What follows is an excerpt from my new book, The Lunar Nodes: What They Mean and How They Affect Your Life. For additional information on the nodes, be sure to check out the book!

The lunar nodes are two points in the sky, directly opposite one another, where the orbit of the Moon around the Earth intersects the apparent orbit of the Sun. When the Sun and Moon pass through one or both of these points at the same time we get an eclipse. The lunar nodes have traditionally been associated with reincarnation and karma. In The Lunar Nodes, I describe the nodes as dealing with that part of our consciousness that extends beyond our day-to-day lives and into the mysterious realm of spirit, soul, and past lives.

This excerpt deals with the back-and-forth interplay of the lunar nodes in the astrological houses. The house holding South Node of the Moon represents talents and habits carried over from a past life. These attributes may come easily to you, but they will not advance your spiritual development. The house occupied by the North Node, on the other hand, represents the new territory that you need to explore in this life. These issues may challenge you, but learning to deal with them effectively will help you advance on a spiritual level. Keep in mind that we are talking about movement and change in your spiritual life. The issues described here may not have anything to do with your career, love life, or other outwardly directed activities. Those are more likely to be described by the rest of your horoscope. On a purely technical level, also keep in mind that house placements of the Nodes can change depending on which house system you use.

You might be quite comfortable on your own, thinking that it's all about you, but you are never going to feel spiritually whole until you find the joy and take on the burden of having another person in your life. This does not mean that the process of finding that special relationship will be natural or easy for you. That will depend on the rest of your horoscope. Nor does it mean that, once you find that relationship, it will be all you dreamed it would be. The physical, earthly properties of the relationship are not what this placement describes. What is important with this arrangement of the Lunar Nodes is how that relationship and the process of finding it fulfill the spiritual mission you have been given.

The South Node in the Second House with the North Node in the Eighth
You know you have a lot to give in both the physical realm and the spiritual realm. And yet, there's a part of you that wants to keep it all to yourself—all your love, all your money, all your attention, and all your time. Of course, there's another part of you that knows that no matter how determined you are to hold on to these things, at some point your grip on them is going to be broken, if by nothing else, then by death. Your spiritual health depends on you facing the inevitability of those changes. Once you have done that and have accepted the temporary nature of even your spiritual gifts, then giving of yourself will cease to be a burden. Instead, you will see it as an investment in the future of your everlasting soul.

The South Node in the Third House with the North Node in the Ninth
At a spiritual level, at least, you are probably most at ease when you are dealing with the immediate and the routine. You see your spiritual health as being interwoven with these everyday affairs, and therefore you value the time you spend attending to them. In some cases, depending on the rest of your horoscope, you might become quite skilled in dealing with these matters and earn praise for your expertise. However, your future lies in accepting the challenge of a broader perspective on an intellectual, social, and spiritual level. There's no guarantee that you will excel in this new territory. You may stumble and feel out of place. Your ego might be bruised, but your spirit will eventually learn to soar.

The South Node in the Fourth House with the North Node in the Tenth
The past has a hold on you. It may hold you to its warm bosom like a loving mother, or it might be attached to your ankle like a ball and chain. Either way, it can interfere with your spiritual growth. You could waste your life dealing with these issues from your childhood, but you know that's not what it’s all about. You know that at some point you will have to put aside the fetters of your family story and join the hurly-burly of the world. How easy or hard this journey out your front door might depend on the rest of your horoscope, as does the level of success and recognition you attain. What's important with this placement is what these worldly struggles teach you on a spiritual level.

The South Node in the Fifth House with the North Node in the Eleventh
You find spiritual satisfaction in the amazing things you can do. Maybe you make art. Maybe you make babies. Maybe you just make other people happy. This should be enough for anyone's spiritual well-being. Right? Then why do you sometimes get this claustrophobic feeling that you are running out of options? Maybe you do need more than your creativity. Maybe you need to surrender a bit of your precious autonomy to the will of a group or cause. Those interactions might, at times, cramp your creative instincts, and you may not appreciate the political games that come with being part of something larger than yourself, but the payback in terms of your spiritual health will be worth it.

The South Node in the Sixth House with the North Node in the Twelfth
Your spiritual comfort zone is within the world of practical matters, the art of getting things done, making arrangements, and negotiating the twists and turns of everyday life. But there's another side of life that is calling your spiritual self. It lies beyond the safety of your skills and abilities in a mysterious place that frightens you. You're not sure why this other side frightens you so. Maybe it's because it seems dark and unknowable. Maybe it's because it seems to promise you the kind of hardship and confinement you've always sought to avoid. However, surprisingly enough, it could well be within that hardship, that confinement, that dark and dreadful place, where you will find the spiritual fulfillment that has been calling your name for so long.

The South Node in the Seventh House with the North Node in the First
You get love, affection, and validation from a significant other who helps you sustain your spiritual life. Maybe the presence of this person in your life gives you a reason to feel proud or happy. Maybe they have an emotional hold on you that you think is unbreakable. However, as much as it might seem otherwise, that relationship is not your spiritual resting place. It's not necessarily that the relationship is bad for you, it's that your dependence on it has distracted you from the self-awareness and self-sufficiency you need to discover your own spiritual destiny. You don't have to jettison the relationship. You just have to change your dependence on it.

The South Node in the Eighth House with the North Node in the Second
There are things you need to let go of. These might be feelings of anger and outrage. They might be grudges or jealousies. They might also be a sense of obligation and real or imagined debts. Letting go of these feelings won't be easy because they seem to be enmeshed in your spiritual life, but you can do it if you change your attitude toward these dark emotions. You have to look at them in a simpler, more transactional way. Ask, "Does this feeling have value to me?" If the answer is no, you have to put it aside. Your well-being depends on your ability to separate what profits you on a spiritual level from that which can only create a spiritual deficit.

The South Node in the Ninth House with the North Node in the Third
As much as possible, you like to keep the spiritual side of your nature away from mundane reality. You seek purity, a spirituality that is free of all the nasty contaminants of real life in the real world. The problem is that, as a human being, it is impossible for you to live anywhere except in a real body in a real place in the real world. There are no other options. Your spiritual development will be greatly accelerated when you realize that all the silly, tedious, and annoying issues you now see as distracting you from your spiritual journey are, in fact, showing you the way.

The South Node in the Tenth House with the North Node in the Fourth
You dropped something on your way to nirvana. It might not seem all that important to you right now. After all, you're busy. You have a life and a future. But you're never going to get too far along on your journey until you pick that something up and deal with its contents. Those contents might be memories from your childhood. They might be insights and advice from your parents or other people from your past. You might have never seen that advice or those experiences as having value. It's only when you look at them a second time that the wisdom that was hidden there shines through, and you realize that the spiritual advancement you seek is not running ahead of you into the future—it's been patiently waiting for your attention somewhere deep in your past.

The South Node in the Eleventh House with the North Node in the Fifth
You always thought that your spiritual health depended on someone else, that finding your spiritual fulfillment was contingent on being a constructive member of your community and being useful to the cause. You felt you needed to wait for someone's permission, or perhaps wait your turn before that sense of fulfillment could come your way. Now you know better. Now you know that true spirituality cannot be the product of groupthink. It is an individual process. Now you know that it's up to you to create a path to spiritual advancement, and the only path that will work for you is one based on your inspiration, your desire, and your passion.

The South Node in the Twelfth House with the North Node in the Sixth
You see sacrifice as the key to advancing on a spiritual level, and you stand ready to give of yourself in whatever way is required. You accept confinement, you accept struggle, you accept being seen as less than you really are as part of your spiritual education. And yet, all your struggle and sacrifice seem to get you nowhere. Maybe the real key is to pay less attention to your own spiritual advancement and more to the well-being of others. These others might seem lost to you. They might seem completely involved by the trifling problems of everyday life. But they still need your attention, your help, your skill, and your wisdom. You might just find that giving of yourself in mundane acts of service is the only sacrifice that really counts.