Now that I have your attention, let me remind you there are all kinds of love – family love, Platonic love, parental love, the love between mentor and disciple, between master and slave; of course, there’s romantic love, even self-love, and Divine love. We might even say there is a love, or at least a pretty charged energy, between opponents.

Leaving aside whether the love brings out the best in us or the worst, whether it’s pure love, need or obsession, (after all, what “Pluto person” can say the most destructive love did not result in the best thing that ever happened in him or her?), and please let’s not argue about the Glynda of the true North Node and the Wicked Witch of the mean South Node, the fact is -- some of our most life-altering connections with others are signified by the lunar nodes in synastry. Most simply put, the nodes attach us to parts of other people that will forever change who we are, whether or not we are meant to remain forever attached to those people.

Also to keep things simple and unarguable, let’s use narrow orbs in these examples and only conjunctions; and of course, given the theme of this newsletter, we’re only looking at the lunar nodes. I think you’ll see these nodal connections are self-evident in interpretation, but I suggest you ponder their deeper meanings and repercussions and bear with the technicality of the degrees.

No other public person better embodies the story of the nodes (in all their versions of love and attachment) than John F. Kennedy. If you’re not familiar with his natal chart, take a look, and note his North Node is 12 CAP 29. (Birth data: May 29, 1917, 3 P.M. E.S.T., Brookline, MA, 71W08 42N20).

Let’s start a generation back. Papa Joe Kennedy (9/6/1888) is a double Virgo (hold that in the back of your mind) with the North Node at 28 CAN 02, very closely conjunct JFK’s natal Saturn and MC. Mama Rose (7/22/1890) has a Sun-Mercury conjunction at 29 CAN 44, and a North Node at 21 GEM 49, not far from JFK’s Venus.

Looking at siblings ties, Robert Kennedy (11/20/25) has the Moon on the South Node at 28 CAP 27; a natal MC at 19 CAP 20, Jupiter at 20 CAP 10, Venus at 15 CAP 04, and Pluto at 14 CAN 30 Rx. Obviously, this runs across his older brother’s nodal axis and connects with the IC/MC.
Brother Ted (2/22/32) has a natal Saturn at 29 CAP 50 and Pluto at 20 CAN 16 Rx, as well as an Ascendant at 10 CAP 43, conjunct JFK’s North Node. Talk about family ties! And talk about family karma!

Being of relatively the same generation, the natal Pluto of Jackie Kennedy (7/28/29) falls within orb of these sensitive degrees. However, looking at her North Node at 17 TA 13 (which is tightly conjunct her Descendant), we see it aligns closely with JFK’s Mars and Placidus 8th house cusp. (His Mercury and Jupiter, by the way, are not far off from this conjunction too).

Moving to the next generation, John Kennedy Jr. (11/25/60) has natal Mars at 18 CAN 29 Rx opposite Saturn at 15 CAP 34. Also in Capricorn are Venus (11 CAP 54) and Jupiter (5 CAP 50) and all are conjunct his father’s North Node.

The chart of Lyndon Baines Johnson (8/27/08) should also be taken into consideration since JFK could not have won the election without his alliance. LBJ (ah, another double Virgo, just like Papa Joe) has a South Node at 1 CAN 48, in close conjunction to JFK’s Pluto. More powerfully, however, has natal Neptune (16 CAN 20) conjunct Venus (19 CAN 17) and both are in opposition to Uranus (13 CAP 13 Rx), obviously running across JFK’s nodal axis and not far from his MC/IC!

The Sun of Richard Nixon (1/9/13) is 19 CAP 14, a few degrees from JFK’s North Node, and if you haven’t already turned to your ephemeris for some timing indicators, JFK won the election when transiting Saturn was about 14 CAP, Jupiter was 2 CAP, and Mars was just about to turn retrograde at 18 CAN. His inauguration took place with Jupiter and Saturn closer to their conjunction and Mars had moved to the cardinal degree. Also, the full moon of January 1, 1961, took place at 11 CAN 19!
Who says astrology doesn’t work?

By now, you must be digging up the chart of Marilyn Monroe (6/1/26). Whether you believe Marilyn and JFK really did it, whether she also did it with Bobby, and whether she was killed by the Mafia, by pills or by the Collective, their legacies are forever entwined in the American psyche. So, how are they linked by the Nodes? MM’s North Node is 18 CAN 16, sitting between JFK’s MC and South Node, which is also less than a degree off her Placidus 12th house cusp and Pluto at 13 CAN 24, as though anything else needed to be said!

And perhaps what makes JFK (as well as the entire Kennedy Family) so fascinatingly prominent in the American psyche, in the first place, is the close conjunction between his South Node and the US Sun at 12 CAN 46 (or 13 CAN 20, if you use the “other” chart). Our North Node, by the way, is 7 LEO 37, just a little off from a conjunction to his 10th house Neptune, which explains our idolization of him.

One more interesting connection of the nodes of love is between JFK’s South Node and Bill Clinton’s MC at 5 CAN 58, exemplifying the “hero worship.” (Bill Clinton’s birth date is 8/19/46). Conversely, Bill’s North Node at 17 GEM 16 and Uranus at 21 GEM 09 is in close conjunction to JFK’s chart ruler, Venus, and his Placidus 9th house cusp (the house of heroes, mentors and inspiration). Furthermore, when Bill’s chart is relocated to Washington, DC, his wheel is within two degrees of being the same as JFK! And for those who just can’t get enough of the nodes, ironically, the transiting Mars in Bill Clinton’s Inauguration Chart was at 12 CAN 55 Rx, just minutes away from JFK’s South Node and not that far from the Mars in Kennedy’s aforementioned Inauguration Chart.

The one obvious omission of nodal connections with JFK is Lee Harvey Oswald (10/18/39), and I think we really should see a prominent connection despite whatever other evident synastry ties there are. One can easily make a case for his Moon to fall in the early to middle degrees of Capricorn, coming within conjunction of JFK’s North Node; but since I am not one to jump to astrological conclusions, I encourage some eager mundane astrologer on a lonely Saturday night to try a rectification on Oswald’s chart.

I know what you’re thinking by now. “Sure, these examples work in a sure-fire way. They’re the Nodes of the Moon in the signs of Cancer and Capricorn! Of course, they’re going to describe America’s foremost family. That’s cheating!” Okay, so I offer these examples for your astrological consideration.
How about the foremost family of American TV? Lucy and Desi? (Her birth date is 8/6/11; his date is 3/2/17). His North Node is 17 CAP 10, which fits very nicely with her descendant if you use the 27 Cancer Rising chart. Her Neptune is also in Cancer at 22 degrees. And while we’re on the subject, I don’t care what her biographer and the Bureau of Records say, America’s favorite redhead with a rubber face who is famous for her whine, obviously, has a Cancer Ascendant and an Aries Midheaven, and not a Libra MC with Capricorn Rising! (See Lois Rodden’s Profiles of Women). However, if you haven’t caught on, these are the same nodes as the Kennedy example! Now what might that tell us about fact, fiction, the American family and the Moon’s nodes?

More seriously, here’s one more eye-opening example of the nodes of love. Yoko Ono’s North Node is 8 Pisces 20. (Her birth date is 2/18/33). It is closely conjunct her Mercury and opposite her Neptune. The music writing interpretation should be clear. John Lennon’s chart ruler is Venus, which sits at 2 Virgo 45, in his natal 10th house, and widely conjunct her South Node. (His birth date is 10/9/40). More prominent in their nodal synastry as well as in the role that New York played in their relationship, however, is his NYC relocation Ascendant at 3 Virgo 22.

In their composite chart, there is a T-square composed of the Sun at 22 SAG 37, Mars at 23 Virgo 42, and Saturn at 26 Pisces 29. (Neptune is hanging around at 17 Virgo 33 too). The composite North Node is 24 Sagittarius 28; and since the composite Moon is not too far away at 4 CAP 43, perhaps we can even put a kind of Solar Eclipse spin on the interpretation of the fate in their relationship and the impact they had on a generation, if not on the entire world. (By the way, transiting Neptune at the time of John’s death was at 22 Sagittarius).

But now here’s the astounding part of the nodal connection. Paul McCartney’s North Node is 7 Virgo 55, less than a degree in reverse of Yoko’s nodal axis! (His birth date is 6/18/42). It is almost as though John needed someone to stir those degrees to activate his musical Venus, so when he outgrew Paul as a collaborator, the gods sent him Yoko. How often we, astrologers, see such patterns from one partnership to another!

The synastry of the lunar nodes are where we “stew” with the ingredients in the charts of other people. There, we cook; we mull; we blend with parts of others, never to be the same again. They are the chemistry that every good chef puts into a meal. They are the alchemical reactions deep inside our souls.

In closing, here’s an anecdote from a recent class. It brought me great glee, so I share it with you for a kick. A beginner student, vaguely knowing there were true nodes and mean nodes, that there was a node not so nice and another that was better, asked with absolute innocence, trying to get it right, “Is it the true node that’s good, and the bad node that’s mean?”

Methinks the nodes of love are always a little true and a little mean, and not a little magical too.