Observations on the Aries/Libra nodal axis.
How it applies to the widening crisis in the Middle East
The Pluto Astrologer has been working on a secret new project that will be revealed shortly. In the meantime, below are some observations on recent world events in light of the Aries/Libra nodal axis and the applying Uranus-Jupiter conjunction.
Libra south node: Trying to defeat all opposition, to bring your enemy as low as possible (pushing down one end of the scales, elevating the other, the 7th house connected to Libra traditionally being the House of Open Enemies). This was visible on October 7th with the Hamas massacre of Jews, with Mars being conjunct the south node. Israel responded with the same logic as it tried eradicate Hamas, no matter the human cost.
Aries north node: Saving lives, asserting people's right to exist. This corresponds both to the attempts at saving Palestinian lives as well as Israeli hostages. When the transiting Sun recently hit the north node, there was international backlash against Israel for the killing of aid workers from various countries. By this time, many innocent Palestinians had already been killed and the response from the international community had arguably been somewhat underwhelming. But finally, after this attack, Biden published a summary of a telephone call with Netanyahu, chastising him for the attack and making clear that Israeli policy has to change. This was shortly after Mercury had turned retrograde - time to step back and reevaluate the situation.
If your understanding of the archetypes is not deep enough, you could easily conclude that the North Node in Aries has to do with the warring theme, simply because Aries deals with war and aggression. That is why it is important to also look at nodal conjunctions, because those conjunctions are as close as we can get to evidence. A node that is conjuncting one or more planets is a node that is being activated; its influence will come to the fore, channeled through the planet it conjuncts. So the Libra south node was activated by Mars, mirroring the carnage of October 7th. This was followed by conjunctions to the Sun, Mercury, and Venus during the initial phase of Israel’s invasion of Gaza. But at the time of writing, it is the north node that is most activated. This has coincided with a increase in some temporary relief measures in Gaza and a general decrease in hostilities. Had it been the south node and not the north node in Aries, the story would have been rather different.
At this point, perhaps we should remind ourselves that planets do not compel. At any rate, a planetary influence is the influence of a planetary archetype within you, mirrored by the planet in the sky. The rocky dwarfs and gas giants in space do not govern our lives. But when it comes to world events, influences within billions of people at the same time - the ongoing transits - will add up to produce patterns and trends.
There are other interpretations of the south node in Libra that are more standard than the theme of overcoming opposition. A few such interpretations might be:
Allies of Israel not daring to criticize their friend, perhaps feeling that they have to support Israel or else they will find themselves on the other side of the scales and thereby indirectly support Hamas.
All the thinking around “proportional responses” in war, tit-for-tat reasoning. Even just now when Iran attacked Israel, they apparently had the manners to inform the Americans first. The intention was simply to even the scales, no more and no less.
Netanyahu himself trying to mastermind the situation, balancing demands from the Israeli audience against demands from his allies. This is a man who has a very back-heavy nodal axis, the south node in Libra conjuncting Neptune, Mercury, and the Moon in the 10th house - politics, public affairs. He has just experienced his nodal return. Shortly thereafter, as the transiting South Node conjuncted his Neptune, he put up a tweet assuring the Israeli public that "there is a date" for a Rafah offensive. His defence minister then assured American officials that there was no such date, indicating that Netanyahu may be bluffing to cater to different audiences. Neptune in 10th house Libra: A Public Relations smokescreen.
For the north node in Aries, we can add the following interpretations:
Taking a stand to protect life, freedom and independence, asserting yourself, regardless of how it affects your relations with others (as in Israel’s allies becoming more assertive regarding the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza). No more tiptoeing around the situation - this is simply wrong and we don’t accept it any longer!
Fighting for your right to exist and that of your country; having that right recognized by others. We are already seeing more European countries moving closer to a recognition of Palestine, which is a truly Arian thing to do.
Finally, on a more general note: The movement from Libra to Aries can take the form of relationships breaking, because it simply is not possible to relate to the other side anymore. You may have grown apart, your perspectives have become too different, you cannot reach one another even when you try to have an honest conversation. What Aries likes to do in this situation is to simply walk away from there and carve out its own, independent path. This is in some ways the best kind of interpretation on the nodal axis, because it shows how interconnected the nodes are: Moving away from one node will bring you to the other, and vice versa.
Finally, a few words on the applying Jupiter-Uranus conjunction in Taurus: On April 13th, a large and rather sudden coalition (Uranus) protected (Taurus) Israel against Iranian airpower (Jupiter, ruler of Sagittarius: things that fly). On the same day, Germany finally gave the green light to send the Patriot air-defence system (Jupiter in Taurus) to its ally (Uranus) Ukraine. These are the first two visible, collective expressions of the conjunction I have seen so far, just as Jupiter was getting close to a 1 degree orb with Uranus. How it will develop remains to be seen.
Not as glamorous as some may have imagined it, but this is Jupiter and Uranus in a fixed Earth sign. Humanity's sudden, collective enlightenment will have to be postponed once again - for we have practical matters to attend to.