The words a chart uses
What is the North Node in astrology?
The North Node is the point where the Moon's path crosses the Sun's path going north; the tradition associates it with a direction of growth, and the South Node opposite with familiar ground.
The Moon's orbit is tilted against the plane the Sun appears to travel in. The two paths cross at two points, the lunar nodes: the North Node where the Moon crosses heading north, and the South Node exactly opposite. They are points, not bodies, and they drift backward through the zodiac, completing a circuit in about 18.6 years.
What the tradition reads in them
The North Node is traditionally associated with a direction of growth: a theme that may feel unfamiliar and worth moving toward. The South Node is associated with familiar ground: skills and habits that come easily, which can be a resource or a comfortable place to stay.
Read this way, the nodes are an axis rather than a verdict. Neither end is better. The question they offer is how you might draw on what is familiar while trying what is new.
In Becoming Choice
The chart shows the true North Node and the South Node, and a transit to the North Node is named as its whole axis, so you can see both ends at once.