Ketu appears in 3 systems: the same name is used for more than one thing. Both are shown below.
Jyotisha
Ketu
Ketu is the south lunar node, the other chaya graha, and the point of what has already been finished. It gives detachment, spiritual aptitude, loss without explanation, and a peculiar blindness in the affairs of the house it occupies: the native does not see what Ketu covers, and does not much want to.
Ketu is a node, not a planet: it is recorded in points.json as a lunar_node and carries no forced planet id here. It owns no sign, has no weekday and is always retrograde. Its exaltation is disputed exactly as Rahu's is; Scorpio (with Sagittarius as the common variant) is given for exaltation and Taurus (with Gemini) for debilitation. BPHS makes it an enemy of the two luminaries, a friend of Mars, Venus and Saturn, and neutral to Mercury and Jupiter. It must not be confused with the upagraha Upaketu, which is a computed point derived from the Sun and is a different thing with a similar name. Ketu's 7 years are the first period of the Vimshottari cycle, the one Ashvini opens, which is why nakshatras.json begins its ruler sequence with Ketu.
Symbols and forms
- Alternate Names
- South NodeCauda DraconisDhwajathe flag-bearer
Nature and meaning
- Kind
- Graha
- Sanskrit
- केतु
- English
- the south lunar node (a chaya graha, not a planet)
- Nature
- ClassKruraQualityMaleficConditionMalefic by nature, but the most ambiguous of the malefics: it gives loss and dissociation, and also liberation.Reading
Ketu is the second chaya graha. Where Rahu grasps, Ketu lets go, and the tradition reads it as the graha of what has already been mastered, so that its losses are read as detachment and its detachments as freedom. It is a malefic without heat: accident, isolation, the sudden end of a thing, and the same events read as moksha.
- Meaning
Ketu is the south lunar node, the other chaya graha, and the point of what has already been finished. It gives detachment, spiritual aptitude, loss without explanation, and a peculiar blindness in the affairs of the house it occupies: the native does not see what Ketu covers, and does not much want to. Its gem is the cat's eye (lehsunia, chrysoberyl) and its metal iron.
Details
Calculated points
Ketu is the south node and the point of what has already been mastered; the tradition reads it as liberation and loss at once.
Symbols and forms
- Alternate Names
- South NodeCauda Draconis
Practice
- Magical Uses
- ReleaseDetachmentSpiritual practiceAncestor work
Nature and meaning
- Domain
- LiberationDetachmentPastSpiritualityLoss
Details
- Calculation
- The south point where the Moon's orbit crosses the ecliptic, opposite Rahu.
- Keywords
- South nodeLiberationDetachmentPast livesSpirituality
Deities
Correspondences
- Planetary Correspondence
- Mars
Offerings
- Offerings
- SesameIronRed clothMustard oil
Sacred timing
Symbols and forms
- Alternate Names
- The South NodeThe Dragon's Tail
- Gender Expression
- Masculine
- Titles
- The Shadow PlanetThe Dragon's TailThe Liberator
- Symbols
- Dragon tailFlagSerpent
Practice
- Invocation Approach
- ToneQuiet detachmentAddressLord KetuThe Dragon's TailRelationshipThe tail that lets goWarningHe takes away what was never yoursResonanceThose seeking liberation or release
- Modern Practice
Invoked in Jyotish for the nodal periods and for renunciation; his remedies are sesame, iron and mustard oil.
Nature and meaning
- Domain
- EclipseLiberationDetachmentSpiritualityPast livesLoss
- Mythology Summary
Ketu is the descending lunar node, the tail of the asura Rahu and the second of the shadow planets of Vedic astrology. He is the moksha-karaka, the significator of liberation, detachment, spirituality and past-life karma, invoked for spiritual insight and for relief from the nodes' effects.
Details
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Referenced by 2
Every entry that names Ketu, grouped by the system it comes from.
☊ Jyotisha 1
- Ketu Dasha Graha
☥ Deities 1
- Rahu Related Deities
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