Ketu Ingress Calculator: Unlock the Mysteries of the South Node
Ketu, the south node of the Moon, is the shadow planet of detachment, past karma, intuition, research and moksha. Where Rahu hungers for more, Ketu lets go, and the area of life it passes through is where old ties loosen, sometimes suddenly, so that something truer can take their place. It changes sign about once in eighteen months. The tables above give every Ketu ingress of the year you choose, to the minute and in your own time zone, first by the Mean node and then by the True node.
What Is Ketu Gochar?
Ketu gochar is Ketu's movement through the twelve signs. Ketu is not a body but a point, where the Moon's path crosses the Sun's going south, and that point slides backwards along the zodiac: from Leo Ketu goes into Cancer, not into Virgo. It takes about 18.6 years to go round, and Rahu, the north node, is always exactly opposite, so the two change sign at the same moment. Rahu's dates are on the Rahu transit dates page.
Mean Node and True Node
The Mean node is Ketu's average position and moves steadily backwards. The True node is its exact position; it wobbles around the Mean, and now and then stands still or moves forward for a few days. Their sign changes can differ by a few days, sometimes by a few weeks. Most Vedic almanacs follow the Mean node, and this page leads with it; the True node is given in its own table for those who use it.
Ketu Transit and Your Moon Sign
Count from your Moon sign, your Janma Rashi, as the first. Ketu gives good results in the 3rd, 6th and 11th signs: courage, the end of an old dispute or illness, and gains through research, occult study or the spiritual. In the 1st it brings restlessness and a sense of being cut off, in the 4th unease at home, in the 8th sudden setbacks, and in the 12th expense and withdrawal. What Ketu's present sign means for each Moon sign is in the Ketu transit predictions.
Ketu in Its Exalted and Debility Signs
Ketu owns no sign in most classical texts, and the texts differ on its exaltation. The most widely followed view, used in the tables above, makes it exalted in Scorpio and debilitated in Taurus, the mirror of Rahu; others place its exaltation in Sagittarius and its debility in Gemini. Many astrologers also treat Scorpio as a sign Ketu shares with Mars. The tables give Ketu's present stay in these signs, if it is there now, and its next.
Ketu, Rahu and the Eclipses
An eclipse can only happen when the New or Full Moon falls near the nodes, so for the eighteen months Ketu and Rahu hold a pair of signs, the year's eclipses fall in or close to those signs. A Ketu ingress therefore also tells you where the eclipses of the coming year and a half will fall. The eclipses and every sign change ahead are on the upcoming transits timeline.
How to Use the Ketu Transit Dates
Look up when Ketu enters the 3rd, 6th or 11th sign from your Moon and use those eighteen months to clear old debts, end what has run its course and go deeper into study, research or spiritual practice. When it enters your Moon sign, or the 4th, 8th or 12th from it, do not force new beginnings, keep a close eye on health and documents, and give more time to inner work. The table gives every sign change with its entry and exit to the minute; the row for Ketu's present sign is marked Now. Change the zodiac or the city in the strip and the tables update without reloading the page; change the year and that year's own page opens.
Ketu's Transits in My Own Chart
Ketu was in Sagittarius when I was born, the 4th from my Virgo Moon, so its return to Sagittarius once in about eighteen and a half years is a time I keep for home and for inner work. From my Moon, the Ketu years I welcome are those in Scorpio, Aquarius and Cancer, the 3rd, 6th and 11th, and the one I watch most closely is its passage over Virgo itself. When the table shows Ketu entering one of these signs, I note the date and plan the eighteen months that follow.
