The Dark Side of Rahu: The Haunting Effects of the Shadow Planet on Your Destiny
There isn't too much written on Rahu (RA) and Ketu (KE). Although they're mysterious forces, I would say they are the most critical forces that we need to pay attention to in our birth charts. They’re responsible for the fated events in our lives. RA and KE are the north and south nodes of the moon respectively, which are the paths of our consciousness and they change signs about every 18 months. Unable to see them with the naked eye, they’re where the moon’s orbit intersects the ecliptic plane which is the plane of the Earth's orbit around the sun. RA is the point where the Moon crosses the ecliptic plane as it moves from south to north and KE is the point where it moves from north to south. They are always in the exact opposite sign and house of one another. These nodes are associated with eclipses and the moon’s influence on the tides.
RA & KE show where there’s an imbalance in our lives. KE exemplifies what we’ve worked on in the past and what we’re comfortable with, while RA shows what’s new that we’re working on. Look to RA to get an understanding of why we may feel as if we’ve lost complete control of the steering wheel, where we feel like we’re losing our minds, have an urge to self-destruct, experience unfortunate losses and life-altering inexplicable events. Life will take us to an extreme so that we can get a different perspective on things. This helps us to release our grip on what feels safe and controlled, which is KE, and venture into the unknown, which is RA. For example, a person with RA in the 7th house, the house of relationships, has KE in the 1st house. They may feel secure and controlled with themselves, but they may have had some unexpected and chaotic experiences in the realm of relationships, to the point where they may fear connecting with others. RA is often the place we don’t want to go, but it’s what we need to develop.
RA’s the head of a ravenous dragon that aimlessly consumes anything in his realm. While KE is the tail end of the dragon where things get eliminated.
RA is often described as a snake. Snakes symbolize transmutation. As I mentioned in some of my other videos, RA corresponds to the number eight and the 8th zodiac sign is Scorpio. Scorpio also has a snake and transmutation connotation. We’ll talk more about the number 8 a bit later.
Wherever RA is in our charts, we get more of that thing. We sometimes become wildly obsessed over something and we have an insatiable appetite for it. RA is the occult part of ourselves that we haven’t developed but is necessary for us. It’s the unknown where we encounter strange people and places who are actually reflections of the enigmatic parts of ourselves.
KE is what we eliminate, what we perfect, what we master and how we can become liberated. It’s our past lives and our perceived comfort zone but it’s also where we tend to be uptight. We’re using KE from a limited perspective. In order to get a new perspective, RA snatches and hurls us into a new territory. That’s often where our worst nightmares reside.
RA’s not always intense and cryptic. RA can bring about new events and things. This can be exciting but these are brand new things that we haven’t experienced before. We lack the skills to properly combat the menacing demon. RA also rules the future and technology. Is AI our friend or foe? Or could it be both? RA is the unforeseen future. I guess we’ll see in 200 years.
People in the astrology world often mention how scary Saturn (SA) is. Of course SA has to do with our pain and trauma that we wouldn’t wish upon our worst enemies. SA is the planet that has to do with time and time heals wounds. But RA? RA can be chaotic. Unpredictable, ominous, and eerie.
KE is like mist where you can barely see what’s around you. RA is absolute darkness where you can see nothing.
KE is like driving at night when it’s pitch black and there are no street lights but you have your headlights on so you can see in front of you. But you don’t know if you’re driving past an ocean or if you’re 10 feet away from falling off a cliff. But you can still manage to drive forward.
RA, on the other hand, is like driving in a pitch black void with no GPS. There are no street lights and you have no headlights. Imagine how petrifying that would be. At any second, you could slam into a tree or nosedive into a pit. Wherever RA is in our charts, it can feel like we’re driving without a destination or tumbling down a rabbit hole.
Depending on the sign RA’s in, the ruler of RA, planets conjunct RA, and other factors, will show how extreme or challenging the fight with your demons will be.
Again, RA corresponds to the #8. This number is like a boomerang. How we feel about ourselves will be projected in the world. If we feel good about ourselves and if we aren’t tackling anything terrifying within us, the RA experience will be decent or even pleasant. Either way, with RA’s reflection, we’re able to discover new things about ourselves. We’ll be able to observe what haunts us.
The key with tackling the RA demon is to understand that we’re living in a realm where we experience things as separate existences instead of seeing the One in all things. It’s also essential to accept that plunging into unknown territories is how we grow. As we experience our future, we learn that the demons we face are reflections of what’s within us. The loss and void we feel on the inside, will be reflected in our lives through deeply painful experiences. That pain is there so that we can let go of our unhealthy ego and confront that which makes us feel lost or unworthy or fearful. If our worst nightmares come true, it’s just RA reflecting what we fear on the inside. One of my favorite quotes is an African Proverb which goes, “If there are no enemies within, the enemies outside cannot hurt us.” That quote exemplifies that what we experience as an enemy is a mere reflection of what’s within us.
Once we tackle our enemies, we’ll know how we were lacking balance with our KE and that’s where we can release our grip on what we’re trying to control and become liberated from our karmas. We realize, there really are no enemies, just mirrors. The reflections of our inner struggles and demons are our friends who assist us on our paths. As we have more experience with RA, the more balanced life becomes, seeing things as a whole and no longer swinging between polarities. We begin to see through the illusion of separation which is the ego. We’re united with the One. We wake up and are free.