HURRICANE SANDY AND THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ECLIPSE POINT

The late-season hurricane formed in the Caribbean in the last full week of October. It skirted the Florida coast on Thursday night, with the eye 200 miles out to sea. I live near the ocean and the wind was whipping, shaking trees and rattling windows. Friday night, I headed for the beach and gawked at the 10-20 foot waves. By now the hurricane was well to the north, but still out to sea, and yet to make its leftward turn. The weekend passed and the storm slowly chugged on as residents in the most populated region of the country prepared to hunker down. 
                 The eye hit landfall at about 8.00 pm on Monday October 28, at Atlantic City, NJ. Twenty hours later, the damage has been incalculable. Currently, thirty-three people are dead, over seven million are without power, and the estimated economic loss is $20 billion.  With a wind span of over 1000 miles, the hurricane merged with two other cold weather systems, and has been called the storm of the century.

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            What was happening astrologically? Even non-astrologers were fearful of the effect of the full moon on the height of high tide. In New Jersey, the eye came ashore two hours after the lunation, and one hour before high tide. Levees were breached and the flooding was massive. Neptune, the planet symbolizing the ocean and massive quantities of water, is retrograde at 0°24 Pisces, strong in its own sign. It is in its degree of station, essentially standing still and exerting an influence much stronger than usual. Mercury, the planet symbolizing wind, is also about to station. At 0°37 Sagittarius, Mercury is in detriment and within minutes of exact square to Neptune. More importantly, both planets are in hard aspect to the solar eclipse of May 20, 2012 at 0°20 Gemini. Mercury is opposite the eclipse point, while Neptune is square it. Eclipse degrees are sensitive and remain sensitized over time; when they are aspected, large scale events happen.

            In addition, in declination, Mercury at 23S09 was on its way out-of-bounds. Planets outside the defining limits of the ecliptic, are, according to Paul F. Newman, extreme, wild and magnified. And there, out-of-bounds, Mercury would find Mars (23S46), adding energy and fuel to an already potent mix. Also in declination, Pluto, the planet of death and destruction was parallel the North Node, and the dark planet manifest outwardly on the physical plane. At the time of the event (and perhaps timing it), Jupiter, retrograde and in detriment, was on the event Ascendant opposite Mars in Jupiter’s sign, on the Descendant, which expressed as extreme vitality and energy that was without balance, temperance or moderation.

            Having lived through at least six major storms since living in Florida, I feel for those with without electricity or water and with damaged houses and flooding. This isn’t an anomaly though. As New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said, ‘We get the storm of the century every two years.’ Climate change has brought extreme weather.  And yet, not one word during this whole ugly presidential campaign about global warming, or an ocean that is 5-9° warmer than normal. 

THE RULERS CONFLICT

While astrologers are primed to watch for lunations, we seldom notice when the nodal rulers are in hard aspect with each other. Typically, this times a significant event, especially when the aspect touches a point in a natal chart.

On the last day of August, the nodal axis ingressed into Scorpio-Taurus, making Pluto the ruler of the North Node and Venus the ruler of the South Node. In the U.S. chart, Pluto is in the first house affecting the people, whereas fast-moving Venus rules the 10^th and the country’s leader. The nodal rules have been in contact twice since the nodal ingress at a degree impacting the U.S. Jupiter, ruler of the Sibly chart. Typically, a theme (or themes) emerge at the time of each contact. We can use the information from one contact to derive projections about upcoming contacts.

On September 12, 2012, Venus was at 6° Leo quincunx a stationing Pluto at 6° Capricorn, placing the two nodal rulers in a contact of frustration. In the U.S., Obama denied snubbing Netanyahu at the U.N.; in Libya, the U.S. Ambassador and three other Americans were murdered; and in the Atlantic, what would become hurricane Nadine (which lasted 21 days and was one of the top five longest-lived storms in history) was named a tropical storm.

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Nearly one month later, on October 9, 2012, the second contact between the rulers formed, with Venus at 7° Virgo trine Pluto at 7° Capricorn. Around this time, Israel conducted a military strike against the Palestinians, killing one, wounding nine, and damaging a mosque and a water tower. In response, Palestinians fired rockets, but caused no damage. In U.S. politics, five days after the first presidential debate, Romney began to rise in the polls. In the Atlantic, tropical storm Patty formed, which would soon become a hurricane.

The first square between the nodal rulers will occur on Saturday November 3^rd. Given previous history, I would expect the news to feature: Israel, the presidential election, and hurricanes. Specifically, I expect war mongering from the far-right eager to show support for Israel.  I am beginning to suspect that the meaning of the impending Mercury station will be a delay of the election: the vote and/or final tally will not take place on November 6^th as scheduled. Finally, a hurricane will be front-page news: another storm could be forming, or alternatively, Hurricane Sandy could endure far longer than expected. In summary, the rulers of the nodes are drivers of events, and when they are active, stuff happens.

THE FULL MOON AND THE BENDINGS

Long before Hurricane Sandy burst out of the Caribbean heading for the U.S. Capitol eight days before the presidential election, the November Full Moon promised a significant event. Why? Regardless of what time you use for the U.S. nativity, the natal lunar nodes are at 6° Leo (É) and 6° Aquarius (Ê). The Full Moon at 6°46 Taurus-Scorpio was then oriented square the nodes at the bendings. Simply, planets conjunct or square the nodes, manifest. The Sun at the North Bending portends outwardly apparent action from our leader, and the Moon at the South Bending signals loss or sacrifice for the general population. In addition, the transiting North Node at 26° Scorpio is trine natal Mercury, sextile natal Neptune, and sextile natal Pluto, suggesting destructive (Pluto) wind (Mercury) and chaotic water (Neptune).  The Sibly Moon at 27° Aquarius is at the North Bending of the transiting nodes (a double-whammy) and a strong indication of an outer event affecting the people.

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For some time, the group president has been desperate for a website. Since I know nothing about website development, and actually paid someone to do my own, naturally I volunteered (ah, the delusion of the transiting Sun approaching to conjunct natal Neptune). All right, I was infused with the recent confidence of creating a blog and figured I could do it. Despite the quincunx between transiting Uranus and natal Neptune, I did! On the day of the Full Moon, the website went public. It’s too soon to see the response, but I had fun (natal Neptune in the 5^th). I would love to hear others' experiences of this lunation. 

ROMNEY'S RESOUNDING DEBATE

            In his first presidential debate, challenger Mitt Romney dazzled voters with an inspiring and hopeful performance. Down in the polls, for weeks pundits claimed the election hinged on the debates. Could Romney pull himself out of the grave he had dug? He could. He emerged triumphant and resurrected.

THE PRESIDENT'S DEBATE DEBACLE

       By all accounts, in the first debate of the endless 2012 presidential election season, the president performed abysmally. The competent campaigner and talented orator fell flat – stunning disappointed supporters and giving room for a rise in fortune of his challenger.

WELCOME

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Welcome to Nodes in the News, my personal blog focused on the lunar nodes as they relate to current events. I’m always looking at charts, testing my interpretation of the nodes and the bendings, and thought I would post my observations on how I see the nodes expressing in a horoscope. I spent four years researching the nodes that culminated in my book, When Worlds Collide: Another look at the Lunar Nodes. I believe, for reasons I outline, that we have been interpreting the nodes incorrectly. Since astrology is an empirical science, when the nodes are activated, we can observe what happens and from this draw conclusions about their influence. My method of delineation is different from the standard interpretation and is summarized on my website. You can also use the keywords on the right side of the blog as a guide. My goal for this blog is to enhance familiarity with a new nodal interpretation. To this end, I will keep my focus on the nodes and not delineate an entire chart. I will keep my comments short and to the point and post frequently, but not verbosely. I invite you to open your mind and explore with me the full range of meaning of the lunar nodes as they express outwardly in current events. I welcome your feedback and hope you're not a by-standing observer like me.