North Node Placement: What The Nodes Mean In Astrology
If you’re wondering what your life purpose is — your north node astrology points the way. True to its name, your North Node is your "True Node," or your North Star. Your destiny and soul purpose are written in the stars, and you can unlock them by understanding the lunar nodes in your birth chart: the north and south nodes.
What the north node & south node Means in astrology
The north and south nodes refer to the nodes of the moon. In astrology, the lunar nodes are directly opposing each other.
That means your north and south nodes will fall in two opposite zodiac signs. So, for example, if your south node is in Cancer, your north node will be in its opposite sign of Capricorn.
WHAT DOES YOUR NORTH NODE PLACEMENT MEAN?
In astrology, the north node is shared by everyone born within two years. It makes even more sense when synthesized with which house it is in and its relation to the other planets and signs in your birth chart.
The north node represents our area of growth and the life lessons we’re integrating. Therefore, when decoding our north nodes, we must always consider the north node from birth with the current north node globally.
Generally, our 20s are a period of experimentation and coming into our own. Then, around 28-32, we are called to grow up and find lasting fulfillment, which looks different. Our north node points the way, much like the north star in the sky does on a clear night.
The nodes’ areas that apply to you depend on north node house placements and other planetary placements.
For instance, if your north node is in Aries, what you are here to be a leader in depends upon the house that Aries rules in your birth chart and where that planet’s ruler is.
HOW TO FIND YOUR NORTH NODE
For all of us, this is a great time to journal what comes up around you, from reading about your north node to looking further into what house it is in and how it interacts with the rest of our birth charts. Find your north node using this North Node Sign Table, or find the date range that contains your birthday below.
what does your South node placement mean?
The south node is the seat of your comfort zone. It’s the area you live in up until about age 30. Around the time of your Saturn return, your north node becomes more heavily activated. This isn’t usually an overnight process; instead, it takes some integration.
But for most people around this time, if you have practiced tapping into your intuition, you will begin to receive messages of your soul’s purpose on this planet.
North Node Placements by the Signs
Aries North Node
If your north node is in Aries, you are here to show the world what it means to be a leader. You will not wait for others to get on board with your ideas before forging ahead, and you are not here to play a supporting role.
It is time to release any people-pleasing tendencies you have carried over from having a Libra south node and step into self-reliance and self-trust. It is not that you are meant to live a life alone, but you are meant to lead the way, which sometimes can be lonely, but only until other people catch up with you!
This north node placement is about not letting the desire for connection override the need for independence and individuation. You know very well that codependence can be a downfall and that you cannot save other people. So instead, by protecting yourself, you show others how they may save themselves too.
You need to be direct and assertive and trust that those meant to be in your life will hear you. You are being challenged in this life to trust your gut, not back down from a challenge, and take risks. You are the hero of your own story, the leader, and the pioneer.
Tips for Aries North Node:
Your inner fire can build up and create pressure to act and exert energy; without proper guidance, it can turn inward. So make sure you are keeping the channel clear.
Stay active through high-intensity workouts
Take action on your projects and ideas
Release energy in nature
Taurus North Node
If your north node is in Taurus, you are here to show what it means to prioritize your personal pleasure and values. You embody the feminine yin energy of mother earth. You show others how to naturally care for the planet with loyalty and patience by just living your life. You show us how great it can be to live in creature comforts.
The more you nurture yourself, the more nurturance you show to others without doing anything extra. You are like the warm hug from nature we all crave so we can dust ourselves off, pick ourselves back up, and carry on.
Taurus north nodes’ central life lesson theme is to build a practical and stable life for themselves, with comfort and security of the utmost importance. You are learning to balance the spiritual and material worlds.
By embracing your needs for material things, you display how we can merge these two worlds. You might have reservations about wanting material things from having a Scorpio south node in your younger years.
You are best poised to work and express your many creative talents into the world when you are in a beautiful space or in your own home, surrounded by objects that ground you.
With the south node in Scorpio, your comfort often entails hiding in secrecy or privacy. However, this life calls for the opposite, lifting the veil of secrecy and speaking your truth.
Tips for Taurus North Node:
- Beautify your space with flowers
- Keep your essential oil diffuser going with relaxing smells
- Adorn your body with your favorite clothes, jewelry, and perfume daily to keep your senses happy
- Engage in your creative hobbies like cooking and crafts
Gemini North Node
If your north node is Gemini, you are here to indulge your curiosity and question everything. This north node comes with a great deal of taking a lighthearted approach to life, so this is your permission to release any heaviness you carry on your shoulders.
Learning effective communication is your greatest challenge and lesson. With time, you will develop practical communication skills, as you have the gift of being able to truly connect with other people.
As a Gemini north node, your south node is in Sagittarius. So you feel most comfortable moving around from place to place, traveling far and wide, and never really planting down roots anywhere. However, true fulfillment comes when you learn the value of staying in one place long enough to make lasting friendships and be a part of a community.
You might tend to think you know all there is to know. Instead, it helps to keep an open mind and lean into the communication and active listening skills that life urges you to develop to make relationships flourish. Hobbies are great to pick up, especially anything that has you working with your hands, and working with others in small, local groups.
Tips for Gemini North Node:
Keep in touch with family and friends
Read books
Scrapbook with old nostalgic photos with friends (i.e., the analog Instagram!)
Cancer North Node
If your north node is in Cancer, you are here to put your feelings first, learn to accept your sensitivity, and see it as a gift and opportunity. You can let go of judgment and control and realize that everyone is on their own path; you don’t need to be where they are and vice versa.
You receive the respect you seek and deserve when you can accept and share your feelings with the world.
With a north node in Cancer, you are more comfortable in the masculine realm, learning to lean into your feminine. A big part of this is less “doing” and more just “being.” You may feel quite comfortable in the realm of your career and have tendencies to cope through overworking and over-exerting.
This north node placement teaches you how to feel your feelings without trying to rush in and fix or distract yourself from them.
You are learning through this time that there is more to life than work and money. Things like family life and being at home take precedence over competing with others and climbing your way to the top of your career. In favor of a more nurturing and inclusive approach, prioritizing self-care is a big part of your lesson.
Tips for Cancer North Node:
Practice EFT (emotional freedom technique), aka tapping to tune into emotions
Try your hand at making homemade soaps, candles, or skincare products (lots of tutorials on Pinterest and YouTube for both of these)
Read an in-depth analysis of your Cancer north node in this article.
Leo North Node
With Leo as your north node, you are developing the confidence to step out as a solo star in your field. Leo rules the heart; it is performative and courageous. So even if you have to act like you are brave when you are not feeling brave — remember that it’s in your chart to be bold, and take risks.
Everything you desire is waiting for you on the other side of fear. You are here to have fun and embrace your natural creativity and joy.
You have big dreams, and the world is ready for you to take center stage. You are learning that self-expression is vital to your well-being, and as you start living your truth, those around you also see it in you.
You may have a bumpy road to the top, but you are learning that being liked by everyone isn’t a necessary part of your progress. You are comfortable being the behind-the-scenes researcher — but feel called to more.
Leo is the heart of the lion in astrology. It might even help you get into this zone, visualize a courageous lion, or research what it means to have the lion as a spirit guide.
Bold, beautiful, living out loud, with wild displays of affection for your pride, your Leo north node shows you, and the rest of us, what it means to live from the heart.
Tips for Leo North Node:
Perform on stage, give a speech, or create YouTube videos to share your voice.
Embrace your big heart by fostering or adopting an animal who needs a loving home.
Virgo North Node
If your north node is in Virgo, your life lessons center around setting and maintaining clear boundaries. You are here to be of service to others without letting others walk all over you. You win when you participate in life and share with the world the solutions to our problems (that you can so clearly see). As a Pisces south node, you are used to letting everyone in and close to you, and in this life, you are learning to set and maintain clear boundaries.
If you give your time too freely to others, they may become overly dependent on you, which does not serve your highest good (or theirs). You are learning and refining how to implement routines and bring order to the chaos. You aim for reliability, and your people know they can count on you. You are likely that friend that gets calls when your loved ones need help or advice.
This might annoy you, but recognize that it means that they trust you and that it is a blessing, even if you feel unable to help. You display how maintaining daily routines and leaning into the structure can benefit us all.
Tips for Virgo North Node:
Commit to a daily routine practice
Deep clean your home and workspace
Practice grounding meditation — guided or by literally planting your bare feet into the ground.
Libra North Node
As a Libra north node, your soul knows that when we work together, we win. You know there is enough to go around when we act justly and harmoniously. You are the diplomat, the mediator, and the person who suggests focusing on another when you get too wrapped up in your own circumstances.
You instill confidence in others and genuinely receive what you give out. You know from having an Aries south node that you can rely on yourself. Your Libra north node knows that community makes us stronger and better together. You are an example of cooperation and collaboration, and you balance the rest of us out.
With this north node placement, this life for you is about commitment. Depending on your north node’s house, commitment to “what” may differ for you. Sharing may not come naturally to you, but you are learning the benefits of devotion to others in partnership, friendship, business, and beyond.
Tips for Libra North Node:
Keep your friends close on an email list or group chat where you can lift each other up.
Write letters or send cards to friends and relatives you haven’t seen in a while.
Practice yoga and get back into alignment with yourself.
Scorpio North Node
As a Scorpio north node, you show us what true personal transformation and rebirth look like in human form. Your soul craves non-attachment to material things, past versions of yourself, and life’s ever-changing circumstances. Scorpio north nodes are usually gifted in the areas of art and are particularly musically inclined.
Your comfort zone is a “work hard, play hard” mentality and spending money on art and a luxury lifestyle. This lifetime for you, however, is about learning to embrace the unknown and not having everything practically planned out all the time.
You probably felt able to take care of yourself from a young age. Many of your life lessons could center around plans falling through until you start to learn not to rely on planning so much. You have great taste and enjoy the finer things in life. Yet, you are learning to practice letting go of attachments to luxury and comfort.
With life experience, you learn to dwell in the mystery and uncertainty of life without rushing to fill in the spaces with security and practicality. Embracing that the universe always brings abundance is your biggest life lesson as a Scorpio north node.
Tips for Scorpio North Node:
- Plant a garden
- Play an instrument - one you know or learn a new one;
- Reading any books on spirituality or psychology that call out to you - Wayne Dyer, Esther Hicks, just to name a few ideas.
Sagittarius North Node
If Sagittarius is your north node, you are a seeker here to indulge your desire for continual learning and exploring. A lot of other nodes are better off not heeding impulses. Still, this north node group should travel far and wide, inwardly and outwardly, until they find the answers and wisdom they seek. It’s more of “learning for learning’s sake” rather than reaching some end goal.
Your philosophy is that you will know it when you see it (and you will see it when you know it). You likely have some prophetic abilities that you are here to develop in this lifetime.
Listening to other people is one of your great gifts to the world, as you can read between the lines of what people really mean when they speak. Jupiter is Sagittarius’ ruler, and if you have a Sagittarius north node, this planet will be calling for you to expand and grow in nearly all facets of life.
When you come into your own, you will likely feel called to switch from learning to teaching, but you will remain an eternal student.
You’ll find that your life has been, and will continue to, move you towards expansion in perspective and big-picture thinking. You are here to do great things, and life is moving you toward that more and more. As you learn to surf the waves and go with the flow, life brings more opportunities for expansion to you.
Angelina Jolie is a Sagittarius north node who found true expansion and fulfillment outside of being an actress. Although she still loves acting, she has said she finds true satisfaction in volunteering abroad and giving back to the global community.
Tips for Sagittarius North Node:
- Incorporate the elements of those far-off places that you have been and loved, or would love to visit (for example, listening to that country’s music or watching foreign films).
- Read books, listen to podcasts, and do anything that expands your knowledge.
Capricorn North Node
This life for you is all about setting goals and achieving them. Small or big plans, any goal important to you is worth your attention. Of course, as a Capricorn north node, success will not come to you all at once. Still, when you learn to take incremental steps toward your goals, you’ll climb up that mountain and get to wave that flag of achievement for all to see.
You may tend to put limits on yourself unconsciously and fall into moods that keep you from the work you feel called to do. You may not even know that your underlying desire is to reach the top in the traditional sense. However, as you work towards your goals, you often gain public recognition more quickly than most, which signifies that you are on the right track.
Your mission in life is to balance home life (your comfort zone) with work life (your goals). You do best when you incorporate home life with your working life, perhaps through having a home office, instead of climbing the ladder in a corporate sense. Because of your inherent creativity and desire for everyone to win together, corporate life isn’t necessarily the life for you.
This group often makes great entrepreneurs, CEOs, and leaders in the realms of business. You are the CEO of your own life; execute accordingly!
Tips for Capricorn North Node:
Set daily actionable goals to keep you on track to your big juicy dreams.
Incorporate your south node in Cancer with some daily self-care.
Be careful about using work and task management as a coping mechanism.
Aquarius North Node
You are most effective in a group rather than solo. You are here to champion humanitarian causes and are likely passionate about a few of them. You feel most fulfilled when you use your many skills to spotlight critical universal causes rather than being a solo star player.
You are not here to do things as they have been done before, but you bring new life and new ways of doing things to the world. You are likely a connector between your friend and network groups — a gift not everyone can bear. Your rewards from life come when you continue to connect people to other people and resources that benefit the greatest good of all when they come together.
You win when you include others and see that everyone has a unique role to play, including yourself. Aquarius north nodes are here to focus on “community-first” leadership. You are learning to release the drama. Sustainability, collaboration, eccentric ideas - these are realms in which you will shine.
Tips for Aquarius North Node:
Champion your favorite causes and organizations doing good in the world.
Highlight the local and global small businesses that are important to you.
Reach out to a neighbor and be of service to your community.
Pisces North Node
Pisces north nodes have spent much time thinking about the details, analyzing, overthinking, and ensuring everything is in order and under control. Now, your compass is guiding you toward a more spiritually fulfilling life. Trust that there can be positive outcomes when you give over your sense of control. You work well alone and need lots of space, privacy, and rest periods. You do not need to be perfect to be valuable.
It is safe to be vulnerable, be seen, and let your guard down with those you trust. You may find that you are more held and essential to the universal plan than you realize.
If you have a Pisces north node, you may find that life situations push you out of your orderly, planned life and into the chaos and the unknown. Elizabeth Gilbert wrote about this experience in her novel, Eat, Pray, Love (later, Gilbert wrote Big Magic, and if that is not the most Pisces title ever!).
It is time to release your inner cynic and your inner critic! They may be your default, but they are not serving you moving forward in the life you are meant to live. Instead, embracing your abilities to heal yourself and others through your art is a healthy way to escape that brings a sense of fulfillment to your life.
Tips for Pisces North Node:
- Epsom salt baths (on the reg)
- Setting up an easel and painting
- Doing a daily tarot or oracle card pull
- Always keep music on in the background to keep the vibes high
Pin This Post
You’ll Also Like
Elisabeth is a writer and astrologer, based in Seattle. To connect with her more about astrology, you can connect with her via a chart reading her Instagram @elisabetham, or email her at info@elisabethmckinley.com.