The North & South Nodes:
Our Soul's Messengers

When an inner situation is not made conscious,
it happens outside as fate. ~ C.G. Jung

On my desk, and on the cover of this book, is an “astrolabe”—a globe-like open sphere with two circular orbs connected by an arrow going right through it. In Medieval times, these strange little spheres with their roman numerals and astrological signs were used to make astronomical observations. It was a navigational device. Today, as I see it “glowing” there on my desk, I think—this is it! The arrow shooting through the astrolabe is like the North Node in the astrological chart pointing to our personal North Star.

In ancient Indian Vedic astrology this North Node point was called “Rahu” and the base of the arrow, the South Node, was called “Ketu.” The astrolabe’s encircling spheres have a little ball right in the center of the arrow—reminding me of that Mystery that is our Self. The arrow itself is like a soul messenger pointing to this North Star Node—showing the South from where we came, and the North to where we are going.

The image of the astrolabe pulls all the details and confusion of the astrological chart together. The chart itself is a guide, but often such a confusing one to synthesize. Within each of us are many planetary voices and many paradoxes. There are so many theories on what’s important to emphasize and to prioritize in our charts but for many astrologers now, the Nodes are becoming an increasingly significant part of the story; partly because they contain the most unconscious karmic part of our evolutionary journey. I honor them as alchemical gold. .

Alchemical Gold? Yes, like the alchemist's philosopher's stone, these once esoteric points in the birth chart give us a base to turn the Saturnian lead of our mundane lives into philosophic gold. Some astrologers say they offer a mercurial secret knowledge, but essentially what the Nodes do is to synthesize the chart by describing the evolutionary needs of the Soul. The North Node describes what your Soul yearns to learn and experience in this life, and what "compensatory actions" we can take to make our lives better. The South Node tells a story about the past; about the influence of heredity and karma, or simply the “default” patterns we fall back on when we’re not being conscious. It describes the personal karmic habits we’ve come into this life with, and which we are now ready to grow beyond.

The Swiss psychiatrist, Carl Jung, wrote that the psyche has a natural balancing mechanism that "compensates" for itself unconsciously. He personally felt that this "theory of unconscious compensation" which delves into the nature of our shadow selves, was one of his most important contributions to the field of psychology. Today, Jungian analysts who use astrology think of the North Node as "the compensatory function" in the psyche, whereas I think of it simply as "North Node Medicine." And if we take it, it is indeed good medicine.

Yet there’s “gold in the shadow of the South Node” as well—for just as we inherit negative traits from our family and personal past experiences we also inherit the good traits as well. And because we inherit goodness, or “gold” in the South Node, we can give to others what we innately own and understand. Vedic astrologers say we “feed others” through our South Node. As we access the higher qualities of the South Node and offer what we know to others, we also benefit by “feeding ourselves” by stretching towards the North Node qualities.

The Nodes are an axis, in which both points need to be honored and considered. Together they answer questions of soul purpose and life direction, not from the perspective of ego and personal ambition, but from the Soul’s perspective. For centuries, astrologers overlooked the message of the Nodes in their search for sun-sign predictions, and Indian Vedic Astrologers viewed the Nodes not as auspicious, but “malefic” influences. Much is changing in that arena now.

Perhaps in India, where change in itself was viewed suspiciously the Nodes were feared. In a time and culture where there had been little free choice and mobility, people felt un-empowered and learned to accept their fate. Predictions reigned, and free will was questioned.

Now these old malefics are seen differently, and have become sought after sources of knowledge about who we are, what we may have “brought over” from a previous life, and where we’re going in this one. So the North Node, originally called the” head of the dragon” and South Node, “the tail of the dragon” have emerged out of Indian astrology and mythology to offer us clues into our past patterns and future aspirations.

Today the Nodes are perhaps the most controversial and debated aspect in astrology. Western and Eastern astrologers still view them differently, and it has been a mistake, in my opinion, for astrologers to have written books where they combined the sign and house position as if they were one, because they are related but simply not the same! Signs describe the planets and the Nodes; the houses describe in what sphere of your life the “action” is happening.

There are an increasing number of books, websites, and blogs dedicated simply to understanding and deciphering the Nodes. There’s a great curiosity about what these points can tell us, and there seems to be no end of debate over how far we can—or should—try to excavate their esoteric meanings. As Carl Jung once said: “When an inner situation is not made conscious, it happens outside as fate.” The Nodes are a tool to help us change fate to choice, unconsciousness to consciousness. There’s great mystery and debate here, and yet we seem to be bravely drawn to explore this mystery—to look at our shadow selves and to now "make conscious" what has previously been unconscious and feared.