Maria Primachenko “An Outer Space Memory”

Today, the lunar nodes move from Cancer and Capricorn into Gemini and Sagittarius, where they will remain until January 2022. With this shift will come new stories and experiences for us to marinate in individually and collectively. The south node in Sagittarius will bring up the shadow, as well as the potential for growth and healing, associated with that sign. Sagittarius presides over travel, higher education, law, religion and spirituality—our philosophies of the world. Ruled by Jupiter, which will be in Capricorn and Aquarius for the duration, the south node story will center around society and the collective, with themes of freedom versus restriction, expansion versus contraction, and innovation versus orthodoxy. The north node will show us how to balance those Sagittarian energies, and what the collective soul is in need of. In Gemini, it is pointing us toward a new relationship to information: how we consume it, how we process it, how we share it, and how we handle the rapidly-changing nature of it. Mercurial Gemini rules the intellect and language—how we translate that which we perceive—and rules over institutions such as school, literature and the media. 

The last time the nodes were in Gemini and Sagittarius was October 2001 - April 2003. In the US (and much of the world), we were reeling from the shock of 9/11, and it was a time that radically changed travel protocol, government oversight, political discourse, and our relationship to the Muslim world. It was also the heyday of reality TV, the blogosphere and 24-hour cable news. People started carrying cell phones. Colleges offered online degrees. With this particular nodal polarity, one can see an exciting sense of democratization and personalization taking place, with potential for great storytelling, mobility, and exposure to new and different ideas. But there is also a cautionary tale in there about dogma and ideology, and its power to cause otherwise rational people to be swept up into unfounded and ungrounded belief systems. And there is also another one about unsustainable growth and unfettered appetites—for money, for fame, for the “supersized” option (another peak concept of the early 2000s) of consumables. 

To see where in your life this transit will take place, find Gemini and Sagittarius in your chart. If you have any natal planets there, or in Pisces and Virgo, they too will get activated at some point. If you were born with the south node in Sagittarius, you will be having your nodal return! You bring with you into this life the soul memory of having been carried away by zealotry or dogmatism, or of bring ruled by passions and impulse. You likely paid the price of putting the demands of your heart above those of your head. And so, your work in this life is to be curious and open to learning new things; to ask questions and engage in dialogue. Siblings, children, or the archetypes of the Sister, Brother or Twin, may play a key role in pulling you out of the karmic comfort zone and toward new spiritual horizons. 

We can expect the cosmic nodal conversation above to be reflected below in new approaches to teaching and education, travel and aviation, youth culture, social media, the news media, and governmental attempts to weigh personal freedom against public safety. The global society will be in tension with the local community. Ultimately, the Gemini-Sagittarius axis represents the archetypal experience of the mind as it progresses through life, and how what we learn informs what we believe. It contains the polarity between the young and the old, the near and the far, the details and the big picture. But what the two signs have in common is an embrace of the changing nature of life and a desire to move on to new things. How we navigate this next period will have to do with how well we keep our eyes, minds and hearts open. To stay in the balance means to see both the forest AND the trees.