Aries Libra Nodal Ingress

The Next Evolutionary Chapter Begins

Evolutionary Astrology maps the journey of the Soul from lifetime to lifetime. The trajectory of that incarnation pathway lies across the path of the lunar nodes. The lunar nodes are two energetic points in space where the ecliptic, the orbit of the Earth around the Sun, and the Moon’s orbit around the Earth intersect.

No planet, asteroid, or other celestial object exists at those points, however, lunar nodes generate a powerful, energetic imprint. As it descends below the ecliptic every day, the Lunar South Node reawakens the past. This subconscious emotional memory is the foundation of our instinctive behavior.  The Moon’s diurnal motion generates the nodes each day. Astrologically, the Moon correlates to the emotional body. The Moon is the repository of all the emotional experiences that are the underlying determinant of our sense of safety and security. Ancestral patterning learned in early childhood from our parents and grandparents is the “programming” we receive in childhood. Our early childhood emotions are the reliving from the past. They are the “memory” of what came before, what is carried forward into this current lifetime. In our natal chart, the Moon is the container that structures the format of our emotions by house, sign, and aspects. The Moon and its native sign of Cancer are the Water element. Water takes the shape of whatever container it is in. Water must fill each space it passes through before it can move on. 

As it ascends above the ecliptic each day, the Lunar North Node imprints a potential future that the Soul intends. But it is only a probable future. The resolution point between the past and future lies in the present, in the Moon, natal or transit which by sign, house, and aspects formats the potential ways for issues and circumstances in the present to be or not be resolved. There is more than one potential future. Our choices in the present are driven by the nature of our inner planets and their corresponding outer planet pressures. 

On July 17^th at 4 pm EDT, the Moon’s nodes will begin an 18-year transit of the signs of Aries and Libra. This important event occurs only 90 minutes after the Cancer New Moon.

 Since 2003 the lunar nodes have been formatted by Taurus and Scorpio. Both archetypes are Yin by nature, with energy moving inward towards the center. They are Fixed signs; grounded, stubborn, singularly focused. Events stop, start, hesitate, and generally progress slowly and hesitantly, regulated by powerfully controlled stresses that push and pull against each other. Their respective rulers, Venus and Pluto, have necessitated lessons about self-reliance and what is essential for survival. Power expressed politically, economically, and socially has been an underlying theme. There have been chthonic disturbances. A major marker was stamped in time by COVID: “BC” Before COVID, “AC” After COVID.

Aries and Libra are Cardinal signs, spontaneous, dynamic, initiatory, experimental, and experiential. Both are Yang energy moving outward from the center. Aries is the birth point. Spirit into Matter. Aries is primal. It is the desire to separate from Source as a spiritual being having a human experience. Aries instinctively seeks experience. Its archetype is a non-cognitive expression, often without forethought, learning by trial and error. Aries, in its higher expression, is the pioneer and the warrior. In its distortion, it is narcissism,  self-interest, and violence.

“ Aries natural home is the 1st house, ruled by Mars. Yang (day, male, light) energy represents the desire to separate. It is energy moving out from the center. Yin (female) energy represents the desire to return to the center. Aries represents the original anxiety of separation from the womb. Mars is the agent on the subjective, egoic level that the Soul uses to carry out its desires. It’s tied to the primal brain. The sign on the 1st house, the house sign that Aries is in, the house, and the sign that Mars is in all represent the types of desires we are aware of to connect with our evolutionary requirements. Ascendant, Mars, Aries, and 1st house correlate to the phenomenon of becoming. We are in a perpetual state of becoming. This is why Aries requires freedom to act upon the core desire and cannot tolerate restrictions. The 1st house naturally opposed the 7th house (Libra, relationships). The emotional paradox is too much isolation vs. too much social interaction threatening the loss of sense of self. We understand who we are by comparing and contrasting ourselves to others. The Ascendant is NOT the personality. Aries is instinctive; nothing instinctive is constructed. The 7th house Descendant is the actual constructed personality, how others see us. “ 

—(Paraphrased from JWG’s Pluto Vol. 1 and JWG School course

In cardinal signs, things happen, sometimes suddenly and quickly, with little forethought. As this nodal cycle unfolds, the “magnetic” attraction to personal desires, values, and priorities increases. 

The chart for any celestial event formats its duration. The ingress chart for any event is the template for the event’s duration. Our birth chart is the dynamic template for our lifetime described over time by planetary transits and progressions. The chart for the day the Sun returns to the point it was at birth, called a solar return, is the format for the full year.  The chart below holds the embryonic template for the next 18 months.

A cardinal grand cross dominates the sky at the Aries Libra nodal ingress. Pluto anchors a cardinal T-square with the Lunar Nodes and opposes the nascent Moon creating a Cardinal Grand Cross. Cardinal crosses are extremely dynamic and overcharged with potential. They are like a thunderstorm about to deliver a downpour of rain and hail. The partile, (exact) 90-degree crisis-laden squares between Pluto and the lunar nodes intensify this already precipitous configuration. As I stated, this event occurs only 90 minutes after the New Moon and will underscore this next lunar cycle.

The other key planetary players are a Chiron Eris conjunction in Aries conjunct the Lunar South Node, Venus in Leo, and Mars and Pallas Athene marshaled together in Virgo. 

In its Yin expression, Venus was the ruler of the recent Taurus North Node. Now Venus in its Yang expression, rules Libra. The Goddess of Relationship maintains her nodal rulership as the ruler of the Lunar South Node in Libra. Taurus is about our relationship with ourselves. In Libra, Venus correlates to our relationship with others, primarily one-on-one. Venus correlates to our values and their resulting priorities. 

There is also another “carryover” from the last nodal transit as Mars, the “lower octave” of Pluto, is now the ruler of the Lunar North Node. Mars correlates to the choices we make based on the values and priorities handed off from Venus. A favorable trine to the lunar north node from Pallas Athene, the Goddess of Wisdom and Strategy billeted with Mars, suggests the potential for more considered and conscious choices regarding remedies and workable options for healing the pending crises that are issuing from the past. Though Venus and Mars are in an out-of-sign conjunction, their relative closeness suggests conflicting perspectives coming closer to singularity. 

Chiron and Eris conjunct the lunar north could be a wild card. Chiron correlates to homeopathic healing based on “like heals like.”  New strategies from Pallas Athene can activate Chiron homeopathy. Eris is a rogue personality. Eris activates circumstances that dislodge what she deems unjust. January 6, the presidency of DJ Trump, and COVID are examples of collective homeopathic societal healing. We are becoming more conscious but must take higher steps to climb.

This nodal transit’s core theme will be about who and what we are in a relationship with and how we see ourselves in that relationship. Self and others will come into greater focus and awareness. We will continue to create and participate in self-organizing groups that reflect our values and priorities. Clearly, that implies a wide range of personal expression. Martin Buber’s concept of I and Thou expresses what has become the dichotomy that surrounds us. Do we see others as “It” or as “Thou”? We will be exposed to lessons that teach us that everything is connected to everything else, and we are all connected. In essence, there is only one of us on the planet. How long will that realization take? G_d only knows. It is not about the destination. It is about the journey.