EYE ON ASTROLOGY:Â KETU/SATURN LESSONS REVISIT
With Saturn gearing up to go stationary retrograde on April 29th it is slowing down now and allowing Ketu to catch up and they will soon be within 1 degree of each other for months as they retrograde back in tandem.  This association can bring up emotional despair, melancholy, constriction, gloominess and selfishness. It can lead to stubbornness and fundamentalism and this will be a real problem for months now. When Mars starts aspecting Sagittarius with a sneaky 8th house aspect exactly into May 1st and within 3 degrees April 27-May 7th, the intensity will pick up for frustration, tension, anger and explosive energies that may seem out of control if you repress them. It will be important to get exercise, do yoga and meditation and find an outlet to release the explosive energies and regrets from the past. The warrior pose regularly will help focus the 3rd eye so that spaciness from Saturn/Ketu does not lead to mishaps so avoid multi-tasking and focus on one thing at a time to avoid problems.
If you have this combination in your natal chart, it will be activated by this long transit this year and if you are running a Saturn/Ketu or Ketu/Saturn period, it will have a larger impact because the transit will activate the dasha. Sagittarius, Scorpio, Aquarius and Capricorn and Gemini will be most impact by the energies. The exalted Venus in Pisces being the dispositor for Mars and throwing an aspect onto Sagittarius will help a little until Venus goes into Aries on May 10th.
Saturn when weak, tends to get stuck with habits and patterns and beliefs from past lives and can create pessimism. When Ketu conjoins it, the past life influence is magnified and constrictive and can create tragic and difficult circumstances to wake you up around being stuck in the past and your past patterns. This is never easy and for those who like Saturnine routines and wanting to stay in control. Ketu will throw in an unexpected wrench or curveball.
Emotionally it can increase depression and gloom and despair. The key remedy is to remember the mantra, this was then, and this is now and get into spiritual practice.   If you get bogged down in past regrets and guilt you are done for. You have to find the courage to change and do things differently. If you can let go of the past and learn your soul lessons, then you can transform—but usually not without deep pain. If there is any mental illness, Saturn may activate the deep subconscious pattern grunge of Ketu and plague the mind and the June/July eclipses will particularly activate this energy. Stay on top of your mental health early, begin chanting Ganesh and Durga mantras regularly and know that the mental noise is maya and find ways to blow it way.  Watch over family members that may have suicidal tendencies and support them to get professional help.
On the positive side, this combination in Sagittarius is good for spiritual life and can create detachment and possibly support ashram life and running away from the world but most of us have Saturn responsibilities and cannot do this. The positive side is that it is happening in the sign of Sagittarius where Ketu gets a big spiritual lift so Jupiter’s energy will support transformation but Jupiter is going to move 12 houses away in Scorpio after April 24th so it will take a great deal of deep subconscious probing to help matters.
The difficult part of this transit is that Pluto is at 26-28 degrees Sagittarius next year and Ketu will be conjunct and close to Pluto until early June . We will discuss this in a separate article but Ketu/Pluto brings energy that requires a deep catharsis but that combination can allow for deep transcendental transformation if one goes within. On the dark side which will be promoted by Saturn’s influence, this energy can create chaos, disorder and paranoia. Anyone getting into power trips is likely to get crushed.  Leaders who fail to transform are vulnerable. John F. Kennedy had this conjunction in his 10th house in Gemini and his career was cut short. Indira Gandhi had this also in Gemini in her 12th house and was assassinated while in office.
Saturn keeps us anchored in the material world and being responsible so we are going to have to bear down and learn those lessons. Saturn and Ketu are both wanderers so there may be a tendency to want to run away to an ashram or live abroad to flee the pain of the past but this transit is beckoning us to clean it up.  Ketu is happy to live simply and not face up to the responsibility of the material world. He would rather refrain from doing the hard work to succeed and would rather hide away in the ashram and meditate all day and not deal with the world.
 Again, initiation onto a spiritual path will lighten this transit, as without a spiritual path, you may find yourself suffering or mired in tragedy or if staying stuck in gloominess, selfishness or fundamentalism. The trick is to let go of the old and the old ways and to accept change and the new of way of doing things.
On the positive side, Ketu/Saturn can give a mastery of precision and detailed work so craftsmen may benefit from this influence. There is also a mystical side to Saturn/Ketu connections in that sometimes it can awaken mysterious past-life and intuitive gifts at best and at the worst it may feel like one is being haunted or cursed.
Special thanks to my teacher Komilla Sutton and all my Jyotish Gurus and spiritual gurus for their wisdom and continual inspiration.
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