- The North and South Nodes In the Signs and Houses -

Knowing what we do about the Moon’s Nodes, how do we apply them in our natal chart? While it is impossible to cover all possible sign and house combinations, by applying your knowledge of house and sign keywords, today’s examples can help you understand a new way to view these factors of growth, change, and release in our chart.

In the previous articles in this series, the sign of the North Node shows the nature of our greatest evolutionary development, while the sign of the South Node indicates where we “show what we know.” Events related to our North Node can be difficult because they push us to grow, often through challenging circumstances and people. Event related to our South Node may or may not be “easy,” since while they are familiar, they can also feel like we’re going through the motions doing things we’ve done countless times before.

The North Node represents “in-take” energies, while the South Node represents “out-flow” energies. In the course of our evolution, we need both types of experiences as we learn to utilize what we have to “grow and let go, grow and let go.” The sign of our North Node are the qualities we must learn about, regardless of how difficult, and the sign of our South Node show the qualities we already have down.

The Nodes in the Signs

When we look at the Nodes In a birth chart, you will see they always occupy a polarity of two signs which oppose each other. This polarity is what we’re learning how to use to balance what we absorb and what we release, demonstrating how we’ve growth through “showing what we know.” This is a movement between effort and putting things on “cruise-control.” We build through the sign of the NN, and let go through the sign of the SN.

For example, if we have NN in Pisces/SN in Virgo, we’re learning to be compassionate this life, letting go of criticism and worry. It’s harder to be empathic, intuitive, and open to vague or unclear impressions streaming in from the collective unconscious, but any effort to learn about those Pisces qualities will yield great dividends to the degree we develop it. A South Node in Virgo makes it easy to focus on minute details, over analyzing situations and people, and finding lots to criticize, even as there is also a natural pull to be of service to others in practical ways.

When we find the North Node in Sagittarius and the South Node in Gemini, our growth is in philosophical-spiritual realms, higher education, and long journeys. We demonstrate how and what we know through Gemini, showing the line of least resistance is to talk about endless points of view which may or may not have any order whatsoever. This sign has to learn to focus on the big picture rather than “the news of the day.”

However, when we reverse the positions and put the North Node in Gemini and the South Node in Sagittarius, the growth is in seeing the many ways things can be interpreted and communicated, with the line of least resistance being the world of abstractions and possibilities which are never actualized. This Nodal axis needs to read, write, study, and explore the countless ways that words and language can be used while not getting lost in abstractions for their own sake. While the NN in Sag grows through long journeys and higher education, NN in Gemini grows through short journeys and training the brain-mind in logic, order, and structure.

In a different example, if the North Node in a natal chart is in Scorpio with the South Node in Taurus, it’s easy to go for what’s comfortable, and more difficult to focus on the depth experience of people and things. With this position, greatest development is found through embracing the positive traits of Scorpio, such as learning that all loss creates a void to attract new life material. This sign uses loss as an opportunity to eliminate obsolete things, and attracting new things. Scorpio is the ultimate recycler, always probing beneath and beyond the surface of things. Scorpio helps us discover anything “hidden below the surface,” whether of the Earth or the personality.

A simple way to view this Nodal axis is that if Taurus is gain and Scorpio is loss, then with NN in Scorpio and SN in Taurus you learn more from your losses than your gains. It’s easier to accumulate, whether ideas, things, or whatever; it’s harder, but better for your development, to learn to let go, voluntarily and proactively, of whatever you need to release. Learning to “hold the void,” rejecting all which is not appropriate to who we have become and our current growth needs, allows this position to attract what is perfect for us at the right time. In this case, possessing things is not as important as understanding the principles of magnetic attraction and repulsion.

On a final but not conclusory note, I’ve found that the people with their Sun on my North Node were always close, but difficult. They pushed me to grow in my understanding and responses to that sign. People with their Sun on my South Node always seemed to represent something from my past which I didn’t need to revisit in any way.

However, those with their Sun on my North Node were also “pulled to their light” as a result of interacting with me, just as those with their Sun on my South node were pulled to “let go, let god,” even when they wanted to contend, argue, or just waste my time. So just as someone’s planet on our Node shows we’ll grow or release through their planetary quality, our Node will also exert an influence on their planetary expression.

The Nodes in the Houses

Just as the Nodes occupy an axis of two signs which oppose each other, they also occupy houses which oppose each other. The houses show us specific life areas, so the house in our chart that the North Node occupies indicates those life activities where we will grow according to the quality of the sign. The house in our chart that the South Node occupies indicates those life affairs where we usually find ourselves doing what is familiar to us but doesn’t feel like we’re making much progress.

So the house of the North Node shows us where we learn according to the sign of the NN, while the house of the South Node shows us where we don’t learn much when we respond with the traits of the sign of our SN. The house of our SN could also be where we get bogged down by too many repetitive or familiar behaviors and have nothing to do but just show how we’ve learned from the house of the North Node.

For example, a NN in the 4th house and SN in the 10th challenge us to build our foundations, sense of family, and a “tap root” grounding us in life, demonstrating that “life platform” in our public self. This position finds it easier to focus on profession, even if it doesn’t facilitate personal growth.

This axis shows growth through understanding and developing understanding of our early family life, heritage, and other 4th house affairs. With SN in the 10th house, it’s easier to be public and more challenging to be obscure. South Node in the 10th makes it easy to take responsibility, but better growth comes from learning about caring for self and others.

Reversing this, I have found people with SN in the 4th are often bogged down by family affairs, issues, and concerns that prevent them from growing and developing, which would be found in professional responsibilities and taking charge in worldly affairs if NN is in the 10th. This axis requires a willingness to be more visible, even taking charge of public affairs using the sign of the Node, even if it’s difficult. While it might be easier to defer to family patterns, the sign of the SN in the 4th always shows where energies get stuck with no growth.

If the NN is in the 8th house, and SN in the 2nd, we learn more from our losses than our gains, much like having the NN in Scorpio and SN in Taurus. This position also shows growth through understanding collective values, shared values, and shared resources. That doesn’t mean these experiences will be harmonious! It could be that this brings great losses which help release old values and ways of using what we have.

When we reverse this position and have NN is in the 2nd and SN is in the 8th, then we learn far more from how we accumulate what we accumulate, why we hold on to what we do and how we can use what we have to facilitate our growth. This helps us develop what we need to support who we think we are.

As with the previous example, this position is much like NN in Taurus and SN in Scorpio. Here it’s important to remember the signs are the qualities through which we approach the affairs of the houses in question. The signs are our biases, tendencies, and quality of expression; the houses are the arenas of life where we do our sign expression.

So someone with NN in Scorpio in the 2nd/SN in Taurus in the 8th would learn by seeing the ever-transforming nature of accumulations while letting go of inert forms. They would also learn through understanding why their magnetism did or didn’t bring them what they want or value, while learning how not to defer to other people’s values. This position would benefit through claiming the values and desires which bring them closer to others, seeing changing social values as a magnetic dance of attraction-repulsion, while being easy and pleasant when called upon to let go of old forms, things, money, etc.

NN in the 2nd definitely shows growth through attracting what is needed to self; in Scorpio, through focus and concentration and releasing old forms while holding on to the essence. Someone with this position would make a great “dowser,” finding water, oil, or gold within the Earth. While there would be losses, they would mainly involve letting go of those things which is no longer true or needed. Let go of comfort, and embrace the mystery.

In another example, SN in Virgo in the 2nd, NN in Pisces in the 8th, would indicate someone who worries too much about money, or gets too focused on the minutia of what they do and don’t have, and has to develop the faith that as they learn to “let go, let God,” they will attract just what they need. As Pisces is the last sign, it may come at “the last minute,” but it will come. The trick for this position is not to get locked into too narrow a view about resources.

This position also defaults to working for others to make money, when their line of growth is to intuit what helps others come to completion in some life area related to their values or resources. If we flip it to NN in Virgo in the 2nd and SN in Pisces in the 8th, then being discriminating in what one values and how one uses what they have is the line of growth, with suffering and resentments over past losses must be blessed, forgiven, and released with an eye to seeing how those losses came to begin with.

The Transiting Nodes

Wherever the Nodal axis transits in our charts, it works like it would natally, except it moves backwards through the houses of your chart. Therefore, it exerts a specific house influence for approximately 18 months as well as for some time after, since we get many eclipses in that span of time.

The transiting Nodes in a given sign show the same general axis of development and release for everyone on Earth. However, they fall in specific houses determined by where we have those signs in our charts. So right now, since the NN is in Gemini, and SN is in Sagittarius, we’re all learning about those sign energies, but in different life areas, depending on our rising sign.

One may be learning how to grow in Sagittarius ways in values (transiting NN in the 2nd house), while another is learning openness, truth, and a higher philosophical view in speech, view, or mindset (3rd house), while yet another is learning through being more philosophical in their work or a more future oriented sense of service or humor about that service (6th house). Some may be releasing old dualities or distractions in their philosophy (SN in Gemini in the 9th), or an old contradiction in motives or remembrance of how indiscreet speech created past sorrow if the Gemini SN is transiting their 12th. There are infinite possibilities, based in the qualities of the signs.

I believe the Nodes reveal something of their greater function every time the transiting Moon makes aspects to the transiting Nodes, as well as when the transiting Nodal axis makes aspects to our natal or progressed Moon. Wherever the axis is transiting in our charts is where we are growing and releasing, being pulled to demonstrate that growth pattern across time.

We can learn a lot about the progression of our growth and release by taking a look at the past transits of the Nodes through our various astrological chart houses. For example, when the North Node is transiting the 9th through the 4th, we grow in the realm of others, and release old elements of self, or use our growth process to demonstrate what we’ve learned in various realms of “self” (3rd through 10th.) Of course it works the other way as well, as we build “self” when the transiting North Node is between the 3rd and 10th in our charts, and release/demonstrate our growth in the realm of others (9th through 4th.)

The Nodes work differently than the planets. They represent the dynamic means for us to be pulled into lines of growth which are ultimately very profitable for us, while simultaneously providing us for a natural and easy way for us to show our world what we have developed up to that point. The North Node is what you’re here to take in; the South Node what you’re here to demonstrate and release. Let your imagination show you how you're developing by sign, in whichever life arena (house) is emphasized.

In part 4 we’ll take a look at the transiting Nodes and explore potential manifestations.

Reprinted on crystalwind.ca with written permission from Robert Wilkinson. Copying this article to other blogs is strictly prohibited. It is copyright protected. 

© Copyright 2021 Robert Wilkinson

© 2021 crystalwind.ca. All rights reserved.