Both Rahu and Ketu represent extremes of material prosperity/adversity and the corresponding extremes of spiritually nil/evolved persons. Both are capable of giving spiritual and material results. The 12^th house is the house of mysteries and losses and its mirror is the 6th house of imbalance. Both are dusham-sthan, houses of turmoil. But the 6th is also a upchaya house, meaning that it’s results improve with age.

Rahu in the 12^th house and Ketu in the 6^th house

Rahu here desires to experience the strangeness of the 12^th to the maximum. This Rahu in the 12^th teeters on the edge. He is on the bridge of the conscious and the sub-conscious, the astral and the physical, the spiritual and the material. This can get quite strange and quite fast. Rahu here will want to experience foreign, strange, new, past lives, other dimensions, isolation in different ways, fantasy, sorrows, luxury, deprivations, dreams, visions, imprisonment and also liberation. Information from visions and past lives might be available. He wants to experience both sides of the coin and also the edge between. He wants to experience the privilege of privacy.

The house occupied by Rahu becomes the focus house. The personality desires its experiences, this house becomes the engine which pulls your entire chart behind it. Rahu in the 12^th house is a placement difficult to judge. If he is aspected by even more malefics it can indicate imprisonment, confinement, addictions, drugs, to create fantasies and the desire to get lost in them. There can be a strangely fatalist mind-set, morbid even. There might be some irregularity in the marriage. The 18yrs of Rahu mahadasha can give extreme results of the 12th house keywords. During this period the Rahu-things become irresistible and fascinating. If you have a strong 5th house too, use your energy sensibly.

But if he is directed properly, he can generate interest in meditation and spiritual growth. A 12th house Rahu is subtly influenced by Pisces sign and Jupiter in your chart. Guru-s and spiritual teachers often show this placement. The desire then turns to coming out of this Maya enveloping the Inner Reality. So if you have this placement, keep away from drugs, alcohol etc. Avoid following an established religion without thinking about it. Such people can become fanatics! Personal prayer is always a better option. If you can discipline your mind in this aspect, 75% of your problems will be done with.

The positive aspects of this placement are relocation to a foreign land, or earnings from foreign lands. The profession might be away from the public eye, researchers, scientists are very much possible as Rahu here gives a piercing intuitive intelligence. New discoveries or more effective ways of doing work, automation etc. Healers, doctors, nurses, tantriks and occultists can also be successful with this Rahu. There is at least one dramatic rise in life. You might get opportunities for behind the scene deals and secret gains, use them only if your conscience approves.

A Rahu in the 12^th house is complemented by Ketu in the 6^th house. This Ketu if aspected by benefics can give very good results. However he finds it difficult to take orders from his seniors and cannot give orders to his juniors. Can work better in a self-employed or an independent business environment. However beware about over-extending yourself. Think logically about how much you can do often alone. You might find your workers quitting, so try to automate your business. You have very clear ideas on how you want to work and will not deviate from your personal work ethic. You have a very strict sense of moral behaviour and expect everyone around you to follow the same. Even if there are conflicts with your co-workers and boss you will stick to what you think is right. You are not diplomatic in the least and have quite a temper if roused. Enemies will be around you, ghosts and astral problems often exist. Ketu will grants unawareness and a strange immunity to these issues. But being too unaware can result in them exploding in typical dasha periods or transits.

However if this Ketu is incapable of auspicious results then this will result in irregular jobs, diseases of unknown nature, afflictions from ghosts, past life karmas will make their presence felt, there will be opposition in the lifepath, enemies and debts can overpower the personality. Overwork can lead to health issues. Medical help may not be available, or diagnosis may not be correct. One cannot mentally reconcile to failures in this Ketu position, hence depression type of issues can result.

One thing you should guard against is being too trusting. As Rahu ‘the trickster’ is in the 12th house, your own awareness of cheating and being cheated is rather less. You are incapable of cheating others. But you might get moved by someone’s sob-story and get into a mess yourself. Do strike a balance between the 12^th house Rahu and 6^th house Ketu energies. Rahu and Ketu are natural malefics, so can function well in the dushamsthan combo of 6^th and 12^th houses but it is better to be consciously aware of what they are upto.

Rahu in the 6^th house and Ketu in the 12^th house

This is considered to be a good placement. Rahu is a natural malefic so works well in the 6^th house. Rahu and Ketu mature late, so their effects are more understandable only after the late 40’s. Ketu is the agent of dissociation so has a natural affinity to the 12^th house of secrets and losses. But if there are more malefic influences on them, with no supportive benefics, this can give perhaps the worst results.

Rahu directs the energy of the chart where he is placed. So the choice of service or suffering is brought strongly to the forefront. Work, health, enemies, debts, karma, imbalances, medical issues, etc are more in focus, a career-conscious mind-set. The 6^th is the maha-dusham, the highest turbulence in life comes from here. It is a very sensitive house. Rahu here can indulge in activities which can have life time repercussions, so benefic aspects on him are necessary.

Be very careful about selecting your profession, if you are still in your school/college do think carefully on what you would like to do in life. You are ambitious, capable of hard work, quite fearless and can take risks. There are always inimical energies in this position. Enemies will always pop up. So you should be alert, also develop some philosophical background which will help you come to terms with this aspect. Be calculative and do not over-reach.

You can gain from foreign sources, import/export, shipping, long journeys etc. Quite analytical and methodical, if you can take up professions where you help others, doctors, healers, astrologers, etc you will also help yourself. Political career is also possible as you are quite capable of dealing with unsavoury and behind the scene things. A spy or a clever criminal is also possible here. You can exploit loop-holes or anything/anyone else too. Working with drugs, poisons, chemist type of professions. There will be challenges in your life, profession and karmic debts too, but Rahu does not run from them, but faces them head-on. This often gives very good material results. You can use Rahu intelligently to significantly reduce your karmic burden to meet with and work with a lot of people. Such a big chunk of desire-energy in the house of karmic payback can work both ways.

Rahu in the 6th is complemented by Ketu in the 12^th. But this Ketu often works by neutralising Rahu’s over-arching behaviour. So you might ignore important things in your work which might cause trouble. There will be some strangeness in the marriage, divorce or affairs outside marriage. Ketu here desires privacy which he does not get. A sense of dissatisfaction may prevail over all relationships. There will be psychic experiences, dreams, visions, meditative states etc which may cause restless sleep. But again these experiences also do not satisfy. There is an underlying sense of grief.

Health remains good overall but death by mysterious or by unknown causes or suddenly without any illness etc is possible. The feet, skin and nerves can cause medical problems. This Ketu can give a spiritual outlook only if the rest of the horoscope allows it. In the 7yrs of Ketu Mahadasha there can be a possibility of a spiritual retreat or a stay in an ashram etc. But in your daily life, try to get some time alone, meditate or something for just 15mins. This will give your Ketu and your past life karma a safe channel. Rather than organised religion, personal approach to faith will be better.

This Rahu-Ketu axis in the 6^th – 12^th houses requires a lot of balancing between the demands for service and material prosperity and the inner desire for solitude and spiritual growth. Too much of Rahu’s materialism will suppress Ketu’s asceticism which will in some transit/Dasha period burst up and over-whelm the personality. Or the other way around depending on the rest of the chart. This tilt towards the extremes will happen at least once, after which there is a back-lash from the other ignored energy. After this the personality balances better between Rahu and Ketu.

The 6^th and 12^th axis is, in my opinion, the most sensitive axis as it involves two houses of turmoil. Of these one is the maha-dusham and the other is the house of the unknown. So be very careful in analysing Rahu – Ketu placed here. Extreme or unexpected results are more likely than not.

So before interpreting Rahu’s or Ketu’s position, first check the ascendant sign, the ascendant sign lord and the power of the birth Moon. These three indicate your personality, your surrounding environment and your ability to coordinate between these two. The Moon is your mental strength and the power of your astral self. If these are capable of giving auspicious results, you are consciously more aware and confident about dealing with life and its challenges. Rahu/Ketu here need to be guided by other planets if placed here, if they are let loose they can be quite problematic. So also analyse the signs, the sign lords, other planets if conjunct or aspecting this Rahu/Ketu. Look into Rahu/Ketu’s Nakshatra characteristics for more cues on how they are going to manifest their energies. If you are confident about the Navamsha, do go through it to analyse your planet’s inner potentials.

If your chart as a whole is able to give positive results then this positioning of ‘desire and apathy’ in the most sensitive axis of your chart can be quite good.