A Nondual Understanding

Life is the constant change of forms that consciousness wishes to experience. The seed is destined to sprout out of the soil and blossom into a flower. The child is destined to grow, experience puberty and transition into adulthood. These transformational physical changes are pre-programmed into the unfolding of life.

Modern thinking assumes that such pre-programmed changes are exclusive to the physical realm, ignoring their presence in the psychological. However, nondual understanding reveals that this distinction is illusory.

The human being is designed to experience a psychological transformation in which they integrate a radically different set of archetypal behaviors and attitudes. It could be said that life wishes to experience this transformation and that resistance to this inner calling can bring about a great deal of suffering.

Fortunately, astrology offers a powerful lens for revealing the shape of this inner transformation, helping us recognize where we are resisting the natural flow of life.

Answering the Call

In his book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell describes the first stage of the hero’s journey as the “Call to Adventure”. This is the moment when the hero is invited to step beyond the familiar and enter the unknown—a journey of transformation that holds both challenge and the promise of self-actualization.

In nondual astrology, the Call can be symbolized by the North Node, which represents the polar opposite archetype of one’s conditioned nature—a radical transformation that consciousness seeks to embody through a particular life. It is the cosmic invitation to move beyond conditioned habits and egoic comforts into new territory.

However, Campbell also speaks of the “Refusal of the Call”—the all-too-common resistance to taking such a leap. This is where the ego clings tightly to its sense of control, preferring the security of known patterns over the unpredictability of change. This resistance is the ego’s attempt to preserve its constructed reality, avoiding the dissolution that transformation inherently brings.

The North Node’s path appears as treacherous terrain—beckoning with a whisper of destiny, yet confronting us with everything the ego seeks to avoid: uncertainty, vulnerability, and surrender. And yet, we feel pulled to move in that direction. It is the inescapable call of destiny—and until we dare to answer, we remain ensnared in a life that drains us, haunted by the quiet ache of unlived purpose.

The great irony is that, despite its challenges, aligning with the North Node may be our deepest longing—a pure expression of who we truly are and one of the most potent sources of fulfillment available to us in this lifetime.

The Courage to Leap

While astrology may reveal the direction of our transformation, it cannot walk the path for us. The North Node journey requires more than intellectual comprehension—it demands embodiment. One does not think their way into destiny. One must live it.

This is where most seekers falter. They may glimpse the vision, speak of alignment, even admire the qualities the North Node represents. But when the moment arrives to leave behind the safety of the South Node—the inherited identity, the roles they’ve mastered, the familiar ways they’ve learned to feel secure—a paralyzing fear takes hold.

And rightfully so.

The North Node asks us to die to who we’ve been, without any assurance of who we will become. This death is not simply metaphorical; it is the ego’s undoing. As Campbell writes, “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” That cave is the very space where the North Node leads us.

But no true hero walks into that cave alone.

Just as Arjuna stood paralyzed on the battlefield, overwhelmed by fear and doubt with the task of fighting his own kin, he was not left to face that moment alone—Krishna stood beside him, offering divine wisdom to pierce through the fog of ego. In nearly every mythological journey, the hero receives guidance from a mentor, sage, or otherworldly figure—someone who has glimpsed the truth beyond fear, and reminds the hero of who they truly are.

In the same way, the journey toward the North Node often requires the presence of such wisdom—whether in the form of a teacher, a sacred text, a synchronistic moment, or a voice within. Before the leap can be taken, the ego must often be seen through. Until that clarity dawns, we remain in a state of inner tension: a mounting desire to leap, held captive by fear.

We know something must change. We feel the call growing louder. But we cannot move until something deeper within us shifts—until we receive the right insight, or the mirror that shows us what we truly are beyond the mask.

This is why the North Node path cannot be reduced to a checklist of traits to cultivate. It is not self-improvement—it is self-transcendence.

Answering the Call takes courage because it often feels like leaping without a net. But there is a net—it just isn’t visible from the vantage point of the illusory ego. It becomes evident only as one walks the path, not before. This is why wisdom, support, and spiritual clarity are so essential. The North Node cannot be fully navigated through willpower alone; it calls for surrender, intuition, and often, sacred companionship.

The ego will resist. It will rationalize and delay. But suffering has a way of cornering us until there is no choice but to leap. And in that leap, something essential is revealed: the self we feared to lose never truly existed. It was just a mental fiction.

The real discovery is that there is no new identity waiting on the other side—only a quieter mind, a lighter heart, and a deeper intimacy with the flow of life. The leap doesn’t make us someone new. It returns us to what has always been here: presence itself, unburdened by the illusions of control, fear, and separation.