Ketu Transit in Bharani

Bharani lies in Aries, ruled by Venus, with Yama as its deity and the yoni as its symbol. Venus is neutral toward Mars, and by the Kujavat rule Ketu takes Mars's relationships, so the lord neither helps nor hinders, and Ketu is at home in Mars's sign. Yama and Ketu share one office: ending one state so another can begin.

The stay runs around seven months, backward from the fourth pada to the first, and a direct spell of the true node can cut it into two visits. Bharani carries, bears and delivers. Birth, death, restraint, sexuality and the discipline of holding a burden until its time are its themes.

Ketu here sets the burden down. Responsibilities carried out of habit lose their hold, and the person may feel guilty about the relief. Old attachments end without drama and fertility and the reproductive organs come into focus. Rahu stands in Vishakha for the first half of the stay and in Swati for the second.

• Aquarius, Scorpio and Gemini Moons have Ketu in the third, sixth and eleventh, Phaladeepika's favourable houses for Saturn and the nodes.
• Aries Moons carry Ketu in the first and Rahu in the seventh, and should watch the head and the marriage.
• Libra Moons have Rahu on the lagna and Ketu in the seventh, where a partner grows quiet or distant.
• Taurus Moons meet Ketu in the twelfth and Virgo Moons in the eighth; read the lagna the same way.

The transit shows how a person holds what must end, and whether the ending is allowed or resisted.

The remedy is Ganesha and Om Kem Ketave Namah, with tarpana for those who have gone. Give Ketu's dana, a blanket, sesame or food for dogs, on Tuesday.