Hari Om Namo Narayana!
A lot has been been said about ‘Ketu’ in the first house and mostly it’s a lot of negativity.
In the same way that ‘Rahu ji’ cops most of the disapproval for being a ‘malefic’, ‘cunning’ and ‘misleading’ energy, which is by the way not at all true since these are the shadow attributes of the North node, not the true attributes. So, much in the same way, it’s so easy to mistake the shadow elements of the South node to be all that he stands for.
‘Ketu’ is the planet of ‘moksha’.
He is the planet of spiritual wisdom and insight.
The truth is, you can’t be a very good astrologer without a strong South node in the chart.
Why?
It’s simple.
‘Jyotisha’ and ‘Yoga’ aren’t disciplines we consider possible to be mastered in a single lifetime.
It takes many many incarnations to acquire the necessary spiritual development to master these disciplines.
A person with the South node in the ascendant can very likely be a person who has reincarnated specifically to continue his or her spiritual journey.
Now, people make all sorts of claims about ‘Ketu’ in the first house ‘destroying the personality’ of the native.
A gentleman, a fellow astrologer actually went ahead to say so that 95% of the time ‘Ketu’ in the ascendant destroys the personality of the native.
Well, I’ll write anything later. First of all, I’ll clear this misconception by listing a few very notable examples of people that I know personally, who exhibit the power of the South node in the first house.
- A friend of mine who is a successful hotelier, mother of two and a devoted wife, devoted daughter and devoted friend.
- A client of mine who is an expert radiologist, devoted mother, wife and friend including a fitness enthusiast.
- The partner of a friend of a mine, who is an established data scientist and mathematician who is also once again, a devoted friend, spouse and parent and has helped one of the leading Tech companies in the world, better understand data trends which then lead to the development of better marketing strategies and product development.
- A cousin of mine who is a great chef and works in one of the most popular and loved hotels in the country and specializes in continental cuisine.
- A relative of mine who migrated to Canada with only a Bachelor’s in export-import and ended up, 20 years later, a respected VP in one of the top consulting firms in America, along with a PhD from Stanford.
Not the answers you were expecting?
Why?
It’s only the famous people who have accomplished anything of value in life?
So if someone’s not ‘famous’ they are basically not ‘worth’ the respect and haven’t achieved anything of value?
Is it?
If that’s the case, sure, ‘Ketu’ destroys your personality and no need to even go into the details of anything other than that.
Otherwise, if you’re ready to look at things for what they truly are and what they practically mean in this world, these examples are examples of real people I know one way or another who are great assets to society and just choose to keep a low profile and go about their business.
That hotelier friend of mine recently whatsapped me a written note, (addressed to her) from the PM of a country who had dined at their restaurant and was really impressed with how everything was organized and curated for the visit.
Surely, I’d say, that’s a big enough achievement in mundane terms, considering how few people will ever live to reach such a level in their field.
Right?
But just because these individuals don’t care much for the spotlight and choose to spend the time away from their work and family commitments, journeying inwards, that South node in the first house doesn’t seem like such a good placement?
C’mon man.
This is what has made people lose trust in the beautiful art and science of ‘Vedic’ astrology.
Maybe a lot of astrologers felt that people with the South node in the ascendant were ‘lost’ and their ‘personalities were destroyed’ because these people came to them in times when actually they were going through a period of soul searching and confusion.
So what? So you just generalize it?
Yes, South node people quite often get ‘lost’ in their service to others and forget to care for themselves that well.
This is.. until they get back to their spiritual core and get back on track with life.
So.. it just means that you can predict for the rest of their life, based on that one ‘phase’ that “South node in the first house destroys the personality” of the native?
No.
‘Ketu’ in the first house makes a person extremely aware of the sham that this material plane can be.
Therefore, they just choose to not be a part of that race and stay humble, stay focused on executing their ‘dharma’.
True, many of these people often suffer from self worth issues and self doubt, however it is only as long as they are asleep to the true extent of their potential. This potential is only fully expressed and reached when they choose to focus on the spiritual core of the physical experience.
South node in the first house people sooner or later understand and quite often, through life’s hardships, that we are not physical beings with the capacity for spiritual progress.. but the other way around! We are souls undergoing a physical experience here on the material plane.
- You probably are surrounded by these people and have been helped by them in very crucial moments in your life.
- That friendly stranger who walked up to ask you if all was ok when you were faced with bad news and looked visibly shaken?
- That friendly senior who shooed the bullies away from you and got you a snack from the canteen to cheer you up?
- That smiling, polite, radiant store manager who stepped out of their way to solve your problem..
- Or that considerate policeman who stopped the car and asked you if you’d like a ride home when he saw you walking alone at night.
- These are all examples of a typical ‘South Node in the first house’ person.
People with South node in the ascendant don’t care what you think about them.
Yes, sometimes this is negatively expressed in that they may choose to not care much about their physical appearance.
However, every person with the South node in the ascendant is destined to discover the path of spirituality. One way or another.
Most people don’t get this because they don’t really get spirituality.
They mostly are drawn to judge and experience life in terms of what the eyes can visibly comprehend.
- A ‘Ketu’ person who has undergone the necessary spiritual evolution, that they are destined to by the way, looks through you and helps you if possible and won’t even stop to ask for credit.
- These people aren’t about themselves at all.
- They are all about serving others as a way of serving the divine.
- No, I’m not over romanticizing the impact of South node in the ascendant to make up for the over ‘demonization’ by some others of this placement, I’m just saying, when a South Node person is operating at their highest potential, you won’t even know them.
- You can’t spot them and in that moment, they will seem to you whichever way you wanted them to seem to you.
Let me explain:
The South node, is ‘nothingness’.
So it is very easy when the South node is in the ascendant, for another person to ‘project’ an image on to the South node in ascendant person, an image of whoever in that moment, this person needs the South node person to be.
If you were looking for a guide, you will look at them as a guide and they will appear very Jupitarian in fact, in their approach and mannerisms.
If the situation demands a leader, the South node person will step up and be the leader that is needed and everyone will see the embodiment of the Sun in them.
It is very difficult to spot a ‘Ketu’ person unless they want to be spotted.
They are like the snow leopards of the human world. haha
They don’t like to reveal much about them because many of them and in fact, mostly all of them, are hiding some sort of pain and wish only to help and serve others the best they can.
Another thing about them is that they are very charming.
Why so?
See because the North node in the 7th shows where this person needs to develop in this lifetime. If you’ve read my book and other answers, articles on the nodes, you will know that ‘Rahu’ placement in the chart shows where the native possesses a natural flair but also inexperience.
So when in the 7th house of relationships, in the natural house of the sign of Libra, ruled by Venus, these people start their lives as being very charming but still inexperienced in the area of forming relationships.
This quite often leads to them getting into the wrong sort of relationships in all spheres of life. Then this results in them getting taken advantage of.
Finally at some point, and this differs from individual to individual depending on the strength of the South node in the chart, the ‘nakshatra’ placement and how and where the sign lords of the nodes are placed, at some point these people realize that the only way to be not taken advantage of is to become self reliant.
Where does self reliance come from? Surely nobody can be completely aloof?
Primarily, you see, self reliance comes from the ability of a person to look towards the divine for assistance in the gravest times of need.
Which means, self reliance comes primarily from spirituality.
This is why so many monks lead a solitary life.
By the way, monks represent the South node.
- South node people have oodles of ‘free will’ in their chart.
- This is something you can’t fathom if you don’t have ‘Ketu’ in the ascendant. You just won’t get it.
- See, the South node in the first house shows that the soul has acquired mastery of the self over many past lifetimes.
- Now in this time, they can continue that work and choose to lead completely obscure lives.
- Or, they can finally work towards building relationships with others and building something bigger than what can be built by self reliance alone.
- Therefore, many people with the South node in the ascendant actually have past life agendas that they are here to complete in this lifetime.
- However, the South node is also your comfort zone and quite often unless there are planets in the lower half of the chart, indicating that there is ‘karma’ to be performed in those areas, these people may completely ignore the North node side of the chart and continue their journey of self realization and spiritual progress.
- These people can be extremely powerful mystics and even sorcerers and the thing is, you don’t know about them.
- They don’t want to be known either!
That’s what you need to understand about the South node.
- The South node looks within.
- It cuts through illusion and goes against what everyone is running after.
- However, these are the people you seek when you truly need help.
- In the scriptures actually, the South node is described as an extremely violent, powerful, angry energy.
- That’s true too because the South node in the ascendant does show that the individual is capable of fighting like you can’t imagine, through knowledge of the same carried over from past lives.
- You cannot imagine how fast a South node in the ascendant individual can go from 0 to 100 if it is required.
- Even so, they can only do this in short bursts if really truly required.
- Because the North node in the 7th house is where the bulk of their learning is.
- It is in building relationships and learning to be peaceful and getting along with others in the society.
- This is why the South node in the ascendant people try to avoid being in the light or being very ‘visible’.
- It’s because they are very well aware of just how bad they can become if the situation demands and many South node people are actually scared of this aspect of their personality.
- This is why they just choose to avoid confrontation at all costs and choose to avoid people as much as possible too.
- They usually just like to keep to themselves, do their work, take care of their family and friends and whoever else they can but stay away from the spotlight.
- Around the age range of 30–42 is when these people actually come into their power and begin to realize that people are somehow drawn to them, the more they want to keep to themselves.
People with the South node in the first house are naturally ‘warm’ and for someone who is harnessing the power of the South node well in their life, people are drawn to them like moths to a flame.
You can’t put your finger on exactly what is so ‘nice’ about this person but all you know is that they seem very comforting and approachable.
It’s no wonder that some very charismatic people have the South node in the first house:
Amitabh Bachchan (Living legend of Bollywood and still relevant even in the OTT era!)
Sam Manekshaw (The first of only 2 Field Marshalls of India. He was the one to liberate Bangladesh!)
Steve Wozniak (Apple Co founder, the ‘brain’ behind the Mac)
Furthermore,
- I have an interesting fact to share about understanding the messages the planets have to give us in ‘Vedic’ astrology.
- Look at the vehicles of these planets as shown when they are depicted in the form of deities.
- See, the ‘vehicle’ of Mars is the Ram.
- It signifies fearlessness, vitality and a headfirst approach.
- Saturn’s vehicle is the crow (some also say vulture), who are actually extremely intelligent creatures and also scavengers who keep the environment clean.
- In the same way, Mercury’s vehicle is the lion. It shows that the intellect functions best when it is fearless.
- In the same way, the vehicle of the South node is guess what?
- Eagle!
When there’s a storm you know what the Eagle does?
It flies above the clouds so the storm doesn’t affect it.
The eagle flies alone because other birds can’t get to where the eagle can.
For this purpose, the eagle is a solitary creature and the heights that is scales is not seen by any of the other birds.
The peacock is very glamourous, the swan is very sensual and enigmatic, the parrot is very intelligent and dexterous, but the eagle flies the highest and spends 90% of its life away from the gaze of mere mortals.
My dear friends, that is the true power of ‘Ketu’.
- So trust me when I say that in the first house, the South node doesn’t destroy the person’s personality, it destroys the ego.
- For only when the ego is completely broken can the divine permeate your being and connect with your soul. This is one key about people with South node in the first house, they need to always follow their divinely guided purpose no matter how difficult it seems.
- If these people try to ‘fit in’ with the rest, they will end up lost.
And as you can see from the examples of these 5 individuals, all from very different careers, if you read about them, you will realize that some people scale great heights and others show us how far someone can go.
Just because someone is humble and prefers to stay away from the limelight doesn’t mean they don’t have a personality.
It means simply that you probably aren’t at the level where you can begin to comprehend just how deep they are.
But yes, all individuals with South node in first house, first need to go through a catharsis of sorts in life, before they can truly get in touch with their immensely powerful depth.
Hope this helps.
Hari Om Namo Narayana!
