As I have discussed many times previously, Rahu (the North Node) is a feminine planet relating to the illusions (Maya) that churns us to project our energy outwardly into the material world and that awakens our desires. In this way, Rahu is an important planet for the female path, as women are embodiments of Maya itself, and they churn desire and outward energetic projections more than anything else in the world. Rahu relates to that which is artificial and in that way is quite present in certain powerful aspects of beauty culture, where one can create illusions about their appearance through makeup, surgery, and so on, which greatly advances their magnetic abilities and their power to draw in energy from the world around them. The feminine’s association with Rahu in this regard, however, then sheds some light on why Ketu (the inhale, who breaks illusions and moves us towards liberation from Maya’s entrapment) can be so harmful to artificial beauty illusions. Ketu is associated with healing, such as how his dashas (planetary periods in one’s life) are triggered by Ashwini, Magha, and Mula nakshatras, which all relate to healing or genetics, tied to strong genetic roots being resistant to disease or disorder, and granting more natural beauty and health. Ashwini is ruled by the healing twin horsemen. Magha is ruled by the ancestors themselves, while Mula’s desire is “May I find the root of progeny” and its power relates to uprooting and destroying falsehoods. All of these nakshatras produce a Ketu dasha, a time period in our lives where we are often times “healed”, whether we feel like we are or not, as “healing” is essentially the removal of anything false or foreign to our true nature. When Ketu’s dasha activates and his grip seizes us, he tends to strip away all artificial things we have accumulated and collected onto our identity, making us “naked” again and having to interact with reality only with our true earned personal qualities that we have thoroughly digested, and hold with stability. This is why Ketu dasha’s can feel so dissolving and harmful, as we often find comfort in the illusions we hold about ourselves and use to gain & progress in the outer world. It is also why those born under any of these three nakshatras will often feel an underlying sense of detachment from the material world, difficulty really “biting” into the illusion of it, which makes grasping and investing oneself into cultivation of any singular identity difficult. Ketu brings us back to our beginnings and all the good or difficulty that comes with that, and for that reason those under this planet often feel “stuck” in their beginning spark, with difficulty transforming. Dhumavati is the Goddess associated with healing Ketu, who uses the bija DHUM धूँ, and is the one who rules Videshwan Karma, separation magic. Ketu can detect things that are deceptive and hidden in a way that no other planet can; when something artificial such as a disease has settled in, a parasitic individual has clung on, or black magic has been performed on you, Ketu can detect this and separate you from it. In this way, it is said that it is beneficial to be naked while performing devotion to Dhumavati. Ketu is called “he who creates obstacles” because he will put up walls from so many things you desire, as these obstacles are always for your spiritual development and alignment. When he has grip over you, he won’t let you take a single step when you’re in duality or are acting in a way separated from your divine nature. In this way, separation is the key to unity-- which Ketu rules. In stripping you of falsehoods, he keeps aligning you back with truth, no matter how much it hurts you. It is interesting to note the way then that when he’s strong, you can attain things in both the inner and outer world, such as how one of the primary factors for wealth in my survey of the world’s richest individuals was those who have an exalted Ketu in Jyestha.
So, in the same way as Ketu separates us from things we have accumulated that are harmful, he can also separate us from the progress we have made or the Rahuvian feminine illusions we work to cast. It is during a Ketu dasha when you may develop an allergic reaction to the makeup you use or to your nail glue, or start having headaches from your hair extensions. You might have a side effect of a cosmetic surgery you had gotten; for example, I have seen a situation of breast implant removal during a Ketu dasha, and many things of that nature. So, Ketu can sometimes feel overly harsh about these kinds of things, but when it comes down to it, he aligns you and heals you. You will often find that the artificial things he most quickly strips away were ones you were doing from neglecting your own health, diet, and natural qualities. Mula relating to uprooting in particular is the “weeding” of the garden that allows maximum creation of beauty in Venus’ height, Purva Ashada. Venus in the nakshatra sequence is truly able to grip you after Ketu has swept through and cleansed you and purified you, just in the way that Lakshmi (the Goddess of external beauty) rides on an owl, and the owl is correlated to Alakshmi and Dhumavati. It is Lakshmi’s mastery over Ketu and the owl that gives her her incredible external beauty. Interestingly, in a survey I did of world famous models with available birth times, Ketu in the 1st house was the most common placement. He shows a mastery over beauty and the physical form that is natural and creates awe. When a world-famous model enters a room, she is like a different species and unquestionably stands out; there is a strange, other-worldly level of symmetry, grace, length, and balance. Ketu in the 1st relating to this shows how, if you allow Ketu to adjust you, he is always doing so to bring you back in alignment with the striking natural power of health, and purification even of the genetics. It is not that your hair extensions, makeup, treatments, or fake nails are harming your beauty (in fact, when done skillfully & artfully, they do enhance it), but it is that Ketu wants you to think about why your natural nails don’t grow in a way that pleases you, or why your skin seems unhealthy under your makeup, etc. He wants the things that represent you to begin within you and then arise to the surface as beauty, deeply entwined with your own body and health. Ultimately, it is about balance. Ketu is the momentum to remove anything outside of yourself that is not in alignment with the inner state. In removing any potential for you to be deceived or fall under illusion, this is how he removes any calamity or accident (that those under Rahu can be prone towards, as I’ve discussed before) and is protective. You need to use him and have a connection with him when you are using or applying the energies of Rahu in order to have true beauty and balance.