Astrology and Mental Health Part 2 : Five second diagnosis using the planets

** Hari Om Namo Narayana! **

If you read the first part of this series, you would have developed a fair bit of understanding about the importance of astrology as an ‘science’ in mental health diagnostics. There is more to astrology, especially ‘Vedic Astrology’ when it comes to its accuracy in diagnosing mental health issues.

Western astrology has its own techniques, for example using the outer planets, Uranus Neptune and Pluto quite effectively for diagnosing specific ‘problem areas’ of your life. Vedic astrology on the other hand, relies more on the Moon to analyse really how the mind works. The functioning of the Moon is gauged from the combination of nakshataras and the nodes of the Moon.

The nakshatras or the 27 lunar mansions are of prime importance when it comes to discussing several aspects of ‘consciousness’. However, I have found to be of prime importance to the novice astrologer, the nodes of the Moon, Rahu and Ketu. The nodes are quite literally ‘nodes’ or eclipse points. These are the two points where the Moon’s orbit around the Earth intersects the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. Rahu and Ketu are called ‘disembodied planets’ in addition to the seven ‘bodied planets’ from the Sun to Saturn, that we can employ for conducting a detailed study.

Although the Sun and Moon are not planets, in astronomical terminology, ‘planet’ is a loose translation for the Sanskrit word ‘graha‘ and ‘graha‘ mean ‘that which moves across the sky’ in Sanskrit.

There is a whole lot more than just the planets, eclipse points etc. in Vedic Astrology as the core work of analysis is formed by a robust scheme of 27 constellations or nakshatras underlying each zodiac sign or ‘rashi’. Every nakshatara has a planetary ruler and every planet is placed in some or the other nakshatara irrespective of where it is placed in the chart.

The scope of this part is limited to exploring the ‘Aha!’ combinations or ‘5 second combinations’ as I call them, of placements of planets and conjunctions and their combinations in a chart that shout out to the astrologer about underlying mental health issues as soon the chart is opened.

It is important to understand that the client may or not may not come to you directly with a query about mental health issues. Their query may be about something completely different. It is possible that any mental health issues that they are facing may be being swept conveniently, under the rug. It is your job as an astrologer to evaluate how much of that problem is related to their most pressing problem and what you can do about it.

For example, a client comes to you for a relationship reading and seems to be going on and on about their partner ‘never paying attention to their needs’ or about feeling ‘used’ in the relationship. It is possible that they may be facing problems in all relationships not just romantic relationships.

What would you do? Where would you start looking? What would you do to help them and what should you do when you open their chart and see within the first 5 seconds that the North Node of the Moon, Rahu is conjunct the Moon, in the 12th house…

For starters, if you have a fair bit of idea about planetary combinations, looking at this placement will help you understand that your advice will probably go waste on this person. It will most probably go waste like the advice of all other people in their life about all the issues that relate to the significations of both Rahu and the Moon in their chart. (It is important therefore that you figure out how to communicate well with them in the course of the reading.)

Where you see Rahu sitting, you see the areas of their life that they are trying to develop in this lifetime but are not quite close to yet. All in all, with Rahu Yuti Chandra, you can ascertain that such people have trouble maintaining their mental stability. Emotions run high and fast and they can’t seem to understand how to deal with that whirlwind.

In this example, let’s assume the Moon rules the seventh house in the horoscope which makes the client a Capricorn ascendant. Now, we can analyze the conjunction better by putting together the significations of the seventh house which is ‘Relationships’ with Rahu’s significations which are ‘Inexperience’ and ‘False’. So this person actually has inexperience in dealing with the emotions of their partner and their own emotions as well. Whenever they are in relationships, they find it hard to figure out what the other person wants and needs and how they must strike a balance with them. The emotions expressed and felt are mostly false in that they may be over exaggerated and over blown.

Since the 7th house signifies everyone except yourself, this person could be having huge problems in dealing with all relationships in general, not just the spouse. Mostly these problems could be centered around escaping from relationships and ‘escaping’ in general since the signification of the 12th house is ‘escape’ and the 12th house is where both Rahu and Moon are placed.

Further, Rahu in the 12th house could also indicate problems with sleep and rest such as insomnia, night terrors, sex, difficulty in meditation, finding inner peace, ‘letting go’ and surrendering to the higher power. They could also be having problems about ‘letting things go’ in general.

Here, it is very important to understand that the Moon signifies the area of life where the person feels most comfortable. The Moon being in the twelfth indicates that the person is most comfortable being along and being in their peaceful secluded place. Since the chaotic energy of Rahu is now conjunct the Moon, you can see that there must be major emotional upheavals related to feeling comfortable in general. Perhaps this person is too introverted or too sexual.

A couple of interview questions while interacting with the client can help big time in understanding where the energy flows in the chart.

A rule of thumb that I follow: If Rahu has eclipsed a luminary (explained in point 1 below) then the person is having to deal with a lack of that energy and if Rahu has not yet eclipsed it but is extremely close to it, the person is forced to deal with an excess of the luminary’s energy and is struggling to harness and channelize it well.

The severity of the problem can be gauged by what Karaka the Moon represents in their chart. I wouldn’t advise using this method though for everyone as there are some who follow the Lahiri ayanamsha and others who follow Tropical signs and some who follow KP. The karakas obviously change with the ayanamsha, so do the houses, so I cannot prescribe standardized results for the same in applying these diagnostic methods.

However, just in case any of you are interested in knowing what system I find most accurate, I follow a combination of Tropical Rashis + Sidereal Nakshatras + Placidus House System (KP Krishnamoorthy)

In my experience and research so far, over the past 7 years, these are the combinations I’ve seen in charts that can help you diagnose mental instability of varying degrees. The biggest help that you can get out of this is the ability to quickly understand that extensive work that shall need to be done with the counseling aspect of the client’s reading and helping them overcome deep rooted issues and challenges. If there are visible mental health indicators one needs to understand that on some level, the client may not be very ‘open’ to external advice.

Not necessarily all combinations are a ‘problem’ per se that need fixing. Most combinations are just energies aligned with the wrong life goals and the client needs to be given a better perspective of the problem through those indicators to better align themselves with the energy at work in their life.

I hope you can understand these basics and stick to them from a scholarly perspective when doing your research. Remember, this is just the first step and there are a lot of layers to this onion that we shall peel part by part.

Here are the 5 second combinations for this part:

1. Rahu Sun/ Rahu Moon:

Whenever either of the two luminaries, the Sun or Moon get caught up in the ‘wormhole’ of Rahu and Ketu, the effects of the placement are supremely taxing on the native’s self image.

Either they may have an image so overblown of themselves that they fail to live up to those ideals themselves and keep getting depressed due to continually falling short, or they may have a rather deflated sense of self and ego that takes a toll on them whenever they try to achieve anything ‘significant’ as per worldly standards.

• Look at the degrees of the luminary and the degrees of Rahu.
• Take the degrees of Rahu in negative magnitude. Take the degrees of the luminary in positive magnitude.
• Add both of them.
• If the answer is negative, then that means the person is facing a suppression of those traits that the luminary represents. Possible issues: Low Self Esteem, Neediness, Recklessness, Depression.
• If the answer is positive, then the person is facing an over expression of the qualities of the luminary, much to his own peril. Possible issues: Narcissism, ADHD, Psychosis, Schizophrenia.

2. Ketu Sun/ Ketu Moon:

Whenever Ketu is conjunct either of the luminaries, the results are distinctly introverted compared to the same conjunctions with Rahu. Figuratively speaking, Ketu is the past and the exit of the ‘wormhole’.

Ketu pulls you in to itself but it also has the energy of the entire journey that began with the entrance at the mouth of the ‘wormhole’ at Rahu. You can use the same technique as Rahu with Ketu but with opposite meanings:

• Look at the degrees of the luminary and the degrees of Ketu.
• Take the degrees of Ketu in negative magnitude. Take the degrees of the luminary in positive magnitude.
• Add both of them.
• If the answer is negative, then it means the person is facing a an inability to develop the traits associated with that luminary any further. The qualities of that luminary come naturally to them but they must look towards the other luminary for balancing their life. Possible issues: Hypersensitivity, Low self esteem, Suppressed Personality disorder, Multiple Personality disorder, Schizophrenia
• If the answer is positive, the person is facing an over development of the traits associated with that luminary. They find themselves at a cycle in this lifetime where they simply cannot develop those traits anymore and yet they need to because there is some karma attached to them. Possible issues: Perennial depression, Self worth issues, Introversion, Social Anxiety etc.

3. Saturn Moon/ Saturn Sun conjunction:

Saturn conjunctions and even hard aspects/ oppositions of Saturn on the luminaries can be considerably heavy for the native. If Saturn is badly placed in the chart, such as being malefic in nature and/or being debilitated/ situated in difficult houses, this problem can intensify considerably. Quite often, this can be a solid indicator of depression and narcissism.

The trouble is, once Saturn and the nodes are conjunct in a chart, pretty much any of the houses that either of them aspect, will face the chaotic energy of both Saturn and the nodes. Sometimes, even Ketu aspecting a house where Saturn is conjunct, will display Saturnine approaches towards those areas of the native’s life.

I have personally discovered that Saturn Ketu conjunctions are typically more frustrating and less intense than Saturn Rahu conjunctions in the chart.

Although neither of these combinations is comfortable but with Saturn and Rahu, rest assured that there will be considerable progress after the age of 42 when Rahu matures and in fact, still some at 36 when Saturn matures.

But with Saturn conjunct Ketu, one can be quite sure that Saturn won’t be readily accommodating of the idea of the native ‘going for it’ in this life time.

As I’ve talked about in my article about Astrology and past life, one can be quite sure of the fact the Saturn conjunct Ketu points out to an area of your life that the soul is here quite literally to develop because it’s ‘stuck with it’. It’s karma that you simply cannot seem to wash of or get rid of. Ultimately, in this lifetime, you will be able to do it but before that happens and often quite late in life, the lessons learned are hard and tough.

This sort of combination obviously comes with its baggage and lack of clarity on what is wanted and more focus on what is being repeated mostly that you cannot seem to make your peace with.

The thing is, with Saturn conjunct the south node of the moon, the native is too fixed in his ways, which are often the ways of the past that the soul is here to shed and move towards the North Node of the moon, Rahu.

However, to go towards Rahu, one needs to build up with Ketu in the earlier part of their life. It’s like learning a new language. For that, you will begin by learning first the translations of each word in the language you already know, using a few words of your mother tongue here and there when you fumble for the right vocabulary in the new tongue you’re speaking.

With Saturn conjunct Ketu, your condition becomes quite like someone with Rahu conjunct the Moon. You’re being taught a new language without being allowed to use the old language to learn it. It’s like being asked to talk in Japanese from the very first class of Japanese itself!

The resultant problems are quite often: Frustration, Self Harm, bouts of Hysteria, OCD, Psychosis, Neurosis.

Ketu is sitting there indicating you need to use that to build up towards Rahu and yet Saturn is sitting with Ketu, telling you can’t use it. This can become quite a task in the beginning of your life but here’s where it becomes better: Once you realize you’ll not be able to reap any benefits off that house and that you need to go towards Rahu in whatever way you do know, life becomes better.

The neurosis reduces, the depression reduces, the anxiety goes away and the pain (sometimes physically so), goes away with it.

Interestingly enough, as is always with Saturn and Ketu, the things of that house in which they sit conjunct, will all come to you own their own. The lesson here is learning to ‘not care’

4. Saturn Rahu/ Saturn Ketu

Rahu Yuti Shani or Ketu Yuti Shani is a difficult placement from a mental well being perspective. However, it is not an indicator of underlying mental health problems on its own.

The house placement of this conjunction matters a lot and if it is placed in malefic houses, I have observed the conjunction to be actually a lot stable. In kendra houses, it gets a lot worse but depending on the native and the other planets in the chart. There is no strict rule to it and it can vary depending on the chart.

However, anytime you have Shani Yuti Chandra in addition of to any of the nodes, chaos ensues. Usually, such a person will come to you on their own with a primary concern about their mental health. It could be possible that they’ve dealt with mental health issues for so long that they’ve never felt that there is anything wrong about feeling that way. Possible issues: Perennial depression, Low Self Esteem, Self Harm.

This can be really tough and requires a deep analysis of the underlying history and emotional baggage associated with the houses that the Moon rules in the chart and the houses that Rahu and Saturn are aspecting.

5. Pluto

In my experience, I have found indications of the outer planets Uranus, Neptune and Pluto to be 100% accurate every time I use them to analyze a client’s chart. In this part I’ll discuss only Pluto.

It’s really simple. Pluto being the farthest from the Sun, the house in which it sits, is the house where the mental comforts are the farthest from you. You never seem to get it right at least for the first half of your life until you’re past your 30s. There’s always a frustrating aspect to that area of your life which you can’t dominate. Quite often, that can be a trend for the entirety of your life since Pluto only changes signs once every 20 years.

These are the top 5, five second techniques that I could think of for this post. I’ll expand on this idea a little more in the next post with more examples, techniques and details about diagnosis techniques for the planets and ultimately using the houses, nakshatras, taaras, yogas and ashatakvarga, transits, planetary relationships.

Hope you found this useful. Please feel free to leave your comments. I would be happy to hear from you!

** Hari Om Namo Narayana! **