The State of the “Maybe”
Dates and times are given for U.S. Pacific Time zone. Click them to see the date and time where you are.
Back at the beginning of the year, I wrote about the lunar nodes in Cancer and Capricorn, particularly their dance with Saturn and Pluto throughout 2019. And since the month of April represents a turning point in this dance—with this week particularly important—it’s worth taking stock of how these powerful processes are unfolding.
The transiting South Node makes a conjunction with Pluto this week (April 4th, 12:17 pm PDT), at 23°Capricorn 03′. The Sabian symbol for this degree is, A woman entering a convent. As someone who attended Catholic grade school and experienced the nuns of our parish’s teaching order as extremely powerful, I first read this symbol as the image of a woman who has made a deliberate choice—but is it? There was a time when women routinely entered convents for reasons other than piety, and often against their will. Convents were also places where families sent daughters to be educated, to be supported without the family incurring dowry expenses for her to marry, or, if she misbehaved, to be confined without the stigma of prison.
The presence of Pluto at this South Node point certainly casts this Sabian image in shadows of pain and power dynamics. Does the woman enter the convent as an act of empowerment, a decision to live a life of contemplation? Or is it a sign that she has few alternatives and little power?
It’s that latter potential that we’re encouraged to release as the Capricorn South Node meets Pluto. Some of the forces that hold us captive are absolutely beyond our control. But as I often find myself saying to clients, the one thing that is always within our control is how we view our circumstances. What seems to be called for just now—especially as Mercury makes its final conjunction to Neptune this week (April 2, 2:38 am PDT)—is the willingness to let go of some of our stories about power and to start telling new ones.
What seems to be called for just now is a willingness to let go of some of our stories about power and to start telling new ones.
The new story is told by the North Node in Cancer, and it’s a story of choosing what nourishes us. The Sabian symbol of the North Node as it opposes Pluto is: A woman and two men on a bit of sunlit land facing south. Maybe it’s too many formative years watching General Hospital, but for me this picture immediately evoked the drama of a love triangle. In the world of soap operas, love triangles are the narrative foundation upon which all other plot points are built; so instead of dwelling on the delightfully sun-dappled scenario with the added value of south-facing real estate, my mind leaps straight to “Love in the Afternoon” melodrama.
But the nature of the North Node is inherently positive, in the sense that it symbolizes what will feed us and move us forward along a developmental path, so a positive read of this symbol is in order. Simply, it seems that if we move in the direction of nurturing and caring of self and others, we’ll find ourselves in the sunny, companionable territory of the North Node in Cancer. We don’t know the relationship of the woman in the symbol and her companions; they could be strangers, potential lovers, or her brothers, for all we know. But one thing we can read from the Cancer North Node at this degree is that the path forward is not a solitary one.
One thing we can read from the Cancer North Node at this degree is that the path forward is not a solitary one.
This week also brings a critical New Moon in Aries (April 5, 1:50 am PDT), which squares the Lunar Nodes and splits them like a cue ball. At the Aries New Moon, individuation is the homework assignment. What redirects our journey from one of withdrawal to nurturing companionship is the desire to let go of the old, painful ties that leave us feeling powerless, and demanding what’s right for us personally.
But the point opposite Aries, and also square the Nodes, is Libra, currently unoccupied by any planet; we need feedback and alternative viewpoints to help us incorporate the powerful messages coming from the Lunar Nodes and Pluto. It’s not easy to do that when Aries is emphasized, especially at the deeply subjective New Moon. But it’s fortunate, maybe, that the most recent Full Moon was in Libra. If we internalized some of its messages about sharing and other-awareness, this could be a New Moon of exploration and self-reflection—of true self-care—rather than invitation to self-absorption, and dwelling in the painful past.
What redirects our journey from one of withdrawal to nurturing companionship is the desire to let go of the old, painful ties that leave us feeling powerless, and demanding what’s right for us personally.
© 2019 April Elliott Kent
