Last Updated on July 30, 2020 by astrologerbydefault

Rahu and Ketu are completely astral graha, They do not have any existence in the physical dimension. They have no material results on their own. They influence the material only through the other planets they are linked to. Their actual results are almost completely astral in nature, they are the ‘desire to experience’ and ‘apathy to experience’ and represent the flow of experience throughout your several lives. Any placement of Rahu and Ketu will be influenced by the nature of the sign he is in, the owner of this sign and his power to give results and the other planets who conjoin/aspect Rahu/Ketu. The lunar mansion/ Nakshatra occupied by them also gives valuable insights into their effects.

There are two ways of analysing Ketu. Of these, how he will manifest his energy in your life will depend on the other planets, signs and houses.

• One is disconnection from the individual self, detachment from the sense of self. He just experiences without any judgement. eg no children
• And the second is no limits. This Ketu energy can increase scope as it is unimpeded by barriers. eg lots of children and child-figures like students.

The 5^th and 11^th axis deals with your personal intelligence and interaction with the outside world. This is perhaps the most important axis when it comes to energy, an incredible amount of energy is generated and used in this axis. So if you want to be good you can be really be the best and if you takes a bad turn you can be the worst of the lot. The karmic axis of Rahu-Ketu in this 5^th/ 11^th axis can create the most excellent human beings at one end of the spectrum or the worst ones, nothing in between.

Ketu in the 5^th house

A strong Ketu here can confer a lot. Formal education may be in breaks or strangely disjointed with you taking random courses without a clear direction. Education is generally affected. If the 5^th lord and the ascendant is well placed the education would be extensive but the use and awareness of what has been learnt formally would be limited.

This placement of Ketu drives the mind and its mental capacity inwards and you would be generally involved in esoteric stuff. Astrologers, spiritualists, occultists, tantriks are quite to be expected with this Ketu. Your intellect is enormous, Ketu is diffuse and separative, a paradoxial state. So the intellect can spread over and yet be incisive. But what exactly should you do with this intellect will be resolved only after midlife. Till then you might be considered to be a bit eccentric. You have very original and quite shocking ideas. These ideas will not materialise into reality unless Ketu is influenced by other planets.

The self-ego also is strangely fluid, you will be ego-less But at the same time know who you are exactly internally. May not express it though. Ketu in the 5^th means that you have experienced these keywords of the 5^th completely in your past lives and you have the deepest learnings associated with this house with you. But you will not be aware of it, if you can consciously focus it will be made available. But ‘consciously focussing’ and ‘headless Ketu’ together can get a bit difficult.

With love affairs two extreme things may happen depending on the other placements. No affairs, no relationships with humans and the search for a non-physical sort of a relationship with a deity or the higher self. Or no affairs but a formal marriage with limited physical contact. Or the other extreme, mindlessly into several relationships /marriages/affairs which are never satisfying. These relationships would be karmic in nature and you are quite passive about these.

Ketu in 5^th makes you the shadow of your more outgoing husband/wife. The spouse if often from a different social/ cultural background. You don’t know how to have fun, most avenues of entertainment lose their attraction very fast. Your spouse can be a politician or someone very well-known in public, very passionate and visible. He is quite conscious about social position, recognition, gains, wealth etc. You on the other hand are not bothered about all this material stuff. You understand its importance, you move about in such environments but you are not moved by all these things. You might have to face losses because of your disinterest. You are your spouse’s shadow here, always present but never really seen. And you don’t mind it! 

Children will be few, pregnancy and childbirth (if female) will be especially difficult. The children will be highly intuitive themselves. The eldest child especially may show occult talents or may have special needs. However this is rarely a ‘disability’ as far as his behaviour in society is concerned. But you might sometimes feel discomfort caused by his behaviour. You rarely punish your children/students, you observe and think very differently, your parenting style is a bit eccentric but can be genius. However this can as easily turn to negligence.

If you choose to venture into the spiritual, you will have limited real students. However you are a good teacher and can teach students with special needs, handicapped children, or students of the esoteric.

You are not bothered with expressing your creativity. There is no pride or no ego related to your creative output. (Should never gamble.)

There is one observation here, the 5^th house indicates the physical heart. So there may be some medical conditions if aspected by malefics. Take care of your upper back too in such a case. (This in rare cases if there is support from the rest of the horoscope can allow the Kundalini to rise.) But as Ketu is completely astral his main effect is to create a sense of sadness, grief perhaps. You are psychically detached from divine love or perhaps the word is self-love? but you never know that you yearn for this sort of love. The essence of love? A sense of undefinable loneliness prevails over the Ketu of the 5^th house.

Rahu in the 11^th house

If Ketu is placed in the 5th house naturally Rahu would be in the opposite 11th house, 180degrees apart..

Rahu in the 11^th house from the ascendant is a wish come true perhaps? Rahu in the 11^th the house of gain, would have created ambitions in the initial life but Rahu comes to his maturity only after 48yrs of life. And the 11^th is an upchaya  उपचय house, gives better results with age. The 11^th is the house of gains, extended like-minded groups, markets, foreigners, luck, relationships with large groups, mostly impersonal type of relationships.

Rahu here desires social recognition, social mobility, often political power, a wide circle of friends, corporate networking, community participation, profits and gains, is very ambitious. Uses unconventional methods to rise but this rise can be sustained only if some benefic planet influences Rahu. Even if there are intermittent falls, Rahu uses them as opportunities and manages to rise again. He challenges the conventional always so in the 11th house he has infinite potential to showcase genius and also to manipulate. Rahu has the ability to merge in every group in a very fascinating manner. He accepts everyone into his circle, irrespective of class, creed or mind-sets.

But is important to remember that how-much-ever Rahu strives onwards the Ketu in the 5^th house grants an unfocussed intelligence, an eccentric genius, there is detachment here. So if Ketu is more powerful than Rahu in your chart this factor can cause more falls in the material perspective than material gains. If your 5^th house occupied by Ketu is not supported by other solidifying benefic aspects, you will not be able to make the most of Rahu’s capability. Rahu in the 11^th makes one ruthless and grants a complete disregard for rules, conventions and regulations. Plus out-of-the-box thinking. You are actually a philosopher who also has the confidence and ruthlessness to act. You can strategise very well and also keep secrets. Can prosper in business, especially import/export related. Material earnings will be quite good in any case. There might be awards and prizes too.

If you try to gain using Rahu’s powers of illegality, breaking the rules, pretending, cheating and posing, your fortune will not last. So after a rather dissatisfied first half of life, the second half can fulfil desires. But what desires? The frustration of the first half of life and the maturation of all planets will have changed your mind-set. Spirituality would have set in and changed the type of desires which Rahu will then fulfil. This 5/11 Ketu-Rahu is considered exceptional for spiritual growth also. The personality tries to find its balance between the individual self-ego and the unlimited Consciousness. This combination can grant an outwardly simple ego-less plain personality, well-known in public life, a high social stature, is wealthy and also is involved in deep esoteric activities. (Something like a saint who is also a king, perhaps?)

The mother’s and father’s families are often a source of problems. Brothers and extended families are generally troublesome. Children display occult abilities or in rare cases can be specially abled. Spouse is a social climber, a politician or a successful businessman. Friends are also exotic, fascinating but not really life-time friends, they also are a bit odd, occultists and astrologer type, not really bff material! So there exists potential for invalidation from all relationships. ‘Validation’ is an important component of any relationship. This is always missing. Satisfaction is missing from every aspect of life, personal or the extended.

Sometimes complete destruction is necessary to rise again spectacularly. This placement sometimes reflects this as the first half of the life goes in a haze. The second half is more vivid and happy. Things will move after Rahu and Ketu attain maturity. You will see a marked change in your life during the age of 42-47yrs.

If you have Ketu placed 5^th from the birth Moon and thus the Rahu 11^th from Moon, the results will be as per the above except the context will be exclusively on the emotional planes.

Ketu Mahdasha and Rahu Mahadasha as per the Vimshottari system, will be quite happening periods. Especially Rahu-Ketu sub-period and Ketu-Rahu antardasha will be quite karmically heavy-duty. Their sub-periods in the other planet’s Mahadasha-s also will burn karma fast. Their transits are also quite slow with 1.5yrs in each sign, (right now they are in Capricorn /Cancer) so keep a look out here too. Periods heavy with Rahu/ Ketu energy will grant profits and gains but after their periods are complete these gains too may erode. 

Doing mantra -jaap of Rahu and Ketu on Tuesdays/Saturdays and especially during eclipses is very beneficial. In fact you should aggressively use every eclipse which occurs, not let even one single event pass by.

Rahu is the engine which drives your chart and Ketu is the last guard-cabin. The desire to experience and apathy to experience. In energy-terms these are the influences which push your perfect internal energy -geometry out of shape. Life is all about experience and energy, so analyse these two astral tendencies, Rahu-Ketu carefully in your chart, they reveal your deepest motivations.

Have written about Rahu in the 5th and Ketu in the 11th house in this post.