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

Rahu in Pisces, Ketu in Virgo: Jupiter's watery dual sign against Mercury's earthy one. On the minority view BPHS reports, each node here sits in the sign "some sages" give the other - Pisces to Ketu, Virgo to Rahu. The nodes: Rahu in Vedic astrology and Ketu in Vedic astrology. The signs: Pisces, Meena rashi and Virgo, Kanya rashi.

What the page gives is the timetable this app computes and the rule it applies to each Moon sign. It is not a forecast; the Gochar calculator shows your own Moon sign's reading for any date.

Dates: when Rahu is in Pisces and Ketu in Virgo

The node used is the mean node, not the true (oscillating) one. The mean node's motion is uniform and always retrograde, which is why the rows below have no re-entries: Rahu crosses into Pisces from the sign after it and leaves into the sign before it, once per pass. Ketu holds Virgo for exactly the same span. Window: 1990 to 2050.

The most recent stay began at 13:03 UTC on 30 October 2023 (18:33 in India) when Rahu left Aries, and ended on 18 May 2025 with the move into Aquarius. The earlier one ran from 25 March 2005 to 12 October 2006, and the next from 6 June 2042 to 24 December 2043. Pisces is the last sign of the zodiac but, for a backward node, the one that follows Aries.

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

Every row below starts from a natal Moon sign. Counting that sign as the 1st, Pisces gives Rahu's house and Virgo gives Ketu's, always six houses apart. The engine's verdicts follow one rule for both nodes, the malefic set from its Gochara source: 1st, 4th, 8th and 12th testing; 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 11th favourable; 5th, 7th, 9th and 10th neutral. Its "intensified" pairs are Rahu in the 9th and Ketu in the 2nd. Find your Moon sign with the Moon sign calculator if you do not know it.

Leo Moons have Rahu in the 8th (testing) and Ketu in the 2nd (favourable, Ketu's intensified house). Cancer Moons carry Rahu's flag, Pisces being their 9th (neutral). For a Gemini Moon Rahu is in the 10th (neutral) and Ketu in the 4th (testing); for a Sagittarius Moon, the reverse holds with Rahu testing in the 4th. Pisces and Virgo Moons each have a node on the Moon sign.

What the classical texts say about the nodes in transit

Of the books in this library, Advanced Predictive Astrology Vol. II gives the clearest Rahu transit rule ("Transit effects of Rahu and Ketu", pp. 317-318): the 3rd, 6th, 10th and 11th from the Moon, Sun or Ascendant are good for Rahu, and the Moon sign itself plus the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th and 12th are "very bad". For Rahu in Pisces the good list reads Taurus, Gemini, Libra and Capricorn, the bad list Aries, Leo, Virgo, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Aquarius and Pisces. Where it parts from the engine is specific: the Aquarius Moon, for whom Pisces is the 2nd (engine favourable, book bad), and the Gemini Moon, for whom it is the 10th (book good, engine neutral). The 9th is on neither of the book's lists.

Advanced Predictive Astrology's note on the arc of the natal Sun, Mercury and Venus - Rahu crossing it said to bring "highly beneficial results" in work and earning, Ketu crossing it setbacks - depends on where those three planets sit in a birth chart. For a chart with that cluster in Virgo, this pass would put Ketu, not Rahu, over it. The engine does not compute this rule, and the page reports it only as the book's.

The sign itself: Pisces with Virgo opposite

BPHS Ch. 47 Sl. 34-39 1/2 gives the nodes' signs and then: "Some sages have expressed the view, that Kanya is the own Rasi of Rahu and Meen is the own Rasi of Ketu." On this axis Rahu is in Meen (Pisces) and Ketu in Kanya (Virgo), so on that view each is in the other's sign; on the main list neither has any standing here. The app's dignity table has no node entries, and engine-facts reports both as neutral. The lords are Jupiter (Pisces) and Mercury (Virgo).

Natal readings: Rahu in Pisces and Ketu in Virgo. The mirror axis is Rahu transit in Virgo.

The 4th from the Moon is a place where the two sources agree. For a Sagittarius Moon, Pisces is the 4th: the engine calls Rahu there testing, by its rule that lists the 4th among the bad positions for every planet, and Advanced Predictive Astrology puts the 4th on its "very bad" list for Rahu. The same agreement holds for the Gemini Moon's Ketu in the 4th, as far as the engine goes; the book's list speaks of Rahu only.

The 2023-2025 pass overlapped Saturn's entry into Pisces: in this app's Saturn dates Saturn entered Pisces on 29 March 2025, while Rahu was still there until 18 May 2025. For about seven weeks both were in Pisces. The engine reads each separately by its own rule - the Saturn page covers Sade Sati for the Moon signs concerned - and does not combine them into a joint verdict.

Each Pisces stay is 566 days in the engine's output. The Bhrigu Sutras' rate of 19 degrees 20 minutes a year gives about 18 months for a sign, and the engine's average label is 548 days; the table's own dates are the ones to use.

Worked example: a Leo Moon from 2022 to 2026

Take a natal Moon in Leo. Pisces is the 8th sign from it and Virgo the 2nd. The three passes:

1. 1.12 April 2022 to 30 October 2023: Rahu in Aries, the 9th from this Moon (neutral, flagged intensified for Rahu); Ketu in Libra, the 3rd (favourable).
2. 2.30 October 2023 to 18 May 2025: Rahu in Pisces, the 8th (testing); Ketu in Virgo, the 2nd (favourable, flagged intensified for Ketu).
3. 3.18 May 2025 to 5 December 2026: Rahu in Aquarius, the 7th (neutral); Ketu on the Moon sign, Leo, the 1st (testing).

This Leo Moon is in the third of those steps today. The Pisces step had Rahu testing and Ketu favourable at once; the present step moves the testing verdict to Ketu. Advanced Predictive Astrology would call Rahu bad in both the 8th and the 7th, where the engine says testing and neutral. For how the period running in the chart changes the reading, see the Ketu Mahadasha.

Rahu comes to Pisces from Aries and leaves for Aquarius: Rahu transit in Aries, Rahu transit in Aquarius. The other slow transits through Pisces: Saturn transit in Pisces and Jupiter transit in Pisces.

When was Rahu last in Pisces?

In this app's computation, from 30 October 2023 to 18 May 2025 (UTC), with Ketu in Virgo. The next stay is 6 June 2042 to 24 December 2043.

Were Rahu and Saturn both in Pisces?

Yes, from 29 March 2025 (Saturn's entry) to 18 May 2025 (Rahu's exit), in this app's dates. The engine reads the two transits separately.

Which Moon signs have Rahu in Pisces favourable?

Aquarius (2nd), Capricorn (3rd), Libra (6th) and Taurus (11th).

Which Moon signs have Ketu in Virgo testing?

Virgo (1st), Libra (12th), Aquarius (8th) and Sagittarius (4th).

Is Pisces Ketu's own sign?

Only on the minority view BPHS reports; its main list gives Ketu Scorpio. This app uses neither in transits. Your own reading is in the Gochar calculator.

Which Moon signs have Ketu in Virgo favourable?

Leo (2nd, Ketu's intensified house), Cancer (3rd), Aries (6th) and Scorpio (11th). For the Aries Moon this comes with Rahu in its 12th, which is testing.