Ketu Ke Upay: Remedies for Ketu, the Graha of Letting Go

Ketu is the Moon’s south node, the point opposite Rahu, and like Rahu it is a shadow graha with no physical body. In the story of the churning of the ocean it is the headless trunk of the asura whose head became Rahu. Where Rahu is a head with endless appetite, Ketu is a body with no head: it does not want, it releases. Astrology calls Ketu the moksha karaka — the significator of detachment, intuition, past-life residue and spiritual turning. In worldly matters that same quality shows up as loss, separation and things that slip away at the last step.

Astrologers associate an afflicted Ketu with:

• work that reaches the final stage and then falls through
• a loss of interest or purpose in things that used to matter
• feeling cut off — from family, from colleagues, from one’s own plans
• long-running skin complaints, and minor accidents or injuries
• worry concerning children, as Ketu is read alongside the fifth house

These are tendencies, not a diagnosis. Ketu is judged from its house, its sign and above all the planet ruling that sign, whose results it tends to give. A low mood that persists is also a health matter, and deserves to be treated as one.

The Ketu beej mantra is: Om Sram Sreem Sraum Sah Ketave Namah.

1. Chant it 108 times daily after bathing; early morning before sunrise is the traditional time for Ketu.
2. Keep it for at least 40 days without a break.
3. The simpler form, Om Kem Ketave Namah, is accepted where the beej mantra is hard to pronounce.

Correct pronunciation matters more than speed. If you are unsure, listen to it recited by a pandit before you begin.

Ketu’s presiding deity is Ganesha, the remover of obstacles — fitting for a graha whose signature is the obstacle at the last moment. The simplest Ketu remedy in the whole tradition is therefore a daily prayer to Ganesha: offer durva grass, light a lamp, and recite Om Gam Ganapataye Namah or the Ganesha Atharvashirsha. Many families keep this on Tuesdays or on Chaturthi, the fourth lunar day, which is Ganesha’s own.

Like Rahu, Ketu rules no weekday. Its remedies are conventionally kept on Tuesday — Ketu is said to behave like Mars — and some traditions use Saturday. The gifts associated with Ketu are:

• a blanket, traditionally grey, brown or multi-coloured
• sesame (black and white together), and seven grains mixed
• a flag offered at a temple — Ketu’s own name means banner

The most widely kept Ketu custom is feeding and caring for dogs. It is custom rather than scripture, but it is the one remedy almost every astrologer recommends, and it does good whatever your chart says.

Ketu’s gemstone is cat’s eye (lehsuniya). Like Rahu’s gomed it strengthens the graha rather than pacifying it, and should be worn only on specific advice after the chart is read — see gemstone or puja: which remedy is right. Lal Kitab remedies for Ketu, such as keeping a dog, applying a saffron tilak or giving milk and rice, are popular custom from a twentieth-century tradition; harmless, but not from the classical texts.

The older commentators say Ketu’s losses are easier when its nature is accepted rather than resisted. Practical forms of that: a little daily quiet — meditation, japa or simply sitting; finishing what is begun instead of starting many things; and service without expectation. These are not remedies in the transactional sense. They work with the graha instead of against it.

A full jaap is traditionally prescribed when Ketu’s Mahadasha or Antardasha is running and the chart shows Ketu afflicted, or when Ketu is closely joined with the Moon, the Sun or Mars. The mantra is then recited in its prescribed count by pandits, with havan, in your name and gotra — our Ketu Shanti Jaap in Ujjain. For Ketu’s other half, see the remedies for Rahu. Neither is a guarantee of any outcome, and neither replaces medical care.