Breonna Taylor and the Nodes of the Moon

I have thus far avoided writing about the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, partly because we don’t have complete horoscopes for either of them, but mostly because I don’t like discussing the horoscopes of people who have recently died. If you are mourning the passing of a loved one or someone who was, for any reason, important to you, the last thing you need to hear is what was going on in their horoscope on the day they died.

However, I think there are things that astrology can tell us about the deaths of these two individuals that can help us understand just why those tragedies have  become such catalysts in our national conversation about race. These events also have something to teach us about the importance of the Nodes of the Moon.

Different schools of astrology approach the Nodes of the Moon in different ways but, generally speaking, they are associated with reincarnation, past life experiences and karma. Personally, I take this meaning a little farther. I see the Lunar Nodes as a gateway between the consciousness you possess as an individual and the greater consciousness that pervades the universe. In this sense, the Nodes represent our link to the greatest mystery of all. Where do we as individuals fit in the whole cosmic picture?

We can learn something about how this mystery works by looking at what happens when the Lunar Nodes in our horoscopes are aspected by transit or when the transiting Nodes of the Moon aspect planets in our horoscopes. I’ve been researching this and what I’ve found is that these transits are not consistent in terms of their connection with events in your life, particularly when compared to the much more reliable transits of planets like Saturn or Uranus. It often seems that transiting aspects involving the Nodes are functioning on another level of existence, but when these aspects do make themselves felt in our everyday lives, the results can be quite extraordinary.

Breonna Taylor was a young African-American E.M.T who was shot and killed by police in Louisville, Ky earlier this year. We don’t have a time of birth for her, so this is a chart done for noon on her date of birth. (Click on Breonna Taylor to see the chart) On the outside ring of this chart I have the Nodes of the Moon for Mar. 13, 2020, the day she was killed.  For the purpose of this discussion I’m only looking at the placement of the Nodes for that day.

On the day Breonna Taylor was killed the transiting Nodes of the Moon formed an exact square to her natal Jupiter. Typically we regard Jupiter as a benevolent planet but, Jupiter (along with Saturn) also represents the larger social structure in which we live, how we relate to that social structure and how it relates to us. I don’t like to say that anyone’s death was “fated,” but I do think that this aspect indicates that on Mar. 13 Breonna Taylor was likely to be confronted with how the society in which she lived related to her as a black woman.

I should add that, even though Breonna Taylor was very young, the transiting Nodes of the Moon had made similar aspects to her natal Jupiter several times before this one. She might have gone through those transits without noticing any changes in her life. As I said, aspect involving the Nodes often seem to function on another level.

If we’re going to talk about the society in which Breonna Taylor lived, we need to look at the horoscope of the United States. There are several possible charts for the U.S. but the one I favor is called the Sibly chart. I like the Sibly chart because it explains something intrinsic to our history. In the Sibly chart the Sun is placed in the Eighth House. Among other things, the Eighth House is associated with debt. We tend to think of debt in financial terms, but debts can be experienced in many ways, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. And, of course, there is karmic debt, debts accrued because of our past behavior. For the United States, our karmic debt is very much entangled with the legacy of slavery and the racial divisions that have been a constant theme in our history.

When you compare the Sibly chart with the chart for the night Breonna Taylor died (click here to see the double chart) what you find is that the North Node of the Moon is within a degree and a half of a conjunction with the Sibly Jupiter, the same planet is was aspecting in Breonna’s chart. The Sibly Jupiter, by the way, is on the cusp of the Eighth House (using the Koch house system).

If we go a step farther and compare Breonna Taylor horoscope to the Sibly chart, we see that her natal Nodes of the Moon, at 12 degrees Sagittarius/Gemini are very close to the Ascendant of the Sibly chart. We might take this as an indication that there was something special about the relationship this young woman had with her country, both in terms of the great promise of the American dream and its karmic debt. You might even say their fates were in some way intertwined.

As I said at the beginning, the Nodes of the Moon represent something that goes beyond the day-to-day world in which we live. This makes them both mysterious and, in some ways, mystical. In a future article I will discuss the relationship between the death of George Floyd and the Nodes of the Moon.