North and South Nodes

North Node

The North and South Nodes are not an actual planetary bodies. The nodes represent the points where the Moon’s orbit intersects the plane of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. The North Node intercepts the ecliptic on the northern plane. The South Node intercepts the ecliptic as the Earth’s orbit moves toward the Southern Hemisphere on the southern plane.

South Node

The placement of the North and South Nodes in your natal chart shows the qualities that you had in a past life and the qualities you need to nurture in this life. One way to look at this is the South Node as being past karma and the North Node as being your future karma.
 
It is important to know the sign and house of both of these nodes as they help to interpret the direction you should take in fulfilling your spiritual path in this lifetime. The nodes will always be 180 degrees apart so they work as opposing aspects showing you both the gifts and challenges you must address.
 
It is often thought that the characteristics represented by your South Node are areas that we have over-developed or have mastered in previous incarnations. This is why some aspects of our life seem to flow easily as we may have mastered these in past lives. We can bring these insights to use in working on our North Node traits to learn and master those qualities. The North Node focuses on outer Awareness and the South Node focuses on inner awareness.
 
A quick reference for the Nodes in Signs and Houses is below.
 

Astrology Basics