This week I am introducing the nodal axes of Mercury and Mars, primarily with an initial exploration of their South Node conjunction in Scorpio. In light of how much Gemini is emphasized in our collective evolution, via the Neptune Pluto conjunctions and the Uranus Venus nodal conjunction, plus Ceres, I want to stress that Mercury's nodes are especially important, as Mercury rules Gemini.
It is noteworthy that currently Mercury and Mars's nodes are in the closest of conjunctions of any of the planetary nodes. We have the North Nodes at 19 and 20 Taurus and their South Nodes at 19 and 20 Scorpio.
It is also worth noting that this Scorpio nodal conjunction forms a sextile with Pluto's South Node in Capricorn. I am not sure if you noticed, but I have been mentioning rulers of planetary nodes and referencing this planet's nodes. For example, last week I pulled in the South Node of Jupiter in Capricorn as giving us more insight into the South Nodes of Uranus and Venus in Sagittarius. How does this work?
Remember how Uranus correlates with trauma and therefor the South Node of Uranus in Sag correlates with religious trauma? From here going to the South Node of Jupiter in Capricorn informs us that a key factor in this religious trauma is religious conditioning and religious judgments. This is societal indoctrination linked with religious trauma. And so, when we turn to this South Node conjunction of Mercury and Mars in Scorpio, we will weave in the ruler, Pluto's South Node in Cap, to provide more context.
Scorpio, someone once pointed out to me, correlates to cooperatives. At first, I didn't understand this, however if we consider that cooperatives leverage power and resources to achieve what one can't alone, this makes perfect sense. I want to start us off with a positive manifestation of the South Nodes of Mercury and Mars in Scorpio. One of the keys for the success of cooperatives is that they represent a shared goal and purpose. In the USA, the National Cooperative of Grocers has a slogan: "Stronger together." Clearly, this is very Scorpionic. Shared goals and shared resources, shared buying power. Merging together to form a new entity, greater than the individual.
Cooperatives need to be organized and managed well, as any endeavor really. If we go to the ruler of Scorpio in Evolutionary Astrology, Pluto, and look at its South Node in Capricorn, it emphasizes this principle - the need to organize to empower the cooperative - which seems very apparent and basic, but essential. When we have models of organization like cooperatives that have built in equanimity and inclusion, organization becomes even more important for its success. I was listening to a podcast today and the speaker was talking about how cooperatives need to have both vertical and horizontal power structures to work. Someone has to, on the day to day level, be empowered to make some decisions. You can't be asking everyone every time for every decision. Today there are many living models of cooperative that have variations of how the vertical and horizontal powers within cooperatives can work together. Remember, that while Pluto Cap correlates to hierarchy within power structures, the systems of ranking and organization do not inherently imply oppression, a shadow manifestation of the the South Node of Pluto, and Saturn, in Capricorn.
Also, relative to the ruling planet Pluto having its South Node in Capricorn conjunct with the South Node of Saturn in Capricorn, for cooperatives to be successful there is a need for agreements, accountability, and anti-corruption mechanisms. These healthy aspects of the Capricorn South Nodes, as I have previously mentioned, are just as important in cooperatives as they are for a society to achieve the positive manifestation of the Cancer North Nodes - real social security through livable wages, homes, food, and health care, and education for its people. For, as we know, it is corruption of public office and lack of regulations of the economy that lead to imbalanced consolidations of wealth. If the political will of a society can not control its capital, it will lack the means to the ends, in this case the Cancer North Nodes becoming a reality.
Now that we started with a little of the inspiration and potential of cooperatives, let's explore the darker sides of this conjunction of the South Nodes of Mercury and Mars in Scorpio. For starters, let's build context.
I want to remind you of the historical arc of unequal trade, which was just introduced in context to the North Nodes of Venus and Uranus in Gemini. Also, let's keep in mind the shadow manifestations of the South Nodes of Jupiter, Pluto, and Saturn in Capricorn, which correlate to, as Noam Chomsky puts it, one nation playing the role of "the Godfather" and doing everything it can to maintain dominance and control on the global stage. These shadows correlate to the corruption within societal structures of governance. Until the political will of the people is collectively resourced to purge corruption and reclaim the people's shared resources, the oligarch's death grip on wealth, power, and resources remains strong and plays out in new horrific ways. Overcoming this is the reclaiming of the South Nodes of Pluto and Saturn in Capricorn to achieve the North Nodes in Cancer.
Relative to this shadow of the South Nodes in Capricorn, the South Nodes of Mercury and Mars in conjunction in Scorpio correlate to the devious, underhanded, corrupt, manipulative means employed to continue to extract wealth and resources in any way possible.
Today, on the global scale, the South Nodes of Mercury and Mars in Scorpio correlate to the debt crisis. Trapping the global south in perpetual debt intentionally to stop the potential of progress, industrialization, and the opportunity to become self sufficient and self reliant. IF there were a positive response to the message of the Nodes of Mercury and Mars in conjunction, we would be working to find ways to help people, as individuals, and as groups - communities, states, and nations, to become self reliant, Taurus North Nodes. This Taurus polarity here would be to encourage nations to become sovereign. Now, we can also apply this concept to individuals - will we prey on someone energetically or do we support their individual sovereignty?
Supporting nations to become self sufficient is not to say isolationism, to cut off from the rest of the world, which is a shadow of the North Nodes in Taurus. It is not to say think only for oneself and one's own needs. It is to say think locally, act globally. Or perhaps shall we say act, Mars, locally, Taurus, and think, Gemini, globally, Uranus.
Contrary to this, the shadow of the South Nodes of Mercury and Mars in Scorpio is this desire to constantly benefit off of others, fueled by this desire to gain more power. It represents the desire of those who have money to make more money off the money they have by leveraging the power of their money through lending and creating indebtedness. A system that has been normalized by naming it "financial capitalism" and teaching people how to be successful in this system.
On the flip side, a positive way this could work would be to leverage external resources, Scorpio, to support the path of sovereignty, Taurus. Just to be clear, when I say sovereignty, I mean the definition of allowing an individual or nation to act independently without outside interference. Meddling in other peoples or nations business is the shadow of this Mercury Mars South Node conjunction in Scorpio.
Those who hold the majority of wealth have not shown us they want all people and nations to be free. It appears they just want to keep making money off their money. This compulsion, this disease, to be compulsively thinking, Mercury, of one's desire, Mars, to gain from others loss, Scorpio, is this shadow. And, the extremely concerning thing is that this is being taught as normal. It is being taught that "this is just how the world works," encouraging people indoctrinated with capitalism that this is a normal privilege - to benefit at the suffering of others. That it has always been this way.
Again, from this South Node conjunction of Mercury and Mars in Scorpio, we go to the South Node of Pluto conjunct the South Node of Saturn in Capricorn - the normalization... of abuse, of killing, of stealing, of keeping people in suffering. Slavery was rationalized and people did their best to normalize and justify it, however in so many people's hearts they knew it was wrong. But the more insidious, the more hidden, the easier to normalize. For out of sight, out of mind. Keep it hidden, Scorpio. Not in my backyard mentality. But who, really, wants to have cancer causing chemicals being released in their back yard?!?
On a more personal level, how many of you have seen this situation. A family member is dying or just died. Suddenly, one person in the family starts to do things in secret to gain an advantage in regards to inheritance. Sadly, this is actually very common in the states. I don't know about other cultures. This is another example of this coming through in a shadow form. Embezzlement, tax loop holes, all the things that people do to come out "on top" in selfish ways reveals how deep this mental compulsion can go. Which is why, to me, these collective nodal axes are simultaneously painting a portrait of the greater collective evolutionary dramas and dynamics we face and psychological dynamics we witness or live on the day to day. Granted, when people have these Scorpio planetary nodes natally activated, they will show more of these traits, for better or worse. But we all witness this archetypal theme, we have all seen it, we have experienced it directly or are impacted by it indirectly, one way or another. In this sense, no one escapes these patterns.
The expression "curiosity killed the cat" also reflects these Scorpio South Nodes - this human compulsive curiosity. No stone left unturned. Well, maybe it would be good to not turn over every stone. Must we? Scorpio is known to push the taboos, it will cross the line. Don't go there, don't find that out, okay, then that is what we will do. This conjunction reflects these inclinations. Do we love the rebel who has the courage to cross the line?
For those who love murder mysteries, this conjunction also correlates to this. In the realm of journalism, this conjunction correlates to the intensity of journalists. Have you noticed how many times you have heard of journalists entering into life and death situations? Have you seen a story of a journalist getting killed? People are taking extreme risks to "get the dirt" or just try to report on what some people would rather doesn't make the news. Uncover the cover up!
This also correlates to end game mentality. And to keeping secrets. And the desire to know secrets. In human psychology, this is the desire to plumb the depths of the psyche, face our inner fears, understand our own psychology. It is literally the desire, Mars, for psychological, Scorpio, information, Mercury.
Another correlation of this is mind games, mental abuse, and keeping someone "on the hook," energetically keeping a connection. This is also what some call energy vampires.
And, of course we have info, Mercury, wars, Mars. Later I will get into this further with the planetary nodes and the question of "who controls the narrative?" Exploring both info wars and the Battle of Ideas.
The "I'll sue you" culture has connections to this South Node conjunction as well. Why the obsession with revenge? And, when you think about it, there are many things we see in this world where you may wonder "why can't they just let that go?" South Node of Mercury and Mars conjunction in Scorpio isn't known for letting go.
One of the worst manifestations of this conjunction is sexual abuse and extremely humiliating grotesque forms of torture. In the evolution of warfare, this conjunction correlates to the Cold War, which was not cold at all, to proxy wars, to hybrid wars, and to use messaging in warfare. Instead of the pen being mightier than the sword, this, in its shadow, is first the pen, then the sword. Or, divide with ideas, then finish with violence.
If there was one signature in the planetary nodes the represented this underlying issue of humanity's darker side, desire for power, unquenchable greed, holding on and seeking revenge, torture, and abuses, pushing us towards the living out horrors, it is this conjunction, in my opinion. Globally, this is about war crimes and all the terrible things that come with that. We could be all stronger together, but we are still preying off of one another. Why? Is it that we inevitably see the worst potential of this South Node conjunction because of where we are in the Yuga cycle? Meaning, is it that we are at a point of human ignorance, so we are inevitably acting in delusion of the true consequences and ultimate impact and karma of our actions?
And, if this is true, is this a comfort at all? Maybe in that we can hold onto hope that there is a turning of the tide, albeit very slowly. Perhaps one of the lessons is to still make the effort, Taurus. If we say something is not possible, we have already given up? If this South Node conjunction in Scorpio is all these horrors at its worst, at its best would it not be the opposite? Would this not be then "right action." Would this be righteousness? The quality of being morally right? Scorpio understands karmic consequences and it becomes a choice to act with morality. Concepts of morality have been twisted by religion, however the basic premise of knowing what is right or wrong and choosing to take the higher path is the positive of this conjunction.
Finally, I want to point out that people will always fight back in the face of injustice. This South Node conjunction also correlates to this. We don't want war and violence, but when peoples are attacked over and over, at some point, they risk all they have to fight back. For some, facing an enemy who plans to destroy you, a fight to the death is the path of righteousness, it is to die with dignity and honor by being in right relationship with oneself.
Please ask if you have any questions or share reflections or add to this.
Best,
Redwood
