I had a sudden flash of thoughts about the nodes in the last few days that seem to made me finally start grasping their meanings. I’ve been learning astrology for years but I always brush off the nodes cause I never really vibed with the whole “north node is what you’re supposed to strive for and south node is what you should cut off” outlook. Firstly, because it’s too easy and black and white and secondly, it never really made sense looking at my own and other people’s charts.
You guys probably know already that I love to watch/listen to the astrology podcast. Austin Coppock, who’s the regular guest, always says that in vedic astrology, the north node is a malefic. And he said that again a while ago and something clicked in my brain: my ex-friend has an EXACT Mars-north node conjunction in Aquarius. She’s an Aries Sun but her cardinal energy is weak: she was always passive, she would always whine whenever she was supposed to take any action or make a decision, she was scared to fight for herself etc. Like, that’s NOT a martian personality. Also, whatever she started, was failing miserably (probably also because of her lack of motivation and consistency).
I remember how Alyssa Sharpe said that the north node makes people powerful and she gave an example of Elon Musk who has the north node-Mars conjunction in Aquarius as well (but with much wider orb than my friend). I always compared these two examples and that modern north node-whatever planet combo didn’t make sense. And now I’m thinking, right, Elon has a LOT of money but it’s because of his rich parents, he himself has founded a lot of various companies throughout his life but most of them flopped and even now, he makes flops after flops (who remembers the “unbreakable” Tesla glass window fiasco lol) and he still to this day wastes a disgustingly ridiculous amount of money (like, really, google that). So, like, is he really that powerful and succesfull?
But then I thought about a few people I know that have the north node conjunct nice planets (benefics or Sun or whatever) and those people seem to be moooore than fine. So I thought, hmm, is it really that malefic?
And this is when I found an article with quotes from the hellenistic astrologer Abu Ma’shar. He said:
“The nature of the Head of the Dragon is increasing, indeed if it were a lucky planet, it addst to the good; but if there were a malevolent star in it, it addst to the bad; (…) the Head is good with a good one, bad with a bad one”.
So, the north node strenghtens whatever it touches – if it’s a benefic, it becomes more benefic; if it’s a malefic – it becomes more malefic. A Venus conjunction can bring a lot of love, admiration or money. A Jupiter conjunction can bring more luck and popularity. He also said that the south node has the opposite effect – it minimises the effect of the malefics but also of the benefics.
That leads me to another celebrity example I’ve been thinking about recently A LOT – Hayley Williams (Paramore’s return equals the return of my heart eyes for her). I’ve been pondering on her rising sign (and by pondering I mean desperately looking for any clues as to where her ascendant is) because we don’t have her birth time, BUT what we do have is her Moon sign (she was born on the day Moon changed signs) and she’s a Virgo Moon (not Leo, as some sources state). That makes her Moon conjunct the south node. Now, Moon is a fluctuating energy already, wherever you have your Moon, that’s the area where a lot of changes might occur (for example I have it in the 3rd house and I’ve changed schools and class groups a few times in my life). If the south node has a diminishing character and it’s paired with a luminary that symbolizes your emotions and the people (yes, Moon is also the people), that means a bit of a trouble. The changeability leans more towards a disruption and bumps on the road. Vettius Valens said that (and I quote THIS ARTICLE): “the nodes conjunt the Moon are not good for starting projects as it will make them unstable and have unpredictable outcomes”.
And what do we have? A succesful lead singer (her Moon is nicely aspected tho) in a band that had quite a few sudden lineup changes and all of them were full of drama. Not to mention, her failed marriage. (And in this very moment I’m once again frustrated that I don’t have her full chart because the aspects scream for themselves but man, I wish I knew the house placements).
Another example is actually one of my favorites cause I absolutely love Sun-Jupiter contacts, especially if they’re in signs friendly to at least one of them. And it’s… my cousin, lol. He was lucky enough to be born in ‘87 when both Jupiter and the north node were in Aries – and, you’ve guessed it, he’s an Aries Sun. So he has them all conjunct. Sun is exalted in Aries, Jupiter is exalted there by triplicity – add north node to the mix and you have a beautiful combination. Now, his chart is not perfect and it shows his obstacles but this aspect alone made him travel the world as a young kid, as well as being in a choir and performing abroad and now he has a very successfull career in IT and he actually moved abroad permanently (the conjunction is in his 4th house). Not to mention, he was just born into a pretty wealthy family.
I’m talking about conjunctions here – and those count the most. But if your nodes are alone in the house, or on one of the axis, they might work similarly to some extent. I’ll give an example of my own chart cause I have mine on the asc-dsc axis and it finally makes sense that having the north node on the ascendant (or within one degree but in a different sign, depending if you use true or mean node; ugh the struggle) makes me constantly focused on development and working on myself, whether it’s my craft or my body, and having the south node on the descendant is stripping me from having good and lasting relationships with others (especially romantic ones).
Sooo, idk, this has put the nodes in a different, more clear light for me.