The Early History and Meanings of the Nodes in Astrology

In episode 290 astrologer Ronnie Gale Dreyer joins the show to talk about the early history and meanings of the nodes in astrology, both in the western and Indian astrological traditions.

As discussed in episode 127, in the late 20th and early 21st century the nodes came to be associated with one’s past and future life in modern western astrology, but these associations are absent from the tradition if you look back more than a century or so.

The premise of this discussion, then, is what did the nodes mean in the older traditions of astrology if they didn’t have to do with past lives?

Ronnie is the author of the book Vedic Astrology: A Guide to the Fundamentals of Jyotish, and she is also a Sanskrit scholar who is currently working on a translation of a 4th century Indian text on applying astrology to the lives of women.

Together we set out to explore and discuss the early history of the nodes in eastern and western astrology.

You can find out more information about Ronnie on her website:

RonnieDreyer.com

The painting featured in the cover art for this episode is by astrologer Shu Yap, and depicts the Samudra Manthan story, which we mention at one point in this episode as being connected to Hindu legends surrounding the origins of the nodes. You can follow Shu on Instagram:

@interpsycle_astrology

This episode is available in both audio and video versions below.

Timestamps

Here are some timestamps for topics covered at different points in the episode:

00:00:00 Intro

00:01:00 Ronnie’s book and background

00:14:45 History of women in astrology

00:20:39 The nodes and past lives

00:30:54 Interaction between Eastern and Western astrology

00:36:39 Mythology of Rahu and Ketu

00:39:19 Ancient mentions of the nodes

00:48:58 Parashara and nodes

00:57:30 Nodes, malefics, and outcasts

00:59:00 Nodes, the ecliptic, eclipses

01:01:30 Valens on the nodes

01:05:40 Rahu like Saturn, Ketu like Mars

01:07:40 Delineations from Phaladeepika

01:10:00 Houses 3, 6, 10, 11 and Rahu

01:14:18 Houses 4, 5 and Rahu

01:16:00 Rahu and Ketu as malefics

01:20:59 Houses 7, 10, 9, 11 and Rahu

01:24:40 House 12 and Rahu

01:25:00 Houses 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 and Ketu

01:29:56 Houses 9, 10, 11, 12 and Ketu

01:32:44 Dragon and the nodes

01:34:49 Exaltations of the nodes

01:37:44 Opinion According to the Chaldeans

01:43:30 Turning point of nodes in history

01:47:25 Persian tradition

01:48:35 More about the dragon

01:51:30 Guido Bonnati on the nodes

01:58:58 More on the Vedic nodes

02:02:25 Rudhyar and evolutionary astrology

02:11:38 Three traditions of the nodes

02:16:21 Outer planets and the nodes

02:19:47 How Chris uses the nodes

02:22:38 Nodes and eclipses

02:27:54 Ronnie’s work and website

02:28:44 Closing remarks

Watch the Video Version of This Episode

Here is the video version of this episode on the Moon’s nodes:

Transcript

A full transcript of this episode is available: Episode 290 transcript

Listen to the Audio Version of This Episode

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