The nodes are not bodies
The Moon's orbit is tilted about five degrees from the plane of Earth's orbit around the Sun. Those two planes intersect in a line, and the two ends of that line are the lunar nodes. The north node is where the Moon crosses going north; the south node is where it crosses going south.
Nothing is there. They are points defined by geometry, and they move backwards through the zodiac, completing a circuit in about eighteen and a half years.
They are also why eclipses happen. A solar eclipse requires a new moon near a node, and a lunar eclipse a full moon near one, which is why eclipse seasons arrive roughly every six months and track the nodal axis.
True node or mean node
The nodes wobble as the Sun perturbs the Moon's orbit, which gives two ways to measure them. The mean node smooths the wobble into steady backwards motion. The true node tracks the instantaneous position, which oscillates and occasionally moves forwards for short stretches.
The two differ by up to about one and a half degrees, which is enough to change the sign near a boundary. This calculator uses the true node, and it says so, because plenty of tools do not and the discrepancy confuses people who compare results.
Read as a pair, always
The two nodes are exactly opposite, so one is never read without the other. The convention is straightforward: the south node describes what already comes easily, and the north node describes the direction that costs something.
Whatever the south node touches tends to be a genuine competence, which is exactly why it becomes a hiding place. Under pressure people default to it, and the default works, and that is the difficulty. The north node describes material the person is not naturally good at and that tends to produce disproportionate results when attempted anyway.
This is the standard reading whether or not you accept the karmic framing behind it. The mechanics are the same if you treat it as inherited habit rather than past lives.
The house matters more than the sign
The nodes spend about eighteen months in a sign, so everyone born within a year and a half of you shares your nodal signs. The houses are yours and they need a birth time.
North node in the tenth and south node in the fourth describes someone pulled toward public work and comfortable retreating into private life. The same signs in the first and seventh houses describes something completely different, and the houses are what tell you which.
Aspects to the axis
Because the two nodes are opposite, an aspect to one is an aspect to both. A planet conjunct the north node is opposite the south node; a square hits the axis whichever end you measure from.
This calculator lists aspects against the north node for that reason, rather than printing every contact twice. A conjunction there is a conjunction to the north node and an opposition to the south, which is enough to distinguish the two cases.
Saturn on the axis is commonly read as a delay in the direction the north node describes; Jupiter as an easier road. Both readings are reported consistently enough to be worth checking against your own experience.
The nodal return
The nodes complete a circuit in about eighteen and a half years, so they return to their natal positions at roughly nineteen, thirty-seven, fifty-six and seventy-four. At the halfway points, around nine, twenty-eight and forty-six, they are reversed, with the north node sitting where the south node was born.
Both are read as periods when the direction question becomes live. The reversal points have the stronger reputation, and the one near twenty-eight overlaps the first Saturn return, which makes attribution difficult and probably explains some of the reputation.
Without a birth time
The nodes move slowly, so the sign and degree are settled by the date alone. What you lose is the house, which is the part that makes the axis specific, and any aspect to the ascendant or Midheaven.
That is a real loss for this placement in particular, since the nodal signs are shared so widely. A nodal reading without houses describes a cohort rather than a person.
Common questions
Are the lunar nodes physical objects?
No. They are the two points where the Moon's tilted orbit crosses the plane of Earth's orbit. Nothing is there; they are defined by geometry.
Do you use the true node or the mean node?
The true node, and the page says so. The two differ by up to about a degree and a half, which is enough to change the sign near a boundary and to confuse anyone comparing tools.
Why is the south node read alongside it?
Because they are exactly opposite, so one is never read alone. The south node describes what already comes easily; the north node the direction that costs something.
Do I have to believe in past lives for this?
No. The mechanics are identical whether you read the south node as karmic inheritance or as habit formed early. What it describes is competence you did not earn in this life.
What is a nodal return?
The nodes complete a circuit in about eighteen and a half years, so they return at roughly nineteen, thirty-seven and fifty-six. The reversal points halfway between have the stronger reputation.
Do I need a birth time?
Not for the sign, which the date settles. For the house, yes, and that matters here more than usual because the nodal signs are shared with everyone born within about a year and a half of you.