Finding Your Life's Purpose through your North Node

The North and South nodes in the natal (birth) chart illustrate the lessons you are to learn in this life and the gifts you’ve been given. The South node illustrates how you came into this life, i.e., what your natural strengths and interests are as you begin this life. While the North node reveals what your lessons are in this life, i.e., what you should strive towards. Look at the sign and house where your south node is located. You’ll see find your comfort zone there.

Let me illustrate with the following example of my client Dahlia’s nodes. Dahlia’s south node is in Gemini and she was very social and inquisitive as a child. However, her South node is in the fourth house (the house of home) so while she was social and inquisitive she preferred to entertain and learn at home. She loved to entertain at home. Dahlia came into this life with all the gifts and challenges of a Gemini but she tended to be a bit of a homebody. She was also greatly impacted by her home and family life – yes I know we all are – but she would have felt this to a stronger degree than most.

Now we’ll take a look at the North node. Naturally, the North node lies in the opposite sign and house of the South node. So Dahlia’s North node is in Sagittarius in the 10^th house. This means that while she may have been extremely social, analytical, and detail oriented as a child – she is learning to become more intuitive and look at the big picture. She has become less analytical and more spiritual as she has learned to rely less on her overactive mind and more on her intuition. 

She will also do well if she begins to express these energies out there in the real world – in the 10^th house of career and public life – rather than in the safety of her own home. The idea behind the nodes is that you will grow spiritually and have success in this life if you embrace the lessons presented by the north node. This doesn’t mean you have to abandon the gifts provided to you by the South node, but just that you can’t hide out in this comfort zone.

For example, with a South node in Gemini in the fourth house Dahlia feels most comfortable when studying, writing, and communicating at home. Her challenge is to take all that knowledge and put it to use in the real world of the 10^th house, the house of career and public life. Therefore, she would need to teach all the knowledge she gained or publish all the writing she produced while hiding out at home. The 10^th house and Sagittarius suggest leadership so she would need to break out of her comfort zone in if she is to realize her spiritual lessons and find fulfillment in this life.

It’s also important to look at the aspects being made to the nodes. For example, Dahlia’s North node is conjunct Neptune so she should embrace the creative and spiritual gifts of this planet. The planets aspecting the North node will give you a clue as to how you might express this node. With so many details in the natal chart it’s best to keep your eyes open for patterns. As for Dahlia, we see that her North node is in Sagittarius in the 10^th house conjunct Neptune. Neptune and Sagittarius both indicate spiritual matters so she might chose to express her North node by working as a spiritual leader or teaching and writing about spiritual matters. If Dahlia chose to write for a profession – she would still be able to take advantage of their South node gifts. Geminis are known for their ability to communicate while the South node in the fourth house also indicates that this person would enjoy the many hours spent at home dedicated to writing.

What if you have planets aspecting the South and North nodes?

When a planet squares both nodes it indicates that the individual is still working with both nodes in this lifetime. While they are still learning the lessons of the North node, they are still actively mastering and benefiting from the gifts of the South node.

Dahlia happens to have Jupiter squaring her North and South nodes. This only helps clarify matters in her case because Jupiter is in Pisces. Jupiter is the planet of expansion when in the sign of Pisces it means the expansion of spiritual and creative matters. So once again we see the theme of creativity and spirituality repeat itself. Also, we can see how teaching, writing, and publishing would still require lots of solitary time studying and writing – so Dahlia still needs to dedicate time to her South node in order to express her north node.

What if you have most of your planets are aspecting your South node?

When I first saw an individual with a stellium conjunct his South node I thought the individual was doomed to never make it out of the nest. How could he possibly realize the challenges of the North node when their entire chart was pulling him towards his nest? Then I learned from Jim Shawvan, one of the most knowledgeable astrologers on the West coast, that this means the individual is still mastering something they did in a previous life. Therefore, mastering their South node is part of thier plans for this lifetime.

To find your own true North node you’ll need to get your birth chart. Go to Astro.com and click on “Free Horoscopes” then click on “Chart Drawing, Ascendant” found under the heading Horoscope Chart Drawings.

For more information on the nodes read the best book on the nodes: Jan Spiller’s Astrology for the Soul.