Chavela Vargas and the north node dispositor

     My newest favorite example of the dispositor of the north node being so elemental to a person’s most prominent trait is Chavela Vargas whose north node ruler is Jupiter in Cancer.  Listen to this woman, who is in now in her nineties and still belting it out, sing, and you will understand, or better yet you will feel what it means to be filled with the archetype Cancer. 

     The emotional expression is effusive, and this illustrates the fact that her north node is in Sagittarius – enthusiastic and far-reaching.  At times in her songs, it sounds as if she is actually crying, so filled with Cancer emotion is she.  She is the beloved Mexican cancionera, expressing the heritage, yet again a Cancer theme, of her country’s traditionally emotional ballads.  

     From our home here on earth, the moon is the brightest object in the sky besides the sun.  But unlike the sun, the moon is accessible.  We can look directly into the face of her and witness her moodiness, her changeability.  It is thought that shifts in sleep patterns resulting from the moon’s phases may have once caused the “lunatic” behavior we attribute to her in folklore and common mythology. 

     Likewise, the moon comforts us in the darkness, “mothers” us when we would otherwise be lost in black forests.   Without her, we would be thrown into absolute darkness.  We seek the moon’s symbolic comfort from one another as well.  As Chavela Vargas’ well-known song, “Luz de Luna” (Light of the Moon), explains: “since you have gone, there has been no light of the moon”…

     Yo quiero luz de luna para mi noche triste…

                  For my sad night I want the light of the moon…

Mars transit to the first house

As the planets wander along their apparent pathway through the sky, called the ecliptic,  they enter and exit the ‘houses’ of the individual chart.  In astrological terms, this is called a ‘transit’ of that house.   Astrologers like me consider this to signify a new attitude in the person, a new approach to life, versus the fatalistic position that states that things “happen” to people based on astrological factors.  It is psychological vs. fatalistic.

Recently, I was fascinated to find that just as the planet Mars began a transit to my first house, house of ‘emergence’, ‘emergencies’, and similar such things, I was awoken in the middle of the night by the fire alarm alerting me that the house was filling with smoke and that I should exit immediately and call the fire department.    I was thrown into survivor mode, also a Mars/first house issue, but was fortunate enough to have been experiencing a simple, albeit alarming, furnace issue.  To add to the symbolism of the situation, my moon, planet of home and home-life, sits only a few degrees from my ascendant (cusp or edge of the first house), meaning my moon was pulled into the situation as well, perhaps signifiying why the emergency occurred at home.

As a psychologically-based astrologer, this was fascinating to me.  How could my internal experience possibly manifest such an outward occurrence?  Synchronicity?  A Carl Jung moment?  A projection of my internal world onto my external experience? 

I won’t pretend to understand all of the mysteries of this magical world we call home.  In this situation, I can only observe, record, and pass it on.

The benefits of Astrology

Too often Astrologers seek to guide individuals to the conclusions of their lives, and individuals likewise seek out Astrologers to know these outcomes.  When will I marry?  Is it a good time to buy a house?  Is this man or woman right for me?

Astrology, however, is not simply about outcomes, it is about the process of your life, the unfolding that results in you becoming a better person:  more knowledgeable, more self-aware, more capable of making decisions that benefit yourself and others, and, in the end, more happy. 

If you were to know ahead of time what all of the outcomes were of your life, what would you learn?  Likewise, would there really be any pleasure in it?  Know thyself;  this is the potential that an evolved practice in Astrology can bring forth, and with great joy.

the goofy side of Cancer

There are many reasons to love a Cancer.  Nurturing, caring, emotional beings that they are.  Cancer will feel genuinely sad for you when life gives you lemons, and she’ll make sure you’re dressed warmly enough as you head home through the snowstorm.  But when a Cancer really lets go, feels comfortable, safe, and connected, a side of her comes out that is downright…goofy. 

Capricorn, Cancer’s opposite, is known for its dry sense of humor that carries it through the toughness of life.  Capricorn has a sarcastic sense of irony and likes to parrot others’ eccentricities in its humorous one-liners and monologues.

But Cancer loosens up by being  just plain silly.  Like a child goofing around, Cancer will frolic in laughter, make funny faces, talk baby-talk, or act in whatever silly way she is moved to. 

If she is showing you this side of her, you are certainly one of her loved ones.  This part of her doesn’t emerge from the shell all that easily.  But when it emerges, the most tender child-like look of innocence can be seen intermixed with whatever expressions cross her face.  She cares about you, and she needs to be cared for in return.  She is vulnerable, like a very small child, but if you give her that safe space to open up in, she will give you the kind of unconditional love that is thought to only exist between mother and child.  You don’t have to be perfect for her or live up to impossible standards.  Just give her that unconditional love in return.

And get ready to goof around a lot.

Leo, source of energy

In the language of astrology, Leo is the shorthand we use for self-generated energy.  The Leo principle comes from the sun, that nuclear ball of light which provides constant energy to all living things here on the earth.  Without it, life would not exist.  Similarly, when a person activates his Leo energy, the space around him comes alive.  He is luminous with laughter and fun.    

When Leo is active in a person’s chart, he or she emanates an energy that is bright….playful, creative, animated, joyful.  It comes from someplace deep inside of him, some core belief that life without a proper dose of drama is dull.  Just as the sun lights up the landscape as it passes over the horizon at dawn, the Leo individual shines a light on himself and everything around him.  He does this with his brilliant smile, his creative twists, and his urge toward keeping things fun. 

Leo, the principle of the sun, rules the heart and its sinus node, that cluster of cells which generates an electrical impulse and keeps the heart continuously beating…keeps us alive and animated.  And Leo’s loving energy certainly ”comes from the heart”.  

Likewise, whether or not we have Leo prominent in our charts, each of us expresses the Leo function through our natal Sun.  Our internal energy source…identity, potential, source of ego.  Sun in Cancer means that the part of the individual’s life which is most illuminated and personal is his or her connection to home and family, and so on. 

But just as the sun in the sky illuminates and gives life to the universe yet is not the entire universe, the sun in the chart shines a particular light on the life of the individual but is not the entire chart.  Why stop there when there is so much more to explore?

Pisces is transparent

Pisces is all things transparent.  Long ago we human beings recognized that some things exist which in fact are invisible.  Gravity is a good example of this, and oxygen.  Also, the human spirit.  We called this principle Pisces.

Pisces in the astrological chart is transparent in two ways.  For one, it allows the individual with the Pisces placement to know or see things that others are unable to perceive.  Peeking into other realms or knowing things that aren’t immediately obvious to others.  Conversely, this same placement allows others to see things in us which we think we are hiding.  Mars in Pisces may not realize how transparent his anger is or Venus in Pisces may not realize how obvious her gentle-heartedness is.  Either way, the barrier between is transparent. 

And there is a merging that occurs as well.  Pisces in the astrological language is defined as the thin veil between you and me, here and there, this world and the others.  In fact, Pisces by definition means that thin veil really doesn’t exist at all.  Everything is one.  And it can be very confusing to the Pisces individual to try to navigate such a reality.  So he looks to God.

And finds that, as Joseph Campbell (south node Pisces, north node in the twelfth house of Pisces) once explained regarding the core spiritual belief of Buddhism…everything is in a state of suffering, and everthing is perfect.

Aquarius: the planets

Here is a musing about Aquarius, sign of brilliance and original thought.  Also of depression and excessive detachment, depending on how it is used.  Aquarian-type folks and people who associate with them often say things like ‘I felt like I was in the twilight zone’ when describing bizarre experiences they’ve had – themselves or while with these Aquarians….the twilight zone?  And what about that?

Well, in exploring this often-used phrase ‘twilight zone’, we begin to understand a bit more about Aquarius and why such a phrase is often used in association with it.  And it’s simple. 

Twilight occurs around the time when the sun, ruled by Leo and in opposition to Aquarius, is no longer impacting the earth directly.  It’s a lingering light.  And if you’ve ever spent time in the desert, someplace like Death Valley for instance, you would see that all of the subtle nuances of this strange and beautiful earth we live on come out after the sun has receded a bit, during twilight.  Surfaces that looked dull and bleached under the direct hit of the sun become colorful and vivid during twilight.  This is the time of Aquarius, when the planet itself is more electrified under the lingering light of that passing Leo sun.  A bit of yin and yang here:  Aquarius more fully realized in the presence of the tiniest bit of Leo sun.

Likewise, when Aquarius occupies a difficult placement in the chart, let’s say the south node or an afflicted mars, we sometimes notice and refer to the individual as ‘hitting rock bottom’.  Rock bottom, of course, is the planet itself, the rock which we live on. 

Aquarius: the planets.  Leo: the sun.