What are Lunar Nodes?
Introduction to Lunar Nodes
- Written by Philip Graves - 23 Jan 2004
What are Lunar Nodes?
Lunar Nodes, also called the Moon's Nodes, are the points where the Moon's orbit of the Earth intersects the celestial ecliptic - the narrow band of space described by the Earth's orbit around the Sun. The points in the Moon's orbital cycle where it crosses the ecliptic are of particular astrological importance, bringing the Earth-Moon system into line with the solar system, and so relating individual will to the will of the wider cosmos, and conferring a sense of fatedness and externally chosen destiny to whatever contacts the nodal axis in the nativity.
Where the orbit of the Moon around Earth crosses the ecliptic in a northward direction is known as the North Node, the Ascending Node, the Dragon's Head, Caput Draconis, or Rahu. Where it crosses the ecliptic in a southward direction is known as the South Node, the Descending Node, the Dragon's Tail, Cauda Draconis, or Ketu. The South Node is always exactly opposite the North Node, and as a result only the position of the North Node is shown in ephemerides.
The Moon's Nodes move in retrograde motion through a complete cycle of the zodiac lasting about 18 years and seven months. During that time, they very frequently station and turn briefly direct. In ephemerides, where the position of the North Node has been calculated exactly to show all these variations, it is called the True Node. Where it has been ironed out based a constant, averaged rate of motion, it is called the Mean Node. The Mean Node is easier for ephemeris-programmers to calculate, but accurate to within only a degree or two of the True Node, which means that where it is used no decimal point precision of nodal longitude can be pretended.
This article presents the varied theories of the general astrological influence of the Moon's Nodes, with the earliest first.
This article taken from
HOROSCOPESCHAT
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01.10.2006.