The Moon’s nodes
The two points where the Moon’s path crosses the Sun’s. They move backwards round the zodiac once every eighteen and a half years, eclipses only happen close to them, and astrology reads them as a pair.
Where they are now
When the axis changes sign
In your chart
What the nodes are
The Moon’s orbit is tilted about five degrees to the path the Sun takes through the zodiac. Twice a month the Moon crosses that path: going north at one node and south at the other. The two crossing points always sit exactly opposite each other, and the pull of the Sun turns the whole orbit slowly backwards, so the pair travels back through the signs, about a degree and a half a month and once round in eighteen and a half years.
Why eclipses fall near them
A new moon or a full moon only lines up closely enough with the Sun and the Earth to throw a shadow when it happens near a node. That is why eclipses come in seasons about six months apart, and why the eclipses of any one stretch fall in the pair of signs the nodes are passing through. The eclipses page draws the same drift from the other side.
True and mean
There are two ways to give the position. The mean node is a smooth average that only ever goes backwards. The true node is where the orbit actually crosses at that minute: it swings a degree and a half or so either side of the mean, and every few months stands still and runs forward for a while. The wheel and the readings use the true node. The dates the axis changes sign use the mean node, because the true node rocks back and forth over a boundary for weeks and would give a string of dates for a single change. Charts made elsewhere use either, so a difference of a degree or two is usually that.
How astrology uses them
The north node is traditionally read as the direction of growth, what is unfamiliar and asks for effort, and the south node as what comes easily and is already known. A nodal return, when the nodes come back to where they were at a birth, falls at about eighteen and a half, thirty-seven, fifty-six and seventy-four, and is treated as a marker in a life rather than an event. Halfway between, at about nine, twenty-eight, forty-six and sixty-five, the nodes stand opposite their birth positions, which is read as a half return. That is the vocabulary of the tradition, described here; nothing on this page predicts anything.
Questions people ask
What are the North and South Nodes?
They are the two points where the Moon’s tilted orbit crosses the Sun’s yearly path through the zodiac: the north node where the Moon passes northwards, the south node where it passes southwards, always exactly opposite each other. They are crossing points, not bodies, and they drift backwards through the signs once in about 18.6 years. Astrology treats the two together, the north node as what a person is reaching towards and the south node as familiar ground. This page shows where both stand today.
How do I find my North Node?
Save your birth details on the front page and the section headed In your chart gives the degree and sign of your north and south nodes, with the mean node beside the true one, and the houses they fall in when your birth time is known. The nodes move so slowly that the date of birth alone places them closely. Below that is a list of your nodal returns, about every eighteen and a half years, and the times in between when the nodes stand opposite their birth positions.
What is the difference between the true node and the mean node?
The mean node is a smoothed position that moves steadily backwards, about three minutes of arc a day. The true node is where the Moon’s orbit actually crosses the Sun’s path at a given minute: it swings back and forth around the mean by up to about a degree and a half, and now and then stands still or runs forwards for a while. Chart software uses either, so two charts can differ by a degree or two. This page uses the true node for positions and the mean node for sign changes.
Why do eclipses happen near the Moon’s nodes?
An eclipse needs the Sun, the Earth and the Moon in a nearly straight line in three dimensions, not only along the zodiac. The Moon’s path is inclined by about five degrees, so at most new and full moons it passes above or below the Sun or the Earth’s shadow. Only when a new or full moon falls close to a node, where the Moon is crossing the plane of the Earth’s orbit, does a shadow land. The Sun passes each node about once a year, which gives two eclipse seasons roughly six months apart.