Rahu and Ketu — the lunar nodes — shifted into a new sign axis in 2026, a transit that happens roughly every 18 months and tends to generate a lot of searching, largely because these two points are among the least intuitive in Vedic astrology.
What Rahu and Ketu Actually Are
Unlike the other planets, Rahu and Ketu aren't physical bodies — they're the mathematical points where the Moon's orbit crosses the Sun's apparent path (the ecliptic). Rahu is the north node, Ketu the south node, and they always sit exactly opposite each other in the chart, moving in retrograde motion relative to the other planets.
What They Traditionally Represent
Rahu is associated with worldly ambition, obsession and areas of life where a person seeks more, often unconventionally. Ketu is associated with detachment, spirituality and past-life karma in classical interpretation — themes of release rather than acquisition. Their transit through a new sign axis shifts which areas of life carry these themes for roughly the next year and a half.
Why the Transit Matters More for Some Charts
As with any transit, Rahu-Ketu's effect depends heavily on where the new axis falls relative to your natal chart, particularly your Moon sign and ascendant. A transit through your career-related houses will feel very different from one through more private, internal houses — which is why generic "Rahu Ketu transit" predictions rarely feel accurate to everyone reading them.
A Grounded Way to Approach This Transit
Rather than reacting to broad Rahu-Ketu predictions, checking the transit against your own birth chart tells you specifically which life areas are activated for you during this roughly 18-month window.
Nodal transits are subtle and chart-specific — a proper reading will tell you far more than a general prediction ever could.