Who Rahu and Ketu Are

Rahu is the north lunar node and Ketu is the south, the two points where the Moon's path crosses the Sun's path. They are always in opposite rashis, so a statement about one house is a statement about the house seven away. They have no physical disk the way Mars does. In the churning story the nectar-taker is cut, the head is Rahu, and the body is Ketu, which is why Rahu wants and Ketu releases.

Rahu's mahadasha is 18 years. Ketu's is 7. After Rahu comes Jupiter. After Ketu comes Venus. They are not a single dasha and not neighbors in the sequence.

Rahu amplifies the house it occupies with hunger and an unusual method. In the 11th that can be gains. In the 7th that can be an unconventional marriage. Ketu thins the house it occupies, which in the 12th can read as release and in the 7th as detachment from the spouse. The sign lord has to manage them, because they rule no rashi of their own.

Their nakshatras are fixed. Rahu owns Ardra, Swati, and Shatabhisha. Ketu owns Ashwini, Magha, and Mula. A Moon there starts that node's balance. A conjunction with the node is a different fact and can happen in other stars.

A dog in the yard is not Ketu, though folk remedy lists link dogs with Ketu. A sudden desire is not proof of Rahu's transit. The nodes are located by the birth chart, then timed by their mahadashas. Hessonite is associated with Rahu and cat's eye with Ketu. Both stones strengthen the node. They do not introduce you to a friendlier version.

Treat them as one axis with two year-counts. Then read the houses. The mythology explains the appetite and the cut. The houses explain the life.