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The Nodes Move: Expect the Unexpected

In life, change is the only constant. “All compounded things are impermanent” taught the Buddha, naming change the first mark of existence. Yet sometimes life can feel like a broken record, stuck into a groove that keeps playing over and over and over again. I’ve been there before. Have you? Settled into a cosy routine, you know every nook and cranny of the landscape—same house, same job, same furniture, same tasks, same trips to the supermarket. Everyday is Groundhog Day, until suddenly and dramatically, it’s not. The fabric of life unravels. You wake up one day, and everything you had taken for granted is different. 

The whole world gets a shake-up periodically too. I grew up with the Cold War, with a world map clearly divided between “the free world” and “communism”.  Whatever the propaganda machines that perpetrated those divisions, the fact is, they were so embedded into the general mindset, not to mention the geography books, that the average person (me) never questioned them. Germany was two, and no one I knew had ever travelled behind the “iron curtain”. Until one day (and it seemed to happen in a day) the Berlin Wall came down, East met West, and all those maps needed to be redrawn.  

Right now we’re on the precipice of another momentous realignment. For the last few weeks, the Brexit news has become almost boring—same impasse, same talks going nowhere, same conundrum around the Irish border, same stuck groove playing over and over. But this momentary stasis is anything but stable. The clock is ticking and something is going to erupt, the conflicting forces too powerful not to unleash. No matter the outcome, the fallout will generate unrest well into the future. Europe will be different. Ireland and the UK in particular will be very different. 

Rahu and Ketu—the Nodes of the Moon—indicate sudden, intense change, storms and revolution, breakthroughs and breakdowns. Likened to snakes or dragons, they regress along the zodiac, tracing an erratic path and undermining predictable structures, both physical and psychological. As snakes that shed their skins, shaking off all that is dead or superfluous to emerge reborn, the Nodes signify transformation. They almost always involve a radical breakdown of old patterns—all the ways familiar landscapes shatter to make way for new (and not necessarily better) foundations.

The Nodes reveal the fault lines. They spend eighteen months along the axis of two constellations, activating whatever domain of life those signs denote for you. But with insight from Jyotish, you can prepare for much of the destabilisation coming your way. With awareness, you can participate more skilfully in your destiny. Like the snakes they represent, the Nodes can slither unnoticed for a time, then rise up to strike seemingly out of nowhere (although their path in the underbrush was there all along). In astronomy, the Nodes create eclipses, because their power can overshadow even the Sun and Moon. 

The last time the Nodes moved signs, they entered the part of my chart governing home and career. In eighteen months, those domains underwent profound metamorphosis. I had no plan in advance, just reacted with trust to certain road signs that were leading me towards uncharted territories. Now I have a new home. And my career has taken a massive turn in a new direction also. In 2013 and 2014, the Nodes moved over the part of my chart signifying disease and loss, gaining momentum through other malefic forces also present in those houses during that period. That was the time of my stem cell treatments and eventual hip surgery. The Nodes are harbingers of change that penetrates to the bone (sometimes literally). 

In a couple of weeks, on March 23rd, the Nodes move again. Ketu enters Sagittarius; Rahu enters Gemini. The repercussions for me this time will involve different domains of life. How the Nodes will affect you depends upon your personal chart. What will manifest for Ireland, the UK and Europe in general, we’ll see. I expect turbulence and uncertainty to last at least a few years. Because in addition to the Nodes’ new position, other powerful alignments will add confluence towards continual unrest. Coming soon and in quick succession are powerful conjunctions: between Saturn and Ketu, then Jupiter and Ketu, and finally Saturn and Jupiter, with Saturn strong and Jupiter debilitated. All these factors compounded could leave us in a very different world in a few years time. 

Interestingly, the Nodes aligned along this very same axis (only in reverse position!) at the end of the Cold War. On April 12th, 1991, Rahu moved into Sagittarius; Ketu entered Gemini. To recap some significant dates . . . on November 9th, 1989, the Berlin Wall began to come down. On October 3rd 1990, German reunification was formally declared. In November 1991, the Berlin Wall was completely dismantled, just two years after the “thaw” formally commenced. 

I don’t expect today’s political realignment to happen as quickly. Ketu, a pitta planet, represents renunciation, loss, and unusual states of consciousness, everything from spiritual enlightenment to criminal psychopathy. Sagittarius is a fire sign, signifying (among other things), law, justice and ethical conduct. Though other factors will modulate the effect, fire compounding fire is explosive, inciting rash thought and action; and fiery Ketu, the “headless” demon, easily gets lost in deluded fantasies and paranoia. Expect the civic order to destabilise.  

Rahu, a vata plant, indicates unmitigated desire that brings things into materiality.  It’s an energy that inspires both revolution and obsession. Gemini is an air sign, denoting (among other things) communication, marketing, technology, discernment and mutability. Rahu is comfortable there, some would say exalted. But given the line-up in fiery Sagittarius directly opposite, air compounding air in Gemini could stir up lots of volatility in the months ahead, creating havoc in finance, world trade, the digital world and banking.

Right now, sitting on the sidelines of it all, we can’t do much but wait and see (and keep our own affairs in order). But expect the unexpected, I say, and remember that nothing is forever. Pax Romana had its day, bound by time as all things compounded. Because of complicated historical factors, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is an inherently unstable entity. Sooner or later, it’s bound to mutate again. And that time just might be now. 

In terms of your personal life, the houses that correspond with Sagittarius and Gemini in your chart indicate how the Nodes will impact you. Other factors in your chart can mitigate or reinforce the effect, and only a personal reading can get to the heart of it. But for everyone in general, stay focused on where you are and where you want to go. It’s tiny things you do, very often unconsciously, along with that which “just happens”, which come together in a mysterious synergy to precipitate major change.

Paying attention is the key. And your intention matters also, so make it clear. Thought is a powerful catalyst. It’s the seed for action and comes directly from the Source. Think about it. Those thoughts pop into your mind just like that. Tune in. That’s divine intelligence speaking to you! Every little step you then take sets up conditions for what can happen next. Do not fear what the Nodes might portend. Change brings opportunity.  . . . For you, for me, for the world. Most of all, the opportunity for us to wake up. 

Om shanti