Rahu’s placement in the natal chart is our white whale, and in Leo he chases royalty. Leo is King, ego, career, pride. Rahu here wants to shine. In modern society our royalty = celebrities, so Leo today is expressed via performance, and emotional expression. Drama. Rahu in Leo craves attention, whether that be applause or notoriety. The ruler of Leo is the sun, the center of the solar system. Literally the star. Stars shine only when there is darkness around them. Celebrities are our earthly representation of stars, and the darkness is everyone else. We MAKE celebrities special in our attention to every detail of their lives, praising every tissue they blow their nose into, just as we did with royalty for thousands of years. This is a creation we collectively construct and breathe life into, like Frankenstein’s monster… and then we become the mob that destroys it! Leo is a physical manifestation of the collective.
Ketu in Aquarius means the past life was one of being part of the mob. This is an individual that has not yet experienced any sense of being special, they have never stood out or been in the center of things. No one gave a rat’s ass about their used tissues. They have plenty of experience thinking about how to help the collective, however. Aquarius is the sign of genius, cutting edge science and technological advances, the future, as well as humanitarianism. Sorry if you are reading this and want to be a celebrity (or are one), but the future does not include traditional pyramid hierarchy of paupers at the bottom and royalty at the top. The future of humanity is invariably a flat structure where ego has been replaced with heart-centered service. Nobody will care about what goes into anyone’s tissues, so long as those tissues are biodegradable.
So this Ketu is often misunderstood when working with others. This is a person who knows exactly how to advance society, wayyyy before others do, and is considered a mad scientist. People are more inclined to laugh at this person and reject their ideas than appreciate them (until years later, of course). Ketu is our white elephant, what we get but don’t want, so this individual is pulled into thinking about the collective and working in groups and networks, but things always go awry. They are rejected for their contributions and therefore pushed towards Rahu in Leo – shining alone, as an individual. The thing about this Leo-Aquarius axis is that it has to do with emotional vs intellectual expression. Aquarius Ketu has done the intellectual thing to death, and now must embrace emotional expression and step into the limelight while doing so.
Rahu in Leo, barring other planetary conjunctions and certain house placements, is wonderful at performance but is rather shy due to the Aquarius comfort zone. Aquarius is the sign of shyness and feeling totally awkward in the limelight. Aquarius is the anti-ego. But to incarnate as a human, we must eventually have all human experiences and this time around, this individual is here to experience being in the spotlight. It’s uncomfortable, they get anxiety when they are called to it, and yet they have the gift. And if they try to fall back on that Aquarius help-humanity-together stuff and try to remain a wallflower, they will be ousted anyway.
The key to balancing this axis is to perform. That’s it. Just get accustomed to it, practice it, do it. Be in the spotlight. Accept everyone projecting their love – and hate – onto you. Do whatever it is you’re good at, whether it be acting or music or sports or expressing new ideas, whatever you shine at. Embrace emotional expression, the crowd demands it. People WILL project their own stuff onto you, good and bad. Use your Aquarius Ketu to not take it personally and realize you are helping the collective by doing what you’re great at, and being an example of not allowing the ego to be fed by other’s opinions (if you live for their praise you’ll die from their criticism). It’s counter intuitive because Leo is literally the ego, but it works for you. You must experience what it is like to be the token figure that people want to be and simultaneously despise. This is the whole reason celebrities exist, because most of humanity looks in the mirror and cannot see their own shadow. Leo is the token figure that – even if just for a fleeting performance – unites everyone in a satisfying emotional release.
Abby Harmony 