Retrograde may be a word you instantly associate with the planet Mercury, but it’s not just Mercury which is known for travelling backwards. The North and South Nodes are permanently in reverse gear.
But their slow backward journey has a different power and impact, which if understood, can help to ensure you don’t repeat mistakes you’ve made in the past and perhaps even get the opportunity to gain knowledge accumulated in previous lifetimes.
Not only are the nodes moving backward, but they do so at a much slower pace. A complete Node cycle takes 18.6 years to complete, with the North Node and South Node spending approximately 1.5 years in each zodiac sign. As they’ll be changing signs in May, now is the perfect time to learn more on their significance.
The world expert on Nodes, by the way, is Jan Spiller who devoted herself to them. In her revered book Astrology for The Soul she credited much of her success to her understanding of them writing “The Nodes have never failed to give me the information I need to correctly guide the individual in achieving success, self-confidence, and balance within the personality. The accuracy of my readings is not due to “psychic talents” but rather to my attention to the activity of the Nodes.”
While the Sun sign was still important Spiller, her belief was that to understand why each individual was on earth and what we should each devote ourselves (not to mention what traps we should be looking out for along the way) could all be seen in our individual North and South Node placements. Spiller wrote about how each person’s North Node reveals our life purpose, explaining “For each of us, our deepest core issues are shown in the sign and positions of the North Node at the time of our birth.”
Look around your birth chart, if you are a Premium Member, and you will soon see the North Node and South Node. They are always in opposite zodiac signs. The North Node and South Node meanings are always connected. To clear up any confusion, you will sometimes see the North Node listed as your True Node or Mean Node. That’s fine, but what people are actually talking about is the North Node in your chart. It works as a pair with the South Node and both of them describe repetition, over many years, but also many lifetimes. They’re karmic.
In the following extract from Jessica Adams book 2020 Astrology: Your Five-Year Horoscope Guide Jessica looked at what each node delivers and how to improve your life through understanding their power:
The True North Node by sign and house in your birth chart shows stuck, repetitive situations which teach you how to be philosophical. The only way to cope when nothing ever changes, is to change your response.
The True South Node by sign and house is easier to work with. You also get déjà vu (‘Been there, done that, seen the film’) but you can relax about it all. You can repeat yourself, in this area of life, or leave it alone. Both are connected to each other in a loop, so issues about the North Node trigger issues about the South Node.
By transit, the True Nodes show you where history repeats. When Theresa May became the second female Prime Minister to stand on the steps of 10 Downing Street, the True Nodes were repeating in the same zodiac signs, that ruled the skies when Margaret Thatcher took power.
Here’s another example. When the Tasmanian government voted to dam the beautiful Franklin River the True North Node was in Cancer (the sign which rules home, land and homeland). The Tasmanians were facing a replay of a familiar scenario – the damming of Lake Pedder, years before.
The Nodes remind me of Groundhog Day, the famous cult film with Bill Murray playing the reporter stuck in the same day, every day. The only way he could cope with the stuck-record life was by altering his perspective. He used the repetition as training wheels, to make himself more philosophical, more tolerant, more accepting.
He learned compassion by reading the hearts and minds of people who said and did the same things, every single day. If you have exact aspects involving the Nodes, watch Groundhog Day.
The Ace Card in Tarot blog looked at how every time a Node enters a new zodiac sign, An Ace card will turn up. Make a note in your diary to choose a Smith-Waite Tarot card here in May to test this for yourself!
Like the changing of the guard, the South and North Nodes move together, rotating backwards on Wednesday May 6th 2020. From this date the North Node will be in Gemini & South Node in Sagittarius until 18th January 2022. For this week’s Transformation Tuesday Jessica Adams has created a special podcast, which looks at what this new Node combination will mean for you individually, and for the world as a whole. Visit The Nodes in Astrology Podcast page to listen to the podcast.
P.S. Want to expand your knowledge even further on Nodes? You can also read North and South Node Meanings, North Node in Cancer & North Node in Leo & South Node in Aquarius to gain even greater understanding. See more @jessicacadams and @astrologyshow with the hashtags #Transformation Tuesday #Nodes #Astrology.
Featured Image Credit: Jamie Street
If you have a stellium in Aquarius (more than three factors in that zodiac sign) then your Eleventh House of friendships and groups is unusually packed. What happens to those friendships when Saturn, Jupiter and then Pluto all pass through Aquarius? Have friends been lost, or has the friendship changed? That’s typical of this long cycle.
The NHS was founded on 5th July 1948 in London with an astrological chart that shows a complete replacement in 2022 and 2023. The horoscope for the National Health Service reveals a perfect storm that will affect nurses, doctors and patients.
Astrology forecasts made before an historic chain of eclipses chimed with predictions of drama for the Royal Family, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump – and a strange twist of fate involving Lolita. Published so long ago that Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein were still unknown to the public, they now suggest July-August 2021 is a time of reckoning. Meghan, Harry, Kate and William have also been drawn into the astrological timeline. How do the Leo eclipses pan out in 2021 and 2022?
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11 Responses
Wow!!
Jessica I am claiming freedom from an individual who tried to humiliate my intelligence. Uranus in solar 7th house!
The thing is I had put this person on a very high pedestal ( natal neptune in 10th) as a mentor. What has come out is her very ugly side. I have become used to uranian currents since 2018 so I understand that freedom is priceless. Thank you for all the astrology lessons here.
Hi Jessica, When you say “Groundhog Day”, does this mean that the reopening of the countries will have again to be locked down again? With the warmer weather people can’t stop themselves from going outside. Thinking the virus is gone. Is it over or are we going to have another another round of lockdowns before it finally leaves? Thanks again
Unfortunately we will not be flying as we used to for a very long time. We have a Grand Cross forming in January 2021 with Neptune in Pisces, the North Node in Gemini, the South Node in Sagittarius – and billions born with Virgo placements. In plain English, January 2021 is another crossroads for airlines in particular, but also trains, buses, cars and so on. To be honest with you, the system is going to break down, so that the earth can be saved. Climate Emergency would have taken us anyway, or our descendants. Even though COVID-19 is a global tragedy, and I have personally lost a friend in New York to it – as an astrologer, I have to say, this is a case of immediate, short-term pain for long-term gain. Not even gain. The end of heavy air travel, the end of heavy manufacturing, planet-gobbling shopping habits, and so on – will reduce carbon emissions and keep the temperatures normal. We will not burn as we might have done – and our ice will not flood us as badly as it could have done. I’m sorry but that is the reality in astrology from where I am standing. And yet part of me is also relieved. My friend who died has a young son. He would have been thrust into the full horror of Climate Emergency in his twenties and thirties. So you see. One way or another…We have to back the science and the science has told us. Carbon emissions must end. Now.
Is it more significant if the current nodes are your natal nodes? According to my chart, my north node is 3 Sagittarius. I’m a Pisces.
Yes, you will have a North Node and South Node opposition, which can only take place every 19 years. You can look up North Node and South Node on Search.
Hello Jessica, firstly I am extremely sorry to hear of the loss of your friend and send my deepest sympathies to her young son. Nobody deserves this. I agree 100% with you on climate change; this seems to be the biggest and most unfortunate wake up loud speaker call for the Earth but clearly it needed to happen since not enough of us were listening.
On a personal note, I am confirmed to study to become a preschool teacher, commencing mid year. I’m super excited and nervous at the same time! Judging by this article (thanks also to Alicia), I feel like my paid vocation is to be a teacher. Obviously first and foremost I am an immensely proud and devoted mother to my children and really feel like this next phase of post COVID learning is an extension of this. I’d love to hear any thoughts you could offer me on this with regards to the nodes.
Many thanks and take care of yourself during this time. x
Thank you. Nobody deserves anything that COVID-19 brings and it is a tragedy that the fastest solution we have ever seen to climate emergency is taking lives. I will pass your message on to Alicia. You have a question here about teaching – think back to 2001 and 2002 because that is your answer. You started something then, that must be finished now. Unfinished business, with children, education, young people, is really what this cycle is all about. It may well be that studying to become a teacher is part of that cycle for you. It sounds like it. I hope it goes very well for you, if you choose it.
Dear Jessica
Thank you for this fascinating blog. The nodes are truly shedding light into the past and the future both on a collective and individual level.
I am a Sun Leo, Asc Gemini (22′) with the NN in Gemini and SN in Saggitarius (11′). Add to this that I have Jupiter in Gemini and I think it would be fair to say that what my guides have been telling me about me entering a brand new phase is likely to happen. And 2 of my children are meant to go and study in France whilst my business in online (Sag and Gemini themes).
I have a question regarding the significance of having natal nodes in retrograde. What impact does it have on a nodal return?
Lastly just following up on your example of the royal family and how the nodes and sun signs link one family member to another, I thought I would look at the charts of my husband and 3 children.
My 2 daughters and I have all got our ASC in Gemini (my younger daughter has Jupiter in Gemini like me). My husband: NN in Aries and SN in Libra, My eldest daughter has her NN in Libra and SN in Aries (she is a Sun Saggitarius) whilst my son has his NN in Aries and SN in Libra. Fascinating isn’t it?
Looking forward to positive change on the planet even if it might upset our personal short term plans (my son is meant to be in France in July and my daughter start uni in France in September). We might just have to learn to adapt to a more thoughtful and sustainable way to travel, shop and eat!
Many thanks. xxx Natalie
Thank you Natalie. Yes, your children will very likely go to France, or at least ‘go’ there online (in a virtual relationship) after May 7th and certainly by January 2022. France is a past life connection with all of you. Your whole family has a repeated pattern, which is pretty common. Even with induced births, the children tend to follow the patterns of the parents, which helps unity. You are on the same page – writing different books – but on the same page. France has an interesting set of choices by 2022 including departure from the European Union or insistence on a very different role within it, if she says. The EU as a whole is in trouble and will need to reshape and transform. I don’t know where you are based, but you can expect a range of new free trade agreements to alter everything, especially if Italy leaves, which I predicted quite a long time ago.
Thanks Jessica.
Most interesting about France. I’m French and have now lived in Sydney for over 20 years. I’m sure France will be at the forefront of creating a better EU.
Let’s hope that muy kids can go to France after May physically as it’ll be difficult to play football and study fashion online. It requires getting thre but I’ve got a good feeling. We’ve worked hard to get them these opportunities so it’ll happen.
Thanks again. Natalie
Natalie, I doubt very much travel will be the same again – in any case you do need to wait until at least January 2022, when the Node cycle is over, for there to be a new, global program with Virgin and British Airways, their competitors. The Paris Agreement will really mean something by then.
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