Daring to Leap into Magical-Mindedness: North Node in Gemini 2020-2022

On May 6th, the North Node of the moon will leave Cancer, where it has been since 2018, and enter Gemini, while its opposite point, the South Node, will move from Capricorn into Sagittarius.  The North Node serves as our compass arrow, showing us the pathway forward, towards our destiny and soul growth.  The South Node, defined by the sign that is opposite the sign of the North Node on the zodiacal axis, is the point of the past and what has been mastered and now serves us as we journey towards embodying the energy of the North Node.  

With the North Node in Cancer and South Node in Capricorn since 2018, we have been guided towards things of a more Cancerian nature as an overarching theme -  Cancer is the archetypal mother.  Because Capricorn is Cancer's polarity, in order to move towards Cancer, we had to move away from Capricorn - Capricorn is the archetypal father.  

Now the North Node shifts into Mercury-ruled Gemini, the sign of the Magician and the Trickster, while the South Node begins moving through Gemini's opposite sign Sagittarius, the sign of beliefs, optimism, and leaps of faith - the sign of the Fool.

The Fool, by Stephanie Law Shadowscapes Tarot

The Magician, by Stephanie Law Shadowscapes Tarot

In 2018, the North Node began transiting Cancer, with the South Node in Capricorn.  Also in 2018, Saturn moved into Capricorn and Uranus entered Taurus.

Saturn, the ruler of Capricorn, just moved out of this sign and into Aquarius at equinox on March 22nd, only about two months after meeting up with Pluto for the first time in around thirty-five years.  Saturn meeting with transformation-god Pluto just before leaving its own sign is a big deal.  Pluto transforms by destruction and then creation, by exposing and stripping down before rebuilding.  Pluto will be completing its work in Capricorn in 2024.  Saturn conjunct Pluto, as it begins a new thirty-five year cycle, in many ways signals "the beginning of the end", with Saturn now beginning to transit Aquarius, and  Pluto nearing the end of its time in Capricorn, having been there since 2008.  Saturn will be moving back into Capricorn, giving us a chance to take care of any unfinished business there, from the beginning of July until the end of the year during its upcoming retrograde, but once it returns to Aquarius in 2021, its on.  Saturn's time in Aquarius from equinox until the beginning of July is our introduction to what is in store in 2021.   

Also in 2018, in May to be exact, Uranus first entered Taurus.  Since equinox we have really been feeling the new vibe of Saturn in Aquarius squaring Uranus in Taurus - hello pandemic.  Saturn is backing off through the end of this year now, but will be returning, and a big signature of 2021 is going to be Saturn square Uranus - three times over the course of the year. (The 2020 version of which are Jupiter and Pluto coming together in Capricorn three times - the first of these meetings was on April 5th, the next will be June 30th, and the last will be November 13th.)  

All of this so far has happened with the North Node presiding from Cancer, the sign of the mother, home, past, nurturing, and belonging.  With the North Node in Cancer and the South Node in Capricorn, we have been shown where we have maybe gotten too weighted into Capricorn values and energy and lost touch with feeling safe and nurtured and cared for and connected.  Maybe we neglected cultivating and tending to those things because of the need to get by and survive or the desire to have more power, status, or authority in the world and more material wealth and achievement.  Yet in past few months we have seen great changes come about, and as we move forward now, with Pluto having gone retrograde, Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus beginning their retrogrades next week, and the nodes moving into Gemini and Sagittarius, respectively, we are about to dive deep into what it is we really and truly value and desire.  

Last year featured eclipses in Cancer and Capricorn, with the most recent one being the lunar eclipse with the moon sitting with the north node in Cancer, opposed by the sun, Mercury, Saturn, and Pluto in Capricorn, on January 10th, followed by the Saturn-Pluto conjunction on January 12th.  Also, asteroid Pholus has been in play in Capricorn over these months.  Adding to the South Node's indication that Capricorn energy is in decrease and to be moved away from, Pholus represents things that have been kept for three generations that suddenly, due to a seemingly insignificant event or chain of events, come undone.  We can look around and see the parts of our societal structure that seem to be unraveling themselves now, how this series of changes, especially since 2018, are bringing us to a place where we are ready to reevaluate many aspects of our lives and the systems that weave them together.  

Cancer and Capricorn are the mother and father archetypes.  Cancer represents home, family, our ancestors, our feelings, emotional reactions, and how we feel connected, nurtured, at home, and safe.  Cancer is about family, tribe, and our sense of belonging.  Capricorn represents our larger systems of government, politics, and finance, authority and rules, the father archetype, the patriarchy, and the attributes like responsibility and discipline that it takes to make our way "out there in the world". 

The Cancer-Capricorn axis, like every zodiacal axis, is not showing us one energy necessarily in favor over the other, but rather how they support and balance each other, and even more importantly, the discernment to understand when it is appropriate to move towards one with the other in support and the other way around.  In this way, the polarities of the zodiac work as teams - we need BOTH energies of each axis - but balanced and working in harmony.  The key is to be able to read the energetic currents at play and understand when we need, for example, to bring in the energy of home, family, and nurturing, and lighten up on the work, discipline, and authority.  Both are necessary in all of our lives - understanding when one is playing the supporting role to the other is the key.  In astrology, we humans on Earth sit in the center of all of these energetic dynamics - we as souls are the boots on the ground - because we are embodied, we are empowered - it is up to us and only us to consciously create our lives.  

As of May 6th, the North Node will be in Gemini.  This means that Mercury's activity will be of more importance through 2022, as Mercury is the ruler of Gemini.  Gemini is mutable air.  It is intelligent, chatty, versatile, flexible, flighty,  and curious.  Gemini is all about the local community, short trips and everyday errands, and socializing. Gemini is going to be the energy we want to move toward. 

Sagittarius, Gemini's opposite sign, is Jupiter-ruled mutable fire.  Sagittarius is about travel abroad and across long distances, adventures, the outdoors, philosophy, big truths, and our beliefs. 

While Gemini might be the local teacher or librarian, Sagittarius is the pontificating college professor or the worldly guru.  But Sagittarius also brings us optimism, faith, and hope - Sagittarius is the Fool of the tarot taking a leap of faith and setting out on the Fool's Journey - if we didn't we would never get to complete that journey or gain the knowledge we picked up along the way.  The South Node in Sagittarius does mean that Sagittarius has to be what we are moving away from, as it is the opposite sign of Gemini, what we are moving toward.  But remember the South Node is representing what we have already mastered - Sagittarius is now becoming the tools in the belt that we will use as we forge ahead towards the North Node in Gemini through 2022.  

So let us pack up our ideals, personal truths, and beliefs, our big hearts full of optimism and courage, and our love of adventure, and get ready to take a big leap of faith into the realm of Gemini, where curiosity will be one of our best allies. 

​Mutable energies presiding means it will be more about the process of gathering the information than actually making any lasting decisions.  If we keep this in mind, this energetic current will be one on which it is much easier to spread our wings and fly.