Nodes in Exaltation

A friend recently asked for my thoughts on the exaltation and fall of the Moon’s Nodes. He had come across references where the North Node is exalted in Sagittarius and the South Node in Gemini, contrary to traditional practice.

Many traditional astrologers ignore the nodes exaltation in the tables of dignities. They argue that as the nodes are not bodies but merely markers along the ecliptic it is absurd to give them a sign where they are exalted and conversely in fall. If one used the same logic there would also have to be a sign where they are in domicile and in detriment, as the planets are.

But how did the exaltation point for the North Node in Gemini and the South Node in Sagittarius come to be in the tables in the first place? What is the logic behind them being exalted just there and no where else?

We know that the Nodes play an important role in the eclipses of Sun and Moon. An eclipse can only take place when a Full or New Moon is near the Nodes. So the last New Moon was close enough to the nodes for a solar eclipse to occur, and the coming Full Moon is close enough for a lunar eclipse. You can generally rely on there being an eclipse of the Sun or Moon respectively to occur within two weeks of one another. Now the nodes can be considered as shadowing an eclipse. Imaginatively as the Dragon who shadows the Sun or Moon in order to devour them. The nodes mark where the path of the Moon crosses the ecliptic. North Node for the ascending Moon, South Node for the descending Moon. There are four other very important points on the ecliptic. These are the equinox points at 0 Aries and 0 Libra and the solstice points at 0 Cancer and 0 Capricorn. They remain constant as opposed to the nodal points which have a cycle of roughly 18 and 3/4 years to return to their original position.

The axis of the solstice at Cancer/Capricorn also forms the axis around which another set of ’shadowy’ points are generated. These are the antisica. Any position in Cancer/Capricorn has its antisicion in Gemini/Sagittarius (just as any position at Aries/Libra has its antiscion at Virgo/Pisces). This corresponds to the traditional North Node/ South Node exaltation position.

If we consider that the Moon has her domicile in Cancer and the Sun his exaltation in Aries then it is not very difficult to see why the North Node, the node of increase, has its exaltation in Gemini, where the antiscia of a Cancer Moon are located. And conversely the descending node, the one of decrease, must have its exaltation at the corresponding antiscia of the Moon’s detriment.

Virgo, the second domicile of Mercury is where the exaltation points of the Sun have their antiscia, and would point, if one were searching for a domicile for the North Node, to Virgo.

This is not at all surprising if you consider how closely Mercury is bound with Dragon or Serpent imagry. In alchemical practice there are two Mercuries, one has wings the other is wingless. The first is found in Gemini, an air sign. The second is found in Virgo, an earth sign. And their tails are in Sagittarius and Pisces. One marks the dry path the other the wet.

Looked at in this way, it might be worthwhile to pay attention whether the nodes are in the mutable signs, for there they might prove stronger than elsewhere in a chart.

Astrology and Language

While sitting in the train the other day, the people sitting around me were all speaking Russian. Their conversation was a continual stream of sound with a pause now and then. Different in rhythm and tonality from the Chinese family that sat near me the day before. Nevertheless what they said was entirely without meaning for me. What caught my attention though, is that I understood one of the words, it literally jumped out of the tapestry of sound. No need for translation. Instantaneous comprehension. The word was “krasny” which means beautiful, or pretty and most likely in the context of the rest of the conversation – I can only conjecture – probably meant ‘nice’. This got me thinking about language, how wondrous it is, and inevitably, with you dear reader in mind, how this experience can be related to astrology.

Now and then someone speaks of the ‘language of the stars’, usually with pathos and sentiment. But what if we take this literally, from a modern view? First there must be speakers: in this case the ’stars’, then there must be those who listen, either other ’stars’ or such entities as ourselves who are not balls of gas engaged in complicated fusion reactions or those roughly spherical conglomerations either of gas or matter around an iron/nickel core which are the planets, or the wandering stars. Does the Sun communicate with other stars or the planets in its system through the solar wind? Do the planets communicate with one another through the reflection of the Sun’s light? Who is to say? Do we hear the Sun or the Planets? I should think not. There may be isolated mental disorders where this is possible! But anyone who says they understand the language of the stars is from this point of view clearly insane. So dear reader I must put the question to you, and be careful how you answer, do you understand the language of the stars?

Let us return to my Russian speakers. They were exchanging thoughts and feelings by means of words. As I have only learned a few Russian words in my lifetime (I can count them on one hand, da, nyet, doshvedanya, glasnost and krasny) the combination of sounds that conveys meaning was totally unintelligible, I could just as well have been listening to wind rustling the leaves of a tree. Only where I had already learned meaning, did one combination of sound lift itself out of the sound tapestry with a clear contour:

красивый.

Notice something? I’ve used Cyrillic glyphs to convey the sounds. And so we come closer to general astrological practice. We also use funny, curly glyphs for planets and aspects and so on.

But let us return to the language of the stars. A language imparts meaning. It has speakers and listeners, or readers. Those who speak have something to say, and must have some level of intelligence to be able to use language in the first place. This means that we as astrologers assume that the movement of the planets in the sky and the stars visible to us convey meaning and there must be Intelligence (or Intelligences, depending on your astrological tradition) that gives it coherence. This means that when we are looking at a chart with its glyphs and numbers, we are doing something not unlike reading a prose or poetic work. Is it a monologue or dialogue, tragedy or comedy or even a grocery list? We are looking for meaning. If someone with some astrological knowledge says to you, “Tomorrow Uranus transits my Ascendant and this is square to the Full Moon that is conjunct Mars which also is in opposition to Saturn”, they are essentially telling you that they are worried and that they are expecting something catastrophic! They see meaning in this and expect you to immediately understand all the unspoken implications.

At the moment a chart appears to me like this:

xxxxx xxxx eclipsex xx xx sun and moon
xxxxxxx no good xx xx. xxxxxx xxx xxdom xx Nature
xxx reason xx thus, xxx nature finds itself scourged xx
xxx sequent xxxxxxx. Love cools, friendship xxxx off,
brothers xxxxxx: in cities, mutinies;
in xxxxxxxxx, discord; in palaces, xxxxxxx;
and the xxxx cracked ‘twixt son and xxxxxx.

I hope that one day I shall be able to read the text better. More like:

These late eclipses in the sun and moon
portend no good to us. Though the wisdom of Nature
can reason it thus, yet nature finds itself scourged by
the sequent effects. Love cools, friendship falls off,
brothers divide: in cities, mutinies;
in countries, discord; in palaces, treason;
and the bond cracked ‘twixt son and father. (King Lear, 1.2.103 - 110)

And not only that, but to be able to put what is read in greater context and fathom the many levels of meaning. I think I have a long way before me. And the works of master astrologers seem like dictionaries filled with the words of the language I am trying to learn and in which I am not yet fluent.

Sensual Astrology

I was recently pondering how very visual astrology is. And for a lark tried to imagine an astrology where the other senses come into more focus. It is not that hard to imagine an audible astrology, considering the notion of the Harmony of the Spheres that has existed since antiquity. But what about an olfactory astrology, where a horoscope is smelled? Or a gustatory astrology where the chart is savoured? Or a tactile astrology?

Of course when done literally one would probably have already gone across the borderline that divides us from strangeness to extreme weirdness! Just imagine an astrologer sniffing a chart that he has just printed by means of an ‘olfactory’ printer loaded with innumerable essences!! But what about in a figurative sense? We for example use such expressions as: “to taste victory”, or “to savour an experience”. What do we do when we taste something? We are engaged in a very intimate exploration of the nature of the substance we have just consumed, which will also shortly be incorporated into ourselves. This experience is many-faceted and is accompanied by a whole vocabulary of description. Something is sharp, or piquant. It may be sweet or savoury. It could also be bitter or salty or even bland. It is not a very great step to see (oops I mean sniff ) which planet is associated with a particular taste. Saturn is definitely bitter, Jupiter savoury, Mars sharp, and so on. That means the position of Saturn in a chart may be associated to those areas of life that are bitter. But bitter isn’t always something to be avoided. Just think what a relief stomach bitters can be when one has an upset stomach! The Moon may bring blandness but then all the more to carry the flavour of another planet, either to enhance it or to make it more digestible. So dear reader I would like to invite you to taste your chart. The first course should begin with your Ascendant…

Dr. Nostuabuk: Out of the Secret Annals of Astrology

On great insistence of that most delightful of Dames, Detrimentia, I have chosen to reveal one of the passages out of the Secret Annals of Astrology.

There are many entries in the Annals on cazimi, but here is one of the earliest, you might note that the idea of peregrine also enters the story:

Once upon a not so long ago, in the reign of the despotic king Kazaam the Terrible, there was an astrologer who was very unhappy about his position and who was not at all delighted to see one courtier after the other wander into the fires that were the king’s favorite form of entertainment. The astrologer knew, that he should not have accepted the position, even though the election horoscope for the position, erected by the venerable astrologer, Bo the Natty (Bo being the shortened form of Bonifacius and Natty of Nattifluccilaccimellifellicium) had his Significator exactly conjunct the Sun, which represented the king). After nervously considering the primary directions in his chart, which showed a close encounter with the fiery element, he decided to pre-empt a decree of the king that just might lead to being kissed by the flames. He mustered his courage and at the next audience spoke with the king:

Oh, Kazaam the Terrible, Keeper of the Flame, Master of all the World before You, please hear the Judgement of the Celestial Cohorts otherwise known as the Stars. The chart I show you, was cast by the inestimable Bo the Natty, master astrologer, one exceeding me in wisdom. It shows me in your very heart. If I am to enter the flames that so delight you, then I must go into them with your Munificence. This is known as Cazimi, which is an ancient name for Kazaam. Now if it please your Terrible Highness, this next chart shows my most humble future. Alas, all of the planets are peregrine, which means I must go on a long and dismal pilgrimage on your behalf, to maintain the favour of the Celestial Cohorts. The all-wise Bo must take my place. I shall of course write postcards from Hyposycamus, Sunsetchatopolis, Gryphonia, Altara, Apostelesmata, Scyscriptiona, and all the other sites of celestial wisdom. Bo will be delighted beyond his dreams to serve such Flamboyance as yourself.

Dame Detrimentia C.E. and a Case of Cazimi, or?

Dear Dame Detrimentia,
I not long ago convented (sic) to traditional aztrologia. But I not unnerstan cazimi. Is this bull-shit to hide deep trouble? What is before combust gets consummated? I whelmed by this, but not overly. Thanks for any help.
Kazimir

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Dear Kazimir

Yes many an Astrologer has put his faith in the consummation of cazimi only to end up combusted and castrato!

Perhaps we should ask dear Dr Nostuabuk as to whether the traditional interpretation of cazimi (descriptive of a planet located within an arc of 17 minutes of the Sun’s longitude) does in fact imbue that planet with the Sun’s brilliant munificence? Or is the state of cazimi, being embraced “in the forge or the heart of the Sun”, in fact the worst state of combustion?

Bonatti only considers a planet to be cazimi when it lies within 16 minutes of both longitude and latitude with the centre of the Sun’s disc, which happens very rarely. Venus was cazimi by both latitude and longitude on 9th June 2008 at her superior conjunction behind the Sun at 18* 43 Gemini, but like you Kazimir my whelming was not overlied then either! In fact my whelming was very much undered!

What says my dear friend Dr Nostuabuk?

With kind condescension,

Dame Detrimentia (C.E.)