We are close to the time of the Moon’s nodes changing signs – which many call peyarchi. This change will will principally have effect in mundane conditions and events, as the two nodes, Rahu and Ketu, are said to impact the affairs of nations. Mercury changes signs, becomes debilitated, retrograde and renders an opportunity to learn. Ketu moves into conjunction with Saturn and we consider the presence of Pluto.
The two nodes, Rahu and Ketu, are shadow planets. Shadow planets — called chaaya graha — are not seen. They are points of magnetic force which have impact in our solar system and on our Earth. They are known by the effects they cause. For the individual, these effects centre around karma, action. It is known in Vedanta that karma accompanies the soul from past births – there is a selection of karma – and unfulfilled desires – chosen to be spent in this lifetime. Rahu is desire and causes rebirth; Ketu is the karmic container, mysterious, disconnected, yet compelling inner discovery.
At this time, the two nodes are sandhi, meaning they are within 1° from the start of the sign they transit and will cross the border to another sign; the edge of their respective signs will last from February 15 until March 26. Rahu, the Moon’s North Node, is now at 0+ degrees of Cancer, and Ketu, the Moon’s South Node is at 0+ degrees of Capricorn, and they will move into Gemini and Sagittarius on March 6.
We mentioned that these planets have no physical form but have effects. Rahu on the edge of Cancer and Gemini may cause flare-ups in the home, in discovery of property values and ownership, the enduing comforts of home and hearth; Rahu may also cause upsets and consternation about communication, the content of messages, thu urgency of messaging at this time. Rahu on the edge would also pertain to a need to be careful of both the messenger feathering their own fortunes, and messages being stolen from your good offices. Ketu – leaving Capricorn – is disconnected from rigid hierarchies and frustrates the use of power, control and oversight of activities – Ketu being weak of social connections. In changing signs to Sagittarius, the messages from Ketu can be incoherent, nebulous, misunderstood and taken for granted. This can cause both flare-ups in exposures, misunderstandings, and missed anticipation, particularly in overseas travels.
The time of karmic nodes changing signs is a time disruptions in the status-quo, what you expect to be your daily routines, communications, the strength of bonds and understanding. This is a time to slow down and be patient with yourself, and even, seek the inner Self within. We share that this time of crossing the border between signs will last from February 15 until March 26. It is a time to lower your expectations, tread softly with your assumptions, and be prepared to compromise and keep people happy even though the circumstances have disappointed you. Sandhi planets are depleted of energy and normally don’t deliver. Sandhi nodes, on the hand, give upsets, flare-ups and disruptions. Be prepared, and the best way is to have good inner self-awareness and self-discipline.
Mercury – back and forth
As we write, Mercury – the Crown Prince – is sandhi on the edge of Aquarius and will move to Pisces where it becomes debilitated. Debilitated Mercury in a water sign means emotional responses to failures in messaging and communications, upsets at technology failures and too much reliance on the message getting through without disruption.
Mercury will be retrograde from March 5-28. It will cross back into Aquarius where we will revisit the experiences of the last two weeks and we get the opportunity to learn the lessons again, get the ideas right and connect head and heart wherever we have made any mistakes in communication, messaging and using technology – which includes the smartphone. Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to mankind; Prometheus paid a terrible, eternal price for his theft. Mercury, the Crown Prince, revisits this from time to time, as the crown prince eventually becomes the ruler of the realm. Where we have been careless in social media, propagated fake news or hurtful messages, we get the opportunity in Mercury retrograde to right the wrongs and we get time – marvellous time – to review and align our behaviour to the five human values of Truth, Love, Right Conduct, Peace and non-violence.
Sandhi, sandhi, sandhi
Transiting Jupiter will also be sandhi, hovering on the gandanta (sensitive, transformational, one-degree) edge between Scorpio and Sagittarius, from March 13 to May 8. In mid-March (March 14-17), Mercury will also be sandhi (29th degree between Pisces and Aquarius). At this time, Mercury, Jupiter, Pluto, and the lunar nodes Rahu and Ketu will all be at the 29th degree: Many astrologers aver that when planets are at the same degree in adjacent signs, the is a “trigger effect” with exposure to the effects of adjacent signs. In this time, there may be unstoppable, irreversible exposures occurring on a planetary-wide scale.
Saturn, Ketu, Pluto conjunction and what is disclosed
Most of those who practice Vedic astrology disregard the outer planets Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. Literature of Vedic Astrology only uses the traditional nine grahas: Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn and lunar nodes Rahu and Ketu. However, Neo-Vedic or contemporary Vedic astrologers attend to the outer planets when they change signs, when they change nakshatra, or turn retrograde. There is no rulership, dignity or debilitation assigned to the outer planets. Outer planets are known by their effects.
When we turn our attention to Pluto, we encounter effects such as transformation, catharsis, death and transformation (in compartments of our life), transmutation and remaking of our lives. In contrast, Saturn is a rigidly structured, duty bound, lawful personality who takes his or her time in reaching the goal. In fact, time is not of the essence to Saturn. In following duty (sometimes laying down the duty to be followed) Saturn brings on tight limitations, has a fixed identity and can be exceedingly inflexible, yet reliable. It is like the Hare and the Tortoise; we know we can rely on the tortoise to finish the race; always. Add to this mix of planets, Ketu, the disconnected one, ever on the path of self-inquiry, self-discovery and taking external stimuli and information in and examining same in the depths of personality and being. Ketu can appear like tabula-rasa, the blank screen, available to take on whatever information and disclosure is projected from the external world.
We have a conjunction of Ketu, Saturn and Pluto in Sagittarius; Sagittarius is the traditional ninth house of philosophy, religion, ethics and morality, science, mental purity and acquisition of learning. It is also the home of the guru, the preceptor who leads us to the light, our true Self within. We approach, we sit near as the guru removes the darkness. This conjunction of Ketu-Saturn-Pluto points to conflict, upheaval, exposure of heretofore unknown or hidden information from the masses. Ketu spends time with moral, ethical, and ideological conflicts; Saturn provides the boundaries, the time to pause and reflect, the steady imposition of our good habits, our common sense, our internal discipline.
Whatever the revelations, whatever the upheaval, whatever the shocks to humanity all over this planet, there is no change to the basics of what it means to be human, what the goal of life is, what the basis of the Universe is. Sathyam Moolam Jagat, truth is the basis of the Universe. Multiple universes, parallel universes and the discovery of hundreds of thousands of hidden galaxies truth does not change, dharma remains the constant foundation and path to follow in the road called human life.
This conjunction of Ketu-Saturn-Pluto has occurred in the past, transforming human life and setting people free from self-limiting beliefs. Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg, Germany, setting off change and transformation of beliefs and worship that was to ultimately transform society as a whole and lay the foundations for the emergence of democracy in nation-states. Usury (the imposition of interest on loans) was no longer a sin, for example. This allowed for expansion of city-states and the flourishing of economic progress.
We have been told that the Universe is “teeming with life” (vide Jalarm, The Mystery School) and that life-forms and civilisation from the stars and galaxies have been here before, departed with the Fall of Atlantis, and are on the cusp of revealing their presence here on Earth. The hidden extraterrestrial presence on Earth (they are here now) (Pluto, what is hidden), which has been repeatedly validated by thousands of individuals as well as in government documents. There has been hidden knowledge of and interaction with this extraterrestrial presence, and it has been kept from the masses for reasons of control of public beliefs and profit thereby by obscure plutocrats who seek to use this information for their own benefit.
The historians, archaeologists, biologists and palaeontologists in the past have made theories based on the findings to their present day. These have become the beliefs we found our lives upon, day by day. When humans receive information or have an experience contradicting their beliefs they experience ontological shock – belief system shock – ‘What are my origins?’ The most fundamental belief is the most frightening to lose.
Dealing with Ontological Shock:
The planets seize us and fill us with light; they are luminaries which reflect the light coming through our Sun and redirect the energy streams from the Sun to our mind, body and spirit. Each planet combines and recombines light and then directs that light and magnetism of the Sun to ourselves. Grahas are seizers; graha means to grasp, to seize. They can raise us up, they can pull us down. Whether we rise or fall depends on how well we utilise the light and energy coming from the planets to ourselves. They may draw attention by their effects within us. Whether we rise or fall is largely up to us.
Pluto is known to scare, to frighten, to cause alarm. Yet, Pluto compels us to consider new information, to engage in metamorphosis and change. While we are essentially the same, we are transmuted, transformed from Earth Citizen to Star Person, a child of the Universe. When we encounter ontological shock, the collapse of our belief systems, Saturn – manda, the slow one – provides a barrier of time to process the new information. Rigidly structured, duty-bound Saturn can take new phenomena, and take the well trodden path, ever so slowly. We may take the ontological shock of the collapse of all that we have believed in and taken to be true to Ketu: the disconnected one who can examine such matters of being and awareness with and live with ambiguity for quite some time until we have settled down and come to a space of calm and common sense. Ketu will take you to the place where your being has not change; the facts, the data, the external reality may have changed but the truth of who you are in essence has not undergone any change. The transformation and catharsis occasioned by Pluto is self-understanding in the light of new information, which Ketu and Saturn help process over time.
This processing of information within an inner centre of time and space will take place in an external environment of war, conflict, upheaval, social change, separation from family, friends and loved ones. These were the circumstances brought about by the Ketu-Saturn-Pluto conjunction in the time of Luther. What Luther started – the Reformation – a series of brutal wars culminating in the Thirty Years War during the Counter-Reformation from 1618 and 1648. In effect, the Reformation ultimately began to transform the Western world by establishing certain democratic ideals that encouraged the rise of capitalism.
The planets can raise us up, they can pull us down. It is up to us how we take up the energy, light and magnetism delivered by the Sun and planets, and utilise them within. Saturn is truth, and can bring us to the rediscovery of inner self-discipline. Saturn can give us foundations, slow, sure, steady. Ketu gives us the ability to turn within, to disconnect from what disturbs us, and to recover the truth of our being. Pluto gives us catharsis and metamorphosis, all within the parameters of life in all the worlds: Sathyam moolam jagat, truth is the basis of all this coming and going. Pluto leads us from the unreal of maya, illusion, to the real. This is illustrated in the ancient Hindu prayer:
Asato Maa Sad-Gamaya |
Tamaso Maa Jyotir-Gamaya |
Mrtyor-Maa Amrtam Gamaya |
Om Shanti Shanti Shaanti ||
From the Unreal, lead us to the Real,
From Death, lead us to Immortality,
From Darkness, lead us to Light,
Om, Peace, Peace, Peace.
