This masterclass is part of a series on the topic Personal Branding by Design. Each week I will explore a different chart element and share strategies as well as experiments to help you align your reputation with the most authentic version of YOU. In this masterclass, I’m going to introduce you to the Nodes. You’ll discover their significance and learn how to craft a compelling personal narrative based on the gates associated with your personality North and South Nodes.
After watching this masterclass, I encourage you to experiment with the exercise below.
Craft your personal brand story based on your Nodes
First things first. Grab a journal or open a fresh document on your laptop.
If possible, try to dedicate (at least) 20-30 minutes to this exercise initially, to allow yourself to respond to the questions in uninterrupted stream of consciousness. Once you complete a first pass at the journaling prompts, you can continue to review and refine them. You may even benefit from having a conversation with a loved one to get their perspective. My point is, don’t’ try to edit or overthink it. Whatever you write down in your initial journaling session will likely not be the final version of your story that’s posted on a website or Instagram carousel.
As part of this exercise, you will be asked to familiarize yourself with the gates associated with your personality North and South Node. You can find the gates listed in the column to the right of the bodygraph in your chart. Locate the number before the decimal point next to the following two icons:
My go-to resources for any research on individual gates are my Ultimate Gates Guide ($59) and
’s free Gates Library.Let’s dive in!
1. Your South Node: Where You Started
Your South Node represents your past. The gate associated with your South Node represents what comes most naturally to you. This gift will feel familiar — like a skill you mastered in another life time. You will often already consider it an important part of your identity and how you see yourself.
To start your story, spend some time familiarizing yourself with your South Node gate using the suggested resources or ChatGPT.
Then respond to the following journal prompt:
How do you see your South Node gate reflected in who you were as a child? Did this particular gift come easily to you? How has it served you? How did it shape your experience, point of view, and identity in childhood and beyond?
2. Your Turning Point
This is the moment things started to shift. It’s often the first time — or at least the most notable time — you experience a reorientation of your world view and how you perceive yourself.
It can be a specific event, or a slower transformation. But there’s a clear “who I was before _____” and “who I was after _____”. In hindsight, you may see how it was an invitation to expand or grow into your North Node.
To help you identify your turning point, reflect on the following prompt:
Looking back, what have been some of the greatest pivots, turning points, or AHAS in your life? What changed and how did it influence the way you saw the world and/or yourself? What events or circumstances resulted in the most discomfort, growth, or expansion for you?
There might be multiple for right now and that’s ok. Once you explore your North Node, you can come back to determine which turning point to feature in your story.
3. Your North Node: Where You’re Going
Your North Node represents your future. It’s who you are here to become and grow into — the skills you’re here to develop over time. Typically, the gate associated with your North Node will feel a little uncomfortable. It’s not as “innate” as your South Node. Instead, it’s what your soul is hear to expand and stretch into.
If you’re reading this, it means you’re still in the midst of your story. However, even if you don’t know exactly how your story ends, you’ve most likely started getting glimpses of who you’re here to become. You will inevitably have felt the whispered invitation from your North Node to get out of your comfort zone.
Spend some time familiarizing yourself with your North Node gate using the resources suggested and reflect on the following journal prompt:
Do you recognize your North Node gate in how you show up in the world today? What are specific examples of ways you may be embodying this particular gate and how might you lean into it even more? What are you learning about yourself and/or life itself from embodying this gate? How are you able to better serve your audience because of your growth and learning in this area?
Bring it all together.
Once you’ve responded to these journaling prompts, reflect on what you wrote and try to summarize it into a compelling narrative — with a beginning, a middle, and an end. You can even start by vocalizing it out loud — as if you were sharing it with a friend: How do these two gates encapsulate your personal journey in life so far, and how is this relevant for the audience you’re hoping to serve?
Try incorporating this story into your personal brand more intentionally — tell your story as often as you can. Over time, you may continue to tweak it as new reflections or realizations arise, but now you have a narrative to build on.
To support each other in this experiment, I would like to invite you to share any reflections on your personal narrative based on your North and South node in the comment section.
In case you missed my Chart Chat
I had such a fun Chart Chat with
last week. When I first came across Jessica’s Substack, I was instantly enamored by her authentic style, so I knew she’d be the perfect person to chat to about personal branding by design. We covered a lot of ground — from her sacral authority to her personality sun gate 60, and her undefined g-center to her brand voice. Be sure to check out the replay if you weren’t able to join live.Live Q&A This Tuesday
Our monthly live Q&A call will take place this Tuesday, May 27th at 12pm PST. You can submit any and all questions related to personal branding and human design by commenting on the post linked below.
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