Here, we are talking about the overall energies when the axis of the lunar nodes lies in Gemini/Sagittarius or in the 3rd/9th houses, which absolutely need to be nuanced based on your birth chart and its various karmic factors; see also the article on the general interpretation of the Lunar nodes.
They represent a karmic axis of the highest importance, linked directly to your triangle of incarnation, and they symbolize both the innate, fundamental parts of yourself that you have mastered (the south node in the 3rd House / Gemini) and the pathway of your development during this incarnation (the north node in the 9th House / Sagittarius).
They stay in each axis of signs for about one and a half years, which is what gives them their more general, “generational” archetypal colors; their positions in houses are more meaningful in terms of giving depth to your personality, and this is what should be analyzed as a matter of priority, while the analysis of signs will clarify their mode of action.
Going from “How” to “Why”
The axis of the south node in Gemini / the north node in Sagittarius or the south node in the 3rd house / the north node in the 9th house is the axis of learning, communication, and transmission; it requires sharpening your capacity for abstraction and translating your mental, intellectual, conceptual, and social strengths into spiritual or even religious energy.
Mercurian forces have significant, basic parts of them that are related to logic and rationality, which may of course be very useful for conceptualizing and theorizing things, but they may also complicate things as soon as we are talking about getting an overview, taking a step back, integrating aspects of a new perspective, or even dealing with metaphysical notions, which are bound to be more ethereal and lack “concreteness.”
In a way, we can say that Mercury, which is the karmic ruler of the south node, may represent the “how?” while Jupiter, which is the karmic ruler of the north node here—and thus represents the axis of development—is more directly attached to the “why?” This is a question and, above all else, an outline for a way of thinking that should be cultivated during this incarnation!
Moving from the “how to the why” is not easy at first, because these ways of thinking may be truly diametrically opposed, just like the duality of “science” and “religion,” for example, where the former relies on analyses, tests, and an attempt at understanding based on actual knowledge, while the latter allows us to see things with more depth and requires that we open up to our own receptiveness and our instinctive, empirical understanding of things, develop our “faith,” and see beyond first impressions and matter (which is only “measurable”) so as to reach a level of immaterial consciousness, which is the essential foundation for all of creation and for the observable phenomena in life. Let’s just say that there is a little “step into the unknown” that we need to take without a safety net (in appearance at least)!
Tending towards this north node in the 9th house / Sagittarius may require significant contemplation, phases of introspection or “retreat,” and sometimes “initiatory trips” that can always allow us to open up our consciousness to the search for fundamental meaning and open up our personality to “social matters” and “other people,” who are like reflections of us, both so similar to us in their image and so complicated when it comes to analyzing them mentally.
It will be important for people with this positioning to develop their own life philosophy and manage to share it with others, using experiences that have already been successfully realized as a starting point, so as to draw lessons from them that are in fact more universal and find the active connection between the personal and the collective.
This may come out of consciousness in a gradual way, but also through very subtle realizations and revelations as transits and progressions are experienced, as they may “get the ball rolling” in a way in the personality when it comes to these people’s fundamental understanding of the world, and this can definitely give them a more global, “universalizing” view of things.
In the triangle formed between the observer, the thing that is observed (the manifestation of the world), and the Creator, Mercurian forces tend to focus on only one of the sides: observation only happens in a unidirectional way, with the individual looking upon the world.
In reality, it will be an important step here to understand the reciprocity of this situation, with the gaze of the world and the Creator upon the individual and, beyond that, the fundamental unity that exists in this triangular game of mirrors, where each point of the triangle can only exist by depending on the others, and it is truly the three of them that lead to the emergence of consciousness in the end.
In this karmic work, one’s mind and intellect inevitably represent a sort of “burden,” simply because they are not the correct unit of measure for all of these things, almost as though we wanted to measure a kilometer in liters: this would hardly be appropriate!
Nevertheless, the good thing about this axis is its mutable nature, which favors the quest for learning and forces of constant adaptation, which more readily allow for deep evolution during one’s incarnation!
Again, it is necessary to listen to these forces and help them consciously translate into self-taught abilities, for example, by always trying to push back against one’s own certainty and keeping this “open” mindset.
There is some degree of risk and a certain fear of the unknown that may be activated by this axis of the lunar nodes, since it is inevitably necessary to define a new paradigm, with a new unit of measure, and move on from an intellectual, cerebral framework “that works and is proven, well-known, and understood” to something that is by its nature bound to be fundamentally more uncertain, unstable, and materially “unprovable,” since by definition we cannot remove ourselves completely from the Creation so as to analyze it objectively; we will always remain “its subjects.”
Another analogy that we could use here is that, in this incarnation, we will have to go from viewing things with a “microscope” to using a “telescope.” This is an analogy that I employ quite often with this sort of duality between Mercury and transpersonal forces, almost as though these two views, macro and micro, had to complement each other, find a blend, and recognize their interdependence within the system and within the consciousness of the greater “whole.”
Of course, it will be important to analyze the different transpersonal forces when determining how this north node will develop; Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto may for example help by connecting the qualities of imagination, receptiveness, destruction, transformation, and rebirth together or by allowing these people to concentrate on that which is fundamental or regulate the various qualities of elemental energies that they may perceive.
It will sometimes be necessary for these people to cut themselves off from their fundamental roots, including family roots, in order to move forward. Sagittarius fits very well with the expression “no one is a prophet in their own land,” since these people often need to go look “elsewhere,” that is, in other cultures and countries, for that which they do not understand in their own land, and even if it means coming back later on to their starting point, the goal is really the entire journey.
The planets that form aspects with the south node and north node may also specify how this transformation should take place, that is, whether it will be rather simple and spontaneous, or whether there will instead be a fight against certain forces that are more violent and less flexible, which may translate into psychological instability (fierce atheism, nihilism, etc., which when it comes down to it are really just another facet of basic faith, just one that is less conscious).
Finally, an important step can be taken in the context of teaching and transmission to others, which represent the sublimation these forces; this is the true meaning of a “religious” connection, the need to “bear witness,” which may change the witness just as much as the person who receives the message, and the deep sense of meaning of the prophets, who, through their writings and teachings, change the world.
Practices such as meditation, Yoga, breathwork, and prayer may be very important to cultivate so as to better tend towards this north node.
Celebrities with lunar nodes in the direction South Node 3rd House => North Node 9th House
Adolf Hitler, Jim Carrey, Marlon Brando, Mark Zuckerberg, Charlie Chaplin, Rasputin, Bob Dylan, Maria Callas, Aleister Crowley, J.R.R. Tolkien, Michael Douglas, Margaret Thatcher, Oscar Wilde, Richard Branson…
Celebrities with lunar nodes in the direction South Node Gemini => North Node Sagittarius
Friedrich Nietzsche, William Shakespeare, Mel Gibson, Angelina Jolie, Leonardo DiCaprio, Bill Gates, Alfred Hitchcock, Miley Cyrus, Napoleon I, Christian Bale, Joaquin Phoenix, Pablo Picasso, Robbie Williams, Tom Hanks, Nelson Mandela, Jack Nicholson…