The Lunar Nodes in Astrology Pt. 3 - How Do The North and South Nodes Work In Transits?

by Robert Wilkinson

This an effort to address some of what many asked in various comment streams, so I decided to do this third article on the Lunar Nodes and how they work. Today we’ll explore some possible ways it works while transiting our chart.

In Part 1, The North Node and South Node, Why are They Important, and How Do They Work? we explored what they are, how they fit into eclipse patterns, and some possible ways to interpret how they work as an integrated duality in our lives. In Part 2, How Do The North and South Nodes Work In the Signs and Houses in our Charts? we explored more of how the natal Nodes work in the signs and life areas of the chart. In that article I touched on how we could apply the natal examples in terms of the movement of the transiting Nodes through our houses:

In another example, where the Nodal axis is transiting in the chart, it works like it would natally, except it moves backwards through the houses of your chart. Therefore, it exerts a direct house influence for approximately 18 months as well as for some time after, since we get many eclipses in that span of time. I believe it reveals its mystery every time the transiting Moon makes aspects to the transiting Nodes, as well as when the transiting Nodal axis makes aspects to our natal or progressed Moon. Wherever the axis is transiting in our charts is where we are growing and releasing, being pulled to demonstrate that growth pattern across time.

Please take a second look at those articles to familiarize yourself with the descriptions of the many possible ways to see how the Nodes work in terms of intake and outflow using the sign energies in the areas of our lives shown by the houses. Understanding the differences between the signs and the houses is one of the most important factors in Astrology, since it shows us how and where a certain type of energy will manifest.

To recap, the sign of the North Node shows the quality of your line of greatest evolutionary development; the sign of the South Node shows the quality of your line of least resistance. The house of the North Node is where you will grow tremendously in terms of the sign, or the growth energy you’re here to demonstrate through the sign of the South Node in the area of life shown by the house of the South Node. North Node efforts are often difficult, whereas the South Node patterns are familiar, and therefore usually easy. One is in-take, one is out-flow, and we are told that both assist the mechanics of our personal line of greatest evolutionary development.

They work the same way when transiting our chart in terms of the houses. We grow in and through the affairs of the house of the transiting North Node, and release whatever we need to of the life area shown by the house of the South Node. I cannot give depth examples of how that would work, as that is a book in itself. Just apply what is known to be the arena of each house, and begin to see them as an axis, working together to help certain areas grow, while releasing whatever is needed in the SN house to demonstrate the positive qualities of the house of the NN.

The sign of the transiting North Node would seem to imply that energy is where we can ALL learn to grow. When in Pisces, we would learn from a vast oceanic view, compassion, forgiveness, seeing life as a movie that needs occasional re-editing, and empathy for our common humanity. When in Aquarius, we would learn from group work, altruism, world service, dispassion, and genuine friendliness toward all other beings, greeting them with open minds and open hearts, demonstrated through positive Leo traits.

When the transiting NN is in Capricorn, we’ll learn more from organization, discipline, taking personal responsibility, and crystallizing some form of individual excellence within a group performance while letting go of old Cancerian emotional responses and habit patterns. As you can surmise, these signs work out in different lives in the 10,000 ways, so use your imagination to see how the current Pisces NN transit has been and continues to work it’s growth magnetism in your life.

The sign of the transiting South Node would seem to imply that energy is what is familiar but we learn nothing from, except how to release, let go, or perfectly demonstrate something we cannot learn from. When in Virgo, we need to let go of excessive clinging to things “making sense,” or fitting together perfectly, or worrying about details that are already fading due to the Pisces NN. We will learn more at present from blessing the passages than working with all the pieces trying to find order. We will learn more from forgiveness than from labor for its own sake. And yet much can be done if we learn to flow from one sequence of details to the next, fixing what we can, letting go of what we must, and demonstrating our ability to be good servants within a larger galactic field. Apply these principles to other signs as well, once the Nodes move on.

Eclipses are New and Full Moon Lunations conjunct one or both Nodes; that’s why they’re powerful. They illuminate and give form to either what we’re learning to do, or what we’re learning to let go of or demonstrate, or both. There are at least 6 eclipses in each sign over about 18 months, so you can see how the sign of the transiting Nodes sets some heavy pressure points in our charts that are triggered over time. I’ll also note that we all have at least two eclipses while we are in the womb, and some have four. That would indicate some heavy events in our parents’ lives before we were born and in the years after, since Solar Eclipses last for a number of years.

A final note: I was asked what it means when the transiting Nodes are opposite the birth Nodes, i.e., when the transiting North Node in Pisces is conjunct a natal South Node in Pisces, and transiting SN in Virgo is conjunct the natal NN in Virgo. My response was that is a time of learning how to release, and demonstrating what you've learned. It marks the end of a 9 year cycle of growth and release, and begins a 9 year cycle complementing the first one. It represents a time of growing (at least temporarily) through what you're familiar with, and letting go of old lines of development that have fulfilled their time in your life.

Definitely observe the aspects of the transiting Moon to its transiting Nodes, since those are point they are supposedly much more powerfully active than any other times. Also take note of the times when the transiting Nodes make significant aspects to your natal and progressed Moon, since the same would be true, and these aspect periods could last for weeks or months and provide important information about how you are aligning your habits with the on-going growth patterns.

© Copyright 2007 Robert Wilkinson

Comments

[michele]

YUMMY....:))

eating all this up....

i like the energetic analogy of one node is in- take the other out-flow
feels almost like receiving from one and disbursing through the other. also, applying that wisdom, knowledge, experience & energy
roberto, this was great... i feel complete :)

for now.... :)

namaste

[Robert]

Hi Michele - So today was dessert? ;-) Glad you got so much out of this series which started as an afterthought of the eclipses. See you at the Santa Monica talk in a week.

[michele]

ya...yummy dessert

so thorough--i'm full :)

[Ron Brideau]

Thank you very much.

[toni]

Hi Robert, I asked the questions about transiting nodes opposite natal nodes. I was thinking about your response on the way to work. My NN in Virgo in my 9th house of higher learning seems to indicate to me that for growth, I need to pay more attention to details regarding information I'm learning on a wider scale. It is easy for me to think and communicate empathetically, (SS in the third house of communication). This seems like it may be the perfect placement for me since my sun is in Sagittarius in the 12th house and my seventh house is Gemini. Sag is the natural 9th house and Gemini is the natural 3rd house. Everything in my chart seems to be suggesting that I need to concentrate on higher learning. It doesn't come easily though, because with Mercury conjunct Neptune in Scorpio, it's very hard to concentrate on details, and daydreaming is a quality too easy for me.
Maybe even what I'm writing now is an example that I am starting to and trying to understand something of a wider perspecitive. Thanks Robert for helping me think, even if my ideas are still not complete.

[Robert]

Hi Ron and toni - You're both most welcome. And yes, toni, your comment inspired this post. And you are learning the specific details in ordering a larger vision, so you're definitely on track. With your Mercury Neptune, get past the forms into the essence of things.

[DianatheHuntress]

Thanks so much for helping us take a deeper look into the Nodes, Robert.... this has been a real epiphany for me in many ways.

Last night I was outside gazing into the nightsky and enjoying the canopy of starlight... I am in a beautiful wilderness area just north of you there toward the Big Sur (much to my delight)... envisioning a sort of electrical 'tornado' over water moving toward land, in which I felt as if I were in the 'eye of the storm', the calm center... it was just after midnight, and I was contemplating how great it is to have the grounding of Saturn, when an earthquake came rumbling under my feet! WOW... I was literally standing on the epicenter..... lol..... so much for 'stability'...... awesome transits right now!

The stars are NOT just in our eyes.....

With Love, D. } ------*

[Robert]

Hi DianatheHuntress - Loved Big Sur when I had the chance to visit there in 2003, very awe inspiring and humbling to be in such a dynamic and ruggedly beautiful area. Wishing for "stability" in an Age in Transition is a funny notion, though understandable. Your earthquake synchronicity is pretty interesting, and probably the perfect metaphor for our larger times. That's why when the wave form rolls through, we have to be good surfers...

[Alix]

Hi Robert, this subject is so fascinating. Shortly after I moved to the UK and the nodes moved to Virgo-Pisces, I had this dream: I was standing up in the middle of that street where traffic was very heavy but behind me there was this gate closing so I couldn't go back although I was afraid of crossing that street, but the gate kept closing on me and forced me to quickly jump and reach the pavement on the other side, I remember that I got a bit bruised and that the leap was a bit awkward but when I realised I was there on the other side and the gate was closed, when I woke up I knew there was no turning back...
Now I feel that I'm half way before the actual reversal of the nodes when I believe that finally the process would be completed, at the end of December, the weird thing is that Pluto will pass conjunct my Moon for the last time.
I've found this blog on the nodal opposition that I think brings some interesting insights:
http://www.astrologyweekly.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3914

[Robert]

Hi Alix - It sounds like you had a very powerful and prophetic dream, and that you've purified whatever you needed to in order to come out of the boiling pot golden. Somehow I suspect that many things that used to bug you will never bug you again, and that's a verrrrry good thang.

[Alix]

Hi Robert, Yes that's correct! But I was really interested in what that person on that blog says that happens when of the opposition of the nodes, your life conditions change, it is when you deliver yourself to that new life you were aspiring to have, even if just unconsciously. It really is the time when you gain if you let go and I noticed that the process starts already a few months before the reversal, so when it happens you are born anew... :] wouldn't you say so?

[Robert]

Hi Alix - Yes, the process begins the minute the transiting Nodes hit the sign our natal Nodes are in. The conjunction is a point where the old process is complete, and the new one begins. Then they move into the next sign, and bring new information.

[Helen]

Hi Robert,

I have a quick general question. Does the north node have the same effect in a house as a planet?

I have a fixed T-sqaure in my natal chart effecting the 11th, 2nd, and 8th house. I have my north node in the 5th house with no other planets.

Does this make my natal chart a Grand Cross instead of T-sqaure?

Hope this post helps others.

Thanks.

Peace,

Helen

[Robert]

Hi Helen - Not exactly. The planets are our "inner lights," different from the Nodes, which as you know are not planets. They work differently, yet are highly effective. In your situation, your Fixed t-square throws energies into the sign void, which happens to be occupied by your NN. Grand Crosses diffuse energies; T-squares are very powerful integrators of energies, where you can release the awarenesses of the opposition through the third planet, creating effects in the void sign, which shows the "problem" as well as "solution" to whatever friction is generated by the T-square.

In your chart the NN is what must be dealt with as a result of the tension, which to me would be a very good thing. Your line of greatest evolutionary development this lifetime is stimulated every time the T-square activates. Congratulations!

[Helen]

Robert,

Again thanks for wisdom. And thanks for appearing in my life when I needed you the most!

Peace,

Helen

[bono]

Hello Robert, I've just found your website and thought you might be able to give me some advice regarding a transit that I'm going through at the moment.I'm a bit of an amature in the astro and only last night thought to look up the effects of a saturn transit on the n node in leo in the 8th.

I have some serious issues regarding relatives and property , that have come to a head in the last month.
Saturn moves off its conjuction its conj point in about a month from now , any suggestions?

[Robert]

Hi bono - Keep structuring your Leo growth pattern. Those of us with NN in the 8th, SN in 2nd learn more from what we give up than what we cling to. You should use the power of your mature heart to detach from whatever, and focus on attracting or cultivating Leo energies in you and others to assist you. This is the end of a process that began last Autumn at the first conjunction, and shows a long term line of development, helping you generate magnetism to culminate an old self image started back when Saturn conjuncted your Asc about 17 years ago.

[bono]

Cheers Robert , good luck and all that. bono

[lina]

Hi Robert,

Thanks for all the valuable information you provide, which all help clarify a lot of "madness" going around.

I have a query, if would be kind enough to answer it. I am a bit worried from the coming eclipses (28th August and 11 September 2007). My concern is that the transiting south node with be on an exact conjunct to my natal pluto (6 virdo), in my second house. My birth information is 28 Nvember 1959 at 10:15 pm in Cairo, Egypt.
I would be more than grateful if you can give me a hint about the meaning of this conjunction. My present location is also Cairo, Egypt.
Thanks a lot
Lina

[Micheline Cloutier]

Hi Robert, How are YOU!? Bet very few people actually ask you that question. Hope you are healthy, happy, growing and learning and well. I must thank you for all the times you have answered my questions. I am learning so much. I was so worried about the next eclipse but I realised something, and this keeps coming back, (progressed virgo and too many planets in virgo natally but hey I am a sag!!!). Why the hell worry. No point...Just be open, free and consicous. I love your writting. I feel you are one of astrologies most prolific writters. You are very intune with the cosmos and the intellilect at the same time. It is very hard to put that together and balance. I feel it is my job in life to uplift people in any way I can and to also give the message of love and tolerance. I had a wonderful experience tonite. There was a Brazillian event in one of the parks here in Tokyo. I met a variety of people from different countries. One young man was from Libyia, a couple of Aussies, one of my best buddies who though was half french/spanish/ and half french/italian grew up in aussie land and now lives in paris, came to visit, but the conversation I had with these people, who were much younger except for the Indonesian...was so interesting....I came to a very intersting conclusion tonite, we are not just seperated from nature, and we do not just not listen to nature anymore, our biggest problem is that we have learned to fight so much because we have been trying to fight nature, but you can not fight nature, mother earth, she will or he will keep doing what it does, forever more, so why are we fighting when we have more important concerns???? Dealing with mother natures volitle nature. Thats how she is and you can not get away from it. Even if we are contributing to it. The environment we live in will correct itself in anyway it needs to or does not need to. So, why are we fighting each other when we have to deal with mother nature. Are people so dense??

[Robert]

Hi Lina - Sorry it took me so long to find this, but it dropped off the sidebar before I could answer. I was on the road driving transcontinentally when you posted this, with little connectivity. SN conjunct Pluto is a generational influence; show your Pluto strengths and let go of negative manifestations. Jupiter should have opened some great new vistas and possibilities this year, and as it moves into Cap with Saturn now in Virgo should stabilize much for you in some very favorable ways.

Hi Micheline - Thanks for asking. I'm doing fairly well, though of course some people are unhappy with my move out of LA, and loathe the fact that I'm saying there are upheavals coming, and not just in LA. Oh well. In this Garden Party, "...you can't please everyone, so you better please yourself..." Glad you're learning to relax amid the changes, and thanks for your compliments about the work. Yes, humanity is at war with itself and Nature, and cannot win such a battle. In the new era we won't have the time or energy to fight, since we'll be doing all we can to find freedom, safety, love, peace, abundance, health, and community in the midst of the global breakdowns and transformations. We will again learn the wisdom of Dr. Franklin's adage that "we must all hang together or else most assuredly we shall all hang separately."

[Jacek Dunajewski]

Dear Sir/Madam,

Earthquakes are possible to predict, in my opinion.

1) ....
2) ....
3) DATE: 2008-03-09 Magnitude 6
09 MAR 2008
LAT : -1,5 LON : 102 Region: Indonesia

4) DATE: 2013-10-31 Magnitude 9,3
LAT:
LON:
Region: Indonesia

Kindest regards
from
Jacek Dunajewski

http://republika.pl/life_of_earth/

[Robert]

Hi Jacek - Yes, all extraordinary natural phenomena can be seen in astrology. I had a few students back in the 70s who came up with some interesting things about earthquake prediction, but I have no idea where their papers are. If I ever find them in my countless boxes of files, I'll try to summarize their findings. If you're up to the challenge, please offer us other possible earthquake times and places.

[Jacek Dunajewski]

Dear Sir/Madam,

Earthquakes are possible to predict, in my opinion.

DATE: 2007-DECEMBER-21 Magnitude 8,2 ?
Region: JAPAN; KURIL ISLANDS

Kindest regards
from Jacek Dunajewski
http://republika.pl/life_of_earth/

[j]

Earthquakes 2008:

2008-NOV-01
2008-SEP-10
2008-SEP-04
2008-JUN-08
2008-APR-23
2008-APR-10
2008-MAR-09
2008-FEB-28
2008-FEB-17
2008-FEB-11
2008-JAN-31
2008-JAN-03

Jacek Dunajewski

[Robert]

Hi Jacek - Great list. I'm sure the readers would like to know where they may occur, as well as the approximate magnitude, for all kinds of the right reasons! It's interesting to me that back in 2006 a newspaper article offered a "what if" prediction of a major quake (7.0) in Utah on Feb 1, 2008 due to the timing on past quakes, very close to one of the dates you offer. Of course, Utah has hundreds of small quakes each year, like California. It's the magnitude and depth that matters. As an aside, the Northern San Andreas fault is already overdue for a major quake, while the Southern San Andreas fault is about 350 years overdue. One Cal Tech scientist described this "like being 10 months pregnant," so I suspect things will get cranked up within the not-so-distant future.

[j]

"I'm sure the readers would like to know where they may occur, as well as the approximate magnitude, for all kinds of the right reasons!" ======== SEE: http://life_of_earth.republika.pl/
Jacek

[Jacek Dunajewski]

New Madrid -Earthquakes 1811 and 1812: "made in Saturn"

Jacek Dunajewski

[Adelia Scaffidi]

I was born July 31,1928 at 10.30PM in Cleveland Ohio.

Could you give me som information on the Nodes in my chart and whenI sould check and how the transits. Than You,

Adelia Scaffidi

[Robert]

Hi Adelia - Your North Node is at 8 Gemini, South Node at 8 Sagittarius. Your line of greatest evolutionary development is through training your mind. Study, reading, writing, communicating. Your line of least resistance is to keep on the move, always searching for the bigger picture that gives you a sense of security. You went through major endings and beginnings from late 2004 through Summer 2007. You're moving into a new set of likes over the next year, and need to act however you must in order to fulfill the vision of this past year. You are dedicated to bringing a better world to a greater whole, transcended individual loyalties this life (though you had plenty who were loyal to you!) have some interesting artistic abilities, and are actually a very progressive being. At this time, use your "x-ray" vision to see through things to find what is strong or weak in the structure, argument, or plan.