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

Rahu in Virgo, Ketu in Pisces: the axis between Mercury's earthy dual sign and Jupiter's watery one. It is the axis BPHS mentions in a minority opinion - "some sages" make Virgo Rahu's own sign and Pisces Ketu's - so on that view both nodes are at home here. The nodes: Rahu in Vedic astrology and Ketu in Vedic astrology. The signs: Virgo, Kanya rashi and Pisces, Meena rashi.

The page sets out dates, houses and verdicts, and what the classical books in this library say. It does not tell you what will happen. The Gochar calculator applies the same rule to your own Moon sign.

Dates: when Rahu is in Virgo and Ketu in Pisces

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 Virgo from the sign after it and leaves into the sign before it, once per pass. Ketu holds Pisces for exactly the same span. Window: 1990 to 2050.

The 2014-2016 stay began at 19:15 UTC on 12 July 2014 - 00:45 on 13 July in India - when Rahu left Libra, and ended on 29 January 2016 with the move into Leo. Before it, Rahu was in Virgo from 6 December 1995 to 24 June 1997; after it, the next stay begins on 16 February 2033.

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, Virgo gives Rahu's house and Pisces 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.

The flags fall on the Capricorn Moon (Virgo is its 9th: Rahu intensified, neutral) and the Aquarius Moon (Pisces is its 2nd: Ketu intensified, favourable, while Rahu in Virgo is its 8th and testing). The Sagittarius Moon has Rahu in the 10th (neutral) and Ketu in the 4th (testing). A Virgo Moon has Rahu on the Moon sign; a Pisces Moon has Ketu on its own.

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 Virgo the good list reads Aries, Cancer, Scorpio and Sagittarius, the bad list Taurus, Gemini, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Aquarius and Pisces. Where it parts from the engine is specific: the Leo Moon, for whom Virgo is the 2nd (engine favourable, book bad), and the Sagittarius Moon, for whom it is the 10th (book good, engine neutral). The 9th is on neither of the book's lists.

The same section of Advanced Predictive Astrology adds a narrower observation: Rahu transiting the arc where the natal Sun, Mercury and Venus sit is said to bring "highly beneficial results" in profession and earning, while Ketu over the same arc is said to bring setbacks. Mercury rules Virgo, but the book's rule is about the natal positions of those three planets, not about the sign, so it is not a reading of this transit for everyone. The engine does not compute it.

The sign itself: Virgo with Pisces opposite

BPHS Ch. 47 Sl. 34-39 1/2 gives the standard list first - exaltation in Taurus and Scorpio, moolatrikona in Gemini and Sagittarius, own signs Aquarius and Scorpio - and then adds: "Some sages have expressed the view, that Kanya is the own Rasi of Rahu and Meen is the own Rasi of Ketu." Virgo and Pisces are exactly this axis. Two lists in one passage is the "controversy" the Bhrigu Sutras speak of, and this app's dignity table gives the nodes neither: engine-facts reports neutral for Rahu in Virgo and Ketu in Pisces.

Virgo's lord is Mercury and Pisces's is Jupiter. For the natal placements, see Rahu in Virgo and Ketu in Pisces.

This axis is also the mirror of Gemini-Sagittarius, the BPHS moolatrikona axis: the same two lords, Mercury and Jupiter, with each node in the other sign of each lord. Opposite placements of the axis are half a nodal cycle apart: in this app's dates Rahu was in Pisces (Ketu in Virgo) from 30 October 2023 to 18 May 2025, and reaches Virgo (Ketu in Pisces) next on 16 February 2033.

A quick way to read the table for this axis: find your Moon sign, read Rahu's house, and add six for Ketu. A Virgo Moon has Rahu in the 1st and Ketu in the 7th; a Pisces Moon the reverse. Rows where both nodes are testing never occur, because the houses opposite the engine's testing houses (1, 4, 8, 12) are the 7th, 10th, 2nd and 6th, all neutral or favourable. So on this axis, as on every other, each Moon sign has at least one node that is neutral or favourable. The pattern is a property of the rule, not of Virgo; the lunar nodes glossary entry explains why the two points are always opposite.

Worked example: a Sagittarius Moon from 2012 to 2017

Take a natal Moon in Sagittarius. Virgo is the 10th sign from it and Pisces the 4th. The consecutive passes:

1. 1.23 December 2012 to 12 July 2014: Rahu in Libra, the 11th from this Moon (favourable); Ketu in Aries, the 5th (neutral).
2. 2.12 July 2014 to 29 January 2016: Rahu in Virgo, the 10th (neutral); Ketu in Pisces, the 4th (testing).
3. 3.29 January 2016 to 18 August 2017: Rahu in Leo, the 9th (neutral, flagged intensified for Rahu); Ketu in Aquarius, the 3rd (favourable).

The Virgo step is the clearest disagreement on this page. The engine gives Rahu in the 10th no verdict at all (its source names no rule there for a malefic), while Advanced Predictive Astrology names the 10th as one of Rahu's good houses. And the step is not neutral overall in the engine, because Ketu in the 4th is testing. Two rule sets, two nodes, one period - which is why the calculator shows each separately. For the long-period view, see the Ketu Mahadasha.

Rahu comes into Virgo from Libra and moves on to Leo: Rahu transit in Libra, Rahu transit in Leo. The other slow planets in Virgo: Saturn transit in Virgo, Jupiter transit in Virgo.

When is Rahu next in Virgo?

In this app's computation, from 16 February 2033 to 5 September 2034 (UTC), with Ketu in Pisces. The last stay was 12 July 2014 to 29 January 2016.

Is Virgo Rahu's own sign?

BPHS reports it only as the view of "some sages"; its main list gives Rahu Aquarius. This app uses neither for transits.

Which Moon signs have a favourable Rahu in Virgo?

Leo (2nd), Cancer (3rd), Aries (6th) and Scorpio (11th).

Is a Sagittarius Moon's Rahu in the 10th good or neutral?

The engine says neutral; Advanced Predictive Astrology lists the 10th as good for Rahu. Ketu in the 4th is testing in the engine. See your own row in the Gochar calculator.

Do these dates match a panchang?

They are this app's mean-node, Lahiri computation in UTC. A panchang using the true node or local time can differ by hours to a day or two near an ingress.

Which Moon signs have Ketu in Pisces favourable or testing?

Favourable for Aquarius (2nd, flagged as Ketu's intensified house), Capricorn (3rd), Libra (6th) and Taurus (11th) Moons. Testing for Pisces (1st), Aries (12th), Leo (8th) and Sagittarius (4th) Moons. The remaining four are neutral.

Does it matter that both nodes are in their "some sages" own signs?

Not to this engine, which reads a transit only by house from the Moon and gives the nodes no dignity. BPHS uses node signs to judge a Rahu or Ketu dasha in the birth chart, not a transit.