Don’t Think About a Pink Elephant

Bridging Desire & Being

The North and South Nodes — known in Vedic astrology as Rahu and Ketu — have been surfacing constantly in client work lately. And I’ve started to think: maybe we’ve been hacking the whole “release and let go” thing backwards.

Behavioral studies show people don’t overcome dysfunctional habits through mythical “willpower.” They succeed by redirecting their attention. They don’t resist the chips in the pantry — they don’t buy them in the first place. (Chips in my house are an endangered species — ask me how I know.) Or they explore the emotional impulse behind the craving and find a more nourishing way to cope.

Same with toddlers. You don’t teach a toddler to stop climbing by scolding them. You redirect the impulse: take them to the park, hand them a jungle gym, let their Neanderthal nervous system learn through movement.

You get where I’m going.

The South Node Isn’t Obsolete. It’s the Key.

Astrologers often frame Ketu, the South Node, as the past — something to leave behind. But telling someone to “let go” of a Ketu theme is like saying, don’t think about a pink elephant.

Spoiler: they think about a pink elephant.

What works instead is strategic redirection. You’re not erasing Ketu. You’re discharging it — using lifetimes of experience and intuition to fuel your journey toward Rahu, the North Node. Rahu represents the growth edge, the obsession, the reason you incarnated in the first place.

“When you do something, you should burn yourself up completely, like a good bonfire, leaving no trace of yourself.”

— Shunryū Suzuki | Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind

Rahu and Ketu Are Always a Team

The lunar nodes are an axis. You can’t work with one without activating the other. So the goal isn’t to suppress Ketu — it’s to redeploy its instincts in service of where Rahu is trying to grow.

Let’s apply this idea to the current sidereal nodal transit:

Rahu in Aquarius / Ketu in Leo | May 29, 2025 – November 25, 2026