Intoxicating Astrology

Psychology explains addiction as a mix of learnt behaviour, emotional coping, reward reinforcement and underlying vulnerability factors. An individual’s risk of falling victim to a compulsive addiction can often be attributed to:

• Genetics and brain chemistry.
• Historical trauma, such as adverse childhood experiences.
• Mental health, such as pre-existing anxiety, depression or ADHD.
• The individual’s circumstances and the availability of addictive substances.
• The prevailing stress levels and adopted coping mechanisms.

There is a correlation between these factors and several astrological characteristics. Hence, it is possible to make a risk assessment of a person's susceptibility to addictive substances, through an analysis of the factors given below.

Addiction Causing Planets

1. 'Rahu' ☊ and 'Ketu' ☋:

Of the nine planets in Vedic astrology, the twin malefic planets ‘Rahu’ and ‘Ketu’ tend to draw out negative personality traits. Both these planets are closely aligned to an addiction prone nature. When either of these two planets is conjunct with a debilitated or adversely placed planet in the birth chart, a lack of impulse control, and self-destructive habit loops often ensues.

1. A Weak Sun ⊙:

The Sun relates to strength of character and self confidence. Certain alignments and conjunction can weaken the Sun such that a person becomes prone to addictive tendencies. The alignments that may cause this are:

• When the Sun is placed in the zodiac signs of Venus, that is Taurus or Libra.
• When the Sun is placed in the zodiac signs of Saturn, that is Capricorn or Aquarius.

1. A Debilitated Jupiter ♃:

Jupiter is the planet of wisdom and good judgement. These attributes are compromised when Jupiter is debilitated, or conjunct with malefic planets. This can cause a person to exhibit poor judgement and be drawn to undesirable habits.

1. A Weak Moon ☽:

Addictions often form as coping strategies to manage stress, anxiety, loneliness, trauma, or depression. When the Moon is weak or afflicted, a person can suffer from a lack of confidence, be easily swayed by peer pressure and experience periodic mood swings, making them susceptible to emotion numbing intoxicants.

Houses of Addiction in the Birth Chart

The houses of a horoscope that relate to addictive habits are:

2. The 12^th house: The 12^th house relates to traits such as escapism and self-undoing. The ruling planet of the 12^th house is thought to be indicative of strong personal desires, of both a positive and negative kind. When this planet is adversely aligned or conjunct, an individual can display an obsessive, compulsive nature.
3. The nature of the obsession that a person may fall prey to will depend on the area of life that the house occupied by the 12^th house lord, governs. That is, if the lord of the 12^th house is debilitated in say the 4^th house, a person may obsess over their home, family, property or material possessions. On the flip side, if this planet were to be favourably aligned in the 4^th house, a person’s home, family and material possessions are likely to be the strongest driving force in their decision making.
4. In the context of addictions, an adversely aligned 12^th house lord in the 2^nd, 1^st or 6^th houses can cause the cravings associated with a dependency on intoxicants.

Problematic Conjunctions

1. A Rahu-Mercury conjunction: Mercury is associated with clarity of thought and decision making. When Mercury is placed in an enemy zodiac, and conjunct with Rahu in the second house, a person may be prone to denial, rationalisation, and subscribing to, “Just one more” types of beliefs. This alignment is also thought to be of relevance where inhalation is concerned, such as through the use of cigarettes, vapes or the smoking of narcotics, particularly leaf extracted drugs like cannabis and marijuana.
2. A Rahu/Ketu-Venus conjunction: Venus relates to worldly pleasures and when conjunct with either of these two malefic planets, in an enemy zodiac, tendencies towards over-indulgence, substance abuse and neuroticism are likely. This alignment can potentially cause both alcohol and drug abuse.

Zodiac Signs Most Prone to Addictions

While there may be no scientific evidence showing a correlation between zodiac signs and susceptibility to addiction, certain zodiac traits may increase vulnerability to escapism or compulsive behaviour. In astrology, a sign is not the main indicator of temperament, hence an individual horoscope chart will override the psychological fragilities introduced by a zodiac sign. This applies to the influence of both a person’s Sun, and Moon sign.

This is a ranking of the zodiac signs in terms of susceptibility to addictions, on the basis of sign characteristics:

Higher Susceptibility.

These are signs prone to escapism, intensity and compulsions:

1. Pisces (February 19 – March 20) ♓. Prone to escapism and emotional sensitivity.
2. Scorpio (October 23 – November 21) ♏. An intense nature and inclination towards extremes can trigger this sign towards compulsive or addictive behaviour.
3. Gemini (May 21 – June 20) ♊. Restlessness may cause this sign to seek mental and emotional stimulation through intoxicants.
4. Sagittarius (November 22 – December 21) ♐. This sign is given to excesses and risk taking behaviour.

Moderate Susceptibility.

These are signs prone to mood swings and adopting harmful coping mechanisms:

1. Cancer (June 21 – July 22) ♋. They are prone to mood swings and emotional sensitivity.
2. Taurus (April 20 – May 20) ♉. Taureans are prone to sensory indulgence and routine based cravings.
3. Aries (March 21 – April 19) ♈. They tend to be the thrill seekers of the zodiac, and can be somewhat impulsive in their approach to addictive substances.
4. Leo (July 23 – August 22) ♌. They can be pleasure and thrill seekers, prone to succumbing to validation loops.

Lower Susceptibility.

These signs favour structure, restraint and mental distance, and hence have a low susceptibility to addictions:

1. Libra (September 23 – October 22) ♎. A more socially moderate sign that has a tendency to overindulge.
2. Aquarius (January 20 – February 18) ♒. Aquarians are detached, but may be escapists that develop “habitual compulsions”, such as an addiction to screens.
3. Virgo (August 23 – September 22) ♍. Virgos are generally self-controlled and health aware, though anxiety can drive addictive habits.
4. Capricorn (December 22 – January 19) ♑. Capricorns are disciplined and restrained, though stress can make them workaholics.

How to Stop Addictions

Some effective astrological remedies for preventing and treating addictions include:

• The Gayatri Yantra

• Rudraksh Beads