It was pointed out that I didn't cover the North/South Nodes in my free handouts. In my opinion, the North/South Node represents past life lessons and actions in one's past life, and now connections in one's present life. Aspects between the Nodes and natal planets, luminaries, and important zodiac points define the nature of important actions in one's past life, and the type of connections one will have in the present life.
From wikipedia:
The Moon’s orbit around the Earth is not the same as the ecliptic. You could visualize them as two giant hula hoops, one inside the other, held at an angle. The Moon’s orbit crosses the Ecliptic in two places— these are called the Moon’s Nodes.
The North Node (or Ascending Node) is where the Moon crosses the ecliptic going toward the northern hemisphere, and the South Node or Descending Node) is where she crosses the ecliptic headed south. The North Node and the South Node are always directly opposite one another in the sky.
The Moon’s Nodes nearly always move in retrograde, meaning they travel backwards (or clockwise) around the tropical zodiac horoscope dial. They make a complete circle through the 12 signs every 18 years.
When the New Moons (within 11° 38') and Full Moons (within 17° 25') happen near the Moon’s Nodes ,lunar eclipses and solar eclipses (respectively) take place. That is because the Earth, Sun, and Moon are lined up so precisely that a shadow is cast.
Below: from http://www.mollysastrology.com/astrology-tutorials/nodes
In a karmic sense, the Moon’s Nodes represent lessons to be learned in this Earthly incarnation. These lessons almost always have to do with the way we connect with others. That’s why the Nodes are associated with patterns of relating, and the wisdom to be found within them is often the key to recognizing and healing patterns of relating which stand in the way of our happiness.
The Nodes are a pair. The North Node is always directly opposite the South Node. If you want to really understand them, it’s wise to study the 12 signs as pairs of opposites— Aries/Libra, Taurus/Scorpio, and so on. Like the yin/yang symbol, each sign contains the shadow of its opposite. For example, every Aries has a secret wish to be loved and accepted, and every Libra has a “gotta be me” side (or an angry side) that comes out no matter how nice she tries to be.
The South Node represents habit patterns from childhood or from past lives. These are comfortable patterns, but they often get in the way of you having the kinds of connections you want with other people. These are especially powerful if you have a planet conjunct the South Node in your chart.
The sign and house placement of the South Node tells where you have a tendency to totally overdo things. There is a longing there, a craving that is very strong. The nature of this longing is shown by the sign of the South Node. For example, in Taurus, the craving is for material security. In Leo, for recognition. In Gemini, for information.
The sign and house of the North Node represent circumstances and activities that usually feel unfamiliar. It’s the “secret shadow” of the South Node sign, and it’s the key to getting that craving met. That’s why the North node reveals an area of massive growth potential in your life. It’s the key to getting energy flowing.
Sometimes in the astrological literature, you will see interpretations that color the North Node as all positive, and the South Node as all negative. Sometimes they suggest that you should strive to move “toward” the North Node and shun the qualities represented by the sign of the South Node. (As if that were possible.) I do not think this is a constructive way to look at it. Your South Node indicates an area of longing, but also of massive talent and gifts. The trick is channeling those gifts properly.
Think of the North Node as the head, and the South Node as the stomach. The stomach has the hunger, but the head has the mouth. So you fulfill the desires of the South Node through the energy of the North Node.
Analysis Of Aleister Crowley's North/South Node Placement
This is not an endorsement of Aleister Crowley or his deeds. Crowley was intensely involved in the black arts, and he was very, very sure that Eliphas Levi was his past life incarnation. But what is very interesting is that Levi's reputation as an occultist was not as controversial as Crowley's reputation. This is what we know about Eliphas Levi:
(1) He was a former Catholic priest (who was defrocked) and had a huge influence on the revival of occult knowledge and practices in the 19th century. Interestingly, the Catholic church accepted his last request for Catholic rites to be performed at the time of his death.
(2) One of Levi's best selling books is "The Great Secret: Or Occultism Unveiled," and he gave a warning and condemnation regarding the practice of "black magic" in Chapter IX, "The Magical Sacrifice:"
"We have already explained that black magic is the religion of death.
To die in another's place is the sublime sacrifice. To kill someone else to avoid death is the sacrifice of impiety. To consent to the murder of the innocent to secure impunity for our own misdeeds would be the final and most unforgivable act of cowardice, if the victim's offering were not voluntary and if this victim had not the right to offer himself as our superior and his own absolute master. This has been considered the indispensable condition for human redemption.
We are speaking here of a belief consecrated by many centuries of adoration and by the faith of millions of men and women; and as we have said that the collective and persistent word creates whatever it affirms, we are entitled to say that so it is.
Now, the sacrifice of the cross is renewed and perpetuated in that of the altar; and there, perhaps, it fills the believer with even greater awe. The divine victim is found there without even human form; he is mute and passive, given up to those who wish to take him, unresisting in the face of those who dare to desecrate him. He is a white and fragile host. He comes at the call of a bad priest and will not protest if the intention is to involve him in the most impure rites. Before Christianity appeared, the Stryges ate the flesh of slaughtered children; now they content themselves with consecrated wafers.
People are blind to the superhuman power of wickedness open to the evil votaries who abuse the sacraments. Nothing is so malignant as a communicant from the gutter press. 'He is full of bad wine', is said of the drunkard who beats his wife when he is tipsy. I once heard a so-called Catholic say that he had the God of evil. It seems that a second transubstantiation takes place in the mouths of certain communicants. God has been placed on their tongues, but it is the Devil whom they swallow.
A Catholic host is a really fearsome thing. It contains the whole of Heaven and Hell, because it is charged with the magnetism of centuries and of multitudes: a good magnetism when it is approached with true faith, a magnetism of concentrated evil when it is put to an unworthy use. Besides, nothing is so sought after and considered so powerful for casting evil spells as hosts consecrated by lawful priests, but diverted from their pious destination by sacrilegious theft.
We are descending here into the depths of the horrors of black magic, and let no-one suppose that in exposing them we wish to encourage these abominable practices."
(3) He was the first person to define the five-pointed pentagram pointing up as "good," and the five-pointed pentagram pointing down as "bad."
(4) He was the first occultist (according to many) to associate the 22 cards of the tarot deck with the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. His picture of Baphomet (below) would also become a standard depiction for many tarot card decks with "The Devil" tarot card:
(5) He was a strong advocate of vegetarianism and fasting prior to magic rituals.
Aleister Crowley, on the other hand, wrote about how to perform a human blood sacrifice (with death) with a "male child of perfect innocence and high intelligence" in Chapter 12 of "Magick In Theory And Practice:"
"It is necessary for us to consider carefully the problems connected with the bloody sacrifice, for this question is indeed traditionally important in Magick. Nigh all ancient Magick revolves around this matter. In particular all the Osirian religions — the rites of the Dying God — refer to this. The slaying of Osiris and Adonis; the mutilation of Attis; the cults of Mexico and Peru; the story of Hercules or Melcarth; the legends of Dionysus and of Mithra, are all connected with this one idea. In the Hebrew religion we find the same thing inculcated...
It would be unwise to condemn as irrational the practice of those savages who tear the heart and liver from an adversary, and devour them while yet warm. In any case it was the theory of the ancient Magicians, that any living being is a storehouse of energy varying in quantity according to the size and health of the animal, and in quality according to its mental and moral character. At the death of the animal this energy is liberated suddenly...
The animal should therefore be killed...
An animal should be selected whose nature accords with that of the ceremony — thus, by sacrificing a female lamb one would not obtain any appreciate quantity of the fierce energy useful to a Magician who was invoking Mars. In such a case a ram would be more suitable. And this ram should be virgin — the whole potential of its original total energy should not have been diminished in any way.
For the highest spiritual working one must accordingly choose that victim which contains the greatest and purest force. A male child of perfect innocence and high intelligence is the most satisfactory and suitable victim."
Hence Crowley did not exactly learn the lessons from his past life incarnation. For further evidence of this, let's look at the placement of his North/South Nodes with his basic horoscope, and then a breakdown of this with an advanced analysis.
First the basic chart:
Crowley's North Node is in the ninth house, and his "massive growth potential" (as Molly just described above) and "connections" (my definition) would be reflective of and associated with ninth house areas. This includes books (he has thirty different books currently available for purchase on E-Bay), philosophy, travel (he was kicked out of many countries due to his occult practices and was an excellent Asian mountain climber), higher education (Crowley attended Cambridge University), and the law (interestingly, one of Crowley's best and most popular writings was "The Book of The Law").
The trine between the North Node and the Ascendant may define much harmony with connections of the ninth house areas described; the semisquare between the North Node and Pluto may define intense research resulting in either a specialist of such knowledge or a high level criminal abusing power with such knowledge.
Crowley's South Node is in the third house, and astrologer Molly describes this as being related to "habit patterns from childhood or from past lives." I strongly agree with her past life definition, and with the South Node in Crowley's third house ("communications, thoughts, and writing"), Crowley's past life would reflect one who was involved in communications and writing.
The sextile between the South Node and the Ascendant represents much opportunity and harmony with the third house areas mentioned; the sesquiquadrate between the South Node and Pluto may represent past life conflicts with power (i.e. Levi getting defrocked) or health issues related to communications or writings (Levi claimed his arm went numb for two weeks after claiming it was touched by an entity he summoned during an occult ceremony).
Now let's look at advanced astrology midpoints relative to Crowley's North/South Node axis:
And a breakdown of the midpoints above:
And my interpretation for Crowley's "past life lessons" are as follows:
"The individual will be involved with consulting and leadership of a service that is secretive. The organizations involved in such secretive activities may be exclusive in regards to who will be allowed into the group, and the activities may involve murder or death, use of steel or metal instruments used for murder or death (i.e. swords, daggers), or attract individuals involved in murder or death. There may be very powerful people involved with the individual as well, and these powerful individuals may be involved in crimes of a high vice (i.e. rape, pedophilia) or be filthy in nature."
And finally, please note that Aleister Crowley took great pride in calling himself "the wild wicked beast 666" and "the most evil man in the world." He also reportedly claimed he sacrificed 150 young boys (but there is no proof of this and he reportedly like to lie a lot. But he also liked to brag a lot about his accomplishments).
Thanks for reading.
Love to all,
Malcolm
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