The Moon’s nodes move back by transit to their birth position once every 18.6 years or so, when the transiting nodes form a conjunction with the natal nodes. This means that in our 19th year, we have what astrologers call a Nodal Return. In our 38th year we have another one; in our 56th, another and so on. Significant moments of destiny are marked by these returns, which if we look at these years of our lives, we can clearly see.
It is also notable that, because the nodes are an axis, halving this period gives the Nodal Opposition, the Counter-Nodal Return, when the transiting North Node is in conjunction with the natal South Node and vice versa. So in our 10th year, 28th year, 47th year, 66th year and so on a collision occurs in which the growth patterns indicated by the North Node clash with the established regimes of the South Node, often generating intense insecurities that lead to major transformations of the life-path. This is particularly so in the 28th year, during which the powerful energies of the progressed Lunar Return and the first Saturn Return mark the stressful transition from the Phase of Youth to the Phase of Maturity.
The best way to understand the astrological nature of the Nodes might be to envisage them as bubbling pools of karmic energy. These have a massive potency, which is associated with powerful events and feelings whenever they are activated by progressions or transits. Because the nodes are pools of karma associated primarily with the house in which they are located, the related effects are deep and often seem almost inevitable. It is not for nothing that they are called the Dragon’s Head and Tail…