The North and South Nodes, commonly known as the Lunar Nodes, are celestial points that will not only reveal your purpose in this lifetime but also encourage you toward it. The North Node is where you’re supposed to go, and the South Node is where you came from.
These almighty and highly spiritual astrological placements offer a great deal of insight into your greatest strengths, weaknesses, and unbridled potential. If you’re eager to know more, you should read on to learn everything there is to know about the North and South Nodes. Are you ready? You’re gonna love what you’ll find out!
What are the North and South Nodes?
First things first, we need to explain that the Lunar Nodes aren’t physical objects like planets or asteroids. They are coordinates, just like Black Moon Lilith. The North and South Nodes are nothing less than geographic points, established based on the orbits and locations of actual celestial bodies. To efficiently understand these placements, we can rapidly review some basics of light astronomy.
Ok. The Moon spins around the Earth like a dreidel, with an unnoticeable wobble, where one side tilts up and the other tilts down at a roughly five-degree angle. Due to the lunar orbit’s slant, the Moon crosses paths with Earth’s orbit around the Sun at both its highest (North Node) and lowest (South Node) points.
This would mean that from our perspective on Earth, eclipses occur when the Sun and Moon intersect the Lunar Nodes. It makes sense, right? Now, here’s another thing worth knowing: it takes the Moon 18 years (and 11 days and eight hours, to be super precise) to complete a full “nodal orbit.” When we say orbit, we mean a full cycle of its own wobbling, which is completely different from its 28-day orbit of Earth.
To efficiently visualize this, we can recall the dreidel again, with one side tilted up and one side tilted down. The top and bottom of these 2 points, the North and South node make a full rotation every 18 years, which means the Nodes stay in the same zodiac sign for around 1.5 years before switching zodiac signs.
Now, what do these nodes symbolize?
Collectively, the Lunar Nodes symbolize fate, destiny, path, and purpose. However, they’re known to illuminate different dimensions of this strong spiritual narrative. Since the North and South Nodes are mirror images at exactly 180 degrees on the map of the sky, they will always be on the opposite zodiac signs and astrological houses.
For example, if your South Node is in Libra, the North Node is in Aries. The main themes in your life will revolve around collaboration (Libra) and independence (Aries), which means you will most probably work on overcoming your natural people-pleasing tendencies in order to advocate for what you truly desire. Because of this, these two placements are always two sides of the same coin.
Your South Node stands for the lessons, wisdom, and baggage you were already born with. So many astrologers out there think that your South Node reflects your past life: who you were, what you learned, and where your soul left off. We are often experts in everything our South Node brings.
More often than not, it exposes themes that are quite familiar, accessible, and easy to achieve. In many ways, the South Node signifies our spiritual comfort zone. Your North Node symbolizes where you are supposed to go in this lifetime.
It also reveals the energy you should harness in order to fulfill your soul’s mission. The North Node comes with plenty of insight into the passions, talents, and growth you’re supposed to pick up in order to reach your full potential.
It’s worth keeping in mind that these qualities are often far from innate. In fact, the North Node represents what we strive to bring into our lives. It’s what we need to learn so we can live the life our soul desires.
What do the North and South Nodes mean to me?
Everyone has Lunar Nodes in their complete astrological profile, also known as the birth (or natal) chart. Since the North Nodes take 18 years to make a full “lunar orbit”, it takes 18 years for the nodes to return to the spot they once were in the sky at the exact moment and location you were born.
In fact, these points on our birth chart are activated in a major way every 18 years. We also experience major breakthroughs related to fate, destiny, and life purpose at the ages of 18, 36, 54, and so on and so forth.
Since the nodes are always in opposite signs, the halfway marks are also worth taking into consideration. The ages 9, 27, 45, 63, and so on serve strong “checkpoints” when we are invited to look closely at how the themes of our Nodes are manifesting in our lives.
After you discover where you have your north and south nodes, check this list. We enlisted below some of the most important keywords associated with each of the zodiac configurations to start deciphering your future (and your past and your present):
- North Node Aries/ South Node Libra: autonomy, agency, independence;
- North Node Taurus/ South Node Scorpio: embodiment, financial independence, comforts;
- North Node Gemini/ South Node Sagittarius: friendship, belonging, communication;
- North Node Cancer/ South Node Capricorn: nurture, self-love, emotional support;
- North Node Leo/ South Node Aquarius: visibility, creativity, leadership;
- North Node Scorpio/ South Node Taurus: intuition, tenacity, shared responsibilities;
- North Node Sagittarius/ South Node Gemini: travel, expansion, trust;
- North Node Capricorn/ South Node Cancer: legacy, reputation, success;
- North Node Aquarius/ South Node Leo: humanitarianism, progress, nonconformism;
- North Node Pisces/ South Node Virgo: spirituality, artistry, compassion.
Upcoming axis: North Node Pisces, South Node Virgo
From a general understanding, people with Pisces north node and Virgo south node have critical inner voices. More often than not, they seek to protect themselves by being extremely hard on themselves before anyone else can, but it doesn’t always show up in the way we expect it to.
Classic delineations for Pisces north node and Virgo south node come down to nitpickiness, oversensitivity, and prudishness. Pisces north node Virgo south node is considered to be someone who’s fairly critical of everyone and can’t seem to settle for anything less than perfection.
One thing worth noticing about Pisces North Node is that they are a mess. They generally have a million and a half things going on, and they feel like they constantly need to deal with friend group drama. They also don’t like to stick to basic routines, as it will drive them up the wall.
The wide majority of people with these placements are either in their 30s or 50s right now. The ones who are in their 30s have Saturn in either Sagittarius or Capricorn. Most of them also tend to have Chiron in Gemini, bending their nodes.
Folks with Pisces north node Virgo south node in their 50s have Saturn in Taurus and most of them also have an oppositional Jupiter in Scorpio. These are people with a lot of wounds around their voices. They are the ones who are unsure of whether or not the stories they tell about themselves are true, and if other people will really “get” their stories.
If you found this article useful, we also recommend checking: 6 Worst Zodiac Signs In Bed