What the transit of the nodes is
Rahu and Ketu are the two points where the Moon’s path crosses the Sun’s path, the north and south lunar nodes. They are not bodies, but Vedic astrology treats them as grahas, and they always stand exactly opposite each other, six signs apart. They move backwards through the zodiac, in the order Aries, Pisces, Aquarius and so on, and take about eighteen and a half years to complete the circle. That means about a year and a half in each sign.
Their transit is read the same way as other transits: count the houses from your Moon sign, called the rashi. Rahu’s house shows where ambition, hunger and new ground tend to gather, and Ketu’s house, always six houses on, shows where detachment, simplifying and inner focus tend to gather. Because the nodes are opposite, every phase pairs two houses, and over about nineteen years each pair comes round once.
How the calculator works
Choose your Moon sign or give your birth details, and the tool finds it. If you are unsure of the time and the Moon changed sign on your birth date, both signs are shown. Choose a date to look from, which starts as today.
The tool reads Rahu from the Swiss Ephemeris tables on this site in the sidereal zodiac with the Lahiri ayanamsa, using the mean node, and sets Ketu exactly opposite. It lists every sign Rahu enters over the next nineteen years, with the dates, the sign Ketu occupies, the house of each from your Moon, and the gochara reading. The mean node moves steadily backwards. The true node wobbles around it and can differ by up to about a degree and a half, so the dates of a sign change can differ by a few days if you use the true node elsewhere. Most Indian almanacs use the mean node, as we do.
Reading the result
The gochara tables of Phaladeepika, the same ones used in the Gochar view of the transits page, treat Rahu and Ketu like the Sun: favourable in the 3rd, 6th, 10th and 11th houses from the Moon and less easy in the others. In the tool, those labels are shown for both nodes. Rahu in a less easy house is read as a time of restlessness or a pull towards the unfamiliar that is best met with steadiness, and Ketu in a less easy house as a time of letting go or withdrawal.
Read the pair together. A favourable Rahu with a less easy Ketu is a mixed phase, and the node’s result also depends on the sign it is in and on the planets that join it in your birth chart. For the nodes in the birth chart, see the guide to Rahu in all twelve houses and the Kaal Sarp dosha calculator. To see how the current shift of the nodes between signs is described, read the article on the Rahu and Ketu transit of 2026 to 2028. The personal transit report places the nodes beside Saturn and Jupiter.
Where traditions differ
Teachers differ on the node and on the weight. A minority use the true node. Some popular writing reads Rahu like Saturn, while Phaladeepika (26.2), as the transits page notes, reads both nodes like the Sun, which is what the table here does. Some astrologers count the nodes’ effect most when they cross your own Lagna or Moon sign or touch your natal planets, and care little for the house tables. We show the tables and mark them as tradition. Ingress dates also vary by a day between sources.
What it does not do
It does not predict events. A transit is one layer of a reading, and the birth chart and the dasha matter more. If a period feels unsettled, talk to someone you trust, and to a doctor or counsellor about health or mood. You can see the whole chart in the free kundali.
Frequently asked questions
↳ Why do Rahu and Ketu move backwards?
They are the lunar nodes, the points where the Moon's orbit crosses the ecliptic, and these points slide slowly backwards. That is why they always move against the order of the signs.
↳ How long do Rahu and Ketu stay in a sign?
About a year and a half, and about eighteen and a half years for the whole zodiac. Ketu is always six signs from Rahu.
↳ Which houses from the Moon are favourable for the nodes?
In the table used here, the 3rd, 6th, 10th and 11th for both. Other schools differ, so this is one traditional view and not the only one.
↳ Does this tool use the true node or the mean node?
The mean node, which is the one most Indian almanacs use. The true node can differ from it by up to about a degree and a half, which can move a sign change by some days.
↳ Is a Rahu or Ketu phase something to fear?
No. The nodes describe themes of ambition and detachment. Many people find these phases clarifying, and the birth chart and dasha matter more than the transit alone.