2020 Coronavirus

2001 World Trade Towers

1982 HIV

1963 President Kennedy Assassination

1945 Bombing of Hiroshima

1927 Earthquake in Xining, China

The current configuration of Rahu in Ardra and Ketu in Mula occurs regularly in a cycle, and the current state of chaos was predicted.

Here’s how…

Ardra and Mula are two of the twenty-eight (or twenty-seven, depending on who you talk to) nakshatras in Vedic (jyotish) astrology. Nakshatras are referred to as the “lunar mansions” of the zodiac, and offer a more refined view into a jyotish chart than the twelve houses. Rahu and Ketu are mathematical nodes in the zodiac, roughly referred to as planets. Rahu and Ketu are always opposite each other, on an axis, so if you tell a jyotishi your Rahu or Ketu placement they know where the other one is in your chart. Rahu is said to be the mouth of the serpent and Ketu is the tail. Rahu indicates where you are going, and Ketu where you have been. In other words, Ketu tends to represent the area of life you take for granted because you have natural knowledge and ability with it. Rahu is described as unsatiable and obsessive, and is known for bringing change. Well, chaos. I also like to think of Rahu and Ketu as expressing a few extremes of your life: Ketu indicates the areas where you are exceptionally talented with natural gifts that seem to come out of nowhere, while Rahu shows the areas of life where your soul seems to be “brand new” and learning.

Ardra represents the teardrop of a storm and is ruled by Rahu. Ardra is also associated with Rudra, the storm god. Mula represents a bundle of roots and is ruled by Ketu. So…roughly speaking, humanity goes through a storm when the “Rahu in Ardra and Ketu in Mula” cycle comes around. We go through a phase transition. If you’re reading this in the spring of 2020, I think you know what I mean.

As always, the specific significance and flavor of a planetary transit will depend on your individual jyotish chart.

What makes the “Rahu in Ardra and Ketu in Mula” configuration so powerful is that both nodes are in their own nakshatras, and therefore expressing their full dignity.

While people get excited about the glamour of planetary exaltation, a planet in its own house is arguably more potent.

And now you know enough about Rahu and Ketu to sound knowledgeable at a cocktail party, once they’re starting to happen again.

Everything’s Cancelled

 Except for Everything Else

Carolyn Boyce / March 19, 2020

When I saw this list of events that took place during Rahu in Ardra and/or Ketu in Mula, I looked up events in 1908 to see if this pattern continued further. I found the highly destructive Messina earthquake and tsunami that occurred on December 28th of 1908, in Sicily and Calabria. Looking at the jyotish chart for that time and place, I found that sure enough: In early October of that year, Rahu had been in Ardra while Ketu was in Mula. Ketu was still in Mula in December when the earthquake happened, which is interesting considering mula refers to roots…the underground, where earthquakes take place.

Even knowing several months in advance that this delicate time was coming, nothing could have prepared me for the way it feels to be going through it, or what it would look like.

Crisis is a sudden transformation and an ongoing feature of life. I realize some of us are in survival mode and not in a place to entertain more demands, but these are a few questions about personal readiness that have come to mind lately for myself and others: Do you have a few weeks of food and supplies on hand, so you can weather regional shortages when a crisis comes through? Are you prepared if your home were to suddenly go off the grid? Do you have savings in case you lose your job? The health and strength versus the vulnerability and weakness of a civilization and its structure gets put to the test by crisis, as well. How harmonious, crisis-ready and resilient is your community? Being challenged to venture forward with confidence into uncharted territory is one of the principle features of crisis, by definition. How prepared are you to go through the expansions and contractions of a major transformation smoothly? How can you strengthen and balance your life—spiritually and materially—so that you are always (mostly) crisis ready?

Here’s where you might expect some deeper spiritual truth about becoming and remaining established in the still peace of eternal life during a proverbial storm. And then over here is a clever analogy to express the wisdom of deeply rooting oneself in the stable, nourishing soil of Divine comfort. We know by instinct and experience that being grounded in something larger than ourselves—God, principles, family, friends, community, nation and the family of nations—that we, as individuals, are better strengthened and supported to weather life’s upheavals. And then what? It’s an ongoing process. Never over.

Do you know how God controls the clouds and makes his lightning flash?
Job 37:15

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Be still and know that I am God.
Psalm 46:10

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He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed.
Psalms 107:29

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It was majestic in beauty, with its spreading boughs, for its roots went down to abundant waters.
Ezekiel 31:7

On the upside, Rahu moves out of Ardra on April 22, 2020. On the extreme upside, all nine grahas (the Sanskrit word that roughly translates to *planets*) will generally be going in and out of objectively auspicious positions this fall—unusual configurations that only happen every five hundred years or more. Five hundred years ago was the Renaissance. Babies born in mid-September, for example, are going to have the kinds of sattvic (pure) birth charts Vedic nerds like me have only dreamed of seeing. That said, we can never quite box things into what is “good” or “bad”, “auspicious” or “inauspicious”, when grounded enough in the greater scheme of things—or simply zoom out from life a bit—to know better than to hazard such qualifications. Generally speaking, karma is karma. One thing is certain: It is what it is.

We’re onto you, 2039! Is that when this occurs again? I have to check. [Update: I looked at the chart for 1/1/2039 and yes—Rahu is in Ardra and Ketu is in Mula on that day.] I don’t know about you, but I’m marking the next cycle down on my mental calendar, God willing that I may be here to see it. Wise is the Boy Scout motto: Be prepared. The next storm is always coming, and every shake-down is a humbling reminder of life’s precarious nature. May we take the opportunity we are given every day to prepare, by building our lives on a solid foundation and living well.

May you have courage, grace and peace through this uncertain time, and beyond. May you be blessed.

With highest respect and appreciation to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi for bringing jyotish astrology to light in the Western world.

Posted with appreciation for the jyotishis who were sounding the alarms about this period of February-April 2020 in October 2019.

Tarl Warwick is also deserving of credit for seeing this crisis coming and advising his audience to slowly stock up well before the rushes on stores took place. Those in his audience who listened probably helped mitigate the sudden rush on supplies and food when panic hit, as they were already prepared to weather it.