Beginner’s Corner with Sheridan
Send your questions to beginnerscorner@sheridansemple.com.
If your Moon is your lineage and your Ascendant your current life purpose, is it enough to know these two archetypes? Does that give you all the information you need to understand where you have come from and where you are going? Daniel Giamario, the founder of the Shamanic Astrology Paradigm, says no. He takes these two important archetypal energies on your chart and drills down much deeper. He takes the possible twelve signs or archetypes and squares them (very astrological 😉) thus creating 144 Storylines that are so unique and so key to Shamanic Astrology. Think of it as twelve majors in the twelve schools of life. 12 x 12 = 144.
What are the 144 Storylines?
Let us start with the Moon, the beginning. There are twelve signs of the Zodiac that the Moon could have occupied at the time of your birth. The Moon moves quickly through the sky, changing signs every 2.5 days on average. That’s a pretty tight knit group. It is not like the Sun that traverses each sign for 30 days, give or take. It is a smaller group that shares your individual Moon sign. In Shamanic Astrology, we are the most interested in the aspects of your chart that are so uniquely yours. For example, we don’t put much attention on what sign your Pluto is in because Pluto will stay in that sign for an average of 20 years. That is a generational archetype and does not tell us a lot about your personal path.
The Moon, on the other hand, is much more specific to you. But, that’s not enough for Shamanic Astrology. We want to drill down even farther into your Moon sign. We do that through looking at which house (HOUSE, not sign) your south node resides within. Take my Moon in Virgo for example. It tells us some important information about my past, my lineage, my natural area of expertise. We could hypothesize that I have been learning about Virgo for several lifetimes already. I’m definitely an Earth Priestess as I teach about plant spirit medicine, but wait… there’s more!
My south node is in my third house, the Gemini-resonate house. This means I had the Gemini job within my Virgo tribe. Yes, I am of the Virgo priests and priestesses, but I had a specific job within that group of knowledge and practices. I had the Gemini job because my south node (where I came from) is in my third house. This adds a levity and playfulness to a more serious Virgo Moon. I brought creativity to the other Priestesses. I was the storyteller and carried the messages. This is a very different role within my Moon clan, than if my south node was in the fourth house, the Cancer-resonate house. If that were the case, I would have been the mother and nurturer of the Virgo Priestesses, probably caring for the young initiates, helping them grow into their full power. Feel the significant differences this added layer brings to your understanding of your Moon sign?
What is your Moon sign? Which house is your south node in?
We could play this game all day. Aries Moon with the south node in the twelfth house: Aries Moon with the Pisces job. That changes the vibe of Aries considerably. This woman or man would be the empath and healer of the warrior group, the medic on the battlefield of defending cosmic order. That feels very different from the frontline fighter, doesn’t it? How about the Libra job (south node in the seventh house) in the Scorpio Moon clan? This person would get really juiced around personal relationships. They would find intensity and aliveness in the reflection of themselves by another person. Again, feel how different this makes someone’s Scorpio Moon from say the Cancer job above? It becomes so much more personal and so much more individualized.
144 Storylines applies to your Ascendant too!
Take your rising sign and look for your north node this time. The node of where you are headed in this lifetime. What HOUSE (not sign) does your north node live in? Hint, it will be exactly opposite of your south node. For example, my south node is in my third/Gemini house, so my north node lives in my ninth and Sagittarius-resonate house. That means I have the Sagittarius job in my rising sign of Leo. That is a fire job in a fire tribe – double fire, double intuitional realm that I’m learning about. If Leo is the new Mystery School I am attending in this lifetime, then I am drilling down into learning how to do the Sagittarius job within that school. I am learning self-love through exploration and adventure. I find the ultimate truth in my divinity and creatorship.
What’s your Ascendant? What house holds your north node?
Let us say your rising sign is in Cancer and your north node is in the second house, the Taurus house. You would be learning about the Taurus job in the Cancer Mystery School. You would be here to learn about finding deep sensual pleasure in the mothering process, in nurturing itself. How about if your Ascendant is in Aquarius and your north node in the tenth house? You would be learning how to do the Capricorn job in your new Aquarius tribe. That would bring a grounded aspect into your airy, high flying Aquarius perch. You might fly into the cosmos for discovering deeper consciousness and then come back to earth to teach us what you learned. See how this works?
When you take the twelve archetypes or Mystery Schools and then multiply them by the twelve houses either node can reside within, you get the 144 Storylines. This brings a precision into your life’s journey that is undeniable and often explains exactly what was missing in your previous understanding of your Moon and Ascendant. You might be a watery version of the fire. You might ground the air. And, visa versa of course. I find bringing in the 144 Storylines into readings with my clients leads to many aha moments in their understanding of themselves, their paths and why they are here.
Remember you can ask me questions about this by emailing me at beginnerscorner@sheridansemple.com and I’ll answer them next month.
To learn more about the 144 Storylines directly from Daniel Giamario check out his upcoming June Solstice class on this topic, by clicking here. It’s free!
Sheridan Semple