Last time in The Path of your Consciousness through the Nakshatra of your North Node and South Node, I shared with you how to understand your nodal axis more deeply through the lunar mansions; and today I’ll guide you further into the dharmic path and consciousness evolution of your natal North Node, or Rahu, and South Node, or Ketu, through the house placements. As last time we talked about Rohini and Anuradha, we’ll continue our discussion today with the 2nd and 8th axis.
I’ll first guide you through the North Node in the 2nd and the South Node in the 8th; and then I’ll guide you through the North Node in the 8th and the South Node in the 2nd.
But first, what are the North Node and South Node?
The path from our South Node, or Ketu, to our North Node, or Rahu, is known as the path of our consciousness and evolution – so it is actually a really important part of astrology and understanding what we came here to learn; it is the path of our growth and evolution. Ketu can be seen as the monk, as the past lives, as that from which and where we’ve come, and whose essence we need to still keep balanced and apply in relevant ways in our life through its higher manifestation of integrity, humbleness and virtue. Rahu is the desire which pulls us forward into the wild unknown lands – to explore, learn, embody and shape something we haven’t before; and as any new thing in life that we are approaching it may not be perfect immediately because it is new and we are still learning.
So this is why I refer to Rahu and our North Node are our inner sculptor – the sculptor who desires to create his art, and is learning it along the way. There are two things that as artists we learn: the first is that we need that desire, because without it we wouldn’t even do it, for any artist and creator knows – it is only our desire that pulls is forward. And the second thing we know as creators is that mistakes are part of the learning; and it’s not even mistakes, it’s just refining our art and keep dedicating to it – and it takes hands. What this means is that our North Node is something we need to make more tangible in our life, while our South Node is often the inspiration or past talents or even distant memories and intuitive walkings along that path of creation.
What we need to always remember about the nodal axis is that they are both part of the same body, so they each need to be balanced. It is an axis that needs to be balanced together and in both ways, because if one is over-focused, the other will feel unstable. Sometimes life will move us more towards one, and that’s okay, but then naturally the flow will take us to the other side. Ketu is like the fish that continually outgrows the pool of water where it’s placed; while Rahu is that which takes that fish to put it into a new body of water where it’d swim and grow in the way she is now ready for.
Please understand that these are only general descriptions, and nothing in astrology is to be taken as an absolute; everything is interconnected to all else in the chart, and its energy and description is highly dependent on signs, aspects, nakshatras, and all else in the charts, as well as the personal development level of the native. There are three main levels of manifestations – the physical, the emotional and the spiritual; and the way in which things may manifest for someone depends on their level of awareness.
When it comes to the Nodes, they are usually more prominent in expression if they sit on the angles 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th as these are the cardinal points of the chart; or if they are receiving aspects from planets in conjunction or squares to them.
Please know that the natal chart shows only our potentials, but whether we step into its higher manifestation or now is only up to us. For personal readings with me, you are welcome to browse through my Offerings.
Rahu in the 2nd, Ketu in the 8th
This axis is essentially about balancing our material life (artha house of the 2nd) with our spiritual and emotional life (moksha house of the 8th). People who have their South Node in the 8th may be naturally very intuitive, and this is a classic empath position in the sense that they may be able to finely and clearly tune into the emotions of others and feel into things in deeper ways through usually all their senses.
Depending on their past life deeds they may have spiritual and creative gifts, as well as psychic abilities, though they will never really say that out loud because they understand the spiritual laws of humbleness and privacy. They are usually more quiet, and very private people; they say just enough to make people feel that they know them, while actually very few people ever know them. There is a mystical aura about them; and as the years go by they usually become very individualist in the sense that even within a group of people of the same field or industry, they will always stand out. This is because their second house North Node is about authenticity in this life.
They may have gathered depths of knowledge and wisdom in esoterics, mysticism, occult, astrology and psychology from many lives; and they are usually very interested in those topics since childhood though they keep this side of themselves more private, and don’t reveal it until later on in age if ever. Sometimes even their long term friends since childhood may not know that they love astrology for example, until later on in life; and they may work in a field that’s entirely different.
Eight house Ketu feels security when they are being valued by others, when they have a hidden secret place where they can retreat, when they have some secrets only for themselves, and when they have their deep emotional cocoon or fortress they retreat to.
They usually come from past lives where they may have been very devoted to others, for example they may have been monks, spiritual seekers, mystics, psychologists, investigators, detectives, or devoted spouses and parents whose lives revolved around others. They may have renounced all their wealth or given it to others through becoming a monk for example; and then they devoted to their spiritual pursuits and were taken care of by their monastery, etc. So in this life they need to build their own wealth and be more caring for the financial and material side of life, because these too are part of life, part of God, and we are meant to treasure all the four paths of dharma, moksha, artha and kama equally.
Their sense of security and even wellbeing comes from being able to retreat into the hidden worlds of the mystical and esoteric and have at least one person who values them deeply. They are usually very private people or even if they are extroverted they may talk a lot but not actually share a lot of their inner vulnerable and emotional world. They value and need emotionally and spiritually deep relationships, so they don’t need a lot of friends, they just someone who really sees them and connects to them deeply even if only one person.
Because of their spiritual or emotional involvement with others in past lives, they usually don’t really know what they actually value, want or need in relationships; and in general, they aren’t very clear on what their needs are. This leads them down a path of sometimes having relationships where they are just settling for someone or focusing on what the other needs, while not really being clear on what they themselves need and crave and want and desire – until one day they may snap and just leave because their needs aren’t being met, or they fall into people pleasing and lose themselves in others.
When they don’t really understand what they need from others and hesitate to voice it, they may either appear aloof or as if they don’t even need anyone anyway; they can sometimes seem a bit too detached from their intimate partners or hard to get to know. The 8th house Ketu natives can often be comfortable with more secret relationships, and they guard their privacy fiercely.
The 8th house Ketu has spent a lot of time in their own spiritual cocoon, in detachment and renunciation perhaps also, so even when they are in love with someone in this life or have learned what their needs are and are expressing them, they may still sometimes appear aloof or detached. They just need a partner who will understand their need for quietness and creative cocoons, and give them that freedom of space when they need it.
They are looking for a spiritual and emotional connection more than anything, though they have powerful desires; but they can wait for years, even be celibate, because for them what matters most is the soul connection. On the other hand though, they need to be mindful of their strong passions, because sex can be their undoing. This house placement can also show that they may be too trusting and need to set strong boundaries with people because others can take advantage of their kindness and trusting natures.
With the North Node in the 2nd house, these natives are here to develop their artha, their material life – their sense of values, and how they value their own selves, understand what they need and have clear values and integrity in life, develop self reliance and decision making, as well as learn to stay true to their word, commitments and duties and responsibilities. They need to also focus on taking care of their physical needs and health with good food, exercise and taking care of their bodies.
It’s good for them to buy themselves nice things and invest in quality items, in spoiling themselves and experiencing luxury, because often times they can actually feel guilty about buying something nice for themselves; and usually that can be due to their renunciative ways of the past or thinking that luxury has no place in spirituality. And that’s not true at all, which is why they are here to realize that experiencing wealth is not a bad thing, money is not evil, the material and spiritual are part of one; and what matters is our character, our virtues and what we do with our money when we have it.
I’ve actually noticed that when they spend money on themselves they receive more money in life; and it is good for them to take care of their possessions and keep their homes and closets clean – thereby showing respect for what they have. They also need to price their services well, because they often sell themselves short; when they value themselves and have good sense of their self worth and respect their talents and skills and time and energy, they usually come into greater abundance in life.
An imbalanced Rahu though will be too materialistic and focused on the external, for example be addicted to plastic surgeries or fillers or botox etc., and not be aligned to spiritual values, nor have a good sense of self esteem, which is why it’d look for ways to compensate for that. The higher dharma for someone who has this placement is to have virtues and do the right thing in life, and live a balanced life aligned to higher values and integrity. Usually you can see if people have more difficult karmas to repay through the kind of person they are naturally; selfishness re-incarnates as selfishness, and love as love, and virtue as virtue. People who are naturally dharmic in their lives is because they’ve done well in the past also, so they have a natural alignment and understanding of the spiritual laws.
Because Ketu is in the 8th and Rahu in the 2nd, in order for them to develop even more spiritually and feel fulfilled in their mystical connections of their eight house cocoons, they need to first develop their material life and second house; otherwise life and their higher self will keep pushing them towards it and not let them just stay in their eight house. They are here to actually learn to trust life also – and experience stability and security within themselves. With the eight house Ketu their lives may have been quite a rollercoaster, and they developed spiritual strength indeed, but now in this life, and after their 30s, it is about creating stability.
Rahu matures at 42 years old, but even in their mid 30s they will feel a different energy, more stability, and they should be mindful that sometimes because of the past memory residues they can still expect some instability from around the corner; so they should remember that this is the past, no longer the present, and now it is about stability. Drama, instability, betrayals, fear, all these are the past, so they should be mindful not to fall into perpetuating these cycles. Don’t expect bad things to happen, you are now here to experience stability and just relax into the beauty and pleasure of life.
With this axis they need to not run away from responsibility and duty, and they should lead a dharmic life. They should be focusing on making their own living materially, and usually it may be related to past life talents also; but nonetheless, they need to make their own money through their own efforts, trust and belief and confidence. They are here learning about valuing themselves outside of what others want, value and expect, so through having their own business for example, they learn self reliance, responsibility, commitment and to value their services accordingly, as well as valuing their time and energy and setting clear boundaries in life.
The second house is related to the Moon’s comfort, and it is also a healing house – because it rules all movements that sustain the body, such as food, exercise, self value, stability. They long for the stability they may not have had before, and are here to experience it and create it for themselves. They are here to learn self reliance and this can sometimes mean that they aren’t supported in ordinary tasks; perhaps they need to take care of their own administrative tasks, or learn about programming if they have their own website, or learn how business planning if they have their own business rather than just be the creative genius. Essentially, this is about relying on themselves, their talents, skills and abilities and putting in the effort; which can sometimes happen through having to wear all the hats in their business and projects.
This life is about learning to manage their time, money, energy and resources. They learn to do this more efficiently when they know their own value and build their confidence. They are also here to learn what money means and what abundance is; abundance is having what we need when we need it, so it isn’t necessarily only shaped financially through paper money. These learnings of value extend to all parts of their life, and being discerning about their friends, relationships and where they choose to invest their time and energy.
With their eight house Ketu they can sometimes be over-focused on other people’s needs, but they need to shift their eyes towards their own needs and really figure out what they need and value in life and who they are as a person outside of what others think. They can sometimes unconsciously mold themselves according to other people’s values, so it takes them more time in life to learn who they are internally and what they value and what their personal value system is, and then learn to voice it and stay true to it.
The reason why they may often look to other people’s value systems and molding themselves to that is because they may still not know their own and are trying to figure it out. They are here to learn what their needs are and may usually have a hard time to learn that until their mid 30s. So relationship wise they may sometimes be with someone and one day snap and leave, whether temporary or for good, because they suddenly realized their needs weren’t being met.
They can experience some chaos early on in life within the family and with friendships also; but as they grow in their self esteem and self value, and learn who they truly are they begin to surround themselves with the right people for them who will feel emotionally nurturing also. As they learn to no longer expect dark wolves from around the corner or that they rug will be pulled beneath their feet again, they learn to fall into trust and experience more stability in their life. They should always remain focused on choosing the right people and environment for themselves, those who will reflect their inherent sense of self value and self worth, As they grow into that, they begin to surround themselves with those who will reflect to them their own newly expanded and blooming self worth.
As both their lunar nodes are integrated and healed with deeper awareness and compassion, their life becomes quite magical as a dance between the physical and emotional and spiritual. They reach beautiful levels of spiritual evolution, because they understand how all of life should be respected, honoured and valued. Our material life is a blessing and gift to be valued and used for good. Spirituality isn’t just about the spiritual – it includes within itself the material also. They learn they no longer need to hide their vulnerabilities and retreat alone into their hidden caves – they learn they can have people to depend on, that they can be seen and understood and show the beauty of their face and nature to inspire others also.
They learn they can contribute meaningfully to society and humanity through expressing the depth of their spiritual knowledge and insights. They usually are great at teaching and inspiring others to learn on their own self values, and empower people to stand up for themselves, to find their voice and reclaim themselves. They can be great guides through using their voice because they’ve walked harder paths and learned how to value themselves also, so now they can show others also. Through coming into their innate value system and stability they can infuse a sense of stability, peace, serenity and higher values and virtues for others also – through both their mere presence and through their actions in life as well, showing people how virtues and higher values can be embodied, treasured and preserved for the benefit of humanity.
With the 2nd house North Node they are here to develop their self sufficiency and wealth in this life; and it may take a while for them to build their wealth or even savings, but they shouldn’t feel discouraged – our North Node takes a while to develop and that’s okay. The key is to build their self worth, because this is their main obstacle. They may often not even ask for a raise because of their perceived inherent low self worth; or they may do a lot for others without asking for anything in turn, or they may feel uneasy about pricing their services fairly and they are often very talented, so they shouldn’t sell themselves short.
Some of these natives may seek fame as a way to feel more worthy, but no matter how famous or wealthy they become they will feel the inner lack unless they’ve built their inner stability with self esteem and self worth. Neither fame, nor material success are the ways to develop Rahu in this house – the way to develop it is to actually receive the validation for the tasks you are meant to be taking care of that is your responsibility. If you take care of animals, children, the home, your project or business, your spouse, your garden – whatever it is that you are meant to be fulfilling that is your responsibility, this is the way to develop your Rahu.
Your eight house Ketu shows you have probably developed a lot of emotional security in past lives, but this can also sometimes make you hesistant to ask for help and support when you need it, especially if it’s emotional. You don’t have to do this all alone; sure you are meant to develop self reliance and self sufficiency, but you shouldn’t detach from the world and your loved ones. Don’t hesitate asking for help when you need it, and don’t hide your light and talents – you have a lot to give to others to make their lives better, through your insights, knowledge, talents and gifts and skills, and your ability to know how to swim through the big waves in life.
Rahu in the 8th, Ketu in the 2nd
With Rahu being in the 8th, the native is now learning to develop the ability to trust in other people, open the door to the secret intimacies of the heart, and learn to see the value of relationships and emotional connections. The eight house is allowing another to see us, and allowing our partner and the public to value us – because while the 2nd house is what we ourselves value, the 8th is what other people value.
Rahu in the eight house can often hesitate to do their inner work, and have a reluctance to contemplate where their pathological thoughts, feelings and habits originate from. And when they do finally try to go to the source of any self-defeating patterns and thoughts, they may initially not be able to accept it or see an illusion of it because Rahu can sometimes blind us from seeing the truth, and can be deceptive.
Rahu reveals where we pretend in our lives, whether consciously or subconsciously. We can pretend to dive deeply into our psyche, but we may not actually be doing that; we can pretend to be emotionally mature, we can pretend to trust, we can pretend to be honest etc. Until one day we are faced with the truth, and the truth exposed with the Rahu in the eight can be quite humbling, so it’s important for these natives to try to be sincere and not deceive people, because truths here get exposed – Rahu brings them out publicly also. After the age 42, when Rahu matures, we may become better at handling our natal Rahu energies.
Our South Node shows where we feel secure and comfortable and go back to in times of insecurity, and in the 2nd house it shows that security for these natives is their self reliance. In relationships they can be very independent and hesitate to allow another in their life on a deeper level. This makes it harder to create real intimacy and closeness with others.
The second house Ketu can have such a need for self sufficiency that they attract people into their lives that have little value to offer them. Rahu in the eight house is pretending to see value in other people but most of the time, they do not see clearly what other people have to offer. Sometimes, they will attract people who are worse off financially or those who can’t keep promises or are untrustworthy or even attract betrayal in their lives.
Esoterically the 8th house is our own personal inner demons, so Rahu in the 8th wants the native to recognize and understand their own inner demons, and all the ways in which they contribute to their situations. Until they become very honest with themselves and work through their inner psychology, life may sometimes feel a little bit like a rollercoaster – the purpose of the extremes is to shakes them well enough in order for them to become more flexible and shift their eyes inward, getting in touch with the power of their emotions and the messages from their deep psyche.
The 8th house is where we transform on some level and learn to swim the waves in the oceans – because this is how we build trust in ourselves and in life itself also. Rahu in the 8th fears change, and will hold on tightly for their dear life, trying to do all they can to avoid any change to their established dynamics and patterns. The more they hold on and resist, the more the energy will accumulate and persist, so surrender helps them; even if just going to a salt water to float in the water, to make the body fall into how it feels to surrender and relax.
The most effective way to transform the psyche and emotional body is by connecting to and embracing new and different experiences – and for the Rahu in the 8th, change is a good thing! Even if only just trying a new hobby or pushing yourself beyond your comfort zone, it will be good and help you with this energy.
With the South Node in the 2nd, the native can spend too much time taking care of things to maintain them in one specific way of being, whether it’s their valuables, possessions, wealth. It is important to be mindful not to stay too long in maintaining phases, but also have new experiences in your life, even if they are challenging you, because this is where your growth will come from. You need to push yourself and make the uncomfortable comfortable. Embracing the unknown is food for your soul with this nodal axis.
Also be mindful that because you are very self sufficient, you may sometimes do things for your partner or others that they should be doing themselves. People who have their Ketu in the 2nd can sometimes take away the opportunity for their partner to do something themselves, and this may decrease the value of their partner. For example, if you always do all by yourself, fix the roof and the lamp, and then say “well, my partner isn’t doing anything”, you need to self reflect whether it was perhaps you doing it before actually giving your partner a chance to do it.
Rahu in the 8th needs to embrace the mysterious and that some things in life are meant to remain a mystery or only understood with riddles. As human beings we all want to have stability in this uncertain thing called life, which is why we want to feel in control to soothe our worries, and we want to know things because knowing gives us stability – but we’ll never know it all, and the humility of this deserves to be treasured.
So Rahu in the 8th needs to trust the process and treasure and accept the mysteries of life and the questions for which they may not receive answers. In the ancient world, astrologers and oracles would tell fortunes exclusively in riddles, and even nowadays esoteric text comes in riddles or harder to interpret. This is because the seekers need to practice their intuitive mind to understand subconsciously and symbolically rather than logically. The esoteric and spiritual cannot be understood through literalism.
So the 8th house North Node will pull you towards the emotional and spiritual contemplating, and towards developing and interpreting the esoteric meanings of things. The more mysterious something sounds, the more you should embrace it – don’t disregard things, and don’t ever to apply literalism to the esoteric, that’s never how you’ll interpret it.
The 8th house is about taboos and with this placement the native will be pulled towards being a bit more unconventional and non-mainstream. The purpose for that is to establish their inner emotional strength, to keep doing what they want regardless of others’ disapproval as long as it is aligned to their values and the right spiritual ethics. Sometimes they may lose wealth or status because of emotional connections they’ve made and vowed to or wanted to explore, but these connections are absolutely crucial to grow and fundamentally transform. For example, perhaps they marry someone of different faith, or perhaps they start learning astrology even though that’s not traditional or accepted in their circles. Or maybe they are first responders even though they don’t get paid a lot, or decide to do it later on in life changing careers.
Rahu in the eight house must slowly learn to develop trust in life. They do this by developing trust in other people but more importantly trusting that they can handle whatever happens because they are emotionally and spiritually secure. Being able to show your vulnerable side and being in touch with it is crucial with this axis, because this is the path of development. You must develop the trust that someone else will experience your vulnerabilities and take care of them, whether this is another person or the divine. Rahu in the eight house needs another entity to transform and grow, whether that is a partner or a spiritual entity.
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Cover art is The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli.