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DECEMBER 2007
The Complete Node Book: Understanding Your Life's Purpose, by Kevin Burk. Llewellyn Publications, 240pp, May 2003. Recently the Pleiades decided we wanted to study the Moon’s Nodes in our charts in order to learn more about how these mathematical points affected us personally and how we could be more effective as interpreters of the astrological charts of our relatives, friends, and clients. For those of you who do not know about the Pleiades, it is a venerable group of astrologers started in the very early seventies by Trisha Millerick. It included our “great mother” and guru, Rose McCann (who gave us the firm foundation to bond together through all the many changes that have happened and that we have endured in the more than 25 years we have been together), Maya del Mar, our group star, who held us together after the loss of first Trisha and then Rose, and the staunch body of the group: Nina Bredt-Bouska, Kathleen Burgy, Billie O’Neill, Donna Dell’Ario, and Sue Taylor. As well, the group included Nancy Bennett, Joan Carey, and Martha Rather (who have since left the group for several years now). At any rate, we decided to give the nodes serious consideration and we picked several books to guide us. The one I chose was THE COMPLETE NODE BOOK by Kevin Burk. I was favorably impressed from the very first page of the book, in which Mr. Burk states that he is giving us his interpretations but he hopes the information will help us choose our own interpretations. Mr. Burk points out that the nodes are much more easily used in Eastern astrology than they are in Western astrology, as there is no Western mythology regarding the Dragon. Thus, the head or tail of the Dragon holds little meaning for the Western astrologer. He points out that the nodes are mathematical points, not physical bodies such as the planets and asteroids are. They cannot modify or color the meaning or expression of the sign they are in and thus, how we experience that energy. He notes how the nodes are related to the Moon, the Sun, and the Ecliptic and that they are always in perfect opposition. Mr. Burk states that the South Node represents gifts to us from past lives and that we can use these abilities/talents to further our soul’s advancement in our current incarnation. The job of the North Node, on the other hand, at the opposite end of the astrological polarity, is to take the lessons from the South Node and “build on them, honor them, work with them, and learn how to use them in a new way.” Evaluating my own nodes on the 3rd/9th axis led me to look at them as research tools. We build a base of knowledge (in the material world for Earth signs, perception in Fire signs, emotion in Water signs and knowledge in Air signs)* and further it through life’s lessons in this incarnation; increasing knowledge and understanding as we evolve. After a very thorough introduction to the nodes, Mr. Burk goes over the house axes, and how each axis works. He then looks at aspects and transits to the nodes. He is extremely thorough and painstaking in his descriptions of the different possible interpretations. At the end of the book, I felt I had learned very valuable and useful information and will be able to offer a much more in-depth look at a chart from this perspective. Oh, yes, and by the way, looking at my own chart and those of the other Pleiades members, we were astonished at the accuracy, color and depth these interpretations offered to our readings. This is a book I highly recommend for every astrologer. *Interpretations by this author. (I’m already using the knowledge as Mr. Burk suggests!)
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