤷🏻‍♀️

AND, TBH… I was not so far along in my astrology self-study that I actually understood horoscopes and blog posts regarding about eclipses. 😳

Like—when astrologers joke about people taking cover on eclipse days, I thought it was the same as when they’re like, “Ruh-roh, Mercury’s about to Retrograde!” (( said in a Scooby-Doo voice for some reason ))

Not actually like, “FATE. IS. HAPPENING…. Hide somewhere chill!” 😱✌🏻

Within a day or so of seeing the blue light, the barista started acting weird at me, and I believe triangulating me against one of the coworkers he’s been having an affair with. I’m guessing this based on (1) that coworker’s reproachful attitude towards me of late, and (2) because she showed me her natal chart hella days ago in connection to a break-up with her boyfriend/roommate, whereupon I guessed an unwise casual coupling would ensue (not out loud 🤐) largely due to codependency markers in her chart, and the fact that she does work with a janky perv (the barista ✨), though I did not anticipate the coinciding impact of the eclipse 🌗, my seeing the blue flash in the barista’s eyes, or him suddenly dressing like my ex-husband / Art Alexakis and instructing the other baby-baristas to spy and notify him of my cafe solicitations…

…but does that mean he also saw a blue flash in my eyes or is he just responding to my weird vibes and trying to shake off his clingy workplace-lover, AND I’M BASICALLY STALKING EVERYONE IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD WITH ASTROLOGY, hi, I’m Plutonian. 👻

EVENTUALLY, AFTER TEN MONTHS OF TRYING TO START A CONVERSATION ABOUT ECLIPSES WITH HIM… the barista (that fucking cunt 🔥), announced he wouldn’t serve me anymore (again, the full scoop is at the bottom of my Lilith-in-synastry tutorial, with the calendar date and exact time, if you want to peek at the transit chart 🤓)…

…which worked out okay, I guess, since another cafe opened up in town anyway, and I Iearned about eclipses and the Destiny Point in astrology. 🎉

OKAY, THAT’S THE JIST OF IT, NOW HERE’S WHAT I THINK HAPPENED…

REMINDER > The 2021 Gemini Solar Eclipse occurred at 19° Gemini, in a 2-3° orb of my Vertex-Chiron (rad). ♊️✨

Based on the barista’s (hypothetical) birth chart, that same eclipse might have struck within 5° of his Ascendant (positioned @ 14° Gemini… hypothetically 👌🏻).

REPEATING THIS FOR YOUR ASTROLOGICAL EFFICACY…

The Ascendant angle is the “starting line” of our chart, and demarcates the beginning of the First House of Identity, Appearance, and Persona. Planets very close-by our ASC (or even placed in our First House) can influence our phenotype: the tighter the orb to our ASC, the more dramatic the influence… particularly in our eyes. 👁

PERHAPS… when the eclipse tripped my Vertex-Chiron (⚡️❤️‍🩹), it also struck the barista’s Ascendant (👁), and my visual hallucination was some kind of projection or psychic insight into his own coinciding transits… 🤔

…his Vertex hadn’t been activated though, just mine. 😒

SO, we will never know what he saw on that particular eclipse day (if anything), how it registered (if at all), or its consequences.

I mean—I can hazard guesses (based on intel learned about his life while eavesdropping), but we never had a direct conversation. Any opportunity to have had such a conversation seemed thwarted by his anxiety and angst, which never mixed well with my daily mood instability and tendency to derail small talk with polemic and absurd declarations (“Well, rapists are always circumcised, so…” 🤦🏻‍♀️).

Or maybe he liked my weird attention, but thought I’d eat his heart and steal his dog (not unlikely), so he needed to create a very confusing moving boundary to keep my attention (without yielding to its weirdness)…

…and, eventually, the ambiguity and ambivalence of our interactions just got too stressful. 🥵

In any case, I super-appreciate all the spooky-cute coincidences* that happened while I was in the cafe trying to extract data…

(*ONE MAJ’ COINCIDENCE… The Vertex / Anti-Vertex comprise the Ascension Axis of our chart, right… and the cafe where mine got eclipse-tripped was called “Ascendo”! 🤯🤭)

…and the barista’s hypothetical birth chart did serve as a useful proxy for deep-learning transit and relationship astrology (always a great career and relationship move 👍🏻).

“Often, Vertex contacts come into our lives, deliver their message, and then disappear just as quickly as they came, leaving us altered in a profound way, but a bit shattered. Can’t get more Uranian than that–Uranus of the higher mind, beyond mere mortality/physicality. The lover or friend who comes ‘out of the blue’ and happens to put us on our path, who helps us know who are we when we are not our earth-created ego, we when we are not our ‘stuff.’”

— The Inner Wheel, “Soul Points in Synastry: The Vertex Versus the Nodes, Part Two”

ALSO, this is crucial… not everyone wants or cares about synchronicity, about woo things that happen in coincidence with astronomical phenomena that we might be able to interpret via metaphor, analogy, and symbolism (a.k.a. astrology).

I mean—is telling a stranger they were part of a a visual hallucination you experienced during an eclipse similar to telling them about your dreams last night, or what a pop song means to you?

“Uhhh… eclipses, ya… cool, dude… thx for letting me know.” 🙄😏

NO, nope, that would have been too weird and cruel to endure…

…especially in light of all the other disillusionment I’d been feeling around that time. ❌

I’d rather crop the experience up to a “fateful encounter” just meant for me, that’s it.

“We can’t figure out the ‘why’ of a Vertex contact, it just is–and usually the sense of ‘fate’ comes from the fact that something or someone is provided just at the point it is most needed; whether or not we ever knew that we needed it before. In an odd way, the Vertex acts as a secret and sacred ‘helping hand.’”

— The Inner Wheel, “Soul Points in Synastry: The Vertex Versus the Nodes, Part Two”

✨ do all vertex activations play out this way, tho?

Nooo, probably not…

..but they do in many cases, according to most Vertex lore I’ve found. 🤷🏻‍♀️

“However, not all Vertex connections are meant to last. Some can go on for years, others can literally come and go in a matter of minutes. The arrival and departure of the planetary person connecting to the Vertex only stays present until the the completion of the ‘Turning point’. If the romantic partner has a vertex conjunction to their lover, a karmic relationship is indicated between the two - terms such as ‘fated’ is deemed quite appropriate for these relationships. One must be conscious and understanding of how long the relationship is supposed to last.”

— Tumblr, EllieMaeAstrology, “The Vertex: My Wish Come True”

Remember that Vertex activations specialize in fated encounters, so for me, the encounter was supposed to be a learning process (Vertex in Gemini ♊️) and rinse-down of my intimacy issues (Vertex in the Eighth House).

FOR SOME PEOPLE, the activation could involve people they’re already in relationship with, for which the turning point would occur, and then they’d move along their destiny process, with no real impact to the culture and integrity of their relationship.

BUT, IF YOUR VERTEX ACTIVATION ALSO DRAGGED YOU INTO AN AMBIGUOUS-FEELING SITUATION, here’s a caution… 🚩✨

When the Vertex is activated, it’s like getting a charge, a thunderbolt to your psyche. ⚡️

You might walk around carrying the charge, but it needs to be grounded….

…and it wants to be grounded in your destiny process. 🌀

THUS, a Vertex activation delivers on its symbolic promise (to instigate a change in consciousness) as long as the charge it creates gets grounded into a situation that serves your ultimate ascent (as described by your Vertex placement). ⚡️⚡️⚡️

Unless you can see that “relationship” is an important story line in your Vertex placement, or in your birth chart in general, you might be projecting the “destiny inspo” away from yourself, which might be what I did with my fateful encounter with the barista.

SO, try inventorying the other transits in place at the time of your activation, and getting super acquainted with the story lines in your birth chart. ✅

✨ do we only get the one shot, or can the vertex be activated more than once…?

Your Vertex can definitely be activated more than once! 😅

My Vertex has been eclipse-tripped before, by the Gemini Solar Eclipse in June 2011, when I consummated a relationship with my coworker*, who eventually fathered my children and became my husband (not in that order 💃🏻).

(*Who was also a barista, is this my pattern?? 😨)

Anyway, you can use this Astro-Seek calculator to find out when, how, + what has transited your Vertex in the past, and then decide in those calendar dates listed correlate with any meaningful dates in your personal story!

TO USE IT, plug in your birth data, and select any planet from the dropdown menu labelled “Transit”. Start with “conjunction” under the “Aspect” menu, but you can play around with different aspects. Finally, from the third menu labelled “Natal”, select “Vertex”.

You can also choose whether to see transits or transits and progressions! 🤩🥰

Obviously, this might get time consuming, especially if you focus on transits from the Sun, Moon, and other swift-transiting planets, but it might still yield fascinating insight!

IF YOU’RE CURIOUS ABOUT ECLIPSES SPECIFICALLY… use this Astro-Seek calculator, which shows you a 5-year time span for when, where, + what eclipses have struck (or are due to strike) in your birth chart!

Just enter your birth data, and select a starting year from the dropdown menu, your current location (or the location of where you were when you believe an eclipse struck your chart), then the type of aspect you’re interested in (focus on conjunctions, squares, and oppositions).

On the next page, you’ll see a display showing where all the eclipses in a 5-year timeframe had struck your chart!

Peek at your Vertex placement (the chart won’t display it, so locate it by sign and degree°), and see if eclipses have ever factored into your destiny process! 🧚🏻✨

AND TAKE HEART, because the Vertex is an ongoing process, just like the rest of your chart! 💗

Okay—So, WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO IF MY VERTEX IS ACTIVATED…?

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🌟 FIRST, DETERMINE THE SOURCE AND TYPE OF ACTIVATION.

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Was it a transit? If so, there was probably a correlating encounter or event. Inventory everything about that day, or the few days around that time. What did you do, who were you with, what was on your mind, on your heart…?

Also, check your progressions. Is there a planet conjunct or square your Vertex? When did that happen*? Where is that same planet currently transiting you? Is it also forming an aspect to your Vertex?

If so, there would be a change in tempo. You might have a feeling that something is happening, something significant, though there hasn’t been any event or encounter (yet).

(*Most planets take a year to progress 1°, including your Sun, while the Moon progresses 1° per month.)

Also also, check the synastry. Find some non-creepy way to score birth data for any new players on the scene, especially if spooky-cute coincidences are occurring while in their midst.

If you do have significant Vertex connections in your synastry (like I did with the eclipse barista, mebbe, if the birth chart is accurate), that might explain how that person was highlighted in your fated encounter!

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🌟 SECOND, DOCUMENT EVERYTHING.

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Without documentation (via compulsive journaling and solipsistic quasi-literary projects such as this, hi, hello 👋🏻), it’s very difficult to match up circumstances and events to your transit-trigger moments!

And once you confirm that this is a Vertex activation, run a little recon. Do you keep a scheduler? Write in a diary? What were your social media posts? What text messages did you send? What does your friend remember you texting her on the trigger day?

If that Astro-Seek calculator can yield specific dates when your Vertex has been activated before, get your hands on those artifacts, diaries, mixtapes, and photo albums STAT.

Just find a way to gain as much scope and leverage of your psyche as you can. ✌🏻

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🌟THIRD, BE ADVISED: THE “WATCHER” HAS COME ONLINE.

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Idk who the watcher is (our Higher Self…? or original soul…? 🤔), but it miiight sort of feel like… you have a parallel processor… somewhere in your psyche…

…it’s like when you can feel someone watching you, except that their perspective is also part of you.

Oracle card I pulled when meditating on my Vertex moment! 😳🤯🤭

“The point of all Vertex contacts is to reveal ourselves from a perspective that is higher and deeper than ordinary conscious awareness. In a way, the Vertex is beyond the Nodes, which are all about the development of consciousness. The Vertex unveils the ‘Watcher’ in us. The one who knows. The one who is beyond the conscious Self.”

— The InnerWheel, “Soul Points in Synastry: The Vertex Versus the Nodes, Pt. 1”

SO… maybe the Watcher really is some primordial, “original self”, the piece most interested in what we make of our existence, and how we manage to fulfill our wishes and longings with the events, circumstances, and people available to us?

As your own analysis may have shown, your Vertex placement is not particularly rife with information. Your Vertex won’t tell you much about yourself, except maybe hint at some of your secret hopes and intentions….

…but, even then, it’s super vague. 😩😒

The essence of the Destiny Point is that it validates synchronicity, and by keeping it in mind with certain seasons and interactions, knowing about our Vertex can help us learn via synchronicity what is meant for us, and the events and avatars that will aid our destiny process.

ESSENTIALLY, the Vertex is epiphanous, or revelatory. It doesn’t promise anything, except a turning point, or an oncoming transfiguration of our consciousness.

…which is why i should probably mention a roman myth attributed to the vertex, the story of vertumnus, the god of the seasonal change, and his obsession with pomona, the goddess of ripe timing… 🌱⏱

Vertumnus was a lesser deity of the seasons, known for his ability to transform: he could change from a seed, to a root, to a trunk, a branch, a leaf, and finally, to fruit.

Vertumnus used this power in pursuit of Pomona, goddess of fruit, of fruition, and ripening. 🍎

However, the story goes that Pomona was super into her independence, not interested in dating, so to get his fix, Vertumnus had to to change his form every day while passing Pomona’s garden, transforming into a warrior, then a farmer, then a sea merchant, on and on…

…until one day, Vertumnus transformed into a little old lady, then walked into the garden and right up to Pomona, kissed her (😘), and started chatting her up about that way cool fellow, Vertumnus. 😌

Pomona still wasn’t persuaded by this chitchat.

Not until, suddenly, Vertumnus changed into his true form.

In that moment, for the first time, Pomona saw him for what he was (not a farmer, or a fisherman…), and fell in love. 😍

“Finally in exasperation, Vertumnus dropped his disguise and stood naked before Pomona in his true form. She thought she was seeing the sun emerge from behind the clouds and in the glorious light of Vertumnus, she opened her heart and reciprocated his love. Together still, they attend the gardens and fruit trees of the countryside.

The theme of this myth centers on a seemingly chance moment where an outstanding event occurs.

To Pomona, it was like an epiphany, a sudden turn of fate, a radical awakening of perception. ✨✨✨

To Vertumnus, it was at first a well planned strategy, then finally an act of spontaneous desperation. Imagine his surprise when Pomona finally received him!”

— Astrology Study, “Destiny’s Gate or Vertex, the Electric Axis”

What’s useful about this story is how changeability entwines with the ripe moment.

Eventually, our moment does arrive, and our masquerade is not what compels its arrival.

Instead, it’s all the little circumstances and events, the tiny synchronicities leading up to the fateful moment that changes everything.

To everything turn turn turn…
there is a season turn turn turn…
…and a tiiime for evvvery purpose under heaven… 💗🎶

MORE LEARNING RESOURCES FOR THE DESTINY POINT IN ASTROLOGY… 🤓

🌟 If you don’t feel like reading a chart (😵‍💫), you can find out your Destiny Point placement with the CafeAstrology Vertex calculator! ✨

🌟 VERTEX IN THE SIGNS ♈️♉️♊️…⚡️> To augment my (amateur) summaries above, also check out… this CafeAstrology summarizes the Vertex in the signs (as well as aspects to the Vertex from the planets), and compare to this one from Siddhantika! ✨

🌟 VERTEX IN THE HOUSES… there’s less info about this, and even some terribly wrong info (hint: if summaries include Vertex in the 1st-4th Houses, it’s garbage 😡), and the best intel I found was via Kim Falconer’s Astrology and Aptitude, which also has the full scratch on the Vertex, and every-which-way you can interpret it in the natal chart. 👍🏻

🌟 WHAT ABOUT TRACKING TRANSITS TO THE VERTEX? ⏱ > Memorize the sign and degree° number of your Vertex placement, and use this Astro-Seek calculator to calendar when (+ what) is due to conjunct your Destiny Point! (Do the same for the sign and degree of your Anti-Vertex too!)

🌟 WHAT ABOUT PLANETS CONJUNCT THE VERTEX IN SYNASTRY? > This is tricky to find for the Vertex in particular, but you can look up what the planets in synastry mean in general. This Labyrinthos article explains all the planets, which you can compare to this one from Astro.com! ✨

🌟 WAIT, HOW IS THE VERTEX THE SAME / DIFFERENT FROM THE LUNAR NODES IN SYNASTRY? 🐉⚡️> Check out this article from Dawn Bodrogi! 🕊🙏🏻

🌟 FOR DEEP-LEARNING ABOUT THE VERTEX IN SYNASTRY + TRANSITS > Check out “The Vertex in Synastry and Transits” Part 1 + Part 2. Those articles will help you begin to start picking apart how / where your Vertex interacts with each other’s, especially if there are other planets, asteroids, or angles involved. 🦋

🌟 Also, how does the Vertex factor into a composite chart? (HINT: The Vertex placement in a composite chart can also indicate a super fated relationship, learn more here! 🤩🥰)

🌟 THIS KINDA FASCINATES ME, BECAUSE MY MOM’S TWO MARRIAGES WERE WITH PEOPLE WHO HAD THE SAME BIRTHDAY, BUT DIFFERENT YEARS > “Every now and again, I speak with people who have had two (and sometimes more) ‘significant others’ with the same birth date, but different years. This means that the people they were partnering with had roughly the same degree and sign of the Sun. With the exception of one whose birth time is uncertain, each of these people were meeting more than one significant other whose Sun was conjunct their natal Vertex.” UPDATE: I DID THE CHARTS, IT CHECKS OUT, WTF FOREVER!! 🤯🤯🤯

🌟 APPARENTLY, THE VERTEX CAN ALSO BE ACTIVATED BY RELOCATION > “A location is considered strong if you have one natal planet rising and another on the MC -- add another

on the Vertex – that spot is even more important.”

🌟 “DESTINED MEETINGS” AND LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT STORIES… this might be random, but I thought of it while researching the Vertex: When Brené Brown interviewed Drs. John and Julie Gottman (psychologists who’ve written hella books on marriage and relationships), she asked them, how’d you meet? And Julie Gottman’s description of their first meeting (at the Pony Espresso cafe 😂) totally freaking sounds like a Vertex activation moment! Hear it in the first 10-15 mins of the interview… and if you know of any other stories that sound like the Destiny Point plays a role, hmu! 🤙🏻

🌟 And to get the full scoop on when my Vertex was activated by an eclipse (😌), check out this post, as well as towards the bottom of this post (where the person in my “fated encounter” acted like a butthead, and I realized I have Black Moon Lilith squaring my Lunar Nodes! 🤦🏻‍♀️)

if you also have any stories related to eclipses, synastry, or the destiny point in your own chart…

…you should definitely drop them into a Voice Memo or essay to be emailed off to me, so that we might share some kind of intimate catharsis about spooky, transcendental moments that only beloveds of the Moirai and fictional characters in Alice Hoffman novels could possibly understand. ☺️

and in the meantime, i’ll leave you with this quote, to deepen your wonder + marveling about your own strange, scary-fated moments…

“The past was what we carried with us, threaded to the future, and we decided whether to keep it close or let it go.

Fate was both what we were given and what we made for ourselves.”

—Alice Hoffman, Here On Earth (omg 🌹)

…and so you don’t forget what we’re all about here 👁🌟…

“The stars are reflected from within the black water in the cistern. I find comfort in the omen I glean from this:

light in the darkness,

truth when it seems there is none. ”

—Alice Hoffman, The Dovekeepers (🤭)

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