Ride the Dragon: The Integration of the Nodal Axis

Written By Laura Whitfield

The Lunar Nodes are a pair of calculated points regarding the intersection of the Sun’s ecliptic on the Earth and the Moon’s path around the Earth. They aren’t physical planets, but points of deep esoteric meaning regarding the paths of our two most important celestial bodies, i.e. the Luminaries. These Nodes move backwards through the zodiac (retrograde motion) and take 18 years, 7 months and 9 days to change signs, marking the completion of an evolutionary cycle, or a draconic period.

Eclipses Are Connected to the Nodes

Eclipses occur when the Sun and Moon form either a conjunction (New Moon) or an opposition (Full Moon) in close proximity to the lunar nodes. This occurs during two periods per year, and is usually in the signs of the lunar nodes, though not always (if the degree of the lunar nodes is near the beginning or end of the signs, an eclipse may occur in the neighboring signs). Astrologically, eclipses act as cosmic, karmic markers along the way to our personal and collective evolution, and whether the eclipsed planet is with the North Node or the South Node indicates if we are growing toward or away from something. (In lunar eclipses, the Full Moon is eclipsed by the Earth passing between the Sun and the Moon; in solar eclipses, the Sun is eclipsed by the Moon during a New Moon.)

In Hindu or Vedic astrology, the North Node is called Rahu, and the South Node is called Ketu. In medieval Arabia, it was thought there was an 8th planet, called “al-Tinnīn” - the Dragon, that was invisible except during eclipses, of which it was thought to be the cause by eating the Sun or the Moon. The planet was split into two parts representing the lunar nodes, termed the Head (ra’s) and Tail (dhanab) of the mythological dragon. Similarly, the nodes are termed caput draconis (head of the dragon, or north node) or cauda draconis (tail of the dragon, or south node) in Latin. (From Wikipedia.)

AI image of dragon with eclipse, from Pinterest, Larky Griggs Walker

Nodal Axis Meaning in the Natal Chart

In a natal chart, the Lunar Nodes symbolize our soul’s direction in life: where we’ve been and where we come from, what is familiar, comfortable, easy (our natural skills), and habitual to us - the South Node - and how we’re destined to grow and evolve, what our soul growth requires of us, and new, often unfamiliar, and even sometimes uncomfortable experiences and mastery we are evolving toward - the North Node.

The North Node is always in direct opposition to the South Node, forming an axis or a wavelength and is often referred to as the Dragon, with the North Node being the Dragon's Head and the South Node being the Dragon’s tail. Our natal chart’s nodal axis is our personal Dragon. We don’t need to learn to tame it or control it - it is here to teach and train us.

We are each learning how to become our highest selves by aligning with the energy signified by our North Node, or, by going in the direction our personal Dragon is leading us. It’s mystical, magical, and wonderful, and the trick is learning to integrate the two sides of the nodal axis to make a whole energetic wavelength that we can become expert “riders” of.

Dragon wallpaper image, https://wallpaperaccess.com/star-dragon

When we are more aligned with the tail of the Dragon (South Node), we will find ourselves “chasing our tail” and stagnating, experiencing frustration, angst, and a sense of not progressing in life. This area of our chart signifies the past (some associate it with our past lives, though it can also represent family traits or karma) and our soul gifts, and represents where we come from, what we are naturally good at, what is familiar, safe, and comfortable for us. There is usually a strong urge or drive to maintain the status quo when we tap into the energy of our South Node. This can be exacerbated by fixed sign placements, which are naturally averse to change, or by strong planets conjunct or in the same sign or house as the South Node. When we act from this energy, we can tend to feel uninspired, bored, stuck in a rut, possibly safe but definitely stagnant, and we may experience things going “wrong” for us as doors won’t open as easily. We are given the message that this is not the way that is meant for us. This is how we know we are not acting in our highest good. Things just don’t feel magical or inspiring. We lose our spark. We miss out on opportunities because we dare not risk our comfort zone.

When we align ourselves with the direction the head of the Dragon (North Node), our actions are auspicious and blessed. We sense we are moving forward in life in the direction we are most meant to go for us to evolve spiritually. The North Node signifies the future and our soul growth, what we are meant to become in this lifetime. We naturally feel an incredible pull toward this energy as something we are both fascinated by, yet possibly are also fearful or bashful of because we want to embody it, yet may not feel we quite measure up yet. We still have a lot to learn in this area. It is an energy that is new to us - we don’t come into this life with innate talents in this area, though our undeniable attraction to it indicates we have a wealth of promise and potential. If we just take a leap of faith and step into this energy or role, we will find ourselves feeling inspired, energized, expansive, excited, and enthusiastic and want to do it more and more. Time falls away; acting from this energy does not feel like work, but like joy. This is how we know we are acting in our highest purpose. It is highly rewarding. Things will fall into place and doors will open for us when we are acting from our North Node. It often occurs naturally once we consciously release our attachment to the familiar energy of the South Node. We will have gotten out of our own way.

Harnessing Our Dragon

We each must make the necessary conscious integration of these energies, using the South Node energy and inborn skills we carry to help us lean into and grow toward our North Node. We have to include both - not leave one behind, or curse one as lesser than - to integrate ourselves into wholeness. The dragon needs both its head and its tail to be a whole, functioning dragon. The point is to face the direction the Dragon is headed, toward the North Node and embrace the energy it characterizes for us by sign and house. Staying stuck in the past is not what we came here for.

Once we can harness our Dragon and learn how to ride it, we can step into
our evolutionary purpose and begin to evolve into our higher selves.

I’ll use my own Nodal Axis as an example. With a Virgo South Node and a large Virgo stellium in my 9th house, including Lilith, Mars, Mercury, and Pluto, “being Virgo” comes very easily to me. I’m great at data analysis, writing, finding the precise word to say at the right time, applying myself to meaningful work, and directing my personal power to intuiting wisdom from higher realms. I can exist in my head very easily, and I get drawn into perfection-seeking and anxious overthinking if I am not careful. If I do this solely, I get bored, frustrated, and feel depressed. It does not feel fulfilling to me to be only a data analyst! I need more to inspire me.

But with my Pisces North Node in the 3rd house, I am learning to let go of being so entrenched in analysis, perfection, and critical discrimination, and to have faith in and trust divine timing while finding the beauty and wonder in things, and to express myself in a more magical and artistic fashion.

The trick is to not throw out my 9th house Virgo skills, but to use them to help me be an excellent 3rd house Pisces dreamer - because pure dreaming wouldn’t really get me very far. But knowing how to compile data, research diligently, read, write, and study endlessly, present facts in a precise manner, and not be averse to hard work definitely helps me to communicate (3rd house) my dreams and intuitive insights effectively in a way that benefits others in soulful service via music, art, and inspired prose (Pisces). And thus, I have harnessed and can ride my Dragon!

Chihiro riding Haku, from the movie Spirited Away, Hayao Miyazaki, 2001.

Stepping Into Your Purpose

Aspects to the Nodes

Natal or transit aspects to your nodes, especially positive aspects to your North Node, can be supportive and encouraging. For example, if your chart ruler (the ruling planet of your Ascendant) is trine, sextile, conjunct, or even biquintile your North Node in your natal chart, then that placement’s highest energetic expression helps you embody your North Node’s energy and fulfill your purpose almost effortlessly because they work in concert together.

Challenging aspects, like squares, semi-squares, sesquisquares, conjunctions (conjunctions can be both supportive and/or challenging), or oppositions, can serve as nudges, sometimes loud ones, that help us bring our awareness to our unconscious behaviors so that we can correct them appropriately and evolve toward self-realization.

The biggest challenge is when we have planets or points conjunct our South Node,
because it pulls us back into that energy even more strongly

Planets or points conjunct our South Node can feel like a heavy weight in a hot air balloon basket when it is attempting to become airborne. It makes it more difficult to integrate the energy of the opposite sign, where the North Node is, because our behavior is so rooted in the familiar South Node. We may find ourselves repeatedly returning to the old habits and ruts that keep us stagnant in our lives because of this. Again, this can be exacerbated if your South Node and conjuncting planet are in a fixed sign! It may be harder for you to let go and do things a different way, even if it is shown to benefit you. However, with conscious awareness, applied effort, and willpower, anything is possible.

Planets conjunct the North Node can make embodying these energies easier, especially if they are in the same sign and house as the North Node. We already have a sense of how that energy works, and the planet that is conjuncting will often lend the North Node its own flavor. It also can signify that we need to use the highest vibration of that planet in order to successfully integrate our nodal axis.

Rulers of the Nodes

The Rulers of each nodal placement are helpful decoders in these puzzles. The Rulers help us understand how, why, and where we express these energies the way we do, and what we need to express them optimally so we can help ourselves along our highest path.

In Evolutionary Astrology, the South Node Ruler is designated as the native’s identity in the chart. That planet’s placement (sign and house) and aspects to other planets and points can determine how that native feels about themselves and how they move in the world. The North Node Ruler can illustrate the way for you to actualize your North Node and can clarify the qualities you are meant to develop for your soul’s evolution.

A Mentor is Helpful

Having a close relationship with someone whose Sun, Moon, or Ascendant (one of the “Big Three” in astrology), or any personal planet (Mercury, Venus, or Mars) conjunct your North Node is incredibly helpful in showing you how living through your North Node - which is foreign to you in this lifetime - should be done.

A close friend, relative, or even significant other can act as a mentor in this capacity, and they don’t even need to know you are learning from them. Even a celebrity you admire can help you emulate the ethos. This does not mean you need to turn into someone else, only that it helps sometimes to align with someone who already is acting from this energy effortlessly and understands its pitfalls.

One caveat with romantic relationships that have one partner’s planet conjunct the other’s North Node is that while the relationship will be overall beneficial and feel blessed, even “heaven sent,” the planet person may unconsciously take on the role of the experienced teacher and the North Node person will likely gravitate to the role of the student, so there is a potential for power imbalances and struggles if not done consciously and ethically.

For those who have their own personal planets conjunct the North Node, this is eased somewhat because they already get the gist of how that sign operates. But for those who have no planets in their chart in the sign of the North Node, it is incredibly helpful to find someone to act as a mentor to show you how to embody this energy successfully.

Soul Pods

Everyone born with the same North Node is in the same Soul Pod. They are learning the same types of soul lessons and share similar paths of learning to integrate similar energies, growing toward the same evolutionary development together. It’s dragon kindergarten.

This includes everyone, not just in your age group. For example, my son, born when I was 36 years old, is part of my Soul Pod; he was born during my second nodal return and shares my Pisces North Node. We just get each other, and he often reminds me, without even really being aware he is doing so, to realign myself toward the Pisces energy of imagination, acceptance, gentleness, and surrender, and to release the old Virgoan script of perfection, judgement, and criticism. We are on the same trip.

Here Be Dragons

A friend suggested naming these Dragons because it might be cute to know which Dragon Club you belong to, kind of like which Hogwarts House you are in. So, below are the descriptions for each Nodal Axis pairing, along with their magically inspired name.

Cute dragon, from www.ar.inspiredpencil.com

  • You ride your Dragon by burning away your attachment to codependent relationships and choosing to consciously practice interdependence and healthy co-regulation in mutually supportive relationships. You thrive when you center your own wild heart in your life instead of others’.

  • You ride your Dragon by releasing your attachment to drama, trauma, and emotional turmoil and aiming to create peace, stability, security, and comfort in your life instead. If it does not create serenity, it is not your circus. You blossom when you tend your own emotional garden with tender loving care.

  • You ride your Dragon by releasing your attachment to being an expert in everything and aiming to embrace the wonder of questioning everything with a beginner’s mind. If you are not captivated by curiosity, it is not for you. You thrive when you open your mind and your heart to perceiving all the wonders of the world and sharing what you learn with friends.

  • You ride your Dragon by releasing your attachment to ambition, production, and work for the sake of work and easing yourself into a softer, family-oriented, and serene life that promotes emotional connection and safety. If your work does not support you and yours emotionally, it is not your highest path. You shine when the work you do nurtures others and fosters emotional safety.

  • You ride your Dragon by releasing your tendency to intellectualize emotions, detach into rationality, and being comfortable as a rebellious outsider while leaning into warm hearted generosity of spirit and accepting that you are worthy of the spotlight. If it does not include playful exuberance, it is not your gig. You shine when you use your sharp intellect to include others in sparking joy.

  • You ride your Dragon by releasing your tendency to float like a fantasy guppy in the ether and develop analytical thinking and practicality to create organization in your life instead. If it does not create order, you are on the wrong track. You will find peace when you focus on providing practical service to others in a way that includes imagination and spirituality.

  • You ride your Dragon by releasing your attachment to individuality, competition, and impulsivity and move toward collaboration and peaceful partnership to create harmony, stability, and beauty in your life instead. If it does not create harmony, it is not your highest path. You glow when you are in a mutually beneficial partnership.

  • You ride your Dragon by releasing your attachment to comfort, aversion to change, and materialism and aiming to foster a life of emotional honesty and transformation. If it does not challenge you to upgrade yourself, you are wasting your time. You thrive when you regenerate yourself and release all that does not serve your never-ending development.

  • You ride your Dragon by releasing your attachment to constant novelty and information gathering and focus on developing the confidence to share your wisdom in a way that benefits others’ freedom and growth. If it does not promote spiritual freedom, it is not your jam. You shine when you use your lifelong love of learning to lift up others as well as yourself.

  • You ride your Dragon by releasing your attachment to the past and emotional family ties and focus your attention on developing your career, personal ambitions, and internal discipline. If it does not create stability, you are misdirected. You win when you act as a breadwinner for your family.

  • You ride your Dragon by releasing your attachment to drama, attention, and being in the spotlight and put your energy into endeavors that serve the collective good instead. If it does not help or promote others instead of solely yourself, it is not your highest path. You glow when you use your ability to generate attention for causes that help others to thrive.

  • You ride your Dragon by releasing your attachment to perfection, criticism, discrimination, and overthinking and allow yourself the permission to embrace your sensitivity and go with the flow and dream. If it does not inspire you creatively or spiritually, it is not your highest path. You shine when you have faith in your own intuition and utilize your organizational skills in a way that inspires yourself and others in creative or spiritual ways.

Japanese dragon

Nodes in the Houses

  • Your goal is to focus on developing your own individuality and the things that set you apart from others. Your theme is independence and self-actualization.

  • Your goal is to focus on developing security and stability in material, emotional, and financial matters, and to relish being in a human body on this beautiful planet. Your theme is serenity and self-worth.

  • Your goal is to focus on developing your own voice as you disseminate meaningful information while staying open to new ideas. Your theme is purposeful self-expression and clarity of thought.

  • Your goal is to focus on developing inner peace and security while nourishing yourself and your family. Your theme is honoring your ancestral roots and fostering meaningful connections.

  • Your goal is to focus on developing your creativity and sense of romance and play. Your theme is self-love and passionate artistic expression.

  • Your goal is to focus on developing solid routines and work ethic as you focus on health and practicality. Your theme is service through meaningful work.

  • Your goal is to focus on developing empathy for others as you build healthy partnerships and collaborations. Your theme is diplomacy, conscious relating, and fairness.

  • Your goal is to focus on healing your past traumas through research into psychological and metaphysical study. Your theme is personal power regeneration and intimate soul merging with partners.

  • Your goal is to focus on developing your own wisdom and philosophy of life as you travel and pursue higher education. Your theme is spiritual freedom and thirst for knowledge.

  • Your goal is to focus on developing discipline, integrity, reliability, and a strong work ethic. Your theme is ambition and achievement.

  • Your goal is to focus on developing a sense of camaraderie with like-minded friends toward a progressive goal or vision. Your theme is idealism, activism, and working for the collective good.

  • Your goal is to focus on developing an ability to go with the flow of life and find the divine beauty in everything. Your theme is imagination, sensitivity, creativity, and surrendering to a higher power.

Night sky wallpaper, wallpaperaccess.com

If you would like a reading to help understand your Nodal Axis and how to harness your Dragon further, please contact me, I would be happy to help you in a way that is affordable and tailored to your needs.

Laura Whitfield
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Pluto Power: How to Evolve and Harness Yours