Questions about past lives, the soul’s mission (or what a soul wants to accomplish this time around) and karma are always popular questions that I get regularly. Specifically, I tend to get asked about past life issues and karma that are needed to be dealt with in this lifetime, and how these issues might manifest in the current incarnation. There are different places to look in your natal chart (or any astrology chart, such as a synastry/composite chart) to to find unresolved karmic and past life elements, and one of the first place I look (after looking at the North & South Nodes and Pluto and its Polarity Point) is at any planets that may be making a square aspect with the North & South Nodes. If you have any planetary/celestial bodies squaring the Nodes, this is known as a “Skipped Step.” A Skipped Step is a planet(s), etc. that deal with unresolved issues that you have carried over from a previous lifetime (or lifetimes) into this lifetime. This may have been an issue (or issues) that you chose to willfully ignore in the past, or something that you didn’t recognize as an issue, or even something you just didn’t have the time in other incarnations to completely work out. Basically, there could be a whole bunch of reasons a planet might come around in this lifetime as a skipped step. You can have multiple planets square the Nodes (such as in the case of a Stellium square the Nodes, or even just planets in conjunction), you can have just one planet square the Nodes, and you can also have planets in opposition to one another that both square the nodal axis (in the case of the Grand Cross). Just to illustrate what Skipped Steps look like in a natal chart, here is an example:

Now, you may be looking at a chart that looks like my own, or you may be looking at one that doesn’t have the Grand Cross formation (but instead just one planet square the Nodes). I would keep the orbs tighter here with planets and other major celestial bodies square the Nodes. Generally speaking, that will be 5° applying or separating between the planet, etc. and the nodal axis. I say generally speaking because there are some cases where I would extend the orb when a planet squares the nodes. Any planet that doesn’t actually square the Node but conjuncts a planet that squares the Node will color the Skipped Step with that planets energy, thus ending up being square it to by proxy. An example of this is Saturn in my own chart above. It would technically be out of orb for me to consider it a Skipped Step on it’s own, but since it is in conjunction with Uranus and Venus, by proxy it becomes part of the Skipped Step theme. Depending on the planets and celestial bodies involved in the Skipped Step, you will be able to get an idea of what exactly was missed or not understood or integrated in your past life, and what you are really supposed to learn and understand in this life. The more planets involved in the this formation, the more possible it seems that these issues have been going on for many lifetimes. Even if they haven’t been going on for many lifetimes, in some lifetime tied to this one these planets (and what they want to express) have been avoided in some way, compounding and gaining interest. Because these are in a square formation, there is naturally tension that the native is probably unable to avoid or ignore in this lifetime. One way to help yourself along this journey is to look at the “Resolution Node,” which is essentially the Node (either the North or the South Node) that was last in conjunction with the planet (or planets) in the square formation. To do this turn the North Node/South Node Axis counter-clockwise in your mind to see what planet(s) in the square formation were last in conjunction with what Node. By doing this, you can get a better idea as to how you can resolve these Skipped Step(s) issues. To take an example from my own chart, I need to work through my Uranus, Venus (and Saturn) shit and I have to go back to the South Node to work through these issues (since the South Node was the last Node in conjunction with these planets). Since Chiron was last in conjunction with my North Node, I would be working through the Chiron Skipped Step with the North Node. Actually, in the case of a Grand Cross, usually you are working through both steps somehow simultaneously (and are cosmically forced too), just through the different Nodal energies.

You can also apply this same concept to synastry charts. If you have a Skipped Step (or Skipped Steps) in your own natal chart, look to see if your synastry partner has a planet/celestial body that conjuncts (specifically the conjunction aspect here) your skipped step(s). If this happens to be the case, this person is generally tied into your Skipped Step issue from a past life (perhaps they were actually IN your previous lifetime, or perhaps they are supposed to help you work through it in this lifetime, among other possibilities). The energy and way they are tied in depends on the planet of theirs that is in conjunction with your Skipped Step. There could be very strong feelings between the two of you (that you bring out in one another), but those feelings may or may not always “feel” good. How this actually manifests in real life depends on what the rest of the synastry looks like. The planet/celestial body person might force (even unconsciously) the skipped step person to acknowledge that skipped step planetary energy (and harness it).

More on all of this later 🙂 If you have any questions or comments, let’s talk! And if you would like for me to read your astrology chart (any kind of astrology chart) you can do that here. Also, for those of you who are watchers and not readers I have a whole bunch of videos on this subject on Saturn Season Astrology YouTube channel (just type Skipped Steps in the search on the channel and a bunch of stuff should come up).