Astrology has become more and more common over the past few years, but so have past life regressions, so it’s surprising that there isn’t a lot of accurate info out there about past life astrology.
When I first began studying astrology, I was most interested in the past life part of the natal chart. There are so many pieces of the birth chart that point to past lives!
It’s not actually that difficult to learn about past life astrology. There are a few key points and planets that will explain your past lives to you; all you’ll need to do is figure out the storyline behind the chart.
Can You See Past Life Astrology In The Birth Chart?
In my opinion, you can see at least some past life astrology information in the birth chart. We’ve all had many lives so of course one birth chart can’t show every past life, but I do find that it shows us the most relevant past lives now.
The Idea Of Karma In The Natal Chart
I find that most past life astrology is directly related to karma. Past life planets, signs, and aspects mainly show up because you have karma in this life. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be a reason for these placements to appear in your chart.
It’s especially useful to learn about past life astrology if you’re also interested in learning about your karma and working through it. The only past lives that show up in your birth chart are the ones that are especially impactful to your life now, mainly because you have karma that still affects you from these lives.
Related: Moon Transits: How the Moon Affects You On A Daily Basis
The South Node
The lunar nodes sit directly across from each other in the birth chart and are mathematical points, rather than planets. The nodes are always in exact opposite signs.
Although I love working with both the north node and the south node, I find that the south node is much more important when looking into past life astrology. The north node represents your soul’s purpose and who you are becoming, while the south node represents who you were.
The south node will give you both positive and negative information. It shows the qualities that you bring into this life (from a past life), but it can also give you a lot of clues into who you were in the past life.
First, you’ll want to look at the sign that your south node is in. This will give you some clues into your past life astrology. Even though one sign can mean many different things (e.g. Aries can be a warrior, a self-starter, someone with anger issues, a loner, etc.), the sign gives you a good basis to start learning about a past life.
The Sign:
The sign your south node is in will show how you were in a past life. For example, if your south node is in Aries, you had many Arian qualities such as impatience, anger, impulsivity, etc.
If your south node was in Libra, you may have been passive-aggressive, manipulative, beauty-loving, etc.
Keep in mind that your south node generally indicates the negative qualities that you had in a past life. While you can certainly find the positive qualities in your south node as well, the negative qualities tend to be the ones that stand out.
When you’re looking at your south node, see if you can figure out what kind of person you were and what qualities you had.
The sign your south node is in can also indicate was career or profession you had, although you will
Related: Earth Sign Astrology | Earth Signs vs. Sun Signs In The Birth Chart
The House:
The house where you south node sits will show where your past life took place, however it will help to combine the house and sign together as you get deeper into past life astrology.
For example, if your south node is in the 11th house, you probably had a life surrounded by a lot of people. If you south node is conjunct Venus, you were either really beautiful (such as a model) and therefore lived your life in the limelight, or you had a romantic relationship that made you the center of attention. I image people who are on the bachelor will have this type of south node in their next lifetimes.
The sign will also influence this. If you have that south node in the 11th house placement but your south node is in Aries, then this will mean that your past life happened surrounded by being, but it was because of your Aries nature. Maybe you were a wrestler or a general in the army.
If your south node is instead in Gemini, then you were surrounded by people due to your words and social skills. You might have been a writer, storyteller, or just generally good at socializing.
Put your south node’s house and sign together and ask yourself: what story does this placement tell?
The Aspects:
Lastly, the aspects your south node is in will give you some pointers about what other elements were involved in your past life.
For example, a square to Venus might indicate a problem in your love life, while a trine to Juno would indicate a well-placed marriage in your past life. Juno aspects typically have to do with a past life marriage.
Trines and sextiles are usually positive, while squares and oppositions indicate difficulty. Conjunctions are the strongest aspect, but they aren’t necessarily good or bad. A conjunction means that your past life was deeply impacted by the planet to which it is conjunct.
The 12th House
The 12th house is also very influential in past life astrology. Each of the houses have a specific meaning, and the 12th house rules the unconscious mind and all things hidden. Of course, this also includes past life astrology.
You can have any planet or asteroid (as well as most points) show up in the 12th house.
Planets in the 12th house will give you a clue as to who you were in a past life. Usually, these planets in the 12th house indicate qualities you had in a recent past life, possibly the life just before the one you’re living now.
The reason for this is that karmic memories sit in the 12th house. When you have no need of karmic memories because you have paid off your karma, then these placements will no longer show up in your chart. So, if you do have placements in the 12th house, this means you have not yet paid off your karma yet, therefore the life is rather recent.
I find that 12th house placements in past life astrology are usually a bit difficult. These placements are inside the walls of the 12th house that were created by fear and guilt. In some way, your own negative feelings about these past life events manifested these walls that have “trapped” the planets in your 12th house.
We often struggle with the planets in our 12th house and with properly expressing them. This is usually because in a past life, we did have these qualities, and they have been karmically limited.
Look at the planets (and the signs that they’re in) that appear in your 12th house and see if you can piece together a storyline about who you may have been in a recent past life as well as the karma that you incurred.
Saturn
Similar to the 12th house, Saturn governs past life karma. The difference is that Saturn indicates a lesson we had in a past life that we did not manage to learn completely. Therefore, we must continue to learn that same lesson in this life.
Saturn will show the limitations of our past life. For example, with Saturn in Capricorn, you were limited in a business-sense in a past life. You probably struggled with your bosses or with advancement, or even with social status, all depending on the house.
In this lifetime, you will see those same struggles pop up in some way. It might not be the same, but the lesson will feel the same.
For past life astrology, I especially recommend looking at squares to Saturn. Saturn alone can be hard to read, but Saturn square Venus is much easily and clearly indicates past life love karma.
Squares to Saturn can also indicate what souls you may see from that same past life. Saturn square Venus, as mentioned, means that you’ll enter into karmic relationships with the same people this time, but Saturn square Mars would indicate that you will run into past life enemies.
Jupiter
Jupiter is one of the past life astrology planets that indicate karmic gifts. Jupiter will show you what you have earned through good deeds in past lives.
While I don’t typically spend a ton of time focusing on Jupiter when I’m doing past life astrology readings (mainly because I think it’s more useful to focus on pain points rather than on the benefits that we already reap), it can be fun to see where you naturally excel.
It can also be really helpful to look at Jupiter and figure out what you did well in a past life. This can give you more clues as to who you were and how you acted.
Planets In Retrograde
Many astrologers focus heavily on planets in retrograde when they’re looking at past life astrology. From the perspective of a past life, any planet in retrograde usually means that some events in that past life were so negative that the energy of this planet is suppressed.
Each planet can have a slightly different meaning which makes planet in retrograde pretty complicated.
Past Life Astrology In A Relationship (Synastry)
I particularly love looking at past like astrology in a synastry chart, which is essentially two charts put together to look at the relationship between two people.
Past life astrology is even more complicated when it comes to looking at synastry charts. I’m excited to write a whole post dedicated just to this at some point, but for now I can give some of the basics.
First of all, conjunctions are the strongest aspect in a synastry chart. Firstly, you’ll want to look for conjuncts between the south node, Saturn, and Jupiter (to any other planets) and try to weave a storyline together about your past life together.
Next, you can look at this same planets and observe squares and trines, which are other strong aspects.
I often find that aspects between Saturn and Juno (the asteroid of marriage) or the south node and Juno.
If you’re interested in learning more about this, check out the top 5 past life marriage indicators in the birth chart.
How To Learn More:
As much as I love past life astrology, it doesn’t give all the answers. I find that past life astrology can help you to construct a storyline about a past life, but how do you know if it’s accurate? How do you flesh out the details?
I like to use other means of divination in order to get more details. My favorite method is to use my pendulum because I’m able to ask a variety of yes/no questions or create charts.
Alternatively, you can use other sources of divination (such as Tarot cards, astrology dice, etc.), or you can simply do a past life regression meditation.
If you looking to learn more from a book, I highly recommend this text. You’ll have to get it used but it really is the best out there.
Related: Moon Transits: How the Moon Affects You On A Daily Basis
