School of Evolutionary Astrology Forum

Thanks again Natasha for speaking to the South Node of Neptune and it's calling us towards unconditional love of our individual differences. I know it is easier when there is a shared mindset or group thought process, Aquarius. And, relative to our exploration of the Nodes of Uranus and Venus in conjunction, this invitation to include and allow space socially for different ideas and perspectives is part of the message of these planetary nodes.

This week I wanted to circle back to the Neptune's North Node in Leo. Specifically, I want to return to this concept of aligning with Divine will. As I brought up, there is this point of interest where western individualist cultures emphasize individual will in creating one's destiny. However, what I began to reflect upon is why the "Hero's journey" holds such great meaning within the collective psyche. Yes, on one hand we can say that Neptune's North Node in Leo is part of idealizing heroes. I don't disagree with this. However, in light of this concept of alignment with Divine will, I wanted to point out that it is for this reason why the hero's journey holds such meaning within the collective.

What I see is that the hero's journey, beginning with the call, represents something greater than the individual, Neptune, shaping destiny, Leo. And, in the west, for those who are not spiritually minded, there often exists some nebulous sense of a greater calling or inspiration that leads us on a path that may not be just an ego choice. We can replace "Divine" with "life" to help people connect with this concept that something inspires or invites us on a certain path or meaningful destiny. We get clues, hints in ways that can surprise us. This is the calling. And, relative to the hero's journey archetype, we have this very relatable piece of ignoring the call at first. In the great stories of Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Harry Potter, for example, I find that moment so interesting - the hero doesn't know they are to even be a hero. It is not Leonian self inflated ego that propels the hero onto the path. It is life itself that beckons us to step out onto this new path. Will we heed this call?

I write all this to say that, after further reflection, in the west it seems that the hero's journey best fits how a culture that has a great percentage of people rejecting the concept of aligning ego with Divine will still has this Neptunian aspect relative to individual relationship to destiny and life purpose.

If anyone wants to share any relevant stories or comments, please do.
And, of course, ask any questions if you have any.

Best,
Redwood

Turning this week back to the North Nodes of Uranus and Venus in Gemini, I will be posting a series of insights on these nodes coming up. But first, this week I want to introduce a new frame of reference for this.

In the Evolutionary Astrology which I have embraced, as taught by Jeffrey Wolf Green, we have our specific system of Ages and Sub-Ages, we have the Yuga Cycle from Sri Yukteswar's Holy Science, we have the planetary nodes, and, in my opinion, the Neptune Pluto cycle is the other main lens with which to view our larger collective evolutionary currents.

As Neptune correlates to collective consciousness and Pluto with evolution, this alone emphasizes how significant the Neptune Pluto cycle is in terms of the greater evolutionary forces which are percolating within the collective psyche of humanity. What I have found even more curious is this:

Neptune Pluto Conjunctions in Gemini = 4433 year era

1398/1399 CE - 3-4 Gemini
1891/1892 - 8-9 Gemini (493 years later)
2384/2385 - 13 Gemini (493 years later)
2878 - 16 Gemini (494 years later)
3371 - 20 Gemini (493 years later)
3863/3864 - 22-23 Gemini (493 years later)
4356 - 25 Gemini (493 years later)
4847/4848 - 27-28 Gemini (491 years later)
5339/5340 - 30 Gemini (492 years later)
5831 - first Cancer conjunction

Neptune Pluto Conjunctions
Aries Era: 2561 - 83 BCE = 2478 years
Taurus Era: 82 BCE - 1398 CE = 1480 years
Gemini Era: 1398 - 5831 CE = 4433 years
Cancer Era: 5831- 9775 = 3451 years

Note: approximately  493 years between conjunctions

As you can see, the Neptune Pluto conjunctions form the pattern of repeating in signs as the progress through the zodiac. Thus, we have this greater cycle of collective evolutionary themes. I do not understand why the Gemini conjunctions last 3x that of the Taurus period, but they do. And, as I think I mentioned, we see that both the Neptune Pluto conjunctions start this 4433 year period in Gemini in the same century which we had Uranus and Venus's North Nodes come into conjunction, the 14th century.

From just the Western culture point of view, the 1300's start off with a huge increase in translation of older manuscripts and the start of medieval universities. Following this, we went into the Renaissance, followed by the Scientific Revolution, followed by Age of Discovery, followed by the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution; all this leading into this modern era. Note, the second conjunction of Neptune & Pluto in Gemini in 1892/1893 - this generation brought us all the advancements in technology which led us into this modern age and the "Age of Information."

I tend to think that all of this adds up to basically being in an "Age of Gemini." From our Evolutionary Astrology Ages and Sub-Ages, we are in the Virgo Sub-Age of the Pisces Age, transitioning into the Age of Aquarius. Isn't it interesting that the entire Age of Aquarius we have Neptune Pluto conjunctions in Gemini!

Have you heard of the "Rule of Three" in astrology? Basically, there is this concept that if you see something twice in a chart that is significant, but if you notice a triple repeat theme you can guarantee this is very prominent. So, when we step back and consider that just having two planetary nodes in Gemini alone would be noteworthy, we actually have 3 with Ceres and they all form a greater conjunction. Then we see this Neptune Pluto cycle which is so clearly activating the Gemini archetype within the collective consciousness. Thus, it is a very strong repeating theme. I believe this answers some of the questions of why and how these archetypal themes have and still do dramatically shape our collective evolutionary story.

At some point further in the future I do want to get more into individual charts. However I hope you are starting to see why I have begun at this level. We are living within this reality, we are in this moment of time which is woven together by all these larger evolutionary colors to the picture. The smart phone perfectly exemplifies this conjunction of Uranus and Venus's North Nodes in Gemini, ...and it comes on top of this arc of the rise of science, technology, industrialization, and globalization - all this links to this nodal conjunction, especially because it is timed with these Neptune Pluto conjunctions.

Next week, I will be getting more into trade, as it relates to the North Nodes of Venus and Uranus in Gemini.

Again, any questions, comments, or ahas, please feel free to share.
Best,
Redwood

This week we are delving further into correlations to the conjunction of Uranus and Venus's North Nodes in Gemini. Again, while exact in the 1330's, this nodal conjunction spans from the 3rd century to modern times! Not only does Uranus and Venus's North Node conjunction in Gemini correlates with the advancement of technologies that accelerated trade, but also to humanity's extremes, Venus, of social change, Venus Uranus, fueled in part by the acceleration of unequal trade, Venus Uranus Gemini, which led into extreme resource imbalances, imbalances which become possible due to technological advantages and advancements at different rates across the globe. Essentially, it was through resource extraction from the Global South which allowed the Global North to then industrialize first and then maintain this imbalance of wealth through more complex means of control.

I like to think as Evolutionary Astrologers we can agree that the North Nodes of Uranus and Venus are a call for humanity to make efforts toward creating equal exchanges and fair trading, locally and globally. In the modern world, I believe these planetary nodes are telling us to move from a unipolar global economy to a multilateral global economy. I see that moving from unipolar to multilateral is not complete decentralization, but will utilize models of local governance informing greater networks or organization. That is to say, grassroots based. From the ground up, not top down. In this model, hubs of governance are informed by the local branches. This allows the local ideas to foster indigenous solutions and inform the greater governing policy. This model archetypally represents the Uranus Venus nodal conjunction in Gemini. There are examples of this in various forms in nations and states today. I believe it offers us a structural model of a solution to modern crises of governance. More on this later.

Let's explore more of how the resource imbalance accelerated over the recent centuries. Again, Venus/Taurus is resources and money, Uranus is the technology and the acceleration and change, Gemini here is the trade.

As was explored earlier in this thread via the Lynn White article, the causal factors of dominance over nature is rooted in people's beliefs - distortions of natural laws - linked to Uranus and Venus's South Nodes in Sag, ruled by Jupiter's South Node in Cap. This article pointed out how we can see that beliefs of being separate from nature or having a elevated status above nature, as if it is simply ours to use, have roots in Christianity's beliefs about human's entitlement to dominate their environment.

The roots of colonialism and the global imbalance of trade, which led to increasing extremes of resource extraction from the global south, has been fueled by both the potential conditions for this possibility to evolve coupled with the beliefs of superiority and entitlement.

It is clear that the initial acceleration of unequal exchange was made possible through advances in travel, technologies, and transport. It wasn't until the 1980's and 1990's that the evolution of technology allowed 24-7 global monetary exchanges and the rise of financial capitalism, which lead us into even grosser forms of resource inequality. I believe that this evolved because it became possible to evolve based on all the existing conditions at that time. In this sense, is natural and inevitable evolutionary phenomena we have to face, though not in harmony with natural law. All of these collective experiences are reflecting back to us the importance of fairness, equality, cooperation, and peace. We could even say our path of liberation, Uranus, is through Venus!

The evolution of firearms also correlates with the conjunction of Uranus and Venus's North Nodes in Gemini. Literally, a sudden explosion in a hand held device that sends projectiles flying - very literal and fitting for this symbolism - don't you think? In China, prior to this nodal conjunction in the 1300's, we already had things like hand cannons that had been invented, as well as other devices that employed gun powder. The rapid evolution of a lighter more compact hand gun was connected to the Portuguese and their trading with the Middle East in the 1500's because they desired a smaller firearm than the musket for navel travels.

The increasing technological edge of firearms and maritime transport lead to an advantage that made possible the plundering of indigenous peoples in other lands, the acceleration of the slave trade, and global colonialism. As Uranus correlates to technology, maritime technological advancements connect to both Uranus's South Node in Sagittarius and its North Node in Gemini.

While long distance trading was evolving for centuries, the real dramatic increase of global trade accelerating traces back to this nodal axes conjunction of Uranus and Venus nodes in Sag/Gemini. Prior to the 1300's, we have extensive land trade routes connecting Europe with the Middle East and China. Especially after this conjunction of the nodal axis of Uranus and Venus in Sag/Gemini, global trade routes and immigration increased dramatically every century.

It is worth noting that another reason why the Portuguese and Spaniards had a technological advantage are the conditions of their environment. This includes resources available, location, exposure to information and ideas and contemporary inventions, previous changes to the landscape of humanity, and population density.  These are all elements which explain why these cultures got a lead on technologies that rapidly tipped the scales of equality. If you have a massive mountain or a vast desert between you and someone else, these natural geographical barriers slow the rate of new ideas, information, and trade. The western parts of Europe were receiving eastern ideas and inventions via the great trade routes, commonly referred to as "the Silk Road" in the west. It was during the time of Uranus and Venus's nodal conjunction applying in which the Mongols controlled most of this route, which was followed by the Black Death moving west through these routes. The massive social changes the Black Death brought to Europe also occurred under this nodal conjunction of Venus and Uranus. Both of these elements of massive social change, the Mongols and the plague, set up the conditions in which the Portuguese and Spanish had opportunity coupled with the material and technological advantages. It is a bit of being in the "right" place at a time for the potential for this desire to arise.

Of course, all of this is rooted in greed and ignorance, the desire to take from other peoples for one's own advantage. It was the Kali Yuga, what can we say? And so, the accelerated expansion of global colonialism starts from these technological advantages coupled with this desire in the 15th century  by the Spanish and Portuguese. To put all this in a reduced simplified way, this led into the greater period of unequal and unfair exchanges between the global north and global south, from the 15th century to the present.

Venus does teach us through extremes. One "positive" of these extremes of unequal exchanges is that we can now see that the greed of the wealthy knows no end. It doesn't make sense to create suffering for the majority of peoples to perpetuate the wealth and luxury of a few people. Recently, I listened to a podcast which was titled "Unequal Exchange: How the Underdevelopment of the South Overdeveloped the North" w/Torkil Lauesen, released by the Journal of International Solidarity Pod. If you want to learn more about this evolution of inequality in trade, I encourage you to give it a listen.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/40JxS9bwovLoZitqOHLhT8?si=oHq5MtGWTvyBFo3v3EV-3w

In light of these north nodes representing the ideals of free trade and fair trade, how can our local and global economies have this as the defining ethics and values of trade? The shadow of the trickster in trade has a long history, which is further made clear when we bring in the nodal axis of Mercury.

I will leave you with that for this week. I will be continuing to explore the global architecture of economy and trade, as it relates to the planetary nodes in future weeks. Next week, I will be introducing the nodal conjunctions of Mercury and Mars in Scorpio/Taurus.

As always, I invite anyone to share your own connections, insights, stories, or questions which are relevant to this exploration of the planetary nodes.

Best,
Redwood

Hi,

Well, I thought I would be able to get to post this week, but the Northwest Astrological Conference filled up all my time. So I will post back Friday or Saturday.

I did have the pleasure of meeting Rav in person, which was really great. And spending time with Steve, which I am always grateful for. Among many other wonderful human beings.

Rav and I expressed our mutual desire to someday have an in-person Evolutionary Astrology conference again. Perhaps we can start brainstorming for 2027.

Best,
Redwood

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

As the Sun was in-between the North Nodes of Uranus and Venus in Gemini, Friday, June 5th, I saw an article saying that Anthropic called to put AI development on pause because it was about to evolve faster than humans could control it! Interesting timing. And it was earlier this week, on June 1st, I saw an article where Nvidia announced their new chip that will bring the AI experience directly to PCs like never before, to hit the markets this fall.

I have been seeing many charts which have this mid Gemini area highlighted. Here are three charts with the 16th degree of Gemini activated that also connect to the ongoing evolutionary themes of these Uranus/Venus/Gemini:
Uranus was transiting 16th degree of Gemini on October 25, 1861 at the time of the first transcontinental telegraph. The quickening of sharing information.
Saturn was at the 16th degree of Gemini when the first cell phone call was made, April 3rd, 1973. Also another acceleration of communications. It is clearly Uranian and Gemini, and I want to point out this is extremely Venusian. How many people have you seen make a call and talk to nobody - always another person involved.
Tinder launched on September 12, 2012, with Jupiter at the 16th degree of Gemini. Jupiter expands what it touches, in this case I drew the correlation to this theme of objectification, Uranus, of beauty, Venus, as the Tinder app brought us the swipe feature. Now it is normal to look through images of people like a catalog of yes's and no's - does this expand the culture of objectifying people?

With Uranus in Gemini, this year's Sun activation of these North Nodes is more significant. Basically, AI developers are seeing that AI is almost at the point of designing and developing its own successor; what is called self building AI. Also this week, in a different warning, the University of Toronto showed how AI can create a new adaptive worm for hacking, which would be able to adapt to different devices as it moves through a larger computer network.

Going back to Venus and its natural evolution through extremes, here we are on the acceleration of all of this and questioning if it is even possible to not have this go to extremes. I think some would suggest that it already has gone to extremes. The relationship, Venus, to technology, Uranus. Personally, I do think we have yet to find a balance with our relationship to technology. Not a new concept, of course, but very interesting that the planetary nodes make such a point of it. Obviously, these north nodes recommend that we find a harmonious balance in our relations to the technology that has increased information, communication, and the pace of life.

You know, as the North Nodes of Uranus and Venus in Gemini correlate to the spread of ideas and information, we see over the centuries and decades how much faster information is passed. If you think about modern news channels, the idea of a news bulletin is suggestive of one quick piece of information. Very Uranian. That progressed into the "news flash" and "breaking news" - how Uranus in Gemini can we get? I point this out because I really want you to think about the planetary nodes as much more than these connections to random collective events. The further we go into understanding these connections, it becomes harder and harder to not see these archetypal themes running through all of reality.

Naturally, Uranus in Gemini will give us an information overload!!! There is this interesting idea that humans "weren't meant to process this much information." I have noticed for myself and others, as we reach a natural limit of how much information we can take in, we have this natural implosion and withdrawal. JWG writes about this in Pluto II in the Venus in Gemini section. Seems we are all getting a taste of this.

At its worst, Uranus will overload the nervous system, fry our circuits. How many days do we reach the point we can't read one more word, take in any more news? Eyes weary from looking at screens too long? Uranus is chaotic at times. It seems this greater evolutionary theme of the restless mind correlates with ADHD. We will come back and explore this topic more at some point, as I do think it is quite fascinating to look at ADHD through the lens of the North Nodes of Uranus and Venus in a conjunction.

I see this nodal conjunction connected to this greater phenomenon of evolving through a global shared news network. Most of the world is online and knows a lot more of what is happening in the greater world than we did in the 20th century. In the past of humanity, we did not get daily updates on every atrocity across the globe, as the news "breaks." That is simply a lot to process. Sharing of information has massively accelerated. From the point of view of the planetary nodes, I would suggest that the evolutionary reason we are in this current matrix of reality is to evolve greater objectivity, Uranus, in our relationship, Venus, with the complexity of life.

When we get into Uranus as an archetype, it is important to differentiate between objectivity in a healthy way and sheer detachment in a disassociated way. Because, clearly, one survival mechanism, Venus,  of handing all this information about the world, is mental disassociation, Uranus Gemini. In moments this may be absolutely necessary.

Venus correlates to balance and harmony. Its North Node in Gemini would be about cultivating harmony and balance in the mind, in the midst of sudden thoughts and bits of news flying at us. Say you are in need of a task - could be washing dishes or chopping wood. Whatever. In these two examples, the moment your mind is distracted, the moment you loose mental equilibrium and focus, you run the risk of breaking a dish or missing that sweet spot you wanted to hit on the wood and the wood goes flying off the chopping block. Right? There is this sorta "use the force" stay in the groove capacity we have, but when the pull of our mind's attraction or aversion takes over, we loose our center. If we can have this objectivity within our own consciousness, we are more likely to master the art of being both the actor and the observer. There are many spiritual traditions with emphasis on developing this capacity. I see that Buddhism especially represents the spiritual liberation of the mind, the capacity to develop this objectivity and maintain our inner equilibrium through meditation and mindfulness practices. In the modern world, just meditation alone has become valued, Venus, as a survival tool, Venus, to return to peace, Venus, in the mind, Gemini. Is it growing in value because of the increased need to do something to manage the mind?

Now, there is nothing wrong with loosing our center. It happens all the time. Is not life a series of returning back to a place of balance after we have gotten out of balance? But to be effective in our tasks, often we need to slow down before we can speed up. In this pause, which we can connect to the North Nodes of Mercury and Mars in Taurus, we tune in for a moment, then act. Without this inner pause, Uranus is likely to bring distraction and we may find our mind out of harmony with the flow of life in the now.

On the Taurus nodes side of this, we are pausing because we need to "check ourselves." Tune in and see what we need. Are we ready? Do we need a break? Are we too tired to continue right now? Where is our body at? Not just the mind. It is that moment of steadying, Taurus, the mind, Mercury. Internalizing, Taurus, our energy, Mars, and mental focus, Mercury, for that moment, gives us a rooted place to act from. Next week we will dive deeper into the North Nodes of Mercury and Mars in Taurus. I really thought I was going into them this week, but apparently the Sun's activation of the North Nodes of Venus and Uranus pulled me back to this ongoing exploration.

As always, I welcome questions, connections, and reflections.
Best,
Redwood