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Ketu in Astrology
Ketu means a flag. It has the power to boost up the effects
of strong planets with which it is conjoined. A
planet in its own sign or exalted conjoined with
Ketu gains considerable power. Venus in the
second house in Libra conjoined with Ketu, for
example, will give wealth or talent. With Mars
in Scorpio in the third, Ketu can give great
military prowess. Rahu can also function in this
way but to a lesser degree.
A strong Rahu gives worldly powers and success, the
fulfillment outwardly of worldly desires, but
not usually inner fulfillment. It can give rise
to such worldly desires that can never be
fulfilled, however successful the individual may
be--an outer good luck combined with an inner
unrest. Ketu gives sudden and unexpected results
for good or ill, depending upon its placement.
Well-placed it makes the individual strong but
not necessarily sensitive to others.
The lunar nodes like Saturn can increase base values in life,
giving more selfishness, even though providing
outer success. Hence they can get us trapped in
the realm of the senses and in the abnormal or
unnatural use of the body. In the spiritual
realm Rahu can give psychic powers, mediumship
capacity, but also danger from drugs, danger of
possession and danger from black magic. Ketu
gives perception, liberation, wisdom, psychic
sensitivity in a more genuine way but can give a
too limiting critical view of things that gets
us stuck in some corner of our minds. Yet as the
two nodes are always opposite each other,
usually when one is strong or weak, so is the
other.
Apart from the seven planets, Vedic astrology
gives consideration to certain significant
points of planetary relationship as minor or
secondary planets. The two most important of
these are the nodes of the Moon. The north node
is called "Rahu" or the Dragon's Head; the south
node is called "Ketu" or the Dragon's Tail. We
will refer to these two nodes throughout the
book as Rahu and Ketu, as it is a simpler
nomenclature.
These two nodes are considered to be secondary
or shadowy planets. Astronomically, they
represent the points at which the Moon's orbit
crosses the ecliptic, the celestial equator.
These are the places at which the Moon crosses
the point of the Sun's orbit, at which eclipses
can occur. The lunar nodes show the times when
the solar and lunar forces obstruct each other
or cancel each other out. They show the
potential for short-circuiting, as it were, our
solar or lunar energies.
They are thus very sensitive points that can
repercussions in the total field of planetary
forces. Rahu, the north or ascending node is the
point at which the Moon crosses the ecliptic to
the north. Ketu, the south or descending node is
where it crosses it to the south. The influence
of the north node is thus ascending, expanding,
externalizing but of what is largely a negative
force. The south node is descending, contracting
and internalizing. Hence in the Vedic system the
south node is less negative than the north.
Eclipses of the Sun and Moon can occur in
proximity to either of the nodes. The nodes were
regarded mythologically as the demon which
swallows the luminary and causes the eclipse.
As such, they have the power to overcome the Sun
and the Moon, and in this sense can be stronger
than any of the planets. In Vedic astrology,
therefore, the conjunction of any planet with
either of the lunar nodes is regarded as a kind
of eclipse of that planet, wherein its energy is
in some way obstructed, negated or liberated.
While it is the practice of many modern
astrologers today to overlook or consider
lightly the lunar nodes, Vedic astrology regards
them as among the most important factors in
chart interpretation. They possess the power not
only to negate planetary influences, but as the
eclipses are points of energy transformation,
they have additional special properties to
transfer or to augment planetary influences, for
good or ill. |
