The Celestial Agenda for 2016 includes a few unusual, intense planetary patterns that will likely make this coming year memorable in a number of ways.
The action begins almost immediately, in January, when the nodes, Rahu and Ketu, change signs. The lunar nodes are the intersection points of the path of the Sun and the path of the Moon, as seen from Earth. These are the eclipse points, which in Vedic Astrology are considered to be almost equal in importance to the solid planets. The nodes move backwards through the zodiac, compared to the rest of the celestial bodies. In January, Rahu, the north node, leaves Virgo and moves into Leo. Ketu, the south node, leaves Pisces and moves into Aquarius. These new nodal placements will create a new sign emphasis, and bring new events to the area of your life as indicated by the house positions of Leo and Aquarius in your natal chart. Additionally, each of the nodes will initiate a new energy pattern, due to having to combine with planets that are already transiting in these signs.
Rahu will pair up with Jupiter, which has been transiting in Leo since July, 2015. In fact, the conjunction of Rahu and Jupiter will be exact as soon as Rahu enters Leo. By January, Jupiter will be at the extreme end of Leo, where it begins its retrograde phase. As Rahu enters the end of Leo, it will immediately encounter Jupiter, and since they will both be moving backwards in Leo at about the same speed, we will get a powerful sustained interaction of Retrograde Jupiter and Rahu for the first few months of 2016.
As an eclipse point, Rahu has the ability to Obscure any planet that it comes into contact with, resulting in distortion of that planet’s significations. Jupiter is the planet of Wisdom, Prosperity, Optimism, Faith, and Law. Since Jupiter will be retrograde, its significations will already not be behaving normally. Rahu will only further pervert the indications of Jupiter. Therefore, expressions of Truth, Wisdom, Faith, Optimism, Prosperity, etc., will not be “normal” during the first few months of 2016, and thus will highlight another quality of Rahu: Confusion. Rahu also has the nature of Obsession, Urgency, and Separation. Its combination with Jupiter will put more emphasis on individual Beliefs, Religion, and Personal Truth, creating more division between people.
Directly opposite in the zodiac from Rahu is Ketu, the other eclipse point. Ketu will be pairing up with Neptune, which has been creeping along in Aquarius since 2009. Similar to Rahu, Ketu also alters the expression of any planet that comes in contact with it. In a natal chart, Ketu represents the past life karma. Since it signifies the “unseen world,” Ketu’s function in mundane events is to dematerialize, i.e., dissolve things, on the material plane. Ketu can be a spiritualizing factor, which is synonymous with Dissatisfaction. Neptune in some ways is similar to Ketu, as it represents the world of dreams and fantasies; i.e., the non-rational. Thus, both of these significators are mysterious, irrational, and unpredictable. In your own life, keep a watch on the house occupied by Aquarius in your birth chart. It is likely that you will experience instances of idealism, dissatisfaction, illusions, confusion, and/ or misunderstandings in this sector of your life during 2016.
On another level, both Ketu and Neptune are considered to be expressions of “the collective,” i.e., visionary idealism, the greater good, societal movements, etc. The sign that Ketu and Neptune will be together in, Aquarius, is the social scientist, the humanitarian, of the zodiac. So this combination can signal some changes, or at least movement, towards sensitivity to the needs of the masses, more democracy. What is interesting is that the exact conjunction of Neptune and Ketu will occur in November, just as we approach the 2016 U.S. national elections.
Another important planetary combination that becomes a major feature of 2016 is the conjunction of Mars and Saturn. Saturn has been in Scorpio since November 2014, and remains in that sign for all of 2016. Mars enters Scorpio in the third week of February. Mars and Saturn have diametrically opposing energies. Mars is Action and is Impatient for Results; Saturn is all Caution, Pessimism, and Delay. These two planets don’t like each other, yet they will be forced to stay in close proximity for an extended period of time during 2016. The result will be a lot of tension, stress and crisis, both in world events, and in our personal lives. Normally Mars only spends 6 weeks in a sign, but this time, Mars will remain in Scorpio for 7 months. The reason is that Mars will be go through a retrograde phase in 2016, from April 17th to June 30th.
Retrograde Mars is the planet of Energy and Action, going “Backwards.” Obviously, this is problematic for moving anything forward: projects tend to run into difficulties; it’s hard to even get things off the ground when Mars is retrograde. Now add in the energy of Saturn, the planet of Time & Delay, Restriction, Obstruction, and Suffering. As it happens, Saturn will also be retrograde while Mars is retrograde. The general rule in Vedic Astrology is that natural malefics, when retrograde, do more harm than usual. When two natural malefics are both retrograde in the same sign it is a sure signal for major trouble. Making matters still worse, at the end of April, Mercury begins a retrograde period, lasting through most of May. You can redline mid-April through the end of June as a time to avoid for scheduling anything important. Best to stick to routine actions during those months. The sector of your personal chart containing the sign Scorpio is where the problems will most likely appear. Mars will finally leave Scorpio in mid-September.
Jupiter takes about 1 year to transit through a sign. Since mid July 2015, Jupiter has been in Leo. On August 11, 2016, Jupiter will change signs, moving from Leo to Virgo. Starting then, the planet of Wisdom, Prosperity, Increase, Beliefs, Law, etc., will be manifesting through the sign of Details & Analysis for a bit more than a year, until September 2017. Since Jupiter is the “Great Benefic” in Vedic Astrology, the area of the zodiac where it transits generally experiences some kind of improvement. In your Vedic Astrology birth chart, find the house that contains the sign Virgo. This part of your life will likely experience some benefit, opportunity, and/ or increase, during the 12 months of Jupiter’s transit beginning in August.
One interesting effect of Jupiter moving into Virgo is how it will affect the coming US elections. Virgo is the 10th house of the USA birth chart. The 10th house of a country’s chart represents “the ruler.” In the case of the USA, that would be the president and his party. What is interesting here is that Jupiter’s entry into the chart sector signifying the president, 3 months before the elections, indicates benefit to the president, which implies that the Democrats will win the presidential election.