Pillar article
Ketu: The South Node, Its Dasha, and Its Dispositor
Ketu is the south node of the Moon, always standing opposite Rahu. Its Vimshottari mahadasha lasts 7 years. On the standard lordship list Ketu rules no rashi, which means the graha who owns Ketu's sign is the one that delivers the result.
What the node is, astronomically and in the chart
Rahu and Ketu are the points where the Moon's path crosses the Sun's. They are not planets with light of their own. In the chart they are still grahas, because Jyotish judges them by house and by dasha. Ketu's traditional flavor is severance, specialization, and moksha language: a talent that feels inherited, a distaste for display, a house that works better in private. That flavor is useless until you name the house. Ketu in the 10th is a private or technical career. Ketu in the 12th is the moksha-leaning placement. The same node, two departments.
The seven-year period is not the whole story
Ketu leads the Vimshottari sequence, so a Moon in Ashwini, Magha, or Mula starts life in Ketu's balance, not necessarily a fresh 7 years. The first antardasha, Ketu-Ketu, is 7 times 7 divided by 120, or 4 months and 27 days. Venus follows for 1 year and 2 months. People who describe 'Ketu time' as one sensation are averaging nine lords. The dispositor's mahadasha is the other timer. Ketu in Kanya wakes up again when Mercury runs, because Mercury owns Kanya, even if Ketu's own 7 years are finished.
How not to confuse Ketu with Mars or with Rahu
Ketu is given a Mars-like edge in some texts: cutting, sudden, technical. It is not Mars. Mars owns Mesha and Vrishchika, has a 7-year dasha of its own, and forms Mangal dosha by house. Ketu forms none of those lordships. Rahu inflates. Ketu subtracts. They are a pair, so a reading of Ketu that never looks at the opposite house is half an axis. Cat's eye is the navaratna stone for Ketu, and it feeds the node rather than dissolving it. Use it only after the sign lord's houses are ones you mean to emphasize.
Frequently asked questions
Which nakshatras belong to Ketu?
Ashwini, Magha, and Mula. A Moon in one of those starts Vimshottari from Ketu, for the remaining portion of the nakshatra only.
Does Ketu own Scorpio?
Not on the seven-lord list. Mars owns Vrishchika. Later writers sometimes co-assign signs to the nodes. This page reads Ketu through the actual sign lord.
Is Ketu always bad in a kendra?
A kendra Ketu makes a pillar of the chart more private or detached. The sign lord can still make that pillar effective. Bad is a dasha judgment, not the node's address.
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D1, D9, D10, dashas, yogas, and transits, the same calculations referenced in this article.