Shadow Planet Rahu – the head of the dragon in vedic mythology – is an interesting planet: it actually has no form. That is why it is called a shadow planet, for Rahu (and counterpart Ketu) are known to be causes of eclipses, and have affect on the human body and human mind at the time of eclipse. They bring about transformation. Transformation is the subject of this post as Rahu is currently transiting Libra, where it has been with Saturn, for some time. Rahu is also transiting a Nakshatra by name of Swati. What is the effect of Rahu in Swati?
Libra (known as Tula in vedic astrology (jyothish) is an interesting sign of the zodiac. It is of vata nature – that which is air, windy, ephemeral. It is a movable house, and of the four great purusharthas (goals of life), it represents desire, kama. Ruled by Venus, there can be significant material desire in this sign.
As the natural 7th house, it is a kendra (house of significant strength), and it also a maraka house – a house where the indications of end of life are found. It is masculine in nature, Saturn is exalted in Libra and the Sun is debilitated. Venus is moolatrikona in this sign also. When a planet occupies its moolatrikona range it produces strong beneficial effect.
Our subject is Rahu, shadow planet and its role in Swati Nakshatra. Rahu is a head; he was separated from his body aeons ago when he deceived the gods and sought to drink the nectar of immortality. His duplicity was exposed by the Sun and the Moon (they are gods, also, in this play of life) and his head rolled. Ever since, he has sought revenge by periodically “swallowing” the Sun and causing eclipses.
Regretfully, Rahu does not have a good social profile: he is a taboo-breaker, a smasher of false beliefs (that can hurt), and is known to be harmful to mental health. Rahu surges with desire, causes social, psychic and ritual pollution and is associated with poison and poisoning. Rahu can be a psychic gateway where either a miracle or a catastrophe emerges after dabbling in the psychic, unlearned, pretending. Like a bunch of kids playing around with a ouija board for the first time, and someone starts glossolalia – speaking in tongues from some disembodied spirit. What is happening, who can control this? Nobody, including the person who started the idea of dabbling in the psychic has a grasp of this. Rahu is like this, pretending to know everything, have all the answers, all the learning, all the necessary skills. He is and can be, giver of fraud.
The thing with Rahu is that you need to be ruthlessly honest with yourself. This can be done, for Rahu can – and does frequently – strip away everything that is not needed to advance and push back the boundaries. Problem is, it all needs to have a foundation. That is where ruthless honesty is needed.
Now we are talking about Rahu in a nakshatra by name of Swati. What is a nakshatra and what is it for? The short answer is a nakshatra is a constellation in the sky that the moon passes, daily. The moon takes approximately one day to go around the earth and pass through all these constellations. Vedic astrology nominates 27 (or sometimes 28) constellations that the moon passes through. They are called, fondly, the wives of the Moon. And this matter of Moon in groups of stars (lets call them nakshatras from now on) is very important for astrology – especially vedic astrology – for the nakshatra the moon is in at the time of birth determines lots of things. The sound of your name, for example, the beginnings of your path of action and its typology, the planets ruling specific times in this play called life. Important!
Ancient Indians studied the skies and the stars
The five elements are usually referred to as ether, air, fire, water and earth. The air principle within the human is known as the five vital airs – the Pancha Praanas: (Praana, Apaana, Vyaana, Udaana and Samaana). These are components of the movement of the breath in the body. The physical body has subtle elements within, of Vayu – wind – which externally, is the principle of sound and touch. There are indications that the vital principles and karanas in the body are affected by the nakshatra, the sign, the planet transiting, the ruler of the sign, the Lord of the House and the Lord of the Nakshatra. In this instance we have the air principle affected by vata – air – nakshatra, planet and sign.
Like there are 12 signs and 12 houses in the zodiac, the nakshatras surround the zodiac and add more cycles: cycles of energy in the body, cycles of seeking the four great goals of life, and constellations ruled by gods and demons. For our purposes today, Swati nakshatra is of windy – vata constitution and ruled by Vayu – God of Wind. Rahu is also of windy or vata constitution and often signified by smoke, said to be smoky-brown in colour. So an airy, windy constellation ruled by the god of wind, Vayu, producing eddys, gusts, whirlwinds, and like phenomena. In the mind, it is a vastly important matter, for the mind is outward going, settling on whatever it sees, whatever the object of desire is. (Remember, Libra is an air sign with the desire purushartha (goal of life) affecting everything here, and is also ruled by the planet of desires, Venus).
While Libra sign is perceived as balance and when occupied by Saturn (as it is at the moment we write) it becomes a house of grounding, of significant social discipline. Conventions, niceties, all these have to be observed. Nothing gets earned quickly; follow inner discipline and transform your character; and so you change your destiny. Saturn lays down the rules, and enforces them. Rahu seeks the quick result, the changing social boundary and how it can fit in and be accepted ( all vata based, quickly changing direction behaviours ), all based on lack of grounding and adherence to discipline. The Vedas tell, Na sreyo niyamam vina, there can be no progress without adherence to discipline. Rahu in Swati Nakshatra needs to be grounded and take care, and dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s.
Leading to the Fourth Dimension … and more:
As we have said in other posts, life on our Earth is being raised to the Fourth and Fifth Dimensions from whence it fell, at the Fall of Atlantis, circa 11,000 years ago. Before that fall, a mini-ice age had begun on Earth, and so there were significant disruptions to our continuity with the past, our historical records, and knowledge of our human history. Now, in these times, our Sun has been transmitting energies received from the central sun of all universes, and that energy is changing life here on Earth. We might, in the light of all the above discussion on nakshatra, planet, sign and deity (the wind god Vayu) recall that soon after the solstice of 21 December 2012, Rahu transited into Libra where it will remain until mid-July of 2014. A vata (air) nature planet has been transiting a vata (air) house in a vata (air) nakshatra ruled by the god of wind, Vayu. This is suggestive of the Cosmic Wind, a wind coming from the Creative Source of all and bringing about transformation.
It can be surmised that the effect of this scattering of Cosmic Wind (ruah, breath of the divine – breath of the spirit) from the Creative Source of All has been to employ the shakti of Swati Nakshatra to full effect: Swati is ruled by Vayu, the God of the Wind. It gives the power to scatter like the wind (pradhvamsa shakti). Its basis above is moving in various directions. Its basis below is change of form. The result of these three is transformation.
We said earlier that Rahu does not have a good social profile: he is a taboo-breaker, a smasher of false beliefs, and is known to be giver of unsettled, unstable mental health. Rahu surges with desire, causes social, psychic and ritual pollution and associated with poisons. Rahu can be a psychic gateway … it is now, in this time of change on Earth to the 4th and 5th Dimensions that we reflect that this new energy coming from the Creative Source of All – a magnetic energy – affects not only our planet, but all planets. This includes Rahu. This new energy coming from the Creative Source of All affects our Sun, a star; it also affects other stars, and nakshatras are constellations of stars. This transformation also comes to us by way of the nakshatras, ruled as they are by the planets.
This transformation then, directs new energies to Rahu – in this instance as ruler of Swati nakshatra – to push back the boundaries of consciousness and awareness in ways that reveal the 4th and 5th Dimensions; the saying is as above, so below, which is the principle of operation of Swati. What is coming from above enters what is below; it brings about changes in mentality, attitudes, growth and a rise in consciousness. All forms of life participate in the transformation to the 4th and 5th Dimensions, for energy pervades everywhere into everything.
The mind is outwards going in nature; it desires to have all that it encompasses. It can be stirred up to a maelstrom of mental energy and demonstrate instability, erratic thinking, and lack of intellect. What is needed is a wholesome self management scoping to self-control, self-discipline, self-respect, self-sacrifice and then self-satisfaction. A known principle in psychology is that persons who delay gratification of their desires achieve their goals. The overarching goals are the purusharthas, dharma (right conduct), artha (wealth – in its many forms; one may also have the wealth of human excellence and good character), kama (satisfaction of needs with regard to station in life) and moksha, the freedom from the cycle of birth-death-birth-again. In these times of return to the 4th and 5th Dimensions, new energies come which must be cultivated and managed in a disciplined manner.
In these times of return to the 4th and 5th Dimensions, many will experience heretofore unknown and unrecognised psychic skills and events. Some will be clairvoyant, others clairsentient, others will have shaktis of phenomena, and the like. Rahu is karaka of psychic skills (as is Ketu) and all these new psychic energies that come must be cultivated and managed in a disciplined manner. We have a situation where Rahu in Swati Nakshatra is generating further and further windy-airy-eddies and whirlpools of the mind and energies. The vedic dicta prevails where psychic powers are concerned (vedanta calls such siddhi powers; these are not an end unto themselves): na sreyo niyamam vina, there can be no progress without discipline. What is the discipline needed in the mind in these times?
Where disagreements and conflicts are concerned, one should sit down and discuss such disagreements and seek a common solution, or even, agree to disagree. There can always be a peaceful resolution of conflicts and there is never any need to raise a weapon in anger, nor to wage war. There is also a critical need to manage thoughts. Thoughts go out into the ether and join similar thoughts until an amorphous blob of energy – it can be quite massive – encircles the planet, and when emotion – energy that is put into motion – takes over, the intellect is bypassed, the person makes a point of connection to the massive blob of energy, it all pours down into the person … who is no longer a person but an agent of massive energy … and we get sorrowful solutions: domestic violence, abuse, abuse of children, use of weapons, violent robbery and shootings. Mass shootings and killings simply give evidence that the people starting this have been taken over by thought-forms and the energy is controlling the consciousness.
A simple discipline of managing the thoughts put out, controlling the mind, pausing and taking three deep breaths, can return a person to their self-awareness and their peace. A simple discipline of managing vata Rahu, grounding the energies within the body, stilling the mind, brings the results of self discipline and self respect as a human. Planets, it has to be remembered, are both devas and asuras, they can raise us up, they can pull us down. It is up to humans how they create their future. They always have a choice. The future, and participation in the 4th and 5th Dimensions is the product of your choice, your management of the energy of the planet and nakshatra within.
