The lunar nodes shifting into a new pair of signs is always a big deal. It happens every year and a half or so, and it impacts everybody, both personally and in the world’s headlines. A few weeks back, on January 28, the Moon’s (Mean) north node crossed the line and entered Pisces, where it will remain until it transitions into Aquarius on August 18, 2026. (The south node entered the opposite sign, Virgo, at the same time.) 

In this short essay, my intention is to put the personal meaning of the nodes shifting signs in the spotlight. Since we’ll all be experiencing some of this energy collectively, it will impact the positives and negatives of the wider world too.

As always, we start by underscoring a point that is really the bedrock of evolutionary astrological theory: the south node of the Moon represents the gravity of old habits which are holding us back, while the north node symbolizes the remedy that can liberate us. In my own work, I view the soul cages represented by the south node as problems and challenges that originated in prior lifetimes, although other philosophies can be made to fit too. In any case, as the late, lamented astrologer and my dear friend, Michael Lutin, once put it, “the north node is the meeting and the south node is the bottle.” If you know anything about Alcoholics Anonymous, Michael really covered the essence of the point in those thirteen words. 

For each of us personally, the detailed, specific nature of our unique south node “gravity” emerges from an analysis of its sign, house, and aspects, along with the same factors for the planet or planets that happen to rule it. This kind of analysis quickly gets complicated. If you’re new to this branch of astrology and want to learn more, try my book Yesterday’s Sky or just enter “nodes” in the search engine at forrestastrology.com. 

• Right now, the bottom line is that we are all collectively beginning to experience the pressure of any unresolved “Virgo karma” we may be holding onto – and hopefully looking to Pisces for some answers, resolutions, and a new direction.

Let’s start by understanding those Virgo questions and issues. As with everything else in astrology, “your mileage may vary.” Possibly you are very reactive to these energies, perhaps not – more about all that a little later.

THE VIRGO SOUTH NODE

Once again, we are talking about an era running from this past January until August of 2026. During that whole period, the shadow-side of Virgo will be manifesting everywhere. You’ll see it in the headlines and you’ll feel it in your own life. It’s pivotal to remember that while every sign of the zodiac represents a lofty evolutionary potential, they all have dark sides too. That dark side is what comes up when the south node is passing through Virgo – or any other sign. These kinds of unresolved karmic patterns compel us to look at the world – and at ourselves – through a dirty window. Everything is distorted. The happier point is that we are potentially ready to clean the glass – to see more clearly, in other words, which means putting a stop to the way that we are compulsively clinging to a distorted interpretation of almost everything. As we will recognize in a few minutes, the path to liberation from that distortion is now wide-open and lies in the direction of that Piscean north node. 

First, let’s consider the exact nature of these particular south node problems – a set of issues which I believe are rooted in psychic wounds originating long ago. With the south node in Virgo, I count four of these dark patterns – four unconstructive attitudes to which the mind can become accustomed and which will halt our evolutionary progress until our attachment to them is released. Every one of them is ultimately about clinging to a fundamental error of perception or understanding. The best analogy I can conjure up would be those brilliant astronomers from a millennium ago who reasoned from the idea that everything, the Sun included, revolved around the Earth. They were incredibly innovative in defending and rationalizing that mistake. They constructed a coherent, convincing belief-system that made sense of it even though they were totally incorrect. We all do exactly the same thing – and now we have a chance to fix it. To free ourselves, we need to identify these four “dirty windows” to which we are clinging, often without even realizing that that’s what we are doing.

THE FIRST CLINGING

You walk into a room in your house and you think “this room is a total mess.” That’s a Virgo moment. We all have them. Here’s the room as it actually is – and that condition is in contrast to how the room could or should be. The ideal versus the actual: that is the basic Virgo template of perception. It’s hardwired into everyone’s head. 

Virgo is not just about keeping a tidy house. What happens when you look at yourself through that same lens? How well do you measure up to the standard of perfection? Naturally, we all fall short of it. The question is, how do you handle that shortfall? Face it honestly and humbly, struggle to improve yourself and in evolutionary terms you are on the Virgo fast track. Fall into shame and self-criticism, and you’re living out the shadow. 

In prior lifetimes, have you ever unfairly criticized yourself – or, perhaps even more likely, internalized other people’s ungrounded criticism of you? Have you sabotaged yourself through a lack of self-confidence or a sense of your own worthiness? 

Bad religion, anyone?

Naturally it’s hard to answer questions about past lives. How can we possibly know? The transiting nodes actually provide a clue. That’s because if any of those Virgo problems are part of your own karmic wound, they are guaranteed to come up for review over the next eighteen months. You’ll be feeling it, in other words. Possibly they will be repeating themselves in your present experience. That’s the first clinging and it’s time for it to end. 

The takeaway? If you find yourself feeling a sense of impossibility as if you are tantalized by a dream that will never come true, ask yourself this question: objectively, is old unresolved shame blinding you to a real opportunity? 

Keep perspective: if you doubt your ability to swim across the Pacific, you are probably right. But if you doubt that you’d ever get that more meaningful, better-paid job, it’s time to wonder if that limitation is rooted more in your head than in reality.

THE SECOND CLINGING

It’s a short step from what we just saw to our second possible area of Virgo distortion. Clinging to a pattern of endless internal self-criticism can quickly lead to criticizing everyone – and everything – else as well. In pop astrology, Virgo is often characterized as “picky and critical.” That’s not really fair to Virgo in general, but it is an accurate view of its shadow side. When Virgo energy goes bad, the soup is always the wrong temperature, the mosquitos always ruin the whole vacation, and the music always sucks. 

Here’s the heart of the matter: if I am inhabiting that Virgo soul-cage, then when I look at you I will unconsciously compare you to perfection too. Naturally you’ll fall as short as I did. Maybe I verbalize that negative judgement of you or maybe you see it in my eyes. In either case, a little bit of that constant “correction” goes a long way for anyone who’s on the receiving end of it.

Again, the actual origin of this second form of Virgo south node clinging lies in an internal atmosphere of self-criticism: a feeling of not being good enough yourself, which is then projected willy-nilly onto the world at large and all of its inhabitants.

The takeaway? Note any feelings of judgment arising in yourself. They may be directed at people in your life, or they may be aimed at circumstances. In any case, they unduly accentuate the negative. Catch yourself doing that and you’ve taken an important first step. The next step is to remember that, while nothing is ever perfect, saying that “the cup is half full” is every bit as accurate as saying it’s half empty, and a lot more joyful.

By the way, when we get to that Pisces north node, we’ll see how humor, compassion, and acceptance can really accelerate the cure.

THE THIRD CLINGING

We can go further. Virgo is often seen as “the sign of the servant.” There are beautiful dimensions to that symbolism, such as the urge to be competent at something that is helpful to other people. But as ever, there is a dark side to that same symbolism as well. To be “a servant” is to be placed in a subordinate position. Someone is giving us orders. Some social structure is holding us down. In a prior life, was your existence ever defined by other people’s decisions? Were you treated as a utility rather than as a person? Were you taken for granted? Were you the one who was always assigned the scut work? Perhaps you were oppressed by some social mythology, which meant that your human potential was kept from blossoming. Being a victim of racism, sexism, and ethnic prejudices are obvious possibilities. So is any other situation where people are cast in a negative light as “categories” rather than as individuals. Maybe you were one of them.

If those shoes fit you karmically, then the next year and a half offers you a chance to turn all of that around. You don’t have to cling to those feelings of frustrated anger anymore. You can release them. Ominously, the south node transiting through Virgo also warns that you might slip into the same old self-limiting patterns, projecting them onto your circumstances even if they are not really relevant. As always, mindfulness is the path to liberation.

The takeaway? Stand up for yourself. If a tyrant appears in your life, don’t knuckle under the tyranny. Don’t accept it. Walk away from the situation or the relationship. You have that power. You are fully capable of dealing with the consequences.

THE FOURTH CLINGING

Here’s a fourth piece of the dark Virgo south node equation – a fourth clinging. The question “what could possibly go wrong” is often invoked humorously when someone sets out in an obviously shaky direction. Sadly, there is always an answer. Things do go wrong. Even when people aren’t making patently dumb moves, nothing in life is ever 100% safe. No positive outcome is ever guaranteed and pretending otherwise is foolish – hence the wisdom of always having Plan B. Nothing attracts a flat tire faster than not having a spare. 

Maybe in a past life, you were endlessly trying to hold things together, trying to keep the leaky ship afloat somehow. One form which that particular piece of unresolved Virgo karma can take in your present life is simply compulsive fussiness and worry. Keep perspective: perhaps in that prior life you had good reason to worry. Maybe you were actually in an insecure or dangerous situation. One present-life trouble that such a past-life circumstance can create is that a chronic habit of worry continues to take hold of your mind. The next thing you know, you are struggling to plan ahead for what to do when a meteor crashes through the roof of your house or for when the Sun finally burns out. There’s always something that could “possibly go wrong.”

Does that “compulsive worry” shoe fit? Maybe not. Maybe your personal karma isn’t so centrally of that nature. Still, there’s a little bit of it in everyone – and here it comes again, rising to the surface.

The takeaway? There’s a difference between appropriate, necessary concern on one hand, and eating yourself up with endless worry on the other. If you make sure that you have Plan B in place, that’s just being realistic. If it’s 4:00 in the morning and you haven’t slept because of an endless fugue of disaster scenarios playing compulsively in your mind, that’s the dark Virgo karma making itself felt. Liberation begins with recognizing it for what it is. 

THE ROLE OF MERCURY

Let’s take all of this twice as deep by adding one more technical step to our analysis. 

Mercury rules Virgo and so its natal position in your chart is likely to play a big, obvious part in the unfolding story. That’s because the planet that rules the south node is always triggered in these kinds of situations. What is Mercury’s actual position in your own chart? That house and sign will certainly be one epicenter in the action we are describing. 

There are some general Mercury areas that will have relevance to many of us. First among them is speech, along with its foundation, which is thought itself. Adding your own Mercury’s house, sign, and aspects brings everything into sharper focus and probably adds a unique new dimension or two.

Let’s start with an easy question about speech. At least it’s easy to ask, but not so easy to resolve. How can Virgo self-doubt limit people’s ability to express themselves verbally? Here’s what that might mean in practice: a brilliant insight shyly muttered sotto voce and cluttered with provisos, unnecessary complications, and second thoughts, will often simply be ignored by everyone. That apparent lack of confidence in your style of expression sabotages everyone’s faith in what you are saying. You don’t seem to believe it yourself. 

The takeaway? Trust your voice. When you see something that no one else seems to be seeing, pursue it – and state it clearly and unequivocally.

As we saw a few lines ago, we could take all of this a lot further by knowing your personal Mercury signature. 

• Just for example, let’s imagine that your natal Mercury is conjunct Pluto. You’ll have psychological insights about what nobody else sees or is willing to deal with. Trust them! 

• Mercury on the Midheaven? Is it time to write your book? What’s stopping you? 

• Mercury in Pisces? You’re probably more psychic or clairvoyant than you believe you are. Trust your intuitions. Act on them. Speak up about them.

WHAT IF NONE OF THIS FITS?

In my experience, astrology always works. If someone were to tell me that none of what we have been exploring had anything to do with them, I’d politely nod my head – but my assumption would be that they were just not looking in the right place – or weren’t willing to do the work. I do believe that the passage of the Moon’s south node through Virgo will have some relevance to everyone on the planet. We are all collectively entering a time when we need to stand up for ourselves, believe in ourselves, and not doubt our own power. Still, if you drop a burning match in a dynamite factory the results are a lot more spectacular than if you drop one in a puddle. As the nodal axis shifts from sign to sign, it’s very much like that. For each possible karmic issue, some of us are dynamite factories while some of us are only puddles. 

In your soul’s history, were you ever oppressed? Were you made “a servant” in some dark sense of the word? Did you ever sabotage yourself? Did you fail to believe in yourself? Were you somehow subject to chronic, endless, vitiating worry? 

The point is that not all of us have the same answers to those questions. Some of us will be impacted mightily by this nodal passage, others less so.

WHAT ABOUT THE NORTH NODE IN PISCES?

No surprise, the north node is always opposite the south node. That’s not, however, just a geometric statement: it’s a symbolic one too. In parallel with how wetness is the cure for dryness or heat is the cure for a chill, similarly Pisces is the cure for Virgo. To state that principle more precisely, the higher side of Pisces is the cure for the lower possibilities inherent in Virgo. To keep this honest, let’s add that the higher side of Virgo (selfless service) can also cure the lower possibilities of Pisces (escapism; spiritual self-importance).

Pisces, at its best, is all about openness and surrender. It’s about love, in other words – cosmic, life-affirming love, not just desire and romantic projections. Beating yourself up, limiting yourself, doubting yourself – those are the opposites of Piscean love. They are familiar Virgo traps. What’s their remedy? Loving yourself, obviously. Pisces to the rescue! There goes our first Virgo clinging – endless self-battery. Love cures it. With love, the second clinging evaporates as well – that sense that everything and everyone is “wrong” was always just a projection of our inner attitude toward ourselves anyway.

Let’s take it a few steps deeper. It’s hard to talk for long about Pisces without getting into areas that were traditionally viewed as religious. There is a cosmological mystery built into the fabric of reality. Some cultures call it “God.” Buddhists call it the dharmakaya. In the old Star Wars films, it was called The Force. 

Whatever you call it, what happens when you surrender to it? What happens when you become transparent to that mystery? It enters you. You become one with it. Under those circumstances, how can you feel anything about yourself other than love? How can you look at other people’s predicaments and feel anything toward them other than compassion?

Let’s take it a step further. It’s a truism that the way we treat other people ultimately mirrors the way we are treating ourselves. A person carelessly tosses a spent cigarette on the sidewalk, not caring about how they are impacting that shared space. How carelessly are they treating themselves by smoking in the first place? 

The takeaway is that by relating compassionately to other people, we are in fact working toward relating to ourselves more compassionately – and that’s a fine example of how the higher side of Pisces remedies the lower side of Virgo.

• Planet-wide, for everyone everywhere as the north node passes through Pisces, it’s high time for a spiritual reawakening. For many of us, that limiting karma has ripened. We are ready to break free of what is holding us back. In the light of that wisdom, petty worries loom much smaller. 

WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN?

For the next eighteen months, we will see a wide spectrum of responses to this shift in the nodal axis. Some people will get it right and some will get it wrong. Dark servant/master scenarios will certainly play out, both publicly and in private, intimate situations. Negative projections onto individuals and groups will abound. People will hurt themselves, undercut themselves, and sabotage themselves. They’ll volunteer for slavery. They’ll obey when they don’t have to. And they will tie themselves in knots with compulsive worry. 

For some of us, that will be all that happens – we’ll just numbingly live out that bad Virgo energy. Many of those people will even try to deny their failures by pointing a critical finger at everyone except themselves. 

Maybe those same kinds of mistakes will serve as wake-up calls for a few others. As they say somewhat facetiously in aviation, any landing you can walk away from is a good landing. Learning things the hard way is still learning, in other words – and remember, when we are attuned to that Piscean north node, we are looking at the world through the clear lens of compassion. It applies to our interpretations of other people’s mistakes as well as to our own.

For all of us however, there is a higher path. As I describe it, who can decide if I am talking about the easiest thing in the world – or the hardest? It’s about surrendering to the great mystery. It’s about having faith no matter what happens. I can think of no better way to end this essay than to quote the great Ram Dass: “Whether this is the first day of the Apocalypse or the first day of a Golden Age, the work remains the same . . . to love one another and to ease suffering wherever possible.” 

Pisces is the last sign of the zodiac. In a sense, it’s the highest one of all. In another sense, it is the one where the stakes are the highest. Along with Pluto in Aquarius and the upcoming configurations of Neptune, Saturn, and Uranus, the astrological indications that humanity has come to a turning point are unmistakable. Hold onto your hats – and remember, as Ram Das said: whatever happens, the work remains the same.

 

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