5 Things to Know About the Lunar Nodes Changing Signs

When you look back on your life, you’ll be able to see certain points in time that turned out to be pivotal moments. These are moments where one chapter ended and another one began, where you shifted to a new story or inhabited a new energy.

But what if you could see this shift in real time? Then you’d know to look out for new themes, you’d know where to focus.

That’s what astrology can help us do. By following the movement of the planets and points in the sky, we learn where we are in the cycles of time, what story is unfolding, and what lessons we are meant to learn.

On Monday July 17, the lunar nodes changed signs, marking a pivotal turning point in our individual and collective stories.

What are the lunar nodes? Why is this relevant? What does this mean? How it will impact you?

Here’s a basic rundown of 5 things you need to know about this shift.

(1) What Are the Lunar Nodes?

First, the astronomy of it all:

The lunar nodes are not planets or other physical objects in the sky. Rather, that are the points at which the Moon’s orbit intersects with the ecliptic.

The ecliptic is the orbital plane of the Earth around the Sun. From our perspective on Earth, the ecliptic is the apparent path the Sun takes as it travels through the sky over the course of a year.

From our perspective on Earth, it takes the Sun a year to travel around the sky and return to its starting point. The Moon takes a month to complete the same journey. (The word “month” comes from “moon.”)

There are two lunar nodes: the North Node and the South Node.

(2) Why are the Lunar Nodes Relevant?

The Nodes are relevant to two phenomena of nature: tides and eclipses.

When a new moon or full moon are within a certain distance from either lunar node, we get eclipses.

The news media tends to cover eclipses only when they are total eclipses or eclipses that will be visible to us from a part of our country. This can cause us to believe that eclipses are rare events.

However, if you follow the moon cycles, you will quickly discover that eclipses — like all other phenomena in nature — happen in a very predictable pattern.

• Eclipses happen approximately every six months.
• They occur in pairs, two weeks apart: a solar eclipse at the new moon and a lunar eclipse at the full moon. This can be in either order.

Each pair of eclipses is an “eclipse season.”

We typically have 3 series of eclipses in each pair of signs before the nodes switch signs, although we don’t necessarily finish one grouping before moving onto the next.

Eclipses happen when the new or full moon is within a certain distance of the nodes. This means that when the nodes are close to switching signs we can have an eclipse in the next or previous sign.

This patterning reminds us that life is not linear. We don’t always tie up all the threads of one chapter before moving on to the next. One chapter begins even as another is still unfinished. Eventually we will return to that previous chapter to tie up the loose ends.

The shift of the lunar nodes to Aries and Libra will open a new cycle of eclipses and a new story that will unfold over the next 18 months. That story already started with the solar eclipse in Aries on April 19, 2023.

The lunar eclipse in Taurus on October 28, 2023 will be the final Taurus eclipse to wrap up the story of the Taurus/Scorpio eclipses that we’ve been seeing since January 2022.

(3) How the Lunar Nodes Move Through the Zodiac

The zodiacal wheel is essentially a map of the sky. It helps us see where everything is and how it moves through.

The lunar nodes are 180-degrees apart — directly across from each other. They move exactly at the same rate, so they always fall in opposite signs of the zodiac at the same degree in each sign.

Movement Around the Zodiac Wheel

Each sign of the zodiac wheel is 30 degrees. Planets move around the Zodiac in counter-clockwise motion, start at 0° of a sign and move through to 30° of the sign, unless they are in retrograde.

The nodes move through the zodiac in reverse direction from the planets. If you’re looking at a zodiac chart, they move clockwise, entering a sign at 30° and moving in apparent retrograde motion to 0º.

This is a simple explanation, as the nodes can move variably.

The Nodal Cycles and Our Human Milestones

The nodes take approximately 18.5 years to do a complete revolution around the entire zodiac.

This means that every 18 years you’ll have a “nodal return,” which is when the nodes return to the signs where they were when you were born. Consider the milestones you had or might have at ages 18, 36, 54, 72, and 90. That starts to tell us something about the story that plays out with the nodes.

Within this larger cycle of 18.5 years, the nodes take about 18 months to move through each pair of signs. Each time the nodes switch signs, it pulls our focus to a different axis of the zodiacal wheel, the themes of the signs on that axis, and the themes of the areas of our lives covered by those signs.

Just like when the sun or planets change signs, as the nodes changes signs it signals a new chapter in our story and new lessons we will learn. These lessons will play out primarily through three events:

the eclipses in those signs; when other planets come into significant aspects with the nodes; and when the nodes come into significant aspects with the planets and points in your natal chart.

(4) Symbolism of the Lunar Nodes

Numerical Symbolism

The number 18 is significant in Judaism because it is the numerical equivalent of the Hebrew word “Chai,” which means “life.”

In astrological symbolism, the Nodes represent one of the key guiding forces that shape our life’s evolution.

Astrological Symbolism

In ancient times, astrologers and cultures viewed eclipses, which block out the light of the sun or moon, were considered ominous events.

They viewed the north and south nodes as the head and tail of a dragon that was eating the light of the luminaries.

The North Node is the head of the dragon. It symbolizes our insatiable hunger and desire. It’s a point of increase and expansion, of things flowing in.

The South Node is a point of release, and purification. It’s a point of decrease, where we are called to let go.

Karmic Lessons and Fears

Some astrologers refer to the nodes as the “nodes of karma.”

Under this theory, we all come into the world with some aspects of our character that are underdeveloped and some that are over-developed. The location of the lunar nodes at your birth tells you what these qualities are.

The South Node suggests our well-developed qualities: the traits and habits that come naturally to us and are easy for us to fall back on. However, we might undermine ourselves if we always rely on these traits.

The North Node suggests the qualities that we need to develop in order to come into better inner balance. This points to our life lessons — the places where we might struggle to develop ourselves, and thus the orientation of our life’s journey.

(5) What The Shift of the Lunar Nodes to Aries/Libra Means For Us

Every time the nodes change signs, there’s a shift in energy. This is a new chapter in our collective and personal stories, with new lessons to learn.

For the past 18 months, the North Node was in Taurus while the South Node was in Scorpio. Taurus and Scorpio are both fixed signs, meaning they anchor their respective seasons. Thematically, the Taurus/Scorpio axis is about money and other forms of assets and resources, which are stand-ins for “what we value.” The nodal transit through the Taurus/Scorpio axis pulled focus on climate change and financial systems, on sustainability, and on individual vs shared resources.

Now the Nodes have moved to the Aries/Libra axis. Aries and Libra are cardinal signs, meaning that they initiate seasons.

The main theme of the Aries/Libra axis is individualism vs relationships.

Aries, ruled by Mars, is the first sign of the zodiac. This sign is focused on the personal and the individual: doing what is good for yourself, forging your path alone, without a care about other people’s needs.

Libra, ruled by Venus, is the peacemaker and people-pleasure. It can highlight our desire to makes everyone happy at the expense of ourselves.

Time will tell how this story unfolds and what lessons we will learn. In general, here’s what we can expect:

The South Node in Libra will encourage us to release our people-pleasing tendencies, accept that sometimes you can’t please everyone, and even put yourself first sometimes. If you tend to put everyone else first, this can be an important lesson.

On the other side of the zodiacal wheel, the North Node in Aries will increase our desire for individualism and achievement. It may try to lure us into believing we don’t need other people to be successful.

The Big Lesson For Practice

Living at either extreme of the axis — trying to live only for ourselves or trying to make everyone else happy — can be detrimental to a fulfilling life.

Our job is to mediate the polarity and find the balance point between these two signs. To thrive in a healthy relationship requires us to believe in our individual abilities while having the humility to realize we cannot achieve great things alone.