line show their influence more in the public sphere whereas planets below the horizon
are more private, but this distinction clearly breaks down when considering planets in
such locations as the twelfth house (a largely private house situated above the hori-
zon). The expression nocturnal arc refers to the distance, expressed in degrees and
minutes of a circle, that a planet traverses between its setting in the west and its rising
in the east. Classical astrology also classified signs as diurnal (the masculine signs) and
nocturnal (the feminine signs). Contemporary astrologers no longer use the expres-
sion nocturnal sign.Sources:
Bach, Eleanor. Astrology from A to Z: An Illustrated Source Book.New York: Philosophical
Library, 1990.
Brau, Jean-Louis, Helen Weaver, and Allan Edmands. Larousse Encyclopedia of Astrology.New
York: New American Library, 1980.NODES OF THEPLANETS
Take the orbit of Earth around the Sun, imagine it as a flat plane, and project it out-
ward against the backdrop of the stars. This projection is the ecliptic. Although all the
principal planets in the solar system orbit the Sun in approximatelythe same plane,
none of their orbital paths lies in exactlythe same plane. The geocentric (earth-cen-
tered) nodes are the points at which the planets cross the ecliptic. The point at which
a planet moves northward—with respect to our terrestrial perspective—as it crosses
the ecliptic is its north node; correspondingly, the point at which it moves southward
is the south node. Traditionally, the only nodes regarded as important were the lunar
nodes because these were the points where eclipses occurred.
In heliocentric (Sun-centered) astrology, the nodes are located where the
orbits of any two planets cross. While only the lunar nodes are significant in tradition-
al, geocentric astrology, the planetary nodes are major points of reference in heliocen-
tric systems. Some astrologers have also tried to develop interpretations of the geocen-
tric planetary nodes, but these have not caught on, partly because the basic astrologi-
cal tool required to place these points in a chart—an adequate ephemeris (table of
positions)—has not generally been available. However, some of the new computer
programs include ephemerides for the nodes. The Solar Fire program produced by Eso-
teric Technologies, for example, will locate the nodes and even place them in a sec-
ond ring outside of the primary chart.Sources:
Fitzwalter, Bernard, and Raymond Henry. Dark Stars: Invisible Focal Points in Astrology.Welling-
borough, Northamptonshire, UK: Aquarian Press, 1988.
Gettings, Fred. Dictionary of Astrology.London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985.NONPLANETS
Nonplanets are everything placed in a horoscope that is not the Sun, Moon, or one of
the eight planets (e.g., the part of Fortune, the lunar nodes, etc.).Nodes of the Planets
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