The Draconic Bowl

The nodes as shadow planets

In western astrology, despite the efforts of so many writers, from Dane Rudhyar and George White of yesteryear, Martin Schulman in the Seventies, and a handful of writers in contemporary times, the function of the nodes in natal charts remains a confounding subject. Opinion on their roles is divided, with many astrologers saying the North Node is a gateway to future fulfilment and success, while the South Node is the garbage chute for things we no longer need. On a symbolic level, it’s perhaps no mystery that the nodes remain so difficult to get a grip on, for they are without physical substance, being just transient points in the Moon’s orbit as it crosses the Earth’s equatorial plane.

In Vedic astrology the nodes are called chaya graha, or shadow planets, because their position relative to that of Sun and Moon determines the timing and totality of eclipses witnessed here on Earth. Because the nodes are capable of snuffing out the lights of either luminary, they’ve acquired in Vedic astrology a distinctly malefic role, akin to Saturn and Mars, for Rahu and Ketu, respectively. And yet, by virtue of their mythic ability to shape-shift and partake of the gods’ soma, they’re also capable of assuming the qualities of other planets, benefic or malefic, depending on their relationship with the planets.

The Draconic Bowl

Because the nodes form an axis of polarity dividing the chart neatly in two, they become a very useful construct via which to analyse one of the common planetary shapes popularized by Marc Edmund Jones’s work – the bowl pattern. As most readers may know, Jones’s conception of the bowl was applied to the planets, confining them to one half of the chart with no consideration of where the nodal axis lay. But if we choose to define the bowl as one wherein all of the planets lie on one side of the nodal axis, it’s therefore apt to call it a Draconic Bowl.

When we inspect the broad population, however, looking for such charts, we find only 3.5% of the population meet that criterion. But by reverting to the practice of traditional astrology (dispensing with Uranus, Neptune and Pluto) wherein only the visible planets are mapped in the horoscope, we find that 12.5% of charts reveal this pattern. Thus, every one in eight of your family, friends and clients will have one of these Draconic Bowls.

In the world of Vedic astrology, this is the Kala Sarpa pattern, whose meaning has largely remained obscure because it was part of a South Indian oral tradition that never found its way into the classic shastras typically published in North India. Perhaps for similar reasons, very little was written about the nodes by astrologers of antiquity within the western tradition, no matter how far back you go into the Egyptian, Arabic and Hellenistic schools. However, some modern authors have opined that the ancients might have known more about Caput Draconis and Cauda Draconis than they revealed, because knowledge of the nodes was part of an esoteric tradition not suited for general dissemination.

Configurations and consequences

The Draconic Bowl appears in four different guises. There are two pure forms in which the planets do not occupy the same signs as the nodes, but are evenly spread through the five intervening signs, or occasionally bunched. And there are another two mixed forms in which the planets may occupy the same signs as the nodes, sometimes on the inner side of the nodal axis, sometimes on the outer side without leaving the sign occupied by a node. Frequency analysis of their appearance reveals that famous people are more likely to have pure forms of the Draconic Bowl, while ordinary people have the mixed forms.

By restricting the visible planets to one half of the zodiac, Draconic Bowl charts create consequences – more dark moon vs fewer bright moon phases, more frequent combustion, less frequent retrogression, more frequent planetary war – all of which affect the strength and weakness of planets to do good or ill for the native of the chart. Thus, Draconic Bowls exhibit a power that is just as significant as many of the more popular patterns that astrologers have become conditioned to recognize, eg, T-Square, Grand Trine, Grand Cross, Kite, etc.

Nodal axes empower houses

Although many astrologers have a fairly good command of the vocabulary regarding planets, signs and houses, their interpretations too often rely on the aspects between planets, with insufficient regard for the dignity, lordship and placement of such planets. While many students of the modern era have lost sight of core principles, the resurgence of traditional astrology has done much to correct this slide.

An understanding of the manifold meanings of the houses is mandatory, because this is where the rubber (planet) hits the road (house). As experienced astrologers know, context is everything, wherein each and every house has different meanings, depending on whether the topic of enquiry is familial, financial, medical, personal, political, or spiritual.

Nowhere is this broad vocabulary of house meanings so vital as when we’re required to interpret nodal positions. The nodes are somewhat like ghosts without corporeal presence that can never assume lordship over a house but only haunt it. Therefore, we need to understand the various ways in which the North Node’s desire and compulsion will play out versus the South Node’s ambivalence and detachment.

Since the interpretation of the nodes in the houses is a murky issue for many astrologers, this aspect of analysis for all charts demands attention. And in the case of Draconic Bowl charts, the house position of the nodes becomes even more important, since in such patterns the nodes are carrier waves of primal energies in the psyche of the native. In recognition of the general vacuum around this subject, the author has left no stone unturned in Chapters 10-22 wherein the likely manifestation of the nodes through the houses is described in all major departments of life.

Whether or not the chart under study exhibits the Draconic Bowl pattern, these chapters alone will provide a wealth of interpretation for the astrologer attempting to crack the nut of nodal placements. And for charts that do contain a Draconic Bowl, the nodal house orientation is often the pivot around which the entire chart turns.

Chapter 1

The Draconic Bowl

Enter the Dragon

The word Draconic is from the Latin draconem meaning serpent, dragon, and from the Greek drakon meaning serpent, seafish. In astrology, Caput Draconis is the Dragon’s head or North Node of the Moon, while Cauda Draconis is the Dragon’s tail or South Node.

In Jyotisha, or Vedic astrology, the lunar north node is called Rahu, while the south node is called Ketu. Both terms have since become familiar to most western astrologers, such that one may now use any of three interchangeable terms – North Node, Dragon’s Head, and Rahu – to denote one and the same thing in an astrological chart or horoscope. Likewise, the terms South Node, Dragon’s Tail, and Ketu all refer to the same thing.

Figure 1: Correspondent names for the lunar nodes

The Draconic chart was popularized by Pamela Crane in the late Nineties, first with the publication of her book Draconic Astrology, and 15 years later with a subsequent edition called The Draconic Chart. This system, for which she cites antecedents going back to Babylonian astrology, is simply another reference system for plotting a chart.

Most western astrologers use the Tropical zodiac whose starting point of zero (0) degrees Aries is determined by the vernal equinox. This is the day on which – for observers in the northern hemisphere – the Sun appears to cross the celestial equator and move progressively northward until it reaches its maximum declination at the summer solstice. From this reference point of 0 degrees Aries, the rest of the planets are positioned within the Tropical zodiac.

Under the Draconic zodiac system, that foundational concept is modified in two fundamental ways. Instead of taking the Sun’s northward crossing of the celestial equator as the starting point of a zodiac, one takes the Moon’s northward crossing of the ecliptic as the starting point. Although we’ll discuss the astronomy further in the next chapter, this effectively says that, in a Draconic chart, the position of the North Node (Dragon’s Head, Rahu) becomes the 0 point of Aries, and all of the other planets in relative position to that point are reassigned a new sign and degree position in that Draconic zodiac.

In Crane’s work, the Draconic chart is scarcely ever intended to stand alone, but is often used in a bi-wheel to compare it to the natal chart. The basic premise of the Draconic chart is that it’s presumed to reflect the soul’s desire as carried over from the previous incarnation. Thus, in comparing the Draconic chart to the natal chart, the astrologer can hypothetically determine areas of the life in which the soul’s innate desire is either facilitated or frustrated by the realities of the present incarnation. In like manner, the bi-wheel can be used to compare natal and Draconic charts of couples in an attempt to explain why they are madly attracted to each other, or violently indisposed to cooperate in one or the other of the partner’s life plans.

It all sounds seductively fascinating, for who doesn’t want to understand their soul’s true desire? Or for that matter, understand one’s soul mate, however much they might sometimes drive us nuts with their contrarian ways?

One problem with the Draconic chart, however, is that it reassigns planets to a zodiac that can’t be seen. Astrology as we know it was based on observational astronomy, wherein planets in the night sky could be seen crossing a background of starry constellations that were later formalized into the 12 signs of the zodiac. And no matter whether you subscribe to the Sidereal (as this author does) or the Tropical zodiac, in the current era the relative positions of the signs can still be determined with reference to visibly bright marker stars such as Aldebaran, Regulus, Spica, and Antares.

However, this isn’t the only instance in which a hypothetical construct is used to shed light on some facet of horoscopic interpretation. In western astrology, certain composite charts, depending on how they’re created, portray a map of the planets in the heavens that never existed. And in Vedic astrology, divisional (harmonic) charts are likewise abstractions of the original natal chart. So on that score, we might withhold judgement.

But another problem with the Draconic chart concept is that it breaks down every 18.6 years when the North Node is actually at 0 degree Aries. In such a case, the natal chart and the Draconic chart are one and the same. Crane and her cohort talk their way through this by saying that the soul and this incarnated entity are therefore completely synchronized in their desires to achieve realization in this life.

So if you’re born between 10th November 1931 and 5th January 1932, your North Node is somewhere in the first three degrees of Aries. Therefore, your natal Tropical chart and your tweaked Draconic chart are virtually one and the same. Therefore, your soul purpose and your present life ambitions are in perfect agreement. Likewise for those fortunate folks born 21st June – 16th August 1950, 31st January – 28th March 1969, 11th September – 7th November 1987, and 23rd April – 18th June 2006.

If you’re among those lucky few, I’d love to hear about how perfect your life appears to be, at least in terms of fulfilling your soul’s destiny.

The Draconic Bowl defined

With no intention of misleading those who find favor or fault with the Draconic chart concept, I’ve chosen to call this book The Draconic Bowl simply because it’s the most succinct label I can apply to the unique configuration of planets that is the subject of this book.

But let me be clear – this book does not treat the North Node in any chart as a zero point of Aries, nor does it presume to comment upon the alleged disconnect between one’s current life ambitions versus one’s soul purpose as espoused by Crane and other devotees of her system.

Rather, my definition of a Draconic Bowl arises from two simple primary concepts. The first is that the lunar nodes (Caput Draconis and Cauda Draconis) constitute an axis that divides the chart in two. The second is drawn from Marc Edmund Jones’s work on planetary shapes, in which the bowl formation is just one of seven primary patterns.

In the Draconic Bowl, the nodal axis forms the rim of that bowl, while the (traditional) visible planets lie on one side of that axis. Defined as such, a Draconic Bowl can be found 12.5% of the time, or one in eight of your friends, associates or clients.

If we included Uranus, Neptune and Pluto in defining this pattern, it would be found in only 3.5% of nativities. Given such minor representation, this would be of little interest to the average reader, meanwhile offering few real-life examples.

As will be shown in the 36 case studies illustrating this book, natives with a Draconic Bowl chart are among the most controversial, enigmatic, renowned, and unique among their professions. This observation, substantiated through biographical reviews, arises from two key principles of chart analysis.

The first principle is that the natal chart’s nodal axis defines something analogous to a compass heading vis-à-vis the primary thrust of an individual life. Thanks to the ideas of Dane Rudhyar, Martin Schulman and others, many astrologers accept the notion that the North Node indicates something vital one ought to embrace and strive to actualize, while the South Node suggests what is extraneous and ought to be let go.

The second principle is that a bowl-shaped chart represents concentrated containment. Depending on the bowl’s orientation to the horizon, this can be interpreted as a bias for extroversion vs introversion, momentum vs inertia, personal vs social expression, retention vs release, and so on. These ideas, first presented by Marc Edmund Jones, are generally accepted by astrologers but little utilized in chart analysis compared to aspect patterns, eg, grand trines, T-squares, etc.

In combining these two concepts – defining a Draconic Bowl as one wherein the planets occupy half of the chart as defined by the nodal axis – we can isolate for study a potent pattern quite unlike anything else in astrology.

Chapter 2

The astronomy of the lunar nodes

The lunar nodes

Although many readers are likely familiar with the lunar nodes, let’s review the astronomical definition.

Picture our solar system. The Sun sits at the center of this system, and the planets orbit around it, each completing a full cycle within a regular timeframe known as its orbital period. With small variances, all of the visible planets orbit within a common plane. From Earth’s perspective, it seems as if the Sun circles the zodiac within that same plane, which is called the ecliptic.

As Earth orbits the Sun, it is in turn orbited by its own satellite the Moon. As the Moon completes each cycle, it too describes a plane of motion with the Earth at its center. However, the Moon’s orbital plane does not align with that of the ecliptic, but is tilted at roughly five degrees. Thus the Moon crosses the ecliptic twice in each orbital period, once as it moves from the southern hemisphere to cross the ecliptic going north (the ascending North Node), and once again two weeks later when it moves from the northern hemisphere to cross the ecliptic going south (the descending South Node).

Figure 2: Intersection of the ecliptic and lunar orbital planes

The nodes and eclipses

As the Earth orbits the Sun, and the Moon orbits the Earth, we thus have a three-body system in which there are two orbital planes – the ecliptic shared by the Sun and Earth, and the Moon’s orbital plane defined by its relationship with the Earth. The two points of intersection between those planes are: the North Node, or Caput Draconis (the Dragon’s Head) and the South Node, or Cauda Draconis (the Dragon’s Head). In Vedic astrology, they’re called Rahu and Ketu, respectively.

Most of the time, the Sun is in a different zodiacal sign from the nodes. But for a month every year, the Sun occupies the same sign as the North Node and, six months later, the same sign as the South Node. Within those two months, there’s a day (or night) when the Sun is in the same zodiacal degree as a node. That means that when the Moon crosses the ecliptic going north or south, all three (Sun, Moon and Earth) will line up.

If the Moon lies between Earth and the Sun, it blocks our sight of the Sun. This is known as a solar eclipse, and can only happen under a New Moon. If our view from Earth is such that the Moon perfectly blocks the Sun, it’s a total solar eclipse. If the alignment is less-than-perfect, and the Moon only covers a portion of the Sun, it’s a partial solar eclipse.

If the Earth lies between the Sun and the Moon, Earth casts a shadow on the Moon, thus making it temporarily obscured to us. This is known as a lunar eclipse, and can only happen under a Full Moon. If the Earth’s shadow perfectly covers the Moon, it’s a total lunar eclipse. If the alignment is less-than-perfect, and the Earth’s shadow only covers a portion of the Moon, it’s a partial lunar eclipse.

A lunar eclipse can occur only when the full Moon is near (within 11°38' ecliptic longitude) either lunar node, while a solar eclipse can occur only when the new Moon is near (within 17°25') either lunar node.

Mean versus true nodes

In the last 40 years or so, computerized astrology programs have given astrologers the option to select a default setting for the lunar nodes in their chart calculations – mean node or true node. What’s the difference?

If you think about it, the only time a nodal position is true is when you observe the Moon crossing the ecliptic. Every 27.5 days or so you’d see the Moon cross the ecliptic going from south to north, and you could mark the North Node’s position. Two weeks later, when the Moon completes its half-orbit in the northern hemisphere, it’ll cross the ecliptic going south, and you could then mark the South Node’s position.

Those observed crossings are the only true nodal positions; everything else is hypothetical. For centuries, astronomer-astrologers observed the north- and south-bound crossings of the Moon through the ecliptic, and noted their zodiacal positions. If they wanted to know where the nodes could have been for any intervening date, they mathematically interpolated between the nearest two observed positions.

With the advent of NASA’s moon missions, astrophysicists with super-computers made more sophisticated calculations of the nodes, taking into account perturbations due to the Earth’s slight wobble, and other anomalies in the Earth/Moon dynamic. Shortly thereafter, the American astrologer Neil Michelsen began including the True Node in his planetary ephemeris.

Because of that nomenclature, astrologers all over the western world, without thinking it through, began treating the True Node as if it were a superior version of the old Mean Node. If we polled practicing western astrologers, we’d probably find that a majority use the True Node, simply because it sounds like it’s the real deal, whereas the Mean Node sounds like an approximation.

Meanwhile, Vedic astrologers work within a tradition that’s utilized the nodes, Rahu and Ketu, with greater emphasis than in the West. Although there may be exceptions among those influenced by the West, most of them use the Mean Nodes. Does that somehow undermine their use, or detract from their utility in interpreting a horoscope? Not at all.

The True Node is a misnomer. A node doesn’t exist until the Moon crosses the ecliptic. Everything else is hypothetical. The Mean Node is at least an honest label, because it implies an interpolation between observed readings. The True Node should rather be called the Astrophysically-Calculated Hypothetical Node.

Astrologers who attach importance to the nodes should be aware of this distinction, and of the consequences of their choice. The difference between True Node and Mean Node can range as high as one-and-a-half degrees of celestial longitude. In some cases, this can result in nodes appearing to change signs! In all charts presented in this book, I’ve used Mean Node positions.

Further on the subject of preferences, please note that all case study charts are presented here in a whole-sign, Sidereal zodiac format. However, rest assured that the principles of general interpretation for the nodes in the houses, and indeed the specific interpretation of Draconic Bowls by house orientation, remain equally applicable to charts in the Tropical system.

Chapter 3

The nodes as scientific metaphors

The lunar nodes and the magnetosphere

Astrology in its simplest form is a three-body system – the Sun as the gravitational center around which the Earth revolves with an axial tilt, giving us the seasons; the Earth which rotates on its own axis, giving us day and night; and the Moon revolving around the Earth, giving us lunar phases of new, quarter and full moon.

The Sun is a boiling mass of hydrogen and other elements, emitting a steady stream of solar radiation in the form of light (photons) and matter (electrons, protons, neutrons and other subatomic particles). The solar wind, a mass of electrically-charged particles, blows out from the Sun past the Earth/Moon system and the other planets. Solar activity has been found to affect our magnetosphere, the electrically-charged sheath of Earth’s upper atmosphere. This in turn influences our terrestrial weather, radio transmission, electronic devices and, very likely, the biochemistry of living creatures on Earth.

The Earth is a solid body with a molten iron core, so its daily rotation creates an electromagnetic field with north and south magnetic poles. As the solar wind blows past Earth, some of those charged particles are drawn into Earth’s atmosphere via the pull of its magnetic poles. The interactions of those ionized particles, colliding with other matter in the upper reaches of the atmosphere, create the aurora borealis, or northern lights, and its lesser-known cousin the aurora australis, or southern lights.

Thanks to constant electron bombardment from the solar wind, the Moon is also an electrically-charged body. As it revolves about the Earth, it creates yet another electromagnetic field. Meanwhile, the Moon also influences tides on Earth – the oceans and atmosphere – and the very fluids that constitute 98% of our physical bodies.

When the moon crosses the ecliptic, whether ascending at the north node or descending at the south, it interrupts the local flow of solar wind that streams out along the ecliptic to interact with Earth’s magnetosphere. That in turn creates electromagnetic turbulence, a knot in the continuity of the local geomagnetic field. These knots are the lunar nodes.

The lunar nodes and the human aura

We are electromagnetic beings susceptible to having currents induced within us, subject to the seasons driven by the Sun, the phases of the Moon, and the diurnal cycle of the Earth’s rotation. Terrestrial and cosmic phenomena are acknowledged by our subtle bodies. We are bound to this existence, and entrained by the forces of nature surrounding us.

Like all sentient things, we have an awareness of what’s happening around us, even if we aren’t entirely conscious of it. Recent scientific studies, using electromagnetic fields comparable to Earth’s (100,000 times weaker than those created by an MRI) have demonstrated that humans are indeed capable of magnetoreception, ie, the ability to detect changes in local magnetic fields.

From a geocentric point of view, the lunar nodes occupy opposing signs, and drift slowly backwards through the zodiac, taking roughly 18 months to traverse each sign. In local space, however, the nodes occupy opposing houses, which change on average every two hours with the Earth’s rotation.

The nodal axis at birth may thus create some sort of alignment in the aura or electromagnetic sheath of the body, that which reflects the individual psyche. The psyche may well remember this, and sense when realignments occur at intervals of 9.3 years (transiting North Node conjunct natal South Node) and 18.6 years (transiting North Node conjunct natal North Node), causing some sort of stimulus in the psyche.

The lunar nodes as metabolic agents

Hellenistic astrologers assigned names to the north and south nodes, respectively Anabibazon, that which increases, brings up, or fosters, and Katabibazon, that which decreases, brings down, or drops. Similar terms appear in biochemistry and related disciplines where metabolic processes at the cellular, organ or organism level can be categorized as anabolic or catabolic.

* Anabolism is the process via which larger molecules are constructed from smaller units, but require energy to do so. Anabolism promotes growth and cell differentiation to build organs and tissues, eg, the mineralization of bone, and increased muscle mass. Endocrinologists classify hormones as anabolic or catabolic, depending on which aspect of metabolism they stimulate. For instance, anabolic steroids stimulate protein synthesis and muscle growth.

* Catabolism breaks down molecules into smaller units, either oxidized to release energy or used in other anabolic reactions. Of the many signals that control catabolism, hormones are notable. A classic catabolic hormone is adrenaline, but melatonin also has catabolic effects. The balance between anabolism and catabolism is regulated by circadian rhythms, eg, glucose metabolism fluctuates to match an animal’s normal periods of activity throughout the day.

The key take-away here is that Anabibazon (the anabolic agent) promotes increase, while Katabibazon decreases. Thus, any planet associated with Caput Draconis is augmented, while any with Cauda Draconis is diminished. If we follow this logic into the horoscope, the house wherein the North Node is located indicates an area of augmentation, whereas that of the South Node suggests attrition.

The lunar nodes as carrier waves

If we think of the horoscope as an encrypted signal, we might view planets and nodes differently. Since the planets are physical entities, each can be considered as a source emitting a signature frequency. But since the nodes aren’t physical, they emit no frequency of their own, and are