Rahu in Vedic Astrology

Rahu has no body at all. He is a point on the celestial vault, the ascending node of Chandra, which the Vedic system nonetheless ranks as eighth graha. With Ketu, who stays permanently 180 degrees from him, he forms the duo of shadows. The image is born from eclipses: he masks Surya, hence he is never combust.

Picture him as bluish smoke haunting the forests, fearsome and shrewd.

Keep in mind that he acts by borrowing. He mostly delivers the effects of the lord of the house he is associated with, or of the one he occupies, and he sends back with more vigor the results of the sign, of the associated grahas and of the aspects he receives. Rahu therefore amplifies everything he brushes against, and he weighs in the judgment of a chart.

Is he granted a sign? Kumbha can fall to him, for a few period calculations only; he can also own no house. His exaltation remains debated. You can add him as an eighth movable significator, his degrees being measured in that case from the end of the sign.

One placement is fortunate: a node in an angle next to a trine lord, or in a trine next to an angle lord. Finally, Rahu rules a period of 18 years of the Vimshottari cycle, tied to the nakshatras Ardra, Swati and Shatabhisha.