What Is the North Node and What Does It Mean? Expressions for Each Sign

The North Node, often referred to as the "Dragon's Head," signifies the direction in our lives we should be striving towards but doesn't come naturally to us. It represents the path we should be working to follow for personal and spiritual growth.

Following the path of our North Node will take effort, intention and planning. It is our unfamiliar territory and it holds the key to our growth and fulfillment. While the sign of the North Node in your birth chart shows your true purpose and the lessons you’re here in this life to learn. The South Node, which is always in the opposite sign, reflects the things that come easily to you, perhaps due to your experience in past lives.

While the North Node does challenge us to develop the positive qualities of its sign, we should not dismiss the South Node outright.

Your South Node placement reflects experiences you had in your past lives. Your South Node’s qualities can be seen as a complicated inheritance — there’s often good in them, but they may also bring out the difficult side of that sign. It's crucial to remember that the challenges we face due to past life karma from our south node, are not to be viewed as sources of stress but as opportunities for growth.

The North Node and South Node illuminate our path towards personal and spiritual growth. Embracing the duality inherent in these celestial points can profoundly enrich our lives, not just in the realm of astrology but in everyday existence.

Finding balance between the North Node’s pull toward growth and the South Node’s desire for comfort is key. Read on to discover the unique strengths and weaknesses of your North Node and South Node placements!

Technical Details of the Lunar Nodes

Technically speaking, the Moon’s Nodes are the two points where the orbit of the Moon around Earth intersects with the ecliptic, or the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. Symbolically speaking, the North Node and South Node hold a powerful message about where you’re going and where you’ve been.

The cycle of the Moon’s Nodes lasts about 18.6 years. The North Node takes one-twelfth of that cycle, or roughly a year and a half, to move through each Zodiac sign. Therefore, you will often have the same North Node sign as other people your age. A birth chart reading can distinguish how the unique features of your North Node placement, such as its house and aspects to planets, set you apart from your peers.

Some astrologers refer to the True Node, and some refer to the Mean Node. Both are slightly different ways of calculating the North Node. Your North Node will usually be in the same sign in both methods, unless it is right on the border between one sign and another.

Another quirk of the North Node to keep in mind is that it moves backwards through the signs — for example, it goes from Taurus to Aries, not from Aries to Taurus like planets and luminaries typically do.

Interpretation of Nodes 

No matter what sign your North Node is in, the South Node is always in the opposite sign. Opposite signs are usually working on the same issues but from different viewpoints.

For example, someone who has the North Node in Aries and the South Node in Libra might find it easy to live at the Libra extreme of deferring to a partner in a relationship. They may need to learn the Aries qualities of independence and self-assertion.

Meanwhile, someone who has the North Node in Libra and South Node in Aries could be good at advocating for their own interests but less skilled at compromise when the situation truly calls for it.

North Node in Aries/South Node in Libra

True Purpose: You’re here to develop the Aries qualities of independence and leadership. You need to be willing to blaze new trails, even if no one else comes with you at first.

Complicated Inheritance: You want to make everybody happy. You might have some talent for this, even if your success tends to come at your own expense.

Finding Balance: You can potentially use the likeable tendencies of your South Node in Libra to make your unconventional choices more palatable to others. However, sometimes you’ll have to realize when to stop schmoozing and just move forward without a key person’s approval. They may see your point once you give them something concrete to look at!

North Node in Taurus/South Node in Scorpio

True Purpose: You’re here to embrace the Taurus lesson of finding pleasure in your physical body. Whether it’s food, exercise, or erotic encounters, your job is to discover what feels good and lean into enjoying it!

Complicated Inheritance: With the South Node in Scorpio, you may fear that becoming close to another person will lead to you getting hurt or betrayed. You might also struggle with shame about your sexuality or your body.

Finding Balance: Pleasure doesn’t always have to involve interacting with anyone else. Your South Node in secretive Scorpio might relax a little if you try the fun stuff by yourself at first. When you’re secure in your own desires, you’ll likely find it easier to explore them with the right companion.

North Node in Gemini/South Node in Sagittarius

True Purpose: Your calling is to bring people together. As you mature, you’ll learn to find common ground with anyone, no matter how different you might seem from each other.

Complicated Inheritance: The dark side of Sagittarius can be judgmental. Your rigid beliefs about what’s right and wrong could block you from seeing the humanity in people who fall short of your standards.

Finding Balance: Your South Node in Sagittarius gives you comfort with learning — you might even be a perpetual student! When you come to view others as your classmates in the school of life, this may help you get past whatever makes you hesitant about connecting with them.

North Node in Cancer/South Node in Capricorn

True Purpose: You’re here to make the world a more nurturing place. With the North Node in sensitive Cancer, you may strive to bring empathy to institutions and processes that seem overly harsh and judgmental.

Complicated Inheritance: Doing the kind and gentle thing won’t always get you the public recognition that your hard-driving South Node in Capricorn craves. As much as you know that too much structure can have a dark side, perhaps there’s also a part of you that’s drawn to it.

Finding Balance: Structure and caring are both good and necessary things to have in your life. Instead of embracing one and rejecting the other, try to be honest with yourself about what each approach is and is not equipped to deliver.

North Node in Leo/South Node in Aquarius

True Purpose: Your calling is to genuinely express yourself. This might involve an artistic outlet, or it may just mean embracing your right to tell your story of your life your own way. Once your creativity starts flowing, you’ll be able to sincerely support others on their own paths.

Complicated Inheritance: You probably care too much what other people think. While there’s value in hearing others’ perspectives, you may get so caught up in trying to figure out what’s best for the common good that you lose track of what actually works for you.

Finding Balance: Not every creative expression needs an audience. You may want to work alone for a while to build up your confidence. Although you might worry about being seen as selfish, you’ll be able to give your best to others when you’re in a good place yourself.

North Node in Virgo/South Node in Pisces

True Purpose: Your task is to embrace practical acts of service. Good intentions don’t accomplish much if you never actually do anything about them — you’re here to make things happen in the physical world!

Complicated Inheritance: You likely see life’s big picture more clearly than most, but its vastness is probably overwhelming to you. You may have a lot of compassion for people who are suffering, but perhaps you don’t know exactly what to do with this feeling. Focusing your energy could be a huge challenge.

Finding Balance: Pick one step that is achievable toward solving one problem. No matter how insignificant your contribution might seem, this is the path to making your highest ideals manifest in the physical world.

North Node in Libra/South Node in Aries

True Purpose: You’re looking for a partnership that will help you accomplish things you wouldn’t be capable of by yourself. Whether this is a business alliance or a romantic connection, you will grow and benefit by opening up to someone who sees things from a different perspective.

Complicated Inheritance: With the South Node in self-centered Aries, you’re used to having things your way! You have the independence necessary to strike out on your own if others aren’t satisfying your desires. However, you may lack the patience to work out difficult situations and give up too soon on problems that are actually fixable.

Finding Balance: Even the best relationship has the potential to feel suffocating for you. You need something in your life that your partner isn’t involved with, like a hobby. Having this outlet can help you maintain perspective on routine relationship frustrations. 

North Node in Scorpio/South Node in Taurus

True Purpose: You’re here to find meaning and excitement in life. Superficial explanations won’t satisfy you — you need to dig deep into any mystery that sparks your curiosity!

Complicated Inheritance: Although you crave intense experiences, you might find it difficult to get up off the couch and look for them. Your South Node in security-focused Taurus may resist any efforts that have the potential to disrupt your comfortable life. Unfortunately, the more you avoid change, the more likely it is to happen in a way that you don’t have control over.

Finding Balance: You can’t live in constant chaos, and you can’t live in constant avoidance of chaos either. The basic building blocks of your life need to be relatively solid, but you should also structure in time to intentionally explore things that make you feel alive.

North Node in Sagittarius/South Node in Gemini

True Purpose: Admitting how curious you are about the larger world could scare you, as following an interesting trail wherever it leads might seem to risk separating you from your peers. However, you’re here to feed your intellect — and maybe even teach others what you find out!

Complicated Inheritance: You’re probably engaged in your immediate surroundings to a fault. It might be hard to muster the focus to read a book that could answer some of your big questions if you’re constantly chatting with your friends and following every local news headline.

Finding Balance: The little bits of information you pick up in your routine conversations could potentially include topics worth exploring more deeply. Next time you hear something that sounds interesting, don’t just write it down on your notepad and forget about it — actually make the time to look into it further!

North Node in Capricorn/South Node in Cancer

True Purpose: Following your ambition and achieving your goals is a key calling for you. It’s important to you to build something lasting and be recognized for it.

Complicated Inheritance: You may be afraid to do what’s necessary to get ahead if you think it’ll separate you in some way from the people you care about. You might not want to make a hard decision that’s likely to hurt someone’s feelings.

Finding Balance: Your devotion to your loved ones is admirable, but perhaps maintaining their comfort in the present moment isn’t the only way you can show you’re committed. Consider the possibility that following a dream of yours, even if it causes some short-term stress to your relationships, could eventually provide others with valuable inspiration to pursue their own goals.

North Node in Aquarius/South Node in Leo

True Purpose: With the North Node in social Aquarius, you’ll learn over time to support the common good. You’re here to build a vibrant and fulfilling community that allows each person to shine.

Complicated Inheritance: You know what you like, perhaps a little too well. You may assume that what makes you happy will be just as satisfying for everyone else, and you might become upset when you’re told otherwise.

Finding Balance: Remember that compromise does not mean forcing others to agree with you. Work hard to discern the difference between something that is truly causing harm and an approach that is simply not the same as yours. Give people space to do their own thing as much as you can.

North Node in Pisces/South Node in Virgo

True Purpose: Connecting to the spiritual realm is likely to be fulfilling for you, although you might be the last person who would ever expect this to be the case. You will need to find a way of doing it that truly works for you, which may be different from what you were taught growing up.

Complicated Inheritance: You’re probably pretty good at the practical side of life, and you may not see the point in leaving your comfort zone. You’re skeptical and discerning, and you don’t want to get caught up in something with an uncertain outcome.

Finding Balance: Pursuing spirituality doesn’t have to mean turning your whole life upside down at once. Just listening to your intuition in little moments can bring manageable doses of meaningful change.

Tap Into Your North Node with Yoga 

You can tap into your life direction by embodying the energy of your north node zodiac. Doing yoga poses, meditations or taking actions that support that zodiac’s enrgy can be a meaninful way to connect to embody your life purpose. 

To find out what poses and meditations you should do, you first need to find out what zodiac your north node is in using the birth chart calculator.  

Once you know the zodiac of your north node, check out the blog and search for yoga poses for the zodiac. There you will find the yoga poses and the chakra that is aligned with the zodiac of your North Node. 

Whatever the sign of your North Node may be, you might find its challenges especially prominent at Nodal Returns, which happen every 18.6 years, and Nodal Oppositions, which happen at the halfway point between Nodal Returns. If a transiting planet hits your North Node or South Node, that could be big too.

A transit reading, which is included with the Higher self Kickstarter, can help you identify these powerful opportunities to find your direction.