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

This is the Aries-Libra axis turned round: Rahu in Libra, Venus's airy cardinal sign, and Ketu in Aries, Mars's fiery one. The same two signs carry the nodes about nine years earlier or later with the roles swapped, and the houses from any Moon sign swap with them. For the nodes, see Rahu in Vedic astrology and Ketu in Vedic astrology; for the signs, Libra, Tula rashi and Aries, Mesha rashi.

Below are this app's dates, the twelve Moon-sign readings and the classical comparison. A reading for one person needs their own Moon sign and the date in question; the Gochar calculator does exactly that.

Dates: when Rahu is in Libra and Ketu in Aries

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 Libra 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 Aries for the same interval. The table covers 1990 to 2050.

Libra is one of the signs with four rows in the window, because the last stay starts inside it: Rahu enters Libra on 6 March 2050 and leaves after the table ends. The complete stays are 19 May 1994 to 6 December 1995, 23 December 2012 to 12 July 2014 (entering at 16:18 UTC, 21:48 in India), and 31 July 2031 to 16 February 2033. Each came from Scorpio and moved on to Virgo.

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 Libra: 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.

An Aquarius Moon carries Rahu's intensified flag here (Libra is its 9th, neutral) and a Pisces Moon carries Ketu's (Aries is its 2nd, favourable) while Rahu in Libra is its 8th and testing. A Cancer Moon has Rahu in the 4th (testing) and Ketu in the 10th (neutral), and a Capricorn Moon has the reverse, Rahu in the 10th and Ketu in the 4th. Libra and Aries Moons have one node each on the Moon sign.

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 Libra, the book's good list is the Taurus, Leo, Sagittarius and Capricorn Moons and its bad list is the Aries, Gemini, Cancer, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio and Pisces Moons. The engine agrees on most rows but not all: for a Virgo Moon Libra is the 2nd, which the engine calls favourable and the book calls bad, and for a Capricorn 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 also gives a rule for when an obstruction lifts: when a malefic such as Rahu or Ketu withdraws from the house (more correctly, it says, the cusp) that governs a matter, with the 4th cusp and landed property as its example. That rule needs a birth chart's cusps, which this page does not have, so it is reported and not applied. For a Cancer Moon the 4th sign is Libra itself, so the 2014 exit from Libra is the sign-level version of the moment the rule describes.

The sign itself: Libra with Aries opposite

Libra's lord is Venus and Aries's is Mars. BPHS Ch. 47 Sl. 34-39 1/2 names no exaltation, moolatrikona or own sign for either node in Libra or Aries, so even on that text this axis is dignity-neutral; the signs it names are Taurus, Scorpio, Gemini, Sagittarius and Aquarius, with Virgo and Pisces as a minority view. This app gives the nodes no dignity in any sign; engine-facts reports Rahu in Libra and Ketu in Aries as neutral from 0 to 30 degrees.

Natal readings: Rahu in Libra and Ketu in Aries. The mirror axis, with Rahu in Aries, is on Rahu transit in Aries.

The swap is exact. With Rahu in Aries a Libra Moon has Rahu in the 7th and Ketu in the 1st; with Rahu in Libra, an Aries Moon has the same pattern. More generally, every row in the table above is the same Moon sign's row on the Aries page with the two node columns exchanged. Since the engine reads both nodes by one rule, the pair of verdicts a Moon sign receives during a Libra stay is the pair it received during an Aries stay, with the nodes trading places.

The stays themselves are 566 days each in the engine's output, matching the steady backward rate the Bhrigu Sutras give the nodes (19 degrees 20 minutes a year) and the engine's average label of 548 days to within a few weeks.

Worked example: a Leo Moon from 2011 to 2016

Take a natal Moon in Leo. Libra is the 3rd sign from it and Aries the 9th. The steps, from this table and the adjacent-sign runs:

1. 1.6 June 2011 to 23 December 2012: Rahu in Scorpio, the 4th from this Moon (testing); Ketu in Taurus, the 10th (neutral).
2. 2.23 December 2012 to 12 July 2014: Rahu in Libra, the 3rd (favourable); Ketu in Aries, the 9th (neutral).
3. 3.12 July 2014 to 29 January 2016: Rahu in Virgo, the 2nd (favourable); Ketu in Pisces, the 8th (testing).

The Libra step is the one in which neither node is testing for this Moon, and on Rahu's 3rd the engine and Advanced Predictive Astrology agree. The next step shows them parting: the engine calls Rahu in the 2nd favourable, the book "very bad". These are rules about positions; how a period is read in a life depends on the chart and the running dasha - see the Rahu Mahadasha.

Rahu comes to Libra from Scorpio and goes on to Virgo: Rahu transit in Scorpio, Rahu transit in Virgo. Saturn and Jupiter in Libra: Saturn transit in Libra, Jupiter transit in Libra.

When is Rahu next in Libra?

In this app's computation, from 31 July 2031 to 16 February 2033 (UTC), with Ketu in Aries. A further stay begins on 6 March 2050.

Why does Libra have four rows and Aries three?

Only because of the 1990-2050 window: the Libra stay that starts on 6 March 2050 falls inside it, while the matching Aries stay starts later.

Which Moon signs have a testing Rahu in Libra?

Libra (1st), Scorpio (12th), Pisces (8th) and Cancer (4th).

Which Moon signs have Ketu in Aries favourable?

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

Is Rahu in Libra better than Rahu in Aries?

Neither, in this engine: it has no node dignities, so only the house from your Moon matters. The two placements simply swap the houses of the two nodes. See your own row in the Gochar calculator.

Why might another source show Rahu entering Libra on a different day?

True-node software, other ayanamsas and local time can all shift an ingress. This app's dates are mean-node, Lahiri and UTC, and may differ by hours to a day or two.