Karma and Past Lives
The most common relationships triggering your past life karma are partnership (typically marriage) and family. This is because they are binding agreements, or you can’t escape them. You are born into them. Karma has to complete by forcing you together with someone, for your whole life, or just a few years.
Find your North Node and South Node zodiac signs and houses, in your natal chart (birth chart) to find out why you are here. And check your progress with closure!
Your Nodes and Your Karma
The North Node and South Node zodiac signs and houses show why you are here. What you are here to completely end a circle of time, with. A lesson you can use from last time or an asset to develop further in this life is commonly shown by both nodes. You may have an Aries North Node and Libra South Node. So you were a soldier in your last life and married to a woman who lost you, because of it, and was widowed. Aries rules the military. Libra rules marriage.
Or – you may have another variation on this theme. Perhaps your Aries North Node and Libra South Node also played out when you took your husband’s police force gun and murdered him because he would not give you a divorce. Past lives are always shown by the signs and houses, but the ‘what’ of the prior incarnation is obviously personal to you.
The North Node
The North Node is more challenging than the South Node because the situations you face are so new. They are oddly familiar, yet you’ve not come across them before.
The South Node
This is easier than the North Node because you’re at the end of the process. You’ve gone through, what you need to go through, and can now let go.
The Nodes are a Loop
You can’t ‘do’ one node and not the other. There is a fair bit of nonsense out there on the internet about why you should pursue your North Node sign and release your South Node sign. This comes from the association of the North Node with the Dragon’s Head and the South Node with the Dragon’s Tail.
So, this is taken to mean you should feed on one sign and excrete the other. The trouble is, the nodes go in an eternal loop or infinity figure-eight. So it’s more accurate to say you can’t avoid either sign and its meaning in your life and at various times will pursue one and let go of the other, taking turns.
Which Zodiac Signs? What Karma?
These are the zodiac sign combinations of the North Node and South Node, with some common examples of the past life issues you have today.
Aries-Libra: Your husband or wife was separated from you in the First World War or Second World War and one of you was killed on active duty.
Taurus-Scorpio: You went through the Great Depression together or the Gold Rush and found losing or making money changed an inheritance.
Gemini-Sagittarius: You were swept up in a migration wave – either colonised or emigrating – and had to deal with foreign language barriers.
Cancer-Capricorn: You left your home town and family in order to make it in the big city during a boom period or peak migration period.
Leo-Aquarius: You were the leader in a group, community, circle, team, club, association, military unit, trade union or political party.
Virgo-Pisces: Religion played a part in your sickness from plague or cholera and you may have been a monk or nun, tending to the dying.
It is possible you have been here more than once, with exactly the same North Node and South Node signs and houses. Therefore, you are still seeking closure.
Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift has no verified birth time so her chart is X-rated. However the date and place come from biographies and Swift has not disputed them. So let’s use her data here. Without a birth time, you never bother using the angles or the Moon, or anything teetering on the brink of 29 degrees or 0 degrees.
However, the rest of the Taylor Swift natal chart is fit for purpose. Swift was born with the North Node at 19 Aquarius and South Node at 19 Leo. Her karma is around groups (Aquarius) and friends (also Aquarius) with issues about being a leader (Leo) and being Queen or King to a younger court. (Image via Shutterstock).
Leo and Aquarius Nodes and Swift
She’s the billionaire who has donated to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and given to colleges. Her groups include charities like BBC Children In Need, which she has also raised money for. Three children were stabbed to death in a Swift-related workshop in Southport, England in 2024.
She’s endorsed dolls. She is a pro-choice feminist. Her fans are called Swifties.
Within this Aquarius-Leo bandwidth you can see all kinds of themes. “Heavy is the head that wears the crown” (Henry IV) is one of them. As of 2024 she has no children. Having a baby, or not, is likely to be a central piece of her karma in this lifetime.
Swift may have been here in any of the North Node in Aquarius years; let’s take a look:
From July 7th, 1691, to March 12th, 1693, for example, the North Node was in Aquarius. What happened then? Does it have any resemblance to what is happening for Swift in the 21st century? She certainly favours 17th century hair and costume. Is she unconsciously going back there?
Swift and the Salem Witch Trials
In Salem, Massachusetts, in 1691, young girls had fits and hallucinations. They were accused of witchcraft. The Salem Witch Trials took place on this nodal cycle in Aquarius, just as when Taylor Swift was born, centuries later.
As Newsweek reported, “The 12-time Grammy Award winner has been fending off sorcery and witchcraft rumors as she travels the world on her sixth concert tour. While critics have slammed the singer, accusing her of promoting witchcraft, fans describe Swift as looking like she’s doing a spell with her coven during performances of the song Willow.”
I have no idea if Taylor Swift has tried past life regression, but issues about women, power, feminism and persecution (and leading women on the same) seem so similar with the attack on abortion and women’s identity and space by men, don’t they?
And they fit Aquarius-Leo. Perhaps she led witches in 1691. Maybe all those witches are back as Swifties!
Finding the Years of Prior Incarnations
You can find all the North Node sign years from 1001 until 2099 in my book, Modern Astrology 2050 here.
Find the years when your North Node sign took place and you may find a year when you were last here. Perhaps, several, if you have the same North Node and South Node issues over many lifetimes.
I do recommend past life regression. My North Node is in Cancer. The North Node was also in Cancer from May 11th, 1944, until December 2nd, 1945, then January 1st, 1946, until August 2nd, 1947. I had a past life regression and found myself back in London working for MI5. I was even told my name. Past life regression can be performed by a professional hypnotherapist. I like Sharon Stiles’s take on it here.
I used to write horoscopes for Woman’s Own and she was profiled by them. Search around for recommendations or perhaps, buy a book or borrow it from the library and try it yourself. This is a good introduction.
Clues to Years of Prior Lifetimes
If you are drawn to the clothing, fashions or trends of a particular year in history, that may be the clue. You can’t let go.
It’s the same with a strong pull towards a particular country or city and its museums or architecture. Its never-changing natural landscape. You may be drawn there, because on some level, you remember being there. Tourists report knowing their way around a strange town in a foreign country. They’ve been there before…
Soul Groups Splintering
You are a splinter of one soul from your last life, who died and fragmented, spiritually, into many souls who all incarnate together.
You are all born with the North Node and South Node in the same signs. This may explain why you feel you are part of a trend, or a movement, or a cause – a period in the zeitgeist.
This has been the case since prehistoric times. It’s how humanity evolves. We spiral upwards, exploring the lessons we learned about our node signs last time, and putting to good use, what worked last time. Of course, there are far more people on earth, today, than there were (say) at Stonehenge. One person dies, his or her spirit fragments and those bits and pieces go into many new babies. And on it goes.
Soulmates
The popular fantasy of soulmates is two hearts beating as one. Your eyes meet across a crowded room. You marry and spend your lives together in wedded bliss. Actually, soulmates often come with enormous issues to sort out. They are also far more rare than most people guess. You can fall in love, get married and have children without ever having known each other before.
Soulmates have conjunctions on the North Node or South Node. Thus, they also have automatic oppositions to the North Node or South Node. Line up your partner’s chart first and look for his or her nodes. Do you have factors at the same sign and degree? Then line up your chart. Does he or she have factors, at the same sign and degree as one of your nodes? You are from the same soul group and are fragments of the same person, who died a long time ago. No wonder you feel as if you are one and the same. Two hearts beat as one? Perhaps, but actually you are part of an even bigger soul group than that.
People Who Trigger Your Karma
Aspects to your North Node and South Node from the other person’s chart show that they will trigger your past life memories and ancient karma, coming from many soul groups over many lifetimes.
Pregnancy can come from these kinds of connections.
Aspects to the other person’s North Node and South Node from your chart, show that you trigger their old patterns from a previous incarnation and will bring about situations which hopefully lead to closure.
The Royal Family
The Royal Family is a good example. They all have past life connections or exact aspects.
Anne and Charles are typical. (Image: Shutterstock)
Charles III has the South Node at 4 Scorpio and North Node at 4 Taurus. Princess Anne has Cupido at 4 Taurus. Her Cupido is in a conjunction with Charles’s North Node and in opposition to his South Node. This is about money. Obviously, inheritance. The Firm, as our late Queen is said to have called the Royal Family.
You could speculate they were last together when the North Node was in Taurus and there were issues about the sex of the future monarch and his/her right (or not) to inherit the family fortune. Perhaps this was September 2nd, 1891, until February 27th, 1893. The North Node was in Taurus in that time. Women in New Zealand were fighting for the vote. On September 19th, 1893, they got it. Maybe Anne was a suffragette and Charles was a politician. New Zealand today is under both their watch as a Commonwealth country.
The Aspects and Karma
The quick way to find aspects is to look for the same degrees. Aspects can be conjunction (same zodiac sign and degree), semi-sextile, sextile, square, trine, quincunx or opposition.
If the other person (boyfriend, former husband, sister) has exact patterns in his or her chart, lining up with your North Node and South Node at the same number, your reasons for incarnating will become more obvious to you. They will raise issues which urge you to seek closure or settlement. To try and use what you learned last time and failed with (perhaps even what led to your death) and to come back, to who or what was so successful for you. Perhaps, just so happy.
Family and Friends
You can buy a chart for a relative, friend or partner showing you possible connections through our Family and Friends chart service here.
Main image/Shutterstock
(Images: Jessicaadams.com/Rawpixel/Shutterstock/Unsplash)
20 Responses
Hi, Jessica
Very interesting article!
My son, who passed a year and a half ago, had the same NNCancer/SNCapricorn as I do. He had NN23 and I, 19. We had the most beautiful relationship. I am still wondering why things happened that way.
Thank you!!! Excelent work.
I am very sorry your son has passed to spirit and you are obviously still adjusting and adapting even though he has made the transition peacefully. Why do things happen this way? Tibetan Buddhists will tell you we incarnate many times and have been here so often; this shorter relationship served a purpose which you two would know, or perhaps you will find out. It’s complicated. It’s always complicated, of course, but as a medium I learned from Margaret Dent, that a soul contract is worked out every time. Cancer-Capricorn node relationships are always about the family versus success; home versus moving away; patriotism versus relocation and emigration. You may have parted before in a previous life as one of you left, say, Britain for America – or Ireland for Australia. You were separated then but found each other again in this lifetime.
I have north node in Leo and south node in Aquarius. What is my lesson I look forward to in this life?
Thanks
FA
The Leo-Aquarius nodes are explained at length in your complimentary copy of Modern Astrology 2050, but hurry to download this as the offer ends on the last day of November. You have come back to experience what it is like to be in a club, group, circle or team and deal with the leader, as well as the others in the community. This began in childhood when you may have been in the Brownies, Girl Guides, Scouts or a particular football or netball team, say. Later on you have the experience of leading the group so are elected captain or made the boss in a team situation. It rotates throughout your life.
Hi Jessica,
This was really interesting. My brother in laws’ north node is 11 cancer which is my sisters Sun (11 cancer) and her north node 3 Cancer is my Sun (3 Cancer). Perhaps the three of us are intertwined in this incarnation.
Kind regards
Julie
Yes, this is a classic Cancer-Capricorn nodal combination so the last incarnation involved decisions about emigration versus patriotism and belonging. Your sister, brother-in-law and yourself may have relocated in this lifetime or have strong views on staying or going, loyalty to a country, immigration and so on.
Hi Jessica, I absolutely love learning about the nodes and past lives. My sun is at 29* Leo in an exact conjunction to my husband’s north node. We’ve been married almost 19 years. The last 2 have been very hard. We have 3 daughters together, so it’s not so easy to just walk away. Would love your thoughts.
The North Node in Leo and South Node in Aquarius (your husband) suggest your particular incarnation with him involved a group, unit, union, band, team, society, association or similar with major issues about being in the circle and leading it. This is King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table syndrome. You might also say Henry V. Heavy is the head that wears the crown. And ‘We few, we precious few, we band of brothers.’ So he knew this well and you were involved. Your lives have been hard because Pluto has been at 29 Capricorn, aspecting his North Node, his South Node and your Leo Sun. You have three daughters who are ‘the group’ and of course there are issues about who leads the group; how they lead; the difficulties of being a leader and so on. This pressure is off you around 19th November and again near 7th December.
Dear Jessica,
In Sep 2023, I wrote to you about the sudden and sad loss of my healthy GR. You mentioned then that I could welcome another furry animal from the shelters when I am ready. Beginning of this month, I started to go to the shelters (2) to walk the dogs and see if I could adopt one. While I did identify two – a 3-month old and another 6-year old, I was deciding to select one on 21/10. That night (rather late), I received a call from a third shelter who was holding a private adoption for sheltered pups and dogs. My son and I decided to visit out of curiosity. That night, I had a talk with my GR and asked who she would like me to welcome home 3month or 6-year old. The next day, at the third shelter, we were asked to take a look at this very quiet poodle mix in a crate 9-month old. My GR passed away when she was 9 years 9 months old. We took the poodle out (never thought we would want a small dog, always decided mid- to big breed) and he sat quietly on me then my son. When we enquired more about the poodle, we were told he was born on 17-1-2024. My GR’s birthdate was 17-1-2014!!! It gave us the creeps. He was brought to the shelter because no one wanted to buy him at the breeders. Last night I “asked” my GR who to welcome home and little did we think this third shelter had the hidden gem and answer. We took him home and he’s now been with us for a month and makes us very happy. I wonder if the animals who passed on, seeks us out, waiting till we are ready. Looking forward to hear your insight on this. Much love, Nancy
Pretty extraordinary evidence here for your animal friend, setting up another animal companion, in your life. Not creepy at all, but the numerology lines up with both dogs. Nancy, if you are prepared to get as involved with dogs, as they are with us, you will find they do in fact engineer situations from their side. Dog is dog, and they are on their own level, but they have a code of understanding that when one passes, it leaves a space for another dog, to benefit. And of course you gain too. Very special poodle.
Wow! That’s so cool. My son is nodes (nn10 Virgo)are at same degree/sign as my Pluto And my daughter’ (a Scorpio) nodes are (nn 21 Aquarius) which is my Saturn (21 Aquarius). She was always my difficult one and now we are good and he was always my easy one and is now somewhat distant emotionally (it seems to me). What a you tell me about this? They have different fathers. Thank you, Jessica.
The Aquarius North Node is of course opposite the Leo South Node, always. Your daughter is carrying the incarnation and was the leader of a military unit, trade union, Freemasons branch or similar. She had to experience both leadership and group commitment though so also swapped; she was in the ranks with a captain who had a profound impact on her, or in a circle like the Suffragettes where the leaders changed her life. You knew each other and it was unfinished; in this life your Saturn is picking that up. Your son had a healer-patient relationship with you and they may have crossed over, particularly if your daughter was in the forces and there was a hospital/medical care involved. Different fathers would not be relevant.
Dear Jessica, I know I am writing again another comment so soon. My mum had a bad fall under my watch while walking down the stairs. She’s still in the hospital. I was reading today’s blog and realised I could use Tarot to find out what card I would draw about mum’s health condition. I drew the “Death” card. You have mentioned that this card is not literally as is. But somehow, it gives me the feel that this is what the card tells me, my 87-year-old mum is ready to close a chapter. When I brought the shelter dog back, I thought mum would like to see him that afternoon. But somehow, she fell that morning and has not met him. When my mum was younger, her dog was called Lucky. My son after adopting this dog, had no other names for him except “Lucky”. Speaking of coincidences!! Thanks Jessica for talking time to listen to my sharing. Look forward to hear your views on this. Warmest Regards, nancy
Nancy, I hope your mother is on the mend. Death has only ever meant literal death in my experience, if somebody is asking if they should make a bold move – and what would happen – or if they are terminally ill and want to be released. I read for a woman at an event who was going to Paris in 2021. I saw Death. She would have given somebody vulnerable, Covid-19 and finished their life, or herself been infected and perhaps died. I don’t know if she ever went, but that was her card. I have also read for a woman who had not long to live and wanted to know when she could go. In your mum’s case, Death could easily mean the end of an era; the death of somebody actually in the ward with her; the ‘death’ of the old order in the family circle, as she’s now clearly in a different position with all of you – your son, for example.
I have kept a small notebook of what I consider significant dreams, for many years. I have visited Malta only once in my life, but it had a profound effect; specifically in Mdina – the silent city. For a totally inexplicable reason, I felt at home; at peace. It seems to tie in with a dream that I have had on several occasions; that of being dead and being brought ashore in Malta from a ship, to be buried. There is no obvious date, but it is clearly in the Middle Ages. Separately, I would not have paid too much attention; but together, they seem significant.
You have a clear and direct recall of your incarnation, which is unusual. Feeling quite at home or peace seems to happen when one goes back. The immediate sense of feeling right at home – even though the town or city is quite new. So, people tend to sleep very well in the hotel they check into, for example, and when they wander the place, feel utterly relaxed. Dreams are a gateway too; you may be somewhere near your Akashic Record when you are dreaming.
I appreciate this article very much. I have struggled with the concept of the head and tail of the Dragon in reference to the North and South nodes, feeling that I am conflicted when interrupting my life’s astrological makeup due to my heavy Pisces stellium (including Sun, and Chiron) alongside my south node (conjunct my Mercury in Pisces) when reading other astrologers who state that my “life’s purpose” is to pursue the Virgo north node. As you have described it here, Jessica, it seems the nodes work in tandem with each other. I believe that I have mostly applied Virgo (NN) (attention to detail, pursuit of the mundane) while melding Neptune’s imaginative qualities (Pisces SN) in my vocational work. Now that I am retired, my challenge is to pursue a healthy lifestyle (Virgo) which was more a matter of routine (Virgo again) while I was younger. Regarding past life regression, I find myself drawn to baroque music, the harpsichord in particular. It sounds so comfortable and familiar. I’m also drawn to Virginia and England (I do have family roots in both areas and was born in Virginia but have lived in places throughout the US. I, also, lived and studied abroad in Cambridge, England for a brief time. Virginia and England are so familiar in sound (i.e., songbirds) and smells (I.e., boxwoods) that they feel knowingly comfortable. My dad’s family migrated from England centuries ago to Virginia, in fact, a town outside of London bears my maiden name. I don’t know if a past life would be related to ancestral life. I only know that there is just so much familiarity with a certain period of time and current places in both Virginia and England with scents and sounds that resonate in me. I definitely want to understand this more, thank you for piquing my interest!
Thank you. Yes, the nodes work in a circle, so you find the circle goes backwards and forwards. It can also be influenced by stelliums, so you know this with your Pisces-Virgo combination. Your last life was very probably in England and there may be a literal connection with the maiden named town. Strangely enough you can just ask – ‘Who was I?’ or ‘What was my last incarnation?’ when in meditation, or in dreams. I was told I was Gilbert Lennox, just by asking. He worked for MI5 and was the minder of Louis de Wohl. He also wrote plays and as part of being de Wohl’s supervisor, had to learn astrology. So it is worth simply asking, and even repeating the request, as eventually one of your guides may be able to tell you why Baroque music has such appeal, and why it may have been in Cambridge or Virginia.
Hi Jessica,
thank you for another beautiful blog post.
I recently lost both of my parents (my dad last June, my mum 19 days ago) and I miss them terribly.
I loved and cared for them until the very end, and we had a very strong bond.
In my dad’s birth chart the North Node was at 9 Pisces, and the South Node at 9 Virgo; in my mum’s birth chart the North Node was at 7 Pisces, and the South Node at 7 Virgo; in my birth chart, my North Node is at 11 Pisces, and the South Node at 11 Virgo.
What intrigues me most is that my North Node forms an exact conjunction with my mum’s natal Sun (11 Pisces); my South Node, on the other hand, forms a conjunction with her natal Mars (10 Virgo).
Last but not least, my nodal axis forms a conjunction with my dad’s Ascendant-Descendant axis (8 Virgo/8 Pisces).
Can you give me any insight? Thank you.
Mary 🙂
I am so sorry you have lost your dad and then your mum in such a short space of time. You were their carer and very close. The connections between Virgo and Pisces in all the charts including the nodes, show you past lives. So you were all involved in a religious order last time, and possibly before that, where a hospital or hospice was on the grounds. This could take you back centuries or course. You have all taken turns at being the nurse, the doctor and the patient. Soul agreements were made between lives to fulfil karma and promises and you all came back and did just that. Now the circle is complete.