North Node,South Node, True Node??????

I'm trying to learn something about astrology with the use of a workbook. I thought I understood stuff pretty well, until yesterday. The assignment was to place planets from my own chart into a blank chart in the book.

Which was fine until I came to put North and South Nodes from my chart into the blank chart. Trouble was, the chart I have (Astrodienst) has neither North N or South N, but instead a True N.

I understand that North and South Nodes are related to the places the sun and moon paths intersect.

But what the heck is True Node? It's not in the workbook (I wish these kinds of books had Indexes.)

Probably the North and South N's were napping at the time of my birth, and they skipped me.

HELP???????? ANY KIND SOUL!

REd Emma

Not sure about this, I think the True Node on astro.com's charts shows up like an upsidedown 'u' (or like the leo sign) which makes it a north node.

Red Emman,

The Moon’s nodes are imaginary (but sensitive) points, where the Moon crosses the ecliptic. The North node is where it rises above the ecliptic and the South node is where it passes below the ecliptic. The two nodes are always in polar opposite signs as a result of this movement. All planets have similar points but the astronomical significance of the Moon’s nodes is that unlike the ascending nodes of the planets which change in position only very slowly, the positions of the Moon's nodes effectively revolve round the Earth relative to the Sun with a period of just over 18 years. The nodes are permanently retrograde. This movement of the nodes accounts for the reason why lunar eclipses do not happen at the same time each year. The ‘eclipse year’ being shorter than the solar year at 346.6 days. Eclipses of the Sun occur when the Moon is at or very near a node at the time of the New Moon. What is defined above is the mean nodes of the Moon and they are always but always retrograde.

True nodes are used by some Astrologers who, as I understand it, try to follow the exact path of the apparent intersections with the ecliptic and thus make allowances for the 'wobble' in the Moon's orbit. For short periods the true nodes can be in direct motion. Traditionally astrologers use the mean nodes and most books and teachings tend to assume that you will be using the mean nodes.

My advice would be to ignore the true nodes at least until you know enough to begin to make an assessment of the difference (I've not reached that stage yet).

Regards

Minderwiz

Red Emma,

There are "true" nodes and "mean" nodes and "true" nodes are used in the horoscope wheel (why, I don't know...). Not sure what the difference is, but the ephemeris lists the daily placement of the "true" node and only the monthly placement of the "mean" node.

AG

True nodes, as I said above, can sometimes be direct and this is why the ephemeris lists the daily position - if you check it you'll see a reasonable oscillation between retrograde and direct motion - with direct being shorter periods, sometimes only a day, but with frequent changes of motion. As the name implies the mean node gives the average position over the month.

The Moon's nodes take 18 years to progress through the entire Zodiac and are always retrograde and therefore there is no real need to show the daily position, the monthly position will be accurate enough.

The reason that the True nodes oscillate is due to the 'wobble' in the Moon as it orbits the Earth which 'causes' the apparant movement of the nodes (the projection of the Moon's crossing of the Ecliptic)

Minderwiz

Minderwiz,

Thank you for that lesson!!!

I feel kind of "wobbly" myself!

AG

Red Emma, which workbook is this? It sounds very interesting...

Kes