Ketu's Gandanta

It’s time to talk about Ketu: the lunar node who, mythologically speaking, represents the tail of the snake or dragon: with Rahu being the head. The lunar nodes in Vedic Astrology often show where we are encountering our shadows. In transit they will show what area of life might suffer from a lack of clarity, and what we are collectively negotiating in terms of karma.

Rahu and Ketu always sit opposite one another in the Zodiac, being the head and tail or the cosmic serpent, so when one transits sign the other shifts to the sign opposite it in the zodiac. They are getting ready to move on 9/23, but until then Ketu is treading into the gandanta or ‘spiritual’ knot between Scorpio and Sagittarius. The nodes move backwards through the zodiac, which shows us that they don't ascribe to what is ‘normal’ or socially acceptable, and often shun social order. So Ketu has one foot in Sagittarius and will soon have one is Scorpio. Rahu does not have to negotiate a gandanta point, since these are always between fire and water signs and Rahu moves from Gemini (air) to Taurus (earth).

So it is, for now, more important to understand what is going on with Ketu at the moment. As I’ve written previously, the gandanta tend to push us into places our minds can’t make sense of—places where the tendency is to resist reality and guard against what is coming, or what we perceive to be coming. On a mental and physical level the result of this is generally a huge amount of tension held in body and mind, which creates a container that is difficult to inhabit.

The indications of the planet which is in gandanta will give us clues as to the subject matter of the tension or collective holding. Ketu is a tricky planet to analyze this way because he can represent absence. He is the moksha karaka or indicator of final emancipation so at his best he’s not actually interested in being in the world. He is the buddhist working one-pointedly toward non-attachment. In his less exalted state he can be a fundamentalist who is not open to other people’s opinions or views (he is the cause of eclipses, along with Rahu, and can essentially ‘eclipse’ the mind into seeing only one perspective. On the positive side he can not be distracted by ‘worldly’ pursuits and so focus on his meditation). Ketu is interested in the ‘inside’ of things, what is under the surface—the manner in which he achieves his objective varies depending on strength and position and the general disposition of the chart.

There could be some collective ‘knotting’ around what has been and will continue to be taken away (Ketu’s “absence”) as we negotiate the changes we’ve all been attempting to adjust to. It should be noted that technically Ketu has been in gandanta since 7/28, and it will only intensify until he is firmly in Scorpio mid-November.

But the more explicit manifestation of the knot that we’re seeing and have already seen is the fundamentalism, particularly in the United States, which most definitely has us tied in knots. To live in the United States right now is to have no choice but to inhabit a knotted position, as it is almost impossible to occupy a ‘neutral’ position right now. So the practice is to continually notice where you are holding tension—psychologically, emotionally, physically—and to feel into it. There is no need to try to ‘fix it’ or eliminate it, just notice what qualities it is characterized by and go deeper into hat inquiry. There is a lot of information contained in the tension dredged up by gandanta planets. And Ketu, being a psychic planet, would appreciate us all tapping into the subtle sensations available to us through our bodies.

On the other side of the knot—once Ketu reaches Scorpio—his focus will be slightly different. Ketu is at home in Scorpio: the 8th sign of the zodiac—and is more interested in initiation into the depths of experience than in occupying a particular religious or spiritual position. He demands spiritual experience over spiritual ‘beliefs’ in other words, and I imagine we will all be ushered into the depths rapid transformation (Ketu indicates sudden and quick events, sometimes emergencies) which it is hard to imagine from here. That is the trick of gandanta! The mind can’t see it’s way across, which can be like trying to run a race in the dark. It’s anxiety provoking, but it certainly wakes you up. And that, after all, is the point.