As the nodes of the Moon sweep through Aries and Libra from July 17th, 2023 – January 11th, 2025, our patterns of catch and release, or hunger and shedding, will ripple through two new areas of our lives.

The lunar nodes are two points in space calculated by the positions of the Sun and Moon in relation to Earth. These points are exactly opposite each other, which is why eclipses happen every six months — when New and Full Moons take place near the North or South Node.

Mythologically, the North Node represents the hungry head of a dragon, bringing a ravenous appetite to the part of the life it touches. The South Node, symbolized by the dragon’s tail, ushers forth release, letting go, and purification.

With the North Node in Aries for the next 18 months, we will see an increase in personal ambition, striving, and focus on the self. By contrast, the South Node in Libra will help us release relationship patterns and beauty conventions that have passed their best-by date. Like the snake swallowing its own tail, the lunar nodes create a feedback loop: even as we shed our most limiting people-pleasing tendencies, we remember that no person is an island. Ideally, our intrapersonal relationships will also support our trail-blazing. And the connections that blow out the torch of our inner sovereignty? Thank you, next!

On January 18th, the hungry North Node of the Moon enters Taurus, while the South Node swipes its dragon tail into Scorpio.

The North Node brings increase, volume, rapaciousness, greed, and striving. The South Node brings surrender, release, giving away, and letting go.

For the past 18 months, the Nodes have been side-winding through Gemini and Sagittarius. With the South Node in Sagittarius, we witnessed a wild decrease in Sagittarian themes, such as flights, tourism, and long-distance travel.

Sagittarius also relates to higher learning and spiritual seeking, which were similarly compromised during the past year and a half. Colleges closed or went online, and in many places, spiritual groups could not meet in the same way.

By contrast, we witnessed an uptick of Gemini themes, such as communication tools and online platforms. We met in digital classrooms and temples over Zoom.

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Indulge and Release

As the North Node slugs into Taurus, we’ll witness an increase of earthly indulgences, as well movements regarding environmental collapse, food production, agricultural technologies, farmers’ rights, Indigenous land stewardship, advances in cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and alternative ways to do business.

Wherever Taurus lands in your chart, the following 18 months will bring a period of steadfast building. Whatever hunger begins to awaken will send you on the hunt to generate, stabilize, and cultivate bounty. Just don’t be fooled into thinking that this appetite can be quelled. The North Node stirs the need to strive, but it does not bring about a sense of satiation.  

On the other side of the wheel, the South Node in Scorpio will usher in a release of shadows, inner ghosts, mysteries, secrets, and power plays. Where Scorpio lands in your chart, the next 18 months will bring a period of shedding, grieving, and letting go. Whatever you’ve been holding onto unnecessarily: you’ll find the courage now to set it down. Or, you would be well served to.

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2022 Eclipses and Node Transits

With the lunar nodes in these signs, the eclipses will land here too. In 2022, the lights of our Sun and Moon will flicker on April 30th, May 15th, October 25th, and November 8th. These are moments to lay low. To let the emotions wash through you. To sleep it off, sweat it out, or scrub it away in a ritual bath. Whatever comes up around these times of the year: be endlessly patient and loving with yourself. That’s the only way to ride it out.

At the end of July, the North Node will conjunct Uranus, the planet of freaks, geeks, and disruption. This combo is loud. It’s electric. It’s frenetic and frenzied. While it’s not an eclipse, it might feel like one, and the same advice applies. Know that this point in the year could be turbulent. It’s a time where we might even feel obsessive about what we’re hungry for. Note for yourself now how satiety feels in your body. You may need the reminder.

Ever wonder why eclipse seasons recur every 6 months? It’s because the nodes of the moon are always 180° from each other, on opposite sides of the zodiac. When the Sun approaches one of the lunar nodes every 6 months, it slots into the perfect geometric relationship to form eclipses during the new and full moons. The (“true”) lunar nodes entered Gemini and Sagittarius in May 2020, and they will remain in this axis until January 18th, 2022. The final eclipse on this axis, before the nodes switch to Taurus and Scorpio, will occur on December 3rd, 2021 in Sagittarius.

Eclipses can bring plot twists in the corner of the chart they fall in. A South Node eclipse (which we’ll experience on December 3rd) can initiate processes of release: the jettisoning or letting go that must occur before we rebuild from sturdier foundations. The North Node eclipse (which we experienced most recently on June 10th, 2021) can bring people, things, or events into our life. Both can be thrilling. Both contain their own dragons.

The following horoscopes invite you to consider how the transiting North Node in Gemini and South Node in Sagittarius activate your own patterns of catch and release, or hunger and shedding.