What The South Node Can Show You About Your Natural Gifts

Sometimes when life gets confusing or all too much to handle, we begin to question our own purpose in life. And in studying the stars, we can learn more about the patterns and cycles that repeat in our lives, discovering what needs to be embraced and what needs to be released in order to fulfill our purpose of this lifetime. "[Humans] have always been in the quest to understand our existence and make meaning of our lives. Astrology is the oldest system of trying to understand existence and personalities and our personal destinies," psychologist and astrologist Jennifer Freed, Ph.D., tells Verywell Mind.

Astrology can provide a map of your soul's purpose and help you understand why you may face certain obstacles and how to move past them to tap into your innate gifts. And with past life astrology techniques, you can get one step closer to discovering all the ways your soul is seeking to express itself. "Past life astrology is the belief that our birth chart holds insight about where we came from before entering into this world," astrologer Clarisse Monahan tells Well+Good. "It points to what lessons and strengths we come into this life with and also where we have some learning and lessons to undertake." Of all the placements in your birth chart, astrologers will look to find these answers, there's none more popular than the lunar nodes. The Nodes of the Moon tend to be very significant in unraveling the larger themes of your life and life's mission (via Cafe Astrology).

The Nodes of Fate hold a deep karmic significance in astrology and offer the chance to link your past self with your present incarnation and beyond. Your South Node highlights your talents and natural gifts, while your North Node shows the traits and qualities you're looking to strengthen in this lifetime. These two placements are linked to one another and will always be directly opposite one another in your birth chart. These two placements together show the most deeply ingrained ideas, attitudes, and thoughts a person carries with them as they move through the world.

In evolutionary astrology, the North and South Node represent a cause-and-effect relationship in your personal journey. Regardless of where you go in life, the gifts and griefs present in your South Node will follow -– while your North Node can have you feeling unsure of your footing or even lonely on your path to future growth. "Throughout life, we tend to ricochet between the North and South Node. They represent a high-strung polarity that we're learning to better balance," writes June, the astrologer behind Saturn and Honey. And with each step you take closer toward learning to use the gifts of your South Node, the easier you'll find it to step into the new life that your North Node promises to reward you with.

Astrologers use the Nodes of Fate to determine where your destiny lies, and experts agree your South Node is a crucial point to consider when reading a birth chart. Because the energy of the South Node can easily overwhelm the entire chart meaning, it's important to understand the sign, house placements, and aspects of your South Node in order to know yourself, per astrologer and author Aliza Einhorn. This placement gives you insight into the karma you're bringing with you in this lifetime, as well as the natural gifts and talents you tend to gravitate towards (via Astrology). It's the key to finding what makes you different from other people and how your thoughts and views on the world naturally express themselves.

Because the South Node symbolizes the challenges you've already mastered in your previous life, it can also act as the Achilles' heel of your birth chart if you're not careful. "For some the South Node can be limiting ... while for others it can be the factor that ties your present lifetime to a fruition of achievement," writes astrologer Martin Schulman. Your North Node represents your present goal. And your South Node is the skill you use to achieve that goal. In order to access the treasures of the North Node in your birth chart, you must learn how to balance the expressions of your South Node and North Node placements in harmony together, leaving behind the idea that these placements need to work against each other, via Tarot.

To find your own Lunar Nodes, you'll want to create a copy of your birth chart using an online calculator or daily horoscope app. From there, look to see which zodiac sign and house in your birth chart your North and South Node occupy to learn more about which area of life you'll seek continued spiritual alignment. For example, people with their North and South Nodes in their first and seventh house in astrology will feel called to differentiate themselves from the pack and may struggle with knowing how to advocate for themselves. On the other hand, someone with their lunar nodes in the sixth and twelfth house would struggle with striking the balance between the spiritual and the mundane in life, per astrologer Kathryn Hocking.

Beyond the zodiac sign and house of your nodal placements, you'll want to see which aspects are formed to your lunar nodes. It's said that aspects to your North Node will increase the prominence of benefic planets, like Venus or Jupiter, while aspects to your South Node may reduce their helpfulness. And the same is true for any lunar aspects to the malefic planets, like Mars and Saturn. As astrologer Chani Nicholas explains, the North Node would likely increase the challenges placed on these placements, while the South Node might ease the pressure slightly. Learning how these placements manifest in your own chart will reveal which areas of life your soul can grow the most and empower others to do the same.