The lunar nodes

The teaching

As modern karmic astrology beside the Rahu and Ketu of India teaches it.

One axis with two ends

The North and South Nodes always stand exactly opposite, so they are read as one axis with two ends. They move backward through the signs about nineteen degrees a year and stay roughly a year and a half in each, so everyone born within the same year and a half shares the same signs of the nodes. What makes the reading personal is the pair of houses the axis falls across and the planets that touch it. Astrologers use either the mean node, a smoothed position, or the true node, which wobbles around it; the two are never far apart.

The South Node

The South Node, the Dragon's Tail of Europe and the Ketu of India, is read as what a person already knows how to do. Karmic astrology says it is what they came in with. Read as the house reads it, it shows the habits and gifts of this life that come so easily they have become a rut: the place a person falls back into under strain. Indian astrology pictures Ketu as a headless body, which acts without looking, cuts ties and brings detachment, and names it the significator of liberation. Its gifts are real, and the teaching is not to throw them away but to stop living only there.

The North Node

The North Node, the Dragon's Head or Rahu, is read as the direction of growth: unfamiliar, a little frightening, and in the end the more fulfilling. Modern astrologers say it feels awkward at first, like writing with the other hand, and grows easier with practice. India pictures Rahu as a head without a body, all appetite and never satisfied, which magnifies worldly desire in the part of life where it falls. Its old maxim is that Rahu acts like Saturn and Ketu like Mars. Between the two readings stands one picture: the head hungers forward, the tail rests in what it knows, and a life is balanced by moving between them.

Aries and Libra, the first and seventh houses

With the North Node in Aries or the first house and the South Node in Libra or the seventh, the familiar ground is partnership: keeping the peace, waiting for others to decide, seeing oneself through another's eyes. The growth is toward Aries: acting on one's own judgement, saying plainly what one wants, and beginning things alone.

With the North Node in Libra or the seventh and the South in Aries or the first, the old ground is self-reliance and going it alone, often to the point of impatience. The growth is toward cooperation, fairness and listening, and the give and take of a real partnership.

Taurus and Scorpio, the second and eighth

With the North Node in Taurus or the second house and the South in Scorpio or the eighth, the familiar ground is intensity, crisis and entanglement in other people's power and money. The growth is toward simplicity and steadiness, earning and valuing what is one's own, and the patience of things that grow slowly.

With the North Node in Scorpio or the eighth and the South in Taurus or the second, the old ground is comfort, possessions and holding on. The growth is toward sharing, depth and intimacy, and letting go of what has been outgrown.

Gemini and Sagittarius, the third and ninth

With the North Node in Gemini or the third house and the South in Sagittarius or the ninth, the familiar ground is the big picture, certainty and preaching one's own truth. The growth is toward curiosity and questions, listening, the details, and the people close at hand.

With the North Node in Sagittarius or the ninth and the South in Gemini or the third, the old ground is restless information, second guessing and saying what others want to hear. The growth is toward faith and meaning, a philosophy of one's own, and trust in what one knows within.

Cancer and Capricorn, the fourth and tenth

With the North Node in Cancer or the fourth house and the South in Capricorn or the tenth, the familiar ground is ambition, control, status and a composed face. The growth is toward feeling, home and family, and letting oneself be cared for.

With the North Node in Capricorn or the tenth and the South in Cancer or the fourth, the old ground is dependence, moods and the shelter of the family. The growth is toward responsibility, a public role, steady effort and standing on one's own feet.

Leo and Aquarius, the fifth and eleventh

With the North Node in Leo or the fifth house and the South in Aquarius or the eleventh, the familiar ground is the group, detachment and living for causes. The growth is toward the heart: play, creative work, romance and children, and the courage to stand out.

With the North Node in Aquarius or the eleventh and the South in Leo or the fifth, the old ground is the need to be at the centre and to be applauded. The growth is toward friendship and the common good, and being one among equals.

Virgo and Pisces, the sixth and twelfth

With the North Node in Virgo or the sixth house and the South in Pisces or the twelfth, the familiar ground is drift, escape, confusion and feeling at the mercy of circumstance. The growth is toward order and useful work, daily routine, care of the body, and service done in practical ways.

With the North Node in Pisces or the twelfth and the South in Virgo or the sixth, the old ground is worry, criticism, perfectionism and the endless list. The growth is toward faith and compassion, rest, and trust in what cannot be controlled.

Planets on the axis

A planet close to the South Node is read as a talent or habit already well worn, which either serves the growth of the North Node or holds the person back in the old ground. A planet close to the North Node is read as help for the growth, a quality the person is drawn to develop. Modern astrologers also note planets square the axis, halfway between its ends, as a matter that has to be met before either end works well.

The cycle of the nodes

Because the nodes move, the sky repeats the birth axis at intervals, and astrologers read these as turning points. When the nodes return to their places at birth, near nineteen, thirty-seven and fifty-six, the direction of growth is said to come to the fore and new beginnings toward the North Node are favoured. Halfway between, near nine, twenty-eight and forty-seven, the nodes stand reversed, the moving North Node on the birth South Node, and the pull back to old habits is read as strong, or as a time to finish with them. Eclipses that fall close to the birth nodes are read in the same way, as moments when the axis is lit up.

Reading the pair

The modern reading takes the two ends together and asks a question of each. Of the South Node: what comes too easily here, what do I retreat into, and which of these gifts could I carry forward rather than hide in? Of the North Node: what feels unnatural but draws me, and what small step could I take toward it this year? Read this way, the axis is a map of habit and growth in this life. It names no former life for anyone, and the South Node is not a story of who someone was.