[ First message March 13th, 2013 ]

No problem at all!

Well... this will be a LONG message, so I recommend you to take some time reading
this. It will, I believe, be worth the time.

To put it simply, Vedic Astrology is similar to western Traditional Astrology in the

aspect that it only uses the 7 traditional 'planets' (I'm including here the Sun & the Moon
just to simplify the language). In terms of methods and techniques they are very
different, but that issue won't be important in order to explain you my thoughts.

As I said, Vedic Astrology uses the 7 traditional planets; however, while in western
astrology the Lunar Nodes are of secondary importance, in vedic astrology they are
*extremely* important even fundamental in understanding a chart. There are plenty of
books on Vedic Astrology and there are plenty of books on the vedic perspective of
the Lunar Nodes *only*.

The vedic names for the lunar nodes are "Rahu" (the North Node, Caput Draconis) and
"Ketu" (the South Node, Cauda Draconis). You can see two images of them here:

Rahu, the North Lunar Node (right) the Dragon's Head.

Ketu, the South Lunar Node (left) the Dragon's Tail.

I will use the names of Rahu (NN) and Ketu (SN) from now on, as they are simpler and
more familiar to me. There is much mythology connected to the Lunar Nodes, and you
can search for it if this subject interests you. One of the best articles you could read
about this are Joni Patry's "Combinations of Power - Rahu & Ketu" which I found very
informative and well written, even though the best would be to read any book specific
to the vedic Lunar Nodes.

As eternally opposed parts of the same mythological "being", Rahu and Ketu are also
eternally connected to the mysteries of spirit and matter. While one part is anxious to
dive into the material world and is obsessed with it, the other wishes to liberate itself
from the physical world and shows how anything earthly is transitory and delusional.
As a head without a body, Rahu (the North Node) becomes obsessed with everything it
touches, it sees all things through desire, many times manipulating our ego with a
thousand illusions by which it masks the true nature of illusion. These illusions work in
the level of subconscious mind: Rahu distorts perception and centers on the illusory
appearance of things, without ever knowing their true nature.

Contrary to this, Ketu (the South Node), as a body without a head, constantly wishes to
liberate itself from the physical world. While Rahu gives you things the easy way, Ketu
takes things away from you the hard way, in order to show you how illusion works...
because the deeper one gets in the physical world, the more forgetful one will be
towards what is really important. Making a parallel with western tradition on the Lunar
Nodes, this is the reason why some authors relate the North Node (Rahu) to augment
and fertility, while the South Node (Ketu) would be related to decrease and sterility. The
fact is that Rahu really is expansive and can give fame and fortune but it comes
always with a *price*, obsessing and manipulating your mind through desires and
material achievements. And Ketu does really take things away and is "unfortunate"
but the bad luck and misfortunes it causes always come with a *lesson*, opening your
perception to the truth and perceiving the transitory nature of things. This is the beauty
of the Lunar Nodes, and how the vedic and western perspectives of the Lunar Nodes can
be "re-joined" in a single understanding.

But... what does this have to do with the modern planets, as I told you before? Actually,
this is where the cool part begins!

Besides being a student of Astrology, I am also a student of several other topics,

including religion, history, languages and alphabets and all the magical/occult world
traditions. As such, I have bought many books on these subjects, and among them I got
some concerning Numerology, the "occult art of the numbers". In many modern books,
each number has a ruling planet:

- Nr 1 is ruled by the Sun;

- Nr 2 is ruled by the Moon;
- Nr 3 is ruled by Jupiter;
- Nr 4 is ruled by Uranus;
- Nr 5 is ruled by Mercury;
- Nr 6 is ruled by Venus;
- Nr 7 is ruled by Neptune;
- Nr 8 is ruled by Saturn;
- Nr 9 is ruled by Mars;

Apparently there isn't any inherent"order" to this sequence of planets, at least judging
from their chaldaic order or their order in the days of the week [ well, in fact there *is* a
reasoning behind these correspondences which is based on the vedic concept of
"Gunas", but as it is unimportant to this message I will leave it untouched ].

Let us focus our attention on the attributions to the numbers 4 and 7, respectively
Uranus and Neptune. When I first saw this numerological system I wondered what
would be the correspondences before these planets were discovered. After some digging
and research, I found out through an 'astrology' magazine (one of those many magazines
with great quantity of information but low quality) that apparently there was a Vedic
system of numerology where numbers 4 and 7 were ruled by Rahu and Ketu which,
according to the same magazine, were the vedic names of Uranus and Neptune (!!!). As
at that time (back in 2003) I didn't even know there was a Vedic Astrology, I'd never put
this to question. Only recently when I finally started my studies on Vedic Astrology and
specifically the Lunar Nodes (my astrological passion) did I realize the importance of
my 'finding' in that awful magazine, 10 years ago.

Let's see:

- Rahu is related to shock, highly technical areas, paranoia, and vague or unexpected
behaviors. Rahu transforms things, creates revolutions and mass hysteria. The same
applies to the modern meanings of Uranus. (Note: one of the main "exaltation signs" for
Rahu is, according to several vedic sources, Aquarius.)

- Ketu relates to spirituality, religion, self-sacrifice and detachment. The same is true for
Neptune according to 'modern' opinions, and in fact Ketu is frequently represented as
Matsya, the "Fish Avatar" of Lord Vishnu.

But there is more to this.

In Vedic Astrology great importance is given to the order of the planets according to
their sequence in the week. This order is: Sun Moon Mars Mercury Jupiter
Venus Saturn Rahu Ketu, which is connected to the days of the week from Sunday
to Saturday, plus the two Lunar Nodes at the end of the sequence. This sequence is
known as the Vara Chakra, and is the most important sequence (much more than the
numerological order) in Vedic Astrology just like the chaldaic order of planets is
prevalent in the west.

As the two 'planets' *after* Saturn, it is just natural to imagine theosophical and new
age 'astrologers' trying to connect the two systems, with an ironic twist. From a
traditional system where only the luminaries, 5 planets and two lunar nodes were used,
they adapted the system so that Uranus and Neptune could enter into the equation. Thus
it became that Uranus (pseudo-Rahu) became ruler of Aquarius (Rahu's exaltation sign),
and Neptune (pseudo-Ketu) became ruler of Pisces (Ketu as Matsya, the Fish Avatar).

Did you know that most vedic astrologers, when being told about Uranus and Neptune,
refuse to work with them because their Rahu and Ketu *already* have their
significations? What would be the logic in using two planets (in this case, a planet and a
lunar node) with exactly the same meanings? None, of course.

And what about Pluto?

From the descriptions of Rahu and Ketu it is easy to realize that both gave some of them
to the 'ninth planet'. Just like Rahu, Pluto is manipulative and obsessive, and is related to
material riches (treasures, jewelry, etc), and just like Ketu it is explosive and
devastating. Pluto got the most severe, simultaneously spiritual and worldly, facets of
both Rahu and Ketu.

And so... this is it! I hope you enjoyed reading this message, and I'm curious to know
your opinion about this. Please feel free to make any comments you would like I do
believe this can be an enriching study, and would like to discuss it with you. Many
thanks for your time, and again I would like to thank you for your excellent work of
investigation on the modern planets. It made everything clear to me... and so this is the
way I'm trying to retribute the favor.

Best regards from this friend, also in love with Astrology!

Lus Gonalves

[ Second message April 9th, 2013 ]

Hello Sue,

Thanks for your message.

Unfortunately I forgot to send you some bibliography which lead me to the conclusions
I told you earlier. This will be corrected in this new message.

The reason why I've not chosen Gematria, but Numerology instead (particularly the so-
called "Pythagorean" numerology), is because it indicates a clear connection between
the symbolisms of Rahu/Ketu (NN/SN) and Uranus/Neptune, regarding planetary
rulership of each number. Although many authors say this is an "old" system coming
from Pythagoras, it is actually a very modern system which comes NOT from
Pythagoras, but from Vedic Astrology and Numerology.

There are in fact *two* systems of Vedic Numerology, the Guna Chakra and the Vara
Chakra(1). I will elaborate on both of them, one at a time.

1. The first one is known as the the Guna Chakra ("wheel of tendencies"), according to
which the planets and the numbers they rule are divided according to their essence or
tendency. Thus, numbers 1, 2 and 3 are ruled by the Sun, the Moon and Jupiter, which
are connected to Sattva (purity). Numbers 5 and 6 are ruled by Mercury and Venus,
connected to Rajas (excitement), and numbers 8 and 9 are ruled by Saturn and Mars (the
malefics) which relate to Tamas (darkness). Numbers 4 and 7 are the borders between
the Gunas, and as such are ruled by the Lunar Nodes. Number 4 is ruled by Rahu, the
North Node, and number 7 is ruled by Ketu, the South Node. This is the basis from
which modern "pythagorean" numerology spawned, with the only difference of having
number 4 being ruled by Uranus, and number 7 by Neptune (2). This implicit association
between the Lunar Nodes and the modern planets is quite interesting, as both the Lunar
Nodes and their "corresponding" modern planets share almost the same symbols and

1
VISTI LARSEN, "Vedic Numerology" (
http://www.srigaruda.com/index.php/en/publications/articles/73-vedic-numerology-slides ).
2
For modern planetary rulerships of the numbers, according to the "pythagorean numerology", have a
look at LLOYD STRAYHORN's book "Numbers and You". Many other authors use the same scheme,
like, for instance, MARY ANDERSON in "Numerology: The Secret Power of Numbers". Another
source: ( http://www.astrospeak.com/numerology/about-numbers/Planets-and-
Numbers/articleshow/4906333.cms ).
meanings (3). In many sites this association is made to the point of stating they are the
same (4). The fact of the Lunar Nodes being considered "shadow-planets" in Vedic
Astrology, due to their invisibility (as they have no mass) may have contributed to this
parallelism, as the Modern Planets are also "invisible" (due to their distance from us).
This is in tune with what you wrote about the importance of light in Traditional
Astrology.

2. The other system of Vedic Numerology is called the Vara Chakra ("wheel of the
week"), in which the planets follow their order in the week. In this manner, number 1 is
ruled by the Sun (sunday), number 2 by the Moon (monday), etc, until number 7 which
is ruled by Saturn (saturday). The Lunar Nodes immediately follow, being the lords of
numbers 8 (ruled by Rahu/NN), and number 9 (ruled by Ketu/SN). This system is by far
the most interesting of the two, because it follows a pattern which is reflected in the
numbers themselves, and in the principles of zodiacal planetary rulerships.

At this point I will introduce you to the concept of the "Vedic Square" (5), derived from
indian mathematics. This square is basically a 9x9 multiplication table, and shows
several curious patterns which are of extreme importance to this discussion. Following
is an image of this square:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
2 4 6 8 1 3 5 7 9
3 6 9 3 6 9 3 6 9
4 8 3 7 2 6 1 5 9
5 1 6 2 7 3 8 4 9
6 3 9 6 3 9 6 3 9
7 5 3 1 8 6 4 2 9
8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 9
9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9

As you already understood, this square contains the repeated digital sums of the product
of the column and row heading numbers. To make it clearer, please compare the row 5-
1-6-2-7-3-8-4-9 with the sequence of the products of five: 5-10-15-20-25-30-35-40-45.

Now you should note that the pairs of numbers totalling 9 are contrary to one another
(their order is reversed). This shows an interesting pattern which reflects on the Planets'
regencies in the Zodiac:

- Mercury (nr.4) opposes Jupiter (nr.5), like Gemini/Virgo are opposed to

Sagittarius/Pisces;
3
For instance, "Rahu: Uranus of the East" ( http://magneticmoon.tumblr.com/post/20479763015/rahu-
uranus-of-the-east ).
4
"Nine Planetary Deities of Hinduism" (http://ratnaveera.hubpages.com/hub/Nine-Planetary-Deities-of-
Hinduism ): "(...) Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Rahu (Uranus), Ketu (Neptune) are
nine planetary gods (...)".
5
HARISH JOHARI, "Numerology with Tantra, Ayurveda, and Astrology". Please note that in this book,
Johari uses the Guna-based Numerology instead of the Vara Chakra.
- Mars (nr.3) opposes Venus (nr.6), in the same way that Aries/Scorpio oppose
Libra/Taurus;
- The Moon (nr.2) is opposed to Saturn (nr.7), just like Cancer is opposed to Capricorn;
- And finally, the Sun (1) opposes Rahu (8), as Leo opposes Aquarius.

This last line should be a surprise... because as you can see, there is a strong connection
between Rahu and Aquarius, and as such, between Rahu and modern Uranus. Many
vedic astrologers even consider Ketu (the South Node) to be well placed in Scorpio and
Pisces, attesting its connections to both Neptune (Ketu as the Fish Avatar of Lord
Vishnu, exalted in Pisces) and Pluto (exalted in Scorpio, significator of liberation and/or
material devastation). On another perspective, Pluto also shares some characteristics
with Rahu, being related to obsession, manipulation and power/riches. (6)

Just to conclude, my perspective on the theosophical "legacy" to modern astrology is

basically the same as yours, this being the reason why I didn't reply yet to the points you
raised in your previous message. However, I don't think that this fabricated
correspondence between Modern Planets and the Lunar Nodes comes only from
Theosophy or the theosophists' desire to make astrology "more scientific" (ruining its
essence and equilibrium): what I really know is that their connection, either in
symbolism or zodiacal rulerships or exaltations, is too obvious to be discarded... and
maybe the theosophists had some hand on this. Or maybe they simply cleared the way
to the creation of this correspondence, the same having been established by modern
numerologers, based on Vedic Numerology. The puzzle is still there...

Even though this message was a bit more specific on Vedic Astrology and Numerology,
I hope it sheds more light on some things I wrote on my previous text to you. Please feel
free to make any comments you would like! Thank you very much.

Warm regards from Portugal.

Lus Gonalves

6
P.V.R. NARASIMHA RAO, "Vedic Astrology an Integrated Approach", chapter 3.3 (Planetary
Dignities), on the Lunar Nodes' exaltation and moolatrikona signs.