Foundations
What are the North and South Nodes?
The nodes are the two points where the Moon's orbit crosses the Sun's path. They are not bodies — they are intersections. Eclipses happen when a new or full Moon lands near one.
The Moon's orbit is tilted about five degrees against the ecliptic, so it spends half its month above that plane and half below. The North Node is where it crosses going up; the South Node is where it crosses going down.
The two nodes sit 180° apart, so naming one names the other. They drift backwards through the zodiac, taking about 18.6 years for a full circuit — which is why the node returns near ages 18, 37, and 55 tend to land as turning points.
The South Node is described as the familiar: inherited skill, the competence you fall back on under pressure, the groove already worn. The North Node is the unfamiliar direction — the growth edge that never quite feels natural, which is rather the point.
Cosmic Color Co calculates the True North Node and gives it a color layer of its own. Your South Node is always the degree directly across the wheel from it.