Ketu - Kethu
Sikhi
Shri Shri Ganapati
Ganesha, Ganesh, Vighnesha, Vighneśvara, Vināyaka; Pille, Pillaiyar
Cauda Draconis - The Dragon's Tail
"Distancing, disenchantment, dilemmas, and doubt"
BENEFIC EFFECTS
of being separated from Head/Ego
MALEFIC EFFECTS
of being cut off & abandoned
Humility, Detachment
Humiliation, Disconnection
Physical:
fasting
austerities
wandering, pilgrimage (esp. yuti Guru)
high-permission sexuality / low barriers (esp. yuti Shukra)
a strong Ketu is beneficial for the Practice of Medicine
Psycho-emotional:
easy detachment from ego
psychic intuition, subtle sensitivities
strengthens "tolerance for ambiguity", a hallmark of moral maturity
authentic humility
increased awareness of subconscious projection
Mental:
fantasy, creative artistic imagination
lucid dreaming
trance, channeling, telepathy
access to psychic arts
universalist viewpoint
Healthy skepticism of mental delusions
Social:
unworldliness
disregards boundaries of class & caste
lacking bigotry, egalitarian
natural acceptance of all beings
spiritualistic nature
wealth
Spiritual:
"moksha-karaka"
surrender, liberation, moksha
disengagement
protection by divine forces
"supernatural powers" (which are really natural human powers liberated when chaotic desires recede)
devotion to Shri Ganesha
meditation & conscious awareness
Pain of Loss: Ketu is cruel - but a Relief
Attraction and Repulsion: effects at higher or lower consciousness levels
Physical:
chronic fatigue, exhaustion
restlessness, wandering
inertia
weight loss,
eating disorders, malnourishment, starvation
mysterious & un-diagnosed illnesses (esp. yuti L-6)
substance addictions (esp. yuti L-12 or Shukra)
severing or loss of lower body parts
self-abuse, inc."cutting" (esp, yuti Kuja)
self-destructive austerities (esp. yuti Shani)
enforced isolation or banishment.
Psycho-emotional:
unrequited love, distant crush
hero worship, idealization of Other
denial
reliving past diappointments
fear of abandonment/being cut off
obsession with loss & separation
frustration
chronic disconnectedness
despair
chronic ennui
Mental:
mental tension
victim mentality
outsider mentality
confusion, spacey-ness, permeable boundaries
apathy; "I give up"
self-destructive fantasies & beliefs
self-doubt
mental denial of negative emotions
mental stuck-ness, stagnation, paralysis
fuzzy imagination; unclear thoughts
escapism
obsession with events in the past
fanaticism, paranoid suspicion & distrust
dis-integration/dis-solution of social ego
Social:
passive-aggressive socializing style
"hiding", lurking, social invisibility
non-presence, non-participation in a job or relationship
lose-lose situations: damned if you do, damned if you don't
unable to leave a difficult or draining relationship
carelessness, apathy
replays the ' loss' theme
self-pity
outsider looking in
blaming others for problems
loss of rank or social identity
"professional victim"
refusal to accept responsibilities (esp. when yuti Shani or yuti Surya)
conflict deflection onto others; (esp. yuti Kuja)
manipulative social behavior
vague or indirect communications (esp. yuti Budha)
repressed, periodically explosive anger (yuti Kuja)
abandonment
uncooperativeness
outlandish, weird, difficult to interpret, unearthly
feeling 'shut out', 'out of the loop', ignored, trivialized, marginalized, or disregarded
History & Culture of Ketu:
Ketu drishti, lordship, maturity:
Ketu in the Personality:
Ketu Vimshottari Dasha:
Gochara Ketu (transits):
- bright appearance, clearness, brightness (often plural, " rays of light ")
- lamp, flame, torch
- day-time
- apparition, form, shape
- sign , mark , ensign , flag , banner
- a chief, leader, eminent person
- intellect, judgment, discernment
- any unusual or striking phenomenon , comet , meteor , falling star
- the dragon's tail or descending node, in mythol. as the body of the demon Sainhikeya [son of Sinhika] -- which was severed from the head of Rahu by Vishnu at the churning of the ocean -- but was rendered immortal by having tasted the Amrita
- "a pigmy race"
- disease
- an enemy
- a son of Agni
- " red apparitions "
- a class of spirits (a kind of sacrificial fire is called after them)
a flock , troop , multitude , number , tribe , series , class (of animate or inanimate beings). body of followers or attendants
troops or classes of inferior deities (especially certain troops of demi-gods considered as Siva's attendants and under the special superintendence of the god Ganesha
Name of Ganesha
a company , any assemblage or association of men formed for the attainment of the same aims
the 9 assemblies of Rishis under the Arhat Maha-vira Jain
a sect in philosophy or religion
a small body of troops (= 3 Gulmas or 27 chariots and as many elephants , 81 horses , and 135 foot)
a series or group of asterisms or lunar mansions classed under three heads (that of the gods , that of the men , and that of the Rakshasas)
(in arithmetic.) a number
(in metre) a foot or four instants
(in grammar) a series of roots or words following the same rule and called after the first word of the series
the g or the whole series of roots of the 2nd class
the g or the series of words commencing with garga
OM Ekadantaya Vidmahe Vakkratundaya Dheemahi,
Tanno Danti Prachodayat
The trick is to have positive intention during the dream.
-- Chagdud Rinpoche"
Angels and ministers of grace defend us.
Be thou a spirit of health, or goblin damned,
Bring with thee airs from heaven, or blasts from hell,
Be thy intents wicked, or charitable,
Thou com'st in such a questionable shape,
That I will speak to thee.
-- William Shakespeare, [Hamlet]
Rahu has the influence of Jupiter conjunction Venus. It gives intense appreciation and respect for the area by house where Rahu is located or transiting. There is popularity in this place with optimism and cheerfulness. This is a lucky place.
.... Ketu has the influence of a Mars conjunct Saturn. In Ketu, too much of the Saturn accent can produce fear and hold the Mars action back. This can give poor timing. Mars represents energy and Saturn, a cycle of time. With the Combination, we need to take stock of the issues involved, and do something about them.
There is an ambition for power where Ketu is located by house. The trick is to use the energy of Mars in the right amount by the disciplining of Saturn in an area of selfless service rather than over-possessiveness.
~~ Manik Chand Jain, Rahu & Ketu in Predictive Astrology, page 82
Ketu can have a strong influence on things in this way:
It sometimes renders the mind unbalanced, disturbing social relationships & makes personal life difficult.
Ketu makes itself felt in the psychology of an individual rather than on the material conditions of life.
...Ketu is a planet greatly involved in the spiritualization process
...Ketu is our critical faculty, seeking self-knowledge & self-importance, in exchange for which it receives humiliation in the short run, followed by enduring recognition & respectability.
- Das, Goravani Jyotish
Attraction & Repulsion: effects at higher or lower consciousness levels
In the Jyotisha charts, Rahu-Ketu reflect our cycles of attraction and repulsion:
Ketu periods, and Ketu transits to Vimshottari timelords, will place the native in a sustained period of repulsion.
During Ketu periods, the native is either unwilling or unable to connect with the object of one’s desire.
Depending on the level of consciousness, the Ketu period (including Ketu transits to significant lagnas) can provide beneficial, mixed, or malefic effects.
The spiritual, mental, social, emotional, and physical effects of Ketu can be considered at three levels of psychic development:
At the higher levels of awareness, Ketu can:
- aid concentration & meditation
- create authentic, fully transformative sacrifice
- support pure tantrik practices
- establish complete non-reactive neutrality
- invoke a conscious state of surrender – one’s only felt desire is the desire for deeper surrender
- provide sincere & willing detachment from objects of desire
- induce a state of passive, non-interfering and non-invested acceptance of reality
- reduce “interference patterns” in perception
- increase the size, scope & clarity of the field of consciousness by eliminating desire-driven distractions
- strengthen clairvoyant and clairaudient capabilities (again, reaping benefits of reduced interference)
Benefits:
- If Ketu is well-situated, Ketu periods may bring all the benefits associated with the Ketu-occupied bhava. For example, Ketu in dhanasthana may bring extraordinary wealth – but the native will not be particularly attached to it!
- Ketu periods with their conscious rootlessness are very auspicious for guided austerity practices, withdrawal from non-spiritual relationships, sanctuary retreats, temple pilgrimage, sacred journey
At medium levels of awareness, Ketu tends toward a mix of bitter disappointment & continuous yearning for connection:.
- Denial of ego nutrient,
- mental tension, caught in moral dilemmas and lose-lose options
- lack of praise, denied promotions, loss of status
- personal and professional setbacks due to failed expectations
- Emotional withholding behaviors by Self and projected upon others
- Frustration and blaming one’s shortcomings upon Other
- Unconscious projection of childhood abandonment fears into adult relationships
- Bitter disappointments
- Deep yearning for apparently unachievable goals, partners, and experiences
- Contemptuous rejection of Other, cycling back to frustrated union, and rejection again
- Unconscious or barely conscious projection of negative fantasies upon others
Benefits:
- Ketu periods are exceptionally auspicious for personal psychotherapy, but may not yield much progress in relationship counseling. A focus on “abandonment” and “separation” issues will be fruitful.
- If Ketu is well-positioned and the native knows their true capabilities, there can be professional and personal advancement through careful management of power vacuums & unusual circumstances. Key to success is neutral humility paired with sensitive awareness of other's desires.
- (Not self-effacing or other false humility, but true neutrality and authentic skillful ability to serve other's interests, such as to help an organization reach its goals.)
At lower levels of awareness, Ketu tends toward its more malefic state:
- Terror of abandonment
- urgent but thwarted survival need to achieve union with the object of desire, leading to stalking, anxiety-driven predatory behaviors, etc
- Rejection of reality
- Disregard for social and psychic boundaries
- Fantasy-driven behaviors, falsifying credentials, posing and posturing, obsession with distant celebrity figures, claiming that fantasy relationships are real, other confusions of the reality-imagination boundary
- Native is exceptionally absorptive; other people’s negative projections easily find him, and stick to him
- Deep neediness, relies on others to provide his/her identity
- Inability to accept personal responsibility
- Victim state
- Feels that homelessness, rootlessness, acts of desperation are the result of having been abandoned by those s/he once trusted
- Asks for shelter from government, community, or family – but rejects services, fears & distrusts connection, needs to wander
- Trapped in Ego reaction of toxic anxiety
Divorce as a lower-level reactive fear bondage:
- Ketu is a karaka for divorce of the “I-give-up” type.
- However, true to the myth of Rahu-Ketu, divorce under Ketu means that the natives may physically separate from each other but they remain psychically connected in a perpetual cycle of victimization, blaming & distrust.
The brutal act of separation, abandonment, and rejection is described vividly in the myth of Rahu-Ketu.
Ketu = trauma. Look for trauma in the signification of Ketu's house and the character of His lord, as well as in any co-tenants who share a house with Ketu. Wherever the native shall suffer unbearable separations, with a great but unachievable longing for consummation or reunion, there is Ketu.
Ketu is a karaka for ex-communication, divorce, being shunned, ostracized, or invalidated.
Ketu's trauma is not likely to "heal" in the sense that material reunion will not be fully accomplished in this lifetime. However the emotional pain can be neutralized by deep acceptance and forgiveness.
Each new Ketu bhukti will re-stimulate the core trauma of separation, rejection, abandonment, and loss of wholeness. Each Ketu bhukti offers and opportunity to practice neutrality and forgiveness.
Q: Can Ketu-driven Suspicion and Distrust Give Good Results?
A: Yes - at higher consciousness levels
Ketu's periods increase the perceptual intensity of suspicion and distrust. The native can see one's Other half, partner, reflection, key to wholeness - but by some force of the universe, access to this wholeness is being withheld. One suspects that the desires of the Other are destroying the relationship.
Severely Reactive: Paranoid delusion
At the lowest levels, paranoid delusion and a feeling of social invisibility can give very undesirable mental results.
Moderately Reactive: Invalidation
At the lower levels of consciousness, Ketu's negative perceptions of invalidation are chronic. The native slips into varying degrees of suspicious distrust of the motives of the Other. It is possible to enter a state of psycho-emotional despair, considering how hopeless is the prospect of the Other ever changing their nature. Yearning for connectedness but believing that a deep & permanent bond is impossible. It is easy to become trapped in this state of bondage to an unattainable, but always perceivable, object of one's desire.
Proactive: Distrust of reactive delusion
At the higher levels of stabilized consciousness, suspicion and distrust of the motives of Other can be a very good thing!
Nothing is more spiritually healthy than a vigorous distrust of the mind's propensity to generate delusions.
Manas, the mind, is nothing but a big delusion machine! All perceptual reality is a product of subconscious projection.
Ketu, a node of the Moon, turns a reflective mirror onto the inner workings of Manas. Ketu periods are premium opportunities to watch the illusion-generating machine in action!
The native who is secure in this perceptual awareness will enjoy significant spiritual and philosophical benefits from Ketu periods. This native will seize the opportunity to enter psychotherapy, pursue reflective meditation, read spiritual books, and otherwise cultivate increased awareness of one's own projection behaviors.
Conscious Relationships during Ketu periods
During Ketu periods, the native may find oneself cast in peculiar relationships vis-à-vis various power-hungry authorities or other strong Rahu-type personalities. In an environment surging with constant disruptions & ambitious (but usually illicit) desires, the native retains his calm.
In troubled interpersonal relationships, the Ketu native will have deep insights into the psychopathology of the Other, but the native will also lack ability to intervene or otherwise alter the Other's behavior.
For the conscious native, Ketu period is a time of detached awareness, based on healthy suspicion of one's own compulsive projections.
One realizes that behaviors attributed to outside agents are in fact nothing but reactive projections of one's own subconscious.
This final Ketu-driven result is deeply calming. Spreading one's own calm awareness of trauma reactions and various ego collisions in relationships of home, workplace, and community, will enhance leadership capabilities and stabilize the local environment.
Social Leadership in Ketu period?
If Ketu is placed for leadership (in kendra, lord is prominent, etc.), Ketu period can give surprisingly high levels of responsibility although official recognition will not occur. Ketu is by nature a somewhat socially invisible period. However, responsibilities assumed now will bear fruit of recognition later, in more socially visible periods.
Reactive distrust vs. Proactive distrust
The lower consciousness Ketu native experiences increased psycho-social reactivity and outward fixation with blaming.
By contrast, the higher consciousness native handles the exact same experience with proactive awareness that the Other is in fact the product of one's own subconscious projection.
The apparent distancing, withholding, taboo-breaking, desire-hungry behavior of the Other in fact originates in one's own incomplete self-knowledge.
The roots of this apparently external and real relationship are in fact deeply embedded in one's own subconscious.
The wise Ketu native takes the cue: to resolve outward dilemmas, go inward to find the roots of negative expectations and unfulfilled desires within one's own Mind.
Ketu = expectation of disconnection & neglect
As a result of accumulated experience stored in the subconscious, the native fundamentally expects that the matters of Ketu's domain will be unreliable, and eventually disconnect.
Ketu's source is deep in the subconscious, rooted in human reptile-brain fear of abandonment. This deep & terrible fear of abandonment affects all human births, and therefore Ketu must occupy some domain in each human birth.
Ketu's house contains the site of humility/humiliation, where the native longs for connection and yet is repeatedly disconnected from the object of their desire.
These expectations typically yield the real world psycho-emotional experiences of deep-seated anxiety regarding abandonment, social or emotional rejection, terrible uncertainty about the feelings & plans of the beloved, and parental/spousal/collegial unresponsiveness or neglect.
Positive management of Ketu's malefic effects:
Ketu is a karaka for meditation and conscious awareness.
All disabilities caused by Ketu can be improved through conscious awareness of the subconscious predisposition to expect disconnection, leading to a lifetime of disappointment & chronic mistrust.
While Shri Ketu does have an essential lesson to teach regarding impermanence, it is not necessary for the native to suffer a lifetime of compulsive, subconsciously impelled rejection of connection and trust in matters of Ketu's domain.
It is very difficult to manage Rahu's obsessive-compulsive desires. However, it is not so hard to manage Ketu.
Luckily the reptile brain does not have to dominate human life. Conscious natives can learn to manage many historic, subconsciously driven compulsions -- even the most natural, largely bio-chemical, 'hard-wired' survival fears.
Calm awareness of one's habitual rejection of completeness will go a long way toward resolving the malefic effects of Shri Ketu.
The area of most dramatic rejection will be Ketu's birth domain (see table of Ketu in Houses, below).
Meditation on impermanence can correct much of Ketu's disability
That same calm awareness can transform Shri Ketu's fearful effects into an overall positive spiritual experience of appreciation of impermanence.
These two phenomena are really two sides of the same coin. The difference is that one is physically & emotionally terrifying and one is sweetly wise.
Later in life, comes Ketu's spiritual wisdom & eventually amusement!
Conscious management will give good results. However, Ketu's terror runs deep and progress will be incremental over a lifetime.
Ketu's fears will not be fully understood by the native until the native's age of 48 years, which is the age of maturity for Ketu. Even after the potential
Ketu is particularly pernicious in kendras, where security & confidence are needed to stabilize material life.
As a point of practical advice:
it is Best Practice when managing one's own position of Ketu, to have low material expectations & conscious ego detachment where Ketu resides.
Ketu's personal story tells it all. There He was, the innocent tail of Rahu the Serpent God, sitting at the Deity Banquet, minding His own business. Ketu doesn't have an Ego - He's a tail. He's present, but absolutely soundless & uninvolved.
Shri Ketu is as innocent & quiet as a tail can be, completely tranquil & neutral in the scene, when Rahu the Rage of Desire decides to make His big ego ploy. Rahu has snuck into the divine banquet illicitly, and He wants a sip of that divine immortal Amrit, the exclusive private drink of the Gods. He has an intense desire for it. Rahu will get a drink.
He will.
The chalice of Amrit is being passed around this gathering of Gods... Rahu slips into position to receive the next drink. Rahu succeeds! However at the very moment when the first drop of Amrit touches Rahu's lips - guaranteeing Rahu a lifespan of the Gods -- Shri Vishnu sees illicit Rahu! Vishnu is enraged at this slimy impostor and throws His magical discus at Rahu, slicing Rahu in half.
With a terrible shriek, the head of Rahu's severed body flies in one cosmic direction, and the tail of Rahu's body flies off the opposite way.
Rahu's severed tail-half is now called Ketu.
Rahu the Naga Head retains all His passion-driven intention & desire. Thus Rahu remains a perpetual troublemaker. Ketu however has no sense of purpose or goal. Ketu forever languishes in memory of His once-whole Self. Ketu pines for unification with His lost Other. Ketu is bereft, abandoned, hopeless, lost, unrequited - and locked into an orbit wherein He can see His other half Rahu, but never rejoin with Him.
Emotional obsessions & insecurity
Ketu rules psycho-emotional trauma of forced separation & abandonment. The deepest, most painful and desperate losses in life are signified not by Shani - but by Ketu.
Ketu signifies:
the psycho-emotional consequences of Abandonment & Neglect.
post-traumatic shock disorder, where the victim compulsively relives a horrible loss.
Ketu evokes subconscious fears of forcible disconnection from one's host body & terror of painful exposure, including traumas of:
the agony of birth
parental death or abandonment
divorce (abandonment by spouse)
painful romantic separations
unrequited love, where the native's mind is locked into the quest for union with an inherently unobtainable object.
all of life's hopeless losses that are part of the human condition
Predicting the Effects of Ketu period
Ketu is a psychically permeable, passive, identity-less, spiritual, dependent, absorptive, Other-oriented, non-directive graha. Ketu "the Witness" is a passive observer. He absorbs everything & deflects nothing. Ketu has no active role, nor personality of His own. Therefore predicting the effect of Ketu's periods is trickier than predicting periods of active, domain-owning graha.
Ketu's effect is best understood through evaluating the combined effects of the Grahas who associate with & control Ketu . Ketu mirrors the effects of other graha -- especially Rahu
IMO detecting the influence of Ketu is similar to using a car's rearview & side mirrors to see the "blind spot" before proceeding into traffic.
Ketu is like those blind-spot mirror. Ketu is always present, but we are not normally aware of His viewpoint until a Ketu period exposes this subtle psychic information. However, Ketu's radix and navamsha lords, plus any drishti upon Ketu, can define to a good extent the type of psychic information seen in Ketu's witness-mirror.
The 'subtle psychic information' see through Ketu the passive Witness can be as large as an uninterrupted movie-screening of the whole cosmic process or as small as one's personal cycle of separations & disappointments. The scale of the "view" Ketu provides will depend on His lord, drishti, domain, etc.
Being the most subtle & spiritual of all the grahas, Ketu's performance is strongly influenced by His situation in navamsha. The lord of Ketu's navamsha has a highly directive role, which can cause Ketu period to give the effect of Ketu's navamsha lord.
Of course, all grahas will display the results of their navamsha lord to some extent. The strength of the effect of the navamsha lord depends on many factors including the radix position of the graha, the ruling mahadasha pati, the bhukti-pat's radix angular relationship to the bhukti-pat's navamsha lord, etc.
Under some conditions the navamsha lord of *any* graha may indeed have dramatic power to enforce His own agenda during the bhukti of a planet occupying His navamsha.
However, for the purpose of making Jyotisha predictions, the point of awareness with Ketu is that "secondary" influences such as radix drishti and the agenda of the navamsha lord will always play a dominant role in creating events of Ketu's period.
The directive Others whose agenda emerges clearly during Ketu periods will include Ketu's radix lord but will also always include Ketu's navamsha lord.
If during Ketu bhukti,
Ketu's navamsha lord has a strong relationship to Ketu (such as being a radix or navamsha co-tenant with Ketu)
and Ketu's navamsha lord's relationship to Ketu is ALSO temporarily strengthened due to a Rahu-Ketu transit through Ketu's navamsha lord's radix bhava,
then the agenda of the navamsha lord can very easily predominate, even over the effects of Ketu's own radix lord.
In this example, Ketu's radix lord is L-7/L-12 swakshetra Shukra, whose agenda includes karaka sexual unions, marital animosity (L-12) but also marital agreement (L-7). Yet Ketu period gave divorce. Why? Ketu's navamsha lord dominated.
Because Rahu-Ketu do not own any kshetra, successfully predicting the effects of Rahu periods requires a similar awareness of the effects of secondary influences, such as Rahu's radix lord, navamsha lord, incoming drishti etc.
However, Rahu has a much stronger, outgoing personality than Ketu. Ketu casts no drishti, but Rahu casts powerful drishti. Rahu dramatically amplifies the agenda of His radix lord at all times, but particularly during Rahu's periods.
Therefore, the agenda of Rahu's navamsha lord and effects upon Rahu of received drishti are truly secondary considerations in predicting the events of Rahu's bhuktis. Rahu is more similar to the seven visible graha in the sense of Rahu having a strong personality and acting definitively in the material world. It is only the uniquely subtle and psycho-emotional Ketu who is so prominently directed by His navamsha lord, and so remarkably subject to the influence of incoming drishti.
(The lucky person who can "hitch their wagon to a star" and speak a vow that their primary Other is the Divine, will receive the most beneficial effects of Ketu. Unfortunately the default Other is another human; and where other humans control one's destiny there is much contradictory direction, disappointment, and grief.)
The solution to Ketu troubles is always a spiritual solution: to intentionally focus the heart away from Rahu's passions, toward the more eternal & reliable realm of the legitimate gods. Developing committed awareness to that which does not change, which cannot be lost, from which one can never be separated - the Divine within - will resolve all of Ketu's suffering.
Grahas which may cast drishti upon Ketu will especially aid the native in creating this positive intention. Ketu cannot have intention of His own. (Ketu casts no drishti Himself.) Ketu is the victim of a horrible trauma. Ketu needs help to focus outside Himself and His sorrowful longing for union with the Other.
Ketu's job is ultimately to remove obstacles which prevent the native from advancing along the spiritual path. His purpose is to enforce "disconnection" from Rahu the Impostor's passions so that one may enjoy the lasting peace of communion with the Divine. Ketu leads the native toward realization that grounding oneself in Divine Love rather than in the slippery realm of human passion is the only solution.
However Ketu's agenda can create a painful & exhausting path. Ketu evokes from the subconscious a tremendous - almost unbearable - dissatisfaction with human relationships, with wealth, power or pleasure-causing substances, with all the sensual delights & privileges on Earth. Ketu causes one to wander in hopeless desperation, searching for fulfillment.
There is only one connection which will meet Ketu's deep and aching need. However, things have to be karmically somewhat rigorous, in order for Ketu to do His job fully.
If Ketu's lord is favorable, and both Kuja & Shani also have dignity, after a period of acute suffering & loss, the path of Shri Ganesha will open. Obstacles to union with material pleasures - including spouse, children, social position, food & drink - will be recognized as the secret blessing they really are. Observing that for each material pleasure taken away, that space in his life becomes filled with the radiant love of Divine healing, the native may become extremely happy in a simple, materially unencumbered existence.
If Ketu's lord is not favorable & too many benefics distract the native with temporary pleasures, there may be recurring victim's rage & grief without long-term resolution, especially during Ketu periods, and especially regarding the relationship with person & environment signified by Ketu's house & lord.
Psychically, Ketu shows "holes in the aura"
Ketu shows where the native is the most bewildered & confused. Something that evades them, can't quite put their finger on it, seems foggy & they can't quite hold onto a stable understanding of it.
Psychically, this is a weak patch in the aura, the protective energy shield of positive energy which surrounds each spirit in a body. For humans the aura is somewhat egg-shaped, broader at the bottom where it connects to earth energy, rather narrower at the top where it connects to divine energy.
Animals do have auras, but humans have much stronger, more complex, and "brighter" auras than other earthly forms. The more divine energy that is connected to & nourishing a human aura, the "brighter" the person looks psychically.
The first physical evidence of a bright aura is a "bright" smile. Even in cultures where smiling is not necessary to convince people of your goodness, the natural brain reaction to happiness and inner peace is in fact to smile. Whether its and important cultural gesture or not, smiling is always the sign of happiness in the human - it never signifies anything else.
In English we often refer to people having "bright" qualities such as intelligence, charisma, enthusiasm, verve, good humor, etc. These qualities are "seen" (with the intuitive third eye) as "bright" patches in the aura.
Ketu controls the disconnect-function in the ego. Ketu is in charge of the grey patches of foggy uncertainty, apathy, or confusion which show where the ego in this life is rather disinterested, yet for karmic reasons obliged to continue to connect by a thread (literally).
Grey is of course the colors of elephant, and Shri Ganesha is the elephant-headed god. Remover of obstacles, Shri Ketu is like a bulldozer plowing away all unnecessary distractions from our spiritual path.
That's why results of Ketu are generally "bad" materially (i.e., not acquisitive or accumulative) but "good" spiritually (i.e., liberated from junk and free to pursue the Divine unimpeded.) Looking back on obstacles which Shri Ketu has removed we are always grateful for the peace and deep sense of freedom we feel at the end of a karmic cycle. Job well done, and we're so glad to be finished with it!
However when Ketu is hampered by the karmic effects of a compromised Moon or when Ketu's planetary lord is inauspicious, Ketu can leave the person lingering in the limbo between connect and disconnect.
The native will find him/herself still surrounded by the influences of Ketu's house & sign, yet unable to successfully interact with those influences. In re: the matters of Ketu's sign and house, the native will experience confusion, indecision, unclarity, while often developing some type of unsavory coping mechanism for the social/physical disability that the disconnect causes.
Ketu effects include ego-compensation behaviors of contempt or arrogance in some cases, various victim attitudes & passive-aggressive blaming others.
The general pattern of a dysfunctional Ketu is always a lack of energy & focus available to address the matter at hand. Yet the native remains, foggily and often passive-aggressively, engaged with it - often believing that someone else is causing the issue or that forces outside himself are at work. Ketu can be highly intuitive but in lower consciousness will tend toward superstition because the native passive-aggressively attributes his problems to the evil intentions, failures, or incompetence of others.
Ketu is cruel -- but a relief.
As a manifestation of Shri Ganesha, the beloved remover of obstacles, how can we understand Ketu's cruelty as beneficial?
Ketu gives remarkable benefits through disconnection and detachment. Cutting one's losses, abandoning hopeless projects, leaving unsuitable relationships, surrender before annihilation, etc. Similar to radical surgery - a painful and invasive process which when successful can restore health and extend life. It is always cruel but provides a great relief. Looking back, it will be seen as a necessary and beneficial loss.
Years ago my lovely neighbor, the devoted mother of small children, developed a life-threatening cancer. Without stopping to consider gentler alternatives, she agreed to radical surgery. She said, "I just want it out of me."
I was aghast. I believed that she should try some natural cures. What if the radical surgery caused an infection that she could not ward off in her weakened state? Immediately after surgery she was terribly ill and too weak to mother her children; I feared the worst. However she did recover, & eventually (months later) regained her full health.
Afterwards she told me: "cutting out that disease felt so good, even though the side effects were horrible I knew right away that this terribly painful & invasive surgery was exactly the right thing."
Ketu is associated with radically surgeries of my neighbor's type, divorces / disconnections / removals that occur only when every other option has been exhausted, and "final solutions" in all forms.
Depending on Ketu's kshetra, and also the disposition of Chandra AND Ketu's lord -- one might experience separation via the death of a terminally ill family member or being fired from an enslaving job.
After the pain of loss subsides, one confirms this loss to have been a spiritual gain.
Effect of transiting Ketu contact to natal planets
If Rahu or Ketu is the current Vimshottari bhukti-pat, Ketu will give primary effects.
If the graha is yuti Ketu in radix, then contact from gochara Ketu will give primary results.
Otherwise, gochara Ketu gives secondary effects.
Graha contacted by Gochara Ketu
Effect on the contacted graha
Reading is the same for the permanent yogas in nativity (I.e., if the graha = yuti Ketu in the birth chart, the readings below will apply consistently during the lifetime.
Self-doubt as ego structure development is restrained by apathy & detachment. A natural mystic and philosopher.
Can become disoriented when pressured to make clear decisions; should avoid roles where one's personal choices have a strong effect on others.
Ethical ambivalence & confusion. Unsure of the effects, and uncommitted to public, iconic, or organizational leadership roles. Seeks to lay low. Good position for a professional observer or paid critic.
May enjoy travel to hot, dry mountain or desert holy places, remote from civilization, where constant ego activity is not required. Needs a hot, dry climate overall. In civilized locations, this native must take care to observe social and ethical boundaries.
Retreat from feelings due to disappointment and confusion. Trouble absorbing nourishment from food, may eat erratically and choose peculiar combinations of foods. Native is emotionally numbed. Unable to sustain emotional commitment to nurture and support others.
Withdraws from parenting duties; lacks enthusiasm for family relationships. Feels apathetic and wants to let sleeping dogs lie.
Physical body uncoordinated and less responsive. Nerves not as sharp; perception numbed. Less interested in physical experience. Reduction in vigor.
Passive-aggressive response to threat. Reduced ambition. Frustration & disappointment in one's own performance, often coordinates with being passed over for a promotion or not being chosen for a team.
Mental confusion, psychic sensitivity, great sensitivity to the mental patterns of others in one's environment. Psychic absorptiveness, may feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of intuitive information that the native is receiving. Tendency to believe in religious dogmas and ideological tenets without too close inspection of the logical implications of those beliefs.
May appear dizzy or disconnected from reality. Disenchanted with normal, routine mental process. Tries to infuse normal thought patterns with high dose of divine energy.
Infusion can succeed if the attempt is being made consciously; may boomerang and make the native sound delirious and illogical or simply childlike if the sudden infusion of spacious perceptions into the conventional thought process is unconscious.
Not a period of strong mental productivity in speech and writing, but can, if other supporting factors are stable, give good results in enterprise that benefits from absorbing the ideas of others - e.g., being a student, ghost-writing or writing biographies etc.
Mental boundaries between one's own thoughts and the ideological agenda of others are quite permeable. Watch for mental breakdown if negative outside thought start to invade the aura.
Optimism and generosity are distorted. Vague ideas about cosmic interconnectedness & righteous action may replace practice of meditation & rituals of true religion.
Ideology can replace faith. Tendency toward cult beliefs and idolatry of guru. May also give frustration & confusion about which faith is valid, inability to locate the sangha, feeling lost and disconnected from the divine.
Love relationships and dealings with women in general are frustrating and confusing. Sometimes a great love arises when Rahu-Ketu transit Shukra, but if so the native is disenchanted with some features of the beloved and walks away. In committed relationships this is a bumpy transit.
Trouble finding the right balance point in all matters of harmonious arrangement and good design. Artists will struggle to find a good expression; those who make beautiful things may have a weird, out of balance phase of producing odd art.
Native is detached from their usual aesthetic preferences and confused about how and where to find beauty. May be disenchanted with material possessions and searching in frustration for satisfying sensual pleasures.
Will not struggle against addictions nor work toward better relationships.
Separateness and confusion about definition and scope of social duties. Non-conformist tendencies. Feels oppressed by customary procedures and social expectations yet is disinclined to try something new. Tends to stick with the tried and true yet feels restless, undefined, marginalized.
Seeks protection from rule-driven hierarchies and from following the law, yet is unsatisfied with being a good citizen. Wants to break out of routine yet cannot create the next step for himself. Afraid and insecure.
Ketu achieves His "natural maturity" when the native reaches the age of 48 years.
Traditionally, after 45-48 years, Ketu loses much of its clout. (In practice, I have seen it more effectively at 48 years.)
If you have a troublesome Ketu position such as Ketu in Kalatra bhava, which damages marriage through disenchantment with the spouse, or Ketu in karmaa sthana which damages career through confusion & disappointment with public life:
be comforted that the worst effects will cease after 48 years.
Ketu periods also have less drama after age 48. The urgency to "just get this thing out of my life" (relationship, bodily organ, identity, etc.) becomes much less compulsive, and starts to fade into a manageable awareness of one's own psychological patterns.
Ketu gives the results of His lord and co-occupants
The most important thing to understand about the lunar nodes Rahu and Ketu is that they do not own any houses, and they do not own any signs. Rather, Rahu-Ketu function as magnifiers & distorters of the their bhava and rashi lords. Rahu-Ketu also amplify any co-tenant grahas within their house.
Ketu contributes frustration and denial wherever he goes in the normal realms of life. Only at the highest levels of awareness is Ketu really an asset.
When Ketu becomes the mahadasha-pati or bhukti-pat, His Vimshottari periods will give the results of Ketu's lord and to a large extent also the results of His co-occupants. The quality of experience during Ketu periods is typically a disoriented, confused, and stagnant version of the planets He magnifies.
However under good circumstances Ketu's power of disenchantment can also break the spell of material attractions, and show a direct route to enlightenment.
Ketu yuti the lagnesha
makes the person socially disenchanted and insecure. S/he does not know which social role to assume; flitting like a chameleon through various marginal roles, enjoying certain aspects of many different social environments but securely fitting in nowhere.
Ketu in lagna
normally fails to make an impact on society and may well be unable to hold a steady job. Lagna defines our physical appearance and social position based on that appearance; lagna is the primary caste indicator.
People don't know how to identify the native with lagnesha yuti Ketu; the native displays exotic outcaste qualities (which could if yuti a strong Shukra for example make the native a fashion icon); while Ketu's own inner conflict guarantees that the native will not be able to define himself independently. One is always at odds with oneself, looking for external definition but unable to accept whatever labels others might apply to one.
As we can see from these few examples Ketu is rather more malefic in result than Rahu.
Producing as He does the irresolvable conflict between Saturn/social law & order versus Mars/personal independence, Ketu induces a state of deep frustration and repressed anger which alienates the individual from the matters of the house which Ketu occupies. The native feels that, in matter's of Ketu's house and its lord, an irresistible force is trying to budge an immovable object. The result is traction and deep alienated frustration.
Furthermore Ketu complicates the expression of his lord and co-occupying planets.
Ketu and a strong Shukra, the native will have not only the excesses of wealth, beauty, prestige, and addiction that this Shukra would have brought independently. Ketu adds a surly, denying, frustrated to Shukra's effects which result in addiction to food, drugs, sex, and elegant company while plunging the individual into great denial about his true behavior.
He will feel that it's not his problem, or that other's do not understand him, or that someone else is obviously to blame for the excess. (Since Ketu occupies 7 in this example that someone else is certainly the spouse!) The central complication of any planet ruling or conjuncting Ketu is that the native feels disconnected from his own reality, will not own up to his own actions, and typically seeks to blame the problems that this dishonesty and detachment will cause, onto the Other who is represented by that house. (For example, the Other of house-10 is the boss, the Other of house-4 is the mother.)
Ketu casts no graha drishti ; only the rashi drishti
The sign aspect (rashi drishti) of Ketu can be damaging, because Ketu can radiate frustration, stagnation, confusion, and discontent. However in the right company the aspect of Ketu can enhance the values of the house which receives His ray. Of course whenever Ketu has company in His house, He amplifies that companion and carries that companion graha's energy along on all His aspects.
In the example chart above where Ketu is yuti Shukra in Taurus/7, Ketu's rashi drishti from Vrishabha affects Karka/9, Thula/12, and Makara/3.
Shukra will independently drishti all those three Chara signs, plus Shukra will send His own full planetary aspects to lagna/Vrischikha.
Because Ketu is a shadow without his own independent identity, His rashi aspects to houses 9, 12, and 3 - carry along Shukra's energy too.
The luxurious but excessively indulgent effect of Shukra is also subtly carried into the 9th house of religion (where it is quite unfavorable because Shukra is teacher of the demons) as well as 12th (which Shukra already owns, this is the house of extramarital affairs.
But Ketu may make the native blind (or unsure whether these are happening) and 3rd - the house of small-group associations such as meetings and dinner parties (this native was a highly placed executive who enjoyed very luxurious corporate meetings and gave lovely small parties).
Ketu's sign aspects combined with Shukra's full aspect on the lagna result in destruction of religion, extramarital affairs of the spouse, and lavish corporate entertainments - none of which is very satisfying to the native, because Ketu whilst amplifying Shukra is rather permanently discontent.
If Ketu is alone in his house He will cast rashi drishti and give the results of his lord only. In this case the condition of his lord determines the value of Ketu's three sign aspects. Where the lord is dignified (e.g., in the sign of a friend, or exalted, and in a non-dusthana house) Ketu's aspects may induce meditative awareness, the scientist's objective detachment, and other positive forms of non-violent approach toward conflict and profound acceptance of the greater law. But most of the time Ketu is far too psychic to be comfortable in the mundane - no matter how luxurious his worldly life.
Ketu is Rahu's diametrically opposite force. Rahu is permissive and expansive like Venus and Jupiter, but Ketu is restrictive and like Shani and Mars. Whereas Rahu is passionate and desirous, Ketu is detached and withdrawn.
The house, degree, sign, aspects, and other characteristics of Ketu show psychic imagery that has already been manifested by Rahu,. Under Ketu's influence the matter concerned is finished; we have stopped desiring and now wish to separate that matter from ourselves. Wherever Ketu is, there the person is detached, impassionate, stopped, and uninvolved with the development of those matters. Ketu is a manifestation of Shri Ganesha, the elephant-headed god who is the somber, plodding Remover of Obstacles..
Ketu is excellent for meditation and withdrawal from the world of the senses but understandably Ketu's influence damages any attempt at acquisitions. Ketu will "destroy" marriage in the 7th house because he doesn't really care enough to keep the fires of affection burning. Ketu gives a spouse but not affection toward the spouse; not passion. Maybe he thinks he should care; maybe his society thinks he should care; but Ketu in 7th proves he really doesn't feel the passion. Often this position is bewildered and frustrated.
Ketu will make the person quite unconcerned about financial wealth when he occupies the 2nd or 11th houses. Financial affairs are blocked in some way, beyond personal control. That doesn't mean a person with Ketu in 2 or 11 will be poor. If the house lord is in good condition, that person with Ketu in 2 or 11 might have much money at his disposal. But he will not care about investing the money, and he will not have permission to change or control it. He will not take steps to protect money, develop his wealth, or show much attachment to it. Often this position is the spouse or child of a wealthy person, who has access to considerable funds but lacks passion for the wealth.
Ironically, because Ketu's disengaged energy-state has no resistance to money, native with Ketu in a money position (2, 5, 9, 11) could be remarkably wealthy as a result of past-life labors. Much poverty is caused by resistance to wealth! However whether rich or poor, he will be neutral on the subject of acquiring and developing wealth. Like the native with Ketu in 7, s/he will accept the presence of a spouse as a social given - but express little truly personal interest in marital development.
Similarly, Ketu in 5th house of children gives detachment toward one's children. As with money for Ketu in 2/11, Ketu in 5 or 9 can produce numerous children provided Guru's aspects are fertile. However the parent with Ketu in putra bhava will be emotionally detached from his offspring - and often frustrated with them.
The first child may be adopted, from inside or outside the Ketu parent's family. Or, the first child may have some birth condition which detaches then from the parent's home, such as a health problem, needing special education, or something else that creates an emotional distance.
Ketu is spectacularly helpful for all matters of meditation and spiritual ascendance. Be sure to visit a temple of Ganesha to enhance your transcendent spiritual awareness. However, if you are wanting to enhance your bank account go see Lakshmi; or to acquire academic credentials see Saraswati! Shri Ganesha's portfolio is the profound cosmic awareness born of the most intractable inner conflicts. Shri Ganesha is not about acquiring, but rather about liberation through transcendence.
Dissatisfaction & Disenchantment
Ketu broadcasts a psycho-mental signal of apathetic dissatisfaction with the human condition, specifically matters of the sign and house which He occupies.
Ketu's job is to dissolve the ego and its attachments, in order to liberate the spirit. Ideally, after liberation, the spirit will merge with the Divine. However, if Ketu is held into bondage by a vital, strongly engaged-in-life Lord, He is likely to stayed fixated in a dissatisfied state. Ketu generally acts neither attached nor liberated. Rather He sits in his house, passive-aggressively insinuating that there's "something wrong here" without making any positive suggestions for how to fix it.
Of all the planetary afflictions in the charts, the psycho-spiritual ailments of Ketu are the most difficult to remedy. Secretly, we want Ketu to succeed. We want to be liberated. But Ketu does not control His own destiny - His sign lord (and to some extent His companion planets) control Him. Therefore, unless Ketu's lord and companions are spiritually directed, Ketu will continue flip-flopping around the universe (Vishnu) completely lacking direction (His head Rahu is far away) but also unable to stop moving.
Whether Ketu's focus-shift from external to internal is a good/easy thing or a bad/difficult thing depends on Ketu's specific characteristics.
For example when Ketu is strong at birth, such a when the nodes are rising or yuti lagnesha, the person will be psychically gifted. Ketu's bhukti will of course dramatically increase Ketu's power to temporarily control the events. Psychic sensitivity is a double-edged sword, as any practicing psychic reader, magician, or healer will tell you :)
As always in matters of deepest happiness, consciousness holds the key.
The psychically sensitive person who appreciates their capabilities and who has educated themselves in one of the perceptive traditions will be able to turn their magical powers on and off at will. This person can enjoy and profit from Ketu periods by choosing to prioritize internal perceptions and not worry overly about their social-material status. They can also take scheduled breaks from sustained intense inner-perception to prevent burn-out.
A similarly sensitive person lacking proper education and the safety net of a like-minded community may suffer a quick burn-out and sink quickly into confused depression for the duration of Ketu's period. This native could experience each Ketu bhukti as a mental health crisis, and look back on Ketu mahadasha as "seven lost years". Extreme effects for the unconscious Ketu victim include consistently "poor choices" caused by a sponge-like absorption of negative suggestions, poverty and homelessness caused by ill-attention to bill-paying, mystifying medical problems caused by confused communication with the physical body, plus addictions and escapist behaviors of all kinds. Be on the lookout for these if you or someone you love seems to be "losing it" in public life.
In another situation, natal Ketu in Scorpio in randhra sthana could indicate a powerful natural trance-medium personality with breathtaking healing powers, such as a traditional "psychic surgeon". Much depends of course of the condition of Lord Kuja, who rules Vrischikha, or Vedic Scorpio. But should Mangala be strong, then Ketu -- who is after all a manifestation of remover of obstacles Shri Ganesha -- could indicate a magnificent healer. Ketu is a very special planet that requires special handling, but with consciousness He gives transcendent results. In such a chart we would forecast major spiritual healing accomplishments during any Ketu bhukti, presuming the person possesses the consciousness and the support community which are the sine-qua-non of all successful long-term healing endeavors.
Example: Ketu in Taurus/7. Ketu here gains considerable strength being yuti his lord Shukra. Venus is himself a super-strong significator for love and marriage through being vargottama (i.e., occupying the same sign in both rashi & navamsha) plus lord of kalatra bhava and of course Shukra is the natural karaka for love. So we can predict that when each Ketu bhukti arrives, the department of life in which the greatest psychic will occur is love, marriage and counseling relationships. In the vimshottari dasha Ketu bhukti always follows Budha bhukti. In this person's rashi chart Budha bhukti produced a divorce because Budha is divorce-karaka L8 *and* during Budha's bhukti gochara Rahu crossed Budha.
This native chose wisely to use the subsequent Ketu bhukti for intensive psychotherapeutic counseling and relationship awareness growth. Ketu is Ganesha, as remover of obstacles. His elephant head will remove whatever Ketu perceives as an obstacle to spiritual bliss. In this case, the native's divorce removed half of this man's income and half of his child-raising time. Clearly Shri Ganesha found those items to be obstacles to the native's spiritual progress. After some resistance, the native now agrees that "giving to Caesar what is Caesar's" while concentrating his efforts on reflective self-awareness has given excellent fruits.
Beware that with a strong Ketu one is likely to ignore daily concerns with food clothing and shelter, only to discover rather later that these items are quite important to human life.
The dilemma in developing Ketu energy is that Ketu is not a human trait. Ketu connects us, often dangerously, to the non-human world. Without sufficient decompression, our return to Dhara [earth] after a Ketu adventure can be unpleasant. So wherever Ketu casts His influence, take special care to meditate for soft re-entry.
To understand Ketu, it might help to contemplate the Tarot card "The Fool".
Like "The Fool" in the European Tarot tradition, Ketu as a manifestation of Shri Ganesha, gives excellent results in philosophical and mystical endeavors, in meditation, and in spiritual quest.
Ketu shows the path "out" of material entrapment.
Ketu is very liberating.
In material matters themselves - with which all of us inhabiting material bodies are quite legitimately concerned - Ketu means trouble. Ketu is not grounded in the material plane. He floats above. He is dysfunctionally detached from material reality.
If Ketu occupies the radix 7th, the marriage partner will be concerned with their own pursuits, and rather careless of the native's welfare. Ketu in yuvati bhava makes the partner in some way permanently inaccessible - whether by cultural differences, sexual constitution, or barriers of mental or physical illness.
Obviously Ketu in 7th makes for unsatisfying intimate partnerships. Most people with this condition eventually leave their first marriage. Similar effects are expected should Ketu occupy the seventh navamsha.
Ketu in dhana bhava would provide the traits of withdrawn inaccessibility in the character of the 2nd spouse. In dharma bhava, same traits would apply to the father and the guru, as well as the 3rd spouse. See marriage for subsequent spouse counting patterns.
Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.
~~ Will Rogers
The most exquisite paradox — as soon as you give it all up, you can have it all.
As long as you want power, you can’t have it.
The minute you don’t want power, you’ll have more than you ever dreamed possible.
~~ Ram Dass
updated: 30 August 2008
Copyright © 1994-2015 by Barbara Pijan Lama - Contact - Sitemap - How to Request a Jyotisha Reading - www.barbarapijan.com
- Barbara Pijan Lama Jyotisha Jyotish Vedic Astrology Horoscope Readings Surya Sun Chandra Moon Mangala Mars Budha Mercury Guru Jupiter Shukra Venus Shani Saturn Rahu Ketu Graha Planets Dasha Timeline Nakshatra Navamsha Marriage Children Wealth Career Spiritual Wisdom Death
