Ketu in Vedic astrology

Ketu is the descending lunar node, a crossing of the Moon’s orbital plane and the ecliptic. It is a calculated point, not a physical planet. Ketu and Rahu lie on opposite ends of the nodal axis.

Ketu is associated with detachment, separation and inward inquiry. In a traditional reading, losing interest in an external reward can be considered differently from simply being unable to obtain it.

Setting aside a source of approval that no longer matters illustrates detachment. Withdrawing from a useful commitment illustrates a possible difficulty. Neither example proves spiritual attainment or describes a past life; those conclusions do not follow from Ketu's presence in a chart.

Mean and true positions

Ketu is placed opposite Rahu under both mean and true node choices. A change in the selected model therefore moves both ends of the axis. Its D mark, when present, describes forward motion under the true-node model. See mean and true nodes.

Rulership, dignity and aspects

Ketu receives Neutral in the Dignity column because node dignities are unassigned. This differs from a finding that its influence is neutral. The chart keeps Mars as Scorpio's ordinary house lord; a special co-lord comparison in arudha or Chara calculations has a narrower purpose.

Ketu is excluded from both chara-karaka lists and has no individual Ashtakavarga or Shadbala score. Its graha-aspect row uses the stated node convention, whose interpretation differs among traditions.

Reading a node placement

A Ketu placement is read through its own detachment symbolism, the occupied house and the sign ruler. For Ketu in Taurus, Venus is the dispositor and Rahu lies in Scorpio. Reversing the two nodes leaves the axis in the same signs but changes which end carries each symbolic role.

Ketu's full seven-year Vimshottari period is a timing allocation. It does not mean seven years of withdrawal, and a birth beginning in that period normally has only a fraction remaining.

Sign and house checks

Ketu and Rahu remain 180° apart. In D1 whole-sign counting, houses 1 and 7 pair, as do 2 and 8, 3 and 9, 4 and 10, 5 and 11, and 6 and 12. Reversing which node occupies a house preserves the geometry, not the symbolic meaning.

The ruler is a separate graha with its own placement and condition. This lookup does not assign a universal node dignity or a personality effect to each sign. A chalit house assignment uses different boundaries and should not be substituted into this whole-sign axis count.

Placement guides

Ketu in houses

Ketu in signs

See the chart and its tables on the Kundli page.