Understanding Your North Node, South Node:
Life Direction and Soul Purpose
It has got to sound outrageous that anyone can help another person discover their soul purpose and life direction! And especially from information gained through an astrology chart—but that is exactly what I do as an astrologer. I specialize in helping you understand the complex “soul directive” that is contained in your particular North and South Nodes.
It’s more complex than it appears at first. The sign of your North Node describes the experiences and lessons your Soul wants to move towards in this life, whereas the South Node sign describes what your Soul has already brought into this life and what it wants to move away from. It’s your default pattern when all the chips are down.
Besides the signs of your Nodes, the “houses” of your chart in which they are placed are crucial because they tell much more of the story---they describe in more detail the area or part of your life that needs emphasis, and needs de-emphasis.
And then it’s necessary to bring in the other “players”; the Sun, Moon, Saturn, Rising Sign, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune, to see how they fit into the puzzle. The first four mentioned are probably the most crucial pieces of the story, but the art of astrology is to know how to take the exquisite mandala of the chart apart and then put it back together—to synthesize and prioritize what is truly meaningful and what is not. It’s not hard to read about your Nodes by sign and house on this blog, but quite honestly, you’re probably not going to get the whole picture unless you have the ability to be objective in weighing the relative value of each piece.
Another important consideration is this: the South Node reflects not only past life karma and traits, but also the patterns you are still getting stuck in! These are what the Jungian writer, Jim Hollis calls “the swamplands of the Soul.” The same issues keep coming around in more and more sophisticated ways, but we’re still dealing with the same South Node problems. It’s good to know what to call it; to name it.
To go deeper, you also need to consider the rulers of the Nodes, and the aspects to the Nodes. Many people have what is called a “skipped step” or a piece of unfinished business that is reflected by a square aspect to the Nodes. A trine aspect represents people and situations that enabled you to live out your “default pattern.”
And finally we look to planets that aspect the Nodes. These tell us how this energy is “echoed” in the chart and in your life, and gives us hints as to how to draw out more information and elaborate upon what the Soul is up against, and what the Soul is yearning for this time around. Look to other posts on this site to explain more.
Yes, it’s complicated, and simply a theory. But I wouldn’t want to not know how this plays out in my life—I take my own intuitive wisdom as first priority, but this certainly has helped me know things about myself that I wouldn’t have considered. I’m sure a couple of years of good therapy would have brought up the same things, but then again, I like the easiness of knowing. The hard part is what to do with it all, and how to live it out. Elizabeth Spring (C)http://www.elizabethspring.com/ Contact for a reading at: elizabethspring@aol.com
Life Direction and Soul Purpose
It has got to sound outrageous that anyone can help another person discover their soul purpose and life direction! And especially from information gained through an astrology chart—but that is exactly what I do as an astrologer. I specialize in helping you understand the complex “soul directive” that is contained in your particular North and South Nodes.
It’s more complex than it appears at first. The sign of your North Node describes the experiences and lessons your Soul wants to move towards in this life, whereas the South Node sign describes what your Soul has already brought into this life and what it wants to move away from. It’s your default pattern when all the chips are down.
Besides the signs of your Nodes, the “houses” of your chart in which they are placed are crucial because they tell much more of the story---they describe in more detail the area or part of your life that needs emphasis, and needs de-emphasis.
And then it’s necessary to bring in the other “players”; the Sun, Moon, Saturn, Rising Sign, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune, to see how they fit into the puzzle. The first four mentioned are probably the most crucial pieces of the story, but the art of astrology is to know how to take the exquisite mandala of the chart apart and then put it back together—to synthesize and prioritize what is truly meaningful and what is not. It’s not hard to read about your Nodes by sign and house on this blog, but quite honestly, you’re probably not going to get the whole picture unless you have the ability to be objective in weighing the relative value of each piece.
Another important consideration is this: the South Node reflects not only past life karma and traits, but also the patterns you are still getting stuck in! These are what the Jungian writer, Jim Hollis calls “the swamplands of the Soul.” The same issues keep coming around in more and more sophisticated ways, but we’re still dealing with the same South Node problems. It’s good to know what to call it; to name it.
To go deeper, you also need to consider the rulers of the Nodes, and the aspects to the Nodes. Many people have what is called a “skipped step” or a piece of unfinished business that is reflected by a square aspect to the Nodes. A trine aspect represents people and situations that enabled you to live out your “default pattern.”
And finally we look to planets that aspect the Nodes. These tell us how this energy is “echoed” in the chart and in your life, and gives us hints as to how to draw out more information and elaborate upon what the Soul is up against, and what the Soul is yearning for this time around. Look to other posts on this site to explain more.
Yes, it’s complicated, and simply a theory. But I wouldn’t want to not know how this plays out in my life—I take my own intuitive wisdom as first priority, but this certainly has helped me know things about myself that I wouldn’t have considered. I’m sure a couple of years of good therapy would have brought up the same things, but then again, I like the easiness of knowing. The hard part is what to do with it all, and how to live it out. Elizabeth Spring (C)http://www.elizabethspring.com/ Contact for a reading at: elizabethspring@aol.com
Hi Elizabeth and thanks for this site. It's been really helpful in figuring out some of my own issues. I am curious about the concept of the unfinished business aspect of a square to the Nodes. I have a Saturn square to my nodes (NN Aq/SN Leo in the 2nd/8th house, respectively). What kind of skipped step could that be?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Christine
Elizabeth, hello! I want to ask you somthing. i've been searching for the answer and it seems like forever because i can't seem to find it anywhere.
ReplyDeletemy north node and south node are the same:
Mean Node taurus 26° 2’ 7" 5 - 3’10"
True Node taurus 27° 9’31" 5
Please. please. tell me what this means. i have a hunch- this life repeats the last one. if it is so,what does that mean? thank you for having the pacience to read the many lines i wrote.
in hope i haven't stole to much of your time. thank you.
Ioana.
Hi Ioana~
ReplyDeleteYour North Node is indeed in Taurus, but your South Node is in Scorpio--the Nodes are always exactly opposite each other. The confusion you picked up on was the minor difference of calculation between a mean node and true node, which is a truly minor mathematical calculation difference. What is important is to examine the Taurus/Scorpio axis in your chart, and especially to be attention to what houses they fall in. Then you should be able to read about it all on this blog. Good luck on your astrological studies.....~elizabeth
Elisabeth,
ReplyDeletethank you for having the patience to anwser my questions. you made me understand.