Rahu: A Remediation

Rahu, in astrological terms, is known as the North Node. It is also called the Caput Draconis or the Head of the Dragon. Due to how its function is to externalize the deep-rooted faults within the individual, it is considered to be a malefic shadow planet. Rahu, and other similar shadow planets such as Ketu, produce unfortunate conditions for the individual to face: a trial by fire, a series of tests and ordeals whose purpose serves to eradicate weaknesses in the personality as part of the spiritualization process. Although Western astrologers compare Rahu to the dragon, Rahu is known in Vedic beliefs as Ahi, which means serpent. Befitting its malefic nature, Ahi is another name for Vritra — the personification of drought, evil and chaos — often depicted as a human-like serpent blocking the course of the rivers who is then heroically slain by Indra.

Likewise, in the Vedas, Rahu is invoked as a demon named Svarbhanu, who devours the luminaries to cause the eclipse. On new moon nights, the moon comes into a condition where Svarbhanu can devour both the luminaries and cause a solar eclipse. After the eclipse the moon is reborn, having emerged from the sun’s body. In the same vein, the Puranas describe Rahu as ‘half-bodied, immensely powerful, a troublemaker for the sun and moon, born of a lioness, having a huge body like a mountain, of lamp black color, snake-shaped, terrible mouthed and the devourer of the sun and moon.’ Hence, there is a narrative on Rahu being the great serpent who swallows the sun and the moon, causing eclipses and casting shadows through its movements. A common theme of rebirth of the sun and moon can also be seen, just like how Rahu forces an individual to face ordeals in order to shed their weaknesses just as a serpent sheds its skin.

The most well-known tale in both Indian and Thai mythology that points towards the origin of Rahu is that of the churning of the ocean of milk. In this story, the gods and the asuras (who could roughly be understood as ‘demons’) are using the body of Vasuki — the king of serpents in Hindu and Buddhist religion — as a rope tied around the central rod formed by the mountain Mandara to churn the ocean of milk. This is done in order to retrieve amrita, a nectar of immortality. Upon retrieval of the nectar from the ocean, the gods did not want to share it with the demons. Hoping to not be seen, Vasuki surreptitiously partook of a portion of the nectar but was soon detected. The gods became furious and Vishnu hurled his discus at the serpent. However, as Vasuki had already drunk parts of the nectar, he could not be destroyed. The serpent was merely divided in two. The upper portion of the serpent became Rahu and the lower became Ketu.

Hence, it therefore makes perfect sense that Rahu represents materialism (along with the mischief, fear, dissatisfaction, obsession and confusion that extreme materialism brings) whilst Ketu signifies the spiritual process of the refinement of materialization to the spirit. In other words, Ketu causes material loss in order to force a more spiritual outlook in the person and turn them towards God, a function mirroring Rahu. As someone with my Ascendant and Jupiter in the Ashvini nakshatra, and my Sun and Mercury in the Mula nakshatra — two out of the three lunar mansions ruled by Ketu — I must say I feel a special fondness for the beheaded serpent. Moreover, from this Tuesday 30th March onwards, Rahu will (according to Thai astrology, which naturally has overlaps with Vedic astrology) be transiting to be into Aries, the same house as my Jupiter and Ascendant and will remain so until 2023.

As someone who practices astrolatry, I was familiar with the veneration of stars from a young age, including the veneration of Rahu. When I was back in Thailand, my family used to pray and give offerings to Rahu every time a major transit happened. Last week, I received a call from my mother who reminded me to perform the remediation this Tuesday night. Thus, I felt urged to consult another reputable Thai astrologer in order to affirm the decision (among other things) as I have not performed the remediation away from my family before. I ended up contacting Ajarn Apichai of The Thai Occult who, without prompting, sought to warn me about the malefic fallout Rahu may bring especially with regards to my natal chart.

If I were to be in Thailand and not the British Isles, there would be countless temples available for me to visit, temples dedicated to Rahu with offerings readily available for purchase and incantations ready to be read and prayed. Such a temple is Wat Sisrathong (วัดศีรษะทอง) temple, a temple in Nakhon Pathom dedicated to Rahu. According to the temple, eight (or in some cases, twelve) offerings of black colored food along with black incense sticks and candles should be given. Common food offerings include black grapes, black liqueur, black coffee, black beans, black jelly, black sticky rice, black cakes and black fermented eggs. However, substitutes can always be made. My family, for example, has offered seaweed, pepsi and dark chocolate before.

I have found the incantations and prayers taken from the signs posted at Wat Sisrathong temple and transcribed the original incantation in Thai followed by a rough English verbalization, should anyone else wishes to follow along with the remediation rite. They are as follow

พระคาถาสุริยะบัพพา
นะโม ตัสสะ ภะคะวะโต อะระหะโต สัมมาสัมพุท ธัสสะ (x3)
กุสเสโตมะมะ กุสเสโตโต ลาลามะมะ โตลาโม โทลาโมมะมะ โทลาโมตัง เหกุติมะมะ เหกุติ
พระคาถาจันทบัพพา
นะโม ตัสสะ ภะคะวะโต อะระหะโต สัมมาสัมพุท ธัสสะ (x3)
ยัตถะตังมะมะ ตังถะยะ ตะวะตัง มะมะตัง วะติตัง เสกามะมะ กาเสตัง กาติยังมะมะ ยะติกา
คำถวายเครื่องสังเวยพระราหู
นะโมเม พระราหูเทวานัง ธูปะทีปะ จะปุปผัง สักการะวันทะนัง สูปะพะยัญชะนะ สัมปันนัง โภชะ นานัง
สาลีนัง สะปะริวารัง อุทะกังวะรัง อาคัจฉันตุ ปะริภุญชันตุ สัพพะทา หิตายะ สุขายะ พระราหูเทวา มะหิทธิกา เตปิ อัมเห อะนุรัก ขันตุ อาโรคะ เยนะ สุเขมะจะฯ
ข้าแต่พระราหู เทพแห่งโชคลาภ อันศักดิ์สิทธิ์ที่สุด ข้าขอบูชาท่านด้วยของดํา 8 อย่าง ขอให้ข้าพเจ้าปราศจากโรคภัยและอันตรายใดๆ ขอให้ ท่านประทานพร โชคลาภ ความร่ำรวยทั้งปวง ให้แก่ข้าพเจ้าด้วยเทอญ

English translation
1. Perform the Nammo prayer three times:
Nammo tassa pakawato arahato summa sumput tassa (x3)
2. There are two incantations to perform depending on the time of day of the rite.
If performed during daytime, say the following Suriya Bappa incantation:
Goosae tomama goosae toto lalamama tolamo tolamomama tolamotung haegootimama haegooti
If performed during nighttime, say the following Jan Bappa incantation:
Yattatungmama tungtaya tawatung mamatung watitung saegamama gasaetung gatiyungmama yatiga
3. Incantations to make offerings to Rahu
Namomae prarahutevanung tupateepa japuppung sagara wuntanung supapayunchana sumpunnung pocha nanung salinung sapariwarung utagungwarung akachuntoo paripoonchuntoo suppata hitaya sookaya prarahuteva mahitiga tepi umhae anooraak kuntoo aroka yena sookaemaja
4. Prayers to Rahu
To Rahu, the Most Holy Lord of Wealth, I venerate you with these offerings of eight black foods. I pray that I am free from all illnesses and dangers. May you grant me wealth and all kinds of riches.

I plan to perform a variation of the rite with one black candle and eight food offerings this Tuesday at nightfall. Likewise, Ajarn Apichai has pointed out that since Rahu is associated with shadows, a way to remediate Rahu is to perform donations related to light. Donating light bulbs could be done, or so could covering Rahu with gold flakes assist in the remediation. In my case, however, I am choosing to make donations to organizations that aim to literally ‘give light’ to those in need. Some organizations I am looking at include Solar Aid, Little Sun and Unite to Light.

I also wish to point out several things other (Western) astrologers have remarked upon Rahu and Ketu, words that have struck a chord with me.

Firstly, I have found the discussions between Adam Sommer and Chris Brennan of The Astrology Podcast to be very illuminating. Below is a snippet of their conversations:

AS: Where the north node, which is the dragon’s head, which has no body, it’s kind of like the Buddhist idea of the hungry ghost. Whereas Rahu in the east is this materialistic, conniving, very intelligent entity that knows how to get power, knows how to succeed in the material world. Well here we have cultural values and place that shows us the difference. Where, if the north node is destiny in the West, and it’s this hungry ghost demon in the East, we see a very big difference in what destiny means to these two different ways of thinking about reality, right?
CB: Right.
AS: And so the north node I do think is a story that we’re meant to write. It’s kind of like a beautiful book with a great pen in the middle of it. It’s kind of like if you have the guts to write this story, to face the dragon, there’s a lot of synchronicity and there’s a lot of experience that comes from it. But if you stay there for too long, it’s very hard in my experience personally to turn off Rahu. To turn off the north node, because it’s this more, more, more, more, more, type energy, it’s very Mars-like. And that’s the great test then, it’s like, well, how can I actually lead Rahu to Ketu. How can I bring the head to the tail. How can I in a way make a circle out of time.

Additionally, a few days ago, Dr. Alexander Cummins has mentioned in his Instagram post on Cauda Draconis (the geomantic figure related to the South Node / Ketu), describing it as the Dragon’s Tail which ‘not only severs ties but breaks the fingers, hands, limbs, and skulls of those who would hold us under, salting the charred wreckage of the master’s house with the bitter tears and anguished howls of our oppressors’ bereaved and maimed families, neighbors, acquaintances and housepets alike’ and wishing that ‘may you ever be bound to nothing but that which you willingly bind yourself’ and ‘defend those whom you love with as much explosive conflagration as you can call down and take responsibility for in the aftermath’. Geomancy is a divination form instinctively linked to the stars, one that I have tried to study in the past. In this case, I believe Dr. Cummins’ poetic description of the Cauda Draconis truly does capture the essence of Ketu as the beheaded serpent freeing oneself from chains (of materialism and egotism and all others).

To conclude, I wish to say that this little post is a lot less polished than my usual posts because I do intend to get the content out before Tuesday so those who wish to perform some Rahu remediation (with care and careful consideration beforehand) may do so, perhaps taking inspiration from my local practices if they wish. Regardless, I will end this post by remarking that Rahu, in my opinion, could only be fully understood alongside Ketu. Best of luck to everyone, and may you be safe as Rahu transits from the earthly Taurus to the fiery Aries.

30/3/2022 updates:

I have added pictures of my previous Rahu rite from 2020 and the rite from last night to the end of this post. Aside from the offerings, I’ve also donated $12 to a light-giving organization. Like always, I did a tarot reading to check the success (or failure) of the rite I just did.

For whether the rite went well, I got 3 of Wands followed by the Hierophant and the 5 of Pentacles. The cards speak for themselves I also divined on whether Rahu will show mercy upon me. In this case, I got the High Priestess, Justice and Page of Pentacles (my signifier). The summary card for the whole affair is the Queen of Pentacles.

My interpretation is that, Rahu’s lesson will always be one that is just and fair. He will not be cruel — for cruelty implies pleasure from causing excessive harm — he will simply do what must be done for me to learn the necessary lessons that will push me forward on my spiritual path, enabling me to one day grow from the Page to the Queen.

This does suit how Rahu tends to manifest in life, though. Rahu is rarely lenient, but fairness is to be expected.