Mean Nodes VS True Nodes
The nodes of the Moon play a pivotal role in evolutionary astrology. We couldn’t do the magic we do without them. But should you use the Mean node or the True one? In practical terms, that might not seem like an important question since the difference between them is generally small – their maximum possible separation is only 1 degree 45 minutes and it’s usually a lot less. On top of that, the need to choose only looms every year and half or so – that’s during the brief period when the True node is in one sign and the Mean one in another. Then everything rides on making the right choice.
Among astrologers, strong opinions about these two versions of the lunar nodes are a lot more abundant than technical understanding of them. What’s the actual difference? Answering that requires some understanding of orbital mechanics – knowledge that should be more widespread in the astrological community than it often is. At the risk of making light of an important question, I often think people decide which nodes they prefer on the basis of the subliminal impact of the words themselves. I mean, hey, would you rather be mean or true?
Let’s do better than that, starting with some basic astronomy.
The Moon orbits the Earth. That’s a simple, practical statement and at a very basic level, it’s true. Our first step in distinguishing the Mean node from the True node requires expressing that idea more precisely: the Earth and the Moon actually orbit a common center of gravity. That point is called the barycenter.
Here’s a way to visualize it: think of Earth as a big, heavy man square dancing with his tiny wife. Their hands are joined and they are merrily spinning around each other. Because he is so much bigger, at first glance he seems to be stable and she seems to be “orbiting” him. But if you look carefully at his hips, you will see that the situation is not quite that simple – the center of his body is making little circular gyrations as she pulls him first this way then that way.
It is exactly like that with the Earth and the Moon. Their common center of gravity – the barycenter – does not lie at the precise center of the Earth. In fact, it lies about three-quarters of the way from Earth’s center to its surface. The barycenter is within the Earth, in other words, but just not at its precise center.
So, just like that heavy man dancing with his petite wife, Earth wobbles as the Moon orbits it.
Here’s the next step: Earth orbits the Sun. The plane of that orbit is called the ecliptic. As the Moon and the Earth orbit the barycenter, that lunar orbit has a plane too. Critically for our purposes, the Moon’s orbital plane is tilted a little over five degrees relative to the plane of the ecliptic.
The north node is where the plane of the Moon’s orbit crosses the ecliptic going north and the south node is where it crosses going south.
That brings us back to our dancers. The small woman pulls the center of the big man’s body toward her as she spins around him. She is much lighter, so the effect on him is slight, but it’s real. Just like the Moon, her “orbit” around him has a “plane,” but the center of that plane – in this case, his hips – is not fixed or stable. It always pulls a bit toward her. In parallel astronomical fashion, the effect is that there is a similar wobble built into the plane of the Moon’s orbit around the Earth.
The True node reflects that wobble. The Mean node does not – instead, it averages everything out.
Let’s take it a step further. The more closely we approach something, the more strongly we feel the pull of its gravity. That’s the famous “Inverse Square Law” of physics – cut the distance between two objects in half and the force of gravity between them quadruples. That brings us to the next link in the chain: the Moon’s orbit is not perfectly circular – like most astronomical orbits, it follows an ellipse, so sometimes it’s closer to the Earth and sometimes it’s farther away. This means that the strength of the Moon’s tug on the barycenter varies over the course of Moon’s monthly orbit. The effect is that the barycenter is basically made even more jittery as the Moon gets closer and the inverse square law amps up.
On top of that, the Sun’s massive gravity also enters the equations. Depending on where the Moon is in its orbit, sometimes the tug of the Sun’s gravity pulls “south.” Other times it pulls “north.” The effect is to add another jiggle to the Moon’s orbit.
We could potentially add even more real-world complexity to all of this by including the gravitational influence of the planets, especially massive Jupiter.
Getting dizzy yet?
Once you take all of these factors into account, you soon understand why the actual moment-to-moment position of the lunar nodes is so twitchy. Ideally, all of those factors should go into how the True node is calculated – although in reality I‘m not sure how complete the process is. I suspect it quickly enters the realm of Chaos Theory.
For astrologers, the bottom line is that the True node’s motion is eccentric. It can even briefly go Direct. Meanwhile, the Mean node is always retrograde. With the Mean node, the twitches are smoothed out. It tracks the True node very closely, never being more than 1 degree 45 minutes away from it, but in a more soft-focus way.
SO WHICH VERSION OF THE NODES SHOULD WE USE?
Personally, I work strictly with the Mean nodes. My reasons are practical, not theoretical. By intellectual reflex, I am more drawn to the True nodes – to me, the more accurate our map of the sky, the more accurate our understanding of what it symbolizes. That seems to make obvious sense, but with the nodes my actual experience with clients and friends has led me down a different road.
Inevitably I’ve met clients with the Mean and True nodes in different signs. Maybe the Mean south node is in the last degree of Gemini while the True node is in the first degree of Cancer, for example. When it comes to figuring out which nodes to use, such people are our test cases. The south node’s sign invariably leaves a strong, obvious fingerprint on a person’s biography. It represents a set of unconscious values and reflexes that underlie the major life-shaping choices that we all make. Because they are connected with unresolved karma, often they are choices that hold us back somehow. Comparing the signature energies of the two possible south node signs with the actual reality of such people’s lives is the acid test.
For me, more often than not, it is the Mean lunar node that resonates with their actual experience. That’s what has led me to trust the Mean nodes over the True ones.
As a working astrologer, I have methods that I count on. Still, I know that other astrologers get good results using different methods, so I try to avoid dogmatism. See what works for you – but please don’t fall into the trap of using “a sample of one” – the “one” usually being oneself! Any worthwhile astrological technique has to prove itself reliable across large populations.
At the end of this essay, you’ll find a list of short windows of time that happen like clockwork every year and a half – brief periods in which the two forms of the nodes are in different signs. Before you decide if you want to be “mean” or “true,” look for people with birth dates that fall in those cracks. They are the ones whose actual biographies hold the answer.
IN REAL LIFE . . .
Below are twenty examples of such “in between” people (plus one cat.) My technique for finding them was simple. I performed a Google search on a phrase such as, list famous people born between July 31, 1995 and August 10, 1995. I then noted the ones who were either famous enough that I had heard of them or who had done something notable enough that it would be meaningful to anyone who read a few words about it.
I used all of them in the list below. There was no “cherry-picking” to try to shore up any theories.
In what follows, I have kept everything very “bare bones” astrologically. In most cases, I am only looking at the sign of the south node, nothing else. A full nodal analysis would involve houses, aspects, and ruling planets, and would undoubtedly be far more revealing. By sticking strictly to the sign, we are miles short of “full power” evolutionary astrology. Still, signs are powerful. We can count on them to leave obvious fingerprints on the shape of anyone’s life – something that you can judge for yourself as you read through these names.
Cards on the table: as I’ve said, I am partisan to the Mean node – but I’d be the first to admit that in a few of the examples that follow it is possible to make a stronger case for the True node. My suggestion is only that you read through the entire list with an open mind and feel which way the wind is blowing for you.
By the way, in all that follows when I refer to “the node,” I mean the Moon’s south node. That’s the one whose fingerprints would leave an obvious mark on the person’s life. The north node plays a different role entirely.
EXAMPLES
John Belushi, born January 25, 1949. Comedian and founding cast member of Saturday Night Live. His Mean south node lies in Scorpio while his True node is in Libra. His comedy explored edgy Scorpionic territory – any astrologer who’s seen his portrayal of a demented Samurai warrior is not likely to detect any Libran undercurrents in it. He lived with enormous intensity and died of drug overdose in his early thirties. Sounds more like Scorpio than Libra to me! (Note: some online sources give his birthdate as January 24. That’s apparently a clerical error made by the attending physician. See astro.com for details.)
Harvey Weinstein, born March 19, 1952. Disgraced Hollywood film producer, sex criminal, and founder of Miramax. His Mean (south) node is in Leo, while his True node is in Virgo. To me, his biography and his crimes sound like the dark side of Leo. His chart in AstroDataBank only has a Rodden Rating of C. It’s based on “an L.A. astrologer saying he’d done a consultation with Weinstein and his Ascendant is 13 Scorpio.” If that’s true and we take his south node to be in Leo, the Sun rules it from the sometimes-debauched 5th house – to me, that’s another vote for the Leo Mean node.
Barbara Kingsolver, born April 8, 1955. Bestselling novelist. At first this seems like a no-brainer. Her True node is in Gemini and her Mean node is in Cancer. She is an author, so one might immediately think that the Gemini south node is correct – but here’s a quote from her that I found in the September 28, 2026 issue of The New Yorker: “I’m as extreme an introvert as they come . . . When I was a kid and we’d play that game of wishing for our superpowers, the one I always wished for was invisibility. And I still wish for invisibility.” She lives in an isolated valley in the North Carolina mountains and leaves only when necessary. Does that sound like the influence of Cancer or Gemini to you?
Carrie Fisher, born October 21, 1956. She’s the actor who portrayed Princess Leia in Star Wars, as well as being a successful author and screenwriter. Is her south node in Gemini (Mean) or Taurus (True)? In my mind, the Mean south node in Gemini is the more obvious fit given her orientation to language, not to mention her quick, elfin vibes.
Martina Navratilova, born October 18, 1956. She is one of the greatest tennis players of all time with eighteen Grand Slam singles titles. Again, as with Carrie Fisher, the question is whether the south node is in Gemini or Taurus. In my mind, the Mean south node in Gemini is the more obvious fit. Talk about quick reflexes!
Prince, born June 7, 1958. The intense musician and band leader who pioneered the "Minneapolis sound." South node in Aries or Taurus? I’d vote for the (Mean) Aries south node because the sheer passion, energy, and unabashed sexuality that radiated from him pulls me in that Mars-ruled direction. To me, that interpretation rings especially true in the light of his long-running battle with his record company – the discord that led to him being known as “The artist formerly known as . . .” On the other hand, Taurus can be musical, so with Prince one could also make a case for the True node. Note: The planet that rules the sign of the Moon’s south node is equally useful as an indicator of anyone’s karmic pattern. If Prince does in fact have an Aries south node, the ruler is Mars – which lies in fiery Aries and conjunct the cusp of his 5th house (performance and creativity). To me, that clinches it.
Boy George, born June 14, 1961 – Another musician, but in this case one whose affect is very different from that of Prince. Boy George is a colorful, shape-shifting English singer-songwriter, a fashion icon, and the lead vocalist of the 1980s pop band Culture Club. I like the Mean south node in mutable, theatrical Pisces for him. I’d admit that one could make a case for Aquarius too, which was the sign of the True node at his birth. He is zany enough! What do you think?
Joan Higginbotham, born August 3, 1964 – An accomplished American engineer and former NASA astronaut who became the third African-American woman to travel into space. “Travelling into space” – how do you like a Mean south node in Sagittarius? “To boldly go where no one has gone before?” Her True south node lies in Capricorn and one could also make a case for it based on her engineering credentials. Which feels right to you?
Melinda French Gates, born August 15, 1964 – Philanthropist, advocate for women and girls, and co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. I’d give her a Mean south node in Sagittarius for that big-hearted, visionary generosity. A True south node in Capricorn? With her business acumen, one could make that argument too. In 2019, she published her first book, The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World. In 2025, she published her memoir: The Next Day: Transition, Change, and Moving Forward. Don’t those two titles have a Sagittarian ring? She is also a practicing Catholic – another reason that I “lean Sagittarius,” but you might see it differently.
(Note: If we had an accurate chart for Melinda French Gates, we could compare the house positions of Jupiter and Saturn, the planetary rulers of those two possible south nodes, and perhaps come to a more confident conclusion.)
Xie Jun, born October 30, 1970 – Chinese chess grandmaster who made history by becoming the Women's World Chess Champion, reigning from 1991 to 1996 and again from 1999 to 2001.
Mean south node in Leo for the experience of “world championship” – and the drive to get there twice?
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, born May 2, 1972. Trash-talking, iconic professional wrestler turned Hollywood star – already that profile sounds like a (Mean) south node in Leo to me. Could his big, colorful mouth correspond to a Cancer True node? That seems doubtful. Here’s some more evidence for that Leo Mean node: in 2021, he told USA TODAY that he was interested in possibly running for president “if that's what the people wanted." Does that sound like Leo or Cancer? Here’s another clue: he is actually descended from a line of Samoan chiefs!
50 Cent (Curtis Jackson), born July 6, 1975. Multi-platinum rapper, television producer, and entrepreneur. Try a Mean south node in Taurus as you think of the title of his massive debut album, Get Rich or Die Tryin'. Taurus and music also have a strong connection. He’s a rapper though – I’d be the first to admit that with 50 Cent you could make a strong case for a Gemini south node – and that’s a possible vote for the True node.
Ben Sheets, born July 18, 1978. A former Major League Baseball pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers and an Olympic gold medalist. An Aries Mean south node rather than a Pisces True node, anyone? How fiercely competitive do you have to be to win an Olympic Gold medal?
Here’s a pair of people who climbed spectacularly to the top of their respective fields via their relentless “eye-on-the-prize” focus. Tellingly, each one has the Mean south node in Capricorn.
Beyonce, born September 4, 1981. As everyone knows, she is an uber-successful recording artist and performer.
The second one is Brian Chesky, born August 29, 1981. He’s a billionaire businessman – and the CEO of Airbnb.
Prince Harry, born September 15, 1984. To my mind, his hunger to escape the oppressive regimentation of royal family life and his willingness to cross cultural boundaries both geographically and in marriage points convincingly to his Mean south node in Sagittarius rather than to a True one in Scorpio. I like Jupiter (the “King of the Gods”) as his south node ruler too.
Selena Gomez, born July 22, 1992. She’s a massive pop star, an Emmy-nominated actress (Only Murders in the Building), and an entrepreneur. That kind of multi-tasking skill, media focus, and language orientation to me strongly suggests her Mean south node in Gemini rather than Cancer (True).
Kyle Larson, born July 31, 1992. He’s a successful race car driver and the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Champion. Reflexes such as his are consistent with his Mean south node in Gemini. Coming out of a turn at 241 miles per hour? To me, someone with a south node in Cancer would likely be more cautious. Does hitting dangerous speeds like that sound like Cancer or Gemini to you?
Amelia Dimoldenberg, born January 30, 1994. She is an English internet personality best known as the creator and host of the viral web series Chicken Shop Date in which she interviews various celebrities in the guise of a first date in the distinctly unromantic setting of a British fast-food joint. Reflecting her Mean south node, I can’t help but think of the standard joke about Taurus, “I wonder if I could eat that?” I would also point to the “earthy, down home” vibe of a chicken shop. Still, her True south node lies in Gemini and one could make a case for that node too – after all, she’s made her mark in the world via conversation.
Benny the Cat, born May 9, 2020. Michelle and I found our cat in a shelter. These are the only facts we know about his origins. He had been placed in the shelter at the extremely tender age of two weeks, with no sign of his mother. Obviously there is a sad story there regarding his earliest days. His Mean south node lies in Saturn-ruled Capricorn while his True node is in Jupiter-ruled Sagittarius. Both Jupiter and Saturn are in his 4th house. Given his hard origins, in Benny’s case, Capricorn seems to be the better fit by far.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
These examples are only brief, impressionistic reviews of a few real people. Which version of the Moon’s south node do they support? Some are admittedly ambivalent – they could go either way. In general, at least to me, the pattern in favor of the Mean node is fairly clear.
One caveat: all of these examples suffer from the “Famous Person Syndrome,” where we take one public dimension of someone’s life and imagine it to be the key to unraveling the mysteries of their soul. That’s obviously dubious – which leads me to my primary suggestion: use the table below to figure out if you have any friends or family members whose birthdays fall in these “cracks” between times when the Mean and True nodes transition into fresh signs. See which sign best fits the “loose ends” of their lives – the reflexive patterns that always pop up and are always connected with unresolved karma and deep-seated habits.
If you do that, please take one more technical step: pay attention to the planet that rules that south node. Look not only to its nature, but also to the sign and house it occupies. If you’re trying to decide if someone you know has a Gemini south node or a Cancer one, a quick look at Mercury versus the Moon might answer your question. Which one seems to leave the most obvious stamp on their lives?
MEAN VS TRUE NORTH NODE INGRESS DATES: 1949 - 2028
Note: In the previous examples I focussed on the Moon’s south node. In the list of ingress dates that follows, I revert to conventional astrological language and put the north node in the spotlight. Naturally if the north node is entering Aries, the south node is entering Libra.
Also note that I am using the format for dates that’s standard in the United States – 10/8/53 is October 8, 1953, not “10 August 1953” as it would be in Britain or Australia.
One more point: these listings are chronological: if the True node changed signs first, it is listed first, and vice versa.
Happy researching!
True node to Aries 1/24/49
Mean node to Aries 1/27/49
True node to Pisces 7/26/1950
Mean Node to Pisces 8/17/1950
Mean Node to Aquarius 3/5/1952
True node to Aquarius 3/28/1952
Mean Node to Capricorn 9/23/53
True Node to Capricorn 10/8/1953
True Node to Sagittarius 4/2/55
Mean Node to Sagittarius 4/13/55
True Node to Scorpio 10/4/56
Mean Node to Scorpio 10/30/56
Mean Node to Libra 5/20/58
True Node to Libra 6/16/58
Mean Node to Virgo 12/7/59
True Node to Virgo 12/15/59
True Node to Leo 6/10/61
Mean Node to Leo 6/26/61
True Node to Cancer 12/22/62
Mean Node to Cancer 1/13/63
Mean Node to Gemini 8/2/64
True Node to Gemini 8/25/64
True Node to Taurus 2/19/66
Mean Node to Taurus 2/19/66
True Node to Aries 8/19/67
Mean Node to Aries 9/9/67
Mean Node to Pisces 3/28/1969
True Node to Pisces 4/18/69
Mean Node to Aquarius 10/16/70
True Node to Aquarius 11/2/70
True Node to Capricorn 4/27/72
Mean Node to Capricorn 5/4/72
True Node to Sagittarius 10/26/73
Mean Node to Sagittarius 11/22/1973
Mean Node to Scorpio 6/11/75
True Node to Scorpio 7/10/75
Mean Node to Libra 12/29/76
True Node to Libra 1/7/77
True Node to Virgo 7/5/78
Mean Node to Virgo 7/19/78
True Node to Leo on 1/4/1980
Mean Node to Leo on 2/5/1980
Mean Node to Cancer 8/25/81
True Node to Cancer 9/19/81
Mean Node to Gemini 3/14/83
True Node to Gemini 3/15/83
True Node to Taurus 9/11/84
Mean Node to Taurus 10/1/84
Mean Node to Aries 4/20/86
True Node to Aries 4/21/86
Mean Node to Pisces 11/8/87
True Node to Pisces 12/1/87
True Node to Aquarius 5/22/89
Mean Node to Aquarius 5/27/89
True Node to Capricorn 11/18/90
Mean Node to Capricorn 12/15/90
Mean Node to Sagittarius 7/3/92
True Node to Sagittarius 8/1/92
Mean Node to Scorpio 1/21/94
True Node to Scorpio 2/1/94
True Node to Libra 7/31/95
Mean Node to Libra 8/10/95
True Node to Virgo 1/24/97
Mean Node to Virgo 2/27/97
Mean Node to Leo 9/16/98
True Node to Leo 10/19/98
Mean Node to Cancer 4/5/2000
True Node to Cancer 4/9/2000
True Node to Gemini 10/12/2001
Mean Node to Gemini 10/23/2001
True Node Taurus 4/13/2003
Mean Node to Taurus 5/13/2003
Mean Node to Aries 11/30/04
True Node to Aries 12/25/2004
Mean Node to Pisces 6/19/2006
True Node to Pisces 6/22/2006
True Node to Aquarius 12/19/2007
Mean Node to Aquarius 1/7/2008
Mean Node to Capricorn 7/26/2009
True Node to Capricorn 8/21/09
Mean Node to Sagittarius 2/13/2011
True Node to Sagittarius 3/2/2011
True Node to Scorpio 8/29/2012
Mean Node to Scorpio 9/1/2012
True Node to Libra 2/22/2014
Mean Node to Libra 3/22/2014
True Node to Virgo 11/11/2015
Mean Node to Virgo 10/9/2015
Mean Node to Leo 4/28/2017
True Node to Leo 5/9/2017
True Node to Cancer 11/6/2018
Mean Node to Cancer 11/15/2018
True Node to Gemini 5/4/2020
Mean Node to Gemini 6/4/2020
Mean Node to Taurus 12/22/2021
True Node to Taurus 1/18/2022
True Node to Aries 7/17/2023
Mean Node to Aries 7/12/2023
True Node to Pisces 1/11/2025
Mean Node to Pisces 1/28/2025
True Node to Aquarius 7/6/2026
Mean Node to Aquarius 8/18/2026
Mean Node to Capricorn 3/6/2028
True Node to Capricorn 3/26/2028