This is an exercise I return to periodically in the mold of Alice Sparkly Kat. What I focus on shifts based on my studies, and this year it's no different.
I was born shortly after sunrise, a day or two after a full moon and two weeks before a solar eclipse. This means that besides my Sun opposing my Moon, my Moon is conjoined the North Node. If that wasn't enough, my ascendant is exactly opposite this lunar cluster; in other words, the Moon and North Node are descendant. Previously, I've been curious about evolutionary astrology as one "take" on how to interpret the Nodes, but as with most modern, "psychological"/humanist astrology, it's too wishy washy for me.
Instead, I turn to Abu Ma'Shar in translation, referring to them as "dragon," its head (North) and tail (South). These are Latinized cauda draconis and caput draconis. I once got a reading with an astrologer studied in South Asian astrological traditions who called them Rahu and Ketu. This blog post is a fair summation of what I remember him saying about the Nodes. The head is a place of increase, that wants and hungers, while the tail is a place of decrease, that gives of itself.
My North Node is in my 7th house, nearly the cusp of the 8th. I point toward other people, close relationships with them, and seem to think diminishing myself is a way to get closer to them. This framing is more karmic, more modern, but these points are always opposite each other. In a karmic reading, one would think "decrease" implies surplus enough to give, while "increase" means a deficit to fill. But a dragon is a much more finite image. The head consumes, the tail (body) excretes. They're complementary, not in competition.
So I feed my sense of self through relationships. My work is closely collaborative, most often one-on-one consulting, astrological and otherwise. My fanfiction is about romantic relationships, yes, while my career writing is about politics, e.g. our relationships to each other and to institutions. My 1st house is neither neglected nor full; it is just busy as any digestive tract. My 7th house, on the other hand, is a site of sensory stimulus. Without other people, I am bored and underfed. That said, there's a warning about gluttony here. Careful what you consume, or for this house, who you let in, because they could be a stomach parasite.
My Moon, then, exactly conjoined cauda draconis, is hungry, too. Lady Bird's ending counsel from the sister that "Aren't they the same thing? Love and attention?" is so deeply Virgo moon to me, Mercurial moon. My hunger for other people isn't actually warm or, god help us, maternal. I don't nurture. I'm not a hugger. But I catalog details about people around me, at times to their surprise. So it hurts, or feels uneven, when I don't feel similar attention paid to me. My Moon rules my 5th house, so relationships feed my creative pursuits besides my identity as either subject matter or the means of creation.
All this Moon talk neglects that this is a day chart we're talking about, but I have to spend time there because my Moon and North Node are angular. Sorry.
I have a stellium in Aquarius, my 12th house, which includes my chart ruler, Jupiter, conjoined Uranus in the first decan, and Mercury conjoined Venus in the third decan. Jupiter is my chart's greater benefic, and sextiles Saturn in Aries. I'm not afraid of 12th house topics and really quite enjoy them, if we're talking about enclosed religious orders, and my strange career is one spent behind-the-scenes, in support roles, befitting a Jovian 10th house. With Mercury and Venus in this sign and house, too, I'm quite happy in obscurity and with anonymity. I gave up Meta with no regrets because I value privacy and genuine intimacy; Mercury ruling my 4th and 7th houses from the 12th.
My most challenging planet in Mars, retrograde in Libra and my 8th house. It opposes Saturn, fallen in Aries and my 2nd house. This is mutual reception, in my book. Where Mars bristles against Libra's concern with harmony—the structure that Saturn exalts in—while Saturn wants to put the breaks on Aries' impatience. The opposition allows them to reap the benefits of signs they would each prefer to be in. So while Mars in Libra would ordinarily be slow to conflict, Saturn in Aries lends it the quick wit that Libra longs for, to assess a situation before acting in time to be effective. Similarly, Saturn in Aries is able to slow down with a Venusian discrimination thanks to Mars in Libra This 8th house Mars rules my 2nd and 9th houses, and forms an out-of-sign conjunction to my Moon. To me, this is a hermeneutic of suspicion that traces everything back to material wealth, persistently and annoyingly. Similarly, Saturn rules my 11th and 12th houses from the 2nd house; this is where I go to understand how communities and enclosures are built. I watch where money goes.
As for the lesser benefic, Venus conjoins my Mercury and rules the 3rd and 8th houses. I like to think my writing prioritizes clarity over poetry, which is beautiful to my Virgo moon. In fiction, I loosely abide by Elmore Leonard. There is an underemphasized communal quality to the 8th house. It's death and what you gain from it, but also what you gain from others and give to others, a bit like its fellow succedent house, the 5th. I think my Venus is quite functional, in that sense. It wants to be legible and useful, those more Saturnine qualities to Venus that we forget.