Understanding the North and South Nodes

Many astrologers believe the Nodes are the single most important point in the chart. I am certainly one of them. They are unique to each person and describe what your Soul wants to learn and experience in this life. The Nodes are Soul Messengers, describing the evolutionary needs of your Soul. They show the arc, or journey of our lives and summarize the direction of the whole chart.   When we act out the qualities of the North Node we heal and nurture ourselves. It tells us in what area of life we need to bring emphasis, and some of the ways to do it.  The North Node has a sign, a house position, and aspects, and is an excellent suggestion---similar to the idea of a personal guiding North Star.The North Node is the direction we are called to move towards in this life. It holds hints of what qualities we need to bring into our life more.

By contrast, the South Node describes the qualities brought over from our previous life, and describes how we lived when we were young. Our deeply habitual ways of being and thinking are shown here, and as we mature we tend to act out the qualities of our South Node less. It shows both the unhelpful and negative qualities that our Soul wishes to move away from, as well as containing what Carl Jung talked about as the “gold in the shadow”. This gold is the unconscious unrecognized talents and abilities that we bring over from a former life or that are simply latent or repressed qualities. It is wise to uncover and use the gold in the South Node, while leaving the negative old patterns behind, and to move in the direction of the North Node.

Most astrologers would agree that the South Node reflects karmic qualities of our previous life, describing the unfinished business and things that we didn't 'get quite right.' Although there are gifts and talents shown there, it is the North Node that points to the qualities our Soul wants to use and acquire in this life. So when you have a chart reading, take a long look at what your North Node tells you, even if it feels a little unfamiliar and challenging. It offers a potent suggestion.                            

So how does this all work together in a chart? Let’s look at my chart as an example. My Sun is in Libra, North Node in Taurus in the 2nd house, and South Node in Scorpio in the 8th house. “Houses” are the areas of life where things get acted out, and the Nodes are each in different houses. In many ways I acted out my South Node till my Saturn Return at age 28. I have tended to learn things the hard way, to be ungrounded and to go to excesses when I was young. It has taken me a long time to live into my true profession as an astrologer.  I married late, and after 20 years of marriage was divorced for five years, and then I remarried my first husband. We've been married now since 2001, and continue to do the wonderful/horrible work that soul mates do with each other---we help each other grow. His independence and my desire 'to merge' are not comfortable together, yet I can see how he naturally pushes me to live out the independence and grounded values of my Taurus North Node. I encourage and stimulate the curiosity and expansiveness of his North Node in Gemini. There's grace and grit here; a true marriage.

My South Node in Scorpio suggests that my Soul purpose is, in part, to move away from hurtful melodramas and to ground myself in my own talents and resources.  It speaks of the desire for serenity and to move away from the dramatic reactivity and the excesses of my earlier years and former life. I’ve needed to take on the qualities of loyalty and persistence of the Taurus North Node and to find the sacred in the commonplace, which is a beautiful quality of that sign. The “gold” in my Scorpio shadow-South Node is my intuitive ability and emotional intensity. 

One could speculate that with my South Node in Scorpio (conjuncting Jupiter, the planet of expansion and privilege) I may have been the 'power behind the throne' to someone of importance, and was used to enjoying the largesse of another person and a more dramatic life. That is not the case in this life–I need to use my own resources and power based on that grounded Taurus in the 2nd house of personal values and resources. The Universe gives me strong hints whenever I move into territory that is not my own to claim anymore.

My Sun sign in Libra wants serenity, harmony and beauty. Yet it thinks in terms of opposing ideas, and about the paradoxical nature of life. I can get easily stressed, yet look poised. The North Node points to the necessity of creating calmness and living off my own values and resources.  It's also significant that I have no earth signs in my chart—except the North Node in Taurus, and yet I was unconsciously drawn to compensate for that (the pull of the North Node) as I make pottery as well as do astrology. For many years I lived in a stone house, and married an earth sign, Virgo. Jungian psychologists would call this the unconscious compensation of my inferior function; the sensate.  

An astrologer sees a chart like my mine and says this is an air and fire sign personality, whereas a Jungian therapist would say I was an intuitive-thinking type. This is labeling, and just the beginning of a deeper discussion, but it’s still useful.  

The movement towards the North Node is a continuous process, not just one decision you make. For me, I needed to get lost, and found, many times--- I divorced and remarried the same man.  I write and do astrological counseling, which is my true vocation, but I have ‘followed several gods home’. I continually need to recommit to ever deeper levels of grounding and persistence in my work and life. Serenity and home life is very important. I know I survived a difficult family karmic inheritance, yet I strive to act out the highest octave of the Libra Sun which pulls me towards tactfulness and deep thinking.  And that South Node in Scorpio still tries to seduce me in every way you can imagine. 

So, I come back to the chart and to the astrological work again and again as a spiritual practice. It helps me remember my commitment to the work of being a healer; an intuitive astrologer who is grounded and practical.  Astrology reflects the internal dialog between the different parts of oneself, but at least now I know who to listen to and why. I am grateful to have this divinatory tool that helps make conscious what is unconscious in the psyche, and I delight in sharing the gifts of this Soul Messenger to whoever asks.

Elizabeth Spring, MA, is a counseling astrologer and therapist who has studied astrology and the psychology of Carl Jung since 1969. She has studied and taught in England, Switzerland, and California, and has been a professional astrologer since 1992. She specializes in relationship, career, and soul direction and life purpose issues. Consultations are done by phone or at her office in Wickford, RI. Other articles can be read on www.elizabethspring.com  

You can contact Elizabeth Spring at ElizabethSpring@aol.com

All of these sign placements are on www.NorthNodeAstrologyBlogspot.com : ie North Node in Aries, South Node in Libra, North Node in Pisces, South Node in Aries, North Node in Gemini, South Node in Sagittarius, North Node in Virgo, South Node in Pisces, North Node in Cancer, South Node in Capricorn.etc.  The houses that the Nodes fall in are very important and you need your chart to see that. To truly understand how it all fits together I recommend a personal reading.  Email me: elizabethspring@aol.com

New Workshop at Boston Jung Institute

Journey of the Astrological Archetypes Through the Third Act of Life, with Elizabeth Spring

From the age of 40 to the age of 88 there are symbolic movements of the planets that mark times of significant life transitions.  Planets are archetypal energies and will be explored at each life passage. We will delve into the meanings of the Uranus Opposition at age 40, the Chiron Return at age 50, the Saturn Return at age 59, the Uranus Square at age 63, the Jupiter Return at age 71, the Saturn Opposition at age 73, the Nodal Return at age 76, the Uranus Return at age 84, and the Third Saturn Return at age 88.   A basic understanding of astrology is helpful but not required.

Each participant will receive a copy of Elizabeth’s new book: “Astrology for the Third Act of Life”

Saturday, March 30, 20189:30am – 12:30pm
Cost: $45

To Register: https://cgjungboston.com/public-programs/ or call 617-796-0108

"Astrology for the Third Act of Life" Review by astrologer Steven Forrest

Astrologer Steven Forrest's review of my new book:

"Astrology for the Third Act of Life" on Amazon: "Elizabeth's given those of us who past mid-life a lovely, poetic -- and ultimately encouraging -- road map for the years ahead. What I like best is that she's done it honestly too, without taking cheap refuge in any happy-face platitudes. I am always delighted to see astrology presented in such an intelligent way instead of being saddled with the usual market-place trivialities."  (Available on Amazon.com in paperback, Kindle, and Audible: direct link:http://www.amazon.com/dp/1727202198 )

                                                            

Excerpt from "Astrology for the Third Act of Life": Ages forty-two-forty-five: The Mindfulness of the Tight Rope Walker

Excerpt from "Astrology for the Third Act of Life".   AGES 42-45: THE MINDFULNESS OF THE TIGHT-ROPE WALKER; THE NEPTUNE SQUARE AND SATURN OPPOSITION These are the years of working with the changes you created at the Uranus Opposition. Now with Neptune square itself, and Saturn opposing itself you are working hard to embody the change you’ve initiated at the Uranus Opposition. You’ve moved across country? Now you have to make roots and friends. You’ve just had a baby? Now you’re experiencing the first few years of keeping that baby alive—a good example of Saturn in action here. And there are the inspiring Neptunian moments too when you look in your baby’s eyes and see how it has all been worthwhile. Is that God in there?

This is the first time we’ve mentioned Neptune; god of the ocean. Every transit has what I call an upper octaveand a lower octave of expression, and Neptune is a good example of this. In a transit we usually experience both the higher octave and the lower octave of its expression. With Neptune we can see the archetype of the highest forms of spirituality: transcendence, compassion, creativity, and self-less love. And yet its lack of bound- aries can bring confusion and every kind of addiction imaginable. Neptune wants to find a sense of transcen- dence; of ease and relief from the mundane—is it having a drink? And then another one and another? Or will you take a walk on the beach at dawn to catch a glimpse of the swans in flight? Neptune transits run the full range between great inspiration and hope, to despair; a higher octave expression and a lower octave. Usually we get a little mix of both, but often the strongest effect can be one of unclarity. You may feel like the fog is rolling in and you can’t see clearly; nothing is clear as the left-brain linear clarity gives way to the right brain imaginative intuitiveness.

You are not losing your mind or developing a case of early Alzheimer’s! Your brain is simply processing things differently. If you lean away from fear during Neptune transits you can access the beauty and imaginative gifts of this time. Allow yourself to linger in nature, take photographs, do paintings, write songs and poetry and generally feed yourself as much inspiration as possible. Go to the music concert. This is “feeding the higher octave” of Neptune and you’ll feel the enchantment that comes with it. So often we have a choice between love and fear in our lives and we always benefit when we choose love. Yet because we usually get all that Neptune offers us, undercurrents of anxiety may still occur as we deal with these transits. What is calling to be done now? How is this going to play out? Sometimes with Neptune it can feel like the bottom falls out of a very organized life. In that case, a careful Saturnian re-evaluation needs to happen because with the lower octave of the Neptune transit there can be a temporary discouragement; a loss of ideals, dreams and spiritual direction. It will return in time, after the Neptune transit has passed.

This is also the time of life when death and separation is not uncommon; sometimes parents may be dying or children leaving home for school. Or possibly the self- reinvention you did at the Uranus Opposition at age 41 may have been so radical that it’s taking time for you to find your ground again. This is a transitional liminal period. It’s like being in the hallway between 2 rooms...you’re neither here nor there yet. Your next big life stage will be at the Chiron Return at age 51 when you turn your life experi- ence and your “wounding” into a gift. That is an anchoring time. But you’re not there yet. For women this is often a perimenopausal time. It’s hard to rest comfortably in this place; these years often have that in-between liminal quality to them, that only patience can cure. Liminal, or in-between times, are like times of reaching for a poetic state of mind. This is the Neptunian element that relates to pure consciousness itself.

The Saturn opposite Saturn aspect now combined with Neptune is like a tight-rope between two fixed anchors, and you are the tight-rope walker. As you walk between them you see where you are going and what needs to be done; you strive for balance--patience and mindfulness are called for now; and Neptune will gladly give us that if we make that our intention. As astrologer, Caroline Casey, once said: “The invisible world would like to help, but spiritual etiquette requires that we ask.” Whether we call this prayer or making an intention, the essential point is that it’s a process of asking, receiving and commitment. It’s about making an intention to ourselves and to whatever we might call our higher power, and not assuming that “God” knows what you want and need. Spiritual etiquette says we must ask for what we want. Caroline’s book: Making the Gods Work For You is a helpful book for under- standing the astrological language of the psyche. More Ponderings from my Journal:

I forget the words she said that day as we were having coffee together. But they were similar to the Eliot quote I was familiar with: "It is never too late to be who you might have been." I've loved the idea of that quote all my life, but today it had a hollow ring to it, and I remember saying I liked Rilke's quote better: "And then the knowledge comes to me that I have space within me for a second timeless larger life.        We both grinned at each other, nodding our heads, as I quietly wondered how this might play out in my life-- because I was not making a career change or getting married or divorced. This felt to be more about a different kind of change—but maybe an important change—of making space within me for that larger life. What would that look like? (Continued in book....direct link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1727202198 )