North Node in Capricorn/South Node in Cancer -- This individual is learning how to achieve maturity. In past incarnations he had a tendency to look at life through rose-colored glasses, seeing only what he wanted to see with a definite conviction that everything else didn't exist. Now there is still much of the "baby" left in his Cancer South Node. He is so used to going through his prior life on crutches, wrestling with his dependencies while seeking bannisters to lean on, that his current life is the resultant shambles of escapist, childlike habits which keep impeding his growth. Truly, this is the perennial infant, desiring at all costs to maintain his role as the focus of parental attention. In areas of problem solving, he would rather have his parents do it. Everybody he meets and knows, be it friend, business associate or marriage partner, automatically becomes the symbolic parent to pick up the pieces of his misery, protecting him from being hit by the falling sky which he has created. He even creates his own self-inflicted illnesses if they bring with them the slightest hint of gaining love and affection. Constantly practicing at becoming an adult he seems never quite ready or willing to make the transition fully. Somehow he keeps feeling he needs much more practice first. All he does in this life is based upon his soul memory of sensitive past-life feelings which still are shattered by the slightest rejection. Many individuals with these Nodes are strongly wrapped up in the business of their country. They personalize government for to them it is still part, in a larger sense, of their own Cancerian family. Underneath all else there are unusually strong feelings of patriotism and loyalty. Many with these Nodes focus a good part of their strength and attention on younger people. They like to listen to the trials and tribulations of others, but not being quick problem solvers themselves, they have a tendency to hold everything inside them. As the weight of problems increases, like collecting layers, they seem to age in spite of themselves. The most difficult karmic problem of the Cancer South Node is learning how to let go. The individual brings with him into this life such strong inner fears of ever losing or forgetting anything that he keeps making extra special efforts to retain all he has ever gone through. As such he makes himself the "psychic garbage pail" of the past. Constantly he is thinking about his present in terms of what he should have done years ago - or "lives ago." He often can be seen sorting through old photographs hoping to create his future out of fragments of his past. At times he is extremely draining, using whatever is done for him as a springboard to ask for more. He tries other people's patience with all of his emotional problems, and long after the solutions are given to him he refuses to see logic through his cloud of emotion. He is not so much interested in finding out why something went wrong as he is seeking the lost feeling to be returned. Endings are especially difficult for him to deal with. The word "good-bye" has never been a part of his vocabulary for he has always tried to preserve all relationships as long as possible. His behavior in regard to objects is no different, since he tends to form permanent attachments to the nostalgic memories they carry with them.

The major karmic lesson in the Capricorn North Node is to identify with an ideal bigger than the personal life. The individual must ultimately come to stand for something, in spite of all his real or imagined personal difficulties. He must understand true responsibility. Many with these Nodes eventually become self-appointed hallmarks of tradition. They would rather die than have an outsider know any part of their personal life which contradicts the principle they have chosen to stand for. Through the North Node an image is established which others can look up to and model their lives after. At times personal difficulties deplete him of the strength to hold up this image, and yet hold it up he must, even if it means sacrificing his entire life. In most of his endeavors he is capable of becoming a methodical and cautious planner once he learns to overcome his past-life tendency to overact emotionally. In the charts of females, these Nodes represent an unusually strong search for a father figure. In males, there is a strong consciousness of the need to fulfill the father role. The most important thing about the Capricorn North Node is that it represents the point through which the individual will meet his karmic mission. For this reason alone, many with these Nodes tend to be reluctant to accept the full concept of adulthood. They would prefer to remain in an immature state for as long as possible for they sense a type of judgement awaiting them. Much like the condemned man desiring one stay of execution after another, they seek to hide behind others, constantly pushing themselves further and further to the back of the line so as to avoid meeting the effects of all they have created. This is the reason why many of them have great difficulty in accepting their own chronological age. While they admit to their age openly, they try not to live it. There is much past-life residue of immaturity. The soul has become fixated at one point in early growth. Now there is great difficulty passing that point. Still, it will be passed, if the individual is ultimately to stand for something. The zodiacal constellation of Capricorn is the gateway through which the soul must go upon leaving the physical body, and in this most occult of signs it will stand for inspection before the Judges at these Gates. While this may not be the last incarnation on earth, it will most definitely by house position receive karmic judgement in one area of the life. The individual with these Cancer-Capricorn Nodes will flounder half his life in helpless abandon and then one day resign himself to stand up to the saying, "tis a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done before."

The house position of the South Node indicates the area in which the karmic residue of immaturity seeps into the current life. The house position of the North Node shows the ways in which the individual can now enter responsible adulthood by aligning his life with the principles of honor, respect and tradition. As soon as he learns how to do this, he is destined for a life of splendid accomplishment.

from: Schulman, Martin, Karmic Astrology - Volume 1, 1975, Samuel Weiser, Inc., New York

North Node in the 3rd House/South Node in the 9th House - These Nodes represent a karma in relationships. The individual is here to learn how to fit the intertwinings of people and ideas into the scope of his understanding. The ninth house South Node shows an accent on growth in former lives. Literally millions of hours of thought were spent on developing an abundance of wisdom. Much was sacrificed to do this, particularly the enjoyment of meaningful relationships with others. So that a large amount of soul growth could be accomplished, a freedom to explore without restriction or limitation had to be developed first. Now in the current life the individual is habitually linked to his past incarnation sense of freedom, which although he feels he must retain, he can no longer consciously remember why. From time to time he feels a wanderlust to visit different horizons for somewhere off in the distance is the rainbow he is used to seeking. He is a mental nomad, constantly traveling through the great expanse of his consciousness, stopping only for rest at each oasis which offers temporary shelter from his restless urge. Always he is seeking yet it is difficult for him to define exactly what he is looking for. He finds others puzzling as he curiously tries to understand what makes them tick. Herein are some of his major karmic lessons. He must learn how to interact with people. Though he may be happily married or involved in close relationships, he still retains a sense of bachelorhood in his thoughts. He must learn how to make his life fit into the exact puzzle slot allowed by all the other lives around him. The ways in which he relates and communicates will constantly be put through one test after another. Ultimately he will find himself enmeshed in a network of people, so that all the knowledge he has acquired in previous lifetimes can be put to practical use. In his current-life relationships, he feels frustrated with not enough room to move. This enclosure of people around him eventually comes to extinguish his past-life tendencies to be vague and evasive and in its place teaches him the art of pinpoint communication. He is very much concerned with the values of sexuality, feeling obliged to conquer any grip this force has on him. Now he sees clearly the presence of a higher and a lower self, and it is the pull from both which he must karmically wrestle out. The individual is less concerned with gain than with protection against loss. He is terrible fearful of losing freedom he was accustomed to in past incarnations; yet he must risk such loss if he is to interact with humility. As soon as he is willing to take this risk, he is ready to receive his greatest rewards.

Ultimately he elevates himself through reading and purposeful study, and although he is more used to informal ways of learning, it will be a formal education that now puts it all together for him. This Nodal position often causes a friction marriage, since the individual is prone to seeking out-of-wedlock relationships in which to work out the understanding of personality interactions that he must develop. One of his biggest lessons is to learn how to consolidate his energies for each time he feels the urgency to move on with things, he tends to leave loose ends scattered behind him. His life is wide in scope, not only in areas of knowledge, but also in the myriad of people he meets, and the multitude of places he travels. He will ultimately be known as a Messenger, bringing to all those.

The sign which contains the South Node shows the ways in which he allows immaturity on the part of others as well as himself to block his potentialities for achievement. The sign which contains the North Node indicates the ways in which he can develop maturity by pointing his life in a meaningful direction.

from: Schulman, Martin, Karmic Astrology - Volume 1, 1975, Samuel Weiser, Inc., New York