Feeding Black Ants

Totke/Remedy for Rahu, Ketu, and Saturn

Here is a video of my family and I feeding sesame seeds to the ants who live by our home, as a totke (totake), an occult astrological remedy (upaya). It is done especially to appease the malefic planets called Rahu, Ketu, and Saturn. It is good to do this daily or at least on Tuesdays and Saturdays. This is also an example of bhoota yajna, an offering to insects, birds, and animals as part of loving care for our natural environment.

Black ants are auspicious in the Vedic tradition as well as in many indigenous traditions around the world. They can symbolize wealth and abundance, efficiency, industry, teamwork, loyalty, diligence, and strength. Black ants are specifically associated with Saturn and the lunar nodes Rahu and Ketu, all of which represent the underground world where ants build their nests. Folklore traditions of India mostly describe ants as being related to Rahu.   

In some Indian temples, one can pay for puja services in which the pujari will feed ants on your behalf every day for a specific period of time, as a propitiation for Rahu, Ketu, or Saturn. This is done to pacify the malefic effects of the planets, and ward off poverty, debt, bad luck, ill fortune, and misery; and also, to enhance good luck and positive fortune.

How do these kinds of astrological or occult remedies work? First, keep in mind that who we are in the big picture is not operating under the same laws of the physical dimension. In other words, there are cosmic forces exerting an effect on us through subtle channels, and these are beyond logic, reason, and scientific evidence. With these and all kinds of other astrological remedies, we are focusing our mind and creative energy (shakti) to empower archetypal forces within ourselves and in nature.

This in turn help us contact the ultimate divine power behind all of creation, where we can access and align with the forces that balance karma and bring blessings through grace. In addition, feeding any of God’s creatures and taking care of the environment are acts of kindness and generosity which warm the heart and do pay off in “good karma” over time.

In various Vedic myths, Lord Shiva (God) is known to care for all creatures, and specifically the ants. As one example, the Erumbeeswarar Temple in Thiruverumbur, Tamil Nadu (South India) is dedicated to Lord Shiva. Long ago, he transformed himself into an ant hill and tilted his head at this place to enable ants to climb up and worship him.

By Hayathkhan.h - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28306528

There is also a legend you may have heard before in the Upanishads about Lord Indra and an army of marching ants who represent the vastness of our reality existing within the endless cycles of time. In this tale, Lord Indra was taught about the ultimate truth of the Universe including about the laws of dharma and karma. I like the way that Joseph Campbell tells the story:

I’m also reminded of what P.D. Ouspensky wrote allegorically as a cautionary tale about ants in the essay “Esotericism and Modern Thought” in his book A New Model of the Universe. His idea was that ants (and bees and termites) at one time were self-aware beings living in aggregate societies, but over time they lost their individualistic rational intelligence. Their awareness and daily activities devolved into mindless collectivism. It makes sense that we would propitiate ants through compassionate action (feeding them), in hopes of enhancing and improving our capacity for self-awareness to help us rise above our own lower mechanical nature.

Lal Kitab, the Red Book, mentions feeding ants as well. I have often heard that to pacify malefic energies, we should feed ants in the morning every day, and also donate money or food to a mendicant, and also we should feed feral dogs milk! The best foods for the ants are sesame seeds, wheat, millet, quinoa, yellow dal, yellow mustard seeds, and sugar. In one myth, Shiva also feeds rice to the ants.

“May compassion and love reign over all the earth for all the tiny beings who live in the soil, the trees, the water, and the air, creating harmony and balance with your songs, your pollinating of flowers, your graceful flight, your mysterious transformations, and your miraculous ability to literally create soil in which new plants can take root.

Dear dragonflies, bees, wasps, butterflies, mosquitoes, moths, beetles, cicadas, crickets, spiders, ants, and all of you who suffer immeasurably at the hands of people who do not understand the miracle of who you are, who poison you, stomp on you, and destroy your homes…Our love is all around you. Compassion encircles the earth for each of you and for all beings.” Prayers for the nations of insects and other small creatures. Copyright 2013, Judy Carman, and also posted at www.circleofcompassion.org