Rahu and Ketu Transit, June 6th – Time to Charm the Snakes

Rahu and Ketu known as the ‘Snake Planets’ are not actually planets but are nodes of the Moon. These shadow planets don’t have Houses in the Zodiac but they acquire power from the House where they occupy.

Unlike other planets, Rahu and Ketu travel in a counter-clockwise direction over the natal charts spending around one and a half years in each of the signs. This year, they are changing signs or making a transit, commencing on June 6, 2011. Rahu is shifting from Sagittarius into Scorpio, while Ketu is moving from Gemini into Taurus where they will remain for the next 18 months.

Things you should know about Rahu & Ketu

• Rahu and Ketu are unique as they always appear in the chart in a retrograde direction.
• Both of them contain key clues about your karma from previous lives as well as important issues for you to work on in this one.
• Astronomically, Rahu and Ketu are the mysterious unseen points in space causing the eclipses. While they are not technically planets, their influence is so significant that they were given the status of planets by the ancient sages as they can seize hold of our consciousness.
• This transit of Rahu and Ketu can bring positive or negative effects on your life completely depending upon their positions in your birth chart.
• In Vedic legend, Rahu and Ketu are each part of a snake that was cut in two.

Like other planets, both Rahu and Ketu are neither 100% malefic nor 100% beneficial for most of us. This means the effect of this upcoming transit depends on how we respond to both favorable and unfavorable situations as there is always a free will.

Rahu has a positive side and can offer great boons in communication, innovative ideas, new inventions and improved technology. Ketu is sometimes called the saintly planet as Ketu can help push us to be motivated for spiritual liberation. Rahu can help to make us extroverted, affirming and ambitious, while Ketu’s influence can push us to be more introverted or detached.

However, both Rahu and Ketu can have a poisonous side as well and their malefic energies are dreaded as Rahu can trigger out of control behaviors such as addiction and Ketu can make material comforts evaporate.

Dr. Pillai advises “You can reduce the malefic effects or augment the benefic effects of any transit by performing targeted, Vedic remedies.” He has also identified specific Rahu and Ketu temples which will serve as the divine medium to access the great remedial impact of this Rahu/Ketu transit.