Progressions and Solar Returns

What are transits in astrology?

A Super Easy Explanation of the Houses in your Astrology Chart

What are the North and South Nodes? Vedic Nodes, vs Western Nodes...

As many of you know, the North and South Nodes are mathematical points rather than planets, and are calculated by the intersecting orbits between the Earth, Sun, and Moon. Throughout the history of astrology these points have pointed to our re-incarnation history. The South Node describes the qualities of past incarnations and present spiritual lessons in this life, and the North Node describes the life direction, soul purpose, and compensatory behavior that is 'good medicine' for you now.

     The Nodes can be seen as the trajectory of the Soul. Similar to the ancient astroglobes with an arrow piercing a circle (now often seen as garden sculptures) the arrow tip points in the direction of your North Node, like a North Star, and the South Node is the end tail of the arrow, and speaks symbolically of the past and the direction you want to move away from....old default habits. There needs to be a balance between the ends, because we cannot get rid of the past and the emotional memory (the lunar memory) of the South Node because it still resides below the surface of consciousness.

    Western astrology, as practiced in the US and Europe see these Nodes quite differently from the Indian Vedic perspective which see the North and South Nodes negatively, and are known as Rahu and Ketu, representing the head and tail of the dragon. For Eastern Vedic astrologers, neither of these points are a blessing, nor are they understood within the context of the free will based Western astrology. Vedic astrology is more predictive and perhaps because it comes out of a culture that had few free will choices for the individual, the emphasis on the Nodes is quite different, and chart readings usually hold more fear and negativity. Charms and stones are recommended to undo the effects of the Nodes, and Westerners see this as superstition--rightly so!

     Western astrology accepts reincarnation and a belief that karmic conditions can be seen in the chart, but that we have more power to change our lives now, based on self-understanding.

    If you are looking at your chart to find the Nodes, the North Node looks like a pair of headphones and the South Node looks like a horseshoe. In the book, North Node Astrology, there is also a Table where you can find your North and South Node based simply on your birth day and year.
www.elizabethspring.com

Fool's Gold: the Slippery Downward Slope of the South Node

Fool's Gold; the Slippery Slope of the South Node

   I'm thinking about another book, a sequel to "North Node Astrology; Redisovering Your Life Direction and Soul Purpose", and this new book, "South Node Astrology; " would focus on what each of us came into this life to change. Our re-incarnational agenda. how the emotional memory contained in the South Node influences how we live  in this life and why we keep repeating the same old mistakes and misjudgments. These patters sabotage us and keep us from living a better life, and loving more fully.

 So what is this South Node?

From the point of view of evolutionary astrology, the sign of your South Node describes your default pattern in life. It describes a way of being in the world which doesn't work well for you anymore. It represents something you are comfortable with, because earlier in this life or in a previous life (if you believe in reincarnation) it was your habitual pattern and where you failed to live up to all you could be. So now, the Soul longs to move away from this and towards the potential and possibilities of your North Node.

The South Node represents an easy way out for us---our addictive tendencies, our unresolved conflicts and negative personality traits, and the limitations and failures from the past which can interfere with our ability to be all we can be. In looking at the sign of the South Node, one needs to look at what the lower octave--the negative side of the sign and house position is all about. The South Node represents what we didn't get right, or what was troublesome either earlier in this life or in a former life.

It’s important to remember the paradoxical nature of the signs and planets, and to keep reaching for the highest expression of them. All these signs can be played out in a higher, or wiser way, and a lower, or less conscious way. And although we don't want to keep falling back on what we know or what our default pattern is, it's helpful to remember that Carl Jung always said to watch for the "gold in the shadow." That shadow is the South Node!

We would be wise to think of the South Node territory as a potentially slippery slope. We need to be fully grounded before digging for the gold there--or what we may find could be just fool's gold. Illusion and disillusion dwell there, and it takes discernment to know what is real and what isn't real. Much to ponder....

South Node Libra

In Evolutionary astrology we look at the South Node with eyes that are biased to see what unfinished business, what blockage, what challenge was not met—either earlier in this life or in a former life. So, we read the South Node negatively. To read the “Venus ruled” Libra negatively can be hard, because there is so much charm and personality there. It’s similar to saying “that nice person at the party/the job/the meeting wasn’t really so nice after all.” Too much niceness, too much ‘trying to make the peace at any price’, too much caring what the other person thinks and feels, can make a person appear like a chameleon. Why is there such a desire to please? What woundedness is under that need?

Enmeshment, co-dependence, and a subtle kind of opportunism and neediness are the worse traits of Libra; no matter if it be the Sun, Moon or South Node. In the South Node position, the emotional nature “remembers” on a cellular level an original closeness and unity that is hoped for now, if not expected. Venus wants good relationships, harmony and beauty. Nothing wrong with that. Justice too, and credit for doing a good job. He/she wants to come up smelling like roses, and sometimes Venus bends the truth or takes radical risks to make their dreams come true.

So what is needed here? A healthy dose of its opposite: Mars. Venus needs the independent, assertiveness of its North Node of Aries to create the balance. When you have the South Node  in Libra, there’s too much of a default pattern here of the illusive or manipulative feminine—whether you are male or female, we all have our counter-sexual parts within us, and with Libra, you are going to have to assert, fight, survive, and carry the weight of the paradoxes of life on your shoulders. You need to get assertive. Your soul survival may depend on you not depending too much on other people.

As always there’s a delicate crucial balance needed between the opposites. This is the Libra/Aries, “I-Thou axis”-- the relationship balancing “see-saw” between me and you. There’s great gold or goodness embedded in the South Node Libra, but if you’re going to learn from this, take a look at how you “act-out” your relationships in your life, and how you respond to beauty. Are you nourishing yourself with “random acts of beauty” and loving kindness? Good, that’s high Libra. Are you finding new ways to nourish your need for true relationships, or are you distracting or deceiving yourself and others? Libra likes the illusions and beauty of Neptunian fantasies, which are fine, but remember to honor the need for confrontation and assertion in your life. Venus needs Mars. The female and male parts of you are all there inside of you, just asking permission to express itself. “Androgyny” can be seen as a kind of wholeness.
© Elizabeth Spring http://www.elizabethspring.com/

South Node Taurus

The South Node represents what we’ve come into this life with---the gifts, the wounds, the challenges. On the most basic level, the South Node is where we are comfortable because we are familiar with the territory, and with the South Node in Taurus, we know the delights of being comfortable, being sensual and sexual, having a sense of financial and emotional security, and enjoying the things in life that make it worth living. Venus rules Taurus, and this is the part of us that values the ground we stand on, our relationships, beauty, good food and drink, and loyal friends. Nothing wrong with that! And we fear not having enough of those things.


Venus is exalted in Taurus, meaning that the planetary archetype of Venus naturally and comfortably expresses itself through the lens of Taurus, and that “she” expresses a type of “life philosophy” that is rooted in a pragmatic and sensual understanding of life.

That is unless you’ve taken it too far. And this may be the case if your South Node is in Taurus. The South Node always represents the area that we didn’t get quite right in a former life, or earlier in this one, so we are called now to release the down side of these habits and traits. Too much emphasis on Venusian security, sensuality and relationships can hint of a touch of laziness or materiality that doesn’t leave room for the depth, painful truth, or edginess that Soul Work sometimes requires.


Have you been living in a world of denial or attempting a false security that isn’t rooted in deep truth? The South Node in Taurus speaks to the need to move away from the over-dependence on personal resources (“He who dies with the most money wins”) or continual security seeking (“This is my house and I don’t ever want to consider moving for any reason.”)


Too great a concern for the comfortable desires of Venus tends towards materialism, if not laziness, and the antidote is to move towards your Scorpio North Node. This is about a willingness to risk one’s present level of security for a deeper, truer level of security and integrity. This is where the balance is brought in by the Scorpio North Node, which continually wants to know “what’s the emotional bottom line truth here? And what do I need to do about it?”

Elizabeth Spring www.elizabethspring.com