The nodes are oft associated with karma and reincarnation – the South Node representing what you’ve accomplished in past lives (both good and bad) and the North Node representing what you are meant to accomplish during your present incarnation. But even if you don’t believe in karma or reincarnation, you can still benefit from working with your nodes.

Consider that the South Node represents energy with which it’s easy for you to work while the North Node represents not just challenges but also opportunities to develop new skills, attitudes, and perspectives.

In my chart, the (mean) nodal axis is Capricorn/Cancer suggesting that while I can easily handle domestic situations (family, home, and all things Cancerian), I’m challenged when it comes to my worldly ambitions.

Despite my apparently ‘successful’ 30 plus year career in international tax law, I can assure you that I have been challenged – each and every step that I took along my career path was painful, not the least because such a path was unusual (if not actively discouraged) for women of my generation. This was brought home to me in spades when, about 25 years ago, I found myself working for a female tax partner in the Netherlands whose nodal axis was exactly opposite mine (this will always be the case with people born 9 years – or multiples of 9 years apart). She was the epitome of what I knew that I was meant to be. But as she pushed me along the same path that she’d taken, I realised that I didn’t really have the heart or courage to be what she’d become. I blamed her but in reality, it wasn’t her fault. Never forget that your nodes are just waiting for someone to activate them.

With North Node in Capricorn, my task is to build a separate life, business, and/or career that is mine, and mine alone. I am meant to toughen up – become an elder – a ‘wise’ one – develop a savvy attitude vis a vis the outside world. I must move out of my comfort zone (South Node) and go for the adventure (North Node). In this regard, my Sun in Libra and my Moon in Gemini (nodes are by their very nature intimately connect with the Sun and Moon) can help me and they did (Sun in Libra = justice/diplomacy and Moon in Gemini = education/communication – all good stuff for a lawyer).

But even more important is my Saturn in Libra, which because it is in square aspect to my nodal axis is that extra piece of important information with which I must come to terms on my journey from Cancer to Capricorn. Because of the square to the nodal axis, my Saturn also has the responsibility of distributing my time and energy between the nodes. Never forget that although you’re supposed to ‘do’ your North Node, you still have your South Node to fall back on; think of it as a  place of temporary retreat.

Unfortunately, I’m still coming to terms with how my Saturn in Libra is trying to help me. I hoped that with my second Saturn return (aged 59) I’d finally figure it out. I was disappointed. The only thing that I learned during that time was that I no longer had any enthusiasm to pursue ‘worldly ambitions’ – at least in regards to my career in international tax law. Saturn slows us down and makes us take a cold hard look at the realities we’ve built in our lives. I saw only that it was going to be a long, hard slog to retirement when at last, I would be free to follow my real passion, astrology. Now that retirement has finally arrived, it remains for me to get back in touch again with my North Node and set up my new business, whatever form it will take.