Are reverse nodal periods ‘Rahu-Ketu’/’Ketu-Rahu’ necessarily a bad time for career?

Hari Om Namo Narayana!

As a teacher, I would advise you strictly from a knowledge perspective to read my answer on Rahu mahadasha before you read this, for a much better understanding about the nodes.

This will put you in the right perspective about the agenda of the ‘Karmic’ Shadow Planet ‘Rahu ji’ and how he dictates your life.

• Now, ‘Rahu-Ketu’ combinations are some of the most misread and misunderstood combinations in astrology at large.
• The problem is people have trouble understanding the energy of the North Node ‘Rahu ji’ and the South Node ‘Ketu maharaj’ in the first place.
• That is only fitting because the energies of the North and South Node are designed by the universe.. designed by Vishnu, to be deceptive.
• If you can understand the nature of the nodes, you can become more in-tune with their energies.
• The best remedy for the North and South Node combination periods in your life is.. reading as much as you can about these ‘shadow planets’. (That is why you have all those ‘kathas’ or stories that you are asked by your astrologers and gurus, pundits to read.)

So very attentively hear me as I answer your question:

1. Chanting, Introspection, Meditation, Social Service, Charity.. or traveling the world, learning to fly, bungee jumping… whatever soul searching you feel like doing, just go do it!
2. That’s the best remedy for any combination periods of the Nodes.
3. This is because, whenever ‘Rahu ji’ and ‘Ketu ji’, complete each other, by:

• 1. Transiting over each other. (Reverse Nodal Transit)
• 2. Axis reversal in your D-9 chartcompared to your natal chart (or D-60 and natal chart,) OR
• 3. Running an ‘antardasha’ in each other’s ‘mahadasha’

… In all of these situations, the nodes are causing a ‘churning’ of your karma…

But first, let me ask if you’ve heard the story of the ‘Samudra Manthan’ mentioned in the ‘Shrimad Bhagvatam’ ?

1. At the time of the churning of the ‘Ksheer Sagar’ or ‘Ocean of Milk’, the ‘devas’ (gods)and ‘asuras’ (demons) churned the ocean of milk together using Mount ‘Mandara’ as a churning rod and the serpent king ‘Vasuki’ as the churning rope.
2. A giant turtle, the ‘Kurma Avatar’ of Vishnu, bore the weight of Mount ‘Mandara’ as ‘Vasuki’ was coiled around this mountainand pulled from either sides by the gods and demons.
3. The godswere holding it from the side of its head and the demons, from its tail. They kept on pulling at the opposite ends of the giant serpent and churning the Mountaincontinuously to churn the ocean of milk…
4. Legend has it that the nodes of the Moon were born out of the dismemberment of a demon named ‘Swarbhanu’.
5. Right after the churning of the ocean as described in the ‘Shrimad Bhagavatam’, there started a fight between the gods and demons over who would drink the nectar of immortality that was drawn from the depths of the ocean by the collective efforts of the both the gods and demons
6. ‘Vishnu’, the all seeing, all knowing creator of the universe and all of the many worlds, decided to intervene in this mess by taking the form of a beautiful enchanting woman named ‘Mohini‘. It was decided that shewould distribute the nectar of immortality to both the godsand the demons, the only condition to the arrangement being that the gods would be given the nectar first. The demons, already smitten by the enchanting enamoring form of ‘Mohini’ readily agreed.
7. All of them but one; the demon named ‘Swarbhanu’.
8. ‘Swarbhanu’ wanted to ensure that the demons were not dealt a rough hand and he was already quite suspicious of the whole arrangement.
   1. He sat assuming a position between the Sun god and the Moon god As Mohini reached where ‘Swarbhanu’ was sitting, distributing the nectar of immortality among the gods, both the Sun and Moon god realized that while there were only supposed to be 7 of them sitting in the row, there was this extra god sitting between them that they had never seen before.
   2. The Moon and the Sun looked at each other surprised, as if to say: “I thought he was with you ?”
9. In that confusion, ‘Swarbhanu’ reached out and drank the nectar of immortality that ‘Mohini’ had poured into a cup. As soon as he had drunk the nectar of immortality, he assumed his natural form and began to laugh, mocking the gods. Furious at being cheated, ‘Mohini’ too emerged into her true form as Vishnu and chopped off the demon’s head with his ‘Sudarshan Chakra‘.
10. The damage had been done however and the demon was divided forever into two immortal parts: The head, which is the north node of the moon ‘Rahu’ and the body, which is the south node of the moon, ‘Ketu’.
11. Since the demon ‘Swarbhanu’ had become immortal having drunk the nectar of immortality, he continued to exist in his dismembered form as a ‘shadow planet’. While both the North and South node are parts of the same entity, they are essentially distinct in nature. In a birth chart, they are always 180 degrees apart from each other.
12. The North-South node represent the past life ‘karma’ in your chart.

• The North Node and South Node represent the future and the past development of the soul, respectively.
• The North Node and South Node also represent respectively, the weakest and strongest chakras of the body.
• The North Node and the South Node are actually a singular energy.

Now, did the soul not go through cycles of development before them? What was happening before ‘Rahu’ and ‘Ketu’ came to be?

The story of the serpent ‘Vasuki’ and his contribution in churning the ocean points out that ‘Karma’ had always existed which is why churning the ocean for gifts and poison equally demanded such an intense combined effort.

It only became more active when the churning of the ocean brought forth new gifts and curses. That is when the need for a specialized force like the shadow planetswas manifested by Vishnu.

This is because goodness and evil came out of the churning in equal measure. All creation was bound to alternate between one and the other continuously.

‘Vedic’ texts especially in astrology, yoga and tantra (all from ‘Atharva Veda’) take quite a bit of understanding as they’re written in ‘code’.

If the ‘Shrimad Bhagavatam’ is detailing a story about churning the ocean of milk, there is a deeper knowledge being tried to convey here. It’s not just a story about churning a mammoth ocean of milk!

An uncanny similarity in description and purpose is found in the description of ‘Kundalini’ energy.

Thisenergy is widely described as a serpent coiled up at the base of the spine near the ‘Mooladhara chakra’.

The exact placement as per schools of thought may be different.

The ‘Shandilya Upanishad’ is associated with the ‘Atharva Veda’ and describes the ‘Kundalini’ as follows:

“ …the ‘Kundalini’ sleeps spiral in form and coiled up like a serpent. He who causes this Kundalini to move – he is an emancipated person. .. “

1. It is interesting that the North Nodeand South Node are also described as the head of the serpent and the tail of the serpent.
2. Not only that, North Node and South Node are depicted that way in almost all of the temples. Notice it next time you visit.
3. ‘Rahu ji’ is shown as just a head with a serpent’s body and ‘Ketu ji’ with the head of a serpent and a human body complete with limbs.

You see, the churning of the serpent is what yields the nectar of immortality… This means that if we can churn out our karma in this tussle that is created between the nodes coming together and pulling us in opposite directions, we can awaken our kundalini and be enlightened.

That’s basically it.

There are fancier ways of saying it and you’re encouraged to read more of my answers (listed below) on ‘Rahu ji’ and understand his energy better.

For the purpose of this question however, here’s my answer:

1. No, it does not mean your career will remain dis satisfactory until you are running ‘Rahu mahadasha’/ ‘Ketu mahadasha’.
2. It just means that this will be a period of internal ‘churning’ that you will need to utilize to introspect, reflect, analyze, prioritize and contemplate the bigger picture you see for your own good.
3. If you are goals in life are out of alignment with your soul’s desire for development, you’ll see that whatever is getting in the way of that will just fall away.
4. If your job is what is preventing you from pursuing what you ‘should’ be doing, no matter how much they pay you, you’ll never be happy.
5. If it’s a toxic relationship, that suddenly goes under.

The sole purpose of the soul, is to grow until its energy expands so much that it unites with the divine consciousness.

So, if there are life patterns that are obstructing the soul’s path towards development, then those patterns will need to discontinue.

The nodes want to help you shrug off outdated life patterns that no longer serve your soul in its quest for development. ‘Rahu ji’ doesn’t care how willing you are to stick to toxic patterns and things that aren’t helping you grow.

For people who are having problems in career in the nodal periods..

• It’s not your ‘career’ that is going to be a problem if you are out of sync with the energy. It’s just your ‘job’ that you will be out of sync with if it’s not the best job for you. Take the time to journey within and do a mindful ‘churning’ of your energy.
• Maybe you do even need to change your career? Why does it have to be a bad thing? Because of fear? Procrastination? How are you going to grow then? How is your soul going to develop if you always stick to what you already know and never allow yourself the freedom to go after the goals you always wanted in life?

Some remedies that are very helpful:

1. ‘Kriya Yoga’ (churning of breath to align the chakras with breathing.)
2. ‘Mantra Saadhna’ (‘mantra jaap’ with specific ‘mantras’ for each ‘chakra’)
3. ‘Chakra’ Healing (healing the ‘chakras’ in a specific order and time duration.

Some of my other answers about ‘Rahu ji’ and understanding the nodes:

• Jay Kaushal’s answer to What Rahu mantra should I recite as I have a weak Rahu and when? Can Hanuman Chalisa also help me strengthen my Rahu?
• Jay Kaushal’s answer to How should i cope up with Rahu Mahadasha? Why is it extremely bad for me?
• You may also try reading my book on ‘Decoding Rahu’.

Hari Om Namo Narayana!