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

Rahu in Scorpio and Ketu in Taurus is the BPHS exaltation axis reversed: the text exalts Rahu in Taurus and Ketu in Scorpio, and here each node stands in the other's. Scorpio is Mars's fixed water sign; Taurus is Venus's fixed earth sign. For the nodes see Rahu in Vedic astrology and Ketu in Vedic astrology; for the signs, Scorpio, Vrishchika rashi and Taurus, Vrishabha rashi.

The page is a timetable and a set of rules, applied to the twelve Moon signs. The Gochar calculator applies the same rules to one Moon sign on one date; neither predicts events.

Dates: when Rahu is in Scorpio and Ketu in Taurus

This app places Rahu at the mean lunar node and Ketu 180 degrees from it. The mean node only ever moves backwards (vakri in the classical word), so unlike Saturn or Jupiter it has no retrograde loops at a sign boundary and no re-entries: each stay in Scorpio below is a single interval. The window is 1990-2050.

Four Scorpio stays fall inside 1990-2050: 30 October 1992 to 19 May 1994, 6 June 2011 to 23 December 2012, 11 January 2030 to 31 July 2031 and 17 August 2048 to 6 March 2050. The 2030 entry is at 00:56 UTC, 06:26 in India on the same day. Every stay follows a Sagittarius stay and leads into Libra.

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

The house is counted from the natal Moon (the Moon sign), with the Moon's own sign as the 1st; that is the convention of Gochara. Rahu in Scorpio and Ketu in Taurus always land in houses six apart - 1st and 7th, 2nd and 8th, and so on. computeGochara() reads both nodes by the malefic rule: testing in the 1st, 4th, 8th and 12th, favourable in the 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 11th, neutral in the 5th, 7th, 9th and 10th. Separately it raises an "intensified" flag for Rahu in the 9th and Ketu in the 2nd.

The Aries Moon has both nodes in houses the engine singles out: Scorpio is its 8th (Rahu testing) and Taurus its 2nd (Ketu favourable and flagged intensified). The Pisces Moon carries Rahu's flag, Scorpio being its 9th (neutral), with Ketu favourable in the 3rd. A Leo Moon has Rahu in the 4th (testing) and an Aquarius Moon has Ketu there, with Rahu in its 10th (neutral). Scorpio and Taurus Moons each have one node on the Moon sign.

What the classical texts say about the nodes in transit

The corpus text that speaks most directly to a Rahu transit is Advanced Predictive Astrology Vol. II, pp. 317-318. Its rule: good when Rahu reaches the 3rd, 6th, 10th or 11th from the Moon (or Sun, or Ascendant); "very bad" when it crosses the Moon sign or stands 2nd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th or 12th from it. With Rahu in Scorpio, that puts the Gemini, Virgo, Capricorn and Aquarius Moons on the good side and the Aries, Taurus, Cancer, Leo, Libra, Scorpio and Sagittarius Moons on the bad side. Two rows differ from the engine outright. Scorpio is the 2nd from a Libra Moon - favourable in the engine, bad in the book - and the 10th from a Aquarius Moon - good in the book, neutral in the engine. Both are reported; neither is averaged away.

BPHS uses node signs in the dasha chapter, not in a transit rule: Ch. 47 lists the gains of a Rahu dasha when Rahu is in "his exaltation Rasi etc.", and goes on to Ketu's dasha with similar conditions. Read strictly, that passage would treat this axis as the less favoured arrangement for a natal Rahu and the more favoured for a natal Ketu. It says nothing about a transit, and this app takes nothing from it for one.

The sign itself: Scorpio with Taurus opposite

BPHS Ch. 47 Sl. 34-39 1/2: "The exaltation Rasi of Ketu is Vrischik" and "the own Rasis of Rahu and Ketu are Kumbh and Vrischik". Scorpio is therefore listed both as Ketu's exaltation and as its own sign, and Rahu is the node passing through it on this axis. Ketu meanwhile is in Taurus, which the text gives Rahu as its exaltation. The Bhrigu Sutras note "quite a controversy" over all of this, and the app's dignity table leaves the nodes out: engine-facts reports neutral for Rahu in Scorpio and Ketu in Taurus.

Scorpio's lord is Mars and Taurus's is Venus. Natal readings: Rahu in Scorpio and Ketu in Taurus. The dignity terms: uchcha and neecha.

Some authors take the sign opposite an exaltation as the debilitation, which would make this axis a debilitation for both nodes. The BPHS passage quoted here mentions "debilitation Rasis" in its first sentence but, in this translation, names only the exaltations; the corpus does not state the nodes' debilitation signs, so this page does not either. The engine has no node debilitation to apply.

The 2030-2031 stay is the next time the axis reaches this position. It begins 566 days after Rahu enters Sagittarius on 23 June 2028, and lasts 566 days itself, the same length the engine computes for every stay in the table. The 1992-1994 and 2048-2050 rows are the other two passes in the window, each about eighteen and a half years from its neighbour - the nodal cycle the Bhrigu Sutras' rate implies. Ketu is in Taurus for exactly the same spans.

Worked example: an Aries Moon from 2028 to 2033

Take a natal Moon in Aries. Scorpio is the 8th sign from it and Taurus the 2nd. The three coming passes, from this table and the neighbouring signs:

1. 1.23 June 2028 to 11 January 2030: Rahu in Sagittarius, the 9th from this Moon (neutral, flagged intensified for Rahu); Ketu in Gemini, the 3rd (favourable).
2. 2.11 January 2030 to 31 July 2031: Rahu in Scorpio, the 8th (testing); Ketu in Taurus, the 2nd (favourable, flagged intensified for Ketu).
3. 3.31 July 2031 to 16 February 2033: Rahu in Libra, the 7th (neutral); Ketu on the Moon sign, Aries, the 1st (testing).

For an Aries Moon the engine raises both node flags in consecutive passes, Rahu's first and then Ketu's. The middle step shows the two nodes pulling different ways: Rahu testing in the 8th, Ketu favourable in the 2nd. Advanced Predictive Astrology, which speaks only of Rahu, would call both the Scorpio and the Libra steps bad (8th and 7th). For the period view, see the Ketu Mahadasha.

Before Scorpio, Rahu is in Sagittarius; after it, Libra: Rahu transit in Sagittarius, Rahu transit in Libra. Saturn and Jupiter in Scorpio: Saturn transit in Scorpio, Jupiter transit in Scorpio.

When is Rahu next in Scorpio?

In this app's computation, 11 January 2030 to 31 July 2031 (UTC), with Ketu in Taurus. Another stay runs 17 August 2048 to 6 March 2050.

Is Rahu debilitated in Scorpio?

The corpus does not say so: BPHS Ch. 47 names Scorpio as Ketu's exaltation and own sign, and its translation here names no debilitation signs. This app gives the nodes no dignity at all.

Which Moon signs have a favourable Rahu in Scorpio?

Libra (2nd), Virgo (3rd), Gemini (6th) and Capricorn (11th).

Which Moon signs have Ketu in Taurus testing?

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

Does the reversed exaltation change the engine's verdict?

No. The verdicts depend only on the house from your Moon. Check your own in the Gochar calculator.

Why no re-entry rows?

The mean node moves backwards at a steady rate and never stations, so it enters and leaves Scorpio once per pass.

Which Moon signs have Ketu in Taurus favourable?

Aries (2nd, Ketu's intensified house), Pisces (3rd), Sagittarius (6th) and Cancer (11th).