The Goal of Astrology is to Guide us Spiritually, Not Make Silly Predictions
Let me preface this by saying: Astrology (at least for predicting the future) is a joke. I say this as someone who trained in and practised astrology for a long time.
The reason I’m so negative about astrology is that, at least in India where I come from, it has become a weapon to scare people and extort money out of them. Also, maybe it’s a cultural thing, but Indian astrologers are trained to focus on the negative. There might be 100 good things in your chart, but they will take the one negative and spend 45 minutes talking about it.
It can be very depressing, and it takes away people’s free will. Keep telling people their life is going to become shit, and it becomes a self fulfilling prophesy.
At least, that’s what I felt, which is why I gave up on astrology. It turns people fatalistic and makes them timid and cowardly.
So Why the FUUCCCKKK am I talking about astrology if I hate it so much??
Spiritual Astrology
Because when I went back to astrology after a few spiritual experiences, I found that there were nuggets of gold under all that shit. At least Vedic (Indian) Astrology is based on good principles and spiritual truths.
This is my belief, I have no “scriptural” or otherwise proof for it: But astrology’s goal is NOT, repeat NOT to make predictions, but give us guidelines for our spiritual path.
The key is guidelines: Astrology, when used properly, can guide us on the spiritual path. It can show us which energies will most strongly affect our mind (we’ll see what I mean by energies and affect our mind in a second).
This is different from prediction. Just because you are being surrounded by an energy of anger, does not mean you have to act on it. It does not mean, like classical astrology says, that you will have car accidents or get into fights. NO. FUCK NO.
We have free will, even the most materialistic person has some level of awareness. We can control our thoughts, control our emotions.
But from a spiritual perspective, the energies shape and affect our mind in a certain way. If we want to live fulfilling and complete lives (and not just spiritual lives), we need to understand these energies, and how they affect our mind.
Because that’s what the planets of astrology are– energy fields that affect our mind. They are not something out there, like normal astrology seems to apply. The planets don’t control our life, or any other bullshit like that.
Rather, we, through our actions, our Karma, create a set of energies that vibrate in our psychic body. These energies affect our mind and emotions. No, they don’t predict if you will get that dream job at Microsoft or marry a fair skinned Brahmin girl of Kashyap caste who knows how to cook.
The effect of these energies is felt when you start meditating. You realise how you are helpless and at the mercy of forces stronger than yourself. You want to sit peacefully, but your mind won’t shut up. You want to practice compassion, but you end up screaming at your wife/child/friends, and later feel guilty. Why the hell did I get so angry over such a silly thing? It was like there was a demon inside me!
There is a demon, or rather, multiple demons around you. They are the negative energy patterns you have created before you became spiritual, and if you believe, over multiple lives. These demons, or planetary energies, must be conquered before we can win spiritual awakening.
So the planetary energies are more like guides and enemies on our personal Hero’s Journey. They exist to help us conquer our inner demons and become the best versions of ourselves. Even the bad energies, in this case, are not “evil” as such. They exist to show us our flaws, places where we need to be more aware, to practice compassion, to practice love and forgiveness.
Astrology is not meant to be a fatalistic thing, oh it’s my Karma, what can I do about it? Or more cruelly, as I’ve heard many people say when they see a poor person or someone suffering It’s his karma, he’s being punished by God for his sins.
God doesn’t punish us for our sins or any other such bullshit. Our Karma, by which I mean the psychic imprint on our mind, caused by our own thoughts, is our own creation, and we must heal it on our own. God is willing to be our guide, to show us the fastest way out, to even remove some of the worst Karma for us, if we keep doing the inner work; but the work has to be done by us, and us alone.
Spiritual Astrology can show us where we face the most challenges, and where we need to work the hardest. Of course, you don’t need astrology for that, it is merely a tool, just one tool out of many.
The Planetary Energies
There are 9 “planets” in Indian astrology, not all of which are planets. The sun and moon are clearly not, while Rahu and Ketu don’t even exist in the physical world, they are the eclipse points.
Of these 9, 3 are most important for the Spiritual hero(ine), and these 3 are the ones astrologers and most Indians are scared shitless of:
Saturn, Rahu and Ketu
Remove these 3 planets from the solar system, and most astrologers would starve to death. They would have no way of sucking money out of scared folk. But let’s look at the other planets, and how their energies affect our spiritual life, before we come to the big 3.
The first 6 energies
I will talk about the energy, its positive form, which is what it looks like when the energy is balanced, and its imbalanced form.
Sun
The sun represents the spirit, the soul. While it is the main thing in Western astrology, it is not as important in Indian.
When balanced, the person has good leadership skills, and a presence. This does not mean an extroverted salesman type guy. This leadership can be quiet and in the background, but it will be strong. The person will be confident and secure.
The imbalanced sun is more visible- this is the person always jealous of others, filled with self doubt, having the courage to act.
Almost everyone suffers from a lack of Sun energy nowadays. There is even a word for it- impostor syndrome, for people who feel they are not good enough.
Moon
The moon is the mind, the lower thinking mind, not the spiritualised mind (though it can become that).
A balanced moon leads to a calm and content mind, joy and peace in life.
An imbalanced moon, which is again everyone on the planet, leads to suffering and unhappiness.
Mercury
It is the energy of communication. If you want to be able to express yourself well, you need this energy.
Mars
Everyone knows Mars– fighting energy. The negative version of this is quite popular in our world. Negative Mars combines with Mercury to have bitchy fights on social media, with Moon to mentally harass other people, and with Venus to have sexual perversions and sex crimes.
But what most people don’t know is that Mars has a pure version too. This is the person who will not stand quiet when s/he sees injustice, the whistleblower willing to lose his job and face attacks just to expose corruption.
Hanuman, the monkey god, is the pure version of this energy. He had infinite energy but used it only to serve others.
Venus
This is the energy of romance, art, love and kindness.
The balanced Venus is quite rare- a loving mother who also paints or writes comes to mind. Venus leads to gracefulness and beauty– not just in the body, but in speech or actions as well.
The imbalanced form is more common– running after sex, porn addiction, a shallow selfish attitude. All these people on social media taking selfies are in the grip of negative Venus energy. They are valuing shallow beauty over deep gracefulness.
The problem is that, like Jupiter’s energy, the positive form of these energies are more useful in spiritual domains. Sun’s energy can be used in business, as can Martian. But the inner grace, kindness and compassion that Venus provides has no “real world” value.
Jupiter
Represents wisdom. The fat Buddha, laughing at life’s troubles, not taking anything seriously, but still being kind and helpful to everyone, offering spiritual guidance to those who ask.
Jupiter’s energy is one of the few ones that doesn’t have much of a negative influence.
The Big 3
And now we come to the 3 energies supporting 99.5% of all Indian astrologers.
Saturn
Saturn, the slow moving planet, is seen as a bringer of cosmic justice. Like the police, it is said Saturn will catch up to you and your bad karma.
This is a very poor interpretation of Saturn’s job.
While Saturn is about Karma, to think this energy is out there to hit you with a stick is to have a very narrow view of what Karma is. And it must be pointed out, many politicians have a strong Saturn influence, especially those that reach the top of their career (prime ministers, presidents).
Saturn’s energy has more to do with discipline and will power. Saturn does have negative aspects– this energy leads to decay, wastage, disappointments and eventually death.
To understand this clearly, let’s see a clear example of negative Saturn energy- a cranky old man who blames foreigners/gays for all the problems in his life. The Get off mah lawn type.
When people say on their deathbed, “I wish I had lived more”, they are under the influence of Saturn.
Saturn is the energy you face if you want to start a business or change your career radically– like go from corporate monkey to self employed creative artist. You work for hours each day, work on the weekends, do it for years, and nothing happens. It is all one disappointment after another.
Saturn is sounding very negative, isn’t he?
BUT
Saturn is the energy of delayed satisfaction, but when it gives results, it does so with compound interest, so you get a lot more than you put in. Saturn is the opposite of Venus energy (in its lower form). Venus says: Enjoy, party, drink and sleep around!
Saturn says Sit the fuck down and work hard. Didn’t you say you wanted to quit your job and run your own business?
Our culture wants immediate satisfaction, which is why it hates the discipline of this energy.
Now let’s come to the positive aspect of this energy. The reason Saturn feels so crippling and disappointing is that Saturn is a planet of vairagaya, a Sanskrit term that means detachment from the material world.
Saturn shows you the world is meaningless and without purpose. It is void of any true joy. Expecting happiness from the material world is like licking a paper fruit and expecting nourishment.
So Saturn is the planet of Yogis. Shiva, the creator of Yoga (the spiritual discipline, not the twist-yourself-like-a-pretzel part of it) is the ultimate representative of this energy.
Shiva, like Buddha after him, meditated on hard ground, in the graveyard, sitting with harsh discipline until he had mastered Yoga.
And yet, we know Buddha didn’t find enlightenment from his harsh methods. That’s because the Saturn energy, when too strong spiritually, leads to a form of harshness that actually harms your progress. It needs to be balanced with higher Venus qualities of love and compassion.
Lower Venus energies are an enemy of Saturn, but higher Venus helps calm the coldness that too much meditation produces. I mean the Oh the world is an illusion anyway, so let the bastards suffer thinking that many spiritual types have.
Buddha become awake when he discovered compassion for himself. Shiva found his wife Parvati, a representative of the Divine Mother, who calmed down his energy and turned him from Rudra (meaning The Terrible/Horrifying) to Shiva (which means The Peaceful).
So don’t fear this energy. It doesn’t harm you in the material world, though it does expect discipline. And as we have seen, it is the basis of spiritual growth.
With such strong things going for it, you wonder why Saturn isn’t more popular?
Rahu and Ketu
These are the real bad boys of astrology. They are the real villains of Indian astrology. Like Saturn, they cause suffering and pain, though multiplied by a hundred. And our modern period is ruled by these planets, as we shall see.
1st, some mythology. When the universe was new, all the Gods and demons got together to extract the treasures of the world from the ocean of the world, as it were. The task was hard, so the gods and demons had to cooperate.
One of the treasures was a nectar that gave immortality. There was no way the gods were sharing that with the demons, so Vishnu played a trick. He took the form of Mohini, the enchantress, and started dancing. Both the gods and demons were hypnotised by him. While they were distracted, Vishnu started giving the nectar to the gods, and ordinary wine to the demons.
One demon was too smart for this and slipped into the gods. He had drank only one drop of nectar when Vishnu realised who he was, and cut off his head.
But the demon had drunk the nectar, so he was immortal. The head became Rahu, a demon with no body, while the body became Ketu.
Rahu and Ketu are the eclipse points. Rahu eclipses the moon, while Ketu eclipses the sun. (yes, this isn’t scientifically correct, but goes well with our mythology, as you will see).
What is the moon? The mind. Rahu is the planet that takes over the mind and corrupts it.
The sun is the soul, the spirit. And Ketu covers it with darkness.
You can now see why the planets are considered so evil.
Rahu is the pure head– the expression “living in the head” means someone who is always daydreaming, thinking of themselves.
Rahu wants satisfaction- food, sex, wine, more more more! He drives people into insanity.
But because Rahu has no body, he can never be satisfied. The more Rahu wants, the more dissatisfied he feels.
Rahu is the planet of global madness. I have written before about how the ego is insane and does stupid things. Well, Rahu IS the planet of insanity. Look at the stock market. People throw billions into bubbles and then lose it all.
Rahu rules social media as well. Look at all the madness, people attacking each other, sending death threats to kids/women/people who vote differently. People’s lives have been ruined by what they said on social media.
Porn is a classical Rahu thing. Nowadays, everything is becoming “pornified”, with many TV shows containing more sex and violence than many porn movies of old. Many video games contain more nudity than TV. Do you want to sell glasses? Here is a picture of a naked woman covering her breasts with glasses. More baby!
(As a side note: I’m not judging. If you want to off yourself to video games/sexy ads, go right ahead. Just remember that Rahu’s extreme search for pleasure leads to Ketu’s depression. Sex can be enjoyed in a higher Venus fashion, where it is accompanied by love; or with a woman in leather who whips you for $150 / hour. Ultimately, it’s your choice which version you want).
Ultimately, Rahu’s more more more! leads to a crash.
Stock markets crash. People lose their jobs. The world economy crashes.
And that leads us to Ketu. Ketu is a limiting energy. After Rahu’s excesses, we get depression, suicides, violence, revolutions and bloodshed.
Remember Ketu eclipses the sun? The sun is the soul. Ketu is the fanatic, the extremist willing to burn women suspected of being witches, the Jihadi willing to blow up planes, the fanatic shooting people at a gay bar. Ketu says: I am right, and I am willing to kill and be killed for it.
Damn, it seems I have nothing good to say about these evil bastards.
Well, no. Like Saturn (and Mars in some way), of which these planets are an ultra extreme form, they show you the emptiness of the world, the lack of meaning, the lack of any lasting peace. There was an Indian king in British Raj, who had a harem with 150 women, and he had sex with a new woman every night. He died of sexual boredom, wishing he had done something useful with his life. That’s the lesson Rahu/Ketu teach you.
Or like a story Eckhart Tolle tells, he met a man sitting in his private jet, sipping champagne, wondering how fucking miserable his life was. You don’t need a private jet to realise this.
Rahu/Ketu lead to ultra fast enlightenment. Everyone wants enlightenment NOW, and Rahu/Ketu are the only energies willing to give them to you. But you will have to suffer, realise the madness of the world, realise the emptiness of the world. Are you willing to die to find freedom? Are you willing to suffer? That is the question Rahu/Ketu ask.
These energies also represent extreme self discipline, again like Saturn/Mars.
Vishnu’s Mohini form was the sexiest woman in the world so even the gods were enchanted by her. But the demon Rahu/Ketu wasn’t taken in by her. Why? Because he wanted immortality above everything else.
Mohini represents the physical world, the power of Maya, and the illusion of the world. She dances in front of us, enchanting us with money/power/glory, all the while stealing our immortality.
You need the strong discipline of Rahu to say, Fuck this shit, I ONLY want Spiritual Awakening. And all the powers of the illusionary world become useless to you. It takes real courage to give a middle finger to the powers of the world, but Rahu/Ketu have that power. Because they only want one thing: FREEDOM, NOW. Not in the next life, not tomorrow or the day after, NOW DAMMIT.
Buddha once said: Try living without a head. It is very freeing.
To live without a head is to live without constantly thinking, analysing everything, making plans for the future etc. That’s what Ketu represents. He has no head, so he lives in the moment. Every moment is a moment of joy, where you can find freedom NOW.
In my experience, serious/advanced meditators WILL have to deal with the Rahu/Ketu energy. They will be forced to confront their mind, and their attachments, and they will have to face attacks/humiliations in the material world. They will have to realise that it was their thinking that is the cause of their suffering, not some God.
Such experiences can be very painful. That’s why they had monasteries in the past, so other experienced yogis could guide you. In modern times, it has become easier as now you can find guidance online, like articles like this; but it has also become harder, as there are more temptations online as well.
You have to be really strong to face your inner demons. More importantly, you need 100% FAITH in the Universe. You cannot defeat your demons on your own. That is the ultimate lesson Rahu/Ketu teach you. Through intense suffering, they grind down the ego and put you in touch with the Divine within yourself.
And that is their ultimate gift to humanity. Rahu Ketu shows you, there is a bright Light behind this Darkness.
Summary
So how does one work with these energies? You can sit with an astrological chart, but I find it useless.
Instead, meditate on the 9 energies above. Which ones are strong in your life? In which ones are you acting from lower energy? In which one can you act in a higher capacity?
I am planning to build a course on this, a meditation on planetary energies. Keep watching this space for more.