Ketu, South Node of the Moon in your Astrology Birth Chart Pt 2 Visionary Astrology, Mythic Keys and Astronomy of Ketu
Ketu Visionary Astrology:
So, what is the Nature of Ketu. What does he look like? Do you have ‘clear appearance’ of him?
One of my favourite approaches to astrology that I offer in my worldwide astrology courses: Visionary Astrology – East meets West.
It’s about the union of western astrology and vedic astrology, plus the option of using the ancient Tibetan Buddhist and tantric Hindu approach of developing ‘clear appearance’ first of a planet in our birth chart as a God, in his pure state, his innate state, as a refraction of the divine.
Then we can so usefully also go on to getting a graphic picture of that planet and his divine energy as he actually appears in our particular individual birth chart when experienced as our soul chose for us to do through the three filters of the sign the planet occupies, the House the planet occupies and the effects of aspects made to that planet by other planets in our chart.
Thus, we can build up the clear appearance of each planet not only in his pure state as a refraction of the divine, but also, secondly, in his filtered sate as to how he will actually manifest in our life – which can even amount to quite a torsion of the pure and perfect divine planet.
See my Blog on Visionary Astrology: blog.starwheelastrology.com/visionary-astrology-east-meets-west/
So, in the case of the innate nature of Ketu, well let’s call an image of Ketu to our mind’s eye and then name some of the energies associated with his manifestation:
Imagine a hissing writhing deadly venom-serpent with its tail, and the body of a headless, trancing man whose form weaves and writhes and swirls and grows from small to immense and flickers in and out of sight. There’s mala beads around his neck, bangles on his ankles, the spiral tattoos on his hands and body. And then you see with terrible shock that in his hands are a sword, a discus and a mace: vicious sharp weapons quite unlike the swirling miasmic first appearance, and he is heading for you. And then you call in association with this image:
Ketu – South Node of the Moon: Past Life, meltdown and suddenness, spiritual light-bringer, dissatisfaction, detachment, solitude, scrutinizing, anonymity.
Ketu – Injury, disturbance, knowledge, liberation, spiritual insight.
South Node of the Moon: Past Life, meltdown and suddenness, spiritual light-bringer, dissatisfaction, detachment, solitude, scrutinizing, anonymity.
Ketu connects to computers (especially the internet), moksha and liberation, as well as unique or unusual modalities.
Mythic Keys to Rahu and Ketu:
The churning of the milk ocean happened at the beginning of time, both the Gods and demons sought to extract the needed Amrita: the nectar of immortality from the immense milk ocean at the center of the universe. (The Milk Ocean is a symbol of the Milky Way galaxy, Mula Lunar Sign).
But neither the Gods nor the Demons (the forces of ‘good’ and ‘evil’, our light and shadow sides) were strong enough to do it on their own, so they joined forces. The Gods realized that they had to employ the support of the demons (asuras) to create the momentum needed.
Both our light side and our shadow side must be involved fully if we are to have the nectar!
The churning of the Milk Ocean was a cosmic event. Mount Mandara was used as the churning rod. Vasuki, the king of the serpents, who abides on Lord Shiva’s neck, became the churning rope. The demons demanded to hold the head of the snake, while the gods, taking advice from Vishnu, agreed to hold its tail. As a result, the demons were poisoned by fumes emitted by Vasuki. Despite this, the gods and demons pulled back and forth on the snake’s body alternately, causing the mountain to rotate, which in turn churned the ocean. When the mountain was placed on the ocean, it began to sink. Lord Vishnu, in the form of a turtle Kurma, came to their rescue and supported the mountain on his back.
But once they started churning the ocean, an enormous amount of poison emerged. They stirred it up from the bottom. It was so horrific it threatened to destroy all of creation. So, to avert catastrophe, they called on Lord Shiva. They asked Him to drink all the poison.
This Lord Shiva managed to do. He drank all the evil, then transmuted it within himself, and thus he saved creation, because this allowed for the immortal nectar to be extracted.
Shiva and the poison: However, the poison might have destroyed Lord Shiva as well, had he actually swallowed it. Maybe even he could be overwhelmed by our Shadow? So, instead, he held it in his throat, and transmuted it. That is why he is sometimes portrayed blue. One of his forms is called “the blue throated one” (Neelakanthaya). He holds the poison of our darkness in his throat and transmutes it – so that we can live.
In the Vedic literature, one story says that the asuras ended up stealing it for themselves. The gods fought back and with the support of Vishnu (the sustaining force of dharma) they were able to regain the Amrita. Vishnu gave each one of the gods a drop of the immortal nectar, but Rahu (Svarbhanu) received a drop accidentally. Rahu was positioned in between the Sun and the Moon as he received the nectar, and they recognized him at once. The demons had consumed nectar. They had become immortal!
Accordingly, Vishnu chopped Rahu in half with his Sudarshana Chakra discus, and thus Rahu (head of the serpent) and Ketu (tail of the serpent) were born: two parts of a demon: chthonic dark and invisible forces, Ketu without a head so no logic; Rahu without a heart so no feeling. Rahu continues to chase the Sun and Moon out of disdain.
The formless entities Rahu and Ketu are representative of the unseen forces at play within all humans.
Rahu drives the cravings and the appetite for this material and psychic world.
Ketu dissolves. He forces the inevitable release process, severing us from worldly attachments.
Right now, this epic “churning” is taking place very acutely- inside of you and on the world stage. The aggression being stirred in the environment is activating individuals very acutely, and individuals are intensifying the collective energy as well. The churning is extreme right now.
The moral of this story is: It is no good ungroundedly imagining images of light and ascension, and gushing awesome etc, if we ignore our very own huge shadow demon creeping up behind us!
This is a story about the need to tread a tantric road to salvation: one which involves both our light and our shadow.
It contains seeds of wisdom about serpent power that was demonised in the story of Adam and Eve, is found in the story of Hercules slaying the Hydra. For the ancient Egyptians, snakes were the symbol of royalty: the pharaoh wore a uraeus, Cleopatra chose to die by cobra bite. The Egyptian serpent Apep embodied all wisdom and all darkness and evil: out of darkness light; death and rebirth. The world serpent features in many myths for example the ancient Norse Jormungand.
Ketu Astronomy:
The Nodes of the Moon are the intersection points in space of the apparent orbits of the sun and the Moon around the Earth, and as such are the eclipse Points. They are points in space of special sensitivity. They lie on the ecliptic which is a great circle on the celestial sphere representing the Sun’s apparent path during the year against the backdrop of the stars, so called because lunar and solar eclipses can only occur when the Moon crosses it
The difference between the Vedic and Western astrology birth charts:
The Vedic Birth Chart, using the sidereal zodiac shows our incarnational destiny: what fates constellate at the time of our birth for us to work with to experience, to heal. Its predictive unfoldment shows the nature and timing of the challenges and supporting energies you will have to work with at predictable dates, again: for you to heal and grow.
The Western Birth Chart, using the tropical zodiac shows your psychological or egoic self, and details its psychological unfoldment, with the call to develop individuation: the call to develop clear perception of all our subpersonalities, and the ability to manage them and to strategize our life. The western birth chart depicts our egoic self. Even Western Evolutionary Astrology which deals with the description and management of our past life scripts expresses these psychologically using the western tropical zodiac. Vedic Astrology on the other hand acknowledges our psychological egoic self but states that it is not fully real: just a boat to get us to the other side, but not the other side!
For more on the topic of: ‘Which Zodiac?’ see: blog.starwheelastrology.com/which-zodiac-should-i-use-in-astrology/
If you would like a reading for yourself or family members covering your birth chart and this period ahead, please contact me on: www.starwheelastrology.com
And see details of my earthspirituality courses and novels on:
www.druidforestschool.com www.rune-path.com
For Maggie’s healings see: www.maggiepashley.com
Blog: blog.starwheelastrology.com/
YouTube: www.youtube.com/michaelconneely
I look forward to hearing from you
Michael
