Every major plague in history has taken place with the North Node and South Node in the signs of Cancer and Capricorn. Why? Because Cancer rules families and homes, and Capricorn rules Presidents, Prime Ministers, Kings and the authorities.
During plagues, our families are controlled by the men in charge. They decide how the plague proceeds.
Understanding the North Node and South Node
They are imaginary points which cannot be seen, but cycle backwards in 19 year loops, in the twelve signs of the zodiac.
In The Black Death of 1350, which was recorded by an astrologer (not an astronomer, as Wikimedia wrongly claims – an astrologer), it was the King who was in charge of families. Simon de Covino attributed the plague to a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn.
Actually, that is way off the mark. We have a Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in December 2020, for example, but it’s too late – the first death from COVID-19 took place on January 10th, 2020.
What is really behind the astrology of plagues is the Cancer-Capricorn Node cycle.
The Great Plague of London – Same Pattern
In June 1665, we have another astrologer looking at plague. This time he gets it right (famously so) and his name, of course, is William Lilly.
In 1665, we find the North Node and South Node across Cancer-Capricorn again.
Lilly’s work inspires another astrologer (although this one is an amateur) named John Aubrey. Aubrey will use Lilly’s horoscopes for a book of biography. More tellingly, Aubrey will go on to discover what are today known as The Aubrey Holes at Stonehenge.
Using these 56 holes as a timing device, with markers for the North Node and South Node, astrologers today can predict eclipses, just as the people of Stonehenge could have done, 5000 years ago. So…this all takes us back not just centuries, but thousands of years in time.
Quick Lesson for You
Download a free Ephemeris in PDF format from Astro.com for the plague years of 1350 and 1665 and find the symbol for the North Node. You will see it is in Cancer. The South Node is always left out of an ephemeris, for some reason, but it’s easy. Though never published, it is the opposite sign of the North Node. So, here we have (centuries apart) two big plague years with the North Node in Cancer (families, homes, regions, countries) and the South Node in Capricorn (Kfings, Prime Ministers, Presidents, Mayors, Premiers).
Another way to think about Cancer is that she carries her home on her back and her roof over her head. She is never far from her family. Capricorn is the mountain goat who puts his head down and climbs to the very top of the peak. He is usually male because we live in patriarchy (male dominated power structures).
Stretching the Lesson
What would you expect to see in The Spanish Flu of 1918? Sure enough, another node cycle in Cancer-Capricorn appears, when you download the Ephemeris for that year, also from astro.com.
This time the North Node is in Capricorn and the South Node is in Cancer.
The Difference Between the Nodes
The North Node and South Nodes are about karma, the lessons of the past, the need to settle old karmic scores, what is owed (spiritually) and so on.
The North Node and South Node are in a loop, like the dragon eating its tail. In fact, in India, the North Node (top) is the dragon’s head, and the South Node (bottom) is the dragon’s tail.
There is really no separation. One is not good and the other bad. They are all of a piece.
At a pinch, you could say the North Node takes in from the world, absorbs from it, digests it – and feeds this back (recycled) into the South Node. In turn the South Node then channels all this into the North Node, and around the cycle goes.
Cholera and the Nodes
In 1851, when Cholera (made worse by migration and pilgrimages) was at its deadly peak, we found the North Node in Cancer and South Node in Capricorn. One more time. The dragon kept on chasing its tail.
AIDS and the Nodes
Predictably, we get to 1981 and AIDS arrives with the North Node in Cancer and South Node in Capricorn.
This is a really good example of how to learn from the past. What we see today is politicians (leaders – Capricorn goats) failing to properly educate people about the risk of sexually transmitted COVID-19.
Where are the advertisements? Yet AIDS in 1981 should have taught us that the key to controlling the spread is to teach people about sex and infection.
COVID-19 and the Node Cancer-Capricorn Cycle
This brings us to 2020 and of course, right up until May this year, the North Node and South Node cycle in Cancer and Capricorn ruled one more time.
Now, every cycle is different in extremity and intensity. These Nodes cycle around every 19 years and we obviously don’t have a pandemic every two decades.
What makes a pandemic? Aspects to the Nodes from the slow-moving outer planets, like Saturn. William Lilly knew all about that, back in 1665.
Managing COVID-19 and Living Your Best 2021
It’s always really interesting to see a politician like Vladimir Putin boasting that he’s found a cure, in a deep plague cycle.
The astrology would completely disagree with him. The Russians have not found a cure for the mutating COVID-19 pandemic. Dear old Vladimir fantasises that he has. (Russia is caught in illusions as the national chart shows huge Neptune transits).
There may never be a cure for this mutating virus. There is no cure for AIDS. Neither is there a vaccine. After ten years and $100 million, just one attempt at a vaccine failed in March this year.
So, what can astrology tell us (in 2020-2021) about living our best lives, and managing COVID-19?
The New Education
Every time we see the nodes in Cancer-Capricorn, and go through a plague, we then move to an education shift, because the nodes go into Gemini-Sagittarius.
I am sure you know, that just as Cancer rules our homes, town, families and countries (and Capricorn rules politicians) we have a big focus on schools, colleges and universities with Gemini and Sagittarius.
One rules Zoom webinars and the other rules academia. One is about home tutoring, mentoring, recreational part-time courses, evening classes. The other is about proceeding from a BA to an MA and PhD and the role of professors in our lives.
Every time we hit a plague in history since the 1340s past AIDS, we move into hugely important new cycles for home learning, retraining, new skills, and both informal and more formal kinds of teaching.
Image Credits
Featured Image: Photo by Morning Brew via Unsplash
Man in Mask – Photo by Tai’s Captures via Unsplash
Better Days are Coming – Photo by United Nations COVID-19 Response via Unsplash
Dragon – Via Pinterest
20 Responses
I’ve just registered for tomorrow’s Zoom discussion. Really looking forward to hear more about the changes and how to adapt. On Aug 3rd I enrolled in a course and first class on Aug 18th. For the first time in my educational life, I’m really excited about learning. See you tomorrow.
Thank you so much. You are completely in tune with the times. Your knowledge exchange (taking in, processing, putting out, taking in…) will continue for years, actually. Fabulous.
Thank you for this Jessica.
As a general point of interest, the Black Death of 1350 which so devasted Europe is believed to have started in Hubei, the same province as the corona virus pandemic. It was carried along the silk route by traders and then from the Crimea by Italian merchants fleeing the invading Mongol armies.
Does Wuhan have a particularly strong indicator or marker in it’s astrological chart to account for this ‘synchronicity’?
Also, though off topic, does Lebanon/Beirut have any markers which would account for yesterday’s disaster? I was really tihnking of the Great Fire of London following the 1660’s plague.
Best Wishes
Liz
Really interesting, Liz. I had no idea The Black Death began in Hubei. The Silk Road I did know about. Astrology says, on every plague cycle (which is always Cancer-Capricorn Node transits, followed by Sagittarius-Gemini node transits), you get big business and politics forcing overcrowding. Capricorn is the tycoon or leader in the elite who forces habitat on the rest, down below. This inevitably puts people at risk of pandemic as contagion thrives in overcrowding, no matter if it is 1350 or 2020. The other issue always follows immediately; travel, international trade, ships, and so on. This thing will only be fixed by local towns, cities, states and counties controlling borders. Nobody goes in and nobody goes out! We then move to air bridge and air bubble deals between partner regions or countries which have that powerful zero case status. When you look at the astrology cycles from 1350 to 1665, to 1918, to 1981 (AIDS/HIV flown into Africa via San Francisco and Sydney) you realise what is going on. I had a look at the Lebanon chart and the problem is Neptune in Pisces. Awful, awful tragedy and classically Neptunian. Shipping and chemicals. Also, a great deal of mystery and confusion.
I have north node sun mercury and venus (stellium)in cap. I feel like i’m stuck in glue. Nothing is moving. It’s stultifyingly boring. I’d like to make some more money.Can you suggest some projects?(NYC is operating at 50% and it is killing us more surely than covid! They won’t let workers back to the offices)
Sure. Read The Capricorn Effect (both parts) and use Search. I’m fairly sure it’s open access. Sorry if it’s Premium, but it was a long time ago that I posted this prediction, about people with a Capricorn stellium. You need to replace what you had, and what New York was. This will mean resisting every fibre of your being that wants the past, back again. It’s perfectly fine to admit that. You are also held back by going along with what everyone else is doing or thinking. You are right; it is completely boring. Sun, Mercury, Venus and North Node in Capricorn have been/are being crossed by, historic Capricorn weather not seen in your lifetime. You will never again have Saturn, Pluto, the South Node and Jupiter also going through the sign of the mountain goat. You will find small business enterprises not operating out of high-rise, but from the ground floor, furiously exploiting the new gaps in the market (and there are many). It really depends if you want to lower yourself to get involved, but you might. If not that, then you will sit this out, but groom yourself into becoming a hotshot again in 2021, when the United States does a massive pivot and you find you don’t really care about success, the way you used to interpret it. You will define success in a dramatically new way and be far more fulfilled. The worst is almost over. You have been through A LOT.
thank you .it seems in the astrology constructs that Jupiter is the symbolic representation of the root of the problem(too much globalism)
Yes, Jupiter rules Sagittarius and globalisation, immigration, tourism and foreign trade. In every plague we have ever seen, from The Black Death to AIDS, the problem was the same. Nobody shut the borders. Africa is in an AIDS crisis today because they didn’t test pre-departure at airports.
Hi Jessica,
During this cycle (I was born with Sagittarius in North Node and Gemini in South Node) I met somebody who definitely feels familiar and the situations are almost similar, does it mean you will again be involved in the same way or is the purpose only to settle some karmic debts? Thanks
If you have the Nodes in Sagittarius-Gemini and feel as if you know someone, even though you don’t know them (!) the karma would be about foreign languages, communicating despite differences in comprehension/understanding, cultural differences and issues about the internet or telephone. You can see why this cycle has spun around during the Great Plague of 1665-1666 when the usual communication in Britain vanished. No messengers, no horses. We then go to the Spanish Flu (another past life possibility) which was also The Great War, around 1918. It is very, very likely that you two have incarnated from that period in history. Have a look at that.
Jessica Thanks for so generously sharing your insights into our changing world. Some sound fascinating although the shrinking of our worlds to living locally for some time is a somewhat deflating thought. I am a mutable with a stellium in Sag opp Moon in Gemini squared by Pluto in Virgo. What sort of changes will the nodes in Gemini and Sag create? It’s pretty much a storm of mutables….
Thank you. Yes, mutable types with strong Gemini/Virgo/Sagittarius chart patterns do find the new climate really tough. The old word ‘mutable’ is from the Latin, mutato, which means change, as I am sure you know. So you have a highly changeable life, and you are now living in insanely changeable times, when conditions can alter from one day to the next with border control, quarantine and even local outbreaks resulting in supply shortages and shutdowns. So how do you cope? The New Education will help a lot. This is learning (for yourself, by yourself) and also more formal study. This makes you more employable, but it also enables you to tutor, coach, mentor or guide others. That is going to be invaluable over the next 20 years. You will also need to DIY so much that you will need to be tutored. This is the same for everyone born with these mutable sign patterns in their charts. Gemini and Sagittarius have long been associated with ‘The School of Life.’ I will give you a very silly example. Someone threw a chicken over my fence in April! I have no idea what to do with chickens, and had to rapidly learn, via books and YouTube. I now have a chicken who lays an egg a day. We are living in this kind of universe for quite some time, so a long, long pattern of learning and also knowledge exchange will become a stable part of your life. You will eventually have to choose where to live. Will you be in a zero tolerance, zero case place (World A) or a much more free and open, but risky, rather erratic place (World B)?
Hi Jessica,
have so much enjoyed and learned from your ConsciousCafe session just now. As always, my mind has been blown – or at least expanded – with all the insights and information. Have had to sit and have a cuppa to reflect.
On a personal level for me, I realise that my Sagittarius /Gemini Nodes square my Sun exactly, and are within a degree or so of aspecting Asc/MC/IC/Desc. Gulp. This seems a lot of fate on my plate. What does this sort of pattern mean, especially in this time of nodal return?
I have been out of work again as a City lawyer for a while, worrying about the future and maintaining myself long term. But as everything is changing I doubt there’s much of a place in that world for me now. After 20+ years I feel I should look elsewhere. What has been coming to mind is exploring the possibility of returning to my first career as a child protection lawyer. I had a successful career, and a good reputation there, but it was demanding. Is it possible these thoughts are just being stirred up by the Jupiter & Pluto placements and transits this year, with them both being almost conjunct in my 5th house? After so long away, is that a return to the past worth exploring or do you have any ideas on what i should be looking out for, any directions to head for?
Sorry for all these questions.
Wishing you a happy grounding in your beachhouse.
Annie
Thank you Annie. I was talking about 20 years in two hours so it was intense! But the astrological weather is intense. It is so unusual to see this perfect storm of mutable weather, affecting two mutable generations. Mutable being – Gemini, Sagittarius, Pisces, Virgo. Generation Change, in a highly changeable new era. You have this written in your chart with your Sagittarius-Gemini aspects. So, being out of work is part of that. Chop and change! You want to go back to child protection as a lawyer and the answer is already decided actually. Jupiter at 24 Leo and Pluto at 27 Leo in your Fifth House of children do indeed drive you towards this. You would also be doing this on the toughest cycle in 29 years as Saturn moves to 24 Aquarius, then 27 Aquarius in 2022, 2023. Maybe you want that level of challenge; some people relish it, Annie. As you know, you could mentor, coach, teach and guide as well as actually practise. That may be an option for you. Something which has nothing to do with astrology but does work is – write a letter to the universe. Clearly state what you want and need from work, and why. And when! Read it aloud to your spirit guides and helpers, or friends and family. Leave the note out overnight. Then wait for the universe to take its course. I think it is very important that you do not end up with a child protection case which is traumatic for you and Saturn opposite Pluto is really, really hard. So I am peering into your future here. Try the letter.
Thank you so much for the guidance. Wow, that has landed. It is of course my fear, and a realistic one. I will hold that thought as I explore. Blessings, and much gratitude. A x
I’m glad it’s landed for you.
Hi Jessica, This pandemic has really opened my eyes and mind to so many things I hadn’t given much thought to over the past 20 years.
I don’t think I have felt this powerless and restricted ever, even in my ex marriage.
I have absolutely no faith in our politicians worldwide or justice system.
I have also been watching the child trafficking story unfold and it’s depths and my heart is just completely broken.
I enrolled in a 350 hour yoga foundation course last month, something I have wanted to do for so long. I have been working with people, money and numbers for a long time and am so tired of peoples greed.
I would like to work with women and children in spirituality and healing.
Two days ago I wrote myself a mantra “Our purpose in this world has to be more than just about ourselves”.
I hope you are keeping well.
Well done. You are picking up the future, because the future is yoga tuition at home. It is also yoga tailored for different body types, ages and genders. There is a huge difference between a small vegetarian Indian woman and a fat American steak-eating white man! Older people are also in need of yoga for their bodies, over the age of 80, and particularly the mind/spirit aspect of yoga. Endorphins! You are drawn to children which is interesting as the future will be tutor. I keep saying that, because I have picked it up as a psychic ‘the future is tutor.’ Individual tailored programs to children who have widely different wants and needs. That has not happened before. It’s bespoke classes but affordable because you’ll just make it so. You are not alone in being appalled at the poor class of Prime Ministers, Presidents and Premiers we have worldwide. I can reassure you, this is the worst it gets. It has not been this bad for centuries and is pre Reformation levels of corruption, greed and evil. Well, the Reformation came and changed the world and it’s coming in 2021. Deep breath!
Hi Jessica,
I just re-read your (January 26th, 2020) post entitled “How October 2020 Brings Donald Down” and something in your writing jumped out at me. Maybe I’m reading too much into the line but you said, “I use the word ‘mother’ advisedly because Ceres tends to put women front and centre. This is the White House, in the future.” You are, of course, aware that the current VP Pence calls his wife “Mother”. This might be a pretty big stretch but… if The Donald fades for whatever reason in October, could Pence then ostensibly become the defacto Republican candidate for President and if elected his spouse “Mother” becomes the First Lady?
There was an article in The New Yorker (October 23, 2017) entitled, “The Danger of President Pence” in which a retired newspaper editor that knew the Pence family well said “Mike Pence wanted to be President practically since he popped out of the womb. He’s very ambitious, even calculating, about the steps he’ll take toward that goal.”
I’m not an astrologer, but I’m just looking at how all the pieces might fit together in the grand scheme of things.
How interesting. I didn’t know Mike Pence called his wife ‘Mother.’ It is entirely possible that Donald disappears from view in October and Mr. Pence replaces him. Which makes ‘Mother’ (What the actual?) Pence the new potential White House First Lady. Thank you!