Finding Your North Star With The Lunar Nodes

In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Caesar compares his constancy of character to the North Star ‘of whose true fixed and resting quality’ there is no fellow in the heavens.

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Like the guiding light of the North Star, the Lunar Nodes serve as a spiritual compass, pointing us in the right direction. They are where our evolutionary lessons and soul purpose converge. They illuminate the past security patterns and mental and emotional imprints that have conditioned our consciousness prior to this life and point out ways to evolve beyond them. While the house positions, nodal aspects, and the remainder of the natal chart can more precisely delineate our life purpose and the areas of life where we are most likely to encounter our lessons, simply learning about our nodal axis can help us tremendously in discovering and fulfilling it. So what exactly are the lunar nodes? The Nodes of the Moon are not planetary bodies but points formed by the Moon’s orbit around the Earth intersecting with the Earth’s path around the Sun. By combining the trajectory of the Sun (symbolizing the ego), the Moon (symbolizing our soul or unconscious), and the Earth (the plane upon which our lessons unfold), they show how we can manifest our soul purpose (Moon) through our egoic vehicle (Sun) in this lifetime (Earth). The direction of the nodes is clockwise: The North Node is the ascending node (the point closest to our North Pole), and the South Node is the descending node (the point closest to our South Pole). The Nodes are always exactly 180 degrees apart, meaning that they are always in opposite signs. So if your North Node is in Libra, your South Node will be in the opposite sign of Aries, and so on. Some astrologers use the “North Node” calculation (which takes into account the actual wobbling of the Moon’s orbit), and some astrologers use the “Mean Node” (which does not take the wobbling into account). I will be using the term North Node in this course. In any case, the North Node and Mean Node positions are never more than 1 degree 45 minutes apart from each other. In Vedic astrology, the North Node is referred to as the Dragon’s Head and the South Node as the Dragon’s Tail. The astronomical opposition of the nodes symbolizes their astrological polarity, which when integrated can lead to wholeness and balance. The nodes are not separated points, but an axis, meaning our journey is not one of relinquishing one node in favor of the other, but about finding a balance between the two. For example, the South Node Sagittarius/North Node Gemini axis doesn't tell us we're done with the Sagittarius archetype and now have to learn the Gemini one. Instead, it tells us that we are now going to learn how to use our Sagittarian experiences in a Gemini-like manner. It tells us that our learning in this life is to recognize that there is a point of balance between the Gemini and Sagittarius archetypes, and that finding it will be key to our spiritual growth and development. We may be meant, for example, to translate our Sagittarian gifts of wisdom and intuition into the logical and accessible language of Gemini or merge our logic (Gemini) and intuition (Sagittarius) in fruitful new ways. The South Node represents rigid, automatic, and outmoded approaches to life carried over from past lives and often reflected in early childhood tendencies. Because they are ingrained, these psychic grooves or samskaras can feel innate and compulsive. Without sufficient awareness, we naturally gravitate or default to our South Node habits, even when they constrict, block, or limit our well-being. We often associate South Node tendencies with our very survival, even if they cause us to avoid vulnerability, become impatient, or make blanket assumptions. We don’t have enough perspective or balance to even see that we are lopsided. Coincidentally, the South Node also represents strengths, abilities, and talents that come so easily that we may take them for granted. We may not have enough perspective to appreciate these gifts or overuse them in inflexible ways that no longer serve us. We may identify so strongly with our South Node tendencies that we fear acting in any other way and repeat them compulsively hoping for some elusive sense of resolution. Yet the path of fulfillment will only come from balancing them with the complementary tendencies of our North Node. The North Node represents qualities that feel uncomfortable, scary, and awkward but which we must ultimately integrate for our well-being and to find our deeper purpose. While the South Node was how we previously found comfort, nourishment, and nurturance, now we must look to an integration with the North Node to find that same sense of fulfillment. So, what does a generative and fulfilling merging of the North and South Node energies look like? Let’s consider some examples: The Taurus South Node's need for self-sufficiency and the Scorpio North Node's need to merge intimately with one another seem like diametrically opposing tendencies but they can be harmonized when we bring an anchored sense of self-worth (Taurus South Node) into our deep communion with another (Scorpio North Node). Let’s take another example: The Virgo South Node need for personal atonement and humility and the Pisces North Node lessons of forgiveness and non-judgment can find a healthy merging in self-acceptance and self-forgiveness. And one final example: The Aries South Node’s need to instinctively assert one’s identity and the Libra North Node's drive to find a socially acceptable persona can find balanced expression when we bring forth our individuated and authentic self (Aries South Node) in a loving and diplomatic way with others (Libra North Node). In a follow up article, I will be providing an overview of my own Nodal integration journey as it played out in some messy and chaotic ways, but for now, we can conclude that solely expressing our South Node is no longer a growth indicator but a dead end. Doing so may give us a sense of security or familiarity, but if we express our South Node qualities to the detriment of balancing them with the North Node, we lose the thread of vital life force or shakti and feel, well, lifeless. Life is always moving in the direction of greater love, harmony, balance, and wholeness. If we are to experience the exhilarating power of our own evolutionary edge, we must harmonize with its Flow. We must venture through long closed doors into new psychic realms. We, too, like all living things, must grow. As we find the drive and courage to express our North Node qualities, life will conspire to bring us the people, resources, and opportunities we need to do so. Expressing these new nodal qualities may feel awkward or like a loss of control, but we can trust life in its infinite wisdom to continue to make the old ways feel stagnant and impotent and the new ways feel challenging yet energizing, immersive, and ultimately enjoyable. Or as Terence McKenna has put it, “Nature loves courage”. When we make the commitment, nature will respond to that commitment by removing impossible obstacles. Dream the impossible dream and the world will not grind you under, it will lift you up. Fundamentally, we are here to evolve beyond our limiting patterns. Each moment holds the potential for us to repeat our past compulsions or grow past them. Each moment is potent with transformative possibilities. The energy that was stuck in limitation, once released, transmutes into an equal amount of energy we can use to grow in our current life. As our sense of balance or wholeness increases, so too does our physical and emotional well-being. We uncover new abilities that may have been completely hidden had we not ventured into new realms. We feel enlivened by our new discoveries and connections. We act in more spontaneous, creative, and joyful ways. And as we move from and towards greater wholeness, we are able to connect more with the wholeness in others - to see past their stumbling points and into their same innate potential. When we engage in the alchemical transformation of reconciling our inner polarities, we birth a new middle way. As in alchemy, this process may occur over seven general steps: 1) calcination or heating, where we melt down our egoic attachments and conditioning, 2) dissolution, where our conscious mind releases control and our subconscious or hidden parts are allowed to surface 3) separation, where we review all of this resurfaced shadow material and decide what to toss or integrate 4) conjunction, where we merge the conscious and unconscious into a single essence and allow our True Self to emerge 5) fermentation, where we test the strength of our new realizations and develop resiliency through purposeful external challenges 6) distillation, where we purify our knowing and embodiment and appreciate the beauty of our state of unity, and finally 7) coagulation, where we reconline matter and spirit, and perceive ourselves and the world without dualities, including the duality of our Nodal axis. It is important to note that our North Node purpose is not always synonymous with our work in the world. Conventional work is too limited to hold the sum totality of our deeper soul mission. It needs to be expressed across the various realms of our lives - from relationships to creativity to self-care to our daily routines. As we understand more about our nodal archetypes, we can use guiding questions as a way to direct our decision-making. If our North Node is in Aries, we might ask: does this decision help me to affirm my self-identity as unique from others? A North Node in Taurus may ask: Will this expand my sense of self-worth and self-reliance? A North Node in Gemini may ask, is this encouraging me to ask questions and remain flexible in my thinking? Whatever our North Node, we are all orienting to move in ways that are more magnetic, with greater authenticity, freedom, integration, and expansion. If some of the North Node descriptions in follow up articles don’t resonate for you, it could be that you have already addressed or overcome those tendencies or they are simply not predominant parts of your journey. When I first learned about my own Gemini North Node, I was beside myself with amazement at the accuracy of the descriptions. How did this astrologer know that I was afraid to reveal my inner conflicts or constantly made assumptions about how others were thinking or feeling? Yet some of the patterns described, such as running away from relationships to avoid feeling trapped no longer felt so true. I had seen that pattern time and time again in my life and finally managed to work through it. I discovered, for instance, that I was an empath who needed a lot of alone time even when in a relationship. Being open to such a concrete solution was a direct result of becoming more aware of this Nodal tendency. While my deepest lessons and challenges clearly lie along the Gemini-Sagittarius axis, I also identify with the lessons of the other nodal groups. Perhaps my self-worth issues don’t run as deep as they might for a Taurus North Node or I’m not as fixated on avoiding vulnerability as a Cancer North Node, but I can certainly identify with all the elements of the human condition. After all, we’re all in this together. Because the Nodal axis represents an all-prevailing orientation in our psyche, we can expect the process of congruent resolution to take time and conscious effort. While the Nodal tendencies may be deeply ingrained in our behaviors, the light of our awareness is stronger. The greater awareness we bring to these conditioned ways of being, the greater our ability to express them in the most harmonious ways possible, or put another way, the greater our awareness and transmutation of the negative, the greater our expression of free will and ability to choose. I hope that reading your own Nodal descriptions will also help you to see the challenges and blindspots of others and to hold them more tenderly. After all, what good is wisdom if it doesn't lead to love? Apart from reading the nodal descriptions and gaining greater awareness of our gifts and challenges, what else can we do to evolve? If, as Anthony DeMello has said, “Awakening is absolute cooperation with the inevitable,” how can we harmonize most gracefully with the evolutionary imperative? Well, we can work with a healing modality. The important thing about modalities is to find the right fit. It is more important that the modality feels resonant to you than that you force yourself to apply one that doesn't because it's popular or works for others. So, in that vein, if a modality such as breathwork or yoga does not appeal to you, please feel free to discard it and stick to what does. As we evolve, we naturally discard approaches that feel limiting and find ones that are more aligned with our new level of understanding. Blind allegiance to any single teaching or approach is ultimately a trap. Believe me, I know - I have the South Node in Sagittarius and learned that lesson the hard way! We are not here to berate ourselves for maladaptive habits but to develop a roadmap for moving in satisfying new ways. Simply reading the descriptions of your nodal sign can bring greater awareness and expand your ability to express the listed qualities more skillfully, but practice is the only way to shift your approach. As you integrate the personality in this way, your inner harmony and authentic expression will magnetize more of what the ego or small self may seek in the world - meaningful relationships, fulfilling work, and the attainment of personal goals. As these separating desires are exhausted, the soul’s deeper longing for self-realization can be felt more fully, goading our journey to remember our True Nature and delivering us beyond name and form back into the arms of benediction - the Source from which we spring. The retrograde motion of the Nodal axis, acting as a focal point for the Sun-Earth-Moon system on which our lives so inextricably depend, is a mere symbol of that all-pervading force.