Draconic Astrology - Finding your soul purpose

By Victor Olliver

A (very) brief history

The word ‘draconic’ means dragon-like. Once upon ancient times, people thought lunar and solar eclipses were the result of a dragon living in the Moon’s nodes which periodically ate the Sun and Moon (what we now know as eclipses). How else to explain the curious dimming and occultations of the luminaries? Astrology starts in myth and its symbols, so in draconic (shortened to ‘draco’ – itself a Latin word for dragon or serpent) we have fork-tongued dragons.

It’s a specialist but little known or understood technique set on an ambitious objective: to discover an individual’s life or soul purpose(s) encoded in the horoscope.

Its origins are not entirely clear though there are faint clues from ancient Mesopotamia. Back in the late 1970s, Dennis Elwell – author of the classic book Cosmic Loom – contributed an essay titled ‘Multidimensional Transits’ on draconic astrology to the UK-based The Astrological Journal, citing astronomical antiquities expert Cyril Fagan’s 1951 title Zodiacs Old and New. Elwell wrote:

He (Fagan) concludes…that the Babylonians considered the positions of the planets in the Draconian Zodiac, i.e., with their distances measured from the Nodes, were of consequence, that in Babylonian times there was indeed such another zodiac.

This is good deductive reasoning but not conclusive in the absence of actual chart work or other documentary evidence.

For much more on the origins of draconic astrology, Pam Crane’s The Draconic Chart is essential. Meantime, we are getting ahead of ourselves. What I aim to do in this piece is introduce you to the technique, itemise some ground rules and use a few charts to illustrate how draconic is best used in interpretive work. I shall be looking only at the draconic in relation to the tropical and for this work I only use the Equal House system. It is a matter of personal choice which house system you use.

What is draconic astrology?

Draconic astrology is also known as ‘nodal astrology’. We start with the Moon’s South and North Nodes in the natal or event chart. In astronomical terms, we understand that these lunar nodes are two points where the orbit of the Moon intersects the ecliptic – the Sun’s path – in the northern and southern hemispheres. In astrological terms, the South Node is associated with the individual’s past and possibly past incarnations; with what is familiar; with what has been experienced. The North Node is a destiny pointer, the indicator of life challenges and purposes in the present and future arising from past actions or inactions. The nodal axis describes life as a continuum and presupposes a spiritual aim of perfecting the self through experience, at least as an ideal. Some practitioners speak of reincarnation and karma as the moral dynamic. But these beliefs are not essential to draconic interpretation.

Most practitioners stop at this point so far as the tropical nodal axis is concerned in order to delineate the chart placements of South and North Node. The draconic astrologer, however, wants to know a lot more. It is time to delve deeper. To do this, and to point out the obvious, a tropical birth chart has first to be created. Now we are ready to create the draconic version. This is done simply by shifting the natal North Node to 0° Aries – the Vernal Equinox point. The distance in degrees between natal and vernal point is how much you will move the rest of the chart.

In other words, you subtract the longitude of tropical North Node from the longitude of each tropical planet and point.

Computer software programs, such as Solar Fire or Astrodienst, make this easy by generating instant draconic charts. But if you want to see the formula in action, look for example at Queen Victoria’s natal chart. The distance between her natal North Node and 0° Aries is (a rounded) 19° 44′. So, with her tropical Sun (2° Gemini 7′) at longitude 62° 07′, deduct the 19° 44′. This gives you 42° 23′ (draco Sun at 12° Taurus 23′).

Note well that that only the signs and degrees alter. Planets remain in their tropically assigned houses. If your Mars is the 1st house, it stays in the draconic 1st house. The two charts at first glance will seem unchanged. In a few instances, they may be literally unchanged or little different if the tropical North Node happens to be at the start of Aries – but that’s another subject. Draconic aspects are the same as those of the tropical, though significant new aspects may be created when you compare the two charts in the biwheel.

The draconic chart is a creature of the Moon and its associations: the past, history, memories, emotions, soul needs/purposes, habits and so forth: its broad theme is the inner or soul life. The tropical chart is the Sun’s map which also starts at 0° Aries: it identifies our mental processes, behaviour, what we reason and given traits, etc.: its broad theme is the surface or known life. The two charts together offer causal links between past, present and future. Between mind and unconscious or soul. And between what we want and what we need.

Before I move onto looking at chart examples, here are some more draconic ground rules:

• Nodes move retrograde. There are two types of node. Mean Node which always moves retrograde and is an ‘average’ position ignoring the lunar ‘wobble’ or liberation. True Node takes into account the lunar orbital wobble, so it moves direct between one and three times a month.
• It is a matter of personal choice which type of node you use. Test charts for yourself. Pam Crane uses True, as do I. Dane Rudhyar preferred Mean.
• The difference between True and Mean is never more than 2 degrees.
• A nodal return occurs approximately every 18-and-a-half years.
• A draconic planet spends up to 18 months in each sign, no matter the length of the tropical transit period. Pace is determined by the nodes. The draconic ephemeris can be found at various sites, such as: horoscopes.astro-seek.com.
• The draconic chart is not an alternative to the tropical but a specialist supplemental. The tropical chart usually provides strong indicators of life purpose and challenges – but the draconic may serve to clarify and expand on these and may on occasion starkly reveal what seems hidden in the tropical. Only by comparing and contrasting the two charts is it possible to properly assess what challenges the individual faces.
• In tropical-draconic biwheel analysis, interaspect orbs are as for a natal chart.
• Inter-chart conjunctions and oppositions are by far the most significant aspects.

Draconic in action

I have looked at four charts of notable people to demonstrate how I approach the draconic analysis. For space reasons these delineations focus only on the central message. In the process, I offer practical suggestions on technique based on my experience with celebrity and client charts. The last case study, Britney Spears, introduces my three-step approach to draconic.

Queen Victoria

This is a good example of how in the draco chart we are looking for the ‘headline’ news of the life, the big picture.

The first thing to notice is the shift from major mutable energy (tropical Gemini) to a fixed Taurus emphasis in the draconic (including Ascendant): it is the Queen’s part to be exemplar of value and values (Taurus). Draco Part of Fortune sits closer to Sun than in the tropical – and this closer proximity is a form of italics to emphasise a point. As Elwell observed in the essay referred to above, Victoria became emblematic of the materialistic prosperity and moral values of her age (though no account is taken of societal hypocrisies or the ruthless empire building on which the nation’s wealth was largely based). Victoria’s Moon is ‘promoted’ to exaltation in draco Taurus, indicative of raised importance of the protective mother image (she was the “mother of the nation”) – and it is worth saying here that essential dignity of planets is an important guide to gauging purposes, challenges and strengths.

North Node is moved to the draco 10th house, in keeping with Victoria’s status, and is tightly but out-of-sign conjunct tropical Saturn, planet of leadership and responsibility in the public domain: in Pisces, themes of necessary self-sacrifice pertain. This is echoed by Jupiter’s shift from Aquarius to its fall in draco Capricorn, a ‘demotion’, indicative of growth contingent on a life of stultifying constraint. And placed in the 8th house, reflective of much sorrow (she suffered a long and painful widowhood). Victoria was forever at odds with public and parliamentary expectations of her.

Greta Thunberg

We do not have her time of birth so in the chart ignore house positions and points. The teenage climate activist who inspired the Extinction Rebellion movement has a heavy tropical Capricorn chart focus with an empowered Mars in Scorpio, melding initiatory and principled resolve with fighting spirit. Her draconic chart shifts all the Capricorn to draco Scorpio, focusing life purpose on passionate, uncompromising convictions – which is entirely apt.

Most interestingly, her draco Jupiter in Gemini is exactly conjunct tropical North Node: in past lives terms, it might be said that Thunberg came into this world for the purpose (North Node) specifically to disseminate (Gemini) her ingrained wisdom as some kind of guru or teacher (Jupiter). Is there a clue in the charts as to the theme of her convictions? Look to asteroid Ceres, designated the Earth Mother. Tropical Ceres sits between draconic North Node and Saturn in martial Aries while draconic Ceres is out-of-sign conjunct tropical Mercury, linking Ceres themes with communications and media. Thunberg quickly mastered Twitter (making climate change-denier President Trump look foolish with her fast, parodic humour) and already has bestselling climate books to her name.

Hedy Lamarr

This Hollywood golden age actress and beauty – star of such movies as the blockbuster Samson and Delilah (1949) and The Heavenly Body (1944) – was also a pioneering scientist. Though she had no science education, she invented and patented, among other things, a frequency-hopping technology in the early 1940s that “became a precursor to the secure wi-fi, GPS and Bluetooth now used by billions of people around the world,” as reported by Forbes. It was as if she had been born programmed with implanted science knowledge. Glamour queen thesp and geek: how does this manifest in her draconic analysis?

In her tropical nativity, Moon and Neptune (glamour, illusion, movies) are conjunct in Leo (theatricality) in her 1st house of self. Sitting very widely opposite are an elevated Uranus (science, innovation) in its modern domicile of Aquarius conjunct a boosting Jupiter. So, her tropical chart already reflects life purposes accurately. But when set with Lamarr’s draconic chart, emphases are added. Draco Moon and Neptune stay in Leo but are now out-of-sign conjunct tropical Virgo South Node, suggesting that it is her fate somehow to be part of illusion or make-believe by default; she has the natural-born components for glamour. Opposite sit draco Uranus conjunct North Node: a science/innovative theme is built into her life challenges. Like Thunberg’s draco Jupiter on tropical North Node, Lamarr’s Uranus-on-North Node suggests a preternatural, prenatal knowledge brought into this life.

There is a catch. Uranus is ‘demoted’ from its tropical domicile to draco Pisces while Jupiter is ‘promoted’ to draco Pisces, the sign’s old ruler, offering a counterbalancing support to Uranus. What might this demotion signify in the life? Although Lamarr is now celebrated as an unlikely science innovator, she never earned a penny from her inventions. Some say she was effectively robbed by the US government which used her ideas after her patent expired in the 1950s. Pisces is the sign of self-sacrifice and the greater good: the draco chart suggests, perhaps, that such rewards as she will receive for her science ingenuity will not be found this side of heaven.

Britney Spears

The American singer-songwriter and dancer is one of the most successful and iconic performers in pop music history. She recently was released from a lengthy conservatorship – which managed all aspects of her life – run by her father Jamie following a long public campaign.

In this example, I introduce my three-step approach to draconic analysis.

Step 1: Britney Spears’ tropical birth chart. Chart ruler Venus is conjunct South Node. Planets close to the nodes are of great significance. We may speculate as to the immense charm that is Spears’ default trait, but the thing to note is that Venus in Capricorn is disposited by Saturn while Spears’ Saturn that’s exalted in Libra is disposited by Venus – in other words, we have a mutual reception by square. With Venus in the 4th house, this square alerts to a potential problem in matters to do with family (4th), father (Saturn), authority (Saturn again) and relationship within the family (Venus). The mutual reception should mitigate the square to some extent, smooth its edges, but the square is complicated by Saturn’s conjunction with Pluto: Pluto adds restriction and obstacle, its position in Libra leans toward relationships as an area to watch for restrictive controls on the person (1st house). Pluto rules the 2nd house with Scorpio on the cusp, zone of income and assets: another area to watch for control issues.

Reincarnationists might very well deduce that Spears enters this life to address matters of Saturn and Venus: restriction within relationship, limitations on life pleasures and freedoms imposed by authority.

The nodal axis encompasses Capricorn South Node to Cancer North Node in the 10th, as does the IC/MC axis, also in the Equal 10th. Once again, Saturn themes apply which can embrace matters of personal freedom. The nodal direction of travel is away from authority’s potential restrictions towards Cancer’s greater humanity and sensitivity (in this context), but it’s a sign of dependency questions. We see that one life purpose has to do with a fight – Mars in Virgo in the 12th is exactly sextile/trine the nodes.

Cancer is associated with the 4th house, so matters to do with home environment are a major theme already in the tropical chart. Its ruler the Moon (sextile Sun in Sagittarius) is in Aquarius in the 5th, sign of personal independence in the house of the individual’s creative passions.

The Bowl chart shape puts Mars in the lead, another suggestion of a destiny ‘fight’, though Mars is not at its best in the 12th house. Impetus may be interrupted by chaotic situations or thinking. Mars is disposited by Mercury in detriment in Sagittarius which is also an impediment but not one irredeemably so.

Her chart is highly cardinal, she is born to take the lead. Her Crescent Moon is knowing and full of expectation but can be faced with problems of how to act or activate.

Step 2: Britney Spears’ draconic birth chart. The most striking feature of this chart is that it captures the creative strength of Spears in a much more emphatic way than the tropical. Sun, Mercury and Uranus are in Leo, sign of the vivacious theatricality we associate with Spears at her best. Draco Sun is in its strength, a star that cannot be ignored. This is part of life purpose, to display and perform, but as we have seen in other charts, a spiritual journey is often wrapped up with emotional challenges also.

Venus is in its dignity in Libra, a promotion of significance. This alerts us to the ‘relationship’ issue in Spears’ life and the problems we saw in the tropical chart. The transition from tropical Capricorn to Libra is the passage from restriction to a shared pleasure, to equality – this is a Spears challenge. Underscoring this is the Moon in draco Libra, orienting the nature in its highest form towards finding harmony in relationship.

North Node in Aries in the 10th also tells us that it a destiny point to take command of life direction: node ruler Mars is now in Gemini disposited by Mercury, promoted to the neutral sign of Leo. Mercury rules the draco chart through Gemini rising: though the planet is in an applying conjunction to the Sun and combust – thought of as debilitating in traditional systems – I am not persuaded this is of huge significance, given Mercury’s frequent proximity to the Sun. At most, the combustion may signal a need to stay focused, just as with Mercury retrogrades.

Mars in draco Gemini directs to adaptability and the power of words: with Sun in the 3rd house, the zone of Gemini, there is a resonance here between Spears’ creativity and her power to communicate/radiate. Mars’ 12th-house placement may suggest a future where she addresses issues pertaining to psychology, isolation, confinement and other meaningful themes. Her post-conservatorship life, which was all to do with ‘confinement’ of a sort, may be the springboard to a new ‘career’.

Jupiter’s exaltation to Cancer in the 1st resonates with the 4th house, the sign’s natural home, suggesting the potential of growth through growing independence. Pluto now shares Cancer with Jupiter, a conjunction of power and resilience, which may be expressed in a variety of different ways. It may be part of Spears’ life purpose to find her power through detachment from parts of family or through a family of her own or some other reinvention pertaining to family life.

Air is greatly promoted in the draco chart, encouraging greater communication and dispassion as a source of strength.

Step 3: Britney Spears’ tropical-draconic synastry chart. The tropical chart indicates plainly that there are issues to do with authority/father and relationship with the family. The self-synastry makes this and other identified themes a lot starker.

Over in the 12th house, draco South Node conjunct Venus rising is sufficiently close to tropical Mars in Virgo to confirm that contention must be expected in matters of relationship (in old astrology we might even say a male-female contention if we wish to continue gendering the planets as per the ancients and medievals). The out-of-sign nature of the conjunction (Libra-Virgo) takes the matter into the area of health, care and wellbeing – perhaps this denotes the healing power of resolved conflict.

But the draco South Node-Venus-tropical Mars conjunction forms the apex of a highly problematic t-square that includes draco Pluto-tropical MC in Cancer at the top of the chart and IC in Capricorn. The Pluto-MC conjunction bestows huge career ambition, even obsession, and accomplishment. But it also signifies the possibility of over-controlling influences within the family sphere (Cancer, square South Node-Venus). This is amplified by Pluto’s opposition to the IC which is ruled by Saturn on the Equal 4th-house cusp: family/father/authority are implicated in matters of control or influence. It is a major theme of the chart, and most probably represents the problems Spears faced during her conservatorship, if not before. Or even to come.

The oppositional energies potentially find resolution through conflict with the apex planets and point (Libra-Virgo).

Draco Pluto is disposited by draco Moon in Libra in the 1st house – and you can see which tropical planet it conjoins exactly: Saturn. Just three minutes between them. Tropical Pluto is close by to stir things up further. This graphically symbolises the very personal nature of the problem (1st), involving the family (Moon) and authority/father (Saturn). And power (Pluto). The nature of the problem is relationship (Libra) and issues over equality.

Draco North Node in Aries on the Descendant conjunct Pars Fortuna in the 7th makes a lot clearer the life challenge to Spears to preserve her independence within relationships. The draco nodal axis forms a t-square with draco Pluto in Cancer – suggesting that a great self-empowerment is available to her through family crisis and finding a healthy balance in her unions and alliances.

It’s interesting to see draco Descendant conjunct her tropical Sun in Sagittarius in the 3rd house, and draco Mars in Gemini sextile North Node: the two aspects are saying similar things, pointing to the need for greater freedom and staying independent.

Perhaps in a past life she was over-dependent on others, allowed others to ‘consume’ her (remember, tropical Venus conjunct South Node in Capricorn in the 4th). But you don’t have to embark on a past-life quest. In this life alone, one sees the themes of her life played out in the charts. A former Princess of Pop she may be – and the draco indicators reflect her stardom – but her soul requires as much as anything else…air to breathe and operate. Liberation in union.

Published in: Timelords Magazine, Feb. 2022.

Author:
Victor Olliver is the editor of The Astrological Journal. His book Chasing the Dragons: An Introduction to Draconic Astrology is published in 2022 by The Wessex Astrologer. His website: victorolliver.co.uk.

Image:
Dragons: Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay

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