S3 Episode 3 - Jupiter-Rahu, Mars-Ketu: the planetary quartet of shock and terror in the eclipses of October 2023
Jupiter-Rahu, Mars-Ketu: The Planetary Quartet of Shock and Terror in the Eclipses of October 2023
[00:00:00] Introduction and Welcome
[00:00:00] Fiona Marques: Um Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the Vedic Astrology Podcast. My name is Fiona Marques. Today, we're going to have a look at some of the planets involved in the current Solar Eclipse that just occurred on the 14th of October, 2023, and the coming Lunar Eclipse that is happening on the 28th of October, 2023.
And we've already examined the Solar Eclipse, there is an episode there for you to catch up on if you haven't had a chance. We looked at all of the resources we can use to understand eclipses, everything from solar NASA to Bernadette Brady's excellent book, talking to us about the Saros cycles and everything in between.
After the podcast about the eclipse, then we had a podcast looking at Jupiter and Mercury at this time in the context of a referendum that was happening in Australia. So as I was looking at all of these, both the getting ready for the Solar Eclipse. And looking at "The Voice" referendum, a couple of planets caught my eye.
[00:01:20] Nodes in Taurus-Scorpio axis vs Aires-Libra axis
[00:01:20] Fiona Marques: And if you cast your mind back to that Solar Eclipse that we had it was where the nodes are changing signs. You know that for about two and a half years, up until now, those nodes had been in Tropical Taurus for Rahu and Tropical Scorpio for Ketu. And just at the moment in this last six months or so, the nodes have been changing. As they do, they look as if they're moving backwards to us. And Rahu has moved into Tropical Aries and Ketu has moved into Tropical Libra. So we're at this time when the nodes are shifting from one sign to another over a period of a couple of eclipse cycles. So this is the second one where we're getting a little taste of their new placements.
We can think about what thatmeans because Scorpio and Taurus are a wonderful continuum that speak to us about trust. They speak about resources, attachment, our own attachment style to life, whether we feel very supported, whether that sense of support comes from our inner resilience and knowledge of ourself, whether our sense of safety comes from the resources that we share with others, or whether it comes from our own inner well. So this has been the space that Rahu and Taurus have been exploring.
But now they've changed into Aries and Libra. And we know that this continuum is got a slightly different feel because Libra is such a sign of initiating things and starting things. It's the very start of our Zodiac. It's exploring that continuum from initiating things to compromising. Libra is all about trade. It's all about value and trading one thing for another thing. So it's quite pragmatic. And another way to look at this continuum would be exploring idealism versus pragmatism or the self versus others.
So this is the kind of change that was going on with the move from the nodes out of the Taurus-Scorpio continuum into the Aries-Libra continuum.
[00:03:59] Set up of the Solar Eclipse
[00:03:59] Fiona Marques: And when that Solar Eclipse occurred in October, we know that Solar Eclipses occur when the Sun and the Moon come together, when they're conjunct. In this case, they were conjunct in the sign of Libra, and it was Ketu that was causing that annular eclipse, that ring eclipse. We must acknowledge that we had Mercury there as well. So at the time we had Sun, Moon, Mercury and Ketu all together in Libra.
And just outside Libra, at the very beginning of Scorpio, we had the planet Mars. It was less than two degrees of Scorpio at that point. So Mars had been part of that group of planets that were transiting together. The Sun, Mercury, and Mars were all around about together. And just as that eclipse happened, Mars had moved into Scorpio. And on the other side of the ecliptic, Rahu was in Aries and Jupiter was in Taurus, the sign that Rahu had just finished transiting. So Rahu left Taurus, Tropical Taurus, on the 17th of July, 2023.
So that was what was happening before this Lunar Eclipse. So in the Solar Eclipse, we had Sun, Moon, Ketu, Mercury together in Libra and Mars just outside. And on the other side of the ecliptic, we had Rahu was in Aries and Jupiter was in Taurus.
[00:05:48] Unusual set up of the Lunar Eclipse
[00:05:48] Fiona Marques: As we move to this Lunar Eclipse, we know that Lunar Eclipses are caused when the Moon is full, because we need the Earth to come in between the Sun and the Moon. That's what's going to cause the Lunar Eclipse.
And the Full Moon that we are speaking of on the 28th of October is actually occurring in Taurus. We already know that Jupiter is there, right? Because we were talking about this just a moment ago, Taurus and Jupiter.
Now the Sun will be over the other side of the ecliptic in Scorpio.
So isn't this interesting,we noticed that the Full Moon is happening in Taurus the Sun is going to be in Scorpio, but we know that the nodes are in fact not in Taurus and Scorpio. They are in Aries and Libra. But they are close enough that this is causing a partial Lunar Eclipse. And that's what we're going to be experiencing on the 28th of October.
So this eclipse is a little bit unusual in that we have the nodes in one sign, or one continuum, and we have the Sun and Moon in the next door signs or continuum. That can mess with our head a little bit as we're thinking about this eclipse. But this is because we're in the process of the nodes fully moving into their new signs. This situation where the Sun and Moon and the nodes are just slightly out of alignment is what brought to my mind the noticing of Mars and Jupiter's position. Because if you remember, even when we had the Solar Eclipse, Mars was already in Scorpio.
Now we know we've got the Sun and of course Mercury has come as well. So now we know we've got the Sun, Mercury and Mars are all in Scorpio. And the Moon, the other planet that was involved is in Taurus, where we know we have Jupiter. So it just really brought to my mind these two planets that were on the edge of the Solar Eclipse, Mars and Jupiter. And it made me think about the role that they might be playing in both of these eclipses in this time period that we're experiencing.
And when this Lunar Eclipse happens on the 28th of October, these two planets, Mars and Jupiter are going to be exactly opposite each other. They're both at 11 degrees. So that's another thing that stands out. Over these weeks, as we're reading clients charts, I'm sure you've noticed as well, when you're looking at the impact that the Lunar Eclipse is maybe going to have on each particular client. One of the things that jumps out to you is just by transit, Mars and Jupiter are opposite each other, both at around 11 degrees.
You can also notice that Mercury is there too. And the previous episode to this podcast was all about the influence of Jupiter when it was experiencing an aspect from Mercury. So we talked a lot about when Jupiter is starved by Mercury. So we want to catch up on that. That is in the previous episode.
But for today, I want to have a look at Mars and Jupiter who are in opposition. And I noticed that they're getting caught up in being nearby these nodes as well. So we can't in this particular instance say that they're conjunct because they're actually happening in different signs, but they are very close together and they're getting in the middle of what's happening with the Lunar Eclipse.
The Full Moon, we said, will be in Taurus, and on one side of that Moon will be Rahu, and on the other side of that Moon will be Jupiter. So the Moon, the Full Moon, is going to be in between Jupiter and Rahu.
And the same thing on the other side of the ecliptic, we have the Sun. Beaming away there in Scorpio and on one side of the Sun is Ketu and on the other side of the Sun is Mars (and Mercury that we're not looking at today).
It feels a little bit like the luminaries are sandwiched between a node and these two planets that I'm interested in discussing with you. I'm going to say that they're "close together". Rahu and Jupiter are close together. And Ketu and Mars are close together.
[00:10:29] Examining Mars and Jupiter's mutual delight by Lajjitaadi Avastha
[00:10:29] Fiona Marques: And it makes me think about this configuration and what we might understand about that energy if we look at it through Vedic Astrology.
The first thing we should acknowledge is that Mars and Jupiter are natural friends in Vedic Astrology. In fact they're mutual friends. So this means that they delight each other by Lajjitaadi Avastha. That is, they make each other feel good, provide some power and support and color the experience of the other planet.
So when Jupiter delights Mars we can say that Mars is all about action. Jupiter is all about wisdom. And so when Jupiter delights Mars, it brings together a bigger outlook, ensuring that our actions are aligned with grace and with purpose. And this gives Mars a feeling of confidence knowing that Mars is acting with purpose.
So that's why we say that Jupiter delights Mars, because it fills Mars's actions with a sense of purpose.
And then the reverse is also true that at the same time that Jupiter is delighting Mars, Mars is also delighting Jupiter. And Mars brings a discipline, action and logic to Jupiter's mission of goodness. This helps Jupiter be efficient and effective in doing good. And it's somewhere where perhaps we make great improvements in our lives or even in the world because of the force of action of Mars that's behind those good actions.
So this combination gives an auspicious sense of purpose and action mutually ensuring that we feel good and purposeful in the actions that we take. It gives us an emboldening of action. We feel more confident about our actions because we feel so good and we know that what we're doing is right.
So this is the general state of play when Mars delights Jupiter and Jupiter delights Mars, which is what we have here when they are opposite each other in the chart, they're aspecting each other, planetary aspecting each other. And that allows us to interpret that Lajjitaadi Avastha of delight.
[00:12:52] How Rahu effects Jupiter
[00:12:52] Fiona Marques: But what does it mean when the nodes get involved? Because nodes they're like "Alice through the looking glass", aren't they? They take what we know and twist all around so that it's still got some of the elements that we recognize, but maybe in a weird, new, unusual way.
So let's take Rahu and Jupiter first. Now this can be a tricky combination because Jupiter is all about wisdom and Rahu is extremely intelligent, but I don't know that we could ever associate the word wisdom with Rahu, because Rahu is impulsive and unpredictable, and it likes to learn through trial and error, learn by trying. It has this desire and fascination but maybe not the wisdom that one would get from books or from faith or something like that. So in some ways, maybe we could describe Rahu-Jupiter as weird wisdom or unorthodox, something like that, something unusual. Now it could make someone uncannily wise. Someone who is maybe tapping into Jupiter in almost psychic way. So there might be some very spiritual or very intelligent, insightful things maybe some wisdom in a strange way. Or it could be someone taking shortcuts with wisdom and spirituality or with other things that relate to Jupiter, for example, children or money or opportunities.
But Rahu is often associated with illusion. And when it comes to Jupiter, perhaps it can be illusionary spirituality. And maybe from the outside, it appears to others as spiritual. It might just appear weird to others, but if it was the right setting, maybe this person actually appears very spiritual, but ultimately there'll be disappointing when people realize that spirituality doesn't run deep. And maybe that might lead this combination to be spiritually reckless or wisdomly reckless, if that's a combination. And have a desire to do good, but not really know what that means practically. Or a great belief in wanting to do good, but not really knowing what good is.
So Rahu and Jupiter together are suggesting that this is a chance for Jupiter to learn discernment, to learn wisdom, because Rahu is that area in life where we are growing and learning.
So this has the potential for a lot of spiritual growth, but it also has the potential for disappointments in spirituality and really not knowing, being a bit lost in terms of discernment. Which could be also in relation to husbands or wealth or children.
[00:16:04] How Ketu effects Mars
[00:16:04] Fiona Marques: Now let's contrast that with the other side of the chart or the other side of the ecliptic. And this is when Mars is near Ketu.
And they share some similar qualities, right? Mars and Ketu, they both have a fiery. nature. And also we remember when we're learning about Rahu and Ketu, that we can look to Mars to see how Ketu is going to perform because Mars is a little bit like the army general directing Ketu in everyone's chart. So Mars and Ketu have a relationship already. And these two planets can also share a kind of frustration. We've said that they were fiery. But also we remember that Mars can feel frustrated if it can't take action. And we know that Ketu can give a feeling of frustration because one doesn't get to feel satisfied. That's kind of Ketu's job is to make sure that we don't feel satisfied in order that we know to look towards Rahu. And that can be frustrating. Ketu can give us an expectation of perfection and of course there's just no perfection right here in the material world. No action can ever really be perfect, and Mars is all about action, and so it's a bit being very strategic in one's understanding of an adversity or a conflict or a situation. But knowing that one can't take the perfect action, being disappointed in the actions one takes, or one not having that willpower to do the perfect action.
And this can actually lead to perhaps a very peaceful exterior in that in some ways Ketu can dampen down some impulsivity of Mars. But really it's not dampening it down, is it? It's just disappointing it and constricting it. So that peaceful exterior might actually have inside a level of frustration or irritation or violence inside the person that could occasionally come out.
Ketu can give a real expertise in strategizing, in using one's logic, and help us, when we do take action, to take very considered and logical action. So it can be very effective. Very watertight arguments. Prosecutors who plan out, their legal attacks and anticipating what their defense opponent is going to do. So maybe that's where we can see Mars and Ketu working really well.
Or, of course, this person might just have both Mars and Ketu going at the same time and be a bit more argumentative or sensitive to criticism. A bit more reactionary.
And if it is the case the fear that Ketu has of imperfection is holding the person back, the person may have a lot of self doubts "Will I ever take action?, I'm all talk and I'm no action". And as both of these planets have violent tendencies, this can lead to uncharacteristicly violent outbursts. So holding, and then the fire of the volcano exploding.
[00:19:45] Jupiter-Rahu and Mars-Ketu transits
[00:19:45] Fiona Marques: What is at play when these combinations are going on opposite sides of the ecliptic? Is it possible that what we're going to see is that the Lajjitaadi Avastha of delight is actually helping this constrained Mars-Ketu to take action because Jupiter's providing that delight that sense of auspiciousness and righteous action?
So is that going to help this Mars-Ketu combination take action that it wouldn't normally take? But could that emboldening of Mars by Jupiter, lead this person to take extraordinary action? And is that going to be helpful or unhelpful action?
So in light of recent events in the Middle East, I was interested to look back and see where this transit or when this transit had occurred before.
[00:20:41] 2001
[00:20:41] Fiona Marques: And the last time we had this transit happening, that is, when Jupiter was transiting with Rahu and Mars was transiting with Ketu, was in September 2001. At that time, Jupiter was exalted in Tropical Cancer with Rahu. And Mars was exalted in Tropical Capricorn with Ketu. So they were across the ecliptic from each other.
And we know that this time was associated with a shocking terrorist attack. That involved hijacking planes and flying them into buildings. It was something quite unexpected. It was unimaginable. It was also well planned and it took everyone by surprise. Which is surprising considering it took a lot of planning, there was a lot of lead time. And perhaps this speaks to that Mars-Ketu situation, that there's a real expertise in military planning and an expertise in calculated and decisive action. But could it have been fueled by Jupiter's conjunction with Rahu creating a weird spiritual wisdom. A wanting to do good, but not actually knowing what good is.
And I think that this is a theme that we see as we look at events with this combination, that there is some marginalized group of people who is expressing a frustration in a violent outburst that is shocking.
[00:22:14] 1994
[00:22:14] Fiona Marques: So before 2001, the previous transit was in May to July of 1994.
And during this transit incidents occurred. Between the 21st and the 22nd of June, there was a series of bombings and shootings in Istanbul, Turkey. Targeting Jewish and Western interests. And on July 18, there was a suicide bombing that occurred in Buenos Aires. And it was the deadliest terrorist incident in Argentina's history.
We certainly see in that window of time that there were some incidents that maybe fit this pattern.
[00:23:13] 1987
[00:23:13] Fiona Marques: Then the previous transit to that was in October, November, 1987.
And an event that happened during that time was the Enniskillen bombings, or the Remembrance Day bombings. That took place on the 8th of November. The IRA planted a bomb that ended up killing civilians who were watching a Remembrance Day parade.
And this, once again, involved a lot of planning by a group of people who felt marginalised, and they were able to do all of this planning without the awareness of authorities. And it involved like getting explosives from Libya, it involved transporting it from where this bomb was made over a 24 hour period to plant it in this location. So it was shocking and it had a negative effect on the IRA and the peace process in Northern Ireland. So perhaps we're seeing again, in this case, that very careful planning by Mars and Ketu. And a shockingly violent action. But was that prompted by these Jupiter-Rahu beliefs? Did they embolden a sense of religious righteousness, perhaps.
And also the stock market crash of 1987 happened during this transit.
[00:24:38] 1972
[00:24:38] Fiona Marques: But before the 1987 transit, the previous one to that was in May, June 1972. And this also involved several incidents with groups seeking liberation of Palestine.
On the 30th of May, there was an incident at Tel Aviv airport, involving three members of the Japanese red army who shot and threw grenades through the airport, killing 26 people. And then the Black September organization hijacked a plane demanding the release of Palestinian prisoners. In that particular case, the hijackers were overcome in the incident.
But later that same year in September, there was the kidnapping of 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team, and that ended in the death of the hostages and most of the kidnappers.
So once again, three events there terrorism related while we have Mars and Ketu transiting together and Jupiter and Rahu. And we see these same themes of military planning by a minority of people that feel driven to correct what they perceive as injustice. People motivated to do the right thing, but not knowing what the right thing is. And could this be what Rahu does to Jupiter? Confusing Jupiter. Not being able to tell what the right thing is. And is it very dangerous when Jupiter's confusion is delighting Mars that is feeling repressed and held back by Ketu's perfectionism.
[00:26:19] 1958
[00:26:19] Fiona Marques: And if we go a little bit further back in the 20th century, the previous Jupiter-Rahu, Mars-Ketu combination also happened in June July, but this time it was in 1958, and there were many things that seemed to happen in this 1958 transit.
There was a coup led by the army against the monarchy in Iraq that took place on July 14. On July 15, US Marines invaded Lebanon.
[00:27:02] 1800-2095
[00:27:02] Fiona Marques: Sadly, I was able to find terrorist or shockingly violent events that occurred in all except for one of the previous transits of Jupiter-Rahu, Mars-Ketu during the 19th century.
So we've just had a look at the ones that took place in the 20th century. There were several in the 19th century, there was June to August, 1900. June to August, 1878. July to August, 1864. March to July, 1856. June to August 1842 and June to September 1813. Now there was only one occurrence of that Jupiter-Rahu, Mars-Ketu opposition, for which I couldn't find any violent events, and that was from June to August 1820. And that was when Jupiter and Rahu were transiting through Pisces.
Looking forward this transit occurs again in 2052 and 2095, which means that there are nowhere near as many transits as there were in the 19th and 20th centuries. So that would bring the 21st century four transits. Whereas in the 19th century there were seven and in the 20th century there were five. So maybe that's a good sign.
And another thing to keep in mind is that unfortunately shocking acts of terrorism have occurred on many other dates that were not covered by this Jupiter-Rahu and Mars-Ketu transit. So this is not a cause and effect type of equation. However, the planets involved do seem to shed some light on the energies around these sort of terrorist attacks.
So what does it all mean? think that this transit, it's a very wise time for us to be alert to injustices in the world. Because perhaps the delight that Jupiter gives to Mars, but when Jupiter is confused by Rahu, and when Mars is feeling pent up, it might exacerbate those injustices and people feeling the need to take extraordinary action. You remember that in the previous episode of the podcast, we talked about a referendum, which was attempting to recognize marginalized people. So in the context ofthis transit, that was actually a good action. It is unfortunate that was not able to recognize marginalized people. But it was an attempt. And it would be good if we could look at peaceful dialogues as a way of diffusing these tensions.
I think that the delight of Jupiter to Mars does indicate that this is a time when taking action on injustice is more indicated. And with the addition of the nodes that throws that good intention off on some crazy and violent course of action. We could be more alert to potential action that happens on these transits.
[00:30:29] Personal Birth Chart implications
[00:30:29] Fiona Marques: Now, what if you have these transits in your birth chart? So what if you have this conjunction in your birth chart? This is not a cause for you to worry or concern about the common, this combination, if It's in your birth chart, either Jupiter-Rahu or Mars-Ketu or both together.
For example we have famous people with both of these transits. Nikola Tesla has this combination with Jupiter-Rahu being in Aries (and Mars-Ketu in Libra) and Brook Shields, Elizabeth Hurley and Linda Evangelista all have Jupiter-Rahu in Gemini while Mars and Ketu are in Sagittarius. And finally, Frida Kahlo, Katherine Hepburn and John Wayne all had Jupiter-Rahu in Cancer while Mars and Ketu were in Capricorn.
When one is born with these types of conjunctions, we have a lifetime to practice and adjust to the effects of these combinations. We do so much of that processing in our infancy and in our childhood and in our adolescence and our young adult life, that by the time we get to adulthood, although these might still be, in some ways, things that we feel, maybe they are wounds and maybe they have that internal effect on our psychology. Having these conjunctions does not mean, in any way, that one becomes a terrorist. So we want to just detach those thoughts from each other.
Because there are so many variables in every person's chart. It strikes me that Digbala is really important when we would be analyzing this combination, either by transit or in a chart. And Digbala we know is created by the position of the ascendant. So it moves a lot during a 24 hour period. People born on the same day are going to have different ascendants and different Digbalas for these planets.
And also Ayanabala I think would be really important as well. How a person deals with conflict and adversity. So there are many unique things that make up a person's chart. And this is just one factor.
Remember one of the episodes we had in the podcast way back, I think in season one was Ryan Kurzak was talking about which transits are really important. And of course, what he was sharing is that the transits that are important are the ones that have a direct resonance with your own birth chart.
And people may have this combination and it just not be happening in a sign that is related to the signs where it's taking place now. So whenever we look at these global transits, it's just a very small part of what is energetically contributing to an event taking place.
And how can we approach this? I'm sure you have seen it as you've been reading charts with your clients as well. I think that compassion for the self is really important here. We want to take a breath if we're feeling that push to take righteous action.
So in our own lives, if this transit is impacting on our Mars, the placement of our Mars. If it is in Scorpio, for example, or if it's at 11 degrees of a sign somewhere. Or if Mars is your ascendant planet or your Atmakaraka, a planet that you consider important. And you notice that feeling of Mars-Ketu, that feeling of really wanting to take action, but almost being trapped in the mouse trap, not, there's just no perfect action and you're frustrated and sick of this situation. And now is a time to just take a breath and examine our motivations for that action. Because we have Jupiter on the other side of the chart, sending all of that delight, but perhaps in a confused way. We have compassion for the feeling that is. Take a breath. Maybe increase our meditation practice to connect more purely with Jupiter. And also to perhaps do the pranayama that's going to help Mars calm down. Because as we can see in these examples, the taking of the action, if we look at September 11, 2001, or if we look at some of these other events that have occurred, they don't necessarily lead to peaceful long term solutions. We have to ask ourselves what it is that we're really trying to achieve. And that's where the breath comes in, taking the breath. Because all of that frustration can lead us to take action that might seem justified from our level of frustration, but might end up causing us and other people a lot more karma that we all have to face.
So yes, I think this is a time of compassion and looking to revisit this when this transit has passed through. When Ketu and Mars are no longer so close together and when Jupiter and Rahu are no longer so close together.
And then when that is the case, we can take our wise counsel from Jupiter people that we respect and have a track record of solid Jupiter behavior. And take a course of action.
So a great time for compassion for the self and increasing our practice.
[00:37:03] Conclusion
[00:37:03] Fiona Marques: So what did you think about these two fringe planets of our current Solar and Lunar Eclipses. How do they relate to your own chart? And how are you feeling at this time? I look forward to hearing all of your thoughts. You can join me on Patreon where we have a community to share and chat, or you can reach out to me through my website at fionamarques.com.
It's wonderful to be with you as always, and I look forward to being with you the next time on the Vedic Astrology Podcast. Bye for now.