Last Updated on May 20, 2022 by astrologerbydefault

Rahu and Ketu are the completely astral graha which ‘churn’ your sense of self. These are the chhaya-graha, forces which ‘blend’ or ‘shade’ your inherent energy, awareness and intelligence. Elusive illusions. 

Rahu is the desire to experience all that you can, he subtly drives the energy of your chart. Ketu is the deepest learnings from your past lives experiences, now expressed as apathy and limitlessness. They act through the signs/ houses/ planets/ nakshatra they are associated with. If they are conjunct important graha-s ie the ascendant lord, the Moon or the Sun, or conjunct highly powerful planets in the chart, or heavily influenced by Marak planets or by natural or functional malefics etc, then they have more influence on you. 

The 1^st 4^th 7^th 10^th are Kendra houses, foundations of the personality and the environment around you. The 1^st 5^th 9^th are Kona houses, the potential for evolution. The Dharma trikon (post here) indicates how the 5/9 axis of genius and creativity evolves spirally using each other as a foundation. The 1^st is both a Kendra and a Kona house and the connecting link between these two concepts. The 1^st house tells you about your personality, environment, also how energy from the horoscope is channelized into you, and how you feed energy to your entire chart. If the 1^st house and its lord are powerful and auspicious then you generally have an easier and well-adjusted life.

Any planet in the ascendant sign has an inordinate influence on you. Closer it is to the rising degree more will be its influence. It will significantly modify the attributes of the ascendant sign. (this post on the bright/dark halves of the chart.) And the 7^th house is perhaps more mysterious than the 8^th house. It is your partnerships, legal contracts, money, companionships, marriage, value and validation but on the other hand it also determines the time of your physical death, Marak, detachment from the game of creation, spiritual growth and possibilities of Moksh. This sign was setting at the horizon as you were being born, its attributes were going out of the light into the night. The mirror of your personality, it is also all the things which use you up (this post on Bhavat Bhavam).. The 7^th is the only house linked to the 1^st by Bhavat Bhavam. The 7th house has the maximum potential to drain the energy of your ego, it can destroy the your sense of ‘you’. The 7^th is the Bhavat bhavam for the 4^th and the 10^th, the other 2 Kendra houses. So analysing the 7^th in the real sense requires some analysis and any planet placed here has a subtly powerful impact on you.

The 1/7 axis is the most sensitive axis in the chart and Rahu Ketu here will affect you deeply. They can give material stuff, money, status, fame etc as per the power of the chart but on the psychological levels they can create typical issues. So first evaluate if they are capable of auspicious results. Then evaluate the power of the ascendant sign, ascendant lord and the birth Moon. If these are able to give positive results, the personality will flourish.

Rahu in the 1^st house and Ketu in the 7^th house

Rahu is in the ascendant exerts his power in a mysterious yet visible manner. If he is capable of giving auspicious results then you are a magnetic charismatic person with the capacity to significantly influence others. More visible in society, the force of your personality will be evident. Self-assertive, independent nature, good health, striking personality, recognition, etc are possible. Self-confidence, aggression, health, vitality, fame, career, social position, appearance and face, self-image are all boosted. The body is well-built and you have strength/ stamina. Rahu allows you complete experience of your own body, self and the environment around. Rahu’s energies are more active, changeable, adaptable, capable of responding to external influences, are fast and kinetic, often unexpected. This Rahu often gives acute senses, hearing, taste etc is very sharp, you are sensitive (not delicate) and aware of things around you. Lots of opportunities will be available in life and you will take advantage of every one of them. Often Rahu will create a very self-sufficient and individualistic personality. There is desire to know oneself in every way possible. This combination can produce thinkers, philosophers and even sages. There is significant intellect and analytical ability with a deep understanding of human nature and also an ability to manipulate it. Here you should guard against false-ego and always think dispassionately before you act. Try to act as selflessly as possible and always listen to your conscience. Then this Rahu will give great results.

Rahu in the 1^st house can also mix up reality and illusion. You might feel that the physical things around you actually do not exist. Extrasensory perception, mantra siddhi, control over other-dimensional beings, healing energies, etc are possible. Flashes of intuition, insights or things which cannot be understood in a normal sense. The dream worlds are more accessible and you actively engage with the events seen in these other states. Rahu can make the material things seem illogical as the sub-conscious is more active. He brings out things from your past lives with unpredictable effects. It is possible that you are a reborn ancestor from the family. Rahu generally indicates the paternal grandparents so you might be closer to them in life. Rahu makes things more vivid, life as an overall experience is more exciting, more glamorous. You are passionate about everything you do, eg adventure sports? You desire pleasure, engage in love affairs, use expensive stuff, crave excitement, take risks. This might lead you to do unacceptable actions in life. So be careful.

Rahu gives more regular abilities too. High levels of creativity exist. You can keep secrets, you can find out secret stuff, good management skills, you are good at ‘invisible control’, ie you can handle back-end operations, you are also good at negotiating and striking bargains, stock markets. You can lie and hide the truth if it suits you, so choose professions where this ability can be used for the greater good. Lucky, cunning, crafty, you can become a champion for criminals and undesirable persons. You conceal your actions and also get into questionable activities, black magic, occult etc. You prefer being alone. 

All this will naturally depend on the nature of the rising sign as Rahu emphasises its qualities. In fiery signs he adds enthusiasm, ambition and self confidence. In earth signs, he grants innate intelligence and overall practicality. In Airy signs, an interest in research literary work etc. And in watery signs, he will enhance imagination, emotions, intuition and spirituality.

Rahu in the lagna, if incapable of giving favourable results creates situations which cannot be diagnosed and rectified easily. Diseases which have their origin in the sub-conscious, astral, psychology etc can mysteriously affect you. Depression, addiction, lack of common sense, skin diseases which involve discolouration etc. Susceptibility to black magic, attacks from spirits, evil eye, association with criminals and specifically poisoning. The ego is very high, miserly, deceitful, rigid, jealous, suicidal thoughts, anti-social behaviour, fanaticism, over-expectations, selfishness may predominate. There are possibilities of failed relationships, extra marital affairs, unconventional lifestyle, divorces, death of the spouse, loneliness. All this is a karmic suffering linked to childhood hurts, nightmares, emotional pain, trauma from past lives, fear of the unknown etc. General attitude towards life is spoilt.

This Rahu in the 1^st house, will naturally have Ketu in 7^th house, ie the agent of dissociation in the house of partnerships and spirituality. This has the potential to cause problems in one-one relationships.

A Ketu capable of auspicious results will enhance spiritual activities, occult and magic. You prefer being alone and even if you marry, conjugal happiness is lesser. You need space. Ketu can grant celibacy for spiritual reasons. A high level of intelligence and an aptitude for abstract thinking. You have an instinctive knowledge of the mind, psychology, psychoanalysis etc. Wise, and after mid-life you may be well-known for some reason.  Frank outspoken and you stick to your own way, cannot adjust. But you are good at all things which require you to ‘take on a role’, eg acting is something you can easily do. Or public speaking, or motivate masses, play politics in an impersonal manner, just like playing a role. One tip is to try to share what you have deduced through your intellectual efforts. This will help you adjust better in life.

He can make you a philosopher or disturb you on the psychological levels. Ketu in the 7^th if afflicted, can give deviant sexual desires. Weird personal philosophies may prevent you from having meaningful relationships with others. The mindset can get bizarre.

Ketu in the 1^st house and Rahu in the 7^th house

Ketu in the 1^st house even if auspicious makes you a bit hazed out. Subtly unaware of your own self, your environment and what is happening around you. Ketu is disinterest and apathy coupled with deepest learnings from the past lives. So you must learn to stand up for yourself, express your opinions, state what you want. You cannot let your partners, your family members, friends etc run rough shod over you. Even if you are not bothered about what you get, you must at least pretend to care. Eg if you are the father, you cannot let your children drive you the way they want, or you cannot let your younger brothers lead, or you cannot stay under your wife’s thumb. Speak out for what you should be having. Assert yourself even it is just for show. This is the most important behavioural change you must bring in you to function well in life.

Ketu’s energies are neutral, the pivot around which the entire life and its events whirl. We are generally unaware of the Ketu in our lives. If we every look on our life from Ketu’s position, it would be like watching the storm from its calm center. He is the catalyst which propels spiritual evolution. Ketu-dominant persons generally go through life with a sense of vagueness and anonymity. Ketu is the absolute non-desire which comes after you have experienced everything. You have been experiencing these things for several lives and now that desire is exhausted. The desire to experience these Ketu related things does not exist anymore. You have the learnings of those experiences within you. But such is the nature of Ketu that learnings are also of no value to him. So he keeps the conscious personality unaware of these. Things become more clear after the 40’s. So if you have Ketu in the 1st house you will seem to ‘blossom’ only after your mid-40’s. Ketu conjunct the ascendant lord also gives similar readings.

Ketu in the 1st house, you are a strange mix of maturity and immaturity. Philosophical and childish mixed together. The body will have some oddness, you might look younger/ older than you are, or something like  disproportionate limbs, scars especially on the head, there will be something distinctive about your appearance. In this position too, there is an underlying sorrow, you are never fully happy. You can be a good actor, or any profession where you are required to take up different identities or act out a role. You rarely express what you really feel, as you are unaware of this yourself. You might come across as a shy, self-conscious person. (Post here on Ketu conjunct the ascendant lord which gives similar readings. Any graha associated with Ketu is deeply affected by his typical headless, apathetic, spiritualising influence.)

This Ketu, if incapable of giving auspicious results, then mental suffering, internal conflicts, emotional imbalance are possible. You may come across as an unpleasant, superficial, disinterested, heartless etc person. You cannot retain your interest in anything much.  You have your own ideas of personal morality and ethics which might not be acceptable to others. Try to at least develop some stability in your interactions with others do not shock them too much. In business and profession, you might be disturbed and focussing on work might be difficult. Sometimes you can get intensely spiritual and sometimes intensely materialistic. Try to find a balance in between these two aspects else life will get very confusing. 

On the other side is Rahu in 7^th house. If auspiciously placed then he can help you gain good social standing, a socially visible spouse etc. Wealth through business and eventually a better understanding of your own self. If you can, choose a profession or a business where you are your own boss. Or something which has to do with psychology, mind, counselling, writing, management, etc. This will help divert the energies more productively outside the home. Rahu in the 7^th house brings into focus partnerships, from the baser ones to the highest spiritual ones. However the main reason you continue together in any one-one relationship, personal or professional, would be mutual ambition. The marriage will not satisfy much, your spouse will be Rahu oriented ie ambitious and driven, thus will not give you full attention. Similarly for business partners, they might cheat you if you remain unaware of their activities. There may be several relationships, marriages, business relationships and one-one partnerships. The 7^th house matures in the 30’s so after this age the you might see yourself quite well established with partnerships. The married life, permanent social image etc will stabilise. Rahu also grants the social image required for public standing. You might be very spiritual, yet you will be thought to be quite materialistic.

But if Rahu is afflicted by even more malefics then his negative side can come up. The desire for union with the inner self gets converted to mindless physical gratification which by Rahu’s inherent nature fails to gratify. This affliction can be in the birth chart but even transits of malefics over this Rahu will cause temporary issues. The spouse may be odd. He/ she may be depressed neurotic and perhaps under severe strain. The spouse can abandon you, there may be quarrels, separation, divorce, death of the spouse or extra-marital relationships etc. In any case the marriage does not satisfy. You want heightened or irregular sensual pleasures which is unrealistic in regular life. You can neither live together nor can you both express what is going wrong with you. The marital relationship can be odd, unconventional, unbalanced or even abusive.

Rahu Ketu in the 1/7 axis generally create unhappiness in partnerships. Marriage for persons with the nodes in the 1/7 axis can be problematic or non-typical. The over-riding theme is that the spouse will, for a variety of reasons be unavailable. This is to force you to seek the deepest relationship with your inner self, but this depends on the maturity level of the horoscope (post here). If the chart is unable to manage Rahu-Ketu’s intensity, then negative effects are seen. Often undesirable partners exist who create problems for you. Secret relationships before and during the marriage. If you get into business, the business partner might cheat you. You might like travelling, changing jobs/ businesses etc but this will not give you job satisfaction. Disenchantment with all human relationships is a usual result and you feel resigned towards life as such. The nodes in the 1/7, make you realise the illusory nature of life through personal sorrow of the most private kind. This realisation can make you a philosopher or drive you crazy.

Rahu Ketu are 180 deg apart so always in opposite houses in the birth chart. I have written about Rahu Ketu in the 5/11 houses, the 11/5 houses, the 2/8 houses, the 6/12 houses and 4/10 houses earlier. There were several requests for posts on their effects in the birth 1/7 axis. Writing a generic post on this fundamentally ‘you’ axis is difficult. Rahu Ketu here have to be analysed carefully. I have highlighted some typical things about this position, however these will have to be modified as per other positions in your own horoscope.

The Vimshottari dasha periods controlled by the nodes, ie the Rahu mahadasha, Ketu mahadasha can get very intense. Especially the Rahu-Ketu antardasha and the Ketu-Rahu antardasha. Look out for transits of Rahu Ketu from time to time as they have the potential to cause surprising effects, unexpected results, disturbances and general internal sorrow. If a Rahu-Ketu dominant person does some spiritual practice, he gives them a safe outlet, he will be more adjusted to his spiritual as well as material life.

All planets essentially give benefits on the spiritual front, everything is subtly designed to pull us towards the inner self. But we are so materially oriented that we do not register these benefits. So a ‘good’ or a ‘bad result is applicable only to the material side of life.

Finally, if the ascendant lord and the birth Moon are powerful and if there are aspects of Jupiter, especially his 5^th 9^th aspects, on Rahu or Ketu, the intensity of the negatives results above are significantly reduced. The personality can make use of the more favourable abilities of Rahu Ketu and live a more well adjusted life.

(I have written several posts on Rahu Ketu including remedies, do use the index page if you wish to read.)