Pandemics and Planetary Placements

(Purpose of this post is to put together Jyotishya data collated. The intention is not to make any predictions, which is best done by sadhaka daivajnas).

In light of the grave crisis that has engulfed the world currently, I started digging around to see what graha combinations or placements give rise to these global pandemics. In this analysis, I have considered only those incidents in which the fatality rate is very high as pandemics. Therefore, some of the incidents declared as epidemics or pandemics by the WHO are not considered here.

Further, I have tried to focus my attention on those pandemics which have a connection with pulmonary/respiratory issues (similar to the current COVID19 pandemic).

Here is a list of few such pandemics.

Very few Jyotishya texts talk in detail about health pandemics. But a couple of them did give clues about what placements cause them. One book mentioned that Saturn’s placement in a nakshatra owned by Ketu leads to health pandemics. Another text indicated that the affliction of Jupiter by Ketu or Rahu causes such issues. These placements make a lot of sense from a Jyotishya point of view.

• Jupiter is associated with the kapha tattva (out of the three doshas). So his affliction can cause respiratory/pulmonary issues.
• Ketu-Rahu cause mysterious diseases. Hence new viruses/diseases are indeed associated with these two planets.
• Saturn is the karaka for masses. So his placement in Ketu’s nakshatra can be associated with large masses suffering from diseases.

With these points at hand, I started looking out for planetary placements during the times of well known epidemics.

Note: Epidemics/pandemics last a long time. Hence placements on a single day or even a small window likely cannot explain everything. There could, therefore, be multiple other factors aggravating or alleviating things in each instance.

What I have noticed is the following:

• In most cases, the pandemic is triggered with the affliction of Guru with Ketu. Almost always it is association in same house (yuti).
• Rahu causing the affliction due to yuti is also seen in some cases.
• In the close temporal vicinity of Guru getting afflicted, Shani transits through a nakshatra owned by Ketu (Ashwini, Magha, Moola). Such an occurrence greatly increases the fatality count. If Shani does not transit over these nakshatras, the mortality rate is not that high.

The charts I have snap-shotted are corresponding to the peak stage of the pandemic as gathered from publicly available data.

Russian Flu – 1889-1890

Here is a screenshot that indicates the peak stage of this flu and the associated mortality in that stage.

In the below chart for October 1889, notice the yuti of Ketu and Jupiter and Shani’s placement in Magha.

Spanish Flu 1918-1919

This was one of the worst pandemics ever in the history of the world with many millions of people getting killed. This pandemic had many ‘waves’ where mortality went up significantly. Below chart shows the occurrence of these waves (in the UK).

Check the chart below dated July 1918 when the first peak occurred. Notice yuti of Guru and Ketu.

Now check below chart when second major wave occured around Sept-Nov 1919. Notice placement of Shani in Magha.

In this particular case, Shani entered Magha in Sept 1918 and stayed there for more than a year. The extreme human cost of this pandemic can be correlated with this placement.

Asian Flu 1957-1958

The toll in this flu pandemic was around 1.5 to 2 million. This pandemic too had several waves. Below picture shows this occurence.

Now look at the chart for March 1958 when one of the peaks occurred. Jupiter is joined by Rahu and Saturn enters Moola nakshatra.

HongKong Flu 1968-1969

The death toll in this pandemic was around a million. Look at the wave chart for this pandemic below.

Now look at the next two charts showing the coming together of Guru and Ketu first in 1968 followed by Shani entering Moola nakshatra in early 1969.

Now let us look at charts from some pandemics of the 19th century and before.

Russian Cholera Epidemic 1910

Here is a table showing the extremely high (relative) fatality rate in 1910.

Inspect the below chart for the same combination as earlier (Guru-Ketu and Shani’s nakshatra) in 1910. Shani is in Ashwini nakshatra. Guru Ketu are together.

Indian Cholera Epidemic 1900.

The death toll in this epidemic was more than 8 lakhs.

Here is the chart showing Guru-Rahu yuti and Shani in Ketu’s nakshatra.

London Plague 1665

This epidemic was an outbreak of the pneumonic plague. Pneumonic plague, unlike other plagues, does have a connection with pulmonary and respiratory issues. Hence it makes sense to look at this in the present context.

Here is the data about the severity of the issue.

The peak occurred in September. Look at below chart for September 1665. The same combinations occur.

Planetary positions in 2019-2020

With above data at hand, we can look at present planetary positions. The present crisis too was triggered by the getting together of Guru and Ketu around November 2019.

The issue has gotten aggravated during Feb-Mar 2020 due to the additional association of Kuja with Ketu and Rahu in afflicting Guru.

However the big ray of hope in the present circumstance is the fact that Shani is nowhere close to a nakshatra owned by Ketu. He moved out of Moola nakshatra back in December 2018 itself!!!

Guru is going to remain out of the clutches of Ketu till August 2020. He will thereafter remain afflicted by Ketu for around 3 months. Like stated earlier, Shani does not enter Ketu’s nakshatra any time soon.

We can only hope that the present crisis will not turn out to be as bad as some of the previous ones.