NODES UNFOLDING
North Node north-node South Node south-node
We’ve looked at a lot of data now, and you’ve plotted a lot of information onto your datasheet to work with. We have, in the preceding section, started to build a model of the best way to grasp such a large amount of information. Now I have to confuse you a bit and tell you that some Astrologers start at different points of emphasis. Often it is more a matter of the kind of reading you are after. For example, if you are looking at your life as one of many, reincarnation speaking, then you may prefer, like Astrologer Jan Spiller author of Astrology for the Soul, or Astrologer Judy Hall author of The Karmic Journey: The Birth chart, Karma and Reincarnation, place a stronger emphasis on the Moon’s Nodes. This is because the North and South Nodes of the astrological chart represent the past and the future opportunities. Astrologer Jeff Green also lays a strong focus on the Nodal placements, especially their relationship to Pluto and those planets they bring in by aspect to move from the South Node to the North Node. All these astrologers, and there are more, locate an importance on the Soul, which may point to a strong Water element in their own charts and an emphasis on the water houses 4, 8 and 12.
More pragmatic earth element types with houses, 2, 6 and 10 may seek in the nodes more tangible information such as experiential directives that reveal past reincarnations as male active in comparison to future realisations of what it is to experience a female responsive, or inactive, Yin energy. This might be even less across lives but rather show the start of life (south node) with natural tomboy expressions towards a realisation of what it means to be a woman, very much in body including the hormonal emotions implicated here. If you are not interested, or do not entertain considerations of several lives or dimensions of being, then you can still benefit greatly from getting to understand how the Nodes operate in your chart and in others by considering them in this more pragmatic light, within your one lifetime, with the South Node being what you start with and the North Node being what you are aiming towards understanding and becoming. Remember to maintain your consideration of your Sun as primary in this activity. There will be a Nodal connection towards this realisation. It may be that the North Node’s lesson learnt provides the final key to unlock the success of your Sun’s journey to itself.
In the example chart the North Node is in Taurus on the 1st/2nd house cusp and the South Node is in Scorpio on the 7th/8th house cusp. A reading would be based on all four of these houses and the two signs concerned. Particular emphasis would be placed on the point of crossing from one house to the next at each point, that is, those things that become highlighted as we move from being two people moving together to becoming a unit comprised of two people. This example chart, nodally speaking is very much about boundaries, understanding who we are and what we value based on our past experience of perhaps experiences where we gave ourselves to be enveloped by another rather than merging with some equality. This is emphasised further by the Sign of Scorpio that has a tendency to over-power or be over-powered by another. This may have transpired (in this life) through experiences of sexual domination or exploits that are grown out of (South Node past) into a more Taurean way of identifying yourself by understanding what you value and the reason these disempowering lessons allowed you your prize that enables you to become Self. Understanding your values, through this journey of boundaries enables the realisation of a 2nd House Sun’s True Will. Again. The Nodes therefore support the journey to Sun.
But let’s tally in the broader universe for a while with respected astrologers Jan and Judy. By using the Nodes we can move over vaster areas if you like, as if we are standing much further back from ourselves objectively and checking for some kind of overview rather than our more subjective in the moment approach to date. Often a broader context allows us to understand those things that are not within our reach when we are experiencing our journey first hand.
For this reason Jan Spiller, author of Astrology for the Soul, always starts with the Nodes. Her book reveals a rich volume of information on this journey. The following abstracts are taken directly from Jan’s book and are from the perspective of the North Node’s desired outcome. The key areas to be “left behind” illustrate those South Nodal areas that may be manifesting early on that alert you to your North Nodal quest. From an esoteric point of view, these South Nodal tendencies to be left behind might still haunt you from a past life experience. For example, if your North Node is in Aries and you need to define who you are more publicly rather than be too diplomatic, you may have been in a situation in a past life where diplomacy meant the difference between life and death and you had to understand this in order to survive. The “leave behind” of this life may very well have been the necessary need in the last. For example, a North Node in this life in Libra is a need to turn off your own channels of inner communication to allow others’ needs to be evaluated. This is a good lesson, but for people with the North Node in Aries this time around such a lesson is already inherent in them to such a degree that their Aries need has been neglected and the virtues of the Libran lesson now become harmful rather than healthy.
As in all things Venusian there is no right and wrong or positive and negative. There are experiences that are in accordance with your True Will and those that are not, although they will likely be in accordance with the True Will of someone else.
The following sections are taken directly from the key indicators at the start of each chapter for each Node in Jan Spiller’s book Astrology For The Soul, pub Bantam Books 1997. For a fuller explanation of the nodal story please purchase a copy of Jan’s book.
North Node in Aries
Develop:
Independence
Self-awareness
Trusting one’s impulses
Courage
Constructive self-interest
Moderation in giving
Self-nurturance
Leave behind:
Seeing oneself through others’ eyes
Debilitating selflessness
Being Mr or Ms Nice
Obsessive attachment to fairness and justice
Co-dependence: attachment to external harmony
‘Tit for tat’ mentality
North Node in Taurus
Develop:
Loyalty
Awareness of boundaries
Taking things one step at a time
A sense of self-worth
Awareness of personal values
Patience
Honouring expressed needs of self and others
Enjoying the five physical senses
Gratitude
Awareness of nurturing from Mother Earth
Forgiveness
Persistence
Leave behind:
Attraction to crisis situations
Over concern with other people’s business
Impatience
Inappropriate intensity
Judgmental tendencies
Preoccupation with the psychological motivations of others
Resistance to cooperating with what others want
Overreacting
Destroying something in order to eliminate one part
Obsessive-compulsive tendencies
North Node in Gemini
Develop:
Healthy curiosity
Asking questions to learn how others think
Seeing both sides of a situation
Tact
Logic
Communication of internal dichotomies
A positive approach to life and other people
Purposely cheering up others
Using a non-threatening approach when expressing ideas
Listening
Openness to new ideas and experiences
Seeking factual information before making decisions
Leave behind:
Self-righteousness
Aloofness
Assuming others know ‘where they’re at’
Thinking one know what others are saying without really listening
Needing to be right
Espousing ‘truth’ without taking others’ views into account
Careless spontaneity
Taking shortcuts
Taking oneself too seriously: having a ponderous approach to life
Acting on intuition without checking the facts
Resisting ideas that are foreign to one’s belief system
Prejudging present situations on the basis of past experience
North Node in Cancer
Develop:
Noticing and validating feelings
Empathy
Nurturing and supporting others
Building one’s own foundation and security
Honest disclosure of feelings and insecurities
Humility
Accepting others’ foibles and fluctuating moods without judgment
Staying centered in one’s own feelings
Leave behind:
Needing to control everything and everyone
Compulsion to take charge without fully understanding the situation
Ignoring the process; being too focused on the goal
Feeling completely responsible for everything
Hiding feelings and fears in intimate relationships
Doing things to gain respect or admiration from oth4rs
Taking care of others’ feelings and neglecting one’s own
Doing what is ‘socially acceptable’ rather than what is totally honest
Thinking that things have to be difficult in order to be important
North Node in Leo
Develop:
Individuality
willingness to take ‘centre stage’
Following one’s heart’s desires
Strengthening one’s willpower
Enthusiasm\
Self-confidence
Taking risks
Relating to the childlike quality in others
Enjoying life – having fun
Looking at life as a game
Developing an “it’s up to me” attitude
Leave behind:
Yielding to peer pressure in order to ‘belong’
Detaching from emotional situations
Aloofness
Waiting for others to prompt one’s own action
‘Overlooking’ what’s really going on
Waiting for ‘more’ knowledge before taking action
Excessive daydreaming
Running away from confrontations
North Node in Virgo
Develop:
Participation
Bringing Order to Chaos
Creating routines
Focusing on the here and now
Acting on feelings of compassion
Being of service tooters
Analyzing and categorizing
Gaining self-confidence through experience
Moderation
Taking risks in spite of fears
Noticing and valuing details
Leave behind:
Being a victim (or having victim consciousness)
Confusion and disorientation
Avoidance of planning
Escapism/addictive tendencies (drugs, alcohol, excessive sleep, daydreaming etc)
Extremism
Over sensitivity
Self-doubt
Feelings of inadequacy
Withdrawal
Vagueness (not wanting to commit) / inaction
Giving up
North Node in Libra
Develop:
Cooperation
Diplomacy and tact
Increasing awareness of others’ needs
Selflessness: giving support without expecting reciprocity
Creating win/win situations
Sharing
Seeing things through another’s eyes
Communicating self-identity
Leave behind:
Impulsiveness
Thoughtless self-assertion
Lack of awareness of others’ needs for support
Self-centeredness
Selfishness
Lack of good judgment regarding money
Expecting others to be like oneself
Indifference to how one is seen by others
Resistance to compromise
Outbursts of anger
Over concern with survival
North Node in Scorpio
Develop:
Self-discipline
Choosing constructive change
Releasing whatever causes stagnation and low energy
Eliminating non useful possessions
Enjoying things without having to own them
Accepting support from others (ideas, money, opportunities)
Enjoying high-risk situation that make one feel alive
Awareness of others’ psychology (their desires, wants, needs and motives)
Openness to partnering supporting and merging power with others
Leave behind:
Attachment to comfort and the status quo
Possessiveness
Over concern with accumulation and ownership
Questioning past decisions
Stubbornness
Getting bogged down in sensual appetites
Repeatedly doing things one way (the hard way) even though another way is easier
Resistance to change and others’ input
North Node in Sagittarius
Develop:
Reliance on intuition, prophetic abilities, and invisible guidance
Speaking from higher consciousness
Spontaneity – developing a sense of freedom and adventure
Direct communication free from censorship
Trusting oneself
spending time alone and in nature
Pati4ence
Intuitive listening – hearing the meaning behind the words
Leave behind:
Second-guessing what others are thinking
Indecisiveness
Perpetually seeking more information
Saying what others want to hear
Invalidating intuitive knowing with logic
Gossiping
Impatience- wanting immediate answers
Trusting others’ perceptions instead of one’s own – including others’ perceptions about oneself
North Node in Capricorn
Develop:
Self-control
Approaching life from an adult position
Self respect
Staying goal oriented
Sensible approaches to problem solving
Keeping commitments and promises
Letting go of the past
Self-care
Accepting responsibility for success
Leave behind:
Dependence
Moodiness
Insecurity leading to inaction
Limiting self through fear
Using the past to avoid the present
Isolation- spending too much time at home
Lack of self-respect
Avoidance of personal risk
Controlling others through emotional overreactions
North Node in Aquarius
Develop:
Objectivity seeing the ‘total picture’
Desire for friendship
Making decisions for he group’s best interest
Willingness to share unconventional ideas
Willingness to champion humanitarian causes
Active participation in groups
Awareness of equality
Relating to others as individuals, apart from their specific roles (gardener, doctor, lover, etc)
Creating win/win situations
Recognizing how others are special
Leave behind:
Insistence on getting one’s way
Making changes just too exercise authority
Attachment to taking risks (romance or gambling)
Willfulness and stubbornness
Attachment to the need for approval
Melodramatic tendencies
Doing what’s expected instead of following one’s heart
Unbridled passion – going to extremes
Unawareness of others’ importance
Prideful responses based on fear
North Node in Pisces
Develop:
Being nonjudgmental
Compassion
Surrendering anxiety to a Higher Power
Freeing the mind through meditation and self-reflection
Focusing on the spiritual pathway
Trusting in positive outcomes
Acknowledging connection with the universe
Welcoming change
Leave behind:
Hyper anxiety reactions
Over analysis
Obsessive worry
Exaggerating the importance of details
Critical first reactions
Fault finding – making others wrong
Excessive anxiety over making mistakes
Being Mr or Ms Perfect
Staying in unpleasant situations
Inflexibility
In Judy Halls’s The Karmic Journey: The Birth chart, Karma and Reincarnation these traits can be superimposed over relationships with others who become the projections of your own journey. For example, relationships where the personal planets of one partner aspect the south Node of the other then one may be a fellow traveller karmically re-meeting in this life and the lessons revealed by Jan Spiller above may be highlighted in this union. Judy applies Karmic purposes to the North Nodal placements that are mostly compatible with Jan’s key indicators above. Judy also applies a detailed explanation of Karmic Astrology through the planets, signs and houses of the chart comprehensively, where Jan’s work here is a detailed expose on the Nodes specifically. Both authors are recommended reading for anyone interested in Astrology.