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 4th House/South Node in the 10th House -- This individual must learn to overcome the karmic feeling that he is the vital center of all situations around him. He comes into the current life with subconscious memories of a past sense of dignity, which leads him to believe that at least certain areas of life experience are beneath him. His prior incarnations have put him in the position of being captain of his own ship, if not the commander of others. As a result, he is used to assuming an authoritative position whenever the weakness of others triggers his powerful need to take charge. He enjoys the role of protector and goes to extremes in filling his life with those whose very weaknesses put them under his dominion. By so doing, he is constantly testing his own power to stand tall. This is a lonely position, for here the individual is so concerned with his self-appointed mission, that he never allows others to see into his real self underneath. What he shows is a facade or the uniform of the role he feels obliged to play. In the current life, he goes through experiences which teach him to come down off his skyscraper and make sure of the foundation underneath. It is in the area of his most highly intimate relationships within his own family that the stage is set for his lifelong battle in an attempt to gain control of his own roots. Many with these Nodes have one unusually demanding parent whose expectations encourage them to believe that they are truly destined to achieve a position of sitting on top of the world. As a result, they are discontented with whatever situation they are in, for always it falls short of what they feel they were meant to do. The karmic lesson here is that "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." The individual must overcome his readiness to forsake what he has for the possibility of attaining what he doesn't. So unwilling is he to see himself in a back-seat position that when circumstances force him to do so he may, in extreme cases, even contemplate suicide; for he firmly believes that without achieving some great destiny, life is utterly worthless. This incarnation brings him through the experience of facing the conflict between a career for himself and the demands of his family. He must learn maturity, for with all his projected strength, power and dignity, he is nearly a cripple when it comes to solving his own emotional problems. He must examine his roots and after pulling his head out of the clouds of his past, build a practical foundation for his future. Eventually he learns that his organizing for others is merely a distraction from putting his own life in order. The relationship established with parents early in life is more important in these Nodes than in any other position of the zodiac. Here the individual will spend much of his life energy attempting to be totally free and independent of his parents, yet always conscious of how much he needs them. Nevertheless, the reaction patterns to life continue to show a definite parental defiance, masking a strong need for parental love. The soul is at a point in karma where he feels unappreciated for all his efforts. The past incarnation residue is based on achievement for the sake of recognition and appreciation.

Now, achievement is to be its own reward. The soul must stop trying to gain audience for its deeds, realizing that the audience will always be there if the deeds are great enough. It is in this process of seeking an audience through which the individual tends to lose himself. He must literally transform his fourth house into a new birth of emotional attitudes, learning the lessons that when a man stands on tiptoes he is unsteady. His life is like the beautiful orchid: a splendid sight to behold when raised and nourished under the most delicately controlled environmental conditions, but once the orchid is prepared for display, it is snipped from its roots, insuring wilting and certain death after a short time. This individual will be faced with the choice of being the overlooked orchid growing in a garden of thousands, or sacrificing his own happiness to be the beautiful flower on someone's lapel. As soon as he overcomes his past-life need for display, he can start to grow to the maturity he is so desperately seeking.

The sign which contains the South Node indicates the ways through which he still overemphasizes his importance. The sign which contains the North Node shows how he can grow to become in substance so emotionally fulfilled that he no longer has to equate his happiness with his soul memory of prior-life personal esteem.

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