Product Description

This book is the first comprehensive guide to the Moon's nodes--probably the most misunderstood points in astrology. The nodes are not planets, but the points on your birth chart where the orbit of the Moon around the Earth crosses the ecliptic. The nodes are the key to understanding your spiritual purpose for this lifetime. The South Node reveals the lessons, talents, and abilities you mastered in past lives, while the North Node shows you how to best use your past-life skills for spiritual growth, happiness, and success in this life.

The Complete Node Book presents a new and empowering perspective on the nodes. It defines and analyzes the specific lessons and challenges presented by each of the 144 possible placements of the nodes. Both sign and house placement of the nodes are considered for extraordinarily insightful and accurate interpretations.

For beginning astrologers, this guidebook provides easy-to-find personal interpretations and a free birth chart offer. For advanced astrologers, it will serve as the definitive reference manual on the Moon's nodes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #265848 in Books
• Published on: 2003-05-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

About the Author
Kevin Burk (California) holds a Level IV NCGR certification in astrological counseling and has practiced astrology in the San Diego area since 1993.

Excerpted from Complete Node Book: Understanding Your Life's Purpose by Kevin Burk. Copyright © 2003. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
1 Introducing the Moon's Nodes The Moon's nodes are probably the most misunderstood points in astrology. Although few astrologers would dispute their importance in the chart, equally few astrologers could offer a modern, supportive interpretation of the nodes, what they represent, and why. Traditional astrology takes a rather consistent view of the nodes. The North Node (Caput Draconis, which means the "Dragon's Head") was given a similar quality to the traditional interpretations of Venus and Jupiter, and was associated with all of the good things that we could possibly experience in our lifetime, including success, advancement, increase, and personal fulfillment. The South Node (Cauda Draconis, which means the "Dragon's Tail") was of the same nature as Mars and Saturn, and was associated with huge heaping amounts of what one would expect to come out of the tail end of a dragon. The traditional interpretations of the Moon's nodes pretty much boil down to "North Node good; South Node bad." As modern astrology moved away from the extremely fatalistic and often very negative traditional style of interpreting the planets, the nodes too received a facelift of sorts to make working with them more empowering. The North Node became the processes and experiences that we must strive for in order to work with our karma and to grow in this lifetime. And the South Node got promoted from evil incarnate to the point in the chart where we're most likely to take the easy way out and to rely on habit. The South Node is also related to the karma that we're working off in this lifetime. In other words, "North Node good; South Node bad." One of the difficulties in coming up with a truly comprehensive understanding of what the nodes represent in the natal chart is that the Moon's nodes are the only points in the chart that do not have an associated Western mythology. The associations of the dragon with the Moon's nodes comes from Hindu mythology, and while working with this myth is a great help in understanding the nodes as they are used in Eastern astrology, the Hindu myth doesn't help us come up with a Western, humanistic understanding of the nodes. If we want to understand the energy of one of the zodiac signs, for example, we can simply break it down into its component parts. Is it cardinal, fixed, or mutable? Is it earth, air, fire, or water? When we combine our understandings of the elements and the modalities, we can easily come up with an accurate understanding of the energy of each of the signs. In a similar vein, by examining the things that we can observe about the Moon's nodes and interpreting them individually, we can come up with a much more structured, comprehensive, and, above all, supportive approach to interpreting the Moon's nodes. Let's review what we know about the nodes so far. The nodes are mathematical points that represent where the orbit of the Moon around the Earth crosses the ecliptic (which is the apparent path of the Sun around the Earth). The North Node is the point where the Moon's orbit rises above the ecliptic, and the South Node is the point where the Moon's orbit falls below the ecliptic. The North Node and the South Node are always exactly opposite each other in the chart. This information about the nodes may not appear to be as helpful to interpreting them as the elements and modalities are to interpreting the signs; however, just this simple physical description of the Moon's nodes can help us gain a more complete understanding of what they represent in astrology. The Nodes Are Mathematical Points They Are Not Physical Bodies The nodes are mathematical points; they are not physical bodies. What this means is that the nodes do not emanate light. The nodes can receive aspects from the planets, but they cannot directly influence how a physical body expresses itself. This also means that the nodes do not filter the energy of the signs.With the nodes, as with the angles, we have a pure expression of the energy and symbolism of the signs. Our experience of the energy of Aries, for example, is very different when we are experiencing Venus in Aries than when we are experiencing Mars in Aries. The personalities of the planets color the expression of the signs that they visit. The nodes, however, do not change how the signs are expressed or experienced. The Nodes Are Related to the Moon, the Sun, and the Ecliptic The nodes are most closely related to the symbolism and processes of the Moon because they represent points on the Moon's orbit around the Earth. But the nodes are also related to the Sun because of their relationship to the ecliptic. In other words, the nodes are the points where aspects of the lunar and solar principles connect. Let's look at the Moon first, and get a feel for what the Moon brings to this process. The Moon reflects the light of the Sun; it is passive, receptive, and feminine. The Moon responds, and produces emotions and feelings. The Moon is the container of our experience, providing form and location for the Sun's expression. The Moon relates to our conditioning, habits, vices, and learned responses; in other words, the Moon is our memory. The Moon is not just our memory of this lifetime; it is our soul's memory, and it is what our soul wants us to remember from other lifetimes. The Moon is our unconscious and our subconscious. The Sun, on the other hand, is our conscious, active life force. The Sun is our will, our power, and our sense...(Continues)

Customer Reviews

For advanced astrologers
For advanced astrologers only.

I have Kevin Burk's Complete Astrology book and like it quite well. His deft ability to combine astrology, psychology and new age spirituality in plain spoken language is refreshing. I had hoped for more of the same. However, I returned this book because nowhere in the description did it mention that it would be useless in the hands of an amateur astrologer such as myself. Luckily Amazon makes returns painless.

Good Book, Left Me Wanting...MORE!
I really enjoyed the writng style, the author has a clean, easy style of writing and conveying information. I especially appreciated the wya he broke the node descriptions into the houses they are in. That was a page of the "cookbook" you do not often see and added a new twist on the nodal interpretations.

That said, I wish there had been more of incorporating the nodes into the rest of the chart. Overall, I DO recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about working with the Nodes of the Moon in their astrological chart.

A Useful Textbook Style Reference Guide
I like the fact that I can easily identify the aspect, look it up and incorporte it into the Chart interpretation. One can definately tell that Kevin Burk is a teacher and a good one at that. He explains that the interpretations are his and not the only valid ones. The goal of the book is to help budding astrologers to acquire building blocks to understand and develope their own understanding and interpretation of the Moon's Node. This is an often misunderstood aspect of Astrology but Kevin Burke rises of the the challenge to promote understanding. This is a added deminision that I can include in my professional chart. Thank you Mr. Burk Namaste!!!!!!1