Rahu and Ketu in Dharma and Kama Houses
Dharma is generally thought to be divine law and following the ideals of our religion or spiritual path. By doing so, we fulfill our ideal purpose. Dharma is seen in the horoscope as the First, Fifth and Ninth houses, the houses of the Self. Dharma is living for oneself. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says to follow our Swa Dharma which is our personal inspired action within our contextual environment and situation.
Actions performed based on our individual inspirations are acts of Swa Dharma. When the motivation for our actions is not, “How much will I get paid?” or “What will others think?” but rather, “How do I feel about myself as a result of doing this action?” these are actions based in Swa Dharma
In cultures of the higher Aeons, cultures that followed religious ideals based on truth rather than control, adhering to those ideals gave the individual cause to feel good about themselves. Those are aligned with natural urges of the Self to feel good about itself.
In lower Aeons, an individual may not be able to follow religious ideals and feel good about themselves. They have a choice to follow their own path of the Self or subdue the Self in order to placate society at large. From the point of view of their culture and religion, they may be viewed as a heretic or evil but from the prospect of Dharma, they live the life that gives them purpose, meaning and joy. Dharma is living a life that is measured by Self-appraisal. What does not matter is how much I get paid (Artha), what others think about me (Kama) how much this frees me up from my worldly responsibilities (Moksha).
For Dharma, all that matters is “Am I becoming the person I want to be?”
Kama represents our deepest desires which involve our sexual relationships, love, desire, appreciation and validation. The motivation fueling Kama houses is how much appreciation we receive from others.
When others appreciate us, it shows we are being Dharmic. Kama is a test to see if we are living a dharmic life. The opposite house is always a mirror or a test if we will continue that theme or go to the other extreme of manipulating and using people for specific gains or validation.
The ideal when Rahu and Ketu occupy these houses is to balance Dharma and Kama perfectly. Ketu in Dharma houses indicates that as long as we feel right about ourselves, everything will be OK. With this placement, how do we know what we do for ourselves is truly right? We know by how other people respond to us, how other people relate to us. Are others appreciating us? Do others seek our company? If so, then yes, we are living our life in a dharmic way. But if other people want nothing to do with us, if we are closed off, if we do not consider others’ thoughts and feelings at all, we are not embracing our Rahu in the Kama house. In that case, we must pay more attention to others ‘ reactions to us.
In early life, Ketu in the First House does not listen to others’ criticism because this placement makes it painful to hear anything negative about the Self. It is important to become brave enough to move towards Rahu.
Ketu in a Kama house (3rd, 7th, 11th) results in a security paradigm of life feeling safe as long as other people are pleased with us. The test of those actions is embracing Rahu in the Dharma house and asking, “How do I feel about this for myself?”
Standing out as an individual and following our impulses is a good way to balance this placement. “This is what I should do, this is what I want!”
Rahu and Ketu in Angles
When Rahu and Ketu are in angles, we are required to make the biggest changes to who we are and the world we were born into. This placement indicates a higher likelihood of growing up in an environment where great differences of personalities exist. When Rahu and Ketu are on the angles, people are a lot different than the rest of their family members. The 7th house is the 4th from the 4th and 10th from the 10th so it is an amalgamation of the Mother and Father. More pressure to change is felt. We tend to feel more out of place than the average person.
Rahu and Ketu are ancestral karmas and the angles are houses where we spend a lot of our life, so those with these placements will spend a lot of time working out ancestral karmas which means rising above ancestral habit patterns.
Ketu in the First House, Rahu in the Seventh House
Ketu in the First House is “I am responsible for me.” There is a sort of self-centeredness with Ketu in the First House. “In the end, it’s up to me.”
Difficulties rear their heads when the person attempts to begin new relationships, businesses or dealings with the public. It is because they are designed to begin something in a completely new way for the very first time. They can be psychologically stuck throughout their lives.
Rahu in the 7th shows that some things in their life are not up to them, so Rahu draws people into their life to teach them this. The security paradigm is “I have to be able to manage on my own.”
While Rahu in the 7th indicates receiving benefits from other people, we do not realize how useful those people are. We are here to realize how desperately we need someone else.
Whatever house Ketu occupies is never good enough to give absolute security. In the early environment, extraordinary expectations may have been put upon us to meet a challenge.
Ketu in the 7th house does not feel worthy enough to feel welcomed by the 7th house. As a result, fully engaging in a relationship is near impossible. Expressing sexuality and emotional needs with their partner completely and freely is difficult. The partner does not feel their feelings are genuine, gets frustrated and creates problems to get a genuine reaction out of the Ketu in the First House person.
Everyone is defective in their own unique way. Ketu in the First House has trouble expressing defectiveness. Too much pressure to be perfect exists. Illness may manifest because a natural flow of individuality is hampered. The nature of Ketu is like Mars to destroy things that are not working. Ketu wants to break down the house it occupies so it cannot serve us anymore.
Over time, appreciation of others’ capabilities emerges. Working with others becomes part of the life because the 7th house is all types of partnerships.
Ketu in the First House does not want to change. Resistance to relationships and people who could have a big impact of change on the life is a common tactic. It feels like a defeat to have someone else’s presence facilitate a massive change. Ketu in the First House is inherently dependent on other people for anything important that happens in their lives. Every happiness acquired with the Ketu house comes because of the catalyst of the Rahu house. Through desire, we discover more of who we are. Each person’s fulfillment is a completely different thing.
The ultimate goals is liberation from the Self. Ketu always wants liberation from its House. Where we are most in need of seeing God is the Ketu house.
Ketu in the Seventh House, Rahu in the First House
Those with Rahu in the First do not see themselves as the answer to their problems. Their security paradigm is to be in a partnership and it does not have to be a romantic partnership. “If I partner up with someone, everything will be OK.”
If the 7th lord is well-disposed, we can attract someone where mutual support is present. Any blemishes to the 7th House or 7th lord will cause an attraction to partnerships that have an imbalance.
When a partnership does not exist, Rahu in the First House will pine for someone or hope to fall in love with someone. During the first part of life, a lot of karma in the Ketu house must be worked through. This placement usually indicates the native will get married early or have sexual relationships earlier than usual.
Ketu wants absolutes so Ketu in 7th House is never able to be fully happy and satisfied in relationships. In partnerships, something is always missing.
Rahu in the First indicates a desire to explore individuality and independence. Expressing individuality will support a healthy partnership the most. All efforts to improve partnerships will not help. What will help is to dive into the First House to discover ourselves.
Ketu’s position is a place where we have a limited perspective. A partnership is when two individuals are living their lives that support each other. A Ketu in 7th House partnership is, “I need someone to be OK.” There has not been enough self-development for the person to know what their purpose is or who they are. The First House is the angle of Dharma and the house that initiates the process of finding our Dharma allowing our own nature to unfold within us.
With Ketu, we are literally a victim of our karma. A lot of our lives will be spent in the Ketu house resolving karma. The person we become will be heavily influenced by our partnerships. Once we make concepts or activities our own, we may have a very different opinion about those things than our partner did. Our partner may have introduced us into something but if we remain, we will have a very different view eventually. This is healthy. Partnerships work because people are different.
Once we become more of who we are, we will attract a better partner, not a partnership based on sameness or similarities. Stepping into who we truly are can be frightening because we feel if that is done, we will not have a partnership.
What is usually missing in this type of partnership is that dynamic individuality is not fully present, not strong enough to have the relationship we want, all other factors equal. We are resolving karmic patterns with people from the past rather than cultivating the dynamic relationship we need to take us into the future. We can only take the Ketu house into the future by embracing the Rahu house.
When we are stuck in Ketu house or planet, experiences are not enough to satisfy. Only by making the effort in Rahu do we get un-stuck. The energy will begin to flow in a way where we can embrace all aspects of our life.
To make their life ascend to the next level, we must do our own thing and express more of our individuality. It does not mean it will help our current relationship but that we will be a better person for relationships. The more we have been pretending to be ourselves, the current relationship will have less of a chance of remaining.
If we cannot truthfully say, “I’m going to be more of myself, even if it makes my partner hate me,” then we are not following Dharma which means Ketu in 7th house will do whatever it takes to express individuality no matter how many people it disappoints.
Rahu in the First House is learning to become the next best version of themselves. Having to deal with relationship karma limits this realization in the beginning.
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