Rahu in Cancer, Ketu in Capricorn

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Rahu is the constructor, and Ketu is the destructor. As I explain in my YouTube lunar node series, Rahu is the white whale and Ketu is the white elephant. The Cancer-Capricorn axis is mother/father, child/parent, emotions/stoicism. The balance lessons these individuals are learning as with all Rahu/Ketu combinations are ones of ego: specifically, to fall back on the father role they know so well (having mastered it in a previous life incarnation), or to move into the mother (or child) role they crave. The ultimate lesson is that both are an illusion and they don’t have to choose either-or.

In Cancer, Rahu morphs into the NURTURER. Here Rahu gets confused as it tends to do in water signs, because Rahu wants material things and must create logic and order to acquire these things. But water means that logic goes out the window! Cancer is ruled by Moon which is subjective thinking (not Mercury which is logical thinking). This isn’t “how to scramble an egg” type of thought, it’s the “remember that fight I had with my sister 5 years ago?” mental activity that dominates 99% of human minds all day without them even knowing. That’s the power of the moon! It is constantly recalling the past (hence why Cancer is so attached to the past) and attempting to “predict” the future based on what happened in the past. Which is all a facade anyway. And that’s Rahu as well: the illusion we chase.

Rahu here makes the moon a HUGE influence on this individual, regardless of what sign it is in. If the person’s moon is in an earth or air sign, that’s a good thing to balance emotional reactivity. If the moon is in a water or fire sign, this will amp up the subjective mental activity. Regardless of moon placement, Rahu craves nurturing. To be nurtured, to do the nurturing. Food becomes a strong avenue for this as Cancer rules stomach. Being fed, feeding others. Caretaking becomes something this person craves, and can never seem to hold onto someone to nurture or to nurture them. The nurturing from the mother was often not there for these people, either they literally didn’t have a mother or the way the mother acted towards the child was not perceived as nurturing. Perhaps the mother had to take on a father role, for example a single mom, or perhaps she was emotionally unavailable due to mental health issues or other life situations. It could be she only provided nurturing selectively…. such as with food.

Then, we have Ketu in Capricorn, the father figure, the stoic taskmaster. This points to what comes naturally for this individual… order. Saturn, Capricorn’s ruler, is father time, but not cyclical time (that’s moon), linear time. Which is the facade of the material world. But Capricorn has this on lock… it understands that linear time is a facade that represents mastery with hard work, lessons, practice, blood/sweat/tears. It is quite happy to do without today, for what will come tomorrow. That’s also the drawback of Capricorn (self-deprivation). Capricorn is a natural ruler because of its self discipline and Ketu here is an automatic leader in the eyes of others. But remember, Ketu doesn’t want what it manifests… so these people will often be put in positions of leadership they don’t want just because they are implementing order and discipline wherever they go, and it stands out in a sea of undisciplined, self-indulgent disorganization.

Ketu here can even self-sabotage leadership positions. They get promoted and then hate it because they just want to do their own thing, and there is little love for the boss. They are good at order and discipline and responsibility, but remember…they are preoccupied with Rahu in Cancer. They want to be the mother, and sometimes the CHILD, but definitely not the father. Yet society keeps placing them in “father” positions of manager, business, disciplinarian, the “responsible” one. So they make sure they get demoted, fired, they mess up the group project at school rather than be the one to lead it yet again. They end relationships when the partner starts to take on a childlike or feminine role, putting them in the “responsible” position. Yet again.

The key to balancing out this dichotomy is for these individuals to accept the responsibilities that naturally come their way due to their strengths, but not take on more. They are not required to let everyone else act like irresponsible children while they shoulder the entire burden. Ketu in Capricorn needs to accept that they do have skills that single them out as a leader in society, but learning to say “no thank you” or “I don’t know how to do that” will save them from the urge to self-sabotage later on, when everyone has piled ALL the responsibility onto them.

The other thing that makes Cappy Ketu stand out is stoicism. These people will not crumble easily, despite Rahu in Cancer… in fact, they must give themselves permission to be open about all the emotions that are raging under the surface, rather than holding it all in until they are at home and eat their feelings, or let it all come to a head and then have a rather public meltdown that shocks everyone. They often are used to bottling up emotions because they weren’t allowed emotional expression as children. They weren’t allowed to be children and never went through the natural progression of learning to experience and let go of emotion. It is stunted for them but this is falsely perceived by the rest of the world as emotional mastery.

Allowing emotional expression and softness to flow regularly will reveal that it is now safe and OK for them to do so. They will not be punished, rejected, shunned, or isolated for feeling. In fact, it will allow Rahu to get what it wants (nurturing). They can begin to learn what was stunted in childhood, and emotions will neutralize. They will put themselves in a position to attract nurturing and situations to nurture others. They will be a loved leader, one that balances nurturing and order internally and externally.