Rahu transit in Capricorn (Ketu in Cancer): the dates, and what it means for each Moon sign

The next sign change of the nodal axis puts Rahu in Capricorn, Saturn's earthy cardinal sign, and Ketu in Cancer, the Moon's own sign. It is the Cancer-Capricorn axis of 2017-2019 turned round. For the nodes, read Rahu in Vedic astrology and Ketu in Vedic astrology; for the signs, Capricorn, Makara rashi and Cancer, Karka rashi.

Because this pass is the next one, its dates are the ones most likely to be looked up. This page gives this app's figures and the rule it applies; the Gochar calculator gives your own Moon sign's reading for any date in the passage.

Dates: when Rahu is in Capricorn and Ketu in Cancer

Rahu here is the mean node, the averaged position of the Moon's ascending node, which moves steadily backwards through the zodiac. Because the mean node never stations or turns direct, it never backs out of Capricorn and re-enters: each row is one clean stay, and there are no re-entry rows. Ketu is the point exactly opposite, so it occupies Cancer for the same interval. The table covers 1990 to 2050.

The coming ingress is at 18:59 UTC on 5 December 2026. In India that is 00:29 on 6 December, so an Indian almanac quoting local time would be expected to give the 6th even if it agreed with this computation to the minute. The stay ends on 23 June 2028, when Rahu moves into Sagittarius. The earlier stay in the window ran from 30 April 2008 to 17 November 2009, and the later one runs from 12 July 2045 to 29 January 2047.

Counted from your Moon: the house Rahu and Ketu fall in

Gochara (the term) counts from the natal Moon sign, not the Lagna. Count your Moon sign as 1 and step forward to Capricorn: that is Rahu's house for you. Ketu is always six signs further on. The engine treats both nodes as natural malefics and gives them the same verdicts: the 1st, 8th and 12th are "testing", so is the 4th; the 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 11th are "favourable"; the 5th, 7th, 9th and 10th, where its source is silent, are "neutral". It also has a short "intensified" list that pairs Rahu with the 9th and Ketu with the 2nd.

Taurus Moons carry Rahu's flag (Capricorn is their 9th, neutral) and Gemini Moons carry Ketu's (Cancer is their 2nd, favourable) with Rahu in their 8th, testing. A Libra Moon has Rahu in the 4th (testing) and an Aries Moon has Ketu there, with Rahu in its 10th (neutral). For a Cancer Moon Ketu sits on the Moon sign; for a Capricorn Moon, Rahu does.

What the classical texts say about the nodes in transit

Advanced Predictive Astrology Vol. II has a short section, "Transit effects of Rahu and Ketu" (pp. 317-318). It says Rahu "produces good results" in the 3rd, 6th, 10th and 11th from the Moon, Sun or Ascendant, and calls it "very bad" over the Moon sign or in the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th and 12th. Applied to Rahu in Capricorn, the book's good list is the Aries, Leo, Scorpio and Pisces Moons and its bad list is the Gemini, Cancer, Virgo, Libra, Sagittarius, Capricorn and Aquarius Moons. The engine agrees on most rows but not all: for a Sagittarius Moon Capricorn is the 2nd, which the engine calls favourable and the book calls bad, and for a Aries Moon it is the 10th, which the book calls good and the engine leaves neutral. The two sources follow different lists, and this page shows the engine's.

Advanced Predictive Astrology's remark that Rahu "molests a luminary", particularly the Moon, applies to Rahu itself reaching the natal Moon. On this axis it is Ketu, not Rahu, that crosses Cancer, so for Cancer Moons the book's Rahu-Moon passage does not apply in this pass; it applies to Capricorn Moons, whose Moon sign Rahu now occupies. The engine reads both cases simply as the 1st house: testing.

The sign itself: Capricorn with Cancer opposite

BPHS Ch. 47 Sl. 34-39 1/2 assigns no dignity to either node in Capricorn or Cancer; the signs it names lie elsewhere (Taurus, Scorpio, Gemini, Sagittarius, Aquarius, and Virgo and Pisces as a minority view). This app assigns the nodes none anywhere, and engine-facts reports Rahu in Capricorn and Ketu in Cancer as neutral. The lords are Saturn for Capricorn and the Moon for Cancer.

Natal readings of these placements are on Rahu in Capricorn and Ketu in Cancer; Saturn's own transit, a separate matter, is on Saturn transit in Capricorn.

The pass that ends on 5 December 2026 has Rahu in Aquarius and Ketu in Leo. Moving to Capricorn-Cancer shifts both nodes one house back from every Moon sign, and under the engine's rule that changes at least one node's verdict for all twelve Moon signs: comparing this table with the one on the Aquarius page, no row is the same. For your own Moon, the calculator on dates either side of 5 December 2026 shows the change.

Like every stay in the engine's output, this one is 566 days. Nothing in that figure is specific to Capricorn: the mean node's rate is uniform, which the Bhrigu Sutras give as 19 degrees 20 minutes a year.

Worked example: a Cancer Moon from 2025 to 2030

Take a natal Moon in Cancer. Capricorn is the 7th sign from it and Cancer the 1st. The passes around the coming ingress:

1. 1.18 May 2025 to 5 December 2026: Rahu in Aquarius, the 8th from this Moon (testing); Ketu in Leo, the 2nd (favourable, flagged intensified for Ketu).
2. 2.5 December 2026 to 23 June 2028: Rahu in Capricorn, the 7th (neutral); Ketu on the Moon sign, Cancer, the 1st (testing).
3. 3.23 June 2028 to 11 January 2030: Rahu in Sagittarius, the 6th (favourable); Ketu in Gemini, the 12th (testing).

For a Cancer Moon the testing node changes at the December 2026 ingress: Rahu is the testing one before it, Ketu after. Advanced Predictive Astrology, speaking of Rahu only, puts both the 8th and the 7th on its "very bad" list, while the engine calls Rahu in the 7th neutral. Read against the running dasha, the same pass can mean different things in different charts; see the Ketu Mahadasha.

The pass before is Rahu transit in Aquarius and the pass after is Rahu transit in Sagittarius. Jupiter through the same sign: Jupiter transit in Capricorn. On using the Moon sign as the reference, see Moon sign and nakshatra.

When does Rahu enter Capricorn?

In this app's computation, at 18:59 UTC on 5 December 2026 - 00:29 on 6 December in India. It stays until 23 June 2028.

Where is Ketu during this transit?

In Cancer, exactly opposite, from the same moment on 5 December 2026 to 23 June 2028.

Which Moon signs get a testing verdict from Rahu in Capricorn?

Capricorn (1st), Aquarius (12th), Gemini (8th) and Libra (4th).

Which Moon signs get a favourable Ketu in Cancer?

Gemini (2nd, Ketu's intensified house), Taurus (3rd), Aquarius (6th) and Virgo (11th).

Why might a calendar say 6 December?

This app's mean-node, Lahiri figure is 18:59 UTC on 5 December, which is already 6 December in India; true-node software can also differ by hours to a day or two. Check your own reading in the Gochar calculator.

Is Rahu in Capricorn related to Sade Sati?

No. Sade Sati is a Saturn rule. Rahu in Capricorn is read only by the general Gochara rule for the nodes.

Which Moon signs have Rahu in Capricorn favourable?

Sagittarius (2nd), Scorpio (3rd), Leo (6th) and Pisces (11th). Advanced Predictive Astrology agrees on Scorpio, Leo and Pisces but lists the 2nd, and so Sagittarius, as bad.