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

This page covers the nodal axis with Rahu in Taurus, the fixed earth sign of Venus, and Ketu in Scorpio, the fixed water sign of Mars. It is the one axis that BPHS singles out: it names Taurus as Rahu's exaltation and Scorpio as Ketu's. For the nodes see Rahu in Vedic astrology and Ketu in Vedic astrology; for the two signs, Taurus, Vrishabha rashi and Scorpio, Vrishchika rashi.

What follows is dates and rules. The engine reads the transit for each of the twelve Moon signs, and the Gochar calculator does the same for your own Moon on a date you pick. Neither one says what a particular life will bring.

Dates: when Rahu is in Taurus and Ketu in Scorpio

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 Taurus below is a single interval. The window is 1990-2050.

The 2020-2022 pass began at 07:07 UTC on 23 September 2020 (12:37 the same day in India) and ended on 12 April 2022, when Rahu moved back into Aries. The pass before it, in 2002-2003, came straight after Gemini, and the next will run from 30 April 2039 to 16 November 2040. Each of the three stays is a little over 560 days, close to the engine's own 548-day average label for a node in one sign.

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 Taurus and Ketu in Scorpio 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.

A Taurus Moon has Rahu on its own sign (1st, testing) and a Scorpio Moon has Ketu on its own (1st, testing). The Virgo Moon is the one the engine flags for Rahu: Taurus is its 9th, the intensified house, with a neutral verdict and Ketu favourable in the 3rd. The Libra Moon carries the Ketu flag instead: Scorpio is its 2nd, favourable and intensified, while Rahu in Taurus is its 8th and testing. An Aquarius Moon has Rahu in the 4th, which the engine marks testing because its source lists the 4th among the bad positions for every planet.

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 Taurus, that puts the Cancer, Leo, Sagittarius and Pisces Moons on the good side and the Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Libra, Scorpio, Capricorn and Aquarius Moons on the bad side. Two rows differ from the engine outright. Taurus is the 2nd from a Aries Moon - favourable in the engine, bad in the book - and the 10th from a Leo Moon - good in the book, neutral in the engine. Both are reported; neither is averaged away.

BPHS does not give a transit reading for Rahu in Taurus. The exaltation it names comes from Ch. 47, the chapter on the effects of dashas, where it is used to judge what a Rahu Mahadasha gives: with Rahu "in his exaltation Rasi etc." the text lists gains of wealth, conveyances and recognition during the dasha. That is a natal-chart and dasha rule. This app does not carry it over to transits, and the Gochara table above is the same whichever sign Rahu is exalted in.

The sign itself: Taurus with Scorpio opposite

BPHS Ch. 47 Sl. 34-39 1/2 sets out the nodes' signs in one passage: exaltation of Rahu in Vrishabh (Taurus), of Ketu in Vrischik (Scorpio); moolatrikonas in Mithun and Dhanu; own signs Kumbh and Vrischik. So on this axis Ketu, by BPHS, is both exalted and in its own sign, while Rahu is exalted. The Bhrigu Sutras note "quite a controversy" over the nodes' signs, and this app takes the cautious route: its dignity table gives Rahu and Ketu no exaltation or debilitation anywhere, and engine-facts reports both as neutral across all 30 degrees.

The sign lords are Venus (Taurus) and Mars (Scorpio). For natal placements, which this page does not cover, see Rahu in Taurus and Ketu in Scorpio; dignity terms are explained in uchcha (exaltation).

Two speeds are worth separating here. The Bhrigu Sutras (p. 13) give the nodes a steady backward motion of 19 degrees 20 minutes a year and "about 18 months" in a sign; the engine's computed stays in Taurus are 566 days each, which is consistent with that rate. Because both nodes move together and at one speed, the Taurus-Scorpio axis can never be "half" in place: the moment Rahu leaves Taurus for Aries, Ketu leaves Scorpio for Libra, to the minute.

Worked example: an Aquarius Moon from 2019 to 2023

Take a natal Moon in Aquarius. Taurus is the 4th sign from it and Scorpio the 10th. The steps use this table and the adjacent-sign runs:

1. 1.7 March 2019 to 23 September 2020: Rahu in Gemini, the 5th (neutral); Ketu in Sagittarius, the 11th (favourable).
2. 2.23 September 2020 to 12 April 2022: Rahu in Taurus, the 4th (testing); Ketu in Scorpio, the 10th (neutral).
3. 3.12 April 2022 to 30 October 2023: Rahu in Aries, the 3rd (favourable); Ketu in Libra, the 9th (neutral).

The middle step is the only one of the three with a testing verdict, and it comes from the 4th-house rule, not from anything about Taurus. Advanced Predictive Astrology agrees that the 4th is bad for Rahu but would call the third step good (3rd) and the first bad (5th). The exaltation BPHS gives Rahu in Taurus changes none of these rows in the engine. To set the transit against a running period, see the Rahu Mahadasha and the Ketu Mahadasha.

The node arrives in Taurus from Gemini and leaves for Aries: Rahu transit in Gemini comes first, Rahu transit in Aries after. For other slow planets in the same sign, see Saturn transit in Taurus and Jupiter transit in Taurus.

When is Rahu next in Taurus?

In this app's computation, from 30 April 2039 to 16 November 2040 (UTC). The last stay was 23 September 2020 to 12 April 2022.

Is Rahu exalted in Taurus?

BPHS Ch. 47 says so, and names Scorpio as Ketu's exaltation. This app does not use node dignities at all, because the sources disagree, so its transit verdicts are the same in Taurus as anywhere else.

Which Moon signs get a favourable verdict from Rahu in Taurus?

Aries (2nd), Pisces (3rd), Sagittarius (6th) and Cancer (11th). Ketu in Scorpio is favourable for Libra (2nd), Virgo (3rd), Gemini (6th) and Capricorn (11th). Check the full table above, or your own Moon in the Gochar calculator.

Does the exaltation make the 2020-2022 transit "good"?

Not in this engine. BPHS uses the exaltation to judge a Rahu dasha in a birth chart; it does not give a transit reading for it. The transit verdict depends only on the house from your Moon.

Why is there no separate Ketu in Scorpio transit page?

Ketu is always opposite Rahu, so its dates are identical. This page gives Ketu's house and verdict in its own column.